Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD42 → Adware Attack
By adonisdevs
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 498 | 3.15 | 60 | |
| Fun | 404 | 3.16 | 59 | |
| Innovation | 353 | 3.21 | 59 | |
| Theme | 303 | 3.67 | 59 | |
| Graphics | 555 | 2.78 | 58 | |
| Audio | 281 | 3.08 | 58 | |
| Humor | 59 | 3.54 | 58 | |
| Mood | 382 | 2.89 | 54 |
Overall fun game, has a silly vibe which I quite like!
Only thing I didn't really get was how to use the key to crack the harder ads. I clicked the key and then the locked ad and vice versa but I couldn't get anything to happen. Perhaps a better explanation in the book?
Neat, that was actually a lot more fun than I expected fighting ads would be. I got a laugh from the "local grills".
On a side note, there's something implicitly very funny about running a Windows installer that says "Are you sure you want to install 'Adware Attack'". You can practically *hear* Windows Defender throwing up its hands and going home.
Words aren’t needed to talk this game up. Play it, you’ll be hooked. If you’re not, then maybe fun isn’t for you. A+
P.S. A mobile version should be next on the list. I don’t pay for games on my phone, but for this...I would.
@cr0w Haha, thanks. That gave me a laugh reading that :)
@jelbre Noted. Thanks for the feedback!
Error: spawn icacls returned code 6 :-( do you need the log-error?
A really great take on the theme! The audio totally did it for me. The only issue for me was just working out how to use the key.
@liven Oh no! Yes please, I've never heard of such an error..
@doey That's not the first time I've heard that about the key, I guess I definitely have to make it more clear. Thanks for playing my game and leaving feedback :)
That was a lot of fun. I got 250 seconds. The game was simple, there were a lot of funny lines, and it got to be pretty challenging. One bug I found is that on one of the passwords, I typed what it said but the window wouldn't go away. What that made me realize though is that if I just put that password window out of the way and leave it alone, I don't have to do them anymore.
@jasperarmstrong 250 seconds? Not bad! As for the password: it's programmed a little bit weirdly, so it will only accept the password if you type it with ALL CAPITALS or all lowercase. When I first implemented them, there was a lot of times when I'd capitalize the first letter of the password on instinct, but then I'd have to retype it. Maybe this isn't communicated well in the game, but every time you complete a password ad, the spawn rate of the ads decrease, meaning it would get harder slower and you can make it much longer. My personal best is about 500 :)
I like the game; reminds me of surfing the internet in the late 90s. Gameplay is simple but addictive, and the sound effects are fun. Only issue I found was the issue with the keys, but that's been mentioned a few times here. Overall, great job.
This was pretty good, I'm honored to see my game title on the desktop :)
I might have nightmares from the audio (but that's good, I liked the audio)
I think my only criticism would be that it felt a little too real and as frustrating as real adware (even my virus scanner kept catching it, I had to disable it just to install). Overall, great entry!
@coldfire83 Yeah, haha, I'll try to find a better way to communicate that mechanic. Thanks for the feedback!
@simplepotential LOL! I took a risk with the audio because I didn't know how people would react, but I'm glad that it seems to have paid off. Sorry about your antivirus, maybe my game shouldn't be named like a virus. Thanks for playing :)
I can't wait to play this! Unfortunately, I'm on mac osx right now so I'll have to play on my old laptop!
Just like in real life.
Simple game idea done well. I liked that you actually managed to get gameplay out of ad banners ^^ The audio is nightmareish which I mean in a very positive way. Good game, keep on coding!
@jelbre When you press the key, it enables you to type out the code word (password.txt) for the locked ads. When you type out password.txt all the way correctly, it disappears. My high is 240.
Out of all the games I have played so far on Ludum Dare, this is absolutely the _**BEST**_, and the only one that I rated 5/5 for each category. I'll play this even after the jam!
I also agree with Mr. Anonymous, a mobile version of this game would be fantastic. I was a little confused what the rest of the desktop buttons did though. :confused: Perhaps you could add a task manager or something like that once the play blocked a certain number of ads?
Bravo.
A nightmarish cacophony of insidious marketing — and fun at that. Great job. I wonder if you've been inspired by Holly Herndon (especially her videos "Home" and "Chorus"). She has turned this kind of thing into an art form.
