OMNI by Noah Ratcliff

[raw]
made by Noah Ratcliff for LD31 (JAM)
Play as an action platformer character who suddenly finds himself omniscient after ingesting a strange power-up. With your monitor as your vessel, explore the world outside yours.

Protip: WASD/Arrow Keys to move, spacebar to jump. Click to shoot. Shoot the monitor.

Stick around for the end... There's a wonderful surprise that we worked very hard on for you.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 4.28 6
Audio(Jam) 3.96 47
Fun(Jam) 4.01 22
Graphics(Jam) 4.14 123
Humor(Jam) 3.83 58
Innovation(Jam) 4.73 2
Mood(Jam) 3.77 90
Theme(Jam) 4.85 2

Feedback

Akurn
09. Dec 2014 · 03:36 UTC
This is all round awesome! Use of theme, graphics and gameplay are so unique. Spot on.

Only annoying thing is sometimes I shoot just a bit to high while I'm just standing there, and it causes me to go offscreen then resets :(
BuzzJeux
09. Dec 2014 · 04:04 UTC
Great concept and use of theme, also lot of humour in this game congratz !
mactinite
09. Dec 2014 · 05:51 UTC
Awesome job! Really love the concept and all the work put into this one. The end was really difficult. I noticed one bug, that was that sometimes I wouldn't be able to jump unless I started moving sometimes.
andrewkennedy
09. Dec 2014 · 06:50 UTC
That was fun and also pretty challenging. I couldn't make it to the end, but I did have quit a lot of fun failing over and over and over and over :). Great use of the theme. Very fitting music as well.
InfectionTeam
09. Dec 2014 · 08:58 UTC
This is really rather tough, will come back for that 'wonderful surprise' later :D Outstanding use of the theme, loved playing!
I noticed the same bug as mactinite a couple of times by the way, the character just refused to jump. It was pretty rare though. Did you test this with double jump enabled? Wouldn't want to make it too easy, but maybe it would work nicely ^^
Aske
09. Dec 2014 · 12:34 UTC
Really great implementation of the theme!
rob1221
09. Dec 2014 · 18:51 UTC
I'm so used to having W as the jump key whenever A/D are used in a game that I keep pressing it and falling down holes :(
Macecraft
09. Dec 2014 · 19:26 UTC
Great use of the theme. Loved the art, and the music rocked. I found it a bit tricky to control the screen with its momentum, but that's cause I'm a bad gamer! Nice work
Kerdelos
09. Dec 2014 · 21:31 UTC
The idea is awesome ! But the physics of the screen behave weirdly some times and that makes the game a bit more difficult than I would have liked it to be.
fizzd
09. Dec 2014 · 22:06 UTC
Finished it! Man that boss was a pain. Unless there was some trick that didn't require memorization to avoid the leg sweeps? The only thing that kept me going was the great music. But I must say, I did have fun :) I really really didn't see the connection between the level and the boss fight though, heh. But great job all round!
JavadocMD
09. Dec 2014 · 22:08 UTC
Really creative idea, beautiful to look at, full of humor! But SUPER difficult, owing in part to the sticky jump command and in part to a seemingly endless boss fight. I wanted to see the end but I fear I won't get there. A health bar on the boss would be lovely. As would "check-points" for weenies like me. :)
regisRquoi
09. Dec 2014 · 22:31 UTC
Oh my god! Best entry I played so far!
The concept is great and fit the theme super good (+ with the ending it's perfect)
Music was super fun too, and the game is fun really
Also, making sure the player knows he can shoot at the begining was a good/clever detail, surprised to see this on a jam, good work with that

Although there's some less good stuff, like, this bug: sometime the guy just jump when you release space, but sometime the guy jump when you press it. Made me die several times, wasnt so bad but frustrating a bit.
Oh and the boss man, a bit too hard I would say, or, not really hard but the first phase is way too long, and since the other part is die and retry more or less, it's frustrating.
But anyway the ending worth it!
Oh and I would have like some audio feedbacks with the boss (like when he use the beam attack, or stuff like this)

That was super cool, thanks for making this!! :)
spacedoubt
09. Dec 2014 · 23:52 UTC
This is awesome. One of my favourites, for sure! A bit difficult at times, but also really rewarding. Solid and well-rounded game!
EvanEGibbs
10. Dec 2014 · 00:11 UTC
Wow that was incredibly clever. That is absolutely the best use of theme! :D

It was really fun too! Not only did it follow the theme but it's a super cool gameplay mechanic.

