Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Amar Ravi
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | Mediocre Snakes Finish Last | compo | 2.70 | 2.90 | 3.37 | 1.75 | 2.20 | 1.00 | 1.80 | 1.75 | ||
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | 👥 | Rock Shark Diamonds | jam | 719 | 3.62 | 3.66 | 3.35 | 4.05 | 3.62 | 3.39 | 3.63 | |
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | 👥 | DJ LoopMan | jam | 1186 | 3.22 | 3.35 | 3.77 | 3.52 | 3.67 | 2.88 | 2.97 |
Fun game! Very good interpretation of the theme! I really like the simple concept here, its playful. I would've liked to see a little more visual feedback to know if the rotating bar was going to hit me, because the height of it isnt very clear.
Man this is amazing! What a good game! So polished, the mechanics work really well, some really good level design. Keep up the good work! I also really like the minimalistic approach to the tutorial. The puzzle works well, although I feel like I didn't solve it in the most elegant of ways, really solid entry
Wow! This is super polished. I can easily see this becoming a really good hypercasual mobile experience. The first person view is super exhilarating. I managed to keep going for like 88 seconds and then died. The difficulty sort of doesn't change throughout the whole experience so that is something you could look into. Maybe have power-ups which let you survive a hit, that would help the pacing by giving players a small window to relax.
But overall, Really great game, super fun!
Fun Game! I like the concept here, and also love that its a twist on such a familiar game. Once the portals were introduced, it'd have been cool to see them side by side since remembering the initial layout was a little too difficult. I sort of got stuck on the 3rd puzzle I think? (the 2nd level after the portal introduciton). Great job on the game :)
"Having trouble with the game? Try getting better at it!" I feel personally attacked xD
Fun game! its kind of hard to tell you're moving unless there's a bunch of enemies around you. I think you could definitely add more feedback to the game when you get hit/ hit enemies - that would go a long way in improving game feel.
Congrats on your first compo/jam! Solid work :D
Thanks for playing! Just to recap, you beat the enemies on time with the beats shown on top, successfully recording the beats in a track locks it in place and the loop is set up!
Thanks @garet! So from the second level, the "enemies" start moving around (but stop once hit), the static enemies in the first level are sort of a remnant from that idea. I get your point on defeating the enemies , I think we lost our way somewhere in the middle of making it a beat-em-up + rhythm game combination. Thanks for the feedback!
@keibii Thanks for playing :)
Hey all! We've updated the game with a whole lot of content for you to try! - All new original artwork - New Tracks! - A Freestyle mode to make your own beats!
You can try it out here: https://amarravi.itch.io/dj-loopman !
Hahah great game! Simple concept, gets challenging pretty quickly. Love the BSOD endscreen!
Liked the background score, I would've liked an option to accelerate. I think you've captured the riding a bike feeling well. It sort of felt repetitive after a while, and I also missed some air control. Matched the theme pretty well, good job!
Interesting game! I like the simple concept and the countless level design possibilities it offers. I got stuck on the 3rd level though, where the ball would just go through the paddles without colliding. But hey 72h, how many bugs can we fix anyway.
Good work :)
I like the concept! Since the whole idea sort of rides on the out of control feeling we can build on that further. Would love to see the player moving/ gun shots changing (shotgun with spread etc.) This is a good starting point! :)
Woah, was it a puzzle, was it a trip? Who knows, I'm like dazzled! Really smart level design, and the ending puzzle was just so good. It really captured the whole deeper and deeper theme so well, in such pure gameplay terms. Great job!
A calm, diving game which could potentially be endless (I tried only 3 times). I enjoyed the simplicity of the game with its 2 button controls. The darkness as you go deeper was a nice touch too, I was positively surprised when it happened the first time.
if you're looking for things to improve my suggestions would be. Please keep in mind these are purely from a player perspective as I don't fully know what the intended experience you set out to build was :)
- Have the different elements be easily understood as positive or negative. I read the instructions but it would be cool if it was presented in game itself, maybe shape languages or colors (sharp for enemy, round for friendly?) - Like simonbw said above, smaller hitboxes would make the game more enjoyable since we can have more close calls - Potential interactions between the different elements, giving players strategic choices to run into elements. Maybe you want to purposefully slow down to avoid hitting a bunch of sharks?
