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Feedback comments for LD52
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| Timestamp | Since previous | Game | Tobius's comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 11 23:48:13 | FERTILIZATION FRENZY | ♥ 2 | Fun: Definitely some fun to be had here, placing turrets and growing crops are both fun activities. This could be improved with upgrades / unlocks for both the farms and the turrets. I think the balance of the game also made it too easy once your trigger your first fertilization frenzy. Innovation: The theme complemented in a unique way with the turret defense. One way to make this more unique would be to have the turrets behave in a more unexpected way than just shooting the bugs, maybe they put out clouds of bug killer in areas or shoot fire. Theme: Good use of the theme, including the fertilization frenzy really upped how much theme was in the game. Graphics: Simple, clean graphics with some details. I think the difference in heights looked really nice. Audio: Enjoyable song loop, it didn't really fit with the game in my opinion, but it was still enjoyable. The rest of the sounds were okay, a bit jarring at times. | |
| Jan 13 01:22:26 | 25h 34m | The Harvest | ♥ 1 | Fun: Trying to figure out where to use items and what to do next was very fun! My only complaint is that it became very "samey" by the end of the game, and I would worry a longer game would end up not being fun because of it. However, if the story was good enough, I think it could hold up just fine. Innovation: I think the setting and premise for the game was pretty innovative, but the gameplay itself was fairly common. Theme: The theme was a little weak in my opinion, while you were harvesting organs from the monsters, it felt like the core of the game was exploration and puzzle solving more than harvesting. Graphics: Excellent gameboy graphics! I felt like I was back playing the original gameboy, very well done. The art was all top notch and fit perfectly together. The only critique I have here is that the hallways were pretty empty / similar. A little decor / decal here and there would go a long way. Audio: Good songs and sound effects, fit really well with the game and were enjoyable to listen to. The menu music was a little startling, partially because the transition was so abrupt. Mood: Creepy mystery atmosphere was really well done. The whole game felt very "wrong" and eerie. I think the only critique I have for mood is that there was no real threat of dying / losing. After the first two monsters didn't put up a fight, I felt a little safer than I should have. |
| Jan 14 14:46:41 | 37h 24m | Tile King | ♥ 1 | Fun: Had a good time playing this, it was well balanced (maybe a little too hard) and I felt like every turn I had to think and plan what I was going to do in order to reach my goal. I think one thing that would've made this game more fun is a more lenient lose condition like 2/3 strikes. You could then give the player a bronze, silver, gold medal based on how many strikes they had when they won. Losing outright when you had just finally got a decent setup going is frustrating. Innovation: The fog of war and lighthouse tile were unique, I have definitely played other games similar to this one but I don't recall having this much fog of war, and thus a lighthouse to clear it. One way to make the game more innovative would be to double down on the fog of war and have certain building that don't clear the fog, but gain resources from it. Theme: Excellent use of the theme, the core of the game was about harvesting resources, and everything in the game helped facilitate harvesting. One idea to make the game more thematic would be to add more mechanisms to improve harvesting like tile upgrades, or boosts to harvest more per turn. Graphics: The graphics were neat and consistent throughout the game. I think changing the road tiles to be a "+" shape (or ideally a different shape depending on whether it was next to other roads) would look a lot better than filling the whole tile with the stone brick pattern. Audio: The melody of the song was okay, but the sound the instrument used was very shrill to me and made it difficult to listen to. I would suggest using a softer / quieter instrument for such a simple song, and add more sound effects to the different actions the player takes in the game. |
| Jan 16 01:19:11 | 34h 32m | Herogatchi | ♥ 3 | Fun: Running around trying to survive and kill the goblins while collecting items was pretty fun! I liked that there were melee and ranged enemies to switch things up. Howerver, I think the Tamagotchi mode needed some more instruction / feedback as it didn't seem to matter what I did and there wasn't any feedback other than the big X, which wasn't very fun. Innovation: I found this game idea really unique and innovative. I love the idea of raising a hero and then doing little RPG dungeons with it. Very cool! One area you could continue to innovate in is the combat system, dodging and attacking are pretty common ideas so maybe try and include some of the Tamagotchi elements like happiness and hunger in the combat system (maybe as buffs?) to change it up a little. Graphics: Both the Tamagotchi and Exploration graphics were cute and nicely done. I would've liked to see a more consistent style, or some consistent elements between the two however. Audio: I didn't have any sound for the Tamagotchi section, so adding some simple button press noises would really improve that part of the game! For Exploration, the song melody was nice, but on the WebGL build it sounded very loud and distorted, which too away from the experience. |
| Jan 16 01:52:45 | 33m 34s | Farmula Grain Prix | ♥ 2 | Fun: Had a pretty good time playing this, it was super satisfying to harvest a huge field of corn and just rake in the money. I also really liked the obstacles that would sometimes appear, changed up the game a little bit for that lap. One improvement in this area would be adding more varied gameplay, either by adding more obstacles, opening / closing different parts of the track, or somehow adding incentives for changing up how you were playing the game. Maybe the crowd could hold up signs that say "WATER ME" and you'd get bonus money for using the watering truck that next lap. Innovation: Probably the most innovative game I've played so far this Jam, who would've though racecars and farming would work so well together?! If you wanted to keep innovating further, I think the driving/vehicle stats would be the place to do it. Maybe let me get a wider harvester instead of just turning sharper. Theme: Fantastic use of the theme. Harvesting was front and center as the main way to progress in this game. One way to make this game more thematic would be to add more time spent harvesting, instead of always switching between the 4 vehicles. Maybe the plants could stay for 2 laps of harvesting instead of 1, to just give the player more time harvesting. Graphics: Very polished and well-done graphics, this game honestly looks like it's ready for release based on visuals alone. Extremely well done on the main art, menus, and "ambient" graphics. The water effects and harvesting effects were a nice touch as well. One small improvement would be to add some additional movement to the crops and structures to make them feel more "alive" compared to the crowd. Audio: Great music track and sound effect usage. Every area of the game I expected sounds I got them. I don't recall hearing crowd cheering noises, so that's one thing I think could improve the audio experience. Humor: The concept of the game is just hilarious at the outset, and the different structures I think played into that humor well. Adding some more Formula 1/NASCAR references, or farm humor would go great in this game. |