Unstable Vampire: A Text based Infinite Runner by Dobryn

[raw]
made by Dobryn for Ludum Dare 49 (COMPO)

A 4KB Typing Infinite Runner. You befriended a vampire who became unstable and is now trying to bite you. Oh no, called friends too. If only you had a bow and an arrow.

Play by typing commands as suggested. Starts with the run command but gradually introduces new options.

s.png

Made for compo ld49 in javascript. You can read a devlog here. https://dobryncat.itch.io/type/devlog/300391/my-4kb-ludum-dare-game-is-an-infinite-runner-with-typing-mechanics

Hope you will have fun, thanks for checking it out!

Ratings

Given 33🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 0
03. Oct 2021 · 23:22 UTC
At first I was super intrigued, but to be honest it got boring quite quickly once I realized there were only 3 things that could happen and it wasn't going to change. More variety would have made this MUCH more interesting.
enricomandelli
03. Oct 2021 · 23:22 UTC
despite not having graphics, these colors are weirdly pleasant to look at
enricomandelli
03. Oct 2021 · 23:22 UTC
despite not having graphics, these colors are weirdly pleasant to look at
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 00:01 UTC
thanks @enricomandelli
Kazatan
04. Oct 2021 · 00:05 UTC
I enjoyed it, and just as a response to the Anonymous poster above - there are more than three things that happen! It took a while to get used to it but it was fun.
ilokimo
04. Oct 2021 · 00:09 UTC
Thanks for your comment, having made a text based game as well I checked your game also first! Graphics are so 2010 :)
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 00:12 UTC
thanks @kazatan
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 00:17 UTC
Thanks @ilokimo , I used the graphics to bring in that old game vibe :)
Butterkatt
04. Oct 2021 · 00:25 UTC
Pretty fun game! The graphics are pretty nice, the color scheme is good. I'm not the fastest typer, so I wasn't able to get too far into it, but it was still pretty fun to play!
FabDynamic
04. Oct 2021 · 00:55 UTC
It took me two tries to figure it out but I really like this! at first I was only surviving for a few seconds but then I got over 30 and just now **I survived for 71 seconds** which was really hard and I felt proud of it. I wonder if there is an ending? probably not since it says 'infinite runner' lol What a fun twist on a text game. Technically its responsive and easy to get into. Thanks and Nice work!
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 00:59 UTC
Thank you @fabdynamic
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 01:00 UTC
Thank you @butterkatt
LDJam user 237913
04. Oct 2021 · 02:07 UTC
Me: A text game, perfect while I eat my ice cream.
Game: Think again ...
Now my fingers are sore and my ice cream is melted ...
Thanks for submitting this, I enjoyed it.
![Screen Shot 2021-10-03 at 10.06.14 PM.png](///raw/951/a3/z/445b9.png)
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 02:21 UTC
Thanks @doc-kaos
LDJam user 0
04. Oct 2021 · 02:37 UTC
Pretty fun, though the best part of this is how funny it is conceptually to combine a qte and a text-adventure game.
Richard Baron
04. Oct 2021 · 02:38 UTC
If this had some more features and a little more polish, wow it'd be great. I love the idea and you made it look good even though it's simple. Big Fan!!
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 02:44 UTC
Thank you @richard-baron , I suppose adding a border and perhaps a background could add to the vampiric element.

Edit: It probably won't remain 4 kb though.
Tattomoosa
04. Oct 2021 · 02:44 UTC
This is cool! Nice colors, and very tense gameplay. My best time was 131 seconds. You should post yours to compete against! The left/right are toughest since you can suddenly lose even a big lead. The bow/ammo is a nice touch -- very cool that you can actually temporarily kill all the vampires following you.

