FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD33 → MiniGolf Endless MMO

MiniGolf Endless MMO

By jimmypaulin

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1913.65
Fun2723.42
Audio2873.33
Innovation2883.32
Graphics3273.79
Mood5993.00
Humor7442.35
Coolness189732

Comments

nic 2015-09-06 23:17

This feels incredibly polished and is very impressive for the timespan. Simple, responsive, fun. Doesn't fit the theme but is great nonetheless.

jimmypaulin 2015-09-07 03:10

@nic thanks so much! I am way behind on playing and rating, the App Review process took half the judging period haha! Amazing comments cheers!

mach60kas 2015-09-07 13:14

Very interesting idea - it's like Trackmania Golf! Some of the art is a bit iffy (the signposts after each level and the tiled fairway texture) but the environmental art is mostly lovely. I love the effort you've put into the game's sound design - the soft thud of the ball on the grass and subtle clink of the ball into the hole feel oddly natural. I think I like the soundtrack most of all though. Great work, keep it up!

(Also, avoid developing for iOS if you can. You want to put your games on a platform where most people can play them and where you're not stuck waiting 2 weeks for Apple to approve. You'll get way more ratings early on in the LD voting period, so it's always crucial to get out there sooner!)

dejvo 2015-09-07 14:17

really nice and fun entry. good job!

flaid 2015-09-07 15:21

Having messed around with iOS stuff a bit, I am very impressed that you got this done in a weekend! The music and sound effects were by far my favorite part, but the graphics fit nicely.

It took me a little bit to realize that all the other transparent squares were the "ghosts" of other players (not sure what they were at first), but once I realized it, I thought it was a really cool idea.

Otherwise, the blur effect on the top and bottom kinda messed with my eyes after awhile, and I didn't really like Kate Upton ruining my winning streak to tell me about Game of War (I was at the top of the leaderboard for a brief moment)... but, such is the life of a free-to-play iOS game :)

pokeyone 2015-09-07 17:52

great game, love that it is on ipad/iphone! I played the ipad edition and it was great. I was just wondering if you are going to post the source code at all because I have been developing iPhone apps but want to get into making games?

pokeyone 2015-09-07 17:53

I am also not sure how this fits the theme.

ddrkirbyisq 2015-09-07 20:34

Clean execution and pretty polished! I'm assuming ad integration came after the 72hr deadline? lol

radmars 2015-09-07 23:45

Very lovely art style and sound design! One thing to fix is ending the "turn" sooner after the ball is basically done moving. It got stuck a few times and I had to wait before playing again.

spotco 2015-09-08 01:58

iphone only was an interesting platform choice, I imagine it makes a lot of people unable to play.
interesting game though, wish there were more mechanics (either in the super-over-the-top golf or realistic golf side) but lots of polish. you feel guilty at all about putting ads and IAP in a ludum dare game? :P

ps hooray sports games

jimmypaulin 2015-09-08 04:12

Wow thank you all for the fantastic comments! To answer a couple of specific points:

@Mach60KAS @spotco re direct to iPhone - yes I knew this would limit the LD audience which is a shame. In all previous LD I've done Web then ported to iOS so this time I thought I'd cut out the intermediate step! I also relished the challenge of seeing if I could get something past Apple approval process in a single weekend :D

@Flaid @spotco The game has server side components to rent so I have to monetise somehow- I hate ads too so I'm sorry but many people host their LD games on newgrpunds or gamejolt or kongregate so I've often encountered ads in LD?!

@Flaid @radmars @PokeyOne heh yes there are a couple of technical issues for sure, thanks for pointing those out. Doing my own custom physics engine is the cause of the "sticks to trees" bug gah! I removed the lower blur for the next version which I have submitted for review and will release as soon as LD judging period ends :D I'm not planning to release all the code but if there's a particular aspect you're interested in I'd happily give more details / snippets?

jimmypaulin 2015-09-08 10:11

@radmars I shortened this by 20% for the next update, to be released after judging ends ;) Also removed some blur and various other tweaks :D

keehan12 2015-09-10 13:54

looks really interesting. will give it a try once I fix my iphone's wifi :)

keehan12 2015-09-10 13:55

absolutely love the retro and indie style

jimmypaulin 2015-09-11 21:11

Hey all! Thanks again for the fantastic comments. Had to share this - the game just got reviewed on TouchArcade :D http://toucharcade.com/2015/09/11/minigolf-endless-mmo-review/