FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD33 → GH4ST

GH4ST

By shaunlebron

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Innovation54.39
Coolness360
Theme954.00
Overall2413.43
Fun2453.36
Graphics3513.31
Mood3633.13
Humor4912.66
Audio6362.09

Comments

alkazar 2015-08-24 13:30

Turn based pacman! Very neat concept!

onilink_ 2015-08-25 08:35

Too bad it is so short, the concept is fun :p

dantedouglas 2015-08-26 09:50

This is fantastically innovative. Huge fan. Wish there was more!! This is something I would pay for an entire version of.

thebrickanator 2015-08-29 02:34

Really liked the game concept and a clean style.

puppetmaster 2015-08-30 21:10

Awesome cool concept for a puzzle game! Nice presentation, and tutorial. First 5* for theme and innovation! Congrats for your entry!

jod 2015-08-30 21:36

Very slick graphics. The compo version really benefited from some music, as seen in the post-compo version.

teesquared 2015-08-30 22:26

I never realized how difficult being a ghost can be. Interesting take on Pac-Man. You have an innovative idea and gameplay system here.

superfluous 2015-08-30 22:26

Very cool concept. I'd love to see if it holds up to being a completed game.

sparrow 2015-08-30 22:44

Absolutely brilliant! Good work.

burgerdare 2015-08-30 23:51

a spectacular idea. I think that everyone's behaviour is a *little* tough to read right now, but with a little bit of additional feedback, this is very well on it's way to being a stand-out puzzle game that I could see myself happily losing hours to.
I don't often suggest that people expand on LD games out of respect (I personally prefer to leave my products alone after a game jam) but I think it would be really tragic if you didn't further explore this idea and flesh it out into something more complete.

arg410 2015-08-30 23:57

Great API, I've never heard of clojure or leiningen until now. Maybe i'll mess with them, always love a new programming language!!!!

gatechgrad 2015-08-31 00:59

This game is really convoluted. I would have rather seen an original concept, rather than ripping off Namco's PacMan. I think if it was in real time rather than turn-based, then it might have actually been fun to play.

veoviscool12 2015-08-31 01:37

I really, really love this game. I think the concept is fantastic, and I love the way you solved the AI vs. Player input problem. Graphics are great, and the path arrows make it easy to visualize what's going to happen next. My only complaints are that it's really short (I want more! >:|) and that it's hard to remember which ghost does what at times. I get that this could be part of the challenge, but maybe an optional toggle that shows a little pop up with a short description of what each ghost does. Overall, I loved this game, and it's really polished. Great work. :)

aevek 2015-08-31 01:46

Really cool idea to use the AI algorithms of a game and force the player to think inversely. I liked the concept enough to try the post-compo version, and you had already implemented everything I was about to suggest, so great job!

mach60kas 2015-08-31 01:55

I really love the idea behind this game - it's extremely unique! My main issue is how short the compo version is - which is we're all rating. Still, I think the improvements you made to the post compo version (path visualisation, music, levels) are very well handled. Excellent work!

jwin 2015-08-31 05:11

This is an awesome idea, very cool to play with the AI and try to devise a strategy!

The levels in the post-compo do a good job of exploring the idea further, although I think it would take even more levels before I really felt like I got the hang of it.

benjamin-soule 2015-08-31 06:45

The core idea is neat, and the tutorial is pretty good but you should have focus on finishing it. I mean very few is missing here. Just designining 2-3 more level would have been enough.
A number on ghost would also be great to memorize the control faster.
Sometime a game is unfinished just because we describe it as unfinished. People dont know all the thing you wanted to add to your game. Just package it as finished and most of the time people will think it is.

If you want to make a post-compo versoin, the level of this games would be easier to design if you create a solver which try every combination of ghost move to check if the level can be finished.
Once it's done you just have to add/move/remove ghosts or square to check if a solution exists and how complex it is. I used this method to create my LD25 entry ( http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=2952 )

ruka 2015-08-31 07:52

Very interesting game~! well done!

grywhttl 2015-08-31 07:56

Awesome concept! I'd like to see it developed fully

khahem 2015-08-31 08:30

Excellent and very interesting interpretation of the theme with a nice polished look.

I'm wondering if balance and gameplay richness could be improved in a more "tower-defensy" setting, where failure and success comes more progressively, through repeated planning errors vs. efficient defense design.

