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Solifuge

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game	Solifuge's comment
Aug 26 02:06:00		Soup	What a cool way to use 2D fluid simulation! The music and minimalist graphics were solid, like a highly chill Spore Cell Stage. It wasn't really challenging per se, but it was fun. I'd love to see an Agar.IO clone with mechanics like these too.
Aug 26 04:17:00	2h 11m	Death of a Lich	You really ran with this theme, building a game around the experience of being an immortal soul-stealing monster, biding your time and growing stronger with each resurrection. The game mechanics perfectly support the narrative too, even down to the tactical feel of planning your next attack. It's simple to play, but has real strategic depth, which makes it fun to play. The lack of a timer, and the indicators over the character's heads let me plan where to move, so failures aren't as frustrating (though the markers could be a little brighter). <br/> <br/>This is a really fun, excellently made game in any context, but to do it in 48 hours? I'm just amazed. You've earned my genuine admiration.
Aug 26 05:36:00	1h 19m	The Empty	A simple game. I didn't realize there was a "real" target until a long time in, since I wanted to investigate the house. Good work, and thanks for sharing it!
Aug 26 07:08:00	1h 32m	Necro Monster	Pretty solid strategy gameplay. The music got a little repetitive, but it's not bad at all. Very Evil Disco; the Necrodancer would be proud. <br/> <br/>There were a lot of clicks happening, and many of them missed; hitboxes for the UI seem kinda off. It'd really help to have visual feedback for if you've rolled over a button, and for what action is currently selected; I kept re-clicking the Attack/Defense Buff buttons every time, because I didn't figure out it stayed selected. Similarly, when the UI for doing things is visible all the time (and not greyed out) it's telling me as a player that I can do things; the game equivalent of confusing mixed signals. An improved UI design would make this a lot more fun. <br/> <br/>It was a little frustrating how many actions I needed to take per turn, and how they were broken up into phases. I couldn't relocate my defenders during the preparation phase, when I badly needed to. Sometimes I couldn't explore either, because I had rooms full of 3 skeletons in the way, and no way to move them until the combat phase (I got into the habit of only putting 2 units in a room too, since you couldn't swap-move units between rooms that were full). It was almost easier to explore during combat too, since you could move once per turn instead of a limited number of times (I also managed to "explore" my necromancer into some grey territory during combat). <br/> <br/>You might have been able to design this with a single phase, or no phases at all; just actions each unit could take in a turn, and a few turns down-time between waves. the player could choose whether to find new rooms, or summon, or buff, etc. It'd help the game-flow a lot, and would be quicker to learn/pick up. <br/> <br/>I had fun making super-powered archers that could chew apart invaders, while tanky constructs blocked the way. Honestly, I think buffed archers with at least 7 attack were game-breaking, since invaders only moved one tile; if you knew where they were going, you could put them just out of reach, and kill every invader... unless you misclicked and sent them into the room to die. (Did that a few times, whoops!) If invaders automatically moved until the first room with a defender, or even had random attack/defense, it'd keep players from cheesing the game. <br/> <br/>All that said, a pretty fun strategy game, and impressive work in 48 hours! Thanks for putting this together, and keep at it!
Aug 26 07:25:00	17m 00s	Kaiju no Ai: Aisuru no Monogatari	Cute character design! Even though the jump wasn't used for anything, it was nice to be able to flip around while walking forward. I liked the use of classical music (Girl from Ipanema in particular made me happy), but you might want to mention when you borrow game assets in the description, so people don't consider them in your score. <br/> <br/>The time-pressure of the last stage made it a nice boss, and I had to be careful of when to use my special attacks. It'd have been nice to have that pressure in all the levels, maybe faster in later levels; without that, there wasn't really anything providing a challenge, you know? Bug-wise, in full-screen mode the game didn't take my aspect ratio into account, and I couldn't see everything despite it being smaller-res than my monitor. <br/> <br/>Nice work, and thanks for putting this together! I had fun.
Aug 26 07:42:00	17m 00s	Monster Pizza	Customer was complaining I was late with their pizza, so I trampled their house. No more complaints! <br/> <br/>This game is brilliant. Seriously, I really appreciate a game that lets me subvert a goal like that, and -sort- of succeed, even if it's not "success" in the strictest sense. cough cough <br/> <br/>I loved the chippy prehistoric-sounding music... the percussion sounds like thundering footsteps! I loved the story the gameplay told; poor dino just wants to deliver pizzas, and sometimes he has to trample a traffic-clogged intersection, or a whole street of apartment complexes to get to his customer's house. I loved the little touches too; how the cars stop if you're in the way. I can imagine them honking their little horns. Great take on the theme; you really ran with the ramifications of being a monster as a player-character, and I really appreciate that! <br/> <br/>I generally like your games, but this is one of my top picks from this Ludum Dare, hands down. Thanks a ton!
