Render pipeline struggled a bit after going to... extraneous resolutions.
But this looked downright awesome and had a mood to match.

Interesting

Wow that was really cool, awesome what that VFX graph can so, on my list to start learning, especially after seeing this.

Haha I love the development concept. A unique submission to say the least, and a very interesting visual style!

This is awesome. I don't know if anyone else can even come close to matching these kinds of graphics. I haven't seen anyone use the VFX graph in a game yet, and here you made it work! This one is definitely unforgettable for me.

Wow, unique and such a cool experience.

I love experiences like these and it kind of reminded me of PANORAMICAL which I also enjoyed a lot.

Awesome work!

This is madness. I love it. Will you be writing an article breaking some of this down? I'd love to learn how you did this using only VFX Graph. There wasn't much gameplay as you mentioned, but the audacity of this entry led me to give it high ratings across the board anyway.

It was incredibly laggy. And I don't have a bad computer, I don't know why the performance was so terrible. I'm sorry, but I couldn't play the game :(

From the graphical standpoint, it looks amazing. Sound is also so natural. Unfortunately, I have moved a hole out of room and can't get it back anymore.

I too love the concept.. My pc kinda screamed after that render tho

Absolutely wild, do love me some crazy atmospheric games

The burn eh. Felt like things got a little transcendental. Can't wait for chapter 2. I thought a dinosaur might come out of the hole.

Yeah this is going to be pretty rough on the GPU. I will put a little time into getting it optimized soon, but it is always going to be pretty demanding.

@zesix I will try to put something together, I have been promising people VFXGraph tutorials for a while, but never quite find the time. I will at least publish the graphs after I get them cleaned up.

I tried another game with VFX graph for a jam last summer, It worked a little better as an actual game.
https://eranhaas.itch.io/beleth

Had no idea what to do unfortunately and the frame rate was terrible. Nice looking visuals though with a very alien concept.

really nice and beautiful art, i am looking forward to see the game you want to make with it!

Wow. Mood is off the charts! I couldn't seem to interact? After a while I noticed that pressing S seemed to trigger an SFX? Not sure. Reminded me of Tamagotchi and Folding@Home. Frames were low- gorgeous visuals and the music reminded me of early Brad Fidel. I am not familiar with VFX graph, so please take my comments witha grain of salt- Amazing though that this is all particles! I will def check out Beleth. Thanks for the experience!
(edit)I feel like the bright particle cloud might be interactive, but maybe my laptop is too slow? Surface Book 2 Nvidia 1060.

it looks great. The game gave me 100% graphic card usage. But what is point of the game? I couldn't find anything what's possible inhere. But maybe that's because of my framerate

@risist @joemid

It is probably difficult to tell what is going on if the game is running really slow.

You control the hole in the ground. WASD, Arrow Keys or Joystick, You can collect the glowing energy balls and feed them to the "tree"

I will try to get a version built that can run on older cards soon.

@eran-haas i think it would be a good idea to record a video for those who dont have proper pc to at least get a glimse of the idea

Gorgeous visuals, not much gameplay but beat it nonetheless. I enjoyed the graphics enough to not get bored at all for the duration of trying to figure out what or how I can even do anything. Extremely stylish. The music was nice, but I didnt like that the movement-SFX drowned the music out, making it very hard to hear it. Thank you for a great LD experience.

@leon75 Fixing the audio mix is at the top of my list if I get some time to polish things up some. The movement sound is twice as loud as I intended, and it drives me crazy.

Pretty impressive ! Took me a bit of time to understand I could move the light under the floor (maybe your should mention it in the game description ?). Maybe you could find a way to optimize a bit the visuals ? Anyway, I will follow your itch.io account to see the future updates ! :slight_smile:

Not much of a game but holy shit does it look good

Wow, very impressive tech art! My laptop did not like it, but my gaming pc said "yes please!" :)

That was fantastic. It's always fun to see what tech experiments people come up with during LD, and this is one of the best I've seen. My computer was struggling to keep up, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Beautiful animation! Amazing to watch! Yes, it's not a game, but I'm really happy that more of these are appearing in Ludum Dare, and I hope to see more. Keep up the great (in this case spectacular) work!

P.S. Ran all right on my gaming laptop, and thanks for the video!

It is an art rather than a game. Great graphic!

Framerate was low for me on a I7 and GTX1060. Instead of that, for me it was a really a gorse slap in my head. Georgous vfx, love it. Awesome !

Art looks decent. Thought it was running on my integrated GPU, but no, task manager says it was using my main GPU. I don't know if it is your fault or unity's, but the framerate is extremely low for the quality of shader.

It is my fault for sure. This is not a well optimized scene, or something I would attempt in production of something larger.

It is all very GPU heavy as it is an experiment in doing everything in the VFXGraph particle system which runs entirety on the GPU. No shaders used.

I think the scene tops out at about 3 Million lit particles, all interacting with 5 volumetric lights.

It is definitely not the right way do do most of these effects, but it is a fun experiment.

