Afterlife by Nekopi

[raw]
made by Nekopi for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Ever wondered where do non-player characters go after you kill them in games?

The answer is they go to the special kind of Hell, falling deeper and deeper through floors of monsters trying to reach the bottom to respawn back into the game.

Compete for leadership in High Score global rankings in this endless vertical runner game. Jump, shoot, destroy blocks and enemies as you travel to the depth of Hell. Pick-up new weapons and skills to aid you along the way, and manage your ammo reserve, as it only refreshes when you land on a block.

Controls: Controls LD 48 2kX900.jpg Screenshots.jpg

Our team: - @nekopi - producer, programming - @candlelight - management, game design, narrative design - @ve-ret - art, UI art - @marta-vitos - programming - @dest-69 - programming - @fragileannihilator - animation - @gamebucha - game design, narrative design

Ratings

Overall 840th 3.556⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 595th 3.556⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1061th 3.097⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 430th 3.986⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1019th 3.595⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Humor 539th 3.162⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 830th 3.557⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 57🗳️ 53🗨️

Feedback

himeija
27. Apr 2021 · 18:00 UTC
Nice game !
I love the graphics and the ambiance
Next time I play a game I'll think twice before I kill a non-player characters 😄
Tiseno
27. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC
Too bad the leader board was not working, would have been awesome to try and be on it. Cool aesthetics!
Tiseno
27. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC
Too bad the leader board was not working, would have been awesome to try and be on it. Cool aesthetics!
2rek
27. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC
Graphics and overall polish is very good.
Movement and mechanics are fun.
Also I found a bug where you can repeatedly go inside secret room and each time it will be different.
T C
27. Apr 2021 · 18:04 UTC
Fun game. Easy to learn and play, looks good! I would say that since jump and shoot are the same button, the game would benefit a LOT from Coyote Time. Give me a LITTLE time after I leave a ledge to still jump instead of shoot. Either way, good game!
Curtis Pelissier
27. Apr 2021 · 18:11 UTC
That's a good Downwell copycat ^^ It's a bit sad that there are no audio at all :cry: But, I understand that you haven't got the time to implement that.

One thing you should fix: the player is higher than one cell. So, I can't move out on some platforms without getting hit by enemies (like on the screenshot). You should code a security condition on that part.


![qfterlife.PNG](///raw/614/41/z/40d08.png)
Drunk Wizard
27. Apr 2021 · 18:58 UTC
First some minor negatives (sorry :/). Nice little game, the only thing missing for me was some kind of narrative in-game as to why you are there, as I usually play the game first, then read the description when I get stuck or am finished and I felt there was room for it in the litle intro cutscene.

Some little text pop-ups when you pick up stuff would be really helpful as I don't see anywhere, what do the crosses and the bags do (I assume, they alter your score)

On the positive side I felt the movement was smooth and liked the idea of damaging while sort of hovering with several "weapons" that you can pick up. You go deeper and deeper and there are several enemy types.
🎤 Nekopi
27. Apr 2021 · 22:33 UTC
@himeija Thank you for playing, ikr, haha :D

@tiseno It's one of the critical bugs that were present in the early build, we have fixed it right away, so you can enjoy being on the leaderboard now, thank you for your feedback!

@2rek Thank you for playing, yes, this bug still present, and is not critical so we might fix it in post game jam build later :)

@t-c thank you for your feedback, indeed sounds like a great mechanic to add to improve the overall feel of the game :)

@curtis-pelissier thank you for the feedback, we have experienced a major critical bug with null refs that was causing audio to not play, we have fixed it right away so that you can experience nice sounds and music in the game. We have been indeed inspired by the downfall ;). Yes, the fact the player is bigger than 1 block in height was a compromise for the player to be able to see nicely drawn character, but indeed it was supposed to be 1 block in height initially.
@drunk-wizard thank you for your feedback, I agree that the narrative part is a weak part of our game since we were concentrating mostly on improving the gameplay, also we will consider adding descriptions for objects that you pick up in future post game jam builds :)
🎤 Nekopi
27. Apr 2021 · 22:33 UTC
edited* comment that was created by ld web site lagging :D
MeritCoding
01. May 2021 · 09:00 UTC
Feedback
- I couldn't scroll in the leaderboards
- The music was the best
- I liked the guns
- The ray gun broke btw
Shin0nome
02. May 2021 · 19:21 UTC
Great game ! The game feel is nice and the jokes are good too. With a few more guns, pickups and things like that it would be awesome ! It's also a fun thing to have a leaderboard. Good job !
Matt Swieboda
02. May 2021 · 19:31 UTC
awesome atmosphere with the graphics, music, sound effects.

