Foon →
Ludum Dare Explorer →
LD53 →
soul sender
soul sender
By aushijo
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 826 | 3.35 | 67 | |
| Fun | 737 | 3.27 | 68 | |
| Innovation | 761 | 3.13 | 67 | |
| Theme | 911 | 3.51 | 67 | |
| Graphics | 553 | 3.73 | 68 | |
| Audio | 614 | 3.06 | 64 | |
| Humor | 792 | 2.73 | 63 | |
| Mood | 945 | 3.08 | 63 | |
Comments
It took me a little while to get the hang of the objectives in the game but after a few attempts, I managed to collect 5 people. It might be good to explain how to play the game here on LD (collect heart -> then collect old person, avoid happy people)
The driving controls took some getting used to but were interesting. It became too challenging together with the short time available when I got unlucky and a heart spawn right next to two happy people. I think either allowing for a bit more maneuverability (smaller turning radius) or more time would be good.... or the spawning of hearts and old people should avoid sectors with happy people as much as possible. You could divide the area into a grid and only consider squares that have the lowest occupancy number as potential spawn places. Then the hearts and old people could spawn at random within the selected squares each round.
Graphics were nice with that reduced palette and in general a cool game
hotaloca
2023-05-01 16:38
I liked the graphics with the consistent purple colored pixel art. The generated sounds also matched the graphic designed. The control of the car was suprisingly difficult for me - but I laughed out a few times on how noob I am really controling this so in the end I think it worked. It was a simple but cool idea which I liked that the car entered from one side to the other on the screen.
The controls were pretty hard to get used to - really large turning radius on that van-bulance. Overall the game was pretty easy to understand and the graphics were well done and kept clean. The 2D world wrapping helps a ton.
Good work!
The first guy I deliver souls to I RAM HIM THE NEXT SECOND. MAKES ME LOL! Amazing graphics and audio
csimpson
2023-05-01 16:40
Controls are difficult, but interesting. Really like the art style. Good choice of color palette.
I like the tunes and the borderless level. I wish you could steer the car more and make sharper turns. The way the car pivots feels disorienting when you're upside down.
Good job.
Great music and visual style, and a great concept as well! I also though the controls were a bit disorienting, and I wish I could make some sharper turns. Ended up getting 4 people. Would have loved a way to slow down or make a sharper turn. Great work!
Love the art and theme. The controls make it quite fustrating tho
iluvatar
2023-05-01 16:51
I see that some people say that the controls are difficult to handle, but my initial reaction was actually "wow this is fun". So much for controls from me haha!
The idea is very simple and I'm okay with that, expecially when you finished the game in just 20 hours! Good job :)
Graphics are cute and impressive for such a short time too!
remus
2023-05-01 16:55
I like the music a lot and the art is good. The turning is very hard but I guess that was a game design decision, got up to 7 but I didn't have enough time to even turn towards the target. :D Fun idea, and pretty unique. Good overall.
split82
2023-05-01 18:52
I didn't expect that this would be so much fun :) It felt a bit frustrating from the beginning but at the end I managed to get a highscore of 8. Nice job!
Good work! Graphics so cool!
fupi
2023-05-01 21:05
Aw man I couldn't really get used to the controls. :/ Even after quite a few rounds 3 was my maximum. It felt like I needed to reverse all the way to the end of the stage to get anywhere, though the wrapping did help. It's a nice idea just think it's not for me. Wasn't a big fan of the music too, felt like just random notes. I did really like the pixel art and aesthetic with the different shades of purple, that and the hearts reminded me a bit of Undertale! I'm really sorry if I sounded harsh, just want to help out.
kr0meel
2023-05-01 22:03
Very stylisch game, but the controls were too hard for me to get used to or to enjoy the gameplay.
nozomu57
2023-05-01 23:01
Impressive for a game made in 20 hours! Poured a dozen of minutes in this game, but needed to read other comments to understand the goal.
Music was turned off after 30 seconds, though :smile:
firebugs
2023-05-01 23:37
Pretty fun. The controls are a bit loose (which I actually found very fun) but probably suits a more open game better and would've felt better with a more forgiving timer. I was enjoying just swinging around in the car but getting reset every ~10 seconds was a bit annoying. Having said that I liked the artwork and had fun playing it.
This game has a lot of potential, I really like the natural difficulty increase of leaving the men in place. I think the controls could use a bit of tightening, though
aushijo
2023-05-02 07:15
thanks everyone for your helpful feedback!
badcop
2023-05-02 09:36
Truck and i are *not* friends
fun game! i am really terrible at it :p
pretty nice game, it's really challenging though :D
frey
2023-05-02 12:01
Surprisingly difficult. The controls feel inversed at times? and a bit unintuitive, but still ends up being fun to control. Neat game with a funny concept. Great job on the execution!
allax
2023-05-02 12:41
It's fun to play. Good style, the gameplay is addictive, great job
I'm terrible at it but I can see what you were going for!! I especially love the little truck sprite, fun game :3! good job
The turning is so wide, it was really hard to control where to go. Timer seemed to be too tight for me. I gave a man a soul and then ran him over, not on purpose.
I really like the art style here but the turning radius is a little too large for me to manage.
