FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD53 → Longship!

Longship!

By japes

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5063.6522
Fun3113.7222
Innovation724.0922
Theme10883.1522
Humor4073.4022
Mood6853.4221

Comments

jminor 2023-05-01 21:14

I made it! I liked the humor when I was out of sync, but I did pretty good anyways. Clever and original idea. Nice job!

ashashza 2023-05-02 09:14

Haha, this is great! I did a few runs and can't get much better than ~17400

I didn't expect to giggle out loud watching the disaster that was my rhythm, but I did.

This feels like it could be a lot of fun at a party having 2 people try race each other ... or attempt to collaborate with hilarious results.

Most innovative jam I've played so far, seeming simple idea executed elegantly.

Edit: Just realised how much the audio drives the humor in this. Hearing all the paddles slap each other adds so much more than just seeing it happen. Great choice.

jaco-van-hemert 2023-05-02 11:23

This is really wacky, and perfectly fits the description of qwop-ey. The absolute disaster that my rowing synchronisation was is great, and I enjoyed the sound effects as well. Some over-the-top heroic music that swells as you get closer would have sealed the QWOP legacy.

I'm not super into the mouse-controlled sliders for the control scheme though. Having a weird uncomfortable keyboard-button set up might have been better. As it is, you'll always start off with just one oar rowing, then two, etc. One of the things that made QWOP so addicting is that moment where you press all the buttons in the right rhythm, entering a deeply focused trance as it all comes together and you make incredible progress... only to miss one press and face plant. It feels like it's hard to have that sort of experience with this (though I did get something like that one time when my two left oars seemed perfectly synced for a few seconds).

But very well done regardless; I enjoyed playing it!

mallansandan 2023-05-03 20:19

Innovative idea! I would have enjoyed having some obstacles to try to navigate around to make it more challenging! Great job!

calicobubbletea 2023-05-03 20:24

Haha it's so hilarious, I enjoyed it! Good job!

emojibea 2023-05-03 20:26

Neat concept! I think I would've had more fun if there were keyboard controls as well...might allow for more multitasking. Fun though!

johnnysix 2023-05-03 20:29

Excellent job with the SFx, it really captured the essence of piloting a longship home with fresh plunder. The fiendishness of the slider controls really takes the rowing skill to QWOP levels of necessary precision. :smile:

I'd like to see more random wind / currents to push you off course, add in some additional challenge.

rabbert 2023-05-03 20:35

I was confused at what the game could be by the title and thumbnail but it really surprised me! I had a blast trying to get the high score and I finally got it. It was incredibly satisfying once you got a good rhythm on the oars. The graphics and theme wasn't too inspiring but that doesn't matter too much I still had a blast.

michael-harris 2023-05-03 20:36

Love the concept! Very simple but pretty entertaining and not too difficult. Good job on this!

kalebgarrett 2023-05-03 22:18

Unique concept for a game! I really like the SFx. Would like some sort of a challenge such as navigating around obstacles. Overall, a great game!

shess 2023-05-03 22:28

My mother told me Someday I would buy Galley with good oars Sail to distant shores~

You made me miss the Vikings, haha. And NOT miss QWOP one bit. As luck would have it, the left side of my boat was pretty synchronized all in all, but the guys on the right were definitely slacking off, and the moment I thought I finally reached full harmony and unity, they found a way to make my life miserable :D Sweet little game that was pleasantly frustrating. Would indeed enjoy some juicy viking metal on top!

mar-zockmeister 2023-05-03 22:53

Really nice idea. A simple game but it really makes you to try it again and again. And beat the highscores. :smile:

nsadie 2023-05-04 16:32

I think there is a good concept here! I managed to get 17231!

The fonts did not scale really well on my screen and some of the text and sliders were really small.

yoddaa 2023-05-05 12:46

very interesting concept. good job.

andre-sadie 2023-05-06 12:23

I was a little confused at first. Some text to tell the player to use the sliders would help. I think you could also communicate that the player needs to go north or even have checkpoints where the required direction changes because I didn't find the rudder necessary to use. The trick is just to keep the oars in sync.

Its a simple concept thats easy to understand. I liked the sound and feel of the game. I would consider putting the oars at an angle so it actually goes into the water XD Add some particle effects around where it touches the water to hide the clipping. Maybe some screen shake or speed lines when you go fast to make it feel more satisfying.

japes 2023-05-07 13:51

@ashashza thanks, never thought about it as a party game, that could be cool! And thanks for the comment re audio, did spend quite a bit of time on that :)

@jaco-van-hemert thanks for the kind words, agree the slider input could be improved. One wants it to be QWOPy/difficult without feeling frustrating/annoying. Tough to get right. But I think just making it key inputs would be too much like QWOP

@mallansandan thanks, my thinking was that just getting it moving in a straight line would be difficult enough, but after seeing some feedback, maybe obstacles (or something like wind/currents) would be cool. It's not hard to steer, and the rudder seems not to be used all that often.

@nsadie thanks, the sliders being too small would be almost game-breaking I reckon...will look into it...

@andre-sadie shot. Checkpoints could be cool, never considered that. though I did initially have a specific point you needed to reach (as opposed to anywhere on the north coast) and that was a bit frustrating, one could easily just miss it and then have to turn around. Dig your ideas for the polish, angling them down on the backstroke will be super easy to do :)

nsadie 2023-05-07 15:38

@japes I have a slightly unusual setup, I normally play on my pc connected to my television. So a large 4k screen, but from a few meters back.

hakro 2023-05-11 19:33

Very cool concept. I liked the idea and the simple graphics! Also, it's great seeing a leaderboard in there. It was a bit difficult to understand at first, but then it made sense and became fun to play. There is however a bit of size / resolution I had. The text was a bit hard to read at some point, both because of the font, and because of the police size. Other than that, GG for this nice entry.