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amras0000

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		amras0000's comment
Jul 31 06:55:53		Cellephant	♥ 2	I have to stop myself now because I think I've been playing this game for an hour and I'm starting to run out of grid paper on my desk. Excellent work on the level design. The first 30 levels were a breeze (for the most part there was only one battery you could reach from every other battery) but the difficulty got pleasantly headsrachy from that point on. I made it to level 42 before looking at my clock and calling it quits. It wasn't immediately obvious that I had to step on every battery, nor was it immediately obvious that I could only collect batteries on my last possible move. But the level design introduced the mechanics well enough that I didn't have trouble learning the game. My one gripe with this title is that whenever you collect a battery, you lose control of your elephant for a second. After resetting a level enough times I start to build up muscle memory for the path I need to take through it. When I hit a battery and lose control for a second, I instinctively put in the next few inputs, which get ignored, and then the game shoots me off in a random direction, forcing me to start over. I love the black and white grid; around the late 30s I realized that you could only go on same-colored tiles from even batteries and opposite-colored from odd batteries. Mapping out the potential connections this way, both in my head and on paper, helped me get through some of the tougher challenges. The music and aesthetic feel very similar to John Cooney's This Is The Only Level. I don't know if you were thinking of that when making the game, but there seems to be a resemblance. And you managed to pull off the same feat of making fairground music bearable to listen to for long periods. Keep up the good work.
Jul 31 08:53:03	1h 57m	INVISIBRO	♥ 2	I have a feeling the game would be a lot more playable if I knew where the potions/glowy things are located. As it stands, I never seem to have enough time to figure out where the next potion/glowy thing is, figure out how to get there, and reach it before I vanish. Especially since checkpoints aren't as frequent as they could be, meaning I have to memorize a complex and hard to execute route only to fail because I don't know where to turn on the next sprint. Sticking to an exploration focus, I'd recommend doubling the amount of time it takes to be invisible, so the player has a chance to look around and return to base before they die. If you'd like a more frantic run-and-dodge scenario, some positioning hints wouldn't hurt. A zoomed out camera, or shorter sprints so the next checkpoint is always in sight would work. Or some level design hints (signposts with arrows, etc). I do like the concept of the game; it's an organic time limit that interacts with the core gameplay quite nicely. And the controls are definitely workable for the system. You've pretty much got the timing down right. I just couldn't get very far into it because of the level design.
Jul 31 19:05:48	10h 12m	HackOS	♥ 3	Very nicely done. The visual aesthetic reminded me strongly of 1000 amps, with the clean monochromatic squares. The puzzle mechanics are well-designed and your levels utilize them to a thorough extent; the undo feature takes a lot of the edge off any frustration I might have for the later levels; the progression in difficulty is very smooth. I'll admit I was a tiny bit disappointed that none of the buttons on the window header worked, and that there weren't any puzzle elements to do with resizing the window, but in fairness this way probably worked out for the better. And using a non-microsofty window layout would have clashed a bit with the script kiddie storyline. Music did get a bit grating, just because of the vibratos and offkey/offrhythm aspect. Would have preferred something a bit cleaner for a game like this. And maybe the tile graphics could have used some work when it comes to overlap; it was difficult to tell when a tile with a padlock was covering a solid tile and when it wasn't, without moving the window around. But these are both very minor issues. I loved my experience with the game.
Jul 31 20:35:17	1h 29m	YOU MUST RUN OUT OF POWER	♥ 1	The interpretation of the theme's great, and I love the intro sequence of the zoom-in. The game overall feels fairly floaty, which you tend to want to avoid in these genres. The jump lasts too long, the turning feels a bit clunky. Two things the game's missing, which I think would have made it into a decent entry: - in a typical infinite runner, you either can't turn the character (only strafe) or turn only at 90/60 degrees. In this title, I could just turn around and run into a wall for arbitrarily long, and the sense of urgency and muscle memory inherent to the genre was lost. - checkpoints. You have a great system of subdividing the game into 5 levels, with a bridge across them. Just spawn the player on the last bridge if they die. Still, it's not a bad effort. Keep it up.
