Run, U Fool! by zgragselus
"Hey there. Your world is getting smaller and smaller."
What does this mean? You will need to find out by playing our game - a a top-down/third person action game featuring several levels. Can you beat them all? Don't worry, the first one will teach you how our world works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkjE4uvN6Ks
We created the game in three people as a Jam entry, and had a blast while doing it. So, we hope you will have a blast playing it. Let us know what you think; any feedback is welcome!
The hardware requirements might be kinda harsh, but the game is playable on a mid-range gaming rig; also, we recommend playing the game on a gamepad for more natural control of the character. However, the game should be perfectly playable on a keyboard as well.
Authors:
- Pavel Kouřil (https://pavelkouril.cz, pavelkouril(at)gmail.com)
- Vilém "Zgragselus" Otte (https://otte.cz, otte.vilem(at)gmail.com)
- David "amertak" Kadlec (kadlec.david(at)gmail.com)
Supported inputs
- Gamepad (Left joystick, A, START)
- Keyboard (WASD, Space, Esc)
Downloads
- Windows (32-bit) https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_win32.rar
- Windows (64-bit) https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_win64.rar
- Linux (64-bit) https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_lnx64.rar
- OSX (32-bit and 64-bit) https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_osx.zip
- WebGL https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_webgl/ (SEE NOTE BELOW IMAGES!)
- other platforms are sure to follow
We are trying to port the game to WebGL as well, but for a "full experience", check out the desktop builds.
A bit heavy, but still quite playable version for WebGL is here: https://otte.cz/LudumDare/LD38/ld38_webgl/
Beware though, I strongly recommend using binary version (because of performance issues in browser ... yeah this also shows that browsers are not the future of gaming, because the interpreters are way too slow). It has some post-jam optimizations, because original version was running at like 4fps on 8-core Ryzen 1700 + Rx 480, this version runs smoothly on such high end machine, but not really well on anything weaker. So, if you can - download native one, the performance in browser is really really bad.
Changelog
25th April 01:00am CEST (Initial push) - Added 32-bit build for Windows - Porting & Final playtesting starts
25th April 03:00am CEST (Jam ends) - Added 64-bit build for Windows - Added 64-bit build for Linux - Minor tweaks: - Moving 1 'chain' and 1 'bucket' object to increase visibility - Tweaked bloom intensity (improved eye-adaptation) - Re-built light probes with higher resolution - Added waypoint camera to credits scene - Disabled collider for background terrain, it was possible to fall on it and not die - Past this entry, only optimization, bugfixes and porting is allowed (unless we release post-jam version)
25th April 11:00pm CEST (Mac build) - Added 32-bit and 64-bit Mac builds
7th May 11:00pm CEST - Added WebGL build
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/run-u-fool |
Ratings
| Overall | 102th | 3.909⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 203th | 3.515⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 222th | 3.455⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 496th | 3.212⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 8th | 4.735⭐ | 36🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 223th | 3.387⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 362th | 2.655⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 181th | 3.656⭐ | 34🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 59🗳️ | 59🗨️ |
Skvělá práce!
Level 3 is somewhat very hard, I was against putting the required 'skill' level so high - but other members of the team over-voted me (as they were using controller for testing). It is still possible to beat it, but requires precise hands and good timing.
Thanks for playing and feedback it is appreciated!
My PC is not the best performance, but with the fastest configuration at 800x600 resolution the FPS was acceptable, it just dropped dramatically when a whole circle of platforms collapse.
Nice and fun, great work!
P.S. I played with the WASD keys and the direction was slightly diagonal, not straight as the direction of the corridors.
However, I did feel a lot of frustration when I was trying to play, and I think I can pinpoint it to the following reasons:
1. Your character is constantly switching between 3 colors. I feel like it would be MUCH easier to plan ahead if you could see the next TWO colors the player will switch to, in order. This may help alleviate the second issue I had with the game.
2. You're practically not allowed to make mistakes. 3 seconds is waaaaaaaaaay to short of a time frame to plan ahead for your next move. There would be times I would try to run through a yellow door, only to change to blue at the last second. Okay, so there's a blue door around the corner, except too late. By the time I get to it I'm yellow again. So I guess I'll try to run back to the yellow door aaaaaaaaand change again, and now I'm falling to my death. :(
If you want to keep the color changing happening so quickly, I would highly suggest upping the character movement to make it a more fast-paced game. Personally I found the last level to be the most enjoyable, as it involved dodging in-between lines of gates as you tried to out-pace the crumbling pit of doom behind you. In THAT scenario, changing colors every 3 seconds is fun, because you constantly have to make snap decisions, and the important distinction is that you have time to ACT on those snap decisions.
Other than that, the game looks great, controls great, and has a pretty cool idea. :) Maybe some polish and balance to the mechanics would help carry it out into a unique project!
