An Angler's Light
Ludum Dare 57 Compo (48h) - Theme : Depths
My submission for Ludum Dare 57. I had 48h to make this game. I went for a simple but polished action game that plays with light. It got ranked 1st in the game jam.
Key points
- Unity
- Game Jam Winner 🏆
- Made in under 48h
- Action
Theme : Depths
Finding a good idea for this theme was a struggle, as it's very generic and uninspired. I ended up finding a more interesting related theme: It's usually dark where it's deep, so let's play with light. My character is an Anglerfish, but its light scare away its preys. To catch them, you must turn off the light (and be in the total dark) for a moment.
Hand Painted Assets
As I'm getting more comfortable with hand painting, I went for a pretty ambitious 3D hand painted art style. With distortion particles and adequat lighting, it looks nice and alive. To create the light off effect, I customized the lighting in shader, instead of relying on tweaking the lighting system of Unity. I wasn't sure how well I could achieve what I wanted with light, so with a custom shader I was 100% in control.
Prey AI
The prey AI could have been a struggle. I chose to go for some simple rules that would give me a vector of desired direction, just like boids do. This approach always creates something that feels alive and interactive.
Results
The game ranked first overall and won the jam. I went for a solid, somewhat classic entry with a lot of polish. Players seem to really like this approach. Smaller scopes seem to produce better games and are more pleasing to work on anyway. As I grew better at handpainting, I managed to get good 3D graphics fast this time.