FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD46 → Tamagotchi Mastermind

Tamagotchi Mastermind

By khud0

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall7333.6984
Fun11153.3784
Innovation6533.5784
Theme4004.0584
Graphics5114.1184
Audio3263.8284

Comments

bloodyaugust 2020-04-21 07:34

This is a lovely little entry: short and sweet! The art in particular strikes me as having a lot of care put into it. The sprites are clean, emotive, and easily distinguishable, and also pretty fun! The music is great as well, although it doesn't seem like it fits the feel of the game. I would expect something more ambient given the kind of serene setting and pace of gameplay. Really, I'd just like to see more! More things to possess, more exploration of different movement mechanics. Nicely done!

woob 2020-04-21 20:26

Wow great concept, i really liked the graphics and the playstyle. Its very simple and matches the theme for sure !

heyllopotato 2020-04-21 20:27

Audio was good, The controls felt nice. It was a fun short game. One thing about it was it was kind of confusing to know that you supposed to take the fish to octopus in the middle so I kept dying not understanding what to do but once I learned it was a nice fun game

ben-toosey 2020-04-21 20:29

This is a super polished game for only a few days work! I think the art is charming and very well done! And the controls are perfect for the pace of the game! Perhaps it is a little too easy and the space you swim in feels quite large, but I guess that's the ocean for you haha. Great work!

gabriel-pittol 2020-04-21 20:30

Pretty nice game and idea. Audio was good and graphics were nice.

dsn 2020-04-21 20:32

I liked the gameplay. good job!

alkis 2020-04-21 20:32

Very nice minigame! i liked the simplicity of it and i find the idea brilliant! The art is so simple and good, the background was awesome. The music was very good and gives you the feeling of something mysterious. I'd like to see this game geting bigger!

brelx 2020-04-21 20:33

Easy to understand and a fun game. Definitely a cool concept and I'd like to see it expanded upon.

gallahron 2020-04-21 20:35

Really polished but a bit short, could have done with a couple of extra levels and some more instruction at the start. Overall I really liked it!

lars-erik 2020-04-21 20:35

Very nice submission! Good GFX and music. With added levels and content, this could be a good hyper casual mobile thing. Had some definite flashbacks to Spore, but it's a new take and all that. 😁👍

slurp1e 2020-04-21 20:35

I loved the game. Despite the concept being common , the quality finish really sets the game apart. The audio is alright , some parts require brushing up but overall impressive work

synystercola 2020-04-21 20:35

Spooky, yet cute. I really like the take on the theme. Well done!

dummydojo 2020-04-21 20:36

Good idea and overall cohesive art/atmosphere, but the gameplay needs some work on the execution. Some things that could be fixed:

-Was unintuitive when the fish were ready to be possessed. Took me awhile to understand that the red eyes indicated this. Also, some times, it seems like even with the red eyes, it wasn't possible to possess them. (I think this is based on how many I've already eaten?)

-The collision detection could be a lot more lenient. Felt difficult to actually get at the right position for the fish to be possessed and also to get in the right position to feed the mastermind.

-It was really weird that every character had different controls. I get what you were going for, but find a way to make this more visually apparent so it isn't confusing for a first time player.

Overall, good jam though!

ukirain 2020-04-21 20:36

for a long time I could not understand who and how to feed. anyway i like your game. TY Nice work! Add tutorial plz

franklin-lei 2020-04-21 20:38

fun easy to understand game. great use of theme. love that dramatic music too.

lukebandy 2020-04-21 20:38

Really liked how the two different fishes had different controls. Would have been good if there wasn't a max level!

nisanick 2020-04-21 20:38

It's simple concept that is fun to play and easy to get into. I didn't like that the camera is too close so it's hard to see where the fishes are. It would also be nice if it was a bit longer...i need to have more :) , maybe have the octopus ask for different fishes once in a while. Good job!!

sophiemae0 2020-04-21 20:40

I had trouble when the controls to move switched once I possessed the fish, but the game was fun and the art was great - over all good job!

robinsong 2020-04-21 20:41

I liked the different controls for possessing different fish. They did feel a bit floaty though. Music and sound was good if pretty basic.

b-golda 2020-04-21 20:42

Took a minute to figure out that I was returning the food to the purple guy but once I got that the game was quite smooth.

Graphics were aestetically pleasing, sprites were cute, sounds effects were tasteful. The switching of controls for each unit was a bit jarring at first but an interesting idea.

Possible mechanics might include the tamagotchi moving around some or having other tamagotchis to avoid while bringing the food back.