My only critique is I think around a minute and a half it starts to get a bit old. The tension stays high, which is great, but I think even 1-2 other events would go a long way. Especially if it was a twist, like an incoming car or something where you couldn't type for x amount of time -- maybe with vamps temporarily stopped or maybe you need to build up a solid lead to survive or something.
robert18
04. Oct 2021 · 03:13 UTC
Cool game, best I could do was survive 115 seconds, I was so close to killing the 2nd vampire as well :( I already grabbed the bow.
Zapturk
04. Oct 2021 · 04:02 UTC
I like the text adventurousness of it. I was able to make it 25 seconds!
Shootboots
04. Oct 2021 · 05:40 UTC
thank god for my 140 wpm! Jokes aside, i feel like the "vampire growls to your left" is sorta broken because you literally spawn a vampire 1 meter behind you and also the bow is pretty strong as well because it 1 shots. Just some feedback but honestly i found the game really exhilirating for only words and has many of this jam's games beat
theviraldragon
04. Oct 2021 · 06:48 UTC
I jumped on top of the vampire lol. Nice game.
Iluvatar
04. Oct 2021 · 07:23 UTC
An action text adventure game! THAT'S CRAZY! And crazy means good!
It's simple, but it really made me laugh and I had fun, sweating in stress so the guy don't catch me.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:50 UTC
Thank you @tattomoosa , I indeed plan on adding new stuff, and I will be adding my high scores to compete against.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:51 UTC
Thanks @robert18
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:51 UTC
Thank you @zapturk
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:54 UTC
Thank you @shootboots , I will be working on the spawning.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:55 UTC
Thank you @theviraldragon
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 07:55 UTC
Thank you @iluvatar
Owl_Skip
04. Oct 2021 · 07:58 UTC
I ran.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 08:37 UTC
Thank you @owl-skip , :-D
LDJam user 268906
04. Oct 2021 · 08:45 UTC
I just write too slow for this to be playable, but that is on me :D
Good work!
PaperAeroplane555
04. Oct 2021 · 09:08 UTC
damnnn for such a minimalist game its oddly really fun and engaging, and the idea of a semi real time text adventure game can be expanded upon a whole ton :OO. yeah i feel more variety would be better, but the concept is executed really really well. great entry!!
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 09:14 UTC
Thanks @elastic
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 09:15 UTC
Thanks @paperaeroplane555 , more variety in terms of lore and weapons is being added and will be posted after the jam.
MickM
04. Oct 2021 · 09:16 UTC
I think I've missed out based off the other comments. I tried it on mobile and you lose the text quickly so not sure what happened each time.
I couldn't get any command apart from run to work (turn, climb, fight etc all failed)

Might revisit on PC if I can think of more creative actions to the wall/vamp to left
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 10:12 UTC
Thanks @mickm for checking this out. A pc revisit is must for this. The commands I kept are rather simple like "jump" or saying just "right".
And fighting vampires with bare hands is probably not a good idea :-D
Wuppos
04. Oct 2021 · 11:40 UTC
This is amazing! Such a unique and interesting idea, and really well executed. Even though it is simple it looks really pretty and consistent. The commands you have to type make sense and are very intuitive. There is also a lot of tension, even if it is just text. I really started to imagine what the situation would look like, haha.
I think I have never typed 'run' so often before, I am pretty fast right now, haha. This is maybe one little point of feedback. For me this game was a lot of fun, but I can imagine that people who cannot type very fast will not enjoy it as much. But I dont really know :)
Really cool game, with a lot of variety as well. Truely awesome job! This was the best game I played so far, by far :)
LDJam user 263516
04. Oct 2021 · 13:00 UTC
108 seconds :)
this game really tests your touch typing... love the concept, even if it doesn't really relate much to the theme (i can relate). fun!!! took me a minute to figure out how to dodge ("run right? dodge right? ohhhh")
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 13:06 UTC
Thanks @ivysly , by the way trying to get a good enough highscore to challenge others to beat is turning my fingers pretty unstable when I mistype :-D.
Thank you for checking it out.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 13:07 UTC
Thank you so much @wuppos .
LDJam user 243193
04. Oct 2021 · 13:59 UTC
Even though the game is a typing game, it ends up feels like infinite runner with random obstacle.
It seems like I bumped into walls often then seeing vampire on left or right.
FaberNull
04. Oct 2021 · 14:04 UTC
Mashing a text adventure with an endless runner is really creative! It's not something I'd ever considered. It was surprisingly tense for something that is really just text. Well done :D
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 14:17 UTC
Thank you @bloodbane for checking it out.
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 14:18 UTC
Thank you @fabernull
Hjalte
04. Oct 2021 · 15:27 UTC
Lovely take on text adventure. In the future people will increase their reading speeds with this new genre of games :sweat_smile:
sawdust
04. Oct 2021 · 15:29 UTC
I can't believe how slow I am at typing "run"!

