Keep It Alight by Lamasaurus

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

Play time: ~~10 minutes~~ apparently it is more like 15 minutes of playtime

title_screen.PNG

campfire.PNG

Hope is a strong, but fragile thing, we should and must keep it alive! Overcome this dark, hopeless world. Do not let it break you and you will feel the warmth of the sun once more, as is the promise of hope!

A narrative based platformer with one nifty mechanic that I will let to you, the player, to explorer. Everything was made within 48 hours, except for a few FX sounds.

Once you choose hope, anything’s possible. ~ Christopher Reeve

Controls

  • Arrow keys to move and jump.
  • You are able to double jump to clear larger pits and higher ledges.
  • Wall jumping is also a thing (and can make some obstacles a lot easier).

Don't forget to turn on your audio 🎶

Ratings

Overall 149th 4.073⭐ 77🧑‍⚖️
Fun 187th 3.939⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 744th 3.527⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1435th 3.561⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 972th 3.797⭐ 76🧑‍⚖️
Audio 392th 3.767⭐ 75🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1173th 2.885⭐ 67🧑‍⚖️
Mood 139th 4.158⭐ 75🧑‍⚖️
Given 61🗳️ 113🗨️

Feedback

Arcus
20. Apr 2020 · 09:10 UTC
Cool game! The light system is great. I love the little inspirational quotes above the fires checkpoints. The sounds effects are a wee-bit loud compared to the bg music, but it's alright. I had some trouble getting past one of the jumps by the second (or third?) checkpoint - maybe U'm just being a bit stupid - maybe a hint system would work (dispite taking ages to make).
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 09:20 UTC
@arcus had some of the same feedback for that jump, so it is not you 😉 clearly have to check it out if I want to create a full game from this concept 😀 Thanks for leaving feedback!
Landerack
20. Apr 2020 · 09:20 UTC
super pretty. the light is awesome, I kinda suck at platformers so sorry that I didnt make it all the way through xD I do think it's really fluent and the moment is incredible! Man hat's off to you, it's a wonderfull experience, super cute as well. I just want this boyo to be happy :3
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 09:22 UTC
He deserves a better life, like we all do @landerack 😉 Thanks for checking it out!
Retti01
20. Apr 2020 · 10:14 UTC
Very nice looking game. You nailed the movement. Love it.
Vex
20. Apr 2020 · 10:33 UTC
I absolutely adore the audio. The disappointed sighs on death, the crackling of the fire, all of this is really well done. Thanks for the game!
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 10:39 UTC
I'm glad you liked it @vex, I put a lot of effort in the atmosphere in general 😁
Maqo12
20. Apr 2020 · 11:36 UTC
Nice game!
Westmave
20. Apr 2020 · 11:59 UTC
Wow. Amazing Game, I could barely Stop playing. I just wanted to find more and more quotes. I really, really like the Idea and the pacing is onpoint. Soundeffects and the simplistic Graphic work well in this setting. In the first run i couldn´t get past Elie Wiesel, but i will definetely try in a few days again. Thanks for the experience. Cause of the Title, i can even give points in the humor category :D
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 12:07 UTC
@westmave thanks for the kind words! You are nearly there, from Elie Wiesel you only have a quarter of the game more to go 😉 hope you will like the resolution of the game!
The Missing Bracket
20. Apr 2020 · 12:09 UTC
i liked the idea of the lightning where it shows you the way but it also attracts the enemies
Wet_Band-Aid
20. Apr 2020 · 12:16 UTC
Loved it! I might end up playing again to see if there are any secrets. Honestly my favorite game of what I've played for LD46 so far!
Qazikol
20. Apr 2020 · 12:40 UTC
Wonderfully hostile aesthetic. Love how you have to balance platforming and lighting mechanics later on, and an impressive feeling wall-jump for under 48 hours!
siegMAYer
20. Apr 2020 · 12:41 UTC
Very good game. I loved the quotes and the feeling this game gave me.
I tried to make this feeling in my game too, but I failed, you did an awesome job!
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 12:51 UTC
@wet-band-aid wow awesome you consider a replay! Is this something you would like to see a full game of?

