FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD48 → Undermined

Undermined

By alex-davies

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1043.9563
Fun284.1663
Innovation3843.3363
Theme2273.9163
Graphics2233.7963
Audio1483.7262
Humor4172.5447
Mood4233.2958

Comments

elektroney 2021-04-26 20:16

Nice Game!

shigor 2021-04-28 22:20

Well, it's a simple variant on tetris like games (pretty much identical to Dr Robotnicks Mean Bean Machine for example), but it's really nicely done and polished.

adamr 2021-04-28 22:28

A lovely simple game, which feels very much like a funky game of tetris, but with the interesting mechanic of having to go deeper and deeper to gain points instead of just destroying blocks. Lovely simple feel and feedback has been given :)

lifeforce 2021-04-28 22:29

Very well done puzzle game. Is there a leaderboard? I inputted my name but it didn't show up anywhere.

alex-davies 2021-04-28 22:40

@shigor Thanks! The core mechanic is based off Dr Mario and Puyo-Puyo, which I think were what Dr Robotnicks Mean Bean Machine was based off.

@lifeforce Sorry about that! The leaderboard doesn't function correctly on the Web version - it works fine on the windows/mac/linux versions. I've updated the game's description to better show this. Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about it, as the leaderboard system I have uses http instead of https, which means that itch.io's web player automatically blocks any requests to it.

ilprinny 2021-04-28 23:00

Really cool take on Puyo-Puyo, Digging deeper and deeper can change up how some combos work in an interesting way! I think the main menu volume settings are bugged I dont think the sound settings transferred over to the game properly (web version). Im amazing that it was so well done and bug free in with such a short time restriction, great work!

alex-davies 2021-04-28 23:11

@ilprinny Yeah, I've added a warning to the description on the itch.io page about that. The desktop version works fine - it's just unity doing weird stuff when ported to webgl

alex-davies 2021-04-29 19:28

Scoreboard is fixed! I swapped the hosting provider to one that supports ssl, so the leaderboard should now work for the online version.

kapa6uh 2021-04-29 20:19

Very original game. Nice job.

bamallama 2021-04-29 21:05

I love Puyo, so I was pretty pumped to play this! I really like the concept of working downward instead of trying to clear lines, the only thing I would say is that the whole game just feels a touch slow. It would be nice if there was some more stuff that happened as you went downward, or some incentive to place blocks in specific places *maybe things you could blow up that provide extra points, or power-ups or something.

emiliabea 2021-04-29 21:23

Had a lot of fun with this game. Played it once not knowing how to rotate but that's my bad for not reading directions. I turned it into a challenge like "lets see how far I can get without rotating?" The answer is not far but it was still fun. Then I played it the proper way. Cool that you have a leaderboard :D Also I like that there aren't too many colors bc then it would be overwhelming. It's a very balanced game and the music was good too.

skiddings 2021-04-29 21:49

Great idea! I like how the combo system works too. The rotation is a bit fiddly at higher speeds but that's just a nitpick

alex-davies 2021-04-29 21:56

@bamallama Thanks for the feedback! I originally planned to have some mechanics like this - my main two ideas like this were explosive tiles, and 'strong' tiles that would take multiple hits to break, but I sort of ran out of time to add them :P

woergbi 2021-04-30 20:24

I'm not proud of it, but I fell for your cheap post about nobody having beaten your score yet :stuck_out_tongue: I managed to beat it though, with a score of 69! If it wasn't such a good game I probably wouldn't have kept playing though. What a great take on the theme and amazing execution. I had so much fun playing - thank you for that!

the-martijn 2021-04-30 20:41

Very good game! Played it for a long time! (But everytime when it goes too fast, I'm game over, haha). I hope you'll get at least 20 reviews :wink:

krexor 2021-04-30 21:06

Love these kinds of games. It felt well polished and I had a good time playing it.

secretpocketcat 2021-04-30 21:09

Wonderful game that gets really intense and I had quite a few clutches, but around 40 it gets too fast for me (I took my best was 46). Really like scoring by destroying the ground blocks, the only thing was I was never sure what would be the blocks that would get destroyed (if they were on the same level at least).

BTW. are you using PlayerPrefs for the volume settings? I remember having problems with the WebGL build which is supposed to save to IndexedDB, which wasn't working for me, so I just created a wrapper around localstorage (and I'm actually not a fan of the whole PlayerPrefs API and saving stuff to registry on win either, so I save to a JSON to FS. I could create a github gist if you want. It's nothing groundbreaking (not sorry :smile: ) but it gets the job done.

alex-davies 2021-04-30 21:19

@secretpocketcat Yes, I'm using PlayerPrefs for audio settings. I'm aware of the problem but it's not really a bug with an important feature, so I'm not too fussed about fixing it after the compo has finished. Normally I would use a proper save file or cookies solution, but PlayerPrefs is quick and easy :P

rngames 2021-05-01 02:51

✔️ Overall very well polished little action puzzle game. I especially liked the mechanic where it would clear tiles for you when you got a big enough combo.

✔️ Simple and effective art style.

➖ I would maybe like the rows to be cleared a bit faster somehow.

groggi 2021-05-01 22:57

Very nice! This was as much fun as tetris!

I had a similar idea but I am so happy you did this, because I wouldnt have made it that good!

Thanks for the good time.

lokt02 2021-05-02 10:27

Tetris but main character is miner. Good music and sound effects. This game is simple but gameplay don't become boring after some time due to this simplicity. Nice job!

perfectsquare 2021-05-02 14:34

Nice game and impressively well polished for a jam game! The sound effects were really well done and the visuals for when the extra blocks broke if you combined more than 4 were really satisfying.

naamed 2021-05-03 07:32

Absolutely lovely twist on this formula, all we really need is some theme-appropriate characters yelling on combo clears and versus mode so I can show everyone online how bad I am at combo set-ups.

ausstein 2021-05-04 19:42

Wow I beat you only just, so close!

First try!

Amazing game!!

tetscr.png

wolfier 2021-05-04 19:58

That's almost too perfect @ausstein

great game, I'm surprised there wasn't a combo bonus for chaining, but i bet the only reason i did as good as i did was because that wasn't there.

maytch 2021-05-04 20:12

I'm a sucker for puyo type games, good job!

iak 2021-05-04 20:19

Damn this feels way too solid for a COMPO entry. Sure the core concept is simple enough, but given I never really have a clear idea of where I'm going... making something this 'complete' for a COMPO seems crazy. XD good job, me like.

ausstein 2021-05-04 21:02

@wolfier Someone took the record right back with 90 Now I got 93 I recorded it this time and will upload to youtube so it does not seem "too perfect" ;)

tetscr2.png

wolfier 2021-05-04 21:04

XD

pikatchum 2021-05-04 21:20

I love Puyo type games, younger I played it a lot with my brother, but I was really bad at it. Well today I suck as always but had a lot of fun! Everything is really clean and feels cool to play.

ausstein 2021-05-04 21:31

Here xD @wolfier ;)

https://youtu.be/QLXw5DhFf1w

ancooper 2021-05-04 22:54

I'm in))

wolfier 2021-05-04 23:27

@ausstein don't get me wrong its not that i didn't believe it, it was more so that you beat him by 1 that made it funny, as if you did it on purpose.

peace-of-cake-games 2021-05-05 05:54

I thought I was so cool getting a whole 15 points and then I looked at the leaderboard and @ausstein was sitting at the top with 93 points. 😱 I know @ausstein has a reputation for dominating the leaderboards of every Ludum Dare game that has a leaderboard, but when I got my new high score of ✨**41**✨ (honestly I'm pretty darn proud of it) I was freaking out, the game was going so fast. I guess PCEOFCKE is destined to never beat the Champion Of Every Leaderboard Ever, AUSSTEIN. I think I would have a heart attack at 93 depth.

@ausstein\.... how....

Anyways, now the actual review:

The fact that I'm in the rankings against this Compo game scares me. It's got beautifully simple graphics, better gameplay than Dr. Mario, and sicker beats than Dr. Mario, too. (*Sick*er beats than Dr. Mario.... 🙄 my reputation for making dad jokes lives on.) Honestly I don't know how this could *not* win an award for Audio or Fun or Overall. This feels like the next big Nintendo Switch hit if you were to add multiplayer, not a game made in only 48 hours by just one developer.

ausstein 2021-05-05 06:28

@wolfier Highscores in LD games are easily hackable so I could see how someone might think an 81 Highscore shortly after it was posted to the main page seems suspicious, so I just wanted remove any doubt :)

@peace-of-cake-games Haha I can't resist a good Highscore or Speedrun challange. I was thinking maybe I could develop a Highscore and Speedrun system for LD as a Unity Plugin or something that there could be official Highscore and Speedrun challenges in future LDs :D

ausstein 2021-05-06 13:04

This was intense! Did not record this run but highscore :)

tetscr3.png

felo07 2021-05-09 06:13

Nice game, I was able to reach 27 on my first try. Music, sound effect and art are pretty good. Very addicted game. congrats , you deserved it

ptsnoop 2021-05-09 08:55

This is a fun game! Very well polished - and adding a high score table is a very nice touch. (Even though the high scores on it are intimidatingly high now!)

staircase27a 2021-05-09 16:11

I really wanted to like this game, however I'm slightly colour blind and really struggled with telling the green and orange colours apart quickly. Many games like this add an option to enable a colour blind mode that adds symbols to the colours to make it possible to tell at a glance which colour is which.

cheesepencil 2021-05-11 19:19

Epic compo entry! Well done.

logflames 2021-05-11 20:13

Awesome game!! Nice satisfying effects!

garys 2021-05-11 21:22

I mean, I love Puyo Puyo... so I kinda love this too! The digging aspect of it is a nice take, as it kinda makes it into a survival mode / endless digger... Adding a leaderboard is a great touch and definitely made me want to play more. Other than that, I straight up _loved_ the music. The only negative is that found the controls a little sticky. I would have liked to have been able to hold down a key.

korfi 2021-05-11 22:39

Great game! Sometimes I felt like the way the pieces rotated didn't make sense but honestly I think it's mostly just my brain thinking wrong under stress haha!

macdoom 2021-05-12 00:17

Great entry man! Big tetris fan here. The way the mechanics are blended to go down is genius. Loved the tune also! So catchy! A very original game, gave you great rating. I'm sure you'll get a really nice result at the end of the jam. Congratulations!

shakedimus 2021-05-12 06:36

I really enjoyed this! The music really adds a lot, making me want to keep playing. It looks very clean and polished and the sound effects make it feel fun. The block breaking animation also looks very cool. The leaderboard also adds some competition which kept me playing :) Very good entry, I would've only liked to have seen something new mechanics-wise.

webox 2021-05-12 20:51

Omg this is amazing... This brings me back to Pnickies, an old Japanese game that we used to play all the time in versus mode, this has a lot of potential.. You should 100% expand it into a full game.. Have you heard of the 90 days ship it jam?? it started this weekend.. you should join!! The objective is to make a full game and publish it in 90 days, here's the link to it: https://itch.io/jam/90-day-ship-it-jam-2021.. Great great job.. this is one of my favorites from the entire jam..

icefallgames 2021-05-12 20:52

Very impressive effort the compo. And the special effects are great. And the music getting faster and faster and more tense. Very polished!

kotzi 2021-05-12 21:46

Great game, very polished! Congrats!

johnnysix 2021-05-13 00:49

Wahey - made the leaderboard! leaderrrr.png

Great game, would be cool if developed to see maybe power-ups, or something. And I may have missed it , but an 'instant' drop button would be cool.

loveapplegames 2021-05-14 22:48

Great work! Addictive and polished. Game mechanic works pretty well. The global leaderboard is a nice touch. A minor gripe, I would like to get some extra bonus for chain reactions.

neontropics 2021-05-15 14:52

Great digging twist on Puyo Puyo! The graphics are simple but there's great feedback and "juice" for every action. Very fun audio and soundtrack as well.

It would've been nice to get some more bonus points / bigger digs for combos as I was expecting more "reward" for cool moves.