john-palmer 2018-08-14 04:17
Very nice!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD42 → Sticks and Stones
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 516 | 3.45 | 33 | |
| Fun | 1074 | 2.70 | 32 | |
| Innovation | 463 | 3.30 | 33 | |
| Theme | 623 | 3.46 | 33 | |
| Graphics | 956 | 2.87 | 33 | |
| Audio | 272 | 3.44 | 31 | |
| Mood | 83 | 3.93 | 32 |
Very nice!
Saddest game I've ever played :(
The gameplay, art, and sound are simple. I think this helps deliver the message of the game. A bit depressing but a nice entry nonetheless!
Was not expecting something like this from this jam. Though it's short, it's efficient in driving it's message home. Theme seems secondary to the whole meaning. The half scene almost gave me chills. I was expecting a different ending, but hey! Nice job!
this game makes me feel sad and depressed, i'm addicted to your way of expressing sadness. simple, elegant sadness is so beautiful. is the name quoted from "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Words . . ."? thank you for the game.
@ango Thanks for the feedback! And yes, it’s from that saying. Though the message of the game stands in contrast to it. :)
Wow! Just wow!
I like how you just walk around and mind your own business and then you can see in the middle how the word is slowly growing, at first you hardly notice it, but then it grows bigger, and you try to ignore it until finally you have to actively avoid it, until it eventually crashes...
Some ideas for added game play could be that the player would heal broken hearts in phase two if you walk over them, but then the enemies would go more aggressive. With some enemy types that for example would charge in a static angle towards the player, would bounce on walls or split into smaller words when then collide with other phrases. But the game expresses its theme well as it is right now. Great job!
@zchangvx Thanks for the feedback! What ending did you expect? :)
Really good game. When the insults came, I ended up hiding in the corner. A good game with a good message.
Nice game. Cute art:)
Very sad game with an important message. Impressive how much emotion you have crammed into such simple graphics and gameplay.
Wow, that was simple and harsh. It's rare for a game to reach me like that, and this one is really simple. Nice job.
Interesting concept! I like the player sprite and the audio. You made good use of the theme with a unique take on it. It'd be nice if you could ward off the inevitable ending by collecting the hearts reduce the size of the text. Atm there isn't really a point to collect the hearts. Overall good job!
Great game! Loved the idea and the happy ending - didn't expect it, but hoped for it and got it. This is the great example how you can tell a story with a very few instruments
@balance686 That's a really good idea! We still want there to be an air of inevitability in the game, but collecting the hearts to decrease the size of the text could actually strengthen that feeling if balanced correctly. Thanks!
was disappointed that you can't escape abusive words cause sometimes they spawn right next to you, didn't really feel that i was trying something hard before "give up" prompt appeared. aggreed with @balance686 about fighting the evil. overall this is a sweet thing :)
thanks so much for this. y'all made me cry <3 the inevitability of the negative words coming at you is so relateable. anybody who doesn't understand depression spirals should play this game. <3<3<3
national suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
this game is so beautiful! thank you for sharing it with us
A short but very powerful game. The audio is dark and creepy the sprite is oddly fitting and the way the text is used as a metaphor is very clever. This "game" is definitely not something I've seen before in a Jam.
Neat stuff!
Would have been more powerful if you didn't give the whole away with the warning and disguised it more as a game. So maybe stretch the beginning bit more, introduce the text elements as just UI elements that would maybe help to get to know the character a bit (which would also help the player care more about the coming story development) more and would lull the player into a false sense of security. That way the first red text wouldn't be as new and weird and obviously something bad.
The look was pretty great. Nice cute graphics with a quite dark story, I like the contrast. One thing I wasn't a huge fan was the first big text font. The later texts seemed to be a more pixelated font which suited the other graphics better. The music was sweet and the few sound effects were ok. I guess it could have used a bit more of them and maybe some ambience so it wouldn't be completely silent at points.
It would also be cool if the beginning and middle "stages" could be winnable. Obviously they should be hard to do so the main story would still be the main story. So something like you have to outlast the big text until it hits the wall and to do that you'd have to bob and weave between the letters (which I tried to do on my first run, but I guess the text hitbox is just a rectangle and there is pretty much just a time limit there too). And the middle stage could be pretty much the same as it is in the last one but with those things following you making it harder.
Anyways, good job! It's good to see someone try deliver a message in a jam game...
good job!
Oh, what a feelling! I felt some imersion and really like this game.
Glad you do it! Congrats!
What a cool entry. It really made me feel something. I would really like to give you some feedback, but the game is so nice and polished. Great job, mate :)