Empty Voice by Asieke

[raw]
made by Asieke for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

Premise

Some entity has trapped you within a dreamscape as they are attempting to add you to their collection. Each time you fall, another piece of you is captured. Each time you defeat the boss, you regain something that was taken.

Objective

Defeat the boss three times before falling 16 times

Controls

||Controller|Keyboard| |-|-|-| |move|d-pad or L-stick|Arrows| |jump|A|Z| |attack|X|X| |dash|L-trigger or L-bumper|C| |heal|B|A|

Notes: - Dash is unlocked in stage 2 - Dash has I-frames - Heal is unlocked in stage 3

Spawn_Screenshot.png

Boss_Screenshot.png

Ratings

Overall 606th 3.204⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 682th 2.778⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 648th 2.759⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 753th 2.648⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 244th 4.019⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 315th 3.37⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 640th 2.25⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 528th 3.333⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

Kate666
Oct 06th · 20:58 UTC
Very beautiful art!
But in my opinion, the movement is very slow and not quite mobile (
naru
Oct 07th · 08:00 UTC
The art is so nice ^^
JiPark
Oct 07th · 11:01 UTC
slightly awkward controls, art is so pretty
Saering
Oct 07th · 11:05 UTC
The game is beautiful, and the music is weirdly addictive, I like it.

Overall I think the main issue is the lack of feedback: attacking mobs does nothing apart from pushing them away (no damage feedback, no screen shake, or something), and same goes for the boss, it's very hard to understand how you get hit and what are its attack hitboxes.

The movement is very slow, which can be frustrating considering you have to walk through all the level to get to the boss again. The dash helps a lot as it has no cooldown and travels a nice distance, but the base movement speed should definitely be increased.

Anyway, always easy to point out the negative points, but overall the game is cool and a solid entry for a solo dev! Congratulations!
Euler Moises
Oct 07th · 11:13 UTC
A great way to save development time: Use the same scenario and just increase the difficulty. Great idea for a game jam. You were clever!
I loved the delicate art and the sweet, "empty" soundtrack. It matched the game's ambiance.
The "me dolls" are a bit overdone, but in the end, I managed to complete the mission.

Congratulations!
LRDJJ
Oct 07th · 11:21 UTC
As others have said, the art is soooo nice. Amazing work.
I'd love a windows build as in browser is a little laggy for me. Either way, nice work!
fabY
Oct 10th · 11:07 UTC
I love the music is it kalimba is it glockenspiel or something else I don't know but it fits very well the atmosphere, the art is very solid as well especially for a solo gamejam. The movement is slow but the enemies are slow too so it doesn't bother me. Good job and great way to have a polished game by using the same loop with details like the previous attempts on a cell as we traverse the first room.

I agree with what other are saying. Other then that it would be good to add a way to change controls (maybe just provide another layout) because many of us are not on a QWERTY setting nor have a controller. Good job overall very solid piece !
Yueyang Tian
Oct 10th · 12:37 UTC
The art style is simple but beautiful. As for me is better to have a beginner's tutorial to start the game,but is not that hard to begin with. Thank you for your nice work!
BlackCat508
Oct 11th · 06:44 UTC
I really like the art!
zowell
Oct 11th · 11:51 UTC
Nice art, but the controls are very awkward — the character moves too slowly, and I didn’t like the jump.
ZedGame
Oct 11th · 11:51 UTC
Beautiful art and character design! I kept on trying to find a way to go a little faster though, is there one?
Crowelian
Oct 11th · 12:01 UTC
The music and sound design was really nice!
azahara
Oct 11th · 18:37 UTC
The art is pretty nice! As other said, I feel the movement too slow.
AldenWitt
Oct 12th · 03:48 UTC
It's a pretty game, and the visual world does a lot to give a cohesive sense of vibe. The music is generally nice and chill. The lack of feedback, either audio or visual, makes things a bit less immersive. It's hard to tell how far your hits reach, and you wind up taking sudden damage without realizing it.
Inertia or knock-back, and some sfx around a hit would do a lot to bring the feel of the game together.

That said, the game has a distinct aesthetic feel to it that's pretty compelling. Good job!
stefaink
Oct 12th · 08:39 UTC
Nice palette colors
PieRo_PBeS_studio
Oct 13th · 19:11 UTC
xhe aesthetics are really beautiful and intriguing. The music is successful. But the character is a bit stiff and it's not easy to play this kind of game when there is no impact and no feeling of resistance.
Katan
Oct 14th · 18:00 UTC
ВАУ ЭТО ЗАТЯГИВАЮЩАЯ ИГРА.Больше всего мне понравилась музыка.
Flying Butter Studio
Oct 14th · 19:07 UTC
harder and harder each time, nice idea! Like the concept, that's a good game for me, fun to play. I would like a character moving a little faster but that's not a really big problem. Thank you and congrats! :smile:
Arwen Sylveck
Oct 17th · 03:17 UTC
Really love the idea behind the game. Maybe it's not my genre, but I found the game quite difficult and did not beat the big guy more than once. It was especially difficult to deal with the flying enemy since there was no way to attack upwards. Overall, I think this is a well-executed game in a genre I don't normally play.
stesim
Oct 19th · 12:51 UTC
Excellent visuals and interesting concept. I felt like the movement was a bit too slow and the controls were really awkward for me. Nevertheless, I would say it's a solid entry, congrats.