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Dec 17 03:49:00 Cat Gentlemans Play: Insult Spinner 10 Cents Kudos on the humor! For me, the sound is what makes the slapping bit so excellent. <br/> <br/>Although opening with insults is perfect thematically, the interaction for the insult spinner doesn't really work. Makes for a good screenshot, though.
Dec 17 04:16:00 27m 00s FASTBACK I rather enjoyed this. <br/> <br/>The story and its textual presentation are much weaker than the gameplay. Drastically so. I felt a little like quitting early. <br/> <br/>The gameplay is fun, though! The levels felt excellently timed &amp; sized, with a good level of challenge. The minimalist mis-en-scene is great, and the beakers are a nice touch. Even the physics (sense of weight, response to bullets) feel good. <br/> <br/>I would like to finish the game, but I encountered a bug in the level from the second screenshot (the first area with two floors?): some of the enemies seemed to be able to see me (through the walls) as soon as I spawned, and started shooting immediately. They continued to shoot, wherever I went and however many times I died. It happened even on the first time I played the level. Hope you can fix this!
Dec 17 04:38:00 22m 00s Space Voyage "Porting […] can happen after the initial 48 hours. The longer you wait though, the less of a chance other participants will have to play your game." <br/> <br/>(from: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/rules/ ) <br/> <br/>...so go make a mac build, please!
Dec 17 05:02:00 24m 00s SCUMBAG Interesting. <br/> <br/>It's enjoyable to piece things together, but no so much to repeat the same scenes after you've exhausted their options or just want to explore a later thread. Being able to click to speed up the text would help. Being able to jump to a scene you reached earlier would also make a big difference. As it is, I got tired of the repetition (of the earlier scenes, of the music, of the word 'scumbag', of the seemingly meaningless dead ends, and of the unrelenting mood), and stopped after buying the train ticket.
Dec 17 05:13:00 11m 00s ONE AT A TIME. PICK WISELY TO PROSPER. There were sounds and movements and words and numbers and I pressed space a lot and some things turned green at the last minute and I was told I had 92 relations so I guess I liked it? <br/> <br/>Note for future games: the spacebar also scrolls the page down in some browsers, particularly if the game/plugin/whatever element has not been clicked first, to give it focus. Make users click something first before asking them to press the spacebar in a webplayer build. (Also, please don't hide the cursor without locking it.)
Dec 17 23:05:00 17h 52m St. George's Day I'm surprised by how much I missed sound effects here. I think even just sfxr-style 'bup' and 'gworbl' sounds for firing &amp; exploding (respectively) would make the death-dealing so much more rewarding. <br/> <br/>Controls feel a little stiff, and it's kinda hard to get used to having only one axis of control. <br/> <br/>But that's a lovely death-screen. And some dandy hints there. I'd like even more of that throughout. (Perhaps a rendition of 'God Save the Queen' playing in the background? With the occasional patriotic cheer or stereotypical phrase ('for king and country!' 'stiff upper lip!') when picking up power ups or downing a larger enemy?)
Dec 17 23:12:00 7m 00s YOGO Cookie Kinda cute! <br/>I'd like an easier first level, though.
Dec 18 00:37:00 1h 25m Tether Neat! But also very rough! I think the biggest thing it's missing is a way to see beyond the tiny screen (e.g. by adding a minimap, the ability to zoom the camera in/out, or by adding markers on the edge of the screen to indicate relative locations &amp; distances of debris). <br/> <br/>Re: the confusion: <br/> <br/>Since the game always seems to start with the player bouncing/flailing around randomly, there seems to be only one button that does anything from the start: 'c' to cut the cable. While you're attached to the cable, you can't use the boost, and seem to be unable to land on anything. So really, there's only one button to start, and it only does one thing. Once. <br/> <br/>Since you start out bouncing around randomly and you can't really see any of the pieces that you want to latch onto, there seem to be low odds of cutting the cable and not immediately dooming yourself. So you'll finally discover the one button you can press, and cut the cable, and just end up floating forever, or until you press the reset button. There's no major game feedback that tells you that you lost, you just have to decide that yourself. <br/> <br/>How do you decide that? By a lack objects passing by, I think. It's the same if you stay latched on. You'll see a few things pass by, and then nothing. In both cases, you've missed your chance, and you don't even know it. You don't see what you need to do. <br/> <br/>So the confusion is probably: <br/> <br/>- Why am I suddenly bouncing around? That looks kind of glitchy. Is it glitchy? <br/> <br/>- Why can I only press one button? I thought there were other controls? <br/> <br/>- Why is there so little to see? Is this a game over? Should there be more to the game? <br/> <br/>And so forth. Those 'known bugs' don't really help, either. <br/> <br/>I hope this doesn't come off as too negative! I'm just trying to explain my own initial confusion, and perhaps explain others' as well. Once I realized that I had a narrow window to jump onto a small collection of debris and try to scuttle across it, I quite liked the game--I'd even like to make something like it! (Or something a little more like Gravity, at least.) <br/> <br/>Alas! Picking up the jellyfish results in the little bastard bumping into me &amp; knocking me off debris, and I've no idea where the ship went, so I just kinda gave up. <br/> <br/>Kudos on the graphics!
Dec 18 03:41:00 3h 04m Nero Is Falling I had some trouble early on determining which areas were navigable/passable, and finding all the areas of the ship, and was a regularly distracted by the repeated phrases &amp; mechanical disjointedness of the 'dialogue', but still left feeling quite impressed with this entry. Good job on mood, graphics, pacing, and concept!
Dec 19 00:06:00 20h 25m Unicode This is far more engaging than it ought to be. I'm not sure why I enjoyed playing it. Maybe the variety in the world-generation? Maybe the tension of passing through small spaces peppered with erratically-moving and instantly fatal oafs, balanced with the smooth sailing through larger-but-not-too-large, relatively safe areas? Maybe the abstraction? Maybe the font? I don't know. I liked it.
Dec 19 00:30:00 24m 00s You Only Get One Doughnut You seem to have made a very short game that consists mostly of excellent endings. I am impressed and somewhat staggered. No, better: I am inspired.
Dec 19 01:08:00 38m 00s Breathe You made the engine and the game in 72 hours? Nice work! <br/> <br/>It doesn't seem to run in Firefox in OSX, though. The y-position of the initial buttons (+ text) seems to be outside of the container (and thus hidden), and if I hack around that,to press the button, the screen fades to black, but everything within the svg element that should fade in just stays hidden. <br/> <br/>Otherwise, if you plan on continuing on the engine: I'd like it if I could click to make all of the text appear at once (since it appears so slowly), instead of always skipping to the next block. I think the usual click-'skip'-to-skip, click-anywhere-else-to-show-all approach is a rather considerate way of handling things.
Dec 19 01:15:00 7m 00s Cage Rage Hah. That is one long minute.
Dec 19 01:33:00 18m 00s The Replicorp Heist Yep, looks like what often happens when one gets too ambitious. Next time, consider a minimal-viable-game that you can build onto, and be on the lookout for things that you can cut out. <br/> <br/>As for the thing itself: the presentation is thoughtful; the tool-set is great; and the puzzle-solutions are pretty good. If you do continue development, do consider extending the flashlight (I believe Unity gives you per-pixel lighting on some number of meshes pretty reliably--perhaps it'd be worth trying that?) and making the level a little less linear, perhaps with multiple routes or solutions.
Dec 19 01:51:00 18m 00s Cyber Defence Not bad. It'd be nice to get flashier visual feedback when firing, hitting, and destroying, as well as when the core is hit. And to see a wider variety in enemies shapes and behaviors. Also, I seem to have misread or misunderstood the tutorial text--I thought I could only use one power per level, and I'd never get that power back.
Dec 19 02:01:00 10m 00s Stretch Bouquet Point I feel like the only proper evaluation should consist of a not-quite sentence, and I'm having trouble deciding between just: <br/> <br/>Hah <br/> <br/>(with no punctuation) and: <br/> <br/>Eventually the shouting stopped.
Dec 19 02:10:00 9m 00s 1 shot per timeline Your title intrigues me but I only have a Mac.
Dec 19 02:14:00 4m 00s Hidden Prison I can't play a Windows-only game, but I can coo at the graphics.