The cat boss was really funny and unexpected, but it was a little less polished than the rest of the game. Still super great job guys! :D
bconrad217
10. Dec 2014 · 01:39 UTC
Very awesome take on the theme! Great game!
naufr4g0
10. Dec 2014 · 01:48 UTC
Absolutely one of the best use of theme! :)
I enjoyed the colorful graphics and the awesome gameplay.
Sometimes the screen run too fast and it's easy to go out of screen!
Lynx
10. Dec 2014 · 01:50 UTC
Beyond amazing gameplay and use of theme! There's not a single thing I could critic about this!

Loving the spinning pinwheel/beach-ball of death!
wooltech
10. Dec 2014 · 01:55 UTC
Hard, but really creative.
LukeZaz
10. Dec 2014 · 02:02 UTC
Very very good game. Great interpretation of the theme, and loads of fun to boot.
alpha_rat
10. Dec 2014 · 02:04 UTC
Great answer to the theme and original gameplay!
The graphics and sound are top notch too
Very hard to beat
Recursiveanomaly
10. Dec 2014 · 02:12 UTC
Brilliant! The cat boss was really cool at first, but then took to long to re-fight over and over until I learned the pattern.
Xanjos
10. Dec 2014 · 02:22 UTC
Surprisingly difficult but a very interesting concept and possibly the best take on the theme I have seen so far (in a literal sense). The graphics and audio fit very well and the game overall seems very polished.
trykondev
10. Dec 2014 · 02:40 UTC
What a five star game, fantastic use of theme, very fun, and I love the art!
Fonserbc
10. Dec 2014 · 02:44 UTC
This one is great! I had seen a gif of your game during the jam days and I thought it was awesome.

The jumping on the boss killed my patience! For some reason jumping does not work so well on the boss stage, so sometimes I had to jump to not be swept out, I knew it, but pressing space didn't work! :(

Didn't beat it in the end :P
Virtually Competent
10. Dec 2014 · 02:55 UTC
Wow, this one really blew me away. Great use of the theme and great design all around!

The boss fight was a really neat idea, but kinda rubbed me the wrong way in the sense that I couldn't really gain a sense of progress as much as I did during the first part of the game. There were points where the cat's tongue stopped flashing, but he still attacked a few more times before moving to the next phase...is that supposed to happen? I feel like he should back off once I've drained his "HP".

I gave it a good couple of tries, but ultimately I gave up on the leg part. I might have been a little more inclined to stick with it if there was a way to dodge if I picked the wrong side during the sweeps (or at least a better cue on which side to go), but I couldn't get it down well enough to get past it (and the one time I did, I got stomped on...which feels a little unfair since pushing too close to the edge means I die as well). I also struggled with the jumping issue that others had mentioned, which contributed to my death a few times.

Anyway, cat boss gripes aside, this is easily my favorite entry thus far and I'd love to see a little more polish on it. Great work!
Mattias Wargren
10. Dec 2014 · 07:16 UTC
this is a great concept!
Warboys
10. Dec 2014 · 08:26 UTC
Very nifty concept, worked really well. I couldn't figure out jumping for ages (space to jump in the browser version would be helpful), but once I did it was great. I just wish there were checkpoints because I'm awful at platformers and it was too frustrating to start from the beginning every time I fucked up xD
Crocanti de Pollo
10. Dec 2014 · 11:15 UTC
This is probably the most innovative entry I've seen so far. Amazing job!
sorlok
10. Dec 2014 · 12:12 UTC
Really fun take on the theme (although I think there were some balance issues --death as soon as you were off the screen? What about the overbleed area?). Would love to see this concept expanded on into a full game; you had a very creative take on this!
SnoutUp
10. Dec 2014 · 15:29 UTC
Just awesome! Idea was super, although IMHO it would still be pretty fun to bounce around the screen and not die after falling "off" of it.
BroCade
10. Dec 2014 · 17:29 UTC
Fun game and nice idea!
trenchgames
10. Dec 2014 · 18:41 UTC
Awesome use of the theme!
liamtwose
10. Dec 2014 · 21:27 UTC
The greatest interpretation of the theme I've come across! Great work =D
Poupi
10. Dec 2014 · 22:20 UTC
Very cool !
MrShoestore
10. Dec 2014 · 22:20 UTC
bah.... why do i even try... this is such a great idea and use of the theme!
RadStar
10. Dec 2014 · 22:34 UTC
Nice and catchy music! Really cool exploitation of the theme! I first though you were just using the easy way of adding a screen in the screen and do a classic game inside, and I was nicely surprised! But, I'm kind of a runner, and I was trying to push the screen as I go, And it seems the space bar doesn't respond really well and making me fail my jump, a bit frustrating ^^ Good job anyway! Most original idea I've seen so far.
pjimmy
10. Dec 2014 · 22:39 UTC
excelent, very innovative, there's only one thing I could complain, could you make the jump button the up button, instead of space, because I'm with one hand on the direction control, and the other on the weapon, putting jump on the up, or W button would simplify the controls.
Skipi
10. Dec 2014 · 23:18 UTC
Absolutely awesome. Only real issue I see is sometimes jumping seems a bit wonky.
Technomancer Game Studio
10. Dec 2014 · 23:23 UTC
WOW freaking game! I really liked the gameplay, use of the theme, art.. everything! 10/10 :)
bitserum
10. Dec 2014 · 23:34 UTC
I really love the idea of this, however it's too hard for me and I get frustrated having to start over again (and not reaching very far in the first place)

