Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD19 → Feedback comment stats → philomory

philomory

Feedback comments for LD19

philomory's games and stats for all events →

Timestamp	Since previous	Game	philomory's comment
Dec 20 09:46:00		Soundman Stepper	Couldn't play the OS X compiled copy since it's Intel only and I'm on a PPC Mac, so I thought, "no problem, there's a source link, I'll download the source and see if I can't get it to compile." Oddly, the source link appears to point to some other project entirely; no trace of your LD entry in it, at least that I could find. I'll check back later.
Dec 20 10:37:00	51m 00s	The Dreamer	Clever game. The controls could be a little finnicky at times, but that may be due to my machine's poor relationship with Flash than with the game itself. I liked the twist, it'd be neat to see it developed further.
Dec 26 07:14:00	140h 37m	Space Pings!	Sadly, unable to play. I can only judge windows entries from someone else's computer, which means no installing frameworks.
Dec 26 07:20:00	6m 00s	StickMan's Discovery	Unable to play, possibly because (as suggested by Endurion) this computer doesn't have Visual Studio installed.
Dec 26 07:39:00	19m 00s	Retirement of the Space Shuttle Discovery	Not exactly 'fun', but certainly entertaining. Took me a while to get the hang of controls for precise movement.
Dec 26 07:44:00	5m 00s	Portrait Exploration	Interesting use of the theme... would have fit LD16 (Exploration) better than this one, but then, the two themes are extremely similar anyway.
Dec 26 07:53:00	9m 00s	Mini Ghost Hunter	Seems like a very nice game, though from reading earlier comments you may have overcompensated when fixing the difficulty, as I can't kill more than a few enemies before dying. Really dig the graphics and audio, the music in particular reminds me of the old game boy Final Fantasy Legend series (which is a good thing).
Dec 26 08:02:00	9m 00s	Clarity	SPOILERS As best I can tell, the minigames are based on optical illusions, and it doesn't matter what you do; none of lights are going out, it only looks that way; and despite appearances, the line is a solid color. <br/> <br/>Which is cute, don't get me wrong, but since player input is almost entirely irrelevant, there's not much game here.
Dec 26 08:35:00	33m 00s	Let's Science	This is, so far, one of my favorites; other than the fact that my scientists routinely (as in, several times a minute) got stuck behind the fridge or overlapping each other, there is little I can complain about in this game other than that there should be more of it. As noted by others, I especially adored the research assignments and scientist names.
Dec 26 08:49:00	14m 00s	Eureka!	OK, so the game isn't super-fun in and of itself, but I adore the choice of running around naked as Archimedes. Really funny and unique use of the theme.
Dec 26 08:59:00	10m 00s	Glassbox	Okay... I gather from other comments and from the screenshot that there are supposed to be images? For me the only things visible were the player and the coins, which makes an apparently already hard game very nearly impossible. Only absolute trial and error could even tell me where the floor was. Windows package version, by the way.
Dec 26 21:17:00	12h 18m	Fate of Mankind	Very nice, I especially loved the beginning, where the discoveries came fairly rapid-fire. I found all the discoveries, but was still unable to reach certain secrets; particularly the one floating in the sky and the one guarded by 5 vertically oscillating blue squares. In any case, nice game all around. The ending, as mentioned by others, was ace. My favorite since Beacon.
Dec 28 03:23:00	30h 06m	Ominous	Interesting idea, reminds me a little of the carpentry game in puzzle pirates (which is a good thing, I like that game). Needs a little extra to make it feel like I'm discovering something, though.
Dec 28 03:38:00	15m 00s	Dinosaur Dance-Off	Made me smile. <br/> <br/>Goofysaurus: http://www.draknek.org/dance/?dino=3vnl
Dec 28 03:43:00	5m 00s	10 Minute Galaxy	Didn't work in Camino, worked in my copy of Safari, though not well; to be fair, my machine is fairly ancient. I'll hold off on rating until I can try again on another machine.
Dec 28 03:48:00	5m 00s	The Jelly Caves	Wouldn't run :( Java starts to load, then nothing. Will hold off on rating until I try it on another computer.
Dec 28 08:03:00	4h 15m	:ORE:	I liked it, it's harder than it appears. If you extend this into a 'full' (i.e. polished) game, it needs adjustable difficulty, I think; or possibly just some check on the water. It'd be nice to be able to drain an area by flooding dumping it into the area below it; as it stands, you just end up with twice as much water.
Dec 28 08:14:00	11m 00s	Where can I go now?	Man, I really want to play this, but I've tried it on two computers with different OSes and 4 different browsers between them, and in every case the result is the same: the game loads, but almost none of the resources do, so nearly every object is a white box, and the text is just white streaks (except, oddly, the letter M, which displays fine). Any suggestions?
