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Agecaf

Feedback comments for LD42

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Agecaf's comment
Aug 13 13:23:53		MASTER OF POWER (vs jealous villagers)	♥ 0	It's pretty good for a first time in the LD! As others mentioned, the biggest area of improvement is in the difficulty curve; as it is it is harder in the beginning (you don't know what to do, small projectiles) and easier in the later parts (as your projectiles grow in size). There's many ways design-wise to address this, for example; - You could turn the concept of strength upside-down; you start with full strength and as time passes either your strength decreases (launching balls no longer decreases STR) or your maximum strength decreases (launching balls still decreases STR) - You could keep the STR system as it is, but increase the speed of villagers as time passes, or as you get more souls. However, even if it gets boring in the later parts, I quite enjoyed playing it through the early and mid ones; You've got a simple and solid game loop. I also liked quite a lot the villager's sprites! You chose a pretty good music (from SketchyLogic in opengame art, according to the credits?), and the SFX you made fit well with it. As a last minor note... I couldn't see my mouse while playing (which would've been nicer); I'm not sure if that was intended or a problem on my end though. If it was, I'd recommend adding an in-game cursor; the red arrows are great, but a cursor would allow the player faster aim. (You still have to lead [aim towards where they're moving] your shots, so it shouldn't make the game too easy?) Anyway, I enjoyed it quite a lot; it's a great entry for a first time in the Ludum Dare!
Aug 13 14:14:35	50m 42s	CRAMMM: Totally Accurate Studying Simulator	♥ 1	It's really good! What got me where the graphics; clean, simple, beautiful. The music loop feels short-but-not-repetitive, and is really suited for the game. Feedback-wise, I can't see any area of improvement for a LD compo game, but if you're planning to go for a later release, I'll bounce a few ideas (I'm not sure if they're good or not); - Sometimes it is hard to know if a word is wrong or not until after you win or lose. There could be a hint system; left click and it will glare/sfx to tell if the word is correct or not; one gets a set amount of hints for each level. - The overheat graphic feedback is great! Maybe putting it together with an audio feedback to complement it? - If there were many levels, you could put it into sets (by difficulty), you only need to complete 60%-80% of each set to unlock the next, and you can choose which to do (so as to avoid subjects you don't know / don't like). I enjoyed it quite a lot, it's a very fun game!
Aug 13 15:26:04	1h 11m	Blockie	♥ 1	I found it a bit simple gameplay-wise, but very polished in terms of the art and the music/sfx. It's quite enjoyable to play, too! As a minor idea; I felt that it was more likely that blocks appear near you? (which is why moving is encouraged) If so, it might be good to give the player a visual indication, maybe..? In any case, the game looks really good for 48 hours, and I really liked the music. Good job!
Aug 13 16:38:09	1h 12m	Ludum Delivery	♥ 1	I like the game design; the gameplay loop is simple and effective. I'd have to say... maybe allowing the player to return a block to the moving band would make it "fairer" (though I understand it wouldn't be easy to implement); I was always taking the blocks almost as soon as they came out (I'm guessing the levels increase the difficulty, so it might be that I was still on the earlier levels), but as soon as I picked up a block I couldn't fit it was game over (after waiting for the next blocks to come). Having said that, the game is very enjoyable to play. The music and art are simple, but work nicely together and fit the game perfectly. I'd say it is a pretty good game, well done!
Aug 13 17:13:48	35m 39s	Running out of space, literally.	♥ 1	Interesting idea! It gives an curious feeling as you get closer and everything starts to shine excessively and the camera shakes like crazy. It really makes you feel you're about to reach whatever that place is (I've run out of health the two times I've tried). (Maybe the camera shakes a bit too much) You might want to leave the instructions either longer, or until the player clicks for the first time, I didn't manage to read them all the first go. I also wasn't sure what the blinkers were for? (They become practically invisible later on too). All in all, it's an impressive showcase of 3D modelling and lighting, well done!
