AMBER by CZ46

[raw]
made by CZ46 for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

FEED THE FIRE. STAY ALIVE.

Winter has arrived, and the cold is setting in. AMBER is a game about survival where you must keep the campfire alive to stay warm.

  • WASD or ARROW KEYS to MOVE
  • Z to CHOP
  • X to STOKE
  • C to PLANT
  • ESC to show JOURNAL / MENU

amber.png

CREDITS

  • Programming, Animation, Lighting - Cooper Jenkinson. (@cz46)
  • Play-testing, Art and Sound Design - Zavier Sutton. (@ladmiester)

Keep in mind, this is the first game we have finished.

Ratings

Overall 1569th 3.343⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1816th 3.028⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 2204th 2.708⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 574th 3.972⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1350th 3.527⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1343th 2.865⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1206th 3.405⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 45🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

c42
21. Apr 2020 · 01:06 UTC
I dig the art. Concept reminds me of a basic form of Don't Starve. Easily grasped, works well, and beautiful! Would have only wished for more aspects to gameplay than planting and chopping trees. Fits 100% to the theme. Overall, well done!
MajinBuuBop
21. Apr 2020 · 01:08 UTC
I liked the game overall had a nice aesthetic and the lighting was beautiful. Found it difficult to judge when the fire needed stoking.
Crack Head
21. Apr 2020 · 02:23 UTC
Very beautiful game would like there to be more aspects to the gameplay as all you do is chop and plant trees. The game is also very buggy with stoking the fire.
Harambe
21. Apr 2020 · 03:57 UTC
I wish I could cook my weenus in this game, even though it lacks in that area, everything else seems like components of a good game
Bobothegreat
21. Apr 2020 · 04:22 UTC
The tree hit boxes are a little big, but the mechanics are fun :D There def a need for a few more objectives though
WubbaDuck
21. Apr 2020 · 04:31 UTC
I like the idea. The visuals are also quite pleasing. I think the biggest issue I ran into was the hit boxes on the trees seem to be a bit off. I expected to be able to walk behind trees but it seems like they didn't work that way.
BootyGangDisciple
21. Apr 2020 · 05:13 UTC
The artwork was beautifully done in this for sure. I like the animations and sound effects. Definitely had Don't Starve vibes to it. Great game!
AdamCYounis
21. Apr 2020 · 05:28 UTC
I like the concept here. It's a great first effort, and mostly played pretty well. I would have appreciated a little more incentive to explore the world, as the systems pulled the explorable amount of the map in very tightly by even day 2. I think the inputs could have been bound to the same button, as it was actually a little difficult to remember what did what, and I found myself just mashing all of them under pressure, since there's no penalty for doing that. I think with just a little bit more wiggle room to experiment for the player, and a little bit of UX / QA polish, this game would hold my attention for a substantially longer amount of time. Thanks for the game :)
Ladycerberus
21. Apr 2020 · 07:16 UTC
Aesthetic is simple but really cool. I enjoyed playing it and the atmosphere is great to maintain the tension when you are away from fire 🔥
mehrdadsh
21. Apr 2020 · 07:30 UTC
like it.
Nirose
21. Apr 2020 · 07:42 UTC
Simple, but it needed a few more mechanics, there isn't alot to do. I do however, really like the atmosphere, especially when dying.
Gerbo
21. Apr 2020 · 07:50 UTC
Hello, I am Gerbo from Jonas' discord server. as I said there, the graphics are stunning for a jam game. tho I wish there were other things to do other than chop trees and replenish the fire. Nice game, keep it up!
RooftopDog
21. Apr 2020 · 07:54 UTC
It feels a little empty, after a couple minutes playing there isn't much reason to carry on.
winslow
21. Apr 2020 · 07:55 UTC
Overall great game. Tree and walking hit boxes were a tad annoying not a huge deal. The sound effects especially the freezing sound when you died were really good. I enjoyed playing it!
Human Writes Code
21. Apr 2020 · 07:56 UTC
I really like the colours and lighting effects in this one, it really adds to the overall feel of the game. Once I got used to the keys, it was perhaps a little to simple - although I did freeze to death on the third day despite standing right beside a well lit fire. The only thing that I felt was a little annoying were the collisions between the character and the environment. Overall, a very nice looking game with a solid game loop.
circuitbree
21. Apr 2020 · 07:56 UTC
Simple game, but i enjoyed it a lot. Had some issues with stroking the fire, but apart from that it is very relaxing. Great work!
Joaquim_2009
21. Apr 2020 · 08:04 UTC
There is to mush bass in the sounds.And can you make that when you open the journal the text is difficult to read
and can then stop everthing.You can do it with:
Time.timeScale = 0;//To stop the time
Time.timeScale = 1;//To continue the time
wareya
21. Apr 2020 · 08:35 UTC
I'm impressed!
CrishNate
21. Apr 2020 · 11:40 UTC
Good game. I have enjoyed it pretty much. If you planning to continue on it you should add more stuff. Because currently world looks a bit empty.
Eryph
21. Apr 2020 · 11:51 UTC
Pretty cool, but would like just a little more than just chop/put in fire loop. Polish is really nice though, how did you do the light/shadow effect? Unity plugin?
🎤 CZ46
21. Apr 2020 · 11:55 UTC
@eryph We achieved the lighting by using the inbuilt 2D light rendering system in the URP engine. :smile:
Ilimanic
21. Apr 2020 · 12:06 UTC
Good job, dude! Great graphics and nice sounds create a cool atmosphere!
HelmiSetsuna
21. Apr 2020 · 16:00 UTC
The concept quite good, it just that the life decrease quite fast for the first day. The sound fx was really great, the fire particle quite good. The transition between day and night was awesome. It just that the game quite repetitive without additional challenge.
LadMiester
22. Apr 2020 · 03:18 UTC
@bobothegreat @wubbaduck @human-writes-code Thanks for the feedback! We're gonna fix the collisions to the game in the paid DLC starting at $15.99! lmao
Abdurrahman Khallouf
22. Apr 2020 · 06:12 UTC
the set, sounds and the mood are nice...
I got bored at day 3 though. so I just wondered to the left to see how big is the map lol...

