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LeviDSmith

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		LeviDSmith's comment
Aug 6 01:57:37		The Bellwether Incident	♥ 1	Nice idea. I'm impressed with the fact that you made a 3D game in MonoGame for a game jam. I tried creating a 3D game in XNA years ago, and it definitely wasn't simple. I wish that the robots would keep moving until they completed their commands, since I had to keep pressing Enter or press the run button repeatedly. It would also be nice if the robots were animated. I would also introduce one robot at a time, until the player learns all of their abilities. It would have been nice to have a visual cue to show the robot capping the waste, since the only way you could tell how many turns it took was by hovering over the robot. It seemed like any robot could hack the door, and I was confused if the objective was to cap all of the waste, hack the door, or both.
Aug 6 02:16:52	19m 15s	Defend Home: Mars	♥ 1	The models and animations for the ants and the player's hands and gun were really well done. The rings around the towers turning from green to red showing the tower health was also a nice touch. The ticking sound quickly got on my nerves. The music loop seemed a little too simple as well. I survived for 5 minutes on my second try, which seems to be a little too long with nothing new happening. More levels with different enemies and more environmental stuff (walls, trees, etc) in different layouts would help. I also had a problem with the cursor leaving the window, which would cause the game window to become unfocused. There is example code available on the web for locking the cursor to the middle of the screen in Unity so it doesn't leave the window.
Aug 6 02:45:22	28m 30s	Visioff	♥ 0	Really neat graphical effects. Took me a little while to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Then I realized that I was pressing 'A' instead of 'Z'. The blue laser door was confusing. Sometimes the switch would make the power rise and sometimes it would fall, which just seemed random. The first time the screen went completely dark, I didn't know what to do and had to kill the game and restart it. I tried pressing 'R' which didn't do anything, then I eventually figured out that you had to hold 'R'. A message about "hold R to restart" when everything goes completely black would help. I got to the red laser and couldn't figure it out. Eventually things just went really wavy, so I wasn't sure if it was a bug, I won the game, or it was just some graphical feature being tested out. The sprite was well done and I eventually noticed that he had a plug in his hand which was a nice touch.
Aug 6 23:21:02	20h 35m	Gradient Descent	♥ 0	Nice use of Unity tail renderers. I like how the musical notes changed as you collect the mini-orbs. I wish the characters were a little more interesting than just glowing balls. The gameplay got stale rather quickly too. Collect the mini-orbs, lower the wall, talk to the next guy and answer a question, then repeat. I'm really not sure what this has to do with the running out of power theme. The choices I made really didn't seem to impact the outcome in any meaningful way.
Aug 6 23:34:07	13m 05s	LOW BATT	♥ 2	I liked how the squares moving was in time with the music. It took me a little while to figure out that I could only charge the meter up to green if I had green boxes. I was able to get all nine rows on my second playthrough.
Aug 6 23:45:19	11m 12s	Torch Boy	♥ 1	Tough little game. Neat concept that reminded me of Mega Man with the charge up mechanic. I was able to finish it after about 20 tries. Maybe slow down the rate of spawned enemies and add more levels.
Aug 6 23:59:24	14m 05s	MotherBoard	♥ 1	Nice graphical theme on this game. It sort of reminded me of Tron. The robots were animated well. I couldn't figure out what the overall object was aside from shooting the robots. I think it was supposed to be a wave shooter, but it doesn't have any objectives aside from just staying alive. The controls were frustrating at times and the camera seemed to rotate too slowly. I would lock the camera behind the player. I also had the problem with the mouse leaving the window which unfocuses the game window when you click, so I would lock the mouse to the center of the screen to prevent that from happening.
Aug 7 00:07:42	8m 18s	Lifeforce Deathrun	♥ 0	I like the color matching gameplay. Wish there was a little bit more to it. I liked the comic book style artwork and the voice acting. My best score was 47.
Aug 7 02:28:53	2h 21m	Frankenstorm	♥ 1	This game reminded me a lot of Ghostbusters for the NES, or at least the better part of that game, which was catching the ghosts. Nice voice acting. I'm really not sure how the running out of power theme applies. Maybe make your power (ammo supply) run out as you attack and regenerate as you collect more clouds. I liked the different monster characters, but I wish there was some gameplay difference between them. I liked the different types of clouds with different attack patterns and the boss clouds. Sometimes the game felt a little unfair and covered the entire screen with enemy lightning bolts. Maybe add a bomb option to clear the screen like in bullet-hell shooters.
