pie0 2023-01-10 15:16
Cool game and the graphics are really neat. It may be a bit difficult to realize one has to stamp on the plants :sunflower:.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD52 → Plantus Infestantibus
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 638 | 3.13 | 21 | |
| Fun | 591 | 3.00 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 576 | 3.00 | 21 | |
| Theme | 456 | 3.63 | 21 | |
| Graphics | 283 | 3.86 | 21 | |
| Audio | 2 | |||
| Mood | 599 | 3.08 | 20 |
Cool game and the graphics are really neat. It may be a bit difficult to realize one has to stamp on the plants :sunflower:.
I really like it! I'm impressed how varied the ideas of some of these games are, and I love the setting/premise of yours. One mark of a good game is that you start playing and within seconds, after minimal experimentation you know exactly what you're meant to be doing, and your game achieves that.
On top of that, lovely pixel art, nice sound. Fun!
Only criticism is that the camera is too zoomed in, it's hard to get an idea of where you're meant to be going next, also would like to run faster. Other than that, really great job, especially if you're new to Unity :)
Very clever and innovative idea! Its like a bullet hell, but you need to touch enemies to defeat them. I think the game would feel better if the player was faster and the plants gave a clear indication that they are about to shoot, with that a more agressive playstyle would be possible and the pacing game would be faster.
I love how simple the premise of this is - the bullet hell but you need to get close to the enemies to defeat them is super interesting. I could see some really cool design coming out of something like that. Nice work!
This was so much fun! Only small feedback I had was making the camera movements a bit faster as I felt like the camera was dragging and I was at the edge of the screen all the time. Otherwise, loved the graphics and feel of this game. SO GOOD
I think it could use some simple tutorial, cause it's hard to realize what you have to do at first, cause it just jumps into the action. Also a good indication of where plant wants to shoot would be nice to make it clear what you are actually avoiding. Also making plants a bit smarter and stratigic with their shots cause it happened quite a lot that they just shot the wall so there is no threat at all. But quite neat idea for a bullet hell or a nice mobile game, keep it up!
Really love the animations, so nice.
I also like your interpretation of the theme, unique but very thematic.
I really liked the game- I wish the theme would last longer because it encouraged me to play. Love the art work and once you understand how to "harvest" plants is really fun! I would suggest on checking coalitions on objects and randomize the pieces of the break gross sound effect. Nice job!!
Fun gameplay loop and clean graphics. I actually liked the zoomed-in camera because it adds to the difficulty. I think there should be an animation or sound effect when the plants are about to shoot. Great job overall!
Love the visuals, would love for a future iteration of the main game loop where the different types of plants would build/mix into character power ups or bonuses for an end game score. The soundtrack was catchy and never felt repetitive or annoying with my 10-ish minutes of playing. Good job.
So I played this game for maybe 20 minutes, and gave it around 8 attempts. The highest round I managed to get to was round 11.
I think my main thought is that the game is way too hard. And I think there are a lot of factors into why it is hard, and I want to talk about some of them.
First and foremost is that there simply is no real way to know when a plant will shoot. The only way to tell is based on kind of gauging how long it's been since it last shot, but this is imprecise. More importantly, however, when staying a safe distance from the plants, there is actually very little time to close in on them for the kill between attacks. This is especially bad with the initial green plants, which in my opinion might be the most dangerous enemy in the game.
In particular, if there is a large group of plants, and their timers are not all in phase, there is essentially no actual period of time where it is safe to approach. The only strategy is to walk over and pray that any plant that does shoot will happen to shoot away from you.
For this reason, I actually think one huge improvement would be to simply make plants always shoot in a fixed direction. That way, when approaching a group of plants, you could simply pay attention to which areas were going to be dangerous, and route your way around them.
And, just to emphasize this point a little more: 2 of my reasonably good runs were ended by a green plant that shot me in the face. My best run was ended by a yellow plant that did the same thing. It's just so easy to misjudge when their next shot is, and if they happen to shoot in the wrong direction, it's game over.
One other important mechanic that I think contributes to the difficulty is the camera. In particular, it is actually not possible to see very much in the direction that you're moving... which makes it very difficult to know what plants are up ahead and when they are shooting. This is mitigated to some degree in the later game, because the direction of bullets flying past you indicates where the plant came from (especially with the blue plants, where the bullets triangulate it, maybe..?), but it is still somewhat frustrating. I find myself sort of walking in steps to let the camera catch up.
Now, despite all this difficulty, I did end up having a bit of fun in my best run. It is actually a really satisfying gameplay loop to try to kill enemies who can shoot at you just by touching them. It has those nice dodging moments from bullet hells, and I think it is more interesting to have to literally go up to the enemy than it is to just shoot at them back. I think that this core gameplay can be quite addicting, especially, perhaps, with fairer enemies.
Of course, the difficulty can be fun in this as well... I think part of the joy of reaching round 11 and doing relatively well throughout that run was that my previous best run was round 8. It is fun to excel at the game.
Another fun component is the random layout of enemies. Although this can result in unfair patterns, there is one additional fun component--trying to notice where enemies are spawning in, and then killing them right at the beginning of the round before they have a chance to attack, is satisfying, and provides a nice contrast to the more cautious approach that the rest of the game requires.
So, overall, I think you have a fun idea here -- a good twist on the bullet hell genre. It's just so difficult--and difficult in an RNG-way, rather than a skill-way, that it is hard (for me at least) to commit to the 20-round grind, especially starting from the beginning each time.
As others have noted, there are some issues with the way the difficulty is balanced and the lack of telegraphing for enemy attacks, but this game was still very fun to play nontheless (I got to level 13 before I decided to give up) The visuals are cool too, I think you've really nailed the scientist's sprite!
I don't think I can add much to what others have pointed out before. Showing where enemies will attack would be a huge help. Getting reset to level 1 on hit is quite punishing.
Otherwise the game looks great and it all fits! I also love the plants vs zombies reference on the first plant.
A bit of polish and this could be really great. Well done!