Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD40 → Wormhead
By elemel
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 314 | 3.42 | 28 | |
| Fun | 336 | 3.28 | 28 | |
| Innovation | 237 | 3.38 | 28 | |
| Theme | 179 | 3.78 | 27 | |
| Graphics | 310 | 3.36 | 28 | |
| Audio | 321 | 2.96 | 28 | |
| Humor | 407 | 2.41 | 20 | |
| Mood | 294 | 3.15 | 24 |
It was quite fun to become a worm of space doom. And it ran really smoothly on my computer which is nice. I also appreciated it being able to run it on mac. The art and music mix really well and the aesthetic gives it a nice arcade look. I found it an enjoyable game.
Really challenging, love it. The friction-less movement is difficult as it is, but the tail makes it incredibly hard, which I feel is the intention. The fact that you also have to make sure the power pieces are close enough when collecting improves this to the point where it is not tedious but fresh and interesting each time.
The music is a little repetitive, but it works well for the amount of time LD games are usually played.
Got to 5 pieces.
The graphics are plain and the audio gets old quickly, but the way this game uses the theme makes it more than the sum of its parts. I wish there were more different pickups and enemies though (I know, time constraints!)
@rialgar Thank you, and well done. :-)
@blubberquark Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I wanted to have enemy ships, worm part drops from turrets, shield generators, boss fights...
This is cool! Quite a challenge, and an interesting take on snake-like mechanics! I think with a few added features this could be really great.
This was a neat game! I like it a lot - 2d newtonian physics are tough to deal with sometimes, I respect your commitment!
Fun little game! I enjoyed finding out what the different pieces do! And the theme is implemented well - being a long space worm isn't easy! A longer music loop, sound effects, and maybe some kind of "compass" would have been nice. But for a compo entry, this is nice, I enjoyed it! =)
The graphics are amazing and the gameplay is fun. Good work!
Space and tons of particles. Pretty sweet! Finding that first tail piece was a bit tricky. Really neat physics with the worm.
The physics of the worm were awesome! It's incredibly hard but sooooo much fun to fling around trying to avoid those meteors who honestly are pure snipers, I've been destroyed so easily :(
I was sure that was going to hate this game. It has so many elements of games I tend to dislike. Half an hour later I was still playing it and having fun! Really nice, things really worked well together!
My only suggestion: better instructions. It took me some time to understand those colored circles around the flying pieces. And perhaps the music could be less repetitive. I kinda liked it, but after 15 minutes it starts to not feel nice anymore :-)
Anyway, congratulations! Nice execution of a simple concept that worked very well for me.
**Update:** Just read your comments about planned-but-not-included features. Go for it! There is a lot of potential here!
@lmb Really happy to hear that you enjoyed it enough to keep at it for a while. Updated the instructions slightly. Not sure how much hints I want to put there, sort of ruins the joy of discovery.
I totally get that you probably needed more time for more stuff. That's how I feel about half the feedback in every LD too! We are looming over each others shoulders with a whip made of feedback!
This is one of the best takes on the theme yet, because of the way the long tail handles, and if there was even a slight upside to having more stuff in there, apart from the score.
I support your future plans (if you have the time)!
@elemel Good point about the joy of discovery! I guess there are different types of players. I personally prefer not having to discover about the more fundamental mechanics of the game (though perhaps I may change my mind if there is some kind of narrative or riddle being told along the discovery -- and not saying that your game needs any narrative). Anyway, digressions apart, yeah, valid point.
I like this! The way the ship controls is nice, especially once you get a longer tail -- I love how it fights you and whips around. The graphics are simple but work well: I like the particles on the projectiles. The music was a little same-y after a while, and I think it would fit the game to have a more droney, space-y sound but that might just be my taste. Some sfx would really go a long way though! I'm already pretty immersed in this but a nice explosion sound, or maybe a cold humming sound when carrying materials would be awesome. I digress. I had some real fun with this and you have a solid foundation to build on! Good work.
@blubberquark Thanks for the encouragement and feedback. Means a lot. :-)
@lmb Yeah, I agree it's all a bit cryptic, especially since the jammers are hard to find if you're unlucky.
@fluidvolt Thanks for the feedback. You're probably right about the music and sound effects. I should revisit that if I spend more time on the game. What I like about the game is the emergent behaviour when putting simple things together -- both regarding the physics and the "puzzle" aspects. Should hopefully improve with more varied content.
Would it be possible to find body parts more frequently. As it is, it makes for long time searching parts with a ship too tiny to be shot. Except for that slow pace, the game is excelent, I especially loved how you can take to your advantage the drifting of shots on asteroids surface.
@sgadrat Yeah, the pacing of the game is not great. Powerups should probably be dropped by e.g. turrets instead of being spawned randomly.
Very nice idea to drop it from turret, so that you can control precisely their drop rate. No more slave of the good will of the player to go where powerups spawned, he must be near the turrets he destroys :)
Really nice concept, design and interpretation of the theme. Hard as hell but challenging and fun.Personally like the controls - really fits the idea
Love the core idea. I think, for me, the game could move a little more quickly. I love the tail whipping and the collection aspect, tho, a lot (I went for a similar space collection idea, though nowhere near complete like yours). Wouldn't mind some additional soundfx in places.
I really like the various suggestions and ideas you have for updating. I hope you follow through, because I'd really like to play that version. :) Congrats and I hope you have a great LD! :)
As soon as I start the game I get "Bullet.lua:35: Invalid particle distribution: ellipse" :(
@karln You're probably on an older version of LÖVE. You need v0.10.2:
``` ~ $ love --version LOVE 0.10.2 (Super Toast) ```
I had a really hard time aiming just because the shots don't seem to use my relative velocity, really. A shame, because the snake idea was pretty cool.
@eli-delventhal They should be... See: https://github.com/elemel/wormhead/blob/master/Ship.lua#L88
But the particle effect doesn't take the linear velocity of the shot into account, which might look confusing.
Can you clarify?
@elemel Gave it another shot, you may be right it's just the particles. Or maybe I actually DON'T want it to match velocity. Either way the shots feel a little weird and a little out of control and I'm unfortunately not sure why.
@eli-delventhal Yeah, probably a good idea to keep play-testing and tweaking that some more. Thanks for the feedback.
Neat little spaceship simulation. I like the worm tail, wiggling it around deflecting nasties. The flight physics are *"realistic"* to a fault. I would have enjoyed strong side thrusters to dodge projectiles and weave between asteroids with. The camera could also zoom out when gaining speed to facilitate high velocity manoeuvres.
The graphics are ok, the particles look much nicer than the plain sprites though. Some more detail and color would have gone a long way. Not a fan of the music. It is not terrible, but does get repetitive.
My major gripe is the directionless nature of the exercise. Sure there is a highscore, but I just didn't feel like playing more after reaching 7. Those future plans do sound mighty fine.
Overall: *Above average (3.5)* Fun: *Average (3.0)* Innovation: *Good (4.0)* Theme: *Above average (3.5)* Graphics: *Above average (3.5)* Audio: *Below average (2.5)* Humor: *Average (3.0)* Mood: *Above average (3.5)*
@huvaakoodia Thanks a lot for the detailed and constructive feedback. Intrigued by the idea of having side thrusters for strafing.
The music was nice and the graphics were solid too. How do you actually score in this game?
@wakka2 Thank you for those kind words. You currently score by gathering a long tail. You need to find a jammer (blue) first.
aha! gotta try again