jezzamon 2017-08-02 15:03
Hey, you should add some gifs to the ludum dare page!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Stargust
By eggnog
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 484 | 3.27 | 31 | |
| Fun | 503 | 3.00 | 31 | |
| Innovation | 146 | 3.59 | 29 | |
| Theme | 209 | 3.82 | 31 | |
| Graphics | 175 | 4.13 | 31 | |
| Humor | 267 | 2.78 | 25 | |
| Mood | 498 | 3.08 | 27 |
Hey, you should add some gifs to the ludum dare page!
Pretty Good! I liked having to balance four different actions, although I have never managed to really prevent the rocket from blowing up the battery :-(
You missed your chance to put some easter eggs above or below the tutorial text, though ;-)
As far as the game goes: Very nice looking graphically! It's fun to move around as a cloud and such.
But yeah, not having any sound hurt it a bit. It's not too hard to add some basic ones during the jam, it's worth doing that at some stage.
The game itself was kinda confusing because I'm not sure how you survive the missile? Seems like it destroys the battery every time.
Thanks Jezzamon and Caranha!
The rocket can be redirected from the battery by using magnesis (wind power + Z). In the final release, I'll make sure that the instructions are a little more clear on this! Sound and music will be in the final version as well! ;)
And yeah, Jezzamon, I'll put some gifs up for sure! Thanks for the suggestion! :D
I think I enjoy playing as a cloud. More games should let me do that. Thanks for making one that fulfilled my desire to float above flowers and magnetically attract missiles.
The instructions are a bit long, but when you have multiple interacting mechanics like this, it can be hard to break up the introduction well. But the gameplay itself seems good.
I actually didn't miss much in the UI, so I'm not sure what more you wanted to polish, but sound would definitely have made it better. A pity you didn't have time to get to it.
Ultimately though, I had fun raining on flowers and being a magnetic floating thing.
I love the art assets- the smiling cloud, the dancing dog. It was great! I wish there had been music too, but that wasn't so bad. The game itself was a little tricky, and I wish there had been more emphasis on easing the player into it, or instructions that popped up as I played the game. But, seriously, so cute and really sets up a nice mood!
Thanks ThePelranthean! I figured that complex instructions would be better than the slightly stinted instructions within the game itself. I'll certainly get to the sound when my official launch on Twitter comes around later this week, so keep your eyes peeled! ;)
Also, I love clouds too! They should totally be in more games. :P
I love the presentation - playing as a smiling cloud is cute. The gameplay is also pretty innovative. I found keeping track of all the abilities a little tricky. Also, you run out of water very quickly - I barely feel like I got any watering done. Solid looking game and concept, though. Nice to see yet another person repping pico8!
This was really fun and super charming. I really enjoyed it.
It might be because I'm doing this around midnight but I had a hard time figuring out what I was supposed to do to keep the electricity up. It was fun to balance out watering the plants while keeping some rascals out of the garden. Very cool little game man :)
The simple graphic design was cute and easy to understand:)
I'm not sure if I'm just bad, but I couldn't get rid of that missile. I opened a whole can of magnesis on that thing and I couldn't stop it!
It'd be nice to use one power without wasting the other, so I can prepare for threats. I kept getting pinched where I'd water the plants then the chomper shows up and it's impossible to get the gust and use it on him before he ruins my beautiful garden x)
Thanks everybody! To answer you each in turn ...
Peter Sheehan: The chompers were fun to animate, so I'm glad you liked them! If I ever release a sequel or an enhanced version, I'll definitely consider easing players into the concept a little more smoothly! Thanks for the feedback! :)
PBG: I'm super proud to rep PICO-8, it's just such an awesome program, with such a great community! I definitely agree that the water and wind powers would be easier if mapped to a 4-button controller instead of the 2-button system. Perhaps that'll be rectified in a sequel down the road! :D Thanks for your input!
VarelseGames: Thanks so much! :)
Phobos001: Keeping your lightning power up is a little tricky, as it uses nearly 3/4 of your water power! Only one lightning bolt at a time can be used, so it can indeed be a little tricky to stay on top of! I'm glad you found it fun to keep the chompers out of the garden, thanks so much for the feedback! :)
prettylucky: If you sit on the Wind Power Generator, you can just hold Z and use magnesis when the missile is close to the ground, so it'll just land in the garden. In any future versions, I'll make magnesis a little more powerful, or the missile a little bit easier to redirect. A scrollable power menu might have rectified the current 2-button system I'm using ... hmm. I'll keep that in mind for any future version! Thanks so much for your thoughtful response! :D
Simple but effective graphic!
The graphics are absolutely adorable and I loved the variety of different mechanics. I would agree with others that the rockets seem too difficult to avoid. After a few runs, I figured out how to stop them, but I think having them redirect towards the battery slower would make them more balanced, as currently, there is only a very small window of time in which they can be stopped. Great job so far, I am excited to see more!
Cute graphics, Gameplay is too difficult. :')
Really cool idea for mechanics. I loved the depth introduced by the dual-purposes of rain and wind. It kinda reminds me of playing Starcraft, just because everything needs my attention all the time and I can't keep up. It's a good feeling, but usually I can overcome it with enough practice. Didn't really have the patience for that in this game, unfortunately. A big limiting factor is that moving around is so slow, and it's the only way to get anything done. This is just personal preference, but I wish I could perform actions as fast as I can think of them, but the nature of the gameplay forces me to do one thing at a time. Love the cloud, looks so floofy :cloud:
I liked the art style a lot in this game! I had been unsuccessful on dealing with the missiles but I'm sure it's doable somehow.
I liked the game overall i wish it didn't lack the sound.
Thank you for making this game I enjoyed it!
Art was amazing! And the cloud was so cute :) Even though gameplay was a bit hard, I enjoyed playing anyways
I like the art and the fact of using different buttons for the same element to interact with. I didn't understand very well the electricity purpose at the beginning maybe with the UI finished it will be more clear. I think the game will be more accessible if you make a short tutorial. Good work anyway!
Aww, thanks for the comments everybody! And now, the responses!
ArticNet: Thanks! Simple & effective is what I was aiming for here; avoiding unnecessary graphical complexities helped me nail down the feel of the game more quickly! Thanks for the comment!
stevenjmiller: It seems that the rocket difficulty is a running theme in my player feedback! I definitely agree, sometimes it's hard to see past my own ideas while developing, so it's great to hear that there are some things I need to tweak. I'll definitely adjust the rockets before the official release! Thanks for the feedback!
oab: Yeah, that seems to be in line with how people are feeling. I'll adjust the difficulty before the official release, so hopefully it'll be a little more accessible at that time! :) Thanks for the comment!
Turncoda: I might try to avoid this feeling of stress or powerlessness by draining the Wind and Water bars a little more slowly, even by 5-10%! Hopefully that will help players feel more like they're not constantly wandering back to recharge! Thanks for the comment!
arctic_allosaurus: That seems to be the theme here! I'm taking notes on what's making the game so tricky for people to pick up, so hopefully people will be able to enjoy the cuteness more fully when I officially release it! Thanks for playing!
franfox: The new tutorial will fully explain the use of electricity, but maybe I can make the electricity bar flash when it gets low ... something to convey its importance. Thanks for the suggestions! :D
Cute game!
The little cloud is charming, and the use of the two power sources is rather clever, having to choose not only between water and wind, but also choosing the way you want to use that power.
The interactions could have been a little more obvious, but for a jam is fine to rely in text explanation when you're running out of time.
To sum up: solid entry!
The cloud's movements and animation was spot-on, and it felt really nice to be in that character. I enjoyed hanging around and raining on my flowers and collecting stars. But I never quite got the hang of juggling the four different modes and once I learned not to shock my own flowers (oops not again!) I wasn't sure how to deal with the guy that eats them on the ground, or the rocket that blows up my battery. So maybe there was just a little too much complexity, or maybe I just was bad!
But a cool idea to do this charging multitasking challenge as a cloud-gardner. The lack of sound was a shame but the little animations were all great. Nice work.
NueboMundo: I totally agree that the explanations could have been a little more simple! I've been spending a little time polishing it for release, and conveying what must be done has been my main focus. Thanks for the feedback!
pkenney: I agree that it's a little too hard to balance the four tasks (Rain, Zap, Gust, Magnet), so I'm currently polishing the balance on these moves, so they're a little easier to work with, and the game is a little more lenient on beginner players. People really seem to enjoy the feel of the player, and the idea of being a cloud gardener - perhaps I should release a sequel with a more relaxed vibe? :P Thanks for the comment! :D
This is really cute and well-done! :) I liked exploring the game without reading the instructions, and trying to figure out how the different mechanics worked. Nice sounds, and the graphics style is simple, but effective! I always wanted to be a cloud! :P Found this game via Twitter, by the way - she protec, but she also attac! :D
By the way - I totally didn't recognize the key at the beginning ("Press
Hey blinry! Thanks for the thoughtful comment! That 'she protec' gif really took off, sometimes the internet moves in mysterious ways, doesn't it?
The button was likely 'X' or 'Z', which along with the arrow keys, are the keys that PICO-8 generally supports. In the final release, I've removed the button keys from the instructions, as it seems that all my playtesters had trouble understanding the symbols. Thanks so much for the input! :D