The Not Very Golden Age of Piracy by Dezzles 2018-09-04T23:24:51Z ♥ 2
I managed to sink 700 ships.
OK, only 7. But fun! Congrats!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → alexfalkenberg
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Co | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 42 | Running out of space | Der Raum | compo | 361 | 3.38 | 3.48 | 3.09 | 3.87 | 3.30 | 2.83 | 2.65 | 3.00 | |||
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | Manystar | compo | 615 | 2.73 | 2.87 | 2.03 | 2.50 | 2.78 | 1.42 | 1.62 | 2.28 | |||
| 2015 | 33 | You are the Monster | Blobara (Meets the Redshirts) | jam | 20 | |||||||||||
| 2013 | 26 | Minimalism | Mag | compo | 705 | 3.03 | 3.11 | 2.53 | 3.00 | 3.29 | 2.10 | 2.76 | 47 |
alexfalkenberg leaves an average of 12.1 feedback comments each event.
I managed to sink 700 ships.
OK, only 7. But fun! Congrats!
What an interesting idea for a mechanic. Core gameplay is nice, you definitely got the theme. Graphically I'm torn: I like the "retro" look, but I wonder if it would benefit from a different graphical style. Same with the audio. Controls were pretty good. I had a lot of fun playing this, and I hope you continue to work on it. Hope you've had a great LD!
Really fun concept, nice art and sfx. Wouldn't mind some music and some collection variety or some other sort of progression options, I guess. Otherwise, what's there is pretty darn solid.
Best of luck, and hope you had a great LD!
I like the idea of your game a lot; I imagine a humorous take on the subject would even out the darker aspects. ;)
It could definitely use a little more polish here and there, as others have described, but I think you got a nice start in the time available. I hope you manage to put in the other ideas and fixes you didn't have time for. Hope you had a great LD!
Nice mood, and the urgency kinda kicks in. Simple idea, fun. Would be nice to see an expanded version!
Hope you had a great LD!
Really enjoyed the concept and the art and music. Controls are good. I like @prodigalson's feedback as well.
Hope you've had a great LD!
Cool concept. Enjoyed playing this. Could use a little more hint at how the dock area works (or that it's the dock area at all).
Had fun. I'm wondering how the game might be expanded beyond the level you've created. Larger playfield? Other "powerups"? Different and more complicated pieces? Thanks for making it, and I hope you've had a great LD!
I love the idea, but it felt way too hard to control. Maybe I was missing something. I'd love to see this reworked and expanded upon, and maybe the difficulty adjusted somehow, either via a more optimized general mechanic or some other additional features. Graphically superb, audio worked well. Really sad I sucked at this one! Please keep working on it?
Hope you've had a great LD!
Looks like link is dead.
So happy to see IF here. Inform is awesome.
I played the compo version and am rating accordingly. Your most recent comment seems to acknowledge the issues I noticed. I'm gonna give you jam version a try and see how that goes!
Again, nice to see IF/Inform here. Have a great LD!
Former Delphi dev here (started with v1, peaked with v3, dabbled off and on with later versions until Borland ate itself). Still kinda miss Delphi, and I'm really surprised to see a Delphi entry here. :)
Nice simple idea, well-executed, clean. I'd love to see it further developed and exported to more target platforms. :) Hope you've had a great LD!
I enjoyed this, but after several rounds, I still don't know that I understood what I was supposed to be doing (edit: ok, re-read description, tried again, all good now).
Lovely visuals, great audio. Just feels good to control, but I think movement could be a liiiiitle bit perkier; felt just a little slow moving around. Had to shrink the game to fit my fullscreened browser window (lot of Unity games this time around have this issue...). I hope you get enough ratings to rank; fighting that myself here in the last couple days. Hope you've had a great LD!
Nice idea! But it needs more.... something. I also felt like I was watching it more than playing it at times. Music was pretty nice, block and bomb art needs a little extra oomph.
One critical note: your game is larger than my full-screened browser window... so initially, I didn't see my paddle or know what was going on. Finally noticed the browser scrollbars, reduced the game size and it was fine. I'd love to see this idea expanded, but with more interaction as well. Hope you've had a great LD!
Tricky stuff as it went, but overall well-done. Hope you've had a great LD!