But the use of theme here is so, so, so good.
RonnyEGT
11. Dec 2014 · 00:01 UTC
"All game on one screen", I see what you did there
skiddings
11. Dec 2014 · 00:07 UTC
Neat concept, fun but very challenging. Could have benefited from some checkpoints!
JoshuaBurr
11. Dec 2014 · 02:49 UTC
Really nice concept, I enjoyed playing it. The end was a bit hard. I found that sometimes it wouldn't jump when I wanted to and I died. Also I found that the screen sometimes seemed to shoot off a bit too fast which results in death.
MoltenMustafa
11. Dec 2014 · 05:01 UTC
Really cool take on the theme. Despite using a laptop trackpad I found myself really engaged playing the game, which I consider quite an accomplishment. Easily one of the best games I've played so far. The music was sick btw
Nuclear Napalm
11. Dec 2014 · 05:49 UTC
Most innovative game I played so far! Masterpiece! Ending is awesome =))
Wakka
11. Dec 2014 · 07:01 UTC
brilliant. Perfect implementation of the theme with great graphics and good sound! Only thing missing is some checkpoints, as it's a really hard game that can get frustrating pretty soon. Definitly one of the best entries I've seen so far
Frenchie
11. Dec 2014 · 09:48 UTC
Awesome! I love what you did with the concept! Jumping sometimes didn't work for me (after standing still) but overall control was pretty good.
Technomancer Game Studio
11. Dec 2014 · 13:13 UTC
AMAZING game! Great concept and very wel executed. One of my favorite games so far. Really great job, guys!
puppetmaster
11. Dec 2014 · 22:15 UTC
Amazing!! 5* for Innovation and Fun. Very cool music.

You game was loading in a tab of my browser, then i heard your cool music and i was blown away from the gameplay!
LTyrosine
11. Dec 2014 · 23:27 UTC
5 stars is not enough for such innovation / theme usage. Amazing idea and very well done execution. A bit too hard but that's ok for me. Top 10 of LD31
Tuism
11. Dec 2014 · 23:28 UTC
Awesome creative with theme use, very cool mechanics. Pretty good graphics. Really awesome :)

Gripe: the way the mechanics makes the game play is a bit cautious slowy, it doesn't feel super exciting. But is fun.

Then the way you die without knowing you die really irritated me. Also I felt like I didn't have to shoot the cat at all, it was gonna do what it was gonna do whether I shot or not.

I never did finish the game because after the cat swiped me off for the 3rd time I've had enough. Strict pattern memorising attacks I dislike. It's not skill based, just gotta remember stuff.

