FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD52 → Backyard Fruitball

Backyard Fruitball

By twchapman

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6033.2027
Fun4133.3627
Innovation2243.5826
Theme3323.8126
Graphics7012.5427
Audio4832.4525
Humor1953.4324
Mood6073.0625

Comments

twchapman 2023-01-09 04:22

Heck, I completely forgot to credit https://kenney.nl/ for the great font, it's the one part I didn't end up making!

rockford 2023-01-09 06:58

Nice idea! Fun to play. I played alone, but I get the point, should be very fun playing with a friend!

shreypatil45 2023-01-09 07:02

100/10 for the Idea of the game , i really liked it , im not sure if you intended this but it can be a really good 2 player game , BTW i can use some feedback on my game too if you have time (:

twchapman 2023-01-09 14:30

@rockford @shreypatil45 Thank you both for the kind words! I should have made this more clear, but the intent was actually for this to be a single player game where you need to manage multiple characters (but could of course be played duo if you'd prefer). I think if I were to expand it a bit, one way would be putting more thought into making it a more deliberate single-player experience.

geraldfingburke 2023-01-09 17:04

My first round, I didn't realize I was controlling both characters and could not, for the life of me, figure out what I was doing. The second go-round went a lot better. A very simple and fun idea.

twchapman 2023-01-09 17:09

@geraldfingburke Ahh I was worried about that, part of my initial plan was to have a short tutorial that gets you going but naturally the scope got cut down a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed it once you figured it out though!

luhuchiha 2023-01-09 22:42

Very good idea for the game! Trying to control 2 characters at once is a good challenge :)

twchapman 2023-01-09 22:49

@luhuchiha Thank you! I definitely wanted it to be challenging to be "good" at, but still be reasonable for a beginner.

takhomasac 2023-01-10 00:45

interesting concept! wasn't too tricky to get going, but not too easy either! overall a fun entry.

twchapman 2023-01-10 00:58

@takhomasac Thank you, glad you liked it!

monoh-behavior 2023-01-10 14:08

Simple but fun! Great work!

twchapman 2023-01-10 18:35

@monoh-behavior Thank you!

sn4pi 2023-01-10 22:05

This game has alot of potential! It reminds me of some of the old flash games where you play a 1v1 with a friend. The controls feel a bit stiff but after a bit of practice I got the hang of it!

chompdev 2023-01-10 23:46

Definitely a fun little game idea! I like how the apple's arc is a bit different every time so you have to adjust the catcher's movement on the fly. If you add more features, it'd be fun to have even more variation to fruit angles, so they might get hit really high in the air, or split in half and you'd have to catch both pieces. Great job on getting this finished, even though you weren't able to use the whole jam window!

twchapman 2023-01-11 03:50

@sn4pi Thank you! I think that's where I'd prioritize more time, making it feel a bit better to play.

@chompdev Glad you noticed! I was hoping to make it a bit more controllable actually, with like different hitboxes on the bat to send in different arcs, but didn't quite get there. Thanks for the feedback!

miolosh 2023-01-12 17:17

fun little game! I think it can be quite fun to play this with a friend. Simple but effective!

popman-yes 2023-01-12 19:17

Fun game and a cool idea but hitting the apples was inconsistent and I couldn't really predict where they were gonna go. I also probably would've liked more control over the player (strafing in the air).

roroto-sic 2023-01-12 20:50

I love this idea , it give me a good laugh ^^ !! playing solo is a bit challenging but it's possible. My hight score is 8 !! (one fruit go out of screen and the game didnt show end)

Capture d’écran 2023-01-12 214936.png

jj-cruikshanks 2023-01-13 16:46

The two player mini-game vibe made me think of old coolmathgame titles. Got to play this with my partner and it was a blast! Good call on making the apples move at different velocities cause it keeps you on your toes. One thing I thought could've been added was a border on the sides that the apples could bounce off of to keep them in bounds. Great little game!

gabrimer 2023-01-13 19:11

I think this is a very solid idea for a game! I had fun getting used to the controls and trying to get better and faster at collecting the apples. It does make me wonder how this would play out if you got a second person to control the other character too, despite that not being the point of the game. I do wish that the game had some sort of little theme to add to the experience though, but other than that, great job!

pkenney 2023-01-21 19:49

Cool core concept, and then a great clear presentation with simple effective graphics.

I think there is some dynamism missing -- my double-controlling is more like setting up and then acting, and not quite so dynamic. But maybe it would completely overwhelm to present more fluid situations, in a bad way, I'm not sure.

The batter's lack of air control did feel a bit stiff, however I would say well done on making the angle he hits the fruit at really matter, this gives a lot of feeling of control that is necessary.

Interesting entry, well done!

floke 2023-01-25 14:42

Damn, my brain melted during this. Got a score of 3, though 2 were luck.

I really like the idea!

twchapman 2023-04-24 13:54

@miolosh @popman-yes @roroto-sic @jj-cruikshanks @gabrimer @pkenney @floke Thank you all for the feedback! I stopped checking the page and didn't realize people would still be coming by 😅

If I had spent more time on the game, I did want to make the bat impact a bit more dynamic - right now it just cares about which half of the bat you hit with, to send the apple up or down. I also would have liked to have more fruit with different properties, and a bit more polish with things like the boundary not being walled off.

My original intent with the "hitter" not having air control was to simplify things so you didn't have to focus on too much, but it seems like enough people are missing that function that there would maybe be a better way to handle that.

Finally, I'm glad the game was also fun with a player two! It definitely wasn't designed around that, and it takes some of the challenge away, but it also adds player coordination which is always fun. Thanks again for the great comments everyone! I'll look to do another entry soon.