Everything about this is great. The game itself is tense and the color scheme suits that well. Really innovative for a text-based game!

The ties to the theme are a bit vague, but so are mine so :shrug:
Duck Reaction
04. Oct 2021 · 15:54 UTC
As say @fabernull, this game is surprisingly tense for a text adventure game ! And the idea is very original.

I think, it's little bit to fast at the beggining, I died too quickly to explore possibilities.

@doc-kaos You've survive longer time than me :smile:

Overall, nice text based game !
MikoziQ
04. Oct 2021 · 16:29 UTC
Haha!

After getting 8 walls in a row:

Pros:

- I see this is built on React, a man of culture.
- Like the pleasant to eye color palette and clear event indicators
- Damn my fingers had extra excersise
- The game likes to be brutal to you sometimes
- I actually enjoyed text-based concept!

Cons:

- I am not sure about the theme connection, but the more I look at it...
- I am missing this scenario
- - You're approaching street (runjump)
- - You ran-jumped through the street
- - Vampire behind you got hit by a truck (haha)
- - You laugh at the misery of a vampire

Great entry!
SlimmerBurger
04. Oct 2021 · 16:43 UTC
This is such a cool idea! I felt like I was playing a text-based platformer, so unique

Here's my best time:

![Capture.PNG](///raw/416/e2/z/44d39.png)
LDJam user 174638
04. Oct 2021 · 16:57 UTC
Fun game,I love these text games.

But man I'm bad at typing. I wonder if there is something more after the shooting ?
pvp
04. Oct 2021 · 17:18 UTC
![msedge_9pmR592Bev.png](///raw/ae2/e1/z/44e04.png)
Never played a game like it, that was great. I m not the best at typing but dam that was fun.
circle
04. Oct 2021 · 17:31 UTC
Honestly for a text game, this is pretty cool. I really do quite like the gameplay actually, it's basically just a typing challenge sort of thing.

That being said, I think the game would be a lot better with more story. I can see that the story is intentionally left out as part of the whole idea for the game, but I still feel like there could have been more there. Like, still start with "There's a vampire chasing you", but then transition to a short explanation for why. I wonder if you just didn't have the time though. Making a game for compo is really difficult, so I suppose that probably contributed.
BougieBirdie
04. Oct 2021 · 17:53 UTC
A text-based runner game? Well now I've seen everything (seriously, great mashup)

I did notice that you can mash "run" to get further away from the vampire, but when another one comes up on you, you don't get a lot of room to dodge. I definitely struggled either with the reaction time or just running straight into them.

I had fun though!
minidavid
04. Oct 2021 · 18:10 UTC
original. I love it.
This could go far. I'm absolutely intrigued.
NoelOskar
04. Oct 2021 · 18:26 UTC
Very Cool Idea, pretty original too, great execution
🎤 Dobryn
04. Oct 2021 · 20:23 UTC
My sincere thanks to @noeloskar @minidavid @bougiebirdie @circle @pvp @dekajoo @slimmerburger @mikoziq @sawdust @hjalte and @duck-reaction for checking out my game.
Jackaljk
04. Oct 2021 · 21:03 UTC
Nice concept, I find it somewhat frustrating having to rush every word I type tho. Technically all action games have you type letters in a rush but I guess they're laid out so that it's not as frustrating? Or maybe I just don't like typing in a hurry haha.
Trexxak
04. Oct 2021 · 21:52 UTC
A muscle memory text adventure, what a unique combination :D

No, but it actually did feel immersive because of the hectic gameplan! It works way better in actuality than on paper, I'd say! Great job!
valentines
05. Oct 2021 · 00:57 UTC
Funny take on the text-based genre ! Cool entry
Melon_spirit
05. Oct 2021 · 01:09 UTC
I didn't expect to get sucked in, but I did! It was quite fun for a simple text-based game. I really don't know if there is any constructive feedback I can give you. Maybe the text could be different colors to indicate which option you should type; I noticed there were little colored bars on the side, but I couldn't figure out if they meant anything or not. Overall, nice game!
Ghoulean
05. Oct 2021 · 01:10 UTC
Sorry, but where is the source code? I clicked on the link but I can't find it.
LDJam user 259037
05. Oct 2021 · 05:06 UTC
I actually liked this a lot for how much I usually don't touch these games! Felt much more innovative than how they normally do!
Wish it was a little easier though.. wanted a lot more!
Shigor
05. Oct 2021 · 05:07 UTC
for some reason doesn't work in chrome - first run command does nothing (works on on Firefox)
ZwodahS
05. Oct 2021 · 05:54 UTC
![Screenshot 2021-10-05 at 1.52.35 PM.png](///raw/9f2/72/z/46c93.png)

