The Dark Things by gnerkus

[raw]
made by gnerkus for LD29 (COMPO)
I apologize for the lack of menus and screens.

GOAL:
Reach the other opening (on the right) while avoiding the dark things.

GAMEPLAY:
Click a big plant to change the direction it faces. When your character (the octopus)or an enemy moves over a big plant, it changes its direction of motion.

Thank you for trying out my game.

Ratings

Coolness 77% 2
Overall 2.79 928
Audio 2.49 699
Fun 2.47 1000
Graphics 3.40 404
Humor 1.90 924
Innovation 2.84 719
Mood 2.42 1024
Theme 2.30 1127

Feedback

primaerfunktion
28. Apr 2014 路 08:55 UTC
Great concept and the game looks soo cute. Really well done!
martijn
28. Apr 2014 路 09:28 UTC
Is the game over/finish screen supposed to be just a black screen?
馃帳 gnerkus
28. Apr 2014 路 09:59 UTC
@martjin I'm so sorry. I didn't have time to do any screens so the gameover and finish screens are quite similar.

@primaerfunktion Thanks. Unfortunately, cute is all there is to the game for now.
allurious
28. Apr 2014 路 10:01 UTC
Really cool concept-- the octopus is also super cute. The game was neat and easy to grasp, plus I loved the plant mechanic. :D
馃帳 gnerkus
28. Apr 2014 路 10:20 UTC
@allurious Thanks. I apologize for the lack of screens.
oatsbarley
28. Apr 2014 路 10:45 UTC
Everybody's already mentioned the lack of start/finish screens, but really the only issue for me was having to refresh the page to start the level again; maybe have it just restart the level when you lose, instead of going to a different screen.

The music is nice and the graphics are quite pretty; the gameplay can be quite tricky, too!
bvanschooten
28. Apr 2014 路 10:59 UTC
Original concept! The graphics look good. I didn't hear any sound. Avoiding the dark things seems a bit random. Though you can steer them into a corner with the plants, they also have random behaviour. At one point I got lucky as most of them got stuck. That's how I managed to complete the game.
Nicoll Hunt
28. Apr 2014 路 11:01 UTC
Really liked the cute graphics and gameplay mechanic! Had a few fun "come ooooon!!" close call moments with the dark things.

Didn't hear any music or sfx unfortunately (tried Chrome & Firefox on Mac OS X). Also had a few times where the dark things were camping the exit opening :(
neekobus
28. Apr 2014 路 12:07 UTC
Cute graphics. Nice concept !
Everything is a bit slow.

Good start !
neekobus
28. Apr 2014 路 12:12 UTC
I have to add :
It's a bit buggy : a monster block the exit (he don't move) :( !
stoo
28. Apr 2014 路 18:54 UTC
Love the graphics and the music is really nice. It took me a while to figure out the game play but once I did I really enjoyed the puzzle challenge. More levels please!
馃帳 gnerkus
29. Apr 2014 路 07:10 UTC
@oatsbarley I agree with you completely. Thanks for the compliments.

@bvanschooten The dark things are supposed to move randomly. They're not supposed to get stuck, though. Thank you for the compliments.

@Nicoll Hunt This might be appropriate but I really loved your game! I'm waiting for the voting to pass so I can play it again. I used only .ogg and .wav audio formats and I didn't have time to test the sounds before I submitted the game.

@neekobus Thanks. I made it slower because I wanted to make it easier since the dark things moved randomly. The dark things seemed to have played FPSes.

@stoo Thank you so much. Once the voting is over, I'll add more levels.

@all I'm happy everyone found the graphics cute. I worked towards achieving that.
Lizzip
29. Apr 2014 路 08:17 UTC
Woo I did it! I think at one point I walked over a dark thing and it didn't do anything though? But I could be wrong. This is really nicely made and a fun idea. Would be perfect as a tablet game
Thorig
29. Apr 2014 路 08:52 UTC
My son would love a game like this. It is done really well!
馃帳 gnerkus
29. Apr 2014 路 10:38 UTC
@Lizzip The game's code is infected with dark things. Thank you so much for the compliment. I'll continue working on the game once voting ends.

@Thorig Thank you. I feel really motivated to work on this.
tripleVisionGames
29. Apr 2014 路 19:14 UTC
That's a really satisfying puzzle. Felt good when I made it to the end! Shame there's no winning screen but it's still great work!
馃帳 gnerkus
30. Apr 2014 路 08:58 UTC
@tripleVisionGames Thank you. I'll work on the game once voting ends.
eckcz
30. Apr 2014 路 12:35 UTC
cool graphics but it is really hard for me :D but fun
Moist
30. Apr 2014 路 12:35 UTC
You could make the clickable plants stand out from everything else a bit more. It's hard to tell they can be interacted with at first. Other than that, a very solid entry. :)
Kep
30. Apr 2014 路 18:55 UTC
It took me a while and more than a few restarts, but I got it. I always like these pseudo-programming games. With more levels and the basics you already mentioned, it has some potential.
Crazi456
30. Apr 2014 路 18:57 UTC
Fun little game! Nice sprites, great work!
SonnyBone
01. May 2014 路 03:28 UTC
I love the visual style. The biggest problem is that the dark things get stuck on walls and get in the way of the puzzle's solution. I found the clear path to the exit but it was blocked by enemies that refused to keep moving away from the wall. I would like to play a faster version with less enemies on the screen with maybe a second or two with a countdown at the start to go ahead and start arranging some plants. Maybe that's not your idea of the game but it's a suggestion because the current version is a bit slow to get going. Great concept, though... and the art really stands out. I hope you keep working on it. :)
馃帳 gnerkus
01. May 2014 路 19:54 UTC
@SonnyBone Thank you for the critique. I will implement all your suggestions once voting ends (which is when I'll continue working on the game).
zedutchgandalf
01. May 2014 路 21:00 UTC
Great game! :)
I just love the graphics!
Congratulations! :D
Martin Vilcans
01. May 2014 路 21:10 UTC
Nice to see a Phaser based game. I like the art style. The gameplay is nice but could use some polish.
馃帳 gnerkus
02. May 2014 路 07:28 UTC
@Martin Vilcans Thank you. Phaser is the best Javascript game library I've used. I'll definitely work on this game once voting ends.

@zedutchgandalf Thank you!
d__adee
03. May 2014 路 09:17 UTC
Cool man! :D The graphics is great. The concept is great. Also, I managed to make it to the right exit, but nothing happened. Good job! :)
Kara Jayde
06. May 2014 路 04:24 UTC
Great Art and BGM ^^
馃帳 gnerkus
06. May 2014 路 10:05 UTC
@d__adee Your compliment is worth a third round in a three-round SFIV tournament final.

@Kara Jayde Thank you.