lectvs 2025-04-08 04:13
Well polished for a jam game, and the puzzles were clever too! Love the open design of the dungeon. I *think* I cheesed a couple of the puzzles, but that's how I like it. :wink: Great job!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → Explorem Ipsum: Catacombs of Time
By notexplosive
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8 | 4.47 | 25 | |
| Fun | 23 | 4.28 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 45 | 4.17 | 25 | |
| Theme | 563 | 3.45 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 159 | 4.21 | 25 | |
| Audio | 387 | 3.34 | 24 | |
| Humor | 2.81 | 10 | ||
| Mood | 232 | 3.89 | 25 |
Well polished for a jam game, and the puzzles were clever too! Love the open design of the dungeon. I *think* I cheesed a couple of the puzzles, but that's how I like it. :wink: Great job!
This is awesome!! Absolutely love the art and sound. Hook mechanic is my favorite.
Very nice style! Is this... is this a Dwarf Fortress? FIVE STARS!
Really clever puzzle design! The graphics have a cool vibe to them as well. Much like @lectvs, I feel like I might have been a little creative with some solutions.
The sound effect for the hook hitting the wall was stunning, excellent choice :smile:
I really like the art style and the mechanics, that and the puzzles remind me of baba is you. Overall a great game.
Great game! Played to the end. I had some resistance doing the puzzles initially, but once I got into it, I was going. I think the puzzle where you escort a bunch of crates was a bit tedious, but otherwise, I felt like my time was well spent.
Feel like cave of qud
It's rare that a jam game occupy me for so long. Very well done, some minor problems here and there but are a solid entry. Including a level editor with it is quite the feat too.
This was really fun! I love the open map, where each individual room could contain multiple puzzles (or parts of puzzles). Bringing everything together at the end for the box collection puzzle was challenging, but satisfying. I suspect some of the puzzles may have multiple possible solutions, but that's all part of the fun. The puzzles are well-designed and use the mechanics in interesting ways. The aesthetic of the game is also great - it's simple, but that style has a real charm to it, I think.
One criticism: the game really, _really_ could have used with an undo button. There's a reason that's a standard feature in Sokoban-style puzzle games. Having to restart after a single mistake is frustrating on the easier puzzles, but on something longer like the box collection puzzle, it starts to get a bit ridiculous. Still enjoyed the game overall, though - I can forgive that flaw for a jam game. Nice work on this.
@python-b5 thank you! Undo button is top of the list for post-jam. Although the tech to make it work might be tricky, I definitely agree that this game needs it
A very fun jam game! I generally prefer puzzle rooms to be self-contained (So that you don't need to reset the entire dungeon when messing up), but I had a good time with it, regardless.
@notexplosive Depending on how you're storing your game state it's not too bad. Just keep a stack of all the player's moves, then return to the previous state on undo. Since reset does serve a purpose in this game that would probably count as a "move" too.
Really nice art style! The background of the title screen is super cool, almost hypnotizing. The sound it makes when you move gets a bit repetitive but that's a nitpick, overall really cool game.
This is super impressive and clever! The graphics and sounds are sublime and the puzzle design is also very smart. I really like this idea of bringing stuff from one puzzle to another, it involves a level of planning that isn't common in many puzzle games. Unfortunately I am dumb as fuck so I only got 4/6 crystals before completely frying out and giving up :broken_heart: but I really really wish I could continue because this is special!
I really liked this idea of open ended puzzles but the actual puzzles felt a bit frustrating to me, or being extra tedious like needing to move boxes from an entirely different room.
Puzzles: So good! Reset animation: So good!!
Finding hidden mechanics like you can carry items with items or utilize them as if they were boxes etc. to move around was very rewarding. It might be hard to figure out probably but I did and had great fun. I also think moving boxes from a different room was a bit time-consuming. But it was fun to think my go to solution to every harder puzzle was: "Well I'm gonna need all items and all boxes! Let's go". I've managed to finish the game. Very polished very cool.
Having a whole introductory section was probably a lot of work on you part but I think it really helped to grab me in. Also wow! Also using your own MonoEngine wrapper! I find that pretty cool. The features of it seems nice. Did it help with the development of this game?
The only thing this is missing is a soundtrack! Very cool and challenging puzzle game. I love the unique mechanics and trying to figure them all out. Very good style.
love the audio and style, and looks very polished. well done!
Nice style and everything) i wish there could be reset for current level (room), not all the game so i have to start from the begginning all the puzzles) but it doesn't mean much, game is classy and i like it)
I'm not sure the solutions I found to the puzzles were necessarily the intended ones, but I'm happy to have gotten all the crystals. Great game!
Man, the visuals are a blast from the past. I used to play the heck out of an old DOS game named Excelsior that looked a lot like this.
excelsior.png
Really impressive design. Hard to believe it was done in just 72 hours! Not sure if it’s a bug or intended, but when I placed the pink diamond object on the water and grab it again, the water disappeared, which made getting the last crystal way too easy.
Very impressive! Looks like a full-fledged game.
I'm sad that I only found this game now after voting. I loved it and it was definitely one of my favorites from LD57.
I'm glad it placed so well.
I hope to see more of your games.
:D