[GEWJ] - Time Loop

[skydereign]

Here's SuperSonic's and my submission for the first jam. It was a little too epic of an idea for a contest like this given our schedules, but it's quite fun. This isn't in game demos as we aren't releasing the source. Currently this is in early alpha, and we are definitely going to pursue this game, as it is truly promising. Due to the time limit, I had to throw together a working level, and the overall connection to the theme of this jam is almost loss.

[edit]Bugs fixed, so the game should be playable, tested on mac and linux. Run the loader file to play the game.
Though windows still seems to have problems...[/edit]

Time Loop (tentative title) is an exploration type game in which you are given an objective upon spawning (not in this version sadly). You can explore the world trying to accomplish your objective, and will come across many other requests and tasks. You only have a small amount of time to accomplish your task, and after the time is up, the world is reset. But, the actions you took in the previous game loop shape how the world is in the next (called consequences). The only consequence in this version of the game is if you kill a person, the next time around they are dead, and are replaced by zombies. But upon another game loop, they'll be back to their cheery selves.

Other consequences we planned (but didn't implement in this) are if you kill the king, the world appears darker and the knights are evil, killing a cat would lead to all cats becoming vicious and maul you, destroying a house leaves the resident homeless, and many many more. In the full version there'll be a master list of consequences reaped, and objectives accomplished. The goal of the game is to have fun, and complete the list.

Because we weren't able to get it quite as finished as we'd like, I've uploaded my map editor for people to mess around with. Be warned it is far from perfect, but I couldn't spend all my time working on it to iron out all the problems. To note, place the player spawner in room -1 otherwise you won't be able to play your own maps (forgot to change that back). Also, if you are using the map editor, it will overwrite the default map file (so you might want to make a copy of it). Controls for the editor as follows.

Place an object: click an empty space.
Change object type: click the object type you want on the top right.
Remove an object: right click.
Move an object: shift click/drag.
Change the appearance of the selected object: right/left.
Change the state of the selected object (only works for destructibles): shift right/left
Link two doors: select the first door and tab click the door it connects to.
Deselect the object: click the flashing object.
Move the view: deselect a non-door object then use the arrow keys).

Change room for future objects: page up/down (function up/down arrow on mac).
Change display text of signs (if you want the signs to say BRAINS!!! just set it to 5): set action via home/end (function left/right arrow on mac).
Make a villager respawn as a zombie when killed: set action to 1 (=/- keys to toggle action).

Save the map (as file testmap): space
Load testmap (only load upon startup): control

The object types are tiles/spawners/doors/destructibles. The spawners will spawn different types of enemies, as they appear. As I mentioned above, make sure the player's spawn actor is in room -1.

I believe that about covers it. The game controls are covered in the actual game file. Enjoy.
http://www.mediafire.com/?go529eq22w6d3s7

Judging

Anyone, regardless of participation or not, is allowed to judge the games. Judging will take place for one and a half weeks after the jam ends. Judging takes place by responding to these categories with a score of 1-10; 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest score.

1. Fun: How fun was it to play the game?
2. Ingenuity: How well were the resources used and how interestingly were they assembled together?
3. Theme: How well does the the game apply to the theme?
4. Creativity: Did you experience something new in the game that you had never experienced before?
5. Graphics: How good does the game look?
6. Audio: How good does the game sound?
7. Overall: Your overall opinion of the game.

We'd also love to your initial thoughts on the game (first few minutes), and any criticism/critique/compliments you have.

[Hblade]

Amazing idea!
1: Seems cool, but the level wasn't developing right or something. Couldn't get pass the sign that said "press Space to jump", just falling into empty void after that.
2: Very well, and very interesting.
3: Seems it could go with the story very well. ?
4: Yes, the type of signs. That was interesting.
5: Awesome, pixel styled.
6: Didn't hear any audio O3o Used linux. Also used wine but was running Firefox and videos were playing, so the music wouldn't play.
7: Fantastic idea, the game for me was bugged out pretty bad though. But this is going to be amazing if it ever gets finished.


