FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD54 → Burn Beetle

Burn Beetle

By pious, Sofimei and Agent_Peterson

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall4973.6451
Fun5723.4451
Innovation8343.0252
Theme8353.2352
Graphics1214.3452
Audio2143.7751
Mood2643.8850

Comments

pkb-games 2023-10-03 03:24

Seems to crash when trying to shoot.

lexyvil 2023-10-03 08:04

I have the same issue as @pkb-games

igli 2023-10-03 09:16

Great game! Shooting works for me in the web version now...

donvermo 2023-10-03 21:25

Game is pretty fun although the contrast with the 'solid' bricks is not large enough to be consistently visible enough. Walked into the wall a couple of times. Other than that it was a pretty good concept :)

gumibear 2023-10-03 21:27

this game is super fun! i love the animation and the artstyle. the idea reminds me of an old dungeon-explorer type game i used to play as a kid. the expanding brambles are pretty scary once they get out of hand! if you ever feel like expanding on this game idea, i would love to see a few more mechanics, and maybe even randomly generated levels, perhaps based on different tiles of the map that can connect together.

nirlandec 2023-10-03 21:30

I'm in love with the art style the sound supports the atmosphere of mystic forest. Found my family in 0:54 though XD

helinatan 2023-10-03 21:32

Fun game! I love the visual

flashlight13 2023-10-03 21:33

Fun little game by it hangs my browser for some time when loads

May be I got lucky, but I found my family in 39 seconds :smiley:

dining-philosopher 2023-10-03 21:50

Yaaay found the bugfam! Good visuals and concept, looks polished indeed! My two suggestions would be to free the fire particles since the game gets really choppy over time, which I can only imagine is because they are not removed. Other than that I'd pick a slightly different color for the walls, it was a bit hard to recognize them as walls now.

Oh, and having the fire also illuminate an area would be even better.

greenpig 2023-10-03 21:57

this game is very fun, and i see of lot of room for further improvements if you want to make this to a full game maybe. the graphics are amazing and i like the simple nature of the game. Great take on the theme as well, for some reason the game crashed my chrome at first but then it worked just fine. Great game.

hinamarina 2023-10-03 22:13

Seems cool! :( unfortunately it doesn't open to me on the html5 link.

ismael-rodriguez 2023-10-05 03:50

Couldn't get web version to load. Download works fine.

I love the visual style. Mood is great. I ran out of fire on my first run. 2nd run I found my family in 30 seconds :sweat_smile: I thought maybe the levels were random, but no, just a small game. :smile:

Anyway, audio and visuals are great, and it's fun for what's there. Good job!

ruslana 2023-10-06 13:35

Cool, I like the game mechanics, very neat. Everything fits into this concept!

dawnables 2023-10-06 19:26

The game took a little to load but the game itself was fun!

The movement and fire mechanics work well, feeling responsive, and burning the brambles away felt satisfying. The visual effects of the fire and the darkness are very well done, animations and everything, so I think you did well with focusing on those!

I did have trouble with getting lost in this game, not sure if I've been to places before or not, but that could just be me being bad with that in general as I'm not sure how big the map is truly and if it's possible to get completely lost. The gameplay itself was nice and you did well with the visuals and effects!

mistercarson 2023-10-07 00:28

The visuals for this game are absolutely stunning. Easily the best looking one I've played so far. The mechanics of the game and the visual/audio feedback were also excellent. My only problem is that once you've played through it once, it loses its luster due to how short/simple the first level is. Overall it's a great proof of concept and something I think can be greatly expanded on into the future if y'all decide to continue to work on it. It has so much promise.

0x746564 2023-10-07 01:14

Graphics are very well done! Your artist is very talented!

I did have issues loading the HTML version and it ran slow if I took my time to let the brambles build up, but if I moved quickly and burned the brambles it was fine.

blazejmg917 2023-10-07 01:25

This game is really nice! It's a small, contained experience and I like it! I did notice some slowdowns after the game was running for a while, which I'm guessing may be due to the growing of the brambles, but I think you did a really good job here!

pious 2023-10-07 03:01

@pkb-games @lexyvil @flashlight13 @hinamarina @0x746564

I think I have found the issue with the loading time / sudden freezes on actions on html and fixed it! Thank you for letting us know!

pious 2023-10-07 03:07

@donvermo - Thank you for playing! Appreciate the contrast tip, I think that highlights the importance of testing designed levels early as opposed to a quick little demo level

@gumibear - Randomized levels is a great idea! We were hoping to see if we could add randomness into multiple runs but the bramble spawn system ended up taking more time than we thought, definitely considering expanding!

@nirlandec - Haha that's pretty quick, thanks for playing!

@dining-philosopher - Thank you for playing! I think the performance issue is actually from the brambles getting out of hand, trying to see if I can optimize it somehow. And illuminating fire is such a good idea.

