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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Quinn_Patrick's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 4 15:54:28 | 1868 | ♥ 2 | This game has a weird balance. The voting section is trivially easy, but the rhythm game section is impossible! Different colors would be helpful, but mainly I was just surprised to learn how hard it is to develop an association between the letters and the different keys I had to press. One of my favorite things about Ludum Dare, though, is getting to play strange and highly esoteric games like this. | |
| Apr 4 16:04:16 | 9m 48s | Stupidly Inevitable | ♥ 0 | There're definitely some technical issues here. Restarting the game after dying causes it to crash, I think. Also, you say it's inevitable that the hero defeats the boss, but I'm pretty sure the player can still die, so that's a little confusing. There's also issues with control responsiveness, etc, but it sounds like you're already aware of most of this. I liked the characters. I found them to be well drawn and exuding personality, It'd be nice to know more about them. |
| Apr 4 16:22:41 | 18m 25s | Gone Out West | ♥ 1 | Once I realized that fighting can be avoided by just waiting in town until the road it safe, it began to feel like I could survive indefinitely. This might be the most complex compo game I've ever played, which is impressive, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong by not understanding the mechanics completely. I really like the horseback riding animations. |
| Apr 4 16:34:09 | 11m 28s | Gotta Go | ♥ 1 | That was a pretty wild and entertaining experience. Here's a Unity tip: Be sure to move your RigidBodies using AddForce() rather than setting the transform or velocity directly. This will ensure that your collider respects collision properly, rather than stepping part way into the wall and then being pushed out on the next frame. If you're using the character controller component, I think there's some sort of move method that gets the same effect. |
| Apr 4 16:51:57 | 17m 48s | Tick Tack | ♥ 1 | It's a shame that so much got left out. There's the potential here for a really hilarious and adorable game, discovering all the different ways to cheat. What is there is still fun, but it's definitely very straightforward. I wish there was a way to tell when the teacher is about to turn, as it is it feels like dumb luck whether or not you get spotted. Nice job overall, I appreciated it and I enjoyed it. |
| Apr 4 16:58:05 | 6m 08s | Onslaught | ♥ 1 | It wasn't clear to me how the shooting actually works. It feels unresponsive. Is there some sort of cooldown? I tried a few different things and got the best results just holding all the buttons and once and watching the fireworks. The song is really cool, and I like the Martians' dopey faces. Neat little game. |
| Apr 4 17:16:55 | 18m 50s | Musical Thrones | ♥ 2 | This was quite good! My biggest complaint is that there's no real challenge except for the arrow blocking sections, which are easily the best part. Typing the words and memorizing the symbols was completely trivial (which I suppose is better than it being way too hard, which a lot of LD games are). Also, the talking sound at the beginning is really annoying, so I was surprised when the music in the actual game turned out to be so good. Overall, the level of polish on this game is beyond the pale by compo standards, so great job. |
| Apr 4 17:27:11 | 10m 16s | Fifty Dollar Smash | ♥ 1 | I love Robotron 2084. I wish more LD games were like this. Just a simple, straightforward concept that's hard to get wrong. And you did a lot of things right here. I like the gun mechanics, where picking up the upgrade only gives you one clip of bullets, so you have to keep picking it up again. At first I thought the ideal strategy was to just sit in the center of the screen and shoot, but that got me moving. Overall, though, there is room for additions. Some sort of crowd control option like a grenade or a shotgun would really open this game up, since I found that I was usually finished once the crowds got too large. Also, making the targets wider so they are easier to hit from above and below would be a good change in my view. Great job, though, you made a solid 48 hour game. |
| Apr 4 17:41:42 | 14m 31s | I hate angry spiders! | ♥ 1 | I love the concept. This guy lives his whole life with the spider going after him. As I was figuring it out I was thinking "why doesn't he just use the axe to kill the spider?" and then that's what happens at the end. I had a laugh at that. It was also lots of fun figuring out what to do with no tutorial or anything. People may complain about that, but I think it was a good call. The only thing holding this game back is that it is rather short and not terribly ambitious, even for a jam game. If the sequence had a few more elements in it, that would be a big improvement. Also some more polish on the title and end screens would work wonders. |
| Apr 4 19:17:25 | 1h 35m | Sea Level | ♥ 4 | So the WebGL version doesn't seem to show the entire screen. You can fix that by in Unity going to Build Settings -> Player Settings and from there setting the screen resolution to be in line with what you want. I played the downloadable version though, and it was a decent little strategy game after I got through the first few very short attempts, figuring out what to do. The balance is very tight, with the goal being just barely achievable in my experience, which is a good thing. This game would definitely benefit from more feedback when the player does something. I found it rather unclear what was going on most of the time. The visuals are really good, though. |
| Apr 4 19:32:50 | 15m 25s | You will die anyway | ♥ 3 | Wouldn't this game make more sense if it was locked down on a grid? It kind of felt like most of the puzzles just came down to trying to tease the physics into having the desired effect, as well as trial and error, since there's no way of knowing what the switches will do before you press them, and there's only a brief window during which the switches are pressed when the boxes move across them on the conveyer belt. Also, what's with all the fake passageways in the cave walls? Is there any way of interacting with those? |
| Apr 4 19:44:27 | 11m 37s | An Inevitable Race | ♥ 0 | This is a really pretty entry. The trails and bloom are appealing, and the audio is great. As a game, it's pretty simple, though. There isn't really a clear metric for success, and flying around grabbing stuff is about as straightforward as it gets. Adding the opponents brings some much needed complexity, but it isn't really clear how letting them win hurts you. I wasn't really won over by the deep philosophical stuff (it's spelled 'existence,' by the way), but I did think it was kind of cool how the allegory for life came through as the game went on. |
| Apr 4 19:53:44 | 9m 17s | Pillage Quest | ♥ 0 | I love the character and enemy designs. I found them beyond charming. There are definitely some issues here, though. What's with the warrior? His controls are incredibly unresponsive. For a while, I wasn't even sure if the spacebar did anything. The wizard is so much better its not even funny. Also, the meatball faces seem to be unkillable, at least by the wizard, which is a bit of a problem. I do like how the village shows its health by getting more and more burned, though, that was a nice touch. |
