Claustrophobia by OldPeculier

[raw]
made by OldPeculier for LD31 (COMPO)
Claustrophobia puts you, your wife, and your three kids into the depths of a hostile dungeon. How you got there...is a story best left for another night. But now your fate is sealed. Monsters crave each member of your family, and will take them away if you let them. Build walls, setup traps, and use a crossbow to keep the monsters at bay as long as possible. It all happens before your eyes, ALL ON A SINGLE SCREEN.

I used my own engine, Fresh, for this, including a custom 2d lighting engine. Light is important in this game as it defines what you know about the monsters. Position torches carefully to give yourself warning. Crossbows fire even when left on the ground, so position them carefully to guard the entrances to your home.

Ratings

Coolness 94% 2
Overall 3.68 146
Fun 3.17 468
Graphics 3.81 153
Humor 2.33 677
Innovation 3.56 263
Mood 3.47 152
Theme 3.81 297

Feedback

jrap
08. Dec 2014 · 05:06 UTC
Hot dog i like this concept + this sweet lighting. Not the style of game I'm usually into but I found myself engaged and having fun anyway so major kudos.
shyupuff
08. Dec 2014 · 05:09 UTC
Really awesome engine, lighting was beautiful. Movement was kind of weird for me, but might have just been my computer. Anyways, nice job! Loved the graphics and uses of color.
daviosmash
08. Dec 2014 · 05:09 UTC
Good game! A little slow to start, hard to keep invested during those early stages, but a clever game all the same.
bnmkt
08. Dec 2014 · 05:10 UTC
Graphics are the best for me !
Tasteslikefuture
08. Dec 2014 · 05:11 UTC
Took a little figuring out, but this game ended up being a lot of fun. Looks great, and the gameplay is a good mix of scavenging and reacting. Great job!
jarry
08. Dec 2014 · 05:11 UTC
Nice game ! the light efects are amazing. try to put your source avalable.
Paperscraps
08. Dec 2014 · 05:11 UTC
This kind of blew me away. Overall just very fun. Some sound would have been really great.
cxsquared
08. Dec 2014 · 05:11 UTC
Super game. I could easily see this being a fully fleshed out game. I'd buy it.
Empyrealhell
08. Dec 2014 · 05:14 UTC
This look like it has some promise, but it just moves too slow. I spent about five minutes wandering around in the dark, and only found three enemies to deal with. Since they go down to one shot from the bow I started with several of, it just wasn't very engaging. It was also fairly cumbersome to try and move torches around, since I had to drop the bow to do so.

The graphics are good, and the lighting system does a great job setting the mood, there just isn't enough here to keep me engaged.
ben_pxlplz
08. Dec 2014 · 05:14 UTC
Very cool! I like the style and the concept. I found it just a little confusing and frustrating to keep track of everything. I understand that's the intention, but I kept getting lost in the maze. Maybe a simpler level layout (at first, at least) would help. Overall though, it's very slick! I liked it a lot.
gamedevBear
08. Dec 2014 · 05:15 UTC
Cool concept. It feels really slow paced; I didn't have the patience to play very far into wave 2.
eforen
08. Dec 2014 · 06:19 UTC
I liked the lights but it feels like you mat have spent to much time on them?..
Fonserbc
08. Dec 2014 · 06:25 UTC
Nice lightning! is some kind of defferred rendering?
🎤 OldPeculier
08. Dec 2014 · 08:16 UTC
Thanks for the comments! I've cranked up the speed a little after your comments. It picks up more quickly now.
🎤 OldPeculier
08. Dec 2014 · 08:16 UTC
It's not deferred rendering, it's shadow volume rendering, except in 2D!
funkysquid
08. Dec 2014 · 08:38 UTC
Amazing graphics!
BabaJaga
08. Dec 2014 · 08:41 UTC
As others said, the use of colors really changed the perception of the game (for the better).
okkolobr
08. Dec 2014 · 09:04 UTC
Woh ! deLIGHTful ambiant, nice simple mechanism. A great fun. Miss some sounds to be perfect :)
Pampattitude
08. Dec 2014 · 09:33 UTC
Takes some time to set up, but it's really interesting!
The whole fort defense construction mechanic is really simple yet effective (took me a while to understand I could put doors there, though) and the game starts really slow.
But I love it!
Germanunkol
08. Dec 2014 · 10:01 UTC
Great concept, great work.

I survived 10 minutes, but lost Claire. Poor Claire.

It's great how the writing at the bottom really makes you "dive into" the scene - some texts make you hurry to the outer rooms, others take you back to the center.

