A Shadow In The Night by tripleVisionGames

[raw]
made by tripleVisionGames for LD33 (JAM)
鈥媃ou are the shadow that cast the night. They are merely appetisers, mere mortal morsels to tempt your tongue. But tonight you must make do with what little scraps you can find...

********* CONTROLS *********

Use the mouse to charge jumps and hold down to float in the air - imagine a friendly mix of Desert Golfing, Super Meat Boy and the delightful taste of blood and you're on the right track.

You can have a practice in the title screen if you are unsure how to control it.

I'll make more levels if folks want to play them, I just ran out of time. I would also like to apologise for any bugs that may have slipped in. Once again, game jam conditions do not make for fully tested games.

Have fun you God forsaken bloodsuckers!

*********

Created in 72 hours (only just)

Code, design and art by Andrew Stewart - @triplevisgames on twitter

Sound and Music by James Campbell - @obiwanbalogna on twitter

Special thanks to @ashtom_gva on Twitter for the Mac build. Go follow that guy.

Ratings

Coolness 91% 2
Overall(Jam) 4.06 42
Audio(Jam) 3.91 64
Fun(Jam) 3.99 37
Graphics(Jam) 4.24 128
Innovation(Jam) 4.06 34
Mood(Jam) 4.01 60
Theme(Jam) 4.04 99

Feedback

馃帳 tripleVisionGames
25. Aug 2015 路 00:20 UTC
Please let me know if you can help me upload a Mac or Linux version. I'm using GameMaker: Studio.

Thanks
SecularBaron
25. Aug 2015 路 12:28 UTC
Very well made and polished!
馃帳 tripleVisionGames
25. Aug 2015 路 12:28 UTC
Ok, Mac version is now up. Massive thanks to @ashtom_gva on twitter :D
Sunflower
25. Aug 2015 路 13:54 UTC
My absolute favourite so far; granted, out of only 15 games, but still I really like what you've done here!

The wow:
- sound effects and music (to put it in better perspective: I checked if there's any convenient soundtrack link, and not finding out I just left the game open in background)
- graphics & animation
- all-round-polish

The yay:
- creative and well-executed game mechanics
- well-designed levels

The nay:
- could use some sort of tutorial; but it pales compared to the overall impression

I'd like to see enhanced version, especially with a tutorial and saving + level selection screen (and maybe different zones with different soundtracks, too?)!
NightShadow0
25. Aug 2015 路 14:07 UTC
Clever concept, i like the using of your life as a resource to move.
The controls aren't very intuitive though, and it took me a while to realize you can float because i wasn't sure if i just had the wrong angle/strength to get through level 2. Some sort of guiding arc might have been useful.
Solid entry though, i like the artstyle and music, very Castlevania. Nice work!
foreverisbetter
25. Aug 2015 路 15:00 UTC
Love it. My favourite so far. never played anything quite like it
Saf
25. Aug 2015 路 15:26 UTC
Solid entry! Clever control scheme. It is a great arcade experience. Well done
Mathieu Muller
25. Aug 2015 路 15:41 UTC
Congrats to my first five star in overall. This game is clearly fit for a mobile device. Would buy it if it was on iPhone/Android.

And boy, I didn't expect the sunlight :D.
Legulysse
25. Aug 2015 路 15:45 UTC
Great game over here
janiq
25. Aug 2015 路 15:53 UTC
Very very nice. Everything perfect and screenshake is super :-)
Mr. Jif
25. Aug 2015 路 16:50 UTC
I love the mechanic, although having it explained in game would have been nice, I didn't have too hard of a time figuring it out :) Graphics and Audio were amazing! Well done
randomhuman
25. Aug 2015 路 16:56 UTC
Takes a few tries to get the hang of, but it's super fun when you do! Mua-hua-hua-hua! Love those sound effects!
FiSilva
25. Aug 2015 路 18:33 UTC
I love the art!
Controls are a little hard but I guess that's part of the fun
crucknuk
25. Aug 2015 路 19:30 UTC
Really nice game. Good work !
Gamepopper
25. Aug 2015 路 19:37 UTC
Very well polished game. I like the novel puzzle-platforming idea that you have, and it would've been nice to have a bit more variety (I got as far enough to see the same platforms, people and spikes).
AlexPGilbert
25. Aug 2015 路 21:05 UTC
I love the polish! The game is fun. When I thought the controls were awful at first, but then after the first few levels I felt super bad ass when I timed and landed a jump perfectly. Great job!
SaintHeiser
26. Aug 2015 路 07:11 UTC
Nice atmospreic game! Puzzles are pretty well made =)
Theme also well interpretatied. Good job!
andyman404
26. Aug 2015 路 19:31 UTC
Thanks for putting up the Mac version! I like the movement/blood mechanic. Well done!
GameQuester
26. Aug 2015 路 20:09 UTC
That game is very good and polished. Didn't make it to the end yet, but I will try it later. The sound and graphics really stand out. You really did a great job here.
Kep
27. Aug 2015 路 13:18 UTC
Great animation and mood. Tons of levels. About as much frustration as I would expect from a Golf Sim/Super Meat Boy mix. (Hence my rage quit.) Still certainly one of the better games.

I would suggest you eliminate the retry screen and just respawn the player. That 2 seconds doesn't seem like much, but after seeing it 50 times, it gets annoying. A quit/main menu button on the screen somewhere would be enough.
XaviorPenguin
27. Aug 2015 路 15:04 UTC
Oh yeah...frustrating...as...heck! :) I love it. I was able to get through all the way until I came across a scrolling level, previous levels didn't have a scrolling part, just what you saw on the screen. That was the part that got me to say "F it!" and throw my computer out the window only to see that it burst into flames only to tell me to Retry. Upon hitting Retry, my computer came back to me in its previous glory and this level was back on my screen. Did I do something wrong?

