Ludum Dante’s Inferno by VainCil

[raw]
made by VainCil for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

In this free adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, you can’t count on Virgil to protect you, as you go deeper and deeper through the Nine Circles of Hell. Find the gates (they will open when you are close) while avoiding demons to descend into the Earth and, eventually, reach the Purgatory and Heaven.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the poem, therefore my version might not be totally faithful to the original.

ludum-dante-inferno.jpg

Real talk: this is my first 3D game, and I used a language/framework made for web applications: Elm. It was surprisingly not so hard, thanks to ianmackenzie’s packages including elm-3d-scene, but it’s not a game framework, so it’s as polished as I had time to make it. It was actually really nice thanks to Elm’s awesome developer experience. No sneaky bugs or obscure errors, even if your code is ugly; perfect for extreme conditions like a Ludum Dare game jam.

No audio, sadly, I had enough work with the whole 3D thing. Feel free to give the lowest score in Audio, as omitting the score will just make it longer to reach 20 ratings!

Bugfix: I changed a tiny bit of code in order to recalculate a random position for the enemies when replaying after dying. Before that, the enemies would stay at the same place, so if you happened to have one right next to the spawn point, you would be out of luck and would need to hit F5 in order to truly reset everything.

Hope y’all like this!

Ratings

Overall 816th 2.813⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 816th 2.604⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 796th 2.522⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 473th 3.542⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 813th 2.542⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 700th 1.667⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Humor 556th 2.139⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 497th 3.167⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 235915
26. Apr 2021 · 06:39 UTC
Not a simple game, but not enough music
drom1x
26. Apr 2021 · 09:27 UTC
Nice idea, at first I couldn't understand what to do but then I realized
Ace17
26. Apr 2021 · 16:54 UTC
I like how it looks !
Have you considered randomizing the location of the holes ?
AndyKSWong
27. Apr 2021 · 03:39 UTC
Cool concept and nice job building a 3D game in Elm! As a web developer, I always wanted to try Elm.
Andreia
27. Apr 2021 · 04:00 UTC
Cool experience. Felt like wandering endlessly for an escape which seems fitting to the reference
🎤 VainCil
27. Apr 2021 · 07:54 UTC
@ace17 Thanks! I may have, but I’m kinda glad I didn’t do that, because as the game can be unforgiving sometimes, it’s nice to be able to memorize the position of the holes.
🎤 VainCil
27. Apr 2021 · 07:55 UTC
@andykswong Do it! It’s really awesome, even for a 3D game (but even more for a web app). Thanks for the comment.
badabooom63
29. Apr 2021 · 13:21 UTC
Good experience, but after limbo always have "You died in hell". Is it intended? I jisst use black hole in Limbo level...
UPD: I refreshed the page, and now I finished the game. It was quite interesting experience, I liked it!
![3.png](///raw/cff/b1/z/4190c.png)But before refreshing, I died like 15 times just in the level transitions.
mrosegreen
29. Apr 2021 · 19:33 UTC
The amount of control required to hit the goal made it quite challenging but it felt rewarding to successfully evade the enemies.
🎤 VainCil
29. Apr 2021 · 19:38 UTC
@badabooom63 Thanks for sticking to it! It was actually kind of a bug, the position of enemies was not randomized when hitting Enter to play again… only when refreshing the page. Glad you liked it!
TheGreenWorm
01. May 2021 · 10:50 UTC
The idea is nice, and having a first person dodging game is quite uncommon. The only thing that holds me back is the fact that the levels are quite simple and the entry invisible, it feels like searching for an invisible needle in a haystack (and I personally find this more tedious than fun)
LeviDSmith
02. May 2021 · 01:00 UTC
Neat game. First I got "suck in limbo" lol and then died in lust.
🎤 VainCil
02. May 2021 · 07:03 UTC
@thegreenworm Thanks, that makes me want to make a post compo version! It can be a bit tedious and monotonous, I'm thinking about ways to make it more fun.
WhiteCubeGames
02. May 2021 · 07:12 UTC
Well, probably I didn`t understand anything
Togis
03. May 2021 · 11:05 UTC
We played your game in multiplayer two days ago during our stream. Here is a link to the exact place in the video archive if you wish to see it again: https://www.youtube.be/watch?v=aC3sZsRjx5g&t=3120s

Very good for your fist 3d game! Congratulation. We got lost a few times and didn't reach heaven but I'm sure with a bit more practice I could have done it!

As a small improvement, I would suggest to add more variety in your world texture to help the player locate where they are. It would help a lot.
Dmitry Mozgin
03. May 2021 · 16:16 UTC
Congratulations on your first 3d game! Sorry that I haven't finished the game, but I think with some practice I'll do it. I think if you've added some elements in the environment, it would improve the game. Nice take on the theme!
🎤 VainCil
03. May 2021 · 20:59 UTC
@Togis Thanks for playing and for the feedback! It made me realize the player can be pretty lost, and as you’re saying, more variety in the textures would help. But I kinda like this feeling, especially as the levels start to be not so big.
🎤 VainCil
03. May 2021 · 21:04 UTC
@dmitry-mozgin Thank you! Yes it’s missing some things for the mood, I’m jealous of your music!
Dmitry Mozgin
04. May 2021 · 11:31 UTC
@vaincil thank you, but you shouldn't be jealous because I'm a beginner musician. If you have never created a music track, check a Jonas Tyroller's tutorial (www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRMmJnpknY). It's great.
CinderBlock
12. May 2021 · 00:15 UTC
Between the simple controls, simple graphics, and simple design, this game drew me in until I was able to get to the end. I couldn't exit without knowing what was at the end. I think this is because I knew precisely how many "levels" there would be because the game is based on a known story.

Congratulations on making a game in an engine not designed for games!