Descent Into Madness by Dan Davis

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

Trapped in a mysterious abandoned asylum, you find yourself alone in the dark, with no way out. To keep from starving, you eat the only thing you can find, a strange glowing mushroom. Suddenly you realize, that this is the key to your escape!

To Control use your arrow keys and the e key!

ss1.png

ss2.png

ss3.png

ss4.png

ss5.png

ss6.png

Ratings

Overall 181th 4.028⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 324th 3.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 170th 3.972⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 498th 3.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 363th 4.158⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 43th 4.333⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 278th 3.594⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 108th 4.263⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 17🗨️

Feedback

ryjcio
27. Apr 2021 · 03:29 UTC
Tasty mushrooms! Really good mechanic on the music. I think this is the best game we've played so far! Really digging it!
tuvalu
27. Apr 2021 · 03:30 UTC
I love the concept of this game! Its pretty fun, but the base movement is rough around the edges.
cvetk0
27. Apr 2021 · 20:14 UTC
Trippy. Good idea but a bit too hard for me despite the help of those shrooms. I was not able to get past second room after climbing up. It has potential though, I loved the light effects and the music also fits great with the visuals. Keep up good work :slight_smile:
Junamai
27. Apr 2021 · 21:23 UTC
crazy and creepy xD Had fun playing it, good job!!
mpetrus
27. Apr 2021 · 21:31 UTC
Good game, congratulations !!!
AronIngi
28. Apr 2021 · 11:18 UTC
I really loved the atmosphere and music. The concept was very interesting, I love the idea and mechanic of having to eat trip balls so you can progress, while sometimes creating obstacles. Reminds me of another entry in this game jam which I liked very much. The game was challenging at some points, mostly the last level, but it was really fun.

Great job.
Phoenix Fireflower
01. May 2021 · 14:52 UTC
I really liked the visual effects, the music and the atmosphere.

My only point of critique is that the movement felt slow & clunky at times.
Studio Gomp
02. May 2021 · 22:40 UTC
At first, I struggled a little because it was so dark, but after I figured out the concept it was great! I do agree that the movement is a bit clunky, but the coyote time (at least from what I could tell) was greatly appreciated. I loved how the music and the graphics got more distorted the more mushrooms you had, that was just great. I loved how enemies would appear if you ate too many, and I loved how more platforms and vines and things to get around with would appear the more mushrooms you ate. Personally, I would like to see the place a little bit less dark since it does feel like you're squinting a bit trying to see, and I would like to see a longer loop of music with new sections (even like a minute long or something) because it gets a bit repetitive, but these are very minor and I understand that music takes a ton of time to write. Great job!
Dawnscream
03. May 2021 · 16:57 UTC
Music is awesome, I love the layering work. Also, the concept about the whole thing is quite amazing. I'm also a huge fun of the visual style. Controls could use a bit of polish but overall I like how this turned out!
ardorugus
06. May 2021 · 23:42 UTC
Please, polish this! Full game experience is needed. It's very cool acid shroomy, with affecting sound mechanics. Still, gets repetitive quite soon, so, if you're developing this cutie further, needs some thinking on this track mute on/off instruments additions and more music (different levels or states) to go with. Anyway, loved this very cool game, thanks for the drive!
mvasko2
09. May 2021 · 11:55 UTC
Creepy!

Really nice music, it fits very well. The idea was also fairly original.

The game needs much clearer feedback on what's going on. I died multiple times in the same way and I'm still not sure what was the cause. Did I eat too much mushrooms? Did I eat a poisoned mushroom? Did one of those creepy monster trees kill me? Really, I have no idea, the only thing I know is that I suddenly appeared at the latest checkpoint. That ultimately caused me to get frustrated and quit the game.

A short, 2 second clip of the character suffocating right after eating the mushroom (assuming that poisoning was the cause of death) would give me all the information I need on how to play the segment differently next time.

The atmosphere and the music are, for me, the highlight of this game. With a bit of polishing and perhaps some more innovative elements to the gameplay (moving, jumping and climbing got old pretty fast, something was missing there, but I'm not sure what), this could be a really fun asylum trip.
VixenMink
11. May 2021 · 03:07 UTC
Game wasn't trying to run smoothly on my rig but I really like your concept!
someone
14. May 2021 · 18:54 UTC
Wow, that game was brilliant.
I love the art and music, and the idea was really cool.
The lighting was a bit dark though making it very hard to see the edges of precipices, and climbing was a bit janky, but otherwise great job.