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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | JustinMullin's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26 14:51:38 | HyperJack | ♥ 2 | Oof, this is a bit stressful! Hah, I did really enjoy this one, but I need a break after a couple intense runs. I'll admit my first playthrough I finished feeling like I must have missed some other feature, because I hadn't quite "gotten it" and was playing pretty naively. Once I felt out the mechanics a bit more with a second go it started to click, and this one does scratch that itch of great action puzzle games, where once you're "in the zone" it starts to become a bit of a Zen experience. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but if it was, the combo meter going exactly to 4 is a bit of a master stroke of design. I avoided the spoilers in the description successfully, and I had an "aha!" moment when trying to figure out how to keep the combo running. Initially I wanted to let columns stack up so I could just dig straight down, but you can only preserve the max combo for one block that way, which was a letdown. I started thinking about how else you could possibly stack a combo, and that led me to the third trick in your spoilers list above, pretty critical for score. As usual, this one is probably going to sit in my head for a bit and then beg for a quick replay later, to see if I can get a good score. For now the beet red blocks are consistently my downfall. I think this is the best score I'm gonna get for the moment: hyperjackScore.png | |
| Apr 26 20:19:28 | 5h 27m | Falling Lad | ♥ 0 | I like the notion of a very ammo-constraint top down shooter like this. It was very satisfying to land those charged shots on the eyeball. It took me a while to figure out that if I just kept falling as far as I could that I would out-run the monster. After a while I realized the best path was for me to grab a powerup, wait in strategically chosen spots for it to catch up, and then pop it in the eye quickly and run away. Interesting combination of mechanics here! |
| Apr 26 20:39:56 | 20m 28s | Save Her | ♥ 1 | Well that was wacky. It took me longer than I'd care to admit to figure out how to actually wind up the machine, and then a bit longer still to figure out that I could hold the button to wind it further (for a bit I was just clicking it so it would wind for half a second), but once I had it down this was a fun little jaunt. Just about the right difficulty. I definitely smiled once I figured out why each of the machines was "helping" me, hah. Loved the intro/outro images. Well done. |
| Apr 27 01:03:36 | 4h 23m | Pond-zi Scheme | ♥ 1 | Very creative interpretation of the theme! I found this very overwhelming, but I suspect that was by design. I can't really tell after a handful of playthroughs if I'm missing some better strategies, but it's clear I'm very bad at this game, hah. I'm not fast enough to direct investors to the end with much regularity, but sometimes it seems luck allows me to progress farther. Anyway, this is all a very accurate description of what would happen if I tried to run a Ponzi scheme in real life, so...very realistic! This was a unique entry. Nice job! |
| Apr 27 01:44:39 | 41m 03s | A Sinking Feeling | ♥ 0 | Wow, very difficult, but I love the art, the mood and concept. I tried a few times to get to the very bottom, but at about 80% of the way through it seems you pretty much have to man the torpedo controls full time to keep the ship alive. I would have liked to be able to repair the ship while shooting (start the crew member repairing then switch them away), as later on there's just not really any down time to repair anyway. Very cool submission! |
| Apr 27 01:58:49 | 14m 10s | Wagon Stack! | ♥ 2 | Nicely polished entry! I wish the difficulty scaled a bit more, as it was difficult to keep playing after the 15 levels I tried without more being layered in, but everything here was very well put together. I loved the first level that had 10+ carts stacked. Great moment! |
| Apr 27 16:56:44 | 14h 57m | The Cenote | ♥ 1 | Awesome atmosphere. It took me FOREVER to get any sort of read on where I should be focusing my efforts, so I did a lot of blind wandering, but that lends to the claustrophobic feeling, and the simple tool of dropping flares as a breadcrumb worked pretty well. Very moody piece, simple but well done. |
| Apr 27 17:19:56 | 23m 12s | Depth Seilor | ♥ 2 | Nice aesthetics. The sound and the art mesh really well here! I frequently wished I could climb back up the rope _just a bit_ when I overshot something, but I know that's part of the design. I love how fast paced this is, and having to shoot the gun to swing is pretty unique. Overall I enjoyed this, thanks for sharing your submission! |
