RedditLudum Dare 22
December 16th-19th 2011 :: Theme: Alone
Last breath - deepnight - 48 Hour Compo Entry
Web | Extended (with easy mode) | Source | My blog | Timelapse
The story of a dog trapped between life & death.
I can't say much more, it would spoil the story :)
CONTROLS : arrow keys and SPACEBAR to skip messages.
You can also skip introduction using "S".
---------------------------------------------------
ABOUT EXTENDED VERSION : it was posted after the dead line. I only added a difficulty setting, the game is untouched and remained exactly the same.
---------------------------------------------------
I had a really great time making this game! At first, I was disappointed by the theme: too guiding. Especially when you want to do a platformer. But then I experimented a few things. The engine itself was developed in 4-5 hours I think.
I spent lots of precious time on the sounds, especially because of the lack of good tools (except SFXR, but it proved to be quite repetitive for my 4th LD). Next time, I will prepare a small lib for this purpose.
The animation was a real pleasure :) I definitely LOVE pixel art animation!
HINTS : don't read next chapter if you want to avoid SPOIL!
the Shadow follows all your steps. Use this to avoid it in dead ends! Each time you pickup a ball, the Shadow gets closer from you. Pick balls in tricky areas first.
 | |||
 |  |  |  |
View deepnight's journal. | View all entries by deepnight
Ratings
 | Graphics | 4.65 |
 | Overall | 4.11 |
| #7 | Mood | 4.08 |
| #16 | Community | 3.85 |
| #21 | Theme | 3.93 |
| #24 | Audio | 3.62 |
| #35 | Fun | 3.45 |
| #49 | Innovation | 3.56 |
| #294 | Humor | 1.99 |
| #415 | Coolness | 32% |
Comments
The graphics and mood were gorgeous! I loved the concept, but I found the gameplay difficulty pretty frustrating.
It felt a bit like actual football : spent a lot of time running around try to get back my ball :)
Controls are a bit hard to grasp. Graphics are really nice. Would have love to get it to the end but it felt too hard.
Ridiculously good looking, although a little dark on my screen. I ragequit the ball puzzle though, after managing to get around 7.
Love this game, hits a soft spot as well, I didnt expect to be emotionally hit by a game from Ludum dare, but its great to see a game which has been taken a step further than just gameplay.
I should also note that I did manage to finish it, even though it was quite tricky, took several goes to get the hang of running away from the shadow and at the end it was a mad (and exciting) rush, with it pretty much a second behind me and no room for error.
Wanting to know what happened at the end of the game for the little dog made me drove me to keep playing. *tear
Well done, if I find a game better than this one out of all the other entries Ill be impressed.
I posted an extended version with difficulty setting ;) Yeah I know the base game is very hard...
Excellent, magnifique...Triste aussi.
Fier d'avoir réussi le mode de base, il n'est pas si difficile après quelques parties. ^^
Outstanding graphics. Really, really loved it. Lacks a bit on the "fun" side..
Still awesome, though.
Amazing graphics, as others have already said. The game was/is very hard though.
I have a hard time believing this game was created in 48 hours... everything is polished to a shine. The movement controls are tight, and it's fun to cling to surfaces. The game was also an emotional kick in the gut... hit a little too close to home for me. That's what I get for playing a game with a dog in it and the theme "alone", I guess...
Fantastic game. Great intro, great atmosphere, great everything.
The game did seem really hard at first, but after I realized that the shadow was me, it actually wasn't that hard at all. I just had to remember to pause in certain spots to give myself time to jump over later, etc.
A very special game, wonderful graphical style, good music and dense atmosphere. Sadly to difficult for me to get all balls... and I jumped over a rock and then I fell endless :)
As always, I really enjoyed to play your game.
But this time I can rate it, and I do !
Except one point... Why a so sad story... Again ? T_T
This game is good, really good, the pixel art cubist style is really awesome, the gameplay has a nice twist to it, and the freeform format makes for a very interesting experience. The only issue is that on my computer it's a little laggy, which is probably because im running this on a laptop. I really like that you can cling to edges, it adds a new dimension to the platforming. This is definitely one of my favourites so far.
Looks good as usual :), but it's hard! Will try the easy mode later
Amazing! I love this so much, the graphics are great, the music is great, the gameplay is great, the fun is great, and it really fits the theme. I felt a bit sad at the ending, too.
This is impressive. The art style is enchanting, the story compelling, the gameplay is tight and engaging. Very nice work overall.
Can't be said enough.. beautiful art, tight controls (dog putting his paw on the wall when you run into it.. just perfect), music is awesome.
This is simply fantastic. The artwork is brilliant, music is excellently suited to the game, the fundamental game mechanic is good and the level design is well thought out.
Awesome, great transmission of the mood. And although you don't like it, I think the music fits great, it's a contradiction, just like the (great) ending.
(And to me it's not too hard, I think it's just hard enough)
Great atmosphere, especially graphics, but yeah - the base entry is way too hard to finish. Either way, loved the game.
I don't use the word "innovative" often, probably mostly because I'm a bitter dick, but this was a very innovative use of movement recording. The graphics were meh, but I'm sure you could do better with more time.
I really wanted to like this game, but it was just too frustrating (even with the easy mode). The graphics are great and the controls are tight, but since I couldn't explore the area with the balls ahead of time, I kept dying while I figured out which order to go in. It was also really hard to see the shadow dog to know how much time I had, since it was black on black most of the time.
Still, with some tweaking, I think it could be a great game. And I'd love to find out how the story ends.
The art looks similar to your last LD game... or was it one before last? :P
Anmyways, great job! I like how smooth it plays!
