Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD53 → Crystallium
By mikoziq
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 221 | 3.47 | 186 | |
| Fun | 221 | 3.33 | 186 | |
| Innovation | 361 | 2.72 | 185 | |
| Theme | 329 | 3.30 | 186 | |
| Graphics | 64 | 4.11 | 186 | |
| Mood | 201 | 3.31 | 181 |
This is pretty slick! Feels like a mobile game I would've been way too addicted to in high school lol. Controls pretty smoothly, only issue I have is with the collisions on some of the obstacles but otherwise this is really cool. Got 35 on my first attempt
@kwiper Glad you liked it and I hope you will come back to leave the rating as well :)
As for the collissions, it's actually a bit intended, so it does not force the player out completely, but makes some funny moments as well. I've been thinking about smoothing the obstacles out, but the moment I got my van 720 into abyss I've decided to just leave it as a feature :joy:
I like it!
Nice art style!
Like the art style. Also liked that I could catch air off some obstacles unintentionally. Would be cool to have some ramps with items in the air maybe.
I love the level melting effect. The art style in general is really nice.
The graphics are amazing, and I believe this could make a great mobile game.
Nice style and melting shader. Would be cooler if the car could turn both ways, sometimes you are screwed because it isn't exactly in the center of the road and nothing can be done about it.
A hypnotic little game very fun, nice graphics and the road disolving behind you is very cool, i think having a distance meter bonus would be cool addition and having some ramp jumps for freestyle stunts would also add something extra, was the green squares boosts or delivery points, overall good game.
The graphics are really good, I love this disolving effect on the road!
Absolutely amazing visuals glowing and melting effects look awesome! It took me a couple of tries to figure out that you only have to use left and right arrows, because I expected that the buttons would steer progressively to their sides. Interesting idea!
But I think you could have let the player to press the same key multiple times, because sometimes when you get to the edge of the road and there is an obstance, there is no way how to avoid it. But overall this is a great entry, and I had a lot of fun!
I'm really liking the graphics. The dissolving level is very cool. I think I found a bug where if your on a straight stretch going left you can't turn left, and the the track is heading right you cant turn right. You can always turn at corners though. Great job!
Looks really, really good as other commenters have said!
Looks good and plays good apart from often getting stuck on objects at the edge! Really like the simplistic visuals.
Graphics are amazing, but not a huge fan of not having defined "lanes" like other infinite runners do. It seems pretty easy to be a few pixels off and collide with something, but it is a bit hard to tell with the isometric perspective. Effects are great though and would be excellent on mobile.
Beautiful game! Visuals are stunning, sfx are pleasing, music is lacking, but that's alright.
Web build started lagging a bit on lvl 2 (I played on itch), so it became close to impossible to steer it properly. Nonetheless, I had a blast playing it!
Nice game! I liked the incorporation of the crystal drop-off system and the score being on the car itself. It did take me a while to piece together how it all worked though. Some more feedback when you gather/drop-off crystals could have helped or some tutorial hints.
Pretty good game overall. Visuals are amazing but it's never said in the game that you have to press the arrow keys to move and when you collide with some objects the player gliches until you somehow get out of the situation or fall off the map. There was also a bug where the direction change SFX plays when you press the arrow key even though you are already going in that direction. But the games graphics are very charming and it would be amazing if it received some bug fixes and updates!
Very nice graphics and smooth gameplay. I would just try to distinguish the crystals which you can pick up a little bit more, I didn't notice them when I tried for the first time. Very nice entry overall!
Really fun! I managed to get 46 packages delivered before it got too fast for me haha. The whole game felt really well-packaged, and the visuals felt really cohesive. I could totally see this being a mobile game in the future. Great work!
Professional graphics and pretty fun gameplay, until I yeeted myself of the side. Great entry!
@equalenergy @teadrinker @cinterre @tumblingpuffin @yellow-attic @kgurniak91 @whizbang @castitatis @dzejpi @brandon-campbell @lee-martin-77 @krynxx @jclardy @jul-li @pianoman373 @unfinished632 @split82 @waffleworksgames @freamdev
#### Regarding movement
This is NOT a bug, and once you turned full 90 Degrees to the left or right, you cannot move more left or right. This is by design to limit the input and the complexity to appeal more like a mobile game, where you only tap the screen to move left or right.
