Memento XII by deepnight

[raw]
made by deepnight for LD23 (COMPO)
Day 4380 of your prison term. 12 years. And many more to come.

But something strange is happening today... A mysterious puzzle seems to unfold in your cell.

Cool features

* super-old-school gameplay!
* 256+ colors scenes!
* many many texts to read and lots of details!
* an ingame help system, in case you are really stuck!

I tried to make a "SCUMM-VM"-like for this Ludum Dare to finally discover the huge amount of work needed to do that properly...

I didn't have much time for the sounds, I spent most of my weekend on the engine and on the texts. I'm french, so I had to check the dictionary every 10 seconds...

Blog : http://blog.deepnight.net
Twitter : https://twitter.com/#!/deepnightfr

Ratings

Coolness 58% 3
Overall 4.39 2
Audio 3.04 206
Fun 3.72 41
Graphics 4.68 1
Humor 2.34 365
Innovation 3.58 136
Mood 4.49 1
Theme 4.34 10

Feedback

Lavi
23. Apr 2012 · 02:24 UTC
Truly amazing :)
LeReveur
23. Apr 2012 · 02:47 UTC
Really good and well designed game, as ever.
Nothing else to say, except : thank you for this game. :)
TravisChen
23. Apr 2012 · 03:05 UTC
Wow, that was intense. Great job.
onefineline
23. Apr 2012 · 04:04 UTC
Very cool. But finding the second key was very confusing. That said, this is a really interesting and innovative concept. Merci =)
CappaGames
23. Apr 2012 · 06:03 UTC
Wow, this game is amazing. You need to start a kickstarter to continue this story. The mood in this game is amazing. Keep up the good work!
kill0u
23. Apr 2012 · 06:16 UTC
Wow.
Bon par contre, t'avais dit que tu ferais quelque chose de joyeux… :D
SidetrackGames
23. Apr 2012 · 07:50 UTC
Exceptional art style, love it!
chocanto
23. Apr 2012 · 12:29 UTC
Amazing game. I really love a lot the story. Yes, I had goose bumps, not because I was fear, but because this is a very very great game !

Thanks a lot for this game deepnight ! ;)
vitor.navarro
23. Apr 2012 · 15:57 UTC
Yeah Adventure game, and Yeah Amazing history!!!! Man its a great game, a little confusing some times but still is deep yet is really small. Loved it.
Danik
23. Apr 2012 · 17:02 UTC
Great entry, once again!
orangepascal
23. Apr 2012 · 17:16 UTC
loved it, old school adventure, well done!

and you were right, our games did have the same concept ;)
Seppi
23. Apr 2012 · 17:49 UTC
This is fantastic!
chinchang
23. Apr 2012 · 17:49 UTC
no words for the graphics, effects and the level of polishing. excellent. though gameplay become a lil uninteresting at some points...Help FTW :D
ncannasse
23. Apr 2012 · 18:15 UTC
A bit short / easy but overall very good as always :)
McFunkypants
24. Apr 2012 · 03:44 UTC
Another masterpiece by the ruler of Ludum Dare. Deepnight always makes the best looking games in LD48. Everyone should check out his or her previous entries from past Ludum Dares. Legendary.
KevinZuhn
24. Apr 2012 · 07:16 UTC
Absolutely stunning in graphics and theme! The transformations of his little world are intriguing, and I wish the story wasn't so vague. Some of the puzzling got a bit obtuse, but the help button kept me moving.
the8donut
24. Apr 2012 · 11:35 UTC
Wow... My favorite so far.
drmanitoba
24. Apr 2012 · 12:37 UTC
This is excellent. Hope to see the source soon. Very curious as to what you did there.
matthias_zarzecki
24. Apr 2012 · 12:56 UTC
Lovely atmosphere and puzzles.
howieV (binarygirl)
24. Apr 2012 · 13:08 UTC
great game man + great gfx as usual :)
moonkid
24. Apr 2012 · 13:50 UTC
Lovely, except that the hint system keeps giving me hints for things I've already done, so I've had to give up.
Vandash
24. Apr 2012 · 14:20 UTC
Excellent ! :-)
Thotor
24. Apr 2012 · 14:28 UTC
Amazing arts as always !
seigenblues
24. Apr 2012 · 15:12 UTC
There's a special place in my heart for old-school adventure games. Well done!
ghRibacki
24. Apr 2012 · 16:41 UTC
I loved the story and its simplicity. I haven't enjoyed a point-and-click adventure for a long time! The ending was totally worth it! Graphics are great and the sound is just what it needed to be: not less, not more.
Good job! =)
AdventureIslands
24. Apr 2012 · 16:48 UTC
Beautiful, short and sweet. Nowhere as difficult as comments here lead to believe, well done and it has very interesting story.

