Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD45 → Build Or Die
By pkenney
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 157 | 3.61 | 38 | |
| Fun | 136 | 3.52 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 207 | 3.38 | 37 | |
| Theme | 329 | 3.14 | 37 | |
| Graphics | 138 | 3.63 | 39 | |
| Humor | 308 | 2.25 | 33 | |
| Mood | 335 | 2.92 | 37 |
I really like the monster art as well as the units in general. I found movement fiddly, I would have appreciated some locomotion when grounded, even if it was super slow compared to flying, just to make up for missing the control panels by a few pixels. I think overall this is fun idea that would also be great as a co-op game.
Ultra-hard mode is suuuper fun, though it seems like the enemy towers also die quickly so as long as you survive the initial wave you're in the clear. From here on out I'm only going to refer to that mode because I enjoyed it more. Honestly the controls were fantastic, there were so many aspects to optimization that made the core loop very engaging.
1. You have to time your landings to land on things right as they spawn, which is very fun and very tricky when you have 4 things building at once 2. You needed to basically shoot the gems into the portal efficiently, so it was like a basketball mechanic (and then preferably land on a gem as it was spawning) 3. Do tricky stuff like grab a drill and quickly drop it off, purchase another building, then re-pick that drill up
If anything, I was very sad the boss died too fast, I was just having fun how to build an efficient workflow. The game is kinda like Kingdom: New Lands but with heavy execution requirements. I'm definitely glad you decided to release the game even though it didn't fit your personal standards, I know how that can be. But really I see plenty of good stuff here.
I'm sure you're aware of the flaws but the main ones for me was not particularly knowing the difference between the bots (though I noticed Hulk only cost 150 in the orig version so I spammed more of those hoping I was abusing something). Also without a minimap or something it's unfortunate I can't see the destruction I'm leveling upon my foe.
A more simple improvement I might add is a small platform in the middle of the y-axis that you can build on. I suppose some players might find it annoying that they're bumping into it but I think it could change up the flight routes you take and create some interesting execution.
Overall a really good vertical slice of an idea. I think you have a knack for slightly weird flight mechanics and I loved how you mixed it in with a good dash of strategy and planning to make my brain work a bit.
We were away this weekend so we didn't get the chance to work on anything, but I wanted to pop in and see how you did.
It always impresses me how much you're able to put out from scratch and this one is no exception. Even though you said it was unfinished I still could feel how tuned the movement was and the challenge of picking up resources and dropping them on the move felt real good to perform. The pixel art you ended up with looks great, I liked the Hulk the most.
The first time I lost trying to figure out what to do at first but it only took me that one try before I understood. Once I pumped out my first unit it seemed to just completely take out the other side? I wasn't sure cause when I flew over there was just the big bad left. I don't think I downloaded the ULTRA HARD mode if I had to guess
There's a kind of hole for this genre of game that I've only ever seen here and in Kingdom like the previous poster mentioned. It would be really neat to see something like this fleshed out into a full experience.
I too want to praise the mineral throwing mechanics in the main gameplay loop, those were very fun, felt like a 3000IQ genius when I figured that out. So yeah the core gameplay is very satisfying. Took me a couple tries to get the best strategy going, mine was to have two miners close to the mineral collection pad and one robot factory that constantly creates different robots. That did the boss in. Was fun figuring out the best way to optimize the flying cycle, I feel like that was the strongest part. Pixel art was on point too, both especially for the different robot units and enemies. All in all, I think you managed to make a very enjoyable game, well done!
It took me a few tries to get used to the movement of the ship. As other have stated the core gameplay mechanics are solid and very satisfying. I also spent some time watching the animations and was curious how you were able to get the animations and firing in sync. This was something I tried to do in the game I made but I was not able to achieve it. Looking at the source code I see you didn't use the built in animations. So I assume you did some sprite swapping. I'll have to take a closer look as I feel I can learn some new techniques to add to my gamedev skills.
I like the idea. Reminds me of one of Quill18's entries - Drill18. The upgrades and bots are fun to use and theres good progression. Some sound effects would've been nice but its understandable given the time constraints.
Cool concept & nice graphics. I found the gameplay to still be pretty fun despite the movement being a bit awkward at first - it was satisfying to learn the mechanics and try to optimize mining/production. Felt pretty easy though, the game ended just as I was getting used to the main gameplay loop. Would be cool to see this with some tweaks and maybe more levels. Nice work!
This is a pretty brilliant game. I think it could have been epic if there was music and SFX, but it's clear time was spent in making some really strong gameplay mechanics. It did take me a while to get used to the actual mechanics, and the lack of a minimap was a bit confusing. But this was a really good job especially for a compo
This game is very cool and I was surprised that it actually had an ending. The flying physics made it hard to control but I think that was the point?
Very good entry.
I loved the game. The design and gameplay are excellent. It's a pity that it have no sound. I agree with @rollersteaam that a minimap would be good.
Great job man, the game is fantastic. even tho – as already mentioned – the controls were a bit difficult to actually get used to. i enjoyed playing : )
I really interesting entry. I liked this and played it for quite long.
The controls were a bit difficult and I did wish I could've built at least one more defense tower, since my factories outside of them were being mangled constantly. Like it was mentioned before, a minimap to have a bit of an idea of what's going on immediately outside your view would've been a great on top of this great cake.
I think the idea is sound in any case and I hope you continue improving it.
Sad you didn't have time to had some sounds. Good little strategy game anyway GG
The moment is frustrating at first, but satisfying once you learn it and start using shortcuts. flinging the crystal into the pool, or using momentum to grab one crystal and bump into another felt really nice.
I wish there was some sort audio feedback or a mini map to show that the bots we're doing their job. The entirety of the game was sending the bots off hoping they were going to do their job, while I stayed back and mined crystals.
Great game overall!
Very interesting ! I like how you merged the strategy with farm and "platforming". The art is great, especially for a compo, although the size of the pixels for the blob-boss thing wasn't the same everywhere, making it a bit awkawrd, but is understandable under the time limit. The units were cool too, and the ship-player was good, especially for the flames that were or were not there depending of your direction. the lack of sound made it a bit strange to play, but it wasn't wery important. The game was very well balanced, congratulatoins for this, it was very hard and strategical but with enough master of the controls and multitasking it was doalbe. The controls were vary odd and unpleasant being momentum based at first, but at the end it was very interesting to move this way, especially for dropping the cristals using the momentum you gained moving, moaking the controls a bit similar to Rain World, and making their mastery hard but very interesting and helpful. The robots were strange, the more expensive one being worse than the seond one, but I think it was because of it limited range that made it uneficient against packs of ennemies. You should really continue developping it, it, I think, has a lot of potentential and is very interesting to play. One of the best games in the jam for me, Congratulations !
I pretty much won by accident. I figured out how to deposit crystal and built a 2nd auto miner, then just made a couple bots from a single factory. By the time I figured I should look at what's to the right, I had almost won.
The most challenging aspect was the odd momentum of your character.
This was a very ambitious project and has potential, but needs a lot more content and strategy to really be interesting. I did like the graphics though, great job on those.
Very nice
The feeling reminded me a bit of that old flash game where you drill into the ground and collect minerals. I know it's not very similar, maybe the art style. Enjoyed it!
Controls were odd. Game was pretty. Got the mining aspect pretty fast. Had difficulty doing anything very fast. Lost first game, but won the second. Those towers and gems were spot on. The ui menus were difficult to activate, but activate them I did!
I got into the game pretty quick, it was fun! If you have a bad start it's kind of hard to come back, but the gameplay loop was very satisfying. I think it could be cool to develop as a co-op game, or even as a 1v1 local multiplayer thing? It has a lot of potential to be developed!