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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | HuvaaKoodia's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 4 22:54:08 | Cannibal Town | ♥ 0 | Grim! Gross! Always glad to see a management simulation in a jam. Tried making [one of those](http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=21836) years ago and it is not easy even when kept simple. You managed it with only a few minor bugs (sometimes a person keeps spawning corpses and not dying when sacrificed; buildings don't seem to build properly occasionally?), which is commendable. The effect for sanity loss, people going berserk, is fittingly aggressive. There should be other ways for losing sanity though as it is too easy to sacrifice people out of sight. Surely butchering your friends for food shakes the mind? I think the cannibals should be kept on the edge of sanity for the cult to prosper. If someone thinks straight they'll realize what is going on and try to escape. Rituals, indoctrination and constant physical work should keep the masses compliant. Currently building an altar takes no time at all and is not challenging (i.e. not fun) More rooms for different needs ("spawning" room, "fattening" room, ritual room, etc.), building constraints and job management would do for a start. This is the downside of simulations, they need to be sufficiently complicated to be interesting. Having to click on a corpse, room, or box for someone to "process" it is not needed. The people should act on their own if able. Ok job and a solid foundation for an expanded management simulation. The setting is certainly unique and vulgar enough to warrant further exploration! Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *No challenge (1.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Average (3.0)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* | |
| Dec 5 15:49:45 | 16h 55m | The Trolley Problem | ♥ 2 | This is certainly one way of solving the trolley problem. A well thought-out puzzle with just the right amount of levels for a jam. The complexity never gets out of hand as there are only so many levers in each level to pull. I haven't seen a puzzle with this exact setup before and while novel and funny, thematically a sacrifice should be a choice and a hard one at that. I made a puzzle too and failed in this exact same way, so... The audio visual are the weakest link. The low-resolution sprites are mushy and the musical instruments irritatingly low quality. It is sometimes hard to figure where the trolleytracks go. Good work! The negatives don't detract from the overall score as the mechanics are solid. Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Below average (2.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* |
| Dec 5 22:55:37 | 7h 05m | Accept this Offering | ♥ 1 | A well made puzzle. The theme fits, sacrificing life to reach goals, but just like in another puzzle I played recently (and in my own project too!) there is a lack of choice and impact. If there is only one correct thing to do at any given time, then is it even a sacrifice at all? Simple deductive logic challenges suffer from this issue. The mechanics are fine, but I actually didn't need to understand them until the very last (proper) level where simply following along the script didn't work any more. If the tutorial levels don't spell out what is going on with text, then at least the visuals should clearly indicate what is happening. In this case the permanent health change, caused by the - and + icons, should be accompanied by an animation, color change and/or a particle effect to make the effect clear. The prose is simple and fitting. Very generic though, kind of reminds me of a spiel by a life-style guru quoting their self-help book. No offense. The visuals are fine, apart from the lack of highlights for important events and things. The audio is good. Won't score them as they were not made specifically for the jam. Good job, small issues here and there. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *N/A* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
| Dec 6 22:52:59 | 23h 57m | Price of Power | ♥ 1 | An innovative and intuitive deck building card competition (without the deck building), apart from the lack of a proper tutorial. It doesn't help that you didn't format the description at all! Still, the rules and the interface are not too complicated even for someone who has only played Magic once and never touched Hearthstone. The sacrifice mechanic works well, especially due to the health loss on excess mana. I'm also glad to see that the sacrifice is actually *a sacrifice*, i.e. a choice where something is lost in order to gain something else with a little bit of risk involved when it comes to the unknown future cards. Not everyone (including me!) got this one right in retrospect. The theme would be even stronger, if the opponent was tougher. The AI attacks so rarely that it is very easy to build a well defended group of cards. With symmetrical rules this would be quite interesting, I reckon. That would require proper AI or other players of course. The graphics are weak. Player boxes, stretched textures, a mishmash of colors, and the hand-drawn font (it is ok to use a third party custom font, btw) don't look great individually or together. The particle effects are the best part, but even they are hindered by the usage of the default particle texture. Good job in all. With polished graphics, tweaked user interface and a tutorial this could be quite something. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Great (4.5)* Graphics: *Bad (2.0)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *N/A* |
