conk 2017-04-24 11:28
Awesome! It always impresses me how your games are always so easy to spend almost an hour playing without realising, the motion on screen is always fantastic too! It's quite difficult, but challenge is welcome (:
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD38 → Path of the Rabbit
By managore
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 7 | 4.33 | 100 | |
| Fun | 23 | 4.06 | 100 | |
| Innovation | 29 | 4.08 | 100 | |
| Theme | 143 | 3.74 | 100 | |
| Graphics | 26 | 4.32 | 100 | |
| Audio | 92 | 3.54 | 97 | |
| Humor | 271 | 2.51 | 82 | |
| Mood | 46 | 3.91 | 97 |
Awesome! It always impresses me how your games are always so easy to spend almost an hour playing without realising, the motion on screen is always fantastic too! It's quite difficult, but challenge is welcome (:
Brutally hard, but beautiful execution. Amazing job as always! :D
Excellent game. It took me a lot of tries, but I finally beat it.
Have to say, I love all the hidden layers of complexity in this one! Over my time playing it, I went from "this is too easy" through "this is too hard" to "this is just right!" I don't know how you managed to goldilocks me with a single level, but I'm impressed!
Nice game! It seems strangely easy at first, like I was missing something. Knowing how your games usually plays out. But then all of the sudden I find myself accidentally at the edge of the world. Or I'm out of water. I never made it to boss fight. Max got 23 tiles left. So I might have missed some part of the strategy, but anyhow: To me it seemed strange that the game didn't notify me when I reached a place where there rabbit was stuck. Other times I died of starvation, and the game did leave me a bit uncertain if it was I that lacked planning or if I simply had a streak of bad luck with what tiles I got handed. I did find it very easy to avoid enemies all together, but maybe me avoiding them was what got me killed? It didn't seem like it. So I wonder if they need some rules like (not all at once though, hehe)
1. Not allowed to place enemy on top of other enemy. 2. Not allowed to place enemy next to other enemy (4-cross neighbors) 3. Enemies follows paths just like rabbit does
I liked the game and played it a couple of times. Great job!
The game was great! It properly created a simple, fun game with the theme in mind. The graphics were perfectly fitting, and easy to understand. Good job!
Excellent, excellent! great graphics cute and serviceable, good music and sounds, and the puzzle is quite challenging while being very understandable, its simple to understand and its got a lot of depth once you played a few times. One of the best designed games I have come across, shame we haven't got thumbnails yet, I'm sure youll get a lot more plays once we do!
fantastic puzzle game! really nice job. the art is great and the game feels polished. its pretty hard which i applaud you for. i think it is difficult to make a hard game that is still possible and is also engaging for a game jam, and you have succeeded. i wish there was music, thats the only real criticism that i have. otherwise outstanding!
Quite a well executed take on Tsuro-style gameplay. I did not hear any music when I played the version in itch.io. Is that how things ended up, or did I accidentally mute it? (Edit: Never mind, it was just very quiet)
The sweep animations looked slick, and the bunny animations enjoyable. I will say that I was initially confused about the tutorial until I looked closely at the itch.io page. Is that the usual?
Nice game though I forgot to read the instructions so Im at lost at the start. Anyway a nice game. Where do you get your sounds? What apps do you use?
Very solid game. and fun, too! It's pretty hard, but it seems about right. Kept me coming back for more. Nice work!
Absolutely beautiful regarding the game mechanics. Very simple but very difficult. I finally got it on like 10th try.
I tried and figured the gameplay myself (after a few confused runs), and succeeded eventually :)
Wow I played this for like an hour! Didn't beat it, but it's really fun. It's be a lot easier if the world wrapped around, but it wouldn't have fit the theme that way, and I like how many things you have to think about before placing a tile too. Rewards patience! Amazing stuff again :D
We started this game without looking at the "manual" and had a lot of fun figuring out the rules by ourselves. The interface and the movement of the characters transported the mechanics very well.
