FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD29 → Heart of the Earth

Heart of the Earth

By dans17

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness279
Audio2823.25
Graphics3803.36
Mood4422.95
Overall5542.89
Theme5652.71
Innovation5982.51
Humor6241.80
Fun6852.22

Comments

halbernacht 2014-04-29 02:44

I really wish the alert noise after getting a gem didn't repeat forever.

dans17 2014-04-29 02:47

Yeah we just realized that. We're adding some minor bug fixes now.

lerc 2014-04-29 11:15

There's probably a lot more to this to what I saw. Jumping didn't feel like it had the right level of control to land on the spots that you have to hit. Frustrating when you die.

hyouko 2014-04-30 03:06

First-person 3D platforming is tough to get right. This is a good attempt, but I think it could use more cues to help the player know where they're going to land. Some tricks that have worked in other games include a drop shadow under the player and automatically ducking the view down a bit so the player sees where they will land (as with Metroid Prime).

kirbikaka 2014-04-30 03:16

This game looks awesome, and it has an awesome mood! You move slowly, and jumping feels a bit weird, so the gameplay is a little slow. Hitting the platforms is definitely difficult, and being tossed back to the beginning when you die is a bit of a bother. Maybe checkpoints would be nice for the challenges so you don't have to walk all the way back. The fact that it's 3D is awesome, and the terrain is definitely fun to jump around. I spent a good amount of time just jumping up mountains for fun :]!

dans17 2014-04-30 03:54

Yeah we originally planned to have checkpoints but we didn't have time. We'll probably make a post-compo version soon with checkpoints and other improvements. Hyouko, i like your ideas about the jumping so we'll probably add something like that as well. And KirbiKaka, we also had a lot of fun ourselves jumping up the mountains haha.

ovenchips 2014-04-30 19:48

The terrain is quite beautiful - graphically, you've done a great job here. I found I kept pressing SHIFT hoping that I would move faster. I think doubling the move speed would make the game much more playable. But other than that, congrats - well done. :)

hyperbox 2014-05-02 00:39

Very ambitions jam entry. The changing piano music was a nice touch. It reminded me of Myst a bit, but if it were a platformer instead of a puzzle game. The only thing was a little off was the distance between the levels. I totally understand the vibe you were going for, but since the game is kind of sparse (no points lost there though - it's a 72 hour game after all), it seemed like being able to move faster would have been nice.

beanalby 2014-05-02 01:42

I was totally on board, until the random death in the maze. No indication that it's coming (that I could see), and have to walk all the way back there across the river? Harsh.

I love the concept though, and it's a great amount of content for a game jam.

soupwithbits 2014-05-02 06:11

It has potential.
But a tad frustrating to play

cirrial 2014-05-09 00:13

Jumping felt stiff, everything that wasn't the player moved too quickly, the player moved too slowly, the game just felt kind of aggravating to move through. I liked the musical cues changing. Checkpoints would have been great. There's potential here but it just feels so infuriating to play as it stands right now.

romandtom 2014-05-09 00:28

I don't know if you wanted it to happen, but I could climb any hill I wanted , that was cool.. :o
The player is too sloww ><
Well, good game

elefantopia 2014-05-10 03:38

Very cool, ambitious game! The graphics were amazing, the music helped set up the exploring/mysterious mood. Jumping on the floating platform takes some getting used to... I fell between the slats and couldn't get out. Still, this is very cool!

radmars 2014-05-10 03:44

Very evocative! Love the music though I wished it faded in/out instead of stopping and starting so abruptly. (Would love to download the soundtrack!) Gameplay-wise this could use some polish, movement speed feels too slow/the map is really big so it's tedious to get around, especially when you get kicked back all the way to the beginning when you die. Regardless this has a lot of potential, keep at it!

harko12 2014-05-11 13:49

Great music.. the controls could use some tightening up though. maybe less mouse sensitivity

danbo 2014-05-11 21:31

This is the sort of thing I really like. The music changing as you play is really nice...

rock48 2014-05-17 23:08

Damn, couldn't get this to run on linux -- shame, it really looks cool

simianlogic 2014-05-17 23:12

Cool start. Nice world (remind me of the Badlands), nice music. I didn't realize the maze was a maze til I climbed up on a mountain and looked down (maybe tint the opening to make it pop? looks like a wall). After wandering around for 5-10 minutes and not finding a gem, my rage-quit happened in the maze (spike trap). If it had reset me at the start of the maze, I might've kept going... but all the way back across the river was pretty annoying.

vigrid 2014-05-19 01:13

The mouse sensitivity was too high for me. I liked the music.

almost 2014-05-19 22:01

The Unity web player is kind of huge. I have a 1920x1080 monitor, and it only fits if I put my browser in fullscreen mode.

I walk really slowly too.

ultimatewalrus 2014-05-19 22:11

I wanted to play more, but I couldn't deal with the slow walking speed and quit shortly after the first time I died.

kugrou 2014-05-19 23:07

Nice concept, though movement didn't feel that great. I think the main problem with it is how any movement other than straight forward is at a fraction of your forward speed. This often meant that when trying to make minor adjustment mid jump I would instead come to a dead stop and fall short. Otherwise it was pretty fun except for the random deaths in the maze.

Also liked the music, though it would of been nice if there was a smooth fade between tracks instead of a sudden cut.