In all seriousness, if this was made in the amount of time given, you did a great job. There is definitely a learning curve but I think once a player gets to that curve, it is going to be a hard game to beat. Sound, graphics, gameplay are all really well done for this small of a game. Good job! I am enjoying it.
dickpoelen
27. Aug 2015 路 17:48 UTC
That was a lot of fun (and pretty!). Two tiny things that would be nice: A reset button (in case you mess up a jump to bad), and maybe have your jump charge just a little faster.
sararyCow
27. Aug 2015 路 21:30 UTC
Innovative, addictive and pretty. What else can be asked?

Solid entry.
Frump
28. Aug 2015 路 03:51 UTC
That was fun. Unique mechanics and quite polished. Took a while to get used to the controls but when I did they felt great. Well done.
careless
28. Aug 2015 路 09:42 UTC
Excellent game, really had lots of fun playing this.

Graphics are spot on, very nice pixel art. Great concept, smooth controls.

Music is good too.

Another great entry, the mechanics could be applied to other themes to create all sorts of fun stuff :D
derr
28. Aug 2015 路 15:44 UTC
Great idea and well executed. It controls very nicely, I love it!
matthias_zarzecki
28. Aug 2015 路 20:22 UTC
Spooky! Nice work :)
inbetweengames
29. Aug 2015 路 10:12 UTC
Wow that was a lot of levels to go through!
Really fun gameplay mechanics and great theme!
OxyOxspring
29. Aug 2015 路 10:14 UTC
Brilliant!
wg_phancock
29. Aug 2015 路 10:19 UTC
Wow, this game was really really nice. Reminds me a lot of our game from last LD. Theme was great, art style was great, mechanics were clever. One annoying thing was not being able to move at all, and landing just outside the range of farmers and needing to mess around trying to do a tiny hop onto them.
Datamosh
29. Aug 2015 路 11:43 UTC
Attack animation is amazing. Great entry, polished and fun!
Sypanite
29. Aug 2015 路 11:56 UTC
That was great - pretty difficult in places.
Tselmek
29. Aug 2015 路 12:28 UTC
Really interesting mechanics, nice graphics and audio too. The level design is really great.
dunin
29. Aug 2015 路 12:58 UTC
Really cool game. Fun and beautiful.
SOmething strange in the difficulty curve (I had a hard level and then two or three easy levels...) but it is the only complaint I have. Great great job!
steve
29. Aug 2015 路 13:01 UTC
Great pixel art and a fun movement mechanic that's tougher to master than it initially appears, good work! I would have liked a quick retry button though for when I mess up! Mwahahaha!
Xanjos
29. Aug 2015 路 21:58 UTC
Lack of a restart function definitely makes it slightly frustrating at times but I absolutely love the gameplay mechanics.
Eldan_Knight
29. Aug 2015 路 22:05 UTC
Yeah, absolutely 5/5! Great idea, perfect performance. Easy to learn and hard to master, like all the best games. Also outstanding graphics and music. It's the best game I have tasted in this Ludum Dare and definitely this should be at the top of many videogame markets! Congratulations, keep on the good work!
OnionBlaze
30. Aug 2015 路 01:45 UTC
Fun game mechanic. Love the pixel art and music also. Great work! :D
KhaoTom
30. Aug 2015 路 16:44 UTC
Excellent game, looks, sounds, plays great!
Sergi Montaner
31. Aug 2015 路 19:01 UTC
Very polished game and the visual feedback in the bloodbar is excelent.
The game mechanic doesn't need explanation.
So congratulations!
HappyHour
01. Sep 2015 路 01:34 UTC
Pleasantly surprised by this one. Unique and responsive control scheme + nicely fitting audio and visuals.
Franklin's Ghost
01. Sep 2015 路 13:55 UTC
This was a great entry with polished graphics and audio. Liked the whole concept of using your life force as your movement and having to be careful with how you approached the later levels so you didn't end up turning to dust. Clever mechanic and nice use of the theme. Have added it to my list of favourites from this Ludum Dare.
Pomb
02. Sep 2015 路 08:02 UTC
This is awesome man! I love the feel. Some added animations on the take down would make it feel even more satisfying to get the kill. Great work!
NidzaKornjaca
03. Sep 2015 路 23:25 UTC
Great idea! The only thing I'd complain about is the exit on escape and the lack of level selection or something like that (you might see the two are somewhat related).

The graphics, mechanics, music and levels are great!
KrisDevelopment
04. Sep 2015 路 20:06 UTC
One of the best i have played so far, very nice!
Slothmachine
13. Sep 2015 路 21:08 UTC
I love your pixel art! The gameplay was solid and challenging. Really polished in so little time. Great Job!
Erkberg
13. Sep 2015 路 21:40 UTC
Very nice idea for controlling the movement of your character. It is pretty hard sometimes, but feels even more rewarding when succeeding. The visuals and audio are also very, very good. Overall, a great game, good job!
shawn42
14. Sep 2015 路 01:28 UTC
Lots of stars in my rating. ;) Very fun and unique.
walsh9
14. Sep 2015 路 05:41 UTC
Really neat movement mechanics. Art and sound are wonderful. Game overall is very polished. Terrific game!
Jan Tuts
14. Sep 2015 路 20:06 UTC
Simply great overall :) Well done!
Jupiter_Hadley
13. Oct 2015 路 15:36 UTC
Lovely game. I included it in my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/K5Eh9xNFJGY