The game's different parts fit together very well, and we had an instantaneous "let's do another round" effect! :) Except that the audio is pretty minimalist, it's hard to find anything to criticize!
Beautiful graphics and transitions, the only thing that didn't seem to fit in was the bunny portrait at the top.
I don't generally review LD games before beating them but here we go:
Graphics and sound-wise, solid work as usual. The concept is kinda counter-intuitive (rabbit fighting foxes?) but the game did a good job explaining it so no problem there. Didn't run into any bugs.
I have tried many times over (feels like 50 or so) but couldn't beat it, I'm too dumb except not really since I wouldn't admit that. I mean, it was the RNG screwing me over for sure - can't find any other explanation for me putting myself in a corner and skipping a bunch of tiles waiting for the one that I need, only to die of thirst. It bugs me because I really want to know what happens at the end.
With the very serious general-vibe stuff out of the way, here are some corner-related nitpicks:
Could use with a better indicator of where the edges of the play area are, it's pretty easy to lose track and accidentally drive yourself into one. Also would be pretty cool if the game ended when you reach the edge, perhaps with the rabbit jumping off because why not. I know I at least do feel like jumping off the window when he does that.
It's so darn good. I couldn't reach the boss in a few tries though. Once thing that bothers me is the amount of tiles that you need to place before the boss arrives, makes the beginning of the game a bit grindy when you have to try over and over.
But still a great entry and a lot of fun to play.
Mmmm, probably the first game of yours I didn't loved instantly. Graphics are great as always, but there are IMHO many issues with the gameplay (mostly already pointed out by other commenters):
- Worlds edges are barely visible at first, you got stuck without any "warning". - 70 tiles are really a lot! I think something around 30/40 can be fairer. - When you got stuck at the edge of the world you just stay there, it can happens in first run that you continue to play without understanding what to do. - The game over at the edges is quite unfair, given how easily you can get to it: maybe if you could stack tiles on the rabbit to make it go "back" on another route it'll be less punishing. Or maybe there could be world wrapping or rabbit bouncing back on the route, but I cannot think a way to avoid the infinite "loops" this solutions can create.
I loved your previous LD entries also because of the high difficulty level (The Sun and Moon, Reap and Death of a Lich), but this one is really too much! :)
Great creative game! I would get and play this if it was release as a mobile game for sure.
If you do that it would be great to have a progressive difficulty to easy you into it.
Fantastic art, cute sounds and a very solid gameplay.
Great work!
Highly rated by me
Awesome as always. :thumbsup:
As usual, a really great game from Managore. I'm really amazed at how creative you are when finding a new gameplay for each and every single ludum dare.
That's an amazing game !!! Love everything about it ! Really challenging, I appreciate ! Did not manage to beat the boss, the RNG wasn't on my side... :sob: But I will try again later ! Awesome work, graphics are really nice and the gameplay and concept are very smart ! Congratulations :thumbsup:
carrots.png
Once again, Managore has made a game in 48 hours that is incredibly creative from a simple and novel idea. I have yet to get below 40 tiles remaining, so there is probably a lot I'm missing, but from what I've seen so far the mechanics add a lot of strategy, thought and luck, as you lead into end game scenarios. I think the only issue is that if you lead a rabbit to the edge, you are forced to do nothing except waste tiles. Unless there is a way to save yourself, I'd rather the game just end as soon as the rabbit reaches the edge of the playing field.
I wonder if it's always possible to complete the game given the RNG. I mean, I haven't had two fox tiles in a row, so there must be some underlying set of rules regulating what tiles come up. I've managed to beat it once, but a few of my losses felt like something I couldn't have avoided.
Great little puzzle game. I managed to get to the boss a couple times, but I always seemed to lose by running out of height to stack tiles, or by getting starved of either right or left turns. I thought the difficulty level was fine (although perhaps that's due to my previous Tsuro experience), but it might just be a little bit too random.
At first, my strategy was to try and stay within the middle with fairly short paths. Avoiding the corners/edges means you can't get screwed over from turn tiles because you can usually save yourself from the edge with either a right or left turn. But the problem is that the tile stacks always fill up by the time you get to the boss. Then I tried to fill up the whole board evenly, but it's just too easy to get destroyed by a bad run of 4 or 5 tiles.
Aside from the randomness, I wish there was just slightly more polish and effects for the board movement. Maybe a different color to show your previous path? That would be especially useful for communicating "this is why you lost" after you fall off the edge.
The gameplay definitely fits the theme, although I would have liked to see the graphics do a better job of communicating the theme. Like, maybe some grass and plants on the tiles, or a sun/moon that orbits the world.
As other comments have mentioned, some music would be very nice.
Oh, and I also agree with the idea that this game would be fun on mobile.
A lot harder than I expected it to be. You very quickly go from being in a good spot to being stuck or dead if you don't plan ahead, which I prefer to just being able to place tiles wherever and still win. I managed to beat it after several tries.
I like how each loss condition forces you to play the game. The threat of going off the edge makes you think about pathing more. The threat of dying to foxes forces you to actually use the pathing, and the threat of thirst forces you to stop stalling.
I wonder how adding the ability to "hold" a piece like in tetris would affect the game. Would it make the game more or less strategic?
Anyways great work yet again by the Compo God.
Great compo entry. I think screen wrapping the rabbit when it is on the edge tiles could be interesting/a little more forgiving.
Man, this game is addictive! Excellent composition with a handful of easy to understand mechanics creating a fun, strategic experience. Really difficult as well, but in a good way - the "gotta give it one more go" way. Graphics are simple but present the game's look and feel nicely.
Only thing I would suggest is a "Game Over" mechanic when you've directed your rabbit to a dead end tile. I know I can just hit escape to start a new game immediately, but it would still be nice with a trigger that tells me I have nowhere left to go.
Great job!
Always amazing work from you! Love the animal sprites and animations and the minimal tiles and aesthetic. Feels very abstract like playing a board game. I found it quite difficult and haven't won it yet, but I might give it another go now =) Like the ambience too.
Awesome concept, and great puzzle! It took me a few turns to realize the bunny started on the top one the tile and maybe just a one frame tutorial or even just a way to show that the mid tile starts with the path pointing up would have gotten me started in the right direction. It's also challenging in the best way. I always look forward to playing your titles and this one is just as great!
Hey! I really played this game a looot of times! But I must assume it was too hard :( My poor rabit was thirsty so quickly that it was almost impossible to plan how to put the tiles in the right order, because it even did not let me forget that will pass out soon :D the enemies resulted to be too strong! I liked the concept, the graphics are so cute and everything about your game is very nice, except that it is hard :D Besides thanks for creating it and here are your high rates. Great job! If you want to check up not so brutal adventure, here is one ;) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/stardust
Love the game. I haven't completed it yet but so far the difficulty seems pretty spot on to me. The lack of notification when I was stuck at the edge of the world the first time seemed a little odd. After failing at a long attempt it felt like the game ran to slow to keep me coming back. I think the balance seems fine but having some way to speed up the animations would of made a big difference to me. Now I want to go make a physical version of the game, any chance of a tile list? Fanstastic entry!
Love it, there's a lot to it... gosh it's asking for a lot of thought! When I first started the game I was worried I missed a control or direction as it's not clear what's going on... so I had to unnecessarily relaunch the game a few times until I knew the goal. I'll try to beat it later. One of the best :D
Enjoyed it, though there were times I would be at the edge and at the whim of the rng, and would die waiting for the right tile. Some of that also seems to be just placing the tiles more strategically. Feels balanced towards a bit longer play times. Good job!
Much less intuitive that what we are use to (coming from you), but a excellent game nonetheless.
As soon as you realize what you're trying to accomplish with the tiles, the depth of the simple rules becomes astonishing, turning the gameplay into a challenging brainteaser.
I would also like a more clear link with the theme, but even with that in mind this is a 5☆ entry!
Well, this was awesome! Fantastic, innovative gameplay. Really enjoyed it once i got the hang of it. Impressive work, especially considering the time frame you had to work with all on your own. Good job!
