jespersb 2017-12-05 08:26
The first floating platform, don't work. I keep falling into the water, even if I hit death center on the platform.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD40 → Justify the Means
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 510 | 3.50 | 63 | |
| Fun | 484 | 3.40 | 61 | |
| Innovation | 532 | 3.20 | 60 | |
| Theme | 554 | 3.46 | 61 | |
| Graphics | 216 | 4.11 | 66 | |
| Humor | 465 | 3.14 | 59 | |
| Mood | 268 | 3.65 | 62 |
The first floating platform, don't work. I keep falling into the water, even if I hit death center on the platform.
Yeah the floating platform doesn't work but you can get around it. Other than that I think it's a cool game, and I really loved the idea that too much magic will kill you :)
I like where you were going with the plot. It felt a little rushed (understandably, since this is a game jam) but the concept was good and the gameplay worked pretty well with it.
Thanks guys! I'll just delete the platform since it's basically useless anyway being able to jump that gap. I must've changed something near the end that made it stop working.
Yeah @grentacular as most game jams probably go, I had planned to have the base coding finished on day 1 so I could have day 2 and 3 set aside for art and polish. I spent all of day 1 and 2 doing code/ figuring out problems, then pulled an all nighter between day 2 and 3 doing more coding and arting. Most of the game story was thrown together in the last 2 hours before submission haha. I would have LOVED more time to sort out the plot and the game mechanic with the monsters/magic instead of just making you invincible against them. I had it all written down damnit! I think I'll definitely make a "Final Version" later on and really flesh it out.
It's an interesting game, it needs a bit more of polish but is a normal thing in a Ludum game. I enjoyed it. Congrats!
Hi! This game wants to run as administrator for some reason.
@tinco whoa that's weird...I'll see if I can fix that! Thanks!
@tinco that should hopefully be fixed now, thanks! :)
Great that fixed it :) Had fun playing your game!
So, this is a compo, not a jam?
JAM GAME = team COMPO GAME = single
Very well made, the graphics are really nice, everything is well done. The gameplay lake some innovation, but the hardest part when you're single to do everything.
Good job :)
It's fun, it's good. Nice job.
@xahell The jam can be single or in a team :) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules
So this was a solo jam!
Thanks so much for the feedback :D
Had a ton of fun playing socker boppers with the inimicus at the end. Fun final encounter and impressive dialog in the time given.
A little sketchy on the theme imo, because more was better throughout the game except for the one point where you could collect 6 fire flowers.
@lanedavis Thanks so much for the feedback!
I completely agree on the issue with the theme, I had intended to make the monsters at the end more of a challenge and the player having a struggle between keeping the numbers of monsters down while also not being killed by the flowers, but in the end I just couldn't get the balance right time so I just made it easy enough to get through the game.
I look forward to fleshing it out in the future and finding that balance :D
Really well done on the whole spriting and parallax. Really adds a nice mood. Also the music is really well done.
There are a few issues with player positioning when you die. the character seems to get stuck in the ground, and the only way of getting out is by jumping.
Otherwise I enjoyed playing the game. Great job!!
Thanks so much @Tiberiusuciu :smile:
Oh yes I forgot to add that issue to my "known issues" area. I'll add it now. I'm not entirely sure how to fix that atm but I'm glad you can at least jump up and keep playing :) I'll see if I can fix it!
Very nice graphics! It would have been nice to see more of a focus on balancing how much magic you have to better fit the theme, but overall I enjoyed playing.
I really liked the story and presentation of this game. There was a bug when I hit certain flowers, which teleported me back or reseted the room or something. But overall this is a really good entry!
Oh hey funnily enough the first jam I joined I fell into a lot of the same pitfalls you did and didn't really make the game I wanted so I'm still working on it.
Also on the room where the game slows down, two of the most likely reasons for that is either there's an object that's probably being created every step of the game or the fps count on that one particular room might be slower. Hope that helps.
The graphics look very nice, especially the background with the light streaming through the trees. The music is great too. The story seems interesting but everything happens so quickly that it's hard to get invested. The gameplay works pretty well, though it feels like there's missing potential. The risk of getting too much magic seemed interesting but it didn't really come up much.
@priom OH MY GOD I JUST CHECKED THE FPS AND IT WAS WRONG hahaha. DERP. Thanks so much for pointing that out, god. I'll reupload the game now with that fixed.
I thought it was something hidden in my code somewhere! :joy:
I liked the look of this game and its ace to see you fixing issues for people as they pop up and love the fact your honest about what you wanted to achieve and are keen to do more with it. Great work
Nice graphics! The music is also nice, but I am particularly impressed with those graphics. The controls are fine, and the story is fine as well.
Overall, it's a nice little game! I guess you could easily expand upon it with a bigger storyline and a bigger world after the jam ^^ Congrats!
@robert-newman hey thanks so much for that comment! I was supper unhappy with a lot of the issues when I submitted it and I'm so happy I've been able to fix them relatively quickly :) I also try to be honest!