Dec 19 02:58:00 44m 00s Process Journey Surprisingly polished for 72 hours! The art, writing and sound fit well together. I'd play more of this. <br/> <br/>I seem to have done everything right and gotten the "best ending" the first time. Perhaps because I downloaded it earlier, I ended up with the too-easy build? Everything I did made sense, though... If it really should take multiple plays, I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it quite as much. Will have to try a more recent build later. <br/> <br/>Other, random nits (which may have been fixed?): <br/> <br/>The initial menu seemed a little too dark, like something between states. <br/> <br/>I think I spotted a few missing words early on. Can't recall where, unfortunately--it was before I actually got to clicked around the island. <br/> <br/>The options menu seemed oddly arranged, somewhat difficult to tell what things were about. <br/> <br/>I was a bit thrown off by the lack of a cursor-change or indication of what was clickable. Ditto for the click-on-the-bottom to go back. (I tried clicking near the other edges, not-quite-low-enough-at-first, apparently, and pressing escape, then space, before clicking randomly until success.)
Dec 19 05:06:00 2h 08m Single Load Yum! Yes, do finish this!
Dec 20 02:02:00 20h 56m Wrecked Yep, most people have said it already: the graphics are great, the sound is excellent, and the controls are mean. I would have said the rotation is way too fast (it is), but the idea of using the mouse to orient does sound much better than fixing the keyboard-based turning.
Dec 20 02:24:00 22m 00s Wall of Fingers Lovely game title. Good job designing the levels to introduce the new elements (bouncies, each mask, the mask choice) bit by bit. <br/> <br/>Lag was an issue, and the green mask seemed to make the game much easier. Having to restart from the beginning is a little tiring--the tutorial bits actually kind of work against you here--but given the five-level length of the game, it's not really so bad. The levels feel sparse. This is perfectly normal for 48 hours, but I would like to see more strange things, as I think that's the game's biggest draw.
Dec 20 02:27:00 3m 00s Travesty Looks intriguing. Pity I don't have Windows.
Dec 20 02:30:00 3m 00s Infinite Fame Hah. Too brutal for me to want to continue playing it, but it doesn't stop me from liking it. <br/> <br/>Classy graphics.
Dec 20 02:51:00 21m 00s HootBow Round 3. The keyboard controls feel a little too tightly clustered--would be nice with a gamepad. <br/> <br/>I think you've done a great job incorporating the theme into the mechanic--the one-arrow limit, the feel of the arrow, and the way the level defines the consequences, really make the game stand out from other jumpy-shooty entries. Also, the main character's art is wonderful. And the randomized elements of the rounds is a nice touch.
Dec 20 03:16:00 25m 00s Science Ship Cleomedes Hmm. I'm inclined to wonder what made me replay so many times. I think it's because it seemed like the deaths were kinda my fault, so I could just do better next time. Also because hard games with insta-death gives that kick of adrenaline that can turn into a desire for payback. So: 1) Game kicks my ass. Not too hard, but hard enough that I feel compelled to kick back. 2) Kicking back doesn't sound so hard. 3) Kicking is on the menu. <br/> <br/>This is my theory. <br/> <br/>Otherwise: <br/>- Yes, as everyone says, some sort of visual timer would be nice. <br/>- The hitboxes feel too large. <br/>- I wasn't really sure how much the choice made a difference. The weapon could shoot further, but I didn't see much of a reason to do so, given the reload time; better to fire at the last minute if I'm about to crash. Things aren't a danger anyway unless I can't avoid them. So, both boiled down to pressing the spacebar at the last minute for me. I suppose if I somehow managed to dodge a danger after pressing the button, maybe the shield could help me if something else would collide within the next few seconds, but I only pressed the button when desperate. <br/>- Would've liked more to see, even if that just meant seeing something in the background. It feels kind of barren. <br/>- Levels felt too long. This is probably related to the above point, but the difficulty may also be a factor. <br/> <br/>Good job making it challenging!
Dec 20 03:45:00 29m 00s N . D A nice mix of platforming abilities here. Just moving around (mixing the abilities) feels good at times. The limited visual range is kind of frustrating, though; it feels like you could zoom out 2-4x and have a more playable game. <br/> <br/>The levels felt too randomly/arbitrarily arranged (among other things, seeing the pickups sitting above large stretches of lava more often than not seemed clumsy), but maybe zooming out would improve some of that. Might tweak the generative algorithm either way, aiming for more of a coherent or deliberate or at least player-conscious end result. <br/> <br/>The graphics are a bit of a mix. Some things are quite pleasant (like the fog / smoke), while other things (like the lack of edging on the ground tiles, or the size ratios between blocks, player, and collectibles) seem crude. <br/> <br/>I liked that my health refilled between rooms, but not that my bombs were apparently removed. <br/> <br/>It's a great start. I'd like to check out the post-compo version later. For now, though: many other entries to examine.
