Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → Feedback comment stats → AceArcher

AceArcher

Feedback comments for LD50

AceArcher's games and stats for all events →

Timestamp	Since previous	Game		AceArcher's comment
Apr 12 18:57:54		Please Don't Date Me	♥ 1	Wow, this was one of my initial ideas, but I couldn't figure out how to implement it at all! I was really impressed with the art, it's got to be hard to balance detail with keeping the pixel style. It's a simple game and it's over quickly, but I honestly liked that because it was a no-brainer to just keep trying until I got all the endings. It was a lot of fun picking up on the hints to find that secret one! I did have a bit of trouble with the controls - it took me a bit to realize I had to hit the buttons on the top and bottom and not just click the option I wanted, and it felt like the buttons moved the options in the opposite direction to what I would've expected. Still, it's overall a very fun little game, and I definitely enjoyed finding the endings!
Apr 12 19:45:26	47m 32s	Princess: Unwed	♥ 1	I had a hard time figuring out how to actually get any information. My initial assumption was that the suitors moved every week, so I'd have to pick one person to write only, and I was confused when I'd only get location information and nothing on his traits. I had to read other people's comments to realize that you can write everyone in a row without the suitor moving 4 times and being somewhere random. Because of that, I restarted multiple times when I thought I'd lost him and would have to keep making random guesses in the hopes that I'd get lucky and guess somewhere the singular week he was there. Once I figured more out, I was able to get rid of one suitor, but it took a while just to understand the basic premise. If you were to keep working on this, I'd suggest adding an in-game notepad, almost like the game Clue/Cluedo, where the player can keep track of traits and location info. Just a simple series of checkboxes would do for a lot of it, and maybe some way to note down crest and alliance info. So you can figure out oh, he must be going to X kingdom next, and a letter said that he was going somewhere with Y on the crest and in Z alliance, so I can mark down X - crest has Y, part of Z. It'd also be really nice to be able to group letters by location, so you're not accidentally looking at old clues to find out the next destination. In general, I'm of the opinion that players shouldn't need to take notes outside of the game, although that's more of a personal preference. As for glitches, I found I could still move around freely while clues were open. Also, the whole time I was playing there was a weird repetitive noise almost like flapping? It was loudest at the start and when the menu was open, but was still audible for the entire game and also seemed to change in speed/frequency with different screens and actions as well. It made it hard for me to hear the music. I did enjoy the art, and it's a really good concept! Jams are so time-constrained it's hard to reach perfection, but I'd certainly check out an updated version with clearer controls!
Apr 12 20:10:44	25m 18s	Claim your FREE BitBuddy™ TODAY!	♥ 2	Existentially horrifying in a way that makes me wish I'd never played, but also glad I did! So, everything I'd expect from Daniel Mullins. The aesthetic is perfect, and it's really making me question my own morals despite being so short and small. If this becomes a full game like Inscryption did, I'll be early in line to pick it up! Neeber is currently minimized, I don't have the heart to pull the plug yet. He'll probably stay there until the next time my computer misbehaves and I have to restart it. But should I have just done it on holiday? He said he'd be happy with that. Is it better to allow him to stay alive longer, even if nothing else happens? Is a longer, boring life better than a shorter, happy one? Why am I so agonized over this knowing that it's not real? He's not really alive. All that happens when he "dies" is I can no longer interact with him and he looks different. Everything he said was written and programmed by a person. Neeber is a thing. He's not alive, so he can't die. And yet the window is still open. Update: I just right clicked > closed application. Didn't want to look at him when I did it. Didn't want him to know it was coming. Haven't opened it again and probably won't. Goodnight, Neeber. I'm sorry.
Apr 12 20:32:21	21m 37s	Ready, uNsTeAdY, FIRE!	♥ 1	I really liked that you didn't use the theme to mean "delay the end of the game" but incorporated that delay into the gameplay loop! I think the tension between dodging and delaying fire was well-executed, but with the length of the levels it did get a bit old by the end there, especially once I realized I could just stay in place by wiggling a tiny bit and it largely turned into a waiting game. I would also say that the colors are a bit too similar and sometimes it was a bit tricky to tell which purple I needed. I'm not sure if it would be difficult for colorblind people, but maybe having more variety in color and then additionally a pattern or shape to make sure color isn't the only indicator? Overall, it's a fun game, though!
