Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD38 → Feedback comment stats → Moski
Feedback comments for LD38
Moski's games and stats for all events →
| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Moski's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1 20:57:59 | Super Snowman Spider Showdown Supreme | ♥ 3 | Hey there! I saw my 🐳 buddy comment on your game, so I thought to also give it a shot. The presentation of your game is among the best I've seen so far this time around. I'm the artist of our team, so I always like to look up at what others do, so give the artist person a high five in my behalf. The menus, the spiders, and even the models. It's impresive what got done in so little time. The use of the themes was fantastic. Snow globes are, after all, designed to be small worlds, so implementing not only that, but treating it as both a snow globe and an actual world was a touch of genius. Watching the spiders crawl on the wall actually gave me tiny goosebumps (not because of arachnophobia). Probably thinking about it too much, but I thought that it was a perfect blend of the world that it's supposed to be and the world that it actually is. As for the game itself, I must admit, it's not too engaging as it is. The functionality is there, and everything is set up for a fun tower defense experience, but the controller, at least for me, wasn't that good: - I first tried to play it while working on a dual display set up. The mouse isn't locked to the game, so, even when in full screen, the mouse would leave it. - I turned off the second display, and then found out that the mouse controls both the aim and the rotation of the character, so aiming becomes a bit finnnicky when enemies are on the borders. - A hiccup here and there, where there were a bunch of spiders clustered and my shots were not doing anything to them. I think it was an odd glitch or something though, so it's no biggie. Overall, all things considered, I'm happy to see how such a thing got done in so little time. There's space for improvement and balance. If you retake the project, separating aiming and rotating, adding variety to shots and/or enemies, and finding a longer track could take the project to a new level. If you have a twitter, share it around. I'd like to see what your team can come up with next :D! | |
| May 2 04:37:28 | 7h 39m | Down the Rabbit Hole | ♥ 7 | I'm so very pleased by this game. It's magnificent from top to bottom. I admit I skipped the instructions and didn't understand how to play for the first two rounds, but then I got astonished. From the gameplay perspective, it's very simple, but executed supremely well. I began trying to just move from point A to B, but then I understood that I had to pay attention to the rabbit's movements, and also consider the next move. It gains a lot of depth, and I can see this getting off the rails with some additions if you ever decide to continue this project. I'd really like to see how this would pan out with cards that add or change stuff, environmental things, and possibly even some versus mode. The mind games would be fantastic! Since I'm the artist of my team, I like looking at what other people do with their art directions. Going with the gameboy vibe does the (hat) trick here. The magician's sprite is gorgeous, and the rest is just what it needs to be. There's no excess nor confusion. The music adds to the feeling of the thing. Not my style, but it does fit correctly, and goes along the mood. It's always good to have an audio person on board, so be sure to congratulate them :) Overall, it's a very polished experience. I do like the presentation a lot, and the "It's the third time this week" kind of humor never goes old for me. I'm rating this so very well 🐳 Do you or your crew have Twitter accounts? I'd really like to see what you come up with in the future. Anyhow, congratulations once again, and enjoy the rest of the jam! |
| May 2 04:53:18 | 15m 50s | It's a Small World | ♥ 2 | Hey there! So I decided to give this game a try. Not bad for your first LD! Done well given the timeframe, and with the proper polish and changes, I could see it becoming something like Bit.Trip Runner or the like. The game itself starts a bit slow. I actually thought it was going to be just endless numb running with some extra stuff thrown in for variation. But once the screen split, I got the chills. My brain could hardly keep me focused on more than one guy, but that's more my problem than the game's. I actually liked it a lot. Thematically speaking, it was great. From the art point of view, being the artis of my team makes me want to see what others come up with. The walking animation was smooth, and everything looked like it was made to fit. Just right. No excess, and not failed tries. Nothing memorable either though. The music and sound effects are the sour part though. I can't give you much feedback on this front though, as I don't know much about making nor finding music. It's numb, and I'd rather be able to turn it off in this case. Don't get me wrong though. This is something that you should be proud of. This one is a good first jam entry, and I insist, the screen division effect and theme was marvelous. There's a bunch of opportunity for improvement. Keep up the good work! If you happen to have a Twitter account, do let me know. I like following people around the place, and it'd be great to see what you can come up with next! 🐳 |
| May 2 05:08:56 | 15m 38s | In Good Hands | ♥ 2 | When you say "In Good Hands", you were certainly now thinking about the clumsy all mighty planet-rotator I'd be. The poor people never stood a chance. But I had my amusement, and so I don't really mind :) First of all, congratulations on making such a great looking game. The presentation is just perfect, and the seemless transition was a treat for the eyes. Gameplay wise, having a rotation button and a camera button started off as a weird idea, but once I started taking the graps of it, the game turned into an interactive toy. And I like interactive toys! Keeping the little guys alive was a challenge, but seeing them fly off the surface of the planet when hit by a meteorite? I couldn't help myself but to grin as a madman. The graphics work great. As I said, the starting screen was a wonder. The rest is well done designs, given the time and such. Everything looks great for this project, although I must point out that, other than the moving logo, there's not much there that's memorable or that leaves a lasting impression. It's not bad, but I just think that there could have been some visual pop or prop or something that could help people remember this long after this jam is over. The music works just fine. There's something deviously fun on the calm tunes juxtaposed with the thunderstorms, bears and people flying off the globe. Neat! Not much else to say. It's certainly an unique experience. In the future, this project could really benefit from some extra additions like, I dunno, a sandbox mode or more disasters. I still love the simplicity on the gameplay, so adding more to it could probably just overcomplicate it. All in all, it's one great jam game. I hope that you find some good use for the good ol' feedback. I followed y'all on Twitter since I'd like to see what you can come up with next. Great work once again, and have a nice day! 🐳 |
