Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD46 → Keep It Alive
By doctortm
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1897 | 3.19 | 33 | |
| Fun | 2141 | 2.80 | 33 | |
| Innovation | 1791 | 2.98 | 33 | |
| Theme | 728 | 3.88 | 33 | |
| Graphics | 1987 | 2.93 | 33 | |
| Audio | 1153 | 3.11 | 32 | |
| Mood | 1269 | 3.37 | 33 |
Great mechanics and sound design. The graphics could be improved upon as it did not feel like it belonged together. The resource collection and having to decide whether to hunt for more or to go back to the fire felt nice. Overall, it was a great experience.
Interesting game, the background wolf sounds makes it suspenseful. However, I'm having a hard time figuring out where to get the tools or use them maybe the instructions can be clearer :v:
Alas, I wasn't really able to figure out how to play. Would love some explanation text above or something. I couldn't do anything except run out in the dark and grab sticks to throw on the fire. How do you make a tool? Also I had issues with the controls in general, sometimes it seemed like it stopped following my mouse. Maybe a browser focus issue.
If you add explanations etc feel free to ping me and I'll try again.
I could not figure out how to make a torch. Wanted to explore. Good effort! Like the graphics!
@yiyongc @lurkerrip @tony-artz @eli-delventhal Thank you for the comments guys!
Unfortunately I didn't have time to create a fine tutorial, I hoped the texts in the main menu will help, but I guess not.
Tip for next time (both for you and me): Let someone play test the game sometime on the last day of a jam. I thought the a player will be able to figure out the controls, but that's probably because I was the developer and it wasn't as intuitive as I thought.
Edit: I changed the controls, now E and R can be used to use the tools (don't know why I didn't do that in the first place)
Okay! With that little bit of help I played a little bit more! I still wasn't clear on what exactly was making torches (I kind of mashed buttons and clicked until it made one), but I was able to explore around and last a minute or so.
I really like the idea here and where you're going with it. Reminds me of Don't Starve. However, I think as you've identified already, clarity and balance are pretty rough and so it's hard to really get into it. I agree playtesting is really important! I had my wife my play my game and when she got pissed and stopped playing a couple levels in I knew I had to improve the tutorial and make it easier, haha.
I think this could be really cool if you further refine it!
Ya, tutorial would be great here. Didn`t get how to chop trees down, and spend much time to understand how game works... but the idea is still good) This wolf on background and sound of the fire made really good atmosphere! Anyway, thanks, it was kinda cool to play (at least this game works XD)... Good luck to you!
A neat Jam game you made here. It has some cool mechanics to it, i enjoy the challenge of trying to explorer within your time limit by supplies (torch). I think the ambient sounds were a nice touch, and the graphics were good. However it is not super clear to a player how to keep things going. If you had a bit more of a tutorial (besides start screen) or a slow progression that could ease players into it. Say for instance the Tempt starts at a cool temperature and as time goes on it get colder and colder. That may help the progression a bit. All in all a good jam game, Nice job!
Overall: Pretty confusing to begin with but fun once I'd figured out what to do.
Fun: I had some real fun with this game, thanks for making it! To begin with, I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to do anything. The movement controls took some getting used to, and I couldn't see how to make or use the tools. I also had trouble working out how to cut down trees and bushes. I think a major factor in this is the lack of feedback when I am cutting; a sound each time I chop would do the trick. After a few attempts, I got the hang of things and realised that a good strategy is to mow the lawn around the outskirt of the light circle, only returning to the fire when I need to grow the circle significantly. In this manner I got the score above 1000 and reached the edges of the map. (If there is some way to win the game then I have missed it.) I didn't find myself making torches, since it is just possible to see objects in the dark.
Innovation: Sure
Theme: Yes
Graphics: Not bad - they do the job.
Audio: The ambient sounds are good. As mentioned above, I really think there should be audio feedback when I am successfully chopping (and maybe other actions too).
Mood: Good, thanks to the ambient sounds and the time pressure.
Took me a while to figure it out (also had to check the comments for it), but it became interesting after that. But (maybe, it's just me) I think it's too hard, the fires goes out too fast and I need to run around like crazy, which makes it harder to explore. But other than this, it's a cool concept. Well done! :slight_smile:
@jarithius Thank you very much :) yeah, everyone complain about the ambiguity of the game. Should have someone test the game before time ran out. It's a lesson for next time! :)
@reheated a sound when you chop a tree, that's so simple yet I didn't think of that :sweat_smile: That would have helped to clear up what's going on! Thanks for the idea, will try to remember for next time :) There was no way of winning. It's one of those games that go on as long as you survive. Edge of the map - yeah I forgot to extend the map and didn't have time really to work on it :( Seeing in the dark is not something you should have been able to do haha. Thanks for the review! :)
@sztrovacsek thakn you very much! :) Yeah tutorial was lacking. I will remember for next time :)
Hey there! Good work on your game jam. I was a little confused of what i was doing at the start, and had to restart a few times to really get an idea of the controls, objective, etc. I think maybe some tooltips would improve quality of life a lot here. Glad you were able to add some audio and decent graphics to help the mood out.
I think with some improvement on controls/tutorial, this could be made even better. Great work.
@likai thank you :) Yeah, everyone says that about the control. Should have been clearer with that. I'm glad you liked it after understanding the controls! Thank you! :)
Damn, that game is hard. I eventually figured out that you could chop the trees down, but it is really tough to actually click them with the movement controls the way they were. Good idea though. Our game is very similar. Thanks for the good submission!
I was confused at first but once I found out how to light the torch It got interesting. Weird glitch where I was unable to light the torch so I died. Torch worked much better than running around in the dark :D
strange controls, why not to do classic WSAD?
@xart2012 didn't like the feeling of it
I didnt like the controls. is it a twin stick shooter? no. Then it must be controlled with wasd keys. just saying...
Very cool game. The player is hard to control as HELL, And I couldn't see anything out of the fire, which mean I got lost in the darkness. My team and I had a similar idea, and it amazes me how different the 2 games are.
Interesting resource game - the lack of instructions really make it hard to give a good evaluation, since it hard to know what the intended way of doing things is. Please leave some tips in the game description, it really helps.