| Apr 4 20:15:09 | 21m 25s | 2D Platformer | ♥ 2 | The "correct" way to make those platform interactions work properly in unity is to manage all of the rigidbody movements (both the character and the platforms) with AddForce() instead of setting the transforms directly. A lot of new developers find this daunting because it requires understanding the relationship between force, velocity, and position, but it's worth it in the end, as it will keep all of the movement within the bounds of the physics world and the collisions will be fully respected. One trick is to use ForceMode.VelocityChange in the second argument, so you can count on the velocity changing by a particular amount irrespective of the rigidbody's mass. My experience is that continuous vs. discrete collisions won't make much of a difference in this case. You're not alone here, I learned most of this from trial and error and extensive googling when I had the same problems, and judging from some of the other entries I've played, this knowledge is fairly hard to come by lol. |
| Apr 4 20:23:39 | 8m 30s | Hold the Door! | ♥ 0 | I'm sure you're already aware of most of the issues. There isn't really any gameplay besides running back and forth, counters overlap, there's no way to restart the game from within, and the iron doesn't appear to work on the door, only the wood does. This is a decent programming experiment, though, and I find the visuals very charming even if they are primitive. |
| Apr 4 20:26:11 | 2m 32s | Time is the invent | ♥ 2 | I've had that problem before. You can fix it by going to Build Settings -> Player Settings -> Publishing Settings -> Compression Format -> Disabled. Remember to always test your builds, even when they're uploaded! |
| Apr 4 20:33:49 | 7m 38s | Hyper Keepy Ups Turbo | ♥ 1 | This is a great entry! A very novel idea well executed. I like the enemy variety, especially. A couple things I would change: it's good that the movement is fast, but an option to go slow would also be good. Going fast all the time makes it difficult to position myself under the ball and weave through bullets. Also, it seems unnecessary for even the weakest enemies to take multiple hits. It just makes the gun feel weak, especially when I can get bombs so easily, which are so much stronger. Usually if I'm griping about balance, though, it's a pretty good sign for an LD game. Great job. |
| Apr 4 20:50:19 | 16m 30s | Doomsday Survivors | ♥ 2 | Well, that was certainly an experience. It was obviously way too easy, but blasting away everything the instant it appears with massively stacked powerups is quite a feeling. Nice job. |
| Apr 4 21:02:11 | 11m 52s | Don't Freeze | ♥ 1 | Wasn't Keep It Alive the theme of LD46? Oh well, that's basically the same as Delay the Inevitable, anyway. This is a really pretty game. Great graphics and atmosphere. Unfortunately, running into the darkness to get wood over and over again wears thin pretty quickly. I found the TNT but I couldn't figure out how to make it explode. Oh well. |
| Apr 4 21:17:41 | 15m 30s | Out of Time | ♥ 1 | This game is so abstract and so rudimentary, that it's almost hard to criticize. It's obviously primitive, but in terms of executing on the concept, it's rather successful. So, I suppose the most significant suggestion I can think of is to just be more ambitious, take it farther, add more. But in terms of actionable advice on the game that's there, it would be nice if you could move diagonally, and if the green squares lasted long enough that you could at least reach them from the center of the board. Good job, though. I enjoyed it. |
| Apr 4 21:25:10 | 7m 29s | Marblepocalypse | ♥ 0 | Excellent take on the theme. It could definitely benefit from more depth, but this is one of the only entries I've played thus far that impressed me with its creativity and originality, nice job. |
| Apr 4 23:06:25 | 1h 41m | Spooky Gothic Siege | ♥ 1 | My biggest gripe is that the units are really weak. I saved up for the machine gun nest, and he just sprayed bullets at random until he died. He didn't kill a single zombie! The sound and atmosphere is great, though, and the animations are smooth. Good job. |
| Apr 4 23:35:05 | 28m 40s | Delayed Trickshot | ♥ 2 | This is really fun and well made. I beat the whole game without noticing that you can rotate blocks. My only complaint is that the zone affected by the fans is very unclear. It seems to include an arbitrary space above and behind them. This is one of the best jam games I've seen, though, nice job. |
| Apr 4 23:42:06 | 7m 01s | Tree loves Sun | ♥ 1 | This is really technically impressive. I'm not sure I could program that tree if I tried. When my game ended, it said record: 0 even though I collected something like 180 flowers, so I'm not sure if that's working correctly. |
| Apr 4 23:48:47 | 6m 41s | Caveman Bob and the Inevitable Dawn | ♥ 1 | I'm going to go the same way as everyone else here and say that it really could have benefited from some audio. A nice thwack when you hit a mosquito, the grumbling of the caveman king... all of it begs to be heard. But I will say that the graphics are awesomely retro. Nice job. One other minor thing is that it would be nice if the dead mosquitoes were more distinct from the alive ones. I found myself a couple times swatting at ones I had already killed. |
| Apr 4 23:54:48 | 6m 01s | EDM (Extinction Dino Meteor) | ♥ 2 | Did you by chance play my game Super Survival Ball from LD46? It had very similar mechanics complete with a (now defunct) online leaderboard. Your version's not bad, I suppose :P. The graphics and audio are really good. Clicking on the meteors is a little difficult when they're moving fast, which is part of why mine went with a pong-style paddle. |
| Apr 5 00:11:05 | 16m 17s | Hex'd | ♥ 1 | This looks like an NES game, and it's about as hard as one! It seems like all of the potions are located so that you can just barely get to them on time. My biggest complaints are that the collisions boxes on the potions and hearts are way to small (I often had to jump to grab them, even when my body was clearly overlapping them) and it's very confusing dying as a slime to running out of time, even when there's no timer on screen. That being said, I love the aesthetic of this game, and it's exceptionally solid overall, especially for compo. |
| Apr 5 00:21:30 | 10m 25s | GrimTide: Delay the Inevitable | ♥ 1 | That was one of the most bizarre, creepiest games I've ever played. Genuinely unsettling. Amazing work. It is a little confusing, but I think that adds to it. One thing I could call a complaint is that intercepting the missiles is next to impossible unless its a head on collision, but the sense of hopelessness is really key to what makes this game cool, so maybe just leave it. |
| Apr 5 00:42:28 | 20m 58s | Coyote Time Lord | ♥ 1 | I like the aesthetic, but the game is frustrating. I found the mechanics very confusing. Whenever I solved a puzzle, it just felt like it was because I had accidently stumbled upon something I didn't know I was allowed to do. A lot of times I like it when games don't give you a complete explanation and let you figure it out on your own, but this one is far from self explanatory. It's cool that it saves your game, though. |
