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squimmy

Feedback comments for LD47

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		squimmy's comment
Oct 5 10:06:55		Recursion	♥ 0	This is great! The setting, the visual aesthetic and the audio all work together really well to build tension. The only criticism I can think of is that at some points the gameplay verges towards becoming boring, but I can't think of any way of addressing this that wouldn't undermine the whole point of the story the game tells.
Oct 5 11:08:10	1h 01m	Unchangeable	♥ 0	It's hard to feel invested in the game when there's so little agency, especially when the protagonist seems to take actions that don't always make sense, and _especially_ when the ending is unfulfilling. That being said, congratulations on completing the game!
Oct 5 13:20:12	2h 12m	Daily Grind	♥ 0	Neat! There's not much to say about the core gameplay other than that it's simple and intuitive. You've done a good job, but I can think of a few minor things that could have made it a little more fun: - Am I correct in understanding that there's no way to tell how much drink is left in the can? Everything else seems to have a number attached, so the drink seems a little out of place. - Speaking of numbers, the "Multiplier" value isn't rounded before being displayed, so the trailing ".5" flickers while the value changes, which is a bit distracting. - I feel like it might have been a bit more intuitive to have the game over happen when _all_ of the screens are occupied. "don't let them all fill up!" is easier to grok than "don't let 75% of them fill up!" - The green effect over the left end of the thirst meter makes it hard to notice that your thirst meter is low, especially when you're focusing on the screens. It's not so much of a problem once you're used to the appearance, but it made the first playthrough a little bit confusing for me. These are all quite minor complaints though. Congratulations on completing the game! P.S. It seems that your thirst goes up just from clicking the mouse, regardless of whether any work is being done. Is this intentional, or just a bug?
Oct 5 13:39:34	19m 22s	Paper Planes	♥ 1	I love it! The core gameplay concept is incredibly simple but it has surprising depth. The aesthetic also has a wonderful, elegant simplicity to it. It seemed clear to me, but based on some of the other comments people are leaving, perhaps you could have done more to explain that the enemy planes all follow the same path the player takes. I suppose the intro clip just looks like the enemy is chasing the player, rather than retracing their steps. Maybe making the dotted trail longer would have helped? Aside from time-consuming things like composing music, the only thing I can think of to improve the game would be to better hint to the player that the edges of the level loop around. If the intro animation was looped so that it showed the planes re-entering from the left as they exit from the right, that would have been perfect.
Oct 6 01:07:31	11h 27m	In The Loop	♥ 1	The idea behind this game is really well executed. The sound and visuals are clear and simple, the puzzles have variety and depth while never feeling contrived or over-complicated, and the difficulty is at just the right level where it's challenging, but not so hard it's frustrating. Well done.
Oct 6 01:45:53	38m 22s	BLOOP	♥ 1	The story is clever and well presented and the whole games has an outstanding degree of polish and flair. The art is fantastic and the sound all works brilliantly to build the mood. I particularly like the little audio cues for incoming attacks. Great work.
Oct 6 02:04:33	18m 40s	Thunder Rally	♥ 1	This game is cute! Maybe it could have done with more upgrade options or more interactivity, but it was fun nonetheless and the graphics and sound were extremely endearing.
Oct 6 02:39:01	34m 28s	LoopHole	♥ 1	Good work. I think the simple art and minimalistic background music work well for this game. If I were to offer a suggestion, it would be that it would have been nice to have had some kind of message appear upon reaching the bottom, to make it clear that it's the end of the game. I feel like criticisms about the length of the game are misguided. It's much better to have a short, finished game than to plan a longer game but not finish it.
Oct 7 02:32:27	23h 53m	a Damsel a Day	♥ 0	Nice! I particularly like the trees. It seems like if you play long enough, you'll eventually reach a level that's impossible to beat, but I suppose that sort of thing is inevitable when you're placing things randomly, especially when doing things on such a tight timescale. Aside from that, the design is tight, the music is catchy and the graphics are endearing. Great all around.