I really like the idea here, and the implementation overall is well-done. Art and the textual components are cute and well-suited to the game. I'm still not sure if there's more to the mechanic that I'm not quite getting, or if there's not. Guessing the former, and I just need more practice. :)
So, perhaps it's me just not getting it, but I suppose a little bit more clarity about how the overall game actually works would get me more engaged as well. I couldn't quite figure out how to place things to extend my game.
I wouldn't mind being able to insta-drop the single blocks (unless I could and just didn't know what to do). And I wasn't really sure why the single blocks were completely unmovable in any direction, left to fall on their own. Overall, great stuff, and I would play this again with some tweaks. :) Have a great LD!
Hard to improve on what everyone else has already written. Super nice game, man, all-around! Controller felt pretty darn good.
Thanks for playing/rating my game out, too, btw. :)
You've got a lot of great feedback already, so I won't repeat it. Really enjoyed the concept and I hope you're able to tweak some of the mechanics and implementation and REALLY make it shine.
Have a great LD!
I wanted to love this, but I could only like it in its present form. One standout for sure was the music--which was quite nice. You have a lot of good feedback already so I'm not going to rehash it. I hope you can tweak things and I'd honestly love to give it another play or two. :) Take care!
Really neat twist on Tetris. Enjoyed it. Would love some progression of difficulty and a fast-drop option.
Hope you're having a great LD!
A little glitchy and confusing here and there, but I think I see what you were trying to do. :)
Overall, really like the idea. Will have to give the other games in your series a play.
Thanks for this, and have a great LD!
Love the obstacles once I figured it all out, and wouldn't mind items to collect. Pretty nice spin on Snake... I'd probably keep a more-developed version of this on my phone to kill time.
Hope you had a great LD!
Pretty interesting idea, and pretty well executed. Took a bit to understand corruption and some of the mechanics, so I agree with another commentor about a little more description possibly being useful.
I was concerned about the minimalist graphics initially, but that faded pretty quickly. :)
I hope you refine this one and keep going. Have a great LD!
Took a bit to get the hang of this one, but really enjoyed it overall. Seems like you could take this in a bunch of different directions moving forward. :)
Have a great LD!
Concept is actually really cool, and as mentioned the art could use a little work (but hey, you get a pass because it's an LD). Will you continue working on it and refining it? I hope so. :)
I see your net overall opinion of your effort for a first game is positive, and that's good. I hope you had fun, and I hope you keep doing these jams!
Normally not a fan of tutorials in games, but this one was well-done. Lots of cool elements in this game. Thanks for making it!
Have a great LD!
Overall, I really enjoyed this. I think the idea is great and you get a nice feel for space running out.
I don't know if I'm maybe missing something, but I found the controls a bit cumbersome, particularly as the play area increased. Having to move to the complete opposite side of the board to move a row/column in the opposite direction was frustrating. Maybe using mouse to target the row/column and then arrow keys or WASD to move in the allowed directions, or maybe using a mouse to drag a row/column U/D/L/R? I also found the slimes to be a bit distracting due to how much and how quickly they bounced. Maybe this is intended to add a feeling of urgency or chaos. If so, it works. ;) Otherwise, solid concept that I'd play again. Thanks for making it, and have a great LD!
Nicely done, all-around. Definitely a genre you're familiar with, it seems. Other than getting buried in a few walls, no issues. Fun stuff.
Took me a while to understand the theme fit, but I got there. Quite well done. I hope this gets more attention; I would absolutely pay for a mobile version of this.
Hello Godot developer!
Great little game! Really conveys the claustrophobia aspect. Only negative note I can think of was already mentioned.... title screen static a bit loud. Music was fitting, graphics work, though I wouldn't mind some variation in the bugs (different bugs, different colors, sizes, movement speeds, etc). I *think* I like the previous suggestion of being able to fire at will, especially as the level gets really tight, but I'd have to play it that way to really know. Have a great LD--and thanks for sharing your Godot game with me!
Hello Godot developer!