| Apr 27 19:20:44 | 2h 00m | Dungeon Faller | ♥ 2 | Hey @southpawdevelopment, I really wanted to try your game, but after ten attempts to make it to the shop as you've described, I was unable to get there. Each time my character gets stuck at the left or right edge of the map, caught up against a block, and without any ability to air dash it seems there's no way to avoid this other than sheer luck. If you're not aware, the LD rules allow for post-compo bugfixes if the game is effectively unplayable in its submitted state, so if this is something you're able to fix without adjusting any other features, I'd encourage you to do so! The rules exception properly quoted: > Certain Bug Fixes are allowed. You can’t add new features, but if something broke or didn’t work correctly as you were finishing up, you can fix this after the deadline. You are asked to highlight the changes you make in your submission (a short change log). You probably wont get a 2nd chance with some players, but at least it wont be a problem for future players. |
| Apr 27 19:57:03 | 36m 19s | Smooth Debug | ♥ 1 | Love this. Truly creative. I did encounter a bug where the final step before the start didn't quite work, and I had to do some proper debugging of my own to track it down, but that added to the mystique. =) Some of the bullet hell segments were really challenging! Very cool entry. |
| Apr 27 22:15:21 | 2h 18m | Reminiscence | ♥ 1 | What a beautiful game! The music and the art bind together so well, and the simple animations are just right. I love it. The gameplay itself is pretty limited in this submission, just kinda scratching the surface of the mechanics, but what's cool is I can see how this could be extended into a longer puzzle game with the elements you've put together. It's just enough to get a taste for some interesting things. Great exercise in minimalism and quite a touching little story. =) |
| Apr 28 00:35:10 | 2h 19m | Sporelunk | ♥ 2 | Wow, that was quite something! Every time I thought I was at the end of content there was a bit more I discovered one layer down. The slow descent into insanity was quite a trip. I love the polish here, the flavor of the whole thing is just exactly on point, and everything clicks. I only ran into one (very small) bug, where I couldn't turn around if I had my back to a wall. Everything else is tight, put together, and has a remarkably unique feel to it. Spectacular work! |
| Apr 28 00:48:54 | 13m 44s | En Root | ♥ 0 | Hey, this is pretty cool! I wish I understood the mechanics a bit more clearly, but I enjoyed a bit of experimentation. I think there is a bug with the root growth where if you grow two roots from the same point in quick succession, the first of the two will grow immediately. I started using this tactic to very quickly grow out, but I'm not sure if it was cheating or not. The whole time I was playing I was hoping I'd be able to see an overhead view of my root system, so I was really excited to get that at the end. Super awesome that it looked somewhat realistic at the end of it too! I guess I make a decent plant? |
| Apr 28 01:05:40 | 16m 46s | LD48 - Operation Reconnaissance | ♥ 1 | Interesting systems here! I enjoyed this. I was not expecting from the description to be facing unarmed...whatever they are, charging me, hah. This played smoothly, just a few hiccups in the line of sight system. It was very difficult until I learned my enemies were only close combat, and that I can effectively fight them by stepping away while firing. Cool visuals that really help with the claustrophobic feeling. Nice piece! |
| Apr 28 01:12:38 | 6m 58s | DeepDream | ♥ 1 | MINI GAMES! Hah, I love when these submissions come up. This was a fun light entry. For some reason the rock paper scissors game seemed off to me, I thought I'd won a couple of times (paper covers rock), but it gave me the red screen. Anyway, I really enjoyed this. Good fun. Thanks for sharing! |
| Apr 28 15:34:25 | 14h 21m | depthscraper | ♥ 2 | So cool! I love when novel puzzle concepts come up in LD, it's crazy to me that there's still space left in the "simple tile puzzles," but this is fun and I've never seen anything like it! Would definitely play a full mobile release. Maybe this is the next 2048? =) I think there's definitely room to better communicate the rules so people can get up to speed more quickly, but I was able to figure out the rules within a single playthrough, and definitely felt after my first run that I wanted to go right back into it and try again with what I'd learned. Awesome game, minimalistic and enjoyable. Nicely done! |
| Apr 28 16:01:51 | 27m 26s | drillerROBOT | ♥ 1 | Love this! I'm a total sucker for card game mechanics, and this scratches that itch well. It's difficult, but in a way that pushes that "one more run" button rather than frustration. I enjoyed learning the mechanics and finding my way deeper and deeper. One small thing that really threw me off initially: I got the lava protection card early on, and seeing only light and dark tiles, assumed the light ones were lava. Turns out avoiding the light tiles is a _really_ bad strategy, hah! Once I figured that out I had way more fun. Great submission, I really enjoyed this one! Oh, and I may as well share my best score: drillerRobotScore.png |
| Apr 28 20:15:43 | 4h 13m | 1100 | ♥ 1 | Fun little loop! This is a pretty hard game, and I think some runs I didn't have a chance due to a high concentration of sharks, but I played quite a few runs. I think it's interesting that after a certain point, purchasing things from the shop wasn't actually helping me, as I wasn't skilled enough to make use of any of it, hah. Nice work. =) |
