cheetah 2018-08-14 23:19
I enjoyed gameplay, it took a while to understand how targeting works and what powerups do, but after it i became unstoppable. Would be fun to play this with real opponent.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD42 → ClapBang
By arron-fowler
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 881 | 3.12 | 63 | |
| Fun | 830 | 2.97 | 62 | |
| Innovation | 594 | 3.16 | 61 | |
| Theme | 710 | 3.36 | 63 | |
| Graphics | 977 | 2.82 | 63 | |
| Audio | 664 | 2.70 | 57 | |
| Humor | 810 | 2.10 | 51 | |
| Mood | 867 | 2.78 | 59 |
I enjoyed gameplay, it took a while to understand how targeting works and what powerups do, but after it i became unstoppable. Would be fun to play this with real opponent.
@cheetah I agree multiplayer is where it has to go. It is pretty simple in terms of data so I will look at making it that way. Also It was designed to have 4 Mechs at the same time but time got the better of me. It was a case of finish or not. I am still working on it and will post a finished(ish) version when I can.
@arron-fowler
The game is quite interesting, I had not seen a mechanic like that. However, I think it lacked a bit in the movement, it should be constant, because when you click you can not change direction until you reach the point.
However, the AI and the logic itself are very well done!
The graphics would improve a little.
Yes, it is a bit difficult to understand at the beginning, but then you get used to it!
But in general, it's very very good, just a few small details, it's great!
This game left me very confused, it took me far too long to figure out which character on screen was me (I had assumed I was the yellow robot dude - red in games usually denotes an enemy) and the controls were very confusing. I ended up winning, not because I knew what I was doing but I think more out of sheer luck. I can see what you were trying to go for but the awkward controls and poor affordances in the user interface didn't help things. The music and sound effects were well done though so props for that. I think you've got potential, maybe try to get more playtesting feedback during development and iterate often!
Definitely need multiplayer for this. Or some harder singleplayer levels. It was too easy to dodge shots, so levels with multiple enemies might work better. The movement-based gameplay really has a great potential, especially if you added better graphics and refined it. Good luck finishing this game!
@historymaker118 thanks for playing it and the feedback. I have reedited the info on this page to explain it better. I could not really think straight when I submitted it. It was a case of overcome mind melt for this hobbiest. Good luck with the dare.
@lomikstik I totally agree. It is already much better having picked a few more jobs off of the list. The AI is much smarter for example. I will have a post jam version up in the coming days as I think it will be worth it. Thanks for playing
Hi @arron-fowler. Nice entry in jam. Quite hard to understand at first even with your description (but it's usual with LD entry :p) Is there any way to see how much health point you or the other robot has ?
Anyway, cool idea the full-movement-based gameplay.
It took me some time to understand who I was, maybe add a small animation at the beginning attracting the player's attention on its mech. Controls are awkward but I totally see where you were going (and playing on my laptop trackpad is not helping me). IMHO it is a nice take on mech games which are usually quite harsh to wrap your head around. Graphics and sounds are nice too.
Had some fun playing even if it felt a little inhospitable at first :sweat_smile:
@kack3y thanks for playing. Health bar was the first thing I implimented post jam. Time got the better of me as I had to write a lot of code on this one. A lot for this hobbiest at any rate.
@my-sweet-whomp thanks for the comment. I had thought that the red Mech on the menu would be enough for people to know which one they were. It seems that it was too subtle and is being addressed. I also thought the controls were the easy bit and did not really put any effort into comunicating about it. All you can do is click on the floor and buildings or the weapons, other than that there is no controls to master. It has confused most regardless. But then I do enjoy being an awkward bastard so in that way I am satisfied. LOL
Not completely sure on what weapon did what, but I managed to figure out a good strategy using buildings to protect myself from the yellow bad guy. Got hectic at the end!
Would be great with some clearer weapon info. And hitpoints if I had any. I'm not sure if I took hits. Looks like a couple before the yellow guy exploded.
@tomg thanks for playing. I have continued to impliment my wish list as I ran out of time and grey matter. It is a much more satisfying play now that you can see how much life is had by each.
I like this. Took me a couple of tries to figure out exactly what was going on but I did win a few rounds. It's not super obvious to me what all the different powerups do but maybe I didn't play long enough. The way the arena gets smaller is a great mechanic.
I loved this fun little game! I liked the graphics but the audio felt a bit lacking, it was unclear what to do at first but I got the hang of it! Awesome job!
Took awhile to figure out how the weapons worked but after that it was a pretty cool game
@sharks cheers for the comment. I am working on a post jam version which is considerably better. Life bars etc.