Another stellar entry. My only complaint is that it gets a little hard to line up the paths once the tiles are stacked really high. Marvelous concept and awesome implementation
Nice twist on the theme. Game is as polished as usual with your entries. Game is a bit to difficult for me, but overall a great entry!
So much depth, variation and strategy for a game basically presented on a single screen! Absolutely great in every aspect and it's just so cool how there's such an incredible attention to detail in the visual presentation despite the time constraint.
Really fun and addicting game! Very cool concept! It's a lot harder than it looks.
Awesome as usual :smile: Really good game design ideas and super addictive! Only *"problem"* : the random pieces are very frustrating x)
Good job :D
Beautiful game, awesome!
One thing I don't like: when the rabbit "stuck" at the edge of the map, it doesn't game over right away like when you run out of water or carrot. There's no way to connect to the edge, the only thing I could do was placing tiles until water run out, which is confusing.
Maybe make it so the rabbit fall out of edge to visual a game over?
This game is truly amazing. Be honest the first time I played it is on the itch.io (by random recommendation page). I was shocked by getting to know that this game is actually made in 48 hours. Flawless game design & beautiful art... Thank you for bring this gorgeous piece! All 5 stars!~
Yes, this is a pretty fun game to play.
I'd probably make it a lot more clear how the border works, or just let the rabbit walkaround the world.
Prefacing this with a note that this was a really good game and I had a great time playing it! I have a lot of criticisms, but it's more indicative of how much time I spent playing than of the game not being fun.
- The first couple tries were very confusing; something didn't click with me that the bunny starts on a specific edge and only had one option to go forward until a few runs in. - It would have been nice if the game ended immediately on reaching an edge rather than leaving you there to wait out your remaining turns. It seems like it'd be pretty fitting to have the bunny just hop right off the edge while following the path! - The UI for showing upcoming pieces could get a bit confusing due to the text being so understated (i.e. I sometimes forgot that the bottom piece was next, and not the top). This could be fixed pretty easily by just having the scale of the very next piece be larger than the others. - The "barrier" around where you can actually place blocks is similarly very understated, and it's left to the player to pay close attention to the map edges. I feel like a game like this would benefit a lot more from the player being clearly aware of all of the pieces/rules in play so that they don't feel like they're being tricked into fail states, even if it does interfere a bit with the art style. - On that note, the artwork (although cute) seems a bit arbitrary and doesn't really communicate the theme that well. It gave me more of a board game vibe than "small world". - The first fox with 3 health has no obvious indication that its stronger, you just have to pay attention to the health dots. If the fox colours alternated on health changes instead of being seemingly random, it would be a lot more noticeable when the difficulty had increased. - There's nothing to indicate that the cells have a maximum height until it's too late (it's in the LD description, but not the itch.io one or in-game). On top of that, the game length is also balanced such that you reach the maximum height around the same time you reach the boss. It's pretty frustrating to get that far in a run only to lose because of a previously hidden restriction.
Very nice game. As always the art style of your games is amazing. Had fun playing this! :)
Well, that's a really amazing game! I've played like what.. 1 hour or two and never managed to beat this 7 health rabbit! Damn it! (I was pretty close though). I love these kind of games which involved strategy and anticipation, especially due to the randomness factor (well balanced as we can see the next 3 tiles). The ruleset and presentation are really top notch and it's really addicting as you can see.
There are still some drawbacks like ones Sean S. LeBlanc already noted, but it's overall impressing for a compo entry. To these nitpicking drawbacks, I would like to add that the sound design could benefit from some improvements. The sound effects are a little bit agressive imo, and it could be nice to have a small melody in the background. Also, a sound to warn when we're lacking water could be useful. I sometimes died because I forget this factor, it's more a careless mistake but it can be frustrating when we're deep in the level.
Anyway. Well done to you! A great entry from you once again.
This is a seriously good game. But then; did anyone expect anything bad from Daniel?