Falling off the screen during the cat fight felt ridiculous. Also I found that I often couldn't jump, specifically more so on the edge of the screen. What gives? It felt broken.
NaoisTheGuardian
11. Dec 2014 · 23:29 UTC
Man, this is overall really great, but I kept getting stuck on the cat swiping with its leg, and the bug wouldn't let me jump over it. Really awesome use of the theme, I think you deserve to win in at least one category.
Yarek
11. Dec 2014 · 23:32 UTC
This is the best use of the theme I've seen so far. Really cool, good job :D
ViKing Games
12. Dec 2014 · 00:20 UTC
Awesome idea, and great execution! I loved the first part of the game, but next time I would recommend a controls screen in case people don't have QWERTY keyboards, or don't like space for jump. However, I didn't actually end up completing the game. I couldn't find a way besides memorizing attacks for dodging the boss's leg sweeps, and the battle dragged on for a long time. Adding sounds to the boss could've helped with this, but I'm guessing you probably ran out of time.
allanolivei
12. Dec 2014 · 01:33 UTC
Best .... Best .... For me this game wins in innovation and theme. Congratulations .. fantastic idea.
voidqk
12. Dec 2014 · 01:37 UTC
5/5! we have a winner!
flyingbear
12. Dec 2014 · 04:09 UTC
This is incredibly clever! Also incredibly difficult! (until you figure out that you have to shoot the left side of the screen to slow it down) Some checkpoints would have helped a bunch. Great job, super high marks in innovation and theme. I wish I could come with stuff as clever as this!
panda
12. Dec 2014 · 05:27 UTC
Awesome! Just... awesome. I love this game!
gre
12. Dec 2014 · 14:41 UTC
difficulty too high to me, but incredible concept and gameplay.
sputnik
12. Dec 2014 · 20:50 UTC
Awesome idea!
Rothens
12. Dec 2014 · 21:41 UTC
Great interpretation, great music, great everything :D
Tiago Ling Alexandre
13. Dec 2014 · 13:40 UTC
Ha, really cool idea! Nice graphics and music, only complaint is about the "monitor physics" which are a little too sensitive - you die by getting offscreen too easily when accidentally shooting in the wrong direction.

Good job!
syawqy
14. Dec 2014 · 00:54 UTC
it's haard
spotco
14. Dec 2014 · 08:36 UTC
A little hard to control, would have been tighter gameplay if the "screen" was preset-controlled.
aaronjbaptiste
14. Dec 2014 · 10:13 UTC
Simply brilliant. When you get it right and everything falls into play it's awesome.
ButtonMasherBros
16. Dec 2014 · 16:56 UTC
Psssst - You are featured in today's Ludum Dare to Believe! Check it out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdf4FdafRVw
Kate Kligman
16. Dec 2014 · 17:21 UTC
Loved the implementation of the theme! Liked the graphics and music too. This is a really all-around solid entry.
SoulGame
16. Dec 2014 · 17:47 UTC
Perfect theme implementation (I'm obviously bringing nothing new here), you also created a really unique mechanic and that's cool. This is really hard... the little cubes... Aarrgl! Controls inertia and unstable screen acceleration might sometime be a bit frustrating. Great work anyway.
BabaJaga
16. Dec 2014 · 18:13 UTC
I usually vote like 4 starts for the theme, but I realized that it doesn't give me enough space to actually reward games like this. Like some random platformer that technically takes place on one screen. It's much better to take rules creatively. This is what LD is about.
klianc09
16. Dec 2014 · 20:46 UTC
Wow, that's a really clever concept. It's a lot of fun, except I had two gripes with it: first, the annoying jumping bug people have been complaining about.
And second: that boss. The first phase is just boring and takes a long time, and then the second phase is just unfair pattern memorization and when you fail... redo phase one... very frustrating.
It just felt so out of place and I would have rather had a bonus level, (maybe with the screen riding on the back of the cat... or whatever) than that boss-fight. (I'm sorry)

Oh, and the music is really dope.
Omiya Games
17. Dec 2014 · 00:21 UTC
Hey, we loved playing the game, but it needs a lot of balancing. The character needs to move and fall faster. We did beat the game, though!
srakowski
17. Dec 2014 · 00:51 UTC
Fantastic.
asobitech
17. Dec 2014 · 09:37 UTC
Very cool. Very Challenging.
Love the use of the theme.
Look forward to seeing a completed version.
Taunia Sabanski
17. Dec 2014 · 10:07 UTC
I really thought that the implementation of the theme was strong with this one. One of the more interesting "screen-ception" games developed this Ludum Dare. The graphics and audio were really good. I like how it started close on the screen, and then branched outward to survey the "real" world -- which, in turn, became the platforms inside the monitor.

