Ayakashi: The Mystery of the Sea by igorfelga

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

RESUME:

There's no escapatory in front of this monstruous sea creature. But you can fight for your life until the end.

Play Ayakashi - The Mystery of the Sea here: https://woodlion.itch.io/ayakashi _

PERSONAL NOTE:

Here we are again! At the final of the last year, we participate of the LD Jam 49 with our game Wacky Wacky. At that time, due to technical limitations, we made our game using almost all aesthetic assets by free sources on internet. This time we tried something different. Using the experience adquired by the last jam, we've planned to make our game with our own effort. So, this time you'll see much more from us (just not sound and music - YET).

At the beggining of this project, we've planned to make much more (effects for the kaiju, use different weapons to beat the tentacles and so on), but we've faced A LOT of problems this weekend (from problems with our computers to problems with our pets), due those problems, we've changed the concept to something that was feasible.

The final result isn't exactly what we're aiming, but is a new step in our experience developing games, so, after all, we're happy to present this for you. Hope you enjoy it!

_

ABOUT THE GAME:

A long time ago, here in Brazil we had a site named "Clickjogos" with all kind of webgames. One of them was a game based on Fullmetal Alchemist, where you play as Roy Mustang facing chimeras until death.

The game was a non-winning game, the objective was to survive as long as possible.

When we checked the theme, we've remembered of this game as a huge reference, since this game was very simple to prototype.

I've told Igor that i wanted to work with a Pirate/Sea aesthetic, and i'm a huge fan of the japanese aesthetic. I really love the painting of master Hokusai (The Great Wave) and for a long time i'm waiting for a chance to do something using this reference. So, i've made a moodboard for the game using the following references:

Ref_Arte-1.jpg

Ref_Arte-2.jpg

Ref_Arte-3.jpg

Igor worked on some modifications on the gameplay to make the movement of the scenario and the youkai more fluid. It's a really pain in the a** make those tentacles work! But i think that due to the conditions, we achieved a great result.

You play as a sailor lost in the sea that finds a legendary youkai. You know you can't beat the beast. But the fight is not over until you give up... Or die.

So FIGHT!

_

IMPORTANT NOTES:

You can see all credits detail in the Itch.io page, where we list all free assets used for the game. Also, in the README file you can check our contact information to gave a more detailed feedback or suggestion :)

THANKS A LOT!

Ratings

Overall 1222th 3.037⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1338th 2.463⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1141th 2.769⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 687th 3.654⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 421th 3.98⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 586th 3.574⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 30🗨️

Feedback

muriel
04. Apr 2022 · 13:35 UTC
Amazing art style, very, very original for a videogame :)

Good job!
nshineda
04. Apr 2022 · 19:53 UTC
I love the concept behind the game and the art style!
Max B
05. Apr 2022 · 00:14 UTC
The art is amazing!
Paroxysmal
05. Apr 2022 · 02:18 UTC
Absolutely love the art style. Cool concept..great entry!
omi
05. Apr 2022 · 17:16 UTC
Wow, a really awesome concept! You could easily extend this idea to a full-fledged gamed. Keep up the good work! :)
Alopar
05. Apr 2022 · 17:58 UTC
Very nice art and Kaiju! :)
Michael Wingfield
05. Apr 2022 · 18:09 UTC
I like the way the music was done, it created this feeling of something epic happening. But the game itself didn't quite live up to that feeling. But still kudos for finishing and especially for having a tutorial screen.
bitdecay
06. Apr 2022 · 00:03 UTC
The aesthetic your team is going for is really good! I would say the gameplay feels a little unforgiving. I would love to see some indication of how much time as passed, and how much "health" I have left. As it plays right now, it is impossible to know when the game is about to end. I had a run that felt much better than my previous run -- yet I died SOONER than my previous run. I would also love to see a reason to keep me from spamming my spears.
Gandelianna
06. Apr 2022 · 10:24 UTC
Amasing artsrtyle, epic battle and good music.
I can't survive for a long time, but I think that was an idea.
Marvellous adventure!
chingle
06. Apr 2022 · 16:08 UTC
The art style, the music and the overall presentation is great! I just wish there was a damage indicator and a way to avoid the attack because getting a high score seems tied to RNG/luck but still a great job!
TheMoonrise
06. Apr 2022 · 16:16 UTC
I dig the artstyle!
riyadazo
06. Apr 2022 · 16:56 UTC
良いグラフィック!
sacredyouma
07. Apr 2022 · 04:53 UTC
Great work! I see that you include some backstory and how you provide anything that makes the gameplay makes sense! Some suggestion from me is that you could add a health bar for us to see how much longer we can last. And also a quit button so that I can quit! Cheers.
ffffchai
07. Apr 2022 · 07:59 UTC
I really like the art. Overall is a good work. Looking forward to see complete work in this concept!
YukimiItsuka
07. Apr 2022 · 08:01 UTC
The concept of using Japanese patterns to present the acient Japanese monster is great. I love this. Maybe a health bar would help me to feel the crisis better!
Kaijiro
08. Apr 2022 · 17:19 UTC
The graphics are amazing, I really liked it, I even contemplate the main menu for a solid 2 minutes ! Great job !
LDJam user 234120
09. Apr 2022 · 01:56 UTC
Graphical style was definitely a highlight, and I appreciated the audio, though it was tuned a bit high and I couldn't lower it in game.

Unfortunately I kept dying and had no clear idea why. Some feedback on what hit me if anything would have been nice.

There is definitely a vision and style here, and that needs to be pursued!
VixenMink
09. Apr 2022 · 02:04 UTC
+ I like the choice for art styles using mood boards.
+ I would of never guessed I would be fighting a tentacle monster when I first checked out this game.

- Maybe as an addition, adopt the mood board style or other ancient Japanese art into the main character's design in some kind of way.
- I continue to die after 27 seconds not really knowing why so maybe check to see if one of the tentacles comes up to attack the character from underneath his aiming stoop

Great entry!
elysiagriffin
09. Apr 2022 · 10:47 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/1450162412?t=09h22m09s

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

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
evedoll
11. Apr 2022 · 17:50 UTC
It’s great that you guys pushed your boundaries and tried to make your own art assets this time. The mood boards are great, and I think after playing the game you guys did a good job of conveying the general aesthetic you wanted to have. Having the patterned sea waves and menu items really helped pull that vibe together.

The longest I survived was 37 seconds. I have no clue if that’s good or bad, but the most effective strategy for me seemed to be shooting harpoons in an arc even when no tentacles have been deployed since the throw is slow so the harpoons hit the tentacles while they’re reaching out to the boat. As others have mentioned the lack of feedback on damage makes it hard to play the game and come up with a strategy since it’s not clear to the player what hurts them specifically and how much they’re hurt.

I can definitely see what you guys were going for though, and since it sounds like there were a lot of things that came up for you guys I'm sure it could have been a lot more fleshed out if luck was on your side. Hope all the pets & computers are doing well now!
Junber
19. Apr 2022 · 00:47 UTC
Neat game. I managed to get to 32 seconds after a few tries. As others have pointed out, a health indicator or something similar would have been helpful. But the art style is really cool and definitely evokes what you were going for quite well. Good job!