For how simple this game is, it is quite fun. Is there an end to the game ? I managed to kill a few vamp but couldn't seem to find an end. I guess it is just endless ?

Anyway, good job on this game.
PurpledArtFrog
05. Oct 2021 · 11:28 UTC
Brilliant idea with this one :thumbsup_tone1: a bit stressful actually :smile: Enjoyed it

:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
coryru
05. Oct 2021 · 18:53 UTC
A typing infinite runner what a great idea! You got alot of tension out of just words on a screen well done. I like this one alot. I hope you get a chance to come back to the idea and add more choices. Fully flushing this game out would make for a fun time killing game.
lonewookie
05. Oct 2021 · 20:03 UTC
This was fun! Very stressful, I got the bow twice and killed 3 vampires. Nice job!
kuro917
05. Oct 2021 · 21:02 UTC
Very interesting game! I had fun playing but it is a bit ripetitive in the long run. Good job!
Uraffululz
06. Oct 2021 · 05:57 UTC
Very cool game; simple and whimsical. The pacing was a bit fast for me (which is not to say I didn't enjoy the intensity. I totally did), but that's more a problem with my reflexes than my typing speed. Still, I managed to kill ONE vampire (Let that be a lesson to you, pale-skinned vermin of the night). Excellent color choices, also.

I never played games like "Typing of the Dead", but if they're anything like this, maybe I should....

Great work!
UglySwedishFish
06. Oct 2021 · 14:13 UTC
![time.PNG](///raw/604/e/z/4777d.png)

Really fun, loved shooting them darn vampires.
FlyWolfe
06. Oct 2021 · 22:31 UTC
As others have said, you've got a very pleasing colour palette! And I love the old school feel. Don't see a lot of people doing text adventures in a game jam, so it was cool to play through this one. It would be cool as well if there were more actions you could take to delay the vampires or otherwise interact with the game. But it was fun overall. Cool game!
Chris McKnight
07. Oct 2021 · 01:34 UTC
Really fun idea combining these mechanics together.
Perfect example of a simple, well executed idea.
Great Job.
xpoho
08. Oct 2021 · 11:28 UTC
Уникальное сочетание игры-бегалки и текстового квеста. Так держать!
Tatu Heinämäki
09. Oct 2021 · 18:23 UTC
At first I really sucked at typing (and the vampires got to suck my blood lol) but taking it easy and actually thinking about what to type helped. Dodging was fun but I just hope the character would have chosen a less walled path to escape on. Wasn't able to kill the vampires, kept missing the arrow by panic typing "run" all the time. Don't really see how this fits the theme, but it's real good nevertheless. Run!
LuhUchiha
09. Oct 2021 · 18:27 UTC
What an interesting ideia! Fun game, great job!
WolfMeryX
11. Oct 2021 · 07:48 UTC
This was unexpectedly really fun to play! I think that adding sound effects to different commands would have been way more engaging, but regardless, I enjoyed this entry a lot.
Nice work! Loved it
Bakenshake
11. Oct 2021 · 19:23 UTC
Surprised at how anxious and fun this was to play. I didn't realize it was literally a text-based runner until I had to jump over walls haha. Would love to see it expanded out and/or get more complicated as you survive longer. I only survived for 42 seconds. Great entry! :)
Jimbly
13. Oct 2021 · 07:38 UTC
![Capture.PNG](///raw/dd3/z/481b6.png)

That was fun, had to play it twice =). I gave up after killing the last vampire, and saw more come out of the woodwork, and just let it eat me, I was too tired from all of the running.

I love games I can play with keyboard only on my laptop while traveling, and this was a fun mashup of genres =).