I think it needs something else going on IDK...
and with ability to plant trees I think you can play forever without dying?
LadMiester
22. Apr 2020 · 08:13 UTC
@abdurrahman-khallouf Yeah, we're planning on adding some base building stuff, some story, and some enemies. As for the "can you play forever question", the record is 21 days, held by me lmao. The freezing time gets faster everyday. We're gonna change it out for a random weather system tho
OldBlack
22. Apr 2020 · 10:14 UTC
A lovely chill mood to this game and great pixel art. Felt like it needed more to it gameplay-wise, however, such as enemies, having to move camp sites, or other complications. Like I said, mood was nice, though I think it could stand to be improved with added background sound effects (wind, etc.), especially if complemented with extra weather effects (which I see you're considering).
diinki
22. Apr 2020 · 15:33 UTC
Great game, really relaxing. I wish there was more mechanics to keep things interesting, maybe switching things up with the mechanics that do exist! Adding music to the game would also make it a lot more enjoyable! It was well polished though and has potential! Great work :D
turritom
03. May 2020 · 15:57 UTC
nice little game that fits the theme well.
frostByte4k
11. May 2020 · 23:27 UTC
some feed back when you pick up items would be cool the disappearing confused me a bit at first and it kind of takes you out of the experience. But besides that this game is amazing! I think you captured the essence of the survival game genre. Great job.
Emperor Eagle
11. May 2020 · 23:43 UTC
This game is really good! I enjoyed playing it! The graphics were amazing and I found the pixel art really nice and consistent. The lighting was superb if not fantastic in how it casted shadows around the objects. All lighting during the day and night was spot on! All the graphics worked so well together and the audio combined for a really peaceful experience. It really felt like you have crafted a unique world with this game! The menu and font are great, and the ability to check the control at any time is helpful. The game is intuitive and well polished overall!

To improve this game, I would consider some more player feedback when you stoke the fire or pickup a log would be helpful also. At night, consider making the UI's health and wood numbers white (but keep them black at daytime as that worked really well). Some more mechanics (and music) would spice things up, like crafting weapons to take on enemies or whatever would suit your game.

Overall, this is a very good entry that fits the theme well. It feels unique and well crafted. The main mechanic works well and keeps you playing. All aspects work really well together and I'm sure you're really happy with it as it was a pleasure to play! Well done!
🎤 CZ46
11. May 2020 · 23:49 UTC
@emperor-eagle Thank you for the feedback :D
slotha
12. May 2020 · 00:35 UTC
Great Job! I love the idea! the collisions felt a little weird witch made walking around and planting trees a bit annoying to do, I thought there was a special area to do it until I cleared enough space. I think that this game has a great potential! Amazing Job!
JMad
12. May 2020 · 00:43 UTC
No sure what the rule for being allowed to plant a tree was, and the tree colliders were a bit annoying. It was still quite fun to play. Good job :) Lovely art, the trees look really nice. Especially love what you did with the "froze" text!
🎤 CZ46
12. May 2020 · 01:21 UTC
@jmad Collisions were a bit of an issue due to how I did sprite layering, and I didn't have much time to fix how I did it so I made the collisions a bit larger to prevent overlapping sprites (bit of a dodgy fix haha). With the sapling plant, the rules are: "Can't be near a tree, campfire, or other sapling" and "Player has at least 1 log." I think a visual indicator (like a green circle showing the radius that turns red if can't plant) could've benefited the player greatly. I also really enjoyed your game, and i'm really impressed how you managed to stay organised with so many team members lol.