Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD33 → Feedback comment stats → Phil Strahl
Feedback comments for LD33
Phil Strahl's games and stats for all events →
| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Phil Strahl's comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24 01:56:00 | YOU MONSTER!! | Interesting little narrative game conveying a message. Enjoyed the acoustic music and that there's polish in terms of introduction and even a settings menu on the title screen. The gameplay was pretty basic, but that's okay for the subject matter. I made it out with all 5 pages with about 45% insanity so you could make it increase a bit more aggressively. Maybe not even tell exactly how insane James is down to the first decimal number, because that's a but "too gamey" in my opinion for the subject matter, you hardly can measure sanity. How about displaying something mushy like "feeling slightly odd", "feeling uneasy", "feeling paranoid", "feeling extremely desperate" instead? | |
| Aug 24 02:09:00 | 13m 00s | The Migrant Crisis | That's an interesting take on the theme, I like it very much. Sadly, here in Austria we are also facing a rather unpleasant divide regarding refugees among the populace. The game is pretty ambitions in being a real time strategy game for such a short time and it works, basically. Ye, the controls are clunky to say the least, I was hardly able to move my units around which was very frustrating and the green soldiers on green background were a bit hard to see. it reminded me a little of "Papers, please", where you are responsible for the fortune (or lack thereof) of migrants. |
| Aug 24 02:19:00 | 10m 00s | Beagle | Interesting game, liked the minimalist graphics and reinforced message. Sound wasn't missing and the mini-game gameplay is fitting. Only the last part I didn't quite get. Whose attention was the beagle trying to get? Anyone from the outside? Was I, the player, pushing the cart? Because I surely was paying attention to the cute doggie. Nevertheless: Nice work! |
| Aug 24 02:28:00 | 9m 00s | Dat Blob | Ha! Fun little game. Made it up to 318 points, then the game crashed all of a sudden as was getting sprayed by the popcorn gun. Overall cute and fun, very retro in many ways, e.g. the FM-synth music or the setting itself, movie theater playing cheap horror flicks. Also nice variety in the graphics for 48 hrs! Enjoyable! |
| Aug 24 02:36:00 | 8m 00s | Executioner | Another social-critical game, as expected of the theme. Music was fitting, graphics minimalist but appealing. Unfortunately the "game" part is almost non-existant, again, it is much more intended as a commentary and it shows. The binary choice (if you don't count "quit job") is not much choice at all, hit home by the "there are no winners" statement. The message is clear, albeit a bit too simplistically presented. How about reading statements from also the victim/s (family) for trying for a more balanced, "bigger" picture. To me, almost none of the crimes listed were even punishable by "life in prison", so i found myself quitting my job on the first case. |
| Aug 24 02:42:00 | 6m 00s | Monstering Monsters | very funny game (love the sound effects!) and well executed, especially given the time frame. Interesting take on the theme, fun to play (I should brush up my typing skills, it seems). Also enjoy the art direction, everything fits together lovely. good game! |
| Aug 24 02:56:00 | 14m 00s | Imperial Accountant | Interesting concept and very engaging stealth gameplay, actually. Impressive for the amount of dev-time! Enjoyed the style very much although I was hoping to be able to open the chests some how ;) Also, I got lost pretty severely. Also liked the music very much, great mood. |
| Aug 24 03:09:00 | 13m 00s | Fragmented Reality | Very lovely game with some solid level design. I bet there are a lot of people deeming this entry as "pretentious" or "art game" but it's a pretty interesting narrative told through level design, visuals and text. Everything fit nicely together and for 48hrs that's really a big accomplishment since it also is finished and not abandoned halfway through (ahem...). Best entry so far, very well done! |
