aes1 2023-10-05 02:06
The game was really good, I liked the art and the map was pretty interesting :)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD54 → High Leaf Celestial
By dxk2294 and jacobingalls
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 429 | 3.71 | 40 | |
| Fun | 746 | 3.19 | 40 | |
| Innovation | 776 | 3.09 | 40 | |
| Theme | 996 | 2.90 | 40 | |
| Graphics | 527 | 3.68 | 40 | |
| Audio | 183 | 3.82 | 40 | |
| Humor | 602 | 2.81 | 37 | |
| Mood | 692 | 3.38 | 38 |
The game was really good, I liked the art and the map was pretty interesting :)
Very nice, polished CRPG game! Loved the graphics, UI, animations, and music! I didn't totally buy the application of the theme--collecting crystals and emptying out my inventory was a bit tedious compared to the combat. But this seems like the foundation of a great turn-based RPG!
I really liked this, but I didn't finish the level (not sure if there were multiple?). I had around 30 crystals collected, got to the start of the first purple crystal.
I'm not a huge fan of this aesthetic on a personal level (the eyes kinda freak me out), but I thought it suited the project well, and esp for a low-animation project, the various effects did a good job of making characters feel not stiff.
I liked the music. It was pleasant.
I think the conceit of the game is really well designed and plays well into the theme. I really enjoyed managing my various party members encumbrance vs their combat value in an upcoming fight.
Balance wise: I think the bard should have a slightly stronger attack (as far as I can tell, it's supposed to be the de-facto tank of the party) OR a slightly larger bag. The high AP weak-hitting attack implies that the class should be good at either clearing small mobs or softening up larger mobs that can be almost-one-shot by higher damage classes, but literally the only situation in which this is relevant is bard + archer vs golem, which leaves the bard w/ a single extra 2 dmg attack. And that extra 2 damage attack is irrelevant unless you get yourself into the same bard + archer vs golem situation again on the next 2 turns in a row. If the bard had 3 attack it'd be able to actually care about its 3 AP, otherwise just give it 1 ap and a 6 damage attack to save player clicks. Alternatively, giving the bard the role that the assassin has with a big inventory would make thematic sense (bards are historically utility characters), and make it so the assassin isn't carrying double duty as the party's stronger attacker and also its best loot gobbler.
I also found the game a little too easy, esp the early camps. The fact that the enemies don't really push you at all on a macro level, they have so much less movement than the player, and they can't really threaten big one shots or anything, means that it was fairly easy if a bit slow to just kill enemies one by one and back up and play super safe. I did find that this improved a bit around the start of the first purple crystals as enemies were placed much closer together and covered each other a bit, which I enjoyed.
QoL wise: I would have really really really liked camera WASD controls. Like, to the point where I think if the game had WASD controls I probably would have finished it since it made moving around the edges of the screen so much more tedious. The fact that camera panning was RMB which was also the button to use abilities making me de-select characters to move the camera was not a fun UX thing.
I also think it would have been really nice to have M.O.S.E. move up as I got further up to various crystals so that I didn't have to slog back for my turn ins. I think if there had been some kind of attrition mechanic (a timer/food/enemies spawning/whatever), it would have felt like an additional element of challenge, but as is it just felt like extra walking that I didn't really want to do.
Also I got kinda sad when I read the druid could burn down forests but then I realized it just meant deal damage, not burn down walls :(
All in all though I really enjoyed this one! Probably in my top 3 that I've played so far this jam. (I also really liked the narrative of the corporatist elves invading the forest lol)
Thanks folks!
And a special thank you @ferellia for your extremely detailed feedback. I definitely agree with all of it. Sadly the time constraints of the jam got in the way of our dream, but we definitely wanted to have a mobile M.O.S.E., more interesting item mechanics, additional abilities for both the Elves and the enemies, and a final U.X. pass. Would love to integrate this in a post-jam polish update!
I wish LD would let us submit both Compo/Jam and Extra entries... :frowning2:
Really well done. Very polished and nice looking game. The enemy designs are very unique. Fairly intuitive, though move command and camera drag having the same mouse button got in a way a lot. I'd suggest edge scroll and having camera drag on mouse wheel and arrow keys (W is clearly occupied so no WASD). UI looks really nice. Being able to move loading slider was funny. Movement took forever, especially for the druid. I'd suggest making distances between the objectives smaller and/or ability to use attack for movement like in XCOM that way turns wouldn't take too long just to walk somewhere and you'd need less of them. Absolutely love this.
hlc.png
Wow, just wow. You've really outdone yourselves considering the amount of time you had to make this!
