LudumData

Temporarium by Eden Shazar

[raw]
made by Eden Shazar for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

The lupuls are a truly miserable species - having evolved to have a lifespan of mere seconds to minimize their suffering, they toil away for generations on end to build the tallats' narcissistic monuments. One generation, you find a shiny block-shaped gem, unlike the sandstone blocks your ancestors slaved their lives away to transport. Sneak it between the tallats' long robes and explore your way into the monument with this little secret in hand.

Controls

Select a lupul to control with the left mouse button, and guide it forward with the mouse pointer. Click to hatch after being reborn, but don't take too long!

02 screenshot.png

Notes / known issues

  • The Mac build hasn't been tested yet! Let us know in the comment whether it works or not.
  • There are no visual indicators for player controls and various events. Sorry!
  • There is no ending (though we had one planned), but if you reach a dead end you've made it. Double sorry!
  • The character animations are inconsistent - we didn't get to polish it all.
  • The camera tends to jump a bit confusingly when your current lupul dies.
  • The gem can be pretty easily occluded by piles of dead lupuls - look for its shine in between the bodies!

Credits

  • @omniopticon - concept/game design, world/character design, art assets.
  • @syoels (Yoel Simhovich) - concept/game design, animation, asset integration, programming.
  • @eden-shazar - concept/game design, programming, asset integration.
Youtube https://temporarium.itch.io/temporarium
Youtube https://temporarium.itch.io/temporarium
Youtube https://github.com/EdenShazar/Temporarium
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/temporarium

Ratings

Overall 1378th 3.048⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1501th 2.565⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 632th 3.483⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 935th 3.5⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 419th 3.968⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1068th 2.196⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 613th 2.944⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1098th 3.117⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

JoeDev
06. Oct 2020 · 17:28 UTC
This was super weird, I love that you added a backstory and lore for it too, it really adds to the experience. The gameplay was very challenging for me, but I managed to get quite far I think. I really like the art style, especially the player's minions and the terrifying 'tallats' (those creepy spider legs omg)
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 09:08 UTC
@joedev Thank you! We're missing a lot of visual cues for the player that we just didn't get around to implementing, so it's nice to hear you managed to make some progress! And yes, the tallats are absolute nightmare fuel (thank you @omniopticon).
MiniBetrayal
07. Oct 2020 · 10:05 UTC
great character design!
rschoellgen
07. Oct 2020 · 10:14 UTC
Great work on the art style! I got pretty far I think, but I agree some more visual cues would've been helpful. I love the concept and find it very interesting. I gave you a follow on itch.io. I look forward to a potential update. Good luck!
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 10:25 UTC
@minibetrayal Agreed! The design is @omniopticon's, with a lot of animation work by @syoels.
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 10:26 UTC
@rschoellgen Thank you very much! We're planning on giving it another day of polish sometime soon, and hopefully it'll be able to provide a fuller experience.
nanolotl
07. Oct 2020 · 11:37 UTC
The art, animation, and concept/theme were really good, unfortunately I found the gameplay pretty incomprehensible. Like you've mentioned above, I think it would be fine with some more visual indicators of whats happening.
syoels
07. Oct 2020 · 12:40 UTC
@minibetrayal Thanks! We have some new animations coming up!

![ezgif.com-gif-maker (3).gif](///raw/3a4/53/z/396c1.gif)
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 13:18 UTC
@nanolotl Very fair opinion, given the lack of visual indicators or UI. Thank you for giving our game a try :)
Untitled Studios
07. Oct 2020 · 15:20 UTC
haven't played yet, but our games have near identical names
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 15:22 UTC
@untitled-studios Title besties!
Gonzalol
07. Oct 2020 · 15:29 UTC
Awesome art and animations. I like the atmosphere you created with the background and story. It could use some instructions, specially at the beginning. I wish we can see a second version of this.
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 15:40 UTC
@gonzalol Thank you! Yes, we're missing a bunch of informative features. We'll do better next time :)
Gonzalol
07. Oct 2020 · 15:43 UTC
@eden-shazar it's a great job for a first-timers. I hope you enjoyed the JAM.
Vivien Fargette
07. Oct 2020 · 16:12 UTC
The game is really cool, it took me some time to get how it worked but once I got it, it was fun.

I would say I don't think the game needs a UI or visual indicator specifically to be more clear but a small tutorial or an intro explaining things would do the trick: you have the indicator of your lupul with the fact that it does not carry anything or is carrying the glowing one (maybe for your current egg). Some music and sound effects would have been a nice thing to add (but be careful with sound effect: with 3 lupuls on screen and given how often they die, it could become very annoying quickly).

