Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Mars Escape
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 489 | 3.00 | 21 | |
| Fun | 500 | 2.78 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 405 | 2.94 | 21 | |
| Theme | 140 | 3.84 | 21 | |
| Graphics | 169 | 3.68 | 21 | |
| Mood | 142 | 3.42 | 21 |
There is no sound except when you jump, so it is a bit awkward (Cause you said that you cannot hear sound trough the thin atmosphere). Some graphics are really good, and other aren't. I have mixed feelings about this game. Keep working on it in post-jam, add sound and more indication of where to go (Cause i lost myself a lot when playing the game), and it would be a great game ! just don't give up
The ambience of the game is really good and simplistic art looks nice. Sadly I always got lost in the caves and could not finish the game. Also it would be much better with some music subtle music in the background. Very good work.
@gruvan Thanks for the feedback! I removed that sound.
It looks good and feels like I'm on Mars. I got a bit frustrated while playing because I couldn't figure out if there's a way to fix my boots or progress further. I could only find 3 power packs and a weird yellow glowy thing that I can't seem to interact with or use.
Other than being a bit confused, I like it and I think you should keep working on it, it's a good concept and kind of fun :)
Really nice 3D implementation and atmosphere. But it could've used some more level design. It got frustrating quickly trying to go through the tunnels blindly and constantly dying in them, so I don't know what lies beyond them. Nice work overall though!
I'm a huge fan of any space games so you already won me with this :^) It would help if we had some sort of music or more audio feedback when playing this game (Even though you mentioned that you can’t hear sound through the thin atmosphere on mars)
Good Job!
If this is a Unity game, could you make a macOS build? Thanks.
@zenmumbler Done! I don't have a mac, so I haven't tested it.
I love all the modeling but the levels could have done some work, still great job
I really love space so concept is awesome! But there are some gameplay issues. I didn't know what should I do or where should I go. More instructions could be nice. And sometimes I stuck at terrain because I couldn't jump
Good concept. It would feel a bit more "space-y" if more of the parameters were tweaked on the standard character controllers ( much lower gravity, faster bouncier movement. ) Also in a finding game like this it'd be nice to have some way to ping a close by object for some hint when stuck even if it costs power.
After finding the pile of gold stuff I wasn't sure what to do. I managed to climb a couple of the hills with a few tried and tested FPS tricks, but that didn't really get me anywhere. I liked the graphics and the terrain, I just wasn't sure what to do!
Definitely would have preferred some sound, even if there's not supposed to be any sound in space. Star Wars would have been a far worse movie without explosion sounds!
Game runs smoothly, and I really appreciate that you scattered the tutorial messages throughout the game when they were actually necessary (such as telling me how to turn on the flashlight once I got into the cave). There are so many games that just show a wall of text at the beginning, explaining what all the buttons do, and then I forget it when I actually need them.
You have a weird lighting problem. I don't know exactly what it is, but you should look into it. For example, have a look: https://prnt.sc/g9dqfo This triangle is just another part of the ground, but it looks like a hole. Similar issues occur when you're in a corridor in the tunnel and you don't know if the wall ahead is a dead end or just a turn. Again, I don't know exactly how that happens, but it feels weird. Maybe just adding textures would help, or maybe there are some UV mapping issues?
Love the overall exploration idea, but unfortunately was unable to find an escape pod in that mountains. Got to the end of canyon, got a lot of batteries and even managed to get up the cliff (though it looked to me a bit "hacky"), but it wasn't enough to get to the mountains to find more.
#### What I liked * **The game is not that hard** in the beginning (compared to a lot of other LD entries, including my own :smiley:) and gives player some ability to explore. * More or less **nice graphics** (the lava effect is neat). * **Terrain at the beginning** (before caves) and partially at the canyon doesn't look boring.
#### What could be better * **Some parts of the map** could have more batteries to make exploration a bit more feasible (so you don't run out of power just because you've chosen the wrong direction). * **Caves and end-game terrain could be more realistic** (especially end-game mountains) or, atleast, more detailed. Caves are looking very similar to each other so it's easy to get lost there. I could suggest make all caves go only deeper, so player will be able to get out just going upwards. And more unique details also could improve that. * The game severely lacks **the checkpoint system**, so the player don't have to start over from the beginning if he ran out of power just in two meters from escape pod.
#### What doesn't make sense in my opinion * If **sprinting** does not consume any kind of "resource" (stamina, battery, etc), but allows me to go faster (so consume less power per meter) - why should I release Shift key at all? Therefore, you can just make player go faster in the first place and remove run mechanic completely. Or, if you add some "stamina" or make running drain battery, you should also add some mechanics, where using sprint will be crucial (e.g. some enemies you have to run from or something like that), otherwise it will be used constantly again (if you choose "stamina" mechanic, player will just use it every time stamina bar is full, because average speed will still be better, than if player will just walk), or it will not be used at all as it will be wasteful (like a flashlight) * **Flashlight**. It doesn't make sense as you don't need it in caves at all (although, maybe I was facing some kind of a bug or graphical issue). Yes, it is more convinient with flashlight turned on, but it consumes the battery, so as long as it's not black screen in caves, player will not use it.
#### Overall Overall good and fun game, that could have some more love to make it better. The idea of the game is clear and the game is more or less addictive. Will be nice to see this game more polished as post-LD version.
Nice atmosphere, very hard game! Could've done with some more guidance, as I didn't find the caves until my third playthough and then I kept getting lost in them. Nice work though!