I really enjoyed the game. Great graphics and sounds, I liked that it was a bit hard to control, but maybe a bit too repetitive
This game was a lot of fun! I enjoy that the controls are really wonky and hard to control, that adds a good amount of difficulty into the game trying to steer the vehicle in the right direction while also avoiding the happy people. The graphics are audio are really fitting for the game and you did a great job making them! The game is very pleasing to the eyes and quite relaxing, I feel like I could jam out to the soundtrack all day long! The game has a lot of replayability which I love! It would be nice to have an end screen when you accidentally make the people pop like a balloon and when the times run out have it show you a high score, other than that this game is really polished and well made! Keep up the good work!
squimmy
2023-05-03 14:19
The controls are tricky, but in a fun way, and the general idea of the game is also pretty clever. I laughed when the truck sprite went upside-down :grin:
fun game fun. Not saying driving over the old man is fun, obviously
kuviman
2023-05-04 09:58
17
vaps1k
2023-05-04 13:43
Nicely designed game that is simple, fun and challenging. The car sprite inconsistent for rotating needs some work though - you could perhaps take some ideas for "realistically" rotating 2D sprites from 2kliksphilip: (yt video title: The Day of the Dolly-Mixture (link doesn't work for some reason)) video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjFlIxGzABY
aushijo
2023-05-04 23:00
@vaps1k thanks! i was trying to do that but i did not know how to, the video could help!
cinterre
2023-05-05 01:08
Really like the presentation. People say the controls are difficult but I found it much easier than mine haha. Guess I've had the practice. Well done!
Funny little game! I felt the speed was really fun to play with, but a bit at odds with the actual objectives.
col gam
poshdan
2023-05-07 21:40
I played this on stream, and had a fun time trying to extrapolate some deeper meaning while cruising around chaotically! I couldn't tell if the game was intentionally messing with me a little bit, there was a very interesting uncanny feeling about it, which actually added to the atmosphere. I did encounter an instance where an old one spawned right on top of a happy one, which made it impossible to keep going. What a neat little game!
Interesting game, very beautiful art, the chosen palette was good, the gameplay I felt very confused, I had a hard time controlling the car, but overall it's a good game!
mgear
2023-05-10 09:55
really good concept! (so simple, but still interesting mechanics to play). i guess some added sound effects for tires screeching or drifting had been nice!
Nice graphics and music set a real mood. Loved the colour pallete.
The car was so fun to zip around.That said movement felt a bit odd.. the car was so fast and turning circle so wide. I kind of wanted a smaller turning circle but also liked the challenge from a larger one.
One thing that I think would have really stepped it up is sound effects.
All that said had a great time whenever I finished a round just wanted to jump back in and keep driving great work :)
kierogi
2023-05-10 11:02
The ominous music really tied me back to the tone you set in the description. I like the colour palette though I kept getting confused with the itch.io background but that's definitely a me problem.
I'm a sucker for this sort of game so had a lot of fun. I think the highlights for me are the concept don't re-enliven the young and its associated challenges) and the control mechanism.
Love the pixel art and the colours, the itch page is just nicely put together too. The van is fun to drive, I kept wanting to go fast, but my old/young people weren't having it. And the screen wrap was a nice touch, made it feel less impossible in some of the situations.
justcamh
2023-05-10 14:49
I absolutely love zooming around in this car, the controls feel really fun to go quick with. Though I felt that the game punished me too much for having this fun, I wish there was value in going quick and playing risky, as I felt this was where the game was at its strongest. Still a neat little game, here's a link to the vod if you wanna rewatch;
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1816190498
conduit
2023-05-11 22:36
Interesting game loop! I was both surprised and enjoyed the aspect of the people staying on screen after being delivered their soul, I didn't quite get that from the description, but was pleasantly surprised by that twist! Great jam!
Loved it! I got a high score of 16. What a mood! The only thing I can think to nitpick would be to spread out the spawn points a bit. Sometimes new items would spawn very close to an existing item.
nullmike
2023-05-14 16:46
That's a really nice little game. It's short and simple. Getting used to the controls is satisfying, but one thing I noticed is that the spawns can be a bit too tricky considering the hitboxes, it's quite random.
Heya! This was a really interesting direction to take the theme and a cool little mechanic. I loved the way the car controlled, it felt intentionally difficult and polished at the same time, which is perfect. I liked being able to reverse or wraparound the level, and the way you pick up hearts and deliver them to people.
I enjoyed the graphics and presentation overall. The game loop was pretty tight, though I felt the mood was brought down a bit by the sullen music.
There are a few things I would have liked to see that I think could have been easy improvements: - Difference in colour between "happy" people and "sad" people. - Points awarded based on time remaining for each delivery, to reward faster play. - Some kind of ramp-up in tension that encouraged more dynamic play, rather than static play. I felt like the more points I had, the slower I needed to drive to avoid hitting people. It felt intentional, but still not as fun as earlier in the game. Maybe some way of clearing the board of people could have been interesting?
Overall, I think this is a great entry (this is your first jam game?! excellent work) and only needs one or two tweaks to be super addictive. Thanks for sharing!
aushijo
2023-05-17 10:52
@adamcyounis Alright thanks for the feedback! I'll add your improvements in a future build :) And yea it's my first LD game