FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD57 → GOLDLOVING STONEHATING IDOL

GOLDLOVING STONEHATING IDOL

By surweaver and _XoMe4oK_

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2883.7339
Fun1183.9039
Innovation1843.7238
Theme6933.1137
Graphics6483.1739
Audio4962.9338
Humor3593.0036
Mood7003.0938

Comments

sayeg 2025-04-07 16:55

Super juicy! You can see the level design was really thoughtful too!

yubs 2025-04-07 17:32

Really fun game!

The sound when going through a big chain of redirects and breaking blocks feels really good. I liked the screen shake and bounce back.

With sound though, some music would have really helped sell the atmosphere, even something simple.

The level design is really fun, but I would have liked to see a little more puzzle in figuring out how to get through a level, but I know in a jam there isn't a lot of time to do complex puzzles.

tomas88a 2025-04-09 12:53

I love this game!!!very creative and fun!Hope to see more levels!

jo-bettaque 2025-04-09 12:55

This was really fun! I had never seen this concept before and really enjoyed it. I guess the difficulty lies in trying to get all the gold and gems but it would have been nice to have to puzzle a bit more to actually complete the levels.

soul-grinder 2025-04-09 13:03

I love puzzle games like this. Really fun and well polished and the game mechanic was cool. This definitely would suit some kind of atmospheric music.

loka 2025-04-09 15:07

Fantastic game juice and level design!

kamizenki 2025-04-09 16:52

Interested game, creative machanics and very well design levels, nice work guys.

mauzart 2025-04-09 17:15

The game is so satisfying (the sounds, i love it) and innovative!! Nice work!

hatmajaster 2025-04-09 19:39

It's a quite easy puzzler, but a nice take on the theme i have to say. On the other hand I only managed to get 103 gold hmmm. I wonder if it should be a puzzler or an arcade game, where you have a combo systems, etc

When you hit something, I feel like the bouncing should happen earlier, not go to the middle of the wall and only then bounce.

Good job!

cammyrnn 2025-04-10 02:31

Damn this game is really cool. Probably the coolest game concept I've seen so far, simple idea and executed satisfyingly.

cammyrnn 2025-04-10 02:37

AMAAAZING level design, love the game design, this is what a good jam game should be, u got the game design u deserve good artists!

dinosaur065 2025-04-10 02:37

this game was really fun! very innovative, felt like puzzlegame of descending into the stardew valley mines. it felt really good to go through those corner-bounce combo sections. the level design was really fun!

one note i have is that it would be really awesome if there was a bit of pressure put on the player to complete stages in a certain amount of moves, maybe the idol can only dash if its collected enough gold previously?

overall, this is really awesome!

surweaver 2025-04-10 03:25

@dinosaur065 original idea had a dude running into stones and crushing it and you had limited charges to crush them else he would fell unconscious :D It was easier to do it like how it is now.

Thanks for suggestions! Thank you and everyone else for kind words!

surweaver 2025-04-10 08:13

@hatmajaster there's a hidden bonus level near the end of the game ;)

Those animations of going inside walls and out are planned limitations so it would be easier and faster to do than checking collisions before animation end, but I'll certainly change it in a post-jam update!

I think we can do something more with the combo system. I would like to have juiciness from arcade games and some mindful puzzles!

bjornstenlund 2025-04-10 16:40

Really cool game! Great tutorial by gameplay! The idea is great, the controls are easy, and everything is well explained :)

To me the colours of floor and walls felt inverted. It's crazy how such a thing can matter but in the second level I got confused over what I was seeing at first. But since that level was just exceptional as tutorial, teaching me both the colours of floor and walls lol (and breaking mechanic) I can't complain too much. Just too dubblecheck if I was just trippin' I googled some random games I could think of with similar style, and 3 out of 3 had dark floor and light walls - maybe it's convention? :upside_down:

It looks nice with the point light to make the character pop, but since you need to see the whole level for some puzzles I think it would be better to have every thing lit and maybe add like a thick shadow or something instead.

Also I think the exit should have been clearer, I kept sort of thinking that the screen would pan into a new room instead of sending me to a level. Maybe swap that tile gfx of those specific stones too doors instead?

