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Somnium

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May 2 03:47:50 I Just Wanted Groceries ♥ 5 Hilarious take on the theme! The graphics and music really sets the tone of the game. The game can be quite challenging, depending on the location of the items, and the "customers keep arriving" mechanic works really well for gradually ramping up the challenge. At least they finish shopping eventually. I also loved the small details - the random appearance of the shoppers, that they actually have different "identities" if they run into you, and of course the fact that in the end, the cashier is as chatty as the rest of them. The main character world probably have preferred a self-serve checkout :-D An entertaining game! > Carrots on the floor. > The shoppers saw me coming! > Everlasting chat...
May 2 18:36:41 14h 48m Smalltrek ♥ 2 Wow! The game feels impressively polished, especially considering that it is a compo game! The amount of detail is staggering; All the details - the little animations, the lovely music, the fun introduction text in between levels, and even the visual effects for the scanner and level transitions, combine into an excellent game! I found the level progression to be very good. The basic puzzle mechanic variations are introduced at a good pace. And just as the player has them mastered, the change where the cute cuddly creatures start in their expansion mode, provides a change of pace that really revitalizes the game mechanics for the rest of the levels. You managed to stretch a relatively simple set of mechanics to good effect, and the variety of the different rules was well balanced. The controls felt a bit imprecise at times - I tended to overshoot my target, both when selecting a level, and when warping to the next sector. Other than that, my only "complaint" is that I was supposed to have time to play and rate a handful of games today, not spend all evening on playing this one... All in all, it was a very enjoyable game! > Planet in uproar! > Obey the wise commander. > Tribbles... everywhere!
May 2 19:03:13 26m 32s Barely There ♥ 1 A simple and enjoyable game! The graphics are very nice, and the music underscores the mood well (both during the game, and during the ending). Except for when losing control when leaving the flower, I felt that the control of the bee was very good, with the player being able to fine tune the magnitude of the "jump". As for the flower-jump, the birds did seem to take good advantage of the momentary loss of control. And the ending... talk about mood whiplash! All in all, it was a quite enjoyable game, with a nice twist at the end! > So sunny outside! > Look at the pretty flowers! > ...how dare you, foul beast!
May 2 19:46:34 43m 21s Daffodil Village ♥ 3 A fun little game - for such an cute village, the villagers sure are creepy... A possible bug: When a villager is near the edge of the screen, some of their dialogue is obstructed by the screen edge. I liked the graphics - they are quite cute, and the eyes are nicely eerie. If you make a post-LD version, I would suggest adding enough conversations so that every villager has his/her own dialogue. Although in a sense, having different people ask the exact same questions did make them feel a bit more spooky. Having your earlier conversations decide the ending, depending on whether you took the time to befriend the villagers, was a nice touch. I found the game entertaining, although it felt a bit short :-) > Idyllic village. > Smiling faces everywhere. > Do not ask questions...
May 3 04:58:43 9h 12m Bug to the Footstep ♥ 2 A fun and challenging puzzle game! I like the cute graphics, they add some context to what would otherwise be a rather abstract puzzle game. The fact that you actually have to "hunt" your wiggling game pieces was a nice touch! Some music and sound would have added even further to the mood. The difficulty progression worked well, with the later puzzles being just challenging enough to be interesting, without becoming frustrating. I also like how the "flip"-mechanic added even more variety to the mechanics. It is impressive that you made this in only 14 hours! > Ladybugs and snails, > fit nicely in the footstep. > Oh no, it's a worm!
May 3 14:30:30 9h 31m Chuck and Bull ♥ 3 A relaxing little game. It felt a bit sparse though. I would have liked some more objects to interact with. The music and graphics are nicely done, and makes for a pretty calm atmosphere, with some funny sound effects as well. So I spent some time leaning back, relaxing, and literally watching the crops grow. > A small peaceful farm. > Oh look! A bottle of Booze... > COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!
May 3 15:19:15 48m 45s Rebuild. ♥ 1 An interesting puzzle game! I liked how you literally start with a small world, and then expand it. A nice take on the theme! The graphics are quite nice, and it is easy to identify the various tile types. I did miss some "tool-tips" on the exact effect of each tile type. As you stated, it is very easy to overextend yourself in the beginning, but once you get a good mana income, it is quite fun to hunt for the special tile types. The fact that you get to play after the 100 turns was also a nice touch (although the score keeps accumulating). A possible bug: For some reason, using the "town"-resource button never caused a town-tile to appear for me, it just drained the mana. Or maybe it was just supposed to increase the population? All in all, it was an enjoyable puzzle/strategy game, and a good entry for your first LD! >Small starting village. >...spend your mana carefully >Suddenly Stonehenge!
