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DrPetter

Feedback comments for LD21

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game	DrPetter's comment
Aug 23 09:08:00		Flee Buster	What's with this trend of making more games than required? You've got three, and Rolpege made like 20. I guess LD has gotten too easy... <br/> <br/>Fun though, and very stressful. It definitely works well in that you memorize the state of each game so you hopefully know what to do when it comes around again. At one point I was a hair away from dying in the frog game (which I love/hate btw due to sticking on the ground and very fluid feel of jumping) but remembered it next time so I could immediately leap and survive. <br/> <br/>My best so far is 88, with only two or three missed along the way. I'll have to rest before trying the whole thing again from the top.
Aug 23 10:04:00	56m 00s	Maze Escape	Fun and relaxing. Could be interesting to take it further by perhaps making mazes that are locked off in various points, and providing the player with a couple of explosive charges to blow holes in strategic places. Making a hole in the wrong spot would create a shortcut for the lava and put you at greater risk. Maybe the bombs would actually be placed throughout the maze for you to pick up. Obviously with such a change the flow would have to be delayed or slowed down to make it all playable.
Aug 24 18:21:00	32h 17m	Ernest the Plump Adventurer (in trouble)	Cute. Pretty pictures and rather good sound. Like bmfs, I had issues on level 7 where the game stuttered for a moment and I just fell right through a vertical elevator. Guessing that you have some kind of variation timestep thing going? I'd recommend fixed timesteps to avoid such issues, and make things easier in general. <br/> <br/>The jumping was a bit uncomfortable sometimes, maybe because of a too rapid crest in the arc. Stumbling with the buttons a moment will ruin a critical jump where you need all the height you can get. Should be more forgiving if there's a longer hover phase before falling again. <br/> <br/>Actually, trying it again now I think it's more to do with the input keys used. It's very hard to double-tap up while at the same time tapping left or right to adjust your sideways movement. Jumping on Z should be more smooth since you will use both hands. <br/> <br/>Another issue I found is that leaving the mouse pointer outside the applet will cause strange issues. Particularly when starting a level. I got a situation where I only saw single pixels spread out in a grid since the diamond wipe hadn't completed.
Aug 24 18:54:00	33m 00s	Abigail's Descent	Ok. I completed it. Was going to comment that level 2 was way too hard and unpredictable for me with all the doors. I got lost a number of times going around in loops. Finally beat it, and level 3 was a piece of cake by comparison. Strange. <br/> <br/>The characters are really charming and expressive despite their simple appearance, and the premise is fun too. Implementation could have used some polish, but it does work reasonably well. As has been pointed out, the jumping mechanic isn't perfectly intuitive, and I also had trouble landing on tiny platforms more often than not. Would have been more enjoyable if the difficulty didn't ride so much on pixel-precise jumps where the actual collision boundaries are hard to judge. Makes it feel a bit soft and chancy. Tweaking the movement and/or changing the character graphics into something more solid and indicative of collision shapes should make this a great(er) game, for sure.
Aug 25 22:41:00	27h 47m	Amke's Revenge II	Cool. Seems you've used the 48 hours "properly" by making a relatively simple but big game with lots of game-type stuff in it. I never seem capable of that for some reason... <br/> <br/>It's nice that you can play through it all quite fast if you want to, or take your time to explore various secrets. I did give it two tries, but it would seem I'm outsmarted by the last boss. No idea how to harm it. <br/> <br/>Player movement seems smooth and solid, but for some reason it only runs at 30 fps which prevents complete fluidity.
Aug 26 12:19:00	13h 38m	BATHOS	Lots of cute for so little a game. I did solve it, thankfully, but only after trying all the pixel keys. I wonder if you could easily do a larger moody puzzle with this atmosphere/music/art style and a series of (perhaps interconnected) screens with some more curious tasks that the player needs to find/figure out? It's both strangely relaxing and frustrating to know that you're staring at "all of it" and still can't quite find the solution.
Aug 26 12:46:00	27m 00s	Beam Runner	Daah! I made two levels and lost them both due to getting confused about the current editor state and hitting Q to go back to the menu. There should definitely be a confirm question there, or ideally store the edited level in memory so you can go back and edit it again from the menu. Not sure if the data string would paste well into a web page though, with that whitespace. <br/> <br/>Very charming game though. I could easily sit around and make 20 levels if I trusted myself not to erase them before they were done. The editor could also benefit from better tile selection. Maybe hitting space to bring up a grid of all tiles so you can quickly click to select one.
Aug 26 13:23:00	37m 00s	City Runner	Hmm. Not sure why I'm being paid to kill the red guys, but it does seem like a reasonably solid mechanical ground for an interesting game. With single-click shots it feels like I should also conserve ammo, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The speed of movement on the other hand would favor autofire. Could be fun with some attempt at a background story and more elements to the gameplay.