Aug 13 17:53:18	39m 30s	Beaver Pitch	♥ 0	Since it seems that your biggest concern is that you ran out of time, my feedback will be focused on time saving; - Plan ahead with what's vital and what are enhancements; last time I didn't and forgot to add sound effects until it was too late. If you're not comfortable with your planning, try to get your minimum viable product as soon as possible instead. - If you're not familiar/comfortable with creating music, use opengameart! There's no problem with that (The people there love knowing people are using their music), and even if it doesn't allow you to participate in the Audio category, a good choice of music can do great things for your Mood, Overall, and even Fun categories. If you're doing that, I'd recommend choosing the song early and having it on hand as you make the game. - Art-wise, it's important to choose, for tile-based games, the size of tiles correctly. You want them to be big enough so that you can draw what you want... But make them too big and then all assets are significantly bigger. This is multiplicative and squared; doing 32x32 instead of 16x16 suddenly has you do 4 times the work! The beavers you did are super cute and awesome at that size, but the logs, grass, etc seemed like a lot of work. It's even more work if you want to do animations! So: a lot of tiles, animations --> smaller size; Static images, few of them --> you can choose a bigger size to make them nicer Having said that, I'm quite impressed that you managed to do as much with LISP; it isn't a language I'd expect someone to use for a game; but you make it seem as if it were a game written in any other language. (EDIT: Btw, thanks a lot for the Linux version!) And the beavers are really cute!
Aug 13 18:19:30	26m 12s	SpaceRunner	♥ 1	Pretty impressive, I love the title screen, the pixel art and the music. The music and floatiness gives it a nice feeling of being in space. However, I feel like the gameplay and the mood clash with each other; the level design is that of an unforgiving platformer (which would benefit a lot more from an upbeat mood, fast levels/respawns, solid controls instead of floaty), while the mood (music + floatiness) would fit much better a more zen and easy infinite runner (there is no problem with easy games! If the mood is good enough--like yours--they can be really fun!). I feel like this is a very complete game for 48 hours, with each independent part of pretty good quality, that just don't fit in together as nice as they could. I'm still very impressed by the title screen though; it's a beautiful pixel representation of Earth.
Aug 13 20:09:08	1h 49m	Acid Sink	♥ 1	Pretty awesome game! The art, music and gameplay fitted perfectly; there's some great teamwork here. I loved the music, and the procedural generation is pretty cool. I've experienced a few bugs (sometimes the blocks aren't there, or I can't wall-jump off a wall), but when it does, it's super fun and enjoyable. Great Job!
Aug 14 02:01:11	5h 52m	Void Knight vs PEST	♥ 2	It was quite fun to play! I also liked a lot the sound effects, it made it all feel so squishy. I found the hitboxes a bit problematic; for example it was hard to know how close you could get to full-size bubbles without being hurt, but it was most apparent with the boss (you can poke him from miles away). If making the hitboxes fit the art is hard, maybe you could try have the art fit the hitboxes? I don't know.. Another thing that troubled me was the teleporting... It didn't seem too useful for me; it's too short to bypass full-width bubbles (I think you even collide with them?), but a "dash" would be better as a short speed-boost movement. Also the fact that the camera jumps with the player makes it very confusing; you could try having the camera follow the player instead of it being fixed with them, maybe. But, having said that, the game was really fun to play, which in the end is the most important thing. I loved both waving my spear at the enemies, as well as poking them; especially since they squish when you do so. It really feels great, good job!
Aug 14 02:33:04	31m 53s	Alternating Space	♥ 3	Quite an interesting puzzle game! Level 2 is brilliant in having the players teach themselves about the main mechanic, and it does make you think about how to solve the problem rather than just trial and error (at least for the last level for me). If I had a suggestion... I think it'd be more forgiving if you made the buttons larger (eg 2 tiles width); it'd give you more margin of error with our execution, while still preserving the key parts of the puzzle. Regarding the theme... I feel like your interpretation is a bit too subtle... If you like subtle interpretations, I'd encourage you to consider multiple interpretations; have one of them be "in your face", while the rest are more subtle. Eg "what if you run out-of-space, while running-out of space?". Though I do agree that it's a shame the theme allows itself for a very specific type of boxes/shrinking-play-area themed games; it's great that you tried something different. Still, I found the puzzles quite intriguing and fun to solve, which is the heart of a puzzle game. Well done!