| Apr 28 22:01:58 | 1h 46m | ONI | ♥ 2 | This is fantastic. Serious Valve vibes here with some of the "show, don't tell" puzzles, and the voice acting and sound really pull you in. I got super stuck on the password puzzle because I only had 2 of 3 pieces, and didn't realize it. It was pretty frustrating, but I really wanted to see the whole thing so I powered through it, hah. Really cool setting and execution, and you pulled off a ton here. Put me down as another one that got a bit of motion sickness from this, especially if I stared too closely at the portals when walking through them, as it seems they're static cubemaps or something so they only react to view direction I think? Super minor thing! The portals were really nice looking, and it's impressive that you pulled off a proper portal in Ludum Dare! I have a weak tolerance for creep factor, but the atmosphere here was sufficient to make my skin crawl a bit, so well done there. I'm very relieved there wasn't a jump scare or something with the talk of "echos" doing weird things, but the writing was very evocative and really got my imagination going for what you might pull next. All said, this is a really great and ambitious submission. Nice work! |
| Apr 29 21:48:06 | 23h 46m | Get to the choppa! | ♥ 1 | This was fun and totally cute. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy the way the helicopter flies. Something about having the different lift settings just feels nice to pilot. The level design was pretty simple, but it set a nice feel for the little villages and things. The 1-bit feel is fun, and it fits really well. Nice entry! |
| Apr 30 01:06:52 | 3h 18m | Deep Hunter | ♥ 2 | Super moody. I just love the music here, and it fits so well! I experienced a number of little visual bugs with text, but nothing that got in the way of the gameplay. I enjoyed exploring a bit and the writing drew me into the world. I especially loved realizing that this was a fictitious world towards the end, some cool worldbuilding there! Nice work! |
| Apr 30 01:17:13 | 10m 21s | grem | ♥ 1 | Cool little game! It was quite a bit tougher than I expected from the first level. I eventually decided after trying and failing to effectively kill the monsters on later levels with the rock that it was easier just to frantically search for the exit, hah. I love the touch where the monster eyes glint in the dark every once in a while. Super cool bit! Nice work here. =) |
| Apr 30 01:21:51 | 4m 38s | Down Town | ♥ 0 | I was pretty impressed by the fact that there's proper pathfinding and autonomy for the miners! I had a really hard time trying to get to three houses before the timer runs out, but I tried a few times and enjoyed it. =) |
| Apr 30 01:25:49 | 3m 58s | The Fall of Squidy | ♥ 0 | This is really neat! I love how smoothly it plays, and the slow motion feature works super super well. Unfortunately I'm also rather bad at it, but I really enjoyed trying to see how quickly I could whip through the early stages. Nice work! |
| Apr 30 01:33:52 | 8m 03s | Deep Sea Explorer | ♥ 1 | Nice low-key treasure hunt, I enjoyed this. I do wish the sub was a bit faster, but I think maybe I was meant to relax a bit. =) I laughed the first time I heard the "Jaws" theme as a shark came onto screen. Love all the character in the environment! |
| Apr 30 17:42:53 | 16h 09m | The Bothnia Trench | ♥ 1 | Hey, this is awesome! It's very short, but well thought out and polished. Lots of nice writing and world building, and the puzzles were pretty solid too! I was especially impressed by all of the "tooltip" descriptions of things in the world, I've not seen that level of detail in point'n'clicks for LD before, and it really added a surprising amount of interest to the environments. Made the images feel less static and more alive. Great atmosphere with the minimal moody music, and I definitely ended it wanting to see what was in act 2. Great entry! |
| May 4 01:34:03 | 79h 51m | The Reverse of the Summit | ♥ 1 | I had a lot of fun with this! My only complaint is the music is very loud. Jumping worked really well, and I definitely replayed quite a number of times trying to get a high score. I was going to exit having gotten a bit of entertainment out of it after 9-10 runs, but then I realized I hadn't understood the "medical expenses" line. Once I grasped what was going on there I had to try a few more runs. I really love the touch of being able to decide when you've had enough, and preserve your points! It adds a really cool risk vs. reward decision to the whole thing, and I thought it was really clever! Here's my best score. =) reverseSummitScore.png |
| May 4 01:45:17 | 11m 14s | Transcendental | ♥ 1 | This is very nice! The sounds and music work great, and I love the visual effects that start to come in as you get deeper and deeper. =) The different mechanics between pulling in focus and pushing away distractions were neat; I had a few cool moments where with one large sweep I could simultaneously pull and push away a number of bits, and that was really satisfying. I would be very interested to see what this game looks like played at a very high level. It's funny that, as you say, playing this game is not a very meditative experience, but it's definitely an exercise in focus! transcendentalScore.png |
