LudumData

The Dying of the Light by Winterslice

[raw]
made by Winterslice for LD 39 (JAM)

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                                                   = A brief narrative RPG in Unreal Engine 4 =

The Hero has been waiting for their Enemy for many years. Now, the call has come, and it must be answered. Whether or not the Hero has the strength left to do it. Old, and running on fumes, there will have to be... sacrifices.

The Dying of the Light is a fully voiced narrative experience with RPG-style combat. But don't expect power-ups or health potions. Your energy is running out, your trusty magical equipment failing, and by the time you reach the end of the journey, you'll have nothing left.

  mid<em>attack</em>screenshot (1).png   world_screenshot.png  

= PLAY INSTRUCTIONS =

  1. Use WASD to move.

  2. Mouse controls the camera.

  3. Approach enemies to initiate combat.

  4. The enemy's health bar is on the left. Your health is on the right.

  5. On the bottom right, below your health bar, are buttons for your attacks and powers. Click them to use the indicated action.

  6. Each action has a short cooldown before it can be used again.

  7. Make it to the Enemy's tower... If you can.

 

Credits

Programming: Caleb Smith (mastersmith98)

UI programming: SkiTTe

Writing/Design/Voices: Ryan A. Span (http://streetofeyes.com)

Art & Animation: Andrew Howizon

Level Design: Curtis Rochelle (THACOmancer)

Music and Sound: Studio Thumpy Puppy - Lindar K. Greenwood - Composer, SFX - Alexandra Baker - Engineer, Additional Voices

 

Fixed build:

http://streetofeyes.com/files/DyingOfTheLight-Build_Fixed.zip

 

Fixes Changelog

-collision detection on cabin fixed

-fixed lizard king animation

-fixed villain animation

-fixed ending sequence not ending game properly

-fixed item breaks not fading out

-fixed ending fade out  

Windows http://streetofeyes.com/files/DyingOfTheLight-Build.zip
Windows http://streetofeyes.com/files/DyingOfTheLight-Build_Fixed.zip
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/the-dying-of-the-light

Ratings

Overall 235th 3.643⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 485th 3.048⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 350th 3.171⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Theme 602th 3.214⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 113th 4.286⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Audio 78th 3.902⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 102th 3.905⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 53🗳️ 44🗨️

Feedback

Richard Jedlicka
01. Aug 2017 · 01:13 UTC
The download link is not clickable, should be fixed by adding 'http://'.
ianburnette
01. Aug 2017 · 01:15 UTC
Wow, an impressive achievement! Nicely built world, solid battle system, good narration, and a nice, unexpected ending!
sgt3v
01. Aug 2017 · 01:34 UTC
Narration is very well done and the combat system was unexpected in a good way! There are some issues with the tree colliders being too large I guess, also the last enemy before the ladder and the girl at the end had no animations playing it killed the mood a bit. Also after the story ended game stuck at the last scene.
tayopi
01. Aug 2017 · 06:26 UTC
The narration was great and the ending was surprising. One bug that I did find was in the very beginning I was able walk through the walls of the cabin.
Richard Jedlicka
01. Aug 2017 · 10:47 UTC
Interesting. Beautiful graphics, professional voiceover. Untypical combat system, but not much challenging, I was always clicking the attack button and never loose (but this you can improve much in the future). Even though the actions has cooldown which supports the theme, I wouldn't even mention it if you hadn't written it in the description. I encountered two bugs, inactive non-positioned (spreaded legs and hands) figures, one below the stairs and the second the final enemy in the tower. I'm not sure if I should start a fight with the last enemy, but I did, but nothing can be done only voice narrative continues.
🎤 Winterslice
01. Aug 2017 · 12:02 UTC
Sorry about the problem with the download link, guys! After a nice 12-hour nap that has now been fixed.
ijona
01. Aug 2017 · 16:45 UTC
The graphics and atmosphere are really nice!! And thanks for narration via audio, not just text on the screen – I think it's the best way.
Tamas Turi
01. Aug 2017 · 18:37 UTC
Beautiful graphics! I like the combat system, and the narrator is great too.
Good work!
essell
01. Aug 2017 · 18:49 UTC
Interesting!

Good bits:
- Nice graphics
- Interesting idea to use voice over

Suggestions:
- Shows ambition at the cost of polish; I'd recommend aiming smaller next time so you can iterate more, and get the most you can out of the time you have.

Good stuff though - keep it up :)
Mastersmith98
02. Aug 2017 · 00:49 UTC
Thanks for the feedback folks! I fixed some of the bugs you mentioned for a new release that should be up soon.
reBTF
02. Aug 2017 · 07:19 UTC
This was a great little experience, I liked the art style of the solid colour surfaces and a great use of a weenie (the big ice tower) to focus the player towards the goal.

I definitely enjoyed the way the game striped away your fighting abilities as you progressed but I did emphasis one problem I had with the game in that you could just spam your basic attack to easily win the fights. But I guess to combat wasn't the point of the game.