You can fall out of the map... And it lacks sounds. The game's still good, though ;) I liked it.
The size of the game is far too large for me. However, the graphics and music were excellent, which also game a good mood to the game. 5s all around!
Loved the graphics, hated the gameplay. It reminded me of Amnesia in that it was a chore to continue to play, since the whole gameplay was designed around running away from your shadow. Cool concept, but too frustrating.
Love the visual polish and the concept. Frustrated by the ball puzzle but it's ok.
Excellent overall!
Loved it! Great idea, and kudos for getting that done in 48 hours.
Really quite amazing in every way, but having to restart from the beginning after touching the 'shadow' is way too harsh.
DANG IT. Your game is GORGEOUS as usual... and the story is heart wrenching. Quite simply... I love it. Thanks for making this!
Very impressive.
I managed to jump off the map once. For what it's worth. Because, you know... there's just so little else wrong with this. :p
Nailed it first time! Gorgeous graphics and animation, great gameplay spin on a traditional platformer. Even better than Appy 100mg IMHO.
Amazing graphics, smooth controls, interesting story and gameplay... how did this thing happen within 48 hours??? D:
FYI, Played again and found a bug... in the bottom right area, you can jump over the boundary to the right and then fall forever.
Wow! Super atmospheric. Hard to believe it could be done so quickly. Nice work.
This is a really great game! I actually would like to know how you were able to get such a unique effect! Just...Absolutely...Gorgeous!
Looks good and interesting concept, but like others have said, way too difficult.
Er... I'm not a hardcore gamer, and I've finished the game without use of the easy mode, so I think it's not that hard, just the player have to really understand the way the shadow moves. When you know that the shadow acts exactly like you act before, you can easy anticipate how to prevent touch it.
If you haven't finished it, I suggest you retry. It's well worth to go through with this game, it really deserves it. ;)
looks very nice and polished! quite hard but that's okay by me
Excellent. Fighting against your own past self (the shadow) adds a very interesting touch to the simple platformer mechanics. Would be a bit nicer if you kept the balls after dieing- it's very hard to get them all.
Oh this is just awesome o_o
I love the look, the dog is adorable, the shadow mechanic is great... it can be repetitive when you die a lot, but a checkpoint would have ruined everything, so it is understandable.
Amazing game! It's full of atmosphere, and it has (as far as I know) a unique key element. The original version is very difficult, I only managed to get 8 balls, but I beat it in Easy mode. I couldn't figure out if the dog survived or not...
You certainly have that professional touch.
It is impossible to be mad at the game play, because the only person you have to be mad at is yourself for choosing the path that collided. Took me some 30 tries to beat this.
Fun little game. Very interesting gameplay, having to play against yourself. The graphics were great, and you've managed to capture the mood really well.
I have to admit it's pretty good! The art style is good, and the gameplay is smooth, and the shadow is a constant enemy, making the game fast paced and exciting. The beginning audio could've been improved (it sounds a little default) but otherwise great!
Beautiful game, atmosphere is great, and , finding it very difficult though!
Beautiful game, atmosphere is great, and fluid controls. Finding it very difficult though!
I sighed at yet ANOTHER platformer, but hey, this was really well done. Lots of animation and very good stable code. Might be a winner here.
Great game. However, the vertical resolution was more than my browser could see, so I had to keep scrolling up and down to see the whole game.
Very similar to your last game...
Graphics are amazing as always and the music with the gohst made me so stress.
The end made me too sad... dead dogs is bad...
Very Nice Game! Good Work!
Super, as usual. I recognize the graphical effect from the last one, but maybe it's your trademark. :) Loved the animation and lighting effects. It was a bit sluggish on my parent's desktop (fastest machine around), which made it hard to play, though...
Very unique art style, excellent level of polish and the run-from-your-shadow mechanic works pretty well with the theme. Although I found even the easy mode too difficult for me, it's possible I lack the strategic foresight to win. Overall, very well done!
I don't understand why everyone is saying the game is so hard... I died maybe three times before I beat it - if there's no challenge, it really detracts from that style of game IMO. The game was gorgeous, played nicely, I liked the controls and the difficulty level. I hope you win :D
This game has a lot of style! (Maybe a little too much, the game slowed down for me due to the many graphical effects)
I feel like failing and starting again are just a part of this game, since it takes a few deaths to get a good look at the layout. It's not a very long game, so I could tolerate a loss or twelve.
I would have liked the ramp in difficulty or rapid change in gameplay to have been smoother, and I think the dog sticks to walls too readily. I wound up grabbing a lot of corners I didn't mean to (granted, it usually helped me evade the shadow, but then I felt like it wasn't my win).
But those are all piddly concerns for a really great game!
Awesome game as expected. Only thing I have to say is, that the sfxr sound effects don't match the (excellent) background soundtrack. But still very impressive ;)
feels floaty and sometimes stutters however cute dog and amazing graphics and atmosphere
why is everything an exe these days? don't people understamd ubuntu users can play it?
First of all, the art style is pretty amazing. Bevelled pixels? I've never seen that!
The music makes for great ambience, and adds to the already mysterious/peaceful atmosphere of the game.
The addition of the shadow as a gameplay element is quite a good innovation, and adds a level of ingenuity to an otherwise pretty normal gameplay! You'd think the game would get quite frantic, but it actually doesn't when you realize how he moves.
The ending is really nicely made, with the dog's "afterlife" going on forever. This is an amazing flash game, not only by Ludum Dare standards!
You must sign in to comment.
Looks awesome, sounds awesome, very smooth controls and the shadow is a really nifty touch to the adventure/platformer genre. Awesome game!