| Aug 24 03:12:00 | 3m 00s | $!*# | Frankly, I don't see where this ties in with the theme. It's a solid little casual game. |
| Aug 24 03:14:00 | 2m 00s | Monster Chomper | Sadly, doubleclick on .jar file does nothing (Windows 10 x64) |
| Aug 24 03:28:00 | 14m 00s | The Bed Was Cold | Wow, that was great! Great mood, very fitting graphics and execution, lovely design and good sound & music . And, of course, the story told through gameplay. Reminded me a little of "Home". I got a little frightened (which speaks for the atmosphere). Really enjoyed this. incredible work for 48 hrs -- kudos, my friend! |
| Aug 24 03:43:00 | 15m 00s | The Next Step | Interesting little game, surprisingly atmospheric considering the presentation! This really reminded me of age-old games, where much of it happened in your imagination -- and this little game shares those traits. The minimalist sound also contributed to this greatly and the level was designed well. I just wish there had been one more. Here's my experience from playing this game, sounds like I was playing something AAA along the lines of "Alien Isolation" as the alien ;) <br/> <br/> <br/>I really felt like I was the monster, kept by scientists as an experiment, they wanted to see whether I'd feed on the dead. And then the living. Oh, I surely did, but my powers increased and I escaped through the vents and took my revenge on those two bastards. How pathetic they were, running for their lives as they say me on the other side of their window - ha! Then I went exploring the facility and found out that I was not the only one kept in confinement, but I was way better off than those poor souls. Well, more bio-mass for me. I was such strong now, that I could take on the security guards head on, those in the front yard were the most fun before I escaped through the sewers for I am truly a monster. |
| Aug 24 03:50:00 | 7m 00s | Seven.Eat.Nine. | That's the most unusual game I've played currently -- which is good. I don't know how much this relates to the theme, but it is one hell of a fast paced game to be sure. And working with ASCII characters is so Sinclair ZX81. Lovely! |
| Aug 24 03:56:00 | 6m 00s | Blob | Very cool retro intro actually, it set the tone of what was to come. Only the trumpet-melody in the beginning sounded a bit like menacing farts ;) Gameplay itself was a bit frantic and frustrating, probably because I didn't really understand it, so many seemingly complex systems at play, yet that's refreshingly different! <br/> <br/>Still a solid entry, proto-RTS, enjoyed it. |
| Aug 24 04:06:00 | 10m 00s | Growing Up A Monster | @All: Download the zip file and unzip it, there's data and .exe in it. Just had to add it to my Google Drive. Not the best solution, but there are worse out there. <br/> <br/>About the game: Solid first entry, welcome to the LD community! The music is outstanding, very fitting and well recorded, loved it. Controls and collision is a bit wonky but fine. Only thing I can't wrap my head around it why your little game is 140 megs! <br/> <br/>Suggestion: When you have a slow scroll up like on the credits, it's really hard to read the quotes because they appear from the last line to the first, very unusual. Also, the jumping still worked there. |
| Aug 24 04:14:00 | 8m 00s | Dolphin Meat | Funny little game, although the charging mechanic was a bit hard getting used to at first. Also, the game would have benefited greatly from more than 4 direction-sprites of the vicious dolphin. Steel-drum music was minimalist but fitting the theme and the physics worked rather well. |
| Aug 24 04:17:00 | 3m 00s | Monstrous Day at Park Lake! | For some reason I can't play, game hangs after pressing the space bar (both Web and Windows version). The Windows version also shows an overlay that the game needs to be uploaded in order to run properly? Sorry, can't rate. |
| Aug 24 04:31:00 | 14m 00s | Monster Quest | Wow, 190 mb download is quite extraordinary, I was expectant of something really asset heavy. So maybe don't include all the standard assets from RPG Maker when you don't need them. Apart from that: Funny take on the stereotypical way games present monsters from the POV of the hero. The Stone's were really hard to read, maybe cahnge the font color or the tiles of that floor :) Really cute ukulele soundtrack and very nice writing! :) |