| May 2 05:35:45 | 26m 49s | Not Enough Room | ♥ 5 | Hey there. Congratulations on your game! I like fast paced challenging games a la Meat Boy, and, with some polish, this could eventually be turned into something that could hook players in. The limitations of the game are apparent from the presentation. Minimalistic graphics and nothing memorable at all, from the viewing perspective. I'm the art guy on our game's team, and while I prefer to see flashy stuff, I also know that there's limits to what people can do in the jam. I do have to praise that you didn't try to add stuff that could have looked better but made it worse though. What you have is immediately functional, and doesn't get on the way of gameplay. Mechanics and function are king, and this is royal ground, and the graphics are the peasants of your royalty. The game, in a short burst, is challenging and fun. I didn't read properly and thought I was doing something wrong when I kept failing the first room, until I saw there was wall jumping. That immediately opened a lot of possibilities. And when I finally passed the first room, the second became it's own little nightmare, with lasers (which, by the way, were executed just right) and the dreaded ball of death. I'll be seeing that thing in my nightmares. Death is but a slap on the wrist. No fanfare and no unecessary transitions get in the way. As I said before, while it's a shame that the game doesn't look as good as it could (from either a flourish or a minimalistic point of view), it's good to know that it also meant there were no unecessary details. Some challening games add waits and only further annoy the player after a loss. Being able to jump right back into the action and try again makes the cadence go smoothly, letting the player focus. I'd love to see how a game like this one goes from here. I've had talks with my friend to make a "danger room" like game before, and seeing this one only pumps me up for more. If I were to give you any feedback, I'd only mention the floatiness of the jumps and movement. It feels like it has a bit too much drag. But otherwise, at its core, the game is more than functional. I had a very good time with it. Keep up the good work, and enjoy the other entries of the jam! 🐳 |
| May 2 13:36:13 | 8h 00m | Cowmets | ♥ 2 | I love a good pun. When my LD teammate suggested me to try Cowmets, I knew I was in for a treat. Now that I've become a space cowboy with 3 legendary cowmets on my custody, I still want more. Just don't tell the people I got lost while exploring the tiny planet. Such an embarrassment :P The game is fun and simple enough, and very intuitive. I actually lost track of the first cow I tried to catch, but I nailed it from the second one. Not much to it, but the choice of music and the constant movement made it way more enjoyable than it could have been otherwise. Thus, the game has a great presentation. From the graphics standpoint, I also rate this one highly. I'm the art guy of our team, and I like seeing what others did in this regard with their time. 3D is something very alien to me, and I usually tend to assume that stuff done in 72 hours should be simplistic and rushed. Then, stuff like Cowmets prove me wrong. The characters look more than fine, and the models have a very fitting aesthetic. I jiggled whenever I saw the round horse. Kudos for making something that's not only functional, but also memorable. If I could leave some feedback for the future, should you decide to further enhance this game, it'd be to add more features while keeping the game's core mechanics mostly intact. I mean, I found the game somewhat easy, even with the hardest cows (I mean, I'm no expert, but I read the previous comments of people saying it was too hard, and I just don't see that). Maybe, say, add upgrades or power ups or something for speed boosts or better lassos, or a time limit, or hazards or something. Maybe even more types of cowmets, and allow the player to see their collection and what not. All in all, I don't think I could be any more satisfied. Kudos for making something this fun in so little time. I'm looking forward to see what you can come up with next! 🐳 |
| May 2 14:11:04 | 34m 51s | Arindama | ♥ 1 | Playing Arindama was a great experience. 2 playthroughs later - the second being over 40 days long - and I still wanted to move stuff around. I ran out of grass, had 2 chests lying around, and never got bottles nor the diamond, but I'm not disappointed in the slightest. A bit salty that I couldn't get everything, maybe, but I'm still impressed at how much got done with so little. The presentation is great. Quests that give the player an idea about what to do, simple yet cool combination mechanics, and everything working in harmony, from sprites to music. By the end of my runs, the idol wasn't the only one that was happy :) This is a great submission for the compo. I really hope that you decide to come back to this project, as it could benefit from an expansion. Maybe not make a larger world, but different worlds with different stuff to interact with. Limited resources and plenty of interactions could probably make for a lot of different combinations available, resulting in every level looking different from player to player. I'll be telling my teammate to check this one as well. Good luck with the compo! I'm hoping this one does more than just fine 🐳 |
