alone I art by Make A Game

made by Make A Game for LD22 (JAM)

"alone I art" is a game about spending valuable time alone with art.

You're a shady character in a museum. You love art. You love it so much that you need to steal it. But to steal the art, you need to be alone. You can't have anyone spot you stealing or you'll never be allowed be alone with art ever again.

How to play:
- Use the Arrow keys to move
- Use the Space key to grab the art piece
- Go to the exit door to cash in the art piece
- Avoid the guards
- Esc goes back to main menu

Be sure to check the Gallery in the main menu after you're done stealing. Score and Gallery are cleared if you close this page, sorry.

UPDATED TO 1.01, SOUND PROBLEMS SOLVED AND MINOR BUG FIXES

Bug List:
- Sound and Music aren't playing online (fixed in 1.01)
- Footsteps may not play
- Loads wrong splash screen (fixed in 1.01)
- Prop and obstacle layers not showing
- Guard getting stuck sometimes
- Vase and bust values not showing or being added to score (fixed 1.01)
- P doesn't pause the game
- Guard "angry" animation isn't playing
- Exit door animation isn't playing (fixed in 1.01)
- Some paintings are impossible to steal, sorry, our bad (fixed 1.01)
- Gallery doesn't display numbers of uncollected art (fixed 1.01)
- Top Score isn't saved when game is closed
- Guards' circle of vision passes through walls but guards can't see through walls
- When more guards are after you, pursuit music changes to sneaking music if one loses you.
- Top Score and Gallery are cleared if you close the game, sorry.
- Gallery shows 75 paintings out of 72.
- You can cash in a piece of art when being pursued.

Minor adjustments:
- Main menu and HUD objects need alignment
- Paintings and lights need alignment

Missing Features:
- Museum at day with visitors

Web	http://makeaga.me/aloneIart/
SWF (right-click and save)	http://www.leituga.com/aloneIart/aloneIart.swf
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=5631

Ratings

Coolness	100%	1
Overall(Jam)	3.86	4

Audio(Jam)	3.62	10
Community	3.87	13
Fun(Jam)	3.43	12
Graphics(Jam)	4.20	10
Humor(Jam)	4.08	1
Innovation(Jam)	3.42	14
Mood(Jam)	2.93	29
Theme(Jam)	2.78	48

Feedback

Winterblood

20. Dec 2011 · 21:08 UTC

Basic mechanics are fun - love the doorway sizes, and the bulging trenchcoat. Quickly became a bit repetitive though, trekking through the thoroughly emptied half of the museum to reach something else to steal. Could benefit from a time trial mode to force player to balance many quick cheap thefts against one big score.

🎤 Make A Game

21. Dec 2011 · 09:09 UTC

Thanks for the feedback. We didn't have an opportunity to play test the whole level and we knew there was a possibility of it being too big for a single playthrough, but we barely submitted in time. That's why the Gallery in the main menu was so important for us, to give some replayability if you just want to see the paintings. We'll be planning some additional modes just like the one you suggested and probably different museums (from small to big like the one you played).

MadEqua

21. Dec 2011 · 20:18 UTC

How nice would it be with the museum open (in daytime) with lots of visitors getting in your way to the exit door, and some of them calling the guards? I say it would be even more awesome. Bom trabalho malta! ^^

🎤 Make A Game

22. Dec 2011 · 10:24 UTC

@MadEqua:
That was the original plan. But time constraints and issues with Flixel kept us from adding visitors and a better AI than just pathfinding. It would make the theme of being alone even stronger, since you couldn't be seen by the visitors. We were even pixelated into visitors here, as you can see here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2011/12/18/well-our-main-artist-must-go-home/

Dax

23. Dec 2011 · 03:40 UTC

I really enjoyed to play this game and discover the constraints when I picked up a head or a vase.
Too bad some game design ideas have not been implemented (due to time) to reach an awesome level

