FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD36 → Mecha Jousting

Mecha Jousting

By lordalzero

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Comments

sbeif 2016-09-02 17:38

The base idea is nice but I think it needs to be more transparent, for example by showing some stats like attack, defense, hp and so on. This way one could choose the components more consciously. I'm saying that because I couldn't grasp what the crew stat meant (and because by using only one stat everyone would probably go for the combination that maximizes it).
It might also benefit from some interaction during combat, such as timed clicks to improve one's attack (just a personal opinion).
Anyway the models look nice and the music is great (although it might use some sfx for impacts).
Oh and I only got to the 5th round.

stmatn 2016-09-03 20:28

I totally agree with @sbeif. The music is great and the models look nice.
The main think you should improve is gameplay. In general I like games, where you set the starting conditions and just watch the action happen, but during the first rounds I picked parts, I liked optically, after that I tried to get the crew stat as low as possible to get it as high as possible during simulation. I got 0 (in setup) resp. 98 (in combat) and at that point the game unfortunately turned into waiting until the random number generator would produce the 0/98 setup so my win-streak would end.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to rip your game into peaces, I just want to explain the weak point, so that you can improve ;) Some degrees of randomness would greatly improve gameplay. Either by letting the user interact or give the mechs more complex behaviours. Target should be, that it would not be possible for the player to work out and select THE PERFECT setup.
I hope you can get some useful info out of that.
Tbh, I kept a tab open to your account, since I saw your first post! The updates have shown, how much love you put in the project. Thats really great ;)

ddrkirbyisq 2016-09-11 11:16

15 rounds...http://imgur.com/a/okRbF

Innovation: While not mindblowing, the whole "build a thing and then watch it do battle" is something that isn't seen too often in LD. Quite neat to see!
Fun: I second what @StMatn said here -- the concept of the game was pretty awesome, but in practice all I did was min/max the crew stat and then watch my "mecha" destroy a bunch until my luck ran out. It would be great if there was some more player agency, progression, or something else to keep things interesting.
Theme: A pretty good use of the theme!
Graphics: The concept sketches you guys posted were actually super awesome and it was cool seeing them become 3D models. That said, I feel like some of the time that was spent going into all of that could instead have been put towards improving some of the other parts of the game -- the background, in particular, looks super rushed compared to the actual mecha models.
Audio: The music is actually pretty awesome, so props to whoever composed it -- though I feel like it's more suited to be menu / story music rather than ingame music. This game could really use some sound effects too! It really makes a big difference, and doesn't take much time at all!
Humor: N/A
Mood: Again I think your title screen music stands out here. However the "part selection" screen is a bit lackluster. Again, I feel like you could have polished this a bit more instead of working on more part models.
Overall: A neat idea that ultimately needs a little more in order to turn it into something really fun.

Congratulations on your successful LD! I'd really appreciate it if you could leave me some feedback for my game as well. You can find it at: http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=7285.