The World Eater
Controls:
WASD: Up, Down, Left, Right to move main character around map.
E: Command Black Hole To move to mouse.
Z: Command Black to go to player.
Game Goal:
So, you've unleashed a black hole and need to get it under control. However, this black hole is particularly moody. When purple, it will follow your mouse pointer when you use the E-key spell. When blue, it's confused and erratic, going in all directions. The scariest is its orange form, which shows the black hole is angry at its creator and chases you around the map. Can you control it long enough to devour the whole country?
Lore:
Choose between the mad scientist Jim “Singularity” Darkness or the enthusiast witch Lilly “Startaker” Fusion to try to control the beast. Beware, as it might easily get Out of control and destroy you or itself! As to manipulate the black hole, you will have to give it commands : Should it stay in place, where should it go, should it follow you… With these, ensure it is sufficiently nourished to survive as long as possible. But be careful to avoid the elements attracted by the black hole, as they might hurt you!
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The World Eater is our submission for the 2020’s GMTK Game Jam, themed “Out of Control”.
Team Lead: ApricotWTF
Game Design: ApricotWTF, chic5
Art by: Nanako Shu;
Code by: ApricotWTF, chic5, Frord;
Music by: Massimiliano.vi
Scenario by: Patchoulidere.C;
Special Thanks: Anu, Aeon;
Comments
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To my Mind, that dark, gyrating vortex represents the Games Industry, and those tiny buildings are the aspirations of independent game developers and consumers.
I couldn’t help it but to notice that as many as nine people were credited as having worked on this project. This represents to my mind a trend in your work towards bigger and darker enterprises.
Unfortunately, it did not hold my attention. The top-down zooming scheme was cumbersome and unwieldy, the sound effects felt disorganized, and the Lore left nothing to the Imagination. I had no incentive to delve deeper into this Big Black Hole, and it came as no surprise that my Character could not become absorbed in it, either. Perhaps if the Hole Itself posed some sort of threat to me, from the very outset, I would feel as though I were wrangling a Mythic Beast in the Age of Science Fiction Magik.
That being said, I taste the spice of far too many cooks at first blush; it does not feel as if the objects inhabit the same World, but rather that they are stand-ins for the things they are meant to signify, mismatched and haphazard well before the Tornado hits them. I would have made a point to use more saturated colours, a more uniform palette, finer contours and details, as well as a more menacing aesthetic for the Black Hole. The concept itself seems a bit arbitrary; I’m not entirely sure what it is supposed to represent or to invoke.
Be that as it may, I trust that this is merely a demonstration. I know that you and I are both in the habit of delivering harsh critiques, so I did not pull any punches. The game does not “suck”; it’s just not supermassive yet, though it aspires to be.
[({R.G.)}]
Noted, a more dangerous black hole could be more exciting. For a 48 hour jam we were quite ambitious and some great material had to be cut to make it to the release. As for the many cooks we actually had just enough, but the process got tied in the in the last 4 hours. Hindsight we should have settled with the mechanics and moved into putting all the art material in.
As for the art our artist was quite content with what was made for quantity over quality. So I think what could make up for that would be more particle effects, and we have a sound scape in our library ready to go!
I myself do enjoy more saturation, but we can only cover and ask so much in such a short time span, post jam I will be spicing it up with the particle effects, but all 2d assets will have to be as is.
>The concept itself seems a bit arbitrary;
That is actually a very keen observation, our brainstorming session was going in a very different direction until about the last hour, we had a much darker and gruesome idea in mind but we decided this would be something everyone would be more comfortable with.
I'm not sure how far we are going to go with this one, hopefully we can go as far as conveying a real story than the physics sandbox we have created.