The graphics were beautiful and the audio was really great as well! A couple of my nitpicks are that it wasn't obvious what to do at the beginning (I had to read through these comments for help) and sometimes it was hard to judge how far the light collectibles are from the camera, especially the ones on the walls. This already did a number on my GPU but maybe enhance the light emitted from the collectibles, and the reflections on the wall so that it's easier to pinpoint exactly where the collectibles are. Love it!

@matthewi

Thanks!
Good point about the collectibles. There was supposed to be a little effect the the ring then to the surface, to help with that, but it did not make it in before deadline.
I think in the video I recorded you can see I few times when I could not figure out where the objects were.

Having the movement mechanics feel kind of opaque at the start was sort of intentional. I like the idea of the player being dispruption rather than an object be something you have to feel out.

It is probably not a good choice for a jam though!

Very interesting concept! I think the sound is what kept me hooked even though I loved the graphics! I still am not sure what i had to do exactly and if it wasn't so heavy and laggy on my pc.. I would probably give it more time.. I loved the idea and would love to see more unique and artsy games like this! Good job!

This game is beautiful. It's so abstract, like a work of art.
Would you consider releasing the source code for this? I'd love to see how this works from the inside.

@ultraarceus3

I am going to try to find the time to do a little write up soon.

The graphs I ended up are a huge mess, but I will put them out as well once I have had a chance to clean things up.

For a start here is the formula I used for the "tree"

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L_EEOCxtbhOPJN3AC0IAJKnUwA2OMKID

amazing demo, i love it
how did you ended up with a idea like this? it looks great

@blackmoodgames

I have been making interactive installations and such in Unity for a living, and have been doing a lot of R&D in VFXGraph over the last year.

With the current state of things big public installations are not in demand, so I am unemployed, so I am trying to bring some of that experience to games.

I laptop couldn't handle the game sorry couldn't feel it properly just enjoyed the sound and graphics (slowest gone bad).

It took a while for the game to start, and when it did it was really slow (curse my slow computer!)

BUT this was really cool :) I hope that the VFX Graph becomes faster and usable on CPUs

it was weird. super weird. amazingly unique game : D i found the controls a bit un-intuitive tho but it kinda fits the overall design and weirdness of the game.

great graphics, managed to finish (?) it. but 20 fps on my gtx 970 :)

The graphics and the atmosphere is amazing in this game. The gameplay is nothing special, but okay I don't this is your goal with this game.

This is great! Although the game ran extremely slow on my pc, I can see that everything in the world is really beautiful. I wish I had a better pc.

Way too high Graphics. keep it up. :v:

Ah the sweet roar of my computer fans. Nah, but this game was pretty cool. The depth perception made it hard to move to the glowing bits, but other than that it was really fun. High marks!

I could not get the Mac version to work but it looks amazing.

I think the aesthetics are really cool! The audio is really good, but the crunching sound is both too loud and sounds as if it's coming from inside my head, like if I'm eating some legos. My GTX970 could barely handle this game in 1440p, but it was playable at least.

You did a nice challenge for yourself! Beautiful graphics!

Nice work and beautiful graphics!

Weel, this sure is a beautiful experience and the music and effects were great. But for sure the controls and objective of the game is far from intuitive. I got the challange of using only particles, but instructions do matter. If there was no time to put it into the game, at least put it in the entry description... :P

Well that was a experience ! I really liked it, the graphics are awesome and make my CG melt haha. The audio was great and strengthen the mood. The gameplay is really simple and repetitive and the frame rate doesn't really help for the controls feeling. The controls themselves where fine until is went on a wall were it felt very wierd. I get your goal was to make more of a cinematic experience and you did an amazing job on that, well done !

Woah, this is like a wild tech demo. I played through twice, the first time I just watched it like "oh wow" and then when I realized I could move it was "wooow"- notice the two o's LOL. It looks p h e n o m e n a l

Super ambitious idea—this is a great use of the VFX Graph tools. It was a little hard to figure out what the goal was; I fed a few light ball things to the tree, but I couldn’t really tell if that was doing anything. Lots of fun to just watch it all in motion, though; if there were a version that played itself I’d want to use it as a screensaver. Nice work!

I love the animation on this; the scene is always in some kind of motion. Gameplay was definitely a bit basic, and I had some trouble telling where the hitboxes were on the food. Still, the graphics and audio were enough to make it a really cool experience!

The mood is fantastic and i love this kind of experiments. The game is killing my GPU (rtx 2070 super on a WQHD screen), so you may want to optimize it a bit (as a Unity dev working on vfx too i dont see anything that can't be optimized to get a smoother framerate) :) .
Great entry !

@poupi
The central object just has way to many lit particles to not kill the gpu when also using volumetrics and shadows.
I think it peaks at a couple of million.

I think there is probably a lot of optimization that could be done in the post processing.


I have been meaning to take a crack at a more playable version but have not had the time yet,

oh noooo seems I need to upgrade my PC very soon D:

So thanks for reminding me lol :D But seeing the video - this looks absolutely phenomenal. Can't even comprehend how one would build something like this within 72 hours! Fantastic work, thank you so much for this experience!

Really loved how this experience looked. It was beautiful, but could not figure out how to interact with it though. I didn't know there was music until I looked at the credits then cranked my volume all the way to hear it, was still a bit low though. Ran a bit choppy, but still amazing what you did for 3 days. Nice job, would like to see this completed. I feel like I only got a sliver of what you were going for and the whole thing would be breathtaking.

@virtuaworlds The music sort of fades in as the game progresses if you want to see the whole experience I would recommend just watching the video above, a play through only takes a couple of minutes.

Wow. This looks so impressive. Great tool.

Gameplay-wise it was a bit hard to aim at the point where the light was. At first I wasn't even sure if I was supposed to do anything or just watch. I think I'd rather look at the screen as the "hole" walked and ate lights by itself. That way I could focus on amazing visuals.

Great job. Cheers!

My poor old PC Couldn't handle this for long jajajaj but what I could see was just astonishing, amazing visuals. Great job!!!

It looks truly impressive! Great work. There is not much of a game in this game but damn, it's nice to look at :)


Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Não consegui entender qual seria o desafio do jogo (além de ele ser super "pesado" para o meu computador).
Eu só pude notar que (com muita dificuldade) eu conseguiria me mover com WASD através do chão.
Como o jogo tem foco em efeitos visuais, creio que valeria a pena possibilitar um menu antes, permitindo reduzir a qualidade gráfica para que todos possam dar suas impressões nas versões mais básicas (e assistisse o vídeo para dar a impressão da qualidade gráfica e (ao que entendi) sonora também).
O fluxo de jogo foi quebrado por não ter como ter imersão (parte por culpa de meu computador não ser bom o suficiente, creio).

2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Os gráficos ficaram bastante bonitos (efeitos luminosos, sombras e outros).
O áudio não pude apreciar, não sei se por conta da minha taxa de quadros.
Os efeitos sonoros ficaram muito repetitivos (também não sei se esse barulho de lata amassando é algo que aparece por conta dos quadros ou se era mesmo a intenção, dando a entender o chão quebrando ou algo do tipo).
Não pude notar muito de narrativa (pareceu uma flor desabrochando ou quem sabe uma árvore crescendo, mas poderia ser outra coisa).

3 - Cultura:
Creio que culturalmente seja interessante como ponto de partida para utilizar mais os efeitos visuais da Unity3D (e de outras ferramentas).
Também pode ser uma peça interessante como entrada para expressões artísticas utilizando game engines.

4 - Monetização:
Não vejo muito como monetizar em cima, a menos que o interesse seja vender experiências interativas em salas VR, AR ou climatizadas.
Nesse sentido seria possível encontrar nicho/público/alvo. ^^'

Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
I couldn't understand what the game's challenge would be (besides being super "heavy" for my computer).
I could only notice that (with great difficulty) I would be able to move with WASD across the floor.
As the game focuses on visual effects, I think it would be worthwhile to enable a menu beforehand, allowing to reduce the graphic quality so that everyone can give their impressions in the most basic versions (and watch the video to give the impression of the graphic quality and (at the I understand) sound too).
The game flow was broken because there was no way to be immersed (partly because my computer is not good enough, I think).

2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
The graphics were very beautiful (light effects, shadows and others).
The audio I couldn't enjoy, I don't know if because of my frame rate.
The sound effects were very repetitive (I also don't know if that crumpling noise is something that appears because of the pictures or if it was really the intention, suggesting the breaking of the floor or something like that).
I couldn't notice much of the narrative (it looked like a flower blooming or maybe a tree growing, but it could be something else).

3 - Culture:
I think it is culturally interesting as a starting point to make more use of the visual effects of Unity3D (and other tools).
It can also be an interesting piece as an entry for artistic expressions using game engines.

4 - Monetization:
I don't see much how to monetize on top, unless the interest is to sell interactive experiences in VR, AR or air-conditioned rooms.
In this sense, it would be possible to find a niche/audience /target. ^^ '

The art in this is stunning, loved what you were able to do in Unity with VFXGraph. Was really choppy on my laptop so I stuck to watching the video through and enjoyed the mood you were able to create.

It really shows how you really know and understands Unity VFX tools. Probably one of the most unique visuals in this edition of the jam.

It is really preatty, but there is not that much to do. Visuals are very cool, but gamplay is a bit repedetive and slow. And sound of the movement is too loud. Overall gorgeous, but lacks depth in other categories.

I have no idea what I'm looking at. But I like it.

Lagged too much on my weak GPU, so could only watch the video. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful experience - cool visuals, nice background music, impactful sound effects. The crunching sound might be a bit too loud and overwhelming, but still satisfying.

I've watched the video and I gotta say, the visuals are stunning!

Such a nice visual experience, it was quite good to experiment that, thank you !

The only problem I encountered was the depth, indeed, sometimes I was sure that I was below the energy source, but I had to go a little further forward or backward in order to take it well.

Overall nice work !

@eran-haas could you give the graph for the floor and the walls and how are they changing?
I want to learn it.