Overall nice entry!

bixarrio 2020-04-21 20:42

Nice game. The graphics are really good, and the music too. Smooth, too. Well done

toasted-oregano 2020-04-21 20:43

Looks good!! With the fun gameplay I can now conclude it really is great being a brain worm eyeball.

curleyrach 2020-04-21 20:43

Good job! Really tidy and nice looking game! :D

debuggerpls 2020-04-21 20:43

Nice game. I liked the visuals and audio. Great mechanic to posses things for feeding. At first I got confused by different controls of each fish, but that is definetly a nice touch. Good job!

mrarc 2020-04-21 20:44

Nice job - didn't know exactly what to do till I "Accidentally" ran into the octopus - then it all clicked!

taran-unraveler 2020-04-21 20:44

This reminds me of another game I can't recall the name of. There you were the one eating creatures until you could eat the bigger ones. Overall the game is well done, expected it to last longer, but that's ok, after all this is a jam entry :wink:

lucisaurus 2020-04-21 20:45

Love the art and the music! very nice little game :)

gnx 2020-04-21 20:48

Cool and somewhat creepy concept executed very well! Visuals are especially nice with everything looking very polished and with cool little animations. Similarly the music is surprising, but in a really pleasing way, and really adds a lot to the overall mood. Nice work!

corc0 2020-04-21 20:49

Hey! You're my first five-star rating on theme and music so far -- really nice work. I dig your:

* Clear instructions regarding controls * Non-video-gamey music * Ability to complete an entire game once the mechanics are mastered * Sense of challenge, especially as food runs out * Small touches, like having the 2D fish flip over to turn

Like other folks, I struggled to figure out what to do initially. The arrow you added to indicate direction was super helpful, but only after I'd read the comments here. But it's the sort of thing that could easily be fixed with a couple of small tweaks. You're miles ahead of other entries in terms of your visual style: it's clear what can and can't be interacted with (and it's really easy on the eyes). Thanks for making this!

zerohbeat 2020-04-21 20:53

Took me a while to figure out what to do. Then I realised that what you need to feed is shown on the screen. The collisions are way too strict :D . Great short game. Congrats on making it!

rkuhl 2020-04-21 20:55

The game was very polished, but it was very short, I feel like if you don't have time to make a ton of sprites you should make it a point based game that goes on forever instead of it having an ending, very much short and sweet.

stadoblech 2020-04-21 21:03

Nice idea. Love art style! :) gj

makiyoshi 2020-04-22 01:13

It's very cute. :) The idea is pretty creative as well. The sound effects were fitting and the graphics looked sweet. The objective was not clear at first, though. Was there supposed to be background music? Well, it was fun. Nice job!

lunarstrain 2020-04-22 08:42

This game took me a while to understand what should I do, but there's a magic behind it - I felt like I want to figure it out, so I kept playing. I like the idea that we're the master of puppets here. I like the simplicity of the graphic style, I like the sound design: the music and that crunch feel are satisfying! But I can't deny that I had some difficulties with controls, but again I felt like the game was challenging me, so... It's good C:

madewink 2020-04-22 13:25

Cool game ! I wished I could play longer with more types of food. It made me think to spore. I like the idea. You had good graphics and music too. :purple_heart:

kaan-alpar 2020-04-22 14:38

I love the idea I wish the game was a bit longer with more fish. I finished at the last second! Good job :D

kantal 2020-04-22 16:38

That is nice game, very short but solid. It would be good to have more solid colliders on eye.

skelleroznik 2020-04-22 17:21

It is amazing! Music is great. The idea is creative. The art is simple and awesome. I also like that the octopus changes his diet, adds a layer of polish. Controls feel exactly as i want them to feel in the water. I just love it. Great job!

jrd 2020-04-22 21:53

This game gave me a nostalgic feeling of the initial segments of Spore! The controls and mechanics felt intuitive and easy to pick up. It is simple, but refined.

khud0 2020-04-23 08:33

I got a whole lot of comments and I want to thank each single person for leaving their opinion. You guys are awesome! :)

@bloodyaugust Indeed, more things are coming into the game and I intend to make it a bit more ominous (the music/art should fit each other at that point :))

@dummydojo Making things more understandable for players is my nearest goal, thank you for reassuring it! Thank you for nice ideas to fix this.

@lukebandy Glad that you appreciated the difference! :) I am torn between willing to make it into an infinite game and level-based one, thank you for providing your opinion on the topic!

@nisanick Thank you for a suggestion about putting camera farther away!

@b-golda Moving tamagotchi is an interesting idea I haven't thought about, thank you! I will experiment with this.

