bozzwtf 2022-10-04 14:04
Interesting - great music and sfx.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD51 → Thoughts
By crazyrems, jane-pr, Celthim, Parfione Rogojine and question
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 589 | 3.50 | 34 | |
| Fun | 934 | 2.96 | 34 | |
| Innovation | 224 | 3.75 | 36 | |
| Theme | 813 | 3.41 | 36 | |
| Graphics | 159 | 4.25 | 36 | |
| Humor | 298 | 3.39 | 34 | |
| Mood | 343 | 3.70 | 36 |
Interesting - great music and sfx.
I love the monster designs and how they represent different issues we are facing right now, also a very creative use of the theme!
A lovely diamond in the rough, I see a lot of potential in this one! The topics discussed are more nuanced than the dialogs written in the game would allow, but completely understand how that can be with the time limits of the jam. LOVED the character designs, slightly confused with the system at first, but I can see this as being something very thought-provoking with given enough time and polish! Well done to everyone for the work done on this jam~ :3
played on stream! I think this game is well done with a positive message :)
Very nice game! The artwork is phenomenal!
The gameplay was pretty interesting, it was cool to explore the thoughts and unlock combos.
Final boss was a little weird? Was a little anticlimactic since it didn't really use the regular game mechanics and combos, was basically just a cutscene.
Art was fantastic, Had much fun :D
Hey, I enjoyed playing this on stream! Here's a link of the VOD that will be up for the next week or so: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1610268632?t=00h19m20s
I loved the depth to this game and the character designs. It was certainly an ambitious jam game and you all managed to deliver something really unique. It was a little slow to get going, but once it did I was really eager to dig into all the systems and dialogue to see how combos and exploring different thoughts would change my character. Thanks for the neat game!
I really loved the message at the end of the game, but also just all the serious topics we had to think on throughout the game. Absolutely LOVED all the monster designs - they were so creative and fun.
I really like your character designs, very imaginative
The characters look great, and the warping animation style works surprisingly well.
The setting works super well, but the gameplay is so-so.
I don't understand why there needs to be a time limit, and I kind of wish there were more difficult ethical dilemmas. Right now it feels like a pretty straight-forward good-against-evil thing. It ends up feeling a bit black-and-white, or a bit strawman argument-y.
Still, I had fun beating up transphobic monsters with *rhetorics*.
Amazing entry for a jam!
The best verbal fight I've ever seen! Like for a bunch of animated monsters with a unique appearance and their own character!
I agree that there is uniqueness in this. Once we did abusive fights. But we looked at them from a different angle than you.
The end boss was well done! The thoughts mechanic was by far my favorite part of the game. I was kind of sad that the end boss ended the game since I wanted to keep unlocking more thoughts; it was an engaging way to add a sense of a storyline into the gameplay.
The dialogue conflicts ended up getting a bit repetitive towards the end, unfortunately. I think having the encounters have a single strength/weakness made it easier to spam click and ignore combos -- shuffling them around mid-fight might have made it more dynamic maybe? The character designs were all pretty cool as well.
I'm really impressed given that this was a game jam game! There was so much content and different mechanics that were all pretty well fleshed out.
Wow, really really cool. One of my favorites so far for sure!
The final fight with the mirror was so well done :)
I've played through the game and read some of the feedback already posted here and I'm not sure if I can find anything more to add, but I'll try.
The monster designs are truly great, both the visual representations, the things that they say are well conected to their vibe, and names are clever, some more straight forward than others, some were more "hidding in the plain sight" kind of thing (for example the Jeff Musk - I'm sorry, Muskos, greed monster ;)). Even though I'm a fan of vampires, The Law takes the cake for me, it's so simple yet so clever, best monster for me for sure, almost felt bad to defeat those lovely eyes.
I see this game more as an experience or a statement, than a game to be 100% fair, as the gameplay aspect didn't really drive me crazy. As others already mentioned, it's easy to ignore combos (although using combos is beneficial for sure) and just spam the weakness. Time constraint, while being enforced by the theme given, was counterintuitive to me, because I wanted to read what I or the monster said, but I had to rush through the dialogue to win the argument. Thematically it could also be a double-edged sword, as it might be interpreted by some that the things we say in the game are just first things that came to our minds instead of actually thinking about it and we blurted out the lines without, ironically much thought. Sometimes, when I actually read what the text boxes were saying I was surprised with some dialogues, as "empathy" lines were sometimes on par with "intimidation" in terms of their sharpness. I'll get to gameplay in a bit, but the idea (or atleast my interpretation of it) was well executed in my opinion nonetheless, as I felt that it showed how a person grows by having (in this case very though and harsh) conversations with others and how reflecting on those experiences can help us understand ourselves and prepare better for situations that the world will throw our way.
Back to the gameplay part though, what came to my mind instantly when I saw the interface were three games, I'm pretty sure it's not surprising that I thought of Undertale and Oh Sir! The Insult Simulator, but there is also one less known game that is based on conversation-combat that is not that well known is Last Word (available on steam), I would suggest giving it a try (nobody paid me for that :D) if You didn't yet, as it may fit your liking and maybe inspire you a little bit if you decide to go forward with Thoughts after the jam. All three games that I mentioned deal with their combat in a different way, but share the underlying idea with Thoughts, atleast in my opinion. I'm a big fan of games that have a meaning, but I'm also a sucker for stupid fun and dripping juice in games, so I would love to see your game's gameplay evolve to carry the message further.
Visually of course the game is good, already mentioned enemy designs are superb, audio aspect also holds itself to a high standard. Overall the game makes me nostalgic towards classic flash games that I enjoyed as a kid, which is a plus for me for sure.
Cheers!
The character design is really really awesome!
I love the game visually but it hurts me that I'm incentivised to rush through it. I really want to ge the message. Maybe the theme hurt it more than guided it.
I gave some feedback during the stream, but to sum it up. this is a really interesting game, and I love that experimental nature of ludumdare. there are few games that dare to make a statement one way or another. I think you have some really interesting ideas and mechanics that could be explored here. While the game is 'on theme' imo the game would be better if you left the theme alone (I feel had the same issue tbh) so I could spend more time/attention on engaging with the content.
The use of disco elysium-like thoughts was really cool! I thought the combos could've been more evenly distributed. I went straight for the high concept stuff like questioning my gender and I don't think I got quite the intended experience with my unlocked combos. The art and writing was really really cool, though like others I feel like in particular, the small text wasn't something I could really engage with. My partner also thought some of the text could be better expressed, in particular the "monster lives matter" being a "bad" thing didn't really land.
I absolutely LOVED this game! So much I had to play it more than once and I totally cried while playing it live. Thank you for making something that spoke to me so strongly and covered a lot of the struggle I've been through in my life just because you must have been through the same sort of things yourselves! I eagerly wait to see what other games you'll all make in the future. Thank you again!
Pretty neat idea for the game. I like the Disco Elysium vibes and 'research' of thoughts. And the enemy design and animation is really well done. The theme usage is counter to the spirit of the game, as it pushes you to skimp through dialogue. The optimal gameplay seems to be to just mash the button with the weakness of each enemy, unless I am missing something.
The characters, visuals, and dialog were all really awesome! It got a little repetitive just pressing the same button a bunch and I think the combo system was a good way to remedy this, but I didn't really get combos until halfway through it seemed. I think I could get them faster with another playthrough and better planning but I think it would be cool to see how each thought branches so you can plan that from the beginning maybe. The system itself is really cool and the boss especially being yourself and that you have to weaken it then hit it with some empathy is pretty clever and wholesome. Well done!