🎤 Make A Game

23. Dec 2011 · 11:27 UTC

Thanks! We feel like Ludum Dare is a good incentive for game prototyping, so we're not closing the book on "alone I art" or "Eggscape". If everything goes well, we'll deliver full games based on those LD entries. But first we need to take care of some important projects. :)

Shigor

24. Dec 2011 · 22:22 UTC

Great idea, surprisingly bit too easy for a stealth game. Problem is that it gets too repetetive and boring quite quickly :( (Hope you'll do some postcompo version)
Full points for art :)

SonnyBone

27. Dec 2011 · 01:16 UTC

... TROLL PAINTING. YOU BASTARDS!!! This was genius. Thanks for making such a unique game!

ziomorti

27. Dec 2011 · 01:33 UTC

This made me laugh a lot :D Simple, yet so fun!

bach

27. Dec 2011 · 20:45 UTC

This was fun and made me laugh! Love how he packs away the paintings. :D

Fantastic job overall, really nice graphics.

🎤 Make A Game

27. Dec 2011 · 22:10 UTC

@Shigor: We have a lot of tweaking to do for a postcompo version. Smaller museums and smarter AI might be a good idea.

Glad everyone here is enjoying the game. :D
Thanks for the support!

Aaron

01. Jan 2012 · 05:30 UTC

The mechanics are smooth. You guys mentioned some trouble with Flixel, but that doesn't show at all in the final game. You guys mention wanting smarter AI, but I thought the guard AI was more than decent (they pathed, they chased, what more could a thief ask for?). On top of that, you guys had some pretty sweet ideas--I was in love with the gallery feature, it adds a lot.

But I felt that the level, that tied all the gameplay together, didn't show off the mechanics as well as it could have. Having one exit does constrain the player, but the execution became a bit more "walk forever, do this, walk forever, do that" instead of an intense thief game. Perhaps multiple exits, time cap, having a bit more time to design the level (your journal suggested that final level design started ~5h left), features that just makes use of all of your existing, fun systems could definitely add a lot.

Flixel's definitely an interesting environment. On one hand, it gives you things like pathing. Unfortunately, that makes you reluctant to do other kinds of AI. I think the trick is to make sure you have all the powerful tools in your belt (like saving: http://flashgamedojo.com/wiki/index.php?title=Saving_%28Flixel%29), try to take advantage of them in clever ways, and never waste time trying to fight against how Flixel does things. :P

It was immediately obvious that art is one of you guys' greatest strengths, and this game was a fun, clever play on the theme and a tribute to your talents. From all the humor, I can tell that you guys enjoyed making it--and it's really nice to see a game that just shows off the team's personality so much. Good job, guys! :D

matthias_zarzecki

04. Jan 2012 · 12:14 UTC

This is a great idea. Soundtrack is beautifully fitting.

h.attila

05. Jan 2012 · 03:50 UTC

Loved this game. It's funny, it looks nice, it has a great soundtrack. Unfortunately, after a while it gets repetitive, so I would've added an another exit at the other side of the museum to cut down the long walking distance.

Drabiter

06. Jan 2012 · 23:17 UTC

It's really funny. The door's sizes make it challenging, and the guard is very fine when pursuing you. Really like the music when you spotted. Nice work!

🎤 Make A Game

07. Jan 2012 · 03:08 UTC

@Aaron: Thanks for your support! That link could have been very useful during the competition. I'll make sure the programmers read it. Regarding some of your points, we just posted our post mortem. :)

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/01/06/alone-i-art-post-mortem/

Thanks everyone for your comments!

jeffz

07. Jan 2012 · 22:19 UTC

Original, music is a nice touch, however it gets a bit repetitive. Nice work on rating so many games too.

cadin

07. Jan 2012 · 23:37 UTC

Great work! It felt a little too easy and repetitive as others have said, but the concept and graphics are great. Very unique.

headchant

08. Jan 2012 · 02:26 UTC

Nicely done. Sadly, the music stopped after loosing one round.