Aug 14 03:19:29	46m 25s	Deluge of Doom	♥ 1	Is it me... or just turning off all coal factories at the start is a winning strategy? I mean solar plants are rather useless since by the time they're built there's already like 3000 pollution reduced at -3/sec... vs 200 pollution at the start at -3/sec. And you don't need to build houses if the sea level doesn't rise... so you don't actually need to build anything? I don't know if that means the game is broken or if it has a moral about how to deal with actual climate change... Still, it's the most humorous I've seen yet by far... those merbals being the main culprit.. EDIT: Anyway, some actual feedback: You might want to mention somewhere you can move around with the mousewheel, I didn't know until halfway through my first playthrough. I quite liked the sprites you made; the merbals being the stars, but the buildings are really nice on their own too. The way they're built is also cleverly designed for a jam. I did enjoy it, and the exploit (?) I found was until my third playthrough, so it isn't obvious. All in all, there's some great work done!
Aug 14 03:58:44	39m 15s	Cash Grab	♥ 1	It really sucks to have to restart halfway through the jam, I'm sorry for you.. My feedback is taking that into account. The game is super simple; and that's great because that's the most efficient way to finish a game in such a short time. Still, as a player I feel there is a lot of time where I'm not doing anything; waiting for the next coin to appear. When you get 5 seconds extra... It feels like 5 seconds without coins or doing anything... It's even worse when the only coin appears outside the walls... I'd recommend just increasing the number of coins, so that at all times there's plenty of coins for the player to chase. You create more content by simply increasing a constant. Secondly, regarding the graphics... I'm of the opinion that having a consistent artstyle is of vital importance; when it comes to pixel art, it means having everything have the same pixel size. I'd recommend making the coins, walls and player of the same pixel size (preferably the player's pixel size since it's the one that'd require least work). Little details like this can make it look much better with little extra effort, so keeping them in mind can help you make the most of the short time you have. (artwise consistency is the key, especially when you're short on time) Finally... I loved the music. It's really great, both the menu theme and the game one. I especially like the jumpy bass-lines, and I love the last bars of melody in the game just as it's about to loop. What tools do you use? Anyway... I know that working after a restart is really hard, especially since you don't get the luxury of having the time to think things through. Hopefully my feedback proves useful if you ever found yourself in such circumstances. For such a short time, great work. And better luck next time!
Aug 14 04:36:09	37m 25s	Daycare Dilemma	♥ 2	This was actually really fun, great job all! ~~First things first... If it's in Unity it should be easy-ish to export it to HTML5, I'd encourage you to try since that way it'd be easier for those who don't have Windows.~~ Whoops it seems I was a bit overeager in playing the game so soon 🤦 Design-wise: it is very interesting; simple enough to be easy to pick up, complex enough to be interesting to play. The execution was also really good, which made it a joy to play. Rng can sometimes screw you over though (e.g. you start with two babies, they both want food, there is no food, and you have no money 'cause its the start), I'd give players some money at the start to mitigate it (you could keep separate track of money and score, maybe?) Artwise: I love the little baby portraits! The only thing I found confusing was the food icon, I sometimes mistakenly thought the cats wanted milk. (Also the items seem to move faster than the conveyor belts?) But overall it's some great pixel-art work. Nicely done! Music: Awesome game theme! It makes playing super fun. Also the menu theme after a game over is so sad. ~~If anything... I think the main menu theme is a bit short?~~ I love the main menu and game over themes too! But again... the game theme is really good. Programming: Everything works smoothly, good job! I found that the transitions between the game and the main menu/game over were a bit abrupt (e.g. you don't get time to see what killed you). Also, whoever thought it was a good idea to leave babies in conveyor belts should be sent to prison 😂 All in all, it's a super fun game to play, and it all comes together nicely; great teamwork!
Aug 14 19:32:07	14h 55m	Compactory	♥ 1	Really interesting idea! I'd really encourage you to add music (even if it's from opengameart) and sfx (sfxr ones whould be enough); They make the game better not only in the audio category, and sfx for boxes moving would be almost musically rhythmical, while a good sfx to know when you've added more lanes would be super useful. Gameplay-wise, I'd really appreciate an "erase" button... which I now realize you do have! (In-game instructions would be great) Still, it's really fun to play, and clever as an idea. The gamplay is very intuitive (as in you can know almost all the controls without requiring to read about them), and it runs very smoothly. Great job!