It clearly needs some polish (and an end) but it is a really fun entry, I just want more levels now :p
🎤 Eden Shazar
07. Oct 2020 · 16:23 UTC
@vivien-fargette What a great comment to receive! I wholeheartedly agree with your feedback, except that I do think the fact that your lupul doesn't carry a brick is such a weak visual indicator as to even look like a possible bug. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn the game and enjoy it despite its drawbacks!
Aless
08. Oct 2020 · 00:03 UTC
Awesome design and animations, really crazy stuff to be made only in such a small amount of time. You guys are really talented, good work!
🎤 Eden Shazar
08. Oct 2020 · 07:15 UTC
@aless Thank you! That's a really nice comment to wake up to :)
typeswitch
08. Oct 2020 · 10:09 UTC
Really interesting characters and animation, and an innovative concept! Good job! The gameplay is a bit hard though, I couldn't get past the this one part with lots of tallats. Maybe reducing the difficulty will make the game more accessible.
🎤 Eden Shazar
08. Oct 2020 · 10:26 UTC
@typeswitch Thank you for playing! I completely agree that it's difficult to get the hang of. We'll try to improve it soon and upload an alternative, non-LD version :)
Ericbolseiro
08. Oct 2020 · 10:37 UTC
Guys, congratulations on the art of the game. Exquisite!
SamDemaine
08. Oct 2020 · 11:15 UTC
Nice game! The graphics are right up my alley and the controls are a pleasure to use, could you check out my game when you can? :D
🎤 Eden Shazar
08. Oct 2020 · 11:47 UTC
@ericbolseiro Thank you very much! Very nice to hear you enjoyed it.

@samdemaine Thanks! Could you elaborate what you think worked well with the controls? That might be the clunkiest part of our game in my opinion.
Erkberg
08. Oct 2020 · 16:09 UTC
Pretty interesting game with great visuals! But it is a bit hard to control, often I wasn't really sure if I'm currently controlling something or not, some feedback for player inputs would go a long way towards making the gameplay experience more satisfying. Apart from that I really enjoyed it, good job overall!
🎤 Eden Shazar
08. Oct 2020 · 16:53 UTC
@erkberg Yes, we're well aware and definitely agree on those issues. We're planning on patching it up a bit and uploading an alternative, post-LD version. Thanks for giving it a go!
SachaWitto
08. Oct 2020 · 17:16 UTC
liked the graphics, to bad there is no audio
Human Writes Code
09. Oct 2020 · 07:52 UTC
This is certainly the most unique game I've played this Ludum Dare. It took me a while to figure out how to play it but once I understood that, I was interested to see where the game would take me. It's unfortunate that you ran out of time to implement an ending.

The art style was really interesting and impressive!

I'm not sure if the game was meant to have audio, but I didn't get any sound.

Good work!
🎤 Eden Shazar
09. Oct 2020 · 09:59 UTC
@human-writes-code Thank you so much! It really is a shame we didn't get to reward players for having reached the end of that gauntlet, but it's nice to hear someone managed to do that in the first place!

Regarding the audio, that was also one of the features that had to be scrapped. Too bad because it would have been a lot of fun to voice these creatures.
Sam Minh
10. Oct 2020 · 13:07 UTC
What a unique game this is. It took some time to understand how to control the game and after I understood how, they still did not really follow my cursor. The art and their animations are amazing. The whole mood was very unique, I feel like there was more to be discovered in this wierd world.
The gameplay feels very slow and sluggish. Either the life cycles could have been longer or the respawning could be faster. Escpecially when I got to a part where I couldn't get past one of those spiders time after time.
Too bad the audio did not manage to get in, it could have really added a lot. Maybe for a future project scale the project so that some content might not be added, but at least every aspect of the game is present.

Overall very nice and unique entry! Keep it up!
pedrocoden
11. Oct 2020 · 17:07 UTC
Nice game!
Matootsy
11. Oct 2020 · 17:21 UTC
The art character is very original. I like the style. The game seem interesting, but it's a bit confusing for me. And the camera is perhaps a little bit too close. I didn't understand how to play it. It feel like the game is playing alone. Not enough feedbacks. Tutorial would be welcome.
SnailRhymer
14. Oct 2020 · 00:16 UTC
It's a really nice world you built - it could have been amazingly atmospheric with some sound. Great work on the art and the interesting gameplay idea!