Day of the Flame - LD 50 by arya-s

[raw]
made by arya-s for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

Day of the Flame

A mysterious flame drops into the sewers. Can it survive such a damp and rat infested place or will it inevitably draw its last breath of oxygen before quietly dimming out?

1Eem7q4F5h.gif

Controls

| | Keyboard | Gamepad | |-----------|--------- |----------------| | Move | Arrows | Analog / D-pad | | Jump | Space | A, Cross, B | | Shoot | C | X, Square, Y |

Bugfixes

  • Fixed a bug that had the end boss at 2hp.

Known issues

  • The game has no real ending after the last boss.
  • It is possible to defeat the last boss, die and fight him again.
  • Water particles in Level 1 aren't spawning.
  • Crash when standing to close to a specific wall in the game.

Ratings

Overall 832th 3.433⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Fun 812th 3.267⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 773th 3.225⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1027th 3.35⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 395th 4.008⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Audio 813th 2.888⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Mood 754th 3.422⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Given 31🗳️ 53🗨️

Feedback

Ismael Rodriguez
05. Apr 2022 · 04:15 UTC
Very cool! Love the pixel art, the especially the flame dude! Simple but fun mechanic, jumpy-ness felt pretty good but the wall jumps were a little unforgiving sometimes. I couldn't figure out the boss fight. Good job overall!
LDJam user 279610
05. Apr 2022 · 04:28 UTC
Clean and simple, very good work. Some of the jumps were extremely challenging which will delight some players. I like the whole shooting + flammable objects on the ground mechanic.
Nash
05. Apr 2022 · 11:31 UTC
Simple but very solid jam game. I can always appreciate when you manage to convey game mechanics in game without using UIs or tooltips.

Platforming felt a bit unresponsive at times. I think it was due to the player collision box being a lot smaller than the visual sprite. You could consider scaling the collision area with the player flame size.
PashaLoban
05. Apr 2022 · 11:34 UTC
Cool game i like fire animation
LDJam user 237261
05. Apr 2022 · 11:41 UTC
A visually impressive game! Sound effects might need a little work, as they feel very out-of-place right now, but that doesn't detract from the strengths of the game!

Also quite a challenging game, some places are a bit too cruel with you. But maybe just I was really bad at some parts. Congrats anyway!
AdroitConceptions
05. Apr 2022 · 12:17 UTC
- graphics were great
- water droplets just blended into the background
- unclear how to defeat the giant rat (it doesn't appear to take damage and hitting it with fire until you kill yourself doesn't kill it either)
- the sfx were interesting
- it would have been useful to introduce that you could wall jump some how that makes it clear you can
- there is a spot were the collision doesn't match the shape of the fire (first spot I had to wall jump as the jump wasn't achievable otherwise)
- overall a good game, just a few bugs to fix up and you have an interesting single resource platformer
BattleCat
05. Apr 2022 · 12:30 UTC
Nice 'n' cute game. Generally a good impression. I had some issues though:

Things I loved
- The mechanics of walking, jumping etc. were really good
- The fire effect was great
- The general aesthetics of the sewer was dark and lovely

Things I struggled with
- At first I was stuck because I didn't understand wall-jumping was a thing.
- Everything respawned if you exited the screen and came back, making the rubbish much less valuable
- A lot of things didn't give much feedback to the player, but that's totally understandable considering the time frame

All in all a very pleasant experience - I really hope you continue developing this :smile:
ReRonin
05. Apr 2022 · 12:38 UTC
That's an amazing artstyle, really cool!
Was hard to see if the attacks were doing something to the boss, but I got him in the end.
HolyBlackCat
05. Apr 2022 · 17:27 UTC
Oh hey! I also made a game about a piece of flame for the previous LD!

I like how your size changes as you lose HP. Also the rat looks cool! There's a small bug with it: shooting it after it dies replays the death animation.
Simpathey
06. Apr 2022 · 01:33 UTC
One thing I would improve about the game is feedback for when you hit the boss.
Roikku
06. Apr 2022 · 12:00 UTC
Loving the pixel art :) And the SFX! :D
LDJam user 269161
06. Apr 2022 · 12:14 UTC
Darksouls as a flame! Nice platforming :smile:
rex64
06. Apr 2022 · 12:18 UTC
Love the atmosphere!
ayosetrujillo
06. Apr 2022 · 12:59 UTC
Love the pixel art and the animation flames, also the aesthetic minimalist for the level.

Really is good idea for a platform, my congratulations!!!
Eolin
06. Apr 2022 · 14:12 UTC
Sounds effect are really great ! I love this little flame and the graphics. I didn't play long because it's a bit challenging and also didn't understand well the wall-jump, but overall nice experience !
JOrbits
06. Apr 2022 · 15:43 UTC
I think I'm stuck after the boss fight. Nothing is happening.
![ratz.PNG](///raw/964/1/z/4d1d8.png)

Anyways. I really like the way the fire looks and playing as a little fire is a cool game idea. The animations for the player and the rats were well done!
The boss fight was a bit confusing at first, I would've liked to see some feedback when hitting the boss (ex. boss turning white for a splitsecond or having a little bit of knockback on the boss) and also a health bar for the boss.
LDJam user 120213
06. Apr 2022 · 21:01 UTC
Simple enough, funny bug but if you shoot the final boss after he's dead he replays his death animation again, he took a LOT of hits to kill. The platforming felt fine for the most part but some of the jumps were pretty much pixel perfect. There's an odd unused "mechanic" that felt like you might have been intending to do more with it, as you burn out you get smaller and there's a spot on the first screen that you can actually fit inside once you're small enough, I thought maybe that would lead to some upgrade so I made myself smaller and squeezed through but it ended up just being death.
🎤 arya-s
06. Apr 2022 · 23:35 UTC
@raptor851 you’re the first one to notice that :) try shooting towards that gap that has a little dotted S on it from a little bit further away so the fireballs hit it.
It can be a bit buggy so shoot and wait a little bit between each shot.

