FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD28 → A Cup of Christmas Fear

A Cup of Christmas Fear

By mistertubbs

View on Wayback Machine

CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness275
Humor3632.00
Audio3892.35
Fun4442.37
Mood4452.34
Overall4952.39
Graphics5102.03
Theme5121.92
Innovation5132.03

Comments

job_ 2013-12-16 16:50

Nice! It's a bit frustrating if you don't know how it works at the beginning, but it's fun.

timtipgames 2013-12-16 16:54

Pretty short. Pretty simple. Fun sounds :) If somehow possible, try to avoid publishing with an installer.

jsjwooowooo 2013-12-16 16:57

Gets tough pretty quick, as your character doesn't have many powers, just a struggle to survive until the inevitable death. I was a bit unsure if when I pushed E made a difference...

mistertubbs 2013-12-16 21:44

Oops sorry! I should have made it more obvious that zombies are randomly killed when you use your power up :) It was just way too over powered when you could kill all the zombies in one go!

mistertubbs 2013-12-16 22:02

Also, you have a chance of winning the game, you have to get 12 coins to win. I will probably lower that to 8 to make it a little easier to win!

croze 2013-12-17 03:47

Not bad, simple, but fun. Also I suggest making diagonal movement the same as horizantal/vertical, otherwise you outrun the zombies

atomic_swerve 2013-12-17 03:56

I had fun, but the transitions between levels inevitably involved some mutilation. If there was a slight pause to let the player get their bearings, that would at least make it feel more fair :)

stvr 2013-12-17 03:59

A bit confusing, especially at the beginning. With the countdown, this may have made more sense for the last jam?

heroesgravedev 2013-12-17 04:08

Downgrading to the jam to get the audio working was worth it for you!

Best audio I've heard so far.

onlyslightly 2013-12-17 05:38

Neat simple game. Liked the blood splatter effect

fenixin 2013-12-17 12:04

Fun, simple, hard.

Misses some more animations or change in background.

I love the sounds and music, it really makes the mood!

nichii 2013-12-17 12:12

The game is a bit addictive, and fun. However, the audio is just eerie and the game is hard to understand at first. On the bright side, I like how the game is simple yet fun.

venks 2013-12-18 04:23

This is the 3rd death filled Christmas themed game I've come across. But anyways good core though its a little buggy.

johnfn 2013-12-18 04:38

Sound doesn't seem to work on OSX :(

Nice and simple concept but fun. Pretty tough though, once there were a certain number of zombies, it becomes really hard to avoid them!

mistertubbs 2013-12-18 04:40

@johnfn Thanks for telling me! I'll work on a fix :)

I wanted to make the game tough so you would come back for more to try to beat your (low) high score ;) I think many games that go on forever where you try to get the high score (Doodle Jump comes to mind) are fun, but after a while they get old because eventually getting that top high score is such a pain! With this game I wanted it to be harder to win so it's much more of an accomplishment when you do get a new high score!

whoaconstrictor 2013-12-19 02:33

Good sounds and visuals. I like the 3 coins = invulnerability powerup mechanic, though running from zombies got repetitive as I ended up kiting them in circles around the edges of the level. Red screen on low health was a nice, chilling touch.

ld_lan_party 2013-12-19 02:43

It was hard to get away - otherwise decent.

mistertubbs 2013-12-19 03:17

Should I decrease the zombie speed?

parapup 2013-12-19 23:30

It was some fun, Did I only get one life? I wasn't sure but it was fun.

mistertubbs 2013-12-20 03:32

@ParaPup Yes, you only get one life! Thanks for the feedback :)

cappelnord 2013-12-20 20:38

The near-death red mode was cool!

mcapraro 2013-12-21 16:31

Interesting a fast game play. it might be nice to have a tutorial or slower monsters in the beginning just to get you used to the mechanics.

lordjosephdeburg 2013-12-21 17:10

interesting game tubbs, gets hard fast but a fun entry. Well done!

gene-z 2013-12-21 19:03

Interesting and hard keepmthe good work

huvaakoodia 2013-12-22 18:54

It's not and untitled alpha. Points for that.

Extra points for the mood. Really freaky non-Xmas vibes going on.

The mechanics at play need some work. If I can destroy a random amount of the zombies once every turn, what is the best time to do so? The beginning of the turn, always.
That's when they swarm towards me and using it later has no positive effect as the amount is random no matter what.

Another weird gameplay conflict is the fact that I need coins to win, but they can also be used for a short invincibility powerup.
Why would I ever use the power up then? The game is only going to get harder with time. Better collect 8 coins as fast as I can and leave.

Also the moment to moment gameplay revolves around kiting the zombies and running in circles. Not very exciting after a while.

Here are a few ideas:

-Have the amount of zombies destroyed by pressing E grow over time resetting the value when the power is used.
-Don't reset everything when a new turn starts. Just throw in more zombies from the edges of the screen.
-Have the amount of used coins increase the duration of invincibility or trigger a more potent power. (e.g. 3 coins -> invincibility, 6 coins -> destroy zombies on touch/make them attack each other/become invisible/etc..)
-Winning could be tied to survival (20 round to go!) or just scrapped completely (a little bit of winter depression eh!)

danielsnd 2013-12-24 19:44

Simple, short game.

jupiter_hadley 2013-12-24 20:16

Simple game, but well done. Its sort of addicting as well :P I included it in my Ludum Dare Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/ncqRBKI10A8