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phi

Feedback comments for LD39

Timestamp	Since previous	Game		phi's comment
Aug 3 18:25:01		Run To Coal!	♥ 1	You did a good job on keeping the style and goal simple. Now obviously the physics are quite buggy and the "success" seems to be bound to a lot of factors which the player can't influence, and I think that's the main problem with this game. But it's a working game, with a goal and a score, and you made it in 48 hours! As for the music, I actually found it quite interesting to listen to. Quite fitting for a game that doesn't require a lot of "thinking power". The rhythm is quite engaging, but I think the instrumentation could use some more layering (or maybe not, I'm not an expert...). The smoke from the furnace is a very nice detail. Overall, for your second LD, you can be quite proud of this! 👍
Aug 3 18:51:39	26m 38s	Sperms and Passwords	♥ 1	I love the premise. 😂 The story has everything it needs, and not a single element too much. The characters are surprisingly well developed in such a short time, and there's enough time to explore and converse. I'm amazed at how you managed to make a game about space, society, robots, love and sperm in 48 hours. The only thing that annoyed me a little bit was the controls and the way you swap modes of interaction. Most of the time, there is only one possible type of interaction per object anyway, so just setting "walk" to LMB and "interact" to RMB would probably have worked quite well. But since it's not actually very difficult to solve the puzzle in time, it's not that big of a deal. I personally don't like games with a heavy focus on storyline, but I really enjoyed this. Thanks for making it! Robo laugh. Beep beep.
Aug 7 18:11:16	95h 19m	Last Shine	♥ 1	What a great take on the theme! And the retro feel fits quite nicely. I like how you introduce the story without any words in the beginning, and how intuitive the controls are (although Windows kept wanting me to activate sticky keys... 😅 Overall a very good game, quite polished and fun. It got repetitive and "old" (get it? 😏) quickly, and I think there are possibilities to use the concept for some much more involving gameplay.
Aug 7 18:24:56	13m 40s	Plugzzz	♥ 1	The physics look very nice and fun to play around with. Unfortunately, my computer didn't like it so much... It ran at about 1 FPS. From what I could see in the video, the gameplay looks quite simple, but there's nothing wrong with simple puzzles if they're nicely implemented. This one seems quite nice (although I can't judge that fairly since my hardware is very limited...) with a great mood.
Aug 8 19:26:10	25h 01m	Power Surge	♥ 0	The Simon-type games seem kind of random (and the almost inexistent feedback from winning/losing them is not very motivating towards winning them -- I ended up mostly avoiding them), but the movement and shooting is very satisfying. Although the graphics style isn't really consistent (trust me, I know how hard that is to achieve... 😅), I think the lovely animations and particles and the music make for a very good look&feel, and what's more fun than shooting laser beams at turd shitting bats and Jerry Mouse? I enjoyed it thoroughly :)
Aug 8 19:39:44	13m 34s	LDJAM39: Power Brawler League	♥ 3	This is awesome! Solid, simple concept that anyone can understand (although basic Capture the Flag isn't too innovative), intuitive controls, great audiovisual feedback on every action. The sounds are very fitting and motivating, and the graphics do their job well. The maps are diverse and the AI is well balanced. I found using a controller harder than the keyboard, and I sometimes found it confusing that the bullets have the same velocity as the player (they become invisible when running in the same direction as the bullet). The implementation of the theme is kind of secondary on this one, but that doesn't really matter if the game is good. Thanks for making this, I really enjoyed it! :)
Aug 8 19:59:51	20m 07s	Runner Out Of Power	♥ 0	The intro and transition into the main menu is quite charming, and the UI is nicely designed and fitting the mood of the game. The music style sounded somewhat out of place though (compared to the nice darkish mood in the level selection)... The concept is well explained, but a little confusing at the beginning (why only up and down and not left and right?). I found it had quite a steep difficulty curve, but I guess it's just that kind of game. I got quite frustrated on the second level. The spark gap space bar thingy is very confusing to me, my brain just doesn't like teleportation... 😅 My number of tries used to complete: - Level 1: 3 tries - Level 2: 12 tries - Level 3: 4 tries - Level 4: rage quit on the 42nd try - Level 5: wouldn't even wanna try it 😵 I'm clearly not made for this sort of game... :man_shrugging: But I think you did an awesome job and you can be very proud of the result! :)
Aug 12 06:43:37	82h 43m	CODE RIDER	♥ 0	Wow, it's incredible how accurately you simulated my Ludum Dare experience. Hacking furiously at a keyboard while trying to keep caffeine levels high enough. Of course, the gameplay lacks a real challenge and something to motivate the player. I would suggest not making it time-based and introducing some features allowing the player to interact more with the mechanics, e.g. influence how fast the power runs out, how "efficient" the coding is, etc. In this state, I don't know if I would actually call it a game, since there's no real feedback whether the player is doing well or not. The graphics and mood are fitting, the soundtrack change was a bit sudden but appropriate. I also like the animations and the fact that the monitor actually shows what I'm typing. So it definitely needs some work, but hey, you made everything yourself in 72 hours, and it works! :D Your HTML link doesn't seem to exist.
Aug 12 09:08:41	2h 25m	Power Grid Graph Nightmare	♥ 1	Interesting. The concept is quite simple and easily understandable, but I got frustrated pretty quickly because I couldn't correct mistakes. I agree that the level randomization isn't optimal. Maybe starting with a smaller world and more predictability would give you more control over the difficulty curve. I know it's very hard to balance puzzles like these, but some hand crafted level design could be something to try out. The graphics sytle is charming and intuitive, although not entirely consistent. But overall nicely done!
