FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD49 → 10 minutes to instability

10 minutes to instability

By jose-bonilla

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1943.6331
Fun2133.5330
Innovation2063.5130
Theme1763.8530
Graphics3333.2830
Audio1673.4628
Humor1363.2128
Mood294.0530

Comments

aquachain 2021-10-04 06:50

I dont have any clue what to do. But i also had no clue on "Keep Talking and Nobody Dies". :sweat_smile:

blackquiltro 2021-10-04 18:15

Hi, I like your game's graphics and audio. The idea is nice (multitasking and all) but I found very frustrating the need to wait for email instructions, because they are required to solve most puzzles (other than by chance)

human-writes-code 2021-10-05 08:07

Great game. I love Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes so naturally I was pretty into this game. Using the 'bad signal' mechanic and text messages to reveal the puzzles was good but I think it would have been nice if new texts became available after you completed the puzzle. My fingers got saw from cooling down the bomb while waiting for the next text.

I had a couple of issues at the start because the character got stuck on the walls and I didn't think I could interact with the bomb but once I got past that, it was good!

Well done!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-05 15:46

@aquachain thanks for trying it out! I'm sorry it wasn't clearer. Could you maybe give it another try please? I've included a "How do I play?" section here and on the itch.io page. Let me know if there is something else that is not clear and I'll make sure to update the section. It would really mean a lot to me if you could try it once more :) Thanks.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-05 15:48

@blackquiltro Hi, thanks for playing my game :) I realize it can be frustrating to wait for the emails. If you played with headphones it can be stressful to hear the bomb ticking whilst waiting for Joe to send you the next piece of the puzzle. I guess I wanted to make it frustrating "by design", as it's the point of the game, but I understand what you say. Thanks again!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-05 15:50

@human-writes-code Hey, thanks a lot for playing it! I'm so glad you liked it. As stated above, I understand the timing can be a little bit frustrating. Another option would be if you had to do something else while the email arrives, since you can be 30 seconds to 1 minute waiting for the next piece of the puzzle.

Strange about the character getting stuck as the movement is minimal and uses the default GM pathfinding algorithm, I'll check that one out.

Thanks again!

madjackmcmad 2021-10-05 16:16

A well put together and rather intense room escape. Kinda wish I didn't have to wait so long between inputs from the email, but 100% mood and flavor for having the other emails come in and feeling like this was an actual person... trapped by an actual nuclear bomb :D good job!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-05 16:20

@madjackmcmad Thanks so much for playing it in stream and for your feedback!

zimny11 2021-10-05 22:50

That was fun. I like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and your game was nice to play too.

As others mentioned. There was quite a big portion of the time I spend just waiting for emails. I think cutting the bomb time and making emails arrived quicker will improved the game a lot. Beside that everything else was ok :) Good job!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 00:16

@zimny11 Thanks a lot for playing, great thing that you liked it :)

malcolm 2021-10-06 01:29

Well, I definitely needed the hints but I was able to complete it. Had to turn the music off though. Good little game, as long as you know that being tense and frustrated is part of it.

enya454 2021-10-06 01:41

Really Fun Game. I didn't find much point in moving around since I could just stay at the bomb and be on the phone the whole time, but the gameplay loop was fun and made a just high enough level of stress. Great game, keep up the good work

thehansinator 2021-10-06 02:08

Wow, you did a great job! Loved the haunting feeling you give with the audio - headphones definitely recommended! :)

Agree that it would be nice to have something else to do while waiting for emails - perhaps being able to reply to the other two senders? It might also be interesting to leverage the "balancing act" aspect between the emails and bomb defusing a little more by forcing the player to move away from the bomb to get reception, especially since they wouldn't be able to manage the "needy" module at the same time.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 02:40

@malcolm thanks a lot for your kind comments! I think you got the point. Hopefully apart from tense and frustrated you also had fun :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 02:42

@enya454 thanks a lot! I agree, I was planning on more content through the building, but obviously overscoped. Hope you liked it :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 02:44

@thehansinator So cool, thanks :) I agree and the reception idea would have been great. I just spent a lot on the phone UI stuff, I think it took away time to think that through. Thanks :)

juanlu 2021-10-06 14:09

What an experience! I failed the first one because I wasn't sure I was disabling the modules in the last bit so I clicked the same button several times. So I played it again and I could beat it this time. Pretty fun game for only 48 hours of developing. Great job!

jonas-michael 2021-10-06 14:19

I liked this game a lot. The beeping of the bomb and the music make for a really tense mood. I also play a lot of KTANE, so I was familiar with the whole concept - however you managed to make an equally tense single player game out of this idea. Very nice!