| Aug 24 04:37:00 | 6m 00s | Tenebris Morte | Interesting way to present a text adventure, really enjoyed the music and the gameplay was alright, although I found 5 backpacks in a row and then the sun rose ;) Music was very melancholic and fitting. Overall: interesting choices |
| Aug 24 04:41:00 | 4m 00s | Soul Ownership | Very well written and touching story, I enjoyed it very much. And thanks for making me feel clever for finding out the door code :) Also interesting twist, thanks for your entry! |
| Aug 24 15:26:00 | 10h 45m | Fiskarens fiende | Interesting approach and choice of perspective, I'd never think of this concept as top down, but ti works. Had a bit of troubles gauging my speed and how high the wale was jumping, perhaps a little shadow on the water would have helped. The music was not my cup of tea but the sfx were fitting. |
| Aug 24 15:29:00 | 3m 00s | Monsters In The Woods | "You have a gun so you must be the player" - ha! Loved it, also the subliminal message hidden on the "monsters" :) Good graphics and solid first entry! |
| Aug 24 15:34:00 | 5m 00s | Ant Destroyer | Very arcardy gameplay and presentation, I liked it. Also having an info-sectin was nice. Reminded me a little of those trashy monster films from the 1950s/60s. Maybe having some kind of enemy (army tanks shooting at you) would have been nice but that's why you got a time. Improvement suggestion: Don't allow skipping the final score window by any key, at least for a second or two. I never know with what score I ended up with because I was still mashing keys |
| Aug 24 15:39:00 | 5m 00s | The Ant | Another ant themed game haha :) The gameplay here was also very arcardy albeit a bit frantic due to the controls. I neveer quite made it to the top because either I was shot down or just plummeted to my death. The art style is a little unfocused, either go for pixels or shaded stuff, but apart from that quite okay. |
| Aug 24 15:45:00 | 6m 00s | Murderers | First: Thanks for providing fullscreen/windowed options :) <br/> Simple graphics but nice atmospheric backstory. Like the choice of special skills in the characters. |
| Aug 24 15:49:00 | 4m 00s | Goblin's Plight | Solid for the time, esp. considering the late switch to Unity. Still, a hit feedback would have been nice, at first I thought I was doing it wrong. Unfortunately it's nothing really innovative, if you switch sprites for player/enemies it's as classic as it could get. Maybe switching weapons or a power-up or two would have been nice? |
| Aug 24 15:55:00 | 6m 00s | Devour | Very hard to get the timing right, maybe a little more leeway on the start would have been helpful. The light falloff also was a bit distracting since it also affected the GUI, took me a few attempts to notice the timer ticking down. <br/>Suggestion: Next time please don't map the action to Z, on my German keyboard Y and Z are switched. Q or E would have worked jsut fine. or space. or Ctrl. Or Shift ;) |
| Aug 24 15:57:00 | 2m 00s | You'll find the monster when it's over | Can't run neither x64 nor x32 version on my System, doubleclick on the .jar does nothing (Windows 10 x64; JRE installed) |
| Aug 24 16:02:00 | 5m 00s | I am the clicky monster | I like that trying to spend as little clicks as possible makes it a bit of a maths game, since the actual clicking part is the most uninteresting to me. I don't get, however, how I am the monster since apparently I am clicking monsters away... <br/> <br/>My best 434 clicks, btw. |
| Aug 24 16:06:00 | 4m 00s | From The Jaws of Death | Interesting idea with controlling both the guy and the heavenly cloud of healing. Had my difficulties with story mode cause the guy was moving so frantic. Also, the health bar should be a little more pronounced because at first I had no idea how I was doing (poorly, it turned out) So very innovative but I don't get the connection to the theme, though. |
