abundance by Aurel300

[raw]
made by Aurel300 for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

cover.png

Play now (HTML5) | Map (spoilers!)

abundance

A lone survivor hides in a warehouse as a plague spreads amidst a supposed plant growth revolution. Now, a few days after the worst has passed, what kind of world is out there?

Explore the world in this 2.5D metroidvania platformer. Can you find all 14 log entries and unravel the plot?

controls

  • arrows (or WASD) to move
  • X to jump
  • C to use knife
  • Z to interact
  • P to open PDA to read logs etc
  • U to toggle fullscreen (also available from the PDA)

Ratings

Overall 59th 4.08⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 162th 3.8⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 357th 3.38⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 601th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 91th 4.32⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 171th 3.68⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 32th 4.25⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 20🗨️

Feedback

jward
10. Jan 2023 · 01:14 UTC
Very fun, Aurel. Intriguing story, item/area unlock mechanisms, "hidden" areas, and good difficulty in maneuvering. :thumbsup:
ZwodahS
10. Jan 2023 · 04:17 UTC
Thanks for the game !

I did not expect myself to play a metroidvania in this game jam for sure, and also finishing it.
![Screenshot 2023-01-10 at 12.15.54 PM.png](///raw/9f2/72/z/55c93.png)

Missed 2 logs, not sure where else I haven't explore :thinking:
SilentPhil
10. Jan 2023 · 10:51 UTC
Great game, made me feel nostalgic for the ZX Spectrum. Haven't gotten through it completely yet (no time at the moment), but got to the double jump. Will definitely finish it tonight.
Thanks for the game!

F Pressers pay you respect
Zahkros
10. Jan 2023 · 11:04 UTC
Crazy that you made this for this jam, very well done!
There was only one thing which bothered me, the placement of the P button is pretty far on the keyboard, it was a bit frustrating for me, but it didn't take away the value of the game! :)
Happy to tried it, thanks!
Oh and the animation on the plants were so coool
LDJam user 120290
10. Jan 2023 · 11:46 UTC
Nice story, very completive
hmrpf
10. Jan 2023 · 18:31 UTC
The art is so cool. And now i want to play flashback again. Great game in so little time !
goldenXD
11. Jan 2023 · 00:45 UTC
Cool art style, liked the gameplay and story!
LDJam user 320570
11. Jan 2023 · 00:47 UTC
Really cool interpretation of the theme and mood here. I love the way the vines shimmer & react to the player, it's a nice detail that adds a lot. Exploring was fun, I only missed one log. Nice work!
daitli
11. Jan 2023 · 00:52 UTC
Very beautiful and interactive environment. I found it hard to remember all the keys to press, maybe adding a UI or tooltop that told you the keys other than the tutorial could be a most welcomed addition. Thanks for sharing, I had fun :)
KlinsmannHengles
11. Jan 2023 · 00:56 UTC
Great game! What engine did you use? The art style, mechanics, sounds, everything is so well done! Nice work.
Jajakeim
11. Jan 2023 · 01:21 UTC
Nice blend of retro/modern style. I'm not so fond of platforms game, but it got me hooked for a time. good job!
Lila Pause
11. Jan 2023 · 10:41 UTC
I really liked the atmosphere and storytelling. Unfortunately, the precision platforming sections felt more annoying than they did challenging, but other than that I liked the controls.
Antti Haavikko
11. Jan 2023 · 15:33 UTC
Cool!

![Screenshot 2023-01-11 at 17.02.02.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/561d8.png)

But since obviously missing a log is a deal breaker so again we go...

![Screenshot 2023-01-11 at 17.08.50.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/561d9.png)

Very solid work. Super stylized look and it works well. The swaying plants and lighting really brought the world alive. Some minor dithering issues here and there and some transparency glitches like this plant but nothing major and didn't really spoil the feel at all.

![Screenshot 2023-01-11 at 17.15.32.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/561da.png)

The controls were on point! Mega generous coyote air you got there, it never blocks you from jumping when just falling off. No wonder I didn't really mess up any jumps for that reason. Oh but overall I did mess quite a few jump. Can't blame the controls really, they were tight enough. But those death beams were brutal! I often took several hits when just getting hit once because of the knocks and then there were some instant death traps where you couldn't even get out anymore like this one where you just kept bouncing between the beams.