Dec 20 04:04:00 19m 00s She: A Game About Life It's a pity that transitioning between screens &amp; stages takes so long--everything else is so well put together for 72 hours! Classy presentation, with a kind of linguistic clumsiness (or maybe it's just earnestness?) that seems spot-on for silent film writing. And, you know, it's a good moral to drive home. <br/> <br/>Speaking of which, the driving's surprisingly challenging. After failing to reach her in time, I really wanted to play again, but after waiting for the menu to descend (while hammering on different buttons to speed it up) it seemed to have gotten stuck on the instructions screen. I don't see anyone else making these comments, though, so perhaps it is Firefox's fault?
Dec 21 03:17:00 23h 13m Fantastic Franklin A bit mean, letting you jump only 1-block high, killing you if you don't immediately run the opposite direction after throwing a rock, having no repair-dirt action, finding lava pop into visibility only as you are plummeting toward it, and always having to restart from the beginning, all as you get a feel for the controls. <br/> <br/>Love the nose, though. Very happy it became the start screen. <br/> <br/>I'm also fond of the license. This kind of thoughtfulness is pretty great.
Dec 21 03:42:00 25m 00s Untitled Jam Game That's some handsome art. Maybe future dev will yield a mac version?
Dec 21 03:53:00 11m 00s I only get one hour to make a game Hah, I first mistook this for an allegory, where pressing spacebar once was all the input you could give the game, as a token gesture of agency. Then I realized that the 'press space' text was still up, and played an actual game. <br/> <br/>A pretty good example of how much time-management and being willing to reduce scope can help you to finish a game. And of how little is necessary for something to be considered a game. <br/> <br/>I mean this in a good way.
Dec 21 04:21:00 28m 00s superfrozenkittengetsonlyonesecretbottleforyou Very relaxing. Such a nice place to visit. Please explore this vein further.
Dec 21 04:29:00 8m 00s Dangerous pursuit You've done a really excellent job adapting and animating his drawings.
Dec 21 04:50:00 21m 00s You Only Get Hitbox One I think I felt a little uncomfortable playing as a fat white guy who uses an expensive gift to kill the non-white security staff who rush to the scene when a white guy presses a button. This is really a comment on globalization, outsourcing, and a privileged middle class, isn't it? <br/> <br/>The main character became spontaneously dizzy after flying; I assume it is a blood pressure thing, but maybe not. <br/> <br/>Those bodyguard animations are great.
Dec 21 05:51:00 1h 01m Hammer Control Definitely one of the most fun entries I've played so far. The random generation keeps things varied even if you keep dying, and sometimes makes it easier to reach the next level. And the fact that the level doesn't go down is also pretty great--you can keep playing at a level of difficulty that's actually challenging, rather than slogging through the easy stuff again. Great job, too, on the variation in enemy movement/behavior patterns (like the snake &amp; spider). <br/> <br/>You should really consider continuing development on this. <br/> <br/>Some possible improvements: <br/> <br/>- Use Screen.lockCursor (look it up in the Unity documentation, if you haven't already, as there's some extra details for doing it right in the webplayer or windowed modes). I suppose you'd have to make your own cursor to replace the system one, and then make sure you take the dead zone into account, but it's better than accidentally clicking out of the window or closing it. <br/> <br/>- Consider adding the ability to hold shift (or any large-ish button, really) to stay still, as it's pretty easy to mouse too far and move when you just want to turn around or aim quickly. <br/> <br/>- Provide more audio feedback for winning or dying--something still very short, but recognizable. Maybe just a coin-collection-style 'pling' sound on success would cover it. <br/> <br/>- Perhaps provide some reason for starting the next round without hammer in hand. (Maybe the ground is falling out from under the character, and he's landing on a new level each time. Maybe time is passing--colors could change each round, perhaps with varying day/night/season details. Or there could be different locations, I guess.) <br/> <br/>- Adding even more enemy types would be nice. <br/> <br/>- Having non-enemy, non-wall things to hit could also be fun. Maybe something that creates a briefly fatal area (e.g. explodes) &amp; flings your hammer back. Maybe smashable obstacles that only ghosts can pass through (until they're smashed, anyway). <br/> <br/>Heh. I could probably keep going on. There's a lot of ways this could expand. The rapid succession of bite-sized battles in a small space with bouncing is a great kernel to build on.