01101101 2015-08-31 09:00

Very very cool idea! I've read the Pacman Dossier in the past and immediately programmed a clone as well because these AIs are just great :) Also that page where you can play the original pacman with the ghosts paths visible is pretty neat!
Too bad you couldn't complete your LD game in time, it is original, well executed and quite fun! :)
Congrats!

seconddimension 2015-08-31 10:31

There were a fair few Pacman games in this LD, and also in the 'You are the Enemy' competition, but this is by far the best take on it I've played. It was really enjoyable

shaunlebron 2015-08-31 14:17

Hi, the reason I didn't add any more levels in the post-compo is that I discovered an exploit in the mechanic that can break the game. It becomes really easy to guard intersections, or just sit on the fruit. I don't have any more time to try to rebalance it somehow.

Thanks for all your comments

tanjent 2015-09-01 17:14

This is a really cool concept. Really slick presentation as well.

vennril 2015-09-03 11:48

That was amazing! Great idea and very well executed. Loved the insight on the ghost AI.

I would totally play a complete game of this :)

bunn1e5 2015-09-04 21:33

Really cute. I wish it was longer. However, because there was only ever on piece of fruit I could easily put one ghost on the fruit and make it impossible for Pac Man to win. Though it still was a great game!

abcdef65g 2015-09-04 21:34

Lovely concept and idea, I really enjoyed it. A whole new take on a classic. And I did open up and check your source, very well written, specially considering the time frame for the game making.

wooltech 2015-09-04 21:43

Nice method of making a reverse pacman.

drauthius 2015-09-04 22:10

Would have been better if you skipped the in-depth tutorials and instead completed a single level. But interesting concept!

chuigum 2015-09-05 04:19

Turned based Pac-Man was really cool! Super innovative! Great job! :)

treeman 2015-09-05 08:29

Very neat, nice idea!

dunin 2015-09-05 08:30

Cool concept and really instructive!
You ran out of time but you have a great game to develop!

tselmek 2015-09-05 10:53

Really nice concept, wish there was more levels (in the original version). Needs some music but good job nonetheless!

keyboardcat 2015-09-05 10:56

Interesting game ! Really good work !

randoman 2015-09-05 14:19

This is great, it mixes two things I love: puzzles and AI. I would love to see more levels!

f1ak3r 2015-09-05 14:38

Really cool idea, and I love that you used the original Pacman AI. This seems like such a simple idea and obvious in retrospect, but I've never seen it done before: it's brilliant and contains deep possibilities.

crazyminnowstudio 2015-09-05 17:37

Really cool concept! Makes playing the ghosts so much more fun than playing pacman.

dancingmad 2015-09-05 23:11

I had a lot of fun to play your game !
Mechanics are awesome.
Great job !

synchingfeeling 2015-09-11 05:58

awesome idea, well executed, would play more. I love the fresh approach to an old game.

duzduz 2015-09-11 10:24

Very good concept! I liked it a lot

crucknuk 2015-09-11 11:33

The idea is well thought. It is a good try to give the ghosts another meaning in the game :)
Made me giggle, keep up the good work! :)

flygamer101 2015-09-11 12:37

Very Nice :D Loved the game. Wait a minute.
THIS WAS MADE IN 48 HOURS? Nice!

eddynardo 2015-09-11 14:47

nice one :)

kerdelos 2015-09-11 21:42

Interesting concept and well conceived tutorial, too bad it's that short.

dcolgan 2015-09-11 21:56

Super cool. I love the premise here. The only level was really great and I think it is neat taking a concept that already exists, that pacman ghosts already have behaviors you can use, and turning it into a new puzzle game. If the content were there, I could see myself playing this a lot.

patomkin 2015-09-12 07:43

A reverse Pacman puzzle game would be absolutely brilliant - too bad there are only two or three real puzzles here :(

axoona 2015-09-12 20:39

this game has great potential, keep it up!

local-minimum 2015-09-13 11:50

Cool idea for a game! Wish, as many have pointed out, that where were more actual levels after the tutorial to play. Also, though tutorial was really neat and since there is an undo anyway, it would have been nice if there was some indicator or the ghost's intentions/behaviors. Or if first time you press e.g. '2' you only select the second ghost and that shows a short bio to the side of the playing field. I didn't try to see how many regrets one had (but it might be cool to limit them to undo last five steps or so). In that case some reset level would be perfect. Final thought, the shift+right was rather awkward, I think the next level should load with a 1-2 second delay upon catching pacman. In all though, a very interesting game mechanic that you should consider furthering some more.

oldpeculier 2015-09-14 16:32

Superb start. I really want to play this for real—too bad you ran out of time.

hthomson 2015-09-15 00:26

Hands down the most innovative game I've played throughout this whole competition. Also love the minimalist art style, fantastic job all round! As others have said it'd be great if it were longer however that's only a minor point considering the 48 hour time limit and all.