I was quite overwhelmed and confused when the game started--didn't know what was going on or why. I see instructions for controls on your game page here, but maybe you could add a little bit more about the mechanics so it's clear what to do. I finally kiiiinda got the hang of it after a while, but I'm not sure I was very good. There were still colored cubes that didn't appear to have a matching power to attack with, and I'm not sure what the differences were with the special attacks, either. So some sort of mechanics explanation somewhere might help everyone engage with your game better. :) Great music, very colorful and I love geometric shapes. :) It's possible some sound effects for the different attacks (not just firing, but some sort of audio feedback that your attack's actually registering) might be helpful. Just spitballing. Graphically I loved it. Musically, loved it. Conceptually, I think it's a very solid idea. I do think I'd like the overall experience more if I understood it better. Have a great jam, and thanks for sharing your Godot game with me! :)
Hello, Godot developer!
Tried your game, found it an interesting idea!
Some notes: - world seemed huge, long travel distances, didn't know really know if it was all forest or if I'd find population centers. - trees a bit hard to extinguish; more directional control/spraying would have been nice and intuitive. - pretty cool menu - I saved a lot of people, but I never saw anyone. Thousands saved for a few trees seems like a bit of mathematical rounding error. ;) - Arrows were helpful, wouldn't have had a clue where to go otherwise. - Arrow keys were a bit cumbersome, but I discovered some controller support, so that was a big help!
Conceptually, a great idea. I might have limited the world size and really nailed the spraying mechanic. Some signs of these other lives might have been nice (cars along the road, smashed houses, random animals grazing (then running when they're too close to fire)--stuff like that. So happy to see Godot games--thanks for sharing yours with me. I hope you continue to work on this. Have a great jam! :)
@squirmonkey / @Nobleboy / @JSMCAG / @albin I have it on good authority that the shooting is fixed and the game will be updated to reflect that soon, if any of you are able/willing to try it again later today or tomorrow. :)
My own review: the shooting kinda sucks (fixes incoming, tho, now--yay!). The game is soooo much harder just because you're so ill-equipped to handle the enemies. I wonder if the game will be too easy with the improved shooting, but I guess we'll see... Overall, I really, really like the concept and story, and I really like the mechanics that have been implemented. I'd like to see more of the mechanics and enemies combined to make newer and more intricate levels... The boost cells and the falling bridge blocks are some of the more visually cool things, as are [art things later in the game--no spoilers]. And the art in general, well, the pseudo- and actual bosses in particular are pretty darn creative and cool--you get better and better at art and coding and styling with every new game. Keep up the good work! :)
@adroitconceptions It's OK to publish unfinished games, hence the "unfinished" category, but usually you still include a download for those that might still wanna try it out and give feedback (to help motivate, or provide fresh perspective and/or ideas). I hope @edgarlord comes back with a link or two in addition to his promised postmortem.
Fun game! My son and I especially liked the music. Wish there had been some audio effects as well. The display and characters were a bit small, which added to the challenge, I suspect, but I really wanted to see more details on the character and the other objects, so a bit larger would have been great. Also, my right hand nearly fell off playing with arrow keys. Overall, it's a great, simple idea that's implemented well. I'd take a larger brighter presentation and better controls, and probably put some version of this on my phone for random play. Thanks and have a great LD!
Conceptually quite lovely, art is great, and the audio is fitting. Really nice job.
The world felt too large and thus rather empty, overall. I'm glad the arrows were in there or I would have been lost. I wonder if including some story-related scraps of tape or something, or just added nonfunctional set pieces splashed around more would have really sold it as a complete experience. I didn't really get the emotional connection, but I'm often in developer mode and not in gamer mode, so I'm constantly looking at mechanics anyway. Gonna rate this one high, and I hope you do well--please expand and update it, too! :)
(I'd give you extra points for using Godot if I could, btw. Love the engine.)
Interesting idea, way too ambitious for the time we had available (but you know that now :)). Once I got to a certain point it became a clicker game, which was unfortunate, but I'd love to see more done with this. Gonna try your post-jam version later today. Have a great LD!
Interesting and funny idea. Has a lot of the window dressing of a completed game, just wish there was a bit more to the mechanics (nothing too crazy--I can appreciate the simplicity of the concept overall :)). I hope you update and finish it. :) Have a great LD!
Love the core idea. I think, for me, the game could move a little more quickly. I love the tail whipping and the collection aspect, tho, a lot (I went for a similar space collection idea, though nowhere near complete like yours). Wouldn't mind some additional soundfx in places.