| May 2 14:35:38 | 24m 34s | Retro Rabbit | ♥ 9 | An incredible execution. While simple, the game wasn't only satisfying, but applying the theme of a small world to the mechanics of the game was a blend of the most exquisit harmony that I've seen in LD games so far. First of all, the presentation is a blast. The game has a retro feeling, with some simple yet effective graphics for most of the part. They look so good when put together. The choice for music and sound works as well. But it all boilds down to the gameplay, which, I insist, was very clever. The game seems to be constantly adding things to plug and rocks to dodge. The difficuly doesn't come from adding *more*, but from making the world smaller and smaller. It's a small design choice that I still consider among the most creative things I've seen so far in this jam. It's so subtle, yet so effective. I want y'all to give a very solid high five in my behalf to whoever suggested that one. I like leaving feedback to jam games, but I can't think about what else this could have had. It got the high scores, and the power ups, and a hooking gameplay. If you'd like to reconstruct this project in the future, I could only think of adding cosmetics and the like, and sticking to the core if you do end up deciding to add more power ups, levels or hazards. As it is, the game would make for a very addicting mobile game. All in all, this game exceeds expectations. I just hope that more people see the cleverness of the shrinking world mechanic. I know I keep bringing it up, but it's just *that* good. I still insist that the small but clever decisions in game designs are the ones that make up the best games. And this is one fo the best. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 2 18:09:29 | 3h 33m | In space, no one can hear you SQUAWK! | ♥ 2 | To be honest, I didn't expect much when I saw that it was a platformer. Played a few that start just that way, and thought it'd be more of a "just jumping and collecting" test. Then I stepped over the first black rock and started to get confused at why I was no longer able to jump. When I finally understood, I realized I was going to have a good time. Serves me right for judging by a first impression. The game's presentation has a lot of charisma. The character's design is unique enough to outstand, and the implementation of gravity, while a bit unintuitive, does leave a lasting impression. The first time I popped out of the planet (?) I thought "Right. I'll just lose a life and start from the beginning", only to see that the character got popped out into what seemed to be a vaccuum and into a short mini game to go back to the level. *That* was genius. It starts at a good pace, and then it develops into a short puzzle platformer, which, given enough time, could be developed into a full fledged and enjoyable experience. You built a great base here. Since I'm my team's art guy, I find fun in analizing what others do with their art direction. I like the character's design a lot. I probably just like birds. The overall aesthetics look great, and the gravity indicator was something I didn't notice until I was mostly done, but it was a welcome addition. You did a good job on this area. Now, here's some feedback. The camera is too zoomed in. As in, the character is too big and everything feels crammed. In the final level, I got stuck for a while in a "pop in, pop out" loop because I couldn't see where I could step and where I would be flung off the planet. I believe you're already checking on that though. So here's the thing: You can either try to keep those kind of surprises in an environment that doesn't result in unfair misdirection for the player, or you can zoom out the camera as to give the player actual reaction time. If you were to continue working on this project in the future, sure, you can add more levels. But I'd also tell you that, since you've got the base well structured, you can continue to develop it as a puzzle platformer like VVVVVV. Gravity based puzzles, maybe even switches and power-ups. Since I liked your character's design a lot as well, I'd like to see you expanding on that as well. Further enhance the narrative of the universe. Say, play on the "stranded" theme rather than force enemies. Maybe add more characters with different skills or something? I dunno, it should be your decision. I'm mostly saying that you've got the means to snowball a lot of possibilities. As a final statement, it was a short, mildly fun experience. Rough on the edges, but brimming with potential. If you've got a Twitter account, our game's team would like to follow you around, hoping to hear more from your projects in the future! 🐳 |
| May 2 19:13:35 | 1h 04m | Galaxy Glove | ♥ 4 | Want to play ARMS but don't want to buy a Nintendo Switch? Here's a fun alternative. Galaxy Glove looked hilarious and silly from the gif, so I had to check it on my own. And I indeed had some stupid fun with it. The idea of planets just duking it out with boxing gloves was too funny to let it slip, and I must say, I am pleased with what I played. Graphics and sounds are basic, possibly given the limited time of the compo, but even then, they look just fine. Even when pixelated, everything looks so lively because of the animations. Never underestimate the power of a bit of jiggling and a bit of bouncing. Gameplay wise, the game is fun for a run or two. You move, you attack, keep your distance, and hope that the huge planets don't corner you. It's simple, yet effective. It loses a bit of shine when you realize that you can pretty much just attack and back up with little to no risk though. Regardless, I liked this one a lot too. I like the idea of taking to the absurd the theme. I'm particularly fond of those that ended up humanizing the planet, like this boxing game (and our team's, but I shouldn't do a shameless plug :P). I can picture this being one of those games that streamers showcase because of the absurdity of the concept. I laughed, and I'm still grinning like the fool I am. Congratulations, and good luck on the compo! If you happen to have a Twitter account, our team would like to follow you around, should you come up with more cool stuff in the future 🐳 |