| Aug 24 16:13:00 | 7m 00s | Monster's Meal | Very retro, (as in it feels like a PDP-10 mainframe game ;)) although the game could give a little more feedback, e.g. change the color of the town's braveness from red to yellow to green, so I would know when to eat one of them without having a calculator ready to do the maths, that's not fun. Still very interesting interpretation of the theme. |
| Aug 24 16:17:00 | 4m 00s | Wolf | First: Thanks for keeping the download size to an impressive 36 kb. I've seen games that looked like less but were over 100 megs in size! This reminds me in both graphics and sound (and file size apparently ;)) of good old Atari 2600 games. Still a bit of instructions would have been nice. From what I gathered I could select from 3 characters but I could only eat 2 and I would die pretty fast. |
| Aug 24 16:21:00 | 4m 00s | OMNOMNOM | Reminded me of ZX81 games, lovely! The sounds were fitting, esp. the crunchy eating noise haha. The controls were not ideal: On my German keyboard layout Y and Z are switched so it was very uncomfortable playing. Why not use Space for jump? Would have bee much more intuitive. Apart from that, nice mechanics :) |
| Aug 24 16:28:00 | 7m 00s | Meow! | Haha, silly but fun. And I agree, sound effects are comedy gold :) Platforming is basic but the lighting system is incredibly advanced. Suggestion: The hint about shift-jump should have been a little before the sheer drop, I thought it was a shallow pool of water at first. |
| Aug 24 16:32:00 | 4m 00s | Dungeon Feeder | I like the idea of the triggering traps but it would have been nice to place the traps yourself, upgrade them or do something else apart from just frantically moving the mouse between the two buttons. Still a good start. |
| Aug 24 16:38:00 | 6m 00s | Damage Control | I like your interpretation of the theme. also the art choices (limited palette, soundtrack) are fitting and pleasant. Hurting people is painful thanks to screen shake and sound. I didn't do too shabby, very fun entry! |
| Aug 24 16:42:00 | 4m 00s | Am I the monster? | Nice art style and take on the theme. I managed to get around 200 points but what the game was lacking was a cool-down indicator. I missed a lot of trash (and then a bottle) because repeatedly hitting the direction keys didn't really work. |
| Aug 24 16:47:00 | 5m 00s | Is That Me? | Pretty hard due to the acceleration and feeling of "mass" of the character. I don't get the perspective, though, since the "mirror ceiling" is on the side? Anyway innovative use of the runner mechanic, making it mirrored with asymmetric obstacles. Music was nice. |
| Aug 24 16:52:00 | 5m 00s | Baldaquin VII - The monster of Rome | Very innovative use of a Greek vase as playfield with different height-levels, took me a little to get it. And those dudes are really harassing, that's not fun. Still, I don't get how this makes me the monster? Still very interesting mechanics, although I didn't know which house I was meant to enter once I got all the ingredients... |
| Aug 25 21:10:00 | 28h 18m | Should Have Worn Socks Today | Short but I enjoyed it! Music was fitting the melancholy of it all and it was nice seeing the dress-up-doll genre augmented with a little more meaning and exposing the superficiality of both players and avatars. Very retro (I know, I say that a lot, but I mean it in a good way) :) Also very original and well executed graphics! |
| Aug 25 21:14:00 | 4m 00s | Project Jumpius | Very innovative and highly polished game, impressive for the short development time! Had fun playing it but couldn't make it past the 1-minute mark haha. Very well done, mechanics are simple yet engaging and the art design is very appealing. Great job! |
| Aug 25 21:25:00 | 11m 00s | Humane Harvest | Haha my god, that's cutely disturbing! Nice sound effects and feedback. ("Ahhhhhhhhh!") Very original in a very indie way, loving it, great entry! Took me a while to buy my freedom, but it didn't get … out of hand! <,< |
| Aug 25 21:28:00 | 3m 00s | Swarm | I had my troubles playing this one because I didn't really get the controls. But from what I gathered I was playing as being part of a swarm which was really unusual and like a breath of fresh air, concept wise. Didn't really feel like a monster, though, cause the hero had it coming ;) |