I really like the various suggestions and ideas you have for updating. I hope you follow through, because I'd really like to play that version. :) Congrats and I hope you have a great LD! :)
Played this one- and two-player both, and I love-love the mechanic of moving bits around. Def. had some bullet-y lagginess. I'm really happy to see another Godot game, too--I'll def. be checking out your source! I have a similar collection mechanic idea in my game, but you've got an actual functional implementation I may have to borrow from--just a little. ;) I hope you're having a great LD--take care! :)
Wow. Just...wow. So much crazy, so many hats. Dynamic levels, super-catchy tunes and sound fx. Wacky graphics that serve the game well. I had no idea what I was actually supposed to be doing, and I loved it all anyway. Pretty awesome. Did get a JS error when I went up left offscreen at one point. Your various text msgs were a little cluttery at points as well, but it almost felt as intentional as all the hats and stuff, so I didn't really mind. :)
This has cult-classic written all over it.
Congrats on a fun entry--have a great LD! :)
I read through other comments and understand you have different types of days, but I got a "short day" message after my third day which was substantially longer than the ultra-short day two. Weird. I also now see that you're aware of that, so good. :) Graphically quite nice. Very relaxing sounds as well. This idea has a lot of potential in terms of varying up the types of birds and giving them different behaviors and/or attitudes. I would love to see a fuller game made from this. Congrats on a very nice entry, and I hope you have a great LD! :)
Graphically quite good. Love that color palette! Gameplay is interesting. Some movement and control bugs, some glitching here and there, and boss interactions were pretty tough. I'd love to see a full world created with this idea. Congrats on your game and have a great LD!
Really strong idea. I had a little trouble with all the controls focused so closely together on my left hand, but managed to get by OK. Nice tie-in with the theme, fun and funny, appropriate art and sounds. Would love to see much more game wrapped around this and similar mechanics. Congrats, & have a great LD!
I got to a point where the screen went all white with a crescendo of music and then it appeared to just be stuck. Atmospheric and moody, but a little unclear insofar as an end goal is concerned. Seems like the kind of thing where a story or other narrative could help drive the game forward. Would love to see you get more of the game in place. Hope you're having a great LD. :)
I do not understand what's going on. I see you have a HUD of sorts at the top left, but it is largely unreadable as it's offscreen:
I would like very much to try your game again if you have any plans to update or improve it at all. :)
I wanted to like this, but the correct-portal stuff is very subtle and led to some frustration. Headphones definitely helped. Still, nice idea overall and otherwise nicely implemented. :) Have a great LD!
Lots of potential here, and very slick presentation, but something about the controls needs adjustment. Also getting snagged on platforms in the level... perhaps there's a better way to deal with that? Even if it's just crashing out and dying at that point. :)
I'm really happy to see you're working on some updates. Congrats on your first LD! :)
Great game! Had a lot of fun playing it, and now I want to make a similar game. :) I like the levels you had, the style and mood was very cute and fun and playful. I second the checkpoints idea--although used sparingly imo. Or some other mechanic that removes any need for them. Please keep working on this! Congrats on a great game and have a great LD! :)
Friend and I enjoyed your game! Controls, as other have said, could be tuned up a little, both controller and keyboard, we think. The environment blocks coming in and out all the time at random seemed entirely random to the point of being almost irritating. Maybe if there were patterns or some other slick presentation for their coming and going? Shooting/slashing/etc seemed to not always be under my precise control, either. That said, great effort, nice game. :) Congrats and have a great LD!
Slick, polished. Tune was a little repetitive, but sold work overall. Enjoy the rest of LD!
One of the best puzzle games I've tried this LD. I wouldn't mind being able to use two hands--maybe arrow keys for movement and retaining q and e for turning, say... and having the game display larger on screen in my browser window would have been nice. :) Otherwise, love the concept, the music and audio fx are very fitting, the graphics aren't fancy, but work well, and I would expect to find this on an app store somewhere for sale at some point. Congrats, and have a great LD! :)
Slick presentation, and a great concept you could almost certainly flesh out and publish, but a little light on mechanics as presented; I wasn't really feeling clever when playing; more like I was cleaning up or something. That said, I think I see an awesome game in here, and I'd really love to see more. Congrats and have a great LD!