Oct 7 03:04:57	32m 30s	Fort Loop	♥ 1	The visuals are great and I quite liked the gameplay. The puzzles had a good difficulty curve and I particularly liked the way that enemies don't hurt you but they do slow you down, which is far more interesting, given the puzzle's core mechanic. The short jump height and realistic movement didn't bother me, but I would have really appreciated some kind of clear feedback about when the loop is about to reset (maybe some sort of audio cue?). The torches were a good hint, but I found it difficult to tell the exact timing, which made the last couple of puzzles a little frustrating, since they weren't very forgiving on timing.
Oct 7 11:39:36	8h 34m	SORO BORO	♥ 4	I really like the idea, but I'm sad to say that the combination of dying in one hit and miserly hitboxes on the enemies put me off enough that I didn't stick through to finish it. Aside from that, the rest of the game was great. Good music, distinctive art, and all of it working together to build a compelling and cohesive style.
Oct 7 13:08:18	1h 28m	Danger Beat	♥ 1	This is a neat idea! I'm slightly surprised you took it in a bullet-hell direction. I was expecting a rhythm game of some sort. Either way, it works well. The aesthetic style is nice, but the screen can get pretty cluttered at times. I suppose that's unavoidable in the bullet-hell genre; possibly it's the entire point!
Oct 7 13:14:10	5m 52s	you are dead	♥ 1	A brilliant, distinctive look, a quirky control-scheme, and fitting music to top it all off. Great job!
Oct 7 13:34:48	20m 38s	Loop Back to the Future	♥ 1	Scalextric simulator 2020! I love it. I really like the idea of using the DeLorean and charging the flux capacitor as a way to escape the loop (without having to do any other modelling or physics or anything 😜). It's such a pity there was no music, it really feels like this would lend itself to being a rhythm game. But I can fully understand how much more effort it would be to not only compose music, but to then wrangle the whole game to always be in time with that music... My only other complaint is the use of the default skybox. I think it would have looked a lot better with even a fairly low-effort skybox with maybe a treeline or something like that, instead of just a vast, empty horizon.
Oct 7 13:50:27	15m 39s	Prison of the Dream Weaver	♥ 1	This is an interesting idea, but between the randomness of the cards and the slow movement making it hard to avoid enemy attacks, it felt like winning or losing was more a matter of luck than skill. It's a pity there wasn't some way of better tying together the card minigame and the shooting gameplay. This game also exhibits my pet peeves: mixing pixel art (the player, monsters and environment) with high-res graphics (the player projectices). It undermines the cohesiveness of the game's aesthetic. These petty complaints aside, you did a good job in not only implementing a complete game but, in some ways, implementing _two_ games!
Oct 7 14:24:55	34m 28s	Collateral Damage	♥ 0	This was a really neat idea for a game, but I think in practice it turns out to be "you take damage if you miss" and hence fits the theme mostly in aesthetic rather than in gameplay. Though the aesthetic fits the theme perfectly. Being able to angle your shots away from the earth (maybe with shots falling into an unstable orbit and still eventually hitting the earth?) would have added a lot more depth to the game, but at the cost of the elegant simplicity that makes this game shine... (and a lot more effort to implement!)
Oct 7 14:40:19	15m 24s	The Loop	♥ 1	I really like it when the restriction of sticking closely to the theme results in a fresh and original gameplay mechanic that's also fun on its own merits. This game is a perfect example of that. Other people have mentioned it, and I think it's purely a matter of taste, but being able to rapidly tap the 'r' key to stay in one place feels, to me, like it undermines the challenge of the game and the uniqueness of the control scheme. A short cooldown on switching directions or, better yet, a "stamina bar" would probably solve this, if you decide it needs addressing. I also encountered the same collision bug mentioned by others, but I think that kind of thing is entirely forgivable, even expected, given the time constraints.
Oct 8 01:33:05	10h 52m	Featherfall	♥ 1	The idea is clever and the level design works really well. The tree works really well as a hint that the world loops around. The art style is cute, but an extra couple of sprites for a climbing animation might have been a good idea, if possible. I agree with other people's comments that some music would help a lot. I think some gentle, laid-back, background music, would suit this game well, and that's the style that automatic music generators work best with, in my experience. These minor issues aside, this was a really lovely game 😄
Oct 8 12:37:54	11h 04m	Tomb of the Mummy RL	♥ 1	How nice to see a classic roguelike! The idea, the gameplay and the appearance were all solid, but the dialog boxes (introduction, help, etc) didn't match the ascii, monospaced style of the rest of game and broke the immersion slightly for me. It also would have been _much_ nicer if there'd been a way to immediately show the online leaderboards upon submitting my score. It might even have been enough to tempt me to try again for the #1 spot. Obviously I realise implementing/fixing these things isn't feasible given the 48-hour time limit, but I hope this feedback is of use in future games (or if you ever revisit this one)!