I wanted to avoid pressing multiple times left to avoid the player vehicle to do a U turn as well :sweat_smile:
However!
I believe some of you, like @jclardy suggested, were right that usually the infinite runners do not provide such flexibility of the actual ride on the platforms and are more like arcade on-rails type of game, where you have Quick Time Events to move just left or Right on the corners. I have thought about it and decided to leave it as experiment for now :slight_smile:
#### Ramps, jumps
@cinterre - I thought about ramps, but the Player GameObject is not proppeled by any physics, therefore it would be hard for me to adapt to jumping. Probably Gaps instead of Ramps would work (great idea!)
#### Lack of 'HowTo'
@pianoman373 @unfinished632 Have you guys tried fullscreen mode? I swear there are some simple rules attached in the Main Menu (see attached Screenshot). But Maybe it wasn't too clear :sweat_smile: Thank you for pointing it out!
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Once I got another batch of reviews, I'll check who I haven't rated back from you guys :)
On a late note... Have any of you beaten a Dev Score? :point_down: :smirk:
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Great twist on zigzag runner mobile games. And looks sick, well done. Think it would be more fun if collectibles were spread denser
@kirkami Thanks for playing! Well... Eeach level is automatically generated and tiles have specific % chance to spawn as collectible tile. Sometimes you get 5 in a row, sometimes you're stuck for 15 seconds chillin :smile:
Actual percentage to spawn on a straight (either left or right):
1. Straight tile - ~52% 2. Pickup tile (blue)- ~18% 3. Obstacle_1 - ~12% 4. Obstacle_2 - ~12% 5. Drop-point (green) - ~6%
Enjoyed this one, really like she shader for the floor tiles dissolving. Good job :)
Great art! The controls are a bit weird at first, but felt good once I got the hand of it. However the game felt slow for a runner, yet not that easy. Maybe make the physic more forgiving and increase the move speed for a better game feel. Also I'm not sure that obstacle work very well with this gameplay, as you can't really avoid them once you are engaged on a road segment.
Nice job, the crystals remind me of the undersea Lego sets of my childhood.
I like the graphics. Overall the gameplay feels nice. Good work!
I love the graphics. Those melting tiles are awesome.
However, I think you let the gameplay suffer too much in favor of the graphics. The turning felt clunky, and the collision felt really off sometimes too. I'd suggest focusing on a satisfying gameplay first, then add fancy graphics afterwards if you have some time left. I made the exact same mistake, too (with less awesome graphics).
Cute art and music. At other things I found it boring and non unique. Also annoying thing with obstacles that absolutely like them just add and forgot add functionality. Also in color palette no highlight for things what you collect and same thing with score, that IMHO needs like YOUR SCORE IS and not this small num on the truck. Also I was annoyed by thing that you cant FREELY rotates on the road line. And at all as for me game not feels very polished
Graphics are stunning, really impressive you made this for a game jam. The attention to detail is great. Solid Entry
@drunkardwolf Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
@thetatautau Thanks! HAve you managed to get to more difficulty levels? There is 5 with 2-5 being significantly more 'speedy' than initial level. Based on how random level is generated, you may have been unlucky to not get collectibles that fast :) You're also another person to say that obstacles are bad. Should I consider just pushing the player into the track once encounter the obstacle (smooth the collider)? That's very easy to do.
@daniel-gelband Thanks for playing! Which set was it? I may have remember it :id:
@synthol Glad you liked it!
@floke I have already mentioned my movement decision in the biggest comment just somewhere above yours. It's deliberate and was supposed to be more rails-like and mobile-like. However, giving a bit too much of movement freedom instantly gave the issue of colliding. I am not able to change it now, but I am happy that I took this turn and learned a lesson :slight_smile:
@asasin56 Wow! A perfect example of `there's as many opinions as people`, and I say it in a good way! I like downright critisism rather than candy eye comments. May I ask how many retries you did? TBH, the scoring UI came as last-minute decision as I was never good in doing UI/UX. I should have probably put on what the numbers actually mean in the description :slight_smile: Glad you enjoyed the aesthetics tho!
