Enderscope's Game by Arakade

[raw]
made by Arakade for LD29 (JAM)
Incomplete but gives general idea. It's about 8 hours work due to RealLife(tm) intervening so it's more "tech demo" than game/compo entry. All feedback *really* welcome (or ping on @Arakade). Worth taking further?

So, that said...

You are performing laparoscopic surgery (using an endoscope) to excise (remove) a life-threatening cancerous tumour from this patient. You must remove as much tumour as possible while damaging as minimal healthy tissue. You will (would be in finished version) scored on surgical outcome -- least damage to patient through minimal back-and-forth of endoscope, minimization of healthy tissue removed and, most importantly, removing *all* of the cancerous tissue. Failure to remove some can cause metastasis (spreading of infection to other parts of the body).

Aim with mouse, move forward and back with up/down or w/s fire laser with left click. ESCAPE to exit.

This is built with Unity3D, TerraVol (which I hadn't used before!), Livity (also not used before) and much sweat and silent swearing ;-)

Design Google Doc with dev notes and future plans can be found here: http://goo.gl/BDDvXX

Enderscope's Game! Playing this game, in the finished version, the final rounds has you unknowingly treating live patients! ;-)

UPDATE 1: Added extra ports and fixed shader.
UPDATE 2: Notes updated to remove web build and mention time & feedback.

Ratings

Coolness 33% 1823
Overall(Jam) 3.00 491
Audio(Jam) 2.88 449
Fun(Jam) 2.35 645
Graphics(Jam) 3.52 321
Innovation(Jam) 4.00 23
Mood(Jam) 3.45 203
Theme(Jam) 3.83 67

Feedback

Kashaar
29. Apr 2014 路 03:31 UTC
Hmm... When I load the link, all I get is the red laser, but the entire environment is black. Could this be my browser extensions?
馃帳 Arakade
29. Apr 2014 路 04:07 UTC
(FROM THE AUTHOR)

Argh!!! I'm suffering from "WHHHHHY did I leave the Web build to the last minute!?"

There seems to be a known bug in Unity's Protobuf which I'm using to load the level data! (hence you get an empty world)

I've just spent 3 hours trying to fix it (from 2am to 5am). I've gotta be up in 3 hours so I'll upload some native builds and ask people's patience with getting the Web version working.

Really sorry and thankyousooooomuch for trying my gamelet!
GarethIW
29. Apr 2014 路 16:59 UTC
Really neat idea! You should totally work on this a bit more - the engine is working well, just needs more game!
Simon@LD
30. Apr 2014 路 16:39 UTC
It's a nice idea. I wonder what it would be like if you had time to finish it. An indication of how much there is left to remove would help greatly to make this feel more like a complete game.
Andy Gainey
02. May 2014 路 16:36 UTC
I take it the confined controls are meant to simulate an endoscope, but I just found those limitations frustrating more than engaging.

Was the cancer actively spreading while the game was running? It might've been interesting if there was some warning about where the cancer was going to spread to next, like a blinking area that was under threat; could give the player the sense that they can strategically get ahead of the cancer.

Maybe also include some mechanics about how the cancer spreads, and how they player's actions impact that spread. Maybe different tissues impact the spread in various ways. Or different laser frequencies affect the cancer behavior.

It was an interesting tech demo that could be taken somewhere, but it was lacking in mechanics, and I doubt that a scoring system would be sufficient to add the intrigue that a good game needs.
Garris
03. May 2014 路 20:45 UTC
I just jumped into this without reading the description first and will now have nightmares xD Seriously though, this is a really unique idea for a game, and once I tried it again with a little context, I really enjoyed myself. I'd like to see this fully developed eventually. Well done.
ArcturusDeluxe
03. May 2014 路 21:12 UTC
Quite an eerie game, with the heartbeat and darkness and everything. I like the deformable geometry tech, very cool. With some work this could become a neat game!
Waterman7
03. May 2014 路 21:17 UTC
Nice concept and great mood! Pity there's not much to do yet. Would love to see this developed further, maybe with some minor horror elements?
Udell Games
03. May 2014 路 21:46 UTC
This is so weird. I love it.
Empyrealhell
03. May 2014 路 21:59 UTC
I never found any tumors, or if I didn't I couldn't tell them apart from the healthy tissue. The controls made it annoying to try and aim at anything, so I just flew around shooting holes in some poor dude's colon until I got bored.
DDRKirby(ISQ)
04. May 2014 路 00:25 UTC
Cool tech demo, if rather disgusting. xD
CiderPunk
04. May 2014 路 00:41 UTC
pretty harrowing game really! I think I left my patient in quite a bad way, really cool though.

What part of the gut has all these branches? :)
lajos
04. May 2014 路 01:39 UTC
Very cool idea, wish it was more finished.
Zer0XoL
04. May 2014 路 12:02 UTC
I have a bit of problem with the controls, cant turn fully and i when i go backwards i go at an angle. Very cool interactive level thought.
ThingoStudios
04. May 2014 路 15:28 UTC
When I was younger I downloaded this game called Maestro. It was this MMO designed by Mike Oldfield (you know, the Tubular Bells guy) where you walked around in this low-poly dream world and ambient music would play and I had no idea what was going on. It was great; strangely expansive, totally surreal, and weirdly fun despite the lack of real gameplay objectives.

This game reminds me of that, but really squicky. The gameplay itself was minimal, but it was sufficiently creepy. And it's original too-- how many games have you played about laparoscopic surgery? Not many. It's incredible.
Snoother
05. May 2014 路 11:09 UTC
Peculiarly wonderful idea that is a joy to explore. Definitely one I'll be watching out for post-comp. But I too am unable to turn fully at certain points.
Jupiter_Hadley
08. May 2014 路 03:29 UTC
Like the concept, the game is pretty creepy - being inside someone... I included it in part 14 of my Ludum Dare compilation video series, if you'd like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/-VvtqXfr-Xs
Jeff0029
13. May 2014 路 03:51 UTC
For a tech demo it does some pretty remarkable things. The tools you are using for the dynamic terrain is well implemented.
Moosefly
13. May 2014 路 12:05 UTC
Hm, I think I got all of it, exept for a tiny cancerous blob floating in air which I couldn't hit. The controls were quite stiff, maybe it should be made less "realistic" in favor of being more fun. I think Wii's Trauma Team's endoscopy sections handled it pretty nicely.

Anssi@MooseflyGames