Naming the children was a great idea.
taviandir
08. Dec 2014 · 11:21 UTC
Neat concept that has much potential. The game gets me this feeling that there's fat loot somewhere out there in the map :)
I wouldn't had minded if the pace was a little higher though.
eremenion
08. Dec 2014 · 18:41 UTC
very nice. i would love too see you expand on this.
LabOne
08. Dec 2014 · 19:51 UTC
Nice concept but, you have to work on dynamic. Really slow.
Beerman
08. Dec 2014 · 22:21 UTC
I love the lighting effects.
MintArcade
08. Dec 2014 · 22:27 UTC
WOW! Really nice game. Really good of use lightning and shadows to make this game even more awesome.
andrewkennedy
08. Dec 2014 · 23:43 UTC
The lighting is very pretty! I loved using the torches. Game felt a little slow paced to me, but that's just personal taste.
nicotuason
09. Dec 2014 · 02:10 UTC
Surprisingly deep gameplay! So many options to approach defense and exploration, and it really nails the feeling of claustrophobia.
🎤 OldPeculier
09. Dec 2014 · 19:15 UTC
Thanks nicotuason. I'm glad you appreciate the depth! I must say I actually enjoy playing it myself—not something I can say of every game I've ever made.
badlydrawnrod
09. Dec 2014 · 21:07 UTC
It looks absolutely beautiful and has a lot of potential, but it starts really, really slowly. The lighting is just stunning.
ShadowTzu
10. Dec 2014 · 01:32 UTC
Nice Graphics, I love your lightning engine.
Your game would be more fun with more dynamism, a machinegun maybe ;-)
mrexcessive
10. Dec 2014 · 18:57 UTC
Hi there... Yarg! Scary atmos. Put up doors, still lost two first wave. Love the lighting. Shame no music or sounds. Good job!
tcarter
11. Dec 2014 · 08:04 UTC
Crazy lighting! Gave me a Monaco + Castle Doctrine vibe. Stellar game.
marvalgames
11. Dec 2014 · 17:59 UTC
That was nice. Cool mood even without music. When you add it keep it simple and quiet then :)
Looks Great! controls are on. The gameplay draws you in some.
recursor
11. Dec 2014 · 18:23 UTC
This is quite but a bit too slow in the way of monster attacks for my taste. With the addition of more missions, monster types, weapons,and structures this could go places. Nice job.
gmaker
11. Dec 2014 · 19:22 UTC
very mood! good job!
FergusonTV
11. Dec 2014 · 19:28 UTC
Nice game, I love the lights effects!
Night
11. Dec 2014 · 20:14 UTC
Lighting is amazing. The most cool part of a game is when you are along and try to hide from monsters in dark corridors. Amazing experience.
Tip about different item are not always good visible. And they appear only once or each item.
klianc09
11. Dec 2014 · 20:30 UTC
Okay, I was playing a while, when I thought to myself: this isn't going to get any harder, and there is nothing more to do/explore. And I suddenly realized I have been playing for half an hour...
Propably because once I found out, that when you place crossbows, they shoot automatically, I was in a "PLACE TRAPS EVERYWHERE" frenzy.

But it's rather easy to simply block every path except one or two with all the walls you have, and then set up the crossbows along the unfortified hallways, as the monsters seem to always go the path of least resistance.

Some music and sound effects would have made the mood perfect.

If there was some incentive for the player to venture into the darkness and take some risk, then it would be really awesome. But like this it's just too easy to bunker yourself up. Still, Great job!
renatopp
11. Dec 2014 · 21:08 UTC
Cool but pretty slow. It has a good mechanics and I think it has potential. Good job.
cyrixd
12. Dec 2014 · 00:03 UTC
Pretty cool little game, definitely would like to see more of it! More item variation, monster variation, etc. I lasted until 09:25, when my (Web Improved) froze. Not sure what happened.
dallonf
12. Dec 2014 · 14:58 UTC
This is pretty cool! A bit too easy though. I had no problems fending off the monsters for 7 minutes before the game crashed, and I only learned how to correctly deploy blocks, doors, and mines in the last 2 minutes.
HotBoxGames
14. Dec 2014 · 02:01 UTC
Great concept, graphics, lighting and overall gameplay. Good job on the engine!
TheExGenesis
16. Dec 2014 · 20:17 UTC
I loved it! So complex and playable for a 48h game! Not to mention pretty, overall 5
andreaswitzen
16. Dec 2014 · 20:43 UTC
I liked this game! The lighting looks good but does it really add that much? I'd rather have audio. You should keep working on this :)
ChuiGum
16. Dec 2014 · 21:57 UTC
One of the best games so far! Awesome job! This was very original and very fun! Top 100 :)
bORAT
16. Dec 2014 · 22:06 UTC
The game is deep and full of emotions. Good Job. GG
Vladik Plays
17. Dec 2014 · 16:25 UTC
I can't see a thing! Only the take, drop, use and how much I survived. Nothing else.. + I have to wait a whole minute till the game begins..
pht59x
17. Dec 2014 · 19:01 UTC
Light effects are superb. But the game is slow to load.
kipelovets
17. Dec 2014 · 19:24 UTC
Some time ago I wanted to make a game like this) I actually really enjoyed this one but forgot to rate it, so now I'm fixing that mistake.
The lightning is fantastic, the whole graphic style is really great. The gameplay is awesome two, I love how you continue playing for the other character when the previous dies
Si1ver
17. Dec 2014 · 20:14 UTC
Lightning is fantastic!
SecondDimension
23. Dec 2014 · 11:16 UTC
Nice game with a good concept. Think it needs a little work on the mechanics but the lighting looked great.
jonnopon3000
23. Dec 2014 · 14:01 UTC
I didn't expect the player character to be "abductable" and for one of the other family members to become the player if that happens - made me laugh. I couldn't progress very far as across multiple playthroughs I only had one crossbow with what felt like 4 shots in it and no other way to kill the monsters if they managed to get hold of a family member.
Still, as a homebrewed compo game this is quite accomplished!
PapyPilgrim
23. Dec 2014 · 17:58 UTC
I think the lack of sound is really hurting the game. It's a shame really, those mechanics are really cool, especially the placement of torches. Too bad you can't place them precisely were you want