The little guy moved alright, he wasn't too hard to maneuver, though I felt the jump button was a little sticky, and I wasn't jumping while pressing the space bar, which made it a little frustrating when the monitor wooshed across the screen and completely engulfed me several times. Shooting the side of the screen was a fairly sensitive mechanic, and it took awhile for me to learn how to maneuver myself around by shooting it just a little bit at a time -- though I would've loved to have gone faster without it wiping me out. :)
Paisley Games
17. Dec 2014 · 20:11 UTC
I like the way you drew the little pig!
abdurrahmankh
17. Dec 2014 · 23:29 UTC
best use of the theme.
Stending
24. Dec 2014 · 12:17 UTC
Awesome entry!
Loved the end =)
Halleflux
25. Dec 2014 · 09:24 UTC
I would like to finish, but given that I've now restarted the boss fight about 10 times, I have to quit.
This game does have a great use of the theme and great mechanics, but I can't help but get annoyed at the lack of checkpoints. If you screw up once, you have to go back to the beginning. (Apart from the boss fight, but then you just go back to the beginning of the boss fight.)
This is even worse in the boss fight, as the attacks are seemingly random, even though there isn't any randomness. This means the player has to play through and just memorize what the boss does, without any hope of winning until they completely get the routine down. (For this, some form of life to give the player a little wiggle room would be nice, or some warning of what is about to happen. The first part does the latter nicely, but the foot-stomping is impossible to predict or dodge if messed up on.)
Overall, this is a good game, but it requires some polishing in order to be a great game.
lasagnegames
25. Dec 2014 · 09:44 UTC
The scrolling screen concept is brilliant, keep working on this idea.
Instant Noodles
25. Dec 2014 · 10:28 UTC
Great concept !
Aru Nyan
25. Dec 2014 · 10:45 UTC
Very nice! Although the end was somewhat unfair, based on memorisation + trial and error, really :)
HUMANICS
25. Dec 2014 · 10:52 UTC
Wow, this game is *hard*!
I've wanted to play this since I saw that gif on the IRC :)
Lokiman
25. Dec 2014 · 12:00 UTC
Great implementation of the theme! :D

The game is rather difficult platformer but I love the challenge. Also thanks for nice retro music! :D
Chaoseed
25. Dec 2014 · 14:41 UTC
This is a really good idea! You get a 5 for theme. Turns out it's incredibly frustrating, though. It's SO easy to lose, and there are no checkpoints. You can lose by going too slow, going too fast, missing a jump, holding the jump button down too long so you jump when you shouldn't...(And of course, it's a little annoying that space is jump, everyone seems to forget that WASD includes "W") Kind of disappointing that such a good idea wasn't quite executed well. ;)
jpmit
25. Dec 2014 · 14:54 UTC
Totally awesome in every way I can think of (and also probably in many ways I can't think of).
disease
25. Dec 2014 · 19:24 UTC
Amazing game! One of the best LD games I've ever played!
martial_cantarel_games
26. Dec 2014 · 01:01 UTC
))))))))
Impmaster
26. Dec 2014 · 14:44 UTC
It was overall good, but I found it a little unfair to try and go through the level, cause it was hard to know how much the box would move.
rojo
26. Dec 2014 · 23:05 UTC
Definitely high marks for innovation and theme! I didn't get very far - some checkpoints would have made life easier.
BlackBulletIV
26. Dec 2014 · 23:14 UTC
Probably the best theme I've seen so far. Too hard for me, but the gameplay was still great.
Dans17
27. Dec 2014 · 00:21 UTC
Nice way of turning the theme into an innovative game mechanic! The only thing I would have done differently is have a health system instead of insta-death on exit of screen, that way you could get away with being outside of the screen for a couple seconds without dying, so it would be a little less frustrating.
MoonlightBomber
27. Dec 2014 · 11:59 UTC
Very good take on the theme, but I'd wish the jumping controls are tighter.
Sh1rogane
27. Dec 2014 · 15:04 UTC
Very fun game and a very good take on the theme. But it felt like the jumping was a bit unresponsive and didn't jump when I pressed the button sometimes.
DrGeraud
28. Dec 2014 · 00:21 UTC
I'm really happy to test few more games before the voting ends because I discover great games and some really clever concept (as the one you've made).
ArcturusDeluxe
28. Dec 2014 · 22:41 UTC
Fantastic idea, love the presentation and the music is awesome. A few control issues with jumping, felt a bit unresponsive at times, but other than that, great stuff.
OriginalOldMan
29. Dec 2014 · 17:59 UTC
Great concept!
Leaghorn
29. Dec 2014 · 22:40 UTC
great idea. very hardo to focus on two controling the player and the screen at the same time but very good difficulty balance. Uber hard on laptop touchpad :D