Slithering Secrets by meanmon13

made by meanmon13 for LD 40 (JAM)

This homage to the classic RPG temple puzzle starts the player character in the middle of a temple with only a dim light to navigate. The player must overcome the dangers of the temple to find the keys to unlock the door and escape. Each key found upgrades the player's light but the increased power attracts the interest of the temples inhabitants; thus, each upgrade makes the temple more dangerous to navigate and the worse it is for the player.

This is our first Ludum Dare and first time making a game.

Click Here to play our game https://asimovindustries.itch.io/slithering-secrets

Gameplay video with a few "spoilers" i.e. pickup locations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbf_GhcDT1Y

Screenshots

Keyboard Controls

W - Forward

S - Reverse

A - Rotate Right

D - Rotate Left

Q - Strafe Left

E - Strafe Right

up - Move Up

down - Move Down

left - Move Left

right - Move Right

Xbox Controller Controls

Left joystick - forward/reverse

Right joystick - rotate left/right

D-pad move up,down,left,right (Windows exe only)

Technologies Used

Godot v2.1.4.stable.official

InkScape

Krita

Lmms

Audacity

HTML5 (web)	https://asimovindustries.itch.io/slithering-secrets
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/slithering-secrets

Ratings

Overall	552^th	3.472⭐	56🧑‍⚖️
Fun	714^th	3.148⭐	56🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	796^th	2.915⭐	55🧑‍⚖️
Theme	704^th	3.274⭐	55🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	534^th	3.565⭐	56🧑‍⚖️
Audio	390^th	3.308⭐	54🧑‍⚖️
Mood	230^th	3.708⭐	55🧑‍⚖️
Given		53🗳️	58🗨️

Feedback

Kris Schnee

05. Dec 2017 · 02:18 UTC

Tense! I managed to get to the end on the second try. My specific comments:

-I had fun.

-I kept getting caught on the edges/corners of things.

-I sometimes saw the snakes dimly nearby and rapidly turned around going "NOPE".

-After a while I noticed I didn't really know where to go next other than to keep covering the same ground; I thought maybe the snake designs on the floor were a sort of compass suggesting a direction, but no. I also wouldn't have known I was ready to win if the last key hadn't been within sight of the exit, which may or may not have been random.

-Sound: The snake sounds weren't great but the music/sound was otherwise nicely tense.

-Graphics: The lighting was cool, but I wish there was a bit more variety in the temple maze. Fair for a 72 hour project though.

-Theme: I'm not sure whether there were more snakes or what, but they didn't seem to be chasing me any more effectively over time.

sirkitree

05. Dec 2017 · 02:30 UTC

Nice!

I'm not much for scary games, but this was kinda fun. I was terrified by that sound and those thing trying to get me. I wasn't sure what the things I was collecting did but I gather I'm supposed to find them all without getting caught. Nice job!

cenullum

05. Dec 2017 · 02:53 UTC

you used godot engine very well .This 2d shadows are excellent :D I dont even know this possible in godot . In unity3d you must do something that give headache.Actually I dont like tank movement .

🎤 meanmon13

05. Dec 2017 · 13:21 UTC

Thank you for playing the game :-) the feedback is great :-D The thing about the snakes is that more spawn the more symbols you collect which makes the game more difficult. Aso for movement, if you don't like the tank controls you can use the up,down,left,right keys or if your running the windows exe you can use the dpad on a xbox controller

IndieImpala

05. Dec 2017 · 13:56 UTC

Great first game, you should be proud. Ambiance was spot on, and I agree with the snake sounds, but the rest of the sfx were good.

I did notice that I could trick the snake into slithering into a wall, and then it doesn't bother me so much :D
Collision detection would have worked nicely, but that doesn't take away from the experience. Well done

LaraPoi

05. Dec 2017 · 14:03 UTC

I really enjoyed playing the game, even if I didn't finish it because of a lack of personal time. The atmosphere is really fascinating, I've been taken in the game since the beginning! The sound design is helping to make this scary ambiance, but maybe it could have been more subtle: the main character breathe and the snake sound are a bit too loud in my opinion. Really cool first game anyway! :)

TobiasNL

05. Dec 2017 · 14:05 UTC

Not too shabby, nice sounds. Except for the pickup and snake sound, those were too loud. Controls were a bit weird, but worked well enough.

gwolf86

05. Dec 2017 · 15:33 UTC

Nice work, especially for your first game. I liked the art direction and the sound design was good, although the snake was probably a little too loud. Since everything is dark, it's pretty difficult to find your way around, so I ended up covering the same ground a few times when looking for the pickups. Other than that though it was pretty good fun.

Rad4th

05. Dec 2017 · 15:38 UTC

Enjoyable game! I think the snake sounds could've been improved upon. I think if there was more of an echo behind them and if they were occurring randomly. I had two snakes with their sounds playing over the top of each other every time so I think that would make it more immersive. Congrats on making a fun game!

sahilts

05. Dec 2017 · 15:53 UTC

Great game ,there are few places where player get stuck when crossing door?(pillars maybe), and those snakes sounds little weird and for that breathing you could use multiple sounds slow breathing fast breathing etc,otherwise the game fun!
and the snakes use to get stuck behind the wall , the game lack challenge/danger as u can easily make the snake trap behind a wall

🎤 meanmon13

05. Dec 2017 · 23:27 UTC

@larapoi & @sirkitree I can't seem to find your game on your user page

Willisika

06. Dec 2017 · 00:32 UTC

Nice game! I like the stranger things style of logo and presentation. The snake sounds are really LOUD for headphone users.