May 3 16:16:50 57m 35s Tetripolis ♥ 1 That was an innovative take on the classic Tetris gameplay! The combination of a spatial puzzle with a rule-enforced optimal way of solving said puzzle works pretty well, especially as it ties into the mechanic of unlocking additional pieces of the puzzle. However, ultimately I felt that the large amount of possible combinations, and the fact that the unlockable pieces are unknown at the beginning of the round, meant that finding an optimal solution (or even a good one) was a matter of "brute-forcing" the puzzle, rather than solving it. As you mentioned, having the upcoming blocks visible would mitigate this somewhat, but potentially at the cost of making the spatial part of the puzzle (too?) easy to solve. The graphics were very good, and the interface felt pretty fluid as well. I had fun playing the game, it was definitely the most challenging puzzle game I have played so far this LD. The final "coin awards" gave an nice extra incentive to try improving the score. Oh, and I loved the punny game name! >Planning my city. >Profit optimization! >Alas, just one coin.
May 3 17:02:22 45m 32s SUN GOD ♥ 2 A very nice idea, well executed! The graphics and music was excellent in setting the mood. I found it a bit hard to read the numbers during the action, though. As has been mentioned above, perhaps it could be supplemented with a "progress bar", to be able to decode the amounts involved (and the distance to the goal) at a glance. Both the tutorial and the introduction text was very funny and entertaining to read. Especially the dramatic introduction of the true hero of our tale, THE SUN GOD! It is always nice to have some backstory giving some context to the game, and it was a great setup for the gameplay itself. A very impressive game, especially for a Compo game! >The world is shrinking! >It's time to PLEASE the SUN GOD! >COME WITH ME, brave citizens!
May 3 17:41:08 38m 46s My world ♥ 1 A nice narrative game! You used both graphics and music to good effect, shaping a great mood for the story to unfold in. In my first playthrough I reacted to the invasion in accordance with the character's perspective, not even considering whether it could be misguided. That the dash-action is prominently featured in the instructions, also primes this first reaction I think. I was then happily surprised when it turned out that combat was merely one way through the game, and not even the most satisfying one. The mechanics were a bit frustrating - the "floating" controls combined with the deadly sea was a lethal combination. But in a sense, I guess that just reinforces the message of the game. This was a very enjoyable game to play! >Kill the intruders! >Violence is not the answer... >An important choice.
May 3 19:07:38 1h 26m 1964 World's Fair Engineer ♥ 3 A very impressive game! The amount of different variants of cards is very impressive - so many different images, and yet stylistically they all mesh perfectly together, giving the game a nice vibrant and positive mood. Some music would have enhanced the mood even more. The difficult balancing act of considering which cards to keep, and which to reject in any given pitch, really makes the relatively simple core mechanics shine! One thing I found a bit counter-intuitive, is that the background cards applies their delight before the merge, rather than after. So you get penalized for moving a background-card from darkness into the light for instance, whereas I would have expected the reward to be applied as the background would be perceived by the ride guest. The tooltips were very helpful while playing the game, and the instructions did a good job introducing the various game concepts. Considering the unconventional mechanics it might also be useful to have a "reset pitch" functionality, in case the player make a mistake. Some miscellaneous feedback: I cannot find the link to the source code on the game page (or is it somewhere else?) I also experienced a few technical difficulties with starting the game. I could not get it to work in Chrome or Internet Explorer (in both cases, it displayed the two firsts cards, and half of the third, on a static dark blue background). It worked in Firefox, however the animations were a bit slow. This was a very intriguing game to play! >As the project lead, >I shall awe and delight you! >Don't mind the motor...
May 4 04:56:12 9h 48m You Just Don't Get It ♥ 1 A quite charming little game! The art, music and ambient sounds really set a positive mood, in stark contrast to the stories being told. Very nice! The cutlery object was sometimes a bit hard to spot against the background. A suggestion for a future addition, could be to have the story-sentences change if the altars are intermixed, creating a new "what-if" hybrid story. The game was enjoyable to play, and the stories were compelling, with a distinct difference in feel between them. Nice work! >A peaceful island, >filled with trash and memories. >Perspective is key.
