Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD38 → [BOXAVERSE]
By fran-segura, jaimuepe and Alvatross
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 237 | 3.60 | 25 | |
| Fun | 235 | 3.45 | 24 | |
| Innovation | 314 | 3.26 | 25 | |
| Theme | 28 | 4.30 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 130 | 4.21 | 25 | |
| Audio | 120 | 3.73 | 25 | |
| Humor | 110 | 3.56 | 25 | |
| Mood | 101 | 3.87 | 25 |
I think there might be a bug or something. I eventually worked out how to cut down the trees, but then it won't let me do anything else. I tried to interact with that campfire thing in all ways possible but nothing happened.
Hello @xavier-indie-gamedev ! Have you tried using the magnifying glass? We wanted to give that function new uses on each level, so we encourage using it frequently. Thank you for checking our game!
Ahh that's clever! I like the art style and humour of this game, I guess I'm just not very good at it because I couldn't find a way past the next level (all I could work out how to do was get water). Also, maybe it's just me but it seems weird how specific actions are tied to specific people even though they're only distinguished by their age or gender (maybe instead they could give hints aesthetically as to what they are best at).
If you get time, please do check out my game too! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/no-minor-task-party-of-a-lifetime
Hi @xavier-indie-gamedev, thanks for trying the game :) Yeah, we are aware that the game doesn't make a good job at telling the player why he should be doing something and why it should be done with some specific character - in the third level we made some changes so it is more obvious (the characters will say sentences randomly related to what they have to do) but we run out of time so we couldn't implement it in previous levels.
Nice game. As you said in the comments, that type of tutorial/tips would help but with the limited time, it is complicated to add everything. The smoke when you put the magnifier helps you to get there and use the magnifier not like an object but like a tool for you. I think that the first level is great to show how the mechanics work. Overall is a good game.
Cute art. The magnifying glass is neat visually but it was kinda unclear on how it was supposed to help mechanically. All the humor was nice. Not sure if it's just me but the textures for the people and trees seemed to have a null reference as they were fucsia boxes for me. If you get a change check out our entry https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/down-the-rabbit-hole
The game is very cute, seeing the second day was a real "aw man that's great" moment. Who doesn't like miniature civilizations (like that one on benders behind in futurama, or the one in the simpsons). So, you had me hooked there and i played it to the end. It was interesting to see what happened next. Some parts were a bit tedious, where i wasn't really sure what to combine so i did it all. Nice game! (i copied this comment i made from itch, i hope you don't mind)
Hi @those-30-ninjas , we tested the game in a variety of computers and it worked OK... but today we noticed the exact issue you just told us. We don't know what's causing the problem, so we just added a download link to the itch.io page. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Beautiful small game. Unnfortunately I couldn't get too far, maybe you should clarify the mechanics (a tutorial maybe?). Loved the art style.
@TheMadStrauss Thanks for your feedback, I'm glad you liked it. We've learnt a lot in our first jam, so I hope we'll do better the next time :).
@rongo-matane Yeah, we had that simpsons episode in our mind when we made the game :) Thanks for the kind words, they are appreciated. And yeah, the game is kinda tedious sometimes because it's not obvious what you are supposed to do - next time we'll try to focus more on those aspects.
Hi @sararycow, thanks for your feedback. We tried to make each level more complex than the previous one, so the first one would be like a tutorial - there's only a couple of things you can do, so we thought eventually people would figure it out. That didn't really work, as we've had people stuck in every level, but that was the intention :). Where did you got stuck?
Thats a very good and very creative jam entry!! Enjoyed a lot the "out of the box" ideas into this mechanic, like the ways to use the magnyfing glass, for example! Great job there and keep it up with this game ideas!
I enjoy the concept and the quality of the landscape, a good idea to highlight the elements of the gameplay at choice. I can't find any particular flaw but the character sprites, maybe it is a personal taste... well done!
I am using chrome in windows and I see that error.png but then in firefox it works good.
Me encantó la gráfica del juego, los hombrecitos son muy tiernos. Me recordó la dinámica de los clásicos como King Quest VI.
@Asturk thanks for playing the game! I'm glad you enjoyed it :).
@deck Thanks for your feedback and your honesty. This was our first time participating in ludum dare and our goal was to finish the game - we even wanted to have 4-directional sprites instead of just going up or down, but we had to made some concessions to achieve the goal.
@krunoslav Hola! otras personas nos han comentado también que tenían problemas al ejecutar el juego desde el navegador, por lo que subimos una versión descargable (aunque sólo para windows). Si en firefox te diera algún problema también puedes probar con esa build, en principio no debería de dar problemas. Gracias por probarlo y por dejar tu opinión!
