Faade by Ace17

[raw]
made by Ace17 for LD 39 (COMPO)

A stressful platformer about a strange place running out of power.

Unfortunately, I was also running out of time ; so there are only a few levels.

Keys: arrows + spacebar.

Special keys: 'R' to restart, 'Tab' to toggle slow motion mode (some areas might be too hard to go through)

Platform: HTML5 (asmjs) (if the keys don't seem to work, click on the 'Play' button to get the focus)

Tools used: - emscripten C++, SDL, SDL_image, libogg, libvorbisfile - vim + GNU make - tiled - audacity + ffmpeg - gimp

Ratings

Overall 369th 3.257⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 443th 2.914⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 245th 3.286⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 218th 3.714⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 424th 2.971⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 175th 3.286⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 72th 3.686⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 46🗨️

Feedback

drtizzle
31. Jul 2017 · 17:43 UTC
Wow this was trippy! Very cool audio and screen effects! Loved the atmosphere. But I couldn't even make it through the second level, because the screen gets so warbly that it is impossible to see where you're going. I recommend cutting the warble-values in half. So that the screen moves at 0% the way it does now at 50% ;)

Well done!
ditzel
31. Jul 2017 · 18:02 UTC
Interesting Game! Under 30% Power is unplayable :) Maybe you should not be so harsh.
geeitsomelaldy
31. Jul 2017 · 18:32 UTC
Great concept, though perhaps not having it descend so quickly into jiggly hell would be nice. It stopped being stressful and just became annoying quickly.

I'd take a leaf out of Sonic the Hedgehog's books: Hide the counter until you're at about 20%, then *really* ramp up the dread.
Mikronaut
31. Jul 2017 · 21:13 UTC
I'm giving out a rare 5 stars for this one because the atmosphere is impeccable. The distorted music fits the theme perfectly, and the visual effect as the power runs out is something very unique and special. I think that this could potentially be expanded into a full game for Steam, and I'd buy it for sure.
GanbareGamesKyle
31. Jul 2017 · 23:13 UTC
I want to like this game so much. The only problem is that the visuals get to be unplayably dark and shakey after only a couple of seconds. If it weren't for that it'd be my favorite game I've played so far.
hhsaez
01. Aug 2017 · 19:14 UTC
Nice art and audio! I couldn't pass the second stage, yet. I think it gets too difficult with both the screen effect and the fact that you can't see much when you are low on power.
Great job!
crass_sandwich
01. Aug 2017 · 20:56 UTC
mood-wise, both in terms of visual effects and audio, this game is fantastic. unfortunately, those get in the way of fun/fair gameplay. the concept and bones are there; I think this could be a 5/5 game with some tweaks.
incobalt
02. Aug 2017 · 00:10 UTC
This really worked for me. The atmosphere was way up at the top the whole way, with the visual effects and the music. I'm really glad I played this one :)
Zelos
02. Aug 2017 · 00:26 UTC
That visual effect is top-notch. Really awesome.

So the graphics are pretty simple, but the shader or whatever you used makes more than up for it. Maybe it's a bit too much, because at 50% it's already getting hard to play. The main problem are the hitboxes though. They are really off and I often got stuck for no reason. On Level 2 at the top right for example it's really hard to not get stuck.

The music seems overly loud and ear-grating. I had to turn it off after a while because it got really obnoxious to be honest.

The gameplay is a bit simplistic and I've seen this exact idea in quite a few jam entries already, but I guess that's the theme's fault. It's fun nonetheless.

Overall cool concept. Good work.
🎤 Ace17
02. Aug 2017 · 05:50 UTC
Thank you all for your feedback!

There's indeed a problem with the hitboxes.
For some reason, this doesn't occur on the native version, only HTML5 (asmjs).
I uploaded a new fixed release (0.2.0) that addresses this problem (and updated the source code accordingly).
Level 2 should be easier to solve, although there's still not much room for any mistake :-)

I agree that the game is a bit harsh and needs tweaking ; Should I make a full version of this game, I would definitely retweak some constants!

Cheers
Jimbly
02. Aug 2017 · 18:15 UTC
Very nice! I got rather annoyed on level 2, had to play it about 5 times before I managed to get far enough with enough power to even *see* which direction I should be going (another 2 times to actually beat it, I think), that one should be a little less harsh, but the rest of the levels were pretty good!

Visuals and audio were both great!
JSMCAG
03. Aug 2017 · 12:25 UTC
A simple concept that was well implemented! Having the energy directly affect how you view the screen, getting not only darker, but trippier as you love energy, was an interesting concept. Specially since, if you accumulated too much energy in Level 4, the screen would actually get too bright to play as well. There's more room to explore this idea further, with more levels.

The graphics are simple, but effective. The audio did get on my nerves due to its short duration and distortion effects. Because of this, the mood did seem a bit forced.

Overall, a solid entry, no doubt! Good job!
g-o
03. Aug 2017 · 23:03 UTC
Awesome awesome awesome graphics and mood!
Very psychedelic and creepy haha
The audio complemented very well =]

As been already said - I think it would be better to give a little more time before it goes really crazy.
At 30-40% it becomes really bad and I can't see anything so the game over is effectively pretty soon...
loveapplegames
04. Aug 2017 · 23:33 UTC
Great atmosphere. The audio is amazing! Couldn't get past level 2. Below 50% I can't see anything, and I have to wait a long time before it's game over and I can try again.
KunoNoOni
05. Aug 2017 · 00:02 UTC
That was a visually atmospheric experience I just played! I really love the effects and the audio. Really added to the whole experience. Such and amazing job!
Mik3
05. Aug 2017 · 08:08 UTC
Nice visual style and a fitting music. The visual execution behind losing the energy was an interesting idea
BelowParallel_Ian
05. Aug 2017 · 20:02 UTC
Awesome game. This game has a lot of juice, which is something you don't see in a lot of LD games. With that said, I was unable to beat level 2 just due to the fact that the screen distortion/shake gets too violent too quickly. By the time it gets to 50%, it's pretty much unplayable. Still, this is a really great concept that could be a very fun experience with just that one minor tweak.
BelowParallel_Ian
05. Aug 2017 · 20:02 UTC
Awesome game. This game has a lot of juice, which is something you don't see in a lot of LD games. With that said, I was unable to beat level 2 just due to the fact that the screen distortion/shake gets too violent too quickly. By the time it gets to 50%, it's pretty much unplayable. Still, this is a really great concept that could be a very fun experience with just that one minor tweak.
BelowParallel_Ian
05. Aug 2017 · 20:03 UTC
Awesome game. This game has a lot of juice, which is something you don't see in a lot of LD games. With that said, I was unable to beat level 2 just due to the fact that the screen distortion/shake gets too violent too quickly. By the time it gets to 50%, it's pretty much unplayable. Still, this is a really great concept that could be a very fun experience with just that one minor tweak.
Baby Dino Herd
10. Aug 2017 · 15:34 UTC
The music is genuinely creepy, and when combined with the distortion effect, it does an excellent job at setting the mood. Really interesting combination of platforming + memorization that comes out as a result. Nicely done!
Skosnowich
12. Aug 2017 · 16:37 UTC
Cool game, I liked how you introduced the game elements gradually to the player. Also the effects when you run low on power and also when you gain too much power are very nice.
WhoDKnee
14. Aug 2017 · 17:11 UTC
Stressful indeed - I liked it. The effect does get a little bit too much at times, but I guess that's what you were going for.
abductedPlatypus
14. Aug 2017 · 17:56 UTC
Wow, not sure what kind of acid is in those batteries, tripping hard. A decent platformer with a weird twist. The tripping makes the game pretty hard though, but adds to the Power as a Timer mechanic. The music and graphics really work well for this game. Very interesting.
Valphera
15. Aug 2017 · 14:57 UTC
Really cool concept, the gameplay is fun and everything is coherent, the music, graphics and all.
It's just too bad that at a certain point it becomes really hard to finish a level with low battery
Piotrek
15. Aug 2017 · 18:52 UTC
Nice mood and sounds, the shaking effects looked very nice. The only thing I didn't like was that intensity of power loss effect was (I guess) linear instead of exponential which makes it too distracting too soon.
Shaolin Dave
18. Aug 2017 · 04:33 UTC
The visual effects where nice, I think I'll check back to see if you apply them to more complete graphical assets. Sounds were amazing!

The gameplay didn't feel very smooth to me though. The effects get too harsh, too quickly, and even in level 2 I couldn't recover from a single mistake.
LuckyFeathers
18. Aug 2017 · 11:32 UTC
The visual effects were really well made. I'm quite impressed. It's way too difficult though. Remember that the game is a lot harder for us than it is for you. While you've had 48 hours to practice, we only have 5 minutes. Tune down the difficulty a lot, and also the shaky effect. <40 is basically impossible to play, and <20 I feel like I'm having a seizure.
Jupiter_Hadley
18. Aug 2017 · 16:25 UTC
Short, but very well polished! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqYPjUYhuXo
🎤 Ace17
20. Aug 2017 · 05:36 UTC
@jupiter-hadley: thanks for playing! I was impressed by your platforming skills, most players don't make it past level 2 (which is way too hard, I admit)!

@piotrek: using an exponential curve is a clever idea, I'm going to think about this one.
rosypenguin
20. Aug 2017 · 08:25 UTC
Very cool wobbly effect that really contributes to the dark. moody atmosphere you were going for. I just wish the effect started later in the countdown, by level 4 it seems like the screen gets so shaky at 50% that I can't see where I'm going and have to go by memory. Still, there's a lot of potential, great work!