Life Is Short by ShaunJS

[raw]
made by ShaunJS for LD34 (COMPO)
A game about growing older. Infused with feelings about time passing faster the older you get.

A top down action RPG where you age over time instead of level. Ageing happens faster the older you are. Age affects your stats, first for the better, and then...

Two button controls, left click moves you around, right click interacts with certain things and targets enemies.

Your life is scored at the end, and your accomplishments logged, was it all worthwhile?

Have fun!

(PS. There's also a dragon.)

DEV STUFF:
Whoa, this one was a rollercoaster for me, it really only came together in the last couple of hours. More than any LD before I've felt like there was so many ideas and things I wanted to do that didn't make it in. I think in the end I managed to get enough of what I wanted in there to make it feel like a proper 'thing'. Really doubted I'd get there but I think it turned out ok. Want to continue working on this one!

A lot of it lacks sooo much polish because there were so many features to build. Such is the way of things! Probably most ambitious I've been for LD.

twitter: @ShaunSpalding

Ratings

Coolness 49% 1391
Overall 4.05 38
Audio 3.72 82
Fun 3.84 71
Graphics 3.51 273
Humor 2.85 268
Innovation 3.58 229
Mood 3.88 55
Theme 4.09 161

Feedback

馃帳 ShaunJS
14. Dec 2015 路 01:28 UTC
I did it... D:
Devark
14. Dec 2015 路 04:19 UTC
Interesting take on the theme and scoring system. I died at 52 having trained to perfection, travelled far and wide and then buried with 192 gold!
ORECROS
14. Dec 2015 路 05:08 UTC
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Mouse Event for Glob Right Released
for object obj_gamestart:

Push :: Execution Error - Variable Get 100000.active(100008, -2147483648)
at gml_Object_obj_gamestart_Mouse_57
############################################################################################

I just died, then I tried to right click. not sure if you could recreate but here you go
ORECROS
14. Dec 2015 路 05:17 UTC
Let me first just say, you taught me game maker and you're the reason I took part in this contest, and thank you so much for doing it. You're awesome. right onto the game
The look and game feel are both pretty good. I feel happy just playing it. At first...
Then, you run into an enemy, have no idea how strong it is, then can't escape from it after the second you get within range. It's a bit of a drag. In addition, you have to hold left click basically all the time. Using a mouse is kind of cheating for the "two buttons" thing, but hey, what works works, and "growing" fits in nicely. I'm about to look through your source, just to see how you did some stuff.
Andrew Deem
14. Dec 2015 路 10:59 UTC
Good stuff, Shaun. Looks like something that would need more than 48 hours to make. Haha. I think a map would be nice, but other than that nice work!
Andrew Deem
14. Dec 2015 路 11:02 UTC
Nevermind about the map. I just noticed it in the ZIP. Nice touch! :)
Skaz
14. Dec 2015 路 13:37 UTC
Followed the stream while developing my own game, was really curious of what it would be like. And it's awesome! Dead at 65 of natural causes. Dead a 39 killed by an angry goblin.