Aug 7 02:48:58	20m 05s	Everybody Plays Golf	♥ 2	I was only able to put the ball a short ways before I ran out of power, so I guess it definitely applies the theme. I waited around for a few minutes, and none of my power ever regenerated. I'm not sure if you're supposed to play with other people over the network. If so, maybe provide a single player option as well. I would recommend texture mapping the ball and ground and maybe change the shading type to make it look more realistic. It looked like there were debug messages on the "Pause" screen. If I was able to play further, I would have liked to see different golf course layouts instead of just one big square.
Aug 7 03:04:03	15m 05s	VoltRush	♥ 1	Nice little platformer, which I think uses the theme well. I wish I could have restarted at a checkpoint after I lost all power, instead of having to go all the way back to the beginning. I had some issues with falling off moving platforms and getting stuck one platform. The auto-jump also threw me off sometimes, so maybe don't let the player jump again until the up key is released. Some additional gameplay features (such as enemies to shoot at) would help as well.
Aug 9 03:18:58	48h 14m	air mail	♥ 0	Cute game. I liked the concept of using the plane to deliver mail, but since it's impossible to hit anything, there's really no point in taking off. However, the flight controls feel well done when you do take off. The popping sound when you are walking was really annoying, to the point where I almost turned my speakers off. The other environmental ambiance was well done. I talked to the boss after delivering all the mail and got the paycheck, so I think I won. I couldn't figure out if there was anything to do with the paycheck. I liked how you had to match the stamp color to the color of the scarf of the recipient.
Aug 9 03:39:51	20m 53s	The Light City of Karola	♥ 0	I didn't rate it. I feel like this game should be DISQUALIFIED because there doesn't seem to be any way to play the 72 hour jam version. The link on this page takes you to a download which is version 1.0.4. On the Itch page, there is only version 1.0.1, but supposedly the original jam entry is version 1.0.0, and there is no way to download it. If you're going to make post competition builds, they need to be clearly marked as so and there should be an easy way to download the original competition entry.
Aug 9 03:52:16	12m 25s	The Visible City	♥ 0	I lasted for 2:21. I really couldn't tell if dispatching the police made a difference in stopping the bad guys (red circles). It seemed like the technicians (yellow circles) did repair the lights, but I wish there was some indication of which lights were being repaired. I did like the effect of the map being erased as the lights are destroyed.
Aug 9 04:11:16	19m 00s	Icebroken	♥ 2	Nice game. I liked all of the variables to control. I couldn't make it further than half way before I ran out of power. Sometimes it felt like the generator would get stuck in "double down arrow" mode even when I turned everything off. I like how the ship freezes over if you stay in the stop position for too long.
Aug 9 04:55:59	44m 43s	Running Voltgun	♥ 1	Nice little platformer. Reminded me a little bit too much of Sonic. One annoyance was that your character is three tiles tall, and your gun can only shoot two blocks standing/crouching, which makes you have to do a quick jump/shoot over and over again to get past the destructible blocks. It also took me a while to figure out that I just needed to outlast the boss, after I noticed the numbers counting down in the bottom right corner. Maybe make the boss start flashing/smoking as he loses power. I gave up after the second stage in the third (fire) world. A little bit too much going on at once. By the way, using a gamepad is almost mandatory on this one.
Aug 18 05:36:51	216h 40m	LOST SIGNAL	♥ 0	Nice game! I kept trying to figure out the code. I think each generator gives you a letter, which is a hint about which word to select when you move to the left at the entrance. I liked all of the different critters in the level. Sometimes my character was a little hard to see, so maybe make his clothes a little brighter.
Aug 18 05:41:39	4m 48s	POWER TRANSFORMER	♥ 0	I had a lot of fun sling-shotting the robot transformer around! My score was 186 after two minutes. I could tell that using Box2D was a definite improvement over some of your earlier games. It felt much more stable, and the physics looked very realistic. I'm always amazed at what you can make in Processing!
Aug 18 06:13:04	31m 25s	Away Team	♥ 0	The music is very nice! I liked how there is downtime for the crew members, which forced me to use all of them instead of just maxing out three of them. I really wasn't sure if there was anything I could do after sending a team on a mission, aside from just pressing "Advance 1 Hour". On my second playthrough, I couldn't ever make it further than 2 jumps from home before running out of power. It really did make me think about whether it is more beneficial to upgrade the crew manually, or let them upgrade automatically by performing the missions. I liked the random name generation for the crew members. There were a lot of stats to take in at once. One improvement could be to color code the stat values, or groups of values. I also liked how the mission details were randomly generated each time.
Aug 20 05:23:37	47h 10m	Powerwatch	♥ 1	The graphics and particle effects were well done. I'm probably going to state the obvious, but some music would have really helped the game. The mouse-aim shooting felt a little awkward. I would have rather had eight-way shooting. Some additional types of enemies and gun upgrades would have really helped. Maybe also add different level layouts so that you move to another level after surviving a certain number of enemies in a wave.
