tulrath 2011-08-21 21:33
Seems my web server is getting pretty hard after I submitted this. Please be patient, your request will go through.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD21 → Stranded: Episode 1
By tulrath
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humor | 109 | 2.55 | ||
| Community | 198 | 2.71 | ||
| Audio | 218 | 2.31 | ||
| Coolness | 246 | 2 | ||
| Innovation | 256 | 2.75 | ||
| Fun | 260 | 2.60 | ||
| Overall | 366 | 2.50 | ||
| Graphics | 367 | 2.25 | ||
| Theme | 473 | 1.88 |
Seems my web server is getting pretty hard after I submitted this. Please be patient, your request will go through.
Not bad, audio was a little loud but somehow that seemed kinda fitting. The gameplay doesn't represent the theme, but the story you've worked in there fits it nicely. Enjoyed the gameplay, simple but effective mechanic. Not bad :)
Not a bad idea for a game, although it felt only loosely connected to the theme via the scientists' story :) Would be nice to see some more variation in gameplay - I liked the introduction of moving targets!
Thanks for the feedback - it's greatly appreciated! :)
Decent idea for gameplay, but it doesn't ever really evolve. It would be nice to see more mechanics come in.
Before the moving butterfly, the games looks more like a puzzling. Which I prefer :) Different sets of blue ball and flies for difficulty increase would be perfect
More great feedback, thanks!
@wbobeirne, you're absolutely right - ran out of time :)
@Benjamin, that's exactly what I was thinking -- but of course, ran out of time. This was my train of thought at 1 hour from the end :)
1) Change the ball colors and the fly colors so that you would have to jump from ball Blue to ball Yellow to catch Fly Green -- but in that case you could change the positions of the balls, either rotate the circle or swap two of them.
2) Create bonuses that you could catch that would change color of the ball you are either jumping from or jumping to in combination with 1 above.
3) Create obstacles that you don't want to have your web touch -- like fire. If your web touches fire, the fire goes back and disintegrates the ball you just came from.
4) Create "safety" bonuses that you can catch -- like water. Water and other bonuses could be caught and stored for later use. In the fire example, you would have to jump back to the ball where the fire is going to and click on the water icon in your inventory to put out the fire. In this case, the fire would have to move relatively slowly (but moves faster at higher levels).
5) More of 3 and 4, but with other opposites. Might be quite challenging to get the right combinations.
...and going along with the central theme...
6) Mutations! Each bug represents a different DNA code, catch the bugs in the right combination and your spider gets a temporary mutation. For example: Fly-Fly-Ant-Moth-Ant = Thicker Web, you web becomes much thicker so that you can more easily catch bugs.
...then I was thinking about varying the core gameplay mechanic in Bonus Levels...
Bonus Levels:
A) A swarm of locusts is trying to get past your web, and you must stop them by maintaining at least X number of strands. As the locusts fly past, they sever your strands, so you have to keep rebuilding them. The number of strands you can spin is unlimited, but your web inventory only regenerates at a set rate, so you need to be extremely strategic with your jumps so that you don't accidentally re-spin an existing strand.
B) "Bad" spiders (they got a dose of the wrong combinations of mutagens) are trying to capture you. They build sickly green webs, and if they can build a strand to all of your anchor points, then they've caught you. To undo their webs, you have to jump on the balls where they have a green strand anchored and cut it, which takes a little bit of time. Any strand that is cut in this way will ALSO remove any green strands that it crosses.
...but I simply ran of of time :)
I liked your game, and actually i would go counter to the advice of "adding more mechanics". I would reduce them to the most barebones thing possible, make *that* fun, and then consider if adding another layer of complexity onto the mix does really help you.
But that's just my opinion, the only thing that I know for fact is that you need to playtest a lot, show the game to people so you can get their feedback.
;-)
Thanks for the feedback - it's greatly appreciated, gives me lots to think about.
Follow me on Twitter @tulrath to get updates on Stranded Again - my updated version of the original Stranded that includes Episode 2. Also check out Zombie City Planner at lakehomegames.com :D
The ending was jarring since I just went to your website. The first time I figured that I accidentally hit a link. A BIG "that's all folks" would be nice. (The same thing can be said for my game. The Win condition is a little message that says "Escape")
@Susan, sooo completely agree - I wish I had even the tiniest bit of artistic skill to really give players a well-deserved reward at the end :)