PLAYTIME by Dark Dungeon Studio

[raw]
made by Dark Dungeon Studio for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Playtime is a horror stealth game where you need to sneak, hide, evade and search until you can leave the dungeon.

You are a thief, that stowed away in a barrel on a ship, however, you didn't know that you'd end up in a place like this. You were discovered by a large fat monster in the depths of a dark dungeon, and now you have to keep it alive and trick it to let you out.

The way out lies behind the weight activated lifts found in the dungeon. Only the monster weighs enough to trigger these lifts. You need to lure him onto these in order to open the door to the next levels, and to freedom.

Levels: - Main Menu - has controls screen - Level 1 - Easy - Level 2 - Medium - Level 3 - Hard - Escaped - GameOver

Controls: - W: Forward - S: Backward - A: Strafe Left - D: Strafe Right - Space: Jump {Noisey} - Left Shift: Sprint {Noisey} - Left Ctrl: Crouch - Q: Hold Breath - Left Click: Activate Levers to disable traps or open gates.

Mechanics: - You can hide in dark alcoves in the walls, watch the "eye" symbol to ensure that you're hidden from sight. - If you're hidden in shadow and the monster gets too close, Hold your breath [Q], to keep quiet. - You can only hold your breath for up to 10 seconds before you automatically exhale and he will catch you, if he or you haven't moved away. - Keep your eye out for traps, some are highlighted with runes on the floor. - Traps will kill you instantly, and you will have to restart the game. - Traps can kill the monster and you will also lose the game. - All traps can be disabled if you can find the correct lever - All levers does something good, so be sure that you activate them - The lifts will only activate once the monster stands on them - Jumping down the elevator shaft will kill you, and you will have to restart the game - Once the elevator has gone down below, you need to find the stairs leading down. - Don't let the monster catch you, he will kill you and you will have to restart the game.

Traps: - Spike traps: These are only on the floor, some are highlighted by runes. - Fire Traps: These are on the wall and the floor, and can be spotted by little black nozzles sticking out of a surface

Bugs: - Monster hooks on corners of walls and objects, but not permanently, just moves slowly - Monster voice triggers too often - Pressing the Shift key triggers the monster to hear you even if you're not running or moving.

Improvements: - Monster/Player could use more health - Monster spots you too quickly if you're in his forward line of sight - Lighting and post effects - Lever doesn't have audio yet - Levers are very difficult to find - Options menu with a brightness slider

Assets used: - InfinityPBR: Dungeon - PROTOFACTOR, INC: Ogre Model and animations - John Leonard French: Endless Cave Ambience

Self made: - Voice for the monster and player - Game programming and mechanics - Story and concept

Change Log: - Updated logo, splash screen & name - Uploaded Mac & Linux builds - Updated links to point to itch.io

Builds: - Windows - Tested - Mac OS X - Not tested - Linux - Not tested

Ratings

Overall 2016th 3.119⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1984th 2.929⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 2011th 2.857⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2096th 3.136⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 965th 3.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1944th 2.026⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1199th 3.409⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

ashashza
21. Apr 2020 · 22:27 UTC
I struggled to find the weight activated lifts ... I found a gate but couldn't find any levers near it. There's a glowing bit on the floor but it just traps me and the monster doesn't seem to trigger it?

The voice work in this is pretty creepy, nice work.
Twistashio
22. Apr 2020 · 13:39 UTC
The VA work is pretty good. I was unable to complete the game however because it was just too dark. It became really hard to see where I was going and where thing were. From what I did see the graphics look nice and can tell you put some though. Can tell you put thought into your game,good job!
Tayfun
22. Apr 2020 · 13:40 UTC
awesome graphics. Essential experience is perfect. I was so scared when I saw the giant first.
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
22. Apr 2020 · 14:57 UTC
Thanks for the feedback guys.

@ashashza and @twistashio I realized afterwards that the levers are quite difficult to find in the dark.
I was planning on adding in some voice narration for the player as hints on what to do, unfortunately I didn't have quite enough time.

Otherwise I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

P.S. even I struggle on the last level a bit and I know where everything is :sweat_smile:
Pagetb
22. Apr 2020 · 17:16 UTC
cool mechanics and visual part, good job!
nikchernyakov
22. Apr 2020 · 17:30 UTC
Cool graphics and audio. I like the idea, but I stucked a view times on second level, where some invisible trap was killing me (maybe it was a visible trap, but I saw only the traps marked with runes). Also I think it is very punishing to start the whole game from start. Anyway good concept, especially I like the steals. Keep going!
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
22. Apr 2020 · 20:30 UTC
@pagetb @nikchernyakov
Thank you for the feedback.
I think I will continue working on this.