Request:
Could I use these type of signs in my game? Like, when you hover around it, the message pops up? I like that.

[skydereign]

Well, I edited my above post. There are some bugs in the exported version, I'm seeing if I can get it working enough to play. I suggest you use the level editor to make a new map (that still works as long as you don't use doors). Also we didn't have time to implement any audio, sadly. And sure, that kind of sign isn't too uncommon, and it's quite convenient.

-Edit
The problems should be fixed now.

[phyzix5761]

Wow! I really liked this game! I definitely got the gist of the theme and the coolest part, for me, was that you could break items in the environment (like the signs).

You guys did a terrific job!

Scores:

1. Fun: 7
2. Ingenuity: 5
3. Theme: 4
4. Creativity : 7
5. Graphics: 8
6: Audio: 1
7: Overall: 7

[Hblade]

Amazing. How did you get the objects to flash white, are they different sprites?

[SuperSonic]

Thanks guys for your responses ^^

Wow! I really liked this game! I definitely got the gist of the theme and the coolest part, for me, was that you could break items in the environment (like the signs).

You guys did a terrific job!

Scores:

1. Fun: 7
2. Ingenuity: 5
3. Theme: 4
4. Creativity : 7
5. Graphics: 8
6: Audio: 1
7: Overall: 7

Yay! We got a good score xD

Amazing. How did you get the objects to flash white, are they different sprites?

All of the destructibles are one complete spritesheet with their four states (normal, hit, broken, and completely gone) =D

[Hblade]

Thanks guys for your responses ^^

Wow! I really liked this game! I definitely got the gist of the theme and the coolest part, for me, was that you could break items in the environment (like the signs).

You guys did a terrific job!

Scores:

1. Fun: 7
2. Ingenuity: 5
3. Theme: 4
4. Creativity : 7
5. Graphics: 8
6: Audio: 1
7: Overall: 7

Yay! We got a good score xD

Amazing. How did you get the objects to flash white, are they different sprites?

All of the destructibles are one complete spritesheet with their four states (normal, hit, broken, and completely gone) =D

Oh I see.
I rate this an 8 so far When completed: We'll see I'm excited about this.

[SuperSonic]

Me too ^^

I'm gonna make sure to make the graphics better for the final release xD

We also have some good ideas for the consequence system. If Sky wants to, I'll let him share them with you guys

[Hblade]

Awesome Thanks,
and yeah, I'm --completely-- remaking almost everything about Crescent. Almost.. Your going to be able to customize the player... I HOPE xD

[SuperSonic]

and yeah, I'm --completely-- remaking almost everything about Crescent. Almost.. Your going to be able to customize the player... I HOPE xD

Oh that sounds so fun! I wanna see that ^^

So, does anyone have ideas that me and sky could add to this game?

[Hblade]

Sure ‎( ・ω・)

Double jump would be nice, and so would angled attacks. While in the air, you can strike down up left or right, but while on the ground, maybe strike only left and right?

amd hehe, I dunno if I'll have time to work on it any time soon ^^

[skydereign]

Yeah in the next version you'll be able to attack in 4 directions when in the air, and up/left/right when on the ground. There will also be a consequence you can get that allows you to shoot beams. And I'm not too sure about double jump, but I'll see how it handles in the game.

[Hblade]

Yeah in the next version you'll be able to attack in 4 directions when in the air, and up/left/right when on the ground. There will also be a consequence you can get that allows you to shoot beams. And I'm not too sure about double jump, but I'll see how it handles in the game.

Okay, oh and another thing Fix that bug where if your falling you can still jump if you walked off an edge.

[skydereign]

That's not a bug, I left it there on purpose. I like the smaller jump it gives, mostly because of the animation, but it also provides some fine tuned movement for those that know how to do it. In fact I plan to use it to get to secret places you couldn't go to before.

[Hblade]

Oh cool then