Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD46 → Dying Flame
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1356 | 3.44 | 29 | |
| Fun | 1745 | 3.07 | 29 | |
| Innovation | 2043 | 2.83 | 29 | |
| Theme | 1746 | 3.40 | 29 | |
| Graphics | 245 | 4.33 | 29 | |
| Audio | 489 | 3.67 | 28 | |
| Humor | 1872 | 2.16 | 23 | |
| Mood | 158 | 4.13 | 29 |
This was cool. Loved the graphics and the lighting effects. Loved the text incorporation.
The movement felt a bit stiff and attacks did not feel satisfying. I got confused on the 3rd room and bailed. Seemed like there was a puzzle to solve, but I couldn't figure it out.
Cool game guys! To be honest I had to look up the first riddle because I just wanted to play more of the game, haha
I loved the atmospheric art style and music! Really moody and cool. The writing on the wall and lighting also were really on point. The gameplay itself was nearly nonexistent, however, and it seems like unfortunately the game isn't finished.
The game's art looks really good! A few quick tips: - It looks like your attack animation's pivot is misplaced. I think if you placed the pivot in the same place for each sprite, the character wouldn't jitter during the attack animation - I had a lot of trouble with attack animations when I started out. [This tutorial](https://aztez.com/blog/2014/01/06/anatomy-of-a-successful-attack/) helped me a ton, check it out if you want! I think the attack animation looks a little stiff.
The puzzles were great! I loved the second puzzle with the floor tiles, it felt really satisfying to solve. It's clear you meant to put more in the game, but I think it came out solid! Nice Work!
That was enjoyable, though short. I would recommend speeding up the character a bit. It felt like he was lagging behind at points.
Love the art and I'm really interested where this would have gone. Really a fan of the lighting and ambient. I believe I made it to the final room. Nice work.
The art and the music were very well done, providing a spooky atmosphere that really suited the game. The riddle was an interesting choice and the skeletons were also a nice addition. However, it felt like nothing was at stake. I could get hit by skeletons as much as I wanted, but nothing would happen. Additionally, the player's attack felt clunky and would never go exactly where you wanted it.
@jondkoon Thank you for your feedback! Sorry you didn't get to finish the game. If you want to try again, we've made a few changes and added a hint to the 3rd room :slight_smile:
@camden-obertop Great to hear! We've added a hint for that one.
@guin36 Thank you for your feedback! There were a couple of issues with the ending, but now it's fixed.
@abhimonk Really helpful tutorial! Will definitely use this for the next project. We did manage to correct the pivot a bit, but the animations remain the same. Originally we wanted to add a lot more but time was of the essence. There is an updated version now which triggers the ending correctly. Check it out if you want and thank you for the positive feedback!
@gal-afik Thanks! We increased the speed just a bit.
@silentmrdave Thanks and I'm glad you got to the last room, hopefully the ending triggered! We did release a fix for this and the game can be completed.
@charlez245 Unfortunately there was an issue with the slider for time left to solve the puzzles. We released an update since and now everything can be completed and you most certainly can fail the game! Check it out if you want :slight_smile: . Thank you!
I played through the new version and the ending triggered this time. I also really appreciate the character's new speed! Looks great!
I really like the sound, graphics, and mood. Cool idea having the riddle to answer, but it conflicts with your main mechanic of the dying torch. A riddle should allow time to think, but you're racing to get to the end. It would be cool if there were ways to rekindle the torch so that you're not just hoping to beat the clock -- in fact, when I saw the candles, my initial thought was to stand over them and let the torch recharge (it didn't work). Walls looked a little too similar to the walkable tiles to me, and I tried to walk into the walls a few times before realizing they were walls. The camera-switching between rooms through me off a little and was a bit dizzying because it was a fast slide -- I think it either has to be a slow slide or an instantaneous switch.
I made it to the third room, in which I died to all the skeletons, and I didn't want to play through everything again because I already knew that I could. I already had fought the skeletons and answered the riddles and figured out the codes, why would I want to do it again to get to the same spot? If you had checkpoints at each room, that would make it a lot easier for me to finish the game.
In the secret code made of tiles on the floor, I think you should make the tiles a lot more obvious -- different colors maybe, or at least very obvious designs in them. The X and I were fine, but the other two I couldn't really tell apart, and I was lucky to get the code at all.
Lastly, I agree with all other comments above about combat.
Summary: good mood, smart ideas, some adjustments could lead to a fun short game that feels rewarding to play -- you're not far off the mark from that! Great job -- I really do think you're close to a more flushed out experience.
@geojax Didn't expect this much feedback, thank you! :slight_smile: . Our initial idea was to have areas where you could recharge the fire, as well as multiple tilesets to use. As you probably know, time is short and some things needed to be skipped. We had planned 10 rooms, multiple other puzzles as well as more animations and enemies with appropriate AI. The camera switch was inspired from Binding of Isaac, sorry you got dizzy.
If we have some time, we'll either add the checkpoints or a way to recharge the fire. Would prefer to have people finish the game, than get stuck and start over. This way everyone can experience the whole story, including you!
I really enjoyed the art style and the sound design in this one. They both contributed to a great atmosphere for the game. The character animation was a little bit flat, but still nice. The mechanics with the riddle and the puzzles were excellent.
One thing I wish worked better was some indication when you were hit by the skeletons. As it is, it seems like the only way to know you were hit is to watch your fire's life meter. It's not very easy to watch that while also trying to maneuver for combat.
Excellent entry, thanks for sharing.
I really loved the mood: the graphics are great and so is the music. The puzzle game are cool, having a limited amount of time make them even more cool.
The fighting mechanics were a bit anecdotal though.
This is great entry, good job!
I loved this game. The graphics are really good, and so is the audio. I had to do a few runs before finishing the game.
Not too shabby! The art and mood (thanks to the lighting) was very good. The size of the dungeon was also well chosen. The fighting animation looked a little silly, but that's something that can be easily improved. The little touch with the floor switch riddle was a great call. The fighting mechanics were very rough, though. Didn't really add much to the fun of the game. It was just button mashing until the enemy disappears. No strategy, skill involved and hence no satisfaction. But it was good that you didn't make it too difficult, would've gotten very frustrating otherwise.
Made it through in the first try :) Cool cutscenes by the way. It's rare to see those in jam entries. Keep it up!
The art and the music are great. But I didn't understand how to solve the (first?) riddle for opening the door. When I played 5th time I opened the door (I have no idea what combination led to this) but didn't have fire to continue the game. I think you need to add some obvious hints for those who are not that smart :D which will show up after some time
@colozz @link @duke Thank you! We could have done more with the fighting but for me it was the first time implementing something like it.
@kiddychris In the room with the riddle, if you get close to the door a bunch of skeletons come to life and one hints the word to use in the riddle, it's "darkness" :smiley: . Thanks for playing !
wow, that was damn good, I'll come back to play more of this later!
Really cool! Great graphycs and sounds! Good job!
Really great mood, love it. :) Most possible improvements I had in mind have already been mentioned above. I only have two additional ones:
In the room with the many skeletons, the 4th one I think, I got stuck between a wall and all the skeletons the first time and couldn't move anymore. I would suggest making the colliders pretty small, smaller than you'd think they'd need to be when looking at the sprites. You can almost reduce them down to dots and it'll still look okay when they get close to a wall, but feel better when maneuvering between them. That way it's also harder to push the skeletons around by walking against them, which happened many times accidentally. Those little things remind you you're still playing a video game, despite the great atmosphere.
Also I didn't find it immediately obvious that the box at the bottom was a text input, took me a couple moments to realize. The hint the skeleton gives took my attention, so I didn't notice a box had appeared alongside it. So I thought it was just a speech bubble for flavor, like the ones before that with the fresh calcium.
Mood is a make or break aspect in video games for me. It's not easy to get right, because it's influenced by all the other elements. So congrats on nailing that part! If you make use of the feedback you've gotten, your next game could become a really immersive experience that sucks people into it and makes them forget they're sitting in front of a computer.
@daniil-tcyvakin Thank you very much for your insight! Really appreciate the time you've put in it. I've taken notes of all the given feedback and we'll definitely try to improve on our next one.
About the colliders, it's so tricky to get it right. If I made them smaller, then it would look weird when close to to player or walls. I think it was a matter of mass, if the skeletons would've weighted more, the player shouldn't be able to move them.
I'm glad you've payed attention to what the skeletons were saying as it's a hint for the puzzle. I agree that the text input should be more obvious.
Last part of the feedback made my day, so thank you!
Honestly this game is awesome, I don’t know why but I really love this game, the polish is great, like the transition between areas, or how the skeletons talk, the art is also fantastic to look at, the lighting looks beautiful, the gameplay is fun, I just love everything about this game, you all really did a fantastic job! I could really see this as a great full game.
The only critique I have is that the Dying Flame element of the game felt a bit disconnect from everything else, like you couldn’t really recharge it, or do anything with it, it felt like a timer without a purpose.
Overall I like this game a lot and I hope you'll do more with this in the future :D