| May 4 13:58:12 | 42h 44m | Batter Bros. | ♥ 4 | I played the game, and before leaving a review, I ended up reading what others wrote first. Seeing people saying it could be completed by only mashing the hit button encouraged me to play it by actually moving around after the ball. Turns out I suck at this :I Anyhow. First of all, congratulations to the team for making such a great looking game, with its theme, art and music coexisting in glorious harmony. Simple and quirky, yet fun, and possibly even great when you actually have someone else to play it with. First of all, I really enjoyed the presentation of the game. a cute retro-esque logo, followed up by a very impressive mix of pixelart of old and new. The effect of the water and moving closer to the borders of the world were awe inspiring. The music fit juuuuuust right with the setting. Gameplay wise, simple and to the point. Hit the ball, and don't get hit by the ball. Games don't need much more than that to be functional. But the extras and details are what really pushed the project. Underwater ball physics, ball bouncing around, and even playing with 3 balls in play at the same time. I love modifiers in the games I play, and I ended playing up for longer with that last setting. The game felt so refreshingly chaotic. If you'd like to continue with this project in the future, I'd love to leave some feedback and suggestions. As others have said, the controllers are an oddball. While they were selected by considering that 2 players will play it, you should add an option to either remap controllers or have an alternate scheme for when there's only one player. I didn't check if this game had controller support, so, if there's none, there's another one. Expansion-wise, play to the game's strengths. If it's too easy to spam the hit button, adding a cooldown, forcing the player to look at the ball, or adding bigger blind spots could possibly work. Other things that could be added is to add more reasons for the player to move around and jump. Maybe have it so jumping also pushes the little island down, making it float at different levels? Add some tides to the water to push the islands around? Those kind of things could make the game a bit more dynamic. They could be added as modifiers if they make the game too chaotic for the general public's taste (I'd personally embrace it). Anyhow, this was a great jam game. It does what it was made to do. Looks great, feels good. Not much reason to replay it when alone, but it's the kind of game that could be showcased in small reunions. Great work! If you and your team have Twitter accounts, we'd like to follow you, so we can stay informed about your future projects. If that's the case, do share them. As for now, keep up the good work! 🐳 PD: Something something Lethal League. That you haven't heard of it before submitting the game is proof that we do live in a... hehe... small world. Great minds think alike, I guess, so kudos for coming up on your own with a gameplay reminiscent of an old favorite. I hope that you don't get discouraged by the comparisons, since I have good faith that your game can stand up on its own. Like I said, the 3 balls modifier was astounding, and that's something that wouldn't have worked in LL. |
| May 16 22:36:13 | 296h 38m | NT-Virus | ♥ 1 | Hey there. I just played the game, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how challenging it became later on, considering it started a bit too slow. Still, this is a cool game, and I'm pleased I got to play it. First, it got a great presentation. I don't usually expect cutscenes or the like in these games, let alone that they looked so well. That's certainly a bonus. And the overall theme works fantastic with the project at hand. Spritework, sounds and music went so well together. Now, I am the artist of the game we developed, and I like to see what other people did with their games when it comes to art. The cutscenes were great for this kind of project. While I know that there wasn't too much time to add much more in that area, it felt a bit odd that the main character was animated while the viruses weren't. It was certainly lacking effects. Even a single frame basic stuff for shooting or destroying the viruses would have added a lot to it. But overall, it was good enough. As for the gameplay, it started slow. It got challenging by the end, yes, but it was so dreadfully slow at the start. Just the first level was a hassle to go through, so when I got presented with upgrades, I only chose the one that would reduce the time of each level, because I originally thought that was going to be it. I kinda regretted not choosing speed when I found out it was like 5 seconds less only, and that at the 4th level, I barely managed to finish the level without getting hit. I was actually having fun at that point, even though my finger was tired because of so much clicking. The boss was a great way to end the game. Very tiresome because of the excess of clicking, but otherwise, it did feel like a final challenge, because of how huge it was. I actually got hit once there and had to start the fight again, but I had genuine fun there. If your team decides to continue with this project, or do something of the like in the future, I'd like to give you some feedback, so you can do something even better without having to worry about extremely short deadlines. Polish it even further. It works great, but it's missing feedback for the player. Add visual effects to shooting and enemies getting hit. Maybe even power ups and different kind of enemies, like some that would split when hit or that are very fast and resistant, but freeze when shot. Or some that shield other enemies until they're destroyed, I dunno. But yeah, the main concern is that clicking so much gets tedious and dreadful, so maybe holding down the button to shoot or using area or effects or something would make it less an annoyance. In conclusion, I liked this game a lot. The presentation is great, then it slows down a lot for about 5 minutes, but the 4th and 5th level feel very intense. The game doesn't feel very rewarding, but for those that like a good clicking challenge, this game delivers. We'll be following your team [in behalf of Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames), looking forward to your next projects. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 16 23:07:39 | 31m 26s | Game of Worlds | ♥ 2 | Hello, man! First of all, congratulations on getting the game done! This game, while rough on the edges, has a lot of potential, so I really hope that you consider some of the feedback you've been receiving if you and your team decide to further enhance it once the jam is over. First of all, the presentation is superb. The main screen looks fantastic, and the overall art looks great. I am the art designer of our team, so I like checking out what others did with their own projects. This one had me thinking about South Park, which is already a plus. The map does look gorgeous, and the enemies look terrifying (given the setting and style, of course). So, in the art front, I'm impressed. The sounds were alright. The monsters' gibberish added a lot to the mood of night and dread. However, I'm very mixed in "Hello, man!". I heard it so much... oh, so much... It's silly-funny, but also very