Funny thing is, my Ludum Dare game's heroine is also called Lydia, haha.
marudziik
24. Apr 2012 · 17:23 UTC
Perfect, as usual. Actually no, I feel that no words can give justice to this masterpiece.
saint11
24. Apr 2012 · 17:42 UTC
Amazing! I love your games :)
PapayaJuice
24. Apr 2012 · 18:32 UTC
WOW, really great. Found myself playing this for quite a bit last night, then more this morning.
Eelfroth
24. Apr 2012 · 18:43 UTC
Congratulations for winning LD23!
Canard Sauvage
24. Apr 2012 · 20:09 UTC
I really want to know why he's in the cell :) Again, a great entry! This is also the best interpretation of the theme, as far as I have played the other entries. Your timelapse was great, too. It was really fun to watch you creating your art. And a pity you didn't finish the music, but I like the 'noise', it fits the theme.

J'espère vraiment que ta contribution va gagner au moins dans la catégorie thème!
bms
24. Apr 2012 · 20:10 UTC
Although I not much of an Adventure game guy, I loved the style of the game. And the effort you put into this game can be seen in each and every pixel. Well done sir!
Canard Sauvage
24. Apr 2012 · 20:10 UTC
lol ok, again without accents!

J'espere vraiment que ta contribution va gagner au moins dans la categorie theme!
Rémi
24. Apr 2012 · 20:48 UTC
I just want to know where you buy your cybernetic enhancement to make this game in only 48h!?
derrickdool
24. Apr 2012 · 21:06 UTC
Loved it, great use of theme. Thought the memory mechanic was fantastic.
divillysausages
24. Apr 2012 · 21:25 UTC
pretty touching, excellent work
🎤 deepnight
24. Apr 2012 · 21:26 UTC
Waaaaah so many kind comments T_T
That's REALLY moving...

Thanks everybody!
bompo
24. Apr 2012 · 21:30 UTC
Adventure games!! Great story! Beautiful!
BlackDogg
24. Apr 2012 · 22:02 UTC
One of the best game I've seen by now, great work, everything is at high level, well well done !
Danvil
24. Apr 2012 · 22:27 UTC
Very well done! Liked the intense atmosphere. I would have wished for a bit more closure at the end.
alexlarioza
24. Apr 2012 · 22:49 UTC
Once again, a fine game from you. =]
jonnopon3000
24. Apr 2012 · 22:54 UTC
Holy shit, if it wasn't for this competition (where I trust the community), I'd never have guessed that this was made in such a short time. Incredible, nice work.
CherryNukaCola
25. Apr 2012 · 00:32 UTC
Love the concept and it was truly a tiny word. Didn't get to the end though, as the extreme pixel hunting was a little much for me - also the vocab was a little pendantic: you don't really need an 'open/close' if you have a 'use' Such a shame, as what I saw was very intriguing and had great atmosphere. Cheers!
TyrusPeace
25. Apr 2012 · 01:47 UTC
Very good! I struggled in a few spots with whether to use/pick up/open things, but such is the way of SCUMM :). You probably could have gotten away with less options for that kinda thing, though. Look at/Use/Remember were probably all you needed in most situations.