Oh and I felt that the tutorial wasn't funny, you could cut it and the change of color would still be clear to the player, so I felt that it was meant to construct some narrative. because of that, when I was playing I was expecting that the setting was a game show or something like it, because of how you are instructing the player and how the "narrator" had a personallity that belittled you. So I was expecting some kind of resolution at the end.(Please don't take it as a "you should've cutted it")
This game has potential, it is a nice idea and if you want to expand on it I would like to see how it ends, It's graphics are awesome, the writting has a lot of personality.(you could use it more between levels or something like that)
Overall it's a good game, I hope this feedback helps and I would like to see what you guys do next.
@coleslaughter: Yeah, the two colors in advance is an interesting concept. We were actually thinking about it, but we didn't implement it afterwards. Honestly, not sure why, now that I'm thinking about it. Also, the first prototpes had the player moving faster, and we changed the falling accordingly, but not the color switching. :)
@maldo19: The balance of the "difficulty" is kinda hard; some people can get through fast enough, some are barely can get through some levels. As for the writing, we unfortunately didn't have enough time for completing it; the code of the game was ready for showing the messages at beggining of the level, but real life duties on Monday (and not a good time zone for LD) prevented me from writing the rest of the dialogues. But resolution can be ending on a unknown planet, not knowing what will happen next ... like, maybe in the next LD, if the theme is compatbile with our robot character. ;)
For the tutorial cutting - our previous game's feedback was mostly about bad/lacking tutorial, so we tried to do a good one this time - that actually explains the mechanics and everything.
@mrerdalural: Yeah, we actually thought about adding jumping in the first iterations, then dismissed it, and towards the end when we thought the jumping would be cool, there wasn't time left to redo the level design and add the mechanic. But thanks for the kind words!
@coleslaughter Thank you. Two colors in advance would allow for more planning, but that would also need a different camera position or a sort of minimap (as you don't see the whole level in the beginning). I agree with last level and level 3 being the best ones (forcing you to pick the correct gate), mechanics work there... more complex maps are about searching for the gate, and all levels tend to be unforgivable (there was a serious inspiration by Dark Souls)
@maldo19 As for the tutorial, it indeed was attempting to put up a narrative. It is somewhat problematic to figure out a tutorial that everyone would like (although from last 3 Ludum Dares I've noticed that tutorial is a must, otherwise there will be a lot of replies of 'I had no idea what to do', which makes you somewhat sad as an author.
I agree with music not reflecting you want to get safe. The real problem here is, none of us is a musician (except the friend of one of us, who actually made the music - whom we mentioned in credits). I'm glad to have a custom music of some sort, and therefore being able to participate in music category. The music could use some kind of grading (or ambient sounds) as you progress through each level.
Honestly, you're the first one not to complain about very hard difficulty (so for next time, having different difficulty levels might be interesting). The resolution of some sort is there (it could use more writing to add some real story telling, instead of just putting credits screen there ... but there is a time cutoff for Ludum Dare).
I'm glad you've played the game and gave us this feedback. Thank you very much.
The mechanics are really interesting, they left me in tension and forced me to think before I acted. In fact, I wouldn't mind if the time limit was crunched a bit. And the tension could be even bigger with floor cells cracklings right beneath feet and falling more gradually.
Graphics was awesome too. With some additional sounds like footsteps and wall cracking, it would have an amazing mood.
And finally big plus for gamepad controls :slight_smile:
And please don't take it as you should have it removed, I liked it because you guys used it in your favor as it was building a narrative.
@zgragselus So now I understand why you made the tutorial that way, I feel that a tutorial is a neccesity when your mechanics are complicated but when the only thing you can do in this game is moving with WASD and just waiting for the character's colors to match the ones in the doors there is not much to explain. (this matches with what I wrote to your partner)
For the music you just need to make a track with a faster tempo, you don't need something too fancy, and if you really want to put more enphasis on it you could make the tempo faster as time goes on.
For the difficulty part maybe it was because I realized that if you stand still waiting for your color to change in front of a door is easier than keep moving to the other door that has your matching color. So it worked in almost all levels except the final level or the previous one (the one which you're running until there are 3 doors with the 3 different colors) as you die if you don't match it in one go.
And thank you guys for having a good reception for this feedback, I hope this comment is useful.
* The graphics are nice.
* THE TUTORIAL !!! The best so far of the games I've played!
* The idea is cool.
* Camera movement is good!
* Character animation is standard Unity I guess.
* The theme is ... I don't know, it's not "small world", I can't see it in there.
* I can't make qualified decisions - I just run somewhere and then waiting for the color I need and hope I can manage it before the ground gets destroyed.
* The levels could be sorted from easy to hard.
You can watch me playing the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5x4fRX8yrw
The theme is there kinda via narrative, but yes, we agree it's not there by default. It was kinda hard to think of a game for this theme, since we didn't want to do miniature planets and I didn't want to do ants. Also, the prototype was actually "closer" to the theme, but the game evolved during the weekend.