@superqgs thanks for sticking with it. I will impliment a proper tutorial at some point
Very nice mechanics! I liked the pace of the game and sound effects did justice to creating the tense atmosphere! I feel like this would make an excellent multiplayer game! This would be very enjoyable as a couch multiplayer and I really hope you release a full version of this!
@aayush Thanks for the feedback. Plans are afoot and it will happen. I am collaborating with a friend and are fully excited by the post jam potential. The weapons system we have in mind is going to be epic if we pull it off correctly. Exciting times.
Interresting game. To be honest,I have felt lost for a while. But finally I managed to grasp it. The controls scheme (firing on stop) is very interresting.
@vfabien21 Cheers man. I am pleased you stuck with it. If I could turn back time I would have put some time aside for a tutorial. It would not take much to explain. I was a bit blind sided as the one thing I thought was straight forward that was the controls. You can literally only do 3 things and they all involve clicking and waiting. I have put things like health bar and ammo turns in and it does help to see that things are changing. Once the penny drops it becomes pure strategy, but I have learned a lot about people, through watching it be played a few times. If you click lots it creates the illusion that you are in control but that it is lagging or unresponsive, also that the weapons don't work properly. The turn based nature of it is hidden under a flurry of clicks that seem to imply that it is the way to go. It has been interesting.
@tigerj hello. Thanks for playing ClapBang. I kinda want you to play it again as you did not get it. My bad brother. It was really interesting to see how it could be attempted. I had got used to how it operates and so I never really thought about how people might try to use it. I get that you are busy, your twitch is really impressive. I enjoyed watching it whilst trying to track down ClapBang. Anyway if you felt like giving it 5 minutes and a go knowing how the turns work I would love your feedback on the mechanic. I could totally see that it seemed impossible. The Yellow dude is far too easy to beat once you don't accidentally take your turns. So my explanation of why it is turn based and novel is this: Your turns are based on you alone, the opponents turns have nothing to do with you. It is like playing chess but being able to take your moves as soon as you have finished the last. The further your Mech moves the longer your turn takes. In motion you can do nothing to change the game. When you arrive at the clicked on square the Mech fires any ready weapons directly at the opponent. When you played you kept on clicking and the turns sort of became invisible. For example when you are fired at, if you have not taken your turn the opponents weapons are easy to dodge. I understand if you don't want to spend your time going back to this. But I do now value your opinion based on the stellar job done on playing the long list of games on twitch. Peace and thanks
Hey I got lost during my first try not knowing what to do, there were no shooting. Later when I learn to recognize the powerups, I realized I have missed the powerups in the first run and thus, was not able to fire a single bullet. I mean powerups are meant to make you stronger, like shoot faster, or with more bullets. I dont think youre supposed to get a powerup to start shooting. Players should be "shooting on arrival" like said in the tutorial. Overall, I think this is a fun game, but its not challenging enough for me. After a while I can kill the enemy pretty fast and then after that it seems to be a bug that the round doesnt get ended. You could definitely ramp up the difficulty a little bit for hardcore fans like me xD. Great work!
@nam-nguyen Thanks for your feedback. It was always my intention for this game to be 3 CPU vs 1 human. It is diminished as a result in terms of difficulty. I have been improving the AI of the Mech and it is now more of a challenge. I guess power up might not be the right word. The weapons are going to be card based going forward with lots of variables. Hopefully each round will have a touch of something unique weapon wise. I will put the post Jam version up once a get it to the stage I imagined for it. I will link you up and would love your feedback and feature requests.
Ahh I see, so players would get items, and start shooting as soon as he has picked up an item. If that's the direction you are going for, I highly suggest making the item bigger and more recognizable, also introduce them slowly so players get a chance to learn which item is for what. I have experienced this problem before. I made a clone of curve fever and added my own custom boosts to the game, altogether about 20 boosts, and when I have my friend playtesting the game they said seeing what each boost is and watching the opponent at the same time are too difficult to manage. I ended up making a boosts unlocking system where I can unlock new item and the item would then be spawn into the game, then players would unlock items one by one and they have a chance to learn what each item means. Maybe it could be something useful for you..
It took me a while to understand how picking up items works, but once that's out of the way, it's quite an enjoyable game. The AI, while simplistic, can still sometimes put up a challenge. If you feel like making a post-compo version, this could turn out to be a very interesting game.
@suve Cheers. Plans are afoot. It will be made and hopefully multiplayer. I think humans as opponents will make it very much more satisfying and tactical. Wish us luck.
