LudumData

Dreamcatcher by TheCommonThug

[raw]
made by TheCommonThug for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

LD48_cap3.png

Stereo Sound -> Highly recommend you play with headphones.

Controls: It's WASD movement. Arrow keys change orientation (their use is both critical and intentionally disorienting, being lost is kinda the vibe).

My first Compo... there's a lot of the idea still on the table, a lot of execution gone wanting, and the code is hillariously frantic. So yea, I loved it, hope you like what I was able to pull together.

This is a puzzle, memory game. Please don't give up if you die a couple times. You are meant to die over and over until you figure it out. There is an ending, I promise!

post jam patch notes: updated to fix softlock due to collision mask with cans, included key down movement 4/25/21, fixed mining empty spaces bug and layout 4/26/21, running out of energy no longer causes restart 5/6/21.

The official jam version is hosted at my website sam.garden, note that if you decided to play it you may softlock during sleep due to collision mask issues with the cans and dreamcatcher. If you've made it that far you're gonna be real salty if it happens so I recommend playing with the bug fix.

Link sam.garden
Link https://thecommonthug.itch.io/dreamcatcher
Link sam.garden
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/dreamcatcher

Ratings

Overall 736th 3.019⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 824th 2.556⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 475th 3.173⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 571th 3.385⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 773th 2.704⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 457th 3.111⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 628th 1.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 370th 3.385⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 39🗳️ 30🗨️

Feedback

khaotom
26. Apr 2021 · 05:21 UTC
Interesting mechanics with the camping and dreamcatcher. Very creative! Difficulty is brutal.
jk5000
26. Apr 2021 · 05:38 UTC
The idea is fun and I really like the music. Sadly the game feels a bit unfinished and every time I press 1 key the game crashes. But with a bit of polish, I think this could be really fun to play.
ThatmanRobin
26. Apr 2021 · 05:41 UTC
I liked the idea, felt very old school. Kept crashing though whenever I tried to mine a wall I wasn't facing.
🎤 TheCommonThug
27. Apr 2021 · 00:18 UTC
@jk5000 and @thatmanrobin thanks for the feedback and bug report! Should be fixed now :)
TheTimesweeper
27. Apr 2021 · 05:37 UTC
this is my favorite one so far and it's a compo. The mechanics are super interesting and well executed. I really wanna find all there is to find
LDJam user 127637
27. Apr 2021 · 09:04 UTC
Difficult game however the atmosphere is here with nice graphics and music, good one!
iuunno
28. Apr 2021 · 02:48 UTC
Really interesting, lots of OOH moments. When I first rotated the world and saw gems on a different wall, when I first picked up the things in the dream and felt ENERGY rush into my sleeping body. I gave up after getting disoriented somewhere after the first night and getting turned around going deeper instead of returning to camp. I may return to it later.
Foursay
28. Apr 2021 · 03:45 UTC
The mechaniscs looks great for me, but I got a bit confused at first glance about the orientation operation, what should I do if the orientation could change the surroundings? but overall the game is interesting !
Blue Pin Studio
30. Apr 2021 · 09:12 UTC
I liked this game a lot! It was really hard. I died a few times before i even realized the cause of the deaths. The resting stage is fascinating too, like a seperate game! Very cool
Timo Gass
02. May 2021 · 16:01 UTC
Good idea. The different "game stages" felt nice, too.
I find it hard to manage the energy.
I think it would be less frustrating, if running out of energy would just bring you back to your camp instead of killin you :/
Echo GameWorks
03. May 2021 · 01:49 UTC
Solid concept that could use polishing. Some of the text was really small and the direction of the game wasn't 100% clear. For a first compo, really awesome work!
Zephi_Sero
03. May 2021 · 13:24 UTC
Really interesting concept for a game, was fun too even with the difficulty and disorientation effect.
🎤 TheCommonThug
05. May 2021 · 01:41 UTC
@timo-gass Great call! Definitely going to work up a patch with this change. I think this is the exact kind of thing that makes the compo so much harder than the jam, just don't have that voice of reason lol.
Timo Gass
05. May 2021 · 19:12 UTC
@thecommonthug Feel u. The balancing for games in general is so hard :D
Shimonster
07. May 2021 · 17:29 UTC
Overall a pretty fun game. It took very long and I feel like being able to hold the move button would help a lot.
digital bacon
08. May 2021 · 01:05 UTC
Odd little game, but an excellent entry.
niterich
08. May 2021 · 20:05 UTC
I have to admit, the beginning of the game didn't really engage me. I made a game with a similar "build up your resources to dive deeper" theme, and the #1 complaint I got was that the beginning was far too tough and hard to enjoy - I think a similar critique can apply to your game as well. Plus, the game was kind of awkward in its controls and some of the mechanics weren't explained all that well. I ended up hardly rotating the screen because it was just too disorienting to me.

But once I started to build up my energy and was able to explore deeper into the cave, I got into it. I especially liked the ending! A very interesting twist on established game mechanics!
Pierce Brooks
12. May 2021 · 02:53 UTC
Survival games are tricky to pull off under such tight time constraints such as in game jams, and yet you had the courage to make an attempt. Bravo! The animations here had lots of care put into them, as well as the mechanics which demonstrate a rough gameplay branching system dependent upon player performance. With additional communication efforts to start things off on a more proper or at least well-informed footing, this could really manifest into something quite promising.