This was fun! I wasn't sure what to do closer to the end--or, well, I apparently knew, but there seems like there was some sort of order of things being imposed, I don't know. Got to an/the ending, in any case. :) That said, I have no idea if I 100%'ed it because it just faded to black altogether at the end. Intended? When holding an item, it's not clear where the cursor tip is anymore, so I wasn't sure where I was clicking exactly.
I didn't really see the theme fit,, btw, but I'd def. play a longer version of this. I love seeing people still putting out point-and-click games. Especially loved the touch of audio at completion. Congrats and have a great LD! :)
Great idea that could use a little more work. I played through it several times just to see what might change during each play. I agree that better indicators for the traffic density/etc would be useful, and smoothing out car movement would be nice. I hope you continue to update and expand this game. :) Have a great LD!
What a wild ride, that initial version! Improved greatly in the update. I agree with the other comments re: the basic mechanics. Would love to see this idea tweaked and fleshed out more fully. Congrats, & have a great LD!
I, too, initially placed food without realizing I'd done so, and was stuck for a bit. Worked it out, and all was fine after that. Great sound, great idea for a puzzler, and thank goodness for the reset key. ;) Really enjoyed it overall. Have a great LD!
Hey, a TIC80 game! Nice! First one I've seen this LD. :) I played it a couple times. Read the description. I guess I still don't really understand the filling up thing very well. Maybe an animated tutorial or something to start, if you keep working on it, to show people a little more explicitly what's what and why?
But as a puzzle game I REALLY like the idea a lot. Congrats!
That got crazy-hard really quickly, haha! I, too, wasn't sure what the red circles were about, but I see you've explained it in another comment, so I went back and tried it again, but still just insanely overwhelming, fast.
Besides the pure volume of baddies, overlapping of enemies made it even harder to figure out what key I really needed to be pushing, so at some point I was just mashing to save myself. With some difficulty balance I could see this being really fun. Some more graphical whizziness and audio would carry this even further. Congrats!
This was pretty fun. Nice idea, nice execution. Keyboard controls were a little clumsy for me. I can imagine some nice audio with this at some point. I wonder if being able to drop weapons would be helpful, or was that a conscious decision you made to not allow it? Anyway, congrats, and have a great LD!
Hey, you weren't kidding about similar ideas! Yours is definitely WAAAY more polished than mine, however, but you've very much made a game right in line with what I was hoping for with mine. Feels complete, the refueling/repair station is great, and it's surprising relaxing (not something I had in mind for mine, heh).
Super slick. Congrats!
I set Chrome Developer Mode to pretend I was on an iPad and it worked just fine. Same wonder about better indication of health. I would have loved an idea of the story of the game as well, so I better understood why I was there doing what I was doing. Keep on keepin' on!
Really, REALLY tough level. Those skeletons aren't messing around, either, and the floor after a bit might as well be lava. I was able to beat level 1 only ONCE in about 40 tries. The controller support really helped, but even with that, craaaaaazy hard. Would love to see some balance tweaks--and maybe a more gentle ramping up of the difficulty over several initial levels--and more levels and bosses. And I liked the artifact/key mechanic; wouldn't mind seeing more key/lock bits and other puzzles in new levels! I heard you had an inventory screen, too, but I never saw it...? Might have to play again and see--would be nice, imo, to have that info all on the same screen, available at a glance. Music was VERY fitting; would love some spooky sound effects, too!
Have a great LD!
Great mood and pretty enjoyable play. I tried and was able to repro the bug you mention. Neat. ;) Take care!
The shifting powers was more fun than I thought. I wouldn't mind some story that explains the world and why I have shifting powers, though. And of course, making the world bigger and more varied would also be great.
Controls weren't bad, but the collisions were occasionally frustrating. I suspect this is a limitation of Scratch, though.
And I have the same comment on the music. A longer loop would help a lot. Some other sound effects might have been nice with more time, too.
Mostly and finally, I looked at your last LD game, too, and noticed you've improved! Keep getting better!
All in all, I applaud your efforts! Glad you had fun, and please come back again next LD!
