Coalesce by James Dunlap

made by James Dunlap for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Coalesce

Welcome to our ninth straight Ludum Dare Entry! This time has proven more challenging even though our team was not really affected by the current events. We took it almost to the wire this time! We hope you enjoy.

Description

Aliens from another dimension have attacked a top secret laboratory and your work place, and it is up to you to stop them. These are no ordinary aliens though, because they are attacking in two dimensions!

The clever physicist and warrior you are, you have learned of their secret ability and now you must cooperate with your alternate self to find out what has brought this calamity.

However, both you and yourself must be careful to protect each other from these invaders, or you will die in both realities!

Contributions

Coding: James Dunlap

Graphics: Cameron Dunlap

Level design, props and graphics, sounds: Anthony Dunlap

Music: Oliver Richmeier

Screenshots

Review In Kind

We are always looking to improve what we are doing. As such, please give as honest feedback as possible. Whether we like what you have to say about our game or not, we always come by and look at your game as well. We appreciate all the feedback that you can give.

Special Note About Mac and Linux

The Mac and Linux (Not Yet Available) build have not been tested by us. We have trusted that Unity just works...

Youtube	http://lonewolfstudios.org/ld46/Coalesce-Win64.zip
Youtube	http://lonewolfstudios.org/ld46/Coalesce-Win32.zip
Youtube	http://lonewolfstudios.org/ld46/Coalesce-OSX.zip
Youtube	http://lonewolfstudios.org/ld46/Coalesce-Linux.zip
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/coalesce

Ratings

Overall	566^th	3.776⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Fun	848^th	3.5⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	90^th	4.069⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Theme	2107^th	3.121⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	1116^th	3.707⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Audio	902^th	3.345⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Mood	894^th	3.569⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Given		24🗳️	31🗨️

Feedback

Fermak

21. Apr 2020 · 04:46 UTC

I liked it, my brain just didn't like having to be cross eyed to play, I feel like a toggle or lense to see the other side might work better, the mirror is just so rough

toby-klauder

21. Apr 2020 · 05:21 UTC

Overall great gameplay and very innovative, a bit of a headache with the inverse directions and such but I enjoyed it.

Eolin

21. Apr 2020 · 17:16 UTC

I really love the concept ! It's hard to keep focusing and both world. No possiblity to aims with the controller though and didn't have the possibility to go in the menu during the game (using esc for example). Maybe a little more story will be good too. But anyway was a good experience. :)

Cameron Dunlap

21. Apr 2020 · 17:32 UTC

We did keep the escape to reset feature, despite not having the time to work on a complete menu or the like, mostly because the project was really on a time crunch towards the end. There's still quite a few bugs and the reset button helps to keep the game playable, despite compromising on actually having a menu. It's unfortunate that for how interesting our idea turned out to be we ended up having so little time to polish and add some of the more important aspects that we expected to become problematic for players, including the menu and reversing controls/perspective. As for the story, I don't think we even know what it is even after we've finished the game, boss and all.

JacobWing

21. Apr 2020 · 20:48 UTC

Great concept, with cool puzzles - the theme connection was a little Iffy, but I loved the gameplay anyways, and that's what counts. Audio was really good, the visuals were great - Everything in the game just worked, and that's great.

Altruism

21. Apr 2020 · 20:52 UTC

Pretty cool game! The mechanic is really interesting, and ends up being really stessful in a good way. Kudos!

Pixel_Error

21. Apr 2020 · 20:57 UTC

It make my eyes go like this! Tripppppppy game.[12350504-the-man-s-eyes-close-up-look-in-different-directions.jpg](///raw/962/22/z/31f45.jpg) (in the good way of course)
The soundtrack is cool and like how you used a panning to associate stereo effect with two side. Nice mechanic for the simple platforming game!

oberynmartell

21. Apr 2020 · 21:51 UTC

I really loved the concept, but I think it works best as a kind of timing puzzle game (like the first level). I feel that the gun added too much action to the game, which made my main objective to be to try to eliminate the most enemies as possible while avoiding getting hit, and just then moving forward. The portals are neat, and could be used to add more puzzle mechanics to the game.

🎤 James Dunlap

21. Apr 2020 · 22:59 UTC

@oberynmartell That was great feedback. The team was very divided on that first non-tutorial level (the third in the game). It probably received the most attention during balancing. Thanks for playing!

@pixel-error Thanks for the feedback!

@altruism Glad you enjoyed it!

@jacobwing Thanks for playing. We connected to the theme by having two characters that have to both survive, but your point is well taken. Thanks for the feedback!

Hedgy

22. Apr 2020 · 19:27 UTC

Good game with an interesting concept. The collisions/movement did seem a bit buggy when walking into walls.

Undead Aubergine

22. Apr 2020 · 19:29 UTC

Great concept, I got confused and tried to use the opposite controls at times.

🎤 James Dunlap

23. Apr 2020 · 00:28 UTC

@hedgy Thanks for playing! Yes, that is something that I struggle with A LOT in Unity, especially when working in 2D, which we have done the last eight times for LD. I actually tried adding some additional colliders for walls and changing floor detection (for jumping purposes, not physics) to using Raycasts, but it was still not perfect. However, it is a lot better than before.

@undead-aubergine Thanks for testing and the feedback. We developed the game and still have that problem at times. It was designed to be a part of the challenge. We toyed with the idea of switching the controls if your gun was on the other side, but ultimately decided that might add to the confusion. (It would be very easy to do in Unity, so maybe that could be an option?)

bellewood-music

23. Apr 2020 · 01:11 UTC

Super unique concept and great music to go along with it! Nice job :)

🎤 James Dunlap

23. Apr 2020 · 01:52 UTC

@bellewood-music Thanks for playing!

jondkoon

23. Apr 2020 · 02:13 UTC

Very neat concept. I have not played something like this before. I like the sprite art. Nice job. The main characters idle stance was a little odd though. Seems like his hands were always forward like frankenstien or something.

I was confused by the doors in the game. I thought I had gone through them to progress, but then later I could not interact. Maybe I just misremembered. There was a moment on the 3rd level where I should have gone up, but I went down and I was a little disoriented. I think that is one thing about the game that the novel idea sacrifices. You don't have a lot of visibility into where you were because you only have half the screen to see the stage.

I liked that you gave the character several points of HP. I think getting hit could have felt more devastating though. Like some animation, screen shake, color changes, sound effects - whatever. Just a little jolt in that moment would make it a little more intense.

Overall great concept and execution. 4/5!

Silas Reinagel

23. Apr 2020 · 02:17 UTC

So far, of all the games I have played this jam, this one has my favorite gameplay.

It's a very clean, tight platformer. the pacing is fantastic. The introduction of new mechanics keep each new level fresh.

There is sound and a fitting soundtrack.

This game is a real gem! I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did!

HiImBarney

23. Apr 2020 · 02:22 UTC

It is a decisive title. I love the overall idea but the theme is a bit far fetched to me.
There are some bs Multi Damage parts that where frustrating to play through though. I like the gameplay and design overall quite a bit.

ScalphaMission

23. Apr 2020 · 02:27 UTC

This was great. It was a really good concept, the pixel art is GOOD pixel art not just low poly but low poly that paints a good picture. The music and overall audio was smooth. The ONLY problem is a little bit of bugginess with the jumping physics. Sometimes it seems like the guy isn't getting grounded properly.
Otherwise outstanding effort.

LaJazuve

23. Apr 2020 · 16:19 UTC

this concept is aweome ! greatjob, i thinks just the mouvement of characters is too slow and the jump velocity too, but great job !

BinarySpark

24. Apr 2020 · 21:45 UTC

Interesting idea, definitely. I was wondering what you were going to do with the split screen, and having differences between them is actually a cool game idea to explore. Wacky art (which I like) and some nice atmosphere on the speakers.

As tips: the movement feels very floaty, because of the long acceleration/deceleration and low gravity. If you want to make your platformer feel snappier, consider tuning variables like that.

Wilko

28. Apr 2020 · 15:10 UTC

Really fun game with a crazy and interesting twist that, until mastered, is suitably punishing. My biggest issue was that the floaty movement, as stated by some other commentors, meant that a few times I would lose all my health points from one obstacle that I would become trapped on top of.

khaoz-fang

28. Apr 2020 · 16:00 UTC

Not so complex as I thought first. I love the concept, the split screen is really cool. It can be very fun with some more elements. Good job!

divadyugi

06. May 2020 · 18:18 UTC

The concept is really good, and it is a really innovative idea, but it is just a bit hard to keep track of both sides, I think a larger divider between them would have made it a bit easier, but the concept is amazing, and it is a really polished game.