![Screenshot 2023-01-11 at 17.20.07.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/561dc.png)

Well dying wasn't really a punishment but losing the logs and needing to backtrack again for those wasn't that much fun. And in my opinion the logs should disappear from the world just like the items do, as you can always just get back to them on your PDA. Do the kids nowadays even know what PDA is? On repeated runs closing it with P felt awkward. Could have been just like the final door at least that you could just git Z again to continue playing.

The 2.5D aspect really made my misjudge my jumps in places like these at first and I kept hitting my head. But then I got used to just staring at the "front bits" and judging my position from there. Which didn't really like to fit to my head as usually you'd think the character is in the middle of the z-axis.

![Screenshot 2023-01-11 at 16.53.32.png](///raw/1e4/3/z/561e1.png)

Really would have needed some music or some ambience at least. That could have fit the mood too I guess. The sound effects already had some variation it them it seems, nice touch, often overlooked.

And finally a comic relief...

https://youtu.be/5KL7M6p41wA

Good job! 👍
Maytch
12. Jan 2023 · 01:14 UTC
I did it!

![abundance.png](///raw/680/51/z/5632c.png)

I love the art style you've got there, the 3d perspective and especially the lighting. It made me want to keep going. I got stuck at the jumping sections wondering if I was meant to go that way yet, but I powered through. Excellent game!
jeremyfa
12. Jan 2023 · 16:18 UTC
The game looks superb, unfortunately the Z and C keys don't seem to do anything. Is it because I'm using a mac keyboard? I wish I could actually play it 🥺
🎤 Aurel300
12. Jan 2023 · 17:22 UTC
@jward @coke @goldenxd @jajakeim @lila-pause @maytch Thanks for playing!

@zwodahs Well done. It feels like 2 logs are indeed harder to get than most. Maybe I'll release a spoiler-ful map for the game.

@silentphil Thanks! F pressers? :D

@zahkros Yeah, I should have used another button, or allowed multiple controls (just like the movement scheme).

@hmrpf Hah yeah, I think I made the protagonist accidentally a bit like Conrad.

@joshedev Maybe there originally was meant to be a (late-game) reason for the vine cutting, but you know :) I'm also glad I kept it.

@daitli Yeah, maybe a controls summary tab on the PDA would have been good!

@klinsmannhengles Thanks! The engine is my own, mostly just WebGL and shader set up on top of Haxe. I also spent maybe a day this jam setting up shadow maps for the light effects ^^

@antti-haavikko Thanks for the review! Re: the graphics glitches, I didn't even notice this transparency one, whoops. By dithering I guess you mean shadow acne? I noticed than and partially solved it by casting three different lights from the player at slight offsets, but I couldn't get rid of it completely. I'm glad you noticed the coyote air, I made sure to implement it properly this time :D I remember you were upset in your Levitatium comment that it didn't work (but actually there was exactly 1 frame of falling *before* the coyote time was allowed). I didn't notice that particular death zone, I even hoped the bounces + iframes were generous to the player in most cases. Re: the logs, it's only the items (knife, double jump, suit) that need to be picked up again, the logs remain in your PDA. Re: the 2.5D aspect, yeah, I can see how it is a bit confusing. It is a bit clearer when the camera is always centred on the player, but then it is harder to set up separate "rooms", everything feels a bit more mixed together. The player is in the very front with the actual terrain because that's the layer that is pixel perfect, and I would have hated to see the sprites get squashed in ugly ways. I guess I could have had a bit of "3D" also in front of the player and made the middle layer be pixel perfect. Next time :)

@jeremyfa Thanks! Sorry to ask but, have you already collected the knife before hitting C? I listed the full controls in the game description but at the beginning of the game you can only jump with X. When you find a log or item the game lets you press Z (or Y on a QWERTZ keyboard).
jeremyfa
12. Jan 2023 · 17:34 UTC
@aurel300 Ah I see, I probably didn't have the knife yet. But the Z key didn't work anyway. I'm using an AZERTY keyboard. I tried to use US (QUERTY) keyboard layout as well but didn't have much luck. I'll try again with a US layout to be sure
🎤 Aurel300
12. Jan 2023 · 17:41 UTC
@jeremyfa I think the keys should be, regardless of the keyboard layout, the three bottom-left keys. On QWERTY keyboards, that's ZXC, on QWERTZ that's YXC, on AZERTY that should be WXC.
Antti Haavikko
12. Jan 2023 · 18:00 UTC
Haha, 1 frame of coyote air doesn't even count! Yeah the lack of it is often noticed when there is enough big jumps or precision needed. Even if the players don't really notice it, it makes it feel so much better. Well actually, if it's unnoticed completely and jumps being hard not complained about, then it has served it's purpose perfectly I guess.