@arron-fowler Thanks for reaching out! I gave it a special play tonight when I came home from my friends house. I appreciate you taking the time for explaining the turn mechanic more and all the hype for my stream =D here ya go: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/299535551
@tigerj you are totally awesome dude. I so appreciate it. Your feedback is all spot on too. I have implemented most of it already on the post jam build. I did not have a playable version with an hour to go so lots did not make it into the submission. As a hobbiest LD is a real challenge. Although I was pretty pleased to only have to use google once this jam. That is big progress for me. Thanks again.
Hey Arron! Your message came as a pleasant surprise! I'm glad I could help you out at the time. It was a small gesture from my side which had a slightly bigger impact than I thought. A little can go a long way, right? I hope your faith in humanity is restored, even if it's just for a little bit. But with all these great people in the Ludum Dare community, you just know there still are people that are humble, honest and treat others with respect. Thank you for your kind words!
Of course, I also played your game: The premise of this game is really good! There are clear rules and mechanics. But it was a bit unclear how I was doing. I've seen that you didn't have the time to implement health bars and a reloading indicator, that's fair since LD is a race against the clock, but it would make this massively more playable.
The visuals are simple but effective, although it would be nice if the power-ups would stand out more. Maybe with a little glowing ring around them or something. I do like that everything is made out of cubes, it gives it a distinct style!
The A.I. is very impressive, especially for a compo game! The other robot outsmarted me a couple of times but after a couple of playthroughs, I kinda knew how to deal with him.
Overall a very good entry, which could get a lot better with some small additions. Great work!
@drtizzle thanks dude. I do really value the LD community. It feels good to be a part of it.
Huh, this is really cool. I was initially very confused because the description initially said "turn based" but it in fact plays in real time. In my first battle I spent quite a bit of time waiting for the yellow mech to finish its "turn." ;)
The "fire when you finish moving" mechanic is really interesting, and has a really neat rhythm to it. It did a great job of evoking the fast-paced mech battles I'd picture in my head, with a much more lo-fi aesthetic. It also led to some interesting mind games - you want to fire just about when the enemy mech is stopping to hit it, then dodge their shots, which ended up a neat little dance. The various different weapons and things are interesting - I'm not sure I ever really figured out how to properly select what I was going to shoot, but it was fun playing around with the different powerups I could find.
In the end I think the AI was too easy - I won every match without much trouble, as it was pretty easy to evade and dodge any shots that came my way, but I really like this, and would love to try to play a more complete version if you ever made it.
Nice game! It took me a while to understand, but once I did it was fun.
I quite like the concept. I did need to read the instructions, as just jumping in things didn't make sense to me. The enemy isn't very dangerous I feel, even stumbling around I ended up winning.
I had some trouble figuring out the symbology of the upgrade/weapon icons on the side of the screen. Then I realized (unless I am mistaken) that they were mech parts that mounted the upgrades? I'd rather have seen an indication of the weapon type fitted there.
Art-wise, there is so much grey... It kind of almost works, you have black and white in the buildings, and it almost seems like an artistic thing, but the soft bevels on the tile floor ruin the effect for me. I have a thing against grey-washing though, so I might not be fully objective here.
The audio is a little basic, but it does the job. Implementation of the theme works well in forcing the conflict closer together, but I did find I was seeking short-range combat to begin with.
I am glad to see you're taking this post-jam, it definitely has potential.
It took me a while to get used to what was happening. But I like the unique idea and the simplicity of it. I really wanted to be able to change my destination while walking to a previous one I clicked on. Not sure if that was intended for strategy or not. Nice game over all!
@drums yes once you commit to moving you are commited. It is what makes you vulnerable. Small moves allow your weapons to cycle through their turns more quickly but make you more likely to be hit. I was hoping that it would be more tense but unfortunately I ran out of time to work on the AI. It is already much better and once I complete this last batch of ratings I will be focused on the post jam version which already has much more completeness about it. Ludum Dare is a rush to let go of what is less important, but important none the less! Saying that with more time I would just keep adding more difficult things to impliment. Thanks for playing.
nice work
It felt like a fun game! It took me a while to get the hang of it and I got grumpy since the yellow mech managed to snipe me every single time. But I managed to get a good weapon a few times and then it becomes really fun! The way you pace your robot can really decide winning or losing. The visuals where nice and fit the game together with the sound, but they were also a bit chaotic and unclear (altough that was also what attracted me to your screenshot in the first place, so there's that).
