LudumData

All Will Be Dust by Matt Heinrich

[raw]
made by Matt Heinrich for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

AllWillBeDustCover.png

Six days… Six days was all it took, for everything to fall. The great accomplishments of humanity meant nothing in the face of this.

The Cybernetic Intelligence, Innana, Was supposed to change our world, usher us into a new era. Built to learn, adapt, and thrive in any environment. When this unsurpassed mind was turned against us, nothing we tried worked for long, as the Intelligence learned to predict our strategies and counter them.

The colony ship launched successfully, but I wasn’t on it. We kept the launchpad clear for as long as we could, now my days are numbered. But I’m going to do as much damage as I can before I’m done.

—

In All Will Be Dust, the AI will adapt to exploit your weaknesses as a player. Enemies will mutate and vary in different ways as the game progresses, and any that are successful in damaging you will have their strengths replicated in future waves. Don't make the same mistake twice, it could be fatal!

How to Play

Controls: WASD - Move the character

Mouse - Aim your weapon

Left click - Shoot

Credits

Programming: May Ottway Matt Heinrich

Game Design: Matt Heinrich Lilith Hills

Art Design: Zaya

Interface Design: Amy Cotton

Writer: Lilith Hills

Emotional Support Cat: Tarzan

"Tyrant" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link https://mattheinrich.itch.io/all-will-be-dust
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/all-will-be-dust

Ratings

Overall 963th 3.317⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1085th 2.984⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1259th 2.581⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1037th 3.339⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 472th 3.919⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 632th 3.532⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 41🗨️

Feedback

ROBOWARRIOR1982
04. Apr 2022 · 21:45 UTC
The control is good but i think you can put an autofire when the fire button stay pressed (and the munition are infinite so why not).
It lacks of sound or animation impact hen you hit the ennemy, or when he hit you (lack of feedback).
I tried the HTML5 version and that be little laggy when there are 4 or 5 ennemies.
The game works fine but you can easily improve these points and made it better !
Monado
04. Apr 2022 · 21:49 UTC
Neat little jam entry! I really liked the sprite-work, and the lighting effects used throughout with both the player's flashlight and giving enemies a red glow, which helped make them out if they were behind a wall. Overall good stuff!
James_7777
04. Apr 2022 · 21:58 UTC
Really nice sprites and a fitting atmosphere thanks to the lighting! A sound effect when shooting an enemy would have been a nice addition, to add some impact to the hits.
Stefan B.
04. Apr 2022 · 21:59 UTC
hmm, maybe i tricked the ai - on my first run i found a sweet spot and killed wave after wave until "null" messages? probably i was missing some point
Oliver Richmeier
04. Apr 2022 · 22:03 UTC
It's fun, but it needs a few more mechanics to be meaningfully engaging. I really like the art and the lore between waves
blemish
04. Apr 2022 · 22:04 UTC
It's good! You should play it. Prepare to die a lot at first.
graphite
04. Apr 2022 · 22:13 UTC
Very thematic, I wanted to keep playing to read more of the story. I liked the art a lot. I feel like an auto-fire would help a lot, it's hard on the hand clicking that much for so long. I kind of wonder how it would be if there were fewer enemies, but they were harder to kill. As it was, I could mostly get them bottlenecked and take them out with little trouble.
ayosetrujillo
04. Apr 2022 · 22:27 UTC
The idea is simple but effective, the control is good and enjoyable. I miss some feedback like a sound or damage to make me feel an authentic killer.
Porcus_Pie
04. Apr 2022 · 22:53 UTC
Visually this game is a treat, the pixel art was gorgeous and I loved the atmosphere and mood with the lighting. One of the stand out moments for me was the dread from finding out I had been backed into a dead-end on wave 4. The story as well was really nice, it felt like it gave me a reward for getting through each wave. I think like others have said, the gun could use some feedback and auto shoot, maybe some particles and audio, and there could be some more variety in weapons and enemies. Whilst a mini-map might lower that sense of dread, I also wouldn't mind someway to see where the enemies are if they are off screen, made searching for the last few at the end of a wave a bit tedious. Overall though this was a fun experience. It's a solid idea and the way the art works with the story was fantastic, I think you could develop this a bit further and make it really nice
arzi
05. Apr 2022 · 14:19 UTC
That was a cool little shooter! I didn't really notice the adapting AI, but it's a cool idea. Loved that the place is New Babylon and the AI Innana!
mlkvr
05. Apr 2022 · 15:05 UTC
The soundtrack & lightning choices give it a horror thriller game look and those messages between the waves were my favorite part loved the writing of it. While I'm not sure about AI but the increase in enemy count both makes it harder in terms on difficulty & difficult to play in fps wise. If it's possible I would like to try windows version in 60fps or at least in stable 30fps.
Nevertheless good job, congrats to the whole team!
goat
05. Apr 2022 · 15:26 UTC
@mlkvr We had a windows build but I ended up not uploading it. Really need to get around to that! The AI scaling is a lot less noticable than we hoped sadly, maybe reducing enemy count would be a good start on a v2.0
gabbeeder
05. Apr 2022 · 15:51 UTC
Thank you for checking out my game. I decided to check out yours too.

