Ghost Gambit by Shaggy

[raw]
made by Shaggy for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

Moon Pic.PNG

Once upon a year, the full moon glows mysteriously, and for all the still living it is but another spectacle to wonder. But for all those who sleep peacefully in their graves, a certain song is heard for only them to answer;

“Hear me o’ hear me, Spirits of the dead

Thy grave is not yours to keep

As soon you’re more than the living can handle

Let go of the light, let go of your place

Your time has come, nothingness awaits”


Ghost Far Away.png

You are a newly awoken spirit of the dead, finding yourself without a proper grave for people to mourn and remember you by. As by the law of the living, you will never succumb to true death, until you are forgotten. And all you have to show them living people that you exist, is by your gravestone!

Though you are not the only one that find yourself in this... peculiar situation. You and several other unliving beings has seemingly lost your own grave – and as you all soon realise, there seem to not be enough graves for you all to claim one for yourself!

In order for you to not become forgotten, you must claim a grave before anyone else does. But it’s not as easy as it seems to be. A curse has been put upon the grave in order to repel your kind, and in order to break it you must bring light with you in order to claim it as yours.

Grave.png

But you must hurry! As you are not the only one that wants to stay amongst the living.

The culling of the dead has begun.


Controls

Keyboard

Movement: WASD

Look around: Left and right arrow keys

Jump: Space

Proximity: Pick up candle / Ignite from fire pit / Extinguish other ghosts candle / Claim grave

Spectator after claiming a grave: WASD to fly, Space and Shift to go up and down, right mouse button + mouse move to look around.

Controller / Touch

Movement: Left joystick

Look Around: Right joystick

Jump: A (xbox) X (ps) Red/Blue (touch)

Proximity: Pick up candle / Ignite from fire pit / Extinguish other ghosts candle / Claim grave

Spectator after claiming a grave: Left joystick to fly, right joystick to look around

Firee.png


Online Play

Group Shot.png

Play against your friends and find out which one of you who deserves to stay unalive! (Or play against bots that'll make you feel better than ever!)


Technical

This game was fully developed in our own WebGL engine.


Developer notes

We started this jam with a more developed engine than we have had previously, with a built in editor ready, we felt confident that we could get lots done! And we really did, but we still didn't quite reach our original game idea. Taking on netcode, bots and an idea including multiple rounds with eliminations was a bit too much.

Our original idea, as you can read from the description, is that there is supposed to be less graves available than the number of players, and when the last grave is claimed, the remaining players would be knocked out. This would continue until only one player is the only one standing. Since we were not able to complete this mechanic, we settled for allowing all players to claim graves, and added a time summary for how long it took for every player to claim a grave instead.

We have a couple of

Known bugs as of now

  • Going to the menu and clicking start while in a local game with bots will break the game and the website will have to be reloaded.

  • Bots will stop updating once the player has ascended / claimed a grave.

  • Other online players that claim a grave while the player is spectating will not ascend. Meaning only the last player will get to the time summary.


Updates

3/10 - 23

We have now created a new subdomain(https://updated.rlyeh.nu/) which contains fixes. This first update contains the following: - Fixed ascending of others while in spectate mode.

  • Fixed other online players that claim a grave while the player is spectating will not ascend. Meaning only the last player will get to the time summary.

  • Sync start times.


Credits

Art

All textures and models are made by @Ambly and @Tamomi during the jam!

Sounds

We have not made any of the sounds or music in the game, here are the links to the resources we have used.

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/piano-suspense-shock-95515/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/classic-ghost-sound-95773/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/classic-ghost-sound-95773/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/classic-ghost-sound-95773/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/blowing-out-candlewav-14441/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/match-lighting-candle-81020/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/small-artisanal-oven-at-night-23698/