So just to satisfy the semi-question here: The number on the top of the Vehicle tells you the **difficulty level** you're currently on. The number on the back doors is the **amount of crystals deposited overall**, whereas the **DPS-XXX** thing on the bumper is the crystals that you currently have on you, but not deposited yet
@enver-arco thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed it. If you were to put one thing out, what was your favourite thing?
The left-right setup for an endless runner feels a bit dubious at its core, as the limits on actions (can only turn left if you're going up to the right, and vice versa) feel very restrictive. That said, this is still a great entry for this jam. The way the levels fade out and the whole art setup is very nice! Good work!
This is a great entry! Extra props definitely to the graphics: it's a gorgeous, creepy "low-fi" look you have there. Definitely seems like the kind of thing that would do well on mobile. The restrictions around being able to turn left and right seem a bit dubious, given the "not-quite-on-rails" aspect of the road, but it still played well, and losing was fun and hilarious. Watching my van go off the edge in fun ways got a couple of chuckles from me. Since you opted out of the audio category, I won't comment except to say that the turn noise got old quick. :sweat_smile: Anyways, well done! :tada:
at first i thought to my self, man this would be better with proper grid movement. then after playing for a bit i was like, ok the no grid thing is fine, adds to the insanity :D
Highlight: Art style
Lowlight: Physics glitches
A really fun and addicting game to play. The biggest thing that stood out to me is the art, specifically the crystals with the bloom effect and the draping purple floor as it vanishes. The gameplay loop is satisfying though I was confused on my first run as to which crystals I was supposed to collect as I tried running over the ones on the corners. I found the presentation of the score to be a very innovative approach. My one criticism is the physics "glitches" as it doesn't fit with the gameplay where the vehicle is flat on the ground all of the time and then goes flying into the air. Personally, I'd rather have a game over when hitting an obstacle rather than that physics craziness. All in all, a really fun game that I could definitely see fitting in as a mobile game.
@mikoziq The Aquanauts series! Great memories aquanauts.jpg
Okay this is really clever. I like how the whole HUD and information for the player is displayed on the van. It looks great, controls wonderfully too! I'm just really bad at video games it seems hehe!
this game is beautifully presented and a delightful iteration of a classic runner concept! i got to about 106 before calling it, since i think i could have gone on a lot longer haha, but i was having a lot of fun with it. the physics interaction that happens when you hit an obstacle is hilarious & works really well for the player, not sure how you did it but it works very well. great job!
Beautiful game,It would be better if the level rise up quickly.
simple but fun, and the graphics are great too. Good job!
Such a fun game! The rotation sfx sounds a bit strange to me, and also it would be nice to have some music, but otherwise than that - this is an amazing game
@mikoziq 4 maybe 5. As for me this is really felt boring game(maybe because I m not huge fan of mobile games)
The best graphics\art that i've seen so far here. Good job👍
Fun, simple and elegant. Kind of wish there was some form of background track that could match the aesthetics to really drive home the immersion. Difficulty ramping up sooner would also be nice, game gets really fun at higher difficulties/speeds, but it takes so long to reach that stage.
I think it has some potential, the artstyle is neat and the gameplay is simple, but it just gets really boring quite soon. There really is no difficulty without any obstacles or precise movement (and I think I played for a decent chunk of time too) especially with only being able to move in two directions. I think it would've been vastly improved if you could freely rotate the vehicle and the roads were more curved and varied and had more obstacles, but I guess that's the limitation of only 2 days and only one person. Not bad still
Great game, with plenty of potential for more. Nice aesthetic, just needs some music. It was fun to play, I enjoyed it, though it did get a bit repetitive after a while. Overall, nicely done! :)
Awesome visuals and mood. The gameplay is simple and fun, but a little repetitive.
PD: 39; CDS-004; MDL: 4! It started to be fun after I reached certain speed! :-) Not bad at all for COMPO GAME. There are a few things that could be more polished but that's OK. Good job!
