LudumData

Death is The End by Wren Erickson

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

A game made in less than 48 hours for Ludum Dare 50 The theme is "Delay The Inevitable." In this game, you play through the life of a man who continually encounters the grim reaper. Formulate arguments as to why he shouldn't take you away by matching blocks. Be careful, though; not all matches are good. Unlike most block matching games, there isn't always a way to clear the board.

Features:

  • A story with multiple endings
  • Two difficulty modes
  • Four levels, each with slightly different mechanics
  • As much polish as I could muster in 48 hours.

Instructions:

  • Press "Space" to advance dialogue.
  • Press "A" to move left and "D" to move right.
  • Press "W" to rotate.
  • Press "S" to speed up the fall.
  • Press "[Redacted]" to automatically win.
  • Press "[Redacted]" to automatically lose.

Credits: Featuring gameplay, code, art, and music by HiImWren Featuring fonts by "Who Knows, They're All Default." The gameplay is inspired by "Lumines." The story is inspired by "That One Episode of Supernatural." Art inspired by "A Lack of Sleep, and Too Much Caffeine." This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

SS1.jpg SS2.jpg SS3.jpg SS4.jpg SS5.jpg

Link https://hiimwren.itch.io/death-is-the-end
Link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lQZvksdeJXca24RFHatULYqNAEUmEi06/view?usp=sharing
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/death-is-the-end

Ratings

Overall 13th 4.214⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 61th 3.952⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 221th 3.524⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 18th 4.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 35th 4.295⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 47th 3.929⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 114th 3.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 47th 3.95⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 279233
04. Apr 2022 · 19:23 UTC
Amazing work! Both the theme and game-play were top notch
LDJam user 281643
04. Apr 2022 · 19:48 UTC
Awesome and original
LDJam user 280189
04. Apr 2022 · 19:53 UTC
Really good game! I loved the music, simple and yet so nice to listen to! Gameplay was fun too :)!
antonsem
04. Apr 2022 · 20:05 UTC
Fantastic entry! I'm not even sure if I can provide a feedbak. Add screen shake may be? Loved it!

PS: I'm tweeting about the games I play from this jam, here is this one: https://twitter.com/TheAntonSem/status/1511071890734997515
darandin
05. Apr 2022 · 07:35 UTC
Well made, thanks for uploading!
Tobius
06. Apr 2022 · 01:25 UTC
Excellent game, felt really well polished and "rounded out". There was good art, music, story and gameplay. All on theme! Not sure what more I could ask for from the LD entry.

As far as critiques, the only one I have is that it would hard to understand what exactly the effect was when getting a 4 match. Did the different icons mean something different, or was is just themeing?
caudatecoder
06. Apr 2022 · 07:24 UTC
Beautiful game with great storytelling and humor! Lines up with the theme very well too!

Gameplay didn't really stick with me, but that's just my genre preferences. I still want to revisit your game sometime later just to see all the different endings.

I was recording my playthrough. Here's a link in case you'd like to see it: https://youtu.be/6O1eFU0xLWM
Your game starts at 0:44
ocwal
06. Apr 2022 · 16:10 UTC
Oh, how I wish I could play this!
Will there be a web build in the future? :)
Uraffululz
07. Apr 2022 · 17:59 UTC
Awesome design and graphics. Nice story, and fast-paced fun (wait, that was EASY mode? Jeez). Especially great to see a compo game with this much detail added. Great work!
Tyler M
10. Apr 2022 · 23:48 UTC
I finally got around to playing this, and I'm glad I did. Great work, Wren!
rjhelms
12. Apr 2022 · 02:17 UTC
Very cool! I saw your post about this during the compo weekend and made a note to come back and check this out, and I wasn't disappointed.

I struggled in places to wrap my head around the mechanics on the later levels, so felt like I was just playing by gut rather than strategically.

All in all, a really enjoyable and polished game. Thanks!
Lpax
15. Apr 2022 · 15:21 UTC
Hahahaha I loved the humour there very well done and in COMPO that's AMAZING!
oramun
15. Apr 2022 · 15:45 UTC
Really enjoyed this. Tbh i couldn't get past the 2nd level on easy mode so Hard Mode must be crazy. Music really fitted with the drop of the blocks. Great game thanks.
🎤 Wren Erickson
15. Apr 2022 · 15:53 UTC
@oramun thanks for noticing the music! I timed the BPM of the song to match the blocks!
LDJam user 250825
16. Apr 2022 · 12:45 UTC
Nice game, I like the pacing of the story, really fitting for an LD experience! I'm not great at the gameplay but was able to lose in level 4 (and just barely got past 3, see below :D). Wish I could have used/remapped to arrow keys as WASD is a bit difficult for me personally. Looks great and well polished as well!

![scary2.png](///raw/9c3/d3/z/4e10c.png)
PKZinpo
17. Apr 2022 · 19:48 UTC
Very nice game! I like the overall look and the feel of the gameplay. Having played a lot of Tetris, my instincts kept on telling me to make lines across which is NOT how you clear blocks in this game haha. I think a mechanic to instant drop the block would be nice to have. Overall, very nice job!
Paul Nadan
17. Apr 2022 · 21:22 UTC
This was a cool take on the theme! The story was really well-developed and I really liked how the relationship with death went from adversaries to old friends. The graphics look great, and the music fits the story pretty well. The gameplay was a neat take on Tetris, although the left-over boxes were pretty hard to make use of. Great work!
zimny11
17. Apr 2022 · 21:28 UTC
Amazing work, especially for a Compo entry! Really cool game mechanics and art style. Music too. Great job!
0x746564
17. Apr 2022 · 21:47 UTC
Nice game! Graphics and story were well done. Audio was a bit loud for me and it got a little repetitive after a while.

I didn't quite grasp what I was supposed to be doing the second round, with the blocks turning into different shapes after clearing / matching.