Jul 31 21:39:04	1h 03m	Blackout	♥ 1	Managed to get an A my second go through. The pace is a bit quick but that actually fits the narrative quite well. I had a good chuckle at the meta-narrative, and all the descriptions. The whole game's got an air of absurdity around it; the coffee machine being the most expensive item in your house notwithstanding, and that air really carries the whole thing in a delightful way. There are a number of UI elements that remain unimplemented. The Generators, some "TURN OFF" buttons, the size of the description windows, etc. I don't know if that was something intentional or if you just ran out of time, but you definitely get the impression that Blackout was made in as much of a rush and panic as the game you make in Blackout. All in all, very nice work. One of the funnier games I've played so far, really enjoyed it.
Jul 31 22:07:03	27m 59s	The Book Of Dawn	♥ 1	The whole aesthetic you're going for is very well executed, though I personally find it a bit tired, since every casual game in the world seems to use it. There's not a whole lot of game to comment on, but as a visual art project this is a pretty damn good effect to make from scratch in 72 hours. Wish I could say the same about the audio, but the sound effects and music are just too generic not to be draining. I recognize I'm approaching this from the perspective of wanting something new and exciting, while you've clearly gone for a strict genre alignment, which I should respect. So by all means, though I didn't enjoy the art and music personally my hat goes off to you for it. I don't really see how this ties in to the Running out of Power theme, but nevermind. A couple bugs in what little exists of the gameplay: - You seem to render newlines as the literal characters '\' and 'n'. Would be nice to be able to send in multiline messages, but even without that you could at least use a String.Trim() there - clicking the left arrow takes you to the first page instead of the previous one - you display empty messages and allow people to vote on them. Just, message = message.Trim(); if (message.Length > 0) SendToDatabase(); Also, would be nice to see exactly what rating each message got and which number page I'm on.
Aug 1 20:27:25	22h 20m	AtomoS	♥ 1	I'm not too clear on what the orbs floating around me were doing, and until I read the description I didn't understand what changing my color accomplished. But beyond that, the game's really fun. It's decently balanced, with no real issues with controls or hitboxes. Feels fun to play, and the design's solid. When freezing the enemies, it seems like any new enemies that spawned at the edge of the screen were able to move before the time was out. I don't know if this was intentional, but it felt a bit odd. Didn't notice any other bugs. All in all, a simple game, but one I definitely enjoyed.
Aug 1 20:58:24	30m 59s	Rats will kiss the gunner's daughter	♥ 3	When I started in windowed mode, there were some buttons offscreen to the top right that I couldn't reach and that weren't there when I entered fullscreen. I soon found out they were the language select, and that the spanish(I'm not good at languages so just guessing, sorry) option was a fair bit incomplete, with a lot of placeholder text and UI issues. Only the sailors' speech wasn't English. Once I restarted the game and booted into full screen I was able to continue in English. On the first day, every sailor except Vaugr told me that the mutineer was Vaugr. All 4 of them. I wanted to end the game there and execute Vaugr, but after a couple minutes of random clicking around the room I wasn't able to find such an option. The game did continue to scold me for not making up my mind soon enough though, so maybe I was missing something. So for the next 4 days I dutifully clicked through all the text, giving a light reading to each to make sure I didn't miss some major plottwist where everyone BUT Vaugr was conspiring against me. They weren't; Vaugr was the mutineer. So until the last day, I spent all my gold on making Vaugr's life miserable. I would send a bully out to beat him up before he came in, just to make sure he had all the reason in the world to hate me. I even bribed some of his shipmates to encourage distrust. And then I killed him. I really wish I could have the option to kill him earlier. The bulk of the time I spent playing this game was a bit pointless, with no real deduction to do or particularly amusing text to read (The writing isn't bad, but it tries to communicate information more than it does entertain, so when I didn't need any information it was a bit moot). Or maybe you could've spent the first 4 days trying to figure out who can be trusted and what sort of social structure exists on the ship (maybe manipulating that structure?), with the "who's the mutineer" question only appearing on the last day, to keep the player in suspence. As it stands, the game's reasonably pretty, with some interesting mechanics and a very solid aesthetic. I wish I could've enjoyed my time with it more, because the effort and polish you put in really shows. P.S. - the song you play as the backdrop to the intro and main game has been bugging me for years. Literally years, because for the life of me I can't find which of Bach's pieces it is. So please, save me from that misery and tell me what that music is.