Aug 14 19:48:04	15m 57s	Polar Panic! At the Disco	♥ 2	I'll be honest... I fear the winning strategy is to just do nothing? It seems as soon as I touch water everything goes to hell. (Also, they're circles, so any click input shouldn't make the circles turn faster??) Having said that... Just looking at it is entertaining enough! The sound effects, the music, the way the penguins and bears wiggle, the way they fall off icebergs, how they fall like pinballs if you push the floor... It makes it all so hilarious 🤣
Aug 14 20:30:13	42m 09s	Night Shift	♥ 0	Really cool idea! The controls also feel quite good; uncontrollable enough to be challenging not to collide with anything, but not unreliable to the point it is painful. I would've really appreciated a quick-level-restart button; if you screw up enough times in your first run, even if you still have 10 seconds left you already know it's not enough... and you have to slog through those 10 seconds anyway. I would've loved to see beyond level 2, but that frustration blocked me. Also, while the music wasn't anything to write home about, the sound effects were really well done; the preparation, the movement and the crashing all felt great thanks to them. It was quite fun to play, well done!
Aug 14 20:39:15	9m 02s	Save the World?	♥ 1	Nice game! I loved the animations; the squares in the main menu, and the squishy crunch of advanced machinery created to solve overpopulation. I also think it's very clever the way the questions get harder very subtly. Well done!
Aug 14 23:29:28	2h 50m	Big Crunch	♥ 1	Really fun to play, and an excellent example of a truly 3D game (i.e. a game which could only be made using the strengths of 3D). The controls feel solid, the difficulty curve is fair and challenging, and it's plain fun. My only complaint is a few visual bug I had later in the game (I probably should've lowered the quality, but the first levels looked great). The level generation is quite good too; there doesn't seem to be any nasty random clusters, but there's no clear exploitable pattern either. Good job!
Aug 14 23:37:09	7m 41s	Space Equations	♥ 1	Interesting idea, though I feel it's a bit more running out of time than space. I was quite intrigued by how you made the numbers move randomly; it shuffles them nicely without being too hard to follow.
Aug 15 17:17:02	17h 39m	Void Incoming	♥ 1	I love the minimalism in this one! The art and sfx really help you concentrate on the layout of the levels. I did find the cannons could be made a bit more fair if they telegraphed their attack and if we were able to see cannon balls when they go through walls (e.g. they becoming white). I'm pretty impressed by the amount of good quality levels you've been able to make; sure they're all "simple", but no two felt like each other, and each had something interesting about it. I also really liked the fact that you let the player breathe and analyse the level before you start; it's a really nice touch. Well done!
Aug 15 18:52:22	1h 35m	We Need Space!	♥ 1	I really like the planet generation; they all looked really cool! I feel the name generation could be improved a bit though.. I'd recommend you to get music for other times (even if they're from opengameart); while you wouldn't get an audio score, a well-chosen music can help in other areas of the game such as the mood, flow, etc. Also the people at opengameart would be super happy to know their music was used on a game as nice-looking as yours! I think it's a great idea, and you managed to make it procedurally look really nice; it showcases your strengths in both art and code. Well done!
Aug 15 19:29:56	37m 34s	Space Lost	♥ 1	It looks beautiful! The controls also feel really nice, and using the jetpack is very satisfying. I did think that one should be able to use the jetpack at any point (especially if you're in the ground); not only when it is fully charged. If you want to only allow the player to jump when it is fully charged, then you should add some audio cue to tell them they're good to go. And, other than the last level which was unnecessarily long, I thought the levels were pretty nicely designed; especially the "tutorial" ones where you introduce the mechanics. The way you use pop up boxes for that is a really nice touch. And... I really love the player sprite. The walk animation looks great! The ending made me chuckle too. Good job!
Aug 15 21:35:25	2h 05m	Final Voyage	♥ 2	Awesome game, I love the voice acting (especially for unit creation and command)! A minor bug; the numbers are in decimals? So you sometimes have like 349.99999 coins. Anyway, the gameplay was very smooth, the graphics look great and I've got to say the voice actors did a great job!
