Fear Of The Dark by ArttuK

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

In Fear of the Dark you control a strong wizard who got lost in a mysterious forest and ambushed by evil wraiths.

Illuminate your surroundings and carefully manage your magic power so you don't get buried in darkness.

Upgrade your abilities as the enemy hordes get stronger and see how long you can last before the inevitable end arrives! Challenge your friends and compete for the top spot on the leaderboards!

Made for Ludum Dare 39.

Play here online!

Check out the help menu in-game to see the controls!

mainmenu.png

gameplay1.png

gameplay2.png

Credits:

Arttu Knuutinen

Tuomo Kuusisto

Leo Nikander

Keith Schmidt

Music: "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

NOTE: itch.io version doesn't currently support the leaderboard. Use the link above or download the game to your computer to get your top scores to the leaderboard!

Ratings

Overall 90th 3.945⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Fun 65th 3.927⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 318th 3.222⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Theme 511th 3.37⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 278th 3.891⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Audio 261th 3.37⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Humor 406th 2.426⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 120th 3.846⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Given 60🗳️ 48🗨️

Feedback

Swifttech
31. Jul 2017 · 15:59 UTC
The graphics are awesome! The gameplay is great. Great job guys!
hhsaez
31. Jul 2017 · 16:11 UTC
Great gameplay! Love it
Vehem
31. Jul 2017 · 16:13 UTC
Solid graphics, decent use of atmospheric audio (with a bonus point for the Wilhelm scream at the end) and a good difficulty curve. Only suggestion I'd make is to adjust the night vision upgrade a little - after a couple of levels of that, you don't really need to illuminate anymore. Possibly have it extend the light range or have it reduce the rate at which the light uses energy? Fun in any case - do you plan to continue working on it?
Kimitama
31. Jul 2017 · 16:16 UTC
The gameplay is great, and the graphics are a treat!
Xeinix
31. Jul 2017 · 16:17 UTC
I really liked this game! The only thing that I wish would have been added is some background music during gameplay. I heard it in the menus, but it felt empty during play. Really like your style!
Wesxdz
31. Jul 2017 · 16:18 UTC
I really liked the flashlight mechanic. Simple but fun gameplay and actually replayable. I would have liked to see more types of enemies.
eximarus
31. Jul 2017 · 17:00 UTC
Damn son this was actually really nice. sometimes I accidentally upgraded because the window poped up so fast but other than that I really liked it!
Quemagalletas
31. Jul 2017 · 17:10 UTC
Cool game, I like the mechanics of the game and the progression of choosing your stats, and also that you included a leader, that is always a good idea :D

One thing that I miss is some feedback when you're being hit, for example just a red flash overlay when you're losing life.
Fred Aberg
31. Jul 2017 · 19:15 UTC
Really nice gameplay!
The graphics were really pretty too and the leaderboard was a nice addition.
Kaban
31. Jul 2017 · 20:07 UTC
Very nice. Maybe, one of the most completed game i've played on LD39
Kaban
31. Jul 2017 · 20:07 UTC
Very nice. Maybe, one of the most completed game i've played on LD39
FloBar
31. Jul 2017 · 22:07 UTC
I was really creeped out by this one. In a good way. The torch light adds a nice effect. Good game.
bombjack
31. Jul 2017 · 23:31 UTC
Very fun. I liked the art too. The upgrades are a plus.
Thorneto
31. Jul 2017 · 23:41 UTC
Really cool lighting effect here. Didn't even realize I had a flashlight for the first few rounds so I kept choosing night vision. I played the web version, it would have maybe been nice to have a visible curser. Fun game though.
Mikkel Rohde
01. Aug 2017 · 00:14 UTC
I think this game is really well done. The art and environment is cool, and the amount of features is very impressive.
Jaakko
01. Aug 2017 · 06:05 UTC
Awesome! Good gameplay, great mood!
alimcomposer
01. Aug 2017 · 06:12 UTC
I thought the game was well done, the gameplay was smooth and the art and environment were pretty neat. I played the web version and I was not aware that I had a flashlight XD. All in all, fun game to play.
Hellroom
01. Aug 2017 · 08:13 UTC
great game yay it's good well done
thyshimrod
01. Aug 2017 · 09:47 UTC
Very good game. I think maniabilty can be enhance, but it is a good game.
Lot of work in such little time? Good job
stitchesmagoo
01. Aug 2017 · 10:11 UTC
Cool gameplay with a nice loop! hope you do well!
tkuusis
01. Aug 2017 · 10:38 UTC
@vehem: Thanks for the feedback! You are correct, the night vision doesn't do much after a few upgrades - I thought about just hiding the button after 2 or 3 steps because there's no point in upgrading it anymore. Increasing the light range would make sense though! The energy depletion rate is already handled by the "energy" upgrade.