May 4 17:58:38 13h 02m Bureaucratic Deity Simulator 2018 ♥ 2 A very neat puzzle game! The pixel art is amazing! And combined with the music, it gave the game a very nice mood. The volume of the sound effects was rather loud compared to the music (especially the "cannot place here" effect), which was a bit jarring, but otherwise the presentation elements fitted well together. The town had an interesting "high tech" vibe to it, making it an interesting contrast compared to the otherwise serene nature tiles. The tile-interactions themselves were quite fun to discover. The pacing of the puzzles sometimes seemed a bit abrupt; sometimes they skipped a few concepts, or had very different solutions from puzzle to puzzle, which made them seem less cohesive. As you stated above, some more levels could have gotten even more mileage out of the mechanics, which are certainly complex enough to last for additional puzzles. The discovery process was enjoyable, as was the spatial element of having to perform the moves in the correct order, and using the "buffer spaces" to the best possible effect. Sometimes it was frustrating not to be able to experiment freely within the constraint of the levels - perhaps the sandbox could have been unlocked after the first few tutorial levels, for fun and practice. But the puzzles themselves had a great difficulty - great brain teasers, without becoming frustrating. And the fast reset-mechanism combined with a small playing field really encouraged experimentation! It was a very enjoyable game to play! >A pristine new world, >molded by bureaucracy. >Behold! Perfection!
May 4 18:34:11 35m 33s Haven - The Small World ♥ 2 I enjoyed playing through the game - the story is pretty good, and the atmosphere of the game is amazing! The music enhances the mood well. The three locations are beautifully drawn, as is the title screen. You clearly spent a lot of effort here, and it shows! The game itself feels a bit short, but still manages to contain enough objects with descriptions to hint at how everyday life in Haven must be. If you have the time, you should definitely consider expanding on the game into a post-LD version, to flesh out the ending, and add a few more descriptive objects and puzzles. You reveal enough of the world that I want to see more of it! >Empty loneliness, >calls for desperate action! >I must find my wife!
May 4 19:07:59 33m 48s A Relatively Small World ♥ 1 Interesting game, with a very unique concept! The music was pretty relaxing (perhaps a bit in conflict with the gameplay). The sound effects were very funny! The hand-drawn graphics gave your game an unique aesthetic, although it made it hard to recognize some of the features. I liked the fact that the cities could be identified by the wildlife near them though, that was a nice touch. The puzzles were rather absurd, and all the more funny for it! They also had their own weird logic to them, so I managed to play through the game without losing or dying. But it did require some thinking outside the box, that's for sure. Just a small observation: It is a bit cumbersome having to install LD-games, since you then have to uninstall them afterwards, and not all uninstall processes are good at cleaning up after themselves. It might discourage some people from trying your game. In any case, it was a fun little game to play, with a delightfully bizarre plot! >As a nice giant, >I shall solve all your problems! >...YOU ATE THE PUG?!?! WHYYYY?
May 5 05:35:15 10h 27m Small World Sim ♥ 2 A nice strategy/simulation game! The goals gave some specific objectives/direction for the sim. A suggestion could be to expand upon this, making separate "chains" of goals for evolving the world in a specific direction, especially if you add extra buildings with additional tradeoffs. The building effects complemented each other nicely. I would suggest adding some extra buildings for variety. You could connect them to the goals-mechanic, "unlocking" specific buildings when various goals are reached, which would add an additional element of evolving your world aiming for a specific type of end result. From a UX perspective, I felt that the building placement interface felt a bit bulky: The buildings are hidden away in a separate pop-up menu, which can obstruct the currently selected tile that your choice will affect, and then after selecting the building, you have to click a separate button to actually build it, with the map still partially obstructed. I would therefore suggest reversing the order of actions, i.e. first select the building, and then click on a tile to build a building at the clicked tile. That would allow the player to put down multiple of the same building without having to move the mouse between the map and the button panel, and save a lot of clicks. Putting the building choice menu directly on the button panel (as a row of icon buttons for instance) could similarly improve the "flow" of the GUI. Clicking one of them would then change the building description at the top, to match the new currently selected building. As others have mentioned, the game has a nice old-school strategy game feel to it, with combined with the charming music created a good mood for the game. The day/night cycle and spinning the globe to unveil additional building space were really nice touches. All in all, it was a quite enjoyable strategy/simulation game, with great potential for further expansion! >Trees require funds. >Funds require factories. >...Industrial trees?
