Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD47 → Loop Swat 'em Gravity
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 144 | 3.74 | 33 | |
| Fun | 119 | 3.75 | 33 | |
| Innovation | 127 | 3.74 | 33 | |
| Theme | 361 | 3.46 | 33 | |
| Graphics | 215 | 3.61 | 33 | |
| Audio | 159 | 3.48 | 33 | |
| Humor | 105 | 3.38 | 33 | |
| Mood | 164 | 3.50 | 33 |
Wow, this game feels so polished for such a short development time frame! The game is simple, but, in a good way that kept wanting me to just try one more time to beat a level. It took me 27 loops, but I got through all 10 'story' levels and escaped the monochrome aliens. Also, nice work on the audio. The variety of 'mouth' effects and pots and pans(?) clanging made for an amusing soundscape. Also, I quite enjoyed the 'bendy' guitar track on level 4 or 5. Great job!
I love the main mechanic! The graphics and audio are really nice, especially the random mutterings of the narrator when you lose. The intro text is very funny. The only gripe I have with this game is that the buttons in the game are of a kind of ugly green color, which doesn't really fit with the color scheme. Other than that, this is a great Ludum Dare game!
The smooth sleek graphics are an instant draw. This easy to learn, difficult to master game was a great play, both solo and a pass-and-play with the kids trying to one up each other. The unexpected sound effects had us all cracking up as we played an wondering what would be said next. Great job.
Fantastic game. I typically skip past all the text and just try and figure it out, and the dual colors of the paddles was kind of confusing since it doesn't seem to matter what you hit them with, just where they go. So take that how you want. The sounds, graphics, and idea are all very cool and unique. Great job!
Very interesting mechanism. It is a bit tricky that the round ship body also hits aliens. The music and sound effects are fun too.
Love it. Spent longer than I'd like to admit playing it, and i love the sound, particularly the variations of 'losing' sound clips
Challenging in just the right way and the sound design cracked me up. Great work!
This was fun. I love the audio, and there's something viscerally appealing about swatting the aliens around, especially when accidentally smacking them into each other.
@nikos Thanks for all the kind words. UI is definitely not something I give enough thought to, so that criticism is toally valid. I'm really happy you enjoyed the rest of the game :)
@rhoff95 I wanted to integrate all that block-of-text into a more engaging tutorial, but just ran out of time. Thanks for all the feedback :)
@chaosinism Thanks! I Know the body being a source of deflections is kind of against the whole theme of the game. At first, I was going to make the body take damage and eventually die, but that was way too stressful. It ended up as kind of an awkward mechanic where the body still deflects the bad guys, just not as drastically as the paddles. Thanks for playing :)
@minibetrayal Spending longer than you should is the ultimate compliment, thanks for making my day :)
@todd-mitchell Thanks so much!
@pizzasgood You stumbled upon my favorite unintentional mechanic. Initially, I wasn't sure what to do when 2 aliens collided. Should you get no points? should you get negative points? I ended up making it count as 2, and that turns out to be a pretty good strategy for clearing waves quickly. It's sort of a risk/reward thing though because it's usually harder to 'aim' a swatted enemy at another one, and you risk missing and him hitting the wrong zone. I think it works overall. Thanks for all the kind words :)
Incredible audio work, the spinning thing really seemed like solid metal with the sound effects. Great music all around brilliant. Very fun concept and levels, and the visuals had a really cool emissive glow. I recognized your UN on your review and remembered playing Dummy Doggy in April and this is a major improvement. Keep it up!
This was a really great game! I had so much fun playing. The gfx, the sfx, the music and the game balance were done exceptionally well and felt really polished. I still can't get over how much fun this game was. Congrats on finishing and submitting your game!
I thought this jam was gonna lead to more ho-hum ideas, but everyone is proving me wrong. You are especially one of those. Unbelievable how you had such a fresh idea with such simple gameplay.
My best score was 42, it took me a bit to figure out a strategy. My first impression was oh god this is hectic, trying to juggle all the colors and angles. Once you get used to it though, everything slows down in your brain and makes sense. I started to line up my rotations better and handle the scenarios where there were multiple objects. I started to use spacebar better as well, as it's best to conserve it as long as possible.
I think the alien collision decision was a good idea. I actually assumed they WERE cancelling it other out so I was always in despair when it happened. Only a few waves later did I realize the situation. It now became the best option there was since you don't have to worry about shooting things into the wrong goal.
This game has a very high skill ceiling. I could see some people going nuts with this. If it weren't for having to review so many games I'd definitely spend more time on this. Maybe after review period is over :)
Great job showing off your design chops. It can be hard to innovate on core gameplay because so many ideas have been explored before. Amazing entry!
This is a very good game! I had fun with it, i was losing very hard a the beginning because i didn't understand the color corners, in the end i made it to wave 3! You made also the soundtrack! Great job :heart:
@sacredbacon Thanks so much for the feedback, especially following up from my last entry! Good to know I'm improving a little here and there. Thanks again!
@kunonooni I'm so glad you found it fun! I've made some overly-complicated LD games before that I thought were super novel, but just weren't *fun*. I really tried to keep in mind that games are supposed to be about fun first. Thanks for playing and all the feedback :)
@peachtreeoath Wow what amazing feedback! I really really appreciate you taking the time to analyze the game so deeply. You're exactly right about things 'slowing down' once you get used to it. 42 is a great score. I have only beat that a couple times myself. Thanks again!
@ds-nahogara You're right: the main mechanic is pretty confusing and only having a block-of-text to explain it is a pretty weak solution. I wish I could have added an in-game tutorial. Still, I'm glad you had fun, and thanks for the feedback
Pretty neat! It reminds me of pinball, smacking aliens around. If I were to change anything, I would make the body of the ship smaller and give less punishment for smacking an alien into the wrong zone.
The gameplay and the idea is really interesting! Bold Sounds, cool graphics. I was about to say I don't understand why I lose as my bumpers are hitting the matching color... Then I launched again and understood the colored edge were the barriers you have to project the aliens into (I read the tutorial I promise :D) and this placed your game in an other dimension. Really working well and hard as hell, type of game you need to try hard and get some skills because the gameplay is kind of unique. Gratz
Very interesting mechanic. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. I got to the to fourth wave, but I think luck had a lot to do with it. I seem to do just as well by spinning and letting the aliens fall where they may. If I had one piece of advice for this game it would be to find a way to up the player agency, but thats picking nits for a Compo game. Well done!!
I could definitely feel myself getting into the flow state playing this game. I guess that's an intended experience given what the theme was. Always a pleasure playing your entries, Nick! Never change. :slight_smile:
Interesting mechanic. Very fun to play. It can be a little frustrating sometimes tho.
Really great idea and a lot of work been put into this in such a short period! Loved the audio effects and music, works well was difficult at times but is a really well done idea!!
Gorgeous art style and a great idea. It's verrry tricky though - I feel like having to hit them into their own colour should maybe have been added later, as it takes ages to even get through wave 1!