LudumData

Eschaton by klave

[raw]
made by klave for LD31 (JAM)
IT IS NORMAL THAT YOU GET STUCK ON ACT 3, SCENE 1.
YOU MUST SOLVE THE ENIGMA TO GO PAST.

Pronounced 'Eskaton', a greek word meaning End Times.

A child, helped by a man, will try to accomplish a journey through his own mind.
I composed (and played) the music especially for this game.


Text selection bug fixed.
Tested in Firefox and Chrome.

HINT: Read that only if you're stuck. When confronting your mind, the action you must execute isn't made with the mouse, but with the browser.

SOLUTION: Read only if you really don't find the answer : you must quit the game and relaunch it. You will continue at act 3, scene 2. The meaning is metaphysical and "meta-ludic', if I can say so. If you are completely immersed in the mind's world, you lose. It can do anything it wants to you. You must show to your mind that you control this world, by sending it back to where it belongs: the non-visible world.
Play (Web, best in Firefox) http://pip.perso.sfr.fr/Eschaton/index.html
Source http://pip.perso.sfr.fr/Eschaton.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=44074

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.76 118
Audio(Jam) 3.73 97
Graphics(Jam) 3.07 604
Innovation(Jam) 4.11 28
Mood(Jam) 3.87 60
Theme(Jam) 4.07 98

Feedback

seanographies
09. Dec 2014 · 03:20 UTC
Very nice interactive fiction submission for this jam! I liked how you made your game mechanic relevant to your story and used it to help you with the narative of the game. The narative itself was a nice compact and interesting mix of sci-fi, dystopia and metaphysics. The music was fine and it set the mood perfectly and I didnt really notice anything wrong with the sound quality.
BadPaul34
09. Dec 2014 · 09:57 UTC
Wow man it's awesome... Nice story, nice esthetics on your gameplay to fit the story.. I'd like it to never end :)

Seriously, great job ;)
lurumdurum
09. Dec 2014 · 09:59 UTC
selecting the text while holding mouse is quite annoying, and seems like I'm stuck in act3 scene1
feizenbara
09. Dec 2014 · 10:27 UTC
Same here, got stuck after 1 turn.
pcmaster
09. Dec 2014 · 10:33 UTC
An unexpected game and genre, definitely up to the theme. I like the piano music, the control and the game generally, although I'm not sure I won or lost :)
JacksGamesSucks
09. Dec 2014 · 10:53 UTC
nice job! but game is kind of depressing :)
jpmit
09. Dec 2014 · 11:53 UTC
Deep game, great feel and music.
FloatingGhost
09. Dec 2014 · 11:53 UTC
Stuck in 3:1, seems like a nice way to tell a story :)
Ulydev
09. Dec 2014 · 11:55 UTC
Interesting idea !
alecmilne
09. Dec 2014 · 12:00 UTC
That was great! I haven't played through multiple times to see how my different choices affect the story, but I really enjoyed it.
AkirAssasin
09. Dec 2014 · 12:00 UTC
For some reason, the diagram is messed up... I was thinking of closing it, but then I thought everything will restart hahah
BlackBulletIV
09. Dec 2014 · 12:02 UTC
I like the story; it had a dark mood to it. The game got stuck at Act 3, part 1.
anokta
09. Dec 2014 · 12:02 UTC
whoa, looks inspiring! loved the idea and how you implemented it. one problem occurred to me though all the text kept highlighted while clicking on the screen which slightly distracted me from time to time. still, very decent job overall! :)
folmerkelly
09. Dec 2014 · 14:24 UTC
Love this. Aesthetics and the story hit the right notes for me to the point where I was happy to overlook any frustrations with the interface. Great work!
friggingames
09. Dec 2014 · 14:26 UTC
Amazing entry. The story, music, and theme lined up perfectly. I skipped through some text too holding the mouse too long, but other than that I loved the game idea. I got drawn into the story immediately. Nicely done!
Team Flashlight
09. Dec 2014 · 14:37 UTC
Great game and so innovative! I personally don't think quit and re-launch the game is a good idea for "restart" or "going back to the checkpoint", it forces the player to realize that they are "playing a game" rather than really inside the game world you created.

I bet this game mechanism is of great potential. Looking forward to any future expansion of this game!
🎤 klave
09. Dec 2014 · 15:29 UTC
@Team Flashlight: Your thought is interesting. The meaning of the solution of the Enigma, from my point of view, is that if you are completely immersed in the mind's world, you lost. It can do anything it wants to you. You must show to your mind that you control this world, by sending it back to the non-visible world. Anyway, thank you for your comment, I find it very enriching.
HappyTransportGames
09. Dec 2014 · 17:44 UTC
Nice aesthetics. Nice music (sometimes it could do with better sound transitions but you didn't lost any stars from this from me). Nice story. I couldn't find something that I don't like about this game/story.
guldlock
09. Dec 2014 · 22:40 UTC
Really good job with the game! I really liked the beginning!
floorman
09. Dec 2014 · 22:40 UTC
A really nice and simple game!
deadpixelsociety
09. Dec 2014 · 22:40 UTC
Great atmosphere, could do with some better graphics but the minimalism is nice too.
pixzleone
11. Dec 2014 · 14:57 UTC
Very nice!
nuno
11. Dec 2014 · 14:58 UTC
loved it, dont know why but reminded me of inception :p
Franklin's Ghost
11. Dec 2014 · 14:58 UTC
The clean design worked so well in letting the story speak for itself, really enjoyed seeing the story unfold and liked the way the player was able to choose what to say, which actually did seem to have an impact on what occurred. One of my favourites so far.
reveriejake
12. Dec 2014 · 12:38 UTC
Cool :). Not normally a fan of reading but this was a good way to force me to ;)
hogtrick
12. Dec 2014 · 12:47 UTC
Amazing game. I was really immersed on this. Perfect music and writing.
OddballDave
12. Dec 2014 · 12:53 UTC
Nice game, but the image in the middle is all messed up on my machine. I'm using Safari. The words aren't in the circle and it never rotates Like in the screenshots.
🎤 klave
12. Dec 2014 · 13:09 UTC
@OddballDave What a shame! Native HTML5 applications have sometimes cross-browser compatibility issues. If you want to experience Eschaton without bugs, you can try Firefox or Chrome!
AMS
12. Dec 2014 · 13:40 UTC
It reminds me of the book Flatland
Awesome game, i love its minimalistic aesthetics :D
NickMakesGames
14. Dec 2014 · 00:51 UTC
I can't say that I fully understand the story, so I don't want to praise/critique it. That said, I was very impressed with how well it was told given the time restrictions and the very minimalistic presentation. A lot of the text reminded me of the sort of writing you would hear in an old radio drama, alluding to things that just aren't visible but the audience accepts as being there anyways. It's a very neat trick and it works stupendously well for game jams like this.
Lynx
17. Dec 2014 · 02:40 UTC
Very artistic quality to your game. By only critic is a design one, don't have the white text cross over the white circle design, it seems a bit cluttered that way and kind of just through there without any thought