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Maple

Feedback comments for LD48

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Maple's comment
Apr 26 05:06:05		N/A	♥ 2	I found the treasure :) I like the animation on the sharks mouths and fin of the submarine - super smooth. I also got shocked / excited when I saw the red subs. The worst points would probably be that hitboxes were a bit weird (full box instead of inside - hard to know when you'll actually collide) and the movement could have been smoother like with use of acceleration/deceleration. Oh also, I semi expected that I'd be able to travel to a previous room (but I suppose it was good that I couldn't since the game has a linear progression and I may have gotten lost). Above all, I dig the 1-bit aesthetic and I was impressed at the variety and length of your game, and enjoyed seeing new enemies in new contexts pop up. I also noticed that you exercised a bit of conveyance when the bombs were introduced - nice.! [TreasureTrench_2021-04-26_14-47-15.png](///raw/bab/z/3d2bf.png)
Apr 26 05:46:15	40m 10s	GA GAME ME	♥ 1	I beat it :> Really cool idea. It got a bit mind-bendy towards the end (this is a good thing). Also the tune really catches on. I'd say the biggest place this falls short is in its polish, like the movement felt a little stiff, and some particle effects would have added extra charm. This is really just nitpicking though - you did really well. I felt like I went on a journey there. P.S. I did notice a bug (using Chrome) btw. When you're like, really deep, sometimes the game boarder won't show. It only happened when interacting with the games in this room: chrome_2021-04-26_15-26-04.png Above all, though, nice work!
Apr 26 06:06:42	20m 27s	Bottomless Pitfall	♥ 1	Nice game. I got 75. :> Kinda annoyed cause it was a death I could have avoided lol. Oh well. chrome_2021-04-26_15-56-12.png I love the textures and look of the cave (reminds me of an old BASIC demo game program from the 90s), also the sound is super atmospheric. I also found myself liking the quirky character. Also, I was put off a little by the fart noise at first, but later found it funny as the character continued down, bouncing off things. :> I'm finding it hard to think of negatives... I suppose a bit more variety in the obstacles would have been nice, and maybe a bit slower of a difficulty curve? Above all, pretty decent and fun. Nice work.
Apr 26 07:33:15	1h 26m	Spelunking Simulator Pro 2022	♥ 0	"You win." lol, classic. Pretty interesting take on a hardcore platformer. It was nice to have a new challenge. Rad job with with the engine. :> Also, nice work with the different areas. The graphics and music really adds to the atmosphere, feeling like a drone in those places. (The sound-font/music works very well towards that too btw.) Tbh the physics felt a tad too slippery for me and took a while to grasp, and I felt that hitboxes on spikes could be more forgiving (Empty space in drone's lower-right corner can collide with empty space on right-wall spike's top-left corner). Aside from that, the game feels pretty cohesive and polished. Definitely one of your better solo submissions and looking forward to more. ;) Nicely done.
Apr 26 11:11:35	3h 38m	Wiki Vortex	♥ 2	Among the most time I've spent with a game jam game! It reminds me of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. I suck at trivia so I didn't beat the game, but it was fun to learn random stuff and find random links between things. I also chuckled a couple of times like when I tried to go to the homepage as a wildcard but couldn't as I'd already been there. Or when your game told me off for trying to search for the goal in the search box lol. I'm not really sure how the game can be improved upon... Well, actually, when I went to full screen, the side-panel window was out of sight, so I had to play in windowed mode. Also, I guess a find-in-page function might be helpful? Also not sure how your game exactly determines that you've reached a goal, but the Wikipedia page for Poetry didn't award me the goal "Poem", whereas the page for "Grumman Golfstream I" did award me the goal "aircraft". I was also on my last life though, so not sure if it's an issue with that or not. Aside from that, as simple as it is, the game feels really complete and something you could hand to non-gamers to play with as-is.
Apr 27 03:17:14	16h 05m	Not The Urchins!	♥ 2	I got a high score of 249.6m :> ApplicationFrameHost_2021-04-27_13-00-24.png I was surprised at how many times I wanted to retry this. It's a simple diving game but you did a lot right with it. I like how you have the goal of getting air and light while also avoiding stuff (simply avoiding stuff can be boring in open spaces, so drifting around corners and in between rocks to get stuff makes it fun). Also, nice job with the hitboxes - it always felt fair when I died. I also enjoyed that difficulty oscillated, as it gave a sense of breathing room after difficult sections (something I could learn from when designing levels!). Some negatives that come to mind are that the difficulty seemed to plateau after a while? The difficulty from 100-200 felt a lot more similar than the difficulty leading up to 100... (Or maybe I was just getting used to the game?) I would have also said that the physics were too slippery at the start, but I actually found it kinda fun to drift around corners after getting used to it. Oh also, perhaps the ability to move the game along faster when approaching the bottom of the screen would be nice, but that's more of a would-be-nice and not super important. Oh also I just remembered that when using gamepad, after using the d-pad, the analogue stick didn't seem to work. I restarted the game and completely forgot about that issue until now, though. Overall, it's a simple game that nailed the fun factor quite well. Nice work.
