Into The Light by Yorsh

[raw]
made by Yorsh for Ludum Dare 50 (COMPO)

They can't resist the call of the light, even though it will kill them. Eventually they will go into the light.

Try to distract them from the light, just a little bit longer...

IntoTheLight_Controls.png

Controls

  • Move with the cursor of the mouse.
  • Bite with left click or space (you must bite the human for it to do anything).

Objectives

  • Keep the mosquitoes alive, you loose after 3 deaths.
  • They die when touching a light.
  • They can be killed by Praying Mantis, scare them away by bumping into them.
  • You need energy to keep glowing, bite the human to recover your strenght.
  • You gain points by biting the human and surviving over time.

IntoTheLightGameplay.gif

Ratings

Overall 37th 4.021⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Fun 108th 3.802⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 30th 4.17⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Theme 45th 4.185⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 9th 4.552⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Audio 19th 4.188⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Humor 40th 4.011⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 41th 4.022⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Given 41🗳️ 78🗨️

Feedback

Nathan Wiles
04. Apr 2022 · 08:56 UTC
This looks so pretty I wanted to just fly around the scene and check stuff out! The environment and UI feel very polished and interact really well together. It was really fun watching the environment evolve as the game went on. Great work on this!
CrishNate
04. Apr 2022 · 10:44 UTC
The graphics is insane! Really like the lights, I really can feel it! And sounds is gourgeous. But I kinda stuck on how to start glowing agan, when I played before reading the descriptions, as for me it's not so obvious what should I do. But overall really enjoyed the game!
badoomtch
04. Apr 2022 · 12:53 UTC
This game is very well made. The background environment is very nice. It feels well polished. Great entry.
🎤 Yorsh
04. Apr 2022 · 16:37 UTC
@badoomtch Glad you like it, thanks for playing !

@crishnate Yup fair point, it's definitely lacking some sort of indication there. Thanks for the feedbacks!
🎤 Yorsh
04. Apr 2022 · 17:29 UTC
@nathan-wiles Well there isn't much to explore at the moment ahah ! [Scene.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/7WYDi8s.jpg)

Thanks for playing :)
Doot
04. Apr 2022 · 22:29 UTC
Awesome compo game!
It looks, feel and sound very good. Everything is quite intuitive, and the game is well paced.

Those mantis are very scary hahaha 🦟
d00kl1
05. Apr 2022 · 03:22 UTC
Good fit for the theme.

The first two flies appear to be more suicidal than the third one. In all my attempts, the first two flew into the light, however hard I tried to dissuade them. And then, the fun begins. The mantis is a nice touch – scaring it away is very fulfilling.

Looking forward to see what you do next with the concept in this game.
Dodidouda
05. Apr 2022 · 09:30 UTC
Very strong entry! Loved the idea, the originality and the super clean art style. Super impressive for a compo!
Great job :)
PurpledArtFrog
05. Apr 2022 · 15:52 UTC
Impressive athsmosphere :smile: a simple concept - it wasn't immediately obvious exactly what to do and how it played together :thumbsup_tone1:
PolymathLD
05. Apr 2022 · 16:49 UTC
You have to be some kind of psycho to make a game about saving mosquitoes :laughing: All joking aside, this is wonderfully done. Fantastic graphics and sound, and a cool little gameplay mechanic to build around. I like the escalation of more lights turning on and more and more bugs appearing, very thematic. I got a nice little swarm going by the end. Cool game!
jesusnoseq
05. Apr 2022 · 17:53 UTC
Sweet concept with great graphics/audio and well-communicated mechanics

Also, good lighting work! :smile:
Skruffye
06. Apr 2022 · 19:35 UTC
Well, that's the first time I've not wanted a mosquito to die since Rayman...

The silhouette style of art with the really moody lighting was a great visual direction to go with. It merged really well with the 3D assets as well.

Music was funky and unobtrusive, but also strangely catchy.

