LudumData

The Monster Within by s-ol

[raw]
made by s-ol for LD33 (JAM)
​​The Monster Within is a 2d top-down action game. Your primary goal is to eliminate as many enemies (red) as possible, without harming civilians.
However your inner Monster is unleashed as soon as you kill someone, rendering you unable to differentiate between friends and foes - all you see are lives ready to be taken.

There are two scores, one for killing enemies, and one for killing humans. Will you triumph over your inner monster?

Controls
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LMB - Punch
RMB - Charge up / lunge (release) (​BEAST mode)​
WASD - move around

Credits
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Art - Stewartisme (@Stewartisme42)
Code - S0lll0s (https://s0lll0s.me, @S0lll0s)
Music - Ericy Matyas (http://soundimage.org)
itch.io download http://s0lll0s.itch.io/the-monster-within/download/FmC8JJcCO3KrI2R6FH97KcVU2008944Yb498Fvd9
itch.io (page) http://s0lll0s.itch.io/the-monster-within
source https://github.com/S0lll0s/ld33
post-mortem https://s-ol.nu/blog/2015/08-25/ludum-dare-33-postmortem/
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=28620

Ratings

Coolness 72% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.28 466
Audio(Jam) 3.32 292
Fun(Jam) 2.89 654
Graphics(Jam) 3.21 605
Innovation(Jam) 3.18 395
Mood(Jam) 3.35 351
Theme(Jam) 3.71 318

Feedback

Karai17
25. Aug 2015 · 02:48 UTC
The difference between human and beast mode was confusing. Could you explain it better?
S0lll0s
25. Aug 2015 · 03:18 UTC
in Beast mode everyone looks the same, you cannot differentiate between enemies and friendlies anymore - you only see souls to kill. As the beast your attack range is higher and you can lunge forward to eliminate enemies more quickly.
Vycerys
25. Aug 2015 · 05:19 UTC
Solid job! Like the concept.
wg_phancock
25. Aug 2015 · 07:25 UTC
Different between beast and human score was initially confusing. Then again, that fits the theme well, a black box morality system.
block97
25. Aug 2015 · 13:24 UTC
Cool game idea, like the use of a dash (lunge) in a top down game. Had some difficulty understanding beast/human. Overall solid game. Congrats
charliecarlo
25. Aug 2015 · 13:50 UTC
It was fun although I didn't really like the mechanic where everyone turns into ghosts; it requires some ridiculous amount of memorization in order to get a good score, so I just ran around punching everyone indiscriminately.
S0lll0s
25. Aug 2015 · 14:22 UTC
charliecarlo, that is exactly the intention of the mode; you turn into a berzerking beast and just kill anyone, regardless of whether you should. That's why there are two scores and why your "evil side" probably won that round :)
keddelzz
25. Aug 2015 · 15:16 UTC
I like the concept, the art is nice and I killed 50 innocent souls! - Cool game!
NineBears
25. Aug 2015 · 18:50 UTC
My first run through had me mercilessly killing everything, and I got a pretty good score on both fronts! Just give into the rage!
Kakureta
25. Aug 2015 · 18:51 UTC
The game is a bit confusing at first but it's still a cool concept!
CrunchyKingCrimson
25. Aug 2015 · 18:57 UTC
I like your take on the concept, I played through twice and got both results. Controls were smooth and I liked lunging around, although I was a little confused as to which people counted as civilians or not since the white guys were only a few shades paler than civilians.
Windmill Games
25. Aug 2015 · 19:37 UTC
I like the concept a lot, not being able to tell the good guys apart from the bad guys is an interesting way of turning the player into a monster, both innovative and fun!

The visuals are also very nice and coherent. Great job! :)
nassi
26. Aug 2015 · 17:15 UTC
Aww, from the description I thought that an AI would take over after I killed someone, meaning that I had to do it isolated from the "good guys" so as to not kill them :P. The idea of two different scores was interesting, but I feel like the gameplay didn't fully support it. Whenever I wanted to only kill the baddies I focused on two or three enemies each time I was going to turn and then just waited for the meter to go down.
SKT
26. Aug 2015 · 20:33 UTC
Nice atmosphere and audio, graphics are fine. I ended up killing everyone because I am the monster after all ! 495-1010, so evil allows you to score the highest numbers, but is this the point of the game ?
The theme is respected, although I would have liked the beast mode to have more feedback effects !
Macecraft
26. Aug 2015 · 20:48 UTC
I tried playing it with two playstyles, the evil and the good way. Playing evil doesn't really have much challenge, as you can just kill everyone and hope you get a high score. Playing good is really slow, you have to wait for the beast mode to run out to make sure you only kill the red people. Graphics and sounds are neat and suitable to the theme.
aeai
26. Aug 2015 · 20:55 UTC
Really cool concept, i liked it:) I killed a bunch of civilians before I realized what's going on :P
undef
26. Aug 2015 · 22:45 UTC
Evil has gotten the better of me. :)
KaiseanGames
30. Aug 2015 · 06:23 UTC
Very nice concept. One has to remember who was who.
Gamepopper
01. Sep 2015 · 18:19 UTC
Really good idea that relies a lot on memory than hitting everything. Also really love the ominous music.
bossmojoman
02. Sep 2015 · 19:40 UTC
Nice, the mechanic of switching between beast and human was hard to understand though.
ZNCatlaw
03. Sep 2015 · 18:42 UTC
Strange! You didn't give any clues as to why the red ones are worth points, but I found out by experimenting. I like the mechanic, because it means you have to find red ones clumped together and then try to remember who was who. My highest human score was 160 : 90 I think.

I think this isn't very "fun" as it stands, but the mood is very well established and I think you could make it more engaging without too much work. Good job!
Drauthius
05. Sep 2015 · 08:46 UTC
Game played well and felt smooth, except when transforming because I was frozen for a few seconds. Nice graphics and sound.
Jupiter_Hadley
05. Sep 2015 · 15:24 UTC
Well made game! I included it in part 16 of my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/aXZw1Jpw2JA
LukeZaz
12. Sep 2015 · 22:15 UTC
Good little game! Would've liked to see human mode a bit more, but fun nonetheless!
Lafolie
14. Sep 2015 · 13:10 UTC
Quite enjoyed this entry. The mechanic of not being able to recognise friend from foe in 'beast mode' is very clever. Really enjoyed playing with that mechanic. Audio was a little overpowering, but sounded great and created a tense atmosphere.