Apr 27 03:32:31	15m 17s	Sleep Walls	♥ 1	Got a high score of 26300 :> chrome_2021-04-27_13-25-02.png The music and sound was fitting. The graphics were pretty nice too, except that the UI didn't really match the graphics of the game. It's a pretty innovative idea that I haven't seen before. I also liked the way you choose the direction simply being a mapping of the keys. The main place this falls short is that it's not too fun or enticing me to play more, but above all you did pretty well in most other areas, which are commonly a second thought in other entries, so well done.
Apr 27 04:46:31	1h 14m	Deepest Dungeon	♥ 2	I beat it a couple times. :) chrome_2021-04-27_14-35-26.png It's actually pretty easy by walking diagonally for a speed boost (reminded me of speedrunning Perfect Dark N64), which was fun to figure out and exploit. I also really enjoyed the sound and general vibe of the game. Has a nice warm cozy vibe. The main thing I didn't realise was that you had to click on the orange thing to proceed (which feels unnecessary) so I died in the first room on my first try. It also would have been nice to have a score indicator at the end, as it can be hard to know how far you got. Overall great job though. You did a really good job of creating a feeling with the audio and visuals.
Apr 27 05:02:17	15m 46s	Chthonic Brilliance	♥ 1	I really liked the graphics and vibe. The colours were particularly harmonious and the animation was done pretty well too. It gave me some cave story vibes, actually. Really nice level of polish given the time limit, and I enjoyed the progression of elements introduced. Well done :)
Apr 27 05:36:39	34m 22s	Madman - The Crazy Scientist	♥ 1	This game is hilarious! and the sound effects were top notch. I like the premise of the game, lol. I noticed a glitch, after beating the game. When I tried to restart, the seconds timer continued, and also voodooing one person would win the game. Also, I'm not sure if intentional, but you can walk away from someone while voodooing them. Not a complaint, though; I used that to my advantage and was happy to do so. The ability to hypnotize multiple people at the same time would have been fun, but I suppose it makes sense to only work on one person at the time. Overall pretty cool and funny entry. Nice work :>
Apr 27 06:02:17	25m 38s	Dungeon Painter	♥ 2	I beat it! :> Another fan of hardcore platformers? chrome_2021-04-27_15-48-56.png Pretty cool idea, and it enticed me to keep playing until the end. The main issue for me was that I really felt that the paint should stay on the level between deaths, so that there was a more of a sense of progression. Oh and I got a little stuck at the first 2-key door. I didn't realise that doors would need 2 keys by that point. Overall, it's pretty good. Really awesome that you managed to include a boss in there as well, btw. and nice work with the music and sfx.
Apr 27 06:28:56	26m 39s	Pretty Flower	♥ 1	This reminded me of UIN - an old game maker game. I really dig the vibe you created - super cool :) Also it was a nice touch that everything gained some colour after picking up the flower. There could be some polish around the physics (gets stuck on walls, no accel/decel, for example), and more visual cohesion between the textboxes and the game graphics, but overall a nice little game with cool pixel art.
Apr 28 04:51:50	22h 22m	Red Archer	♥ 1	This is super fun. I played it a couple of times :> There is a little roughness around the edges, like I feel like dash should go forward if no direction is pressed, and I would have liked to be able to choose whether or not I was pulled towards enemies. Also shoot doesn't work if you hold the mouse button down too long and wall collisions are a little iffy. Aside from these, the game plays well, sounds good, and is pretty fun and unique. Keen to see what the future holds for you! Nicely done.
Apr 28 05:17:56	26m 06s	The bomble mines	♥ 1	I reached the end. Fun game! Some of the levels were pretty hardcore, which was rad. Also I enjoyed the spinning animation when you jump. A little more horizontal speed would have been nice. I also noticed that you can fall forever if you jump to the left of the stage. All in all, well done. A great entry and congrats on being able to make your first whole game in 48 hours - it's a big achievement :)
Apr 28 08:13:59	2h 56m	A Frogs Tale	♥ 1	Took a few tries but I managed to survive past the final snake, by skipping the second snake. :> I really like the gameboy-like graphics you made, and the full suite of movement options you implemented. I found the wall jump a little hard to pull off, and too weak when I did pull it off. Also I liked the particles, but thought it would be a little more cohesive if UI and particles were the same pixel size as the game world graphics, but I guess that comes down to taste and the way it's implemented, and can look good sometimes. You got a lot done even though you didn't finish making a full game, though. Lots of details like the key floating / unlocking doors, battle animations, particles, screenshake etc. Nice work with the polish~
Apr 29 23:54:58	39h 40m	What's Under Base 69?	♥ 1	Yo! Somehow I missed all but the ending card and the audio of your game during Gorethumb's stream due to life task multitasking >_< I'm really happy I got to experience this for the first time first hand though, I think seeing it on stream would have tainted my experience a little. It's very cinematic and funny. I chuckled as I was mashing the spacebar harder and harder, you warmed me up for a good laugh at the end. Honestly, even though you didn't make a long experience, what you had felt very complete, which I personally find more important. You covered the game pretty nicely with graphics and sound, and the fact you taught mashing the spacebar at the beginning made for pulling the treasure at the end to be a seamless experience. The main negative for me was some weird occasional clicking in the audio, and I guess just some improvements would be in polishing the graphics a little. I think MS Paint-like graphics are fine for the actual gameplay graphics, but not as flattering for me when it comes to text. Of course, there could have been a lot more gameplay in the middle of the game as well, but at the same time, if that gameplay wasn't good, then it may have detracted from the otherwise positive experience, so I don't mind that it was short. In conclusion, pretty solid little experience with a good dash of humour. Short but fun, and I liked being involved in the humour by needing the mash the spacebar. P.S. I noticed you joined LD 23? I actually participated in that one as well! (Coincidentally with the only other precision platformer I've released.) Cool to see another old-timer still going at it. :> Anyway, this wall of text is getting out of hand. Thanks for checking out my game and making a cool game yourself!
May 1 00:26:35	24h 31m	Sing Deeper, Songsharks!!!	♥ 1	I haven't seen a rhythm platformer before, pretty innovative! I enjoyed the graphics and sound - simple but feels pretty polished as is. I also enjoyed that the sound gets more elements as the levels go on, and I spent some time in the you win level making a tune, which was pretty fun. I almost got stuck on the first level and started questioning whether my goal was to get the musical note or not, so perhaps an easier first level would go a long way, maybe with a shark already placed. I also didn't know that I had to place the sharks at first (I know your LD text says so, which I noticed later). Probably the most important problem was that the rhythm/music, while being pretty cool, didn't really have any effect on gameplay. I could jump out of time freely which didn't sound as nice. This could easily have not been a rhythm game. So it would have been cool to see some timed gameplay elements that pushes the player to act in time, or some other way to tie the rhythm to the platforming. Above all it's a pretty cool entry that I enjoyed experiencing, and you could build on this idea and take it far. Pretty unique! Nicely done.
May 1 05:06:40	4h 40m	Search for the Undergem	♥ 1	I got the undergem! Really enticing gameplay, it kept me playing right till the end. I chuckled a couple times when my robot got faster and faster. It's hard to come up with improvements.. Perhaps the game could do with a graphics makeover, and maybe some more obstacles that, perhaps, make it so that you can't just make one massive ladder all the way down, would be cool. Also I was a little sad that getting the undergem stopped any visible sign of my money progress. I collected most of the valuables from the lower layers all in one go and was really keen to see how much money i ended up with, but getting the gem is ultimately the end and stops you from seeing your money. Really polished game with a good vibe and enticing gameplay. Well done.
May 1 05:39:49	33m 09s	Fallumns	♥ 1	Hey your game kinda breaks when starting a new game... Oh... OH! stdrt_2021-05-01_15-27-05.png This is such a cool game. I love it when the game breaks but it's part of the game. I literally took a screenshot, to report the bug, lol. Really cool graphics and sound, and a cool experience. Nicely polished. I love how you made a game on top of an already good looking/sounding/playing match 3 game. You get my first 5, and zero suggestions for improvement.
May 1 06:08:07	28m 18s	Dungeon Depths	♥ 1	I got to the treasure. :> The ending was actually kinda funny, I was gonna give you some humour stars lol. Anyway, you set a pretty cool tone and the audio and visuals really aided it. The game was a little tough to control but it had a unique style which I enjoyed. Some small improvements would have been nice, like automatically respawning after a second, and not jumping unless specifically pressed (I died once because I landed while still holding the jump button, and jumped again to my death.) Overall a pretty solid and complete entry. Well done!