| Apr 5 00:54:21 | 11m 53s | Shutting Down | ♥ 1 | This is really solid and really funny, seriously impressive if it's really your first game. It is a little bit repetitive, though. It gets hard to read the text when I have to click the granny over and over again. That's really my only complaint. |
| Apr 5 01:04:50 | 10m 29s | Red Cube With Gun | ♥ 1 | am ded. |
| Apr 5 01:47:13 | 42m 23s | Captain Beardy | ♥ 2 | So I did successfully play it, and I liked it much more than I was expecting! The art style is very charming, and I adore the airship music. It makes me feel like I'm playing Final Fantasy. Unfortunately the game balance needs a lot of work. I could have easily kept time frozen forever if I wanted to. There's also some oddities like the islands in the sky having no collision whatsoever. That was a shock when I tried to land on one, only to learn that my consternation about crashing into them previously was baseless! Either way, I was really charmed by this game, nice job. |
| Apr 5 01:50:36 | 3m 23s | Impossible Journey | ♥ 1 | It doesn't seem to work for me, even after installing the JRE. It says an exception occurred. Shame, I was looking forward to playing it. |
| Apr 5 01:56:18 | 5m 42s | Sun Chaser (Survival Platformer) | ♥ 2 | This game is decently fun, and the visuals are striking and impressive. I did find it to be rather difficult, with the sluggish controls and devious tree placement, I found it to be virtually impossible to keep up after only about 30 seconds. |
| Apr 5 15:12:52 | 13h 16m | Torchero | ♥ 2 | The graphics and sound in this are great. I had a lot of trouble enjoying it, though, because it's just SO hard. The enemies overwhelmed me with their numbers in a matter of seconds, each one takes numerous hits to kill, their attack range is massive, and they tend to group up so heavily that I couldn't even grab the crystals they dropped. It also wasn't at all clear to me what the torches were supposed to do, except make it slightly easier to see. I didn't notice them effecting enemy spawns at all. Also, with the incredibly long cooldown on the crystal attack, I would expect it to be hugely effective, but it didn't really seem to do more damage than the axe. Anyway, that's everything I noticed. Again, the graphics, animations, and lighting are awesome, so good job. It just needs a balance pass. |
| Apr 5 15:30:03 | 17m 11s | Rewind | ♥ 1 | I found this game really hard, but unlike most hard LD games, it actually began to make sense once I got the hang of it. Finding my rhythm took a bit, but hitting the notes is quite satisfying. It would be cool if there was a punchier indicator of when you hit the note vs when you missed it. The only indicator right now is auditory, and with the tripod or whatever that last thing was, I could barely here it. I also wish that we got to hear the toys play together in some way, they just seem like a band. This is an impressively fleshed out rhythm game for the time it took to create, though, nice job. |
| Apr 5 16:02:32 | 32m 29s | Last Life | ♥ 2 | This game is technically astonishing. I'm not sure I've ever played anything with this many settings. Cheats, debug options, you can adjust the gamma, it's seriously impressive. Unfortunately it feels kind of wasted on such a rudimentary game. Walking around and shooting left and right gets stale after a few rounds, and I wish the timer counted down faster. I don't know what unit of time it's using, but it's definitely not seconds, lol. You did some good work, but I feel you may need to reconsider your priorities. Focus on making a fun, varied game before you worry about giving players the option to customize it in every conceivable way. |
| Apr 5 17:17:14 | 1h 14m | Torture and Ascension | ♥ 2 | This is a simple concept executed very well. Not a lot to complain about. The script could use another pass (it's spelled 'soldier' where I'm from) and some sort of an endless mode would be cool since, as it is, there's not much of a reason to continue playing after you beat it, which takes about 5 minutes. The fact that I want to continue playing it, though, is something that not many other LD games achieve. Great work. |
| Apr 5 17:36:49 | 19m 35s | Starburst Force | ♥ 2 | I always felt like using Unreal for LD is a bit like using an eighteen-wheeler to drive down the street, but I suppose it's worth it for those bloom effects. It looks good, the music sounds great, and I'm always a sucker for a twin-stick shooter. The gameplay could definitely use some more depth, though. A way to move faster, a scoring system, stuff like that, although I get the sense that the deadline got you. |
| Apr 5 19:25:04 | 1h 48m | Magic Missile | ♥ 1 | This is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach, very challenging and unintuitive, but in a way that tempts me to master it, so nice job. I like that the different spells do different things. Having more than one guy on the ground, or some autonomous units I think would be a good addition. |
| Apr 5 19:31:07 | 6m 03s | Defend the Earth | ♥ 3 | A basic game with strong presentation and a few wrinkles to keep it interesting, nice job. I wish I could shoot faster, and that there was some way to vary my movement speed. Going fast all the time is good for getting to the asteroids on time, but it makes it hard to line up the shot. Good job, though. This is a solid game. |
| Apr 5 19:45:59 | 14m 52s | The Last Knight | ♥ 1 | This is quite good, all things considered. I love the visuals. My biggest complaint is probably how frail the knight is compared to the queen, and the fact that he can't heal. I found myself dodging cannonballs and letting her take the hits, because I knew she was much more capable of surviving. Even using that strategy, I died from the knight running out of health, while the queen was nearly full. |
| Apr 5 19:57:26 | 11m 27s | Deck And Decay | ♥ 4 | This is a hilarious entry, and impressively complex and fully featured. I wish there was a bit more thought put into the card game. It seems like my hands are completely luck based, and it's often impossible to win. Is there no way to get better cards, or do I have to just hope my opponent doesn't draw an 8 when all I have are 1's and 2's? |
| Apr 6 01:16:37 | 5h 19m | Age of Chips | ♥ 1 | It would be a huge improvement if you just made everything about 300% faster. As it is, this game is painfully slow. I actually stuck with it for a while, but it eventually became clear that it would be 15-20 minutes to get more hafnium units, probably 45 minutes at least to get the third tier base, and hours to get black matter units, with the amount of time it would take for harvesters to fly back and forth to the mine. If there's a way to speed it up please let me know, because I found the concept really fun and the graphics are awesome. |
| Apr 6 01:27:25 | 10m 48s | Time Wyrd | ♥ 1 | I got 3877 years, 196 points. I'm not really sure what those mean, but there are some things I like about this. It's cool how the levels have branching paths. Most of your issues are technical. The framerate chugs in the first level, and collisions aren't configured correctly (remember to always move RigidBodies using AddForce(), not altering the transform directly!) but I definitely had a good time playing this. |