Aug 26 13:35:00	12m 00s	Save the Miner!	Nice. Might have been more fun if the vehicle control was a bit more dynamic, with acceleration of some kind to make it more involved than just pointing in the direction you want to go. Since you really just spend a lot of time navigating a cavern it makes sense to add a fun/challenge factor to the movement itself if possible. Well, I saved one and deserted another, so I guess I got what I could out of the game.
Aug 26 15:49:00	2h 14m	Relic Run	Easy was harder than insane. I guess I got unlucky there. Too hard early on to get a handle on what is going on, trying to avoid releasing spikes while at the same time killing dangerous things, and all of a sudden you're stuck on some hurtful enemy that drains your energy in a second. Would be nice if there were levels or stages where one element got introduced at a time so the player has a chance of learning and familiarizing before being slaughtered. Feels like it has a lot of content though, so it could be an involving game if balanced better.
Aug 26 22:22:00	6h 33m	Prison Lander	I think I finished all of it. My favorite part is where you can "escape" by jumping right before the gunman starts laughing. You'll disappear straight through the ceiling and presumably sneak out of harm's way?
Aug 28 09:00:00	34h 38m	Unlock	Pretty cool feel to it. Not much of a puzzle player, I had a bit of a tough time with some rooms. Eventually finished it (the real ending). You could maybe try mouse control instead of arrow keys to manipulate the level. Just click and drag pieces. That should be more fluid and perhaps more enjoyable. The pieces could even move with full pixel freedom and only lock into the tile grid (smoothly) when you let go of the button.
Aug 28 09:19:00	19m 00s	A tale about life, death and a looser.	Pretty and sort of charming, but do make it happy next time! At least some funny deaths would have been a nice twist. Maybe just a souvenir item next to the grave could add a sense of needed humor there. Also, time is never too short for sfx, but I suspect token bleeps wouldn't really add to this sort of game. Could be interesting with looped environmental noises that match each situation. Heartbeats, footsteps, ticking clock, creaking bed, etc.
Aug 28 09:32:00	13m 00s	cosmoZ	I didn't really mind the waiting, although it was a bit easy to get isolated. Not sure if all levels were beatable. One interesting change of pace would be if the user could sketch a path several steps ahead, like just clicking and dragging from planet to planet with the available ones highlighted at each step. The ship would travel along each waypoint at its own pace, and might get caught in a trap along the way if you didn't anticipate that properly. Maybe the path-plotting would actually be done by a scout vessel that itself had to travel back to the main ship if it ended up stranded, during which time something else might happen to it if you're too far away or take too long to get back. So there should be some benefit to plotting the course as quickly as possible, but also the risk of leaving your ship too far behind in case it gets into trouble.
Aug 28 09:40:00	8m 00s	Dystopian Future Underground City	Why are the cops flying in cars?? Oh well, I want to like the game, but there seems to be a bug that basically doubles gravity or heavily reduces my thrust once a level has been restarted - if I die once or complete a level, it's almost impossible to gain altitude afterwards. The second level seems almost impossible due to this. Apart from that, the game looks and sounds great. Movement is pretty good as well, assuming this is a bug and not some very evil feature.
Aug 28 09:49:00	9m 00s	Escape Infinity	6800 on my first attempt, which was ended with green health due to getting tangled up on a wall. Less on my second. Tweaks could include slightly faster ship movement and sliding on walls, like Ben said. Maybe also a charge shot that gets built up while you don't fire, so you can save up for a large single-hit bullet instead of firing continuously all the time. Could add an extra sense of skill and elegance to playing, basically ducking forward between oncoming bullets and delivering a well-placed punch to kill the opponent.
Aug 28 10:26:00	37m 00s	The Great Volcano Escape	Pretty good dynamics. Could perhaps have been a bit more fun with some bounce in the suspension, although likely more difficult too. I'd decouple the camera some more from the bike though, to avoid having sudden impacts translate directly into screen movement and zoom. <br/> <br/>Due to being told in the readme that I would need to brake, I tried to see how far I could get holding the accelerator down constantly and not touching the brake. So far I've beaten the first nine levels, and level 10 is definitely possible although it gets a bit tricky at this point. I made it almost to the end, with just three unlit dots left.
Aug 28 10:51:00	25m 00s	Followed	Cool! Gets frustrating in places, but never quite too much so. Neat way of weaving a lot of tension and drama into a very simple gameplay rule.
Aug 28 13:13:00	2h 22m	SurfN-2-Sur5	I think the agent is roughly 20 meters tall. It's fun, and sometimes irregular jumps make it look like he's pulling tricks. I tend to build too much speed and height after about 3000 meters and eventually fall onto an unseen rock from high above.