May 1 08:05:46	1h 57m	Push Stack	♥ 1	This was a crazy mind bender. I had to skip a couple levels which I came back for, and ended up completing all levels up until 12. It started to get pretty crazy when you introduced pushable stack blocks. I felt pretty satisfied with the solution to 11, which is when I think I finally properly understood the game. The audio and visuals aided the experience quite well, and the puzzles were pretty cool. Some sort of music might have been nice, and also some keyboard control of menus would be nice too since the gameplay uses the keyboard. Overall it's a really solid and complete game, with a really cool and unique mechanic. You could totally polish this up and sell it! Well done.
May 2 01:06:59	17h 01m	Wigly Hunt	♥ 1	mGBA_2021-05-02_09-48-15.png I beat it. :) Pretty awesome that you were able to make a gba game - this is the first LD game I've ever played that is a GBA game. It would be nice to provide links to an emulator that you recommend for people who don't already have one. It's pretty easy to fudge the game by sitting at the top of the screen and avoiding the fish. The later fish were too sporadic to bother trying to attack with the small attack hitbox. I also couldn't tell my score from the illegible text on the main menu (one of the characters was an "r"?). Btw, it's cool to see a demoscener participating in LD :) Curious to see what you come up with next.
May 2 03:38:36	2h 31m	Don't Pop Descent	♥ 1	Is there an exit to the second level? I tried 5 or 6 times and couldn't find it! If there is, my bad, if not, a win state is a fundamental component of (most) games that should be prioritised! You did really well otherwise. You got quite a bit done in the 48h - variety of graphics and music / sound. A variety of obstacles. Cute story. Well done.
May 5 05:58:02	74h 19m	Fathomless	♥ 1	Bruh. chrome_2021-05-05_14-58-07.png Okay, firstly, well done on making a cohesive and complete game. The graphics also worked well, and I didn't realise that pencil scratchings could be musical - meditative, even. I particularly like the way you styled your title and menu text as well. Plus the S. Classic. Levels being part of bigger levels was a cool mind-blow too. Your game feels pretty complete and polished for 72h, so well done there. I hate to say it but I found the fun factor to be pretty mediocre - it was my love of the genre that enticed me to see it through. Most of the times I died, my character was not visibly intersecting with a danger, which is frustrating... Definitely make hitboxes small enough to account for that (even with some leeway imo). On top of that, the level of precision required for some of those jumps felt even more precise than the Farewell chapter of Celeste. Keep in mind that you'll always be like 5x better than the average player with the practice you had during playtests (and the fact that you tweaked it to feel good to you), so you should reserve that level of precision for only the hardcorest levels. On that note, keep in mind that every challenge you throw the player should be something they are warmed up to, unless it is a conscious decision otherwise. Um, actually less of an issue but I'll also mention that moving platforms were a little annoying for not moving you relative to them. I'll also say that having the same type of challenge a couple times in a row can be repetitive and boring, not that you did much of that. Forgive me, I've railed on about the negatives because I'm passionate about the genre. They might be smaller issues for other people, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt and your own compass. Something you did well was that you gave some leeway when just barely making it to a platform - that's the kind of design philosophy that will make a good precision platformer. Above all, honestly you're in a pretty good position. You have what it takes to make a complete game, which is a really hard thing to do. A little tightening on your gameplay and level design, and I see a lot of potential. Keep up the good work.
May 5 06:09:59	11m 57s	The Fall of Alice	♥ 1	Hmm, for some reason I can't play it in chrome (or edge lol). I just get a red to black gradient screen on a purple to black gradient background. Perhaps a downloadable version might help?
May 6 01:36:56	19h 26m	LuckySwimmer	♥ 1	Oh my god. My first 5/5 for theme. This is exactly the kind of game I was hoping to see. I'm not sure I'm happy that I received it, though. This is the grossest I've felt playing a video game. It takes skill to evoke a response like this. The graphics and sound certainly get you there. Well done. And that fucking star wars theme at the end. ... I can't think of a way to improve the game.
May 13 12:23:18	178h 46m	Deepest Sword	♥ 1	3rd attempt 😅 chrome_2021-05-13_22-06-23.png Wow, so many comments on this thing. I saw it pop up on twitter and had to give it a try. Didn't realise it was a jam game! Awesome accomplishment. This game is pretty good all around. Honestly finding it hard to fault, but if I were to nitpick, I think the dragon getting more and more surprised at the length before you killed it was a little weak and it may have been a stronger end if the dragon was a bit more confident in degrading you until proven wrong, sort of thing. Also I felt like the dragon's sfx was a little softer/weaker than it could have been? And the audio mix in general felt a little flat? As you can see, these are small nitpicks. The sfx for the voices of the character, and the main character, were really cool/fitting. The character struggling to lift themself over the sword was perfect. The game was pretty fun. It was also cool how the same challenges could require a different approach given the length of the sword. I'm glad that the final level actually pushed the challenges to the limit. The game is super polished and the premise is pretty hilarious. Well done!