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Remco

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Timestamp	Since previous	Game		Remco's comment
Jan 15 21:26:20		The Last Outpost	♥ 1	Five people left? I thought there where just four! The three orcs left behind because they could defend themselves, and one leftover Amberman. I searched the map carefully. Did it count _me_? Surely ... ah, there... I had forgotten a dog. Unforgivable, I know. The little rascal was hiding their pixels on those of the marketplace-table. It was fitting, I thought. The first ones I saved ... Well, I hoped. Better than this world anyway. Anyway, of the first ones I saved, just about half of them where dogs as well. The others, the first-comers. I had hoped for some closure. There was the salving music, and the curt message that they where in a better place, and then ... 'continue?'. An interesting place to encounter a question mark, even though it is, indeed, a question. Like 'end?' I thought. Maybe. I've always wanted to create a world where you evacuate, and dwindle, rather than grow, grow, expand, exterminate. Others have already done so. In fact, this is one of those, in a sense. Maybe there _would_ be a hard endgame, where you have to struggle to maintain your previously expanding empire, now hollowed out from the inside, rather than attacked from without (or as the case may be, in addition to). So I persevered. Of course I was still slightly lazy. Rather than the strict 'you don't try to skip the arrival phase' I held to previously, I now found it more fitting to just skip as quickly to the end as I could. Assigning (consigning?) more and more of my wards to the uncertain Other. There the dog went. There the turn went. The attack phase started. The _last_ attack phase. The Harvesters' minions, crept slowly to the temple, all the while destroying. (Perhaps I should have mad use of the fact that they all always seems to plan a path to the temple). Eventually, they came upon the temple itself (for the second time -- or third, if you count the world I lost). The last time was last turn, when the orcs had still defended it, and, if the Other permits, lived to tell the tale. As I knew they would. A heroic last stand seems kind of like an orcs bread an butter, right? In a manner of speaking anyway. Then, the temple of Alesh was no more. The monsters had overrun it. Just as well, my people save in the Other. A turtle languidly sauntered towards the pile of monsters now in the middle. A true land of bones and ash now. But we had overcome. And then, before I had time to wonder if I truly _had_ done the right thing, before I could remember that the instructions said to _wait_ instead... ... my browser crashed for the second time. --- I ran into the maximum char length. I'll have to make a second post for the actual review.
Jan 16 21:39:58	24h 13m	Harvest Time	♥ 0	I know it's true for most LDJam games, but this really looks like you where planning to make something bigger. (Three hooks, not just one. The ability to click the 'goon' button again, while away, even though there is just one, etc.) I also understand why your eye fell on my game (speaking of organs falling...). As it is, it's a little contemplation on life and death, with a twist ending. There is not that much more I can say about it. Well done finishing the jam! (One last small thing: When you click to open the body, it seems to also take away the first of the three organs sometimes.)
Jan 16 21:53:16	13m 18s	Farmer Rabbit's Wild Ride	♥ 1	I love the song! Together with the graphics (and tilting cam) it gives a slick feel. The gameplay itself seems a bit simple, but maybe I just didn't go far enough. Are there any pickups other than the bullet-burst (lighting) one? I found myself missing a heart pickup (because if low on health, you _would_ risk going for a health-pickup, when with any other there's less choice in a sense). Also like the puns... would have gone for 'ne-crops' myself, but I can see that this would maybe not scan to people less used to wordplay.
Jan 16 22:13:21	20m 05s	Stealth Organ Harvest	♥ 2	Very tense atmosphere! You left some features out, but what _is_ there feels very polished already. Like those before me already said, that impresses as a compo-game. The only thing I have to add is that maybe I'd have liked an indication of where the mobs are moving to / looking at. (Unless you want the game to be about the observation as well, instead of just planning & execution.) (P.S. Given my own games' title, I had to play this one, of course.)
