Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Manual Mech
By mikeliosus, Taira Domini, Anglain, EShudra, Doreimon, JohanessKrauser and RobinBad
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 338 | 3.48 | 68 | |
| Fun | 612 | 2.85 | 69 | |
| Innovation | 36 | 4.07 | 69 | |
| Theme | 102 | 4.03 | 69 | |
| Graphics | 407 | 3.56 | 69 | |
| Audio | 269 | 3.34 | 68 | |
| Humor | 392 | 2.45 | 59 | |
| Mood | 396 | 3.26 | 66 |
This is a great entry. It's a unique and innovative idea, and it's executed quite well. The controls were the most challenging. I know that's partially the whole concept, but remembering what keys do what wasn't super intuitive. I might have preferred the option to just play entirely with the mouse. But overall, I thought this was a great game. Well done! I'd be interested in a more finalized version!
good game
This is really well done. The controls are super weird, but I think that was the intent: to make it feel as if you're at the control board for a mech. Took me forever to figure out how to jump forward lol. Nice work!
Really great entry, though hard as hell to operate. I think you might need to give people some more energy to fiddle around with - it takes a long time to learn the controls, and as it stands now, you have to do nearly everything right to make it to the next batteries - no time to fail. Cool graphics, interesting and very different design. I liked it.
Awesome idea, among the best in terms of theme I've seen so far. Player controls take quite a bit of getting used to, but once you're able to press all the buttons instinctively, without thinking it through, the amount of enjoyment you feel skyrockets. Took me an hour to finish, but it was hella worth it.
Really cool idea but pretty difficult to control. As @dob suggested earlier it might be a good idea to give people some extra energy to make more room for the learning curve. Graphics are great and really made the experience come together.
It's very hard to jump, but anyways, great idea. You could've participated with this in the GMTKJam
Controls are a little bit hard but i guess its because giving the feeling of controlling mech. The game felt really polished with all the graphics and sound effects . Good job :)
Really nice execution. Took me a second to get the controls and how to do things but then it becomes really fun. Really nice graphics and well polished. A bit sad that you did not get the robot commenting everything.
Keep up the great work people!
This is one of the best ideas of LD 39. For real, the best story, it can be develped until become a full game, really good concept, the controls are not perfect, it can be a bit better, but is a great game, the music and sfx are good, the robot/machine remind some japanese art, I really liked, great job !
Great job. The controller is really difficult, but it's cool. I took the time to figure out how to jump over the platform. The graphics are excellent, the sound too. I like the idea, I wish you good luck, you have a cool project.
The tutorial is good, and I like that you keep things hidden until you unlock them: It helps keep the game from becoming overwhelming. I eventually got stuck in a hole and couldn't figure out how to jump out again, but it was a fun game! It really did feel like I was operating a large, heavy machine.
Theme is nicely followed, each movement taking energy. Graphics are nicely done, tho Gui could have been more polished but hey. Audio: music and fx are well done, nothing to Humor: i don't really care, this category is too subjective ^^ Mood: nothing special here.
Fun and innovation are were i think the game is really lacking. I don't really think you should make frustrating controls for the only purpose of being frustrating. Cause the only result you'll get is success at being this : frustrating.
Overall a pretty good realization, nice work ;)
A brilliant entry. The controls are very original and felt a bit awkward at first but I got used to them pretty quickly. Once you master them you start feeling like you're operating your own mech.
Will come back when you add more levels :) Great job!
Love the controls on this one! I think I got an F on handling the mech.
Great game! Incredibly creative use of the theme, although it got maybe a little too confusing, specially with how the brain is usually hard wired for WASD controls.
A suggestion: if you guys can find some way to make this work on a gamepad, it would probably be easier to play.
Really good job!
Couldn't wrap my head around the controls but I see the appeal, feels very clunky (seems to be by design) but very interesting and with a lot of potential.
If fully developed, this seems like the type of game I wouldn't mind getting. I really like the graphics, audio and mood. There's a ton of potential here. You could create all sorts of crazy puzzles and put all kinds of add-ons to the mech.
The controls, like others have stated, are kinda weird, but I got used to them. They really do feel like bizarre controls on a mech, and they work for a puzzle game approach. Others have complained about the energy level, but personally, I found no problem with it.