Dec 28 08:30:00	16m 00s	Corpse Runner	Interesting idea, though perhaps it could have used a bit of extra spice to make it more engaging. Also, the exit is hard to find in part because it doesn't stand out very much; when I finally found it I realized I had walked within light-radius-range of it several times previously without recognizing it. <br/> <br/>In any case, my strategy was just to pile up a ton of corpses right in the entryway, gave myself a good 250 seconds per trip :p
Dec 28 09:04:00	34m 00s	ChadyG's unnamed game for Ludum Dare 19	Actually, it did take me a while to discover how the gameplay and scoring worked. Oddly entertaining. I did like the audio quite a bit. <br/> <br/>I have to ask, though... what is the story?
Dec 28 09:20:00	16m 00s	Arise	Nice basis, but as others have noted it needs some additional elements to make it engaging. Also, I'm still not entirely sure why I won when I did.
Dec 28 09:47:00	27m 00s	Disco Five	A quite fun game, though as you noted it needs some value tweaking; nonetheless, it kept me entertained for quite a while. Also, despite the roguelike interface, you managed to make it 'look nice', with excellent use of color and a good eye for UI; the dialog boxes and the 'treasure-detector' were very nice. With some tweaks. it would be even awesomer. My suggestion? Either allow upgrades (purchase larger fuel tanks and vision radius, etc, or allow the player to carry and deposit fuel stockpiles around the map for later use, or both.
Dec 28 09:57:00	10m 00s	plixel	An interesting start, and it does get kinda difficult after a few levels. I like the effect of the light getting dimmer over time as your 'health' the best, I think.
Dec 28 10:24:00	27m 00s	stars	Gorgeous visuals and audio. Head and shoulders above the rest in those two categories. Just... no game. Even some fairly trivial platforming elements would have been nice; if you ever make a real game out of this, it'd be sweet.
Dec 29 08:30:00	22h 06m	Autoflotilla	I really digged the graphical style. Other than that, the very poor performance on my machine made it hard to get into the game, though I can see how it would probably be fun with a few more gameplay elements.
Dec 29 09:02:00	32m 00s	1492Island	The basis for a fun game here, though some play balance issues plagued my attempts (or I'm doing something wrong). I routinely ended up with Skeletons in the middle of the island that neither the wizard nor the warrior could actually walk to; they'd drop dead on the way (presumably from exhaustion?) while the ranger, who could reach, always got clobbered. Since I couldn't kill the skeletons, I'd have to start over. If something could be done about issues like that, it'd be awesome.
Dec 29 09:41:00	39m 00s	Volatile	A very good entry; sadly, after a few minutes of gameplay the fps dropped below 10 and stayed there, regularly hitting 6 and occasionally 1. Too many pretty particle effects for this machine, I think ;). Nonetheless, I stuck it out long enough to defeat one of the three computer players; also, it made me happy to see that they also fought each other. Overall, a very nice entry.
Dec 29 09:49:00	8m 00s	...You Are A Duck!	No, you're a duck! <br/> <br/>Cute, though it was laggy on my machine, which rapidly made the platforming elements impossible. Nonetheless, it was fun to roll around as a roller-skate duck in the easy areas.
Dec 29 10:00:00	11m 00s	Alchemy	I like the concept behind the game, though it was probably too ambitious for the 48 hour time limit (I made the same mistake in my first Ludum Dare). I'd love to see the crafting system working, I'd say that'd make an interesting discovery game even without any combat features.
Jan 6 01:28:00	183h 28m	It's A Frickin' CAVE	A cute little game, though the difficulty seems a bit off in the beginning; also, on first play it performs well (though it degrades a bit as you explore more), but it really takes a dive when I start a new game, I have to refresh the page each time I die to keep it playable. Of course, that's not really the game's fault, I have only 5+ year old computers to play it on. <br/> <br/>Anyway, good game. I didn't really discover anything, but maybe I didn't get deep enough.
Jan 6 01:49:00	21m 00s	Unexpected Outcome	A nice game; as noted by others, the music was very fitting. I have to admit, when I got to the end and found out the research results, I wasn't entirely sure what was so upsetting about them, but story works nonetheless.
Jan 6 02:26:00	37m 00s	Attack of the time travelling pygmy from outer paleolithic (aka Time Pygmy)	A very good entry, and funny too. Really nails the discovery theme, too. I managed a score of 268, with 26 of 30 discoveries. I suspect I am missing some involving the toilet, and possibly the rabbit, book, TV or computer. <br/> <br/>In any case, all together a very good entry.
Jan 6 05:07:00	2h 41m	Grand Mystic Quest of Discovery	Very, very good. Not a lot else to say; just, very very good. Add some basic sound effects and chiptune music, and an ending, for a really polished feel, but even without those it was really engaging. Irritated my girlfriend since I wouldn't stop playing till I finished it. ;)
Jan 7 18:31:00	37h 24m	Cardboard adventure	Doesn't actually always work correctly even in Chrome, it seems to hang if you happen to be in the air from jumping as you approach the rabbit for the first time, or if you land your ship near the rabbit. Also, I had to play 4 times before the plunger even showed up (I wouldn't have even known about it but for reading the other reviews). Still, I do have to say that the art assets are nice.