May 5 16:14:34 10h 39m Candy Cave Quest ♥ 0 An interesting hidden-object game, with a cute and unique art style. The objective of the game was clear, and the puzzles made good sense. I liked the sound effects and voiceovers, although the voices sounded a bit "stiff" at times. The reactions of the main character was a very nice touch. The rotation puzzle was hard until you used your imagination, which ties nicely into the message of the game; the connection between the selected objects and the corresponding objects in the scene was very clever. It was a fun game to play. Some additional puzzles and objects would make it even better. The twist at the end (and the corresponding change in graphics) was great! >Wonders of the mind, >makes the world a magic place. >Don't fear the Keeper!
May 5 19:29:11 3h 14m Orbitunes ♥ 3 This was a very nice and relaxing entry! It was pleasant to spend some time "composing" variations of tunes - even though the basic elements are simple, the physics-driven repeating of the various notes worked really well for random experimentation. I had to try a few times to make the asteroids go into orbit, rather than shooting off into space, but when it finally "clicked" it felt more like a reward for experimentation, rather than an obstacle. The graphics were simple and effective, the vibrant colors and movement plays really well together with the resulting music. Your entry is a great example of the fact that "toys" can be just as interesting to interact with as more goal-oriented games. I read your post-mortem as well, to gain some insight on the technical implementation. It was a quite interesting read, especially the parts about the synchronization issues and the "music theory" foundation of the concepts. So thank you for sharing that! >Star, floating in space >Orbited by singing rocks >Beautiful music
May 5 19:50:46 21m 35s Troubles on Colony 39 ♥ 0 An interesting tale, to be sure. Poor neighbor! The elements were simple, and yet you used them effectively to tell the story. The art was quite charming. Some additional sound-effects could have improved the mood even more. In general, the writing was fun, even if it had a few errors. It was a fun surprise when the rocket suddenly spoke to me! A few more interactive objects could make room for some more funny text. >A change in routine. >Daisy production is up, >but morale is down.
May 6 05:19:35 9h 28m A Week's Passing ♥ 1 A very interesting game, the experience was quite unique! I really liked the art. The mood it conveyed fitted the story perfectly, and the bare bones apartment made a great backdrop for the reductive representation of everyday routine. Having the world be significantly brighter in the beginning of the game, might have stressed the development of the story even more. The navigation was a bit confusing at times. Specifically, when exiting from the bath/bus, I would expect to exit facing towards the world. The slow deterioration of the daily routine, and the increasing hard time getting out of bed, was a powerful way to convey the protagonist's increasing struggles with his grief. The ending was uplifting - the way the story was going, I had feared that the bus would end up playing a more horrible part... The final realization of the theme was brilliant! A note: While I did not run into any issues with the LD version, I got stuck repeatedly in the post-LD version 1.3, when speaking with the other guy waiting on the bus on the morning of day 2 (the controls stopped responding after the conversation). A wonderful game, with a powerful message! >A world was shattered. >...Grief ...Unhelpful Platitudes. >......A Light in the Dark.
May 6 06:39:17 1h 19m Submersible ♥ 3 I love the concept of this game! It was quite an immersive experience - the extra layer of sitting in a sub, and having to navigate though button presses worked really well. From a UX perspective, as have been mentioned by others, I think that the controls would feel a bit smoother, if the buttons could be "held down", instead of having to click them rapidly. The procedural generation created sufficient variety so that the exploration did not feel boring, although few extra variants of fauna would be nice. Can the path to the exit of a level become obstructed? In my first playthrough, i did not find the exit, and it was not until I read through the other comments, that I realized that the game had multiple levels, and when I tried again, I found the exits just fine. Although it is entirely possible that I just got lost the first time. The sounds fitted well together with the rest of the simulation - in particular, using the engine noise as a substitute for a speed gauge. I'd say that your experiments were successful! >Just me and my sub. >Exploring the pretty caves. >Alas! No Nessie
May 6 15:48:25 9h 09m Glade in the Sky ♥ 1 That was a pretty hard puzzle game! The puzzles were varied, and for the most part interesting. The duration of the "falling to your death" animation was perhaps a bit too long, considering how many times it happens *cough*. On a personal note, I did not like the combination of having to starting over completely after a failure, combined with trial-and-error-puzzles which can leave you in a failure state (e.g. the "falling path"), as most of the puzzles were rather tedious to repeat once solved. Perhaps each solved gem could count as some sort of checkpoint? I really liked the presentation! The art was clear, yet abstract enough to give the game a unique look, and the footsteps did a good job of adding to the atmosphere. The game conveyed a feeling of navigating harrowingly narrow platforms floating in an otherwise empty void. This was a quite impressive game for a compo game, especially since it's your first. >Solid ground is just... >a matter of perspective. >Falling death is real.