Love the foundation of a game here. Really impressive to build a game that feels so extensive in such a short time. The art style felt consistent too, and the characters feel meaningfully different that you can use them in different ways for strategy. The camera dragging felt a bit wonky on the web client, it took me a while to figure out it exists in the first place. Overall I think the main feedback I have was that the pacing of the game felt a little bit slow. The inventory management was more of a nuisance than an actual interesting challenge, and I think making the levels a bit smaller (and maybe split into smaller standalone sub-levels) or a better way to choose how to spend your inventory space would've made the game even better!
This was a really fun game and very impressive for the time frame. The characters all felt really unique and played quite well. Although, the movement, especially for the druid, was quite slow - maybe add some teleporters, or a dash ability at the expense of attacking or something like that. I also loved the art style, it was really nice and felt really cohesive together! Awesome job, definitely one of my favourites so far.
I really, really liked this one. When I started the game I felt like I'd probably not play it for long as it looked like something that would take a lot of time getting into, but it really sucked me in so much that I just had to finish it. :-)
Feedback-wise I think Ferellia pretty much emptied the bank already — and I just wish I'd read their feedback while playing the game, as I didn't realize RMB worked for camera control also, so I completely missed that. :-D Now I feel kinda stupid, but I must say the game must be special since I finished it even though I thought I couldn't move the camera around (which was really painful)...
I agree with the others in that the balance between the characters could be fine-tuned. Then again, I love to discover and then use cowardly tactics in single-player games, and clearing the level with the sharpshooter as a lone long-distance sniper while the others just carried stuff back to home base felt satisfying. :-D
I also spent a lot of my inventory carrying junk back as I wasn't sure if those would help somehow. It may actually be a nice strategic angle that they don't, as then one should consider their path more carefully to prevent inventories from filling up with useless stuff. Another option would be that it would be used for e.g. creating ammo for the archer or something... Anyway, I understand the time constraints and how such polishing would take more time.
The graphics, sounds effects and music were all great and fit the whole nicely. I had the music playing all the time and it didn't get on my nerves at all even though I played for a long time, so that's saying something already.
All in all, stellar job and a really strong entry! Thank you!
Oh God, the amount of work put into this game is incredible! there is a lot of quality of life feature that I didn't expect at all for a Ludum Dare. The art, graphics and music, is amazing and coherent! You really did a great job!
really impressive scale for a jam game and solid mechanics! I'd maybe speed up enemy turns, particularly since so much of it happens offscreen
cool game, keep up the good work
OMG Baldurs Gate for browsers nice 😂
It was a bit confusing at first but I finally got the hang of it, I don't know why sometimes the right mouse button didn't work quite right and I think left clicking to select the character and the destination box might be more intuitive.
Maybe I would have made a smaller level or even divided it into different possible maps, making shorter games but equally entertaining, this is really more subjective, it doesn't mean it's bad, I really enjoyed it and I think it has potential.
The graphics and music are interesting, the mechanics besides a tactical rpg adding additional elements such as collecting crystals has an interesting point that makes it not just another game.
In short, I liked the game a lot, I would simplify the controls a bit and I would prioritize quality over quantity, a bigger map is not always better, but a small map (or several small ones) could be more easily exploitable using a different strategy in each one.
Well done! Take a candy! :candy:
Cool game, much done for being a game jam! Nice mood and music also!
Music was nice, all the audio fit well, had a nice calming vibe to it. The graphics were consistent, but the art style was not my cup of tea, unless you're really zoomed in a lot of the smaller aspects kinda clip and don't look good. The little text descriptions on everything was a really nice touch. Not my favorite use of the theme personally, but it fits just fine. Took me a few minutes to figure everything out, but it was pretty straightforward and I didn't run into any major issues. I think overall it's a well-made game, so good job. :)
cool game ,I cant believe this is made in three games!!!,love this game so much,wish for more content
Cool game, but the controls were a bit confusing for me.
Nice arts, music and level design! I enjoyed playing it, but I would have use a camera moving or a on-character-centering button (and didn't find neither). If I wouldn't have found the zooming function, I would have quit before finishing the game, as without that it's impossible to make some moves (as they are either hiden under the action board, or out of the screen). I finished with T82 P446 K59 C63 J92 Anyways, good job!
That's a lot into a game in such a small time frame. Ferella pretty much covered all the main aspects that could be improved. I must also say that I am not exactly a lover of this kind of games so I can't really give a good advice at how to improve apart from what has already been said by others. It is a solid entry and it's got potential. Good work!