| Dec 8 16:51:19 | 41h 58m | Escape from Scrapville | ♥ 1 | Positives first! The *idea* fits the theme, the controls are fine, the laser is well implemented, the visuals are ok (simple 3D models always work when it comes to graphics) and the audio is passable (even if some sounds are too quiet). Then to the negatives. The *mechanics* don't fit the theme! Batteries affect the maximum energy count and energy recharges over time. Further more there is, nearly, always a battery right next to a location where a battery is need. Put together, these details mean that it is possible to complete the level with nothing but a single battery in store. No need to sacrifice anything! In my opinion a sacrifice need to be a choice, it needs to consume something, and the outcome of the sacrifice has be somewhat risky or in doubt. Without choice the action is mandatory, not worth worrying about; without losing something the action is a gain, always worth taking; and without risk or doubt the action is a trade. In this case there is no choice, as there is only a single path towards the exit; nothing is lost forever as energy recharges automatically; and there is little risk as there are, nearly, always more batteries to pick up right next to the obstacles. Here's what I would change: - No automatic energy recharge - Batteries recharge the energy tank once energy runs out - If the robot has no batteries when energy runs out, then the player has lost - No extra batteries apart from the first room. Some energy recharge pads in places, why not? - Multiple (at least two) paths to choose from at any given time. Maybe even multiple exits? - Some way to gauge which paths are higher risk, but shorter; in comparison to low risk and longer paths (higher energy drain). Using batteries to destroy enemies and to remove walls (unlocking new paths) would be a sacrifice, if the robot's energy reserve depended on it. Good idea, adequate graphics, the design needs work. Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Below average (2.5)* Theme: *Terrible (1.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* |
| Dec 9 04:30:53 | 11h 39m | Spaceships Must Explode | ♥ 3 | A solid... *turn-based, space ship building and asteroid dodging challenge*? I have seen some similar titles a few times, but for the life of me I cannot remember any of them by name. No-one has had tremendous success in this particular genre so far it seems. The user interface is cleverly designed to accommodate movements of multiple moving bodies in a grid. I can think of a few small improvements though. Showing movement vectors for incoming modules would be good and removing the unclear hit detection would be an improvement too. Asteroids and ship parts should always land in their designated positions without hitting the ship on the way. This way they sometimes fly through the ship for sure, but UI clarity beats *"realism"* any day. It is supposed to be a 2D representation of a 3D space after all. The sacrifice mechanic works, but it took a long time before things got heated enough to really require its use. Additionally speeding forward in one direction, turn after turn, does break the asteroid spawner; really easy to not get hit at all. The graphics are ok, functional. I do like the movement *"animation"* with ship parts jiggling around. Some audio would go a long way. Either an ambient loop in the background or simple, generated, sounds for movements and hits. It only takes ~30 minutes to find and implements something rudimentary; you can always disable the audio category when using third party assets. Good work! Could be extended, this one? Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *N/A* |