Aug 1 21:07:05	8m 41s	Soporific: A Bedtime Story	♥ 4	I love this entry. It has a beautiful charm to it, and some very interesting feedback. I tried to be a bit of a dick and just pick all the most stupid options, and the game scolded me for it, in a very satisfying way. I am curious about your writing process; I imagine you reading out the various stories to G. and just recording her response, though I imagine she was a bit more active in their creation. Either way, you came out with a great little gem. Thanks for your work :) Oh, and congrats on the impressive amount of art and content you managed to create while taking care of a 3 year old.
Aug 1 21:35:29	28m 24s	The Kleptocracy of Rodentia	♥ 1	Graphics are stunning, the sound design and music are hugely impressive, and the procedural generation is remarkably polished for Ludum Dare. Excellent work there. The game does suffer in some other areas unfortunately; the AI doesn't seem to work properly. I could run in front of cats without them doing much about it; I could steal in front of them and have them chase after me and not do anything when they got there, I could hide right in front of them and they wouldn't have a clue where I was. On many occasions I saw them fail to get through doors or walk into a corner of the room. So, no real challenge to the game. But just exploring and moving around the beautiful interior was enjoyable in itself, so I still had my fun with it. As others have mentioned, camera controls would be excellent, even just at 90 degree angles, and I would love to be able to better tell where I can hide. It's not at all obvious which elements of furniture have that property. I'm not clear on how the game ties in to the theme, though. You don't seem to be running out of much, unless it's just meant to imply that you have no power in society?
Aug 3 21:12:51	47h 37m	The castle	♥ 3	I walked to the fried egg in the sky then back and eventually figured out I had to count the sheep to continue but I counted to a couple hundred and they kept coming so I kept counting and I am at 1701071 now and I don't know if I can finish the game I want to but my mother stopped calling and I think shes worried because Ive not turned the computer off or slept since friday but I want to finish the game it looks fun so I just want to ask for help because I want to finish the game but I can't follow the walkthrough good job on the game wish I could see the good ending thanks.
Aug 4 12:56:10	15h 43m	Power Planner	♥ 0	Simple mechanics with a lot of polish and balancing applied. There are a lot of resource management games, and not a lot of them understand what makes the mechanic enticing as much as this one does. The graphics all look very nice; the cities are gorgeous, the generators are also well done, and the UI is very clear. The components just don't seem to work together too well. On the one hand you have the flat shaded pastels of the city (which look stunning and have a ton of variety), on the other the colorful cartoonish generators, and then the UI which simultaneously tries to be minimalist and have the weirdly fancy red X's up top. Each of the 4 components would work really well in its own artstyle, I just wish they were a bit more consistent between each other. I felt like I had a much easier time on the larger map, but enjoyed the small one more. Main reason for this was that on the large map, at least for the first couple dozen tasks, I had the freedom to give the city exactly how much power it needed, making everything run at 100% efficiency with no overflow. On the smaller map I usually had to overproduce, which gave me incentive not to power a building until something else popped up. If you could recreate that same inability to match power demand to supply on the larger map, it would've made that map more fun I feel. My final score on the large map was 44. I really enjoyed this game. As mentioned, I feel like it's really well balanced and the UI communicates everything very clearly while still managing to fit some flavor and aesthetics in. It's a pretty literal and maybe unexciting interpretation of the theme, but the mechanical design and polish more than justifies that. Great work. Keep it up.
Aug 13 16:10:16	219h 14m	Just Another Week	♥ 2	I liked the distribution of tasks at the start of the day; I didn't really know which task corresponded to which minigame, so there was some guesswork involved, but I definitely had to make some decisions to avoid running out of the 3 power bars. The minigames themselves suffer from a couple problems: They're all a bit unbalanced, even for a ldjam entry. The letters are pretty easy to hit, the ice cream is floaty to control, and the basketball seems to have a mind of its own. There's also an inconsistency between when the games start. Some give you a couple seconds to read the rules before they even show up, while with others, I could waste half the clock because I was assuming the text would dissapear. If you want the player to get into a rhythm of quickly learning and performing a task, make sure the instructions are presented in a consistent manner. It was also fairly difficult to deduce any relation between how I performed in a minigame and what the power bars did. Granted, I mostly failed the minigames and the power bars were fairly low at the end of the game, but after each minigame I didn't have much idea what was going on. And there seemed to be no punishment for running out of a given bar? Overall, I think this game has a lot of good ideas, but it tried to do too much for ludum dare and didn't get enough polish in any area to stand out. Also, the music was a bit grating.