| Apr 6 02:18:57 | 51m 32s | A Drag on Chaos | ♥ 1 | This is really cool. The aesthetic is highly pleasing. It causes me no end of sorrow to learn that chaotic systems don't work in Unity. Unfortunately, I didn't find the objectives as intuitive as you seem to have intended, and after a few minutes I just wasn't sure what was going on, and I was disappointed with how little chaos the system was generating, which wasn't your fault. I'll add that the dynamic music is awesome. Good job. |
| Apr 6 18:28:36 | 16h 09m | Star Keeper | ♥ 2 | The assets in this are awesome. Flying around a sailing ship in space is a cool experience, and it looks great. The actual gameplay seems to have been an afterthought here, though. As a character with so much hyped up lore, I'd expect to be doing something a little more impressive than fixing a broken pipe, and the controls are sluggish and lack feedback. When I mouse over the potions, for example, it'd be nice to have some sort of a prompt to show that I can interact with them, since I found it difficult to tell if I was selecting the wrong one or if I just wasn't close enough, or if they weren't interactable at all. I want to reiterate, though, that the visuals are awesome and the premise is ambitious. Good job. |
| Apr 6 18:38:03 | 9m 27s | Delay the dancing fire | ♥ 1 | I love the concept, and this is one of the best uses of the theme I've seen. Unfortunately, the end product just doesn't feel finished. The framerate crawls, for one thing, but the big issue was that it just wasn't clear to me at all how to play well. I couldn't tell what any of my units were doing, particularly the dynamite. They would sometimes die, and sometimes return to my inventory. And speaking of the inventory, it was apparently glitching out, showing that I had 2 out of -1 units available, and other such things. That being said, the foundation here is cool and unique, and I'm willing to bet it would be really fun if you guys had more time. |
| Apr 6 19:00:00 | 21m 57s | Circleville | ♥ 2 | I gotta say, this is probably the most esoteric game I've ever played and, as someone with a fairly extensive mathematics and computer science education, I had no idea what the heck was going on. Even after winning a few rounds, I was just drawing circles and watching the dot move, oblivious to my end goal, or what any of it had to do with distance sum inequalities. I suppose I could do the research to learn more about that topic, and then I may be able to understand it, but that's a lot of homework to play one game... That and the music, while definitely novel in its creation method, isn't exactly what I would categorize as easy listening. All that being said, this definitely has its place. One of the things I like about Ludum Dare is that it gives developers an opportunity to delve into the utterly bizarre, clearly what you've done here, and it gives me the opportunity to play it, which is always memorable. My game is about shooting asteroids. I suppose I don't have the brainwaves to make something like this. As for actionable feedback, this could be a lot of fun if it was accompanied by a detailed explanation, understandable to laypeople. |
| Apr 6 19:16:17 | 16m 17s | Crisis Bot | ♥ 1 | This is a marvelously novel idea for an arcade style game. It feels like something I could be playing on Intellivision. Also, the mechanics were conveyed through gameplay incredibly well. I knew what to do just by looking at information onscreen, without having to do any real reading. The biggest problem is that once I knew what I was doing, I found that it took a really long time to lose, and until I did, nothing about the game really changed. It got repetitive, just running from point to point, grabbing energy when I could. Also, the game crashed on me. At least I think it did. It locked up and the F12 console was all red. One design idea that I came up with for this is to have each thing that you repair give you a little bit of charge, so that you can run up a chain, and delay having to go back for charge if you play well. Maybe give bonus points for the more you get without going back to introduce a risk/reward element. It's your game, though, and I'm sure you have no shortage of ideas. Good job, I really liked it. |
| Apr 6 19:28:00 | 11m 43s | HoloTowers | ♥ 0 | Is your game finished? I got to where it said I was ready for the simulation and... nothing. Clicking Start Simulation doesn't work, spacebar doesn't work, even the quit button doesn't work. It also doesn't seem like it's possible to lose. |
| Apr 7 17:43:09 | 22h 15m | Last Stand | ♥ 2 | This is a concept that I never even considered. Engineering the best defenses within a physics engine is really fun. I found it pretty challenging. Only getting $12 per level makes it difficult to move up to higher level defenses. It would also be nice if there was a way to remove old or damaged pieces, or rearrange ones that have fallen out of place. A lot of times, pieces that I needed before started getting in the way of better ones that I can afford now. The audio is really good, too. The music is fitting and easy to listen to. Good job, overall, I enjoyed this. |
| Apr 7 19:14:43 | 1h 31m | Hydropy | ♥ 1 | This is a highly intriguing entry, with very cool terrain generation that changes over time. My biggest complaint is that there doesn't really seem to be much strategy. I would always just sweep out as much of the screen as I could with my cursor. |
| Apr 7 20:42:34 | 1h 27m | Doomsday | ♥ 1 | This game is gorgeous. Fabulous graphics. The second, unkillable meteor appearing with the parting of the clouds was an awesome effect. When it comes to gameplay, though, I do want a little more to sink my teeth into than just clicking as fast as I can, even in Ludum Dare. I used an auto clicker to beat it, cause my finger was hurting. |
| Apr 7 20:51:30 | 8m 56s | Balloon Bash | ♥ 2 | Good take on the theme, and a novel approach to making a game. The Minecraft controls helped me feel at home playing it. It would make sense, I think, for it to be set in a limited arena, so the balloons don't get too spread out. Perhaps the arena could expand as more balloons are added, to increase the challenge. It also needs some sort of scoring system to gauge success, I think. |
| Apr 8 13:55:40 | 17h 04m | NeedyMonsters | ♥ 1 | The artwork in this game is really good, and the concept is fine, virtual pet games are fun. It really just feels like a bunch of clicking around to me, though. Do you think that the number of different resources could be reduced? Having so many just creates a lot of work for my eyes, looking around for the right ones. You should also make sure that the window on the itch page is large enough to include the entire game window, since it cuts off the top as is. |
| Apr 11 15:18:10 | 73h 22m | Mow Bot | ♥ 1 | This is a really good game, and impressively complete. I like that it saves your game and tracks high scores on each level. Unfortunately it's really hard for me to look past the complete disregard for the theme. Also, while the visuals on the title screen and menu are pretty good, the graphics during gameplay look like placeholders. The music is quite good, though. The overall product here is so strong that I would consider it a top entry if only it used the theme. |
| Apr 11 15:36:34 | 18m 24s | Destination Station | ♥ 1 | This is a very fun and hectic game with good music and solid graphics, so good job. Unfortunately it seems to be bugged. The first time I played, I was awarded no money no matter how many passengers I sent through. This was really confusing, until I refreshed and started over and it started working correctly. I did do one run where I didn't know what to do and died quickly, then started over with the cloning tank button, and that was when the money didn't work, if that helps. |
| Apr 12 19:42:31 | 28h 05m | M O R E | ♥ 2 | The maw is quite a frightening villain. It would be nice if there was a way to gain time back, as this would give it an actual 'delay' element. Also, I believe I experienced a bug where pickup up the creatures fails after restarting the game. I would press space, but they would just crumple on the ground. |
| Apr 12 19:53:47 | 11m 16s | Ready, uNsTeAdY, FIRE! | ♥ 2 | The concept is original for sure, but I feel like it's a little bit convoluted. Having to tap buttons to keep my gun from firing feels like a really arbitrary thing to have to do. The biggest change that I would suggest, though, is making the gun charge faster, and giving the player something to do while they wait. Anyway, the audio and story are really charming, and it's cool to see such an original concept in compo. Good job. |
| Apr 12 20:15:10 | 21m 23s | World Birth | ♥ 1 | This game is weird. It made me laugh, though. It seems like between all the voice acting and cinematics, there wasn't a lot of time left to create a varied and enjoyable gameplay experience, which is unfortunate since there still isn't a story category. This one'll definitely stick with me, so good job. |
| Apr 12 20:26:08 | 10m 58s | Fool's Gold | ♥ 0 | I'm sure others noticed this, but it is quite possible to survive on some levels, simply by tossing the exit portal beyond the button. I felt pretty clever when I figured that out! The platforming physics aren't quite as refined as I would maybe like to see. In one level I had to jump through a 1 block wide space and, while I didn't get stuck, there was a certain friction with the tiles that feels like it needs ironed out. Good job, though, creating an entire puzzle platformer under jam conditions is nothing to sneeze at. |
| Apr 12 20:36:32 | 10m 24s | Prison Arena | ♥ 1 | Nice job making a game with no engine, cool stuff. A game like this really requires some sort of feedback when you connect with an attack. A punchy sound effect and an animation or particle effect to accompany a successful hit would elevate this game more than you probably think. Also it would be nice if the enemies would do something more like bobbing in and out rather than just running at me and hugging my body, but any kind of enemy AI in a jam game is pretty impressive. |
| Apr 13 00:22:48 | 3h 46m | Rocket Rally | ♥ 1 | The platforming is functional and responsive, which is actually saying quite a bit. It is a pretty bare bones submission, though. I don't really see the point of the rockets, when all they do is let you jump higher. Since there's only one direction you would ever want to shoot them, why have separate aiming controls? It just feels like a complex input that you have to do to make certain jumps. I did enjoy this game, though, it's technically solid. |
| Apr 13 00:36:53 | 14m 05s | The Inevitable Snowman | ♥ 2 | This is some incredibly polished work, the size of the team really shows. There are some changes I would suggest, though. The hitboxes on the cats are much too small. Hitting them is excessively difficult, and it isn't clear where on their bodies you're supposed to aim. That, combined with the fact that they take multiple hits to kill, means that aiming at them feels sisyphean, and I suspect this would be the case even if snowballs were unlimited. Just shooting the snowman feels massively more rewarding. Also, I agree that the difficulty ramps up too suddenly. The audio visual elements of this game are virtually peerless (though some animation on the characters would be nice), it just needs attention in the balance department. |
| Apr 13 20:41:37 | 20h 04m | BLUNDERSIEGE | ♥ 1 | This is fun, well rounded, and the music is great. I found it a little bit annoying that I had to click on the weapons every time I wanted to use them. It might be better if they remained selected after being used. I love the physics based attacks though. Sending those little guys flying is hilarious. |
| Apr 13 20:48:41 | 7m 04s | Ready... Set... SLOW!! | ♥ 1 | Excellent use of the theme, and a truly novel and entertaining idea. The main thing that occurs to me to add is a map of the track onscreen, like in Mario Kart, to give more of a sense of how much farther there is to go. A linear progress indicator would probably even be enough. |
| Apr 14 23:30:33 | 26h 41m | The Final Clue | ♥ 1 | The story here has a good hook. I actually got excited when I found out it was going to take place from the perspective of the thief. Unfortunately, the time pressure turns it into a speed reading challenge. Actually, the timer is so much faster than anyone could read, that it's more like speed guessing, which sort of defeats the purpose. Also, it might've been smart to have someone with a more firm grasp of the English language edit it for you, if you had such a person at your disposal. There were sections where I wasn't even sure what you were trying to say, which wasn't helped by the fact that I only had time to skim the text. Anyway, it's bold to attempt interactive fiction for Ludum Dare, so good work overall. |
| Apr 14 23:38:55 | 8m 22s | Puffer Panic | ♥ 0 | This is a pretty solid entry. I worry I don't have much to add to what's already been said here. A four player game is really ambitious, and I don't think I've seen anyone attempt it in Ludum Dare before (lots of 2 player games, though). It feels a little difficult to get the cans out of the tank. They tend to hit against the wall and bounce back in. I get that this is part of the challenge, but it might help the game feel if the walls of the tank were sloped or something, to make getting the cans out easier. Also, some sound effects would go a long way. Overall, this is some fun, zany action. Good job. |
| Apr 15 01:01:01 | 1h 22m | Escape The Unstoppable Gooey Blob | ♥ 1 | This rules. The weapon variety is astonishing, and the voice acting is hilarious. I kinda wish that the weapons were a little more rapid fire, especially the slow ones, so you could achieve more of that "shredding" factor that makes games like this fun. Also, being able to see the weapons before you pick them up would make the experience more strategic and more personal, as players would be able to go for their favorite. Also some heavy metal background music would suit this game to a 'T,' though that's just a bit of my personal taste. Great job, this is one of my favorites. |
| Apr 15 01:14:24 | 13m 23s | Lost on the Planet | ♥ 1 | This is a cool game. I was floored by the enemy variety. There are some things that hold it back, though. I've already seen people mentioning the wall rotation. The other thing for me was that it goes from pretty slow and manageable to an unwinnable deathmatch at around 3 minutes. It's fine if it gets to that point eventually, since the game isn't supposed to go on forever, but I would appreciate a more gradual gradient. I also think that shotgun shells should be more scarce since it only takes a couple to take out an enemy. I found that I was never in danger of running out of shotgun ammo, while I had to carefully budget assault rifle ammo. Good job overall, though, this is a solid entry. |
| Apr 16 17:45:57 | 40h 31m | The Looper's BUG | ♥ 0 | The visuals are fantastic and the mechanics are novel and interesting. It obviously begs to be much longer. Complex levels with three or more robots would be fascinating. Also, the lack of music during gameplay was a letdown, considering that there is music on the title screen. Great job overall, though. This is a great entry. |
| Apr 16 18:05:34 | 19m 37s | The Final Word: A Microsoft Word Platform Game | ♥ 1 | The aesthetic of this is really cool, funny, and stylish. My only complaint in that area is that the Microsoft Word theming may be underutilized. Wouldn't it be funny if clicking on the interface elements at the top did something? Or if you could actually click the tick box in Clippy's word balloon? (I tried, lol) In terms of gameplay, it's definitely a much more solid platformer than is typical for Ludum Dare, although it isn't perfect. I found myself sliding off of platforms a lot, especially when trying to go fast. Also, the rotating blocks at the beginning didn't make a lot of sense to me. The music and 'voice acting' is great. Some gameplay sounds would enhance the game feel substantially. It would also be nice if there was more variety in the voice lines. Hearing "it looks like you're writing a letter" over and over again reminded me of "put these foolish ambitions to rest," lol. |
| Apr 16 18:29:03 | 23m 29s | Shaft | ♥ 1 | This is a pretty solid platformer with a very unique core mechanic. The overall package is great, including the music, sound effects, and atmospheric visuals. There are quite a few small issues that I found, though. The platforming could use some polish. You can jump again before touching the ground completely, and the shape of the capsule collider is very apparent as it lets the player crawl up the corners of platforms in a rather unnatural way. The lamp charge was no concern at all for me. I was able to complete the entire game without it running out. I didn't even realize that it could run out until I read some of these comments. Maybe having it flicker or get dimmer as it gets low would make the threat more apparent without taking away from the chilling uncertainty. A similar effect for the player's health would be smart, just something to let me know when I'm low. Another thing that really jumped out to me is how easy it is to get stuck in walls. While it (impressively) doesn't break the game, fidgeting around inside barriers is never a good look, imo. Maybe you could do something like in A Link to the Past, where when you world change into a wall, it goes through, shows you your mistake, and then immediately sends you back. Overall, this is a really good entry. I especially like the lighting and atmosphere. There were no huge glaring issues that I saw. As I said, it was just a bunch of nitpicks. Good work. |
| Apr 16 18:37:46 | 8m 43s | The Climber | ♥ 2 | This is a fairly primitive game, but it has a lot to like. It actually avoids many of the pitfalls that platformers in LD fall into. Collisions are accurate, and I didn't get stuck in walls at all. As for critique, I'm going to go against the grain and say that autoscrollers are fine, this one is just a bit too slow. Faster scrolling and more gravity would make for a much snappier, more fun, and more challenging experience. Congratulations on finishing your game. I can tell you put a lot of work into it, even if you still have a lot to learn. |
| Apr 16 18:49:47 | 12m 01s | Track Switching | ♥ 1 | This is such a novel and fun game, great job! This game would really benefit from some sound, I think that's the only major thing holding it back. Also, some sort of an explosion effect would be great for when the trains crash. It was a bit of a letdown to crash two trains into each other and get nothing but a "you lose" while they sit motionless on the tracks, no debris or fireworks to be had. These are minor complaints, though, the core product here is fantastic. |
| Apr 17 17:00:34 | 22h 10m | John The Icecube | ♥ 1 | The visual and audio design on this are quite good, and the gameplay is fun and unique. The movement is surprisingly deep. Being able to hover in the air by mashing spacebar is really cool, and you can even control direction and speed. Unfortunately, even with this understanding and with the changes made to the jam version, it's just way too hard. The part where you have to climb up a staircase with spikes in the ceiling just felt impossible to me. A great change would be just making the hitboxes on the spikes smaller. Not only would this make the game easier, but it would make it feel more fair for the player, making it more fun. Replacing the power indicator with some sort of a predictive arc would also be a good change, imo. Good job overall. It's a great game and I wish I was able to finish it. |
| Apr 17 17:25:28 | 24m 54s | Electro Rush | ♥ 1 | This is an impressively complete and well designed 3D platformer for a jam. Unfortunately there are issues. The controls feel floaty and many of the animations, like climbing up the ledge, are too slow. It's also incredibly brutal having to restart the entire game with each death, considering how impressively long it is. Also, I couldn't help but recognize the default Unity probuilder texture in there on, well, everything. Still, this is a cool demo, and with some polish it could make for something solid. Nice job. |
| Apr 17 17:41:27 | 15m 59s | The Long Journey Home | ♥ 2 | I love the character design and the world of this game. It's all very charming, and the music isn't bad either. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the game turned me off to it, though not as much as the dreadfully slow airship. It was so slow, I wasn't even sure it was moving at first. The airship music is nice, so it's understandable that you want people to listen to it, but I think the best course of action would be to move the islands farther apart, make the airship about 10x faster, and put something in between to do, like birds to dodge or something. Also, when I died and selected retry, the game over screen didn't disappear, instead just covering the game window. One more thing: some puffy clouds would really spice up that gray skybox. |
| Apr 17 18:54:51 | 1h 13m | Gladiatorus | ♥ 1 | The game feel and polish here are sublime. Great sensation when landing an attack and getting bounced back, amid showers of blood. What it really needs is some metric of success, like a score, so I have a goal to work toward. Some alternate weapons or weapon upgrades to mix things up would also be really nice. What's here is excellent, though, and the inclusion of online multiplayer is highly impressive. |
| Apr 17 19:03:44 | 8m 53s | Nap Time | ♥ 1 | Awesome. Reminds me of some wacky Japanese arcade game. I love how thoughtfully the furniture is laid out, and I love how it deteriorates as the game goes, keeping you on your toes. Swinging on the chandelier is hilarious. It would be nice if the graphics were of slightly better quality, and it would help if the collapsing furniture was animated and accompanied with sound. Great job overall, though. |
