Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → Populus Romanus
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 211 | 3.93 | 59 | |
| Fun | 241 | 3.79 | 59 | |
| Innovation | 348 | 3.64 | 59 | |
| Theme | 580 | 3.75 | 60 | |
| Graphics | 200 | 4.27 | 61 | |
| Humor | 625 | 3.04 | 52 | |
| Mood | 364 | 3.79 | 59 |
Neat game, it looks great and the gameplay is deep and interesting. Small details : Houses of each faction could look a bit more distinct, and I wish I could know in advance which building is going to help with what (I took one randomly each time I had to choose, but I may have missed something).
Hello There,
I love the art for this game, the UI is also very nice. I was pretty confused on what to do and what the point of the game was. Maybe it's because of my lack of knowledge on these types of structures and how they work. Not quite sure what I was doing.
The mood of the game was really nice though and I think that the way you went about the theme was clever as well. great work :D
@syafire Thanks for the feedback. I just wrote instructions in the description of this page. I can understand it's rather confusing without any. :D
Awesome, thanks for adding that :D it will help a ton @bauke-regnerus
Very cool idea in terms of theme, loved the art!
A very beautiful game with great music ! It's a bit confusing at first, because you don't know exactly how the buildings are going to impact the gauges, and I didn't exactly understand how to optimize the buildings that come after the big ones. I would have liked to control the camera with the mouse. Also I kind of missed some sound feedback ! All in all it is a very nice entry with great potential. Reminds me of Islanders ! Great job :thumbsup:
Nice game. I found it difficult but I liked the gameplay. If I would make an improvement I would have a "tooltip" on the various building. That way you would not have to select the buiding to know the effects. Overall a very nice entry. Well done.
Love the idea of diversity the gameplay is about.
Great game! I am definitely rating this one an overall 5! I guess it is like a Reigns, but city-builder like. I supported the peasants too much and they revolted against me, didn't notice that was a thing as well so it really added a factor of surprise. Even if the music isn't made by the creator of the game I think that it fits the game really well and creates a pretty nice atmosphere.
Made it 7 years at the most, love the art, would make a good sandbox to construct a city. Gameplay fit the theme well, but I didnt really feel like I figured the game out even though I played it 4 times, I was just placing buildings next to citizens with lowest bar. Relaxing music fits the game though. Good job.
if Reigns and Tetris had a child.. That's a pretty high quality game, I've noticed something weird though, if you build a house that can benefit from a market(or any special building) after that building, it will not get the bonus
@forgin-bits Good suggestion for controlling the camera with the mouse, I'll implement that post jam. Thanks for the feedback.
Lovely art and game idea! Unfortunatelly I couldn't figure out whether I should've kept all 4 groups happy or unhappy? Both seem to lead to gameover. Or should I keep them somewhere in the middle? Anyway this wasn't obvious :) Knowing what buildings do before choosing them would be nice, too.
Cool idea. Quite confusing for a newcomer though. You'd really have to replay it quite a lot to get good at it. Also feels like it requires quite a lot of careful examination and lots of thinking (I don't like lots of thinking, so I quit after a few attempts)
But yeah, the execution is solid and the game feels nice. Good job!
Hi fellow Godot dev :wave: This game reminded me of Islander (which is a good thing.) The mechanic is clever and easy to grasp. I love the simple art style and the portraits, it gives it lots of personality. Good job!
Managed to beat the game! Very interesting idea using proximity 'bonuses' to buildings to also be a potential negative - did take me a couple of goes and a few assassinations to work out a good strategy.
Very well designed game. The art is good and the game is fun to play. Good job.
Great game ! Very polished ! The visuals are really neat. The gameplay is simple & efficient & the music cmplement the whole nicely. Great job :)
Dammit everyone hates me! Took a few rounds to get the idea that I need to strategize.
Good job on making it difficult to cheese the system; I tried segregation of different demographics each time to see if there was a "winning" formula and couldn't find an obvious mechanic skip.
I'm a sucker for low poly art style, so this presentation drew me in very nicely.
At first, the Populous aspect attracted me to this game and, it's true that it's quite difficult to understand everything at the beginning, but once understood, it's very cool ! I had a good time on it and probably one of the few Game Jam games I finished :p
Well done!
Populus-Romanus-Score.JPG
Neat game with some really solid gameplay. Just bit confusing with the positive/negative aspect for some of the buildings as it felt weird that those would be negative for those groups, but perhaps I just need to read some more roman history again! Are they based on historical facts? Apart from that, as others have pointed out, having the buildings more distinct or the icons showing how they look would help when deciding which building to build, or perhaps hovering the class icon highlighing all the buildings belonging to that class. This would make the process smoother.
Other than that, really solid for a game made in such a short time. The graphics are beautiful and apart from the aspects stated above, the gameplay is really polished.
Great work!
I like the graphics style, and the ambient sounds really make the game. The mechanic was simple enough to get the hang of quickly but still required a lot of planning and thought.
More distinct buildings between the population types would be a good addition.
I managed to break the game.
Love the art (especially the buildings) and I really like this concept. I've been quite intrigued by balancing games like this one lately. The sounds and UI are pleasant too. I would love to see this developed further!
Good job!
As a fan of all things roman, I approve!
I loved the roman theme and the historic stuff! :smile: Yeah nice game with a well polished mechanic!
Love the gameplay, i had a lot of fun, love the sound design too ! nice job !
