Memento Mori by ZeroFaction

[raw]
made by ZeroFaction for LD35 (JAM)
Memento Mori is a narrative platformer that examines the changes that a person goes through during their life.


Controls:
Use any keys to advance menu screens.
Left and right or A and D moves.
Space jumps when possible.

Gameplay Tips:
All jumps are judged off of a ray shooting out of the exact center of the character. Time them with that in mind.

When attempting the slide jump, don't move. Allow time to push you onto the slide and just focus on timing the jump. If you move in air or on the slide, you will fail every time. This is intentional.

In the hospital, get in the door quickly, this will increase your character's age and jumping ability which is required to jump over the heartbeats. Additionally, the last heartbeat WILL kill you, make that jump too or else.

When in the collapsing world section (after the hospital) you do not need to worry about touching the red bricks that fall. They are only deadly if they hit your character on the top, from the side they will do nothing.

Hopefully this helps! Good luck and have fun!

P.S. We are working on a version with checkpoints so that players can complete the story if they desire. It should be completed within the day (4/19) check back for it or follow @DynamicPanicDev on twitter for an update when it is posted. Unfortunately this will be a separate version of the game since LD rules state that the original sub must be the one people vote on. Thanks for all of your feedback! Keep it coming!

UPDATE:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/DynamicPanic/memento-mori-post-ld35-entry = Updated Game With Checkpoints and WebGL Support!

Ratings

Coolness 89% 2
Overall(Jam) 2.82 926
Audio(Jam) 3.18 378
Fun(Jam) 2.29 1071
Graphics(Jam) 3.47 464
Humor(Jam) 2.00 726
Innovation(Jam) 3.09 517
Mood(Jam) 3.66 167
Theme(Jam) 3.53 389

Feedback

adsilcott
19. Apr 2016 路 16:21 UTC
Great graphical style, great use of the theme. Really nice, I just hate having to start over from the beginning.
AceyT
19. Apr 2016 路 16:30 UTC
Really annoying to die, as I have to wait to the screen to push me and when I'm finally able to have a little control, I don't have time to properly familiarize myself with the control that I die (or rather "fell into despair")

It bother me, as I wanted to see the whole story, but I can't :/
馃帳 ZeroFaction
19. Apr 2016 路 16:47 UTC
@adsiscott, we struggled with the idea of a respawn system, but we decided to stick with the literal interpretation of life and how you only have one.
馃帳 ZeroFaction
19. Apr 2016 路 16:51 UTC
@AceyT You should be able to move the character left and right as you desire using the arrow keys or A and D. Different phases of life have different speeds and jumps which probably lends to the confusion of the controls. If there is interest I would be willing to do a postmortem and playthrough video explaining our design ideas and thoughts in each section. Let me know if that is something you would like.
LeftRight92
19. Apr 2016 路 17:06 UTC
Please make a WebGL build.
WeaverDeveloper
19. Apr 2016 路 17:28 UTC
Interesting concept, but the slow pace combined with no checkpoints gets frustrating. Good mood but gameplay could be more forgiving.
vctr_seleucos
19. Apr 2016 路 17:33 UTC
Nice.
Kifuga
19. Apr 2016 路 18:50 UTC
Interesting idea, but I never made it over the third gap (with the slide before it)... the jump was always too short.
pixzleone
19. Apr 2016 路 18:53 UTC
Really nice graphics. Gamplay is a bit slow for my liking. Good job!
MintArcade
19. Apr 2016 路 18:54 UTC
Nice game. Great ambiance.
joemid
19. Apr 2016 路 19:03 UTC
Great idea. I could help but fall into despair over and over again! Could use a little work on scrolling and physics, but don't get me wrong- all in all- a beautiful concept. I will try again on the big screen!
PKorolenko
19. Apr 2016 路 19:49 UTC
@Kifuga. Try not moving when sliding. Just worry about timing the jump.

@pixzleone, the game's pace is deliberate. It changes throughout the game.

Thanks for playing and leaving ratings/comments. We hope some of you made it to the end.
DiFFtY
19. Apr 2016 路 20:24 UTC
I loved the obvious inspiration from Braid and Limbo! Visual effects are great and this lovely music goes so well with this beautiful background particle effect.

But like the whole comments section said before, it really lack something like a checkpoint system. It ruins all the fun having to restart the whole thing from the beginning just for a little too short jump. At this point, I don't know if I'm going to finish it, even if I must have past the first half of the game.

And this third jump is REALLY to hard.

Thus said, good use of simple and untextured materials.
There's a lot of great ideas with the using of physics too, both for helping or blocking the player.

Good job to you guys!
PKorolenko
19. Apr 2016 路 20:43 UTC
@DiFFtY if you're referencing the slide jump, allow yourself to slide, don't hit any directions, just time the jump.

