Lost Light by The_G

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

In Lost light, your objective is to make it as deep into the cave system before your lantern runs out of fuel.

Journey deep into the caves where you will find no shortage of strange and mysterious spectacles, and extend your stay by claiming any lantern fuel that has been left behind by previous adventurers.

Menu.PNGScreen3.pngScreen6.png

Update: Raytracing support now working! Check out the RT version on my Itch.IO RTXYems.png

Ratings

Overall 551th 3.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 698th 3.48⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 543th 3.542⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 355th 4.04⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 546th 3.98⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 79th 4.104⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 94th 4.292⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 37🗨️

Feedback

Budark
26. Apr 2021 · 11:32 UTC
Beautiful scenes
the__baldur
26. Apr 2021 · 13:18 UTC
I LOVE IT! The atmosphere is great, more curious than scary! Set pieces are funny, love the skeletons' obsession with cats! Absolutely amazing!
mmisspelling
26. Apr 2021 · 14:40 UTC
really really cool, I love the concept and all the little details! this rocks
Hilvon
26. Apr 2021 · 15:33 UTC
Pretty nice concept for the game. The scenes start repeating themselves after a while, so around level 15 I decided to quit.

But the game was pretty enjoyable for the fresh eye. The scenes when you first discover them look interecting and funny. Like the cat portaits, or a skeleton trying to dring lamp fuel. :smile:

The soundtrack would get boring after a while, but like mentioned this is the problem of the whole game, and while the game is enjoyable, so is the background music.
🎤 The_G
26. Apr 2021 · 15:35 UTC
@hilvon Thanks! If I had more time I would have loved to make the caves procedurally generated, I think that would have really helped with the repetitiveness. Anyway, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
twoshoedlou
26. Apr 2021 · 16:44 UTC
Nice relaxing atmospheric experience, spent most of the time spamming my light and searching for fuel instead of getting to observe the funny scenes on the lower levels! Wish it was a bit easier but overall great game!
negabyte
26. Apr 2021 · 16:49 UTC
Great game! The only downside for me was that the central mechanic meant that the awesome graphics and visual humour was frequently being hidden.
TAIGHA
26. Apr 2021 · 17:50 UTC
Hi!

Quite an interesting idea. I will not write as many words of praise, many have said before me)

I would probably say a couple of critical words - I did not have enough gameplay.
What does it mean? It seems to me that it's not enough that we just go and try to find more fuel, because in this case we miss something that could be seen around.

And here are two options:
1. Do you want the player to quickly make their way through the levels, constantly driven by the lack of fuel? Then why give different scenes around it?
2. Do you want the player to be able to enjoy your wit in the composition of the surrounding things? Then why create such a race for fuel?

If you want both of these things to be in your game, then you should balance both of these points and come to a synergy.

Good luck to you! :-)
🎤 The_G
26. Apr 2021 · 18:42 UTC
@taigha Thanks for the feedback! I have been considering how to balance these two sides of the game, I may add an "exploration mode" that lets you explore with infinite lamp fuel.

I am a little wary of changing the games difficulty because it is quite easy to last long enough to get through all the pre-made cave variations, and after that the game becomes a bit stale so I would rather have the game end early than have it drag on and be boring.

Ideally I would have made the caves procedurally generated as that would solve a lot of these problems, but that seemed a little out of scope for this jam and I wanted to keep things simple.
Chanandler
26. Apr 2021 · 19:12 UTC
Great game, really chilled and relaxing experience... until you start running out of lamp oil :)
Esosek
26. Apr 2021 · 19:17 UTC
Visuals are awesome but I don'think the music fits the game. Also how many levels are there? I made it to 24 until it got boring :D
🎤 The_G
26. Apr 2021 · 19:45 UTC
@esosek I'm glad you like it! The music is just royalty free stuff, so that's why it's not perfect. As for the levels, you can go infinitely, with the goal being to get as deep as you can before running out of fuel. I've received mix responses on the games difficulty, with some people such as yourself being able to get very far with no trouble, while others struggle much more. Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
🎤 The_G
26. Apr 2021 · 19:45 UTC
@chanandler Thanks! :smile:
otresnjak
27. Apr 2021 · 12:10 UTC
Funny and atmospheric! I liked it a lot. I laughed out loud at the vignette with the skeletons at the dinner table. :D

RTX version was unplayably slow for me, unfortunately! In the 2-3fps range. I'm running on a 4K monitor though (and an oldish RTX, a 2070). :)

Great entry!
otresnjak
27. Apr 2021 · 12:11 UTC
Oh, meant to add, this could be really cool as a VR game!
🎤 The_G
27. Apr 2021 · 12:14 UTC
@otresnjak Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Yes the RTX version is pretty demanding, I would recommend dropping your resolution down to 1080p to try it out as it really is very cool, even if it's a little broken.

Also yes this would be great in VR, perhaps I will make a VR version in the future :smile:
zimny11
29. Apr 2021 · 14:49 UTC
Nice game! I like both the game idea and the music (it was very nice to listen and fitting to the gameplay. I would say I like the graphics, but since I was trying to save up fuel for the lantherna I haven't seen much. Saving fuel mechanic greatly reduces the player's ability to appreciate your effort put into the game's visual style. Maybe it can be improved by adjusting the mechanics a bit.
🎤 The_G
29. Apr 2021 · 23:06 UTC
@zimny11 Thanks for playing, I'm glad you liked it! I added the different difficulty levels to help with the difficulty problem, but perhaps it's not enough. Anyway, thanks again for playing it!
Quoc
30. Apr 2021 · 08:34 UTC
Love the idea with the lamp. The music was well choosen and it was nice to play. Enjoyed it!
🎤 The_G
30. Apr 2021 · 12:50 UTC
@quoc Thanks!
Uppitydonkey57
02. May 2021 · 11:57 UTC
Cool game! I really enjoyed exploring and finding silly skeletons (I thought Cave Johnson died of disease???). I do feel like it's a little weird how the models are low poly and high poly which looks a little unprofessional.
spadekHemoglobiny
02. May 2021 · 12:28 UTC
Very funny game, I think the music was perfect lol. The things I found annyoing is that the player moved a bit too slow and it was really hard to get into the hole that transported you to the next level if you didn't jump. Also it would be cool if there was sound for walking and jumping, would greatly add to the mood of the game. Nice entry!
Molpe
18. May 2021 · 16:41 UTC
Amazing game, love the graphics, love the game, love the music, love the rats :heart:

Here is my LP :slight_smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trACixllAW8
🎤 The_G
05. Jun 2021 · 00:19 UTC
@molpe Thanks so much for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed it.