Yeah shadow acne and some weird light/shadow bleeding where it really shouldn't (I guess). And some weird colored pixels on corners at least. But yeah, didn't make it look bad per se, could have been sold as an artistic choice too. 😜
Antti Haavikko
12. Jan 2023 · 18:01 UTC
@jeremyfa At least on QWERTY mac they work just fine. You gotta be close to something to pick up for Z to work and gotta have the knife for C.
jeremyfa
12. Jan 2023 · 18:07 UTC
@aurel300 Thanks it works! The game and the graphics are amazing for such short time!
Phillip Scott
12. Jan 2023 · 18:55 UTC
This was great - got softlocked into a death bouncing between vertical lasers, but PDA, storytelling and atmosphere were all really well done.

Platforming felt really tight with some jump requiring high precision but the game was very forgiving and edged towards rage but never massively close to it.

Thanks and well done!
![image_2023-01-12_185550705.png](///raw/123/b3/z/5648c.png)
chompdev
13. Jan 2023 · 06:01 UTC
Such a cool little adventure game! Very impressive for a weekend jam. The lighting and interactivity with the vines is fantastic. The hidden secrets all over the place really encourages exploration and taking a close look at your surroundings. The opening credits at the beginning are such a nice touch, too. Reminds me of a Kojima game intro.

I really like having the hint text permanently displayed outside the playable area, too. Great idea having multiple save points around the more difficult energy beam areas, and the flickering "Warning" holograms posted periodically. A lot of these things are small details, but they add up to a really solid, polished game. Great work all around!
kuviman
13. Jan 2023 · 17:20 UTC
good game

![gg.png](///raw/7e3/32/z/565ee.png)
Artyom Volkov
13. Jan 2023 · 18:59 UTC
Visuals and story looks interesting. But I'm bad at your games, as I stuck at the second camp and can't get my head round where to go next. :(
Accatosh
13. Jan 2023 · 19:34 UTC
Cool game! The art is really good and the story is interesting. Good job on making this much content! I wish that you could play this in fullscreen though.
🎤 Aurel300
13. Jan 2023 · 22:25 UTC
@phillip-scott @chompdev Thanks for playing!

@kuviman I fixed the crash you discovered during the stream :)

@tricky-fat-cat I added a link to a (spoiler-ful!) [full map](https://ludum.thenet.sk/ld52/minimap.png) of the game, if that helps :)

@accatosh You can, the fullscreen button is "U", or you can also enable fullscreen from the options menu in the PDA.
Accatosh
13. Jan 2023 · 23:56 UTC
@aurel300, oh I missed that! Thank you!
Lomby
14. Jan 2023 · 03:40 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game on the stream!
Here’s the start of your game if you wanted to re-watch initial thoughts youtu.be/OTjgGbVpf7g?t=1697

Great work on including a full story, great level design, and cool visuals! Such a polished game, congrats!
Artyom Volkov
14. Jan 2023 · 08:38 UTC
@aurel300 interesting, will try yet again, but I feel that some jumps are not that obvious
Ava Skoog
21. Jan 2023 · 19:24 UTC
Really good! Since it kept track of my time I can tell you that it took me about 20 minutes 👀 Got stuck for a while after getting the double jump because it was so hard to get back and not die on the power lines but after that it was smooth sailing again.

Super impressive how much you got done. Not a bad metroidvania, nice sound and graphics, cool story and mechanics. Logs were really neat, tho I wish they'd been sorted by date rather than type 😅 Ending felt a bit lacking but I can't imagine you had much time left to work on it after all of the other stuff!

Great atmosphere with the lighting and the sound effects and environmental storytelling alongside the logs. Some music or ambient track would've made it even better of course. Platforming felt fine but the control scheme was a bit wonky, with the P key needed to close the PDA yet so far away from everything else. Since you could also jump with up or space I didn't use X for it, so putting the PDA there instead might've been better.

Overall a very well done game, congrats! 🌿
M2tias
27. Jan 2023 · 17:46 UTC
Such an interesting art style. Works for me :)
The game was so frustrating though. I'll try it again when I'm not too tired to read throught the logs.