We might do some small additions/fixes to the game afterwards but probably nothing major because all of us are going to be quite busy with other projects soon.

@wesxdz: Thanks! Yes, having more enemy types is probably on top of the "to-do" list.

@eximarus: That's actually something I was supposed to work on but kinda forgot / ran out of time to fix. You probably noticed that you can keep the mouse button pressed to shoot so the accidental clicks on the upgrade buttons should be somewhat eliminated.

@quemagalletas: Thanks! Yeah, some sort of visual cue for taking damage should definitely be there.

@thorneto: Haha, glad you found the flashlight because it's such a crucial mechanic to the game. I'm not sure what you mean by a visible cursor? There should be a cursor on the web version too.

**For the rest: Thanks for all the positive feedback and for the constructive criticism!**
digitaldude555
01. Aug 2017 · 10:42 UTC
Graphics.
The title screen art is fantastic, like the ui, like the main character design. Demon design isn't very good though 4/5.

Innovation
I have seen this game before, but as far as LD is concerned this game is pretty innovative. 3/5.

Audio
Easy 5/5, love the music and soundeffect.

Fun
Fun at the beginning but quickly gets boring doing same exact thing ever level, 3/5.

Theme
The strongest category, the demons lose power cause of the flashlight. Flashlight losing power. Good stuff, but you do get stronger in power as the game goes along. 4/5.

Over all very good and I also accidentally upgraded myself like the other people.
Xsior
01. Aug 2017 · 10:43 UTC
Cool gameplay with interesting darkness twist. Only thing I would like too see was checking for your previous scores and searching scores by user.
Pip Turner
01. Aug 2017 · 11:01 UTC
Great gameplay, quite addictive!! Lovely lovely.
TastyMascarpwne
01. Aug 2017 · 12:23 UTC
I like it! A little generic but sill a lot of fun.
Lawrence
02. Aug 2017 · 20:36 UTC
Art style kind of reminds me of Bloons Tower Defense, not in a bad way! :D

Game play seems fun as well, though upgrades could feel a bit more powerful.

Good job overall!
Knorz
02. Aug 2017 · 20:38 UTC
Awesome game ... love the leaderboard.
Please play,rate and comment on our game aswell:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/disaster-on-nebula-one
tkuusis
02. Aug 2017 · 20:45 UTC
@Lawrence Thanks! I agree with you - the more I see people play the game the more obvious it seems that some upgrades should be more effective.

@Knorz: Thank you and will do!
TheFlyingKeyboard
02. Aug 2017 · 21:59 UTC
Wow, just wow, awesome graphics and game mechanics, which reminds me a game Crimsonland. Really well made light and particle effects. Awesome to play, seems to be very polished. It is hard, but not well balanced. Great Job!
Togis
03. Aug 2017 · 00:58 UTC
I uploaded my gameplay of this game on youtube, you can find it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfbIQ-ch2ss

Thanks for being part of the stream :)
tkuusis
03. Aug 2017 · 06:52 UTC
@togis And thank you for streaming all those great games, was fun to watch!
LJN
03. Aug 2017 · 10:16 UTC
@togis Thanks a lot for playing our game. That was very fun to watch.
CTTFOW
04. Aug 2017 · 10:28 UTC
Amazing graphics and the idea is simple yet very well working. I wish there had been a "level finished" window before you get to choose the powerup: I ended up missclicking plenty. (I also got stuck in the corners/sides of the area, but it only happened a few times). Overall, great job!
Lamm
14. Aug 2017 · 01:20 UTC
You did a great game congratulations.
LJN
14. Aug 2017 · 11:43 UTC
@lamm very good comrade, will send rye back to motherland.
Jason200101
16. Aug 2017 · 22:50 UTC
Great game! The graphics look amazing, the sounds (both music and sound effects) are great, the idea seems nice and the game looks completed as well!

No negative feedback to give. Overall this is a great game that I can call completed! Well done! :smile:
axoona
17. Aug 2017 · 21:18 UTC
OK I'm really terrible at this ;)
That night vision really makes this game very challenging. You could also add a little indication about spacebar, I nearly missed that power shot.

A part from that, the graphis are really great, the audio fits well the game, and it is an overall very good entry!
jaimuepe
21. Aug 2017 · 18:14 UTC
Great game! The first skill point is a must on the night vision lol it helps so much. I liked the skill choices you had to made, it was a cool mechanic although some of them weren't very noticeable. I had a weird bug that happened when i was moving and shooting at the same time that the player kept walking after releasing the key, not sure if it was my keboard or not. I think it was pretty neat overall :). Good job!
Jupiter_Hadley
29. Aug 2017 · 14:33 UTC
Interesting game! 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=uHHnWvZj4oQ