Apr 12 20:38:34	6m 13s	Crab Battle	♥ 1	Originally, I couldn't play because of lag on Chrome. After trying it in Firefox, as suggested, it worked great! And I'm very glad it did! What a delightful little game. I never quite got the hang of throwing crabs at other crabs, but it was just a fun time. The audio is absolutely spot-on and made me giggle every time I hit a crab. I'm more than happy to succumb to my fate and accept that it is now time for crab.
Apr 12 20:41:45	3m 11s	Solar Flare!	♥ 0	Wow, that's hard! I second some of the other commenters that there's just not enough time to react, especially if you get two in a row that are completely opposite each other. I also found the audio a bit too harsh, especially at the volume. It reminds me a bit of Super Hexagon, and I think with some more time for balance it could be really excellent!
Apr 12 21:02:03	20m 18s	3 Days At Sea	♥ 1	Made it 51 days! Quiet and introspective, I really liked that there wasn't any backing music. Loved the crabs, although for me one of them was inside the boat's geometry and I could only see its name. It was a bit hard for me to interact with things, I think some manner of reticle or even just a little dot in the center would've really helped show what the cursor was over. I also agree that more interactions would be nice, especially with the rain. Overall, "fun" is probably the wrong word for a game about slowly dying alone and desperate, but it certainly was engrossing and worth a play!
Apr 12 21:21:50	19m 47s	Wonderlife	♥ 1	Oof, that hits close to home! Great satire, very pointed. I think it was a good idea to focus on polish more than length, especially with different endings. You captured the aesthetic excellently!
Apr 12 21:40:05	18m 15s	Beavers Inc.	♥ 1	I really enjoyed this! You did a spot-on job with the vibe of really old games, it definitely would fit in with stuff like Oregon Trail. It took a little bit to figure out how to do well, but it never got frustrating. What made it easier was remembering that the theme is just "delay" the inevitable, and so I might have to ignore dams that I know are about to break because I can survive just one more turn without them. I'd absolutely come back to this with more levels, or even an endless random mode (even if there's no guarantee it's ever winnable)!
Apr 12 22:00:44	20m 39s	The Pit	♥ 0	A fun little game, but I don't think I was able to fully experience it in single player. But wow, reading other comments and learning that you can throw things at villagers, and extrapolating that to "if I can kill someone by throwing stuff at them... and I can pick up and throw corpses... Can I kill someone with a previous victim?" A+ sense of humor! Really, my only issues are the lack of a game over screen (I had to sit there staring at my corpse as the meter ran out repeatedly) and not knowing when I'd draw aggro from villagers. A few times, it felt like they just turned on me for no reason. Then again, I did see someone drop dead for seemingly no reason right in front of the pit, and it's possible I might've accidentally done that while trying to throw something in? If so, that's even funnier, the idea of a wizard pelting someone in the back of the head with an apple so hard they die and then being shocked when people are upset with him!
Apr 12 22:16:32	15m 48s	M.A.D - Maintain A Dictatorship	♥ 1	Overall a fun game! I made it just over 400 seconds. I found it kind of hard to save up and actually get anyone other than police, but I think I was too proactive in taking down rebels as soon as they appeared instead of preparing for the future. I was able to get a unit on the edge of the capitol once where it was fighting but still healing faster than it was being damaged, which I enjoyed but might not be intended behavior. I found the audio a bit overwhelming with overlapping voice clips, but I like the idea of it. I also didn't realize where the military base was for ages, so I think it should be a bit more obvious.
Apr 12 22:36:35	20m 03s	Mutating Escapist	♥ 0	Nice concept! I loved the vibe of it, the voiceover was very well done. It was a bit tricky to navigate with such limited vision, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I can tell you put a lot of time into level design and making sure each level was beatable with any mutation. Unfortunately, the wall jump was unusable to me - having to hold the direction against the wall I was jumping off of would prevent me from reaching the opposite wall, and I'm not able to switch directions midair fast enough to make it work. It's still fully playable with the other mutations, but I'd like the opportunity to explore the levels more and see what routes you planned for that as well.