Game looks so interesting, but I don't have a PC. Could you make a WebGL/Mac version? :(
Great game. Very wise choice of theme. The mechanics are quickly understood, I didn't feel confused at any time. The graphics and sound fit very well to create a good atmosphere. Good job!
The post-jam fix makes the game so much nicer to play! I kept forgetting which buildings were what (even though the colours gave it away a little.)
Really nice game for the rest!
This feels very polished for a jam game! I like the UI artwork
Very elegant and relaxing to play. The +/- indicators are a welcome addition, though they might also include a face of the class to make it easier to follow what actually changes. Love the visuals.
I love tile placement Carcassone games, thanks for making this. I find myself making these a lot too: https://cryptomnesic-softworks.itch.io/borders
As always, really enjoyed your entry Bauke. I think I'd like if there was a reference of the buildings that become available per year along with the ones you've yet to place. That would allow better planning! Really nice clean aesthetic, the little touches like UI to show the + or - were nicely polished! I enjoyed!
Pleasant, pretty polished little game. I greatly enjoyed the idea of a city builder with a balancing act like this. Artwork is really nice too! As an artist, I can appreciate when someone can make assets that are simple but still look good.
Post-Jam polish wishlist: - Group-specific "you died because they were too happy" and "you died because they were too unhappy" end screen messages - The houses of the different groups being more visually distinct at a glance - Number indicator for the approval next to the approval bar - Little icon representing the group next to the +/- indicators, for easier overview of whose favour you're gaining or losing
@hekateras Thanks for the feedback. Actually there is group specific flavor text when you die. I agree with your other suggestions.
Also two elephant avatars in a row. Achievement unlocked!
@bauke-regnerus Oh that's neat - my bad, I must have missed it. I thought I only saw the "crucified under the full moon" outcome but maybe I just kept dying to the same group :P (Also, just managed to "break the game" and beat it 8) )
Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for feedback! If you’d like to revisit the play and commentary you can view the highlight at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1448039290
Love me a city builder. Took me a little while to internalize that buildings only trigger when they're built. It was kind of neat that different buildings had different shapes. I almost want an option in the menu that shows all the buildings that exist and the probability of each coming up if they're not equal, to think about planning.
Unless there's a random element, it might be nice to just show a shadow on the power meters of "what will happen if I place this building here" to help expose the mechanics.
I could see the shape of future development with the different terrains. Not sure you needed those special buildings, but it would be interesting to see what the game is like with more variety.
Nice take on the theme, feels really polished! only small thing is that a preview of the build effect on your bar would be nice (might make it a little more puzzle like)
It was cool to see someone else also made a city-builder for this jam. The amount of polish is impressive, and I liked how you simplified traditional city-building mechanics by only providing a limited amount of choices each turn. Well done!
I have a soft spot for minimalist space limited city builders so this is exactly my jam! I really liked your art and presentations.
Some small suggestions, a visual preview of the building about to be placed would be nice, and I think you could add the effects of each building type directly on the card as it makes it easier to compare which type of building you want to place without having to click again on each card.
It would also help if the different residential zones were slightly more distinct, currently this would be very hard to play for colour blind persons!
I hope you keep updating this as I would love to play more!
Yay godot! This game looked and felt really good! Easiest way to win is just build in opposite directions, houses on one side special buildings on the other. Well done!
Very polished for a jam game! Was fun to play once I got the hang of it. Reminded me a bit of Tiny Islands. Would love to play a version that had some more variety of buildings and levels!
The mechanics are a bit confusing, especially with buildings not affecting districts which are placed after them. But I think there is potential here for a very nice puzzle game with multiple levels and preplaced districts. That aside, I really enjoyed playing (breaking) your Game, especially the 3D art.
Nice game with interesting gameplay. The graphics are neat and I like the interpretation of the theme. In contrast to some of the previous comments I do think it is the right design choice, that later placed houses do not receive the bonuses from existing buildings (even if it makes less sense). One thing I would have loved more though: Don't stop the game (at year 10 i think it was), but let the player play until the board is full.
This game certainly does bring a classic RTS vibe, however it is a pure bred puzzle game and I really enjoy it. It's a pretty sweet master mind where you play your past and future self. Love it ! Graphics are simple yet clean, very minimalistic UI... Very interested, can't wait to see what you'll do with this. I can see this being a big hit with actual tiny people running about in your city ^-^ Thank you for submitting, top 10 possible for SURE !
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my stream!
If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450167991?t=04h10m14s
Good luck on your ratings! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
Nice game! I enjoyed playing it on stream :) here's the VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1452837879
Very well done for a game jam. This is a complex game which often ends up feeling incomplete in game jams, but this works quite well. I like the art style and music. Gameplay is good, but I feel like the rule of not making people too happy is a bit weird and counter intuitive. Still, a very good entry. Good job :)
Awesome game! Super well design! I enjoyed playing it a lot!
The graphics are very good, and I liked the concept (vaguely reminds me of Reigns)... At first I found weird was that we only have information about which constructions we will place (and which of the four classes will be affected) *after* placing the classes' houses, but it's ok to learn after replaying a few times (I've managed to "break the game" on my third try :) )
This was super neat! I love the level of visual polish y'all were able to bring to the table with this one.
I also loved the multiple ways you displayed information via the UI (which townspeople would like/dislike buildings you put up), although I did find myself wanting to know some things before I committed to a decision. I never felt like I TRULY understood how much the bars would move until I placed a building, which was a little frustrating, but maybe it was also part of the learning experience you wanted the player to go through?
Regardless, this was a very novel entry, and I really enjoyed it!