Good little story hinting at deeper elements and a great world surrounding it, well done!
Alex Tantum
02. Aug 2017 · 11:21 UTC
Good job. Beautiful voice, beautiful environment. Over the RPG component is still a lot of work but on the whole very interesting.
Reggnos
02. Aug 2017 · 17:12 UTC
Lovely art style, and great voice acting. Interesting fighting mechanic, only it wasn't really balanced so you could just mash attack and win any fight. Also i like the variety on the enemies.
Drachmor
02. Aug 2017 · 17:29 UTC
My god this is impressive... Such a well-developed world with great visuals and voice acting. I don't think I have yet come across a game that has established such a mood as this has. Not to mention that ending! Despite the room for improvement in the combat system, this was amazing.
luckyy
02. Aug 2017 · 18:24 UTC
I love the (truly ambitious) idea behind this game and the though-provoking story. I'm also a big fan of low-poly art, which is why I especially love the trees :)
Bonelazy
02. Aug 2017 · 21:02 UTC
Great low poly graphics, music, narrative, story and overall a very good game. The animations and UI could be improved, and the combat could be given more thought but since story is of major importance here, they're no big issues. Well done, and thanks for the experience.
Rikoclon
03. Aug 2017 · 01:43 UTC
Audio was fantastic. The music was wonderful and the V/O top notch. Great writing too, I almost felt a tear comin' on at the end! Art was great. The coliders took some getting used to, but you learn to avoid the trees. It was a bit easy to win. I was expecting a boss battle, but the story's end was good enough enough where I didn't feel like anything was missing. The mood was great. The only place the game lacked was in the theme, which was loosely tied in metaphorically, so it was still there, just not in your face, which is nice after playing so many with power being a main mechanic. All in all great work! reminded me of Quest 64 just a bit.
Brendan Engelman
03. Aug 2017 · 02:14 UTC
Cool game! I really liked the background music and narration. I think the combat could've been balanced a bit better, but I understand that it's hard to get good game balance within such a short timeframe. The graphics, especially the colour palette, were really great. Nice job!
CliffracerX
05. Aug 2017 · 19:19 UTC
Interesting game. The combat was a bit unbalanced, and the ties to the theme weren't great (beyond the metaphor of being an aged hero), but the graphics and voice-over were on point.

My biggest nitpick is that the ending was, well, jarring; I was expecting a final boss of some variety, w/ a tragic "the hero simply cannot fight any longer" downer ending, but...it was all a metaphor, I guess?
There were also some minor blips with the narration, but I was moving fairly quickly through the game and it probably wasn't designed to handle that.

Not a bad entry, though. Nice work.
omriysh
06. Aug 2017 · 12:44 UTC
Pretty amazing you managed to do so much in a 72 hour window. Props! The graphics are great, the sound and voiceover add a lot. I like short narratives, and this definitely fits that category. I will say that the combat mechanics aren't that great, and maybe it was a bug but I couldn't always use all of the abilities... Perhaps I was running out of power? The game didn't really explain that, and the voiceover was cut sometimes so maybe I didn't get to hear the explanation. Overall, nice work!
TheOneThatNeverWas
07. Aug 2017 · 18:02 UTC
Very interesting game. The art style is really cool and the narrative is amazing. Great job!
PeachTreeOath
10. Aug 2017 · 01:26 UTC
Great plot twist, very memorable compared to other story entries here. I think the highlight of the game was walking around a mound while the white tower came into view, and your narration covering that. It was just good framing using the environment and it actually made it feel pretty epic. You guys showed some real variety of talent in this game, I thought it was fantastic.
Shess
10. Aug 2017 · 20:47 UTC
Absolutely breathtaking. The narrative was engaging, the low-poly graphics were solid and consistent, and gameplay-wise it was smooth and polished. So much production value it's almost unbelievable.

I completed the game twice and ended up showing it to a friend, translating the text on the run. So I know it's a minor suggestion, but could you please concsider adding subtitles? :)
Mastersmith98
13. Aug 2017 · 01:32 UTC
Thanks a lot for the kind words Shess. It means a lot to us that you enjoyed our game so much! Subtitles is definitely something we'll consider for a future update. :D
icxon
14. Aug 2017 · 08:01 UTC
Great storytelling and simple gameplay. Music and models are also great. I noticed that some records are less loud than the rest, but this is a minor thing.

Here is my playthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W37CbVgPvhA
Valphera
14. Aug 2017 · 10:30 UTC
Beautiful game, the camera is a bit tricky but eventually it's not that big of a deal, I had a good time playing this game, the graphics are gergeous and I really liked the low-poly style. The combats are fun even though they are a bit repetitve in the end. The voiceovers are a nice touch too, i really can't think of a lot of negative stuff. Great job.
joebeard
15. Aug 2017 · 03:35 UTC
That was a good story, with a bit of a dark twist there at the end :) I may have found a way around most of the creatures though, by wall hugging as much as possible. I swear my hero, while down trodden, still had a bit of fight left in him yet!
GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 08:25 UTC
There was some issues with collision and stuff but it is a very impressive game. Nicely built world, solid battle system, good narration, and a nice, unexpected ending!
Keep it up!
DDSFloko
19. Aug 2017 · 17:58 UTC
Beatifull graphics and good story, i liked the battle system and narration. Nice joob :D.