This Is How It Comes About by DesignerNap

[raw]
made by DesignerNap for LD31 (COMPO)
An interactive adventure to learn a tale. Reveal scenes and settings to understand the story
there are hidden souls too... but don't look for them on your first try.
Use the mouse... that's all. No clicking, just revealing

This Is How It Comes About



If you find any issues or have a question about my game, please comment below.
if you want a quick reply, tweet me @xopsx

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SPOILERS / HINTS

Touching the sun or the moon resets the current scene...
CITY - Find a way to build buildings after the moon appears
MOUNTAINS - Find a way out of the screen by controlling the plane
BRIDGE - Similar to City.. light the way...
DEEP SEA - Pop them
RAINFOREST - Bring the jungle to life
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FULL SPOILERS
There are Eight Souls to collect
DON'T TOUCH THE MOON OR THE SUN

Drag the mouse across the bottom of the screen once the moon appears
Fly the plane into the sun
Reveal the bridge and then find the stars
pop the bubbles, then chase the fish, then touch the back half of the submarine
Draw the forest, trees at the borders, then watch the waterfalls carefully


EVEN MORE SPOILERS!!!

SOUL LOCATIONS

1. TITLE SCREEN! Be quick, she is about a third in
2. When building the second row, look to the right
3. Crash the plane, she appears to the left
4. Under the bridge when the train passes
5. When the sub appears, to the bottom left
6. She falls from the top right
7. She appears in the middle waterfall
8. In the sun

Ratings

Coolness 84% 2
Overall 3.67 153
Audio 3.49 124
Fun 2.92 717
Graphics 3.69 210
Humor 2.39 626
Innovation 3.73 173
Mood 4.19 18
Theme 3.60 557

Feedback

YM
08. Dec 2014 路 03:22 UTC
I like it. Simple and effective.

I crashed that plane too many times to admit. heh
maxyan
08. Dec 2014 路 11:01 UTC
Very nice story, but falling moon is little bit annoying
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 11:10 UTC
Thanks for playing! The game was meant as a "slow discovery" type affair.. but I think I will edit the description to include hints :)
Mossy Frog
08. Dec 2014 路 11:22 UTC
Nice, very calming game, I enjoyed it, I like how you slowly transition the background as to keep it all on one scree. Fits the theme nicely :)
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 11:56 UTC
Thanks Mossy Frog! :)
Random Abductions
08. Dec 2014 路 12:54 UTC
Looks interesting, but I can't get past the star and moon scene. It seems that you need to find all the stars, but the moon keeps falling. Very artsy.
andysolace
08. Dec 2014 路 13:02 UTC
Certainly interesting, I played it right through and enjoyed it.

Took me a while to figure out how to control the plane though, if I'm honest :P

SFX and Atmosphere were nice too :)
resty
08. Dec 2014 路 13:13 UTC
very impressive, love it
Wilson
08. Dec 2014 路 13:21 UTC
Lovely little game, very well done. Agreed the falling moon seemed kinda unnecessary, and took me a while to figure out the plane too :)
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 13:29 UTC
Random Abductions - Don't touch the moon! look elsewhere in the scene
Andysolace - Thanks for playing! did you find any souls?
Resty - Thanks!
Wilson - thank you :) The original concept was that all the planetary bodies in each scene would reset the game. I think it is too punishing too early though...
Techblogogy
08. Dec 2014 路 13:32 UTC
Loved playing you're game. Keep up the good work.
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 13:49 UTC
Thanks Techblogogy!
alpha_rat
08. Dec 2014 路 16:30 UTC
Great job on this entry!
The atmosphere is great and I really appreciate your work on the audio, the idea is very good also!

I took me some time to figure out this thing with the plane though
elliottd
08. Dec 2014 路 16:35 UTC
really nice mood. I like the interface. well done
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 16:37 UTC
Thanks alpha rat and Elliottd! yeah, the plane thing was tricky. I wanted to make a game where there was no clicking, just guiding and revealing with the mouse :) tricky but kinda interesting.
Andrea
08. Dec 2014 路 16:48 UTC
I loved it! Obviously I kept passing my mouse through the moon at first but I learned better. Great game, very poetic :)
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 16:53 UTC
Thanks Andrea! the moon thing seems to be hit and miss. Some people like, others have asked me to remove it! The way i see it, if there isn't winning and losing its sometimes tough to justify that it is a game :)
Pete_H
08. Dec 2014 路 18:24 UTC
Really atmospheric! Got totally caught up in it. It was a slow burner to start with but as soon as you figure it out your in and it's got you :) Nicely done!
johnbrynte
08. Dec 2014 路 19:21 UTC
Fun to see another game questioning the definition of a game. This is really relaxing and beautiful.
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 20:06 UTC
Thanks Pete!
and Johnbrynte, yeah! I made a few entries that were mostly "experience" games and I got met with a lot of "that's not a real game" comments. I didn't want to bring up the "dear esther" argument again! I love those sorts of experiences tho. who cares if they are a "game" or not!? ;)
Fanttum
08. Dec 2014 路 20:17 UTC
no mac port :/ can't play
馃帳 DesignerNap
08. Dec 2014 路 20:32 UTC
Sorry Fanttum, I have no mac and gamemaker will not let me export a mac version without one. :(
ryguydavis
09. Dec 2014 路 00:33 UTC
Love the direction you took. I'd love to see this kind of game more often. As it is, it's very frustrating and difficult to get lost in the experience because of punishing moments or looking for pixels on the screen. Overall the idea and execution is really something remarkable for LD. I want to see more of this kind of thing.
davient
09. Dec 2014 路 02:43 UTC
Mood is fantastic, but found the discovery a bit tricksy. Crashing plane a lot ;D
馃帳 DesignerNap
09. Dec 2014 路 09:54 UTC
Thanks Ryguy and Davient! People seem to really love crashing that plane...
acerunox
09. Dec 2014 路 11:39 UTC
Really nice game. I liked the music, but one thing: after some time sound effects got a little bit irritating especially in jungle and TV (?) in the end.
Legiion
09. Dec 2014 路 11:54 UTC
I Like it, the gameplay feels very unique
馃帳 DesignerNap
09. Dec 2014 路 12:10 UTC
Hi Acerunox, thx for the feedback. There is a bug that loops the SFX so that they play over each other and the sounds get REALLY loud! Would fix it but it would involve a lot of change to data and that I think it outside the rules of the 48hrs :) glad you enjoyed it tho! and Thanks Legiion! :)
UrbanLogicGames
09. Dec 2014 路 15:06 UTC
Very cool, I really wasn't sure what to expect but I was engaged throughout. I think I'd disagree with some comments regarding the moon, introducing it early was a good way of preparing the player for the rest of the game. Art and sound design worked well, I really liked the tone of the whole thing.
UrbanLogicGames
09. Dec 2014 路 15:08 UTC
Please ignore (forgot to rate with my last comment).
馃帳 DesignerNap
09. Dec 2014 路 16:17 UTC
Thank you URbanLogic! Appreciate the feedback :)
InHelli
09. Dec 2014 路 17:32 UTC
Unusual gameplay, sometimes known what to do. If you hide the game, the plane flies in the sun :) Simple and good game :)
asobitech
09. Dec 2014 路 17:40 UTC
I guess less game, more interactive story.
Really liked wiping away the screen static on the opening scene.
Wasn't so obvious what to do with the plane.
Jupiter_Hadley
09. Dec 2014 路 17:47 UTC
Quite the interesting story. I Included it in part 3 of my Ludum Dare 31 compilation video series, if you would like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/81u-vDEfxwU
Zimennik
09. Dec 2014 路 18:47 UTC
Impressive!
wilbefast
09. Dec 2014 路 19:26 UTC
Whoa, this is a very difficult game to get your head around *_*

I had to systematically keep coming back for spoilers I'm sorry to admit.

The SFXR thud is a bit grating compared to the rest of the soundscape. Music and artwork are beautiful otherwise and the mood is really nice. Good job :)
馃帳 DesignerNap
09. Dec 2014 路 20:54 UTC
Just for you Jupiter_Hadley https://twitter.com/xopsx/status/542421875133935618/photo/1
Recursiveanomaly
09. Dec 2014 路 21:27 UTC
That's not a moon, it's... our robot overlords? This felt more like a sublime experience than a game. :). Some criticisms, even though I really liked it:

Iou suffer from the adventure game problem. The gameplay devolves into "click all the things until I find the correct one"

The actions you perform don't seem to mean anything. This game could have had the same effect by just being a movie that you watch. It would have been better to make the gameplay mean more than just "what I have to do to continue." Sometimes I wasn't even sure what I had done. Maybe you could have given the player two obvious choices and letting them pick one.

I felt that there were times that the game was showing me something cool, and then there were times that the game was waiting for me to do something. I think the cursor could have told me when I need to be doing something and when I can just watch the amazingness.
okkolobr
09. Dec 2014 路 22:52 UTC
Nice experience. Thank you !
Slothmachine
11. Dec 2014 路 18:17 UTC
Great atmosphere! Interesting challenges. Really well done!
馃帳 DesignerNap
12. Dec 2014 路 21:10 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback Recursiveanomaly! :)
Okkolobr and Slothmachine, glad you enjoyed it! :)
danidre14
14. Dec 2014 路 00:05 UTC
Every things I wanna say about this, is in the comments, the good ones though! :D
馃帳 DesignerNap
14. Dec 2014 路 19:29 UTC
Thanks danidre! :)
01rafael
14. Dec 2014 路 19:46 UTC
Wow! This game is really good! Graphics is awesome. Nothing extra then gameplay
馃帳 DesignerNap
14. Dec 2014 路 20:43 UTC
Thank you 01rafael :) Lots of great feedback on the game. Seems like it may have been a little too long for the Jam though as lots of people stopped playing on the second or third transition. Oh well, as long as they had fun! :D
gebirgsbaerbel
14. Dec 2014 路 22:09 UTC
Sets a nice mood. Dying in a game like this however felt wrong to me, especially there is no real way to know what behavior is dangerous.
ShellfishGames
20. Dec 2014 路 22:49 UTC
Hey that's cool, really fresh idea and fascinating to "play" through and see all these scenes unfold in front of you.
mathmadlen
21. Dec 2014 路 02:47 UTC
It was quite an experience! I had to take a few peeks in the spoilers, but I may be a little impatient... Very pretty graphics and fitting music - sound effects were nice, except from few that I can't remember precisely - which means they weren't grating enough to annoy me.
Cool idea which resulted in an offbeat, original game. Nicely done!
Jupiter_Hadley
28. Dec 2014 路 18:58 UTC
I also included your game in an article of my favorites! http://fireside.gamejolt.com/post/jam-favorites-ludum-dare-31-huv4hmz6