Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD60 → Grandpa's Grid Too: Detention

Grandpa's Grid Too: Detention

By no-grapes-games and stalemeat

Percentile
CategoryRankScoreCountLD60Ever
Overall22
Fun22
Innovation22
Theme22
Graphics23
Humor22
Mood23

Comments

silas-reinagel 2026-10-20 01:21 ♥ 1

This is really fun! I love the mood... feels like a real game in a physical room with a human rival.

The music drives the energy forward.

The controls took me a little getting used to, especially the sword physics... and then I was rolling

smilewood 2026-10-20 01:38 ♥ 1

Fun little game, great interpenetration of the theme! I thought it was the right balance of difficulty and simplicity of mechanics that I wanted to keep trying a few times as I learned the enemy mechanics. The game looks great, sounds great, and is fun to play; fantastic overall job!

orpheus 2026-10-20 01:39 ♥ 1

very moeful and sounds crafted very well and harmonic

applejollygarden 2026-10-20 01:53 ♥ 1

Love the art

nathmate 2026-10-20 02:04 ♥ 1

2026-10-20-125819_386x381_scrot.png

Very solid entry all-round. It's been a long time since I saw an overhead projector. The skeletons kiting onto traps was the part I found most challenging. The Fun Factoids in the "overworld" were a neat addition. The music loop was a bit jankily, but I didn't really notice it after the first time.

ectucker1 2026-10-20 02:57 ♥ 1

The animations for drawing in the rooms are super cool, good stuff! And I love the concept of re-using ideas from a previous jam entry as your "Old Tech."

The bullet hell rooms get pretty hard to survive as the time they require goes up, but it's a good challenge.

neeko69 2026-10-20 03:16 ♥ 1

Pretty cool simple game, I did wish there were more levels, as I did finish it very quickly. But regardless, it is a pretty well polish game, and I could see being a full complete game!!

digital-bacon 2026-10-20 11:35 ♥ 1

Interesting rogue-like! Love the artstyle and the sounds. The effects of someone drawing on an OHP transparency brings back memories! Excellent job -- well done!

erzhan 2026-10-20 13:23 ♥ 1

Love the game and the art is good too.

nursultan 2026-10-20 13:31 ♥ 1

Really cool entry! I loved the concept and the overall mood you’ve created here. The controls felt responsive and the gameplay was super engaging for a jam project. Left full ratings! If you have a few minutes, we’d love for you to check out our game Meow Bomb! 🐱💣 The official LD page has our jam release, but I also assembled an alternative updated build with fixes and a working PC: https://naiper.itch.io/meow-bomb-by-naiper

Cheers!

roitchie 2026-10-20 14:48 ♥ 1

This is such a great rogue like. I love the projector aesthetic. Didn't realise they came out in the 50s. We still had them in school in the 2000s. The animations of the hands drawing each room are so cool. I played through it several times to see the different status effects. I liked the dark room one and the sage bubble was especially handy in the bullet hell rooms.

This was my fastest ending Screenshot 2026-10-20 154637.png

I'll have to try out the original now.

yepjames 2026-10-20 15:37 ♥ 1

Really fun! Loved everything, good job!

stormrider 2026-10-20 18:38 ♥ 1

Great experienced I loved seen the human hand actually draw the rooms and challenges in the room, very unique concept. I had the most challenge just aiming with my attacks but not enough to ruin the mood. Great game

honey-pony 2026-10-21 03:14 ♥ 1

Very fun aesthetic! I remember playing around with these kinds of physical games when I was younger, including e.g. making paper pieces to move around, and it's fun to see that concept realized in this way. I think it would be cool to have a little plastic frame around the pieces as they move, as I seem to remember you could usually see the edges of the plastic sheet.

For jam purposes, I appreciated the somewhat low difficult of the game. 😄 I did realize after doing a second playthrough that I may have been somewhat lucky with my first one. Either way, it is nice for a roguelike to not be too punishing specifically in a game jam context. That said, I think thematically the low difficulty of the game clashed with the story where apparently Jessica has been beating us handily for years.

