Silkworm: Keeping the Game Alive by Roey_Shap

[raw]
made by Roey_Shap for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

[POST-JAM EDIT: There has been a post-Jam version uploaded since then and this was hidden, but this still links to the original, accessible with the code "SILK".]

A 10-minute epic about a bug trying to save its game.

WASD to move, jump to interact - two buttons added later in the story. Read the text!

Play as Silkworm, an ambitious bug trying to stop the AI that they're a part of that some programmers ignorantly tried to use to help in development... Little did they know of the havoc that that AI would wreak upon their RPG!!

[EDIT: I know that this game was a bit hard. As my first Jam entry (and my first story-driven experience) ever, I was a bit overwhelmed. As such, after having fairly voted with the original version in mind, please look forward to a "hotfix" that'll be linked to on the itch.io page somewhere down the line. That version will keep the spirit and limitations of the Jam in place while being more in-line with my original intentions and being more accessible. I don't want to mess the voting system, so please only play the hotfix after having voted on what I actually managed to make in that time.]

Silkworm Exp 1.pngSilkworm SS 2.pngSilkworm SS 3.png

Ratings

Overall 1204th 3.5⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 848th 3.5⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 844th 3.471⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2016th 3.212⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1750th 3.2⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1368th 2.813⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 196th 3.894⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 908th 3.559⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 31🗳️ 40🗨️

Feedback

ChristianAufiero
21. Apr 2020 · 06:40 UTC
Everything here is so wonderful and charming and nice, I almost kind of wish there was *less* dialogue in a strange sort of way, it almost felt like it broke up the pace of the game too much. Other than that, fantastic.
🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:42 UTC
@christianaufiero, you have no idea how much that means to me... I was so bummed out by what I had made that I already started working on a patch. Thanks a million. I'll put your game on my list of ones to try (randomly picked a few)!
(Why the heck did it send so many messasges.)
🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
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🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
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🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
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🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
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🎤 Roey_Shap
21. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
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Carlix
21. Apr 2020 · 20:45 UTC
I liked the humour and the memes, it was an original idea.

But for some reason I can't understand the pong minigame where you move the mole. Why do I keep losing?
I tried to press spacebar when I hit the ball, tried to press it endlessly, and tried not to press it at all and I lost anyway. :sob:
PlagueOfMinds
21. Apr 2020 · 20:52 UTC
The writing was very funny, and I enjoyed all of your jokes. I couldn't complete the mole minigame, I found it too difficult. I do like all of the dialogue, and I think you did a good job with it. You should make a bigger game with a larger story.
BoxedMeatRevolution
22. Apr 2020 · 15:01 UTC
Wow! This game felt remarkably _complete_ for a Ludum Dare game. A whole story, 2 minigames, and a super cool ending sequence that ties it all together. I didn't have any major problems with the difficulty (beat the mole game second try). Using the mole's ability in the ending sequence was a bit janky though (the first "hit" of the ball seemed to send it in a random direction for me).

Great entry!
Gnocchi
22. Apr 2020 · 15:18 UTC
I looooove your game ! It's incredible the quality AND quantity of content you put in there !
The story is really funny, the metajokes and gameplay are just brilliant. I love the sounds, the cute animations, the dialogues, the effort you put into the lo-fi joke.
The only thing that I think you could improve is playtest of the minigames that I found a little bit too hard. But at the same time we were two, eyes riveted to my screen, groaning when our ball hit a wall and exclaiming when I finally hit the last brick. So it's a bit too difficult but still playable.
It could use some music but with all the things you put in there I can see that you didn't have the time to do so.

And all this all by yourself ! Incredible work, really :clap:
trucverte
22. Apr 2020 · 15:24 UTC
The story is funny and really well written. I also enjoyed the art, it's working good with the game.

Despite many attempts, I didn't managed to pass the brick breaker game. At first I didn't notice the blue ball getting bigger in front of you. When you hit spacebar you can't always make it smaller, maybe it's not working like it should? At some point I destroyed all the bricks but still lost.

It's hard to make everything work in the small period of the jam, but it can become a great game!
🎤 Roey_Shap
22. Apr 2020 · 15:33 UTC
@gnocchi, thanks a whole ton! Yeah, the playtesting being apparent the day after... AFTER I dropped dead at 4 AM and barely squeezing in a rushed and unfinished final scene. I'm currently working on a hotfix version that'll better reflect my intentions. Really appreciate the feedback.
Scornz
23. Apr 2020 · 00:58 UTC
Played it all the way through, with some minor frustrations. The brick-breaking game was pretty difficult to get through, I found myself having one brick left to hit and then running out of energy in my crystals. When I got mole's ability, it seemed almost like random chance to hit the ball around. I had no idea how to direct it in any sort of way.

Overall, the game is good, I just had some trouble with some minor things throughout. By the way, thank you for commenting on my game, I went through it and realized most of your gripes were results of small coding errors (and are now fixed). Thank you for your feedback, best of luck with the rest of the jam, nice work!
zchen
23. Apr 2020 · 11:22 UTC
Very impressive entry! I think the thing that stands out to me the most is the amount of content you got into the game (3 mini games?!) and the thought you put into the design of the gameplay and story.