I indeed intended there to be something but ended up not really using it due to time
jitspoe
07. Apr 2022 · 01:47 UTC
Flame graphics look nice! Shame you ran out of time before getting a proper ending in.
lectvs
07. Apr 2022 · 03:40 UTC
Short and fun game! The mechanics felt smooth, and the aesthetic was really nice :) Would love to see this game continued, good job! :smile:
SAGIII
07. Apr 2022 · 09:47 UTC
Hello! The game is great and beautiful.
JavaSaurus
07. Apr 2022 · 18:54 UTC
Hey ! Great entry, thanks for submitting it and having us play it. I really love the particle system for the flames, it is so responsive and nice, I'd just jump around simply to stare at it :D The rat boss also gave me MAJOR duck tales (NES) vibes. WELL done !
shmador
07. Apr 2022 · 22:48 UTC
Great game Arya! I'm really curious on how you accomplished the fire sprite effect, Impressive stuff.
Background graphics were very clean as well. Took me a while to get used to the movement but had a lot of fun over all! Love it.
Orionhart
08. Apr 2022 · 05:29 UTC
Loved the mouth sounds and main character. My only real gripes were that the wall-jumping didn't feel very good, no sound or music in the final boss fight, and it was too short! Really liked the core concept overall and the spritework was fantastic.
BrothersT
08. Apr 2022 · 12:00 UTC
That flame effect is AAA+ :D

I thought the colour palette choice and pixel art for the level were really nice. Platforming felt good and player friendly and I liked the setting/theme you went with a lot. The boss could have been improved greatly by leaving no areas on the bottom level where you can wait forever without getting hit. Maybe instead add some platforms that are in range at any point to give you a chance to get out? Or maybe when you fall to the bottom the boss has a pause/windup animation to give you a chance to quickly get out of there, and I guess a long one after he successfully hits you too.

All in all I think you did a really nice job, congrats :)
Xeke-Death
08. Apr 2022 · 12:14 UTC
Too short, I wanna play more!
The graphics are great, I love the fire and water effects, and the rats look great.

The timer on your flame charges is a great addition.
Good work.
InitialPosition
08. Apr 2022 · 22:38 UTC
Very short, very sweet. Loved the graphics, loved the setting and the mood it created, the sounds were nice but the game really needed some background music, it felt a bit quiet. The controls and gameplay were really nice although I cant seem to hit anything with my fireballs as they always jump over my target. That might be on me though. As for the theme, I never really felt in danger of dying since there was so much material to refill my fire bar everywhere. Overall I really enjoyed playing this though, if expanded I could see this as a released game.

If you want to check the VOD the section where I play your game starts at 3 hours and aroud 7 minutes.
osh.studio
09. Apr 2022 · 09:16 UTC
Pixel art fire was on point, really good submission.
elysiagriffin
09. Apr 2022 · 10:43 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my stream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450162412?t=04h45m02s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
LadyMistLeaf
09. Apr 2022 · 16:01 UTC
The first thing that caught my eye was the flame animation, it is very well made! Nice little platformer game and boss fight! Good job!
dreamscale
10. Apr 2022 · 07:04 UTC
Fun little game, it controls well and the sprites look really good! It could be stronger on the theme I think, I never really felt like there was any impending danger or anything like that. Other than that this is definitely a great starting point to expand on!
Gabriel Dias Oliveira de Almeida
10. Apr 2022 · 15:21 UTC
My favorite about this is the artstyle, it's really cool, the main character is really cute and the enemies are well done.

You have an amazing Metroidvania style game there if you want to do a commercial project and it's gonna be really cool :D
drentsoft
11. Apr 2022 · 15:36 UTC
Very nice entry. Great art style, would like to see it developed further. :)
AguaHervida
12. Apr 2022 · 03:07 UTC
Thank you for passing by the stream today!

Great fun game~!

From start to end it is fun~ Maybe adding something to tell that the rat boss is feeling damage will be good I felt like I was doing nothing to it UnU

overall a good short experience~
leviathon
12. Apr 2022 · 06:56 UTC
over all this game is really enjoyable. the art style fits the theme and mood really well. one thing i would improve on it would be the controls. at times i found the wall jumping fairly difficult to do and would be nice to have wasd options as well. i liked the boss fight at the end and the way you have to collect the oil drops to win. given some more time this game could be really great.
LDJam user 250426
12. Apr 2022 · 08:48 UTC
Feels unfinished in its current state, but I can see a lot of potential in this one! The style is awesome and controlling the character feels great!


left feedbacks on stream, vod @ 3:30:00
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1449593775
Honest Dan
12. Apr 2022 · 18:01 UTC
I feel the character, in art and feel were very well done. It all felt very cohesive, from the flame attacks, the flammable materials to keep the flame going, and being in these dark environments. I felt bad killing the cute little rattos though :D
LDJam user 236545
17. Apr 2022 · 01:26 UTC
I've had this bookmarked to play after seeing your progress update!

The color palette was top notch. I can tell you put a lot of work into the main character - the fire trail looks so nice. Wall jumping was a nice surprise (although it was a little tough to pull off with the keyboard).

I loved that the movement and the fireball ability were both tied to your health. It tied very well to the theme. Perhaps if the player went back to the prior checkpoint, or incurred a serious movement penalty when their health ran out it would feel more consequential. Right now, it felt like it wasn't a big deal to lose all of your health, because it was really easy to get it all back.

Great work overall!