Jan 7 18:53:00	22m 00s	Ghosts and Gemstones	Pretty difficult, but in a good way I think. Sadly, I didn't figure out what you're supposed to do to the boss until after he had killed me. In retrospect it was obvious, and I may try again and see if I can manage to beat him next time. <br/> <br/>One frustrating bug, though: Sometimes your bullets will skip pixels, particularly sometimes pixels right next to you, and go eliminate pixels further on instead. This seems minor, but backing up and repositioning to get rid of a wall on the way to the stairs is an excellent way to be killed by a ghost :p.
Jan 7 19:33:00	40m 00s	Beacon	The story was really well executed, and it's fabulous to see someone make a game in C++, without basecode, that someone else would make (and feel good about) in a full engine like Game Maker. <br/> <br/>Also, "Ha! ...eesh." Brilliant. And speaking of, the turret AI felt really really good. Tricking them was a lot of fun. And speaking of that, how many 48 hour games can you think of with an AI element capable of being tricked? <br/> <br/>One very minor nitpick: if you get hit by a turret while text is rendering, you never get to see what the text would have said.
Jan 7 20:10:00	37m 00s	Here Be Monsters!	A good game. I hesitate to describe any game put together in 48 hours as 'too big', but if any one is, it's this one. I think you either need to make the map smaller, or perhaps preferably, the sight range larger. It was entertaining at first, but it felt like it was taking forever to explore the map and I didn't feel like I was accomplishing very much, which slightly detracted from the fun. Also, I might have found a bug (or maybe not): I know that when you die, your cargo is lost, but it appears that your un-turned-in map progress may also be lost... that is to say, it's still mapped out, but I didn't get credit for it in terms of percentage, so it may be impossible to reach 100% (I never got far enough to say for certain). <br/> <br/>Those things aside, this is still a very good game and I think with a bit more polish it could be a lot of fun to play.
Jan 8 00:11:00	4h 01m	Universal Conquest	Okay, first thing's first, this game brought back fond memories of Ur-Quan Masters (aka Star Control 2). I think once voting is done I'm gonna go revisit that game. <br/> <br/>Spoilers ahead in the rest of the review. <br/> <br/>Now, the first part of the game was quite fun. By that I mean, exploring and amassing credits to buy upgrades. It took quite a bit of time, but I was still enjoying myself by the time I finally saved up enough credits to get the final upgrade. "Now," I thought to myself, "Time to go find the aliens." <br/> <br/>Problem was, there are just way too many green systems. I ended up clearing probably half of them before I finally got killed because I let my attention wane. I spent hours playing the game, which on the one hand says good things about the game, but, by the end, it felt more like a chore than entertainment. <br/> <br/>I did find one world that persisted in being green despite not having any alien tech. A glance at the source made me suspect that that was where the alien base was supposed to be, but as far as I could tell the whole system was empty. I plucked every resource from every planet in that system, and found nothing. So it may have been a bug; maybe two systems were in the same spot, and I couldn't click the green one? Not sure. Another reason I suspect the aliens were supposed to be based there is that that region of space is the only one that seemed to have enemies in it. <br/> <br/>Anyway, this has the beginnings of a great game, but for future LDs, maybe it'd be better if the game could be completed in less than an hour? Please? ;) <br/> <br/>Anyway, all that said, I did like it. Just... throw the player a bone in terms of clues to the location of the base.
Jan 8 00:25:00	14m 00s	Lost	I actually rather like this kind of gameplay, though yes, it could be longer. I had to mute my machine, the sound effects were painful. <br/> <br/>Other than the sound, though, a good entry.
Jan 8 00:45:00	20m 00s	Lost Discoveries	A very ambitious game and, leaving aside the fact that it's incomplete, quite well done. The art style is very unique and interesting, and the sounds nicely atmospheric. <br/> <br/>Only a few real complaints; one is that autosaving would be nice; two is that Pierre Curie is just as valid an answer to the final question as Marie was, but it's not counted as correct; three is that the presentation of text is awkward, in that it is sometimes hard to read on the background; and finally, the scene often fades in and out in the middle of conversation, which seems unnecessary. <br/> <br/>But anyway, this gets very high marks. It is certainly the most innovative game I've judged so far, and spot on for the theme. Congratulations.
Jan 8 00:51:00	6m 00s	The Final Discovery	Yeah, the intro is pretty sweet. Made me laugh.
Jan 8 01:08:00	17m 00s	Maze of Towers	A fun retro platformer. I managed to get the first key before dying. With the right tweaks, this could be pretty awesome. Without them, it's kinda frustrating. <br/> <br/>The 'K' thing nearly made me thing the game was totally broken, though.