Good game, I would have liked to see the physics integrated with game play e.g. jump ramps.
nice simple game, feels as it is a mobile game. the main mechanic is polished but kind of boring, i wish there was more variet not only in what the player can do, but also on the map itself. the art is cute and i feel like with the right soundtrack this game would feel nice to play
Wow extremely juicy polished game. This can easily be a demo for sucessful mobile game. Simple addictive fun
Really good looking game! It was fun to play as well, the controls remind me a bit of snake. Great job!
I really enjoyed playing this game, it was really hard after it started speeding up, I had a particular tough time because I do not have the most powerful computer so for a while the games was laggy but still playable. I enjoyed my time playing the game and it is really well designed! Keep up the good work!
Wow, this game looks so slick, like it's straight out of the app store. I found it got more and more fun as it sped up and I really appreciated the forgiving physics. Nice work!
Love the graphics! I really enjoyed playing your game.
Fun game really liked how all UI was on the truck cool touch nice job!
So far one of the most beautiful games on this jam graphic-wise!
This is really amazing! Great artwork.
Hahahh really nice and funny game! I like it so much
I'm try as much as possible but dead after stucking in crystal xd изображение_2023-05-02_221940972.png
THank you for cool experience! Great job👍
Super clean game ! The design are really good, I would love a catchy music with this ! UI on point. I'm sure you thought about this so why two buttons instead of one ? was it easier to play with left right than juste a change side ? I'm guessing if you pushing this to android a one button game would be easier.
Also a bit boring after level 5, maybe it would be better if the progression was infinite ?
Super entry for this jam anyway ! Good job !
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I loved the van physics!
I really like the blocky look of the game, visually very charming. I just felt some of the obstacles could be a bit more clear from the start, at first I tried running into the smaller crystal obstacle, the clearer one. But once you run into them you learn anyway.
The sound effects are alright, though I really missed some background music for this one.
The simple controls make for a rather slow start, once you lose at higher difficulties it feels so sluggish to retry. On difficulty 4 though things really start to get hectic. I laughed when the van started climbing crystals in high speed and flying around. It also feels rather satisfying when it floats around but still manages to land on the terrain and continue.
Only in full screen I managed to actually see the information in the bumper.
Managed to deliver 32 crystals. Thanks for this one!
Really sleek game! The Sfx were really wonderful, and the generated levels really kept me replaying it. Great work. I was a bit confused at the start, and kept trying to pick up the blue doodad crystals on the edges, haha.
Crystal.png
Died on purpose because it was starting to get boring haha
really clean, but there should have been more levels after 5 so that at some point it does get to hard to continue :)
really liked the asthetics :)
Funny idea with good graphics. I like the movement style of car. I have some problem with triangle, when you hit it car stuck and you can only fall down and try again. The souls you collect can look different than blue stone crystal which are obstacles.
I didn't fully understand the purpose and there were times when I bumped into obstacles and didn't die but still a good job
The art style, color and 3d models are spot on! The animation of the dissolving road is so cool! I just had art time to figured out that the souls are the crystals but I managed to get to level 4 on the first try. i just whished for more obstacle or something new after the first couples of levels. I also loved the interface integrated in the level and truck, it is a nice touch that makes the game even better :thumbsup:
The game is just super fun and well polished. Amazing work !
This was pretty fun after I realized what was going on. Good ramp-up of the speed! The longer I played, the better it felt. Smooth and clean interface, and I really like the lighting on the crystals.
Super nice game ! I love the graphics and the endless challenge, I really wanted to have some music on top of this to make it perfect ^^
Nice!
Nice game with really good graphics would have been better with music and better sound effects.
The aesthetic of the game is nice. I like the perspective a lot and the assets look great, too. Im not entirely sure how I feel about the turning mechanic, since 1 button press without further input is exactly a 90° turn, but you don't stick to a grid. And for my slow-*** reaction times going left-right-left-right fast to not go in 90° increments is not really controllable. But I do like the physics interactions with the environment so a grid would be out of the question probably. I think for my preference the turns would need to have smaller ° increments. But that's personal preference for the most part. The UI on the truck is a clever idea. The delivery to the green pads could use some extra visual feedback though, I think. It took me like 3 deliveries to realize I am actually delivering something. Maybe a more visible punch on the numbers or something. Overall, this is a very solid submission. Well done!