Aug 26 08:01:00	19m 00s	The Hosts	Short but interesting stealth action puzzler; I like the strategic element in choosing which character to possess. The clean aesthetics, and the feel from just a splash of color was really nice. I love that the characters have tiny little noses, too! <br/> <br/>There were some difficulties caused by the camera angle in the second level; the melee guard after the door couldn't be targeted effectively when he was obscured behind that wall, and they moved faster than you could get far enough into the room to get a shot. I had to cheese his line of sight and retreated to finally get him. <br/> <br/>Thanks for putting this together, even if it was short. I had fun! I wish you luck working on your future, more feature-complete version of the game too!
Aug 26 08:22:00	21m 00s	Mon Mon Quest	At least Sproutic's Bark isn't worse than its Bite. I appreciated the messages for Developer POV too. The ability to button-mash for power was nice, but the damage values seemed highly random even when I hit 5 stars, so it was a let-down. <br/> <br/>Neat take on the theme; this is a role-reversal I'd like to see more of. Thanks for putting this together!
Aug 26 08:25:00	3m 00s	Grow	Bummer that Dropbox won't let me download. Looks artsy and interesting. I'll be back!
Aug 26 08:38:00	13m 00s	Hero Mate	Monsters helping an incompetent auto-scroller hero is a really clever take on the theme, and I appreciate it a lot! Love the cute style, and the surprising variety you got out of just movement and jumping. Short and sweet, but a definite favorite from this LD!
Aug 26 08:47:00	9m 00s	The Dictator Simulator	Neat idea! It didn't feel particularly game-ish, but the story and voice acting was funny. I appreciated it! It didn't resize to a non-widescreen aspect ratio, so I lost some of the dialogue, which was a bummer. Also, it seems you could keep clicking buttons after making a decision, which threw up some errors.
Aug 26 09:25:00	38m 00s	Yeti Scent	The description said Dating Sim. The screenshots had yeti and lumberjacks. Imagine my disappointment when he didn't accept the offering of rabbit meat I left strewn around the tree he was hiding in. </3 <br/> <br/>Never before have I expected I would some day say this, but the skeleton king smelled SO dang sparkly. I just wanted to chase him through the woods forever. I loved the visual depiction of scent-tracking using drifting, fading particles; I might have to borrow this for a pet project of mine. <br/> <br/>Thank you for this weird, wonderful survival sim. The Yeti Perseveres, fools! I'm out!
Aug 26 09:49:00	24m 00s	Wrecking Blob	What if Katamari Damacy was made by Michael Bay. Explosions were nice, and the explosions were fun and visceral. The visuals look nice too. Could use a source of challenge; something that made you lose progress, or a puzzle to solve. <br/> <br/>Thanks for putting this together!
Aug 26 10:07:00	18m 00s	There's Plenty of Fish in the Sea	The hitboxes on most of the hazards are obnoxiously big. I couldn't keep playing after the 6th thing killed me from several pixels away... which is unfortunate, because I generally like these sorts of games, and I was curious how you were going to handle the "You are a stalker fish who doesn't know how to take no for an answer, and possibly collects other people's journal entries" angle. <br/> <br/>Save spots would help, and some tighter hit-boxes would help. Groovy soundtrack. Thanks for putting this together!
Aug 26 10:20:00	13m 00s	I am Death and Fire	The flight mechanics felt really fluid, and the graphics were great! I liked how the music faded as you flew up and away from the chaos. The ambiance and visuals did a great job of depicting a chaotic, burning village. <br/> <br/>Nice work!
Aug 26 10:43:00	23m 00s	Out West	Interesting narrative, though I'm a bit confused still. I appreciate the use of graphics with the text; straight text adventures aren't really my thing, but I enjoyed this one. <br/> <br/>Nice interpretation of the theme as well. Thanks for putting this together!
Aug 26 23:09:00	12h 26m	PONY!	Really dig the art style, and a very satisfying sound effect. Critique-wise, it was hard to understand where walls/hitboxes for objects were sometimes, particularly with the over-layers. <br/> <br/>I dig the spirit, even if the execution didn't get all the way there. Even if you're just kicking ninjas in the face, in my heart you will always be a monster, Pony.
Aug 26 23:30:00	21m 00s	Run, Frankenstein's Monster, Run!	Some critique; I couldn't get the embedded version to play, and it wouldn't fit on a non-widescreen monitor, so I had to use the downloaded version. When playing, the jump was too floaty, and always spaced such that jumping one obstacle would land you in the next. An ability to control jump height (maybe holding the button during ascent extends it), or a jump distance designed to clear an average obstacle would be ideal. Also, there didn't seem to be a way to fully avoid the vertical sawblade; I could never quite clear it. <br/> <br/>It's hard to find the time during LD like this, but playtesting is really important! It lets you diagnose problems the average player is going to have, and helps you tidy up your work as the audience will see it. <br/> <br/>Thanks for putting this together. The soundtrack was groovy, and the animation well done. Good work!