My biggest complaint here would actually have to be the turrets. Because the controls are so non-intuitive, I couldn't figure out how to get past most of them. Perhaps in a hypothetical full version, the turrets wouldn't show up until later levels and the threats could be limited to, well, anything else. Spikes, electric beams, etc. Also, perhaps a shield add-on could be created, and a way to move the camera so you can see upcoming turrets.
Overall, this is one of the best games I've seen thus far.
The idea is good. The mech is a little difficult to handle with the controls, but I guess that's part of the game. Good work!
It's a good idea, controls were slightly awkward as highlighted by other commenters. I'm not sure if there's something I don't understand, I can't seem to get past the first platform. I've tried running and jumping, jumping while moving, etc. but the mech only seems to jump vertically.
[Edit] Nevermind, I've figured it out. You need to **hold down** A, while pressing space.
the command is so hard but great idea
The controls are awkward, but once you get used to them it's a really fun game.
I did not enjoy this. The controls are so difficult and counter-intuitive. I kept running out of energy so quickly I could hardly survive to my next goal. Pretty much made it as far as the drill, and my energy was so depleted I was basically dead.
This is a really cool idea. The concept is pretty original and I would have love to play it more! :p Your turret have shot me so hard that I feel sad now :p Falling into this pit on level 2 and then die, that's tought xD I don't know if it fits well with the control. Having one and run, or jump over it, ok, but the pit and the turret fits more a classic platform game like Megaman than your mechanics.
Anyway, that was great. The graphics are cool, the voice is nice and the music create a cool mod thanks to all those sound effects. Well done!
Congrats! Nice entry.
We streamed your game with Danae plays on Twitch. :) Here's a link:
[Danae streams Ludum Dare 39: Day 1, part 1: Manual Mech](https://youtu.be/4KfQtLDzK-g?t=4m25s)
This was the first game we did though, so watch only if you enjoy awkward commentary (from me) :D
I enjoyed figuring out the control scheme, although maybe it would have been nice to visually display the trajectory for your jump? I felt getting out of the pit next to the drill in level 1 was near impossible. To be fair, it was a pretty obvious trap so it was "deserved", but still. In short, it seems the biggest problem with the game right now is difficulty balancing. Good job for a jam! :)
@aurel300 Thanks a lot! :)
It is so encouraging and informative to watch someone playing your game! :3
Actually it was not a trap. You needed to set up lower power on the hydraulic engine and make a smooth jump right on the platform without hitting a level roof. :P
But thanks to your video I can see clearly that it was a too hard element for such an early moment of the game!
Also if u want to tweet us, use @Mikeliosus @Evgeni_Shudra @Anglainko
Pretty cool game ! Congrats for the work
By far the better idea I saw. The controls are a little complicated, but I think it was good to narrative.
Good job, my friends.
We need a minimap, sometimes it's complicated to orientate yourself.
Great work with the voice audio of the movement assist thingy/mech armor. When I saw the instructions it all looked very daunting and confusing but in game it was really neatly explained. So I would almost suggest you'd trim those from the description of the game because I could see myself thinking "this looks like a way to complex game for me to play right now". I would really have wanted to get to play the levels you had created too, because I did really like the style/tone of your game but I could not figure out how to jump over the first hurdle. Jumps only went up wards and they didn't use any of the forward momentum set. So I'd strongly suggest you think about re-balancing how hard/easy it is to perform forward jumps. And perhaps the feedback for what you are doing wrong when the jump is not going forward. The narrator/mech suit could well have said "It looks like you are trying to jump forward..."
When I saw control list I almost gave up downloading it, and then when I got stuck and died 10 times at around the first box I almost gave up on playing it, but then when I reread the instructions and found that you can change the jump angle and started doing well it became kind of addictive
These are some very interesting controls! I wish the batteries gave more energy, though.
Complicated gameplay, as it should be for what you proposed to do. Nice atmosphere of the game and cudos for the tutorial. Well made.
Really interessting game! There's a couple of things I want to suggest to improve!
At the moment, the layout of your controls on the keyboard is a little messy. Buttons seem to be haphazardly thrown around the left side of the keyboard. A better idea for button layout could be to have colums deligated to each set of controls, eg (with a qwerty keyboard):
1 - toggle move | q - toggle direction
2 - jump | w - angle jump
3 - toggle drill | e - toggle drill state
etc...
or (possibly better) you could allow the player to choose their own keyboard layout. Have a look into getbutton() etc in unity and the related inputs menu. Another thing is that jumping at an angle is rather difficult because you have to guess a lot how much power to use and how far back to stand, an indicator showing the predicted jump arc might be useful to show when jump is held as then the power can be adjusted!