Jan 17 19:28:58	21h 15m	Bee Happy Harvest	♥ 1	Surprisingly fun for how few game-elements there are :-) I very much also agree with every point in the above comments. In addition, I found that sometimes, a flower would spawn right underneath my bee. Perhaps that also explains why I went slower than I thought I should when only picking up a few. Maybe the 'problem' of people playing it safe (me included) could be dealt with by a different kind of flower or other benefit in the top row(s)?
Jan 17 19:34:52	5m 54s	Hayday	♥ 1	Just missing a few sound-effects for the complete experience! Well done in such a short time. Did you know there's a game-jam each week that's within 3 hours (out of a weekend)? The only thing that had me confused in the beginning of crows hurting the farmer, instead of being out for the seeds.
Jan 17 20:19:02	44m 10s	Metal Petals	♥ 0	I absolutely got sucked in by the mood, possibly because of the excellent audio design. I did note a crash in the web-version, and at some point playing the other version, I noticed the audio doubling up, which _may_ be what caused an earlier comment here that I glanced over to describe the grass sound as grating, despite the original (un-doubled up) sound enhancing the atmosphere. I really enjoyed this, but I do think the interactions outside of the story (tractor, ladder, end-area) could use some work (or maybe it's better to keep it 'pure' and leave that out altogether even?). Mostly in the sense that you basically need to check back on the ladder and the tractor, without any explanation as to why those suddenly _do_ work (from what I could see at least). Something which is neither here nor there: I kept expecting a fake-out end where it would basically just go: 'Now do this again but only pick the metal ones.' ... or something like that, in order to get the best ending 😅
Jan 17 20:32:44	13m 42s	A Walk in Nature	♥ 0	A nice tranquil experience, for a bit :-) -- I did think the music was a bit much tough, maybe I'd have preferred just the birdsong and other nature sounds. I actually didn't mind the speed. If the player wants to walk slowly, then walk slowly, just like in real life. And because apparently I can't stop complaining about a beautiful little game: I think I'd have started off the player near the middle, instead of the edge of the world, where the artifice is already visible if you just turn around.
Jan 18 20:55:12	24h 22m	M.E.A.T. Rancher 2199	♥ 1	Nice concept! It was confusing at first, until I glanced over the comments and caught onto the word 'projectiles'. I had somehow missed these in my first attempts. Maybe I'm just tired from work. The vibe is cool as well, though I sadly couldn't hear the music very well with all the SFX going on at the same time (well, unless you stand still). Not sure how I'd fix that though, since the 'big machinery', 'messy' sound is a large part of the mood. Maybe lean into the juice a little more? From a gameplay perspective, there's some interesting intersections between arcadey gameplay and strategizing going on, but as it is now, I don't really know how to approach it. If go for strategy completely, then I'm immensely helped by the fact that tiles where the blight has been, but are now 'rubble' (for lack of a better word) don't grow anything, and will not ever if you don't drive over them. That means you can essentially just pick your own difficulty by letting the field bloom out the first time, and then only clearing areas you think you can take. I managed to make a 'loop' where I'd wait a few seconds, then went around again, if careful, slightly more than exactly a full truck, slammed that back in the barn & then started again, all without seeing a single projectile (maybe a few infected ones). I stopped when I had done 10 loads or so. On the other hand, I don't seem to manage very long when I don't strategize at all: When I just drive around without any care other than what's going to happen in the next second or so, then it feels a bit _too_ chaotic to me. Still, something you can start playing immediately but manages to have a bit of a twist is always welcome though!
Jan 21 12:45:28	63h 50m	Star Harvest	♥ 1	A very satisfying effect. I found that you can the initial part of the level a little bit when clicking when stars where just moving past one another. I don't feel like I have control after the initial few explosions at all though. A minor inconvenience: You need to wait for everything to have died down, even though it says 'level completed'. It's nice to have a game be completely generated from relatively compact source, everything generated from that. P.S. Sadly audio won't play. I know there should be some, since you include a header file for it. So if you're missing out an audio rating, that's the reason. I played under proton on linux though, so it's also probably on my side. (That maybe also explains why I couldn't find my lappy named 'deck' on the leaderboard -- though now it gives me a 503 when looking at it.)
