Stranded by notnullnotvoid

[raw]
made by notnullnotvoid for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

main_showcase.gif You're the sole survivor of a plane crash on a remote island. You wake up on the coast, next to the flaming wreckage of your aircraft. Your goal is to find rescue, but just beyond the illumination of the flames, you see a glimmer of dread. To explore the island and survive the forest inland, you must Keep Your Flame Alive -- lest you don't keep yourself alive. - Carry a torch to light the way forward - Find an axe to chop down trees - Build and maintain bonfires so you have a place to rest - Explore the map so you can find a way to escape the island and win the game!

Controls: - WASD to move - Left click to pick up item OR use held item - Right click to drop held item

If your antivirus quarantines the game, please try temporarily disabling your antivirus. If the game won't start, please let us know via the comments or @philliptrudeau#8865 on Discord.

Ratings

Overall 257th 3.957⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 680th 3.591⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 868th 3.457⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 470th 4.023⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 256th 4.326⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 235th 3.929⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 31th 4.409⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

NoahRo
22. Apr 2020 · 05:49 UTC
Neat game!
The monsters kinda instantly swarm you, which takes away a lot of the mystery surrounding them.
It would be cool if a monster would only appear now and then, forcing the player to always be on the look-out, as they would never know when or where a monster would strike.
Otherwise, cool entry!
Kuodos
22. Apr 2020 · 06:17 UTC
Nice game! Trying to carry all these items while cutting down trees and keeping the fire was exciting, and the graphics are great!
Finn_Tr
22. Apr 2020 · 06:30 UTC
Really cool game! Love the idea. Sound and art are fantastic. I think dropping the axe to hold the torch and have to go back and fetch it to chop down tree and make bonfire is a bit tedious, maybe you can pick it up once and switch to it when you have to use it? But overall I think this is a good game with cool mechanic. Great job!!
d1str4kt0r
22. Apr 2020 · 08:33 UTC
Okay, i've played like 15 games like this on this Jam, but graphicwise and sfx, this blasts tem others right to space, altho there is not much to do, its very promising
mneubrand
22. Apr 2020 · 15:58 UTC
Nice survival game. Has a bit of a Don't Starve vibe. Feels very polished as well. Great graphics and sfx set the mood nicely
Walkalope
22. Apr 2020 · 23:59 UTC
Phenomenal lighting effect! I would definitely be interested to learn how you did that.

It took me a long time to find the axe... incredible mood and excellent visuals. I was spooked the whole time.
MicroChasm
23. Apr 2020 · 06:47 UTC
I like the idea of taking a game like Don't Starve and making just the very core of it. It took a while to figure out what to do, it would help to lead the player more. It's also very hard, I got to the battery but couldn't get it back.

I really like the art style and the mood. Having the dark encroaching on my light and the monsters close in was very stressful. I wanted to save my little dude.

Nice thematic and engaging game.
AdamCYounis
23. Apr 2020 · 07:53 UTC
Hey! I liked the way you created a sense of atmosphere here. The chaotic music was insanely effective (though maybe slightly too shallow of a volume curve? I would have appreciated it kicking in a bit harder, earlier). I thought the lighting, sounds, mechanics etc were well conceived and mostly very well executed. Some minor gripes with switching objects accidentally and a very constrictive loop (picking up, putting down). I wish I had the patience to carry that object back to the boat. Still, I was impressed by a lot of what I saw here, and could see it being really engaging and deeper with more dev time. Maybe a whole "LOST" simulator?
incinious
23. Apr 2020 · 09:28 UTC
Really awesome entry, I was super invested in it, as the sense of impending doom just kept growing. Loved the lighting, and the sound design worked well too. Minor criticism about how difficult it was to pick up some of the items on the floor, as it wasn't always clear when they were "highlighted". Otherwise, really loved the game! Good stuff!
Huntrox
23. Apr 2020 · 12:21 UTC
its look really nice game but unfortunately the game didnt run after i downloaded it after i click on it it doesnt run i dont know whats the problem can you have web build if that is possible
NonSans
23. Apr 2020 · 19:03 UTC
Wow. From start to finish this game made me feel quite tense. I was especially tense when I had to move the battery down and all my previously built bonfires died one after the other (it took me a while to figure out I could build them). The lighting was really well done and contributed greatly to the atmosphere. The controls were also very untuitive. Maybe the fire could have dwindled a bit faster though because the big bonfires felt really strong in terms of range and lifetime and were not very hard to set up. A hardcore suggestions would be one tree = one wood (but that would probably screw with the balancing quite a bit). I was a bit sad when I dropped off the battery and the game ended, I was ready to go into the forest again. Thanks for making the nice entry to the Jam, we will be looking forward to your next game!
Hjalte
23. Apr 2020 · 21:21 UTC
Super awesome game! Seeing my fires burn out behind me as I ventured further and further away from the ironic safety of the plane fire was really tense! The mechanics worked super well and the lighting/graphics supported the whole theme wonderfully.

I didn't realize I could make bonfires on my first 2 tries and admittedly the game got easier after that, but even then it was well balanced, making me run to the edges of the light in order to cut down trees in a hurry.

Great job, guys :).
LukeBenkart
23. Apr 2020 · 23:08 UTC
Really nice game, and a really hard one at that! Even if it wasn't the most original idea, it was still a blast to play.
erebus
23. Apr 2020 · 23:12 UTC
Really liked the dithering for the light! Thanks for bringing it by the stream!
Junber
24. Apr 2020 · 18:00 UTC
The mood in this game is insanely good. I don't remember another LD game that made me feel as tense as when my torch died during a scouting trip and monsters where chasing me, while I was desperately trying to get back to safety. Two minor nitpicks though: Left click behavior is a bit inconsistent: sometimes switching the tool and sometimes doing an action; just removing left click tool switching would have made things quite a bit smoother for me. Also that the boat needed the battery wasn't immediately obvious to me: When I found the battery, I thought it would just be one part of some kind of bigger machine, you needed to build to escape the island. Thus instead of bringing it back to the starting point, first I tried to survey the entire map for other things, which made winning to game feel less good once I figured out what I had to do. Changing it to a more obviously boat-y thing would have helped (but that also just might have been me not thinking things through). But these things really didn't take away a lot from the overall experience. This is still by far the best game I played this LD. Amazing job.
Remco
25. Apr 2020 · 23:43 UTC
Wow, that atmosphere... It's not just the graphics or the doable but somehow still _very_ tense gameplay, it's also the _excellent_ audio design. Like the way that the sounds shift when you get further along (or the light is dimmer).

I think I found that some of the monsters got stuck on a wall sometimes, which made them unable to flee the light, which in turn made them a bit hard to avoid.

Also, I know this concerns AI in a jam-game, so it might sound really nit-picky, but I found that, especially in the beginning around the bonfire, the monsters clump together so strongly (right outside the light, closest to your position). This means you never really have to worry about that they sneak up _behind_ you.
kuro
11. May 2020 · 06:24 UTC
Very enjoyable. Liked the mechanic, and it was fun. Also didn't overstay it's welcome, which is a big +
Jupiter_Hadley
18. May 2020 · 16:31 UTC
Nice graphics! I included it in my Ludum Dare 46 compilation video series, if you want to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/N721nAhkovk