@qazikol hope is something found in the darkest of places, so I wanted my game to be one of these darkest places :smile:

@siegmayer thank you so much! I will have a look at your game after work (and I'm on a Mac right now) and see if I can give some tips on mood and atmosphere :wink:
Wet_Band-Aid
20. Apr 2020 · 13:01 UTC
@lamasaurus Very much so!
MikDionio
20. Apr 2020 · 14:09 UTC
Great game! Thanks for making a game about hope! I must say you have excellent level design skills. The placement of checkpoints was just right. Also, cool idea having enemies detect your light (and thus your movement)!
sibebleuze
20. Apr 2020 · 14:42 UTC
Very nice. If I didn't dislike piranha's (that's what they are right?) already, I sure do now.
I love how it gets harder and harder and just when you think you won't make the next one anymore,
you actually do and you get to a beautiful ending.
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 14:55 UTC
@sibebleuze for me they represent close minded people who try to get your hopes down. But they are whatever works for you :wink: thanks for playing until the end!
Baptiste Guerin
20. Apr 2020 · 16:08 UTC
Very good game! I love the graphics black and white are really smooth!! It looks like a bit like a metaphor of depression!
Fathy Basha
20. Apr 2020 · 18:02 UTC
Really fun game! Cute art and lovely audio too to be honest.
Mykola
20. Apr 2020 · 20:11 UTC
Amazing light game, sounds and smooth gameplay. I really loved the details like leaving blood pixels on the spikes. And great quotes and ideas behind the game. Final scene is beautiful. It's the best game I've played so far in this jam.

I was wondering if there is any Easter egg after you exit the cave and go up and to the left. I did a long distance but gave up when the ground started to become too steep to be able to come back.

Really great job for 48 hours of work!
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 20:21 UTC
@mykola sorry, I did not have time to include secrets (although I would have loved to add some), mainly focussend on the core game experience and it's atmosphere because that is what most players will experience in a jam like this :smile: thanks for sticking around till the end, put a lot of work into that sequence 🤗
Marcelo Junqueira
20. Apr 2020 · 20:24 UTC
Simply loved it
gord10ahmet
20. Apr 2020 · 20:26 UTC
It was such a beautiful game! I loved the visuals, mood and mechanics.
steambrain
20. Apr 2020 · 20:34 UTC
Wow! Smooth controls here! (alt-tabbing from game somehow left me with black screen though =)
🎤 Lamasaurus
20. Apr 2020 · 20:43 UTC
@steambrain thanks for the kind words! woops that should indeed not happen, will look into that when working further on it, thanks for reporting this bug :smiley:
Marot
20. Apr 2020 · 21:19 UTC
Good mood, interesting quotes, gradual introduction of new elements to the world.
Pusheeneiro
21. Apr 2020 · 01:45 UTC
Nice pixel art game, I like this mood.
Narom42
21. Apr 2020 · 10:16 UTC
Nice game! I thought there would be some easter egg as Mykola did but kept on going. I fell off the map. Well, I did a second run to get the endgame :)

The sound for enemies is a bit loud so playing full volume I got my ear bleeding :D Just kidding, no harm done
🎤 Lamasaurus
21. Apr 2020 · 10:25 UTC
@narom42 yeah, sorry for that, maybe should have blocked that path off, but I just wanted to show off that there is a bright sky after these dark times :wink: Mastering audio is still something I could improve on, had difficulty with that because silence is also an important part of the game. Thanks for the feeback! :smile:
brzyrt
21. Apr 2020 · 21:48 UTC
solid short platformer with amazing lighting and atmosphere. I am personally not a fan of sappy inspiration quotes but it didnt really impact my enjoyment of the game
🎤 Lamasaurus
21. Apr 2020 · 22:27 UTC
@brzyrt yeah, me neighter to be honest, but I felth like I needed some kind of story or dialog throughout the game. I will probably change out the quotes for little character development snippits. Thanks for checking it out, I appreciate it!
tsombi100
22. Apr 2020 · 06:48 UTC
Very nice ending after that long tunnel
Ryano
22. Apr 2020 · 07:05 UTC
Very enjoyable platformer. The atmosphere was great. Nice entry. Thanks for the game!
Shaolin Dave
22. Apr 2020 · 07:37 UTC
I can fix your Mac issue and provide a replacement download so that others won't have to jump through the hoops, would you like that?
🎤 Lamasaurus
22. Apr 2020 · 07:50 UTC
@shaolin-dave that would be awesome yes! 😁
Shaolin Dave
22. Apr 2020 · 08:07 UTC
Download this, then provide it as a download for your players instead of the .zip you already have.
Basically I just fixed the issue the way the players would have had to, then put it into a Mac disk image file (a .dmg) so that it doesn't get corrupted when zipped/unzipped.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kbxcrx5la17z27u/KeepItAlight.dmg?dl=0

(let me know when you've done this so I can delete this from my own dropbox)
Shaolin Dave
22. Apr 2020 · 08:09 UTC
My review of the game, I love the platforming mechanics, the wall and double-jumps are programmed very nicely, though it is very hard to pull off on a keyboard (especially arrow keys instead of WASD). The creepy dude that sees my light and chases me freaked me out, I didn't see that coming at all. That's as far as I got so far, I'll probably play further later on.
🎤 Lamasaurus
22. Apr 2020 · 08:33 UTC
@shaolin-dave you are a hero! I updated the link, next time I will have to learn to do this myself 😅 thank you so much for doing this and checking the game out! The controls are clearly something I could improve on, someone also suggested that, if I use the arrow keys, space should be jump. Just multiple control schemes would have been a good idea I guess.

And yeah those guys are meant to do that :wink: but there are multiple ways of getting rid of them!
AdrianKrawczyk
22. Apr 2020 · 08:53 UTC
great design
Raphaeltan
22. Apr 2020 · 12:29 UTC
One of the best games I played so far. Amazing sound design and great graphics. Platforming is sharp and not frustrating, very well polished just truly amazing great job.
MatheusBorba
22. Apr 2020 · 18:00 UTC
very good work...
Steffo
22. Apr 2020 · 21:42 UTC
Does this platform have eyes, or is it a lighting bug? :joy:

![](///raw/d4d/z/32921.png)

Exceptional atmosphere!

Sounds, the dark cave, the sprites and the platforming mechanics combine to make an amazing (but short) game. Congratulations! :D
🎤 Lamasaurus
22. Apr 2020 · 22:02 UTC
@steffo anything could be watching you in my game 😜 thanks for checking it out and leaving feedback! :smile:
Geegaz
23. Apr 2020 · 06:20 UTC
Really cool mechanic ! I felt the tension when you had to stop to avoid ennemies. The SFX are on point, and the overall is really good.
jk5000
23. Apr 2020 · 09:41 UTC
An interesting and very well made little game. I found some of the quotes a bit weird for the game, but it is not a big issue. Overall is this a good jam game. Well done.
robcozzens2
23. Apr 2020 · 19:45 UTC
I'm very impressed! Cool art, very creepy mood, good pacing, threatening enemies, challenging gameplay!
When I made it to daylight, there was such an impressive change of atmosphere. It was like really going outside after being stuck in the dark!
A couple suggestions would be to allow jump to be the space bar or something other than a directional key. And if you had a different outdoor sprite for the character (although not worth the extra work for a 48 hour game!)
🎤 Lamasaurus
23. Apr 2020 · 20:12 UTC
@robcozzens2 I'm so glad the atmosphere change came over as intended! I thought it was insane that I spend 5-6 hours on art, animations, sounds and systems for a section in the game that would only take 10 to 20 seconds to experience 😅 Without these the game and story would not have had a proper conclusion! But I agree that giving the character color during hugging the person (I flip-flopped back and forth between letting it be a guy or a girl) at the end would have been a very strong, character defining moment! Will definitely add that once I pick this project back up. Having different control schemes is also a valid point! But I don't have anecdotes about that :stuck_out_tongue: Thank you for checking it out and taking the time to write your feedback down! :smile:
Marxy 37
24. Apr 2020 · 00:59 UTC
Wall Jump + Double Jump = OP, You can go (almost) anywhere

Great little platformer: Especially like the cave reverb effect, with that alone you nailed the mood of the game!!!


