FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD42 → .S

.S

By torcado

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall254.07157
Fun423.98157
Innovation84.37157
Theme544.21157
Graphics1593.75156
Audio2
Humor3272.45119
Mood2463.17139

Comments

gabe 2018-08-13 00:10

Neat platformer! I can safely say i've never played anything like it so great job there!

henry-sneed 2018-08-13 00:42

Pretty fun! Kept getting stuck under my line but thats the point i guess! haha. Really nice feel as well!

rk3omega 2018-08-13 03:28

Such an amazing game. I'm in love with everything about it. You should continue working on it and sell it. I've bookmarked it to play later.

torcado 2018-08-13 04:01

thanks so much :)

first thing to add if i continue working on it: the ability to rewind time

allan-kong 2018-08-13 04:24

The simple cartoon look feels appealing to my eyes. Each platformer level feel like a brand new awesome challenge to counter. I love the game and the way it feels. Keep it up!

noa-calice 2018-08-13 06:58

Another awesome LD entry from you :) !! Well done mate ! The purple color palette was super and the levels ingenious ! It's a really cool and unique puzzle/platformer. Shame there are no sounds :(, that would of been the cherry on the cake !

2018-08-13 07:45

Nice game!

What I like: - Simple, easy-to-grasp gameplay - Nice minimalistic visual - Varieties in levels

What I think could be improved: - I question the choice of physics-based gameplay. It doesn't feel "reasonable", especially at moments when you get stuck or collide with yourself. I think a gameplay with full snake available at all time (like Snake Pass), or a less real-time gameplay (like snakebird) is a more reasonable choice. - The level lack some "wow" factor, it's too clear what I need to do so it get boring fast. There's certainly curiosity for new mechanics, but there's no "Wow!" mind-blown.

furtive-pygmy 2018-08-13 08:27

Awesome! Looked great and played well, loved the idea and implementation. Could jump on myself over the screen bounds to essentially avoid a lot of spikes, but was nice to play. Good work.

tiberiusuciu 2018-08-13 08:35

Wow this is a really cool mechanic. The art is so simple as well. Good job!

By the way, I managed, to somehow enter inside of a platform, good thing we have the restart button :^)!

valden 2018-08-13 09:53

Realy nice concept. I love the minimalist graphics. However the levels quickly become huge, and that is problematic when you have to start over because of a tiny mistake.

This game has potential !

dunin 2018-08-13 10:37

Really good puzzle-action game!

It asks for a precision that I find very original for a video game...

I don't finish it yet (my arm hurts), but I come back to it...

connorthompson 2018-08-13 11:23

This is excellent, really loved your last ludum game but this one definately feels more addictive :)

pace 2018-08-13 13:11

I won! Excellent level design, introduces mechanics and teaches them to you at a good pace. Great take on the theme. The only two things I would improve are (1) Make it less easy to surround yourself in ways that feel unfair. If I make an error of judgment, please punish me, but if I'm one pixel off and I get stuck just from moving around normally, I don't want to have to restart the level. (2) distinguish solids, make it visually obvious when I'm trying to warp into a wall.!

Examples of losses that felt unfair to me: Screenshot 2018-08-13 08.31.07.png Screenshot 2018-08-13 08.31.54.png Screenshot 2018-08-13 08.34.56.png

Also it's possible to smush yourself inside the wall: Screenshot 2018-08-13 08.54.01.png

korso 2018-08-13 13:22

Great idea and design. My only complaints are in line with @pace first suggestion. Gob job nonetheless!

electr1ca 2018-08-13 13:44

a very clever twist on the theme! the main mechanic caught me a little off-guard at first early into the game when i couldn't figure out why i was colliding with myself, but you get the hang of it when levels require you to take advantage of it.

i've had some cases where i accidentally skipped parts of a level because of the trail collision, the most noticable one being the level where you have to go around a one-way gate facing left in order to get to the goal (i clipped through it) but getting stuck because of how you move honestly feels fair most of the time

i'm in love with the simplistic yet super clean graphics and animations as well, really great job!

melmo 2018-08-13 14:37

Deceptively challenging: the mechanics are simple but once you hit later levels you really need to plan your movements *and* execute them perfectly.