| Dec 10 02:28:32 | 21h 57m | Sachristmas ! | ♥ 1 | Pleasant, inoffensive, take on the Xmas spirit-animal and consumerist poster-child (Santa, that is). Good writing on the letters. More of a story based deal this so my usual spiel about what a sacrifice is doesn't quite fit. Instead I'll say that the exercise is very random due to not being able to see which presents are going to come up. Even if I remember all the requests, I cannot maximise happiness as the first random present might not be to anyone's liking. It is really annoying to later find a present which the first kid would have liked! How to improve it then? Here's a suggestion: - Santa lands in the middle of the town, all five presents are visible in the sledge. - Santa can rummage through the sack to find more fitting presents if needed, this takes time. - There are multiple towns to visit (say 3-5?). - There is a set amount of time to get through all the towns. - If Santa runs out of time, then the later towns are not visited at all; loads of unhappy kids! In other words, sacrificing becomes about saving time, making snap judgements about who deserves good presents and who can do with tat. Alternatively, the town could just be bigger with visible gifts. The pixely visuals are a result of the technology, but they function just fine. An 8-bit xmas song in the background would have improved the mood and audio ratings. I like the setting and the writing; the interactivity is a bit dry. Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Average (3.0)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* PS. I would have gone with *Sacrifistmas!* |
| Dec 19 01:34:24 | 215h 05m | Making Ends Meet | ♥ 3 | Thematic concept and pleasant graphics (once the font works). The interactivity is suspect, though; getting to the end of the year seems to require exploiting a broken system! I'll elaborate. Tying certain costs to personal problems is clever, but the old options stay available and effective for some reason. If I cut down on heating, the baby gets sick opening up a new, more expensive medical option. If I turn on the heating again and strike out the medicine, the baby is just fine!? Weren't they supposed to be sick? This same issue is applied to the teenager, father and mortgage payments options. I would instead replace the old option (say, "dad's tickets" with "dad's drinking tab") forcing you to pick the more expensive option. It becomes worse (in this case, "playing at the casino"), if neglected again, or it becomes better if chosen once. This would make the mortgage situation make a whole lot more sense. The fine has to be paid once every time you skip the normal payment, not continually for the rest of the year. Additionally some surprise (randomized?) income options would be appreciated, such as: lottery (must spend money for a chance to win), second job (stressful, can result in mental breakdown), illegal activities (shoplifting, insurance fraud, etc. Can get caught!) Variety is always a bonus in titles like this. Good effort; extra content and design tweaks needed. Also the music is somewhat annoying due to the very short loop. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Terrible (1.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* |
| Dec 19 02:18:22 | 43m 58s | Vulcano | ♥ 1 | *Why build a bridge directly over a volcano?* *Why build a temple on the other side of the volcano?* *Why build a village so close to a volcano to begin with?* So many questions left open... Working as a family on a jam project is pretty cute. You did manage to finish something simple, quickly; that's good, time is valuable resource. To the project then. Fits the theme, although human sacrifice is rather grim. The audio-visuals are adequate, nothing out of the ordinary outside of the sacrifice scream which is pretty *funny* in a horrid manner. The interactivity is about as rudimentary as it can be, yet I still would have preferred a different take on the controls. You see, clicking on lanky, fast moving, villagers requires a lot of spammy clicking. I've never been a fan of excessive clicking and never will. There are a lot of possible alternatives. One way is to add multiple "trap doors" to the bridge which are momentarily opened by pressing different keys, for instance F,G,H and J. As mentioned before by @prodigalson, it is hard to keep track of the required resource as it keeps changing at random intervals. A pronounced animation or particle effect on the icon would alleviate this issue, as would changing the icon position and size. Solid effort taken the constraints, but more time would have improved the project no doubt. Next time, eh? Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Below average (2.5)* Innovation: *Below average (2.5)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Average (3.0)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *Above average (3.5)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* |
| Dec 20 03:56:30 | 25h 38m | Garden of Frogs | ♥ 1 | *Frogs use balloons to fly and eat apples to duplicate...* Must have been quite the brainstorming session! Very pleasant graphics, neat animations. The music is competent, but a tad too cutesy for my liking. Got 68 frogs after a few tries. Some management until about 45 frogs, then let them eat everything and fill the land! *For a moment.* Such a peak number can be achieved rather easily and even accidentally, neither of which feels very good to pull off. The goal could be about keeping both the frog population and the apple amount at a certain level for set amount of time. Alternatively, add some obstacles and such into the air-space; frogs go splat, should be humorous enough. Constant clicking is annoying. It should be possible to hold down the mouse button to keep popping balloons. Strange, but functional. Funny, but not fun. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Terrible (1.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Average (3.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)* |
