Rat Souls: The Ferryrat by Kristian Kurktchiev

[raw]
made by Kristian Kurktchiev for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

Embark on a long journey, riding along the Styx Sewer and exploring the depths of the underworld. Relive the lives of the poor rat souls you must deliver to the land of the dead, for you are the the Ferryrat, and that is your job.

Credits: Kristian Kurktchiev - Programming Jamina Bach - Art Laurent Voisard - Programming Nami Sabet - Music

intro.PNG gameplay.PNG bombastic.png

Ratings

Overall 1134th 2.848⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1204th 2.324⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1187th 2.364⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1067th 3.206⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 987th 2.824⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Audio 400th 3.515⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 762th 3.333⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 40🗳️ 63🗨️

Feedback

the neon shark
02. May 2023 · 01:32 UTC
Good mood and interesting take on the theme: Delivering of a Soul. The gameplay itself seems secondary to the narrative of this piece, and I think that's the right choice for this genre. My only comment on the visuals here is that the lane hopping it too jarring -- would love that to be a smooth animation. Nice work.
LDJam user 299757
02. May 2023 · 01:41 UTC
Really fun game! I like the narrative and the infinite runner mixed with exploration and choices. Very good game! Also, quick question, how did you get the outline on some of your objects edges (i.e. the tunnel edges/corners or the edge of the water)? Is it the texture you used on the objects or did you use a shader? I wanted to have a similar style in a game I was working on a while, but I wasn't able to pull it off.
LarryV
02. May 2023 · 01:46 UTC
@triangle-point Thanks for the feedback! Yeah that outline things adds a lot to the look of the game, we used post-processing (shaders) to achieve this. Thanks for playing!
Weston Goggins
02. May 2023 · 01:47 UTC
Really excellent game. The mood is really on point and the gameplay, while simple, doesn't interfere with the theming.
LDJam user 299757
02. May 2023 · 01:51 UTC
@larryv Ok, thank you so much for that tip! I might try to work on the project again with that in mind, really I can't thank you enough! You pulled it off so well in your game!
Hahaamjoker
02. May 2023 · 02:21 UTC
Pretty creative take on the theme. I quite enjoyed the game, though I might be biased as I am a huge fan of Biggie Cheese. Good stuff and as always, stay bombastic.
redratted
02. May 2023 · 02:35 UTC
Nice Game, biggie cheese makes me erect, cock turgid for lyfe
Quinnster
02. May 2023 · 03:07 UTC
Very interesting concept! The gameplay was pretty simple and not super original, however that was definitely made up for in the story department.
Arikan
02. May 2023 · 03:16 UTC
Simple and On Point! Yeah i like it
Rjdrag
02. May 2023 · 03:31 UTC
I wish there was something to collect in the tunnels, just a thought.
Adam Gallina
02. May 2023 · 04:09 UTC
I agree with the last comment - the lane hopping was pretty jarring. Overall I really liked the art style of the game, nice job!
Blueanoli
02. May 2023 · 07:16 UTC
It's a very moody game. Poor souls ;_; That makes me sad. Awesome entry!
benk
02. May 2023 · 07:30 UTC
the highlight for me was the atmosphere of the game, especially the music, but i also really liked the art aesthetic, palette/fog. having some lore running through it is what made me want to keep playing to the end.

some nice additional touches could have been:
- smooth camera (ideally smooth character movement too), as others have said.
- faint bobbing animation that matches with the sound, slow in the foyer and faster in the tunnels.
- something to distinguish the gameplay.
- a way to make dialogue go faster (on subsequent runs at least), or something to do while the dialogue is scrolling.

nice job though!
MorePixels
02. May 2023 · 12:07 UTC
Was an interesting game! Wish the 3 lane runner areas were a little more difficult as i found them quite simple. Also a smooth transition between the lanes would be cool just to feel that little bit nicer.
Savolae
02. May 2023 · 15:42 UTC
Good take on the theme, something not so literal for a change. Nice mood and simple gameplay. Maybe could have used something extra during the tunnel parts.
LarryV
02. May 2023 · 15:48 UTC
@the-neon-shark @rjdrag @adam-gallina @blueanoli @benk @morepixels @savolae
Thank you all for the feedback!

A lot of you pointed out that the sewer pipe levels needed a lil extra and you are all right about this :)
The idea of those were to change the pace of the game so that the player doesn't get bored from all the text reading. A little extra challenge and more fun gameplay would definitely go a long way.

Thank you all for playing and leaving feedback! <3
tomz_best
02. May 2023 · 17:27 UTC
Interesting take on the theme and great sound design
Congeesetador
02. May 2023 · 17:59 UTC
This was a pretty nice game if I do say so myself, it was very relaxing and the music was super soothing to listen to, the game is mainly meant for a relaxing time which is great, but I would have found it interesting if different areas had different obstacles or you move faster in those areas, but overall this was a really nice game! Keep up the good work!
blobo
02. May 2023 · 18:27 UTC
I think the difficulty grew a little too slowly. I like the minigame, but there should be more variety.

The story, however, was amazing. I loves all the experiences the rats had. I think the lab rat was my favorite, in terms of writing. It's sad, and depressing, and you really perfected the mood.

I recorded myself playing to provide as much feedback as possible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjxFRZrLmo
Sava Tsurkanu
02. May 2023 · 18:39 UTC
Good mood! I like the music and calm gameplay, gives me chills. Very good take on a theme though!
LarryV
02. May 2023 · 19:09 UTC
@100th-coin yeah watching you going through the tunnels was painful, difficulty/variety is much needed. Thanks for the feedback
ruruie
02. May 2023 · 23:56 UTC
Fascinating and moody. I do think the sewer minigame needs a bit more game in it, but on the other hand, maybe it's not the sort of thing that needs game at all. I think it's really well done for what it is actually.
Ninnec
05. May 2023 · 04:29 UTC
Very cool take on theme
chompdev
06. May 2023 · 02:29 UTC
Wow, great work! This one gets a 5/5 Mood rating from me because you did a great job eliminating anything that would take away from the atmosphere and story exposition here. I think for a jam game, you scoped this really well and were just able to focus on the writing, character development, and interesting animated scenes between each tunnel choice.

The writing was very well done, and the music is excellent too. I like how it drip-feeds the player little details as you make progress, rather than having a big lore dump at the start/end of a delivery. Very nicely executed on all fronts - you guys deserve a great score!

![3.PNG](///raw/044/42/z/5b6fd.png)
yoddaa
20. May 2023 · 10:51 UTC
very nice endless runner concept.