Apr 12 22:57:55	21m 20s	Oedipus Rex	♥ 1	Oh, I loved this! I have a fondness for Greek myth (as my own jam entries might suggest), and this sort of twisting reimagining was such a cool take! I really liked the way the text was formatted, it made me think of plays written in verse, which I suspect was intentional. The mood was so well done, and it felt natural to try again even knowing that fate is inevitable and before I realized that things change each time. And wow, that ending - I feel like I should be annoyed that it subverted the mood, but it was just too clever! Seriously, this might be my favorite entry that I've played so far, excellent work!
Apr 12 23:52:52	54m 57s	Procrabstination	♥ 2	I'm the kind of person who procrastinates on work on the computer by cleaning my room, so I instantly lost the first time I played. It's a delightful little clicker game, and just a fun silly concept. Crabiroth was a tough fight, but thanks to my years of Cookie Clicker I managed to take him down! Like other people have said, it was a bit too easy to click through and restart a minigame, and the unskippable intro to Crab Wars was kind of tedious, but those enhance the procrastination. Also... I'm not saying I'd read a full-length novel of The Lustacean, but I'm also not saying I wouldn't. Loved the idea, and great execution as well!
Apr 18 20:45:12	140h 52m	GO GA	♥ 0	I agree with the other commenters that the art style and whistling noise were well done! I think that if the cracks formed where the creatures were standing rather than it just being random, it would give a lot more depth and strategy in how to move. I also found that there were a few occasions where one of the creatures would sometimes stop moving after a whistle instead of following me like expected. Looking at the other comments and responses, it sounds like that might've been intended, but if so that should be explained somewhere because I assumed it was a bug.
Apr 18 21:18:25	33m 13s	DEORBITING	♥ 1	I do really like your concept. However, I think the execution falls a bit short. I couldn't figure out how to make the pins move properly with A/D, so I had to resort to the mouse, even though mouse controls aren't mentioned anywhere. It felt like the gravitational shifts were happening too much, so that I would go and fix one generator and then it would immediately be unfixed by the time I'd done another. Maybe a spectrum instead, where it's still good at +/- 1 or 2, so there's time to go to the other generators? Also, the scene transition animation is unnecessarily long, and having the game active and playing in the background means the player either loses time or starts moving without being able to see. Once, the animation actually got stuck and I had a bunch of thin black slivers all over the screen! I would be very interested in an updated post-jam version with some clearer instructions and bugfixes, because I do think it's a good idea!
Apr 18 21:45:59	27m 34s	A Halting Problem	♥ 1	Overall, very enjoyable and super impressive for a jam game, let alone compo! I only had a few issues, but they've all been addressed already (saving the configuration, box contents off screen, zooming) and are pretty minor. It's been a while since I personally have played a game in this style, and I always love a good puzzle! This is the kind of thing I'd love to see expanded and fleshed out with more levels in the future, especially since it's already so polished.
Apr 18 22:06:42	20m 43s	The Inevitable Relay	♥ 1	Made it 3518m! Overall a fun game! It was a bit hard switching when all the people bunched up and I couldn't tell which health bar belonged to who, especially since standing still also depletes energy and so I couldn't afford to pause and sort out the numbers. But those are really minor things! I think the concept is fun and the sound effects are a really nice touch.
Apr 18 22:20:36	13m 54s	Make a Manga Series but It's a Fishing Game	♥ 1	It's a fun concept, I like the metaphor. I think the idea might be that you're going to end up doing poorly no matter what, right? If so, that should be communicated a bit better - maybe something like "I know I'm a terrible manga artist, but I'm going to keep going as long as I can before they realize I have no talent!" at the beginning or snippets of text between weeks saying "I can feel myself starting to run out of ideas but I just want to keep the series running until I can't anymore". Without that sort of indication, it kind of felt like I was just bad at the game instead of that being the point.