repetitive and a bit annoying for my taste. Now, for the gameplay. The game is functional, and the idea of recruiting others to serve as survival partners or meat shields was fantastic, but actually playing the game feels very clunky. I died the first time because I didn't know where the exit was, despite having searched for it for a while. So I dedicated my time to kill enemies, which wasn't done very well, since there seemed to be no such thing as a safe distance to attack from without getting hit. Thus, I ended up spamming the attack button in hopes for the best, dying a couple of times more. When I finally found the exit, it felt very underwhelming, since the game said something about finding it when I was ready, and I didn't even know if I had to do anything to activate it. It just sort of happened. Night and day cycle was good though. If you decide to update the game in the future, free from the shackles of a 3 day deadline, I'd like to see where this game goes, because it showed a lot of potential. Day time should expand on recruiting people, exploration and overall finding ways to improve the player's odds during the night. Night time should make it challenging, yet rewarding, to fight the enemies. Force the player to get more people to die in their place, and put actual objectives. And, most importantly, give the player visual feedback on good distances or timing on which to attack or retreat. These, of course, are only suggestions on how I'd like to see this develop, but your team might come up with something more personal, so trust your gut instead. I'd rather see this go to unexpected and creative places. All in all, it's a good experience. It hints to it being able to become far bigger than it currently is, so I hope we can stay in contact with you if that's ever the case. If you have a twitter account, [the team of Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) would like to follow you around to stay in touch with any future projects of yours, so do share it. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 16 23:25:49 | 18m 10s | +1💰 (the game) | ♥ 3 | I'm a sucker for idle games, so when I saw this, I was expecting something of that vein. Regardless, this completely surpassed my early expectations of the game. I was astonished when I found out that there was "another player" and that it was some incremental pseudo versus clicker game (that's not a genre you hear often). The "less is more" approach worked wonders for the game. Slowly zooming out as the game progresses went so well with the theme of the jam. I'm impressed at how even when I was doing just clicking, I had to actually time it so that I could get enough money to keep attacking. Multitasking at its finest. Making the 5 seconds poverty goal the endgame was so rewarding if only for that song. That came out of nowhere and gave me a genuine laugh. I would really like to see how this further develops. I had a lot of fun with the multitasking, so, in case you end up expanding on the game later on, I'd like to keep playing on that. More automatization for the initial chores in order to let the player focus on the incremental ones would be fantastic, so I hope that you have a fair share of ideas on what else to add. Now that it's all been said, I want to congratulate your team once again. This game is the proof that simple and to the point can make for very memorable experiences. This game is well worth the grinding, if only for the ending song. That you let the player download it was a great touch. We like sharing Twitter accounts with other people we've left comments on during this gamejam, in order to stay in touch should anyone participate again in the future. If you have a Twitter account, we at [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) would like to follow you around. We're looking forward to seeing what else you can come up with! 🐳 |
| May 16 23:53:15 | 27m 26s | Tiny Colonies | ♥ 1 | I love simulation games, and this one is very well executed given the theme and the style which you were trying to achieve with the minimalistic approach. While it seems to be lacking in balancing and clear in-game instructions, I had a fun time with it once I started getting the hang of it. The presentation of the game is great. The booting up screen is a nice touch given the art style you went with, and the player is immediately shown all there is to see. No clunky interfaces, no going through menus. Minimalistic to the core. I love it. Since I'm the art guy on our team, I'm more inclined to analize what other people did with their games, as to see if I can learn something. Here, I keep praising the minimalistic approach that you took, but I have to further applaud that it's not minimal to the point that it's up to the player to imagine what is what. The buildings have clear distinction on what each one is, and the slow spread of trees and grass is satisfactory to see. It's great that you managed to achieve balance in keeping it simple, but not absurdly simple unless the project called for it. Good job! Now, the game itself is somewhat rough. I had to restart 4 times to actually get stuff done (and this is with instructions outside of the game). Even on the runs where I was getting enough income to get more stuff done, I ended up at one point having no progress at all. I left it open for a decent amount of time, and only got a bit of gold, so there's so much idling. Don't get me wrong. For the time limit, this is impressive, and has a lot of potential to grow. But right now, it's not very fun. It could benefit from an in-game reset button, or an alternate mode that removed the cost of stuff. In the future, if you do decide to expand the game, it'd be fantastic to see what kind of buildings and interactions you can add to the game. So, basically, I loved the experimental and graphical aspects of the game. There's a lot that can be done to it, and I'd really would like to see what it can become in the future. If you have a Twitter account, do share it around. We, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames), have been following the people of the games we've commented on, since we'd like to see what their developers come up with in the future. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 17 00:16:49 | 23m 34s | Duckinator9000 | ♥ 1 | You really had a lot of fun making this game, didn't you? Because I had a good chunk of fun while playing it. A mouse shooter about a duck shooting lasers at toy pirate ships. Didn't think I'd get to play something like that, and yet I did. What a time to be alive. The in-game portion looks so good. The bathtub, character and enemies work well together, and it's even better because of the small details around the bathtub. It doesn't feel like an isolated place, but, just as the theme says, like a small world. One that the rubber duck must protect at all costs. Gameplay wise, it's not only functional, but it actually works great because of the power ups. The bomb is particularly fun to use, specially for the satisfying effects of its explosion. The menus and death screen could have had a bit of flair, but I guesss that there was not enough time for that. Anyhow, my one complaint comes from the shooting itself, if only because it's a bit buggy. I sometimes pressed the button and nothing happened, while others it would either shoot once or a few times, disregarding if I was holding the button or not. In one of my playthroughts, I actually exploted a glitch that allowed me to continue firing without having to hold the fire button (if you're firing and you get hit, you can stop holding the button and it will fire forever). It made it feel less tedious. Well, whatever the case, I did have fun with it. It's rare to see 3D LD games that are not only functional, but that look great and play so well. The power ups and the bomb really set this one aside from other twinstick shooters I've played on this gamejam so far, so I hope that you decide to keep adding to this game for a future post-LD release. I had a blast. If you happen to have a Twitter account, do share it around. We from [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) have been following some of the people around here. It's good to see what others can come up with next, and we'd really like to see more Duckinator9000-related stuff. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 17 01:27:02 | 1h 10m | Step-Squish | ♥ 1 | Despite the looks, the simple sound effects, the lack of music and the small animation after getting stomped made for a very retro-like experience. While possibly unintended, it made the game more enjoyable, so there's that. I like to dig more on the artistic side of the games (since I am our team's artist), and I must say, I really liked the design of the ant and its small animation. As I said before, it felt very retro, so it went well with this simple game. Sometimes, too much detail can be a negative, so keeping things simple on a simple experience was the right way to go. As for the game itself, well, it's nothing that hasn't been done before. There's no annoying bugs nor unnecesary material on the game though, so, face value, it shows all there is to see very soon, without clunky interfaces or things that get on the way. Mechanically, it feels right. If I could give you some feedback with which to improve this game in the future, it would be to either remove jumping or give it a reason to exist. Since the feet come from above, jumping doesn't really do much. Heck, I found some fun in trying to jump over the crumbs before picking them up, or make it so more crumbs fall, and a bit slower, and that give you points if you catch them in the air. I dunno. Go nuts with the additions and balancing. Got to say, this game is simple, yes, but it doesn't try to be something it's not nor adds anything that detract from the experience. It's not particularly outstanding, but, well, depending on how you decide to tackle it, you could keep adding to it until it becomes it's own thing. I personally would like to see more of this, since it's the kind of games I like to play on my mobile device. If you happen to have a Twitter account, please share it with us, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames). We're following the people we've commented on, since we like to stay in contact with people that like participating in gamejams like us. We'd like to see what you can come up with in future entries! 🐳 |
| May 17 14:26:07 | 12h 59m | Ellipticats | ♥ 2 | Now, this is a game I'd really like to play on my phone. I mean, it's mechanics are so simple, yet so satisfying. Like the dreaded phrase goes, "easy to learn, hard to master". Needless to say, I had a very good time with this one. The presentation of the game was great. Starting on a small planet to figure out the controllers before launching into the actual adventure was a nice touch. The music (opted out possibly because it was found somewhere else) was a nice choice, and added to the atmosphere of the game. I tend to be a bit more anlytic when it comes to the art of the games (since I'm the artist of ours), and this one, to me, looks like it made the best use of the resources available with the given time constrains. The assets on their own are not fantastic (although I love the design of the planets), but them, combined with the particles and how freely everything moves, look great in tandem. If you'd like to receive some immediate feedback for this build, it'd be to, I dunno, add some powerful force that pulls the player back to the planets when they jump too far away from the playground. For what was built, I can't really think of much else, since the game accomplishes what it was made to do. I hope that you decide to expand on this game post-ld. If it were up to my team, we'd port it to android, make a left button to run, and put the right buttons for jumping and diving, and make it a time-based game of collecting cats that appear randomly in that small galaxy. Heck, maybe even randomize the planets. But that's us, and some food for thought for you. If you decide to take other paths with it, this can also become a fun puzzle game, pseudo-platformer, or anything else that you can come up with. Add power ups, hazards, replayability, unique cats, whatever! This game shows an overflow of potential, so we'd really like to see it go places. If you happen to have a Twitter account, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) would be happy to follow you around. We're looking forward to your next projects! 🐳 |