@greenpig - Thank you for playing! I hope the chrome crash wasn't too bad. Been trying to address html issues.

pious 2023-10-07 03:12

@ismael-rodriguez - Thank you so much for playing! Randomness would've been fantastic to put into the game and it would fit so well.

@ruslana - Thank you for playing!

@dawnables - HTML loading should be fixed now! I appreciate your patience and playing our game, and I think it is entirely possible to get lost without stronger visual indicators of where you are.

@mistercarson - Thank you so much! I think what could've made the game interesting would be to introduce randomness. Wish I had time and knowledge to implement it, perhaps with some perlin noise?

@blazejmg917 - The bramble growth does seem to cause performance issues on html, trying to see if I can optimize and fix it. Either way, thank you for your patience and thanks for playing!

lexyvil 2023-10-07 03:51

Didn't have an issue this time around! Thanks for the fix. Got a score of 537 in 0:37 seconds on my second run (died in my first). The game really fits the theme with how the visibility works, and I really liked how the evil plant multiplied the more there were of them, which did incite a sense of urgency. Great entry!

jkyd 2023-10-07 04:51

Such a cute, little pyromaniac! Love the artwork, would make a great sticker pack :3 It's always a challenge to maintain the intended project scope, so kudos for keeping it simple and polished.

okshirl 2023-10-08 06:58

The pixel art was great, and what a cute idea of finding your family! The lighting effect is great too. I think your team made the right call of keeping the scope small because the game feels really polished! Here's a few thoughts I had about the game:

Cherry:

- I felt like the cherry placements could be more purposeful. For example, I think following the trail of cherries shouldn't lead me to a complete dead end. The drops should lead me towards the right path without the players noticing, which can be done by placing them in a triangular pattern. This will make the player feel like they're exploring a rather open space while still having a sense of direction.

- Picking up a cherry while I had full hp/full fire felt unrewarding, but at the same time it didn't make sense to avoid one and try to find my way back to pick it up when I actually need it. I think there could be some sort of bonus for the player if they managed to pick up cherries while being full hp (for example, longer fire range?).

Graphically:

- I think the blue blocks could use an outline to distinguish itself even more from the grass, because the colours are similar rn there might be accessibility issues especially when the tile is in the dark.

- I think the growing grass could have an anticipation frame to warn the player where it is about to grow, so that the player doesn't feel like they lost an hp because of the lack of warning but rather it's their slow reaction.

I was surprised when I finished the game because the objective seemed a little easy. I thought you would have to go find individual members of the family scattered around the forest, and escort them to a safe location! But that's for the future. :D My best record was 0:47, and if the terrain were procedurally randomized I'd be able to try and replay more times. I loved the atmosphere of the forest and it's such a cute ending. I'd love to see a post-jam version!

clayton-bonura 2023-10-08 07:07

Great art! Really shows a mastery over that style. Would love to see what it would like with some more dynamic gameplay.

lincolnsalles 2023-10-08 08:12

well done graphically and has cool sounds, but in the long run I felt a little dizzy

hirnsalat 2023-10-08 09:58

really great presentation! and i like that there's a lot of mechanics that play on the theme (limited vision, the maze-like level, brambles that grow and further limit your space). the framerate did drop pretty hard after a minute or so in game (web version), maybe there's a memory issue with the bramble?

jarvenp 2023-10-08 16:31

I played the web version and had similar problems as others. The framerate on my machine was ok at the beginning, but it got constantly worse. Nevertheless, I liked the idea and the fact that it was clear what I was supposed to do.

agraffs 2023-10-08 19:02

Very very nice game, ! I loved the graphics, they looked so good, and the game's mechanics were really cool. I'd be curious to se what it would look like with more levels and more content. Very nice submission, would be glad to see future ones.

pious 2023-10-08 21:07

@okshirl Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback!

The triangular pattern placement is actually really good advise. I remember reading something about that kind of point-of-interest design more so with open world 3d games but I never would think to use it for a little 2d explorer.

Finding individual members of your family is SUCH a cute idea. I think it'll definitely come in a post jam update and I may even ping you after LD ratings are over to see its implementation, I had already planned on implementing some sort of proc-gen, and there's an unused feature currently where you can play as big-bug/momma-bug with more health but a wider hitbox. Just never made the UI for enabling the option.

Thanks so much for playing and for your comment!

pious 2023-10-08 21:08

@lincolnsalles Thank you for playing! Do you mind if I ask what made you feel dizzy exactly so I can incorporate it into the next jam? I'm sorry you had that experience!

pious 2023-10-08 21:09

@hirnsalat @jarvenp I believe I found the issue that slowed the game down with bramble growth! It should be fixed and still work the same as before, but now it runs more smoothly on html!

lukuluk 2023-10-08 22:02

Refreshing game, I loved the character's squish when moving + the fire mechanic. There were some strange uncertainty with the red plants growing back without any warning but it did'nt prevent me from enjoying the game and reaching the end! The tiny music is nice too :) And the art direction also, neat!

polite-stories 2023-10-08 22:03

Very cute premise and, while it is small in scope, I think that was sensible since the amount of polish is really impressive. The vfx, the audio and the art help the gamplay feel satisfying! and the ladybug controls perfectly. Lovely!

eli-heinrichs 2023-10-09 00:36

i love the art! very small and short game but good

ffffchai 2023-10-09 04:47

I really, really like the art effects, they're so good. The exploration and burning out of the path felt great, and the darkness would have been nice if there was some other interesting stuff going on. Nice job!

r2d48 2023-10-09 04:50

Well done, Good game.

fizzbark 2023-10-09 05:20

Neat little game, very polished. I'm not sure if a high score really fits this game, maybe if it had more of a roguelike structure? There's also potential here for more of a puzzle focus if you have to figure out the optimal order to burn things in order to get the berries you need to get to the end in time.

The biggest complaint I have is when moving and the tiles on the edge of the view range are appearing and disappearing. This was a cool effect but there is something unpleasant and almost nauseating to it - possibly a framerate issue?

Great art and audio, I wouldn't be surprised to see a great entry out of this team in a future jam.

little-doctor-games 2023-10-09 18:56

Fun game with great 16 bit era retro graphics! It was a bit frustrating how brambles could respawn right on the player character. Burning through big stacks of brambles was very satisfying. Nice job!

hawkin 2023-10-10 12:07

I appreciate that you focused on polish and feedback -- it really shows! The game is very visually pleasing. As you said, the core of the game is fairly simple, but it was still fun. With more time, you could have added even more risk (some variation to the bramble or nasty bugs that come out). I say that with some self-awareness, because for LD51 our team made a similar core game and could not add anything that came out of the vines XD

Well done! I enjoyed playing this a lot! Screenshot 2023-10-10 070508.png

rafael-garcez 2023-10-10 14:24

the art design and audio are awesome! great job!

hakro 2023-10-10 18:58

Nice ! The controls feel great, along with the juicy animation & sounds Also, the graphics and music work together very well.

My only nitpick is with the colors and shapes of those things that hurt you. They are to similar to the green tiles where you can walk. So it's hard for color blind people, like myself, to navigate.

Other than that, great little entry. GG.

pious 2023-10-10 23:26

@hakro Oh that is extremely valuable feedback! Thank you for letting us know, definitely going to try to incorporate that into our post-jam update and future jams!

shanluki 2023-10-12 13:44

Great graphics, great music, sfx and fun gameplay, amazing! I only had one problem (i think it is, maybe it isn't) the music stopped playing after a while and it didn't loop. Aside that i would love to see a full version of this.

burchyn 2023-10-14 09:06

Aww this is such a lovely little game! It took me a couple of runs to find my family. I kept getting into tricky dead ends with curiosity and brambles grew and ate me up. You got me there! :smile:

Nice take on limited space, I wish there was more levels to play, it ended so soon. Nice sfx and music too. Good job! :beetle:

kack3y 2023-10-15 19:59

First attempt : 936 1:53.

Beautiful graphics, I like the music that fits perfectly your game. I thinks it may need more or harder levels. Maybe I found my family quickly by chance ? ^^'

kleinzach 2023-10-15 20:03

Great looking and sounding game. I love the artwork. My one criticism is that I don't really get the use of the theme from the game design much. Great job on all other fronts though!

le-don 2023-10-16 13:31

Cute little game! The artstyle is great. Gameplay-wise it seems it can be hard to recover if the bug is running out of fire breath, as some of the berries can be tangled up in the brambles, which you can't burn if you are out of fire breath. Maybe adding some sort of a very slow regeneration might be helpful.

adamcyounis 2023-10-18 05:58

Heya, thanks for submitting to the discord! I really liked the presentation of this one. Every little touch served a purpose and I didn't feel like you overstepped on any one production value. Music, graphics and effects were excellent for a jam game. I loved the spotlight effect with the tiles selectively losing detail with distance.

The game was easy to pick up and fairly straightforward to play, though I do have some criticisms in regards to the dynamics of the game. Mainly, I felt that there were very few sources of tension to guide my play. The distribution of berries and the shape of the maze made the middle section of my playthrough a little stagnant as I went through a process of elimination just churning through the paths. Here, the addition of enemies or some kind of greater strain on player resources may have added some excitement. I was also curious as to whether this was a procgen game, which would have led to a little more replay value, though it seems to be a set maze layout, which kind of defeats the purpose of a scoring system since every subsequent play should be faster once the solution is found.

Overall, a very well scoped game with great presentation, with the need of an additional gameplay twist to reach its potential. Best of luck with future dev!

artofluba 2023-10-20 19:24

Lovely little game! I was able to get a PS5 controller to work with the movement, just not the clicking/fire. Its great, the art is nice and the atmosphere feels good. Also good "Limited Space" idea!