We're discussing adding in checkpoints for a "non-jam" version of the game for people who want to experience the whole game. We're just not sure of the technicalities in terms of jam rules.

Thanks for playing!
MementoGames
19. Apr 2016 路 23:39 UTC
Great art and music, setting the mood just right.
I'm very curious about how it ends, but it's very frustrating to start all over again :(

Please, let me know when you publish the checkpoint version, because I want to finish it :)
PKorolenko
20. Apr 2016 路 00:55 UTC
@mementogames, we definitely will!
Mr MadCat
20. Apr 2016 路 17:33 UTC
Damn, I died more often than in Dark Souls ;)
But it is really beautiful and a nice tale on the theme.
The jumping actually feels a bit unresponsive, that makes timing the jumps pretty hard.
Kuality Games
21. Apr 2016 路 00:50 UTC
The art style was really interesting. I enjoyed the game but the camera scrolling was a bit too slow.
Arvydas
21. Apr 2016 路 02:03 UTC
This is a very interesting game. Kind of creepy if you ask me lol. I like the whole growing up aspect to this, but the music is kind of creepy and may leave me with some weird nightmares lol. Love the concept! The baby part is a bit annoying as it moves super slow, but I guess that's all you can do as a baby! Good game :)
ZYXer
21. Apr 2016 路 15:01 UTC
I love games with a philosophical feel. :) Great sound/graphics and mood (though some backgrounds don't quite fit in my opinion).

The jumps are frustratingly hard (though you can see it as a "statement" on life). I'll check back when there are checkpoints :)
SIN Gaiiden2
21. Apr 2016 路 17:47 UTC
Nice concept and good audio.
Wisedawn
21. Apr 2016 路 18:18 UTC
Great special effects and nice audio!
Multiplexor
21. Apr 2016 路 19:32 UTC
Great mood and for sure an unusual experience! :) It could have done with some more action at the beginning so that respawning is not that frustrating!


Keep up the good work! :)
maartene
21. Apr 2016 路 19:40 UTC
Great mood (graphics, effects, music), but very difficult. The delay with the (non-skippable) title screens makes it hard to maintain focus.
Hectigo
22. Apr 2016 路 19:25 UTC
You have a good concept here, but I think you could have made it work much better by having less gamey elements, or exploring less traditional game mechanics. It's hard to get immersed in something when battling with glitchy physics and trying to make frustrating jumps. To me the game would be a better experience if it wouldn't have the whole platforming element at all. The graphics is also just a tad too much of a mishmash of different styles, but I really enjoy the minimalistic audio, it fits the game perfectly.
jcmonkey
22. Apr 2016 路 19:26 UTC
nice game, the hardcore part where u have to restart didnt bother me at all.
Jungle
22. Apr 2016 路 19:49 UTC
Very good Art. I had a problem with lag but the game is very cool!
gnerkus
22. Apr 2016 路 21:09 UTC
The art style is interesting. I liked the use of silhouettes and the lighting.

I found it difficult to time the jumps and couldn't get past the first hole after the baby grows up. I'll definitely try again.
fin_nolimit
22. Apr 2016 路 21:11 UTC
I feel into despair but I had a very good time doing it!!! Excellent job. I like the particle ghost looking cloud and how it picked me up when i fell!!! :)
Louspirit
22. Apr 2016 路 21:20 UTC
What a deepness in mood and use of the theme. But it is not normal I think that you have to give us too much tips.
LeReveur
23. Apr 2016 路 16:11 UTC
Poetic, nice graphics and mood, a little difficult to jump well, but great game. :)
Freank
24. Apr 2016 路 09:46 UTC
Hi, nice game ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #35.
Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description
GrooveMan
25. Apr 2016 路 20:53 UTC
While I like the idea, I think it's marred a bit by how fiddly the controls and physics are.

I enjoyed making the baby moonwalk, though.
馃帳 ZeroFaction
28. Apr 2016 路 16:38 UTC
@GrooveMan what exactly about the controls did you find fiddly? We are interested in any details you could provide so that we can make future games feel better. Thanks!
medidog
28. Apr 2016 路 20:11 UTC
I like the mood you set in the game. However, I though the pace of the game was too slow, and the camera movement was slower than necessary to keep up with the character. It was also a bit annoying that the character already slides without me touching any buttons.
in3orn
01. May 2016 路 10:17 UTC
I fell into despair so many times... :D

The main concept is very cool! It reminds me the Unravel game which I love :)

However I think the ballance between game speed and frequency of failures is not good enough. When I fail, I must repeat the whole checkpoint sequence. It's kk, but not in case where the whole sequence lasts about 1 minute of slow pace run. I don't want to wait. I want to act! I hope you undertand me right :)