FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD43 → He Has Hostages

He Has Hostages

By joseph-manley, Mortifix and Literal_Filth

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5733.3765
Fun6083.1564
Innovation3743.3365
Theme4423.5765
Graphics5043.5365
Audio3933.2765
Humor2593.3862
Mood5503.2764

Comments

johnsensei 2018-12-04 03:00

The most detailed and clearest instructions I've seen in a Ludum Dare game. Thanks for that level of detail and clarity. I played the web version but didn't notice what if any features were missing. I thought it played fine.

I don't really have much feedback for improvement other than I couldn't tell where the exit was supposed to be. But I guess that exploration is a big point of the game. Oh, one thing was when getting a new hostage, that "You've got a new hostage" screen got in the way of gameplay. Usually I'd get a hostage in the middle of dodging police and that UI pop up was just getting in the way. Maybe have it go away after a few seconds or on the next click.

Great to see another team-made game. Good job guys.

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 03:09

@johnsensei Thanks for the feedback! The web version is missing some lighting features we implemented. As for the new hostage popup, I agree. Unfortunately, we didn't think of that during the development but it's something to take note of for next time!

casey-macneil 2018-12-04 03:10

Very interesting game, I loved your take on the theme, absolutely hilarious. One suggestion I have is to make the objectives pop more, right now they kind of blend in with the level, maybe a highlight or simply make them brighter? anyways, great job guys!

eddie-li 2018-12-04 03:15

A great game overall! Perhaps leaving the methods UI on a little longer but it's on this page anyways so oh well. Great job! Love the art!

demogorgon 2018-12-04 03:15

I really liked the physics of the hostages bouncing around. :P

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 03:31

@casey-macneil Thanks! They do blend a bit too much into the background, don't they? Good suggestion.

@eddie-li The artist, @mortifix actually suggested to do so, but unfortunately it was something added in last minute so maybe something we'll fix in a post-ludum version?

@demogorgon All the different hostages have traits that modify their bounciness. :wink:

spacemonkey 2018-12-04 03:43

The graphics are amazing and the level design is great too. I think the idea of sacrificing hostages in a bank fits the theme. Very nice menu too, with a lot of sections and looking great! If I have one thing to say maybe is that the mechanics feels a bit repetitive after some time. But other than that, great job guys!! Have a nice rest \o/

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 03:55

Thanks @spacemonkey! We were thinking of adding a little more diversity to hostages, like maybe some hostages can slow down cops and some explode pushing physics objects around. :thumbsup:

izi 2018-12-04 05:50

WOW! That's a lot of work. You guys did a great job! I hope you had a really fun and wonderful game jam. It was my first time, but the experience is unforgettable. I hope to see more stuff from you guys in the future, and I really commend you on your hard work. I hope to hear from you soon, and keep up the good work!!! (:

mrpiedpiper 2018-12-04 06:21

Took me a minute to wrap my head around needing to keep something in the way of the laser, but overall, this thing is pretty great quality. Music, audio, theme, mechanics, you guys did great! Love all the different bits of "Lore" for the characters!

cr0wns 2018-12-04 06:22

Really loved the idea and the graphics! Sound was pretty intense and engaging too. Possibly my only criticism is that walking around kinda felt like I was walking on ice, I'm not sure if it was by design or not but I'd release the movement key and I'd still move a little bit, so it sorta looked like I was sliding. Other than that I thought it was great!

mitch-cutler 2018-12-04 06:29

nice!

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 06:29

Thanks @izi! This is our second jam. We had tons of fun making this game and plan to release a couple updates in the future. (And of course participate in the next jam)

@mrpiedpiper I'm glad you enjoyed it!

@cr0wns Thanks for the criticism, I'll try to update the controls to feel a little more solid. :smile:

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 06:41

@mitch-cutler Nice!

slizzben 2018-12-04 08:49

Interesting idea! Nice graphic :)

isaque-picao-sanches 2018-12-04 11:08

elegant in its simplicty - props

kamen-kitanov 2018-12-04 11:34

Pretty good game! I tried the WebGL version and the controls feel a bit off - when you "slide" next to a wall you move slower? Level design was awesome! Info screen about the Hostage was getting in the way of gameplay. Some of the descriptions were pretty funny though!

literal-filth 2018-12-04 13:17

@kamen-kitanov Thanks for your feedback! (I never noticed any slowdown at the walls but now that you mention I see it now lol) We might change the hostage acquisition screen in a post ludem build so thanks for letting us know!

lyrcaxis 2018-12-04 17:48

Funny how you robbed a bank, convinced the hostages to die and enter your pockets, all without a gun xD

Sound was a perfect fit, player controller was smooth, and AI were smart enough to entertain me :)

joseph-manley 2018-12-04 18:01

@lyrcaxis You play a very courteous sociopath. :rofl: I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

johnnyginard 2018-12-04 18:10

Awesome, great work! :smile: :top:

literal-filth 2018-12-04 18:32

@johnnyginard Thanks!

blackshadow1games 2018-12-04 23:42

Really liked it. The sound was amazing! It was tense which made it fun. It had great ai

It was a little hard to find the exit but it was still a blast to play!

mortifix 2018-12-05 00:13

@blackshadow1games I agree the exit is a bit hard to find. We initially had a minimap but had to remove it for this release due to bugs. Glad you enjoyed it!

stu 2018-12-05 03:25

Nice concept and great take on the theme! I'd love to see a blown out version of this with dodge rolling and bullet time. Be proud of your jam!

literal-filth 2018-12-05 03:45

@stu That sounds like an awesome idea! We plan to make a post jam build and definitely look into adding stuff like that!

potatoez 2018-12-05 03:50

actually like really good had fun, the sounds were good, loved the police wee woo wee woo, very funny

joseph-manley 2018-12-05 03:56

@potatoez I'm glad you had a lot of fun. I'm thinking @mortifix, the voice actor, had fun making them. Maybe I'll get him to add more. :smile:

saoi-games 2018-12-05 08:27

Thank you for sharing your game with me. I played it on my stream tonight at https://www.twitch.tv/saoigames

I have rated your game, but all of my feedback was captured in the stream.

You can hear my comments in the archive at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/344864136

I ended up playing it twice, first time was in the browser, and then I played it again as the last game of the night.

vimlark 2018-12-05 09:13

Great work. I love that technically you don't kill anyone ;)

xphere 2018-12-05 10:58

Nice one, had some fun poking around the bank, but my take is that with this walking speed no wonder the robber got caught, haha. Good job

sadzanenyama 2018-12-05 12:30

Movement is a little floaty and unresponsive. My character would often move for a few seconds more after I let go of the button. The audio is crisp clear so well done for that. The game is quite fun. Good job!

mortifix 2018-12-05 13:07

@saoi-games Thank you very much I'll be sure to watch it later!

@xphere I do agree he is a bit slow, it might not seem like it but we toned down the cops movement speed because of it lol. We were planning to add a sprint option!

@sadzanenyama Its not the first time we've heard of the problem but it seems to affect you when you move diagonally. Thank you for playing the game though!

morriss 2018-12-05 13:49

Great work guys! Hope you get good ratings!

tpamir 2018-12-05 13:49

Loved the art and overall feel of the game. Good Job! A bit more interactive movement would be great for the player turning and seeing different angles.

joseph-manley 2018-12-05 17:31

@morriss Thanks for the good wishes!

@tpamir We plan on making the movement less floaty in the next patch. :wink: I am glad you enjoyed it!

boopsgames 2018-12-05 18:32

I like the mechanic (even if I don't particularly like the concept).

lazertrax 2018-12-05 20:31

Very nice game, I really love the human shield mechanics :laughing: this could easily be turned into a full game! Awesome job on this

mortifix 2018-12-05 20:50

@boopsgames I enjoy the mechanic, but I can easily see how someone might not share the same taste about this game concept wise lol. Thank you for playing!

@lazertrax We played around with the hostage idea for a while, and I agree this is probably on its way to a polished release. Thank you!

sadsmile 2018-12-05 23:17

Hostagmon - Gonna Collect them all!

Pretty cool :)

mortifix 2018-12-06 04:27

@sadsmile Thank you! Might add a pokemon themed hostage just cause I liked that so much lol.

alleskapaul 2018-12-06 21:03

Nice game. I really liked the sound effects of the police men. Also nice and creative concept

mortifix 2018-12-07 03:34

@alleskapaul Thanks a bunch!

literal-filth 2018-12-07 03:35

@alleskapaul thank Mortifix for those lol

alleskapaul 2018-12-07 08:56

@mortifix thank you for those awesome sound effects :)

lise-carreel 2018-12-13 11:34

I felt unity when I seen hostages floating and bouncing inside the walls xD

darkwing00duck 2018-12-14 18:58

Great idea, I liked the humor in the game.

mortifix 2018-12-16 06:46

@lise-carreel Unity is a good engine for the funny physics we were aiming for!

@darkwing00duck Thank you, it took us a while to come up with the idea but I think it was worthwhile!