| Dec 20 21:35:56 | 17h 39m | Cake Hunters | ♥ 0 | *Gross!* That swarm of bugs gives me the creeps! I don't see a thematic connection here. This is a tower defense, without a maze, where the towers will overheat if not micro managed; there are no sacrifices! A sacrifice is about giving something valuable away in exchanged for something potentially more valuable taken the situation. There should be some risk involved. Here everyone is working towards the same goal, and they will eventually fail no matter what. I didn't get the theme right either, though, so there's that! If the project was to be expanded to a tower defense, or a simple survival challenge, then there should be a goal for the player to fight for, be it to complete a level or to reach a high score. Currently the "towers" are very ineffective so the exercise becomes mostly about clicking. Clicking challenges are very annoying as excessive clicking *itself* is very annoying... Not a fan. The graphical assets don't fit together well, they are all in different styles. This affects the mood too, which is improved up by the quirky music though. The design isn't there, but the project it is functional... *no bugs.* Overall: *Bad (2.0)* Fun: *Too much clicking (1.0)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Nonexistent (1.0)* Graphics: *N/A* Audio: *Average average (3.5)* Humor: *Average average (3.5)* Mood: *Average (3.0)* |
| Dec 21 04:38:35 | 7h 02m | Fight of glory | ♥ 1 | *Trillion dollars? I'll take it! Too bad about Rob Roberson 1, 3 and 5.* Very traditional turn-based combat with a thematic twist of course, which works well, although currently you must get rid of at least one of the healers as they have no ability to hurt the enemy. How about converting an enemy to your side (or making them surrender) as a secondary ability? Strangely charming and moody these audio-visuals, humorous too in places; yet, to be honest, they are very crude. Rudimentary 3D models, mushy textures, and short music loops don't do the presentation any favours. This isn't too important, though, as interactivity matters the most in turn-based tactics competitions. The levels aren't difficult to complete, but I still had a good time due to the sacrifice mechanic. It is the user-interface that I have major issues with. Click unit, select action, check if can target enemy, click target unit or press escape to cancel action, repeat for 5 units for ~10 turns per level. The amount of clicking slows down the proceedings immensely. Usually, basic actions are bound to the right mouse button for quicker use. Right clicking an enemy makes the selected unit attack, while right clicking a ground tile moves the unit. Additionally all the actions for the selected unit are show in the bottom of the screen, not in a pop-up window. This way there is no need to cancel that often. For ability usage, cancel can also be bound to the right mouse button: left click to select ability, left click to select target. Abilities and health should replenish for the next level. It makes no sense that the ~~thieves~~ heroes wouldn't wait and heal-up before moving on. Now I have to do it in the previous level by artificially keeping one enemy alive while everyone recharges. Last little niggles: stat balancing! The archers are the most effective units at the moment. They do the same amount of damage as the melee unit, but can attack further and seem to have the same HP too! Melee fighters should be more effective and have more health; archers should have less effective arrows, very little health and their ability should be less about damage and more about utility (for instance, stun enemy for x turns); the healers should have some offensive capability, as mentioned before, and they should also heal less per turn than the units take damage in order to break the possibility of an endless loop. *Phew*, that's a load off my chest. I like quite a few aspects here, but there is a near equal amount of negatives to balance it off. With better interaction and UI design this would have been great; I can live without AAA quality graphics. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Average (3.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Good (4.0)* Graphics: *Bad (2.0)* Audio: *Bad (2.0)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Great (4.5)* |
