Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → One-Butt Alien Corridor
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 673 | 3.65 | 68 | |
| Fun | 486 | 3.63 | 68 | |
| Innovation | 219 | 3.90 | 68 | |
| Theme | 1486 | 3.13 | 68 | |
| Mood | 1280 | 3.22 | 67 |
I like strategic, deliberate games like this. This is a super unique idea and I really enjoyed it! I would have liked to be able to select marines by right clicking on them or something, but other than that there wasn't anything obvious that bugged me. Maybe marines could learn to turn a *little* faster, but that's a balance decision. Cool entry, really memorable.
@wheffle I considered maybe a mech theme to make the slower turning make sense but you're totally right about your observations. I wanted to try for a more tactical game than a microing one. Thanks for the feedback :) I'd love to get all the correct RTS controls in there in a real version.
The management was way more challenging than I expected! As I tried to focus all fire on the largest of the large, I had trouble defending my sides and my back. A bit faster control and a bit more feedback and this has the bones of a great game!
Cool idea @peachtreeoath! It took me a bit to mentally switch between them correctly but once I did it worked pretty well. I wish there was a slow flip 180 or something because spinning 180 takes forever. I guess if they were mechs that would make sense though. Do these aliens not have butts? :) Oh I never really used the guide at the bottom but I did think that was a cool addition. Maybe having a second count down at the end to add suspense would help since I wasn't sure if I was even close when I died on the level 4 ending.
I managed to get to level 3, but honestly it sort of was overwhelming keeping track of enemies and being strategic about it all. I guess, I'm not good at all at this sort of game. The mechanics was new and interesting though!
@neonjeff haha, I thought the term "one-butt kitchen" was common but a few people told me they hadn't heard the term before. I like that lore idea though :thinking:
Really cool idea, simple to understand but gets pretty challenging quick. Definitely hardest part to get the hang of is the slow spin speed, though I feel like making it faster would just be too easy, so no problem there. I had fun with it and would like to see a full version.
wow what a great game
whish more ratings
Really awesome entry! reminds me of Breach and clear with the line of sights while also being nothing like it. I think the upgrades improved the game 10 fold by adding a nice sense of progression and strategy, I enjoy upgrade systems that make you feel strong. the levels did get pretty hard bit it was fun to manage grenades and the like. Great work!
This idea is really creative and cool. The atmosphere really made it. I would have loved to see some enemy sprites but the icons work to sell a tactical management game. The controls were getting used to but once I got the hand of it it was really tense and well done. I like the upgrades after each mission and the added enemy types. For the upgrades I did not use the grenades so iI never really got that upgrade, but since the turning mechanic is so inherit in your idea, an upgrade for increasing the rotation speed would be a really interesting choice to make.
This was a real gem of design! I had alot of fun playing it and I think the pace was nearly perfect. A little more time and polish and you'll have a real great experience here. You can really see where more power ups, enemy types, etc fit in and would make the fun and choices even better. You should be proud of this!
I realized one thing that might have helpt me some, if the marine icon vibrated or in other ways attracted attention when it was being hurt.
Very original idea, I liked this one a lot.
The name of the game certainly is what caught my attention! What a fun game! I enjoy games like this and I thought it was really creative to have them be stationary and then having a radius of fire for them. Having to keep track of them almost stressed me out at first, but once I got used to it I loved the idea! And it really started to make me think about what power ups would help me the most. Sometimes I got a little tripped up trying to select which marine I wanted to fix the aim on.
Overall I really really enjoyed this game and love this time of game. Great job!
This is quite good! I found it quite fun to direct the cones of fire from your marines to aliens coming your way. Definitely a really great foundation if you wanted to build a bigger game from this mechanic. I think this game would be elevated if there was more feedback immediately on the marine icons when you select them/when they take damage or when you issue them orders. Very solid work!
Neat idea.
The aim speeds being as slow as they were really forces you to plan ahead and generally just works really well. Graphics are simple but convey the point well.
upgrades were a nice touch. Everything felt solid and worked well.
Nice work!
Nice idea and mechanic! I would have liked some sound (even simple), a "progress counter" (how many levels you cleared/alien you killed) and a little number on the marine (corrispondent to the key to stroke to select it). I really liked the "horde bar" and upgrade were a good idea! Well done!
Micromanaging my team of marines was fun, until they all died <3 Honestly, the mechanic behind ordering your squad was interesting and pleasant to play with. I missed the audio a bit, but understand the lack of time / resources to add it.
Really solid game! I think the polish could be better but the core mechanic is very simple but solid. I'd love to see a full on version of this game. I think the turning is a little bit too slow but perhaps that's the point / adds to the strategy of it. I do wonder if a faster paced version of this with faster turn rate would work as well? Regardless, great work!
That was really cool ! Simple to understand, but hard to master, I enjoyed it ! Too bad, the game lacks sounds and music, but it's a really clever concept ! I would have liked some sort of highlight on the selected marine. I know the UI at the top is highlighted, but, in the action, I don't look up there. Maybe just having a white border (instead of the coloured one) on the selected marine, something like that =).
I really, really, REALLY like this idea! This game is begging to be fleshed out and be released!
This game was so sick!! the art was adorable, the gameplay was intuitive and the controls were responsive! Very impressive for a jam game! You should be proud!
for some reason blue yellow and green do not want to spin
I had a fun time playing this game! I think you got the balance to a good place and the levels I got through were all manageable even with the occasional obstacle. Specifically I enjoyed the fact that you put in occasional hordes on a side to keep the game interesting. I do wish there were more situations where two or more soldiers all need to focus fire on the same enemy, but overall I really enjoyed this game. Great job!
A simple but efficient concept, I had fun playing it. There is potential for a more complete game! I would add a "turning speed" upgrade and change the icons of guns by the number of the marines (so I don't have to think too long about what button to press). Good work!
Although there is no music and sfx, I really liked the mood.. imagening you and your crew are down there in that dark ship swarmed with aliens, only one way out. I like it!
Really solid graphics. Very clean ui and blood^^ It's totally fine having your vrewmembers and opponents being circles with symbols, cause it fits the style of the graphics. You even animated them. The animation of the grenade explosion is awesome!
I like certain small things: It's nice that a crewmember is revived after a level. Also you get to retry the current level and the upgrades give a nice touch.
Highlighting the currently selected member would help a lot.
Really solid and polished entry, well done!
Cool little game. Controls can be a bit of a pain to use, but not enough to ruin the experience.
Very simple, very clear idea of what you are supposed to do. Decent upgrades, gets very stressful
Cool Idea, bit cluttered on screen at times but that's just me!
I like the idea a lot. With some audio it would have really great mood. Controls might get some rework though. Maybe add ability to select crew members with mouse and add marker indicating which one is selected. Other than that it is really neat game. :D
@maybeagoose You'll have to select a character by pressing 1-4 or clicking their portrait up top.
@bytinggames thanks, those are all great suggestions :) You hit the nail on the head, I was more interested in the idea of being stuck in a corridor with your chums than anything, so all the game elements tried to focus on that feeling. That's the main reason the turn speed is so slow, so that you rely on tactics and teammates to get out of the situation. Increasing the turn speed would indeed increase accessibility, but it would take away the dread of being snuck up from behind and caught off guard. ...like a real alien tunnel!
I cheesed through to the end of level 4 by just having the marines look at eachother and then throw gernades. Even if I didnt cheese there is no way i can imagine myself getting through level 4. Great concept. I'd probably prefer if the marines could turn just a little faster. The slowness is what cause me to give up trying and just have them aim at eachother.
I really liked this! Made it to level 5! With some music/sfx and non-placeholder art, this would be a game I'd play for a long time. Nice!
A gameplay video to help players who are struggling. The general idea is to identify what is dangerous and cover that area. Don't use grenades unless you absolutely have to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDwcrZARxCM
What a neat idea! I liked, that I there wasnt one clear winning strategy with the firing cones and the simple icons worked surprisingly well. The small wobbling machine guns grew on me :smile:
Wow, VERY cool game!
It's a great mashup of dirty monster-blasting action with tactical planning and experimentation. It had a bit of tower defense DNA but with a lot more personality. The upgrades are a killer feature that takes it to the next level and had me reloading back to the start to try out different builds.
Each upgrade was really compelling, although I'll admit I didn't value the health one at first. I was all, "well it lets me restart a level anyway so who cares about camp bonuses?" I learned the hard way when I kept being surprised my front guy was dead so quick...
But the large coverage arcs of range were so nice, and the fast kills from dmg... all very tempting.
I really needed some sound going on, so I loaded up some remix of the doom soundtrack in the background and it fit really well.
I so wished for an indicator on the marine that it was selected. A great many fights went very badly because I went into a downward spiral triggered by accidentally turning the wrong marine. Eventually I figured out that I shouldn't stab the number keys like I would for weapon switching in an FPS, and should just permanently park 1 finger per key and link the finger to the marine in my mind. After I found something that worked for me there, it really helped.
After playing for about an hour I managed to get to the gate at the end of level 5.
Watching your video playthrough, I learned a few things... Mainly that the tiny enemies are not an emergency, even if they are chomping on your dudes. I was probably overreacting to them. Seems better to set up for the larger enemies.
OK one more try, hang on...
Haha nope, still not getting past the gate on 5! Still too many marine-selection errors in the heat of the moment.
The stylized semi-abstract graphics were really effective and evoked a nice mood. The enemy attack animations and the blood splatters from death gave the circles a nice boost of feeling alive. The aim arcs, gunfire, and grenade explosions all fit well into the vibe.
But the highlight for me was the novel gameplay that had me thinking about to get out of getting my ass kicked... and saying ONE MORE GAME.
Really cool entry, great job!
great concept!
@pkenney as always, the gameplay breakdowns are much appreciated. I just now realize that in some ways it can be even better feedback than suggestions/solutions. Because as a dev I get to diagnose the problems from my angle as well. I'll be taking that into account with my future comments :)
Your insight into the upgrades and threat analysis of enemies gave me a ton of info into how I should present them. For the record, small enemy bites are 1% damage, exploding enemies are 10% when too close, and big guys are 30%. And only now do I understand how important it is to convey that since people probably overestimate the danger of the small guys like you said.
Wow this was an awesome experience! Really great take on the theme in my opinion, super fun and kinda stressful at times haha. Nice job on your entry!
i loved this game, great mechanic, and a really nice theme, i would have liked if the sights moved a little faster
Great idea and gameplay. The only problem I had was getting confused with which gun was currently selected. Would be a good idea to click the guns themselves to keep the action in the centre and highlight the selected gun. Original and fun, I can see this style of gameplay being applied in many different ways.
Pretty fun game. I liked being able to pick different upgrades after each floor. Got pretty hard after the first few levels but I can definitely see build diversity with this game. Would be cool if there were even more choices like turn speed or increased aim angles, etc.
Good job
[Thanks for submitting your game to the stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1006873415?t=01h09m48s)
I actually had a lot of fun with this one. The mechanic is super unique, and is tricky enough to where I feel like I can get good with it with practice.
Only complaint I remember mentioning was some better indications of where I'm aiming, and who I'm currently controlling from a UI perspective. Other than that, I really like the core mechanic, and I can see myself coming back to this in the future!
Very interesting game and pretty fun! It reminded me of this game https://blackopsben.itch.io/already-dead I understand why the turn speed is slow but its painful to watch lol. It was nice having buttons 1234 to quick select but it was hard to remember which button was for which guy while being swarmed. Maybe if I played more it would be easier. I liked the graphics even though they were simple. Audio would have been nice because it would have added more feedback to know if your guys were firing or not.
Damn, this is definitely a challenge. The strategy is hard to get down, but rewarding when you figure it out and are able to pull it off effectively. I found extra hp and the grenades to be the most useful upgrade. It took me a second to realize the medium size enemies explode on contact, and the larger size enemies were pretty tough too.
I couldn't make it past level 4, but I liked that you could retry the level without having to restart from the beginning every time.
I think that the atmosphere and mood could greatly benefit from some ambient sound effects and some music, but since the graphical style is more tactical and less realistic, I feel that you can get away without sound effects.
Over all a really enjoyable entry, good job!!
Really satisfying concept with a cool setting! I can't help but picture Warhammer space marines lol. Best improvement that could be made here is more communication attached to the soldiers allowing me to keep my eyes glued on the action. Someone mentioned formations on our stream and I loooove that if you were to take this further, could see a great story being built around this gameplay. Nice work!
Damn it, so close to the next level! :laughing: 2021-05-03 18_15_18-One-Butt Alien Corridor by PeachTreeOath.png
Really neat overall, though I wish the current unit would be highlighted and the units could possibly show their number/hotkey or the UI could be closer to them. I also kept messing it up, possibly 'cause I expected them to be in the order of movement (so right to left). Also the aim felt to slooooow. I get I was supposed to decide which area to cover, but it still felt a bit silly.
Hi! Very cool and simple idea for the game! I like this simple art style. It works great. I had a lot of fun while playing it! The only thing I would consider to add is to be able to buy speeding up the rotation of those soldiers. Besides that, great work!
Really nice mechanics and very fun game. But it gets hard very fast, I only made it to level 3 :(
This was a very innovative concept! Managing each of your units and grenades was difficult, but fun! I just barely made it past level 4, but couldn't beat level 5. I think it needs some quality-of-life improvements for the UI, though. It is hard to tell which unit is selected sometimes, and I think it would help to shade the currently selected unit's view range with their respective color. It would also be nice to have a color-coded reticule be placed where you click, so that it would be easier to tell where each unit is currently turning to and would make it easier to manage them all at once. Pause and restart level options would also be appreciated.
Really neat concept, very innovative! I like grenades as a get out of jail free card.
Feels like it really needs some sound and the time to move the aiming reticle is a bit slow (if that's intentional I would at least add some sort of visual indicator to show where it's moving towards).
Still it's really cool, hope you keep working on it and flesh it out some more!
Nice game! It was fun to play, although it was a bit overwhelming to control all 4 marines at the start, but I quickly got used to that. I wish they would rotate quicker though ;) I couldn't get past level 3. I would like to see some indicator of the health of the enemies, and to have some more visual feedback of which marine I selected (not just in the top, because that's not where I am looking). Maybe the selected marine could light up. Well done!
Cool concept, very very stressful though! i wish you could upgrade their aim speed! Keeping up with the swarms were tough but I can see how with a bit more polish this could be awesome. Grenades are life!