THIS IS MY FAVORITE GAME OF THIS JAM! Such a nice job!
*When I saved the boy, and he started jumping, his mom said "Oh God Why" :smile:*
@chloravirgo Hello! We are happy to hear that, we wanted to add some absurd lines but never expected that kind of... happy accidents?
Thank you for playing our game and for your kind words!
Great game where the best pleasure is the discovery and surprise. I reached the end because I really wanted to know what happens the next day even though some puzzles took me some time. You should insit on the fact that the magnifying glass is useful for the gameplay. I had to read your comment to understand this, otherwise I was stuck.
At the end, is this an alien who took over the box or what ?
Loved the game! Great pixel art, nice difficulty (although I got stuck on the cauldron level for a while), the game felt "real". Like it wasn't just done by 3 guys in 3 days. The end was really weird though :astonished:, like what made the purple alien/akira-looking stuff appear? Did the people leave in time and left to space as well? Did only the astronaut and doge survive? So many questions... :thinking:
This can really work out to be a full game with some extra levels/advancements for the box people. Like in between caveman and medieval, or before modern times, heck it can go to the future (although they'd need a reason to stay in that box haha). Anyways, the game doesn't really need anything, it's just fine as it is! :grin: Great work!
@jojocanard , @oxlander Thank you for the feedback, we are happy to see that you wanted to continue until the end! We agree with you about the difficulty and user experience, we did a poor job explaining the mechanics in-game and it's something that we will be trying to improve in future games.
About the progression, at first we wanted to add at least 1 more level (with that ending screen being playable) but it wast just too much work for us in the given time. That's why the ending seems a bit rushed... oh, and speaking of that **SPOILER** *we wanted to finish the game with an ending open to interpretation, but our idea was that the astronaut brought a little creature from space on his way back to the Box, was praised like a hero and then... the creature started to grow and parasitate everything. The initial idea was something else, but with a few hours left I decided to make the last level in form of "illustration" instead of the traditional series of sprites.* **SPOILER**
Thanks again!
I think the UX is the only thing that doesn't live up to the rest of the game. I took me a while to get into it and UX was a bit of downer all the way through. But once I figured it out, it actually was a pretty good game. Lot's of stuff to discover and just fun to play around with. I finished it just to see what was happening next with my little boxaverse. Art, music and sound effects were really great.
If you tweak UX a bit and maybe introduce introduce a few more interesting mechanics (like the magnifying glass thing), this could easily be expanded into a full game. Good job!
Pretty nice art style and nice music. The game gave me a good time, although the "riddles" were sometimes confusion. I didn't got the idea how to get my people to gather the right combination until I used everything with everything, evenso I found the clue very early (sorry for being a little cryptically, I'm trying to avoid spoilers).
All in all it is a cute little adventure and a very nice contribution. Good work!
Very cute and very clever! Took me a while to get past the first level :) A really fun game!
I really dig this game. The use of the theme here is integral to the story, which I appreciate. Music and sound was nice. I think it's a bit difficult to understand which character can interact with which tool, etc. I think that's maybe part of the fun, but at times I though it could be more intuitive. Nice game!!! Love the graphics.
Nice game. That's great that you succeeded to have such a pretty polished point and click. UI is pretty, everything is well made and clear. Bravo !
Amazing entry! Lovely graphics and great sound design. Each scene looks so detailed, and puzzles were interesting to solve, I was left expecting more levels to keep playing. The setting and story are cute and very fitting to the theme, they remind me of a Simpsons' episode.
My only issue was with the characters' buttons. Since they basically look like the action buttons, from the instructions I was misled into believing it was them, instead of the character sprites, that should select the characters to perform an action. Maybe a more distinct appearance (I don't know...a different position or a smaller perhaps, or maybe using a different button background...?) to make clear that those buttons aren't really a part of the level flow except for the informative tooltips.
Despite this, the game itself was brilliant, one of the best I've rated so far. ¡Enhorabuena, muy currado! :D
Had issues with some visuals showing up (I'm on a Mac and using Safari), but other than that it was pretty fun. Part of it feels a bit stiff, but the fact this is your first jam you should feel proud to have gotten something up. Keep making games!
Wow what a lovely entry! Everything about this is super polished and really high quality. I enjoyed figuring out the puzzles of each era. I'm glad that the magnifying glass was integral to the gameplay rather than just being a tool to zoom in.
I think perhaps actions need a little clarity, at least when you use an item with a character who doesn't use it. Maybe a noise or a little shake of the head. (it took me a while to notice the yellow outline when a character could interact with an object) The hints the little people have over their heads though is a big help.
The game looks and sounds great. The pixel art is super cute, and nice and clear too!
That ending took me aback, I love it! Really fab job overall. :D