Overall, thanks for the feedback, we really appreciate it!
@those-30-ninjas: We are sorry to hear that; yeah, the PC requirements are kinda harsh, as we wrote in the description. :(
Graphics are great. Idea is fun. Gameplay is great. And you managed to squeeze in some humour, too.
This doesn't really play like a jam game, at least not the type I'm used to :D
And a really neat mechanic with barriers and colour shifting, really defines the playstyle for your game.
I'd have two issues with your project:
- Music could be more creepy instead of 'chilout-y', with all the shadows, hanging chains and overall grittiness I'd expect that type of mood
- controls, though sorted out nicely, sometimes felt more in the way than flexible. Slightly off turn -> stuck on corner, few seconds lost. I do think it was at least partly intentional, but comes off as unnecessarily frustrating at times - especially when running into the tleport. It's either controls, or hitboxes/materials you used - maybe some more forgiving hitboxes ore materials with less friction would do the tick?
But, I can frown as much as I want to, that's an extremely solid and polished game as it is. Feels complete, all elements are there, there's enough content to showcase your idea.
Really, really great job. And that decaying corridors, just wow.
Leaving my rating, cheers!
Excellent entry!
Running through corridor without door isn't fun, i didn't appreciate the level 3.
Good entry and original take on the theme :relaxed: . Great job guys !
I don't know how music fits the atmosphere - the world is dying, we need to hurry, everything is empty but the music still so chill. Where are the string orchestral? Where are the requiem for a world?
I liked color mechanics. It makes you hurry more and because of that this game became some kind of mix of race and 3d exploration game.
Good game. Really nice.
This was absolutely fantastic, the graphics and post-processing was very well done, probably some of the best I've seen in the jam so far. Puzzles were well thought out, and it got my heart going a few times there. Well done!
There are a few points to improve imo:
- We don't know when the world will collide or which part in "labyrinth" levels --> a timer + the part of the level (which will colide) blinking could be good indications
- We can't really see the color of doors in the last level, you should avoid tu put them in this position
- I feel like the chasing levels were more fun, it really fits more your concept. Run and rapidly decide which door to pass through. The labyrinth levels really don't feel like we're running, plus we have plenty of time before the world collide, so I didn't really feel under pressure
- I would have preferred the character to be (way) quicker
- It clearly lacks some sounds
With that said, it's really just nitpicking remarks comparing to the work you've done in 3 days. Well done to all three!
The mechanic with color changing is simple but it works. And I think the same as a previous comment, the chasing levels are better and fit more with the game concept than the labyrinth ones. Overall was a good game to play. Good job.
Any complaints I might have are minor - the player could have been a bit faster, camera angle could have been a bit higher on a couple levels - but outside of those, I had a lot of fun with this.
The mood in the game was really good thanks to the excellent graphics and music but was ruined a bit by the text and menu in the game. The font and menu did not really fit in with the theme inside the game. My biggest gripe though with this game is the camera because I always felt the angle was a bit awkard. Another thing that was a bit annoying was that on some stages you needed to be a color to get into the room with the teleporter but you never got that color because of rng. But those are just some minor points. Other than that it is really good.
Awesome work! :smiley:
A couple of other annoyances I encountered were the relative slowness of how the character traveled. It didn't feel very fast. Furthermore, I would have liked it if the collider on the floor dropped out towards the tail-end of the crumbling animation, rather than the beginning. Some levels would have appeared more fair with this slight change in coding. Don't forget to add sound effects, either!
Excellent aesthetics and gameplay.
Really nice puzzle concept.
As another comment pointed out, the color changes too fast for us to be able to plan accordingly. Instead, I went to whatever gate, and waited for my cube to be the right color.
Also, I think the connection with the theme was not stressed enough...
Anyway my feedback is limited to the first 3 levels because I tried hard but couldn't beat level 3.
The concept of the game is also very interesting, playing with the color to get out of a maze. Nice entry!
The communcation what when goes and such with the light is smart, I like it.
It's minimal and clear.
Cool
Maybe work on it more? :D
Thanks for feedback, although this game was for Ludum Dare 38 (where topic was Small World ... it can get into your search when you're going through games across all events). Please check the one I made for this one - Ludum Dare 39. You can get to it through my profile.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/hype-time
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/logicatory
- Music is sometimes unfitting - I'd rather have other sound effects
- The player should be locked in the teleporter because he can walk out after teleportation starts and still die
- The chains feel really clunky and distract from the otherwise polished feel (WebGL version)
- Balancing could be improved. Maybe mix door colors when the player is progressing too fast and make the destruction slower if he's too slow?
Good:
- Visuals are really nice! Like other people already said: the lighting sells it
- Controller input feels pretty good - maybe in some instances a little bit floaty
- The general idea is great.
In general I liked your concept and the execution seems pretty polished. You created an impressive amount of content.