Gather the Darkness by Jeremy Wolf

[raw]
made by Jeremy Wolf for LD 40 (COMPO)

GTDGIF1.gif

With each enemy you destroy the world gets a little darker (or a lot).Part stealth part bullet hell. With each enemy you kill you gain an orb that brings the darkness... Orbs can be removed and will re-generate health. Get to the finish area to move onto the next level - 3 levels total.

Different Game Area * Red -> Enemy Spawns * Blue/Green -> Orb Cleansing and Healing * Yellow -> Finish and go to next level

​Best played in the dark with the volume set high!

There are HTML and Windows versions available. There is no exit button on the windows build. Oops and Sorry.

The score leaderboard is buggy or non-functional. Spotty internet didn't allow good testing... Another oops. !

Ratings

Overall 185th 3.657⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 176th 3.614⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 167th 3.543⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 144th 3.857⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 272th 3.471⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 272th 3.121⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 499th 2.034⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 172th 3.414⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 45🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

Aarre Entertainment
04. Dec 2017 · 07:25 UTC
The gameplay worked well enough, as did the physics, although I would have wished for more effort to be put in the character models/environment models. A great way to incorporate the idea, though. This is a very solid contender and a great way to start trying these compo games out.
Ham and Swiss
04. Dec 2017 · 08:06 UTC
Using the mouse to both steer and aim is a little awkward, but it worked. I liked the lighting a lot.
Jaloko
04. Dec 2017 · 08:13 UTC
Liked the visuals, had a good mood to the game. I'm not sure if it was intentional but sometimes the player kept shooting when I wasn't clicking. I also think it would be great if you could move in other directions.
Zarrl
04. Dec 2017 · 08:21 UTC
I like the lighting the concept for the game. You managed to implement it well and even with the simple graphics the way your camera is and the emphasis on the lighting makes it work. The only thing I can say that it needs strafing to make the controls feel better. Overall it was a good game.
backyard-dev
04. Dec 2017 · 09:50 UTC
Good visuals and an interesting idea. I think it would be better if you could move using WASD instead of just moving forward.
Shelvid
04. Dec 2017 · 10:07 UTC
Really cool concept. Would love if it had some visuals besides simple shapes, sound effects feel satisfying aswell. good job!
Jiri Hysek
04. Dec 2017 · 18:53 UTC
Nice, I like stealth games :)
Talia
04. Dec 2017 · 19:21 UTC
oh it was really fun to play. The use of little lightballs are great und it's nice, that the enemies respond with a red light once your are discovered. =)
Hegemege
04. Dec 2017 · 20:52 UTC
Very nice visuals, but unfortunately the crudeish sounds didn't work well with the visuals to create the pressing mood. The main dynamic of the game was interesting - perhaps the lights would slowly come back if you played more stealthily? On my first try I didn't understand the health bubbles either, I thought they were alarms! :)

Good controls and feedback!
jlreymendez
04. Dec 2017 · 22:25 UTC
That third level starts with a bang! Nice, but I definitely didn't go stealthy there
🎤 Jeremy Wolf
04. Dec 2017 · 22:48 UTC
@jkreymendez Yeah, not sure what happened there. Couldn't figure out why the guys were spawning so heavily on that level. Definitely not intentional just ran out of time.
Isaac Lang
04. Dec 2017 · 23:27 UTC
Love the game. It plays smoothly and is very fun.
Nilsson
05. Dec 2017 · 02:21 UTC
Very interesting idéa, i like the shooting effects when the bullet hit an object. Quite innovative with the lightning effect after you kill some enemies with the light bulbs, great idéa, and great game, i love the game!
Arthur Amorim
05. Dec 2017 · 03:37 UTC
Good job, nice AI sistem you have here, sounds are good too and the game is fun, i just miss some music. (Btw there's a bug where you can shoot through walls just being really close to them).
saucygames
05. Dec 2017 · 03:40 UTC
The mechanics are quite good, my biggest problem was with how much recoil the player had while shooting. It is a nice touch but may be a little too much for my liking
SaphireS
05. Dec 2017 · 03:42 UTC
Nice, the idea is pretty unique and gameplay is fun :)
erebus
05. Dec 2017 · 04:05 UTC
I like the idea a lot! I got to what I assume was the last level. The next level button stopped working. I really liked that when you died you could retry the level instead of making the player do them all again! Nice work!
exezin
05. Dec 2017 · 04:09 UTC
Pretty fun game, also *really* hard :D I love how simple and relaxed the controls are, you don't often see 2-button shooters!
Shaolin Dave
05. Dec 2017 · 17:19 UTC
I like the concept of tying power-ups to the lighting. The controls felt natural to use.
howardcs
05. Dec 2017 · 21:12 UTC
Great use of lighting, both for gameplay and the look of the game. The controls are similar to an fps, which was a little awkward at first but became comfortable very quickly. Only downside is it crashed right after I died when the score window came up:

Invoking error handler due to
Uncaught abort(124) at Error
at jsStackTrace (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:27460)
at stackTrace (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:27631)
at abort (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:4:32751)
at s7m (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:26:776391)
at kZk (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:7:46647)
at iZk (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:7:45942)
at hZk (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:7:45038)
at rZh (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:8:317065)
at s$m (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:26:739689)
at invoke_iiiii (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:331962)
at Ilm (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:26:172077)
at xnm (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:26:185269)
at $ea (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:155306)
at _ea (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:154977)
at rhc (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:10:116051)
at aka (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:374927)
at $ja (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:374465)
at GNe (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:15:330993)
at BNe (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:15:324791)
at ANe (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:15:321923)
at oNe (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:15:298456)
at Jta (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:698122)
at wta (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:9:686349)
at O0m (LudumDare40.asm.code.unityweb:26:748924)
at browserIterationFunc (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:48346)
at runIter [Object.runIter] (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:51419)
at Browser_mainLoop_runner (LudumDare40.asm.framework.unityweb:2:49881)
If this abort() is unexpected, build with -s ASSERTIONS=1 which can give more information.
🎤 Jeremy Wolf
05. Dec 2017 · 21:46 UTC
@howardcs Bummer. Sorry about that! I've seen that happen once in testing, but couldn't reproduce.
Ithildin
05. Dec 2017 · 23:43 UTC
I also had a crash after dying on the second level :S

Back to the game, I really like the concept and the lighting effects, linking them to the mechanics is a plus to me. The controls were easy to grasp and felt smooth, and while the sound effects could be improved, they did serve their purpose as a source of feedback.

Nice job!
🎤 Jeremy Wolf
05. Dec 2017 · 23:55 UTC
@howardcs and @ithildin can I ask was the crash in the HTML build or the windows build?
howardcs
06. Dec 2017 · 02:28 UTC
@jeremy-wolf web build in Chrome.
🎤 Jeremy Wolf
06. Dec 2017 · 03:41 UTC
@howardcs and @ithildin I suspect the error is from the high score list... Doesn't throw errors with the local copy, but think itch may block the requests. Not sure. I turned off the high scores for the web build.
JuanCarlosGdM
06. Dec 2017 · 10:40 UTC
Really enjoyed the game, so funny! I liked the concept, art and, specially, the controls: they're so comfortable and natural (I loved the recoil effect). Congratulations :ok_hand:
tvance
06. Dec 2017 · 17:35 UTC
Nice mood. I like the lighting effects. I should really switch to a mouse for these but if you'd like to cater to trackpad users in the future: it's hard to switch between LMB and RMB rapidly. Good job on the game overall!
yancharkin
07. Dec 2017 · 12:02 UTC
Nice concept! The game is fun to play (most of the time).

Things I don't like:
- Controls. In bullet hell games strafing is essential.
- Sound. It's very basic.
- No music. Music can help to set the mood.
Pecolyte
15. Dec 2017 · 14:21 UTC
Very cool game! It would make a very good one once expanded. Game crashed when I died in level 3, but that doesn't hurt. Overall, nice entry!
Pecolyte
15. Dec 2017 · 14:21 UTC
Very cool game! It would make a very good one once expanded. Game crashed when I died in level 3, but that doesn't hurt. Overall, nice entry!