Alek and the Dungeon of Paper by Wintergatn

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

The lonely locksmith went by Alek. One day, he awoke in a peculiar world of paper, cardboard lining the walls and strange flowers sprouting from its grain. In front of him lurked a long path down into darkness. It was there he found himself applying his practiced locksmithing skills as he found strange locks scattered throughout the chambers. Except, he quickly realized that these were no ordinary locks. These were locks of the Dungeon of Paper.

Here's our submission to Ludum Dare 48! It was created in Unity and all models, sprites, animations, and set design were created by me (Wintergatn)! DrWatts worked on the programming end to implement the main mechanic of the game where you move boxes that correspond with locks. As for the gameplay, what we have created is more of a proof of concept than fully-developed levels, as we would have liked to create more interesting objects with properties that would allow for more complex puzzles. (Note: we took out the doors for the second two puzzles because they were not finished in time! Feel free to just walk through!) We hope you enjoy, thanks for playing!

Controls: WASD to move. Walking into boxes moves them. Here's a hint if you're struggling with the first puzzle: the cardboard boxes match positionally to the locks! If you move a box, you are moving a corresponding lock in the other room :) Def had less time to work on mechanics so apologies for the lack of clarity hahah

1.PNG 2.PNG 3.PNG 4.PNG

Ratings

Overall 1293th 3.295⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1768th 2.545⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 857th 3.262⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1780th 2.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 3th 4.826⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 910th 2.667⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Mood 588th 3.727⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

Syrail
27. Apr 2021 · 04:33 UTC
The visual style is great! I really like where you're going with that.
ElSombrero
27. Apr 2021 · 04:35 UTC
Good graphics
I'll download it and try
Chris Dirkis
27. Apr 2021 · 04:36 UTC
Great visual style. Didn't run amazingly on my computer, and there are a few places in the room to stand where you can't see your own character. Couldn't get the boxes out of the first room, and I'm not sure why -- box pushing was unfortunately pretty fiddly :(
Willops
27. Apr 2021 · 04:40 UTC
Definitely a contender for rank 1 graphics in the whole competition, great job you guys! Makes me wish I went for a similar art style with my entry :P
TheBlondeBass
28. Apr 2021 · 02:15 UTC
While I also was unable to move boxes out of the original room, I have to say you nailed the paper aesthetic! Really made me wish I could play further.
LDJam user 151616
28. Apr 2021 · 05:38 UTC
Beautiful, the art is so so good! Congrats <3
Shin0nome
28. Apr 2021 · 07:55 UTC
The Art concept is stunning, you did a wonderful job on level design too. It didn't run well on my computer but it's one of the most beautiful game on the Jam ! Great game !
DmitryGalias
28. Apr 2021 · 08:16 UTC
The cardboard art style is very beautiful! But, unfortunately, I have the same problem as the guys above: the boxes always stuck in the first room.
ambivorous
28. Apr 2021 · 11:20 UTC
This is absolutely beautiful! Well done on the visuals and the theme.
Sadly I also couldn't get the boxes out of the first room (are we just not getting it?), but I'll check back to try finish this because it seems fun~
🎤 Wintergatn
30. Apr 2021 · 03:18 UTC
Hey all! Just wanted to write a quick comment about the main mechanic (which is def underdeveloped and not clear enough hahahaha). The actual solution to the puzzle is that the cardboard boxes "match" positionally with the locks; that is to say if you move a box, a corresponding lock will move in the other room. Get all the locks on stickers by moving boxes to the matching positions in the other room and the big door will unlock! And as a note, this first puzzle is the only one implemented! Once you solve it you can basically just keep walking through rooms haha. Thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it!!
Manan
30. Apr 2021 · 04:15 UTC
I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful art style! Sadly, my crappy computer struggled to run this at more than 10 FPS. Some graphics settings would be great, but that's hard to implement in 72 hours.
LDJam user 212364
30. Apr 2021 · 04:37 UTC
Loved the graphics and the concept was really cool. I did run into an issue where I pushed the boxes into a wall and then couldn't move them out though so had to restart the first time. The second time I did the same thing but got lucky that it triggered something and the door unlocked. Was also a bit of a struggle moving the boxes forwards and backwards as opposed to left/right. Definitely a great start on a game though.

Also, I definitely just walked off the very end after the guy wearing a sandwich for a hat which made me chuckle.
fiaKaiera
30. Apr 2021 · 06:06 UTC
You definitely have the makings of a beautiful puzzle game here!

* I'm not sure if it's me but if the low FPS of the game is set like that, it actually *diminishes* from the experience, if you ask me because everything feels clunky.
* If it's not deliberate, I think there's too much going on or you're rendering everything at once, *including those that are outside the scene and you don't want that.*
* There is definitely a bug about the camera, and it happens when you hug the walls, forcing a transition despite not going into the next area. It is nauseating.
* The instructions of the boxes and the keys could definitely be better.
* How the game controls definitely needs to be improved. You should find a way NOT to move the boxes accidentally.
* Froggie!

You guys definitely gave a lot in terms of how everything looks. If you keep up the momentum into a full game, I bet you guys can definitely can attract the crowd!
Maraz
30. Apr 2021 · 21:33 UTC
This graphic idea is amazing but when I play my boxes don't move, I don't know why and I have low FPS for this simple game.
ardorugus
01. May 2021 · 03:17 UTC
Very cool authentic paper art! But hard to play, bugged, boxes out of the room - nope, tried a lot. Hope you'll get it fixed. Added with some fitting sound design, this beauty might go all the way to the tops!
Marcenat
17. May 2021 · 09:27 UTC
Oh damn those visuals are stunning !

I have to say with such a cool username I was expecting more marbles :)

The game itself is interesting, but it would be so much better with some music/sfx ! First sfx would greatly help to give some feedback, for instance to indicate that you've opened a lock. Then some music or jsut a sound texture would create a real atmosphere, here the contrats between the amazing art and the silence is weird ^^
I'm not sure to see the connection with the theme tough...

Also you're missing a wall at the end, the player can fall :)
James Macgill
18. May 2021 · 03:29 UTC
It is lovely to look at, and whilst a bit stumped at first I did solve the puzzle. I found the boxes to a be a little sticky at times, like there would be a direction they would not move in for a while.

Top marks for mood / style. Keep up the development enough to see your vision through!