Jan 21 13:45:37	1h 00m	RED HARVEST	♥ 0	Good job on the graphics! (Audio was very low for me as well.) Concept is solid, but I found the execution a bit frustrating: Mostly in that it seemed if that the others hit me at all, you could not get up (I think it happened once that I could attack). You can't sneak around everything, or really see far enough to avoid that, so it will become a bit trial and error.
Jan 21 15:36:33	1h 50m	You reap what it sows	♥ 1	The version on here took too long to load (and got some scroll-bars), so I tried it on itch.io and that worked. Short & sweet. I got about 4 paths (throwing it out, dying of over-watering, dying of drought, 'addiction' ending). There are a few grammar mistakes: 'what specie is it' -> 'species', 'it need a lot of attention' -> 'needs', 'feed us and be feed' -> 'be fed' (yes, the first 'feed' is with two ee, the second is another tense, so only one e). Nice restricted use of color! One nitpick though: I'm decent-to-good at seeing color-changes, and it was clear to me when the plant needed water and when I would over-water it by clicking one more time, but I think (maybe?) it might be a bit too subtle for a lot of people. Especially since it's mostly the outlines you have to pay attention to.
Jan 21 16:15:59	39m 26s	Big Veggies	♥ 1	What I always like about the clicker games (I can't really call this one 'idle'...) made during jams is that they have a definitive end. Just a nice little experience. Music fits the 'pumping' experience, with the tuba or whatever it was bomping away. At first I was a bit confused about what I could afford, but it turns out the money on screen is just the earnings of the _current_ batch of crops, not your entire money pool. I'd have liked it if there was some statistics at the end, like 'you clicked this fast', but that may just be me. P.S. 'Honey' is spelled with one 'n'. I know that doesn't make much sense given how the pronunciation is with a short 'o', but that's English for you...
Jan 21 16:52:19	36m 20s	Mustered	♥ 1	It was somewhat zen, like you said. Played it for longer than I wanted, since it's quite easy to get sucked in. Sound-effects and ambient music work very nice, in that they don't get in the way, but do really enhance the atmosphere. Since my land got larger, the camera kept drifting south most of the time. To mostly focus on the lake I built on one side of the map. I had a hard time placing things where I wanted occasionally because of that. Fortunately when I placed something, the camera would drift there, giving me some time to place other things. (It wasn't _too_ bad though.) I'm not sure there is much purpose to water. (Other than placing ducks on the coast.) Maybe if coins where a bit rarer, it could be a bit of an 'unwanted' block, but even then you can mostly just put them on one side of the map. I could get by with basically only standard cards, since they seem to have everything except the stones, in such quantities that often you fill up the landscape with enough variation anyway. The stones only seem to exist to give you access to Premium cards, but then the premium cards seem to basically give you the same as the Better cards, except with a bit more livestock thrown in. But I enjoyed it, and that's its own reward.
Jan 21 20:30:02	3h 37m	Crop Creep	♥ 1	While I got to 99% at one time (I think it might've been miscounting, given the mess I made), even after trying repeatedly, I can't get that high anymore. I'm honestly not sure at who's better at completing crop-circles, the easily startled farmers, or me 😅 While it might be frustrating at times, it can definitely pull you in. I think the shaders might be a bit much for my poor lappy though, the game lagged something fierce in fullscreen, had to play windowed. The graphics look good tough, and the kinematics on the bug are nice.
Jan 23 12:05:58	39h 35m	Sow'n'Reap	♥ 1	Hi! You said in your stream you still need ratings 🙂 Before I rip into this (its just ... sometimes a games more interesting properties are not its highlights, you know -- that always gives a bit of a skewed review) I have to also talk about the things I really liked about this game. The soft but understated graphics stile fits perfectly. It's also colorful and pastel enough to not 100% go the 'beige euro board-game' look. The audio is enough to liven up the game, but wise enough not to get all 'in your face' as it understands this is a puzzle game. I also really like where you got your inspiration(s). Cellular automata 'F.T.W.'. It's also, like a lot of LDJam games this time around for some reason, just pleasant to play. Lastly, good job on including keyboard shortcuts (... though I think I only used the space = next day one. Also in the very beginning I thought the (1) .. (4) might be 'action-cost, but I think that is more one me.) It also feels oddly balanced for a game where I thought a bug (well, maybe) was one of the game-mechanics: I originally thought I was going to begin this review with: "Today I Learned: You shouldn't immediately fertilize seeds on planting." My first run had 216 days... but seeds immediately fertilized seemed to take ages to sprout. Could it be the case? I looked it up, and sure enough, there's special 'slow release' fertilizer that you can have as a 'starter' for rye seeds. -- Well, that must be it then. After realizing that, I did another run where I got 117 days with this information. Then I read some more of the comments. It turned out to be unintentional. All of the other systems and overlays, while impressive, I had (felt) not actually _needed_ during the game. -- Watering seems only really 'needed' in the level with clay in the middle, as far as my play-style goes. For the rest, it just seems a matter of planting seeds close to the water, being careful to only fertilize when the no-nutrients icon shows, then harvest and sow. This is a fun enough way to play the game, and, seeing the other comments, still competitive enough to get near a high-score. What I think I'm getting at here is that for a game of this scope all the systems seem a bit like overkill. (This feels very familiar to me.... last time --so not this* LD-- for example I tried to physically model a system -- for what was a point-and-click adventure 😅 ) Anyway, all of that is a lot of words just to say I found it a pleasant little game. win_sownreap_small.png *) edit/PS: Coming to think of it, my _current_ submission had a cellular automaton implemented at one point ... but I decided to scrap that when it turned out that I had little time left and the game I was trying to build with it wouldn't have been fun.
Jan 25 23:36:36	59h 30m	Crawling to the Brink	♥ 1	_Having a physical game, that's also mostly meant for more than one player is really the hard-mode of the Ludum Dare ratings phase._ Anyway, while it may have been a little more difficult to set up and get going than a normal LDjam game (especially since I apparently lost my deck of cards -- what is a game designer without one?) I did have a lot of fun when I got going. I played solo, but I still got the feeling that I outwitted 'myself' on a number of occasions. (Though some turns didn't offer a lot of choice. And I think I only had to use the skip-past-end-of-card rules once in the entire game.) (As an aside, I'm not entirely sure I can see the theme... I suppose the cards are harvested after 'growing' them in a sense, Here's a photo of my game a few turns in (and below that, some observations I mostly wrote during play): a_few_turns_in.jpg - I assume the active analyst switches per turn (since it just says 'frequently', and the alternative seems a tad unfair to the 2nd player). - I found it useful to put the white (Ephiphanal) dice in between the two oracles. (See photo.) That may just be me though. - I think I avoided peeking at the specific (Oracular) dice when I was the active analyst, so I couldn't perfectly (well, in theory, I change my mind often...) predict my own moves as the secondary analyst. Or: ... a turn later I realized I can just roll them afterwards though 😅 - Balancing the great amount of dice rolled to keep the game snappy with the need to use a particular color (for the specific dice) is nice. - Most (immediate) strategic things seem to happen when you can move more than once on the same card in the same turn. it lessens the choices made a bit in this phase of the turn (unless you rolled 6es) but also gives you a bit of breathing room, and it still really feels like you're getting somewhere as the _active_ player. (Since the 1st phase of the turn, after the die rolling it feels mostly like the secondary analyst is 'in charge'.) - I assume that when moving a diviner, you can only move your own pips. And here I realize that you always only move your own, you just _force_ the other player to do stuff sometimes, but it's still their 'choice' (even if there is none). This means you _never_ move anothers diviner, only make use of them to move your own ... which means that, while the game has a lot of random inputs, every choice is (technically) yours. Somehow realizing this simplified a lot of