Would recommend adding a 'kill zone' at bottom of screen as a quality of life improvement but otherwise solid job.

mathiouza 2018-08-13 14:58

Really cool concept ! There is few collision bugs, but that is good. There is no music, that is too bad... Not even sounds. But well, that is a great game though, you hard worked on the level design and the graphics are simple and greats ^^

Cool entry, keep coding :)

erendelous 2018-08-13 15:04

The idea is absolutely innovative, but there some kinda game-design "accidents". Really good job, anyway!

nitin-kumar 2018-08-13 15:14

I started with a similar idea. But i already made a snake game before so i decided against it. My idea was just your side view as my top view. Great game.

sprvrn 2018-08-13 16:42

Neat gameplay. I had a blast on this one!

bearishmushroom 2018-08-13 16:59

excellent game! this is a beautiful example of how game and level design combine in order to turn something already good into something great, every food blip thing feels thoughtfully placed and make for some really interesting levels

the only thing that stands out to me is that the jump occasionally felt a little difficult to predict, leading to some frustrating resets

overall though this is an amazing entry

chkkll 2018-08-13 17:43

Nice, innovative, organic platformer! Controls and the way physics behave may need some tightening up but a great entry nonetheless!

patrick-woodcock 2018-08-13 18:10

Best I've played so far, really innovative platformer.

purrfexionator 2018-08-13 19:21

Very fun and innovative! I really enjoyed it!

yasaman 2018-08-13 19:45

I loved the idea the moment I saw your tweet! Fantastic! I just had some problems to understand how the controls really work.

ytaha 2018-08-13 20:49

Great game, A fantastic perspective to the original snake game. The only problem is you get stuck in your own body super quickly.

torcado 2018-08-13 20:53

@pace thanks for the feedback. i definitely agree that some deaths felt unfair, i found myself getting frustrated with my own game while making it, and feared it would be the same for people who played it. the nature of the game doesnt really allow for a solution to those slight movement errors, but what would solve it is the ability to reverse time, turning into a more puzzle/strategy game.

The clipping through walls issue is known, i could fix it but for the most part you can't use it to your advantage and the only way to get stuck is if you were already trapped, so it doesnt really need to be fixed for the compo

@electr1ca oh interesting, i never knew you could clip through the one-way gates. thanks for the feedback :)

omercanbalandi 2018-08-13 23:14

Great and creative idea!Congrats for this fantastic game!

purrfexionator 2018-08-13 23:20

Very cool game! It was fun and clever and interesting! I didn’t make it all the way through, but I enjoyed what I played. What I don’t get is why you didn’t program an automatic reset when the player falls out of the level.

omni 2018-08-14 00:17

Innovative, simple and I really enjoyed it! Cool mechanic, perfect for a game jam. I really wish that the rewind mechanic would've been implemented since the only frustrating part was if I made a tiny mistake and then, knew it was over after all that work but that's not a big deal. In any case, an awesome tiny game jam game. :)

skullpixel 2018-08-14 00:46

I can already tell that this is going to be one of the top entries of this LD. Fantastic job on taking a simple concept and then running with it!

jay-elbourne 2018-08-14 00:57

I am in agreement with so many of these comments. GREAT GAME.

joemag 2018-08-14 00:58

This thing is damn genius. Everyone knows Snake and this is refined to such a perfect level. Elegant elegant elegant! I'm mad at how good this is! Great work.

reuno 2018-08-14 02:25

Brilliant idea, and great execution. I feel like falling down could have automatically restarted the game though. Felt a bit weird to have to manually enter R to restart every time.

velvetlobster 2018-08-14 02:29

very interesting mechanics

kaiclavier 2018-08-14 08:01

Wow, it has so many levels! I wasn't able to finish everything, but I'm impressed with the unique game mechanics and how they're used to solve puzzles. So many little "a-ha!" moments with every level. Fits the theme perfectly, too! I like the minimalist style, but it did make the introduction of the "warp" mechanic a bit confusing.

duzzondrums 2018-08-14 08:15

Such a good hook! Seemingly simple but with so much depth, and completely nailed the theme!