| Dec 22 03:13:10 | 22h 34m | LLAMAGEDDDON! | ♥ 0 | Upon reading the instructions page, a vivid image of a lama herding challenge appeared in my mind fully formed. >A group of lamas, the amount increasing between levels, has to be guided to the priests via narrow paths. Different lamas move at different speeds, at times meandering off course getting crushed by falling rocks from the angry gods! What a challenge! Sometimes it is better let the slower lamas die in order to get a few of the faster lamas to the destination. Even gets the theme right! Too bad I can't rate *what could have been*, I have to rate *what is*. A quick list of positives: - The music and visuals create a nice mood. - Erm... A less quick list of negatives: - A standard *follow the cursor* death maze where... - The colliders are too big, and... - Most of the time the left side of the level is completely open! - Only one lama! - Who has strange interpolated movement, why not use constant speed with an optional boost maybe? - There are no sacrifices? It is just part of the backstory, *lame!* - The sound effects are crude. - The visuals are functional, but lacking in fidelity. Oh man, maybe my expectations were set too high by an overacting imagination. Still, there are a lot of things left to improve here. Overall: *Bad (2.0)* Fun: *Terrible (1.5)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Non-existent (1.0)* Graphics: *Below average (2.5)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
| Dec 23 22:53:07 | 43h 39m | Tower of Sacrifice | ♥ 1 | A competent side-scrolling... *vampire-hack&slash?* I like the ominous, sparse visuals; although atmospheric background music would have improved the mood even more. The other easy points has already been given, so I'll think of something else... Starting with the gimmick. Sacrificing health for an advantage is such a good idea that I find it strange that you didn't go for it! Here the only benefit from sacrificing health is reducing the amount of backtracking when reaching full health. Why not make the character more powerful for the duration of the level when the altar's thirst for blood is sated? Anything other than saving real-life time would have been much more thematic, really. On the topic of time... You shouldn't reset all of the progress upon death. If this was a commercial project with great mechanical depth, level variety, and high quality graphics; I would replay from the start for sure, but not here and not in a jam; I'd much rather play another jam project instead! Resetting to the beginning of the current level is enough of a penalty. Well, deeper combat would do of course, but there is a limit to what can be achieved in 48 hours so I won't hold that against you. Good work, nonetheless. If the theme tied strongly to the combat system, risking health for other advantages, I would be all over this. Worth a post-jam version, in my opinion. Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Average (3.0)* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
| Dec 23 23:29:28 | 36m 21s | Kill chickens for better art! | ♥ 1 | Toy might, in this case, be too reductionist. I would call this, based on some of the levels, a *packing challenge*; fitting in the required pieces trying to form tight groupings. Kind of like Tetris without the timing, and controls, and not at all like Tetris then. Some of the levels are more difficult than others, trying not to score negative *chicken points* that is, and some are outright jokes (anything in a grid!). I don't mind those as variety, having a bit of playful fun every once in a while is refreshing in a world of *oh so* serious business (and jam projects). At times the resulting patters are also pretty, despite the low fidelity visuals. There are a lot of extra rules you could add to each level to make the packing action trickier. For instance: - In *Flourish* only allowing branches to be placed next to other branches, only allowing flowers at the ends of branches, not allowing leaves to be too close to other leaves, limiting the placement area to the screen, and adding in some obstacles, would complicate matters immensely increasing the challenged thus fun. - In *Traffic* the cars could move (and why cannot I place a frog in there!) - In *Pacman Yoke*, ghosts could actually chase pacman if placed too close and then pacman could eat the pellets and the whole thing could get out of hand if careless with the placements. - There are a lot of possibilities for an extended version, I tell you! The ambient, electronic music is strange; a great match for the equally strange concept and visuals. An interesting project this; hard to rate it, but I'll try. Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Great (4.5)* Theme: *Non-existent (1.0)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Above average (3.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