Nammflow

06. Dec 2017 · 00:33 UTC

You've really set the ambience and atmosphere for your game well. The music, sound effects and mechanics seem to fit and create something very nice. I also had trouble navigating the environment, which is kind of the point as I understand. It would be cool to know how far along I am so I know when the level would have finished. It took me a total of 10 minutes to find all the symbols. Nice job!

🎤 meanmon13

06. Dec 2017 · 00:36 UTC

Thank you for the feedback everyone :-) @nammflow there are symbols on the ground that has a different section light up every time an upgrade is claimed. You start the game on one and when you claim the first pickup you can see one of the sections darken... there is a section for each pickup. It is a little subtle and easy to miss but we wanted something that integrated seamlessly into the environment... seems it integrated a little too seamlessly lol.

Daneeh

06. Dec 2017 · 01:22 UTC

The snake sound is a bit weird in my opinion but everything else is great! The mood is amazing, and the shadows are awesome. Well done!

JanaChumi

06. Dec 2017 · 01:47 UTC

Enjoyable. Just the "breath" song is a little annoying. In general I like the game ^_^

Jack Maxwell

06. Dec 2017 · 02:21 UTC

The theme is very well integrated into the game, the mood is awesome, the sounds are amazing (The breathing is too loud/constant, maybe have him more silent but start breathing more when enemies are near, the end screen sound is kind of loud but maybe that's just me and the snake sound was loud and hurt my ears. The mood was amazing. The controls were very clunky. I really do like the speed run possibility but I think this idea could be expanded on to make speed running more rewarding or exciting.

Loowees

06. Dec 2017 · 07:35 UTC

love the ambiance, and feeling of being in a maze, the Stranger Things styling is also really cool : D

themarioga

06. Dec 2017 · 11:52 UTC

I loved this one. It remembers me so much to Stranger Things, also the ambiance and gameplay is amazing.
Congrats!

oskardevelopment

06. Dec 2017 · 18:57 UTC

I liked the thematics and the art, the idea was great! though that I couldnt't see the slithering that hunted me, there were multiples of them and I didn't have any way to fight/prepare against them made the loss a bit random. Also I got stuck on walls a tad much. I liked the game a lot, so if just added some way to fight or perhaps hear the slithering that'd improve the game a lot!

SaFrMo

15. Dec 2017 · 14:40 UTC

Excellent work! The lighting in particular stands out - it sets the tone for the whole game beautifully. It was a little unclear what I was looking for sometimes, but the ambiance more than made up for it. Great job on this!

Iluvatar

15. Dec 2017 · 14:52 UTC

The mood of the game is really great. As a fan of this Stranger-Things-like genre, I truly love your game :)

Raphael

15. Dec 2017 · 18:56 UTC

The ambience is pretty good, but I wasn't able to pick anything up and also I didn't collide with any walls.
Here is a picture of my character just standing in a wall
![walk.PNG](///raw/fe1/z/e9a8.png)

Also the controls feel a bit weird maybe controlling the direction via the mouse position would have been smoother.
I hope I am not too hard these are just things I have noticed...

AFlatThrasher

15. Dec 2017 · 21:42 UTC

Overall, it was nice. My main complaint was that it felt kind of aimless at times. I had no idea how many more things I had to collect or where they were. That kind of bothered me, but I can see how it would appeal to some. I liked the controls and you set the mood very well. That snake hiss...

miziziziz

16. Dec 2017 · 09:34 UTC

Hello fellow Godot user!
Good entry for your first game, the visuals were good and basic mechanics worked well. I think the controls could have been improved, just using WASD to move and mouse to aim would have been very intuitive. Also it would be easier to play if they main character had a circle collider, right now it's awkward having to rotate to fit between passageways. You also might want to look into using pathfinding with the snakes.
Good job with what you've done, I do recommend continuing to work on it after LD and polishing it up and improving on what you've got.

Marc Jones

16. Dec 2017 · 10:00 UTC

You captured the sense of dread really well, and the simple, but effective, lighting effects played into that. It got a little tedious wandering around the dungeon, which wasn't helped by the slightly awkward hit boxes. Saying that, I appreciated the indicators scattered around the dungeon indicating how many more lights you needed. That indicator could have been a UI element, but having it incorporated into the world added to the immersion. In fact, the entire lack of UI is commendable for this reason. Overall, I didn't feel like it captured the theme very well, but the ambiance of the game was spot on.

Tinis Games

16. Dec 2017 · 11:55 UTC

I'm not a fan of scary games, but I admit that the atmosphere is really good! A very nice first game!

Thrillho

16. Dec 2017 · 21:38 UTC

Love the Stranger Things references! The game was very tense, and it was tough to keep my light focused in the direction I wanted while moving around. All in all, though, enjoyed it a lot.

naali

18. Dec 2017 · 02:48 UTC

Nice job. I thought this game really displayed an experience you don't have in many games.

boorik

20. Dec 2017 · 20:52 UTC

sneak sneak snakessssssss

nice game!

Starlin

28. Dec 2017 · 12:47 UTC

You really created a scarrrry one! good job!