Adventure games aren't really my thing but I'm glad I made it through this. I'm very impressed to see something so emotive done with this kind of time limit.
netguy204
25. Apr 2012 · 02:03 UTC
This is really a fantastic entry I'm very impressed and happy this game was born.
chambers
25. Apr 2012 · 04:19 UTC
Great game! The ending was very original, though the lack of information about their past was kind of unsatisfying (unless I missed something/didn't understand the story. But I really liked the idea behind what's happening!
Jigxor
25. Apr 2012 · 05:32 UTC
I really loved the atmosphere in this game, the visuals and presentation were fantastic. Very polished! I did however find the puzzles a little unintuitive at times (the hint said I should find 3 pieces of the photograph, when I already had 3), but once I got into it and persisted, it got a bit easier. The audio complimented the game very well too. The story was pretty cool, and definitely matched the title.

Overall, awesome game! I really enjoyed it :)
Dark Acre Jack
25. Apr 2012 · 07:22 UTC
It's ok.
Thotep
25. Apr 2012 · 07:44 UTC
A little bit too much of pixel-hunting and the interface is kinda sloppy (I ended up using random options on items, why there's "Close" if there's no use for it?).
But it was a great experience, thanks.
Carduus
25. Apr 2012 · 08:20 UTC
The narrative is truly moving, the color rendering is really just.
good job bro', you've just cracked my soul again, and i admit that i love it.
xot
25. Apr 2012 · 08:55 UTC
Astounding work.
Chinchilla
25. Apr 2012 · 10:23 UTC
Outstanding
Kane
25. Apr 2012 · 11:01 UTC
A very great game !
It's really impressive for a 48h work, and the theme fit perfectly on it !
recursor
25. Apr 2012 · 19:47 UTC
The only thing lacking in this little gem is animation for the old man. Other than that it is a thing of beauty.
whitetigle
25. Apr 2012 · 19:50 UTC
Beautiful, light and darkness mixed together, a good story served by beautiful visuals. I love it :) Me Appy !
Lythom
25. Apr 2012 · 20:06 UTC
(Trying to be objective) ideas to improve the game : music, more sounds...
(forgetting about objectivity) Almost made me cry :o !
very intense story, easy gameplay, cute design, not much sounds but they are meaningfull.
Plus perfectly realized, Congratulations for this game !
🎤 deepnight
26. Apr 2012 · 15:41 UTC
@recursor : what version of Flash Player do you have? Some people reported me that the player "walk" animation didn't play on their system :/
royvanrijn
26. Apr 2012 · 18:23 UTC
Nice, I love point and click games! I've also made one:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12129
01101101
26. Apr 2012 · 19:23 UTC
Best narrative ever !
free_napalm
26. Apr 2012 · 20:04 UTC
I felt like applauding when I finished the game. Excellent work in story telling, graphics, gameplay and mood. Not sure if it was your choice, but not having music was perfect for this game.
I feel like watching Memento again, too :)

Incredible work, not only for the short time you had.
Keirua
26. Apr 2012 · 22:14 UTC
Just wow.
It's incredible you made such an amazing amount of nice things in 2 days : graphics are really nice, storytelling is awesome, gameplay is pretty good... and your productivity on the timelapse is impressive as well
recursor
26. Apr 2012 · 23:13 UTC
@deepnight: Strange. I tried it on another computer with the exact same Flash player version (11.2.202.233) and it works fine. Must be something wonky with my main computer. :/
edbadiux
27. Apr 2012 · 00:36 UTC
I have no words, Incredible beautiful and polished game, good job.
Fireblend
27. Apr 2012 · 03:18 UTC
Really nice and definitely one of the most polished games I've seen here! Really good job!
Orni
27. Apr 2012 · 07:41 UTC
everything has been already said - this game is incredible
Mago
27. Apr 2012 · 08:38 UTC
Awesome graphic and style. Good idea with help system. Interesting story and atmosphere
DDRKirby(ISQ)
27. Apr 2012 · 10:54 UTC
Nice work, as always :)
strega
27. Apr 2012 · 14:39 UTC
Excellent game! I love the transition effects. The story was very touching too.
someone
27. Apr 2012 · 15:07 UTC
Wow, that was awesome.
gotosleep
27. Apr 2012 · 15:33 UTC
Awesome!
smvilar
27. Apr 2012 · 23:08 UTC
I loved it!
Youpiman
27. Apr 2012 · 23:22 UTC
Magnifique. Je n'y connais rien en programmation mais j'imagine à quel point ça doit être tendu de créer un jeu pareil en 48 heures. C'est du grand art !
Accessoirement l'idée du scénario et de la mise en scène pourrait carrément constituer un jeu complet.
Encore bravo cette histoire m'a vraiment touché.
FunkyDelPueblo
28. Apr 2012 · 00:48 UTC
Beautiful game. Fantastic.
greg20man
28. Apr 2012 · 01:14 UTC
"Open Iron Door" .... damn i'm out of ideas

jk haha I had a lot of fun playing this
firstrowgames
28. Apr 2012 · 01:39 UTC
Amazing game!
Loved the graphics,the mood and gameplay!
mildmojo
28. Apr 2012 · 02:20 UTC
Fabulous. It gave me chills. The transitions, the recollections, the socketed items as portals to other memories... And the ending was very cinematic, with the darkening room and the character looking at the letter, then looking up. Small animations, huge emotional content.

This one's my favorite.
mikelovesrobots3
28. Apr 2012 · 03:46 UTC
Beautiful.
gregdevice
28. Apr 2012 · 05:55 UTC
Nicely Done!
Endurion
28. Apr 2012 · 06:26 UTC
Well done! What else is there to say ;)
Waffenwars
28. Apr 2012 · 08:13 UTC
Really like the game, great work and fast gameplay for an adventure game. I have to say I hate pixel hunting though, almost got stuck a few times, but in the end it was definitely worth it to stick with the game, well done!
gritfish
28. Apr 2012 · 08:14 UTC
The level of animation and polish you can achieve in 48 hours blows my mind. The inclusion of an in-game help is something all LD games should aspire to. Your games are so recognisable by that pixel/mosaic look. I really should go back and play the others again..
roydon
28. Apr 2012 · 16:39 UTC
This is my favourite game I've played so far!
R3ason
28. Apr 2012 · 21:13 UTC
Wow, that was amazing! Thanks!
yosh
28. Apr 2012 · 22:53 UTC
Very nice game ! Your last entry was already amazing and well this one is still promising. I'm still a fan of the graphical style, I would only reproach the game resolution and poor SFX (missing music or something for stronger feelings). Nice story telling btw.

Félicitations ;)

SPOILER/TIP: For people stuck with the park/broom, have a look to the wooden case.
JonathanG
29. Apr 2012 · 17:45 UTC
Great take on the "tiny world" theme and a lot of fun to play. Very good attention to detail and the help system is a bonus. Graphics look lovely; shame you didn't have time for sound. And although you say your English isn't good you get top marks for knowing the word "scatterbrain"!
🎤 deepnight
29. Apr 2012 · 21:53 UTC
@JonathanG : WordReference.com was my best ludum dare friend :)
nornagon
30. Apr 2012 · 00:55 UTC
wow. just wow.

this game is beautiful.
nornagon
30. Apr 2012 · 00:57 UTC
FWIW I thought the little audio that was there was excellent. Very moody, it fit the game really well.
Angerus
30. Apr 2012 · 12:42 UTC
Such emotions in this tiny room...Graphics and Point&click allowed me to be imerged into this emotional atmosphere. I passed a good time playing it!
MrDanH
01. May 2012 · 12:16 UTC
My favourite entry so far, brilliant storytelling!
Hazard
01. May 2012 · 12:28 UTC
Wow, such an amazing mood and story! Extremely well thought out and made.
schattenkind.net
01. May 2012 · 12:52 UTC
Well done. I like the look and feel very much.
ratboy2713
02. May 2012 · 15:00 UTC
Very deep, and I enjoyed the old-school point and click adventure feel of it.
ratking
02. May 2012 · 21:41 UTC
Simply awesome...I loved this adventure.
azurenimbus
02. May 2012 · 23:54 UTC
Wow, very impressed. One of the best so far.
summaky
03. May 2012 · 13:10 UTC
That was simply excellent. Congrats.
Casino Jack
03. May 2012 · 19:50 UTC
Absolutely amazing entry. I did get stuck on one or two unintuitive puzzles (e.g. putting the ring back in the box), but I played it through to the end and am very glad I did.
elvis75k
03. May 2012 · 21:11 UTC
Bellissimo! You are very talented ;)
rvmook
04. May 2012 · 17:19 UTC
My absolute favourite untill now. Loved everything about it
envy3d
05. May 2012 · 07:26 UTC
Probably the best game in the competition. I liked the added touch of his eyes moving back and forth while reading the letter. Everything about the art, sound, writing, and gameplay makes the game a wonderful, unified experience dripping with a somber mood. Truly astounding for 48 hours.
jimmypaulin
05. May 2012 · 16:11 UTC
Genuinely emotionally affecting, excellent story and integration with the theme. Aesthetic creates a brilliantly effective mood. It is like a haiku, I don't think adding to the length would add to the experience, this is simply superb.
Tom 7
05. May 2012 · 16:19 UTC
Real good! A pretty compelling story and not too bad to figure out by random exploration. :) But when will I saw through the rusty pipe with the knife to fill the room with water, in order to escape??
schattenkind.net
05. May 2012 · 20:07 UTC
The game is great.

But where is the source? I thought it's mandatory!?
🎤 deepnight
06. May 2012 · 22:12 UTC
I will post source as soon as possible (probably this week) : I just need to make sure it compiles in any environment. Right now, my classpaths are specific to my system and won't work on any other.

Sorry for the delay!
KinoftheFlames
07. May 2012 · 02:55 UTC
Awesome game! Did a LP of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaQGbs9mk2Y
Rybar
07. May 2012 · 04:03 UTC
This is beautifully done, love the old-school click adventure play, the art is fantastic. I got stumped, even with help, after getting the broom.
AD-Edge
07. May 2012 · 07:54 UTC
Top points for graphics and mood, this game has it all! Love that blurry effect. Seems to have a good story behind it as well, altho Im yet to make it to the end.
I like the way the cell translates from room to cell etc, very well done all round!
Dr.Pingu
07. May 2012 · 11:18 UTC
Yeay great game :)
music is really mmissing but ambiance is great :)
castor
07. May 2012 · 17:34 UTC
Bravo.
RobProductions
07. May 2012 · 22:26 UTC
Amazing! Nice job with the artwork and gameplay!
Shifty
08. May 2012 · 19:54 UTC
beautiful, deep, rich, ... good job :)
JaJ
09. May 2012 · 12:32 UTC
Amazing, very beautiful and moody. Might be the best entry I have played.
KevinWorkman
12. May 2012 · 00:55 UTC
I don't love games like this, but you set up a great atmosphere and story given the theme. Kudos.
hungyg
12. May 2012 · 06:11 UTC
loved the graphics and the effects
23
12. May 2012 · 07:05 UTC
This looks nice and the remembering mechanic was really clever.

Unfortunately, the obscure nature of the puzzles was really irritating and made it hard to stay in the game. I found the big iron key first, and I didn't understand why that didn't open the iron box; I didn't even know the cupboard was locked. Also, to pick up the tablecloth, why does "use" work but "pick up" doesn't? Like other people should have said, you probably should have had fewer verbs (open/close were pretty useless even in all the old games).