The only issue I had was with centering the antenna. I would have liked some kind of visual clue as to which button I would need to press to get back my signal, but I guess this was part of the intended gameplay.

So, to summarize: this game is AWESOME! Thank you for making it!

lakrits 2021-10-06 14:32

This game requires some patience to go through but I like the idea. The time until the first time the bomb gets too hot and causes game over is a bit short since you are getting used to the controls and have to read a lot. The bomb audio beep is absolutely atrocious, if it wasn't possible to mute sound effects and get rid of the beep inside the smartphone settings I would have quit the game early without giving it a proper chance.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 14:50

@juanlu Hey, thanks a lot for your kind comments! I'm so happy you liked it. I agree there is no feedback for the disarming buttons and that can lead to confusion. Cool that you beat it!!! :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 14:52

@jonas-michael Thanks so much for your input! I'm so happy you enjoyed it and that you found it fun to be tense :D I agree having the game show the keys needed for the signal booster (and for the bomb cooling mechanic) would have been better than cramming it in the starting tutorial. Thanks again for playing it :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-06 14:54

@lakrits Thanks so much for your critique! I'm sorry about the bomb beeping, I felt it was a nice way to up the tension. Others have made similar comments, so I think I went overboard - maybe a "clock ticking" sound would have been better. Fortunately I put the Sound toggle in the smartphone :) Thanks for playing it through :)

reiqy 2021-10-06 19:19

Wow, you said you made a game inspired by KTNE and this is almost exactly what I had in mind when I was making my game. Great job. Really nice game!

puppetmaster 2021-10-06 20:46

The mood is super well done. There are a few things that are solved too complicated for my taste. But I'm sure with more time and playtesting they would have been implemented more elegantly. For me it is important in such a game that I get feedback when I do something right or when my action triggers something. Great game. Congrats.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 00:31

@reiqy Thanks so much for you kind comment! I'll check out your game, too. Best!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 00:32

@puppetmaster Hi and thanks for playing it :) I agree on the feedback, it's super important and I didn't have time to implement it. Also, playtesting is paramount... Thanks for your comments and good luck!

crefossus 2021-10-07 00:42

This is the first time I played a bomb defusal game and it was quite the experience!

There are a few bugs with lights flickering, audio stopping, footsteps continuing in the background. (chrome 94.0.4606.71 - mouse doesn't work at all in FF).

If there was just a little more feedback for how/your success rate works when getting an email (it seems to be random? based on time?) This experience would be rock solid.

I was stumbling around a bit at first but I think that's part of the experience. Perhaps putting a glow on the refresh or pulse to make it more attractive? After that the game was smooth sailing.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 01:37

@crefossus Thanks so much for playing the game! I'll check the audio stopping bug. The lights flickering is actually a feature (:D), if you run the game again you will see the lights that flicker are determined automatically (each one has a probability of 0.6 at creation time). It was meant to increase the ambiance of a bunker.

I agree completely on the feedback and pulse ideas, I ran out of time but it is definitely an important part of a good game.

The emails arrive at set timings, it was hard to calculate without much playtesting when would a good moment be for each one to arrive.

I hope you enjoyed it :)

zsharpfire 2021-10-07 19:09

A really mind-engaging game with fitting mechanics; maybe you could have used the enviroment a bit more than just for the piece of paper ( maybe some keys on a shelf or smt )

A really good job, Keep it up!

alex-chertilin 2021-10-07 19:56

I would like to have a little bit closer camera

lazyseal 2021-10-07 20:20

Did not understand anything :( Really unstable :D

eyedromeda 2021-10-07 20:46

The most stressful game I've played during the jam so far. The atmosphere is very well built, and the music is great, though everything is a bit too loud, and I had to drop my volume to about a third of normal when playing. The control scheme was also a bit finicky, and something like moving with WASD, interacting with Left Click and opening the phone with E or Right Click would've made me feel more at home. Though perhaps the unusual controls are a way of making the player feel less in control and fumble around when stressed, which is what happened to me more than once, and it's quite clever whether intended or not. Very nice work!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 21:32