Really nice entry! One thing that confused me was that the obstacles and the collectibles have exactly the same color, it took me a couple tries until I stopped bumping into random objects trying to collect them.
Also the green deposit place confused me for a bit. Now that I've played for a bit I think it only works if you have enough gems collected, but at first I though I was just missing it or it was bugged. Maybe it should have some indication. :)
Lovely art, I really liked the dissolve effect and the colours were nice and creative. The gameplay starts out a bit slow, but once it speeds up it is more fun!
Cool game! art looks cool. Reminds me of an old mobile game 'Zigzag' by ketchapp. GG!
Nice game. Fun to play and looks good! I also liked the idea to put the level number on the truck. :) Would have been nice with some music.
Nice effects and simple gameplay. I wish I knew where all these goods were actually being delivered :p
Gameplay is simple, the controls are smooth, I love the way progression is displayed on the truck. But man, the sprites, the shaders and the way the level "collapses"... it's sooo pretty ! The atmosphere is lit thanks to little details
super cute and addicting game! Excellent use of shaders too! Plus, the movement was super satisfying and smooth
I had a problem on my first attempt where I didn't see a deposit area until relatively late, so I instantly upgraded to level 4, which was super jarring. The deposit areas were more consistent in my second attempt, but I was super confused for a bit! I think a more gradual speed increase when you level up could be helpful.
It was a bit unintuitive that the crystals seemed to be both collectible and obstacles, but I enjoyed the art-style!
I wish the speed of a car was faster in the beginning! Love the fade-out effect you made for the platforms.
love the idea and execution is top notch, it is quite simple but addicting like others suggested i think boosters and or gaps would be awesome, as well as maybe some crystals spawning in places other than the center of the road would incentivize me to swever a bit more and go for more challenging crystals (maybe the ones closer to the edge are worth more) lovely game! congrats
I really miss some music here but great style and mood! The gameplay is simple but on point.GJ!
I liked the overall polish, however not much is going on in the game. The color palette is nice. The game feels a bit slow for my taste. Nice entry nevertheless.
Excellent job on the art and VFX. I think you chose the perfect colour palette. Gameplay was simple but fun, I do wish the van could turn both ways with more obstacles in the middle of the road. As others have remarked, it looks and feels like a ready-to-play mobile game! Fantastic job, well done :)
I really like how the platforms behind the car disappear and I can't even play properly, it's very beautiful. But after the second level, this is no longer visible, and I was able to spend a couple of tens of minutes playing very well. Cool done!
Outstanding art and especially UI design, really like how the score is implemented into the game world. Also very smooth and quick controls. Somehow managed to jump around with my car while driving and barely made the turn, had a lot of fun. Well done!
Great submission!
I quite like the minimalistic feel to it, the art fits so well. I think you can get into a groove and play this for a long time. It's fun just swirling around collecting souls.
This is a neat little infinite runner game! Everything, from the controls to the graphics, is simple yet well-polished. I was a bit confused at first about which crystals were soul crystals and which were just obstacles, and died immediately on my first two runs as a result, but once I encountered an *actual* soul crystal on my third run, it was immediately obvious. My best was 32 but I'm sure I could get further with practice. Good job!
Graphics are quite nice and controls feel really smooth, especially how the platforms disappear behind you and how the crystals glow. It does get repetitive, but I guess that comes with being an endless runner. Despite that, it was weirdly addicting! I can see this being on the app store
I really like the effect on the tiles when they fade out. I also really like your unique way of communicating to the player their score and difficulty level. Good job!
I really liked the style and atmosphere that you achieved, the only thing that was frustrating for me is that the van did not have all the movements available since at certain times it was impossible to accommodate it on the road, maybe it was intentional but it was difficult for me enjoy also having several obstacles. It would be a great mobile game if it had all the possible moves. Great job! Congratulations! xD
Very simple and fun game. But what is eatable is not very clear for me. I enjoy riding, and speeding. Good job! Welcome to play my game either.
