Essence by Make A Game

[raw]
made by Make A Game for LD26 (JAM)
Press [space] to jump.

Collect orbs to recover essence.
Avoid swirls that remove essence.


This is Essence...
...a race against time in a mysterious cavern where your soul is constantly being drain and trapped in the dark waters, as your reflection appears more and more clear.
You lose by falling or if you become completely trapped in the mirror-like waters.
Look in the reflection for dangers, avoid the swirls that further drain you, and use the orbs to restore your shattered being.
A game made for Ludum Dare 26 by the Make a Game team.

Ratings

Coolness 66% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.30 211
Audio(Jam) 2.83 299
Fun(Jam) 2.86 281
Graphics(Jam) 3.81 114
Humor(Jam) 1.94 325
Innovation(Jam) 3.42 128
Mood(Jam) 3.63 80
Theme(Jam) 3.38 232

Feedback

onzephyr
02. May 2013 · 04:49 UTC
Not a bad runner game. Good visuals. The reflection idea was an interesting twist.
matthias_zarzecki
02. May 2013 · 21:12 UTC
Great idea! Took me a second to realize movements were mirrored, then the game took off :)
oatsbarley
03. May 2013 · 10:19 UTC
Nice graphics and the mechanic is kind of tricky. Well done!
SuperlevelSebastian
04. May 2013 · 09:08 UTC
Interesting game! Thank you!
_Rilem
07. May 2013 · 20:46 UTC
A cool idea, the graphic style makes it hard to see your reflection though.
MinionStudios
07. May 2013 · 21:19 UTC
Love love love the art style in this! Such a great mirror mechanic too
hissssssssss
08. May 2013 · 14:10 UTC
I loved the mirrored level showing hazards on one side and health on the other. Getting the hang of collecting one and not the other was tricky. Awesome job!
WiseGAMER
08. May 2013 · 14:18 UTC
interesting but bad implemented idea ...
Kristofer Parsons
08. May 2013 · 14:22 UTC
I really like the whole reflection mechanic. Great work!
Broxxar
08. May 2013 · 14:51 UTC
One of the better runners I've seen in the Jam/Compo. Great work
🎤 Make A Game
08. May 2013 · 15:03 UTC
Thank you so much for your feedback, it means a lot.
Essence was by far our most difficult entry, after taking a break for two editions.
Actualy we didn't even want to see the game again after submitting.
This wasn't the game we started with, we changed entirely the game midway(48h left), we spent the 24h changing 3 times the engine (Haxe, Flashpunk, Flixel), we had loads of problems with motivation.
We're working on our post mortem =).

Thank you again for helping us liking a little more our game:
onzephyr ; matthias_zarzecki ; oatsbarley ; SuperlevelSebastian ; _Rilem ; MinionStudios ; hissssssssss ; WiseGAMER ; Kristofer Parsons
AndyBumpkin
08. May 2013 · 16:28 UTC
Really love the atmosphere to this. I seemed to have a few odd game-overs (couldn't see what I'd done to cause them) but generally nice to play!
xandy
09. May 2013 · 21:52 UTC
cool idea and mechanics, sadly the game didn't run fluent on my pc :(
TheBenjaneer
09. May 2013 · 23:46 UTC
Very Cool Game!
I like the mechanic a lot, though a small readme at the bottom of the webpage might be a good idea for anyone who Doesn't come via the LD post. ( Though it's still certainly much easier to understand than my own entry lol )
The visuals are pretty gorgeous for a weekend game!
Very theme appropriate as well.

Congrats on an awesome LD entry!
Squared Muffin
16. May 2013 · 15:32 UTC
Completely loved the uniquess of the art style,
Unfortunately i saw a game with a similar concept in this LD26 :/ but urs was better.

The ending was a bit too abrupt
Christina Nordlander
16. May 2013 · 22:07 UTC
This is one of the most interesting setups I've seen in this LD, and it works well with the simple gameplay. A beautiful and poetic concept.

Unfortunately, the gameplay itself is a bit lacklustre: the controls aren't that great, and there's no way of telling when you'll just fall through the floor. Also, there are a couple of slight mistakes in the English ("that is how it lives" doesn't really work, for example). Which is a shame, because apart from those slight errors, the messages are beautifully written.

In short, there are some issues that could be fixed with more polish, but the concept and mood are excellent.
Christina Nordlander
16. May 2013 · 22:10 UTC
... and reading the other comments, I realised that I missed the fact that the reflection shows you false floors and other hazards. Sorry about that; will score up accordingly.
Shigor
18. May 2013 · 10:36 UTC
I completely missed the mirror mechanics on the first play and wanted to write something about bad collisions ;)
Good mood.
CiderPunk
18. May 2013 · 11:19 UTC
the sound and art make this, shame about the collision detection
🎤 Make A Game
18. May 2013 · 12:10 UTC
@CiderPunk I'm glad you liked the artistic vision.
The collisions aren't perfect, but there are invisible barriers that can only be seen on the reflection. =P
Puccini
18. May 2013 · 18:20 UTC
Very interesting twist in the mechanic. It's fun but i think it needs a better curve of velocity.
Great game :)
Misfit
18. May 2013 · 19:19 UTC
Interesting game. Nice art style.
Aron
18. May 2013 · 22:59 UTC
Took some time till I realized that I had to look at both sides. Really neat Idea with simple but beautiful graphics.