Waypoints were pretty far apart, kept anticipating stuff, but mostly just kept getting more waypoints. I could see this made into something longer. I'm still not really sure I get the story, either. Really enjoyed the graphical style; sparse, but nicely colored.
I'm really glad I didn't go through this one with my kids; the language there in the middle was a bit of a shock/unexpected. :\
I think we had a similar idea, but yours is light-years more complete. Nice little game! I agree that the humans-killing was pretty difficult. Love the slime feeding on them!
Great first entry, nice to see Scratch in an LD, too.
Annnd, it's always nice to see first-timers! I hope you take this experience and keep running with it! Lots of other tools out there to take you even further! BEST OF LUCK!
I'm particularly partial to C2 entries, and this one does not disappoint. Great style, great gameplay. Controls did feel a little laggy/floaty, would be be my only criticism. I know I'd like to see this one fleshed out more.
Simple and fun. Enjoyed it.
Interesting interpretation of one of my favorite games. Load time/restart time could be shorter, maybe? Nicely done overall!
Short and sweet, simple, reasonably fun. Nice job.
I seem to be able to move between levels without doing anything, seemingly at random? Kind of confusing. Nice overall vibe and aesthetic, though.
I liked this--hilarious! I'm torn exactly in half about loving and hating the graphics, though, but I certainly understand the time constraints and all that, too. :) Nice job!
I really enjoyed this. I'm thinking touchscreen for this at some point. I hope you are, too. :)
![DT91pD3[1].png](https://static.ldjam.com/raw/660/b/z/e731.png){kind=link}
LD45 — Start with nothing (1)
The Whispering Forest by Mathstr0fficial 2019-10-07T01:02:21Z ♥ 2
First, a really nice idea, fits the theme. Could have used more testing for some niggling little things, though, that would probably be easy to fix: - arrow keys still work for movement, but there's no walking animations when doing so; cut the arrow keys, or better: keep them but get the animations working. I found myself constantly going back to the arrow keys because they felt more comfortable. Having the option either way wouldn't hurt anything, imo - Speed up the text display, or slow down the audio. Former probably easier.
- at the start of the game, I could click through the journal text to exit it, as the audio had already finished well prior to the text display. Later, though, I could do neither, and had to wait. And then it was space to continue. Consistent controls would be +1.
- At game end, there was more than a screen's worth of text, and no prompts to click or space through to see the rest. Was left kinda hanging. - A few hitbox collision issues in places. Player hitbox too tall; can't walk in front of trees/etc like you'd expect. Hitboxes too tall for the larger trees, too, imo. At least one location set piece had no collision box at all, apparently, and I could walk all over it (being vague here to avoid spoilers). - Related to the hitboxes, part of the woods are suuuuper-hard to navigate through, despite not appearing that difficult. Some hitbox adjustments would fix this, I think! - At end of game, the walk/step audio continued to play. - You look like you eat one of the items as you collect it. It's funny, maybe just leave it. ;) - For item collection, the audio that plays could play right away when it pops, instead of waiting for it to finally "enter" the player sprite. Several positives, btw! - Really like the art in general. - Audio is pretty good. Feels complete--like everything that should have audio pretty much has audio. - Music is really, really good. All of it. I noticed some of the tracks didn't loop smoothly, but overall really well done, fitting of the various locations/situations. - The game mood is well-complemented with some additional effects besides the audio/music. - The overall story idea is pretty good. I wanted more, and I am intrigued by the ending.
In summary:
I think the overall idea could be fleshed out more (of course, like every LD game ever)... there could be a lot more story to tell, a lot more twists and reveals, etc. Also intrigued by bits at the end...
There might be some benefit to a little more structure to the game to reduce the wandering, although if the hitbox situation was better, the wandering might have felt easier and more fun. I wouldn't mind having a way to measure my progress, what I've done, or partially done and need to complete. There wasn't much in the way of interacting with the world, and I think it would be fun to include more interactive elements, both as part of the gameplay and maybe just for fun. Wandering around and seeing things you can mess with makes it a fun toy when you're not otherwise working toward completing the game. As a bite-sized adventure, I really enjoyed it. The story in particular kept me playing; I wanted to know what happened next. I hope you can do some tweaking and maybe a fuller version of this idea at some point. Good luck with the competition!