Ascend by Amour Du Pain
There's only one rule : ascend.
Please note that this is more an interactive journey than a game, a contemplative and abstract experience focused on flow and feel.




For once, I wanted to use the free improvisation technique, as musicians or painters often do, trying to emphasis how the theme made me felt without rationalizing anything.
After all, jams are the best places to experiment !
Sadly, I only had half of the week-end to work on it, but I did my best. I hope you'll like it !
For this compo, I used : - Unity - Magix Music Maker - Audacity
| Source code | https://magic-balls-knights.itch.io/ascend |
| Windows | https://magic-balls-knights.itch.io/ascend |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/ascend |
Ratings
| Overall | 239th | 3.439⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 395th | 2.818⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 318th | 3.015⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 493th | 2.197⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 26th | 4.258⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 3th | 4.318⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 3th | 4.379⭐ | 35🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 2🗳️ | 2🗨️ |
Still, the ambiance of this game was really something, even if all the shapes were fairly abstract. I can't commend the music enough.
Now i want to make something like that :)
I played the game twice since there's no ending.
Anyhow... beautiful visuals and music.
Can be very good with more content, i like contemplative games.
And the music made it all come together.
Here is my attempt:
https://youtu.be/QJAy4QN8pzk
I love the way you start slow and stunted but then outgrow your initial state of being while leaving behind the things that slow you down. There's a lot of depth in this.
As it is less a game and more an experience I won't judge it too harshly on gameplay. It doesn't really make much of a difference whether you lose the white balls early on or later but I'll take it as a deliberate artistic decision. A visual queue that the end was reached would have been nice as you continue ascending into nothingness without knowledge that it's over.
Finally the music is great and completes the experience. No sfx needed here, although some very faint ambient noises may have helped underline the moment you lose a circle.
Overall a great achievement and the most impressive game I've seen so far.