Dec 21 06:18:00 27m 00s Data Stains I half-read the explanation first, and now I'm curious how much I might've puzzled out, but mostly on an ego level. <br/> <br/>Having half-read your post, I had a sense of what I needed to do, and roughly how to go about it. While the visuals are great, I quickly focused on the objective over the visuals. After being more or less certain I achieved the objective, I hit enter. Seeing the list of deleted memories helped the experience snap unexpectedly into something much more evocative and appreciable. <br/> <br/>I wouldn't say the gameplay itself is particularly enjoyable on its own, but I think it does play a necessary role in your entry, and--for me, at least--the entry evoked an an unusual and interesting response, which is the kind of thing I look for in art. <br/> <br/>Thanks for sharing both the entry and the explanation.
Dec 21 06:44:00 26m 00s The hunter Excellent work. <br/> <br/>I've often wanted to play with permanent blindness as a gameplay element, but I doubt I would have used it in a sort of top-down sniping game, or added bits of horror in. <br/> <br/>Bug-wise, I managed to A) run through a wall once, B) get the spear to stick parallel to a wall (such that I wasn't able to pick it up) when I fired in that direction, while pressed against said wall, and C) encounter or provoke something in the second area that produced a lot of noise and densely-packed concentric red rings but never moved.
Dec 22 16:39:00 33h 55m The 9th Life Collision seemed kinda hit or miss--sometimes I'd hit the jetpack dogs, sometimes I'd pass through them. Movement also felt too slow when running. <br/> <br/>It seemed a little odd that the scientist is better suited to dog-wrasslin' than, say, better enclosing the cat-room. I'd like to see the ability to place and repair defenses and distractions like walls, turrets, squeaky toys, mailmen, pathogens, etc. <br/> <br/>Very stylish art, though.
Dec 22 17:25:00 46m 00s Afterwife It seems a bit confusing to credit "pinecone" with the sound, and not provide any credits for the music. The first track in the game is "Come and Find Me," by Eric Skiff ( http://ericskiff.com/music/ ), which is under an attribution license (which means you should credit him; please do so as soon as you can). Be very careful about using things without crediting whoever made them--partly because the creators can sue you, and partly because it is ungentlemanly. <br/> <br/>In addition to the other things people have mentioned (checkpoints, etc), I'd suggest clarifying the "glide" button prompt in-game (e.g. "tap [space] while in the air to glide), and either adding a prompt for picking up the "ghost-bride," or just doing away with the button and picking her up when you bump into her.
Dec 22 17:51:00 26m 00s You Only Get One Nap Hah. The screen-shake, time-pressure, brutal difficulty, tendency to get knocked around after sleep, and enemies pouring in through black cracks in the background is really at odds with the pastel colors, soft music, and fluffy sleep theme. I suspect some strange relative has spiked the kid's milk. <br/> <br/>I kinda wish the levels were a little less linear &amp; difficult--it seems like there's only one correct way to play a level, which I don't find very fun. I also wish that fewer cracks had a target enemy level higher than the number of enemies to start. It also feels like the hit-boxes may be a little large. <br/> <br/>Kudos on making a complete and evilly hard micro-platformer with mostly cute art, music, and persistent state in 48 hours.
Jan 6 02:03:00 344h 12m The Hotdog Parable Very cute. You've put together quite a cheery little experience. <br/>From a gameplay standpoint, I want to say that it doesn't really feel like there are enough meaningful decisions, or really enough to do at any given moment, but, in the end, the charm of the world goes a long way.
Jan 6 02:20:00 17m 00s You Only Get 1! Hah. Nicely done capturing mood in the menus, interstitial screens, and brevity of the interactions. Good mix of activities, but I kind wish there were more. <br/> <br/>Kind of a big issue: while trying to squash the orange by hurling the cat downward at it, I seem to have sent the cat through the table, never to return. It seems my only options then were to watch the orange and endure the music or reload.