@linky439 Thanks so much! I'm glad I put a lot of focus on the graphics because I knew the rest wouldn't be the best :) I'm very excited to expand on it and also learn how to make better gameplay.
@goat-toaster-games The gameplay is fine if a bit simple, but for a LD jam, it's OK. You could easily expand it with more power as you collect plants (a third jump, a big energy wave, etc.)
I'd love to play a bigger game with the same art-style and in the same universe though. Keep up the good work! :)
i liked the graphics and music! felt a little rush, but considering its a jam game, very impressive! good job!
Very complete experience! Had fun from start to finish. Enjoyed the touches of humor in the dialog (20 seems like and oddly specific number), and the graphics are a standout. Especially like the player character's animations. The jump does feel oddly floaty but you mention that, and the layouts are designed with it in mind, so it's fine. Good work!
I loved the story and dialog. It was pretty cool.
The end was a little abrupt, but that makes sense, seeing as how we were all on a time constraint.
I think the platforming could ba a bit more precise, it was, to quote a character, "floaty".
I also loved the fourth wall breaks. They were refreshing. :D
Feels like the ending kinda ruined the theme for the Ludum Dare. The particle effects looked great, but would kill the framerate on a low end PC (I'm playing on a low end PC). I always enjoy myself a good meta joke, I liked those
@refinedsalt Thanks so much for the feedback! Yes I learned a lot from this experience, might see if I can tweak the end level to get it closer to my original intention :)
Ah yes I've noticed some people having lag issues on PCs that are lower end. I'm super new to this, do you have any recommendations on how to improve that? Just try to avoid particle effects where possible?
@goat-toaster-games
Well I don't know what you used to make the games, but in unity I know it is possible to limit how many particles you want to generate, that and maybe the particles can be decreased in terms of detail. The game is in a pixel art after all, it would make perfect sense for the particles to be as well, I can imagine that would help
@refinedsalt Thanks! I'm using Game Maker 1.4, I'll see if I can do some google fu to find similar solutions :)
Things that are well done: - The parallax background really evokes the feeling of being in a real forest. - The sunlight filtering through the trees gave the forest this sort of ethereal vibe that fits well with the characters - I'm a big fan of the pupil-less eyes, pointy ears, and hair. It makes the characters seem alien, and the big eyes add clarity to the state of corruption / power level. - It's always great to see 2D games that involve the third dimension somehow - the parallax background is quite good. - the falling pose on the character is nice, adds another little bit of visual appeal to the movement. - I'm glad you can jump on the enemies to kill them :D - The story is good. Not overdone or in your face since you can skip the dialogue, but also not boring. - PARALLAX. BACKGROUND. NICE.
Things that could be taken further: - A little lerp on character movement would be nice. Standard "juice it or lose it" stuff. - There are tiny gaps between the blocks that make up the ground, and it breaks immersion a bit to see regular geometric shapes in what's supposed to be a natural environment. - There's a warning about the spikes, but no warning about the water, which seems a bit inconsistent. That's also the only place a water pit appears in the game, so I'm not sure what its purpose is. I think the game could have used a platforming area where you're avoiding spikes/water and fighting monsters at the same time - getting the player to utilize all the skills they've learned at once. - I wish I could jump on the monsters without having used a plant. You could add an entire secret ending where you go through the game without using a single plant and become the true hero. sort of a voluntary hard mode thing. - The glowing particle effect is neat, although I think it would be more cohesive to have the entire character sprite leaving the trail, instead of just the stomach. - The movement on the top of the head and the arms is a bit inconsistent on the run animation. Consider having a look at [Saint11](https://twitter.com/saint11/status/782960308927291392?lang=en)'s tutorial on running animations?
On the whole, a very nice job!
What game engine was this done in? Can you export Mac/Linux builds?
@markopolodev Thanks so much for this INCREDIBLY HELPFUL feedback!! You're amazing. :smile: - Would you mind sending me a screencap of the ground block issue? I don't seem to get that on my PC so I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. - Ah yes unfortunately I did intend to have another level with spikes, water and monsters etc but ran out of time. I definitely intend to do more with this in the future version of the game. - I'll see about making the particles look more effective on the overall character! - Saint11 is incredible, I have looked at his tutorial I'm just unfortunately new to animating and still understanding it haha. Thanks so much though I will definitely practice and try to improve on my run animations!!
@jason-kennedy Game Maker Studio Professional 1.4. Unfortunately I don't have a Mac or Linux so I'm unable to port it to them myself :/
Nice work! I agree with what others have said: the world is enchanting and art is very pleasing. I would love to see a full game made out of this. Favorite part: after maxing out on Arcanum suddenly you are trying to avoid the Candentis plants instead of collect them.
I have reworked a number of things. The final level is a fair bit different now, I've tried to make it more of a challenge and more necessary to keep topping up your magic/arcanum to keep the numbers of the monsters down.
