Plato and the 'Caves by qu2

[raw]
made by qu2 for LD35 (COMPO)
[EDITS]
1) The game isn't terribly well memory optimised (the map and some textures are quite big). If you get an error trying to run the web version, try the download instead, which should run much smoother.
2) On that note. The WebGL version can be quite laggy. The Windows/Linux versions should be much smoother.
3) Windows download no longer has pdb files and is therefore much smaller.
4) Slight update to fix a typo and extend the time for certain messages. Original submissions can be downloaded from http://john-mark.qu-2.com/LD35/ (they are v.0.11)
[/EDITS]

Plato is a 'vex. A convex shape with multiple personalities: Oedipus, Artemis, and Hera.

Plato wandered into the land of the 'caves -- a nefarious bunch of shapes.

Plato got lost.

Night fell.

Plato must escape.

[EDIT] This should have been made clearer in the interface, but you morph by clicking the "morph" bar at the bottom of the game screen (or pressing space) [/EDIT]


Plato and the 'Caves is a semi-turn based Roguelike. Each playthrough has an entirely new map. By tactically switching between his personalities, each with different abilities (and judicious use of bombs), Plato must find his way out of the land of the 'caves.

I hope you all have fun with Plato (Oedipus, Artemis, and Hera). I had so much fun making this.

Tested on windows only, your mileage may vary on other platforms.
You can play on Mac OSX by downloading the source (assuming you have Unity installed).

If you notice anything wrong with my submission, please do let me know. I'm a first-timer!

Tools:
+ Engine: Unity
+ Art: Inkscape and Krita
+ Audio: Audacity
+ Music: Bosca Ceoil

Fonts (all under the Open Font Licence, see links for details):
+ Beon Regular (https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/beon)
+ Station (https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/station)

Ratings

Coolness 99% 2
Overall 3.10 563
Audio 2.84 398
Fun 2.80 686
Graphics 2.96 497
Humor 2.95 205
Innovation 2.87 621
Mood 3.05 375
Theme 3.62 303

Feedback

MrDave
18. Apr 2016 · 10:03 UTC
First I should say I love the personalities you have given to these shapes. I think you have put quite a lot of clever tech into the game. I hope it does well!
arhpositive
18. Apr 2016 · 10:06 UTC
This is a good entry. All three forms have advantages and disadvantages, but I kinda disliked Artemis because of the bad line of sight. Hera is good for getting out of tough positions but you lose a good amount of health in the process.

Overall, it's a good game. It can be improved by more levels (instead of one) and can benefit from different color palettes for these levels. Keep up the good work!
sirtetris
18. Apr 2016 · 10:15 UTC
Damn those question marks. :D -1 morph, -1 health, decreased your vision ...
I like the story and game idea, but I couldn't keep my the motivation for very long.
TheDuckCompany
18. Apr 2016 · 10:53 UTC
got this message :/ "The browser could not allocate enough memory for the WebGL content. If you are the developer of this content, try allocating less memory to your WebGL build in the WebGL player settings."
mountainstorm
18. Apr 2016 · 11:01 UTC
I couldn't figure out how to change shape
Berserker_Chris
18. Apr 2016 · 11:21 UTC
First try i spawned 2 fields from ladder i escaped.

Nice game cool idea, hard AI sometimes.
pathus22
18. Apr 2016 · 12:58 UTC
the best thing of the game is the sfx jajaj GREAT
hugheth
18. Apr 2016 · 13:18 UTC
Really love the concept, and the different characters. I think the random moving enemy which doesn't stop is a little frustrating as you sometimes don't have time to morph which reduces the effectiveness of that tactic. Also I'm not really sure what the pickups do, but I'm hooked so will find out soon enough :)
RealityCheck
18. Apr 2016 · 14:44 UTC
Good fun rougelike-lite game. It was quite confusing how to use the shapeshifting abilities though, and once I did figure it out, it was a bit clunky when those real-time movers got close, as you had no time to shapeshift.

Either way. I enjoyed playing it, and that's what really matters.
Tharky
18. Apr 2016 · 14:45 UTC
Sounds were so awesome :D Good entry, I liked the game but UI felt a bit clunky. Other than that it was kinda hard like all the other roguelites out there :D Cool game man.
zugende
18. Apr 2016 · 15:07 UTC
nice sounds :D but the controls were a bit confusing .. haha :D
cornand34
18. Apr 2016 · 17:01 UTC
I found it quite humorous when i heard you make the sound effect...
Also nice randomized map, it's something i always struggle with so good job with that.
csimpsonweb
18. Apr 2016 · 17:49 UTC
This is a very cool entry, the sfx are awesome!!
Tegu
18. Apr 2016 · 19:31 UTC
I managed to escape!

I like how the different shapes seem to have different personalities. The enemies had aso nice variation. Especially interesting was that movement of the arrow-ish enemy was not restricted to turns. The hardest enemy was the one that seeked into you. I always feared to see it. :D Sometimes it simply followed you parallel instead of running into you, which gives more room for tricks. However, killing it with bombs still turned out to be quite difficult.