| Apr 18 14:36:15 | 19h 32m | Their Next World | ♥ 1 | I like how original the gameplay is, and the music is cool and stylish. I also like the variety in the funny looking planets. My biggest complaint is how difficult it is. From the very first level, shuttling the humans from one planet to another one at a time isn't even close to a viable strategy. Like other commenters have said, slinging them into the void and then hoping they don't drift too far is the only way I could find to get past the first level. There are also issues related to inputs getting stuck if the mouse buttons are released while the cursor is outside the game window (this was on the HTML version). The tutorial is really helpful, though, so overall I liked it. Good job. |
| Apr 18 14:45:49 | 9m 34s | Kore o Kawasu | ♥ 1 | Not much to say except that you don't even have to jump off the side, just go outside the ring and live forever, lol. I can see that you've acknowledged this, but I was a little thrown off by the manual, which really hypes it up like it's going to be hard. I also encountered framerate issues which get worse as the number of bullets increased, although I played it on a laptop, so that could be why. I love the visuals, though, very stylish. |
| Apr 18 15:07:52 | 22m 03s | Orb Sort | ♥ 3 | Good game all around. Reminds me of the Bob-Omb sorting game in Mario 64 DS. I was impressed by how much variety you brought to such a simple concept. I happen to know that in GameMaker Studio, when you go to build your game, you can select package as zip so that players don't have to perform a full installation for such a simple game. |
| Apr 18 15:18:49 | 10m 57s | Evacuation Route | ♥ 1 | Awesome. Missile Command rules, and this feels like that with faster pace and more complications, having to avoid shooting the survivors. I will say that the choice to make the game completable is a little strange, considering that original Missile Command would suit the theme incredibly well, but your decision to make it completable undermines that, since the destruction of all of the cities isn't inevitable. Remember that you have to play other people's games to get ratings. This game is really good, and it'd be a shame to see it not get to 20 ratings. |
| Apr 18 15:34:22 | 15m 33s | The Death Delayer | ♥ 2 | The graphics are fantastic, as others have already said. The eye tracking on the wizard, the animations on the player and the worms, it all just works. The music is good on its own, though I'm not sure if it fits the game perfectly. Some sound effects would enhance this game a lot. I'm not sure what the player character is supposed to be. He looks a little bit... rude, let's say. I understand that the time limit got you, but I'll still share my experience of playing the game. I actually didn't have too much of a problem figuring out what to do. My issue was that once I did, I found it extremely easy. I could have easily carried on forever. So, in short, what this game needs most is some sort of difficulty scaling, and a metric of success, like a score or an ending. I hope this game gets to 20 ratings, because if it does, you're definitely looking at a high placement in graphics. |
| Apr 18 15:58:41 | 24m 19s | Garden Guardian | ♥ 1 | This game has a lot going on. Minecraft style farming crossed with slug-apocalypse gunplay makes for a hectic if slightly disjointed experience. It would be nice if hitting the slugs was accompanied by a sound effect. I would also suggest reducing the slugs' health, to increase the fun factor of shredding through them with rapid fire weapons. I also agree that it would be smart to integrate the farming into the game. Maybe you could sell them for money, and then that's how you get the more powerful weapons? It would also help to break the game up into rounds with a rest period in between, just to break up the action and allow the player to focus on the farming for a bit. There's a lot of potential here, good job. |
| Apr 20 00:03:14 | 32h 04m | You've Kidnapped the Wrong Prince! | ♥ 1 | I was impressed with the amount of strategic depth that this game has. Everything seems really well thought out and the number of interacting systems is truly impressive. I also had a lot of fun playing and experimenting with different strategies. I tried using the wizard once, but he disappeared from my team after one round. Is that supposed to happen? If so, there isn't much point in using him. Also, the game didn't work when I restarted, all of the clickable icons became inert. I had to refresh the page to play again. At first I thought there was no possible way to get past about level 9, but seeing someone make it to 16... maybe there is some value to the wizard, lol. |
| Apr 20 00:19:46 | 16m 32s | Grovetender | ♥ 3 | This is an ambitious game that feels like it couldn't have been made in the compo. The environment is impressively large, complex, and detailed. The player's movement does feel a bit strange to me, however. It seems like the jump just goes straight up and straight down at a constant speed, rather than taking advantage of Unity's physics system. I also found myself wishing that the whole process was just a bit snappier. Faster movement, less swampy water, and faster tree chopping I think would all enhance game feel. I also think that trees should be knocked down by other trees much more easily. Chaining them together seems like something that ought to be rewarding, but instead it just feels like something that only works sometimes. Overall, though, I found this to be a really impressive and complete project. Your team's creative visions comes through very clearly, and it is unique and beautiful. Nice work. |
| Apr 20 00:28:49 | 9m 03s | Keep Up | ♥ 1 | When the game first started and I saw how slowly the ball moved, I thought that surely it would be too easy. Boy was I wrong! Up to six balls and I knew my goose was cooked. This game is really really simple, but it executes very well. It has a natural, fun difficulty curve built right in. The animations on the balls are satisfying, and the drum beat is a nice touch. It's so rare to see an LD game that really tries to do something with audio. I don't have very much to complain about, but then again, that could be because there just isn't a whole lot to it to begin with. It'd be nice to see this expanded upon with a bit more complexity, even if it's just cosmetic. Good job, though, there's nothing wrong with keeping it simple. |
| Apr 20 00:40:25 | 11m 36s | Roadside Dinosaur Demolition | ♥ 1 | This one's hard to rate. It's undeniably fun, and clever, and awesome, but it's also kind of on the edge of what I would consider a game. No score, no hit points, no winners, no losers, just some awesomely authentic roadside dinosaurs to slowly pick apart and see what lies within. It's the sort of thing that dares the player to make their own fun, and I'm not sure the Jenga game is the best way to do that. I found it to be more fun to knock them down as quickly as possible! Maybe you could hide something inside a dinosaur and the winner is whoever finds it first? Honestly, when I saw the screenshot and the title, I thought I'd be driving around and smashing through them, which sounds like a blast. This is one of the most memorable entries this LD. It'll definitely stick with me. Good job. |
