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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | PhilStrahl's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27 19:56:43 | Sand Runner | ♥ 1 | Congratulations on your first jam! The first one is the hardest, so it'll get better with the next :) As you wrote, there are a few issues such as spawning with not enough time to react to an enemy/spikes/gap and the gravity feels like the character is just moving down, not being drawn by a force, but I know: No time for that! ;) Another thing that would have been nice to have is a score counter measuring how long/far you made it. Personally, I'd also look into offering the player some kind of "health", so that I can mess up a few times before having to restart again. If you want to keep improving your game, I'd suggest to focus on the controls & gravity first, so that it really feels tight. Then rework your level generation algorithm a bit, so it can avoid unfair placement, especially in the beginning. My solution to this would to have the first one (or two) platforms always be at the same position in each level so as a player I can get in the flow befor having to make my first "real" jump. Here's some "nice-to-have" stuff regarding anything that's not gamplay: Next time, please publish your game without an installer, single .exe file is best. Also, give the file some other name than "LudumDare" because the chances are high that it clashes with somebody else's game. Finally, many people like it best when the game starts in a window with a fullscreen option. In any case: You finished a game, even with a title screen! Good job!! | |
| Apr 27 20:11:54 | 15m 11s | Little House of Horrors | ♥ 4 | Wow, this one is great! You already had me at "Cthulhu" but this game is very polished and I see a lot of polish went into every aspect, assets, sound, coding. I mean, there are not many jam games that have a title screen, let alone options! :) Also enjoyed the mechanics, there's a lot of potential in it. Also, the sound design was great, every new appearing portal gave me chills. Make it a full game and I'll buy it! :) EDIT: Only suggestion I have is that the character stats are hard to read, red on yellow-ish parchment. I'd opt for plain old black instead :) |
| May 3 19:40:28 | 143h 28m | The Seesaw Redemption | ♥ 2 | First: Love the title and the how cute the hamster looks! And judging from the drop from the table: That's a tiny rodent ;) While the gravity felt a little too low and too floaty, it made sense for the game, personally, I'd make the downforce a bit stronger. The level design was also nice, perhaps the part with the spikes was a little too long and I was expecting another hard obstacle before the window, since the harest part for me was getting the key. Another thing I liked was the Sega Genesis-kinda music and the cute jumping sound. SO overall: Very solid entry, had quite some fun playing! |
| May 3 19:51:15 | 10m 47s | WHAT A SMALL WORLD! | ♥ 6 | This was real nice! I love the morale of the story: Playing games in your house and avoiding social interactions effectively allows you to live your life safely. How good is exploration when there's death around the corner, ironically by being hit by a car -- the number one cause of death for pedestrians in Grand Ripoff Driver. Your game showcases the passion for video games and that we can live perfectly long and happy lives in a small world of our own making :) It's short and sweet and when stepping outside and the upbeat music setting in, I had a severe and substantial Stardew Valley flashback, so that's a very good thing. |
| May 3 20:06:59 | 15m 44s | Alienus-Alienas | ♥ 0 | I had some fun playing it, the graphics are very nice and Kevin's music is a perfect fit. Here are a couple of points I personally would improve on: - Control. Currently, they are very floaty (and this would work for a level where you play on the moon, for example) but not making a jump and having to wait for my avatar(s?) to slowly float down to the ground for the next attempt was a bit grating. So just higher gravity, snappier controls would do wonders. Look at the gold-standard for great handling, Super Meat Boy, for inspiration :) - Level design. Once I had figured how to reach the higher platforms, I just circled through until eventually getting hit by an enemy bullet. Maybe have all the elements a little smaller but more platform levels where I have a couple of options where to go. - Sound effects. Some arcadey beeps and buzzes would work well together with the chiptuney music. - Power ups: The longer you survive, the harder it gets. So well, so good. But having some rare pickups like a smart bomb or insta-health for all launchers would make the rounds play longer and give the player a breather now and then. - Waves & variety: I would have liked if there was a certain number of UFOs per wave/level; say 10 in level 1, 20 in level 2 etc. Depending on how well I played, I can buy and place, say, one-time shield upgrades for individual launchers between waves, or selectively upgrade existing ones (more health, higher shooting frequency, rockets with splash damage, etc.) - Feedback: I'd love to see how well I am doing, so a timer or score counter would have helped me gauge my performance. Currently, I use the music as my reference for how well I'm doing. So in summary: Liked it, there's a lot of potential of making this a modern arcade classic by adding some variety, and snappier controls. |
| May 3 20:28:38 | 21m 39s | Superbugs | ♥ 1 | Oh man! I was recovering from a serious Hexic-induced fever and now this one hit home *hard*! I had a blast playing this, it's great fun -- minimal but not simple. Just make a bunch more levels and add some variety with, say, bombs, or killer-cells or what not and you have yourself a Candy Crush killer here. Should you ever release this, let me know cause I'll buy it! |
| May 6 16:31:38 | 68h 03m | Islands in Equilibrium | ♥ 1 | A very interesting puzzle game, liked it a lot even though I didn't make it past "only 2 more islands to go". Even the "programmer art" didn't bug me, because the mechanics were nice and clear to follow. I would have liked some minor comfort features, such as right-click to put back the current tile, or being allowed to run the simulation without all tiles placed, so I could see how things would play out without my intervention first. Well done! EDIT: I made a little video earlier today with my favorite games so far and naturally "Islands in Equilibrium" made the cut :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQSb3D6GyCw |
