FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD23 → Poiesis

Poiesis

By themgames

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Innovation34.21
Theme24.31
Graphics144.43
Coolness282
Mood633.30
Audio813.20
Humor972.60
Overall1023.17
Fun1822.49

Comments

maato 2012-04-24 02:09

The zip file for Windows seems to be corrupted. I cannot open it at all.

themgames 2012-04-24 02:58

The upload wasn't complete probably, give or take a few seconds, it should be good by now :)

dansludumdare 2012-04-24 03:15

Windows 7, 32 bit

"""
Failed to find a pixel format supporting antialiasing ; antialiasing will be disabled
1.6 1.6
1680 1050
Failed to create image, its internal size is too high (4508x668)
"""

themgames 2012-04-24 03:22

Thanks Dan, we'll be looking into that !

themgames 2012-04-24 03:27

And making the game lighter also!

suds 2012-04-24 03:37

Windows 7 64-bit. I get an empty CMD window on run. No game.

fprawn 2012-04-24 03:37

OSX version failed to run:

Crashed Thread: 0

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
Library not loaded: @executable_path/../Frameworks/sfml-audio.framework/Versions/A/sfml-audio
Referenced from: /Users/USER/Downloads/Poiesis.app/Contents/MacOS/LudumDare23 copy
Reason: image not found

jungorend 2012-04-24 04:15

I couldn't find the button on the right to complete a level, but it was a very cool concept. The look of the game is very appealing!

dylan-m 2012-04-24 04:26

The graphics are interesting! I like how it's pieced together from real photographs. Looks really neat.

I love how you managed to make a very delicate feeling using all the tools. It feels appropriately tense when I'm about to poke a hole in one of my little planets. I felt really overwhelmed with the keyboard controls, though. I feel like I'd prefer more mouse-based controls just because all the keys are hard to remember, but I'm interested in why you went with keyboard controls :)

permanent7 2012-04-24 04:41

Really liked this! Very interesting and different imo! Fun to play, graphics were very nice. Audio was good. My only beef is a better tutorial at the start to explain things better would have been nice. Also everything ran fine for me. win7 64bit.

themgames 2012-04-24 04:52

Thank you everyone ! We're going to bed, but we took the time to fix the few bugs you reported, everything's fine now !

If it didn't work the first time, please give it another chance :)

mrevilguy 2012-04-24 05:04

I had a lot of trouble following the tutorial and figuring out how to do stuff to the planet (like Dylan, I wasn't fond of the strange keyboard controls). But I love the idea, the artwork, the music, and how it's all put together.

nefariouszhen 2012-04-24 05:05

I couldn't figure out how to complete a level either, but it looks fantastic. Nice work.

edbadiux 2012-04-24 05:31

I really liked the asthetics of the game but it was very hard to understand the flow of the game.

themgames 2012-04-24 12:32

We will definitely work on flow and control good friends!

Now as to why we went for keyboard and mouse control, it's simple: we wanted the player to feel like a surgeon using both hands. Why the weird "Space bar + C" the reasoning behind that is: we want people to pinch the planet, so what's the key they'll use their thumb with ? SPACE BAR nobody uses the space bar with another finger so that's that :)

aaronsnoswell 2012-04-24 17:43

On my mac the mouse cursor doesn't show up (meaning I can't get past the third part of the tutorial!) Please fix this - I really really really want to try this game! From what I've seen it looks amazing! I'm a fan of the quirky controls, btw :P

cr0ybot 2012-04-24 18:00

Wow, this looks great! Quirky, humorous, and aesthetically beautiful. However, I have to jump on the keyboard-interaction bandwagon: I couldn't remember all of those keys! Sometimes "realism" isn't worth sticking to, especially for something like this where there are over 1000 games to check out. If something about your game bugs someone, they'll just stop playing it and move on to the next one.

jfransham 2012-04-24 18:07

beautiful game, brilliant concept, but REALLY needs a better tutorial and support for slightly less widescreen monitors

jrasmussen24 2012-04-24 18:10

Very nice! I did experience some issues with the Mac version. The cursor does not consistently show up (as stated by aaronsnoswell), but I also had issues with the magnifier controls-- press 0 would toggle it on, but not off. I did get the cursor to show up eventually, though.

