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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | RockhopperGames's comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14 12:05:00 | I've Bean Stalking You | First of all, quality pun, and nice graphics/ambience! <br/> <br/>I have to ask, though, was the speedrunning idea a compromise for not having time to make the enemies fight back? If so, fair enough, we all do what we have to. Otherwise, you might want to refine some of the mechanics. <br/> <br/>Speedrunning games need tighter controls, for one. I don't see why the sword had to be controlled my mouse aim, rather than using buttons to attack in front of you. Run/charging could be mapped to a button, allowing for faster turns, and making it safer to use on the edge of the map. <br/> <br/>Also, speedrunning requires lots of reseting to get the best times, and having to close and reopen the game every time you screw up doesn't really cut it there. The random generations of each screen creates a problem too, encouraging even more resetting. I dunno if game maker can handle this, but setting a fixed seed for the generator could resolve that. <br/> <br/>Despite that, I did give it a few times, and managed to get under the 10 level par ( http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv245/banthesun/punnyShot_zpsodex2d7l.png ) I don't need a reward, if I made the first goal, the challenge was nice on its own (and I wouldn't want someone who really cares about what that is to have to aim for the higher tiers). For a 48 hour game, I think you made a fine showing! | |
| Dec 14 12:22:00 | 17m 00s | Spider's web | Saw you post about this during development, and I thought that was something I wanted to try! <br/> <br/>The idea is great, though the two button controls definitely make it much less accessible. I also spent so much time maintaining even a small web that I didn't really have much time to expand. <br/> <br/>If you do update this at some point to have a non-two button version, I would be interested in trying it again! |
| Dec 14 12:26:00 | 4m 00s | Play with Dog or Cat | Congratulations of your first Ludum Dare! <br/> <br/>The graphics are adorable, and have real personality, and I would say it's a good take on the theme! Apart from the size, there's not really anything to criticise here, so good work! |
| Dec 14 13:16:00 | 50m 00s | Crashteroids | An excellent showing! The idea was really creative, and the the excecution pulled through! Building a tower is really satisfying, and it remains fun for a surprisingly long time, considering how simple it is. <br/> <br/>As a possibility for a post compo version, you could take this idea and run with it, adding in all sorts of upgrades and bonuses for the little cities you build, possibly adding a bunch more strategy to it! |
| Dec 14 14:56:00 | 1h 40m | Cactus Simulator | I'm pretty sure this isn't botanically accurate... <br/> <br/>As for the game though, it's pretty simple, but I have to ask if you specifically avoided keyboard controls to follow up with the theme, or if that was just for mobile accessability? <br/> <br/>Lovely simple sprites, though! |
| Dec 14 15:33:00 | 37m 00s | Grow Up | A nice little twist on the endless runner formula! The momentum gives a really horrible feeling as you try and turn away from oncoming planes, which is definitely interesting. <br/> <br/>Managed to get a high score of 1387 points too, if anyone else wants to compare! |
| Dec 14 16:20:00 | 47m 00s | The Organization | Excellent idea and presentation, though it's clear where the 48 hour time limit hurt you. More variety in missions, and more significance for the choices would be idea, but creating all that in 48 hours must have been impossible. Good showing none the less! |
| Dec 14 16:28:00 | 8m 00s | MK-F417XX3 | Didn't have a second person to try this with yet, but as an odd control scheme, it does alright! It's a shame there isn't more to do, but what's there is definitely solid! <br/> <br/>Also, I found you can make the mech do a chaming little dance by shifting between the feet quickly! |
| Dec 14 16:45:00 | 17m 00s | Night Radar | Great idea, though it'd obviously take a lot of time to master! In a way, the simple style actually suits the theme of the game, so good work making the most of your limitations there! <br/> <br/>Unfortunately, I hit an error upon taking down my third fighter, and got the following message: <br/>############################################################################################ <br/>FATAL ERROR in <br/>action number 1 <br/>of Step Event0 <br/>for object obj_fighter: <br/> <br/>Variable obj_fighter.exploded(100048, -2147483648) not set before reading it. <br/>at gml_Object_obj_fighter_Step_0 <br/>############################################################################################ |
| Dec 15 06:26:00 | 13h 41m | Bellows | Excellent variation on the runner/climber genre! I particularly liked that enemies didn't one hit kill you, and that there actually was an ending! <br/> <br/>Personally, I found the game a little easy, though I see plenty of people talking about the difficulty above me. Maybe I got a good spawn, but I found spacing my puffs helped a lot. Maybe adding faster scrolling for people who rush would even it out a bit there? |
| Dec 15 08:10:00 | 1h 44m | Cultivate | Absolutely gorgeous! The use of binary choices is a good take on the theme, the graphics were a skillful compromise to the time limit, and you filled out a lot more content than I would have expected for 48 hours (hope you didn't work yourself too hard)! <br/> <br/>As for suggestions, perhaps providing a/d alternative controls would be a cool addition? I loved the little section about choosing what hand you write with, but that made me want to try wasd to play it left handed (I'm a righty, but I thought plenty of left handed like the option?) <br/> <br/>I'd also like to see how much of the game is changable, and what is impossible, but I ran into an error when I tried to restart. It was something of a longer error message, so I copied it to a pastebin here: http://pastebin.com/gAsP1bgP <br/> <br/>I'll probably go back and give this another try before the end of the compo, but being able to get multiple runthroughs in would be top notch. |
| Dec 15 08:30:00 | 20m 00s | Rape, Pillage, Makane! | Definitely disturbing, and definitely unusual. I don't think I'm able to rate this game without more information from where you're coming from with this, though. I did look up the two games you refferenced, but it's still a very difficult topic to address. |
| Dec 15 09:00:00 | 30m 00s | U.G.O | A very nicely made game. The two-button fighter mightn't quite be up to the level of some of the main examples of the genre, but for a 48 hour game it's very high quality! <br/> <br/>I have to agree with the people saying the levels are a little too long, though. I got up to level 3 a couple times, but restarting took too long for me to try going further. <br/> <br/>Excellent pixel art, too! |
| Dec 15 10:38:00 | 1h 38m | SpaceSnake | A nice take on Snake, and the visuals are quite impressive! <br/> <br/>One thing I'd suggest changing is increasing the hitbox of the pellets. The current hitbox seems to be slightly smaller than their sprite, when a hitbox slightly larger than it would help compensate for the difficulty of aiming. <br/> <br/>A gentler beep for leaving the play field would help fit the chill feel of the game too, I think. <br/> <br/>I managed to get up to 52 in the regular game, but only 8 in Insane, so I can definitely say you've got a full range of difficulty too! |
| Dec 15 11:33:00 | 55m 00s | Swamp Witch | First of all, amazing graphics! You put together a ton of absolutely beautiful sprite art for this game, and that convinced me to play for quite a while. <br/> <br/>Unfortunately, I had tons of difficulty actually controlling the witch, leading to a very frustrating play experience. Instant death for touching the ground seemed unnecessarily cruel, and bats seemed to be several times as difficult as any of the other enemies. (Do they really need to move, shoot, and deal double damage?) <br/> <br/>Also, it seems you can't level up any of your abilities until after you've beaten a boss? That makes progression really hard, and makes it seem kinda pointless after all... <br/> <br/>You've definitely got some good stuff here, but I feel like I'd need some difficulty changes before returning to this. |
| Dec 15 13:42:00 | 2h 09m | Orbital Defender | Interesting little idea, and well implemented for a 24 hour game. It seems to have a really interesting pace, with the cores growing innevitably outwards too! <br/> <br/>Have to say though, web links are usually for games that are playable in browser, not stuff you have to download. ; ) |
| Dec 15 15:04:00 | 1h 22m | SvardBjorn | A wonderfully polished two-button-brawler, with great sprite art and a rocking soundtrack! <br/> <br/>I have to actually disagree with philipp's response, and say I would have prefered it a little less complicated, actually. That's just a personal opinion, but I feel I would have enjoyed being able to knock the spears out of the air more than having to shield for them. <br/> <br/>Wonderful showing for the time you had! |
| Dec 15 15:44:00 | 40m 00s | Glutton | Congratulations on your first Dare! The time limits do take a lot of getting used to, but it's always a good learning experience! <br/> <br/>As for your game, it could probably use some more polish when it comes to the movement controls. I didn't see much point of releasing shift, so perhaps you could just use left and right as your controls, and make the running speed standard? Experimenting with movement is very important to making a good game, though I can understand not having the time to do that. <br/> <br/>Another possibility would be to provide somewhere to hide, to escape the farmer. Being able to duck into some tall grass and stop the farmer following you for a short time could help a lot with how this game plays. <br/> <br/>Good luck in the future! Keep making games and I'm sure you'll be making some great ones soon! |
| Dec 16 14:48:00 | 23h 04m | Ourobos | Gorgeous! It's amazing to see that you've put together this much excellent content in just 72 hours! <br/> <br/>Criticising such a wonderful effort seems cruel, but I did have a few problems that could be addressed. Firstly, it seems you can't jump when holding the down key, which makes hitting the many doors set into the floor annoying. Also, I had a similar experience to GFM, not finding any save points between the lava zone and the ice boss. I'm sure they must be there somewhere, but they could stand to be easier to find. <br/> <br/>I didn't get to finish the game this time, but I definitely want to come back to it and give it another shot, when I get the chance. Wonderful showing! |
| Dec 18 17:05:00 | 50h 17m | Growees | Great graphics, even if the idea is a little on the simple side. <br/> <br/>I can't help be disappointed you only went the nature route. Growth could easily refer to industrial growth too, which could provide an interesting alternate approach. |
| Dec 21 06:36:00 | 61h 31m | All Ways Down | Really clever design, and elegant use of the two button rule (and I just realised it had the growth theme too). I have to agree with some of the other commenters that a little more speed, and larger pickups would make the game more fun. <br/> <br/>Spinning to try and get the ball through at the last moment was really fun, so I feel focusing your game towards being more dynamic could help make the most of that! |
| Dec 21 06:51:00 | 15m 00s | Mount FuJ | Lovely graphics, first of all! I have to agree that the gameplay needs some polish. Actually aiming is really hard, and spamming walls of fire works fine, so there's very little to actually do. Unfortunately, the spamming sound effects cover up the lovely music you made too. <br/> <br/>With a little work, you could have something wonderful here, it's just a shame it's currently held down a bit by the mechanics... |
| Dec 21 13:20:00 | 6h 29m | Attack In The Mushroom Kingdom | Interesting little game, and cute graphics. I can't help but wonder if the time put into the bounce animation could have been better spent on making a watering animation, since I had trouble figuring out exactly what I was doing in the first place. <br/> <br/>Also, I think it's okay to have multiple bindings for the same buttons, to increase accessibility. If they all do the same things, it's not really more than two buttons, after all. |
| Dec 21 13:47:00 | 27m 00s | Little Penguin | Lovely narration, and the background was really beautiful too, though it's a shame you had so little time to develop the level. <br/> <br/>I can't help find it strange that you came up with a story for why the fox was in the same place as penguins, and then added in polar bears anyway. ; P |
| Dec 21 14:03:00 | 16m 00s | Super Lefty Garden Fighty | Gorgeous lighting, and the music fits the mood perfectly. <br/> <br/>As a two button brawler, it works well, but I can't help but worry that the damage animation takes to long. Every time I get hit, I end up surrounded by enemies and taking extra damage. Apart from that, this was a rather solid entry, though! |
| Dec 21 17:10:00 | 3h 07m | Sanctuary Station | Gorgeous! This has to be one of the most inventive games I've played this Dare, and slapping base sections together is just so much fun! <br/> <br/>I see a few people commenting that they'd want the pods to move faster, but personally I really enjoyed the feeling of ordering them to build up momentum while I went to handle something else. I would like to see pods snap a bit easier when you push them together, but otherwise I really enjoyed it! <br/> <br/>The only letdown for me was the music, which is a bit harsh around the edges, and a little short. Thankfully, you remembered to include a mute button, so I didn't have to let that bother me. |
| Dec 21 17:28:00 | 18m 00s | EGO | I'm curious why you decided to go with a text box game? It seems like that would really need a lot of time to add in enough responses to make it work. With what it has, I can't really say it works, but that's clearly a matter of not having enough time to add content. Interesting idea, though! |
| Jan 2 07:35:00 | 278h 07m | Initial Conditions | First of all, amazing work with the puzzle and game design, that's a full five stars for fun and innovation from me. The only thing I feel it needs added is a reset button, so you don't have to remove all the squares if you want to start again. <br/> <br/>Unfortunately, I feel a lot less enthused about the story. Early on, the narrator states that the simulation simulates an entire civilization down to independent lives. This is an interesting idea to play with, but it seems farcical when matched with the mechanics. By providing a puzzle with preset solutions, you're asking players to work through a logical process, something even the simple computers are much better at than humans. The idea does have merit, but I feel it would be better served by a game where players have more choices to make, rather