Personally, I found the dialogue starting to feel like it's dragging on a bit just past the mid way point, around the Chameleon part. I also feel like the Chameleon mini game and eventually its end game ability was quite lacking. It was not as interesting as the mole mini game and I didn't notice what the ability did in the end sequence, I just spammed P and went on my way.

I felt like the mole mini game had a decent amount of challenge, which was nice to find in what felt like a mostly narrative game. Also the tying together of the mechanic at the end was a really nice touch. Good job overall!
polarfuchs
23. Apr 2020 · 11:23 UTC
Nice Game. I didnt understand the brick game and first and couldnt read the instructions again. So I had to quit the game and restart. Very funny idea
room606
23. Apr 2020 · 11:31 UTC
Hello, nice plot. But .. any chances for Linux Boys to play the game? Maybe an HTML5 build on itch.io?
![shot_090.png](///raw/ec0/e1/z/32bad.png)
Thanks in advance!
Wakobu
23. Apr 2020 · 11:47 UTC
Thank you for publishing this entry.
A lot of content, and good graphical consistency.
The last platform phase was funny.
To be honest, I didn't read the text at all in the second half of the game. Too many meta-jokes and references for me.
It cruelly lacks of sound too.
Achiru
23. Apr 2020 · 11:50 UTC
A lot of content, and cute little graphics. Really liked the platform gameplay, too bad it did not last super long except at the end. Really lacked music though. The dialog are the main part of the game, but felt a bit too pushy for me. Maybe a better balance between dialog / gameplay would have served the fun.
🎤 Roey_Shap
23. Apr 2020 · 13:02 UTC
@room606, I'm currently just getting to work on the "Intended Version" of the game. I made this in GameMaker and currently don't have an HTML License, but I think I'll look into one after seeing the immense versatility of it on display during this JAM. In the meantime, would you like me to maybe link you to an uploaded video of the altered gameplay when the patch comes out?
NaBo369
23. Apr 2020 · 13:50 UTC
I love this game, the dialoge made me laugh several times and the artstyle was adorable.
It was a really fun experience to play this game, however what could have made it a bit better was some sound during the game itself aside from the dialogue but that is a minor complaint.
Like I said before, I really enjoyed it
BlueMirror
23. Apr 2020 · 13:57 UTC
I really like how you made the dialogue and story the focus of the game and explain the mechanics with it. The name of the villain becoming bigger and bigger XD So good!

I feel like the pacing of the game was good overall while I prefer bigger gameplay parts inbetween the long dialogues. Especially at the start I usually just want to jump into the game so that I get curious about this world that I am in. Regardless, the story was really interesting!

The gameplay part with the mole I didnt really get, in the end I just held spacebar constantly and that worked somehow. I first thoguht its a rhythm thing, based on the animations on the side. I thought I have to press spacebar when the circle from the diamonds animation is in the middle. Hence I failed multiple times at that point while the rest was easy for me.

Combining the mechanics in the end for the final was well done. I enjoyed running away while pushing a ball into a block to make it disappear which was Challenging as well!

I found the sfx for the text coming in funny somehow, generally just a really pleasant sound. Meanwhile I couldn't hear the music. Was there any and it was just super soft?

I enjoyed it a lot and it was something different that got me inspired. Well done!
Chief141
25. Apr 2020 · 19:17 UTC
It was a fun little game and I really some parts like the graphics it looks cool with that type of graphics
silkworm_sweatshop
27. Apr 2020 · 23:57 UTC
Played this for the name, not gonna lie. So glad that I did though! This game just oozes charm. A lot of the the writing is genuinely funny and even if it goes a bit far sometimes I wasn't too bothered by it.

I love the graphics honestly, it's super stylized, some of the character designs are really weird in a GOOD way. It also looks better in motion and I like little touches like the animated dialogue portraits which add a lot of polish.

Most of the game sadly lacks sound but I like the dialogue sounds which make the game feel a lot less quiet than otherwise.

Gameplay continuously switches things up and while there were some frustrating parts, the checkpoints are very forgiving. The end gauntlet was also a pretty neat way to tie together the different mechanics.

Congrats on your first jam! You set a high bar going forward. Impressive!
Exainz
28. Apr 2020 · 15:18 UTC
its a very funny game
simple yet attractive and funny and enjoying
it proves that u not need high end graphics to make a nc game
u r a nc programmer
the style of game was excellent
and the sound type is catching
Dane Tesla
29. Apr 2020 · 13:58 UTC
i loved the narrative! it had kinda Undertale-ish vibs overall. Not a big fan of Undertale but I'm not judging games using my personal taste for similar productions xD
I loved the story, and the bug and all those meta-jokes. A great entry!
Jupiter_Hadley
09. May 2020 · 11:23 UTC
Lovely narration. I included it in my Ludum Dare 46 compilation video series, if you want to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/S9pVfrriZ3E
blay09
09. May 2020 · 12:49 UTC
Cool to see a big game with multiple parts and different games "embedded".

The green flickering in the beginning was a bit hard on the eyes and some parts of the game felt awkwardly quiet and could have benefitted from music (e.g. the shooter-part). Overall a nice entry though!
Lyje
11. May 2020 · 13:15 UTC
Loved the pleasantly mad narrative! Overall really well executed. I couldn't get past the FPS minigame though - not sure if I was doing the right thing (collecting the little pig heads with shift) but while the feed counter in the top left went up 2 each time the meter on the pig always kept going down.