Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Robot Kernel PaniK
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 650 | 3.00 | 35 | |
| Fun | 722 | 2.63 | 35 | |
| Innovation | 220 | 3.42 | 35 | |
| Theme | 102 | 4.03 | 35 | |
| Graphics | 436 | 3.48 | 35 | |
| Audio | 311 | 3.27 | 35 | |
| Humor | 374 | 2.50 | 34 | |
| Mood | 493 | 3.09 | 35 |
I'm really sorry, but it isn't clear how to play. I understood how to activate robots and how to make them gather food, but I still haven't managed to produce energy, so I get the gameover screen (nice touch here!) almost immediately after enabling a robot. Please write some lines here in the comments or in the description of the game on how to play (so people can rate the game).
Yesss changes are under way! Thank you!
UPDATE: instructions added!
The concept is interesting and with instructions added I was possible to activate robots and... run out of energy almost instantly.
After few tries I was able to charge robots and pick up some crops... then die.
The game is extremely harsh, I'd like to play it more but it is just extremely hard (no mistakes are allowed).
Thanks @zgragselus! You are correct we are in the process of balancing the game and make a more smooth difficulty curve.
Maybe color consoles/doors diferent colors so it is easier to tell which console opens which door?
@filippy Well, that would be part of the difficulty, so you have to follow cables... we are trying to improve the gameplay so thanks for the idea!
A very difficult game, but I can tell there is depth to it. I wasn't able to figure out how to get crops working, but I did manage to repair the solar panels and charge the robots.
@MichaelGrand For harvest crops you have to select a robot and then click precisely in the fully grown crops, those that are not fully grown cant be harvested.
When robots harvest crops they cost more energy so you need to have good timing (too much rigth now) and a good energy reserve for getting the robot that has harvested to the bunker entrance to deliver the crop.
Thank you for the coment!
@michaelgrand Yes it is difficult! We try to add a lot of things and we didn't have time to polished the difficulty curve. Actually I managed to beat the game today for the first time, here is a tip: You really need to know how the map works for minimising the use of robots. Any way we are working on an update to make things clearer and not as demanding at least at the start of the game.
Seems pretty deep, but very difficult! I managed to charge some of the robots and get some crops but couldn't figure out what to do after that. Really enjoyed the robot's little quips when selected, and the graphics were very good too.
Game shows a lot of promise, although right now it's just too difficult and unclear what to do. Especially since placing robots next to terminals had no effect in my game (despite what the guide on this page says).
Art, sound and concept are all good. Once you get the gameplay and ease of use under control, this might become something interesting.
It is very difficult and not really clear how to play it? I think good instructions or a quick tutorial level would have been a nice addition!
@eduardogrdev We wrote the full instructions in the page of our game, as we thought it wouldn't be as immersive in the console tutorial. The same for the tutorial level, it wouldn't seem like a real thing. You have to be careful on when you activate robots!
I like this concept - agree on the really really hard. Once I started getting down the sector switches and solar panel activations I felt like I was making progress but never lasted long. I actually couldn't figure out what the robot was at first - maybe I'm not as observant as others. Maybe adding a flashy "hey, I'm right here" would have gotten me past that short initial curve. I will have to try the updated version, but the comments and ratings are, of course, for the LD39 release. Really nice job @le-slo, @kl0z and @canijo
@johnnwfs Thanks! Of course for the ratings, the deadline is the deadline. But we wanted to deliver the product we had in our minds, at least for us. For the next time we decided trying on a smaller project but polishing it up because on this everything went out of hands. I'm happy you "enjoyed" losing a couple of times in our project! Haha!
The art work is really nice and so is the audio , Once again just on the side of pure confusion when playing the game , a simple tut level would of been nice. But its ludum dare so no worries :P . Once I got the grip its a nice game and played well . Stuck to the theme nicley aswell!
nice work!!
The game feels very big and complex, but I have a hard time understanding what exactly is making me lose, and how to stop it I activated some robots and some power panels but was never able to get very far.
