Cordyception by Rakthalekk

[raw]
made by Rakthalekk for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

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Description:

Play as the parasitic fungal witch Cordy in this puzzle-platformer! Possess the bodies of helpless bugs to gain new abilities and complete puzzles.

As a fungus, Cordy can only survive on dirt and grass blocks. Touching stone will kill her as there is nowhere for the mycelium to spread.

Each bug has a primary and secondary ability-- the secondary ability may be used multiple times, but the primary ability will kill the bug as it exerts the last of its energy.

Play in Broswer: https://rakthalekk.itch.io/cordyception

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Controls:

| Action | Input | | --- | --- | | Movement | Arrow Keys / WASD | | Jump | Up / W / SPACE | | Possess/Unpossess | Z / Shift | | Primary Ability (single use) | X / J | | Secondary Ability (multi use) | C / K | | Reset | R |

Bug Abilities:

| Bug Type | Primary Ability (Single Use) | Secondary Ability (Multi use) | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Hopper | High Jump | Push Block | | | Roller | Wall Climb | Ball Up / Un-Ball Up | - Ball form makes immune to poison, but cannot jump | | Worm | Excavate Dirt | Dig | - Excavate dirt destroys a continuous row of dirt, stopping at air or rock - Dig allows the worm to swim through dirt |

Notes and Tips:

  • When un-posessing a bug, you have a slight upward boost like a "double jump"
  • Similarly, when un-possessing bugs also retain a bit of their original momentum
  • Abilities like Wall Climb and Excavate Dirt require being against a wall
  • The player cannot survive on stone unless they are either possessing a bug or also touching dirt

Gameplay Demo (Contains Spoilers!):

https://youtu.be/gJasvmTob5k

OST Upload:

https://youtu.be/mLObcWddRQ8

Ratings

Overall 296th 3.798⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Fun 515th 3.444⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 320th 3.566⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Theme 236th 4.028⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 187th 4.255⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Audio 84th 4⭐ 57🧑‍⚖️
Humor 643th 2.848⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Mood 397th 3.686⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Given 58🗳️ 85🗨️

Feedback

MisterCarson
07. Oct 2024 · 22:54 UTC
I really like the graphics on this game, especially the little creatures, they look really good. However the game felt really floaty in a bad way. With the amount of restarting I had to do, it got a little frustrating because I had to start over my solution which most of the time devolved into waiting to fall. The puzzles feel like they didn't have a clear solution. One of the puzzles I skipped a whole bug because they served no purpose. Another one required me to push things in mid-air to solve. Maybe I'm stupid but trying to find obtuse solutions where I only had one chance for each bug caused me to restart a lot. This paired with the floatiness, made the game feel really tedious. The early puzzles are fun and I really enjoy the aesthetic of the game, however the late levels however feel very tedious and punishing
SMoore
07. Oct 2024 · 22:56 UTC
Really freak with da vibe. The puzzles and the different abilities the creatures had were fun to figure out but kinda wish the burrow ability with that that one creature had was utilized more but also definitely cheesed a level cause you can launch urself out of the burrow which goes against the not being able to jump part. Also think it's very punishing to miss a big jump with the caterpillar dude since it's a one time thing that requires more precision than the other mechanics. Sound and music design is peak! Really chill tho!
Loveschach
09. Oct 2024 · 04:04 UTC
Dang, I love jamming with the music here I was singing along!
SpiRiTs
09. Oct 2024 · 04:13 UTC
The concept of possessing a bug to use its abilities like higher jumps, rolling on walls, and pushing obstacles was fantastic. I absolutely loved the art—it was amazing—and the music fit perfectly with the map environment. The only thing is that the puzzles were a bit too hard for me. Some parts required using abilities and jumping or pushing at the same time, which was tough to do. But overall, I really enjoyed everything about the game!
Ronn Fever
09. Oct 2024 · 04:38 UTC
What a cool game - it really reminds of the old NES Little Nemo game where you took over monsters to get their powers. Not quite the same aesthetic, but still kind of close, in that you guys made such a whimsical and magical world to travel though. Great game. Great puzzles.
hotaloca
09. Oct 2024 · 05:54 UTC
The basic concept is indeed very interesting and i can see how this could become very interesting as you can use different animals for different solutions... The art is really nice and cute and the music/sfx felt right too. Congrats, really nice entry.
mdsalomon
09. Oct 2024 · 06:11 UTC
Real professional work here, the art, music, theming in general is excellent. I love the concept of a cordyceps witch and all the mechanics that can sprout from that. The idea of using different creatures to alter your abilities works really well and lends itself to some interesting solutions, even if I took a while (and a couple of resets) to realize that one of the abilities always killed the creatures. Movement is a bit too slow and inexact in certain parts(jumping with the witch, digging as the worm), but there's a really great base to explore. This could easily be expanded into a full-sized game.
Juutis
09. Oct 2024 · 07:19 UTC
This is an absolutely fantastic entry. Awesome visuals and audio. I loved the detail where the bugs would get the parasite antennae whenever you possessed them.

The controls were decent - just a tad floaty. They could be a bit tighter. Dying when stepping on stones seemed like an unnecessary (or maybe underused?) mechanic that kinda served no purpose but to frustrate the player. Maybe there could've been some puzzles where the mechanic is utilized more? Also, some of the puzzles were very tricky and I think I solved some of them (eg. the second to last) in unintended ways.

These are very minor gripes, though, and overall you have a very _very_ good and polished jam entry here.
Emaigualmc2_art
09. Oct 2024 · 14:35 UTC
Beautiful pixel art! I really liked the designs and assets, I think the only thing that confuses me a little is the parallax effect of the levels, I think they move too much, I think it would be more justified if the scenarios were longer horizontally (a simple detail xD). As for the mechanics, I find it very uncomfortable that the action key is Z, which on my keyboard is very uncomfortable and difficult to access. I think the classic E or R would be better. Great job!
Webberiel
09. Oct 2024 · 14:48 UTC
Nice graphics and cool mechanics. I think hitboxes of deadly rocks is unclear when you playing as human. Overall nice game!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:10 UTC
@mistercarson thanks for the review! I can definitely see the floatiness being something that could be toned down a bit, but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:12 UTC
@smoore glad you enjoyed the game! The worm burrow was definitely a mechanic I would've liked to have more time to build upon, as it was one of my favorites to implement, but with how strong it is we definitely ended up having to limit it some. If this game became larger later on I'd absolutely want to build on it further though!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:13 UTC
@loveschach right? I loved the music our musician made for this game, its so catchy!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:17 UTC
@spirits thanks for the compliments! We def ended up ramping the puzzle difficulty fairly quickly since we only had limited time to make them, but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:19 UTC
Ooh @ronn-fever I hadn't heard of Little Nemo before but it looks really interesting! I'm glad you enjoyed!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:20 UTC
@mdsalomon thanks! would def be a good idea to look for more ways to clarify the kill-on-use ability. But it is definitely the type of game that would be fun to expand on!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:21 UTC
@juutis thanks for the review! there's definitely some tweaking that could be done on some of the puzzles/mechanics, but really glad that you enjoyed it!
Blazejmg917
09. Oct 2024 · 15:23 UTC
@emaigualmc2-art glad you liked the game! we set up z as the default for use in a arrow keys/zxc control scheme, we also have shift as an option for the interaction if you prefer wasd! If we had more time I definitely would've liked to get the on-screen controls to update to match your control scheme
Thomas Gelman
09. Oct 2024 · 15:26 UTC
@loveschach I just want you to know your comment absolutely made my day!
LDJam user 340465
09. Oct 2024 · 19:48 UTC
Adore the overall vibes this game has! I found it a bit challenging with the overall movement feel, and the controls are a bit tricky to get the hang of (in my case at least!), found myself accidentally jumping with the bug instead of pushing, but very interesting puzzles!
Thomas Gelman
09. Oct 2024 · 19:57 UTC
@jonaso Thanks so much for the review! Sorry you had trouble with the movement, it could definitely be tighter in general and in our attempt to accommodate both WASD users and Arrow Keys users we may have unintentionally created some confusion about controls. If we had more time I would have loved for our UI to swap to reflect which control-scheme you were using!
EnchaeC
10. Oct 2024 · 00:05 UTC
Very nice mood and as a pixel artist I really enjoyed all the animations. I agree with a lot of the sentiment above and feel like the mechanics could be introduced in more obvious ways with some easier puzzles early on, but overall it was very enjoyable. Good job : )
PhoenixStroh
10. Oct 2024 · 01:31 UTC
very nice puzzle game! i was truly stumped on a few of them, and i felt genuinely smart after solving them! the pixel art aesthetic is very pretty, and the concept is great. overall nice work!
Blazejmg917
10. Oct 2024 · 04:12 UTC
@enchaec thanks! I really like the work our artists did as well! and yeah if we had time to make a lot more levels we definitely could have introduced mechanics at a slower pace, but with the time we had we wanted to make sure people got to play more than just tutorial levels hahah. glad you enjoyed it!
Blazejmg917
10. Oct 2024 · 04:12 UTC
@phoenixstroh glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Zomk
10. Oct 2024 · 09:00 UTC
Very nice entry. I love the art and sound design. But I found the button layouts a little unintuitive.
Overall, you did a great job!
Alexascher
10. Oct 2024 · 09:21 UTC
Interesting and very cute game! liked lvldesign and mechanics of insects abilities
Andriana Mantidfly
10. Oct 2024 · 09:57 UTC
Surprisingly a very enjoyable game
LDJam user 268934
10. Oct 2024 · 14:06 UTC
I love the white outline; it gives off a sticker vibe! The music is well done, and the person who did your level design deserves a medal! The pixel art is clean and impressive, especially the worm design. Overall, it’s a super fun and polished game!
Thomas Gelman
10. Oct 2024 · 15:02 UTC
@zomk thanks for the review! Sorry you had trouble with the controls, the intent was to support WASD with Shift, J, and K and Arrow Keys with Z, X, and C, but since both can be used we may have caused some confusion. Appreciate the feedback! Glad you like the Audio :D

@alexascher Glad you had fun!