Aug 15 21:46:37	11m 12s	Protect the Core	♥ 1	Nice concept! I like how there is an impending sense of doom, but you're never left without doing anything, and there's always a slimmer of hope that you'll get the next laser in time; You balance fairly nicely the hope/despair of players with your design.
Aug 15 22:14:18	27m 41s	Vita Magicae	♥ 0	It's incredible you did so much in such a short amount of time. The gameplay is solid and polished and the art on point. I'd like to push a couple of ideas; they're not "must haves", and whether to have them or not is more of a design choice, but I rather enjoy more bullet hell games if they're present than not; - The character's movement is fast, which is good for moving out of the way of approaching enemies, but makes it unnecessarily hard to find the right spots between bullets. Some games have a "focus" button that allows you to... simply move slower. It feels much better to weave between bullets when you have such an option, in my opinion. - When one gets hit... It makes one loose focus, and you need time to regain your bearings. Some bullet hell games have a generous "post-hit invincibility" duration for that reason. As long as it's not exploitable (when you can just tank the enemies attacks), I feel this makes the game "fairer" in a way. Still, it's amazing the work that has been done here; the art, the boss design, the overall layout, the sprites when they speak, etc. Well done!
Aug 15 23:27:33	1h 13m	Lost in deep space	♥ 0	I like the cutscenes; both the intro and outro, and the between-level ones; they're a really nice touch. Gameplay-wise, I like the controls, they feel interesting. I think sometimes the key items (nut, wretch, screw) fly a bit too fast to see them come; you don't really need to know what's behind you, so you could have the main character be to the left rather than spot in the middle so that you get more reaction time for the key items. Still, it's quite a lot of content for such a small time, especially the animations, which give the game a nice little narrative. Great job!
Aug 16 15:19:48	15h 52m	Freezing Sky	♥ 1	Nice game! Its mechanics are well designed, and quite complex to implement in a 3D environment (it seems to me), but you execute them quite well! The in-game instructions and objectives are a really nice touch for new players too; well done!
Aug 17 02:53:12	11h 33m	Six Spaces	♥ 1	Really nice puzzles, and an interesting take on the theme. I loved the graphics and the character's voice, and how to use the lighting speed was a clever riddle. Good job!
Aug 22 16:32:55	133h 39m	Bardolf's Curse	♥ 1	It's really cool to see some interactive fiction in here! The writing's pretty solid too. I didn't get to the end (got stuck observing a tree I suspect was made of basil, not knowing what to do to it), but there's a good sense of location which is important for such games; it was easy to get a mental map. Regarding the theme... I was a bit confused and annoyed by the limited inventory space; it just seemed to get in the way without bringing much into the game (maybe there were inventory management puzzles later on). However, I think the main problem was that it was not explained really well; for a long time I was stuck at only being able to hold up to two items (not including clothes), but at some point I was able to grab a third; I don't know if that was because of wieght/space constraints, because I was wielding one of the previous objects, or because there were key objects that didn't "take space". Another thing, while the map was fairly compact for IF standards, I felt it could be a bit too large for newcommers to IF, especially with such... empty first few rooms (not many descriptions to see). I think it might be slightly more suitable to go for fewer, but "denser" rooms. Still, this really is a design decision, so there's no right answer; it's also a lot due to developing under time constraints; I'm sure given enough time there would be descriptions for absolutely everything. Oh, I loved the additional commands page. I wasn't sure what to do with the short tree (which I think was basil?) so maybe add what actions you can use with trees? I tried "cut tree", "take leaves", "harvest tree" etc. Take into account many of us are second language speakers of english, so our vocabulary might not come as naturally as for others. Also, I think I've seen some IF games were interactable items are [HIGHLIGHTED]. It might help newcommers, especially if there's no description for many of the implicitly described objects (windows, door, etc). Anyway, it felt like a really solid foundation for an IF. The map is pretty nicely set up, and the puzzles seem interesting enough (I did manage to get out of the chapel). The writing is solid, and the plot is well-suited for an interesting IF (few characters, a key objective, a well-thought setting). There's also an impressive amount of work for just 48 hours; the rooms felt a bit empty, but the key parts of a rather large adventure were there. It seems like you made great use of your time. Great job!