I think the weapon system is a bit awkward. My first game, I did not see a single weapon other than a sword, but did see multiple "spear breaks." My second game, I saw a single axe (still no spears), and I saw probably 6-8 weapon breaks, including an axe break that broke my axe. So, it seems like using any weapon other than the sword is asking for trouble, and it's difficult to find one in the first place. And I couldn't find any meaningful reason to use the axe... even after getting a damage upgrade, it was still just barely short of killing enemies in one shot. So it was actually worse than the sword for taking out normal enemies, but could maybe be more efficient in a boss fight. So, I think if the weapon system is going to be so punishing towards ever picking up an axe or spear, they should have some benefit to go with it, but I'm also not sure there is any reason for the system to be so punishing. From strictly a variety of gameplay perspective it's kind of awkward how hard it is to find and keep a spear.

But speaking of variety of gameplay, I really enjoyed the different variations of rooms in the game. Having both the enemy combat room plus the bullet hell room was a really nice set of options for keeping the gameplay more interesting, and having the darkness modifier that would go on top was also nice.

I found the boss pattern I got in my second run (basically a huge circular set of bullets with thin gaps in between) was very difficult to dodge, and I ended up just tanking it and spamming attack. Maybe this is where the axe would excel (it had broken before then). Not sure what to say about that, I just thought it was interesting that the boss I got in my first playthrough was quite manageable but this pattern was very very difficult to dodge. (Update: I played this boss again on a third run and found a way through the pattern, so maybe it's not actually that hard).

I love the little circle icons / bottle caps for the upgrades, they look very cool.

tigerj 2026-10-21 13:24 ♥ 1

This was an absolute blast and I'm glad I caught your posts on bluesky to find it.

I take damage sometimes getting coins when the map zooms because I'm old probably and my vision sucks. :)

I also think a small heal consumable would be appreciated by players to help in tough situations. I really want to play this again but I have to get to work soon.

Thanks for making and congrats on the finish.

https://www.youtube.com/live/W1W3a8pfksM?si=BvijXN-Ba5w_uk3o&t=757

ao-85 2026-10-21 20:59 ♥ 1

Love the game and the art is good too. The effects of someone drawing on an OHP transparency brings back memories!

hinamarina 2026-10-21 22:48 ♥ 2

Absolutely amazing game! The overall art is really charming, the controls were snappy and really great! The animated hand drawing the board was such an amazing touch and the music fits perfectly with the vibe. I really loved the cover and the character designs, this analog vibe full of texture is really great! It took me 3 runs to beat it, but finally managed to. A really, really impressive entry, super fun! Made me feel like in a touhou game, and I dont know of a bigger compliment to give!

Thank you for the game! :)

milq 2026-10-22 07:10 ♥ 1

Congrats on finishing this! Drawing the whole dungeon live on an overhead projector is such a fun idea, and the survive-the-room trap with the pog map felt fresh. The manga art on grid paper is gorgeous. Well done, great game!

silkworm-sweatshop 2026-10-23 12:59 ♥ 1

Man, overhead projectors take me back. That was fun! I like how the rooms are randomized yet keep ramping up difficulty as you progress some of those bullet hell rooms were a doozy). The transitions are really smooth and I never got tired seeing the hand draw things in. Great stuff!

maakole 2026-10-24 02:35 ♥ 1

Really clever game, love the concept. I'd suggest limiting the "dodge for x seconds" rooms to only 3-4 per map generation, those are a lot less fun than combat is, and just takes up a lotta time. Shops could also use some work. Otherwise, I loved it. Great work~

harujam 2026-10-25 17:23 ♥ 1

I'm seriously astonished from the quality, and I mean across the board, nothing felt off really. The best visual effect IMO was the animated hand over the overhead projector. I really hope this entry goes up up up in the final scoring. Best of luck!

mavvy 2026-10-28 02:23 ♥ 1

Detention's framing is very fun, taking place on the overhead, circa the 90s/early 00s. I like how it's not just a frame, though. There's a real, active participation with the characters here, down to the shadowy hand drawing the dungeon as you go. It is a very complete package that appears polished and charming.

Peppered in are some fun facts about the game and overheads, a good smattering of enemies and weapons, the odd dip into Tohou-esque screen filling bullets and miraculous clutch heals. It's very engaging and while to me I find the game a little on the hard side (I admit it, I'm not very good at the game), I don't feel its impossible and in fact I notice I get better with every run.

Thank you for the precision movement button, made not running directly into the bosses much easier (rip my first run). Also, the sound when you lose... man I miss those FL Studio samples lol.