@andriana-mantidfly Glad to hear you enjoyed!

@senso Thanks for the review! I'm really happy with the way the visuals turned out too! And glad you like the music :D
EklBirifine
10. Oct 2024 · 21:11 UTC
the graphics are magnificent, made it very pleasent to play
Damien Black
11. Oct 2024 · 03:05 UTC
Beautiful game. Nice audio. Cool concept. I do think the platforming is really hard. Hitboxes are pretty unforgiving and some of the jumps are really tight.
Silas Reinagel
11. Oct 2024 · 04:17 UTC
The music is so beautiful! That's my favorite thing, by far!

That said, I also really like this interesting and different take on puzzle platforming. It presents a unique and fun challenge
Thomas Gelman
11. Oct 2024 · 04:43 UTC
@eklbirifine I know right! Our artists absolutely cooked with the assets.

@damien-black Thanks for the review! Glad you like the audio :D. Sorry you had trouble with the platforming though, I imagine you're talking about the stone here. That's a mechanic I wish we handled a little better personally. Appreciate the feedback!

@silas-reinagel Thanks for the nice feedback! Glad you enjoy the music :DD
Avi
11. Oct 2024 · 06:20 UTC
Loved the level design! Didnt even have to looko at the instructions, was able to just try out the levels and figure out what the critters do/work -- and your UI made that so clear :) Awesome work! Also love the game art and music :)
ellearx
11. Oct 2024 · 17:04 UTC
What a lovely game! Great art and music choice.
Ethernal Tech
11. Oct 2024 · 17:09 UTC
I loved the cute little creatures in the game, the art style is fantastic! :))
The aesthetic is super charming!
Great work overall!! <3
Nazariglez
11. Oct 2024 · 17:19 UTC
Great art and music! The bug possession mechanic is awesome, and the puzzles are fun. A bit tricky at times, but overall a fantastic job! Would love to see more! Gj!
Thomas Gelman
11. Oct 2024 · 18:27 UTC
@ellearx @ethernal-tech @nazariglez Thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed!
Thomas Gelman
11. Oct 2024 · 18:27 UTC
@ellearx @ethernal-tech @nazariglez Thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed!
Joshua_Reumann
11. Oct 2024 · 19:11 UTC
Good job on the game ;)
Calcopod
11. Oct 2024 · 20:44 UTC
I adore this pixelart style, it is stunning. The only complain I might have is, to me, the foreground and background layers bleed a bit too much into one another, especially with the parallax, but there were 0 actual issues this brought about.

As others mentioned, maybe the hitboxes were a tiiiinyyy bit too unforgiving, but, again, it didn't hinder the gameplay too much.

Great work!
Thomas Gelman
12. Oct 2024 · 02:14 UTC
@joshua-reumann Glad you had fun!

@calcopod Thanks for the feedback! The stone was meant to kill you if you were only standing on stone, so if you are partially standing on dirt you're safe, but if you're on the edge of stone hanging off a ledge it kills you, which definitely could have been used and communicated better overall. Glad you still had fun!
ladybenko
12. Oct 2024 · 07:37 UTC
Beautiful game!
crneumre
12. Oct 2024 · 15:16 UTC
Amazing game, really fun figuring out the puzzles even though some of them required a bit more time to figure out.
Beautiful art, amazing music great puzzles. Really solid entry!
paulhocker
12. Oct 2024 · 22:13 UTC
REally enjoyable game, with a nice twist on a familiar mechanic. Great game.
Euler Moises
15. Oct 2024 · 01:25 UTC
I really like this type of puzzle. Even more so with such beautiful art and a soundtrack that is so enjoyable to listen to.

Some stages were difficult, but overall it was an easy game.

I am surprised that such a well-made game was ready in just 3 days.

Congratulations for a great work!
Thomas Gelman
15. Oct 2024 · 05:34 UTC
@ladybenko @glaciereclipse @paulhocker @euler-moises Thanks for playing, glad you all had fun!
Calitoucourt
16. Oct 2024 · 16:47 UTC
Satisfaying game, good concept! Nice mechanics :)
Flightless
21. Oct 2024 · 13:28 UTC
Soo cute and well made :smiley:
I did get slightly nauseous from the parallax, not sure why.
LDJam user 276121
23. Oct 2024 · 22:50 UTC
Delightfully polished little experience and some unique takes on the puzzle formula. I might have moved the "kill the bug" power to the less-prominent input.
Yanato
24. Oct 2024 · 14:31 UTC
Very good! But worms are difficult to control:}
Wenyu Bao
25. Oct 2024 · 13:04 UTC
A very polished game, and it fits the theme perfectly!
But that worm is just so hard to control.
LDJam user 399892
25. Oct 2024 · 21:56 UTC
I really like the possession mechanic (especially as a fan of Abe's), and the graphics and music crate a really good ambience.