LudumData

From Dusk Till Dawn by Nikolay Zapolnov

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

This is a first date with the love of your life! It is so romantic: night, park... Dracula. Wait, what?

Oh my gosh! Dracula has captured your partner and ripped their heart! But the heart is beating! Keep it alive and, maybe, you could still meet the dawn together with your significant other.

Controls: WASD or arrow keys (only left(A)/right(D) are used) to move, SPACEBAR to jump.

Note: sound and music could be a bit too loud. There are buttons to disable music or sound in the main menu.

Note: The game is hard to win with all organs preserved! If you get stuck, there are links to the walkthrough videos under the screenshots. But remember that you only need to bring no more than one organ to the last level to win the game (though the ending will be different).

By the way, what do you think Dracula and his servant, Frankenstein, were doing on the balcony in the night? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

1a.png 3a.png

Big thanks to @catplanet for wonderful music!

Complete walkthrough videos: * Intro: launch the game and watch the intro! Its awesome! * Level 1 walkthrough (YouTube) * Level 2 walkthrough (YouTube) * Level 3 walkthrough (YouTube) * Level 4 walkthrough (YouTube) * Level 5 walkthrough (YouTube)

Note: if Windows build shows error message at start, you may need to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 Runtime. Or you can just play the HTML5 version.

Youtube https://www.dropbox.com/s/igd1yyw4s0paaiw/LD46.exe?dl=1
Youtube https://myxa.itch.io/from-dusk-till-dawn
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/from-dusk-till-dawn

Ratings

Overall 946th 3.6⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1032th 3.414⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 450th 3.7⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 42th 4.379⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 921th 3.833⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 271th 3.879⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 117th 4.067⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 439th 3.828⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

Rebecca Harrison
21. Apr 2020 · 04:13 UTC
Awesome game! Super hard, and I'll definitely give it another shot when I'm less tired haha. I want to experience what the levels are like with all the body parts.
RexGame
21. Apr 2020 · 11:21 UTC
Nice ^^
Haoro
21. Apr 2020 · 12:31 UTC
Interesting game ! I don't know if it's on purpose but if you jump while moving forward just befor the heart touch your character, it'll do a weird moment and go on the right on down (made me retry some time for the first jump).
Anyway, good job !
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
21. Apr 2020 · 12:40 UTC
@haoro
> just before the heart touch your character, it’ll do a weird moment and go on the right on down

Well, not originally intended, but that's how physics behave. Didn't have time to tweak it before the deadline.
leokrechmer
21. Apr 2020 · 13:03 UTC
Nice job! I'd buy :)
amkingTRP
21. Apr 2020 · 14:40 UTC
Really like the inclusivity by selecting gender for both characters, and the sound effects in the intro were great. Got really frustrated on the intro/tutorial before I figured out how to guide the heart, and then it became really quite enjoyable.
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
21. Apr 2020 · 14:44 UTC
@amkingtrp Indeed, didn't have enough time to polish the tutorial. For us it was not such confusing, probably because we already knew what to do :) Will learn for the future.
Tomáš Selmeci
21. Apr 2020 · 15:38 UTC
Haha, funny entry. It was like trying to learn the head trick with football. I wasnt't really good at it either :smile: Anyhow, great game!
Samuel Hollywood-Summers
21. Apr 2020 · 17:19 UTC
Great concept. Very difficult, and I'll have to come back to try to finish with more than one part of my partner intact! In addition to making the learning curve a little gentler, there are a couple of suggestions for improving the game: Some of the sfx cause clicks and pops as they start and end: add fades to the start and end of all audio assets to avoid this. Also, the pixel size of the body parts being the same as everything else would make the game fit together more coherently, visually. Oh, and it was frustrating to have to sit through the intro several times before I made it off the first screen with the heart! Final note is a positive: Thumbs up for allowing a choice of sex for both partners. Great little game!
BattleCat
21. Apr 2020 · 18:22 UTC
This game was right up my alley. It brought back great memories from my childhood in the 1990s. The general mood of the game reminded me of games like Monster Bash and Castlevania, but with humor. The intro made me laugh.

I also liked the premise of having to bounce the girlfriend's organs around, but ultimately I found that I often failed because of, what felt more like, the level layout than my skills. Like the body parts would just happen to land in a way that made it impossible to progress.

That said, this was one of the highlights of LD46 for me :)
Nachodlv
21. Apr 2020 · 19:02 UTC
It was pretty hard until I got the hand of it. It would be cool if you can skip the intro because I failed a couple of times and I had to wait to finish. I only finished the two first levels.
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
21. Apr 2020 · 19:45 UTC
Thank you guys for playing our game!

@samuel-hollywood-summers Thanks for the note on the sounds. I will add the fades next time. I am just an amateur user of Audacity with a crappy Mic :) Sorry for the unskippable intro part, I know its frustrating...

