Penelope by Denifia

[raw]
made by Denifia for LD 43 (JAM)

Click here to play (Web)

A story of love and loss. Follow the stars to reconnect with Penelope.

Basics: * Arrow keys to move, space to jump * Takes about 10 minutes to finish the game * HINT: When your faith is tested, you are left with few choices

gameplay.gif

This is the first Ludum Dare my wife and I have participated in. It's also the first game we've made together. We hope you enjoy playing it; finishing the game is possible but if you sacrifice too much you will never see the ending.

Ratings

Overall 403th 3.554⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 193th 3.696⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 521th 3.143⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 170th 4⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 785th 2.964⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 376th 3.288⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 169th 3.625⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 473th 3.375⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

blobo
04. Dec 2018 · 01:12 UTC
There's a blind jump in the last level. If it's your last life, you definitely don't want to take take blind jumps. Another thing that tripped me up was the ability to move during the level intros, i lost a few lives by just preemptively holding right. That aside, great game! I love the mechanic, and the controls were tight! I've played a few platformers already with controls that were super sluggish and floaty, but this was just right! nice work.
ElderDeveloper
04. Dec 2018 · 01:35 UTC
If you stop lovering 1 combined life in each level it can be easier to create much more levels just put certain amount life each level and this makes the game much more challenging
adventureislands
04. Dec 2018 · 01:52 UTC
Nice game! Neat idea to put the respawn mechanic on a health meter that persists between levels. I otherwise liked this, but towards end you need to make jumps without seeing what's underneath and that's bad especially if you are already at low health. You could add something like sigh or otherwise point where the ground is.
🎤 Denifia
04. Dec 2018 · 01:53 UTC
Thanks for the reviews! I took most of the first day just trying to get the move and jump to feel good so I'm glad you like it. The blind jump at the end we could remove but we liked the idea that people would have to make a leap of faith at the end of the game. But it's something we'll revise if we keep developing it.

As for lives per level - we considered this but for the time constraint, we decided to have a live pool for the whole game to make the experience short and concise. If we were to expand the game, we were thinking either adding lives per levels or adding life pickups to allow you to gain back some of what you lost.
mrspeaker
04. Dec 2018 · 03:53 UTC
I disagree that the last jump was blind... I feel like by the last level I one at one with the game, and could navigate it like I was that Keno guy from the Matrix.

I understand why you can't just restart the level when you die - but perhaps if the game was bigger it would be useful to retry a level with the same health you started with... But for Ludum Dare, knowing that you had to do it all again if you messed it up made it super stressful/exciting!

Audio was great, the sound effects made me smile every time. Great job!
MrPiedPiper
04. Dec 2018 · 08:33 UTC
Great feel for the game. It was really well done! Had alot of fun with this one.
And I must say- the sound effects were amazing.

Only issue I came across, in the last level, the audio stopped? (Probably because I paused it and left it for a while) Then when I moved around sometimes it'd fade back in/out.

Anyway, amazing job! Loved it :D
Jungle
04. Dec 2018 · 08:50 UTC
Great game. Fits theme very well, I really like the sacrificing mechanics. Congratulations
rk3Omega
04. Dec 2018 · 14:22 UTC
Nice game. I loved the audio, it's odd and amusing. And it's nice seeing couples make a game together. Gravity when moving up feels very sluggish, but other than that, the controls feel very nice. Great job.
🎤 Denifia
04. Dec 2018 · 19:09 UTC
@rk3omega It's really hard to get the jump feel right. I spent waaay too many hours trying to get it right. I think over time I'll keep tweaking it to get closer to that elusive "perfect feel". Thanks for the feedback.
neontropics
04. Dec 2018 · 22:26 UTC
Very nice use of the theme!

I really like the general feeling - voices are great and the little zoom ins when you get to a star is great. The 8 second music isn't even overbearing but kinda funny in the context.

On the one hand I really like that there's a bit more at stake compared to most indie platformers these days where you can only lose ~10 seconds of work if you die, there's more tension this way of trying to make it to the end. That said you do feel a bit defeated after dying and the gameplay would likely have to have some more juice to have you want to try many times and replay the initial part.
1257th or nothing
04. Dec 2018 · 22:40 UTC
Very nicely done. Funny and simple enough for me to have fun.

I enjoy the mix of puzzle and dexterity. it may of course have many additions later, but for a first version it is fun and balanced. Great !
kamekai
06. Dec 2018 · 18:54 UTC
this was cute and i love how it zooms in on the sun after you get it
Codesity
07. Dec 2018 · 08:19 UTC
I like the graphics, there are simple and pixelperfect. The Sounds are great and good to the harmony. Good Work!
jk5000
07. Dec 2018 · 09:11 UTC
This is a simple and fun little LD game. For me you made to difficult to reach the end, but that is okay. Overall a fine LD game. Well done.
zener
10. Dec 2018 · 18:17 UTC
I love the idea, it fits the theme perfectly
🎤 Denifia
10. Dec 2018 · 20:07 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!! I've been very happy to see that a lot of it is positive :)
Mertios
20. Dec 2018 · 02:25 UTC
Could be a bit more original. Overall needs some more polish, but a great game!
Mertios
20. Dec 2018 · 02:25 UTC
Okay game, could be a bit more original. Overall needs some more polish, but a great game!
Deemoo
20. Dec 2018 · 03:35 UTC
Super cool game, great fit for the theme!
jdelaay025johnd1788
20. Dec 2018 · 04:02 UTC
I really enjoyed this. I retried after trying the first time. I didn't win but yeah, I definitely like what you did here!! Way to go!! And the way the graphics all look the same makes the game fit a sort of stylized theme. I love it. I love the "star" and "another star" voice lines lol way to go!!
BJ Pucci
20. Dec 2018 · 04:04 UTC
Fun game! the music was quite good aswell
Matank
20. Dec 2018 · 06:34 UTC
Really cool game. Loved the funny sound effects :) I really liked the idea, I think it could have been a bit more challenging (which means I would have loved to play it longer because I had a lot of fun in my short play-through). Really liked what you did with the sacrifice theme.
pcmaster
20. Dec 2018 · 15:12 UTC
A very good game. Simple, yet enjoyable mechanics and controls. I love even the sounds and simple graphics -- nothing more is needed for such an entry :) Awesome, not too much to add.
rexpeppers
20. Dec 2018 · 21:32 UTC
Great job! Controls could be a touch tighter, but I really liked the use of the theme & sound effects.
Rolly
21. Dec 2018 · 12:48 UTC
FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP