kevglass 2011-08-22 22:28
Simple but very cool and nice implementation.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD21 → Mass Escape
By kumber
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theme | 73 | 3.61 | ||
| Coolness | 183 | 3 | ||
| Audio | 201 | 2.40 | ||
| Humor | 205 | 2.00 | ||
| Graphics | 269 | 2.64 | ||
| Fun | 291 | 2.48 | ||
| Innovation | 304 | 2.52 | ||
| Overall | 346 | 2.58 | ||
| Community | 467 | 1.50 |
Simple but very cool and nice implementation.
Nice game.
I don't like that it depends more on good luck than skill because sometimes two guys come at the same time, or they come too quickly one after another and it's hard to reach the door to "cash-in" the ones saved.
No community? Man, you've let me down. Though it is very fun!
Why are they so suicidal? ;o. Must be a mean prison. Anyways, it's fun, except after the three prisoners are taken... Then what?
@BlueShaman: when you take three prisoners, the gates at the top will open.
@Kouta: What do you mean with "no community"?
@nitram_cero: At the beginning I wanted to time exactly the falling, and to lose a life for every prisoner's death. At the end I was running out of time and so decided to let them down randomly; also, I felt it wasn't fair to lose lives randomly, so I changed to losing points.
@kevglass: thanks a lot :)
@Kouta: I understood, maybe; this is my first LD and I rushed to make the game (forgetting everything else). I think I can write a little postmortem now!
I got to 9 saved before I stopped playing. I like the idea of loading up and running for the gates, but there are a few things that I wish you had time to adjust. ;)
The deaths are completely random, as you mention. A lot of times, the player gets stuck in a place where they are unable to do anything about 2 or 3 people jumping at nearly the same time, and you can't do anything but watch. A little more logic on their spawning would have been super helpful.
Also, was it a design decision to disallow people to hold down/up and left/right at the same time? I was often stuck turning into a building too early, and thought it might have been nice to slowly grind up the wall even if I cant turn left/right directly yet. Hopefully you get what I mean. :P
I apparently missed a few falling prisoners, but my truck felt like it was perfectly lined up. It seemed to happen with the high falling prisoners the most. A bit frustrating, especially when I miss another prisoner because I chose this one.
Either way, it was a fun game to play on the train home, and great for a first LD. :)
I wonder what's happening in the prison that make these inmates so eager to end their lives LoL.
Somehow, I feel "gamewatch" inspiration in this game.
My complaint is the same, sometimes it's just impossible to save the inmate. And there's no real pressure for player. Perhaps adding a timer (or if you have other idea) could solve it.
@kavs, thanks for your suggestions. The up/down-right/left is a bug; also, the "missing" should be a collision mismatch. I'm working on a post-compo version where I'll tweak all these wrongs :)
@heck: the initial idea involved the presence of guards who chased the prisoners, so that they had no choice but to jump. About the timer, I am thinking of a post-compo version with an "all-you-can-save-in-1-min" mode, and an "arcade mode" in which prisoners' jumps are not random, but carefully balanced.
i think its a little difficult or reliant on luck, but a nice idea nonetheless.
Everything I wanted to say is already in the comments. :P
So, this is too random, of course, but not "good" random like in a color-matching game, but bad random, so that the game punishes you just because of bad luck.
But somehow this is a nice gameplay. I think I would ditch the randomness as a whole and just make levels with different layouts and times spawnings. Of course, this would need some more tidbits, like guards wandering around which you may not knock down. Or so.