Ghostly Lens by MorePixels

[raw]
made by MorePixels for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

You are a Witch, wanting to start a Ghost Hunting Youtube Channel!

You have a secret advantage, however, as you can summon Ghosts, making your viral success appealingly easy! Just summon ghosts using the pedestal, record them with the video camera, and do tasks around your room in order to appease the ghosts!

Pixel Art, Music, UI, Game Design, and Animation by Luke. https://twitter.com/ArtisticCarCras - https://www.youtube.com/@lukepixelartist/videos

Coding, Game Design by Brock. https://twitter.com/BrockMorePixels

image (4).png

Ratings

Overall 647th 3.5⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Fun 718th 3.317⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 332th 3.646⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Theme 238th 4.098⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 603th 3.707⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Audio 597th 3.171⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Humor 684th 2.859⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 540th 3.598⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 86🗨️

Feedback

Mmm1008fm
15. Apr 2024 · 15:43 UTC
this is a really cool game, I really liked the idea of copying text and putting things in their places. Great!
LDJam user 202408
15. Apr 2024 · 17:51 UTC
Almost managed to beat your highscore!

![ll.PNG](///raw/8a6/13/z/61f49.png)

I think the idea behind the game of a witch becoming a ghost youtuber is pretty funny, the gameplay is just challenging enough to be engaging without getting in the way, beautiful work!
🎤 MorePixels
15. Apr 2024 · 23:21 UTC
@mmm1008fm Awh thank you so much! Too kind!
@0x-void-x0 Oh you almost got it! So close haha! And thank you so much!
Creech_Magoo
16. Apr 2024 · 01:30 UTC
Cool! took me a minute to figure it out despite tutorial but was an overall good time
Literally Void
16. Apr 2024 · 01:34 UTC
It's a fun game. Got 233 points! ("Don't spawn too many ghosts" was just a suggestion... right? ;) )

![Screenshot_20240415_182133.png](///raw/8a5/1/z/6315b.png)

Art and sound design are great! I think it would've been a little better if ghosts could draw in front of the player, but I do understand it would harm readability and probably require more systems.

I spent a lot of time playing this game, haha.
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 01:36 UTC
@literally-void 👀 Yea we figured out that was possible with more ghosts haha! Thanks for the kind words and the playtime!
Esther128
16. Apr 2024 · 02:35 UTC
Love the cats!!!!♥
Jordan Costello
16. Apr 2024 · 03:04 UTC
Had a lot of fun with this. Made a stack trace on first attempt, went around doing all of the things to calm the ghosts before summoning any for a while, then on first summon got the crash.

Visuals and books remind me of King's Quest 3: love it! Having the different methods to calm the ghosts is a nice touch, and made for good variety.

The cats and ghosts are cute. I was imagining doing 1 rapid pet per key press, and picturing the witch scrambling to pet the cats very quickly was pretty funny :)

Ended up with a 120 score. Fun stuff. Having to remember to click on the books sometimes to bring the cursor focus in was challenging to remember, but that just forced me to pay close attention which was fine.
Merb1000
16. Apr 2024 · 03:33 UTC
I had a fun time with this game! It was fun running around the room and playing various minigames while pushing my luck to spawn as many ghosts as possible. Great job!
One thing I'd change is to not make the typing case sensitive. I was really confused at first why it wasn't working, but I guess that is my own fault.
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 04:07 UTC
@jordan-costello I'm glad you liked it! Yea the having to click on the book was something that was annoying i agree. I tried making it work where you didnt have to but I just couldnt make it work for some reason, maybe i just missed something when making the game for it to work. But other than that very happy that you enjoyed the game! :D
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 04:08 UTC
@merb1000 Yea the case sensitive thing was something we debated over when making the game, ended up just leaving it as one extra little thing to make it harder as it sometime was a little easy we needed to try and bump the difficulty a little. Maybe it shouldn't have been that though. Now we know for future projects though!
crylica
16. Apr 2024 · 04:10 UTC
Not sure why but the game crashed in web browser. I like to think I'm giving the cat 10 headpats to appease the ghosts haha
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 04:13 UTC
@crylica Hmmmm not sure what caused that, and yes that is 100% what you are doing, patting the cats makes the ghosts happier :)
Leiv Erik
16. Apr 2024 · 06:09 UTC
Cool game!

maybe have different phrases to type would be good! :)

Enjoyed it! good job!
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 06:14 UTC
@leiv-erik There is a few phrases for the main bookshelves but we thought having the same phrase for the summoning would be good because its a longer phrase which takes time, kind of a risk reward, takes time but you get a better score multi! But very happy you enjoyed the game!
Radjax
16. Apr 2024 · 07:03 UTC
Super cute game, I loved all the different menchanics for reducing anger, and finding that fine balance on number of ghosts, 111 on my first play. Nice work!
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 07:13 UTC
Glad you enjoyed @radjax great score for a first play!
Danonino
16. Apr 2024 · 08:04 UTC
The amount of guidance I needed to read at the start was a bit much, but the game was pretty fun and fit the theme really well. maybe the guides could be introduced bit by bit as they appear in the game.

