FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD40 → Metal Fear

Metal Fear

By lmb

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6692.3234
Fun6422.4334
Innovation6032.4534
Theme5902.7534
Graphics6452.0934
Audio4012.7133
Humor2782.8934
Mood5962.2933

Comments

jeremy-wolf 2017-12-05 00:16

A clever idea, seemed like the AI got stuck behind obstacles a lot, would be great if they could move around a be a little smarter.

dizzy 2017-12-05 00:27

a good idea, but need some improves like a better IA

zinkler 2017-12-05 01:10

Just a bug that I think I should report: restarting the game (at least under Win-64 version) leaves you with no health to die from the first hit. Other than that, I think that the alarm rises too quick and also shouldn't be rising when there's no enemies on the screen.

lmb 2017-12-05 09:21

Concerning the alarm: yeah, perhaps my biggest mistake in the jam was that I didn't leave any time for playtesting and balancing. I only played the game fully in the day after publishing! I had some good reasons to make the alarm increase even without enemies on the screen, but perhaps these reasons became bogus as I had to cut features due to the approaching deadline.

About the AI: sure, they are dumb! The funny thing is that I was so happy the time I had my first gunfight in the game that I immediately deemed the AI good enough and never looked back at it. I guess that some playtesting would have been good here, too.

Thanks y'all for commenting! I am learning some lessons already!

bar0net 2017-12-05 14:15

I tried the HTML5 version and found the same bug as @zinkler. Also, I think I ended my first playthrough on the left side of the screen and, when I restarted, I appeared over the water unable to move.

Apart from the reset bug, the game is fun to play.

artefare 2017-12-05 22:43

Nice pun. :) Good idea with the weapons and the risk/reward balance. The kazoo worked surprisingly well to give the whole game a very comic feel.

lmb 2017-12-06 00:26

@artefare I also LOLed the first few times I played after adding the music :-) My main goal with the in-game music was to give some aural feedback about the alarm level (and I was pleased in this regard). Anyway I wasn't expecting any praise for the music. :-)

calighula 2017-12-07 09:01

I loved the audio !!! There is a lot of error messages in the console... maybe it is part of the game to feel fear :-) I missed horizontal scroll and able to see the bullet, but I like the idea and enjoyed the game. Good work !!!

lmb 2017-12-07 19:59

@calighula Showing bullet trajectories is the one additional feature I wanted to have implemented but I didn't have time to. I would still prefer to have spend time playtesting and balancing, but in terms of features not seeing clearly where the bullets are going is bad for the players. Thanks for commenting!

ruthiepee 2017-12-08 16:21

Hey, congrats on your first game jam! You made it! I tested your OSX build and it seems to work fine. The only issue is the control key on the Mac keyboard is really awkward to reach under your left hand. As far as gameplay goes, it's an interesting concept, but I think you're aware it definitely needs visualized bullet trajectories in order to really work. And you're right, the music is really awful (in a good way).

sbarrio 2017-12-08 16:43

Nice job!

lmb 2017-12-08 18:02

@ruthiepee Thanks for testing and commenting about the OSX version!

tom-panton 2017-12-08 21:42

Cool idea! I enjoyed the sound effects a lot, and that game over screen made me chuckle. I encountered quite a few glitches with the enemy AI though, and at one point my health got stuck at 0 and I couldn't die for some reason.

gilborn 2017-12-08 21:42

Nice idea on the theme and very ambitious for 48 hours (so it is easy to forgive that it is not very polished). The sound is really not very good but nevertheless scores in humor :-) A sympathetic entry!

lmb 2017-12-08 21:59

@tom-panton @gilborn Thanks for playing and commenting! Next time will try to end up with something more polished, with less glitches and bugs. I am very happy with Metal Fear, but I don't think it a fun game to play in its current state. On the other hand, I had some real fun playing much simpler entries from other jammers.

Minimalist game design is not my thing, that's for sure, but I want to find a better compromise.

sgadrat 2017-12-08 22:58

Kwak kwak kwak! Man, your audio is excelent!

professor 2017-12-09 00:48

The audio was interesting, but I was only able to hear it in my left speaker (I'm not sure if this was a problem on my end or in the game). Thanks for sharing.

lmb 2017-12-09 12:59

@professor I believe this is my fault. I think I did all the recording and editing in mono and was in a hurry (additionally, I didn't even try to fix this using the audio features in my game engine). I'll try to learn more about audio before the next Ludum Dare!

sammyb 2017-12-09 22:43

Tried to play, but everything was reaallly buggy in the html build :-(

bigbazwa 2017-12-10 04:41

Great kazoo tunes!

dunin 2017-12-10 14:44

Nice start,

of course, it's missing feedback, work on graphics and polishing, but that is a good start and next jam will be better and better.

Also gazoo music is funny (but in the 2 speakers, it will be better) and a good type of simple but effective things to do in a jam...

mr-madcat 2017-12-10 15:29

Congratulations for your first game jam entry. Gameplay needs some refinement, but that is to be expected in a gama jam. Keep up the good work.

tvance 2017-12-10 23:49

Congrats on finishing! I know that's a good feeling. Fun concept too--it fit the theme well. I think more visual feedback as to what's happening in the game would improve the experience. The audio is great. It blended beautifully with the programmer art :) Sadly I couldn't get past screen 3 or 4 without seeing game over, and a blurry one at that.

csanyk 2017-12-12 02:34

It's nice to see a game made with the Godot engine.