Hats off, simple mechanics but very deep at the same time. The sense that the player is slowly learning and mastering is very impressive given the short timeline for design. The graphics are fitting, mood is good and achieved with simple means. Top tier of LD#38
This is a very cute game.
Very frustrating, the super calming music plays an important role in this one :)
I guess a lot of this was already said, but: indicate the losing condition (stuck at the edge / stuck at the highest tile height) with a flashing R for example, it is very sad to see the rabbit die of thirst and have no way to prevent it. I know it might change the end game a bit, but maybe make the entire world collapse one level down if the two bottom-most levels are completely full? Also there is a visual glitch when fighting stuff on a tile to the south (the tile is drawn over the rabbit), but that's a very minor thing.
Overall, simple but well done!
As you're Daniel Linsenn I feel I can quite critical and get away with it :D
Personally I didn't find the gameplay that compelling, maybe because I wasn't planning in advance properly or didn't spend enough time playing the game to get a solid grip of it. I feel the game really needed a failstate animation as your runs just petered out rather than ending "properly". I feel having a ghost rabbit walking the path would also help make the game feel better to play.
However the ui and overall execution was masterful, the level of polish you can put into something is astounding.
I love how you can create challenging games that keep people playing. It was tough and I died a lot but I never felt frustrated enough to quit until many tries. Lots of depth and strategy here, great game as always.
Once again, an amazing entry! Interesting mechanic, and the level of polish very high. Graphics and sounds are not only great but work together to create a distinct mood.
Personally I don't think the difficulty is too high. Or rather, it is high, but not in an annoying way - I always feel like I'll crack it the next turn. Just master a few simple rules, and hours of play open up to you. Well done again, I'm always inspired by your games.
i thought this game was lacking compared to your regular content. it is an interesting take on tsuro, but not really changed enough to be original. combat was good, and i didn't find it to be too hard, but it and the rest of the game could use some more polish and expansion. (like couldn't you have made it so the bunny dies at the edge instead of making me wait or restart the game for it to die?) overall 3/5.
MANAGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE
I LOST LIKE 20 TIMES.
I WANTED TO SEE THE END, BUT FUCK THIS GAME.
10/10
Pretty nice! You always make great games :) A lot of feedback has already been given, but I wanna still congratulate you for the mood and feel of the game. Also, I love that you went for a Tsuro style (I discovered the board game a week prior to playing your entry)! I follow other people's opinion on the edge: there really should be something happening there cause at first I didn't get why I was stuck (I was assuming that if it meant a game over, the rabbit would fall or something like this, but nothing happens)
Pretty solid entry!
Wow this is an awesome entry! It feels super polished, and has a lot of strategy to it. This really reminds me of a board game, and could easily be translated into one. Love the bunny and the foxes, really cool. It would be nice if each tile had its own environment or custom set pieces so it wasn't just a colored block, but you know, time. Wouldn't expect that from a ludum dare game! Awesome work :)
What more is there to say about this? I really love this game. I've gotten to the boss but didn't beat it, and despite my best efforts still have yet to see the end. Probably my favorite entry. Good work. :)
Not half as simple as it looks. I spent far too long banging my head against this one, and I still didn't make it past "30 blocks remaining". (...Just one more try...)
Loved it. You've created another great game.
I would have liked it if you could wrap around the edges of the world, to avoid getting stuck on an edge.
It took me a while before I realized that I could fight the foxes, and that they wouldn't just automatically kill me.
It also took me a while to realize that I could stack tiles on top of ones I'd already laid. Once I realized this was possible, the game really opened up, and I enjoyed it very much.
Really love it! But I just wonder what the boss looks like...
quite difficult puzzle game but a very interesting one. I really liked it though. but man! you should vote more games in!
for god sake it's really hard！I've worked on it for 6 hours and finally beat the boss :P really nice game！Hope there could be a full version with more levels!
Looks amazing to me, sadly I can't play it... Or rather, the visuals are missing... It starts up with a complete black screen and sound, if I press any of the control keys sounds appear. I really want to try this game... Please help?