Aug 28 13:27:00	14m 00s	This is your dream	Yikes! Made me realize how crappy zip can be. The large size is due to three identical 15 MB files that get compressed and stored independently inside the archive. <br/> <br/>Anyway, game is a bit simplistic maybe, but also very easy to play and relatively rewarding due to that fact. No introduction or learning curve needed. Could have been fun with some other dream-like effects like illusions and distractions while trying to find the clickies.
Aug 28 13:32:00	5m 00s	Where am I?	Mmm. I found it prohibitive to watch the whole intro every attempt. The large popup texts inside the game were way too distracting right from the start when a beginner is already shocked by the sudden rapid movement and countless objects everywhere. Seems like it could be fun though, with a nice degree of floaty controls and music to back it up.
Aug 31 21:09:00	79h 37m	Escape of the AMAZING TRIANGLE	I almost got bothered by level 8 until I found a sneaky path. Good thing you introduced those spinning obstacles, I was afraid it would get dull after the first couple of levels. Music is nice and atmospheric, helps make the game feel more epic. Sound effects are perhaps a bit too loud, and some are tonal enough to interfere with the musical frequencies. I had the most fun around levels 4-6 or such. At some points I wished there was a way for me to test the path out, or let the triangle go and only continue building once I knew it was past the first hazard. Could get annoying with really complex levels if you can't do that, instead having to rebuild everything when one point fails.
Aug 31 21:25:00	16m 00s	Goat Milk	Actually the music was sort of ambivalent enough to enhance the already somewhat inappropriate theme. I liked it ;) <br/> <br/>Level 2 was way too hard. 3 and 4 were much easier by comparison, and the last one was pretty spot-on. The gameplay in general is fair though, and you always feel that there should be a way to optimize your movement through the level once you fail. Very charming graphics, and the audio is well executed. Although the munching sample is not played if I run and immediately hit the chomp button. I have to stop first, then eat. <br/> <br/>Fun and funny!
Aug 31 21:42:00	17m 00s	Self Destruct: Activated	Almost everything is lovable. Wonderful game to sit up way too late at night playing with a friend, though unfortunately I have to battle alone at the moment. <br/> <br/>I would have liked variable-height jumping, to feel like I am more in control. Would also be able to make small quick hops instead of always waiting for the full vertical range. <br/> <br/>The second phase was too long and overly difficult. I had to retry that one at least 15 times not knowing how far the next checkpoint was. On the next one I got past most of it on my first attempt, though it was very well balanced and made me feel skilled. I might be giving up on the crate staircase with fall-downies above... at least this time around. <br/> <br/>The continued scrolling after you die is a very neat way of showing a peek at the upcoming area before you have to approach it on your next life, although it's only really useful and desirable when you've reached further than previous attempts. You could consider cutting the restart cycle much shorter if you die on familiar ground (so there's less of a punishing wait).
Aug 31 21:48:00	6m 00s	The Hooks, the Lava and Me	19 km. Cool! A bit stressful once you get some ways in and the lava catches up. Kind of weird that you often have to fire the hooks off outside the screen into blind spots and assume that they'll hit a wall. Sound made me feel like I was talking to aliens.
Aug 31 21:59:00	11m 00s	Cosmic Heist	Cool. The music and simple swooshy gameplay made me feel like I was playing a sub-game on some Slamtilt pinball table. It's a bit odd that you can take so much damage without much in terms of consequences. I'd prefer impacts being more deadly and causing rebound, then restarting the level again if I take more than 3-4 hits or so. Or not restarting, but rather refilling health on the next level. You'd have to clear the area around the starting point in that case though, to make sure there are no unavoidable crashes right at the beginning.
Sep 7 21:48:00	167h 49m	and just like that	:)
Sep 7 21:53:00	5m 00s	Vector Dash	Needs angular acceleration, so I can nudge in tiny increments to aim accurately. Not too sluggish though, just a fraction of a second until it rotates with full speed. I had some fun moments when I rushed a level head-on with almost too much speed but still managed to make it through by turning and "braking" or skidding around corners. Also challenging to simply avoid enemies where possible.
Sep 7 22:00:00	7m 00s	Maze++	I don't even care what the game is about, I just want to uncover more corners with that curving fog. So very sexy!
Sep 7 22:06:00	6m 00s	The Complex	Got reckless, died. Doesn't reward risk-taking, which makes it a bit less fun than it could be. More interesting if there was a possible benefit and not just a huge risk of failure in rushing past multiple lasers or sort of zigzagging quickly. But yes - checkpoints would do it just fine. Still fun though, until you give up.