@zsharpfire thanks so much for your kind comments :) Yes, completely agree. The original idea was to have a procedurally generated dungeon, then I reduced it to having to unlock the door to the plutonium room first and then I reduced it again (such is life :S). Thanks again,

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 21:32

@alex-chertilin Thanks for trying the game! About the camera, the idea was to have a room in a single view, but thanks for your suggestion.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 21:33

@lazyseal sorry about that! Hopefully you could give it another try, checking the complete intro as well as the tips on the game page? Thanks in advance :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-07 21:34

@eyedromeda Thanks so much for your awesome comments. I agree totally on the movement - at first it was going to be a bigger world to move on, so the mouse control was ok, but given the small size of the final bunker, it would have made more sense to use WASD. Hopefully you had fun as well as being stressed :D

javicoder 2021-10-08 08:29

great little game, I liked the minigames. You have to put in a little patience to get through it, that's cool. It would improve the movement a bit, but it's not bad either. Great atmosphere and sound!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-08 12:34

@javicoder thanks so much for your kind comments! Agreed on the patience :D Glad you liked it!

xeke-death 2021-10-08 16:15

Nice work. I enjoyed Keep Talking, and this does a good job of replicating the atmosphere. The email is a good addition. Spamming Z/X for the temperature was a bit unreliable for me, but I didn't explode from it

jose-bonilla 2021-10-08 17:26

@xeke-death thanks for your comments :) I agree about the spamming, it actually needs to be done in order (so ZX or XZ instead of ZZ or XX) and relatively fast (the faster you do it the faster it cools down the bomb). Thanks so much for playing it :)

pio 2021-10-08 18:13

This was intense! You did a great job of building the pressure. Also this is a very unique game idea :)

2021-10-08 18:26

Crazy amount of content, and very well made! It was a little confusing the first minute but then I got it and really enjoyed my time. Perfect interpretation of the theme as well! I really got stressed :D. Nice job!

jose-bonilla 2021-10-08 18:28

@kevlanche Thanks so much for playing in stream and your very kind comments! :)

nyxkn 2021-10-09 20:59

Sound didn't work for me. Also didn't really know what to do :D

jose-bonilla 2021-10-09 23:06

@nyxkn thanks for your feedback. Wish you could give it another shot, BB if you read the game page I think it could be clearer. Thanks in advance :)

arya-s 2021-10-10 15:04

I had a lot of fun with this game. I was constantly on the edge, trying to balance all these things and then the damn connection breaks up!

I was able to disarm the bomb with less than a minute left. Felt intense!

I think this is a really solid entry, good job!

One thing I got into was I had the bomb still open but walked away from it and couldn't dismiss it. It took a bit of time to get back to it and close it.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-10 17:35

@arya-s thanks for your great comments and your feedback! Really glad you enjoyed it. I agree on the observation about the bomb still being open despite you being far away, I forgot to implement auto dismiss. Thanks again :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-10 17:36

@pio Thanks for your comment! I hadn't seen it, sorry about that. Good luck!

slimmerburger 2021-10-13 20:33

I was a little confused at first, but I definitely felt the pressure

jose-bonilla 2021-10-13 20:38

@slimmerburger thanks for your comments! Hope you liked it! :)

kristinamay 2021-10-19 15:43

This was so fun! I felt stressed out. I didn't realize at first that I had to refresh the email so I was sitting there like "Where are my emails! I've been doing such a good job with the antenna!" And then I had like 10 emails lol. Great work.

jose-bonilla 2021-10-20 03:02

@kristinamay thanks so much for playing it! Hopefully you were both stressed and having fun! :)

rjmarzec 2021-10-21 08:20

A very suspenseful game, though I wish I didn't have to wait and spam the refresh for the next steps. It was fun getting fed up with emails from all over the place, and in the end I managed to just barely keep the bomb from exploding in the end. Nice job!

crefossus 2021-10-21 08:32

@jose-bonilla I ended up making a highlight/vod of the play and rate for your game - check it out here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1182720756

jose-bonilla 2021-10-21 12:37

@rjmarzec Thanks so much for playing it! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It would have been more fun to be able to do something else while the emails arrive. Good luck :)

jose-bonilla 2021-10-21 12:50

@crefossus Thanks so much for playing it on your stream! I'm sorry it was confusing at the beginning. Also sorry because there's no Help :D