I see that you put a lot of effort into this good job!
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 08:07 UTC
@danonino Yea in retrospect it should have been, that system was just implemented quickly to have something. I kind of started a new tutorial system with the popup at the start of 'proceed to the pedestal' and the 'hold e on the camera to record' but yea 100% if i was to redo this the tutorial would be different!
PromZona
16. Apr 2024 · 08:11 UTC
Good among us vibes with running around and completing small mini games. Would be cool to have 3 mini games, so it is not that repetitive. Still liked it. Good job
outstar
16. Apr 2024 · 08:23 UTC
I got 115 on my first try, planning to beat the dev score next :D Cool idea, the general mechanic somehow reminded me of Phasmaphobia (with a certain moment when a ghost turns violent and wants to chase you). Awesome that you found time to add in sound effects, really made it whole feel more alive. That was fun!
GettingRekt
16. Apr 2024 · 08:33 UTC
Really good game, with a great atmosphere. It was quite innovative and plenty of polish. I also like the fact that there was an extended "how to play". Definitely something I will use going forward. Splendid!
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 08:36 UTC
@promzona We did want to add a 3rd minigame but we weren't really sure what to add, which is why we ended up with the petting cats (Which I think is pretty cool). But 100% a 3rd minigame would of been cool!

@outstar I haven't actually played Phasmophobia but to be compared (sort of) to that in a positive way is an honour. Glad that you enjoyed the game!
🎤 MorePixels
16. Apr 2024 · 08:52 UTC
@gettingrekt Very glad you enjoyed the game!
Pusheeneiro
16. Apr 2024 · 10:21 UTC
Great idea, I feel Content Warning inspiration
OlenIkimid
16. Apr 2024 · 11:49 UTC
Great work with the art, audio, and theming in general!

It'd be interesting to see how the strategic side of it could be improved/expanded upon. For example, being able to move cats around and have multiple cameras, with the idea being that maybe the ghosts are "afraid" of cats and therefore their movements prioritize go wherever cats AREN'T (and cats, naturally, will wander around after you've placed them).

Also, instead of just holding E to film, what if it casted a cone of vision so you'd have to keep the ghosts inside of the cone to get any score (while the act of TRYING to film, even if they are outside of the vision cone, still makes the ghosts angry)?

Anyway, just some thoughts on how some changes could add a lot more replayable :slight_smile:

Nice idea here with potential for more in-depth gameplay!
Memnarch
16. Apr 2024 · 17:21 UTC
I like the art style and technique for using typing as actions. ~~Some minor things like visual feedback when doing the quicktimes on cats/cameras and audio where not present.~~ But the game was enjoyable.

EDIT: Turns out, I had my audio setup messed up. The game has audio and there is a very satisfying confirmation pling in addition to the soothing and calm magic music in the background. There are also numbers below the QT events which show you the progress, which I did not notice the first time around. Scores adjusted accordingly :)
derllie
17. Apr 2024 · 11:12 UTC
i love this 2d graphics.. such a special atmosphere
Poutine Studio
17. Apr 2024 · 11:34 UTC
Wow the graphics are great! the game loop was good too. The game seemed to crash when I spamed "pet a cat" maybe something to look into. Good Job!
P3ngui
17. Apr 2024 · 14:42 UTC
I was so scared when I misstyped something and the Ghost suddenly attacked me! I didn't expect that kind of a jump scare but I kinda enjoyed it :D

I liked the GameLoop, pretty straight forward (which I like). I didnt understood the cat-petting-countdown first, but I was even happier after i worked it out and had a successfull petting experience
LDJam user 372231
17. Apr 2024 · 16:47 UTC
Haha I liked that you added 'quaeso' to be polite to the ghosts
OdinVII
17. Apr 2024 · 16:55 UTC
Very cool concept!! The only issue i had were crystalls)))) had to check everyone to be pixel perfect in their spot but overall the game is fun and managing optimal number of ghosts is pretty fun
Pigeonic
18. Apr 2024 · 15:07 UTC
The pixel art is so nice and well made, I had a lot of fun playing this! It is a solid game, would love to see how you progress with this project (maybe ghosts with different likes or dislikes or a timer/minigame to keep the ghosts summoned?). Keep up the good work!
Baluj
19. Apr 2024 · 03:25 UTC
It's an interesting concept, I like art. Good job!
LiquidFunk
20. Apr 2024 · 18:22 UTC
Interesting take on the summoning idea, I liked this a lot! Took me a while to figure out how the game worked though
K-toll
22. Apr 2024 · 21:03 UTC
Clearly I'm too bad to get into youtube, more preoccupied with cats and mini games instead of summoning and filming ghosts. :)

The soundtrack is a bit weak.

I like the pixel graphic style, you nailed it!
Derpmeowmeow
03. May 2024 · 15:39 UTC
I think the quests are quite fun to do while making taking shots of the ghosts! It would be great if I didn't have to wait to do more tasks tho! But overall, nice game!