popdaddygames 2019-05-05 21:41
Good work and make sure to come back for the next jam!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD44 → Heat of the Star
By mikethewayne
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 359 | 3.13 | 21 | |
| Fun | 406 | 2.76 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 175 | 3.28 | 21 | |
| Theme | 213 | 3.39 | 21 | |
| Graphics | 363 | 2.94 | 21 | |
| Audio | 214 | 3.08 | 20 | |
| Humor | 306 | 2.38 | 20 | |
| Mood | 208 | 3.21 | 21 |
Good work and make sure to come back for the next jam!
Neat little game ! I really loved the atmosphere and the fact that you are left to explore on your own. However the absolute lack of guidance at the start makes the whole thing quite hard to get into.
Pros : - Nice "adventure" atmosphere - Fun music - Variety of available objects and interactions
Cons : - Control scheme is a little weird - No guidance at the very start - Does the sextant really work ?
All in all, great work !
Thank you all for your kind feedback!
@jlv yeah I'll admit, I should've tutorialised a bit better. Maybe in a Post-LD version! And yep, the sextant works, just not quite as it would in real life, I didn't have quite enough time to simulate an actual sextant, so I decided to use it as a way of determining your latitude on the map. If you have a watch too (displays your longitude), the highest tier of sextant will accurately show your map location, whereas the lowest tier of sextant has little use. I'm very glad you enjoyed playing!
This was hard to get into. I even died while refilling my water, so I am not sure what happened there.
It is an interesting premise, but I feel that more explanation would have been useful. It seems like you run out of water fairly quickly.
It may sound like I am only critical, but I did find the game interesting. I just think that it could use some balance.
seems like the game suffered from only being playtested by the person who made it ;) (I too am guilty of this!) Despite being a bit difficult the game is very neat, it unearths a few original ideas and has a lot of content and incredible attention to ambiance for a jam game. Loved the use of the theme as well, it reads without being obtuse, and makes perfect sense in your setting. Overall a very strong, unique submission. Hope to see more from you!
Pretty interesting concept. A bit slow paced and a bit too RNG based at the beginning (an in-game reset would've been great) but I've been having quite some fun with it. Good job :)
Other than some of the difficulty - had to play a few times through, I did enjoy a lot of things, like the art style and the map! (I too made a map, and had it bound to M!)
Normally I hate this art style because it looks so... MS Paint-y, however, you integrated it all the way through and actually had it being cohesive with the rest of the project, which was cool. I might recommend choosing some different fonts, however, that mesh better with your art style...
That said, it needs a bit of balancing as it is a bit tough to get through.
It's a nice game and I really like the music! Keep up the great work! :D
Watch seems to not work as described (survey does nothing when you own just a watch, maybe strictly need a sextant too?). But, hmm, on my second game, when I bought the watch (after the sextant, and for water, not cash), I actually got an on-screen watch, so maybe something went wrong the first time and I didn't actually buy it.
First game, I bought a camel, but was never able to buy anything to carry more water, and everyone I ran into wanted at least 100% of my water to buy anything, so couldn't really get anywhere.
Next game there was a water barrel for sale at the beginning, made all the difference! Was able to buy everything I came across then. After a long, long journey, I was able to find the treasure!
I liked the music, didn't get annoying even after playing close to an hour. Horizon view was pretty cool. Visuals were nice and consistent, and I didn't seem to run into any bugs except maybe the watch issue. Nice job! And nice job on 15 in a row, this is my 12th consecutive Ludum Dare, I'm catching up! ;)
Thank you all again for your feedback!
I believe that the watch should work without the sextant, maybe something went wrong there...
I had far more plans for the traders out in the desert, such as being able to sell your own items for water, and also having a (much) more balanced system. I think at the moment, only 25% of traders will want less than 100% your starting water, so water barrels are a must! I tried to balance them by making them more expensive, and without camels, they give you a movement penalty (and you can only carry one), though the system can definitely be better.
I'm very impressed you played for so long, and even found the treasure! Cheers for putting so much time into my game, I hope you enjoyed it!
Toilet paper and Android Studio served you well LD hero! Congratulations on your game collection :) First, as an Android developer I'm impressed with your work and what you accomplished in such a short time with not-the-most- intuitive game development environment :D. I like the goal, the wide range of things you can do, the very concept of desert exploration is very interesting and the items make sense. I liked the simple controls and the map. Loved the music that reminds me the mood of an old glory such as The Seven Gates of Jambala. The only thing I would improve would be the empty desert tiles: that area looks a bit too flat and doesn't give you the feeling of movement. This is a game that makes you want to play! Very good job.