If you're doing some more post jam, I think you'd improve the feel by adding jump input queuing (let players hold jump slightly before landing to trigger the jump on land) and also allow players to jump a split second after moving off the ground. Makes platforming a little easier, but I know I managed to tie myself up in knots constantly, so I think giving some extra help can't hurt ;)

dangogamedev 2018-08-14 09:42

This is great, amazing evolution of snake and fits the theme to a T. Great job.

baconsenpaii 2018-08-14 12:52

It was really fun, but my main issue with it is how easy it is to trap yourself in a corner for eternity.

mutskun 2018-08-14 13:52

Amazing game, i do have the problem that i keep getting stuck in myself but besides that it's perfect!

toboggan 2018-08-14 14:28

Really excellent idea and execution. It'd be nice to have a full screen option to get fully ~immersed~. Also itd be better if falling offscreen at the bottom killed you and the level auto-reset. Anyway, really good and fun and amazing that no one has done this before (AFAIK). Great work!

gaming-night 2018-08-14 15:39

Liked it, well done ;)

siridakis 2018-08-14 15:40

Dude, awesome game. Got me hooked for a lot of time. Everytime I thought "this stage is too hard, must be the last one" I was wrong hahaha. And when I thought just the geometry of the stages would change, here comes a new mechanic!

Congratulations on your game! Nice little touch those pickups way up high on the ending stage :)

Btw, in case you decide to keep working on the game, I've found a bug: If you drop from a very high place (easily done in the ending stage) you can get enough speed to actually go through platforms. I went through the floor once and got stuck inside a square another time.

Below is a screenshot of the second case:

bug.png

kostbllb 2018-08-14 15:52

this is the innovativest game on this jam i have seen, magic snake tail is really something!

horun 2018-08-14 16:01

Although somethimes clunky (jumping on the tail sometimes moves you in wierd directions, more often than not leaving you in a dead end), I loved the way you have to manipulate the length of your tail and adapt to your surrounding! The idea is really clever and challenging, controlls are great (and that is what really matters in platformers like this to me), graphics are simplistic which made them really appealing to watch. I also love you for picking purple, it's my favourite color, I think it fits there so well! C:

engyne 2018-08-14 19:01

This is really unique! Good job!

wahooney 2018-08-14 19:31

This is great! I get some serious N++ vibes from this one and it has the same addictive quality.

glaciereclipse 2018-08-14 20:07

Wow!! This is such a brilliant mechanic. Absolutely loved it! The game was very difficult for me(especially the last level..) but the mechanic kept me going until I completed it. I loved how you need to think of your approach every time. The game leaves very little room for error which gets annoying when you spend a lot of time reaching to some spot in the game and then get stuck by your body because of some small part. Overall I enjoyed it and enjoyed exploring this unique mechanic. Well done!

king-kujito 2018-08-14 20:45

Solid game. Sometimes it gets a bit janky but everything else is great.

n-feofentov 2018-08-14 21:31

This is so cool! I love and hate this game. I spent nearly 2 hours to beat the last level, but I did it. Now I am proud of myself and can go to sleep in peace. Thanks for such a challenging experience.

What frustrates me is when the ball slides to the left or right after vertical jump.

Good luck!

james-shipp 2018-08-14 22:27

Showed this to two buddes in class and we spent an hour and a half trying to beat it together

le-american 2018-08-15 00:19

this is so fun!!!

skytiger 2018-08-15 00:23

Clean, simple, innovative, touch of genius. I hate it. <3

kokonaught 2018-08-15 00:36

Cool game, the puzzle were nice and the simple aesthetic works perfectly with the gameplay. I think you should get rid of the physics-based gameplay though, it doesn't add anything to the puzzle but frustration (and the puzzle are good, so it's a shame). Great job overall! Some sound design would make it even better :)

cosmiccrystalgames 2018-08-15 00:39

This is an extremely solid gameplay concept, very smart design!

chupachu 2018-08-15 01:06

I really enjoyed this one. The gameplay was extremely well done and the levels have enough challenge to keep you interested until the end. Amazing work!

kodiqi 2018-08-15 01:58

I saw this being played on Twitch and had to give it a go. It's a good use of the theme and it's executed very well. I wasn't able to finish the final level, I gave up in frustration eventually. Still, I really enjoyed this entry. Shame there is no sound, that would be a good addition. Also, maybe some sort of option to undo you last move would be good if you were going to do a post-jam version with more levels. Great job!

torcado 2018-08-15 06:47

@duzzondrums both of these mechanics are already in the game. i even explained to some friends while working on it how much better it makes the platforming feel

@horun it's funny, the purple background was a result of me just clicking a random spot on the color picker. i never changed it

@james-shipp this is my favorite response :) i love seeing people play my games in groups

@kokonaught sure, which is why it was built as a platformer and not a puzzle game. puzzle games are fun, but platformers are built upon the idea of frustration, because it's rewarding. which isn't to say i made my game purposefully frustrating, of course i tried to minimize that. but if i wanted to make a puzzle game i would have

@kodiqi oh nice, do you know what channel it was? watching videos/streams of people playing my game is one of my favorite things

Thanks so much for the nice comments everyone

aeveis 2018-08-15 08:25

Was able to beat it! good job!

~~Because there's gravity, it does get very easy to get stuck, I feel like other than spending a long time tweaking the physics and collisions it might be easier to be able to rewind maybe like the last few secs? Just so people can restart from the point they failed (like at the start of a jump, or if they accidentally tumble into their own line). I think that would address getting stuck while platforming but can still punish players if they get stuck puzzling.~~ (nevermind saw your first comment)

It's actually very hard for me to jump on my own line like in the gif, I would usually just jump straight up and form a straight vertical line.

Some other things that I thought would be nice: - having the white circle on the player deform against whatever surface they're pushing against - maybe if the player does get stuck, making the player collider more... squishy so they could potentially get out. might be hard to do. - the last few levels got more puzzle-y with the cutoff switch, I kind of also liked the the end screen where it was more open, but probably because I like exploration stuff. - maybe using the tunnel thing to skip your own line

ghust1995 2018-08-15 15:03

Amazing game! Please make more of this, polish it and release in some platform =) My only feedback would be to make some levels smaller, so it is not frustrating to keep repeating puzzles that you already know the solution

Congratulations!

necromic 2018-08-15 15:28

This is one of the best games I've seen in this jam. Pretty amazing concept, lovely minimalist graphic style and cool level design with progressive game mechanics.

Great job. Pretty inspiring.

kokonaught 2018-08-15 16:12

@torcado eh, we'll have to agree to disagree. I think it's a decent puzzle, but a poor platformer because of the lack of control you have on the ball/snake.

dave-grey 2018-08-15 16:35

Killer concept, a lot of cool 'aha' moments realising what you can actually do.

saucygames 2018-08-15 22:05

fun little platformer, creative idea. clean art and end level when the trail comes into the player is a nice touch.

wevel 2018-08-16 00:05

Very nice game, I like the simple art style. I feel it is a bit easy to get yourself trapped due to being pushed the wrong way.