On another note, please post your source. It's totally OK if it's not clean or won't compile on other systems or whatever - people can figure it out if they need to, and you can produce a clean version later.
Krisjet
12. May 2012 · 11:03 UTC
Very polished entry, but it can be pretty frustrating, just like the old school adventure games. And the hint system isn't always up to date on what you did last I think, I kept getting hints to do things I had just done.
thegreystudios
12. May 2012 · 14:53 UTC
This is by far the best game played in this LD23 so far. Love every minute of it. Lovely! Simon
Skywilly
12. May 2012 · 14:56 UTC
Juste magnifique ! C'est exactement le jeu que j'aurais souhaité pouvoir réaliser si j'en avais le talent. C'est une petite merveille qui me fait, du coup, écrire mon commentaire en français ;)
davidwparker
12. May 2012 · 18:20 UTC
Loved your last Ludum Dare entry... loved this one too. Your style is great! Keep up the great work. Sad game, though.
Christina Antoinette Neofotistou
12. May 2012 · 22:36 UTC
One of the first I played. This is fantastic. I finished it in no time, and loved it!
Jacic
13. May 2012 · 00:40 UTC
Amazing game!
Daniel
13. May 2012 · 03:01 UTC
Awesome game!!! 55555555 star:D
Drabiter
13. May 2012 · 03:48 UTC
T_T beautiful story. I love the ending!
johnfn
13. May 2012 · 07:04 UTC
This game was fantastic. I think you've even outdone your past LD entries. Your work is inspirational.
davidpeter
13. May 2012 · 07:11 UTC
Wow, this was a fantastic game. Great mood, great graphics, great across the board. I definitely didn't expect someone else to do a point-and-click so well! Great work.
machinas
13. May 2012 · 07:51 UTC
nice job. interesting story.
Codexus
13. May 2012 · 09:09 UTC
Nice little game. Good use of the theme and the effects made the pixels look better than they would have been otherwise. It tries a bit too hard to be artsy and emotional so that doesn't really quite work but the gameplay was good.
Tifu
13. May 2012 · 12:35 UTC
Great stuff, wish I could see more of it, but I'm totally stuck... the help me thing isn't terribly useful as it is telling me after I found the broom and ring that I need to go to the park, but I have no idea there was a park or how to reach it! :S
deejorg
13. May 2012 · 14:17 UTC
Simply fantastic!
SonnyBone
13. May 2012 · 20:07 UTC
Great mood and atmosphere... and nice use of theme!
BenW
13. May 2012 · 21:59 UTC
Phenomenal game. Some of the puzzles were a bit unintuitive but everything else makes up for it.
Gjarble
14. May 2012 · 00:41 UTC
The story was excellent. I disagree with some of the other commenters that said there wasn't enough closure- I like that you leave the backstory sort of open-ended, but give just enough information for the player to figure out the mystery he's trying to solve. Still, some of the puzzles were very unintuitive, and after being told what the solution was, I felt like I wouldn't have had enough information to figure it out on my own. There's an interesting contrast there: there's neither much story information nor much puzzle information, but one of those helps the game, while the other harms it.
r3d5
15. May 2012 · 00:18 UTC
I must say, totally incredible and well made. Thank you for this!
PVince81
15. May 2012 · 20:41 UTC
Great game!
Zanzlanz
20. Jul 2012 · 20:08 UTC
Wowzers! It was very deep and very well made. Thanks for the journey!
gabeochoa
27. Aug 2012 · 17:11 UTC
great job should have gotten first, you should make it in french for the compo, to speed it up and post a translated version after would have loved to have it longer
ahm99
22. Sep 2012 · 21:48 UTC
It's LD 24. And I entered LD 23, but I never played this game. But now that I did, I must say you did a great job.