| May 17 16:24:35 | 1h 58m | Yume Trip | ♥ 2 | Well, I played the game, and while it has a superb presentation of graphics and audio, it has sharp corners in many other places. Given the time constrain, that's mostly a given, so, in case you do decided to try a project like this in the future, focus a bit more on functionality and giving the player a more satisfying gaming experience. I like looking at what the other artists did with their work (since I did the art for our game), and this one has good pixel art. That it's actually animted is a plus, since many submissions around here do less given the limited time they have to work with. The pixel art is great, specially the main character's. However, the mobility also highlights the missing sprites from looking left and right. If I could give a suggestion on this regard, if you absolutely can't make the 4 directions in time, make left and right instead of up and down. Side-scroller-esque looks better when moving up and down, and here, looking up with 3 of the 4 directional movements was a bit messy. Regardless, credit where credit is due. Having 4 very different looking maps and having make them look good in this little time is no easy feat. Good work! The audio was great. I have not much to say in this regard. Give yourselves a pat in the back. You deserve it! :) Well, the gameplay itself is functional, but not very thrilling. Only being able to attack up and down is problematic, specially in the east and west maps, where the player can't move and attack. Also, there's no telling on where the player can or can't travel to the main map from the eastern area, so a few trees on the border would have been nice. If you decide to further expand this project in the future, first focus on improving the core. Make fighting entertaining and more streamlined. Just attacking in 2 directions when enemies come from all places feel odd, so get that done. And do explain somewhere in game that you have to kill all the enemies before opening the chest. I admit, at one point, I felt the game was so dull I just wanted to skip the fighting and open the chests, but I didn't know I couldn't do it until I cleared the area. I even thought that the chests were glitched. All in all, for a very quick project, this looks and hears good, but it falls flat when it come to entertainment. Nothing that you can't fix though. The basics are all there. It's just a matter of tweaking and seeing what else you can bring to the table. You can get more creative with the areas and the mechanics! If you have a Twitter account, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) would like to follow you around. We like staying in touch with other fellow LD participants, since some seem to have great plans for their projects. If your team does decide to continue, either improving on this or moving on to new projects, we'd like to see what else you can come up with! 🐳 |
| May 17 21:55:22 | 5h 30m | Space Donut | ♥ 1 | The game is genuinely fun. It's very simple to understand the game flow, and it all controls just fine. I had a fun time placing turrets and buildings and such early on, but then started the difficulty spikes. If this game was tweaked just a bit, it could not only be a far superior experience, but allow for a lot of future expansion. First of all, I love the presentation of the game. Knowing that it's a donut, I expected to see my buildings after going through the whole place, and I was pleasantly surprised when I did. The sounds are alright, and it's all fitting thematically. The gameplay follows a simple, yet effective loop. Kill the enemies, get more gold, kill more, and so on until you either buy the next upgrade or destroy the next hive. The problem comes with the balancing though. The spikes not only were harsh, but felt unfair: - At one point, I left the game amassing money just so I could spam enough turrets to kill the cluster of enemies. The ones with guns cut through my defenses with little to no effort. - I eventually just decided to zoom out (it's always a nice touch when a game has a zooming in and out option) and shoot at the hives from afar. It felt boring and anticlimatic, but it was effective. Disregarding those problems, I had a blast with this game. Further expansions with more buildings, enemies, and better balance could be something worth revisiting. Nice job! We, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames), like following other people that also participated in the LDJam (just like us!), so, if you happen to have a Twitter account, please share it. It'd be cool to be able to see what you can come up with in the future! 🐳 |
| May 17 22:11:05 | 15m 43s | Acquaintances | ♥ 3 | Well, due to me not paying attention, this game boiled down to just clicking random people until I finished the game. Adding achievements here and there was a nice touch though, and I genuinely cracked up when one said that they were going to call the cops. Still, mechanic wise, you could try to come up later with something more memorable or outstanding. I like how there's a lot of different voices and character, and that they're somewhat animated, but other than that, this is more of a click-a-thon than an actual puzzle game. One playthrough and that's it. However, I must say that even with that in mind, I felt that the game was very polished, with transitions and additions that made it into a fluid experience. No hiccups, and some tiny details like the ending screen listing every character I poked. Those were fantastic additions. We, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames), are following around other people that participated along us in this gamejam, so if you have a Twitter account, please share it. We'd like to see what you can come up with in the future! 🐳 |
| May 18 16:31:12 | 18h 20m | Space Pow Collins | ♥ 1 | Since our game also resolved about getting many endings, I gravitated towards this one just to see how such a thing was accomplished. Turns out, I'm very bad at text adventures, and I died a few times on the first screen before getting the hang of it :P While text adventures are not my bread and butter, I could see that this one had a very good level of polish, if only for the letters' flickering and the diverse art. The execution of the game itself was well done, with no real problems when it came to typing. The game was very specific though, and some actions were not exactly apparent. Heck, because of the small screen, I had a hard time seeing some stuff every now and then, even on the first screen. Regardless, all in all, the game was good, and very carefully tailored. No glitches, no annoying interfaces. Everything was functional. So, from here on, if you decide to further expand on a project like this, you already have a very solid foundation. You should consider adding staples of the genre, such as looking around the environment. That'd help the player know what are their options. Well, congratulations again on such a polished and well presented experience. Shame that I'm not exactly great on this kind of games, but I can see more old fashioned gamers having a very good time with this one. Good luck with the compo! Our team, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames), will follow you around on Twitter from now on. We're looking forward to your future projects and participation in LD jams! 🐳 |