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/ahhhh-37191/

Music

https://pixabay.com/music/scary-childrens-tunes-dark-ambient-horror-cinematic-halloween-atmosphere-scary-118585/

https://pixabay.com/music/modern-classical-simple-piano-melody-9834/

Ratings

Overall 808th 3.3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1021th 2.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 516th 3.425⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1025th 2.825⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 364th 3.952⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 549th 2.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 427th 3.69⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Saskle
11. Oct 2023 · 18:41 UTC
Nice game! Unfortunately there wasn't anyone online to play with me when I gave it a try and I didn't figure out how to play with bots, so I'm sure I didn't get the full experience. Nevertheless it seems like a fun game to play with friends! The only feedback I have is that movement is a little wonky, and I get often stuck behind props - though that might add to the experience if you're trying to be first to get to a grave. ;) Will check at a different time to find players!
FunnyPumpkin
11. Oct 2023 · 18:43 UTC
Funny game, but so much to improve
YakovDavis
11. Oct 2023 · 18:43 UTC
Too scary
WiredOverload
11. Oct 2023 · 19:18 UTC
Interesting game idea with the original goal being a hectic minigame battle royal type game. Unfortunately I couldn't find where to add bots so my impressions were just that one playing myself. Once I figured out the actual goal of the game, to collect fire and place it on a grave, I was able to do so consistently in about 6 seconds, so I'm not sure there would have been much multiplayer interaction anyway. I really enjoyed the environment, but for a game all about sprinting to two close locations, the occasional branch that stops you dead in your tracks can be a little rage inducing. I think some simple changes like requiring the player to get multiple graves would have gotten you closer to the competitive game that was the original goal, but game jams are all about triage so I think you should still be happy with what you've managed to create, especially when you're using a new engine. Good job overall!
rongon
11. Oct 2023 · 20:05 UTC
Congratz on making the multiplayer game with bots (they didn't show a lot of challenge, but still I didn't expect to have bots at all). It's hard to try the Ludum Dare multiplayer games solo, but nevertheless I liked the vibe and music of the game.
The goal of the game is not clear at the start, but when I realized that I need just to get a candle and go near a grave, it was super easy to finish the game. You should have bring more challenge, and also some more interaction with the other players. With the easy way out, I'm not even focussing at the other players, and I'm just running towards the grave. Should it be a deadmatch game or just sprinting and finish round in 10s game?
Good luck with your engine, looking forward to see your future games :)
GodDoesPlayDice
12. Oct 2023 · 14:46 UTC
The fact that it's your engine and even with netcode, it's very impressive! I wish you luck in its development
m0zrat
12. Oct 2023 · 20:31 UTC
Didn't have anyone to play with, but the engine looks and feels amazing!
🎤 Shaggy
19. Oct 2023 · 08:01 UTC
@saskle @funnypumpkin @yakovdavis @wiredoverload @rongon @goddoesplaydice @m0zrat Thank you everyone for the nice feedback! We were hoping people could play the online play with their teammates or find open lobbies but maybe that was a bit optimistic 😁

@wiredoverload The graves can only be taken by one player so were hoping that would create a little bit of competition!
TanShujie
19. Oct 2023 · 16:12 UTC
I must say, this game is visually impressive. It's remarkable how they were able to create such a captivating scene in such a short amount of time. The attention to detail is commendable and it truly made a lasting impression on me. Additionally, the gameplay is straightforward and easy to grasp, which adds to the overall enjoyment. I genuinely appreciate the simplicity and directness of it. I invite you to come and experience our game as well; I think you'll really enjoy it.
RubyDaPrincess
19. Oct 2023 · 16:28 UTC
Its super impressive you made this on your own engine. Amazing work, very fun vibe!
Steve7411
19. Oct 2023 · 16:36 UTC
I really like the environment and character art. This seems like a really promising idea, and with a little additional work could be a great multiplayer experience. Good job on getting the multiplayer code working during the jam!
ThorPalsson
19. Oct 2023 · 18:36 UTC
Woah super impressive doing this in your custom engine, fun game and the online part worked flawlessly very impressive!
Anchry
19. Oct 2023 · 18:37 UTC
Impressive work you've done with your engine, and making a multiplayer game for a gamejam as well is quite the feat in itself. Good job!
Jonathan Lorenz
19. Oct 2023 · 19:39 UTC
Good work on making a multiplayer game! Too bad I didn't had the chance to test it with other players. I really like the music which adds a lot to the mood of the game. Can't say much about my experience since it was only in solo, but the product seems nice. Good job!
LDJam user 249050
19. Oct 2023 · 19:59 UTC
An interesting take on the "musical chairs" game, I think it could benefit from multiple rounds, especially as I'm playing against bots by myself. Some clearer feedback on making it to the grave would also be welcome.

Great graphics, I like the spirit design. Also works seamlessly in my browser, which web games always don't.

Controls are a bit floaty, would've liked them tighter.

High points for mood, the poem in the description really made me excited to play this.