May 6 16:43:34 55m 09s Mallows World Adventure ♥ 0 I've never played any of the Dizzy games, but I got a strong "Auf Wiedersehen Monty" vibe from it, due to the similar gameplay, and theme of travelling between exotic places around the world. The art style and music worked really well - I think that Mallow looks a bit worried, which is to be expected, with all the hazards in the world. The various environmental hazards were easy to avoid, and yet could still leave the world in an unsolvable state if you died at the wrong time. Hence I think the game would have worked just as well without that element, but just focusing on the exploration. Similarly, there did not seem to be a specific purpose to the snorkel - you pick it up at the beginning, and keep it in your inventory for the entire game, to be able to navigate freely - and it might kill the player if he use the wrong button at the wrong time (and if you drop it in the wrong place, it could make the game unsolvable). The amount of content is really impressive for a compo game - there is a lot of explorable space, and the fact that each location has its own unique theme and theme music was astonishing - and you even found the time to add a unique look to the NPCs as you solve their quests as well. The puzzles were fun to solve (the shovel-puzzle in particular had an unexpected result), and the game really managed to convey a good abstraction of the difference between the various exotic locations. All in all, it was a quite impressive Compo game! >Exploring the world, >trading foodstuff with locals. >Gurgle, gurgle, wheeze.
May 6 17:33:29 49m 55s Ionnect ♥ 1 Nice gameplay idea, very unique! It is a quite relaxing puzzle game. From an UX perspective, I accidentally connected the wrong components a couple of times , and there did not seem to be an easy way to sever a connection, except for connecting to another atom? A reset-button for the level could also be nice, in case the player has really jumbled the elements around. I missed having a bit of feedback and/or context for the different puzzles - as it is, it feels very abstract. However, the dragging and rotating mechanics felt very natural. As has been mentioned by others, some of the levels felt a bit repetitive, but as you mentioned, it would definitely help if you add some extra compounds. I also think the game has a good potential as the foundation of an educational game. I was particularly fond of the "morphing"-effect when completing a level. >Isolate compounds. >Connect methodically. >Master chemistry.
May 6 18:28:53 55m 24s Re:post ♥ 3 An interesting game concept! The mechanic of sorting through the news articles, and applying them in an optimal order to earn money, without your ratings suffering too much, was intriguing. It was sometimes a bit hard to move the headlines, since they could only be picked up from the sidebar, when clicking on the part that was actually inside the sidebar. In games like this, where you have a lot of activity near the edge of the screen, it would be nice to have the mouse cursor locked to the window as wel. There was a nice interplay between the various game elements. Balancing money with ratings was tough, especially when there were no usable news on the TV, so the news<->storage<->PC loop worked well. >Only post the best news. >Impending rent. Must earn money! >Untrustworthy... FIRED!
May 6 19:03:20 34m 27s Submerged ♥ 2 Very cool concept! With only a few different components, the game manages to be very engaging, as you try to outbuild the rising waters. And make too many mistakes while rushing towards the skies, and you will pay for it through a decrease in efficiency. This loop worked very well. I love the presentation! The isometric art is pleasant to the eye, and the UI is clean and easy to use. From a gameplay point of view, I would also suggest having the help screen pause the game. All in all, the game was both interesting and had an fun take on the theme. >Water rising fast! >Build! Faster! Toward the skies! >...The world IS a pond!
May 6 19:58:57 55m 37s My Purpose ♥ 1 Very nice game! The art style has a very distinct feel to it, I really liked the semi-abstract feel. Gameplay-wise I found the game to be very challenging. As has been mentioned, one of the dominant strategies seems to be to stay near the planet, and then circle and shoot. When I strayed from the planet I inevitable got lost, although I would put the blame for that squarely on my sense of direction in space (they should probably have used a better template for the defense-android then...). The omnidirectional firing worked really well, it was effective even when fleeing (I guess I'm not exactly the pride of the fleet...). The introduction of variation of enemies gave a nice progression, especially since you had to adapt your tactics to survive. I also enjoyed the small story-interludes between the levels (although I will probably never become good enough to read the last one). It was a very fun game - I don't usually enjoy shooters very much, but this one felt very satisfying, despite me being completely outclassed. The dogfighting worked really well, enough so that I would often get caught up in it, which usually did not end well for my planet... >Stalwart protector, >fighting off the invaders. >What is its purpose?
