FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD47 → BL0CK

BL0CK

By gregoryblomquist and coryru

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall8573.4556
Fun9463.2255
Innovation7353.3955
Theme11363.2755
Graphics11493.1755
Audio5263.4854
Humor1
Mood3633.8155

Comments

johnwayyyne 2020-10-06 03:09

really cool game, I didn't read the manual initially and had to keep taking off my headphones cause I was afraid a scary face was gonna pop up haha very cool concept

5daydreams 2020-10-06 03:14

A very unique way of making a retro trip! Congratz :)

inanimatecarbonrod 2020-10-06 03:21

very aesthetic and satisfying

ukulelefury 2020-10-06 03:44

I don't understand the goal. What am I supposed to be doing with the green blocks? The mood is pretty cool though. Love the creepy whispers and cut frames.

coryru 2020-10-06 03:52

@ukulelefury Hey thanks for playing and giving us feed back! We worked hard on the mood so I'm glad you liked it. The objective of the game is knock the green blocks into the yellow bar. If you go through the door ways on the outside of the room then touch the blocks you can change how the green blocks move.

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 03:53

@ukulelefury Hi, UkuleleFury! You want to change how the green blocks react to the player by going into different doors around the level and then knock the blocks into the yellow goal!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 04:10

@johnwayyyne Thanks so much! I hope the manual helped after you read it! Hahaha yeah, even during playtesting I was tense every time knowing it was going to happen!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 04:14

@5daydreams Thanks so much! We tried really hard to get the retro feel so it's great to hear that you enjoyed it!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 04:16

@inanimatecarbonrod Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

manubown 2020-10-06 06:15

The mood of this game is amazing and the gameplay too congrats

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 06:19

@manubown Wow! Thank you so much for the glowing review! I am so happy you enjoyed it!

vem 2020-10-06 08:03

All-around good game. Solid puzzle gimmick, spoopy atmosphere and generally enjoyable.

melvinng 2020-10-06 13:33

Nicely done game and I enjoyed playing it!

sieghart 2020-10-06 14:19

Good job!

skvader-418 2020-10-06 14:52

the game reminds me of the old atari 2600 games and the game was confusing at first but i eventualy figured it out, and when ever the text poped up i imediatley closed my eyes in case of a jumpscare

doctormozart 2020-10-06 15:20

Played this first thing in the morning, lights on, and it still scared the $#&^ out of me. :laughing: Great work here. You've nailed the atmosphere and sound design.

Also, I loved the inclusion of a manual. :heartbeat:

coryru 2020-10-06 15:31

@doctormozart I'm so glad it scared you lol. Honestly the manual may be my favorite part it really adds to the retro feeling. Thanks for playing!

tarvisplays 2020-10-06 18:19

Cool game! I never played the original so I was lost at first until I read the manual. Love the atmosphere!

a333 2020-10-06 20:35

I'VE NEVER BEEN SCARED BY THE RECTANGLE SO MUCH ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

Alright, on a serious note - best one I've seen so far. Whisper really seals the atmosphere. As for the difficulty, well, Аtari style demands tough difficulty and figuring the game out, so I'm ok with it.

P.S. Found the manual. It's a bliss to read. Thank you.

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 20:43

@Vem Thank you for your feedback and I am glad you enjoyed it!

@Melvinng Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

@Sieghart Thank you!

@Skvader-418 Awesome! That is exactly what we were going for! Yeah, it takes a bit to get used, and the jump scares still get me too and we made them! Hahaha

@DoctorMozart That is fantastic to hear--getting the horror part right was one of our main goals! And thank you for such kind feedback. The manual was so fun to write so it's great to hear you enjoyed it!

@TarvisPlays Thanks! So happy to hear you enjoyed it! It is easy to feel lost at the start so that makes sense! Fun fast though: the original version is a fictional game we made up for the story!

Seriously, everyone, thank you all so much for playing our game and for the fantastic feedback!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-06 20:49

@a333 Hahahaha so glad we could make rectangles scary!! Wow, that is amazing feedback--thank you so much! Yeah, the game is meant to be tricky but we hope that adds to the retro feel. And we love the manual too so I am happy you enjoyed it! We miss the joy the reading game manuals so we wanted to bring the feeling back!

kszaku 2020-10-06 21:19

Oh, man, creepy, corrupted by evil forces, that are beyond human comprehension 8 bit games are right my alley.

tarvisplays 2020-10-06 21:38

@gregoryblomquist Oh haha, I did not catch that it was fictional! Great story creating then LOL

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-07 02:21

@kszaku Right?? We thought it would be fun to mix all those elements together so I am so happy you enjoyed it!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-07 02:22

@tarvisplays Hahaha thank you so much! It was a lot fun to create the story around the game!

kaganobik 2020-10-07 04:56

My headphone were on full volume when I saw the 25th frame people. And then I jumped lol.

It was a bit slow but it was fun. Good job :)

etrealjunior 2020-10-07 09:20

I liked your game my congratulations, I also did one if you want to know, and give me your feedback I am very grateful, this is the link https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/resurrection

c64gamer 2020-10-07 12:28

Nice game. I like this old looking style a lot. Had fun playing it :-) Congratz

aquanim 2020-10-07 15:18

I... wish I had decided to play this at some time other than "just before bedtime". Yikes.

bootak 2020-10-07 16:29

You have full-blown MANUAL available for this game? Wow, that's like +10 retro nostalgia points! That's just wonderful! Also. I happened to read manual while title screen music was playing - somehow that matched perfectly and created really spooky atmosphere!

Oh, what a game! When you mimic those old 2600 games, it's hard to make player to learn how to play it. But somehow you managed to did it (well, it worked on me!). I spent some time with a manual on one side of monitor and game on another. Interesting and fun experience, well done!

guimoliveira 2020-10-07 18:09

Nice game! :)

colejparker 2020-10-07 19:03

Very cool how the game unravels as you go on. Really like the manual to really emphasize the nostalgia creepy-pasta vibe even more.

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-07 23:04

@kaganobik The game is so much better with headphones on so that's great! Hahaha I am happy to hear the slowness of your playthrough did not affect how you enjoyed it! Thanks!

@etrealjunior Thank you so much--that's great to hear! I'll definitely check your game out too!

@c64gamer Thanks! We love the Atari style too so I am glad it spoke to you and that you had fun playing it!

@aquanim Hahahaha oh, no! I think playing the game in the dark with headphones before bed really pushes the creepiness factor but it does not help the sleep factor! Hope you did not have any Burlap Beast nightmares!

@bootak +10 retro nostalgia points--yes!! We absolutely love game manuals so it's so cool to hear that you enjoyed it! Oh, that's a cool combo to read it with the background music. We tried to tie everything together so I am happy it worked out! Thank you so much for your really generous feedback!

@guimoliveira Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

@colejparker Thank you! We wanted to have a sense of progression with the looping Atari gameplay so it's great to hear that it paid off! Yeah--the manual was so fun to create and I am so happy to see how much people enjoy it!

abregado 2020-10-08 16:51

Mega creepy. Extra points for providing non-digital content... well i guess the manual is still digital but you know what I mean.

merrow 2020-10-08 18:29

Great game. I really like the extensive manual. Whoever did this manual deserves extra credit. The unexpected voice-over really freaked me out.

tuatarian 2020-10-08 18:40

Oh this is terrifying. Props for providing a manual, pretty cool callback :)

eugenik 2020-10-09 01:29

Nice style and cool graphics. Good job!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-09 05:39

@abregado Thanks a lot! It felt right to keep with the Atari feel and make the manual so I am thrilled it's getting so much love!

@merrow Thank you so much for the feedback! I love the manual and we had a lot of fun creating it. It was a blast to write it alongside the game!

@tuatarian Thank you! We wanted to have the Atari vibes come out in everything so we are really glad it did!

@eugenik Thanks so much for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!

hicko 2020-10-09 10:43

Nice concept

balance686 2020-10-09 22:04

Rad game! Definitely captured the Atari feel and the crt/scanline shader really nails it. Creepy vibes and a great use of the theme. Also pretty sure that's the first time I saw a written manual for a LD game haha very detailed as well. Great job on this and shout out from a fellow AB dev!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-10 19:36

@hicko Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

@balance686 Hey fellow AB dev!! Thank you so much! We really wanted to inject as much creepy vibes as we could and the CRT offers a fun mix of nostalgia and spookiness. The game manual was so fun to write and it's so cool to see the reaction it is receiving! Game manuals were such a key part of the game experience before digital downloads and we miss them!

spacestrawberriesstudio 2020-10-10 21:22

kinda scary

giordas 2020-10-10 21:46

OMG WHAT A GAAAMEE. Although kinda scary, I loved it. The graphics made me feel like I was playing a retro game, and I really loved that. Also the soundtrack was awesome and gave me the chills.

etrealjunior 2020-10-11 00:43

I really enjoyed the game, the graphics and the disturbing audio, they really made it a highlight, I am very happy to see how it is possible to do a lot with little, my congratulations, a big hug.

carlix 2020-10-11 10:42

I didn't find a way to push the blocks. I general I think using manuals is a bad idea, but even with that I downloaded and readed it. I get that I'm supposed to switch rooms all the time, but still can't do anything other than freeze the green blocks. I feel dumb that I can't play it, but maybe add some visuals to make it dumb-user friendly.

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-12 00:42

@spacestrawberriesstudio Thanks! Glad it could offer you some scares!

@giordas Wow! Thank you so much for the great feedback! We played some Atari games during the jam to make sure we were offering a strong reference!

@etrealjunior Thank you so much for the kind words! Happy you enjoyed it!

@carlix I am sorry you felt dumb--you are definitely not dumb! The difficulty curve is very much in line with our aims of making an Atari-style game so it makes sense that it might feel tricky! The manual offers a breakdown of which doors lead to which rooms. Try using different rooms to make the blocks react in different ways!

arron-fowler 2020-10-14 05:18

This is a really classy entry. I love the way it was rendered and you extracted a lot of band for buck out of a block. I really enjoyed the sinister aspect too. Great

blue-pin-studio 2020-10-15 03:54

Very good submission. I didn't complete it but i felt like i played enough of it to get the gist. It's a little confusing when the rooms change color. I couldn't quite get a grip on what each color room did but thats perhaps user error. In all fairness if i played it for 20 more minutes i would've figured it out.

f1krazy 2020-10-15 10:30

I'm impressed at how terrifying you managed to make this with just some creepy audio and flickering effects. Once I read the manual and knew what I was doing, I got through the first few levels easily enough, but then I got to a level where the pathways were just barely wide enough for me to pass through and I wasn't able to evade the corrupted block quickly enough. Horror games really aren't my thing, and I'm afraid I don't think I have the guts to go back and try again!

gregoryblomquist 2020-10-27 21:53

@arron-fowler Thank you so much for the kind feedback! It was tricky to convey horror/suspense with the blocks at first but we are proud of what we could do!

@blue-pin-studio Thanks a lot! Yeah, it can get overwhelming especially when the corrupted block starts hunting you down!

@f1krazy Thanks so much! The audio and effects are my favourite parts and I am very happy to hear the manual helped you out! Level 6 is tricky so that makes sense! Even if you did not go back we still appreciate you trying it out!