Aug 16 22:08:43	109h 00m	The Factory	♥ 1	I found the target clear and easy to understand. However, I never managed to find more than two of the boxes. The stealth mechanism works well and is well balanced with the field of view. The graphics are simple but effective, and with some spooky ambient sounds would make for a really nice moody atmosphere. I like the combination of exploration, puzzle (though maybe a little less "predictable" behavior with the switches could enhance this factor) and parkour. As expected with a Unity compo game, the physics act weird sometimes, but I haven't actually had many problems with this at all. I'd love to see this fleshed out into a little more polished game! For a compo entry, awesome job!
Aug 16 22:50:13	41m 30s	Death's Helper	♥ 2	Nice! I think you could make the controls a little more intuitive and responsive. I mostly just ran around and used the knife, middle and right mouse button weren't of much use to me (except when I got stuck in the walls :P). Killing things felt more like collecting coins, which can be very satisfying, but in this case it seems a bit weird. Otherwise, solid execution, good integration of the theme and not too overloaded graphics. I think a bit of moody background sounds would aid the general appearance greatly. I've found that a bit of brown noise and random spooky triangle wave notes with a ton of reverb and some echo go a long way... ;)
Aug 19 07:13:37	56h 23m	Brass Garrison	♥ 0	I found the puzzles a bit tedious, and I think it's a bit annoying that time passes in the background as I'm trying to figure out what to do... The movement and physics feel nice, the graphics and music make for a pleasing aesthetic. I agree that some more precise instructions would be nice, but I can see that you've invested a lot of time in the mechanics and features of the game, and I think you did a great job on that! The game feels smooth and thought-through. Nice job!
Aug 19 08:06:37	53m 00s	Don't let running out of power	♥ 0	The graphics are... interesting. 😁 I like the basic concept of it, however, it's easy to lose interest since there is no difficulty curve. After about a minute, I started to give up and wanted to see what happens when the power runs out. Then, suddenly a winning message appeared. I think if you introduced some kind of mechanics that would allow the player to influence the end of the game, it would be much more interesting, and maybe it could also provide a difficulty curve. Also, something to focus on and practice might be physics 😉. I hope you'll continue to improve your dev skills, you clearly have the tools and motivation to do so, since you just made a game in 48 hours! Well done :)
Aug 19 09:28:19	1h 21m	Power Of A Kinght (POAK)	♥ 0	Hitting enemies feels awkward, it seems like there's no predictable hitbox... Otherwise, the mechanics work very smoothly. Graphics are nice and the music quite pleasant, although sound could be a little more interactive (sound effects, changing music for daytime etc.). Also, just standing on the solar panels during daytime is quite boring... 😅 Maybe there could be a way to make charging energy require some sort of skill? It's a great game and a solid entry for a jam, and I think it has a lot of potential to improve and polish. Nice work! :)
Aug 20 15:03:51	29h 35m	CG Petrel MK II Simulator	♥ 1	Once I got the hang of it, I actually quite liked it. Although I can't really say I fully understood it. I think taking a simple game and over-complicating it with a lot of (partially useless) buttons isn't generally a good idea. The way you executed it is consistent, but not very user-friendly (though that might be the point...). A lot of the information could have been shown graphically in a simpler way (shield, energy, etc.). That way, the end screen also wouldn't appear so unexpectedly. I generally try to follow the rule of "always giving feedback", for every constructive and destructive action the player takes. Your game shows information very clearly and exactly, but it doesn't give a lot of immediate (visual or auditory) feedback, which makes it hard to understand the mechanics and to develop a playing technique. I like the coordination challenge, and you applied it to a very simple and known minigame, but the challenge itself might be a bit too cryptic. Otherwise, I always like to see original ideas, and you've definitely got one here. The graphics style is wisely chosen and the UI is intuitive. Nice work! :)
Aug 20 15:17:00	13m 09s	Shattered	♥ 1	Seems like a great concept and really nice for a multiplayer game! However, a big portion of the time I had little idea what was going on, and why the energy was increasing/decreasing or not. The awkward motion and physics didn't help either. I'd love to see this a little more polished (and with more players...), and I hope you'll continue developing it! Great work! :)
Aug 20 17:01:03	1h 44m	Action Power Robot	♥ 0	Either my depth perception is junk or this game is really hard. Probably both... 😅 It's a simple modification of a snake-like concept, and it works quite well! Maybe the difficulty could be adjusted a little bit by slowing down (less power = slower movement?), but as it is, I found it quite hard to hit the coins... (or maybe don't require all coins to be collected, or just count them as bonus points?) I never even managed to get to a level with fences... 🙈 There are many possibilities to experiment and fiddle around with this, and I know it's very hard to balance the level design on a game like this. Great job!
Aug 20 18:05:45	1h 04m	Deleted	♥ 1	Control feels really nice. I don't completely get the energy thing, I just kept charging until I went fast, and the enemies couldn't really deal any damage. But it was fun anyway! :D I like the simple graphics style, and with some sound effects and music, this could be a great casual game! Nicely done!
Aug 20 19:13:50	1h 08m	Mech	♥ 1	Wow, I don't know whether you designed that UI or whether that's a framework, but I absolutely love it! Makes navigating really fun and the background color changes make for an subtly exciting vibe. Actually, I think some simple sound effects would really enhance the whole experience. As for the story, I quite enjoyed reading it. No long and useless texts and dialogues, but still a bit of character development in a very short timespan. There might be some logical mistakes in the texts as others have mentioned, but I can imagine how hard it is to think about all possible orders of action and writing accordingly. For a compo game, this is amazing. I'm usually not a big fan of text based games, but I'm really glad I clicked this one. :)