Also, one more slight thing, not sure if level 2 was supposed to end with the turret pit, I managed to jump out of it but then died from the drop right after. I guess some kind of indication that it was the end would have been good (unless it wasn't, in which case I have no idea what to do from there).
Aside from that, awesome game! The metroid style suit pickups were a cool addition!
@mickeyg Thanks for detailed feedback! Very helpful and informative!
About level 2 - to pass the turret pit you need to not fall into it at all. To do it you need to pick a right angle (3 times press "Space" while holding "A") and jump forward, over a pit.
That was really interesting. Almost impossible to control, but a really cool idea. Would make a great co-op sort of game, like guns of icarus or something like that. I couldn't control the poor mech for love or money, but I had a good time exploding. Nice job, I don't think you've seen the end of the ideas potential just yet.
The controls are difficult for a reason and I quite like that. Jumping especially takes a lot of time to get used to which makes it challenging. The graphics and audio are good too.
Now, I could not finished the second level mostly due to unfair level design. Dying to a turret or running out of power never felt like I had made a mistake.
Turrets quite often cannot be seen before it is too late, so you have to memorize their positions which is lame. Running out of power is also more of a memorization problem. Play the level multiple times and eventually you know which is the most optimal path to the exit. I'm not a big fan of this type of *trial and error* design. I want to be able to make good enough decisions the first time playing, not the tenth time.
Being able to see further would alleviate some of this memorization. Checkpoints with an energy charging station would work too. Another possibility is to simplify the controls, but then you would start losing the mech angle which would be a shame.
Good work overall.
I didn't have problems with the controls themselves, but losing all momentum when hitting the ceiling or wall was just so frustrating. Setting the jumping arc could be simpler. It was just incredibly frustrating, trying to get out of the pit besides the drill...
This is a great concept, but movement needs to be a lot more fluid.
Pretty cool entry, those controls... I think my brain was melting. What was the point of being able to jump directly up? Maybe it helps later on in the game? For replay value I think there should have been a skip intro button, also if you're game is mainly keyboard controls you should try and IMO make everything keyboard compatible (tutorial/menu) but it is a jam so it's understandable :) I wanted to carry on and complete the first level, and I did! However the controls were just too frustrating for me to carry on, good work tho
Well... i think it will be hard to say anything that hasn't been said already. But oh well, here it goes.
I absolutely love the idea. It's really interesting, goes with the theme and it's a different approach to an already known genre. Although... i get the "weird controls", "weird unkown robot you're piloting"... but I really felt i spent more time looking at the controls than at the screen itself. This may not be true when you've spent a good amount of time playing, but... well, maybe i'm just not the type of player for this kind of game.
Also, the "sliding" from a platform you're trying to jump onto can be kinda annoying.
Besides, this is overall a great game. Great idea, good execution, innovative, and as annoying as fun to play! (In a good way). Probably, what i appreciate the most is the tutorial. The voice-over really sells it, and it works really good for this game.
Good job!
I really enjoyed this game. I never got off of level 1 but I really enjoyed it. I couldn't figure out how to predict where I was going to land with jumps so I always ended up wasting a ton of energy trying to figure out where I should land. I got stuck once I got to the drill area and eventually gave up.
But I really enjoyed this game. :D
Looking at your pic I realize what went wrong in my attempt. You see, I was able to move and play the game with the dialog still on screen. Actually, the "What is going on" dialog was too far below my screen. I didn't see that text at my resolution. So naturally I thought you just had a huge GUI along the bottom of the screen that covered up stuff like the drill. It took way too long to figure out how to manage the drills power considering I couldn't see the slider. The obvious fix would be to force the player to complete the dialog, and put it in a place where it could be seen at odd resolutions.
I didn't understand why there is a perfectly vertical jump. I didn't find any use for it, so why would that be my default jump angle? Furthermore, I didn't like that I slid along the ground after landing. It takes away from the feeling of being a large mech.
That said, it's a good concept. I like the idea of unnatural controls that you learn to get good at. A skillful play would be satisfying to do.
Complex platformer! I included it in my Ludum Dare 39 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUoaduptLak