Foon →
Ludum Dare Explorer →
LD35 →
[SHIFTED]
[SHIFTED]
By ampera
View on Wayback Machine
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Mood | 901 | 2.56 | | |
| Fun | 1002 | 2.47 | | |
| Innovation | 1055 | 2.22 | | |
| Graphics | 1074 | 1.87 | | |
| Overall | 1093 | 2.56 | | |
| Coolness | 1934 | 26 | | |
Comments
I like the mood, and like text adventures; go to level 3 with 1590 and then after I go south there's nothing I can do... The engine seems buggy (running on java7, debian) -- some descriptions are too long, and not wrapped. As of controls, I see two possibilities: either display all the possible commands (so that I don't need to write "help" every time), or use some synonyms like (walk|go to|go) (pick|pick up|take) etc. Ofc this might take a lot of times, so you should have these prepared in your codebase. Anyway props for text adventure, and kudos for writing your engine. This is really hard (I work at nlp startup). Perhaps take a look at ifocom's ZIL engine to look for inspiration. I really got hooked, only the technical issues put me off. Good luck!
PS "some descriptions are too long" -- I mean, they don't fit the screen, not that the prose is too abundant :)
eeely
2016-04-19 01:03
hi I made sprites for this!
ampera
2016-04-19 01:43
The descriptions too long are a mistake on my part and a day or so I will fix them.
The way the engine works there is a stage counter and a series of if statements. If the stage is a certain number and if the given command matches one on the stage, code is run and something is returned.
The shortness of the game is something to be fixed in a new version. I unfortunately as I said didn't have the energy to make much more. The levels were intended to be longer, but they were made on day 3 and I was exausted.
Still I am happy you like the game and I hope to fix whatever issues there are.
If you have specific things breaking in debian let me know. I have yet to test it on Linux Mint which should be close enough. Also I need to test it on OSX aswell.
Thank you for checking it out.
good game but you need new graphics ;D
ampera
2016-04-19 12:33
All the graphics are brand new.
An attempt at an old-school adventure game, while a good beginning, the commands were a little bit inconsistent and confusing at times.
A few of the rooms where you simply die/lose as soon as you enter, is a bit discouraging. Could also use descriptive text when entering an area with more directions and hints with which commands might be applicable.
Typing help was a shortcut to valid action, which eliminates some of the old school discovery.
zaywolfe
2016-04-20 03:53
Pretty fun, but I thought the commands were too limited. I found myself in a featureless hallway and unable to keep moving through it. Go west, south, east, north don't work.
croze
2016-04-20 04:32
I just kept gaining 4 exp and it never actually added me up or leveled me up, got to the mens bathroom and got sick of typing "help" every single command. Maybe add a little option box to the side that lists commands or make them more uniform, obvious, and varying. I like the idea, don't know what it has to do with the theme.
Good job, but short and descriprion...
You are brave to write your own parser during a game jam, so good effort on that part. It is nice to see some text adventures popping up in LD, even if it felt a bit incomplete, good effort :)
ampera
2016-04-22 02:53
The parser was the easiest thing in the entire engine, but this is based on the Regrowth of Layeon engine.
joozey
2016-04-22 20:58
Sadly, the text runs out of the window on a single line. Can't really play like this. I use Linux.
Text adventures can be fun, but there wasn't much of a story here and there were a lot of options after exiting the first room. Bit overwhelming and discouraging.
ampera
2016-04-23 01:48
This seems to be a problem with the way Linux renders text. This can be fixed, but I won't for the moment. Best stick to windows if possible.
daukan
2016-04-27 10:50
For a text based game I liked the design of the interface. I guess that I'm not that good at figuring out these mechanics so I didn't make it far and gave up. Maybe som more initial instructions to get the player going would help.
nice to see a text adventure! Some ideas that I missed and could keep the gamplay fluid: abreviations for common actions (l)ook (ex)amine (N)orth etc. Up key to repeat last command. A minimap maybe...On the other hand, some descriptions appeaar trimmed, and in ubuntu the window cant be maximized. Having say that I really enjoyed it!
ampera
2016-04-29 06:18
The windows are static due to Java being a pain in the ass to program windows for. It's either have REALLY stupid layout managers, or make it absolute positioned. I prefer the second option as it's easier, and allows me to animate and render graphics easier.
I drowned in the Men's room. Cool game.
lukezaz
2016-05-07 04:36
Cool idea. I always like a good text adventure, and though it was a little confusing for a while as to what I could and could not do, it was still quite enjoyable!
ampera
2016-05-07 06:16
Text adventures tend to have confusing controls as stupid as that sounds.
I try to put in decent help so that it's not impossible to give commands, but sometimes the joy is just trying it.
Next time I am definitely doing something other then a text adventure.