The graphics are consistent and the music along with the sound effects set the mood well.

I haven't really used Unity, but according to this post the .pdb files are just debug information and don't need to be included. http://ludumdare.com/compo/2016/04/18/psa-a-couple-quick-distribution-tips-for-people-that-use-unity/
🎤 qu2
18. Apr 2016 · 20:26 UTC
@Tegu. Thank you for the feedback and advice. I've updated the download file to remove the pdbs.
Rakowu
18. Apr 2016 · 20:50 UTC
nice work, good user interface and logic of the game. :)
Idorrac
18. Apr 2016 · 21:29 UTC
I really like the sound effects and music! The sound effects are funny and the music creates a nice atmosphere. The idea of switching between characters with different powers is also quite good. In the end I mostly used Oedipus, as Artemis had really narrow vision and Hera could push enemies around but still at the cost of health (and honestly I often got crushed myself with Hera, but that is my bad! :D ).
Jin47
18. Apr 2016 · 21:53 UTC
I liked the Idea to give different skills and field of view to each characters. I had fun playing it and the story is great and add interest in the game.
justinooncx
19. Apr 2016 · 00:25 UTC
Pretty interesting roguelike! Rather difficult to get a hang of, though, with some things being unclear. For instance, the message that pops up when I pick up the bomb disappears too quickly.
Anupam Coleman
19. Apr 2016 · 09:07 UTC
Good game. The sounds were pretty annoying and weird though.
Empyrealhell
19. Apr 2016 · 16:38 UTC
I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to get past the circle 'caves once they got within a few squares. It was fun just exploring around though.
🎤 qu2
19. Apr 2016 · 16:58 UTC
@Empyrealhell. There are several ways, but you have to think about it. You can get them trapped behind walls, blow them up with bombs, or use Artemis to out-run them.
seizeTheDia
19. Apr 2016 · 19:13 UTC
Well that was really hard! I started twice in a corridor with one of the units that chase you and had no way to get out! :( Really funny characters, the audio fx made me lol multiple times, fun experience but I couldn't quite figure out what the benefits of shifting to the other shapes were.
Reis Mahnic
19. Apr 2016 · 23:02 UTC
I think the core mechanic was neat, and this game was SUPER ambitious, which is always a good thing!
I did find it a bit disorienting when changing directions with the triangle character, due to the nature of the camera and 'flashlight'.
Fun sound effects!
RyanNielson
20. Apr 2016 · 02:35 UTC
Neat concept and it's always fun to see roguelike games. The controls felt a bit weird though. Overall, great effort.
WizByte_Games
20. Apr 2016 · 19:47 UTC
This kind of needs a screen that shows how to transform.
lanestp
20. Apr 2016 · 21:48 UTC
Fun roguelite I liked the different characters (Artemis sucks). I'm a sucker for this type of game (I also made a dungeon crawler), so good on ya!
fizzhog
21. Apr 2016 · 11:27 UTC
Liked the gameplay. Will actually play this one more. Liked the music but some of the sounds got a bit wearing. Didn't take to the character sprites - they just didn't fit with the game for me.
HunGARE
22. Apr 2016 · 02:10 UTC
Love the idea! Great mechanics with the class shifting, and I thought the AI was very well done. Wasn't quite sure with the movement, but well done none the less.
Blobo
22. Apr 2016 · 20:47 UTC
This is a very well done dungeon crawler. i'm impressed at the AI system for just 48 hours, and the random generation is outstanding! the bombs seem pointless, for i'm being chased, i'm bookin' it out of there way before the bomb can damage the enemy.
FrameMatt
23. Apr 2016 · 16:04 UTC
Really enjoy it~
thedashdude
26. Apr 2016 · 00:58 UTC
I really liked the idea, but I don't think it worked out quite right. I encourage you to do more with it.
blaclegi
26. Apr 2016 · 19:36 UTC
Good game! I really liked the concept (the different forms being... different) and the audio and graphics where nice. Good job!
zondarg
30. Apr 2016 · 00:34 UTC
Nice roguelike, but not easy.. these fast-movers are tricky! I liked the mouth-fx too :D
Franklin's Ghost
01. May 2016 · 08:00 UTC
Interesting roguelike with the morphing mechanic. Liked how each morph had their own strengths and you'd have to decide which would work best at different opportunities. I did find Artemis vision a bit of a hassle but I guess that is part of the tradeoff.
frogcheese
01. May 2016 · 09:22 UTC
I like the idea with switching between characters in a roguelike, though I found that I mostly used Oedipus and switched to Hera if I got cornered.

Took me an embarrassing while to get the joke with 'Vex and 'Caves...
in3orn
09. May 2016 · 19:58 UTC
I fully agree with the arphositive. Nice entry :)