FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD52 → Jack-O-Bowl

Jack-O-Bowl

By machino

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall7602.7625
Fun7382.6025
Innovation4053.2926
Theme8082.1426
Graphics4873.4326
Audio1.4513
Humor5342.5422
Mood7162.8126

Comments

zeichn 2023-01-10 19:47

How do you play this? What is the goal?

chompdev 2023-01-10 20:30

Interesting idea! I like the low-res aesthetic and darkness with other bowling areas just barely visible in the distance. Looks like the map is procedurally generated? I fell off the edge and when I respawned, all the lanes were different. I think it also generated a new map when I walked far enough away from the bowling area. Are there objectives, or is it more of a bowling physics sandbox?

machino 2023-01-11 05:04

@zeichn There isn't really a goal besides survive from the oncoming candy corn pins by bowling the ball at them(hold and release left click on jack-o-lantern).

machino 2023-01-11 05:35

@chompdev The map is procedurally generated but it only regenerates when you lose which happens when enough candy corn pins reach your base and the only objective currently is to survive.

reflextions 2023-01-13 04:49

Liminal AF. Needs some gameplay feedback but interesting idea.

machino 2023-01-13 05:20

@reflextions Thanks! I do wish I had just a bit more time to add some of that feedback and polish.

evilscotsman 2023-01-13 06:59

Very cool aesthetic. I'm not sure the upgrades work though? It's hard to tell. Really interesting idea.

stormcat 2023-01-13 12:49

Cool game! I found it a bit hard to throw the pumpkins as the mouse sensitivity was very high, but the art style was awesome, asbolutely props for that. It could do with some in-game instructions but overall I liked it. Good job!

tinykidtoo 2023-01-13 18:26

I found the pumpkins very hard to percisely bowl. The pickup often would place the pumpkin in a less than desired position or it would clip with the wall around the ball return, dropping it. Once I figured out how to roll them and practiced a bit with the controls I was able to start getting them rolling in the right direction. I think the concept is an interesting one, and had fun once I got the hang of it. The homing upgraded seemed to help too.

machino 2023-01-13 18:30

@evilscotsman Thanks! Unfortunately didn't have time to finish implementing the upgrades.

@stormcat Thanks, I completely agree with your feedback!

@tinykidtoo Yah I didn't really have time for some much needed quality of life improvements but I'm glad you liked it!

0x01f0 2023-01-14 10:06

* I love games with halloween themes so it was an instant pick for me :D

* The PSX graphics are nice!

* Interesting to imagine a whole level as bowling lanes, it's a bit dreamlike. :)

* I managed to survive quite a while, I would probably have progress better if I wasn't using a trackpad.

Nice work!

malibaturhan 2023-01-14 16:24

cool game, liked the graphics. corns can be little funny too

jk5000 2023-01-15 08:30

The idea is fun, but for me the controls is not the best for bowling. The visuals is pretty good. Overall a interesting little jam game.

bezbiletnym 2023-01-22 11:44

Very cool idea and visuals! Controls are a little bit hard and I'd like to see some more UI on the screen.

Good job!

fuzzyat 2023-01-26 18:49

I like the idea and the atmosphere with your game. Good job. Throwing with first person camera controls is always awkward, so you definitely chose a difficult control scheme. But props for trying something interesting.

ava-skoog 2023-01-27 18:45

Fun idea that looks nice and definitely could've been something with more polish I think 😁

Felt unfinished with no audio (at least on web but I see you didn't opt out of the audio category, so maybe there's audio in the native Windows version which I unfortunately can't play?) and upgrades that (at least visually) didn't do anything like the scythes and the bombs.

But the actual concept is great and fits decently into the theme without being obvious, and the graphics are quite nice. Liked the variation in pumpkins. Upgrades were cool. How many of them actually worked? 😮

Controllers at least for me felt too sensitive and I think pumpkin physics should've been turned off until it left your grip so you couldn't bump it on stuff on the way to the lane. I think this game probably didn't need to let you move so freely at all; you could've just been placed in the middle and rotated between lanes and then have run-up be done automatically as part of charging when holding a button maybe?

All in all, nice base for something cool, just needs more work and polish~ 🎃

flauschzelle 2023-01-27 19:28

I didn't get the hang of the controls... at first I tried to throw the pumpkins while standing still, but they just dropped to the floor. Then I thought I probably have to move to throw them, but after I moved away from the start point where the pumpkins are stored, I couldn't find it again and just walked around getting hit by the enemies O.o

At some point, this menu popped up seemingly at random:

Bildschirmfoto 2023-01-27 um 20.20.30.png

mark-winter 2023-01-27 19:39

Incredible looking game! Other than that, the controls were very unclear and the objective also unclear. Also, this may have been on my end, but the look sensativity was uncomfortably high. A little bit of tutorial goes a long way!