@corc0 Thank you for such a high rating and an in-depth description of what you enjoyed, it helps a lot! Thank you for sponsoring my smile today. :)

@rkuhl A point-based game is an interesting suggestion. I will definitely experiment with this idea, thanks!

@makiyoshi There is background music in the game, thank you for indicating this problem to me! I will check it out.

@lunarstrain Hell yeah "masters of puppets" sounds great! In fact, the class my fish derive from are called "Puppet". How did you know? :D

xdsilentstorm 2020-04-23 09:59

Really cool game with some nice graphics! Well done! Also I like your youtube channel!

jk5000 2020-04-23 10:15

A fun and very polished little game. The music and graphics is really good, and it both fits the game idea really well. The controls is overall pretty good, but some times it get a bit to loose. Overall is this a good jam game. Well done.

huntrox 2020-04-23 11:45

very nice game i love the graphics well made ,the sounds i didnt like the drums part on the bg music but overall very good music goodjob

bredian 2020-04-23 12:36

Very nice graphics. Reminded me of the first chapter of Spore.

pedro-miranda 2020-04-23 13:51

Nice job! I like the spore aspect of the game. It is simple and well made, congratz!

x-c 2020-04-23 14:04

Great game and music)

kostasvs 2020-04-23 14:36

Neat little game, reminds me of Feeding Frenzy that I had enjoyed playing as a kid! Good job!​

fabula-rasa 2020-04-23 14:40

I will admit, that I was slightly confused at the beginning about my end goal here. But I got unconfused and had fun instead :). I liked the graphics very much and the music was pleasant as well.

A very nice idea executed well!

kkrac 2020-04-23 17:14

Cute graphics and nice music although it suddenly stops and it doesn't play anymore.

As far as the gameplay... To be honest I didn't know what I had to do. I jump into one of the red fish with the eye, and then I swim with the fish but don't know where to go from there. The starving meter is a bit fast I think (or maybe it isn't since I didn't know what to do so as not to starve). If you swim all the way to the right you get off screen and lose sight of your fish. The controls were a bit weird at first but you get used to them after a while.

Update: ok, after a while I figured out what I had to do. I did see the arrow from the beginning but still it wasn't very clear to me what to do. Maybe a simple line at the beginning with the mission of the game will be enough to let the player know what the goal is. Why are the controls for the red fish and for the golden ones different? I think that was confusing.

With some polishing I think it could be a nice game for mobile. Keep it up.

hermeses 2020-04-23 18:06

Nice game, the mechanic of posessing other characters was pretty interesting. The music and graphics are cool, but I think having more variety of fishes wold have added a little more of gameplat. But well done!

apandso 2020-04-23 19:43

Interesting idea of posessing creatures. And nice graphics! Wish the indication of low hp was more obvious. Cool that there was a marker for a main creature location.

raphiell 2020-04-24 00:28

Although short, it's got all the makings of a released game. A consistent art style, music, and good controls. Very impressive!

khud0 2020-04-24 13:29

Huge thanks to each single person who commented on the game, you people truly cheer me up! Also thank you for comparing my game to a masterpieces such as "Spore" or "Feeding Frenzy"! :D

@xdsilentstorm I am pleased to hear that you found something useful and/or interesting in my channel! :)

@jk5000 I received some other feedback about controls being too loose and you reassured me that I need to rethink them. Thanks!

@kkrac Thank you for sharing your feelings and giving nice suggestions! I intend to make controls for all types of creatures different and I will definitely add some sort of a tutorial so that people don't get lost. :)

@apandso A visible indicator when you're about to starve is an awesome idea, thanks! I will definitely add it to the game.

@raphiell Thanks, it was very important for me to achieve the points you mentioned!

drevilbrain 2020-04-25 09:06

This game reminds me a lot of Captain Imposter from the Captain Forever Trilogy. Definitely worth checking it out for a very similar gameplay loop while also not being the typical Feeding Frenzy or Spore style of gameplay.

marcusnystrand 2020-04-25 14:54

Fun game idea and nice music! The game is a bit short but I totally understand that there was a limited amount of time.

Well done!!

narudgi 2020-04-25 16:46

neat game idea, I reached max level hehe!

it was quite a unique experience, well done! :)

vulpineblazeyt 2020-04-26 23:52

This game is really well done, and I was sad when it ended. It was hard at first, but once I got the into it I was grabbing up fish like crazy!

mykola 2020-04-27 20:16

Very nice and polished game! Loved the art and the music was amazing. I'm not sure if the music fitted the mood though. Great job!

mlkvr 2020-04-30 15:08

Interesting idea simple yet fun gameplay and really cool music = a great entry!