make-a-game 2012-04-24 18:27

I also couldn't find the button on the right but otherwise this game has a strong image, the old photography style was amazing, and the idea brilliant. The fonts were to small to read without effort and lacked a synergy with the art style. The music got a bit repetitive after a while.
Thanks for the experience it was worth it, and keep on the good work =)

susanthecat 2012-04-25 18:25

The game crashed after the first image. Using netbook and Windows 7

jiddo 2012-04-25 18:42

No doubt the most beautiful and innovative game I've played so far. It captures the theme brilliantly as well. I would love to see some more content tho. I ran it on Linux using Wine, and except for some rendering issues in the corner and some quirks with the mouse control it worked very well. Great work!

gabriel 2012-04-27 20:16

Very interesting entry, and certainly one of the biggest productions so far, congratulations! I liked the control scheme and really felt like a surgeon, so extra points for making a creative control method that talk to the theme as well. The thing with this game is that I think liking it really goes from person to person as much as gardening or building miniatures, for example. It is calm and contemplative, you really need to have the right expectations and get in the vibe. I'm usually only fond of toy-like games that present lots of simulation characteristics and emergent behavior coming from the simulation, but I ended up really enjoying this one. Plus, I'm definitely maxing out your score on innovation and theme - it's so rare to find games that really go against the flow! Congrats!

jerm 2012-04-28 05:53

Cool idea! Was fun planting trees on my little planets :) Although I couldn't figure out how the scoring worked and it was difficult at first to figure out how to plant trees as I wasn't sure how deep to make the hole and how to plant the seed (some visual cues could probably help here).

r3ason 2012-04-28 07:37

wow...this is deep! I definitely like the slightly awkward controls, and the precision that goes into poking holes and such. Love it! Thanks for sharing! Bookmarking for later inspiration...

Jeremias 2012-04-28 14:27

A very nice game. Beautiful graphics and sound and a fantastic use of the theme.

Your used font is very difficult to read... the tutorial isn't good at all: to many text and a hard to follow. A direct feedback of what I aim for would be nice.

summaky 2012-04-28 14:34

I wasn't unable to understand how to play it, sorry. I tried to follow the tutorial but no tree could be planted ever! The graphics and the concept are very well done, thought.

volando 2012-04-28 17:26

me neither. Didn't find out how to achieve a goal. BUT loved the concept, the interface and the graphics. The music is very relaxing too. I would make it more straightforward to the user. So the idea can be catched quickly. Well Done!

nornagon 2012-04-29 08:37

Win 7 64-bit, I get a blank cmd.exe.

jigxor 2012-04-29 11:32

The game looks really cool, but unfortunately I am unable to play it at this stage. It crashes after the first loading image (even with the bugfix version). I am using Windows 7 64-bit. I hope you're able to fix this so I can play!

gunmonkey 2012-04-30 00:48

i really wanted to like it but alas it would not work

sfx 2012-05-01 00:59

I couldn't plant a tree or rotate the planet, which was quite unfortunate.

julianspillane 2012-05-01 01:10

Beautiful game and a very innovative concept. My biggest problem, though, was the lack of feedback when trying to plant anything. I couldn't really figure out what the specific depth requirements were for trees vs seeds. Also, manipulating the poker on a laptop touchpad is near impossible.

Still, it's a great concept and I really hope you refine it and work on it outside of the competition. :)

blackbulletiv 2012-05-01 08:07

It just sat for ages on the command prompt window. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit.

thegreystudios 2012-05-01 11:15

Wow, this is amazing. I love the concept, the graphics and just the overall vibe this produces. A few things are a bit clumsy feeling but man this is awesome.

Keep up the good work!! :)

someone 2012-05-01 16:22

Interesting game. It runs well in Wine. I did have trouble planting stuff initially as there is no feedback of what you did wrong.
It would be helpful to have the tools on the table somewhere, and labeled to not have to remember the keys.
Also the needle impression doesn't map perfectly to the tool which feels off.
You also don't seem to have any seeds or anything in the later levels.
If the worlds were a little more dynamic this game could be really awesome.
Good work.

dr_soda 2012-05-06 07:42

Like many of the others I was baffled on what I was supposed to do, how to clear a level, how to fulfill a request. It's a shame there are such usability concerns here, because the graphics, sound, mood, and humor are all excellent.

andrew-2 2012-05-09 22:40

While I appreciate the idea the needle seems uncontrollable. Maybe because I'm using a laptop pad?

ehtd 2012-05-12 18:59

I believe the controls are to complicated... Extracted a tree somehow, but couldnt do much. Still very nice concept, it just needs more work.