Aug 27 01:06:00	1h 36m	Mobs, Inc.	Slow progression and add a bit more content, branching, chararcter development, etc. and this could be sold on Steam. Mirroring what everyone else is saying; absolutely excellent work.
Aug 27 01:34:00	28m 00s	(You are the) monster gaiden	In response to those villagers complaining about your game: There's a lot of ways people have fun. You don't need crunchy gameplay or long-running content to bring players some joy. I always appreciate the aesthetics behind your games, and the music, colors, and character design were delightful. <br/> <br/>I don't know how attached you are to solo entries, but if you wanted to do more than you had time for, you could trawl for some like-minded folks to collab with. Many hands make light work, and it might help you more-fully realize your inspiration. If you prefer to keep flying solo, you could try to structure your time or pare things down, or even build a flexible generic framework or code-base for the games you like to make ahead of time (it's in the Jam rules), with the knowledge that you're going to want to put energy into making things all stylish and charming during the competition. <br/> <br/>Most of all, I hope you had fun making this. It certainly made me smile! Thank you for putting this together, and for sharing it.
Aug 27 01:54:00	20m 00s	R-ADIUS	Very clever reversal of the shmup genre. I really appreciated what you were doing here, and the piloting AI seems surprisingly competent! Fun, nice tunes, and fairly challenging. The addition of a Game Over screen to the post-compo gave it a nice sense of completion. <br/> <br/>A really solid entry. Thanks for sharing this!
Aug 27 02:53:00	59m 00s	Sweet Dreams	I have never seen a game like this before; it really is a great creative game, and a clever take on the theme. Also, props to whoever Mario was; that Koopa shadow puppet was excellent! <br/> <br/>I really liked the low-poly models, and the simple ambient music chords in the BG were a nice touch; it helped fill the silence when getting my shadows turned around right. <br/> <br/>I went back and made another for fun. For a post-compo or expanded version, it might be nice to have a rating system that let people tag or score their favorites, or flag the broken or empty entries; there's a fair number of shadows that seemed to be single objects or all defaults, and it'd be nice if the community of boogyfolks had a way to curate and clean up this Shadow Art Museum we're building together!
Aug 27 03:45:00	52m 00s	King Mean's Mean Streak	Kinda grindy and button-mashy, but that's just part of being a hack-and-slash. Item pickups were cool, though I didn't get them all; ice cream cone and sunglasses were enough to see me through to the last boss; items applied their visual effect when picked up, but didn't apply their changes until I clicked. <br/> <br/>I got bored of cutting through villages all the time (honestly, the combat was slow and repetitive, and with large clusters of buildings that got tedious fast) so I cut around them. A map would have been a HUGE help here, since it was hard to know where to go once I went off-trail. I feel like I might've missed 2 of 4 bosses in so doing? When I beat the last boss, the game didn't end, but that also might've been by design too! <br/> <br/>I second that the music didn't feel terribly fitting for the game's narrative. That said, it was well made, groovy music! I loved the graphical style too; everything being a prop or a cardboard cutout was a fun satire on the artificial nature of this heroic adventure, and maybe RPGs in general? The text bubbles and bouncing text for italics/emphasis is a great touch, and something I might even borrow; it makes reading lively, and really conveys the emphasis, and different motion could even give the words a "tone". Very cool! <br/> <br/>Don't let my critique say otherwise; great work on your entry, and I had a good time playing it.
Aug 27 21:52:00	18h 07m	You Have Been Found Guilty	Solid artwork, and I liked that the music changed subtly when engaged in combat. Also didn't manage to stealth kill; they always faced me. Also, didn't really have to fight anyone, and wasn't ever hit by just running and jumping at top speed. Slower speed or faster enemy firing would accomplish the double-goal of giving people time to enjoy the scenery, while also making a cost to not attacking or attacking enemies; it becomes more of a meaningful choice, and meaningful choices are what's at the heart of games!
Aug 27 22:13:00	21m 00s	The Dark Side of the Moon Prunes	Such cheerful music for a slave farm sim. Probably helps to offset the heinousness! I do feel a little better about my strict policy of only employing enslaved Hitlers, though.
Aug 28 06:00:00	7h 47m	The Mammoth: A Cave Painting	I actually was discussing a cave-painting story game something like this when deciding what to do for the Jam. Crazy! I appreciated the interactive storytelling direction you went in, the narration, the art style, all of it. Excellent work!