december-dogs 2017-08-01 04:31
Hi dude links broken might not be public yet :)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Project Sunspot
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 541 | 3.17 | 37 | |
| Fun | 735 | 2.60 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 329 | 3.20 | 37 | |
| Theme | 126 | 3.97 | 37 | |
| Graphics | 327 | 3.77 | 37 | |
| Audio | 494 | 2.65 | 37 | |
| Humor | 427 | 2.38 | 33 | |
| Mood | 295 | 3.45 | 37 |
Hi dude links broken might not be public yet :)
@december-dogs sorry about that I've had a real headache uploading the thing. Should be playable now!
Very cool mood. I like the look and feel a lot, but I couldn't quite get a feel for the gameplay. I like the idea of getting charged up while in the light and draining while in the dark, but the dark was so dark that it felt random. I either hit walls or was destroyed (although I'm still not sure by what).
Maybe there could be some "breadcrumbs" of some type...like if I get close to certain objects they flicker briefly so I have some hint of what to do and where to go. Some gameplay hints of some kind for the player would go a long way and would really build on the cool ambiance you've got going on.
(Please forgive me if I missed anything in my playthough...maybe there were other gameplay elements I just didn't find.)
the controls and the camera were kinda hard to grasp, looked like what you'd see in an old 3d horror game. The mood was nice and I really liked the robot's design.
I agree with Chadivision that you have established a great mood. I really struggled with the camera though. The set views were nice, reminded me of old PS1 game, but there were time I could not see much in the direction I was travelling, which compounded with a need for speed since my power was decreasing led to frustrating deaths. I think the frustration could be minimized with checkpoints. Hurts a lot more when I have to start completely over after accidentally falling in a pit :) The light mechanic does seem pretty cool though. Maybe just give the player a bit more to work with: i.e. slower power gauge, a more generous camera angle/zoom, etc. Thanks!
@chadivision Thank you very much for playing. I am glad you enjoyed the mood! The darkness in the game is supposed to be quite deadly, that is why the player is given a light. Managing your power so you can use the light is core to the challenge of the game, and I feel that putting too much of the map in permanent light would nullify the challenge. Having said that, I do like your idea of including some elements in the map which provide the player with temporary aid. It's something that I would look at including given more time. As for gameplay hints, the hints are there but they are subtle. I didn't want to spoonfeed the player but rather reward thought and experimentation. However, I am the only one who playtested it and I am the creator so perhaps the hints were too subtle. Suffice to say, backtracking through the level is a defininte requirement. I will probably post a walkthrough for those who want to see the end of the game without having to sink too much time into trial and error. Thanks again for the comment!
@lun8 Thank you for playing. The ps1 era horror game mood is exactly what I was going for so I'm glad it came across. The camera and movement choices were deliberate to add to the challenge (though I do need to tweak it in certain parts, just ran out of time). Thanks for the comment!
@pjchardtthesecond Thank you for playing. I do agree with you that in certain parts the camera angle is unnecesarily frustrating. That is just the result of me running out of time and having too many other things to fix. Checkpoints could be nice, I agree. Didn't have time to implement it, and also I have grown accustomed to starting over from playing so much Dark Souls 3 (lol) so it doesn't bother me all that much, but I understand how frustrating it might be for some. I did actually decrease the power usage rates compared to my first build, which was very brutal. Perhaps I do need to make it a bit more forgiving though. And as I said, definitely agree with you about the camera, its hard to strike a balance between keeping the challenge/suspense and not making it seem unfair. Anyway, thank you very much for the comment!
Neat idea and well put together. I suggest changing the keyboard layout - it's a little unpleasant. Nice rotation controls, but not helped by your character not having a clear front. Starting in the dark didn't help - I didn't know where I was! You should start in the light, and make it obvious that leaving the light is the dangerous thing to do. Could certainly be expanded into an atmospheric puzzle game.
I think the character control is a bit hard to get. I might have chosen something more user friendly and habitual for players :)
But the ambiance is good and the graphics are in a way i like, those little robots and stuff are very rusty :D
@richard-bunn Thank you for the feedback. You are right, the start of the game is an issue, the player is just dumped in the dark with no orientation. This was just a lack of planning on my part. I'm glad you liked it otherwise :)
@sempra I'm sorry the controls weren't to your taste, I was going for an old school PS1 horror game feel specifically but it can feel unnatural for some players I guess. I'm glad you enjoyed the ambience, thanks for playing!
Wow! Really great work! This game is tough as nails. It took me a lot of tries to make it.
I like the graphics! Really strong modelling work done there!
The control scheme is a bit unusual but i got used to it pretty quickly. I think this game would also be great with controller support!
Overall really well made! Keep up the good work!
I think you nailed the retro feel. The lighting and models and just about everything really setup a dark ominous mood for the game. I did have trouble on the first jump and spent some time trying to dash the door down :joy: but don't worry I got it! Nice submission!
@jannes-nagel Thanks so much for playing. The game is certainly challenging, I'm glad you still enjoyed it. I put a lot of time into the design and modelling, perhaps too much time for a three day project as other elements ended up falling a bit short but anyway, thanks for the feedback :)
@tyguy I'm glad you liked the feel as it was a main focus of the idea. Hearing that you tried to dash the door down made me laugh! It does make total sense to try that, but it never occurred to ma haha. Thanks a lot for playing :)
I liked the PS1/FF7 style graphics and use of robots/solar power. The route was a bit difficult to figure out and was challenging
Graphic is quite interesting, but gameplay is really boring. I played 3 times and it was really difficult experience
Graphics and audio were both great, setting the mood very well! Respect for trying to do an adventure game on a jam timescale - it's very hard to get the difficulty right for those...
Your game has nailed that 90s adventure game feel, but it's just way too hard without a mechanic to let the player resume after dying... In those 90s puzzle games I could at least save at the hard parts and try again without having to replay the game from the start. Saving or a restore point mechanic would've helped a lot.
I found the 2nd jump extremely difficult - there was no hint whatsoever that holding space longer would make me jump further - it just escalated straight from an easy jump to a hard jump that requires maximum distance and timing an obstacle! A gentler escalation of the difficulty with a bit more hand-holding to teach mechanics would've made the game much more playable.
Thanks for the walk-through - I can see there's much more that I didn't get to before getting frustrated, which is a pity...
@chaotikza Thanks for playing! Yes, the game is pretty tough. It was ambitious to make this kind of game on such a tight deadline so there's a lot missing from it in terms of getting the player accustomed. Other players have mentioned that checkpoints would help and I agree, it's a slog playing it from the start every time. It's something I'll keep in mind for next time!
For those who were unable to finish the game but want to see how it plays out, I recorded a playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwkuu-HVgV4
Positive: * Love the visuals playing with light and darkness. * Love the old school fixed camera angles. :)
Negative: * The controls feel a bit weird... * Jump and charge sounds are a bit annoying.
Good entry though! Congratulations!
I'm going to start this by saying thank you for building this in WebGL. I've run into a good many Unity projects on here that would have worked great in WebGl but I had to download/unzip/unrar.
The Game:
Dark and super creepy. It kinda reminded me of the old Sierra-style adventure games, in vibe and art if not mechanics. Really nice and atmospheric. The actual gameplay was serviceable, but given the time and resources I'm sure you could do something really awesome with this.
Pretty neat concept. Very atmospheric, nice characters. But holy smokes the difficulty! I'm sad to say after several tries I wasn't able to complete it, but I did watch your video so I could see the whole thing. Thanks for putting that up. Yeah, guess my biggest feedback is about the difficult camera like a lot of other people said. Cool work though!
@chris-coe Thanks very much for playing and for taking the time to watch the video. Most people have been put off by the difficulty so I've just uploaded a friendlier post-jam version with some adjustments. I learned a lot for next time!
Pretty cool. I was a little lost at first since I couldn't actually see my robot but no big deal. The one improvement I could see would be to lessen the amount of dialogue to just what is needed to advance the story. I hadn't done anything except move around for a few seconds and then had to 'Return' key through a bunch of conversation to continue. Maybe just less convo at the beginning? Still a cool game, nice job!
Love the concept and the art, only complaint is the steep learning curve.
I hope you polish this and "complete" it post jam :)
Great entry!
Thank you for making this game playable in the browser. My patience was low for games that had to be downloaded, unrar'd, unzip, unpacked, then run from command line (java vm, etc). I really enjoyed the quality of the game. With so many games, mine included, being retro-style pixel graphics, the crisp lines and high resolution of your game was welcome. I enjoyed figuring out some of the puzzles, although I admit I didn't make it very far. The concept was very nice, and the theme fit very well. I hope you keep going with the game and finish it up, as it seems clear there is more story to be had. Thank you for the very good game.
I like the story, long time since I played a game like this. Camera angles are a bit hard sometimes and leaping could be improved. If you changed that after falling you wouldn't have to start from the beginning that would be helpful too. Also: hotkeys are all over the keyboard, you could group them together, like Z, X, space or sth. Anyway story and dialog system is solid, so keep it up! Cheers! :)
Good looking little game. Very nice work.
Kudos for WebGL version :) .
But more important - I'm impressed how you can made it in 72h, SOLO! Graphics, UI, audio are great. And that you made whole adventure, wow. I'm impressed.
I have just problems with dashing, for me it wasn't intuitive how much I could jump. But all in all - WOW.
@machinetribe thanks a lot for the feedback! I totally agree, having the player start in the dark was an oversight, I fixed that in my post-jam version. Also the long tutorial text could be replaced with some kind of tutorial area if I had time. Glad you liked it!
@brorawr Yeah it was pretty much in at the deep end haha. Glad you liked it anyway!
@spetsdod Thanks for playing, I'm glad you liked the visuals. I did make the post-jam version a bit friendlier and more accessible :)
@ryzy27 Thanks for the feedback! I did have trouble refining the leaping physics, its something I would try to improve in the future. Also you are right about the controls, I changed the setup a bit post-jam :)
@tayopi thanks!
@xqwzts251 Thanks for playing! It was definitely an ambitious project for 72 hours but I'm glad I went for it, it was intense and a lot of things that could be improved but I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish. Will try to keep improving for next time!
Interesting idea. The things you can interact blend a bit with the background (It's hard o tell you can interact with them), and the holes in the ground are a bit hard to jump (even with the lights on); I found myself more often dying to them than being able to interact with the other things.
Having said that, the sound design makes it great to move even in the dark, and the models and lighting are great. Good job!
@agecaf thanks for the feedback! I made the jumps easier and added interaction indicators in the post-jam version :)
Was a great idea and was fun to boost around. Nice looking robots as well!
Has a resi-evil feel to it, a little eerie music would have helped that, then again I can't say that was what you were aiming for but maybe you should! lol "Robodence Evil" just not zombies ;)
I loved the mood created by the graphical style and lighting, which integrated really well with the gameplay and story. A subtle little background music could have brought it even a step higher (still a 5* mood for me, given the nature of a jam). I'm impressed with everything you were able to put together and have it feel like a completed quest. I didn't make it super far, but I did watch the walkthrough video you posted and it reaffirmed my opinion. Really my only other feedback is a little frustration with the difficulty and some of the camera angles, but it sounds like you've already addressed some of that in the post-jam version and have other ideas for future improvements. Great work!
Great mood and graphics but I think the controls is where this game falls off. feels awkward to move because you pivot around the backside instead of the middle of the player, and it's a bit too dark to see what you are doing.
I was about to say a lot of things, and then I saw that @chaotikza said exactly what I meant, but better than I would have. So instead I just like chaotikza's comment, and say that it was refreshing to play an old-fashion adventure game, even if I would have love to go a little more far than a bunch of scenes because of difficulty is too hard for me.
I Recently played your game during a live stream at your request. You can find the video [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEKsM8vugRs) .
I really liked the graphics and the mood. I liked how the objects were interact-able. I also liked how you had a light but it had a cost to its use. I did get stuck on the first area I am not to sure what I did wrong but it was a cool concept and entry.
if you haven't already please give my game a try [Zombie Power Station](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/zombie-power-station) HTML5 Thanks
@codechomper thanks very much for trying my game out, I watched the video and it seems you didn't realise you can walk forwards by pressing the up arrow! If you do have time, perhaps you could try it again, I think you'l have a much easier time with it. I'm glad you liked it regardless :)