LudumData

Start with nothing by rubyleehs

[raw]
made by rubyleehs for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

Game made for Ludum Dare 45: Start with nothing.

Unity<em>2019-10-06</em>21-55-44.png

Play in your browser by clicking here!

*Controls: *

  • Hold Left Mouse Button to drag

  • Nothing else

More info:

  • Your goal is to grasp "victory"

  • BGM only plays when you have created a music-related word.

  • Likewise, you can mute the BGM by creating a synonym to "silent"

  • Bonus points if you figure out the minimum amount of words needed to win. How about losing?

  • Update on 8/10/2019: Improved word detection - should be very accurate now. Now also ignores letters if they are overlapping/too close to each other.

Credits:

  • Sprites: Half is from helpful voluteers from various Game-Dev discords;

  • BGM: Entorevolution by AcuticNotes

2019-10-06_23-51-15.gif

Play in your browser by clicking here!

Youtube https://rubyleehs.itch.io/startwithnothing
Youtube https://github.com/rubyleehs/Start-with-nothing
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/start-with-nothing-2

Ratings

Overall 38th 4.194⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 126th 3.871⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 9th 4.483⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 4th 4.583⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 542th 3.534⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 464th 3.179⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 156th 3.621⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 375th 3.56⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

AkirAssasin
07. Oct 2019 · 00:46 UTC
Cool and creative idea! However, the word detection sometimes doesn't detect the words I'm trying to form, when I try to add a letter to a formed word.
RoboDoig
07. Oct 2019 · 06:39 UTC
I love this idea, really clever and nicely implemented
🎤 rubyleehs
07. Oct 2019 · 15:53 UTC
@akirassasin
The word detection algorithm only knows the center of the objects, so for objects that are elongated in 1 direction only, it may be unituinitive how to place the objects such that the word/letters are recognized by it.
Kisann
07. Oct 2019 · 16:23 UTC
Cool creative idea and minimalist design. Great.
Cybikitty
07. Oct 2019 · 19:39 UTC
Aah I love this a lot! I was super confused for the first 10 seconds and just kept spam clicking the word though :')
🎤 rubyleehs
07. Oct 2019 · 19:42 UTC
@cybikitty Thanks! Glad you liked it. To be fair, if you only look at the game, it's pretty confusing what you need to do at the start. Was hoping the gif and the only controls being "Hold LMB to drag" will allivate some of that. :)
PietPtr
07. Oct 2019 · 19:59 UTC
Very innovative on the theme!
danielhamngren
07. Oct 2019 · 20:16 UTC
It took me a while to figure out what to do, I felt stupid when I got back and saw the gif :). I really liked the minimalist and stylish visual design.
I had a hard time figure out how to use the icons. It was hard for me stop playing, well done!
PenguinBoy
07. Oct 2019 · 20:53 UTC
Probably one of the most innovative things I've seen. Such a cool idea!
merkisoft
07. Oct 2019 · 21:07 UTC
minimalistic but very good idea. kept me playing for quite some time!
i reached 20 ... no idea if there is an end?
🎤 rubyleehs
07. Oct 2019 · 23:34 UTC
@merkisoft have you tried spelling "end" ;)
sommerlilie
08. Oct 2019 · 00:34 UTC
I really like your game, but the detect of the words is still lacking. Sometimes its hard to get words recognized.
piegames
08. Oct 2019 · 00:36 UTC
Awesome game, but please fix the word detection. It works fine at the beginning, but the more letters there are the harder it gets to recognize them. I closed the tab with ~110 words after having failed to recognize "finish" for a while.
fre
08. Oct 2019 · 00:45 UTC
Very cool, happy to see another word game :a:

I love the effects for special objects and high degree of polish (calm visuals + sounds). I got stuck after finding three things, wish there would be a way to get hints since I'd love to discover all the content, but I ran out of ideas. I like that objects are also useful, but it's not always clear what letter they represent... I got to 26 and decided that was the perfect stopping point :smile:
js104
08. Oct 2019 · 01:25 UTC
Great idea and the execution is overall good but the detection a bit broken at times. Also a minor thing is that the art styles are inconsistent, overall really cool though
merkisoft
08. Oct 2019 · 06:29 UTC
@rubyleehs omg, thx. Ratings adjusted :smiley: great game.
🎤 rubyleehs
08. Oct 2019 · 12:38 UTC
@sommerlilie @piegames @js104 Thanks for your feedback! I have improved the word detection so it should be very accurate now.
Catie Jo
08. Oct 2019 · 18:56 UTC
So great! I didn't watch the gif all the way to the end at first, so it took me a long time to figure out that the symbols were also letters but once I understood it made me SO HAPPY. It's such a cool way to build up the game--fantastic work! The whole thing feels really nice and complete; I love how you kept the scope small, but still innovative and fun!
🎤 rubyleehs
08. Oct 2019 · 21:13 UTC
@catie-jo
Glad you liked it :)
Was pretty had to go with a big scope for my idea, but I did my best to make it as sastifying as possible when you make progress while still being as minimal as possible. So it is wonderful to hear that my efforts paid off :)
reBTF
12. Oct 2019 · 13:01 UTC
Very innovative idea and well executed.

I did find it a little frustrating at points but when I came at it from the perspective of what objects look like letters it was a lot more interesting.

Beat it with 198 words. I was not gonna stop until I was done!
🎤 rubyleehs
14. Oct 2019 · 10:31 UTC
@rebtf Thanks. You could also try losing ;)
itsdanidre
18. Oct 2019 · 17:32 UTC
I did have to come to the comments to realize the symbols could be used as letters. It's a really unique idea. I also had to Google words that start with nothing" and spent most time browsing different websites because it was not clear in using symbols; it left quite a bitter taste on my tongue :head_bandage:

Really cool game nonetheless. I still like it, while I no longer have to patience to explore new words :sweat_smile:

> The thong was hilarious :rofl:
celia14
19. Oct 2019 · 20:59 UTC
I think I spent the longest on this game of all the LD games I've tried so far! Very, very addictive in that even though I was frustrated, I wanted to keep trying - it was hard to find new objects but super satisfying to find them! I did manage to "WIN" - based on the instructions I thought I had to get "VICTORY" so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to WIN. (I totally missed THONG so I was stuck on the V...)

Word detection felt very smooth to me, but the drill R kept giving me trouble for some reason.

One enhancement might be a hint option - maybe it could show an object you can make, but you'd have to figure out what to spell to get that object?
Yaen
24. Oct 2019 · 22:23 UTC
Amazing take on the theme and all around a really cool puzzle game. Had lots of fun playing with language and finding new letters :)