Anyways, well done! I played it twiceimage_2025-04-10_183951260.png

buni 2025-04-10 17:04

I like the concept but it took me some time to figure out what to do in the game. After I did I really enjoyed it :)

dylan-shumway 2025-04-11 01:34

Super smooth execution of a sokoban...Sonic game? :laughing: I really enjoyed it! All the little sounds are fun to hear chime off as you bounce around, and the momentum based block gates are a really clever puzzle mechanic! No real complaints from me, just genuinely enjoyed my time! Well done! :confetti_ball:

surweaver 2025-04-11 12:07

@bjornstenlund

I totally understand your point of view! I will definitely consider it and try a similar approach. It is quite logical when the game character is bright enough (white Baba on a black background), but here we play as a stone crushing other stones :D We need to contrast it. Well, usually stones are shown stronger in a darker color (although if these were some crystals, they could be made brighter, i.e. maybe we will break through some diamond). I don't know why but intuitively it feels stronger than a light version of a stone.

With light and shadow we can definitely experiment in the future, light and increasing darkening of each next level was invented towards the end of development :D

Another interesting detail - I wanted to make exits from the level only outside the borders, that is, we always break through the stone to the game window. Then I thought about making a pit as an obstacle, as a result I realized that the transition beyond the level boundary and the pit do literally the same thing, so I optimized it and combined it into one to speed up development :D

The door is a good idea, in fact, so primitive, obviously, but for some reason we did not think to do it this way, we got too carried away, apparently, hehe

Thank you for your suggestions!!!

surweaver 2025-04-11 12:08

@buni It's always a struggle to make a normal tutorial without words (or just less words). I always end up having a ton of text at the menu or a first level :D

surweaver 2025-04-11 12:17

@dylan-shumway, thank you for your kind words! Wanted to balance the puzzle game with a bit of "visual candy", if you can call it that :D

verttixpertti 2025-04-12 06:15

Clever system for a puzzle game, could be expanded very easily. The sounds were juicy. Maybe some more difficult levels would be fun but great job nonetheless.

bassilij 2025-04-12 08:26

It's a great game and I really enjoyed the gameplay. I even tried to collect all the treasures.

smugsman 2025-04-12 12:23

Loved it! Its a pretty fun little game. I just wish its strategic aspect wouldve been less optional and more neccessary to beat the levels. It did feel like i could do anything i wanted and there would always be a way back. I guess that is part of the games design however. Speaking of design is very innovative! I am proud to give this game its determining rating.

surweaver 2025-04-12 12:59

@verttixpertti @smugsman totally agree with you about more clever puzzles. I had some ideas on different levels and messed up some of them. For example, I totally messed up a level where you have a single blue stone that you need to crush in order to get to the left half of the level. Earlier it was not necessary to crush and was a part of solving a puzzle. And by blocking path around the stone it erased all the thinking :sweat_smile: Also, I didn't introduce to the mechanic of hidden walls, there's a passage to the bonus level at the last puzzle level hidden behind a wall :sweat_smile: That's a first serious attempt at puzzles for me so I need to work on this more, surely!

I would gladly accommodate your needs in a further update! Thank you!

surweaver 2025-04-12 13:01

@bassilij I explained in my comment above that it was my fault for not introducing you, the players, to the hidden wall mechanics. If you have time, you can explore the last level for anything hidden! Anyway, thanks for playing!

siilicac 2025-04-12 14:44

really fun it took me a second to realize i had to run instead of just walk but it was fun to figure it out i love the puzzles! and the sound effects!

yiraa 2025-04-12 17:58

Fun game with great sound! I just wish it had a bit more challenge.

surweaver 2025-04-12 18:53

@yiraa I share your wish :D It will definitely be done!

kristallllllik 2025-04-13 14:10

Interesting game 👍

amolker 2025-04-13 18:59

Quite original mechanics, nice sound design. Good job!

allie-vera 2025-04-13 23:33

Really cool mechanics! Sorry to my stone guy for all the times I bashed him into walls, but I have to say it was worth the satisfaction of bashing through multiple blocks at once B) Great game!

xpoho 2025-04-15 03:50

изображение_2025-04-15_105011186.png

Необычная механика, я такого особо не помню. Играть интересно ^_^

darefus 2025-04-17 16:24

the core slide menchancic feels intuitive and is fun to use whne figuring out the correct paths. i was imemediately drawn to th extra loot sections for added challenge. Vry cool!!

surweaver 2025-04-18 00:44

@darefus Thanks! Glad you liked it!

untitled-studios 2025-04-25 16:38

Charming, silly, fun. Great stuff!!!!

wadoral 2025-04-25 16:58

This was extremely satisfying to play! Thank you so much, great job!