the game, like condensing it into a shape I could very easily grasp. - It seems movement is mandatory in a lot of cases (when all cards are still on the table and no 6es have been rolled for example). This keeps the game snappy, but I wonder if there's some space to be explored in giving possibilities for _not_ moving (on a card for example) say with a few 'abstain' resources. (Would fit in with the story less though... or at least the way the rest of the game seems to interpret the story -- does that make sense?) - I assume the rule for the empty oracle space always holds, instead of just for the specific case of a not-really-lost diviner that should be placed on an empty space. (This also ties in with the advice given under solo play of the Saboteur 'preferring empty spaces'.) - What if an entire oracle is empty? For example, suppose there's only one card left in total (I don't have to suppose myself, since this is what happened...) How does the 'move on any card on the opposite oracle if there's one empty' rule go? Actually, since that card is a 3, and I have to take 4 actions for each applicable set of dice (the dice for the other oracle now do nothing I suppose), each analyst will lose 1 diviner each per half-turn, and the last card will never clear... ... I think I just game-overed 😅 (It bears repeating: I did really enjoy most of it! 🙂 )
Jan 26 20:57:34	21h 20m	BROCOMAN	♥ 2	You went for a mood and I can respect that. I recently watched a speedrun of something called 'I must east sushi or I die' (not entirely sure I got the name right). The unhingedness of that strongly reminds me of this. All the extra stuff on top does tend to get in the way of the gameplay though. (Also in the sense that my laptops couldn't really reliably handle all the effects, making it slower.)
Jan 27 18:27:40	21h 30m	PUMPKING RISING	♥ 3	This game gave me _very_ good first impressions. Graphics, audio and scope of the game are phenomenal. Polish is also evident in most matters (there are a few little annoyances, such as the shop not also closing with 'e', the seemingly somewhat large hitbox of the character, and the way you can't place objects anywhere in a big radius around the bell, right clicking for the seeds feels takes a bit getting used to), but otherwise, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a full game instead of a jam one. I do however have a little problem with the balance. Most of the fun 'buy upgrades', 'discover what this wacky new seed does', etc. is in the beginning. If you've seen everything twice over, you're not even half-way to the goal. While it's satisfying to see that you placed your traps well enough to stop the bulk of the attack, this also leaves you with the combat, and the farming. Both are quite repetitive in their own way, and most of the driving force, except for the end, is now gone. Some other random stuff I enjoyed: I do really like the way you implemented the mouse-wheel menu. The short music loop you play during the intro and story is just really well done. The expression on the main character, and the way the people are also pumpkin 'themed'.
Jan 27 19:00:14	32m 34s	Soul's Path	♥ 4	Loved the graphics style and the fluid animation, as well as the audio, since there's a different (good and fitting) track on each level! The basic movement feels good as well, if you're used to the upside/down flip. And also use the right-button measuring 'device' to make the max jump distance bearable. (It's not immediately obvious that's what it is. I think it would maybe have been better as either a permanent thing or something that shows up if left is pressed longer (slash only on release).) However, I don't think the timed sequences work very well for me. (That's also because it's Friday evening and I lack the patience for it.) Movement before that point could be deliberate and thought out. (I also had softlocked before that, but by reading the comments it seems I could press R to reset the room and that worked.) I made it up to the chase sequence, and out of the first 'screen' of that room, but after that I just gave up (for now, might return later to see if I have recharged). I also kept thinking that, since when the clouds disappear you're just left with the screen edges, there'd be branching paths in the areas where there weren't any clouds to begin with. But that's just death. I don't think anyone (else) would have much trouble with that though. Despite the above, I still mostly enjoyed my time with this! 🙂 (Also there can never be enough games about foxes.)
Jan 27 19:16:16	16m 02s	Harvester Horizons	♥ 1	This is very simple, or at least the gameplay is. I get that the challenge (and joy) is supposed to be the driving, and you made sure that this is in and of itself a task with a little bit of challenge and wonkyness that you nevertheless quickly get the hang of. So that's fine! That, the graphics and the sound work together to make it feel like yes, it's a big truck you're controlling from a distance (could've gone with a bit of screen rumble, but well, you can't do everything). This is also nice. Yet ... There isn't really anything beyond that though. I drive a car about two times per week these days, and it's sort of comparable to that, when it comes to the 'fun' of the matter.