| May 4 14:06:49 | 12h 21m | Dive | ♥ 1 | This is a simple atmospheric little game. I like it. The music was very nice, and the background effects transitioning deeper and deeper was pretty unique. Nice work. |
| May 4 14:16:50 | 10m 01s | Miner Creeper | ♥ 1 | A bit buggy, but there's an interesting base here and I enjoyed planning out when and where to use the better pickaxes! |
| May 4 14:21:29 | 4m 39s | Weller | ♥ 1 | Hah, well this is something! Been a while since I've played a rapid clicker game. I liked the aesthetics, and got through a few levels, but unfortunately this quickly progressed past my ability to defy physics, and I'm concerned that I need a new mouse now. Very unique. =) |
| May 5 00:39:43 | 10h 18m | The deepest curse | ♥ 1 | I'm very impressed by the sheer amount of content and thoughtful level design here. Each time I picked up a new item it was fun to experiment with it, and the areas immediately before and after each unlock lead really well between sections. I did eventually (as is tradition with Metroidvania games) get completely turned around. A map would have been really useful, though of course I understand the difficulty of implementing that in a time crunch. I wavered quite a bit at the start between "normal mode" and "easy mode" and finally decided that I would rather experience everything this game had to offer rather than be beaten down by difficulty if it was too hard, but ironically I found "easy mode" to be quite a challenge on its own. The healing runes are few and far between, and I struggled a lot with the control scheme (especially the confusion of having "move up" and "jump" be the same button - I kept trying to use "W" to move up in a pinch, but maybe you were avoiding it to better support AZERTY layouts? Overall, this is a nice entry that really jumps past its first impressions. |
| May 5 00:57:20 | 17m 37s | Into Conflict | ♥ 2 | This is pretty cool! I bounced off of this after 5 minutes of trying to figure it out, but I didn't want to just let it be; reading your explanation in the comments here of how the game works helped me out a lot, and I was able to take over the map armed with a bit of knowledge. At least I think I won - the game doesn't seem to have recognized my victory. =) With a bit more of a tutorial experience in the game and bit of balancing (maybe mostly AI work as you mention), this would be a pretty solid and novel strategy game. Nice work! |
| May 5 01:07:07 | 9m 47s | Drilling Rig | ♥ 0 | Nice graphics and sound! The lighting is nice, and the drilling sound works really well. The gameplay is a bit light, without much motivation for the drilling, but as you say, as a sandbox it was fun to just play around a little bit. I kinda wanted to see the drill able to go sideways or something to avoid the tedious nature of raising the drill back up, but that wouldn't be very realistic I suppose. =) |
| May 5 02:08:31 | 1h 01m | The Plummet | ♥ 1 | This game is absolutely beautiful. I love the particles and the lighting. It's great. I dig the procedural levels and gradual unlocks of items, though I unfortunately did run into many unwinnable situations, usually spawning in a hole so small any blast will kill me, or on a sheer cliff too far from other surfaces to attach a rope. One particularly memorable spawn was in a narrow corridor with a laser robot staring me down at the other end! All said though, the game is very forgiving to death; just respawn and try again. This kept the frustration from creeping in too far. One bug did drive me up the wall, maybe literally? It seems if you run towards a wall and press up against it, the character model gets somewhat stuck from jumping. This made it very counter-intuitive to escape from bombs and enemies; I found myself trying to land just shy of a step up, for fear of getting caught on the wall and being prevented from climbing higher. Most of the mechanics were very smooth, but this left me feeling a bit uneasy about the platforming. In general I wouldn't mind if the character was a bit more nimble as well; maybe it was an intentional design decision, but I felt once I ran into an enemy my options to evade were very slim. Total avoidance was more productive, especially with the laser eyes that appear impervious to damage. I hope I encountered all the items available, because each addition added a bit more interest to this game, and I really liked the mystery of wondering what the next crate would hold. The rope was a super cool feature, especially after upgrading the length! At the start it seemed only a bit useful, but once I got the hang of it and upgraded it, I was navigating areas on a ton of rope bridges. Eventually I stopped seeing crates and the game got too difficult for me to press on much farther. All told, this was a very enjoyable experience, impressive and super polished. Awesome work! |
| May 5 02:31:53 | 23m 22s | Ludum Deep thought | ♥ 0 | Very interesting! Making a note to come back to this after a few weeks and see how much more fleshed out it is, but this was very fun to explore a bit, and especially to find places where someone had already answered the same way. Nice job! |
