A Night at Grandpa's by Kingethaniel

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

Explore your grandfather's home while managing your limited light. Catch glimpses of the abominable horrors that have taken up residence in a place you once loved. Seek the truth, and attempt to reclaim your sanity in this innovative and frightening horror adventure.

  • As long as you have the lights on, your light meter will deplete.

  • W,A,S,D to move

  • SPACE to toggle lights

  • F to interact sc2.pngsc4.png

Ratings

Overall 83th 3.821⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 179th 3.464⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 166th 3.481⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 23th 4.321⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 39th 4.179⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 44th 3.778⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 145th 3.043⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 10th 4.346⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 9🗨️

Feedback

Cornelia Xaos
01. Aug 2017 · 01:16 UTC
It looks interesting, but sadly I can't play it as there is no linux version.
tayopi
01. Aug 2017 · 01:17 UTC
The art style is super creep and controls were nice and tight. Nice work.
zchen
01. Aug 2017 · 01:20 UTC
Good job on the sound effects to create the atmosphere and mood, it's so important for a horror game. The art had a good effect too. The first time I saw the old ladies in the first room it freaked me out a little bit, a good stark contrast to the innocence of the art style.

The gameplay felt more like a matter of luck and skill since using the light drained energy so quickly and getting hurt in the dark didn't feel very fair. If you decide to build on this idea in the future you can definitely do more with the sound in gameplay, i.e. the sound of something hazardous getting louder if players get closer to it to give players a chance to navigate in the dark.

Good job!
ianburnette
01. Aug 2017 · 01:26 UTC
Wow, that was very spooky! Very nicely balanced mechanic - predicable player movement meant that you could just flash the light on briefly and play it by instinct, but that meant that the spooky stuff was even spookier because you just flashed it on. The ending(?) was pretty spooky as well! Very polished. Excellent audio.
Dingbat
01. Aug 2017 · 01:29 UTC
Really good art and audio. Thought the mood was really good and that it really fit with theme. My only real gripe is it's really short with not much replay value :P but besides that its great :)
WillData
01. Aug 2017 · 02:01 UTC
Really enjoyed the artistic direction but I'm not certain I got the true ending? In any case, it was fun!
WillData
01. Aug 2017 · 02:01 UTC
Really enjoyed the artistic direction but I'm not certain I got the true ending? In any case, it was fun!
tinfoilboy
01. Aug 2017 · 02:37 UTC
That was a really cool experience! I loved your interpretation of the theme, and I also really enjoyed the art style. The game was pretty challenging for me at first (was super bad at managing my light). Also the audio was really cool and added a good bit to the atmosphere in my mind. This was a really cool game overall! Solid job!
superpokeunicorn
01. Aug 2017 · 03:24 UTC
Though the game is short, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I like how the light mechanic isn't necessarily required for any sort of combat or puzzle solving, but is rather entirely informational. It's always interesting when a game allows players to exchange resources in order to gain information that is not mechanically required. I found myself quickly flickering the light to get a grasp of the room, then flickering them again as my memory faded. It shifts the conflict from inside the game itself to inside the player's mind, which is a perfect metaphor for the trippy, spooky situation the game depicts. That along with the audio and visuals are what really sell the game's creepy vibe. Very well done!
🎤 Kingethaniel
01. Aug 2017 · 04:41 UTC
thanks, superpokeunicorn! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Russell Ng
02. Aug 2017 · 20:34 UTC
Looks cool, but it won't go through my anti-virus for whatever reason.
🎤 Kingethaniel
02. Aug 2017 · 21:32 UTC
Did you tell it to run anyway? Antivirus often flags .exe's just 'cause they're .exe's.
Campbell
03. Aug 2017 · 00:57 UTC
Amazing job! Your graphics and audio worked very well together, creating a great mood. The only issue I had was at the beginning, not realizing the flashlight drained so quickly and would kill you if it ran out.
sampointoh
03. Aug 2017 · 01:04 UTC
Wow. Excellent mood, mechanics felt intuitive, graphics and gameplay had a nice polish. The concept felt creative and well executed. Very impressive, I'm surprised only one person was working on this.
xel
03. Aug 2017 · 02:32 UTC
Amazing. One of my favorites so far! Loved the art and the core mechanic. It took a few deaths before I realized I was supposed to quickly turn the lights on and off, but after that it was 'smooth' sailing.. well as smooth as it can be when you have creepy horrors slinking around every room.
🎤 Kingethaniel
03. Aug 2017 · 03:05 UTC
thanks Xel!
Lamm
03. Aug 2017 · 03:11 UTC
That's interesting, i like the concepto and the gameplay
rodobodolfo
03. Aug 2017 · 03:13 UTC
really challenging an fun! and a little creepy to be honest, which is a good thing! the art is really great too. Great job!!!
SamHunny
03. Aug 2017 · 04:02 UTC
I really liked it! Very creepy and I liked the audio, but I didn't like that 'interact' was [F]. It just felt a little weird to me. I want to keep playing until I figure out what this key goes to. Update: turn your light on in the starting room.
Sarah
03. Aug 2017 · 04:44 UTC
You've done a great job making this game creepy... the style, the music. It's late, I'm too scared to leave the first room, I'm not sure I can handle a frightening horror adventure haha :P
Defratino
03. Aug 2017 · 17:46 UTC
I really liked your game! Very special!
binary_coder
03. Aug 2017 · 19:39 UTC
Excellent mood. I really liked the enemies that changed their position when you toggled the lights.
chaotikza
06. Aug 2017 · 18:21 UTC
This is an amazing little horror game - very well done! Art and sound combined to set the mood perfectly and the controls were great!

I just lost the last half-hour of my life trying over and over to get a better ending to no avail... is there one or am I mistaken that the key room is the key? If it is, maybe that room is a little too hard - feels like a need another second of battery power to make it possible...
🎤 Kingethaniel
06. Aug 2017 · 22:31 UTC
The endings are based on how much light you use in total. Thanks for the kind words!
Drachmor
07. Aug 2017 · 17:02 UTC
Wow. I haven't given 5 stars overall to a game so far, but I have to for this entry. I love the enemy design, not to mention the variety. The graphics as a whole were very good. The sound design was REALLY effective too - from the creepy breathing of the first room's monsters, to the deep giggle of that rolling head thing. The mood was great, the challenge was great, and it was really fun to try to overcome your obstacles with such a limited light mechanic. One thing to note - on the level with the little diglett-looking heads coming out of the ground, the player could leave the screen boundaries. Overall this was really, really good.
🎤 Kingethaniel
08. Aug 2017 · 00:14 UTC
Wow, thanks! Also thanks for that note. Will fix it right away!
Jupiter_Hadley
03. Sep 2017 · 17:15 UTC
Neat concept!! 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=cMCKWv94MN0