Passive by Suffolk and Clever

[raw]
made by Suffolk and Clever for LD24 (JAM)
NB: You must have Java installed to play this game!

How to run:
- Windows: double-click passive.bat to start the game
- Mac/Linux: run the passive.sh script to start the game (from the terminal, navigate to the Passive directory and run "./passive.sh" - note you may have to provide the script with execute permissions using "chmod u+x passive.sh" first)

Goal:
Get to the golden glow-y thing... to evolve?! Or something.

Controls:
Move -> WASD/Arrow keys
Sprint -> Spacebar
Pan camera -> Left click & drag
Menu -> Esc

Notes:
- You are unarmed; don't be seen! (Visibility indicated by player glow intensity)
- Stay in the light to recharge your sprint stamina! (Stamina indicated by player rotation speed).

Ratings

Coolness 68% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.22 100
Audio(Jam) 3.68 30
Fun(Jam) 3.19 76
Graphics(Jam) 3.75 70
Humor(Jam) 1.88 174
Innovation(Jam) 2.75 142
Mood(Jam) 3.25 57
Theme(Jam) 1.75 247

Feedback

Barry Abrams
28. Aug 2012 路 12:38 UTC
It will not play on my mac.
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
28. Aug 2012 路 23:48 UTC
Hi - could you please provide more details as to what error you are getting and we can see if we can get it working for you! Cheers.
fhoenig
29. Aug 2012 路 04:03 UTC
Beautiful!! Like the electric guitar coming in when you finish a level!
mes
29. Aug 2012 路 04:09 UTC
Nice! This is a fun little puzzler / maze game. I like the art style too.

After playing through a bunch of levels, here are two pieces of constructive criticism: show a level count so I know i'm on lvl 6 or whatever, also show a loading animation when you click retry level. It seemed frustrating to get no feedback after clicking that, then just sitting for a few seconds before the level would load up again.

Overall great job.
DaveDobson
29. Aug 2012 路 04:13 UTC
Couldn't get it to run - the batch file just sat there, and when I ran it under a CMD window it said it couldn't find java, even though I have that installed. Too bad - looked like a cool idea.
Defr盲g
29. Aug 2012 路 04:13 UTC
Very nice, consistent art style.
nice game mechanics on the enemies.
The guitar solo at the end of each level feels rewarding :)
Fairly challenging levels :)
Window is too large for my laptop.
Theme is not really reflected in gameplay.
quite long loading times for restarting a level.
thewiseguy99
29. Aug 2012 路 04:14 UTC
Loved the lighting and the atmosphere. Really enjoyed it... certainly a nice little gem. Great job!
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
29. Aug 2012 路 04:19 UTC
Thanks for the feedback - they are both very valid points, we'll keep them in mind for if and when we release future versions!
Defr盲g
29. Aug 2012 路 04:21 UTC
You seem to use windows line endings for your linux .sh file! >:(
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
29. Aug 2012 路 04:27 UTC
Thanks for the kind comments everyone!

@DaveDobson: Java is not on your PATH. I will post a fix in the description above very soon!

@Defraeg: That should have been fixed earlier today in the tarball (the old zip version had a script written on a Windows machine, hence the extra carriage returns.)
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
29. Aug 2012 路 05:00 UTC
OK, the latest Windows version should fix the majority of errors relating to not being able to find java - any more problems will have to be fixed on a case-by-case basis unfortunately!
Benjamin
29. Aug 2012 路 06:30 UTC
Nice entry, I like the way you have to void light, but still can use it to run faster.
KhaoTom
29. Aug 2012 路 07:23 UTC
Any use of the theme besides just mentioning it in text when a level is finished?
Accidental Rebel
29. Aug 2012 路 07:24 UTC
The glow and lighting effects are really nice to look at. I was wasting my time moving my player around just to see him glow. When switching to the next level, the game kind of lags for a minute or so before continuing. Eventually, it crashed.
tupperwarespoon
29. Aug 2012 路 07:27 UTC
Love the art style, and the music. I don't know why it spins in the light, but it looks so pretty I don't care
berareu
29. Aug 2012 路 07:27 UTC
Fun game! Graphics are nice and slick, the guitar riff is awesome!
I kinda hoped that it would be longer but I can understand you wouldn't have much time to design more levels
Good job :)
D3zmodos
29. Aug 2012 路 07:31 UTC
Really pretty and fun, my only problem was the load times that seemed a bit long, but other than that it was great!
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
29. Aug 2012 路 07:51 UTC
Thanks for the feedback everyone!

