The Undivine Comedy by JamesSauer

[raw]
made by JamesSauer for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

screenshot.png

Wooohoo, my first game jam as well as my first game ever finished . :) "finished" as in submitted on deadline and will probably never be touched ever again. :joy:

You're the ghost of a lighting technician in a theatre:

In an extremely unlikely and tragic chain of events, the entire crew of the Undivine Comedy Theatre lost their lives. ... Just when their performance was about to reach its climactic ending.

Note:

At the very beginning, press Space or Enter to proceed. In the web version, you also need to click on the game screen once before you can do anything.

I had no time to implement a winning condition, so it just ends after 1 minute automatically.

I tested all 4 builds on their respective platforms. The macOS one doesn't open in fullscreen mode, but other than that they all work. I'd recommend web though anyway, as there's nothing performance heavy happening.

Ratings

Overall 1015th 2.738⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1038th 2.357⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 145th 3.857⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 671th 3.5⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 812th 2.952⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 805th 1.125⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Humor 194th 3.475⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 767th 2.889⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

madbookstudios
20. Apr 2020 · 03:23 UTC
Funny! I really like the concept, feels really unique in this jam. The dialogue is great and being able to re-animate the actors is such a good idea!
Kontroman
20. Apr 2020 · 03:26 UTC
i got finish screen but i did not understand how I did it
matt2728
20. Apr 2020 · 04:17 UTC
I starred at the first screen and thought I was stuck, but the space bar saved me! I was a little confused about the objective of game. I think I was more engaged in flying over people and taking control, rather than the narration. Overall great job though!
🎤 JamesSauer
20. Apr 2020 · 04:34 UTC
@madbookstudios Thank you for the kind words! I'm surprised you mention the dialogue positively, as the lines are just arbitrarily jumbled together. I guess it being nonsensical makes sense in context though. :D

@kontroman I couldn't manage to achieve a balance with the excitement and suspicion in time for the deadline, so I left out a winning condition entirely. The game just ends after 1 minute.
Definitely leaves a lot to be desired, but it is what it is.

@matt2728 Ah, true, I didn't communicate how to proceed at the beginning. Hope I didn't waste too much of your time there.
I was still undecided about the objective myself up until the very end of development, and it shows. Glad you got something out of it regardless.

Thank you all for playing and commenting! :v:
marcusnystrand
23. Apr 2020 · 15:41 UTC
Very innovative concept! I'm not completely sure I understoond what I was doing though
Deadwave Games
23. Apr 2020 · 15:52 UTC
It's a very innovative concept, and I can completely see the direction you were headed in! Ghost puppeteering the corpses of their fellow cast members and crew to complete a play is VERY theatrical concept, so is married well to the setting.

Obviously you ran out of time to balance the flow of the gameplay, but it's really an idea with legs - there's so much you could do with juggling lighting people, set technicians and actors.

Well done! Thanks for sharing!
Adam Konig
23. Apr 2020 · 15:53 UTC
This is easily one of the most creative entries I've played so far. The idea of having to play as a ghost who weekend at bernie's's every dead actor to keep the play alive is gold. I too like other above wasn't sure how I beat the game exactly but the idea and execution for the bit I did play was so genius that I was okay with it. Well done!
ditam
23. Apr 2020 · 15:53 UTC
I never knew this, but I always wanted to possess a dead actor, make him deliver a dramatic speech about dying, and then leaving his lifeless body to collapse in the spotlight.

Shame it just ends, regardless of what you do.

4/5, would possess again.
M8rix
23. Apr 2020 · 16:00 UTC
A game which stands out from most other entries. And thats great! :)
Tygrak
23. Apr 2020 · 16:01 UTC
What a concept for a game! It's a bit unclear what exactly you are supposed to do, but the concept could be very interesting if expanded. Good job on finishing a game.
shp
23. Apr 2020 · 16:30 UTC
Clever and funny concept :)
cheesepencil
09. May 2020 · 18:10 UTC
Loved the dialogue. I did not play any other game like this during LD46 which means yours stands out in a sea of half-baked top down shooters and plant-based tomagatchis.