Jan 6 02:43:00 23m 00s Wild Growth Arr. It would be nice if the "easy" seed lived up to its name. Perhaps a more apt moniker may be: the "blind apocalyptic rage-inducing" seed. You have sown this in my brain, you evil strangers. <br/> <br/>Tomorrow: you shall wake to naught but dusty, sun-scorched earth, tuneless humming, and two to three rulers that slap your knuckles and nose if you ever stop dancing. <br/> <br/>A fitting end.
Jan 6 02:55:00 12m 00s To That Sect I suspect a human that produced this would probably be received as maybe clever and definitely weird (in a 'your brain doesn't work like ours' way) and possibly pretentious (in a 'oh, you're just making things weird and awkward for attention, you don't really have anything meaningful to say' way). <br/> <br/>I'm very fond of the blog, by the way. Found it through Gamasutra. Exciting, inspiring stuff.
Jan 6 23:10:00 20h 15m Luminess Those particle splats &amp; rebounds feel great. Very much so. The kill walls are nicely distinguished from other surfaces, too. <br/> <br/>I'm surprised how much the repeated level-end text detracted from the final product. It seems like it should be pretty minor, but seeing the same text again definitely made me more conscious of my time investment. (Maybe if it were just transcribed sound effects of eating for a few rounds, it would be perfectly acceptable?) <br/> <br/>Wish there were more to it, but that's probably a good sign if you plan on expanding on it. What's there is still a pretty solid entry, though! Good work!
Jan 6 23:32:00 22m 00s Follow The Leader I am kind of tired of godlike murder toys, but it was nice to see their fawning thoughts. It'd be nice to see them do more to celebrate the leader--maybe recite "poems" or "dance" or make a mud-totem in honor of the leader. <br/> <br/>If you wanted to add a little more "play" time to the system, you could add zombification of corpses, and/or a cupid arrow that makes folk eject a wee one and bleed out eventually from the puncture wound(s). <br/> <br/>It'd also help if corpses didn't prevent you from clicking on the people behind them. I think you might be able to set mouseEnabled to false for those, if you're using Sprites or MovieClips (and I remember Flash right).
Jan 6 23:39:00 7m 00s Captain's Duty Cute entry. I think other comments have summed things up pretty well. <br/> <br/>Regarding difficulty of controls, I wish I didn't have to look in the lower left corner to see how hard I was steering. Perhaps if the red knob were visible at the front of the ship? <br/> <br/>And some sort of indications whether I'm going at manslaughter-speed would be nice.
Jan 6 23:56:00 17m 00s YOGOPlatform I like the graphics, and the concept is fun. <br/> <br/>Learning how to play is difficult, though. <br/> <br/>I wish the platform did not disappear by itself. If it only disappeared when I pressed [space] mid-air, it would be easier to start the game. <br/> <br/>Also, it seems I cannot create a platform if I walk off the platform. This is very confusing at first. Maybe the graphics can change, to let me know if I am allowed to create a platform? Alternatively, maybe you could allow the player to create the platform even if they walk off instead of jump off? <br/> <br/>Anyway, an interesting entry!
Jan 7 00:09:00 13m 00s Only One Shot What determines the direction a shot goes after it hits? <br/> <br/>This is a potentially interesting start (I quite enjoy the thought of a kind of first-person Every Extend Extra), but the interaction and decision-making seem too limited in this prototype.
Jan 7 01:14:00 1h 05m !1 Olly's LSD trip 1! Strange. All I get is a pop-up that says "no more attempts", then a little bar on the top that indicates score: 0 and time counting down from something like five minutes. Everything else is white.
Jan 7 01:26:00 12m 00s The Trail I played long enough to get the cake. <br/>I liked the footprints. <br/> <br/>Seemed a bit odd that you could pick a door that you didn't walk to. <br/> <br/>Kind of an interesting experiment. A little too abandoned, though.
Jan 7 01:35:00 9m 00s 1 Minute Capsule Mighty charming little game. <br/> <br/>I enjoyed the graphics, the levels, and the gameplay. <br/> <br/>Don't have much else to say. <br/> <br/>Kudos.