| May 6 17:00:22 | 28m 44s | Little Unsuitable Journey | ♥ 1 | Found it very cute and interesting, the simple art-style didn't hurt, in fact, it was very charming. Two things were really bugging me, however: The first was not having a reticle in the middle of the screen, so I more often than not clicked and nothing happened. The other was the punishing design of the health globes: The world looks very nice and inviting exploration, but as soon as you do, you get punished. Also later it was almost impossible to find the five star-cube-thingies without dying at least once or twice. Thankfully you'd keep the items you carry when restarting at a checkpoint :) But the game asking me to explore, yet gives me hardly any room to find my own way was a bit frustrating. |
| May 6 17:20:24 | 20m 02s | No Minor Task: Party of a Lifetime | ♥ 1 | Played your game and while I liked the music, sadly, I was not having that much fun. The whole dialog scene was funny in the beginning but a little too drawn out and trying a little too hard to be funny. The game itself was solid, although I got caught a couple of times and didn't really understand why, as I was not near to a red flashing person. In my best run I managed to invite 120 or so people, so thanks for letting me also skip that part :) A little balancing and better collisions should go a long way, however. And I am saying this knowing fairly well that the game I participated in this time is having similar issues ;) |
| May 6 17:32:11 | 11m 47s | Legends Of Block | ♥ 1 | Had quite a bit of fun with the game. You say that you have no idea about making sounds but the sounds you came up with I find very fitting :) Also the dashing mechanic was fun and I was using it many times, sometimes this almost felt a bit like cheating, maybe have a stamina bar or something similar, if that's not intentional. Another issue I had was when I take damage, my block blinks red and when dashing against a red block, it got really confusing, which of the blocks I controlled. But all in all it was a quite fun, thanks! :) |
| May 6 18:11:26 | 39m 15s | Koffer | ♥ 2 | Wow, I liked this very much, spent more than half an hour with it, until I finally had it. I really like the surreal concept and the growing vines are quite a tech achievement -- as is the modeling of the temple ruins. The only thing I would add would be some kind of sounds and perhaps change the initial color of the marbles, as they are sometimes almost invisible due to their high reflectiveness. Great job! UPDATE: Made a video today and I had to include "Koffer" in my favorite games list so far :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQSb3D6GyCw |
| May 6 18:58:45 | 47m 19s | RGB | ♥ 1 | Very original mechanics. I thought I knew my way around RGB channels fairly well, but your game got quite intense rather quickly and I didn't manage to get past level 9, "flicker". But the concept is great and it feels like with some wok, RGB can become the next "Steven's Sausage Roll". Well done! |
| May 6 19:11:25 | 12m 40s | Quantum | ♥ 0 | Top down shooters are not my genre but I liked the concept. Because I was getting ambushed, I resorted to just swiveling around constantly, until I discovered the same safe spot as @shamps, but that got boring after a couple of minutes ;) So sorry for hijacking your leaderboard ;) I'd add a little variety on the enemies, maybe have some static ones that can only be seen when standing still or moving enemies that are seen when they are not in the field of view, etc. :) It was fun, very nice entry! |
| May 6 19:27:15 | 15m 50s | Tiny Venture | ♥ 0 | Great mood and gorgeous, stylized graphics. The whole thing reminded me a little of "Mirror Moon EP". I played this with mouse/keyb and two things were driving me nuts: First, the overly smoothed mouse behavior made me quit the game because that got me sea-sick pretty fast. The other was that the jump get triggered on key-up, not on key-down. I just wished there was a bit more to it than just carrying crops around and watching bars slowly expire, like some kind of mechanics-feedback for the player's condition, e.g. slower movement when hunrgy, blurry(er) view when running out of oxygen, etc. |
| May 6 19:52:45 | 25m 30s | Lead the Ants | ♥ 2 | I liked the premise and idea and the execution of the actual mechanics was well done. I just missed something more to do once I had the ants on their way, and also an option to unmark my stupidly placed beacons. As for the design, you could have introduced in later levels some hazards I need my ants to go around, or limit the number of beacons players can place in a level. On the user experience side, I really wished for a button to restart the current level instead of having to wait for the timer to run out and then start all over again from level 1. That and the slow gameplay really was a test of patience and when I messed up a second time, I didn't bother going through all the previous stages again, especially because most of the time you just wait. My suggestion would be to find something for the player to do once they had sent their peers on their way, such as clearing the path, if there are any obstacles, picking up some food herself, or fighting off evil, red ants that are also tapping into the same supply. Nevertheless: A sold entry, much better gameplay than most of my submission so to date ;) |
| May 6 20:06:46 | 14m 01s | Snake On A Plane | ♥ 1 | First: Love the title :) The overall game reminded me a lot of old Amiga titles like the firsts attempts at usable 3d-graphics. And after a couple of turns, I got used to the jumpy 90° turns. Still, there are some thing I would have liked better: For one thing, there are no bounds, if I run out of plane, I am still going. This helped in the beginning, but it might not be intentional ;) The other thing would be some sort of compass on top, just the letter of the cardinal direction I am currently going. I am not suggesting a mini-map, though, that would defeat the whole point of it ;) Nontheless: I had quite a bit of fun with it, thank you! :) |
| May 6 21:04:46 | 58m 00s | The Nedludd Club | ♥ 1 | The best detective game on the Atari 2600! ;) Joking aside, that was a really nice game, loved the cyberpunky music which gave the game a much grander atmosphere. Still, even after half an hour and many restarts I didn't manage to get all the evidence, but I have a hunch as whodunnit ;) It's a small world after all... Reminded me a little of "Deadline" by Infocom. Anyone remembers? Or "The Witness" (not the new one). No? Alright then, I'm old! |