May 7 06:33:57 10h 35m Rickshaw World ♥ 1 An interesting game! It was a varied little world - the distinct areas felt different enough to give the illusion of traveling across a populated world. Sometimes it was a bit hard to navigate towards the camera - I think that a tracking camera would have worked better for the exploration. Storywise, it was a really sad game. Not only were many of the passengers completely oblivious, the ending really struck the point home. Well done! The mood was well supported by the slow music in the background. Perhaps some "inner monologue" could be added, for the long trips between passengers, for a deeper insight into our protagonist's backstory. >Transporting people, >Some nice, some oblivious. >...so much wasted work.
May 7 09:17:20 2h 43m More Room! ♥ 4 Wow! An excellent strategy game! I really enjoyed experimenting with the different upgrades, and seeing the effect on the battles. It gave a tangible feeling of progress which, combined with the gradual assimilation of the map nodes, worked really well. The art and UI was effective in conveying the "grid" as well as the current status, and also conveyed a good mood, especially in combination with the background music. I wonder whether the ability to auto-send soldiers from the consolidated areas would be a good extra feature, or if it would take away part of the "multi-task"-management challenge - while it was sometimes a bit frustrating having to do so manually, especially when the action became frantic, it also imposed an extra tactical element (rather than being purely a "quality of life" features). The tutorial was very effective (and funnily written), and I loved how the scale of the game kept increasing every few levels - a sad, but perhaps realistic view on the evolution of war. It's a pity that the source code is not available. I try to learn as much as possible from other LibGDX developers each Ludum Dare, but this time, without a proper search function on the new site, finding other LibGDX games is a matter of pure luck. >Always expanding. >The world is our birthright! >We... demand... more... room!
May 7 10:18:05 1h 00m Starstruck Ducky ♥ 1 That was a quite interesting take on the "climbing the social ladder" concept! The writing was humorous, and the concept has a nice surreal quality to it, which is amplified by the hilarious ducks, and the funny reaction animations of the hero. I would write additional comments about the gameplay, but the relevant points have already been made above - instead, I shall be busily pondering exactly how a duck answers a phone, or for that matter, how it uses an (IoT) toaster without being electrocuted. >A little-known duck, >climbing the social ladder. >Fame is everything!
May 7 11:00:00 41m 55s Potions recipes ♥ 1 Not bad! I can see your entry being a pretty solid foundation for additional content. The current version is interesting, but suffers a bit for having so few objects to collect. I think that being able to click away the notification screen, rather than having to wait for it to disappear on its own, would improve the flow of the game a bit. I loved the soundtrack, and especially how the sound-effects sounded like they were part of the background music, but were still distinctive enough to signal the events. I even caught myself trying to play along with the background music with the "cannot go here" sound, by repeatedly walking into a tree. I'm looking forward to trying the post-LD version! >The wizard embarks, >on an ingredients hunt. >Gonna find them all!
May 7 11:42:21 42m 21s Shapeshifter: The King of A Small World ♥ 1 You have made a solid foundation for a puzzle-based platformer. The four different powers complement each other well. As has been mentioned by others, the experience suffered a bit due to the context-based jumping, and at times the camera went trough the world walls. But overall, I think it was an enjoyable puzzle platformer, with some interesting puzzles, which can be easily expanded with additional content. Nice work! I was also affected by the "blown off the map" bug, which I actually found rather funny - the beetle must weigh a ton to be able to resist winds THAT powerful. >Jump, squeeze, stomp, and glide, >overcoming obstacles. >Whoosh! Blown off the map.
May 7 13:28:01 1h 45m Mini Planets ♥ 0 The concept is interesting - the idea of jumping between planets, and sometimes even being fired at them across space through a cannon, accompanied by an action-filled tune, was oddly compelling. As have been mentioned by others, the controls and camera need some tweaking. For instance, it was not clear to me why the jump button stopped responding sometimes, even though I was standing on a surface. It's a nice idea though. So if you have the time, you should definitely consider experimenting a bit more, and make a post-LD version. >Jumping between worlds, >Fleeing from your enemies. >Collect all the coins!
May 7 14:09:35 41m 34s Aliens vs Rng ♥ 1 An intriguing concept! The semi-random graphics, the UI and the music sets a pretty good mood, and you definitely have a promising platform for further development. The stats of the planet (which are changed by the current options) does not seem to have much of an effect currently? The main stat having an effect at the moment, seems to be the population count, which seem to just stop events from happening anymore, once the planet is dead. I liked the dark humor of the game and current options, as well as the randomly generated planets (and their info stats). I laughed when I saw the age of one of the planets listed as "dragon". When/if the planet info stats have an effect on the planet itself, it would be useful to have some kind of overlay displaying this effect. I am looking forward to seeing which additions you make to the game post-LD. >Civil war ensues. >Assuming direct control. >Barren world remains.
May 7 14:29:21 19m 46s Small World ♥ 1 A quite addictive little game! The mechanics are simple, but effective. The variety of both the incoming speed and angle, combined with the number of different objects, works really well. The retro feel works really well for game, specially in combination with the charming background music. Making the game in only 6 hours is pretty impressive! Congratulations on your first Ludum Dare! I managed to last for 10.45 billion years - hopefully, the inhabitants managed to get away from the planet before then. >A limitless void. >A small world, hurtling through space. >How long will it last?
May 7 14:46:43 17m 22s Hop Up ♥ 2 That was a pretty innovative take on a classic genre! I like how it starts out like any other side-scroller, and then uses more and more visual tricks, until you finally mess up and collide with an obstacle. For me, that point was reached at 68.853 seconds. The control of the variable jump felt pretty good. I agree with others that the experience could be enhanced with some sound effects, as well as some music which fits the changing of the landscape. A nice entry! >Avoid obstacles, >morphing, turning, and flashing. >What a hectic ride!
May 7 15:22:42 35m 59s Small World Fighters ♥ 2 A fun take on the theme! I played the game on a keyboard, against the AI. I enjoyed being able to play two different modes, they felt sufficiently different to justify the extra dev-time. As has been pointed out earlier, spamming ranged attack is a dominant strategy - perhaps some sort of cool down could work, if you don't find the time to implement several different weapons post-LD. Sometimes, a dead player will spawn right in front of an enemy while facing the wrong way, even in two-player-mode, resulting in an instant bonus-kill. Perhaps the spawning code could be tweaked to make this scenario less likely. The art was both clear and nice looking, and the controls were efficient (except when being at the bottom of the world, so it feels like you are jumping in the wrong direction, as mentioned by others). All in all, this was a fun game to play, even against the placeholder AI bots. I would definitely try out a post-LD version. >Running round and round, >in a deadly game of catch. >Only one can win!
May 7 15:55:09 32m 27s FUEL ♥ 1 Input precision and frenetic timed action combines into a fine action/puzzle game! The art is sleek and very nice looking, and the gameplay and controls feel pretty tight. And there is even a high score mechanism to encourage replay. I did have to adjust my mouse sensitivity, in order to get the fine control necessary to complete some of the more involved mazes though. Or maybe I just didn't master the distance equals speed mechanic well enough... All in all, it is an impressive game, especially for a Compo entry! >Fuel has been placed. >Now you must run the gauntlet. >Collision is death.
May 7 16:55:13 1h 00m Palm Planets ♥ 1 A relaxing little game! While there was not much to do, except to walk around an collect the planets, the graphics were nice, and the soundtrack was quite soothing. This made for a relaxing experience overall. I liked the picture of the solar system model at the end of the game as well. I discovered a small bug by the way: Sometimes, the footstep sound played for an extra cycle, after you has stopped walking. Congratulations on completing your first Ludum Dare! By the way, if you want comments, and to get a rating at the end of LD, you should rate and comment on other people's games. Otherwise, they'll never find yours! >Search for the planets. >Pluto is vindicated! >Now let's find the rest.
May 7 18:54:30 1h 59m Insekter!! ♥ 3 An entertaining game! The graphics were quite nice, and the soundtrack was excellent! The gunplay was satisfactory, however the spawn rate of the spiders made it pretty hard to navigate, especially with the end game gun; the recoil was so powerful that is was almost impossible to move and shoot at the same time, and the spiders respawned so fast, that this made it really hard to cut a path through them. On the other hand, when I finally reached the escape pod, this also meant that the victory felt well deserved indeed. The two upgrade guns felt very satisfying (except for the recoil on the last gun, as mentioned above), and had a significant effect to justify the extra expenditure of credits. The game had excellent atmosphere, with a lot of nice visual and audible effects to really enhance the experience. If you have the opportunity, you should consider making a post-LD version with an extra bugfix pass, as the underlying game is very satisfying. I did run into a few bugs (pun not intended ;) ) - at some point in the beginning, after getting the first gun and firing at the first spiders, the "move left" control suddenly locked, causing the main character to always run to the left, even when no buttons were pressed. And for the south-most gun-seller, the gun-labels are rendered upside down. >Spiders everywhere! >Grab a suitable weapon, >and blast your way through!
May 12 04:02:41 105h 08m Ascension: A God's Test ♥ 6 A very intriguing strategy game! There is an impressive variety of terrain types and actions in the game, and the quest mechanic was pretty efficient in giving the player some concrete goals to work towards. The tooltips very pretty efficient in explaining the game mechanics, while still leaving . One thing that could have been explained better was how resources are earned (e.g. through tool-tips on the resource icons). The base mechanics of harvesting and imbuing terrain worked really well. The lava-mechanic gave some additional urgency to the game, but it felt a bit counter-intuitive. The placement of rubble at the beginning of the game, seem to signal that lava will not spread diagonally, which then came as an unpleasant surprise later. It also seems that lava keeps multiplying, even when cut off from the source (i.e. a single lava-field, with no connection to the volcano, seem to be spreading in multiple directions). Finally, the Lava-mechanics and the quest-mechanic felt like they collided occasionally: Racing the clock is one thing. Racing the clock, and then having to abandon your plans at the very last moment, or face being buried in lava, felt a bit frustrating. The art and music worked really well, and the element of the gods talking to you during the game (being voice acted no less) was a very nice touch, that made the world feel more alive. The UI worked quite well, with the exception of the tooltips sometimes being cut off (for the mountain and stone tooltips for instance) or obscured behind other UI elements. The map was very clear, it was easy to get a grasp of the world and resource status at a glance. This was definitely an interesting game to play, I hope you'll expand on it! >Volcanoes appear, >at the behest of Ogun. >World drowned in lava.
May 16 13:04:13 105h 01m FREEDUMB! ♥ 1 Quite amusing satire. Your distillation of a few recognizable traits into a game-concept worked well, and the "Twit"-feed even doubled as a way to display additional satirical content. Gameplay-wise, the game was simple, but as a vehicle for the satire it was sufficient. It was a bit hard to scroll the feed, but other than that, the UI and presentation was effective and built the mood. >The news are fake. SAD! >Social Media is Truth! >Unleash the Freedom!
May 16 13:27:01 22m 48s Gaia ♥ 1 That was a fun puzzle-platformer. The pixel art was very good, and together with the music, it created a nice mood. The mechanics were ok, with some interesting puzzles, but the controls/cloud mechanic did not feel intuitive to me. The concept of riding across the skies on a large flying beast was very compelling! >Jumping in the clouds. >Pushing, pulling, jumping high. >Find the road ahead.
May 16 14:10:08 43m 07s Let's Be Happy in Our Small World ♥ 2 A fun observational puzzle game! The art is quite nice, especially the animations, that work quite well in causing a distraction. The difficulty progression was very satisfying, as the number of intersections, people and distinct characteristics increase steadily. And all it takes to fail, is a single mistake in observation... >Who is the culprit?! >Through observation powers, >point out the guilty!
May 16 14:27:20 17m 12s Don't Make Me Stop This Car! ♥ 1 Fun concept, and interesting take on the theme! I love the title, it fits the game nicely The graphics were clear, and the gameplay worked rather well, although victory seemed a bit random, with the cars often putting the player in an impossible position. ...although on second thought, that could count as increased realism as well. >The car is our world, >as we move towards our goal. >Dad, are we there yet?
May 16 14:41:00 13m 40s Twin Jet Miner ♥ 1 An interesting game. I struggled a bit with the controls, however. It seemed that my upwards thrust would randomly stop registering the up-button, which would usually mean me dropping to my death, instead of hovering and dropping a bomb. There is an impressive amount of variety in the game, with a lot of different elements to master and use to your advantage. >Stopping the diggers, >using available tools. >The base shall be safe!