You nailed it, I really want to play more to see those dragons and die of old age at 96 in my bed. Keep up Shaun!
cimbaman
14. Dec 2015 路 14:01 UTC
Loved the game.
It is very interesting to see the final product.
DesignerNap
14. Dec 2015 路 19:24 UTC
a LOT of systems in there! Great work buddy! :)
thebrickanator
14. Dec 2015 路 19:45 UTC
This game is really nice ;) I like the message and presentation behind it... but that character doesn't sleep, he hibernates! :P
CodeNMore
14. Dec 2015 路 21:19 UTC
Great art, great music, good fit to the theme, and very meaningful! Loved it!
Tom
14. Dec 2015 路 23:09 UTC
I have watched you do several LDs now and I finally decided to try one for myself. Thank you for all your tutorials and streaming and for all the questions of mine you have answered. Also the game is great! Thanks for making it!
Jebby
15. Dec 2015 路 06:05 UTC
Deeeep
ehgoodenough
15. Dec 2015 路 08:00 UTC
Wow. I need to sit and think about life for a bit now. :p
ColdStone
15. Dec 2015 路 19:24 UTC
Amazing game <3
gv1351
16. Dec 2015 路 10:25 UTC
What a nice game. Shaun you always make very good games. But what is the use of potions if can't use them? Still a very good game and I love the piano background music. Well Done mr. Spalding
CrownCity
16. Dec 2015 路 18:54 UTC
Yeah I became 70! I really liked this concept, especially how the character get's slower and grey once he's older. Plus the new abilities were a nice touch too!
SkullPixel
16. Dec 2015 路 22:02 UTC
Well done! I never made it past 50, but it has a cool difficulty curve as you get older and weaker. I murdered a chicken.
PickleCrew
16. Dec 2015 路 23:13 UTC
I can't even... this game is just so good. 9/10 needs some actual ranged weapons though.
Allthebees
17. Dec 2015 路 00:53 UTC
Fun game with a nice difficulty curve. It crashed for me a few times, but other than that very fun to play.
Tapehead
17. Dec 2015 路 09:50 UTC
nice game! i enjoyed it! :)
馃帳 ShaunJS
17. Dec 2015 路 13:59 UTC
What were the crashes if you can remember, Allthebees?
silkworm_sweatshop
17. Dec 2015 路 16:15 UTC
Great submission Shaun! Had your stream on in the background while making my game. Probably would've never got into gamemaker without you and now I've finished my first project :D.
redmassacre
17. Dec 2015 路 22:27 UTC
hi, gm bro)
nice mood and music and combat system - and source)
And thank you for youtube and GMS humble bundle megasale )
Drury
18. Dec 2015 路 20:03 UTC
This is pretty well rounded with surprising depth for a compo game. Great job.
DaneelGavin
19. Dec 2015 路 09:13 UTC
Created account just to say fantastic game. many lives spent :D few errors though, seem to be focused around picking up of weapons or spells while using attacks.
Catblocker
20. Dec 2015 路 13:18 UTC
Score: 29506
Nice game shaun!
Loved the calm music and the overall feel of the game.
Would be nice if the player sprite changed noticable when he get older. For example that he have lots of hair when he is 20, lost a little bit when he is 40, grey hair when he is 50+ or something like that. So you can really feel like he is getting older.
PeteDS
20. Dec 2015 路 13:42 UTC
Wow this is amazing...
TheMeorch
20. Dec 2015 路 19:22 UTC
Great execution of a great idea -- it really conveys the meaning nicely through gameplay. You've already got an impressive number of systems in play here, and I'm glad you want to keep working on this.
馃帳 ShaunJS
20. Dec 2015 路 20:18 UTC
Catblocker, it's subtle unless your'e looking for it but that's actually exactly what happens! =)
Diel Mormac
23. Dec 2015 路 03:11 UTC
Charismatic Game!

Beautiful music and really fun!

Played at least 5 times :DD

What you think about adding bosses and generating random maps?

Congratulations Shaun!
gregtruc
31. Dec 2015 路 14:09 UTC
Wow... It is always impressive to see what you can do in 48 hours. Incredible game.
rzuf
03. Jan 2016 路 15:23 UTC
Wow, this is fantastic! Game feels great, music is cool, graphics are pretty decent (I love your trees for some reason).
Would very much like to see a bigger game made out of this, with many interesting places and events happening around to explore. :3

NPCs bounding boxes (for clicking on them) could be a tad bigger.
The map is tremendously handy.

Uh, is there really a dragon around? Hope you are not trolling good sir, as I intend to spend some more time searching for it.
Kudos!
FireTwin
03. Jan 2016 路 17:01 UTC
Really enjoyed exploring in your game and the fact that you can't see everything in one life really fits with the message of the game. The music, short lifespan, and big world, all hit home about the frailty of life. Really nice game man!
z3
08. Jan 2016 路 17:33 UTC
really nice game. I like the idea of growing with age and the other activities you can do in the world. I played a similar one here in LD, and he used a random creation in the world, maybe it could be a plus to add to create a more random activity to this game. I enjoyed it :)