@battlecat The game mechanics were inspired by the Earth Worm Jim 2's "Puppy Love" levels. But yeah, we tried to reproduce this retro style and complexity :) The body parts sometimes fly the wrong way and game requires pixel perfectness. Definitely not perfect level design, but I never designed platformer levels before and also I had a very tight deadline. I triple checked all the levels for being able to complete and made the walkthrough videos, but yes, it took about hundred attempts to get it right :-|

@nachodiv Sorry for the unskippable intro :(
BattleCat
21. Apr 2020 · 20:02 UTC
@nikolay-zapolnov I think we all skipped things during this event. It's totally legit :)
polyducks
22. Apr 2020 · 10:24 UTC
I really enjoyed the music, storytelling and atmosphere in this game.

The physics seemed a little buggy in parts, but I put that down to the short deadline. I wasn't able to get beyond the first level because of the unpredictable physics - it made it hard to judge where the organ would land - but I watched through the tutorials to see the rest of the game.

The graphics would benefit from having a consistent palette - I recommend this tutorial: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

Music was haunty and well executed and really added some depth. I thought the voice acting was an excellent touch too.

All in all I enjoyed this game more for its story telling and atmosphere than its gameplay.
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
22. Apr 2020 · 10:38 UTC
@polyducks Thanks for the tutorial link!

I am glad that videos were useful to you to see the rest of the game. Indeed, the gameplay went more complicated than we anticipated, partly because of a bit buggy physics.
skico
22. Apr 2020 · 11:14 UTC
interesting game! i think that if my gfs heart had been smashed out i'd also try and save her but when the brain comes out then i'm out haha, kept playing til i got to the arms or eye then it crashed :,( music was cool, it all went together well.
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
22. Apr 2020 · 12:23 UTC
@skico Sorry to hear that it crashed for you :( Was it a Windows or Browser build?
Drums
22. Apr 2020 · 16:42 UTC
Very funny game, the voice over is hilarious. It is very tricky right off the bat and needs precise movement. Overall it looks good and the idea is great!
FancyReckless
22. Apr 2020 · 16:53 UTC
Pros:
- Quite moody, in a scary Halloween style
- Good basic platformer gameplay with a twist
- Really original presentation wise
- Fits the theme perfectly

Cons:
- Controls can be a bit clunky and feel random
- Intro is cool, but it restarting every time when failing first part can make beginning hard

Overall pretty original game with a nice mood. Haven't noticed any significant bugs, which is rare in Gamejam. The start of the game surprised me in good way.
skico
22. Apr 2020 · 17:36 UTC
@nikolay-zapolnov it crashed in my browser (chrome)
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
22. Apr 2020 · 19:30 UTC
@drums @fancyreckless I am happy that you liked the game in general. Thanks for the feedback and sorry for weird physics behavior (which makes the game so difficult to play). And for the unskippable intro :(
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
22. Apr 2020 · 19:30 UTC
@skico Thanks for the info!
gentoogames
22. Apr 2020 · 21:35 UTC
This was one of my favorite games that Ive played so far. The humor was silly, but well placed, and the gameplay was simple but challenging. Ill have to finish the game so i can see what happens at the end :)
krauticDan
23. Apr 2020 · 13:37 UTC
Cute pixels and sounds, I like the idea. But the controls are pretty hard for me :D
Death_Is_Cold
24. Apr 2020 · 16:33 UTC
Good entry, looks smooth and sounds good. Really really hard though, couldn't get past the part where you have to juggle three organs.
marcmagus
30. Apr 2020 · 17:33 UTC
Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for us to check out! If you'd like to watch the highlight, it's at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/606399387

Who knew juggling organs would be so interesting?
studiocurtis
01. May 2020 · 19:08 UTC
Very fun and humorous concept, excellent graphics and sound. The game mechanic part was too hard for me, so I had to rely on the walk through video to check more of the. game. Consider having an option to vary the difficulty level by an option to adjust the size of the catch bowl. I would have been willing to try several more times if I did not have to sit through the intro animation every time. If you are attached to the idea of always starting from the intro, consider making at least three variations of the intro, so it's always different... maybe interject some jokes or dialogue about organs, such as "oh, I love your brain", " I love you for your heart", etc. Overall, excellent job :-)
🎤 Nikolay Zapolnov
02. May 2020 · 11:04 UTC
@studiocurtis Thanks a lot for the feedback! Indeed, the game turned out much more difficult to play than we expected. Also, the necessity to repeat the intro is an unfortunate consequence of a tight deadline...
studiocurtis
02. May 2020 · 13:41 UTC
Thanks Nikolay. I totally understand the deadline thing :-)
8BitCharlie
08. May 2020 · 12:15 UTC
This looks very nice (I like graphics, theme is covered very well, ...) but not my cup of coffee, I guess. I was not able to move forward (I always end at the point of 0:03 of your Level 1 walkthrough).