Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD54 → Dwarf Monastery
By hotaloca
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 247 | 3.35 | 29 | |
| Fun | 329 | 2.74 | 27 | |
| Innovation | 159 | 3.50 | 27 | |
| Theme | 150 | 3.80 | 28 | |
| Graphics | 186 | 3.46 | 28 | |
| Audio | 146 | 3.34 | 28 | |
| Humor | 132 | 2.97 | 25 | |
| Mood | 211 | 3.20 | 26 |
This looks super interesting! Unfortunately, I'm unable to play it, as the UI doesn't fit in the embed window (either here or on your page), and in full-screen it is cut off on my 3440x1440 aspect ration. Comment back if you can address the UI scaling issues, I'd love to play it!
Lovely color scheme, art is simplistic and nice, wish the dots were little dwarf heads, love the audio lines and the inclusion of the mining noises, the music is very simple and the chord changes are a bit jarring. Fits into the theme very well! After reading the rules and playing around, I couldn't figure out how everything worked for a decent bit.
it seems to bit a very nice game. I couldn't understand tho how to solve the second level. Probably there is something I don't understand. It seems like a very good idea, I'll definitely see it again if you make a more detailed description or something like that.
Looks like something very interesting with planning, scheduling and acting phases, but unfortunately I couldn't figure out what to do, even after multiple attempts. Really can't go past first level. Maybe learning curve should be a bit easier, or more tips on what everything means. I will try this one out later, maybe more comments and tips will appear)
Like here for example. He moves to a neighbour room and then says that it is too far, but I can't really change anything here) 11.png
@corporation Thank you very much for the feedback. You actually entered a bug, I have mixed up the audio error messages. In your case the problem was that the two dwarfs occupied the same room at the same time - both at shift 0-4 are supposed to be in room W1 which is not allowed (they want to be alone). I have corrected this bug, and uploaded a new version. Also, I have revised/edited/extended the how to play section so the next players dont have to suffer that much.
@hotaloca no way)) And I spent like 10 minutes trying to figure it out and thinking I'm so dumb)) will definitely try it again later
I really like this concept! The last two levels were a bit tough to figure out but a good challenge. Aside from some general interface cleanup, this is a really interesting game. I can see the potential for a larger scheduling style game from it! Good work.
Game is good but confusing. Some more explanation could have been provided
It's an interesting idea but trying to find solution feels more like work than fun - but that might just be a me problem, I don't play puzzle games much. I really like the music and voice overs! Together with that art style it makes a very good atmosphere.
Interesting concept :) Getting quite tough. And filling the schedule is a tad tedious. Also, you might want to add sub titles to the complaints, they are a bit hard to make out.
Still, very well made, and fitting music/sfx!
The graphics and audio feel nicely tactile and boardgame-y!
It was sometimes difficult to understand why plans were failing, especially since I often couldn't make out what the voices were saying. I'm still not sure why this didn't work, for example? Dwarf Monastery Level 4 Screenshot It would also have been nice if the "playback" of the dwarves schedules could be quicker; I felt like there was a bit of waiting around during the experimentation phase.
But the basic idea is a fun twist on set-up-and-play puzzle games; I enjoyed my time with it!
Interesting puzzle concept and neat art style. I enjoyed the middle levels a lot but the last two felt a bit too tedious with so many dwarves. As others have mentioned the animations are a bit slow. Maybe having a ghost preview image of all the dwarves when you hover over a time slot could help.
It's a bit hard to figure out the game. I got the first level, then at the second something is probably wrong, but I can't figure out what it is. The game looks really nice though, and the sound design is nice, however some of the sound effects (like the pickaxe thing) makes me feel really uncomfortable for some reason. Maybe it's just my headphones. The sound when you move the text to the timetable is also weirdly bassy, which also makes it feel like a bone in my neck is cracking or something.
I cannot figure out how to play :slight_frown: I'm able to place tiles but I can't seem to do anything with the Plan panel and the voice complains about an empty shift.
Hi, looks like an interesting game, but I am pretty sure something is wrong in level 2:
I had as layout:
R2 - R1 S2 - S1 S2 - W1
And as agenda: dwarf 1 : R1 R1 R1 R1 S1 W1 dwarf 2 : W1 S2 R2 R2 R2 R2
fun crunchy logic puzzle to figure out! difficult to understand at first but once i took the time to figure it out it was fun to figure out the puzzles. i liked the simplicity to level 4 while still being difficult! i think that ease of play could have been focused on more, making it easier to rearrange the schedule or the rooms, and maybe not have them as separate tabs? overall strong work!
Very nice little puzzle game, as you probably know the rules are a little unclear but after reading your rules in the description that helped a lot, very nice art style and use of the theme! nice work!
"I cannot skip, I need to follow my spiritual order"
Neat idea! I had a problem where I would plan out a level (level two in my case), then I would click the "act" button and nothing would happen. However, once I gave up, the next level was available. Other than that, I quite enjoyed the game and the little messages of enlightenment that come up when you finish the level.
@tjm Thanks for playing and giving a try. For first dwarf W1 and S1 are only diagonally neighbors, so that's why it's not accepting it. I realize it is confusing because then the dwarf go diagonally but this later behavior came from what fit into 48 hours... Yes also great idea on simulation speed and replayability.
@evogengames Without seeing the map I cannot tell - the shift agenda looks right. I think likely one of the rooms are not next to each other (not diagonally but with sides) and likely that's why - so it breaks rule 4.
All thanks a lot for playing. Very valuable feedback, it made me think quite a lot. Based on your feedback, I concluded the mechanics were nice, but the getting an intuitive and fun play was horrible (i agree felt more work sometimes). Likely I would change for next time actual dwarf, visible during planning too, maybe even make it playable so the player could record movement of dwarf vs moving text, make ruleset more foregiving (Eg. get more scores if your plan is better vs. if you did not solve you fail), if you play the dwarf for a day (10 sec) let's say rule 1 is not needed as dwarf always does something, cannot violate rule 4 either because of colliders, speed would be built in, plus would be more intuitive for players to avoid themselves as well (rule 3)... Let's see. Anyway thanks a lot for great feedback and sorry for the struggles - clearly not intended :smile:
@hotaloca Ah, I didn't realise that the shifts needed to be able to loop (that is, that the dwarf needs to be able to get from his hour 20 shift to his hour 0 shift). Thanks for explaining!
It seems like there's a very interesting and rich game buried here. But feel like a lot of additional player feedback and guidance is needed in order to make it playable. I, at least, wasn't really able to figure out what to do.
I can relate to the dwarfs when they don't want to deviate from their schedule. 😄
The palette, the art, the sound effects and voice acting are all very well done! 😊 And funny! After reading all the instructions, I still got stuck in level two, and could only continue after @tjm mentioning that it is necessary to build loops. But then it clicked, I had fun solving the puzzles, though I didn't manage to finish level 5. 😅 I like that you added audio feedback when a condition is not full-filled, but I would suggest to also highlight the affected dwarf. Even better, how about letting the animation play also on failure and visualize what went wrong (e.g. two conflicting dwarfs in the same room etc.)? TLDR; A tutorial and better feedback would go a long way, otherwise well done! 💜
Has some problems but still well done!