Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD43 → Happy Fun Death Cult
By darn and yellafella247
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 904 | 2.90 | 24 | |
| Fun | 910 | 2.65 | 24 | |
| Innovation | 627 | 3.00 | 24 | |
| Theme | 578 | 3.38 | 23 | |
| Graphics | 831 | 2.81 | 24 | |
| Audio | 568 | 2.79 | 24 | |
| Humor | 367 | 3.15 | 22 | |
| Mood | 854 | 2.77 | 24 |
I had a hard time playing with the nav mesh agents. It would be funier if every minion reacted quickly and it was easier to manage them. I really don't get where they go. I think this was a decent game at least where there is some graphics in 3d and you tried your best for it to look cool
I like the idea, feels like a day at the office XD But I agree there are serious navigation issues, units go to a different place than the one you clicked if they move at all, and sometimes they randomly stop half way..
I agree you have some trouble with your nav mesh agents, but I liked the idea of the ofice and how it drains your power, it will be nice if when you upgrade your characters they change their color or something, I think that some feedback would be nice.
It was a bit hard for me to play even with the tutorial. I can see the theme really working here. The UI is to primary and doesn't match the style of the rest of the game. On the Tutorial you use a red color fo the text, this is not the best choice of color, because it is much harder to read. Try a white instead ;). I had a lot of trouble navigating the game.
Nice prototype. I won't repeat what everyone else has said (thus far) but rather add some stuff. The menu feels a bit plain and could use some work, even if it was something as simple as adding a cover graphic. Also, in the options menu, the volume is poorly set up. As it stands, the lower 50% of the slider is all the same; practically inadible. Simply remap the values so that the lowest value is inaudible, with constant increments throughout. Also, the ingame pause options menu doesn't work. It is important to pay attention to UI, as this is an important control system for the game. The menu also sets expectations for the game ahead.
Be careful with the camera movement system. I would recommend clamping these values, particularly pitch. It is possible to roll the camera upside down, and this doesn't make the game happy. You can also stare at the sky, which is equally unhelpful, and you really shouldn't be able to do that. Some horizontal rotations also yield unusual results. Point is that in a time-constrained environment, it might have been better to force a single 'optimal' camera angle and focus development on the gameplay. I like the ability to move with wasd and zoom with scroll, but the two rotation functions feel redundant. Using this camera system, I also managed to completely lose the scene, so I would recommend clamping the camera positions and rotations between certain values, to maintain focus on the scene.
If you want to make a game more strategic, you can try making the game more coherent. By that, I mean; what does that do? What am I gaining from having the workers in the throne room? How much is the upgrades improving it? How much do upgrades cost? What am I losing by having unhappy workers? Another common strategy element is investments. Maybe having a lot of power will increase the speed with which new workers come? Perhaps workers doing nothing in the welcome room do something? Maybe by upgrading them, you are sacrificing some other stats, forcing workers to specialise? Point is that you should consider the depth of your mechanics, and find simple ways to increase the strategic potential of the game.
I would also recommend considering your level design. Whilst a tutorial is nice and all, many players don't like reading instruction manuals. You could instead use your level design to make the gameplay obvious. Maybe something as simple as text hovering above rooms indicating a room name. Also the decorations can be used, and for the most part you have done a good job with this. I particularly liked the decor of the sacrifice room and break room, as their functionalities were instantly clear, even without tutorials. The other two were not obvious, and could have maybe used some better indication of what they do. This could also be achieved through animations on the workers, such as praising on their knees in the throne room and maybe reading whilst in the upgrading room. These animations would make their functions obvious.
Overall a neat little game; I particularly liked the music, only shame is I don't know if it is original. I would recommend informing us of what is yours and what was 'borrowed' from the internet to help with rating. I also loved the simple texture-less models, with the heavy focus on lighting. This lighting did a good job on directing our focus on the important rooms. Could have maybe used more colours like in the sacrifice room. Overall, the mood is very good and sets me in the mood for some resource-management! Nice job :thumbsup:
@justcamh Thanks a lot for the comprehensive feedback, it is much appreciated!
In my defense (to be honest, it's just excuses, we should have done better) we worked with several people, but only 2 of us got the final playable version together on the last day (I know there's only 2 authors atm, the others haven't set up Ludum Dare account and I'm still waiting to hear back from them). With several people working, I wasn't even aware of some things, like the volume slider not working properly. Despite many flaws, I just wanted to get the game done for the jam, frankly there was no time to fix a lot of issues.
Sorry about the rambling, I am not entirely happy with the game myself, but I'm glad we managed to get a playable version before the deadline. Also shout-out to @yellafella247 for sticking it out with me on the last day and getting this thing done. Mega props to our artists as well, the map is honestly the highlight of the game.
And yes, the music was made by one of us. We only used a few particle effects, and the outline effect when selecting units (which breaks when changing the color of the units; I would have liked to do that but it's yet another flaw we ran out of time to figure out).
Again, sorry about the rambling, and thanks to everyone for the honest criticism and the kind words! <3
I think this is pretty damn good idea, if the minions did what i asked it would be even better! Nice job
The minion controls were a bit buggy, sometimes they would just stand there and not move at all, even if their bar was full. I didn't really understand what the order of operations was in the beginning, what each room did, or why I should sacrifice the minions. Other than that, nice game!
The control issues aside, I think this could be a fun game if you added more polish. most important is the movement issues, but with some interface work as well it could live up to its potential.
My minions kept going to a different room from the one I selected!! :joy: At least this added to your Humor score I guess lol
Interesting game, i like it's take on managing resources. I think there might have been some bugs in the build I downloaded, as a few times, particularly towards the end, I would select minions and double click somewhere to move them, but they would just de-select. On the theme though, I think it could have been made a more central part of the game rather than as an option that the player might never use. Overall, a solid prototype.
I enjoyed but I encountered some bugs !
lollll tha game :)
Well I didn't quite get it at the first tries. After reading your description I understood a bit more what to do. I've seen your took the time to put a tutorial screen, which is a good idea! I would have loved if the tutorials elements would pop-up at certain points. For example if the happiness bar is too low, a text saying what to do. Nice work overall!
A survivalist cult RTS, nice! I had some issues with the control (not being able to select cultists anymore, or difficult to do so. The balance was hard to keep, but was doable. Would have loved a bit more flavour in the cultist interaction (they saying stuff orso)