Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD43 → Gnome Man's Sky
By tim-ruswick
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 59 | 4.06 | 38 | |
| Fun | 69 | 3.95 | 39 | |
| Innovation | 105 | 3.78 | 39 | |
| Theme | 10 | 4.55 | 39 | |
| Graphics | 650 | 3.25 | 39 | |
| Audio | 98 | 3.88 | 38 | |
| Humor | 119 | 3.79 | 39 | |
| Mood | 132 | 3.88 | 37 |
Beat the game first time through...
- good graphics - interesting game play - was unclear that unused buildings also increased the max capacity - hungry gnomes when no longer hungry didn't reset their animation (you had to pick them up and set them down). - given that buildings have lands that make them better (per the building UI), something showing you what type of land your building on would be nice (not just relying on the graphics).
Neat little game! I loved the audio. The game was pretty deep for a game jam. I wasn't expecting so much complexity in the design and balance. There were definitely some things that didn't translate well. It took me several in-game days to figure out how the resource gathering worked and that I needed my gnomes on the locations. I also accidentally salvaged a building I needed by clicking through the build menu. I also have to say that the art just didn't match throughout. The valley looks like an icon, but the field and forest look more like they're actually there in the world. That was disappointing as the art could have really been neat in this project. But overall a pretty well executed game. Really happy to have played and rated it. Keep it up!
That is a damn complex little game you've built there - In 3 days, I might add.. The resource gathering is very cool, if not slightly hard to figure out - especially the food. I learned the hard way not to get too many gnomes on the field or everyone starves. Just found myself suddenly not being able to build any farms. The use of a salvage option is a great idea as well. It's a surprisingly deep and obviously well-planned resource system for a game jam. The music fits well and it's well mixed (if not just a bit "loopy"), and the VO needle drops for the gnomes are a really nice addition. All of this adds up to a game that's challenging and pretty freaking addictive. This is definitely a game you should consider taking further. Great work!!
This game is SOO complex that even after many tries I still discover new knowledge about how the game works. I wish there was a tutorial or a detailed help list in this submission page to introduce all the mechanics. For example, I still now don't know how to feed the gnomes and I keep losing after about 9-10 days. And like some other people commenting before me, I also accidentally salvage my farm too, mostly because it wasn't explained. The fact that there are resources that I have never discovered tells that I have missed out a lot in the game, but I'm pleasantly amazed with what I have seen, given that you built this in 3 days. It really is a great game, could make into a nice board game actually. Congratulations!
Ok that was super cool! Like many people already mentioned, there are things that are not so clear, like how to upgrade your max quantity or that you can salvage dead gnome's houses (even though these are quite logical, there are not really intuitive). But you did really good for the most part, I managed to win on my first try, but it's really not super easy, and its actually really fun to play. Would love other levels of the same kind.
Keep it up!
PS : The voice of Poodibagah is awesome!!
It's quite fun, but the locks abstruct the required amount of resources. I thought that I only needed 75 wood, but in the end it turned out it was 750 and I was fucked.
Awesome game! I actually laughed out loud the first time I had to sacrifice a gnome haha. The sound effects are spot on for that. A tutorial for the future would be a good addition, but I figured it out pretty quickly without one. Overall a very enjoyable and addicting game! Great job :)
Had me invested a lot longer than I thought. Love the strategy involved. Can't complain.
It's a great complex game, hard to imagine it was done so quick! I love the music and sounds! The graphics are really cute!
I couldn't beat it, but I went for about 70 days before Pudibaga's needs became too much for the Gnomes to sustain. Loved the concept. It was definitely funny and had me dragging the gnomes over the volcano a lot. A tutorial would've made it easy to understand. Pudibaga IS mean!!
Great game. I covered the entire island with buildings and had 22 gnomes. Unfortunately I overlooked that I need to make a sacrifice and lost the game. Would be great if there was a popup "Do you really want to proceed without making a sacrifice?" That would have saved me. :D
I like the depth and complexity. It's a little hard to get into and I'm not sure how to get all of the resource storage space I need for building the rocket. Do I have to kill my gnomes on purpose just to get more building space for resources? Well, I guess sacrifices must to be made.
Great game, Tim.
Fun game. After you get set up it can become really tedious to get the required resources for a launch pad. I loved the music and the art of the game. I found the choices I made to get to the end were consistently challenging. The kind where you wonder if changing this or that could cost you more then leaving it alone. I found my self at one point creating a giant purge of citizens from 20 to 5. This was after I had most of the resources for the launchpad. This way I could use their houses to hold the final resources and switch to more a more agile layout for switching between production. Overall I really enjoyed this. Also I watched your stream and enjoyed that as well.
I love this. Very in-depth. The game over screen is a work of art.
Great game! Much better than your last LD entry. It's the only Jam so far that I've spent almost an hour playing, which says something~
Somehow I got stuck where I couldn't get shrooms anymore. It makes me wonder if that's intentional.
I still come back to play it from time to time. Addictive. Was an honor working with You!
I really like the game, but the fact that pixels in the cursor aren't big enough bothers me.
Great game. I like graphics and music, but the game is amazing. at the beginning I had a problem, how to make more mushrooms. the strategy is very deep. I played it for more than 2 hours, and I had a great time at it. unfortunately, I was unable to pass, once I was very close, but all died of hunger :( this game fits to theme perfectly.
I did't find any bugs or errors, in my opinion everythings is great. Good job :) ( thanks you for played my game in stream, I regret that I was't there at the time)
Played this game far longer than I intended to, quite a bit of depth for a LD entry. I liked the art/animations, and the overall balance seemed pretty good. I kept feeling like the end-game was a bit grindy, but I think that may have just been my strategy. Great job on this!
Amazing game Tim! It's definitely the game I spent the most time with in this LD. And I beated it! Really well ballanced difficulty - challenging but not unbeatable and it's getting more interesting when progressing.. It's pretty hard task to ballance difficulty that well in 3 days. When I saw requirements for building rocket, I thought it's not even possible - there are just no room for so many buildings. But yeah, I was wrong.. great game.
New project - Opera 06.12.2018 22_06_03.png New project - Opera 06.12.2018 22_06_31.png
Cool game here! I liked the how intuitive it was to move the gnomes around and sacrifice them. Some of the finer aspects, such as gardening, eluded me, but maybe I'll figure it out later.
I hate you guys, I was planning to knock out at least 10 reviews tonight and this is the only game I played lol. Super addictive game that was right up my alley, I love turnbased resource games and you did a wonderful job with the design. Like any good simulation design, every resource you gain puts pressure on another system, and you keep juggling all the different sources and sinks til you get a satisfying equilibrium. It took me several tries before I had a system down to reach the mushroom generation building. Phase 2 is the road to the launchpad and that's a whole nother deal that I never was able to solve, but I got pretty far.
There are so many layers of sacrifice it's unbelievable. You sacrifice floor space, built up skill points, buildings to scrap up enough resources to build something else. I am super impressed with your team's game design abilities and have played this game more than anyone else's so far.
For such a large amount of information to throw at the user, it's very cleanly organized. Some cues could improve the experience for the starting player, such as: * A gnome does *not* have to be on a building in order to obtain resources * Click on a tile to open the build menu
These facts did not seem obvious to me, since the starting scene gives you a gnome on a house. It may be clearer to let the player choose where they put their first house, which forces them to find the build menu.
Some other notes: * A gnome does not improve the output of workshop. I did not realize that until after several days, since this rule doesn't match with the other resources. * Sometimes I salvaged buildings during the Field Log transition if I clicked in the wrong spot. * At one point I had a gnome that would not improve no matter what building he was on. I sacrificed the lazy bum! Was he a bug? * I couldn't complete the game because all of my workshops stopped producing shrooms! See screenshot below. If this isn't a bug, the reason needs to be explained to the user.
Screenshot from 2018-12-07 19-13-02.png
A really good game ^_^ I don't think I quite got the hang of it but I did enjoy throwing the gnomes into the volcano hehe. A liiittle bit more of a tutorial would have been welcome but I understand the constraints of a Jam. The art was fun and cheerful which contrasted the tension of forced blood sacrifice in a fun way, and the audio design was fun too.
I just lucked out and managed to play it a bit yesterday, but I didn't get around to rating it. I enjoyed it overall, but I had a lot of trouble keeping the Gnomes from starving and it wouldn't allow me to create more gardens. Throwing the gnomes into the volcano was definitely fun as hell though!! Great job Tim!!