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Feedback comments for LD29
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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Crumpet's comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28 21:47:00 | Guidance | Right off the bat, the controls are a bit awkward. A lot of people are more comfortable with WASD, and from the outside, it looks like you have little to lose in mapping the movement controls to WASD as well as the arrow keys. While U is a memorable undo button, it suffers from being too far from any of the other keys you use. Might I suggest taking a look at Puzzlescript games' controls? <br/> <br/>The mechanics imposed a set number of moves to solve a puzzle, which imposes a sense of every action mattering, a sense I had already begin to suspect the moment I saw it had an undo button (love the undo button, by the way). Whenever every move counts, it makes you really think several moves ahead, which honestly makes you feel rather clever whenever you solve a puzzle. Optimizing your solutions to squeeze out that final step too many is a nice feeling, one I quite appreciate. <br/> <br/>Sadly, the graphics are lackluster, and there doesn't appear to be any audio (correct me if this is an issue on my end), and the font you've used for text clashes with the pixellated art style of the game. Making a game comprehensible with such a small colour palette is a noteworthy achievement, kudos for that. <br/> <br/>I always prefer when the theme is implemented mechanically rather than through story, it makes the game feel far more tailored to the theme, rather than shoehorned in at the last moment. | |
| Apr 28 22:51:00 | 1h 04m | NYC | The whole mood of the game is excellent, through the use of nice artwork, and sound design that absolutely nails it. Seriously, the sound was spot on. <br/> <br/>I have some issues with the gameplay, in particular the combined unexpected deaths and the long waiting times between death and when you get back to a point where you do anything except just walk forwards. While I can respect that this adds a whole level of magnitude to each death, making you think over any decision which might kill you quite carefully, some aspects of the game can be quite counter-intuitive, meaning some of the deaths feel a bit frustrating. <br/> <br/>Overall, a good game which could be made excellent if you somehow solved the aforementioned problem. Excellent mood, and even better sound design! |
| Apr 29 01:02:00 | 2h 11m | Flipper | The combined graphics and simple, calm music makes this one of those nice, relaxing games to play, and the short length actually just adds to that (calming games do sometimes outstay their welcome). <br/> <br/>The gameplay is simplistic, and should you feel like extending this in the future, that should be something worth keeping. This game thrives because of it's simple nature and soothing aethethic, and complicating the gameplay would only subtract from that. <br/>As was said before, adding exploration would add, as the game does conjure up a certain level of curiosity within the player. <br/> <br/>The graphics for the surface of the water could stand to be a little better, they feel very flat at the moment, and the rays of sunlight could maybe go down a bit deeper. I think there's room for making those surface rays of sunlight look nicer as well, they don't quite live up to the glorious sunset. <br/> <br/>Overall, it is a game that sets out to do something simple, and accomplishes it nicely with a fair amount of polish. Congratulations! |
| Apr 29 10:37:00 | 9h 35m | The Westport Independent | I hate to be another person to draw Papers Please parallels, but hey, it's obvious you've drawn some inspiration from it. <br/>Not that this is a bad thing. You've taken the effective parts of the formula, and put them into something different. <br/>The aethethics are lovely, and the game plays nicely, save for awkward controls. <br/>I found it a bit easy to be the oppressive man I wished to be, and it would have felt good to have a bit more of a challenge in that sense, but honestly I don't see any realistic way of addressing that without taking away from the game in other ways, and it works fine as it is. <br/> <br/>An excellent game, well done |
| Apr 29 22:36:00 | 11h 59m | River of Souls | Honestly, I'm surprised this game hasn't gotten more attention than it has. <br/>The art is the best of the 13 games I've looked at so far, and by such a huge margin that I doubt it'll get dislodged from that spot anytime soon. I just love the cohesion of the style. Pentagons! Hardly the most common of art styles either. <br/>It's a right shame about the lack of sound, because if you did have some nice sound design in there, the game would feel like such a captivating experience. I can't help but feel bad for how this game was robbed of such potentially moving sound design, by the ever powerful Ludum Dare deadline. <br/>The story is well written, you follow the "Show don't tell" rule very effectively, and can tell quite an extensive background in only the first few lines of the game. <br/>Overall, a really stunning entry. If not for the absence of sound, I would have confused it for a higher level jam entry. Already with what you have, I had to double check. |