The Summoning of Dagan by alezayas

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

Travel to a forgotten island in search of your missing sister.

Controllers: ARROWS + SPACE BAR.

Please download zip for full version.

Ratings

Given 9🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

dedos
15. Apr 2024 · 18:43 UTC
cool minimalist art is a pity no sounds I think the eight-bit zombie screams would be very suitable.A little annoying that when you die is restart at the very beginning given that the game requires a very fast reaction and no right to error.Especially when you go to a new location. Also a little strange that you can not shoot up and down looks like an artificial complication of the game
🎤 alezayas
15. Apr 2024 · 22:15 UTC
@dedos thanks for the feedback! This was our first jam and we did encounter some technical difficulties but most of all we only had saturday and sunday to finish the game. Honestly the idea was to hunt for items that you would later use but ended up being a lot more than we could chew so we kinda added the gun mostly to give it a mechanic. I was made in Pixelart and GameMaker from zero with out own hands! Thanks for the reply!
LDJam user 237945
26. Apr 2024 · 20:27 UTC
Congrats of Your first game jam! The base was good, and love the retro vibes as well as scene switching.
Prismapunch
26. Apr 2024 · 20:50 UTC
I love the art style and the music, seems very mysterious! Not shooting up or down is something that also caught me up, but I rapidly got used to it. Looks like you forgot to remove a transition from where you find the key, you can just walk through the wall (added later in development?). Don't see much use of the theme besides the backstory, would have been pretty cool with puzzles or a longer game! Nice base.
TheSmellofOxygen
26. Apr 2024 · 21:48 UTC
Pretty nice little minimalist exploration game. A little frustrating that the enemies come back if you re-enter an area, as often they would be right on top of the player. The biggest trouble I had was that the gun only fires horizontally though.
mitur
26. Apr 2024 · 23:45 UTC
Nice job for a first game, congrats!
LDJam user 233659
27. Apr 2024 · 00:54 UTC
Congrats on submitting your first jam game! I feel you're going for a survival horror thing, and the atmosphere absolutely hits it.

The player controls hit different, particularly with the way shooting works. Limiting your shooting to 2 directions, whether intentionally implemented or discovered on accident, made one of the later rooms with 2 enemies below you walking up, a stressful (in a good way) experience. I personally liked the choice of respawning enemies, makes you need to be more careful about doubling back and keeps you from just powering through the whole game missing everything. I like when a horror game makes combat a struggle, or a puzzle that needs to be solved rather than simply an advanced moving wall that you can mow down. It really feeds into the creepy atmosphere.

Yeah, death takes you back to the title screen, but the game is the perfect length for that sort of thing. It's not too short as to feel unsubstantial, but it certainly doesn't wear out its welcome either. The ending, is also sick and has probably the most striking image in the game next to the door to the house. You really played to your strengths here!
Nicolas Gonzalez
27. Apr 2024 · 04:11 UTC
@mavvy thank you! It’s not for everyone but that was absolutely what we were going for! Loved making it and can’t wait to do more!
deadjolly
30. Apr 2024 · 03:04 UTC
Pretty neat entry. Seemed like if Resident Evil and the Amiga had a baby, or something. Really enjoyed the stark graphic style, sometimes that makes things even scarier. The music set the tone and matched the lowbit pixel art.

The gameplay was simple. Shooting was alright, but it felt weird that I couldn't shoot up or down. Which inadvertently added stress to sidestepping monsters in an attempt to shoot them horizontally. I think having the character flash yellow, or at least the edge of the character flash when you shot the gun would have been a nice little effect for polish.

The biggest frustrating thing was starting the game from the beginning. I think a checkpoint system that takes you back to the previous room before the one you died in would be a welcome addition. I died a few times because I kept forgetting monsters would respawn, which may or may not be my fault.

Overall, cool little entry. You could take the art style and run with it in a bigger project!
nardandas
03. May 2024 · 09:03 UTC
The game really invoked kind of a less tile based old console game feel to me! Great job on that. I thought the enemies were just as punishing as they would be on the NES - though I'd probably appreciate if they were a bit nicer. I enjoyed the little story, very cool!