| Dec 24 21:04:25 | 21h 34m | Piper's Quest | ♥ 2 | *Grappling hooks are never a bad idea!* They go especially well with a big world to explore full of tricky jumps, and you provided both. Having the ability to grapple pretty much anything is a funky idea too. Using it to grab and pull items from a distance might be an interesting addition for potential future versions. The enemies are not too difficult to pass without killing any of them (*boo hoo* for not having an extra line in the ending for that), and they do slide around at times taken all the physics shenanigans at play. Not a big issue. Audio is superb all around, solid sound effects and the music is just perfect! When it comes to the visuals it is obvious where the graphics artist ran out of time. I don't mind the odd placeholder menus, but the lack of a walk animation is a crying shame! The cutscenes are great both ways, and funny too! My biggest issue here is how you only tackled the theme in the story and not in the actual interactivity. A Pitfallesque platforming adventure could accompany about any theme this way, *disappointing!* Sacrifice is about giving something valuable away for a risky chance at gaining something greater. How about having to recharge the grappling hook device by killing *(and skinning!)* animals? A careful and skilful player can still get through the level with minimal or no killing, while mistakes have to be made up for by saying bye-bye to Mr. Froggy. So... Pretty great in places, the opposite in other places; strongly on the positive side though. *Who gives about the theme anyways!* Overall: *Good (4.0)* Fun: *Good (4.0)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Terrible (1.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *Amazing (5.0)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
| Dec 25 02:40:12 | 5h 35m | A Town of Questionable Morals | ♥ 1 | *Questionable morals indeed!* Solid dexterity challenge. I like the enemies who keep appearing and disappearing, a potent idea. The audio-visuals are adequate, but rather low fidelity. Then again, it is better not to see the babies up close taken the circumstances. The theme is tacked on. This could just as well be about building bombs and throwing them at enemy teleporters or something similar. Sure, the current setup is rather bizarre and funny! Functional, competent work. Too bad the theme isn't integrated into the interactivity. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Interchangeable (1.5)* Graphics: *Below average (2.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Good (4.0)* Mood: *Average (3.0)* |
| Dec 26 04:06:35 | 25h 26m | Harvest Defense | ♥ 1 | Tower defense in a jam? Sure, why not. It is simple and functional every time. I really like the idea of continually growing and selling towers to buy new ones, leaving the base exposed while planting and nurturing new saplings. This idea would be more interesting if enemies also attacked the towers, and not only the center stem. Building defenses for the money making, less powerful, plants, sometimes having to sacrifice powerful towers when the situation calls for it, would be intense. Currently recycling a tower is an economical choice rather than a sacrifice. Sacrifices are about risk, giving away something valuable for an uncertain benefit. If you are forced act in a certain way to strive forward, then it is hardly a sacrifice. I didn't get this aspect right either, so... I haven't run the numbers, but Shriekers seem like the most cost effective unit. The Craniums only receive a dmg bonus after a lengthy growth period, while the Shriekers get their damage up quickly and yield a tidy profit of 100 on lvl.3: a safe investment. The enemy wave balancing is off; I left my Shrieker fort running for a while: HarvestDefensePic.png There is no challenge, i.e no fun, after about 5 minutes. The visuals are nice. The plants have character to them; animations would improve matters even further. If you've never tried [Harvest: Massive Encounter](http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/), you should. I get similar vibes from this one. Ok work in all; testing, balancing and polish needed. Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Above average (3.5)* Innovation: *Above average (3.5)* Theme: *Terrible (1.5)* Graphics: *Good (4.0)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *N/A* |
| Dec 26 23:45:17 | 19h 38m | Useful Corpses | ♥ 1 | Moody! Rain is very effective at creating an atmosphere while the Wilhelm scream is very effective at destroying the atmosphere! Luckily it only happens when falling to a bottomless pit. Seen this mechanic before. It was an online "co-op" challenge where everyone progressed by trampling on collective cadavers. Forgotten the name though... Fits the theme on the surface level, but is death a sacrifice if you are not penalized for it and even required to die to progress? I'd say no. Furthermore a sacrifice should have an element of risk attached to it. Giving away something valuable to have a chance for a greater benefit. I thought about these things after the jam, so I didn't get it right in my entry either! Some of the levels are quite annoying to complete. Finally I stumbled upon this one where death was final. UC.png It got stuck, that is. The visuals are fine and they do add to the mood. The Controls are floaty. There are a lot of platformers to learn from when it comes to tight controls, something like... Spelunky? (I don't play platformers very often) Functional, not very exciting. Polish and a few fresh mechanics would do. Overall: *Average (3.0)* Fun: *Bad (2.0)* Innovation: *Bad (2.0)* Theme: *Bad (2.0)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *N/A* Humor: *N/A* Mood: *Good (4.0)* |
