FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD47 → LoopBots

LoopBots

By empty-set

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6053.6348
Fun6783.4348
Innovation4943.6248
Theme4913.8847
Graphics6753.7048
Audio7503.2047
Humor7122.8241
Mood9193.2746

Comments

saltfactory-studio 2020-10-05 23:52

Impressive amount of artwork given the time limit that we had for Ludum Dare. I personally would like the character to be less slidy while moving around the level but I had a good time playing overall. Nice work!

snowinn 2020-10-06 03:44

I’m intrigued, if you can add a mac or web port I’d be interested in playing

holtzzy223 2020-10-06 03:46

Beautiful! also love to GM submissions!

radgegames 2020-10-06 04:04

great looking game, kinda fun to play when I figured it out but dear god please turn the damage sound down lol almost made me go deaf, beautiful art though

no-grapes-games 2020-10-06 04:04

Nice work. I like the art and the level design. The combination of the puzzle platforming element with the resource management adds a fun factor to the looping mechanic.

honey-pony 2020-10-06 04:14

Very cool little game! I thought that the different concepts all contributed in their own ways. It was a very interesting moment when I realized one of my robots died as I had taken one damage to a spike when recording it, and it had just gone through multiple loops...

I do think there are a couple little annoying things in the UI. For example, sometimes I accidentally hit Z near home when I didn't want to finish recording, and so I was forced to throw away my progress.

My biggest point of ...confusion? is the time limit. It seems kind of out of place to me. As it's impossible to know where different things are in the level, you don't know what you should do until you've explored a bit... which ends up feeling like wasted time, because you could have been recording a robot to mine that ore!

That said, I can't say I actually ever ran out of time, so it isn't really *unfair*. You *do* have enough time to do all the exploring and then separately record your robots. But it still makes the game feel really high-pressure and, in my opinion, this game doesn't seem like it should be a high-pressure game, which makes the time limit feel out of place.

But, despite that, I had a good time. I think the game fits the theme pretty well, and the combination of platforming plus resource-collection-automation is a good combination. :smile:

dyguests 2020-10-06 04:24

Great game. I didn't want to understand how to use Bots when I first played.

empty-set 2020-10-06 04:25

Thanks to everyone for the comments!

@honey-pony Thanks for your detailed response!

Your feedback on the UI is useful. If I develop this further, I think I'll need to develop a more robust menu system so you can clearly choose what you want to do so you can, for instance, choose between "Complete Loop" or "Abandon Loop" or "Continue Loop", etc.

The reasoning behind the time limit is because I felt like there needed to be a fail state - otherwise there wouldn't be much pressure to do well, and dying from losing your hp didn't feel like enough. I tried to work in "exploration time" into the time limit so they weren't too stressful. I'd like to implement a way to record your best times so you can keep challenging yourself - but I didn't have the time.

ukulelefury 2020-10-06 04:31

Wow, fun mechanic! Very clever, great theme application. Great level design and progression. Nice tutorial!

spawncampgames 2020-10-07 18:32

Solid little platformer.

jamster 2020-10-08 01:48

I'm glad I'm getting around to reciprocating for those who reviewed my game. This has been one of my favorite games so far, and it's kind criminal how relatively few ratings it has. I'm sure that will balance out when some of your other ratings cash in for karma.

Art - simple but appealing. I found the character interesting, and the loop bots are hilarious looking.

I thought the first level was an excellent primer. Simple, but necessary to interact with everything. No, I did not come close to approaching your scores.

I worry that people won't do the tutorial, they absolutely should, it's a gem of a game that's really well thought out.

simpathey 2020-10-08 16:01

I really love the gameplay! If this were to be extended to a full game concept it would be awesome if there were different resources and tasks that you had to do. The idea of a RTS with platforming mechanics was wild to me and I really enjoyed it. If you keep this project going I followed your itch io page. Also the tutorial was a must for this game and it really helped me get the hang of the mechanics and gameplay.

mrstari 2020-10-09 14:45

wow really good work! i had alot fun :smile:

ninjacatz 2020-10-09 14:49

I was able to complete the game. I will not brag about the time. The graphics are well done. The sounds hit my ears hard, I had to reduce the sound on the computer to a minimum. Overall, not bad.