Aug 13 16:30:39	20m 23s	The Path of Wonder	♥ 1	I enjoyed this game a fair bit; the potions forced me to keep re-evaluating my path, the visual design was pleasant to look at if not super shiny, and the movement, while nothing particularly innovative, was smooth and responsive. The game's polished and fun to play. In the spirit of constructive criticism I do have a couple minor gripes. For one, the hitboxes in the game are a bit unclear. I occasionally picked up items when my character wasn't touching them, and a lot of my deaths were caused by hitting some invisible barrier around the obstacle. Also, I think the game just runs out of steam after a couple minutes of a given game. The recipe seemed to only change once, and my speed never changes, so once I got into the rhythm there was nothing to challenge me. I'd have liked the speed of the game (both the vertical and horizontal speed) to increase slightly over time, or for the recipes to become more complex, maybe requiring more ingredients. I know some other people have suggested making potions serve other potions than just keeping the game going. I think with the time you had it was a good idea to focus on just the one behavior. But if you were going to expand the game, having a number of similar potions with different effects could add a lot of interesting gameplay. Maybe you turn the next 20 pickups into obstacles, or get a speed boost, or maybe you concoct a poison and lose half your energy. If you were to combine something like these with the increasing speed of the game and increasingly complex potion combinations, there could be a lot of fun in frantically trying to work out the right ingredient combinations without flying into a wall. Still, as it stands the game's pretty solid. Nice work, and do keep it up.
Aug 13 16:55:42	25m 03s	Power Idle Clicker	♥ 1	The game's missing commas and theming. I haven't seen this particular timer mechanic in other clicker games, and it definitely added some interesting dynamics (like buying out a bunch of a type just before its timer ends to maximize profit), but without any real reward to work towards the game feels a bit shallow. Cookie clicker had cookies, Candy Box had a story, idle RPG had boss monsters, this doesn't really try to do anything. I'd love to have even seen a background that starts empty and fills up with animals or buildings or anything, and the generator descriptions adjusted to match. Or maybe just some kind of "buy this mcguffin" endgame. The numbers are also a bit too large to be meaningful; without commas or spacing, checking my balance involved either carefully counting the digits or just mashing on the various buy buttons to see which one works. I don't really understand why the game's displaying my mouse position or score or depth.
Aug 18 13:00:16	116h 04m	Mr E McPower	♥ 1	I think the core concept of managing a power grid and your fundamental design are pretty solid. But as I'm writing this with a cramped up and sore right arm, I feel like I need to complain about your UI design. The major issue I had is with the spinners. They're unintuitive to use, but more importantly just uncomfortable. Any knob design I've seen in software (DAWs, etc) used a system where dragging upwards would rotate clockwise and down rotates counterclockwise. Took me a while to get used to this game's system. And if you do want to have the user actively spin the knobs, for the love of god don't force them to do half a dozen rotations every few seconds. Keep it to minor adjustments within one rotation of the knob. Minor things the mouse is designed for, not spastic movements that will kill a user's arms. You have a lot of empty space in your main UI, and a lot of important information is hidden in submenus that require an extra click. There's no reason you couldn't display the power produced, power demanded, and current cash amount in the main screen. The music fits the theme, but I did have to turn it off after a while because it stopped every few seconds. In any game, if your music draws too much attention to itself it's going to get grating. Pauses like this one pull me out of the game every few seconds and get really irritating after a time. Some notes on bugs. It's LD so they're not unexpected but might as well let you know. If you hold your mouse on the knobs, they go towards the negative. This adds to their unintuitive nature (took me many games to figure them out!) and makes moving them towards the positive or making fine adjustments more difficult because if I stop moving my mouse they start dropping. After the game ended, and I reached the congratulations screen, my power, money, and score all continued ticking up for a couple minutes, presumably until the hamster cells ran out. Would have been nice if you either sped up the simulation (Time.timescale in unity, I believe?) or just summed up how much power was left in my cells and added that to the totals. The bug @indiealchemist described happened to me too, but that's not a huge issue. Also a bit frustrated I dropped to 99.8% uptime because of the unlabeled power button >_> To be clear: I'm complaining a lot because I think the core design and mechanics of this game are really cool, the graphics are solid and this has the potential to be a really cool game of balancing with an idle clicker element to it. The UI design just killed my enjoyment of the title, and that's always disappointing.