@KhaoTom: Well... let's just say we acted on a rather liberal interpretation of the rule that stated our jam game "should" reflect the theme :P.

@tupperwarespoon: As mentioned in the description, the spin speed reflects your stamina, and the light is used to recharge stamina. We would have liked to have put in a proper tutorial/help/introduction, but we ran out of time.

@berareu: The fact that you wished the game would be longer is a great compliment, thanks :D. But yes, we did unfortunately run out of time to design more levels. Rest assured, the levels are almost as fun to design as they are to play, so more are forthcoming at some stage in the near-ish future!

@D3zmodos: The load times should be more-or-less eliminated in a future version :)
Gidaio
30. Aug 2012 路 00:25 UTC
Fun, but frustrating, and has nothing to do with evolution. Other than slapping the word 'evolution' on the level complete screen.
Crushenator
30. Aug 2012 路 00:37 UTC
I got it working. I was quite pleased to see Slick2D in action as I've played around with it before. May the gaussian blur be with you...
dwrensha
30. Aug 2012 路 00:56 UTC
Sweet audio.
mutuware
30. Aug 2012 路 07:39 UTC
I got some strange exceptions, but the game continued to run.
"Found unknown windows version: Windows 7"
Huh??


The game itself was pretty good.
Where did you get the bass riff from, sounds familiar!
馃帳 Suffolk and Clever
30. Aug 2012 路 07:47 UTC
Thanks for the comments guys!

@Gidaio - the game has a rather steep difficulty curve after Level 3 because we ran out of time to create more levels unfortunately.

@Crushenator - The level rendering was done purely in Java, Slick helped with vsync, game states, audio and fullscreenness.

@dwrensha - Thanks!

@mutuware - The bass riff was inspired by FF7 and recorded using an electric guitar which was transposed down by an octave =D
Qaterknan
30. Aug 2012 路 07:51 UTC
I like the idea but i was being shot seconds after level retry and the game was getting quite frustrating.
evilseanbot
30. Aug 2012 路 07:52 UTC
That was a fun little diversion, if a little light on the context.
olav_st
30. Aug 2012 路 20:07 UTC
Not really evolution, but other than that the game was good. Great audio and nice graphics. It got a bit frustrating after a few levels, and I have to admit that I didn't complete all of them. Great work nonetheless!
Josh @ Dreamland
30. Aug 2012 路 23:09 UTC
It seems a lot of work went into the graphics and audio. The collisions could use work; snagging on the bottom corner of a wall as you move diagonally is annoying. Overall I like the idea, though the theme was very loosely tied in, in my opinion.
Maxium
31. Aug 2012 路 08:03 UTC
Love the neon graphics.
ElliotFiske
05. Sep 2012 路 03:16 UTC
Interesting game, although it seems like you shoehorned in "evolution" at the last second ;D

Neat "motion blur" style graphics. Also, I beat the first 2 levels without realizing there was a "sprint" function. Not fun.

I like the subtle background audio-riffs.
Cipher
08. Sep 2012 路 11:18 UTC
VERY COOL! :D
kratorspore
16. Sep 2012 路 03:30 UTC
Nice work! This was a super fun stealth game. Played right to the end. Well designed levels and some nice image effects. The sprint button was a little redundant because I *always* wanted to sprint whenever I hit the light!! Thumbs up!