| Apr 20 15:03:41 | 14h 23m | Devil of Destiny | ♥ 1 | The sound, animation, character design, etc. are all great in this game. This could actually make for a pretty compelling boss fight as part of a larger game. My biggest complaint is that there just doesn't seem to be any point at all in shooting him. Why even have a gun? Is there something else you can shoot that I didn't see? In addition to the obvious Marvel reference, was that also a Battle for Bikini Bottom inspired shoulder slam attack? Nice touch. Honestly, all of the animation that went into this game goes a long way toward making up for the limited gameplay. Nice job. |
| Apr 20 15:21:25 | 17m 44s | Infested hole | ♥ 1 | infestedholeHighScore.PNG The platforming movement is very robust and responsive. I've seen many LD games struggle with this, so nicely done. Also, the music is amazing, excellent work there. Looking to the future, if you want to expand upon this concept, some additional movement options like wall jumping or sprinting would really take this to the next level. The addition that I would recommend the most right now, though, is some sort of indication of how far behind the monster is even when it's not on screen. I understand that the sense of uncertainty lends atmosphere to the game, but the right thing could enhance that. Maybe a sound effect that gets louder as it gets closer. Something like that. I say this because when I was playing, for much of my run I wasn't even sure if I could die at all. It wasn't for six minutes, when I finally saw the monster, that I knew what I was up against. I noticed in your description that you felt it necessary to let the player know that they cannot collide with the scenery (or obstacles, as you called it). I personally didn't find this to be a problem in your game, but if you are concerned that decorative objects look like obstacles, you could try desaturating their sprites, or giving them darker colors to make them look like part of the background. As foreground elements, I honestly think they're fine. Good work, overall, this is a straightforward and well executed entry. |
| Apr 20 15:36:55 | 15m 30s | Last Core | ♥ 0 | It looks like the rule in the jam is that you're allowed to use assets that you didn't create, as long as you have the legal right to use them and you opt out of the relevant category. As such, I didn't give you a score for audio. That aside, I was really surprised by how well the invincible main character thing worked out. Catching the bullets is just as much fun as dodging them. There are so many possibilities that spring to mind. What if you could absorb the bullets to power up your gun? Maybe you could do something like Ikaruga where you have to switch your shield to catch different kinds of bullets? You've really tapped into something interesting here, and It'd be cool to see it expanded upon. |
| Apr 20 16:39:35 | 1h 02m | Batteries not included | ♥ 1 | This is pretty cool. The level with four large enemies surrounding a big yellow square (level 4, I think?) feels nearly impossible, it took me many tries to beat. My biggest complaint is the technical issues. I had situations where my rapid fire went away for no obvious reason, which I assume was a bug. There was one level where the enemies were immune to my bullets until I died and retried a few times, then it just worked. I had a good laugh at the end. Just barely squeaked into the standings in the audio category, nice job. |
| Apr 20 18:33:48 | 1h 54m | Evacuate Immediately | ♥ 1 | This is really good. The only thing I would change is make the pace a little bit faster. I made it all the way to the end, and still had about 2 billion left. I didn't really feel like trying again, just because of how long it would take to get back to that point. That being said, I was surprised by how long new stuff kept happening for. Also, the HUD could use some rearranging to make it a little more clear. It took me a while to figure out what the four bars at the bottom meant. There's a lot of good stuff. I was surprised by the amount of strategy involved in managing energy. The graphics are good, and the music is perfect. Also, my cat liked the text sound effect. So good job. |
| Apr 20 18:52:56 | 19m 08s | Disaster City | ♥ 1 | It's kind of funny to me that being able to repair buildings with Dot there wasn't your intention. The game seems to encourage you pretty heavily to do it! There are workings of a good strategy game here, but as it is it's a little bit simple and repetitive. The same monster every couple turns, you get the same amount of money each round, etc. It just needs a bit more uncertainty and variety to go to the next level. Some other things to invest in would really help. It'd be cool if you could buy a unit that increases the amount of money you get per round, or if you could upgrade your buildings to have more hit points. It's also pretty easy. Just cutting the number of days from 100 to 50 would be about right, I think. I beat it with 54 days to go. |
| Apr 20 19:21:19 | 28m 23s | Avoid Him Like the Plague | ♥ 2 | This is a solid, well-rounded game. Everyone who worked on it did their job well. I don't even have that many suggestions to give, but I do have a couple things. It would be neat if there was a double jump, and you could jump mid-air after dashing. It would obviously require the level to be redesigned, but this game would benefit from a little more depth in the movement. For something more actionable, punchier sound and particle effects when reaping someone would really enhance the game feel on this one. Good job overall, though, this is a great entry. |
| Apr 20 19:48:11 | 26m 52s | Battery Assault | ♥ 0 | This is really, really well made. The art style is very clear, the music is good, and there's lots of movement and personality. The game also has an impressive amount of strategic depth, although there is a bit missing. The obvious issue is that its really easy to avoid dying. Even sitting still after running out of power, I just watched the enemies struggle to hit me for turn after turn. It's a wild guess, but I think this game would be quite a bit more fun if the board were one or two squares smaller. It would make the enemies a more present threat, and it would be easier to reach the batteries on average. It's a bit frustrating to run out of charge on the way to a battery, after all. |
| Apr 20 20:09:24 | 21m 13s | Bar Up! | ♥ 0 | It is apparent to me that this one isn't done. There is a special category for unfinished games, I think. I actually found myself really like the aesthetic of this game, though. I wish I could offer more feedback, but I feel like what I got to play just isn't close enough to your vision for it to be fair to do so. Time management is a challenge, especially in the compo. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. Here's hoping next time goes better! |
| Apr 20 20:42:27 | 33m 03s | twicoban | ♥ 0 | I'm really impressed by how long this game is, and how challenging many of the puzzles are, while still being solvable. Great work there. There isn't a lot to complain about, in fact, except that block pushing puzzles are a concept that's been done. There's nothing wrong with using a played-out concept (I made a spaceship shooter, lol) but it would be nice to have something to show your unique vision, like good music, art, or likeable characters or story. The great level design goes part-way toward that, but I don't really see myself remembering this particular block pushing puzzle game. That being said, I spent more time playing this game willingly than I think I did any other game I've rated, so you definitely made a compelling experience. |