Sep 7 22:12:00	6m 00s	Number 23 Escapes!	Very cool. Very stylish. The game makes me like it, despite flaws and glitches. Running past alerted guards seems a bit random in terms of getting killed or not, but that actually adds a neat roulette sort of mechanic where you can't really predict or influence what is going to happen, so you just gun it and hope for the best. You're already on thin ice after having been spotted, so it's not really a huge penalty to restart at that point. More like a bonus if you make it alive. The characters all have a cute tubby look that gives them a lot of personality. Strong entry!
Sep 8 10:42:00	12h 30m	Escape route	I liked it! Moody and pretty enough. Forest feels a bit like a scary strange place you can get lost in, a nightmare. Still though, it gets more familiar as you play, and it's rewarding each time you solve an area and get to proceed. Reminds me somewhat of Section Z, and I feel like I should draw a pencil map while playing. It's not too hard to beat with memory alone though, if you just have patience and give it some time. I guess there could be more items in the early rooms so it takes a while before you really encounter identical unmarked areas. The player would then also realize that rooms become identical after they've grabbed the marker items and return to the room they came from.
Sep 8 11:03:00	21m 00s	Abscond	Quite a bit of fun. Relaxing and meditative, but at the same time you often risk misjudging the sequence of actions and end up critical on one or two parameters. Then you reach a comfort zone near the end where you can quickly finish your boat without worrying.
Sep 9 21:49:00	34h 46m	Antagonist	Fun and challenging. Got a bit more interesting when I realized you can skip the slowdown on landing if you release the right/left key just before hitting ground. So I guess he stumbles if he tries to hit the ground running, or something? Anyway, it added an extra sense of skill and timing to the whole ordeal. Took a great many attempts before I beat the last wall, but then it was a home run and I reached the finish. You could probably extend this quite a bit with more of these complex puzzles that aren't just well-timed jumps and stairs.
Sep 9 22:00:00	11m 00s	BlackWhiteRed	Does the Guide actually guide anything, or is it just a protector? Seems the lanterns are too fleeting to really be worth counting on for protection, but maybe I just didn't pay enough attention. I always swooped down to catch bullets. The difficulty probably ramps up a bit too slowly, as I started getting bored at the mostly empty screen after a while and only some time later did a couple of bullets actually find their way through while I was on the other side. Would perhaps be nice if you had more to do with guiding the running and not just dealing with enemies. Also, control could be inertial with acceleration to make it less rigid and perhaps more challenging in a fun way. Would be great if you could boost framerate to 60 fps since it's a quick-paced game. Concept is good, but it needs some tweaking to make it really fun.
Sep 9 22:20:00	20m 00s	Hotel Escape	Wonderful! Spoilers inside I suppose, but I'm sure most people have played it already at this point. Regardless, you shouldn't go around reading all the comments before you have played for yourself! <br/> <br/>I do recognize the general concept of playing in this kind of "environment", not sure if it's from something you've also encountered but it is definitely charming to us programmer types. The presentation is very good and the gameplay mostly smooth. I particularly like the well-balanced jump arc which is intuitive and easy to control without too many failed attempts. However, the thing that almost got me properly upset was a tendency to miss jump key presses. You should really generate a jump if the button was pressed before landing and held down, otherwise you're forced to deliberately delay your jump action until right after you've landed, which might be too late since the character also has a tendency to drop off a platform sooner than you expect. This was particularly hurtful in the room with tons of spikes above and several tiny platforms. Teeth were gnashed. <br/> <br/>Overall a nice other-worldly experience though. Thank you :)
Sep 11 17:34:00	43h 14m	Brine	It's exciting and a bit scary. Later on I think I got good enough at hiding that the fish didn't even come out most of the time. The darkness disappeared after I found a safe place, and I could just go out and continue again. Not sure if that's intended. Sometimes the fish would swim by in the background though. Still, fun and reasonably "explorable" since everything isn't completely explained.
Sep 12 22:13:00	28h 39m	Damn My Stubby Little Legs	Works ok, but it's a bit unforgiving and there's a very quick and strong contrast between being very easy and getting hard/impossible. Seems like you get stuck on walls sometimes if you try to slide along them - that should probably be fixed. One other idea is to add button mashing for swimming up at an increasing rate, like in Mario games. Basically making a small leap upwards at each press. That way you can compensate a too-deep dive by tapping more quickly to reach the surface, and you can mess up by swimming at the wrong moment so you end up going behind a wall segment (if the stroke makes you float upwards for a bit before slowing down). Adds to the sense of panic and puts the player more in control. You could also maybe leave pockets of air in cavities when the water surface has gone beyond that point, so sometimes you can duck into one of those to refill your air supply even if it's a long way to the surface.
Sep 12 22:23:00	10m 00s	Prelude of the Chambered	Sadly I failed some ways through and haven't yet found the courage to redo from start. Very good use of the time given though. Cohesive well-filled game and charming presentation. Streaming the development was a mad effort.