![Glitch Gif.gif](///raw/b31/c2/z/32e99.gif)

Also, i found something rather peculiar messing around...
[Sometimes the LD site dosen't send images and gifs propelly, so if the image isn't loaded, let me know :3]
Thermacon
24. Apr 2020 · 02:38 UTC
Very neat concept. The *things* that are attracted to the light scared me a little!
🎤 Lamasaurus
24. Apr 2020 · 06:30 UTC
@marxy-37 I knew this was a problem when finishing the game, the 'outdoor area' begins right of the cave, that is why you get this Cave athmosphere wen going on top of it. I just wanted there to be as much blue sky as possible, to show that everything is kind of alright now 😊 but people like to experiment more than I anticipated on 😛 thanks for playing and pointing it out!
Arefnue
24. Apr 2020 · 11:32 UTC
Interesting game! The mood is a little bit creepy. Mechanics work nice. Cool game!
Vollfeiw
24. Apr 2020 · 11:38 UTC
I kinda feel like the wall jump doesn't push away enough from the wall, most of the time, i would go for wall jump instead of double jump (feels like going faster, even if it's not real). Overall, i like the atmosphere, and the fact that you don't see everything until you light it. It would require multiple run to perfect these jump and the path, without being unfair. Nice map design too. Great entry !
VIBROMATIC
24. Apr 2020 · 11:45 UTC
The mood is incredible.
Great little game, I loved the infiltration mechanics with the fly monster, it's really clever.
Maybe the walk sound was a bit too loud compare to the ambiant sound. The fly sound was just perfect, made for a great jump scare.
Hamzeh
24. Apr 2020 · 21:27 UTC
good game i love the ghraghics and its a fun game
baylej
24. Apr 2020 · 22:04 UTC
It runs well on linux, no problem :thumbsup:
It's nice to see a game made with Godot :grin:
🎤 Lamasaurus
25. Apr 2020 · 06:49 UTC
@baylej thanks for trying it on Linux :smile: Godot is an engine near and dear to my heart :wink:
Daepso
25. Apr 2020 · 11:25 UTC
I love the light mechanic! Very neat shadow effect.
Abiral
25. Apr 2020 · 13:54 UTC
I really enjoyed this game. Especially the pixel art and the animations, And yeah the cave effect was cool. Loved it! Good Luck for your future projects!
designernap
26. Apr 2020 · 11:47 UTC
Really nicely done here. I Wasn't sure when I saw the candle on the opening screen, but as the game progressed with the quotes and the terrifying robot bee I was sold. Really great stuff. Tonnes of mood!
alxander
27. Apr 2020 · 00:49 UTC
Great atmosphere overall, the enemy audio does not seem to fit :D The controls are very fluid and makes this fun to play. Good job!
Molpe
27. Apr 2020 · 20:53 UTC
Nice game! I thought I couldn't get out of the cave, but I did it! Nice game! Are those citates influenced by the things you need to do? Like the one with running? :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8jqyHEpZ7k
🎤 Lamasaurus
27. Apr 2020 · 21:31 UTC
@molpe thanks for sticking around at the end, I thought you might give up, you were so close! I'm happy you got through it :smile: This is the first time I see someone play my game and I am glad to see all the right reactions. The monsters are scary, the ending gave you a lot of relief and some of the parts are hard. Thanks for playing, providing feedback and creating a video about it! I really appreciate it!

Some of the quotes are indeed about the next or previous area. The first one was meant to provide context and meaning within the world of the game (Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness). Others are just quotes about hope to keep the player going and feeling that there will be an end to all the darkness :slight_smile:
FabiGhindaru
01. May 2020 · 07:37 UTC
Ah such a moody game! Kind of hard but at the same time the cozy yet creepy vibe made me actually finish it! ^^
fabula_rasa
08. May 2020 · 12:16 UTC
Very nice mood in the game and a competent platformer! I like the aesthetics in general and simple graphics worked well here. I didn't encounter any bugs or issues - it seemed well-polished. The light mechanics are great!

I had lots of trouble figuring out where to go after M.L. King's bonfire. But it was fun exploring and dying to try to figure that out ;)
JoaoG
12. May 2020 · 08:41 UTC
I really enjoyed it! The art is really beautiful, I also liked the soundtrack. I liked the idea and I love the use of phrases, they are a great addition. It's really inspiring and important, especially given the moment we're facing. Great job!