Overall a pretty nice game. I like the backstory, it fits the theme since it's about delaying the inevitable rise of AI. It looks good. The lighting effects are great and add to the mood of the game. The gameplay is straightforward and solid in it's own right, but I wish that there was more substance. The gameplay did get a bit repetitive after a while, and it also had quite a bumpy difficulty curve. The first wave was very easy but it unevenly ramps up after that. The lack of good "crowd control" weapons made it tedious to complete the later waves since you have to kill lots of enemies with a slow single shot weapon.

A little more polish, content and depth would make this a very enjoyable experience, but still, it's a good game! Congrats to the entire team!
LDJam user 279610
05. Apr 2022 · 16:15 UTC
The mood of this game was great. The music, story, darkness, brief flavor text between waves, all felt great. I died when I was pinned against a wall.
lantto
05. Apr 2022 · 16:42 UTC
I'm a fan of wave shooters so this was right up my alley. Really good graphics and mood. One thing I also think was cool was that "corpses" of the enemies actually blocked other enemies, adding depth to the strategy. I would love to see a version with more weapons and enemy types.
OrangeDragon
06. Apr 2022 · 09:46 UTC
The story is good, controls are tight, but gameplay becomes repetitive really fast. I had fun though and enjoyed the game! The art and the style put you into the mood. Good job!
Stalemeat
06. Apr 2022 · 20:13 UTC
The game looked great! Maybe having an auto fire system or limited ammo with a slightly more enjoyable gameplay. I found myself standing in one spot just clicking a lot. Having ammo boxes to pick up would get me moving more. Nice work.
Skyward4d
07. Apr 2022 · 10:33 UTC
The art in this game was top notch, and the story drip-fed to you between the waves was engaging.
It felt a bit odd that you couldn't hold-click to fire your machine gun, and it would have been nice to have your player flash when taking damage or have some kind of audio feedback, because it was hard to tell when you were taking damage. The billboard in the background really captured the games intended vibe of showing a collapsed society, and the ominous glow to the enemies added to the gritty feel as well. Overall, great job guys!
Mikado
09. Apr 2022 · 12:08 UTC
Hmmm... The sound effects were missing, they really improve the experience and impact by 2x, and in general there was really lack of feedback (some examples are adding screenshake, character or enemies changing color when they get hit, [like here](https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/431149364324735419/) and [here](https://img.craftpix.net/2020/01/Free-3-Character-Sprite-Sheets-Pixel-Art2-720x480.jpg), and some particle effects). Also, the rifle would've been a lot better automatic, it was kind of annoying to click and click the mouse all the time. The game was also just about firing the weapon and moving around, and as @stalemeat said it would've been more fun to play with ammo boxes spawning around the map. That said, don't feel discouraged! Other than that, the art was really really well-made, and especially the story, was really cool. It's a good game. Plus, i also made games a lot worse than this one for sure :)
BurnsDesigns
17. Apr 2022 · 16:35 UTC
Great jam entry! Needs more audio effects for shooting, robots hurt and destroy. Additionally, the music could use a bit extra length, as it repeats quite often.
The mood was absolutely terrific and art was great for a weekend!
Knatt
17. Apr 2022 · 16:44 UTC
The sprite work was really good! like others are saying, The game could use some more feedback when hitting something or being hit