I really had fun playing it! Loved the jokes and quips in the teleport rooms. One thing to note though, is going into a teleport room takes you to a new random room, not the same one, I don't think that was intended.

I think the delay could be decreased slightly from being able to fire your weapon, and maybe the jump height could be slightly increased, to maybe two blocks instead of one? Just a few tweak suggestions.

great game, nice work!
Maytch
02. May 2021 · 19:46 UTC
Hey that's a fun game! Kinda like a vertical schmup but you control your forward momentum with shooting. Fast paced and satisfying. I did encounter a bug at one point where I could still shoot but no bullets were coming out, but it came back eventually. I think enemies need to die when you collide with them, or you should get temporary invincibility so you don't take multiple hits at the same time. Other than that, good job!
Whysguy52
02. May 2021 · 19:50 UTC
awesome job. like the music. jumping was confusing at first but i got the hang of it. Only thing i would ask is to fix the doors a little bit. When going into a door from the left and then getting spit out in the next room to the left, i kept accidentally going back into the door I came from putting me in a loop.
paulhocker
03. May 2021 · 03:31 UTC
this was a very fun game which used the theme very well. i really liked the mechanics and the side areas were a really neat idea. nice job on this game. thanks for making it.
Maytch
03. May 2021 · 13:20 UTC
I'll humbly accept 2nd place on the leaderboard (1st place is a monster!)

![second.png](///raw/680/51/z/42167.png)
zlan100
03. May 2021 · 17:28 UTC
Thorougly enjoyed the game! The name typing at the starting screen was a bit hard for me since I couldn't type my name despite I kept clicking in the box. The machanics feel pretty solid, love the opening scene, as a sound person I would like to hear a bit more high filter on the sfx sides, so far I hear a lot of bassy and heavy things, would love to hear more on variety sounds just from that, like the teleport for example. The system also really cool, I like you guys put the leaderboard to keep tracking down the scores, and the credit rolling scene makes the whole game to almost a professional level. Some of the things I'd suggest would probably build the levels a bit more different, sometimes I feel like I've been playing the same challenge until I reach to the upgrade, so there are definitely some room on the level designs. Overall I really like it, the music fits the vibe, sounds are great and the grahpics fit the mood.
Brandon Orden
04. May 2021 · 05:26 UTC
I really like the theme and aesthetic of this one! It's like a Doom style take on Downwell, which is a cool twist, and a great formula to build on. Solid art and music, cool character designs. Very cohesive and nicely presented. Nice work!
Lisichka
05. May 2021 · 12:31 UTC
This is probably one of the most interesting games for me. I also find funny that the UI style is very similar to what was in Dont starve
retrome
05. May 2021 · 12:32 UTC
Fun dynamic gameplay! Nice stylish graphics and catchy sound effects. Pleasant bonus rooms.

Some remarks:
1. Texts in bonus rooms repeat pretty frequently. Expectation: prevention of appearance of same text at least twice in a row.
2. Sometimes multiple collisions occur and you loose multiple hit points in a row. Expectation: delay/temporary invulnerability after taking damage.
3. Sometimes character freezes after falling on monsters: reproduces for bug-like and butterfly-like monsters.
4. Sometimes you enter to bonus room from one side and exit from another, so you accidently enter to room again.

Cool entry!
Team-on
05. May 2021 · 13:28 UTC
Pretty good action game. Also is it a Helltaker refference?
Dest_69
05. May 2021 · 21:01 UTC
@team-on No) "Downwell"
LudumDareDevil
05. May 2021 · 21:29 UTC
Nice game! I enjoyed playing this one.
sorlok
07. May 2021 · 14:35 UTC
Was a lot of fun to play. I liked the tension between shooting to destroy things and trying to land on a platform. Maybe some "variety" sections, like all monsters, or spikes or something like that. Also, I sometimes kept accidentally re-entering bonus portals, so maybe require the player to move some distance away before re-entering? I would also recommend putting players slightly higher up on the screen, since there's not much use to seeing things above you.
ardorugus
13. May 2021 · 03:05 UTC
Captivating at first, a bit disappointing further. The narrative is more like Easter Eggs and doesn't really tell the story. I liked the overal falling/shooting rhythm and instrumental power/folk metal sound base. Good job, thanks for the experience!
Fupi
16. May 2021 · 22:44 UTC
Here are some notes I took while playing:

- Damn good music!
- Super fun and satisfying mechanic!
- Fun little quotes in the portal rooms!
- If you enter a portal through the left and exit the portal room, you will enter the portal again unless you stop.
- Good variety of guns and upgrades! A little lacking on the variety of levels.
- Wish I didn't lose horizontal momentum when stepping on the ground.

Though basically this is the perfect entry! Complaints are minimal.