Another great submission from MikoziQ. Have a great ludum dare! :)
nice game! I got stuck a few times near some of the obstacles. When i reached level 3 speed, coming head-on with an obstacle (i think some blue spikey shard) sent me flying above lol. Fun game!
Great game! The gameplay is a lot of fun and has great replayability. The graphics are very sleek. It wasn't super clear to me what the different items/zones I could run into were doing, so I might suggest adding a label or something in-game to make that clearer if you wanted to keep working on this game. Awesome job and thanks for sharing!
My sincere apologies for not rating many of your games (yet). The birch pollen allergy is taking a heavy toll on me and I can barely think. I will rate back as many games as possible during next 2 weeks :heart:
Thank you for the bottom of my heart that I got so many reviews. It feels like I'm on a good track.
I'll catch you later this weekend :video_game:
Small and simple game with a really good challenge and polished gameplay. Well done.
Nice graphics, but it gets a little boring after a bit.
Really nice game!
Very enjoyable, sound affects were nice and loved how the van did a spin and fell when I hit the crystals a couple times.
Nice game, pleasant to look at and fun. Sometimes I got stuck and could do nothing. I missed A/D controls. :)
Very cute game! I absolutely love the visuals, they're definitely the strong suit of this entry. The content was unfortunately a bit lacking, but of course that is to be expected from a single-person compo. If you expand this post-jam, it could be a really slick little mobile game!
Cool entry. The game gets pretty intense at level 5. I found the start screen to have no text or indication how to transition to the game, only a blue screen. Not a huge issue but I was waiting for he screen to either go away on its own or tell me to press something (like it does for space bar). I found the controls bit weird for locking steer to one side only. I think I understand the design choice but now there is no way to correct over steering.
Good job!
Nice compo game ! Great visual and shader of vanishing road! My best score:
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Graphics were simple, but used very effectively. This game was surprisingly zen. I zoned out a bit while playing and my mind wandered off. I snapped back to reality when all of a sudden my difficulty just spiked. I think I had a bunch of crystals and they all got dropped off at once. The simple left/right control scheme was very easy to pick up.
Love this entry... it's very unique compared to the other entries I've rated (we'll including my own). It's soothing and hectic. It has a coherent look and it plays well. Sounds fit the look of the game. Overall - very good job on this one. Don't really have any criticism.
Would have liked it better if there were different pickups and you went faster from the start but solid submission for compo! Also, surprisingly good graphics :clap:
Hi! The controls were great and the graphics were really pleasant.
But I have to say that it lacks gameplay and a bit of challenge, and the sound played when the car turns is annoying.
Overall, the game is well made! Good job!
Very nice game! A little too easy, especially at the beggining. I didn't understand why sometimes i could steer my car and sometimes not.
Damn that's one aesthetic game, took a while to understand the controls but it was pretty Zen-like when I got the hang of it! The diegetic UI was a really nice touch, the whole game almost looks like a well designed poster.
Here's my final score:
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Nice game! looks really good! I loved the controls from the start and did not bother me at all! Kinda more unique in that way! Really dig the how the ground is disappearing! game is simple but did not affect my enjoyment of it :3
It's quite pleasant to play, I would have liked more sound atmosphere, the mood of the game is quite chill it's cool, and the dissolution shader really makes it pleasant to watch to see the road disappear behind you
Once I got the hang of it was quite pleasant. Just needed some more variety and perhaps a music track. The collision feature was great, I did some flips in the air and managed to get back on track :D.
As a fellow Ludum Dare entrant, I just played Crystallium and was blown away by its clever puzzle mechanics and charming pixel art style. The game challenges you to use your wits and strategy to navigate through a series of increasingly complex levels, each with its own unique twists and turns. The controls are tight, the sound effects are spot on, and the overall presentation is top-notch. I highly recommend giving this game a try and supporting the talented developer behind it. And while you're at it, why not check out my own Ludum Dare entry as well?
It's cute, simple, yet highly addictive!
One of the best compo entry i played. Great Work !
Nice game. I like the aesthetics. It's fun to have some physics applied to the truck. Well done!
Interesting game! Perfect graphics! But there are some bugs with movement (can't rotate the Van).