Really good job, enjoyed this a lot!
jk5000
06. Apr 2022 · 19:38 UTC
A fun and very well made compo game. Well done.
Elena-S
06. Apr 2022 · 19:48 UTC
Good idea! I like the mosquito sound, it makes me itching XD
Erilhir
06. Apr 2022 · 19:50 UTC
I really liked the concept (first time I said to myself "Oh no, my mosquito!") and I think it fits perfectly the theme. I enjoyed the cinematic scene to introduce the concept, the graphics were impressive ! Gameplay was fun too, but I lost too quickly on each of my runs :( But the overall was super clean and fun, good job !
cogcomp
06. Apr 2022 · 20:06 UTC
Great music and graphics. Some type of progress meter would be nice. Well done!
eLeDe
06. Apr 2022 · 20:23 UTC
Simple and fun. I like graphics and music very much. It is weird that your mosquitto could go through the table but great game.
🎤 Yorsh
06. Apr 2022 · 20:35 UTC
@cogcomp There is a score on the phone at the bottom right of the screen in case you missed it, but maybe you were thinking of something else ? Glad you like it and thanks for playing !

@elena-s Mouth-made at 1am, I'm surprised of how well this sound effect turned out actually ahah.
cogcomp
06. Apr 2022 · 20:45 UTC
@yorsh The score seemed only to be related to amount of bites you managed to perform. I was thinking of something that also included the total time spend in the game.
🎤 Yorsh
06. Apr 2022 · 21:43 UTC
@cogcomp Ah yes I get it. There is something like a point each 4/5 seconds also, but it's way less impactfull than the bites. I wanted to balance this better but forgot tbh.
Fromage
07. Apr 2022 · 01:23 UTC
Looks really good, took a bit to figure out how to actually convince the others to follow me, but was enjoyable.

That eldritch mantis, though!
Bottled up Dark Peace
07. Apr 2022 · 08:53 UTC
I recorded myself playing, message me on the Jam’s discord @ Dark Peace and I’ll send it to you. Everything was fun and games until the eldritch mantis one shot me XD Nice concept tho
angiemon
07. Apr 2022 · 17:51 UTC
This is such a minimalistic masterpiece! SO Pretty!
(I know your game from the stream, I was the one obsessing with the bulb! ;D)

Its a fun mechanic, and the mosquitos look sooo cute (which in itself is a miracle lol)

A really cool prototype :)) adding a score or something or objectives would be really cool I think!

Very VERY impressive for a compo!
🎤 Yorsh
07. Apr 2022 · 20:21 UTC
@bottled-up-dark-peace I saw while searching for you on the discord that you're going to publish them on your channel, I'll make sure to check this out ! Thanks for playing !

@angiemon Yeah I remember you ahah (The full unity project is available if you really wanna dig the bulbs btw). Thanks for the feedback !
Ismael Rodriguez
07. Apr 2022 · 22:37 UTC
Beautiful! 5/5! I love the 1-screen survival thing, but I also think this could be expanded into linear levels where you try to shepherd your bros to the promised land passed all the different types of lights. Seems like a really cool universe/idea to explore. Great job!
unpronounceable
07. Apr 2022 · 23:40 UTC
Amazing work, especially for a compo game. The lights gradually turning on to ramp up the difficulty was a nice touch. Also like how the music was a bit muted, felt like there was a party nearby.
NeneChico
08. Apr 2022 · 06:47 UTC
Ahaha ! I love the ambiance and the music (even while writing this). I dont understand why a mosquito needs to die to have a light at the start of the game. And why each time i bit the hand a mosquito goes to the lamp. by the way one of my favorite entry. Oh I have to test the mantis kill !
ubershmekel
08. Apr 2022 · 06:56 UTC
It took me ten attempts at playing before I realized I was supposed to bite the human. I was trying to bite the mosquitoes and the mantis, and was losing very quickly every turn. After I reread the instructions and found out I can bite the human, I got to 42 points. This is a pretty hard game. And wow the art is beautiful. The game definitely packs a moody punch. I still don't know how I'm supposed to avoid the preying mantis. So I guess I wish the mechanics were telegraphed a bit more clearly. Still it was a fun challenge. Thank you for the game.
Pio
08. Apr 2022 · 15:55 UTC
I don't know if that was intented, but playing this was very relaxing for me! Maybe it's because of the cool music. The sound and graphics are great! The gameplay was fun too and I would love to keep playing if there was more content.
🎤 Yorsh
08. Apr 2022 · 16:08 UTC
@ismael-rodriguez Thanks for the feedback ! Great idea, I could see this working nicely with some camera movement in between the different levels.