Oct 9 02:03:28	13h 25m	CREATION EXCAVATION	♥ 2	The visuals of this game are absolutely beautiful. The two-tone palette and unusual dither pattern give it a really distinctive look. Unfortunately, I found the gameplay about as fun as the mspaint eraser tool. After the first couple of upgrades, I couldn't find any big hints about where to go next, and after a few minutes of wandering around, I gave up. I'm _not_ trying to say I think there's irredeemable flaws in the game's design--just that it's probably a game for people more patient than I.
Oct 9 12:37:25	10h 33m	ZBX 9800	♥ 1	Very nice! A neat idea and very well executed, given the time constraints. The idea of repeating instructions in a loop fits the theme very well, but in practice it seems like a lot of the puzzles could be completed without much looping. I also agree with @ale's comments that a lot gameplay time gets spent on trial-and-error working out movement distances, and I second their suggestion of using _distance_ travelled as the value for the walk/run commands. A couple of suggestions for if you ever revisit this game or make a sequel: - Adding variables would have been a lot of extra work to code, but would have let you have some very interesting puzzles: zig-zags, spirals, etc. - Keys you can collect that unlock doors or activate elevators would also have allowed much more complex and interesting puzzles and would probably not be that much more effort to add.
Oct 9 13:41:41	1h 04m	FRUITFLY	♥ 1	This is a cute game. The visuals are nice and the writing is solid, but I think some people might find the ending unfulfilling rather than simply ambiguous. Another loop through the five days would have given you a lot of scope to flesh the story out and get the player invested in speculating about the meaning, but it would obviously have also been a lot more work.
Oct 9 13:58:38	16m 57s	If you think about it, ain't a sling a murder loop?	♥ 0	A unique idea, well-executed, with a great aesthetic. The gameplay had a peggle-like addictive quality at first, but once I got the hang of it a lot of the challenge seemed to evaporate and the fun ebbed away quite quickly. Maybe some kind of scaling difficulty level (smaller enemies? faster enemies?) would not have gone amiss.
Oct 9 14:16:39	18m 01s	Portaloop	♥ 0	This is a really neat idea for a game and ties in well to the theme. You seem to already be aware of the sluggish controls, but aside from that, I think the challenge drops-off quite quickly when you get the hang of it, and either ramping-up the difficulty curve or giving the player an incentive to take risks (e.g. a bonus for trapping multiple enemies at once) might help keep the game entertaining for longer.
Oct 9 14:41:58	25m 19s	Looper - The Last Mission	♥ 2	_Very_ neat idea! I found the game quite enjoyable, but the tiny, bouncing bullets made it hard to work out why I'd died the first few times. Obviously the game would be a bit boring if they didn't bounce, but if you plan on revising or revisiting this game, maybe experiment with making the bullets more visible. The game is very fun, but not being sure why you died makes for a bad first impression and I'd hate for people to decide they don't like this game before realising how much fun it can be.
Oct 10 01:57:13	11h 15m	The final loop	♥ 0	A fun, simple game. I agree that being able to move the towers mid-battle makes things a bit easy. I think this could be solved by making the enemies move faster than the towers. this would mean you could fine-tune your placements after the battle started, but you wouldn't be able to chase-down enemies that got past. I quite like the visual style and the subtle, tense music fits the game well. This is a neat take on the tower-defence genre. If you decide to keep working on this after Ludum Ddare ends, with a few more types of towers and enemies and a little more polish, you'd have a solid coffee-break browser game on your hands.
Oct 10 03:54:07	1h 56m	Hyperloop	♥ 1	This game has an astonishing amount of flair and polish for a compo game. But that's not to say it's all style and no substance! The gameplay is solid and engaging and fits the theme well. I'm impressed.