@sharks I can't wait for you to play it :)
@mertios I'm glad that you enjoyed the game (and figured out the key mechanic)! Of course, I'm still going to make it more clear for people who don't understand. Also, I'm impressed that you sat through 240 seconds of me making random sounds, haha. The desktop apps don't really do much besides pay homage to some other games and talk to you, but they also act as your health when the game starts. When the app is faded in the GUI, it is covered. When all apps are covered, the ads have full control and swarm your computer to make it crash! Adding power-ups is a great idea! Thanks for rating & giving feedback :)
@gamebuilder I've actually never heard of her until your comment! That's some pretty crazy stuff. Accidental inspiration? Also, "A nightmarish cacophony of insidious marketing" - can I use that? That's such an amazing quote for this game! Thanks for your review :)
Sure thing! Feel free to use that quote.
Great game simple idea but has been executed well. Well done :smile:
@teelin Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
I'd recommend providing the download as a .zip instead of an .exe - there's no chance I'm giving an executable named "Adware Attack.exe" root administrator access! Luckily 7-zip can extract the files though ^_^.
I survived 317 seconds! I found that it was easiest just to drag all of the non-moving windows to the corner, since it didn't involve finding their X. "Out of sight, out of mind!" Exactly my grandparents approach to adware.
Audio was amusing, the visual style seemed appropriate for the game; felt like something I might have played on Newgrounds or Kongregate 10 years ago. Congrats on the entry, will say clicking on the x's felt a little inaccurate sometimes (I'd consider maybe over-sizing the hit boxes a little bit?).
A good game idea, the music should be improved. The graphics are good. Try our game too, maybe you'll like it)
@jimbly So a zip file with one executable in it? LOL! 317 seconds is the highest time anyone has reported so far, so your strategy is very good! Thanks for the suggestion :)
@elfcirynn That's an easy fix, thanks for suggesting it :)
@awix I definitely will :)
Your game is more than one file, it looks like it's an .exe, D3DX9_43.dll, data.win, and some text files. I'm saying just provide a zip download with those instead of an installer (which requires admin privileges to run). Windows Defender won't even let me run your installer on this laptop, but if I unzip it's contents, I can run your game just fine =). In general, you should never let anything you download during a Ludum Dare run with admin rights, not because I don't trust game developers, but because any of them might unknowingly have a virus they're accidentally spreading.
@jimbly Oops! You were right, haha. I created a .zip download :)
This is a great game! I see we both went with the desktop running out of space - I really enjoyed your take on it! Well executed and good use of the theme. The audio is funny and effective. Really turns up the anxiety when all the voices are clamoring on haha love it. Even more impressive that this is your first LD and you went compo. Kudos!
I often seem to see these kind of games with having your own desktop in game jams. And here you did your own spin based on the theme, which is interesting. Good job.
290 seconds. Cool game, but i really wanted to meet those local girls ;( Overall, pretty good game.
Nice game! Enjoyed every seconds! Congrats!
@balance686 Thank you! Haha, I was so tired just after the second day of the jam that I decided to just turn in what I had, so I could just relax on the third. Also, I thought I was being really clever with my take on the theme, but it seems like there are desktops everywhere! Maybe I should've taken it a step further by making a SPACE computer background :)
@greenbluebit Thanks!
@fork0 290 is an awesome score, thanks for playing! Also, I think you mean local grills ;)
@danny-sun Thank you for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed :)
hilarious and fun! i liked this take on the concept a lot. the ads were cracking me up. ill see you at the 18+ bbq with the hot local grills
Glad I finally got around to playing your game! Very silly and fun game overall. The first time I played I didn't understand how to close the password protected ads and I found that I was actually able to last much longer by just moving the password protected ad out of the way to close other ads. Definitely got much more challenging once I found out that you could type into the ads. I think the voiceover is really funny and ads (lol) to the game overall. Congratulations on making a complete game in 48 hours and your first LD event! Keep it up!
@johnny-turbo Haha, I'm glad my voice ad(d)s to the experience ;) A lot of people had that strategy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it has shown me that there needs to be an incentive to complete the password ads. Maybe I'll ad(d) a multiplier that increases when the player completes one. Thanks for playing!
This game felt like the worst nightmare as I played, haha. It's one of those terrible but funny games. I lasted 175 seconds first try. Great concept for this theme. I really get what you were trying to get across with the ads and voices bombarding you. The game itself plays well but I do have some things I could suggest for it.
1. Not sure about the icons covered up being the end game trigger was the best mechanic. I don't read the instructions when I play a compo game just to see how intuitive it is. This part I was struggling with but I did finally figure it out near the end. I would have used a RAM meter that once filled up from all the browser windows would end the game. You could tune that to roughly the amount of windows to fill the screen. This would have been a bit easier to understand and gauge how deep in the hole you are.
2. The windows themselves could have been better with borders, title bars and a close button. The windows in this game felt more like a slide show with a hard to see 2D wire frame close button. Just overall making the windows feel more like an application or browser window would have made a big difference.
3. Kill codes. I wasn't able to figure this out right away. The password.txt looked too much like another ad in the ad. Again, some sort of better defined window would have made this more intuitive.
Overall the concept is great with minimalist execution which may or may not have been what made this game funny and nightmarish as it is. Just better defined way of ending the game and window graphics would have gone a long way.
@haberworks Sounds like fun, LOL! You can be the DJ :)
@negativegeforce A lot of games in this jam were using RAM meters, so if I do decide to continue this game, that may be something that I continue to stray away from. Maybe I could make this mechanic more obvious or prominent by changing the GUI a little bit, or I could add an audio queue for when an app is covered. You're right about the art & kill codes. In the future, I might make the password.txt pop-out of the ad as its own thing. Thanks for the feedback :)
@adonisdevs yeah I get that using a ram meter makes the game less unique but you could definitely make the game unique in 100 other ways as long as the flow is intuitive. I definitely get into the trap of trying to make something mundane into a unique thing and it ends up frustrating and confusing players when I can focus on other ways I can innovate. It's an ongoing struggle with game design I guess. Finding a balance of unique and fun.
There were so many pop ups, i felt like i was fixing my parents computer! I really Found this super challenging. I never did manage to figure out the kill code things but I don't think it impeded me from experiencing much of the challenge.
@masterkrepta That's more or less what I was going for, LOL! I've heard the kill code issue come up a lot, so I may re-implement the idea in a different way. Thanks for playing :)
Well who doesn't love adware. :laughing: Funny game!
@reax Thanks :)
Great game! Very cool and interesting! :D
@cristihkj Thank you for playing :)
That's was pretty intense! Very innovative! Actually reminded me of the frustration of when I use to repair computers for people regularly sometimes, how much adware would be taking over their machines!! Great job!!
Nice game, Love how everything is balanced! Good luck, Don't forget to take a look at ours if you don't mind and see what it's like when we just focused on graphics in this game jam! Game Link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/spacelab-42a
Welcome to LD! Glad you had a good time~
Pros: - Simple but fun mechanics - Nice assets
Cons: - Felt too easy for me, over 300secs and didn't feel pressured at all - I also just left the ad with password aside so that made things very simple for me
Cheers!
this..was a nightmare for me... brought up some trauma fro mmy past.. xD Anyway, I recorded myself playing it. Will upload soon! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG--XwkRpPBAHBinS7hsRQg?view_as=subscriber
This was a surprisingly fun game. Turns out laughing at ads and scrambling to close them all is a lot more fun when those ads are fake and pose no real threat to your computer!
The game is crazy frantic in a good way. You definitely managed to instill some anxiety in me with the background noise and the way the ads move across the screen. Near the end when you have just ads on top of ads on top of ads and you just realize that there is no way you can clear them all is the perfect way to sum up the mood of this game.
I'm really digging your sense of humour on this game. My only gripe was that the game was so frantic that I didn't have time to read all of the ads (I'm sure no one in the history of the internet has ever said that before). The design of the ads and especially the blurry art definitely fit into the style of early internet days you seemed to be going for so great job there.
I'm not sure if I liked the consistency of all the ads being the same size with the x in the corner or if I would have rather had some variety in the size of the ads and the methods for closing them. My very first ad was the basketball so for a bit I thought I had to move the basketball into the hoop to close it. That may have been interesting, but would have been near impossible to do later on when there were tons of ads.
@zombie-virals Thanks - I'm glad to hear that I nailed the feel of actual adware, LOL!
@nihilaleph Thank you for playing! I'm glad that my low-effort assets worked with the game, haha. And a side-note: 300 is one of the highest scores recorded on here, so maybe you're just an adware clickin' pro (or I've got some balancing to do!) Nonetheless, I appreciate the feedback!