| May 18 16:49:12 | 18m 00s | Desktop Adventure | ♥ 2 | This game very quickly pulled a 180 turn on me. I was like "oh, look. It's just going to be a simple platformer where you get to A to B and what do you mean that the files drop and WHAT I JUST TELEPORTED OH BOY". The mechanics of the game suited the theme you set up in a way I could have not foreseen, and thus, I'm utterly impressed. First of all, I love the presentation. I'm the art guy from our team's game, so I like to inspect what others did with theirs. While yours is basic, it's little wiggling and use of objects set up a cute and funny mood. The jiggling while jumping and the moving tentacles, plus the dying animation, are the sort of small details that give the player enough feedback for a more functional experience. Good job! Again, I have to applaud the mechanics. Making use of the computer's innards to build a platformer game is something I had not seen yet. I've seen Tower Defenses and shooters, but not a platformer. Hence, why I got pleasantly surprised when I found out that there were mechanics beyond jumping and dodging. The use of teleportation was the best part of the game. The last level of the game was, without a doubt, the best part. It turned the whole platformer into a puzzle, with satisfying action and a great execution of the mechanics of the game. It'd be very interesting to see where this project goes should you decide to further expand on this idea. congratulations on making this game. I'm still astonished at how quickly it changed my expectations from "generic" to "genius". Our team, [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) would like to follow you on Twitter, if you happen to have an account there. We've been following other developers that we've commented on during this gamejam, since we're always looking forward to what you can come up with next. Cheers! 🐳 |
| May 19 19:16:32 | 26h 27m | Leafcutters | ♥ 1 | I love clicker games, so it's always fun for me to see what others can come up with. A pseudo-ant farm was a great idea. While a bit overwhelming with information, I still had a fun time automatizating the whole process. Excellent work! For MS Paint, the art isn't half bad. Heck, I'm impressed that MS Paint art made its way into a game. I wrote not long ago about the [free program that I've been using for game assets](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/petty-puny-planet-38/krita-the-free-art-program-i-used-for-3-gamejams), so I'd recommend using something like that or Firealpaca in future, more demanding projects. But hey, if it works, it works, right? I liked the game, and specially the details. I thought I had to learn all about "x is needed to make y" and memorize a lot. But having the signs stay if you hold over the buttons was a blessing. Excellent work. Team [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) congratulates you on this great compo submission! Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 19 19:30:51 | 14m 19s | Goblin Assault | ♥ 1 | Well, this was a very interesting tower defense game. I specially liked it because it felt very fast paced. Many Tower Defense games expect the player to plan out complex defense mechanisms, while this one, instead, focused on gathering *and* building in the little down time. There's not much to build, but oh man, just gathering the resources, making it back and placing them is a time management thrill. I loved the art of the game. It looks a bit inconsistent at times though, with come objects having outlines and others not, but it still looked fresh. However, I did feel that it was very crammed. As in, very zoomed in, with little things on the screen at a time. I couldn't see the enemies on the other side of my defenses, so I lost a round or two against... who knows what. Regardless, I had my fair share of fun with it. Different enemies, resource gathering and barricading the gem were very well executed mechanics. Our team [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) is very pleased with this submission. If you happen to have a Twitter account, we'd like to follow you around, should you come up with either an expansion for this or something new and fresh. Keep up the good work! 🐳 |
| May 19 19:49:51 | 19m 00s | MicroCHIP | ♥ 0 | It was a short but well done experience. The models and music worked with the mood of the game very well, although the explosion sounds were a bit too noisy for my liking. The presentation of MicroCHIP was alright. It's always good when the games have some sort of explanation or backstory. Helps to get the people pumped up or in *the zone*. Gameplay wise, the game delivered increasingly difficult levels, with more pieces to collect and more health loss as a result of more spiders. It's not super hard, but I still found it appealing. If your team decides to further expand this project later on, you could try adding other kind of enemies or obstacles to force the player to prioritize repairing or dealing with different viruses. All in all, great work! Team [Whales and Games](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) had a fun time with MicroCHIP. We hope to see more from you in the future! 🐳 |
| Aug 2 20:05:18 | 1800h 15m | Goodbye, world! | ♥ 1 | Hello there. I've always been a sucker for mortar-style siege games like these. Y'know, like Worms. I was pleasantly surprised when I started playing it, and saw that it not only had the shooting with angle and velocity, but also some degree of gravitational power as well. It was a very thrilling experience for a couple of shots, but yeah, there's not much to the game other than that. Very simple, and does what it was set to do, with not much flair to it. Still, I have to ask, how does this fit the "running out of power" theme? There's not much to it lorewise nor gameplaywise, so it looks like either a copout or an experiment done regardless of the LD. Anyhow, here's hoping you get to expermiment with more features for it later on. It'd be cool to see more games with this gameplay, but with new mechanics. Maybe lots of planets or even some sort of multiplayer? That would have been great. If you've got the time, [consider taking a look at our game](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/joulethief-charge-your-phone). Good job once again, and enjoy the jam! 🐳 |