I really liked this game, though it was tough to understand at the beginning. But once I did get the hang of it, it became addictive. Good game! :thumbsup:
I think a tutorial/play through would go a long way for this game. I started to get the hang of it, but making it obvious what exactly are powerups would be helpful. It was still fun to play.
Hey, nice work !
at the first impression, it wasn't easy to understand how it works, to have weapons and others conditions to win. Like push the AI out of the limits. But i had some fun, i really liked how you designed the different bullets. I also liked, the fact that the battlefield was getting smaller in the time. The only negative point, i had a little imbalance between differents sounds. But i globally enjoyed it !
nice job guys =)
@outlife thanks a bunch. I am working out a knock back on the weapons as we speak. It would be satisfying to bash them out of the area. As a solo effort I am particularly pleased you used guys as it did feel like I was doing a multi person shift as the deadline got closer! Lol
Pros: - Easy to understand - Good idea and execution - Winning fills me with a sense of pride and accomplishment
Cons: - Graphics look a bit bland - Game starts too fast. Maybe a small countdown at the beginning would help
@syrapt0r thanks for streaming ClapBang. I have implimented a count down in the post jam version I am working on and it is so much improved. Many thanks for great feedback. I loved your game too.
I got the hang of the game pretty quickly and was getting consistent wins after a few minutes. Perhaps some sort of difficulty scaling could be implemented to keep the challenge going? Also the colour scheme could use some spicing up. However, the sounds are good and the gameplay is sound (albeit a little slow in the beginning). Keep working on it and tweaking it and it could become somethign great!
@rytannic thanks for the feedback. AI post jam is already considerably more challenging. I am collaborating with a friend who is an amazing artist to move this forward. LD was always a coding exercise for me. Once he gets his hands on it, it will look stunning. Watch this space as we are moving forward on it.
Great work! I like the fact that you have auto-targeting, it removes the complexity of moving on space and fire at the same time, making this game more a strategic game.
I like the mechanics, the fact that the terrain is reducing and getting different weapons is really clever!
maybe the controls with the click are a little bit hard to master but it's a detail IMO :)
Great work !!
Wow... I am just impressed by the amount of comments and your long and constructive answers to almost all of them. You really care about improving, don't you !
I don't have much to say apart from all that have been said. It's a really great game, and it would be a complete blast in multiplayer, so I'll definitely stay tuned for that update.
Maybe that part of why the controls aren't totally obvious is because buildings are not on a single tile. I didn't find it obvious that I could interact with them, and once I read again the explanations, I didn't know where to click to do so (I eventually nailed it though)
Otherwise, I love this concept of real time turn based game. It makes for some intersting choices : should I move on a close tile to reload quicker, or should I cover a greater distance, making me more vulnerable and predictable. Even if the first option seems preferable, the fact that the terrain is shrinking and that powerups are in buildings gives the player incentive to also do the latter.
Keep it up !
@lekkel124 thanks for your comment. Yes I do want to improve. I had a bit of a strange LD41 which I was focused on not repeating. I did not finish last time and the potential of my last game never got realised. This time I learned lots of my lessons but still ran out of time. Not having a full 3 days hurt for sure. Anyway I feel ClapBang has got something special about it and the post jam version has not ruined it. It is not far away so watch this space!
Pretty solid entry! Good use of the theme, and simple yet effective graphics and sound effects. Overall, I liked it!
Simple game but very funny :) Great job @arron-fowler!
Thanks for taking the time to write feedback for ClapBang. I have released a post jam version which is much improved from your comments. Still lots I would have liked to get done but I am now on holiday so I had to stop. I would love any feedback on this update you might have. Thanks in advance. Arron aka TheSoulSelector. @p1nkmaria @rubixnoob13 @lekkel124 @thibaultar @agar3s @rytannic @syrapt0r @outlife @dk5000p @anubhav-kashyap @bobismijnnaam @erendis @drums @flaterectomy @jchaplin @justinmullin @drtizzle @tigerj @suve @nam-nguyen @vfabien21 @aayush @superqgs @sharks @kinghamster @tomg @my-sweet-whomp @kack3y @lomikstik @historymaker118 @saddaystudio @cheetah
It was a different entry considering all the other entries i played in this jam. The controls work seamless even considering the fact that i didnt understand how exactly the game works in the first time i played. Its actually quite easy when you understand what you are supposed to do. Also, found interesting that you made avaiable several weapons, increasing the game possibilities and experience. While the graphics are neat, i find that them and the sound (REVERSE CYMBAL! GO!) needed a little polishing in order to enhance the game. Considering everything said, its a nice entry.