Avoider by Linus

[raw]
made by Linus for LD 40 (COMPO)

header.png

Avoider is a game based on the theme "The more you have, the worse it is" for the Ludum Dare 40 event (#ldjam40) created in only 48 hours. The idea is that you traverse a set of points spread randomly across different levels and whenever you reach your destination a "ghost" will appear that does the same movements as you but without any delay, if you collide with the ghost you lose. In order to complete the level you have to traverse all the destinations without running into your past self. It is certainly not as easy as you might expect!

Controls:

  • WASD or arrow keys to move and rotate relative to the player itself
  • ESC to pause

Objective:

Traverse all destinations on each level without running into your past self!

Tools used:

  • Unity3D
  • Gimp
  • Blender
  • Audacity
  • Abundant Music
  • Mono Develop
  • BFXR

Ratings

Overall 315th 3.421⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 256th 3.45⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 117th 3.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 107th 3.975⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 487th 2.895⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 229th 3.225⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 460th 2.222⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 510th 2.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 20🗨️

Feedback

Jupiter_Hadley
04. Dec 2017 · 17:53 UTC
Interesting controls! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz5gIdXHSCQ
Zeriver
04. Dec 2017 · 18:08 UTC
Cool game mechanic and very good level design made this game very fun to play. I like some little 'traps' where next way-point was right next to each other and i had to remember to make a little roundabout before going there so i will have some time to escape from me previous self. My only problem is with camera motion, i don't know what exactly is wrong but constant rotation made me kinda dizzy. But in overall pretty cool game and enjoyable experience, good job!
kerneltt
04. Dec 2017 · 22:57 UTC
nice game, the camera was weird tho but nice
360
04. Dec 2017 · 23:02 UTC
Hi. I've tried the game. It's okay. I really like the graphics. The camera could use a little tuning. The enemies are somewhat dumb. I don't really get the red path marker. Could also use mechanics like jumping! All in all, not bad of an experience/ Cheers.
360
04. Dec 2017 · 23:03 UTC
One another thing, I really didn't understand how it fit in the theme ('the more you have the worse it is') other than if there are more enemies around..
Checkout my game, see you in another jam!
🎤 Linus
04. Dec 2017 · 23:07 UTC
@360 Thanks for playing my game!

The enemies do the same movements you did between reaching the destinations and the idea is that the more destinations you pass the harder it becomes to avoid running into your past self. The first few levels are quite easy so that the player can understand the objective, level 4 and 5 is somewhat harder. I guess I could have been more explicit about the "past self movement behaviour". Thanks for the feedback again :D
360
04. Dec 2017 · 23:14 UTC
@linus Sure man, some of these games really have a big future ahead of them. 48 h isn't a lot, and I know that to myself. Especially if you like human things, like sleep, and fresh air, haha.
papacheech
04. Dec 2017 · 23:17 UTC
nice mechanics and i like the controls! Simple but nice graphics too. Good work!
Kapura
04. Dec 2017 · 23:30 UTC
Very interesting concept! I found the camera control very difficult to use, but I was still able to progress through the game OK.
OmnipotentIndie
04. Dec 2017 · 23:31 UTC
Nice job. By far the best use of the theme i've seen so far. The the controls + camera are a bit weird, but other other than that, very impressive.
Somnium
05. Dec 2017 · 15:06 UTC
That was a pretty innovative game concept, as well as an interesting take on the theme!

The game felt hectic, but in a good way, where you can actually make your life easier later on by planning correctly. Those instances where the next waypoint spawned in the vicinity of you were especially interesting, since you then had to fight the impulse of just taking the shortest path. Letting the player know how much time was spent on each level added to these constant pro/con decisions as well.

The controls were adequate, although the camera felt like it rotated just a bit too quickly.

The incrementing difficulty of the level design worked well, and gave the game a nice difficulty progression.

Having different music for each level was impressive, especially for a compo game! I felt that some of the tunes did not really feel like they matched either the hectic or the planning elements of the gameplay, but that could be purely subjective.

The graphics were simple but functional, and the highlighting of the "most direct path" worked well, since it allowed the player to concentrate on how round-about a route to take, rather than having to actively search for the waypoints. A "remaining waypoints" counter could have been a nice mid-level progress indicator.

A nice entry, which was interesting to play! :)

>Easier future,
>by planning in the present.
>Dodge the ghosts and win!
velvetlobster
05. Dec 2017 · 22:30 UTC
Great take on the theme ! Really interesting mechanics! There are some many places this idea can go I think, perhaps as a metaphor for life and the decisions we make that can get us in the future ... perhaps if we use people chars as the player ...
Garywiss
05. Dec 2017 · 23:32 UTC
Cool game, the mechanics are simple but fun. I have some problems with the control (sometimes when i press down the camera do a u-turn it's a bit disturbing)

Nice job ^^
shinyogre
06. Dec 2017 · 00:57 UTC
One of the few games I have played to completion. I loved the weird orthographic view. As for the camera and movement controls, they were a little offputting and made the movement more difficult. If you perhaps slowed the panning down a bit and lessened the frequency with which the camera automatically adjusts, then I think the control would work very well to compliment the strange perspective.

Also, I did not catch on to the fact that the other people were my past selves. You might make that more clear somehow.

Wonderful game.
Geckoo1337
07. Dec 2017 · 20:40 UTC
Strange gameplay - good mechanic. I like it. Controls could be improved. Well done ++
SadColor
12. Dec 2017 · 20:04 UTC
What a neat concept! It got really annoying to play though, because certain movements or key presses would make the camera rapidly shift and disorient me, which made the levels take a lot longer to complete than it really should have. That happened on both versions. Maybe having the camera be independent of movement or just completely still would have been OK.
arron-fowler
18. Dec 2017 · 17:47 UTC
I enjoyed it, the camera swing was a bit over sensitive but I was left curious as to what it could become over time
Space_man
23. Dec 2017 · 21:20 UTC
Cool game, I used a similar mechanic but this game plays very differently. The controls could use some work though, several times I ended up turning more quickly than expected and going in the wrong direction which caused me problems in later.
Adam Passey
23. Dec 2017 · 23:24 UTC
Well executed. Follows a consistent theme, has good audio, controls feel responsive. The camera is a little disorienting, but is largely responsible for the difficulty. It might just need some tuning to improve the feel.

Enemies were very easy to avoid and part of me wanted it to have a stealth mechanic where enemies would see me and give chase.

Overall, great work! Definitely a fun play.
MaiMai
24. Dec 2017 · 01:01 UTC
Those rotation controls are ridiculous, and the game looks super concept-y, but it's really enjoyable.
I'm definitely a fan where you're your own enemy, separated by time.
Riemann Integrable
24. Dec 2017 · 03:17 UTC
I really liked it. The music is neat and doesn't get repetitive, i like the sound effects, and it's a really cool idea. The only thing that I'd change is to the make the camera a little more sensitive so that it's a smaller turn each time you press an arrow key. Nice job overall. It's really fun!
profan
25. Dec 2017 · 23:00 UTC
Really interesting game, I've only seen one other LD game so far on this theme which has the whole "avoid your previous ghost" mechanic, so points for originality :)

I enjoyed the music... but by god the camera rotation was incredibly frustrating, it felt difficult to understand in a certain instance why the camera suddenly rotated all of 45 degrees, but I'm sure you're aware of this aspect of it already :)

I assume you have more plans for the graphical aspect of the game, what with the player being a capsule and the level being this dev-texture grid of sorts.. :D

Great work though, it was definitely fun!