FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD29 → Arctic Desert

Arctic Desert

By benw

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Graphics3473.45
Audio3933.00
Theme5112.86
Fun5152.73
Innovation5192.68
Mood5302.79
Overall5662.86
Coolness174637

Comments

iamspencer 2014-04-29 03:22

Really nice that you added the ability to shoot while moving, very nice game, good job :)

crazi456 2014-04-30 02:10

The item system is pretty awesome! Got swarmed pretty hard at a certain point. Good work!

joao-kucera 2014-04-30 05:02

Great graphics

coinflipgames 2014-04-30 05:15

Really creative idea! Super tough, but a pretty good game.

vexuiz 2014-04-30 05:24

I feel the controls are a bit awkward with the asdf for movment

fritzendugan 2014-04-30 05:37

nice pixel art. The music worked pretty well, looped well anyway, but it drowned out the other sounds. Which brings me to the detector mechanic.

I actually really like the mechanic, I think it's really cool, but it could've been implemented better. What I mean is, it's really hard to tell when I'm close to stuff. I think there's a little ticking sound, but it's too hard to hear with all the other sounds (should've been like a beep?) And the visual cue could've been better as well.

Also, I wish the upgrades would equip automatically if you didn't have anything equipped in that slot yet. I rarely found upgrades, most playthroughs I was lucky if I got even 3 upgrades, it was just too hard to find a good place to dig before the enemies swarmed you. I'm not saying the game needs to be easier, I'm just saying the detection should be more obvious and the upgrades should auto-equip (maybe a little on-screen summary of what you just picked up).

I have absolutely no idea what the purple gems do. I tried to figure it out but couldn't. I've made it as far as round 12 but couldn't figure out what the gems do.

I wish I could use my mouse to aim instead of just the keyboard. Gamepad support would've been awesome.

Some diversity in the environments would've been cool (trees, more enemies, rocks, stuff like that, things that provide barriers to hide behind and such). The squid things worked well though, I like the little charge they do and how if you run far enough away they leave you alone. Solid enemy AI in that regard.


All in all, I liked it, though. Procedurally generated content, randomized loot, upgrades, endless slaughter, what's not to love? It just needed a little more content and polish and this would've been a really fun game.

cakencode 2014-04-30 18:59

The controls to move and shoot were a little clumsy for me, and I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Like I wasn't sure if I should be looking at the blue circles or trying to hear some sort of indicator for something. I got swarmed at some point, but I have to admit it was pretty satisfying to watch those octopi die and loot them. :)

lazyparia 2014-04-30 19:36

Good game ! Those charging octopodes are creepy

drprettypatty 2014-05-02 04:06

Great job! The sound and graphics (especially the hand drawn character and octopus!) were great, but it took me a while to figure out what to do (mostly because I skimmed through the text too fast the first time I played *facepalm).

lemmingsurvivor 2014-05-03 04:48

A lot of neat elements that, in my opinion, just end up taking all the fun out of each other. Between the ridiculously high spawn rate, terrible starting character, unforgiving collision detection, interruptible digging mechanics, and randomly-generated items, it feels like in the end all you can do is endure until you get a lucky streak.

That said, audiovisuals are good, and definitely strengthen the experience when you start seeing some heavy action. And everything works great; it's just a case of a lack of balance between the different features.

loneshark 2014-05-03 04:58

I reached phase 41!

(I opened the inventory menu and went to use the restroom and make a drink)

I can't wait to see this game's NEXT PHASE.

drnick 2014-05-03 19:51

Too hard to kill enemies, too hard to find items, too hard to hear the detector sounds.