@nenechico It's a small cutscene to show that the mosquitoes are drawn to the light (one die, so the main character/mosquito realise it has to save the others from it). For the mosquitoes going to a light when you bite, it's a very late addition to avoid being able to cheese the game in some way by sitting on the human hand forever with all the mosquitoes. I figured it would be justified by the mosquitoes avoiding the hand movement or something, but not perfect I agree.

@ubershmekel That's indeed something I can improve on. I tend to change plans when I get inspired to do something else mid-project, but don't always have the time to figure out the best way to explain them in game. Thanks for playing, glad you liked it !
JovialKnoll
09. Apr 2022 · 01:10 UTC
Fun artstyle, nice cutscene! I'm really glad I stuck with this a little bit more; at first the gameplay felt much too simplistic but additional complications come in over time, which is really nice. A moving hand or maybe multiple people could have been helpful? As is I mostly wanted to hang out on the left side (minus mantis dodging).
Arihan10
09. Apr 2022 · 03:29 UTC
Although I found the connection to the theme to be quite loose, I really enjoyed playing it and think the music and graphics build up the mood really well. Good job!
Ines Brezavscek
09. Apr 2022 · 07:54 UTC
Haha, what a fun game. I really like the mosquitoes you used, makes me feel all itchy. I thin the graphics do look good, so good job. The music and sounds are nice as well. I was only confused in the beginning since I didn't know what to do besides biting the hand haha
elysiagriffin
09. Apr 2022 · 11:35 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my stream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450143040?t=5h02m45s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
Jackaljk
09. Apr 2022 · 15:26 UTC
This is really really good, bravo! It's very fun and fits the theme perfectly. Graphically it's impressive and I love the music, so catchy! I also love how you present the ui on that smartphone, I'm a great fan of that kind of ui. Amazing job!
🎤 Yorsh
09. Apr 2022 · 15:43 UTC
@jovialknoll Yeah I tried to prevent hanging on the left forever by doing so that biting the human makes the mosquitoes stop following you for a moment, but that still kind of works. I completly agree that it ideally needs a mechanic to force the player to move around more. It's just the kind of game balancing issues that can eat a lot of time so I'm mostly hoping that it'll be good enough as it is ahah.

@jackaljk Glad you like the phone ! It's always hard to tell how worth it can be to spend time on things like that compared to a simple UI text overlay.
someone
11. Apr 2022 · 22:12 UTC
That was awesome. An interesting idea and really well polished.
The phone took a moment to realise it was the score and lives but everything else was very intuitive.
I thought you had to avoid the lights yourself as well, but apparently you are invincible.
134 was my highest score.
🎤 Yorsh
11. Apr 2022 · 23:35 UTC
@someone That's a very good score congrats ! I indeed wanted to do something when the player hit the light initially, but I ended doing other things that felt more important.
MachWerx
12. Apr 2022 · 00:16 UTC
Clever idea! I loved the tension between maintaining energy and keeping the other mosquitos distracted. Impressive how solidly you executed your concept in just 48 hours!
nyxkn
13. Apr 2022 · 12:42 UTC
Really beautiful art and presentation! Also very unique and fitting rendition of the theme. Not many negative things to say at all really! Also great polish as it feels like a properly finished game.
Diego Escalante
14. Apr 2022 · 04:44 UTC
I got a score of 72! I love how the UI is integrated into the environment, with the phone showing your health and score, the game over text slightly behind trees, and the flashlight turning on when pressing play. All of those are super nice details that I really love!

I never imagined I would be trying to help mosquitoes, of all the animals out there!