2018-08-16 01:49

good game, a bit easy to be trapped but i feel like it was great for the time constraints. In one of the square shaped levels i found out that i could push myself through a corner and that was funny haha

landosystems 2018-08-16 02:51

This is a really good game! Mixing snake with a platformer makes for some really interesting mechanics. Along with the simple and clear art style and nice choice of colors, it's really enjoyable! Wish there were some sound effects and music, but this is quite excellent regardless! Great work!

mukult 2018-08-16 04:38

Omg... i absolutely loved this game. This is super super polished. My game is so much similar! lol You should try it out for sure! hahah https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/follow-line

shell-pirate 2018-08-16 06:17

Good entry. I like clean minimalistic visuals for these sorts of games, but some audio would have added a lot. The concept behind it is so simple, yet pretty clever - somehow snake works as a platforming game rather nicely. I will agree with others that the physics gameplay does feel a little clunky at times, but I think that is only a real issue because when you get stuck in yourself it's pretty defeating to have to restart the whole level over again. You seem to have found a good solution for this in a time reqind mechanic though, so I'm glad. Also please make it so falling down actually kills you because it feels unprofessional to have to restart manually once you fall into a bottomless pit. Overall though, a good creative entry!

jin9310 2018-08-16 11:09

Truly nice way how to 'enhance' and combine snake and platformer. It is true that the theme could be there bit more, but you can still run out of space here and there. Really nice and minimalistic, yet so full. Thanks, great job!

jamesolivermusic 2018-08-16 11:32

Great game. Only missing FX and music!

simogecko 2018-08-16 13:06

the game is pure genius. a great take on the platform genre, pretty easy to understand and graphically clean. I just wish you could see somewhere the level #/how many are there and maybe a system with 3 stars based on completion time. great job overall!

pnghasemi 2018-08-16 23:49

Such a cool concept. The movement was a bit glitchy but no big dead. It just needed an engaging music and SFX (NOT 8bit SFX)

gurarara 2018-08-17 03:43

I think this game has a cool concept with the mechanic. It feels a bit fidgety at time but the game is pretty solid.

coal-creek-game-devs 2018-08-18 02:32

Awesome concept. Super addicting.

beta 2018-08-18 17:28

The game idea is insane congrats!

jessefreeman 2018-08-18 18:41

I like the graphics but found the controls a bit difficult. On the 3rd level, I fell off a platform and it didn't kill me so I had to restart. Looks like an interesting concept. Hope you continue with it after the Jam!

suchista 2018-08-19 17:47

Wow! I love it! One of my favorites

vikfx 2018-08-21 04:38

Graphics are simple but gameplay is here. It's an original interpretation of the theme. Good work!

paden-shorey 2018-08-21 14:43

Very cool idea. The only suggestion I could have is adding detection for when a player is stuck so it restarts automatically. Well done.

stefan-jovanovic 2018-08-21 15:14

Very interesting and unique idea! I liked the overall mood of the game! Graphics are minimalistic, but fits really well! Keep up the good work! :smiley:

peachtreeoath 2018-08-22 04:08

Nice, clean game and great execution. I agree with others, be more forgiving on us and give us a rewind button next time lol, it was pretty rough.

ethan-kennerly 2018-08-24 01:45

When I jumped on the trail I made to overcome an obstacle, I felt clever! If you continue to develop this, the first level where I needed to do this, I felt frustrated, because I kept failing at the first obstacle in the level.

thibaultar 2018-08-24 16:06

Really great revisited snake !! The idea is clever and fits the theme !

One of the best compo I've played :)

huminaboz 2018-08-28 17:44

For some reason, when scrolling down on this page, I became afraid if I scrolled up a little, I wouldn't be able to scroll back down. It's cool how you created a way of thinking I hadn't experienced before.

nervous-composers 2018-09-04 19:50

I finally beat the game! Wasn't easy, but wasn't too hard either, a nice level of challenge for an LD entry. The mechanic is very innovative. Are there any easter eggs on the final screen by the way? After those gruelling levels I didn't bother collecting every gem on the credits screen :p

torcado 2018-09-05 01:15

@nervous-composers there aren't, you saw everything

thanks for playing :)