I have also tried to lower the particle amount, so if you're on a low level PC please let me know if you still experience lag.
I also tried to make the UI a bit easier to see and understand.
Thanks everyone for playing and for the helpful feedback!! :grin:
@Prototype6 Thanks so much! :grin:
@goat-toaster-games
justify_the_means_weird_artifact.jpg
I know nothing about gamemaker, so no ideas about what the cause is, sorry =\
Great game, I love the story. You did a really good job on the timing of events, it made the game play feel great. Story had a lot of substance for it being short.
Still some bugs, but all in all, great game!
@markpolodev Thanks so much! I'll look into it :) My tiles might be 1 pixel too small, which is perhaps ok for smaller screens like mine but perhaps yours is big enough to see the gaps.
Great job, the core gameplay was pretty simple, but the art, music and story made this a very enjoyable experience. Didn't know I could double-jump in the beginning, took me a while to get over the water.
D: I really want to play this, because it looks super cool and us narratively driven jam games need to stick together! And then my antivirus decided it could not be trusted and now will not let me play the game. :/
It looks amazing though and the little bit I did get to play was really solid!
Beautiful artwork and wonderful use of parallax. It was tough to keep the enemies from taking over at the end because they were all spawning into the same pit. We were able to win finally by jumping into the pit and taking them out as they spawned. If we could have shot down we could have dealt with the enemies running back and forth below us.
This is really, very good, and worth some more time, it would be even better with sound effects and some more animations.
This was a really solid story driven game. I found that the game controlled quite well, with collisions and jumpings done smoothly. The visuals were also stunning, I loved the style of this game and all the characters within it. I was slightly wary about the large amount of text, but it won me over in the end and was a great addition (although the ending felt slightly off to me, Drugs are okay only if you have self-control?) The music worked really quite well and set the mood, although I would really have prefered to have a few more sound effects. I would have also liked some more spells, or increasingly powerful spells the more of the plant you had. Other than that my only other improvment I would make is the last level, having them spawn infinitely in the same small area meant in order to attack them I'd have to fall directly onto them or into the path of one of them. However this was a really well done game (especially for a first LudumDare Jam) and I look forward to seeing what else you do in the future.
Good job on the art and mood!
Nice graphics good music
You've put in a lot of work on it, which is nice to see. Quite ambitious to get so much done during a jam. I really like the graphics on the Ferventis, but my opinion is that it would probably have been better to focus your efforts on either story or mechanics. Right now, they both are rather half finished, and I think that experimenting with either one or the other would have been nice to see. You don't have a lot of time during a jam, unfortunately. :)
Beautiful art, nice balance of easy-to-read narrative and action, and neat world-building details. It'll be interesting to see this game fleshed out!
Amazing game, super funny and the art is amazing reminds me of games made by Granite Gear back on the YoYoGames Sandbox website. Like the mechanic and the music is really nice too! Couldn't give this game enough praise, one of the best I've seen so far!
Wow very good overall game. For a first Ludum Dare that's impressive.
very nice roleplay. good adventure. need death animation
Really liked that the theme was implemented via narrative. A hard project to finish in a short span with all of the features you included, but it holds together well. I would personally recommend if you're going to load text into a text box that it's done in-place so the words don't actually change position- it'll make them easier to read. That, and I would like to see more feedback with movement/combat.
I really liked the story you made here, and I generally don't care for a lot of lore haha. What got me was a decent punch of humor off the bat so that clicked with me and I started paying attention to the story more. But also the story progression was very fast which is great for a LD-length game, you gotta hook them quick. I actually didn't expect the ending, the way you were going with the story I expected it to be some kind of trap set by the village to kill off the main character, so that's how engaged I was with it. Great concept, and even the gameplay was some VERY unique. The idea of juggling your resources and powers w/o dying/overheating if you will made the otherwise-standard platforming into something interesting. Very nicely done!
I'm overwhelmed by all this incredible feedback, thankyou so much everyone!! I've learned so much and can't wait to make more. :grin: :heart:
nice game. sometimes i had some bugs when i was pressing arrows key and the dialogue window appeared, running animations was still playing but i wasn't able to move. i had to release arrow key and push it again.
@jadw1 Thanks so much! Oh wow that's super weird, I'll have to investigate that or at least keep it in mind for a future version of the game :smile:
Really solid platform adventure. I like the elements that you need to talk to get further and then to collect stuff :)
Interesting game. The story is well built, it has a lot of work in it. I liked that you included the controls in game, it helps a lot :) Is there any difference in having more magic in you? I didn't find any, maybe the attacks could be more powerful?
Overall, great job. Congratulations!
@vasco-rodrigues Thankyou so much!! :grin:
Oh yes it would've been great to implement being more powerful with more magic, but I ran out of time so the overall idea is just that there's a time limit on the magic so it lasts longer the more you have, but if you get too much you die. So I guess the difference is just not having to constantly top up on magic as much if you gather a whole bunch.