Aug 20 06:17:25	53m 48s	Fluff Factory	♥ 1	Nice little game. I messed up my first try and bought like 8 of the critters. I wish there was an easier way to tell if they were charged or empty, instead of having to hover your cursor over them. Maybe make them turn green when they are full and red when they are empty. The moving back and forth between the shop and pen got a little tiring after a while. The boxes need to be texture mapped all the way around, because they look plain on the back side. It would also be nice if the boxes disappeared after you use them on the food or water supply. When I opened the door to go to Hawai then game closed, so I wasn't sure if that was intended or if the game crashed. I was expecting a "congratulations" or something. It would also be nice if there was some sort of sound effect when you purchase items. When I first started I didn't know I was doing anything when I clicked on the papers for the shop on the wall.
Aug 20 06:30:22	12m 57s	Artax	♥ 2	I'm not sure if it was because I was playing the web build, but it felt laggy (my jumps would start a fraction of a second after I press the W key) and the game would periodically freeze for a moment at times which would mess up my jumps. I liked the concept of powering up your robot companion and being able to call it to help you. I got killed by the mud coming out of the pipe which was hard to see, which seemed a little bit unfair. The platforming on the first stage seemed a little bit too difficult for an opening stage. I liked how the music started after you pick up the first battery, but I wish there was some music playing when the game started.
Aug 20 07:25:25	55m 03s	Inefficient Plasma Weapon	♥ 1	I thought this game was really fun. I liked using the moons to kill the enemies. It reminded me of the last LDJam which was "A Small World". I wish the moons didn't blow up my ship, since getting more moons seems to make the game more difficult. I had six going at one time on my last game and my total score was 70. I liked how the core of the planet changed color based on the amount of shields left. I would suggest using smooth shading on the enemy mines and on the earth as well. I really liked the sound effects! A little bit of music would help.
Aug 20 07:42:00	16m 35s	Oil Patrol	♥ 1	It's too bad that I couldn't rate this game for mood, because it feels really snowy with the overlay and sound effects. I'm glad that I was able to deliver the medicine to my father. I think some additional enemy snowman types or powerups would help this game. It would also be nice to have a way to recover health. I had to be really careful when I was down to my last heart.
Aug 20 08:15:13	33m 13s	Low Battery	♥ 1	Solid puzzle game. I liked the simplicity and pace of the game. I managed to complete all 20 levels, but level 15 had me stumped for a while. I think this game would be great with some additional enemy types and maybe some additional game mechanics. Maybe add in a best time score to make players complete the levels as quickly as possible.
Aug 20 08:22:47	7m 34s	Zero Volt X	♥ 0	I tried the .exe and my virus scanner flagged it as a high risk for SONAR.Heuristic.170, which isn't the typical "Reputation" warning that I usually get for LD games. I didn't try the Flash version. The HTML5 version seemed too laggy to play. zerovoltx_flagged.PNG
Aug 20 08:38:48	16m 01s	Game of Life	♥ 1	Nice concept! The music was great. First time I played, I started a family and only made it to my 30's. The second time I made it to 94 years old! I died a single, wealthly old man! The meter bars seemed really well done, and I could tell that the game was well balanced so that you couldn't live past a normal person's life span.
Aug 20 08:49:55	11m 07s	POWER BEAT RACER	♥ 1	The gameplay felt solid for a rhythm game. The beats felt like they were in time with the music. I made it far, but couldn't ever reach the full distance. Sometime the game felt lenient, but then as I got further it seemed like if I just missed one beat then it was instant game over. I think a lot could be added like bonus multipliers for getting so many beats in a row and maybe add enemy cars that you would need to dodge.
Aug 20 09:07:42	17m 47s	GLOW	♥ 1	There really didn't seem to be much to it aside from collecting the circles to keep your bug moving. The bug really seemed lifeless and could have used some animation. The music and sound effects seemed fine.
Aug 21 04:43:13	19h 35m	Betty Botz	♥ 1	Very cool game! Sorry I didn't get to it until the last day of judging. Gamepad controls worked well, but I wish I could have controlled the camera with the right thumbstick. Seems like I spent a lot of time positioning the camera just right. I gave up on the third level after about four tries. I finally figured out what I was supposed to do with the bot up top, but it seemed to go too fast for the precision that I needed to get the box lined up perfectly to go down the slide. I wish there was a quick reset button for when I mess up. When I was in full screen mode, I have to press Escape twice to get to the menu and then put it back in full screen after resetting. I was impressed with how solid the game felt for a Unity HTML5 game. I would definitely like to see this game with some 3D models added in for the robots and other objects.