| Aug 25 21:35:00 | 7m 00s | EyeShot | Very frantic gameplay but fun. Wasn't quite sure how to control the eye-beam? Apart from that very nice. Also very fitting "boss level" music :) One word of advice: Please mind that not everyone has a QWERTY keyboard layout, e.g. on my German the Y and Z keys are switched making this game bit harder than necessary, especially since the WASD keys weren't mapped. How about opting for Shift, Ctrl, Space, or Tab? next time? |
| Aug 25 21:40:00 | 5m 00s | Space Pong | Very interesting interpretation of Pong, a little glitchy at times (or maybe I was just not good with rebounding shots). AI is a little too good for me. I liked the minimalist graphics, but a little sound would have been nice too, just a square wave sound or something? Still, quite an accomplishment for basically starting from scratch in cpp! |
| Aug 25 21:44:00 | 4m 00s | Is This Me? | Worked on my system (Win 10 x64, JRE installed). Very interesting art style and … surprising second screen. Had a bit of Kill Bill vibe to it, audio was very good. Unfortunately a bit short, though. |
| Aug 25 21:46:00 | 2m 00s | MikeDave | Compile it myself? Sorry, but YOU are the monster! ;) |
| Aug 25 21:53:00 | 7m 00s | D.A.S.H | Interesting concept and very nice graphics and feeling of "oomph!" when performing an attack. Unfortunately the introduction was way too long in my opinion (sometimes the string even too wide to fit!), so at a certain point I just skipped through it. Choice of font didn't help. interesting concept though! |
| Aug 25 21:57:00 | 4m 00s | Monstaaaaar! | Very interesting concept, a little bit of Kirby and Pipe Mania. Loved the music and gameplay once I got the hang of it. You should keep working on it, I want MOOOOAAAR levels! |
| Aug 25 22:02:00 | 5m 00s | WATERPONY | Once I got the controls it was a very fun experience, real smooth and polished. Loved the music and the retro feel of it all, an extremely solid entry. You can put this on the app store right away and become rich! :) |
| Aug 25 22:06:00 | 4m 00s | Who Is The Monster? | Loved the download size, half a meg is excellent :) Unfortunately the gameplay was a bit too frantic for my taste, everything just happened to fast that I hardly got away with anything. Maybe a little delay would have helped, or also a little momentum in the controls. Still, I enjoy playing a badass unicorn! |
| Aug 25 22:11:00 | 5m 00s | Vlad the Chef *NOT FINISHED* | I can relate to not finishing what you had in mind, my game has the same issue. Still it seemed like you were off to a good start, the path-finding works and feels real smooth. And you can still finish it, you know? ;) |
| Aug 25 22:16:00 | 5m 00s | Nomnomnom | Very cute, looks like you were off to a good start. The sine-music is very calming and fitting and I om-nom-nomed a number of beach balls, too (or Chrome icons? ;) Anyway how about also having stuff drop that hurts you, too? And just slap on a time limit and you're done. I liked it. |
| Aug 25 22:22:00 | 6m 00s | Synapse | Wow, very impressed by all the nerdy stuff that's in there. This is way beyond what I know about those great old hardware (which mostly amounts to copying sprites to v-ram ;). Your game looks like the big brother of Uplink :D |
| Aug 25 22:28:00 | 6m 00s | The Devil's Misson | Enjoyed the upgrade mechanic and the menacing soundtrack, although here are some suggestions: Give the main weapon a different color, blue really vanishes in the background. Maybe ad some hit feedback on the guys (particles, sound effect) so I know I am doing the right thing. And perhaps crank up both spawn rate and gravity. Mostly I was waiting for guys to appear while flying through the air :) Still it was fun. |
| Aug 25 22:31:00 | 3m 00s | BROYOTORUSUM | Interesting. Art style reminded me a little of Ed McMillen’s and AVGN’s Super Mecha Death Christ ;) Gameplay was fun and the little red/green indicator helped me lot deciding what to shoot. Cooldown on the main weapon was a little too long for me but I guess that added to the difficulty. Solid entry! |