Oct 10 04:24:07	30m 00s	GLITCH LOOP	♥ 1	There's huge number of various skills coming together to make this game really great. The music, art, animation, and puzzle design are all strong, and the high degree of polish really brings it all together with top-notch presentation. When I finished the sixth level, I was fully expecting it would be the last level. I was amazed to see another five levels that expand upon and further develop the core gameplay mechanic! I also think the timer that spins around the edge of the level is a stroke of genius. Without it, the gameplay would slowly devolve into frustrating trial-and-error as the complexity of the puzzles increases. Very impressive for a compo game.
Oct 10 04:44:07	20m 00s	Despair	♥ 1	This is a fascinating concept for a game. Unfortunately, a lot of the time I didn't feel like I knew quite what I was doing. Perhaps tooltips, with more detailed information about the ships and what their different actions mean, would have helped. Also I would have liked some way to view a reminder of the different ship types. I forgot what they all were with seconds of closing the tutorial. 🙁 The game was also a little slow to get started. It's important not to overwhelm the player with too much to do at the very start, but spending most of the time just waiting for your only ability to cooldown is not very fun either. Nonetheless, this was fun. The different abilities to be unlocked were all interesting and I really liked the music, too. Good job.
Oct 10 08:13:37	3h 29m	On the Phone (2020)	♥ 1	This hits uncomfortably close to home... 😕
Oct 10 08:46:23	32m 46s	Super Box Bot's Package Push	♥ 2	This is a very neat idea, but the difficulty curve seemed to be all over the place. I got stumped very early and almost lost interest, but I skipped that puzzle and found most of the later puzzles much easier. There wasn't much indication of which puzzles I'd finished nor whether I could do them out of order, so there was a good chance I could have given up completely after getting stuck and not seen most of the game. Other than that, the game is interesting and well made. Good job!
Oct 10 09:13:38	27m 15s	The Myth of Sisyphos	♥ 1	This is a great idea for a game based on the theme, but I think there needs to be more to make it clear to the player that they're making progress. Looking at other comments here, there obviously is progression to the game, and even an ending, but sadly I gave up before seeing the end. Perhaps making the act of pushing the rock a little easier might help--I got stuck completely multiple times. These minor gameplay complaints aside, the music, art and mood of the game were all great!
Oct 10 09:20:16	6m 38s	black_box	♥ 1	This is a neat and interesting idea, and generally well made, too! In practice, it felt just a bit too repetitive for my taste, and it also felt unfair when the doors would lock just as you were approaching them, usually leading to an automatic loss if you had already had to travel most of the way across the ship… That being said, the art style was cohesive, the game had good audio feedback and it was (in my experience) largely bug-free, which is an achievement in itself given the time constraints. Well done.
Oct 11 03:30:48	18h 10m	Shlooper	♥ 1	Everything in this game _feels_ really good. The sound effects and screenshake and particles were all really fantastic. It might have been worth tweaking the difficulty in some way; especially since on your first playthrough you don't know exactly how long the game will be and don't know how much time you have per level. (For instance, the later levels take longer since there are more enemies to fight and dodge.) The ending was also slightly unsatisfying, but I'm not sure what could have been done there that wouldn't have taken a lot of time. Anyway, the gameplay more than makes up for these minor complaints. The controls feel responsive and everything has the right amount of "kick" to it. Good job. P.S. The gun reminds me a lot of the pistol from Quake 2...
Oct 11 04:03:16	32m 28s	Loop Invader	♥ 2	This is a really intriguing idea and I think there's a lot of potential here. Unfortunately, like other people have commented, I had a bit of trouble playing the game because it assumes an american (or at least western) keyboard layout. My parenthesis keys aren't on '9' and '0' so I kept accidentally inputting the wrong symbols... 😅 The colour-coding of the blocks is clever, but `<2` and `>2` mean completely different things but are both highlighted in the same colour. On the other hand, I can't immediately think of a better way of colouring the blocks... The gameplay is unique enough that it would really benefit from an interactive tutorial, or at least a bit of hand-holding in the first couple of levels. It would have also been nice to see more variety in the levels. Maybe some with pre-existing walls, or balls of varying sizes, that sort of thing. As it stands, the later levels are like the early levels, just with more balls; they don't expand upon the core idea any further. Fortunately these are minor issues that don't interfere with enjoyment of the game, especially once you get the hang of the idea. I also quite like the music. It works well as soothing, "thinking" music. Good job.