I'd like to make it a first person narrative and add a nice introductory/tutorial level.
There's one trap that wasn't marked by runes on the second level, it's near one that is marked.
I will have to mark it as well, or come up with a different way for the player to discover traps.
SimanSimon
23. Apr 2020 · 08:16 UTC
Pretty cool game, I enjoyed the vibe of it. I think it's a little bit too dark (or, at least, on my monitor and setup), and I would like to see a mechanic where you could make the monster lose trail of you (that could introduce some interesting gameplay). The graphics are great, and the contols are okay. Overall, not a bad game at all
miltage
23. Apr 2020 · 08:51 UTC
Very creepy and atmospheric, great job there! I didn't really struggle to see things, but I played this on stream and some people did report not being able to see much, I guess it depends on monitor settings and why AAA games have that little "move slider until you can see the graphic" first time set up screens. I liked the Skyrim sneak mechanic but it seemed a little rough around the edges, for example I felt that the eye should have closed if I were hiding in the darkest shadows.

Like someone else said, restarting from the very beginning is punishing and I gave up playing after I died on the second level for the second time.
Overall a good entry, just needs a little polish to iron out some of the kinks.
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
23. Apr 2020 · 10:47 UTC
@simansimon
You can hide from him in the alcoves in the darkness, then he'll lose track of you.

@miltage
Yea, I will add in a options menu in the future which should help with this issue.
I wanted to make the game that you can hide in any shadows, but only got around to doing the dark alcoves.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it a lot.
SimanSimon
23. Apr 2020 · 10:50 UTC
Oh, I see, I wasn't attentive enough then. Thanks for the response, I'll try it again!
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
23. Apr 2020 · 19:46 UTC
@simansimon
The eye at the bottom of the screen will have a line drawn through it when you're hidden.
When I get around to making changes I will let post here. :smile:
Kevin Meissner
24. Apr 2020 · 12:13 UTC
Generaly I like it, but I dont see any efford using the theme. Its like making a basic shooter and saying its keep it alive because the player is suppost do survive. So in regards to the theme its really uncreative.
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
24. Apr 2020 · 18:03 UTC
@kevin-meissner
Thank you for having a go at it.
The theme plays in where you have to actually keep the monster alive, by disabling traps or distracting him before he falls into them.
Even though the monster is your enemy you can't escape without keeping him alive. :smile:
Kevin Meissner
24. Apr 2020 · 18:17 UTC
@james-joubert Ah ok I didnt understand that part. Felt like killing him at the first stage. I thought I had to first lead him to the trap to damage him and then lead him to this fence to kill him. Next stage I thought its a new enemy.
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
24. Apr 2020 · 18:20 UTC
@kevin-meissner

No worries, I originally planned to add a voice narrative in, but I ran out of time.
Thanks for giving it a go though. :smiley:
Kevin Meissner
24. Apr 2020 · 18:24 UTC
Oh wow just saw, that you made this alone. Very impressive. Grafic is one of the best I have seen at this jam btw. :-) well done.
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
24. Apr 2020 · 18:55 UTC
@kevin-meissner

Yea, I crunched this out on my own this jam.
Thanks, I appreciate the warm comments. :smile:
itsatony
24. Apr 2020 · 20:09 UTC
excellent mood. music and gfx not self-made (understandable since this is already impressive for you being solo) means mood and overall score gets a bit lower. nice elevator mechanic, loved the voice acting!
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
24. Apr 2020 · 22:01 UTC
@itsatony

Thank you for giving it a go.
Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to make my own models, textures and animations on my own.
The voice acting was really fun to do, and had a blast creating the mechanics.

So much more I want to add in the future :smiley:
Chief141
26. Apr 2020 · 10:14 UTC
I liked the game it was fun and scary.
*Tip : Upload some screenshots on your ludum dare submission page and its better if you host your game on websites like itch.io so that people could see some screenshots and even a trailer*
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
27. Apr 2020 · 10:15 UTC
@chief141
Thank you for giving my game a go.
I appreciate the feedback.

I originally planned on using itch.io, I will upload upload some pictures soon. :smile:
Roka Josh
27. Apr 2020 · 21:46 UTC
Amazing entry, really atmospheric and a intersting and clever game as well. Reall well done!
Thomu
27. Apr 2020 · 22:06 UTC
This was a good idea, but i found it too frustraiting to play. The monsters kill range was very large and it was far too dark, i found myslef walking into walls thinking it was a passage because i couldnt tell the difference. Also the monsters pathfinding was a bit strange and he would get caught in objects. Good that you managed to fit this into such a short amount of time though. Well Done
🎤 Dark Dungeon Studio
27. Apr 2020 · 23:18 UTC
@roka-josh and @thomu
Thank you for giving my game a go, I really appreciate it.

I will be adding in a brightness adjustment bar in an options menu, as the game was developed according to my PC's brightness. It passed me by that the brightness will differ on other machines.

The pathfinding got a little wonky because he's so big and I was unable to fix it in time, but will be one of the first things to be corrected soon.
MantarayTV Games
03. May 2020 · 18:31 UTC
Very nice 3D graphics, bit frustrating to play, but I liked it.
vfqd
06. May 2020 · 09:23 UTC
Great job, loved the graphics and voice acting