Maybe a first small easy tutorial map to understand the mechanics would have been nice
Overall I think it's a titanic game, but I would appreciate some guidance on understanding the mechanics!
Keep up the hard work! :)
Really interesting game! I couldn't figure out how much kernels or energy I had left, or when I would lose the game. The end seemed to come up randomly. Loved the GUI screen (fingerprints, smears) and the sounds were excellent. Wish I could beat it!
@multiplexor @afroant @Screech Thank you for your feedback. It is a shame we intendes to be kind of cryptic on the game's tutorial to encourage exploring with the interface. On the yellow tab you can see how energy have you left, as well as an upgrade button for buying a better storage of energy. Once you fix a panel it will give you some energy per second but the robot will spend some energy per second. The best practice is fixing several panels with only one robot, in order to gain some energy and then activate other robots. I think I understando what we did wrong, the panels looks off when there isn't a robot near it. Again, thank you for playing.
Wow amazing attention to detail with the ui! I actually feel like I'm in a bunker in middle of nowhere controlling a bunch of robots. I didn't really know what I was doing and died all the time. The game looks cool though.
Great game, I liked the graphics and the gameplay, continues to make games
I had a little bit of problems to understand how to do things on the first game, but then I improved from game to game and actually played quite a few times (sadly loosing every time). It feels very complete and polished, maybe a little harsh for beginners but clearly it centered very well the idea of running out of power. Nice job!
I also had a difficult time understanding what i needed to do, but I did like the sounds, graphics, and end screen. I think in-game player walk-through would really help, and I look forward to checking out any post-LD updates.
**Micro-management hell!**
I finally managed to bring in some crops and clean the air, but nothing happened? I guess I should have opened the vault door too; but I simply cannot get the door, leading to the vault door, opened no matter which terminals I try. Do you need to use multiple terminals for that or what?!
The user interface is obtuse and hard to use. It is by design, by the looks of it, but that makes it no less annoying. The energy and life meter should be visible at all times, not behind a menu. *So much unnecessary clicking!*
Make it clearer which terminal opens which door (the power lines overlap a lot currently) and reduce the mount of clicking in the UI.
Ok job otherwise.
@huvaakoodia Congratulations! You actually went really far. You are supposed to reach the vault, yes, but you'll need at least 4 robots in order to open all the doors, a bit unfair, I know. ALthough the ending didn't work on the Ludum Dare version, and there isn't really an ending of the post one. Thank you for your feedback, you are right about the energy and in general the interface, we wanted something that made the game a bit more difficult but we didn't manage it so well.
Again thank you for your comments, make us improve!
I came back to try your game, after the explanation the original version was still quite difficult, but now playable! The main game mechanic is interesting, you keep moving from a screen to another to micromanage the robots (the panels that break themselves are pure evil!) and to bring food back to the pipe (the robots consume a dramatic amount of energy to bring back crops!). The interface always gets in the way. Also a way to switch between screens with some hotkeys would have been awesome. I loved the aesthetic of the screen with the dirt on it, great idea! It took some time to get used to the way to control the robots, but after a while I got used to it.
Overall is a really good game, the amount of work that you put on it is really visible and it pays itself, great work!
Notes: - When I started the game, I was a bit lost. I understood the instructions but didn't really know what to do until I knew what robots, solar panels, terminals, etc. look like. It took me a minute to discover what is what and how to interact with it. It might be helpful to create a "30-second GIF" of "commented gameplay" (subtitles?) showing how to play the game. I know you already wrote the important information in the main post, but a video is better. :wink: - Moving between sectors could be done with arrow keys (or the currently visible sector could be highlighted in the floating console window for easier navigation). - Enabling full-screen mode would help, especially on small, high-resolutoin screens. - The console window was taking a lot of precious space and seemed to react to clicks even when closed. I think it would help the GUI to get rid of the window after showing the instructions to the player and to put the gauges (+ upgrade button) "somewhere in the corner"...
Nice take on a strategy game with an interesting visual style and animations. Well done!