Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD40 → Globstopper
By james-dunlap, Anthony Dunlap and Cameron Dunlap
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 968 | 2.96 | 34 | |
| Fun | 886 | 2.90 | 34 | |
| Innovation | 1032 | 2.53 | 34 | |
| Theme | 1006 | 2.75 | 34 | |
| Graphics | 909 | 2.84 | 34 | |
| Audio | 573 | 2.85 | 33 | |
| Humor | 757 | 2.53 | 31 | |
| Mood | 939 | 2.73 | 32 |
Enjoyed the Game a lot! The theme was clear and the incorporation of an "endless runner" style game was intuitive and made the game re-playable and fun. Check out my game if you would like! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/virus-detected
I wish the controls were a little tighter but maybe that's personal preference. You achieved a great amount of polish for the time constraint! Different worlds and bosses! Cool!
That was a really neat little game. I really liked the transitioning into new worlds without it being a whole different scene. Well done, it felt like on old timey, nostalgic arcade game. Great deal of fun.
The controls felt a bit "floaty" but it was still pretty easy to control. I made it into the second stage for the second time before I tested the game over state :) It would have been cool to get a cool like summary screen on game over. But overall, this game was really well done. The game play kept me going, the music wasn't over-bearing. The bosses were well designed, and there was good enemy variety. Very nicely done!
Overall, I did not have too much fun in this game. (For the record I only played the first level, so perhaps this changes later in the game).
First, gameplay-wise, it was difficult to take damage if you simply held down space bar and dodged the telegraphed boss attacks, as both enemies and projectiles come in front, both of which can be removed by the ship's bullets that also shoot in front. As killing enemies is optional, this meant that anything else I did in the game felt very inconsequential, such as moving or getting gooped, since I could pass easily either way.
Secondly, the controls were rather difficult for me to use. I think you programmed something that stops all momentum when you hold a button in the opposite direction, which coupled with the slow acceleration, means that there is somewhat of a delay when players try to move in the opposite direction. As a fellow developer, I would recommend a solution where when player input is in the opposite direction of the ship's movement, the momentum isn't stopped, but rather, the same acceleration is applied, but at an increased proportion i.e. 1.5 times, which will make the controls seem a lot more responsive. Other things I would recommend are increasing the acceleration overall, increasing friction, and decreasing the player's maximum speed.
Finally, with the actual goop mechanic, with no goop, holding the button for not very long would make me travel across the entire screen, making it very difficult for me to aim, coupled with the already awkward control scheme. I found myself intentionally getting gooped in order to slow myself down, but then, the ship became too slow for me to actually reach any of the enemies. This is bad because as I mentioned, the game is very easy, and thus, the only sense of satisfaction is in killing enemies. Remove the ability to do that, and the fun decreases further. This problem was accentuated by the very rare occurrences of the gloop-be-gone, which I was actually unable to reach due to my ship's slowness, locking me in a state of slowness the whole game.
@doomschmuck Thanks for the input. A summary screen would have been a very nice addition, but we just ran out of time. It's the same for the tuning items mentioned by @gomango999. The Goop-Be-Gone was one of the last items added. We had hoped to get more powerups and have more Goop-Be-Gone available throughout the scene. I played a lot with the controls of the ship (speed, etcetera) and wasn't quite ready to move on, but had to in order to finish the game. Of course, we will continue to tune post-LD.
@bbrown, thanks for the comment on the transitions. We talked a lot about how we wanted to do it. My boys wanted to start a whole new scene, but I wanted to do it this way to make it more seamless and avoid loading mid-game. In the end, we were all happy with how that worked.
@annaad, thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked it. Trash Talk and the Gloppy Joes almost did not make it in the game, but I was able to get them coded to my and the artist's liking before the deadline.
@notspaghettigames, thanks for the feedback. I will take a look. In fact, if we have not already, one of us will be around to rate each of your games if not all three of us!
- The first level is quite easy - just stay at the top or bottom until the boss.
- Loved the smooth level transitions!
- Music was great!
- I would have liked more fire rate on the weapon.
- Respawning after dying takes a lot of time, why is that?
I liked this game very much. I played it until it started looping. Well done!
I really liked your take on the idea! In the end I found it a little difficult to strike a balance where the ship was nicely controllable, so I found myself generally playing it safe. The boss battle and additional worlds were nice and refreshing, too -- well done fitting all that stuff in!
I really enjoyed the boss fights. I actually would have enjoyed fighting just them.
A lot of the issues have been addressed above but this is what I found needing improvement: * The controls were way too touchy. Pressing a button would make me fly across the screen too quickly * There was no reason to fight any of the mini enemies. I could just stay at the top of the screen for most of the game and wait for the boss. * Goop actually helped because the controls were so finicky * I had no idea if the game was ever going to end. I got to stage 5 and lost interest.
I think the game would be great if it was just bosses, with the bosses summoning mini enemies as you fight them.
Neat game and idea. A few suggestions would be, some feedback when hitting to boss, and maybe ramp up the difficulty a bit faster.
Boss fight is interesting and music is attractive. but it's a little boring before meeting the boss. And you should add some feedback when hurt and hit.
The boss fights were great. Awesome art for them. The controls were a little too loose and I could just stay at the top and hold down the space bar through the levels. Fun game overall.
This is a really fun game! personally i found staying in the top left corner in the 1st level enabled you to not need to move until the very end. I really liked the bosses! All were unique and interesting. Though My personal preference would be to slow down the speed of the player. Please play my game at https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/rush-hour
I agree it was a bit hard to control like other people have said. It is a cool one though! I liked especially the boss fight. Keep up the good work!
I think the controls makes it challenging, but I don't consider that necessarily a bad thing. I like your pixel art for the planets, especially saturn :)
music is nice. There is room where you can expand on the game, like adding different kind of enemies or different kind of weaponry.
Good good, I enjoyed playing it, good job! :)
good game for the boss patern
it was fun but i proposly gooped myself up a bit because the begening movement seems too fast
I really liked the boss at the end of the first level.
The movement was too loose and it was hard to move the ship where I wanted to. The player's bullets were too small, and there wasn't a reason to stop shooting, so I just held down the button.
not usually my kind of game, but was fun, seemed to manage the first level ok but the next one was well beyond me
i did struggle moving the ship around and i didnt feel in control as even the slightest movement or adjustment sent me flying
This game was okay. The movement at the beginning seemed a little jerky, there's no incentive to kill enemies, and it was kinda just bland. The boss at the end of the first level was impressive, though. Good job, and keep making games!
Nice game! It would be nice if the perception of depth was a bit better, I always thought I was going to hit the asteroids haha The goop system it's very nice, but the movement in the beginning is too fast :x
Anyway, good job!
Cool take on a classic shooter. Not bad for your late start. I agree that in the beginning the ship moved a bit too fast... I think there is a point where having some goop on your ship is optimal for movement.
Yeah, I want to be nice and constructive. So I'll try my best. You don't need me to tell you about the controls. I would have liked to have something to offer you health. The transitions between stages were ugly and the music was poorly written (Sorry Cameron). With more time this could be something, and I get your time crunch, but I did not enjoy this much at all.
Those burgers were pretty great though.
Really enjoyable game, well executed too :)