vivien-fargette 2020-10-09 15:09

Pretty fun game overall. I am gonna jump into the discussion about the time limit: I agree with honey-pony that it is not necessary. In my opinion, it is a way to artificially add some difficulty where you can make a strong game without it with a stronger level design: a good puzzle without time limit is better than a less good one with time limit. For example, in the level 3, making a way for a bot to replenish energy without dying after 3 loop is quite interesting to do, even without time limit. That said, I understand that the jam limited time restrict the level design, especially when working alone, but it would be a nice modification post jam. And to be clear, your level design is pretty good already and my ideas here are only my opinion on how to improve it

Aside from that subject, graphics were nice, audio too and a big +1 for the tutorial that was really well done and very clear so congrats for this entry

guimoliveira 2020-10-09 18:42

Very unique idea. I liked it. Good job! :)

eugenik 2020-10-09 18:46

Very fun and and polished! Good job!

battlerager 2020-10-10 00:32

Very unique idea!

Because the loop always starts and ends at the base, setting a good loop is basically a mixture of getting the energy consumption vs. ore mining ratio right, and also performing well at platforming after starting a loop.

The first half of this got more interesting in later levels for sure. It meant that it might be the best move to actually wait standing in front of the base for a bit before handing in the ore, so the Loop Bot would consume energy slower. Cool! The second half - the platforming - suffered a bit from the controls, I feel. Up = Jump isn't my favorite, and controls did feel a bit slide-y in general. Certainly workable though!

I really appreciated how "complete" this felt, with a tutorial, levels with a timer (that felt doable but not easy! Got stuck on level 3, personally) and a main menu and such. Impressive in the Jam timeframe!

somogy 2020-10-10 01:14

What an incredible game! I loved it, great job

joror 2020-10-11 12:20

Cool and complete concept, love the worker-bot-loop thing. Resource management plus platformer combo, is not something you often see :smile:

The jumping controls were a little finnicky, but ok when I got the hang of it.

Difficulty ramp was good, would have liked an additional mechanic at the end, but time is limited in LD.

Well done!

rushikesh-charapale 2020-10-12 15:45

Unique idea and I loved the game. Please visit my game too and rate it:) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/the-dumb-robot

staircase27a 2020-10-12 17:31

Fun and engaging little game. No way near you times but still happy with what I managed.

fish-sticks 2020-10-13 02:50

Cool game and nice art work But I have no idea what I am doing. Could be fun if I knew how to play. 😊

empty-set 2020-10-13 06:45

@fish-sticks As mentioned in the description, I'd strongly encourage playing the in-game tutorial in order to learn how to play - I imagine it would probably be very very difficult to figure everything out without it, which is why I made sure to include a tutorial.

matootsy 2020-10-13 13:06

Very nice entry according to the theme. It's so enjoyable to record the loops and see how to optimise the time to get the ressources. The first step in each level is to explore it then put the robots to work. The tutorial is very well managed. I was completely ready to play at the end. Very good job! With some polish on the art and sound and perhaps some more features it must be a very nice game!

gonzalol 2020-10-13 14:30

This is amazing. It's a great game, not "a great game for a jam", a great game, period. I love the mechanics, it's a very clever and original idea. It works perfectly, also, no bugs so far. Thank you for the tutorial, it's way more important than more people think, you should make it mandatory as stage 0. I hope you keep working on this on the future. Here are some suggestions: - Circular menu around the main character to choose an action on the Base. - Save progress and maybe a Select Stage Menu. - Bigger characters and elements. Anyway, those are suggestions to the future, you did more than enough for the challenge. As you can imagine, you have my 5 stars. Congrats!

wassim 2020-10-13 16:12

I liked it the idea is very original and the in game tutorial is helpful, Nice Entry! :smile:

pedrocoden 2020-10-20 12:48

Fantastic game!

peace-of-cake-games 2020-10-22 05:36

I've lost count of how many platformers with looping clones I've seen and played this jam. Just an estimate: dozens. Results time.

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Congratulations! Your game is by far the most unique among the "loop clone platformers"! The strategy of mining ores, the need to harvest power, this game is amazingly creative and original! I love the voice acting for the robots!

marvalgames 2020-10-23 05:59

That was an excellent game. The record mechanic was brilliant and well designed. The game is extremely polished. I'll keep an eye on this as it has a lot of potential.