Night Lights by archfan7411
Night Lights is a game where the objective is to catch as many fireflies as possible in 1 minute. This was my first Ludum Dare, and I'm excited to have completed it. Naturally, there are many features I wanted to have, but had to strip off due to time constraints. The jam has been loads of fun and very instructive for me!
Sources: Music: https://opengameart.org/content/one and https://opengameart.org/content/caketown-cuteplayful Font: http://typodermicfonts.com/karma/
Addenum: Post Jam Edition!
The post jam edition is available at https://archfan7411.github.io/LD45/post-jam/
Watch out for bats!
| Youtube | https://archfan7411.github.io/LD45/ |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/night-lights |
Ratings
| Overall | 1055th | 2.732⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1068th | 2.431⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1104th | 2.107⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1045th | 2.411⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 764th | 3.155⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 812th | 2.13⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 691th | 3.185⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 13🗳️ | 4🗨️ |
Sometimes when I would try and collect fireflies I would end up colliding with them, but that's a small bug (like the fireflies!).
Nice choice of music. It fit the mood and the art quite nicely. The art itself was simple but got the job done and conveyed the mood well. It would be nice if there was a little more to it (I noticed your post-jam update added bats which was a nice touch) but I know the jam's time-constraint effects all too well. One suggestion I had would be to add some sound and perhaps some particles when you collect the fireflies to give the player some positive feedback for "doing good". Additionally, a highscore system would go a long way to help with replayability even if you added nothing else.
All in all, not too bad for a first jam game. Good luck with your future jams!
Sometimes the fireflies spawn right next to the previous spawn which makes it very easy to collect
if you want to improve the game you might have to update the code to make sure that the new firefly spawn randomly in a position thats far away from the last firefly
good luck!
Sadly the game hasn't enough content to hold you longer.(I played Jam-edition)
Sometimes the fireflies spawn next to each other.
The graphics were cool... But why does the player always look forward?
I also don't understand how this is connected to the theme.(Could anyone explain please)
The idea is great,
but the realisation is a little bit too simple.
It's hard to give any constructive feedback as we don't know what was planned initially, but keep on going :)
I do echo the feedback of previous comments in that there are some collision issues with the character collecting the fireflies. It seems to occur whenever I approach the fireflies at a diagonal, ie. when I'm pressing up/down and left/right simultaneously, which causes me to slide up or down alongside the fireflies.
The game certainly would have benefited from faster character speed and just a few more elements to the gameplay that make it more challenging. I did check out the post-jam build, and I like the idea of having bats that take away the number of fireflies you have, although I do think there needs to be more indication on-screen that this is happening, like showing the fireflies sprite on the bat if it comes in contact with the player and even a sound effect to go along with it. You could also consider enemies that temporarily inhibit movement as something the player should be avoiding if they want to get the most amount of fireflies possible.
I'm a little mixed on the choice of music. While it is happy, I'm not sure if it complements the "night" mood that well. I think that element is best captured in audio, especially since the only visual indicator of this being night (besides the title) is the vignette lighting. But, I guess the horns kind of give that jovial being in nature tone, which makes sense given the source of the music. Personally, I could have used a bit more "night" tones and something a little less cheesy, maybe even chiptune to complement the pixel art style. Not that cheesy's bad; I - again personally - don't think it really complements the game that well.
My highest score was

but I found I had to luck into that number, since many attempts would leave me with somewhere in the low 20s, and I think that one time, there were tons of fireflies that would spawn right under where my character was passing through or very nearby. The RNG and slow speed make this game kind of tedious to try and get highscores with, but it at least gave me the opportunity to appreciate the background and super cute pixel art protagonist. Welcome to Ludum Dare. :grin: