chesschaser 2021-10-04 14:42
Cool!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → On the Thin Ice
By agrdev
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 339 | 3.32 | 22 | |
| Fun | 282 | 3.34 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 55 | 4.02 | 21 | |
| Theme | 181 | 3.84 | 21 | |
| Graphics | 411 | 3.05 | 21 | |
| Audio | 190 | 3.41 | 19 | |
| Humor | 234 | 2.86 | 20 | |
| Mood | 154 | 3.52 | 21 |
Cool!
Very well done!
It took me a while to figure out that I can apply the buttons slowly and that is how I avoid cracking the ice.
The mantra for me is: "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast." (I didn't get very far, so free feel to disregard my advice! :smile: )
EXCELLENT sound effects, but a little repetitive. The ice cracking was especially perfect.
Cheers!
-LB
Took me a few tries, but I made it across! I kept wishing I could slow the hunter down by leaving holes in the ice behind me. IMO the best part of the game was how it became a game of self control because the hunter created tension that makes you *want* to run fast, but you have to do the opposite.
Just a heads up, when I played the the web version on a mac, the sound didn’t work in Safari but the gamepad didn’t work in Firefox, so I didn’t get to experience the gameplay with sound at the same time.
"Only gamepads" :( just a few keyboard inputs and a lot more people would have played it.
@fabioecco Yeah, sorry about that! Gamepad seems to be the best input type for this kind of mechanic
Very original concept and surprisingly fun!
Excellent idea, well executed and truly entertaining. I've never found myself carefully pushing down triggers in any game, so this is a first. Of all the games I've played until now, yours fit the theme better than any other. Is the breaking ice purely based on input, or are there any random elements to it as well? I found that getting across the ice was easier once you got the hang of it! So a few more obstacles could maybe make it even more enjoyable. Nevertheless, a super execution for a game jam. Good work
(I can still hear his voice at night *woaaaah* *woaaaah* *woaaaah*)
@fnkee Thank you! The ice breaking is based on input only, no extra random elements. Analogue input can be random enough while a player is learning :) The only additional thing which I did not mention in the game description is the ice strength reduces with distance to increase the difficulty gradually
Ice cracking and nerve cracking! :laughing: Lot of tension seeing the hunter approaching and I having to slow down because of the ice breaking under my feet.
Super cool idea, and as far as I remember best use of input methods I ever saw in a Ludum Dare! (You might restrict your audience by requiring a gamepad, but you are exploring a *really* nice idea here!)
Very good use of sound as clue to the player. (When I first player I had my audio mistakenly on mute and I though the game was pretty much impossible to play. Then I thought, "why did he use Audacity for a game without sounds?" and noticed my mistake :face_palm: Anyway, once I turned the sound on, it was a much superior experience!)
If I had to complain about something it would be the game gets a little repetitive quickly. I can imagine some nice extensions to this core mechanic. Like moving around a 2D plane, maybe getting stuff (power ups, whatever) or trying to crack the ice around the hunter to drown him. Of course, we can only do so much in 48 hours, but this mechanic is so tasty it deserves some side dishes!
Kudos!
Oh man you made me pull out my Pro Controller to play this. This was a really cool concept, and I've never played anything with this control scheme before which was neat. I noticed that once I got past the first few pieces of ice, I could just spam the trigger keys to race to the other end without any ice cracking under me. Not sure if that was intended behavior, but it felt like the difficulty was super high at the beginning and then immediately went down to basically 0. But this game has a ton of potential and I don't regret pairing my controller to my laptop :)
This was a great game. I could find myself playing for awhile trying to go as fast as possible without losing. A couple of things to note: When I got a Game Over, I was able to keep playing, so I did eventually get a Victory and a Game Over at the same time. Also, I could not figure out how to reset the game after losing, but I may have missed it. Overall, it was a great game and a great concept for the theme!
@agrdev Aha, yeah I had a feeling the ice was more sensitive at the end. Great difficulty curve too then!
Cool game ! Very original way of playing ! I just didn't find any option to retry after dying, so I had to restart the game, but I still managed to win on my second try ! Good job
@lmb Thanks for such a cool review!
Playing with sound is definitely increasing the tension which improves the overall experience :)
I also totally agree that having a 2D plane and maybe some items, obstacles or safe zones (not ice basically) can be great! Another idea I had is to let another player to control the hunter, so it could be a multiplayer chase game. What do you think? :)
@lb01 Thanks!
I thinks I might know why it can be too easy to just run through for some players :thinking: Currently, the pressure is measured between frames which can be affected by the framerate a lot :) Seems to be an easy fix if I'd want to iterate on this idea
@penguinmunch Haha, yeah, there are some bugs with the win conditions state, I forgot to pause the game after it's over :speak_no_evil: @nebiros @penguinmunch My bad, totally forgot to include restart feature :sweat_smile:
Interesting concept, fine execution.
Sound design is perfect, choise of "breath" or "wind" instead of music really makes the mood.
Too bad my gamepad is xbox 360 with banged up triggers, could not do more than 4 steps:)
Good luck!
> Playing with sound is definitely increasing the tension which improves the overall experience :)
Not only that, it seemed like I could really help me to feel if the ice was breaking under my feet!
> Another idea I had is to let another player to control the hunter, so it could be a multiplayer chase game.
I am not a big player of multiplayer games, but it might be worth a shot! Could be fun for couch muliplayer, maybe? Or perhaps something more asymmetric, like 3 hunters versus one yeti.
"moving" mechanics are great you should expand on them and add other objectives.
wonderful job :gift_heart:
Couldn't start. It does not reads my Steam Controller.
@gdesecrate Ouch! Sorry about that, I didn't check the support for Steam controllers, but I wonder if you could still use it while emulating as Xbox or PS controller? :thinking:
That's a really clever idea! It's funny that you can't see the Yeti but you see only footprints :smile:
It also looks and sounds very good, nice job on that!
Unfortunately, I didn't read the "Press triggers slowly to avoid cracking the ice!" part at first. So I've spent like 10 minutes trying to play this game without any progress :sweat: I took a break and decided to give it one more try before giving you feedback... and figured it out :sweat_smile: It still needs to be included in the game, where controls are displayed. Without this knowledge the game is unplayable. I hope this doesn't sound too harsh -- I'm just trying to give you my first impression. I actually made a similar mistake in my game and many people found it confusing and unclear. But that's how we learn!
Anyways, once it clicked it was really enjoyable! Really great idea to make a hunter following you so you try to go as fast as possible which contradicts the necessity of making your steps carefully on the thin ice (TM).
Great job!
@caudatecoder Thanks for the feedback! Good point on the controls instructions being unclear, maybe an interactive hint close to the foot should be displayed demonstrating the need to push triggers down slowly 🤔
Really enjoyed this game. The execution with the trigger pressure was well done. I wasn't able to get all the way across the map, but trying to run from the hunter while staying calm with the trigger kept it entertaining. It would have been cool if as the hunter gets closer you provided some visual cues such as the ice at the bottom of the screen starting to crack.
Very unique and original control scheme. I didn't realize at first that the amount I pulled the trigger was how much pressure I was pulling. I came back to the comments here though and that became clear.
Would love a "try again" button so I could play over and over.
Love the idea is very original, and I spended some time playing it.