than just solving puzzles. <br/> <br/>Also, I can't help but feel the message of the game comes across as very prescriptive. That humanity would almost inevitably lead to the creation of a megalomaniacal individual who would manage to destroy all of humanity in the quest for love... well, that's something of a big leap, and I don't feel the game does enough to back that up. <br/> <br/>Of course, I understand that 48 hours is a short time to design a game to tell a narrative, but I feel in this case, the game is actually lessened by the narrative. An abstract puzzler would have engaged me a lot more, or the mechanics could easily be transferred to a hacking game (sets of wires, attach modules to each wire, ect.). I can understand trying to make the game fit the theme, but in the long run, I think it's better to take a hit in the theme scoring to make a more complete experience. |
| Jan 2 08:01:00 | 26m 00s | Illogical Lives | Good attempt for the time you had! Personally, the humor was a little too cynical for me, which felt a little tired, but the graphics were high quality. <br/> <br/>Two problems I had though, when running it in full screen (it doesn't quite fit the box on the LD site), clicking kicks me out of full screen, and the text disappears a lot faster than it probably should. Played through it and got all the endings though, you clearly spent a lot of time on the graphics! |
| Jan 2 08:11:00 | 10m 00s | Battle For Bedroom | Gorgeous graphics and music, but the controls and movement left a lot to be desired. I really want to love this one, but I just have too much difficulty playing it : c |
| Jan 2 14:19:00 | 6h 08m | Buying Time | An interesting little game, and I can't help but enjoy another two button choice game. I do have to question why you chose it to be an investment game, though. Without knowing how much money you have at any time, the decisions come across as entirely abstract. If that is the point, perhaps you could make that a little clearer beforehand? That would at least save some confused clicking. |
| Jan 2 14:26:00 | 7m 00s | Frontman | While the Jam version is a little short, you have clearly put in a bunch of work to get the game to the standard you wanted. Using other band members to reach other tokens was a nice touch, though some more polish to the movement and level design would go a long way to making that feel better. <br/> <br/>Overall, a fine showing! |
| Jan 2 14:43:00 | 17m 00s | Homewards | Excellent little piece! Charmingly simple graphics, and peaceful music to tie it together to a central theme. <br/> <br/>There were a few bugs and issues I encountered though. First of all, it would be nice if there was a way to skip through the text. It sits on screen for much longer than I need to read it, which can be frustrating. I also encountered the lack of hit detection in my game too, so good luck for eventually pinning that down. The health bar also seems to be attached to your character, rather than the screen, so it floats out of view when your near the edge of the map. Finally, I'm not sure whether this is intentional, but you can skip the section beneath the double jump just by jumping against wall to climb up to it. <br/> <br/>None of these issues were a deal breaker for me though, and this is still one of my favourite games I'm encountered so far in this Jam! |
| Jan 2 16:26:00 | 1h 43m | Super Space Invader | Nice work! Playing this was a real blast, and the sweet music helped keep me in the zone throughout. <br/> <br/>The only thing I'd recommend is to maybe make the base fire rate/damage a little higher. Once I had a few attack upgrades I stopped noticing it, but early on the slipperiness of the movement was really bothering me. <br/> <br/>Thanks for a really fun game! |
| Jan 2 16:39:00 | 13m 00s | Let Me Explain | An interesting game full of impressively moody visuals! I do love to see more games working around the two button choice aspect, but I can't help but feel the ton of game over options makes the player's choices feel less free. I can understand how difficult it is to add more content in the time limit though, so good luck for the future! |
| Jan 2 17:01:00 | 22m 00s | You and your parasite | Excellent, excellent, excellent! A beautiful little game that I'm sure I'll remember for a while! |
| Jan 4 06:25:00 | 37h 24m | THE GARDENER | Saw this on the front page, and had to try it. A brilliantly creative game, and an impressive amount of development for 48 hours! I encountered a blue bush towards the end, though, and had no idea how I got it. Any clues there? |
| Jan 4 16:27:00 | 10h 02m | Biome | Definitely takes quite some figuring out. I managed to destroy all of red before I got there, and there didn't seem to be any ending or way to restart that game at that point. I found it very interesting conceptually, though! |
| Jan 4 16:34:00 | 7m 00s | Continental Breakfast | As people above have said, I couldn't seem to get any better than "not bad". I'm also a little confused as to how it relates to the themes, but it's an interesting idea anyway. |