🎤 Make A Game

08. Jan 2012 · 04:02 UTC

@headchant: It's a known bug, just get spotted and run away to have the music back. ;)

Pierrec

08. Jan 2012 · 09:53 UTC

Awesome game! The only problem is that it's a bit too easy, and so, it becomes a bit boring. But I enjoyed the 20 first minutes a lot!

volando

08. Jan 2012 · 14:33 UTC

Loved it!

🎤 Make A Game

08. Jan 2012 · 14:53 UTC

Yeah, looking back, if we had time, we should have made a 10 minute timer. :(

Fififox

08. Jan 2012 · 15:03 UTC

Great game, with awesome art and music ! The map is a bit too big and going back and forth to the door is a bit repetitive but the game is still really fun to play ! Congrats on writing the journal, the post-mortem, taking photos and making a gameplay video!

Zuieni

08. Jan 2012 · 16:40 UTC

At first I just wandered around and took some paintings to see which was valued the most, because I believed I only could take one. Then I forgot were the exit was ;) Then I found the trollpainting that could not fit thru the door, love it :D

Milo

08. Jan 2012 · 17:51 UTC

The graphics were awesome and comical. It seemed a bit easy; as long as you kept moving, the guards wouldn't catch. It'd be a lot more fun if it were harder.

🎤 Make A Game

08. Jan 2012 · 21:13 UTC

@Milo: We wanted a guard AI similar to the Metal Gear series, but since we didn't have time, we tried to make the guard paths come near each other for some challenge when being pursued.
I agree it's easy, but when you're trying to fit a small painting through a small doorway, oh man. :D

Cosr

09. Jan 2012 · 03:53 UTC

Loved it, until it became too repetitive. The different ways your character tries to smuggle out the art were great. But once I had stolen one piece of each type, there wasn't really much incentive for me to keep playing. I did anyways, but the longer and longer treks to get another art piece became more and more tedious. Could do with being shorter, maybe, or having some way to limit the amount of times the player has to keep returning to the same rooms to clear the place out.

I finally gave up playing a little while after a guard who was chasing me got stuck and it wouldn't stop playing the chase music (annoying because it doesn't loop cleanly. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! wasn't noticeable with the stealth music, but it really got to me after listening to the chase music for a while).

DDRKirby(ISQ)

09. Jan 2012 · 05:55 UTC

Charming! Gameplay isn't quite there but this is still really really neat regardless :)

Andrew

09. Jan 2012 · 11:54 UTC

The level is waaaaay to big. Levels progressively larger would be a good addition

waynebeam

09. Jan 2012 · 15:48 UTC

loved it. the graphics and music were great. the idea was cool too. like the use of the theme. may have already been mentioned but i would have liked an extra exit, maybe one on the opposite end of the museum. also maybe if one guard got alerted all (or all the ones close by) the guards would start chasing you for a little more challenge. great job, a lot of fun!

SusanTheCat

09. Jan 2012 · 17:54 UTC

I think a great extension would be to rob different places with increasing difficulty.

Susan

callidus

09. Jan 2012 · 17:54 UTC

haha I liked that :-) nice game with a good simple mechanic done well, good stuff.

🎤 Make A Game

09. Jan 2012 · 21:39 UTC

We hear you! We originally wanted the game with multiple levels and smarter, more hive minded AI.
We love these comments, and the way everyone points the same problems. It means we really need to deliver on those in the future. :) Thank you!

MurrayL

09. Jan 2012 · 22:25 UTC

I loved the graphics. The first time I stole a bust and walked out with it on my head I laughed out loud!

Drabiter

10. Jan 2012 · 16:07 UTC

There's bug when I played a guard like bull (in matador), he stucked on wall and couldn't turn back. The music still on warning state for rest of game. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/54138920/img/bug.jpg