This looks really interesting! But I can't quite figure out how the different timelines interact with each other? Do my actions in one after the other?
And to the folks above who experienced crashes, did you press Enter after the second window appears? It appears like the game has frozen but its actually waiting for you to pick a timeline to enter.
Fun, cute game with solid level design! I like how you introduce new mechanics in steps. I reached level 11 and gave up. I do find the collision detection a little too strict, there isnt space for any close calls but thats just personal preference. A few things Id consider changing to improve game feel - Speeding up the restart after Oleg gets killed, I want to get back into the game right away but currently Im waiting for him to bleed out :( - Speeding up the digging and jumping animation to make it feel like a jump and more satisfying
Overall its a solid game for a jam time frame, really enjoyed all the levels I tried! I had fun :D
Thats some really good voice acting! I couldnt finish the story, but youve done a great job with the polished visuals and sounds. Also dig the humor sprinkled throughout the dialogues! I do wish the combat was different though, in such close encounters, relying on a gun for combat felt unnaturally difficult for me, I'd have loved to be able to jump on enemies to take them out, or even a melee option.
Really fun game! And so polished :diamonds: I enjoyed how the difficulty is sort of determined by me and after the 2nd or 3rd level I became more strategic in how I attacked the enemy. Its a pretty smart combination of a shooter + puzzler. Great job! :)
This is so good! And what a take on the theme 'Deeper and Deeper'. I'm yet to find the right ending but man I love how immersive this game is. Simulating the whole system in Unity is really cool. You've done a great job! Thank you for making this game :)
Hahah, its an interesting experience Ill give you that. The controls arent snappy but I guess that's on purpose. I didn't feel like I had a lot of agency on the outcome of the race but somehow that feels like the intended experience. Good jam game!
If I were to think of things to improve, it could be more race-y, maybe power ups / boosts to spice up the gameplay, but all the while retaining the slightly out of control nature of the movement
An enjoyable bullet hell! I think it goes on to show how its a tried and tested formula for fun. There is a good amount of variety in the secondary weapons and the types of enemies. I reached the second mission and died at the boss, it looked similar to the first boss but I think the attack pattern was different? Anyway good work on nailing the core experience of a bullet hell!
Some suggestions for improvement - Add some feedback when an enemy ship is struck, right now the health bar goes down but a more visceral effect like the ship shaking or some particle effects would communicate the impact more - Camera shakes to accompany some of the power ups. This is again a game juice element which would elevate the experience - In terms of design, I think it'd be worth exploring ways to differentiate the game with some unique mechanics/ systems. To elevate it from a base bullet hell to something more!
Interesting interpretation of the theme and super polished! I enjoyed the turn based movement coupled with the rhythm windows. Overall it's a neat, smart, replayable design that really brings out the 'deeper and deeper' theme. Especially once you find an exit and decide to continue hunting. Great job!
@cloakedninjas Thanks for playing! Did you use both the rocks to go down faster without swimming? Swimming uses more oxygen than sinking. Agreed on the mouse click.
@jk5000 Thank you very much! Glad you had fun :D Does the hint about using rocks to sink faster make the level easier?
@bitlight Thanks for playing!
Yeah in hindsight it does make sense to have it be played fully by keyboard. The mouse click is also used later for dropping rocks (Level 3)
@evgeniya-zapolnova Thanks for playing! Glad you liked it :)
@jk5000 ah, by any chance are you also swimming downwards while holding rocks? We should have done a better job of communicating that sinking while holding rocks is a better strategy to go down faster than swimming, since swimming reduces more oxygen than just sinking.
@tibseydon Thank you :) @smiley405 Thanks a lot, Glad you liked it :)
@scott-redrup Thanks for playing! We do agree about the difficulty, probably need to tune that down post jam.
@jonathan-turner Awesome! Thanks for playing through to the end :) Glad you enjoyed it
@elsombrero @alexey-erzyukov Thanks for the positive feedback guys!
@fl Yeah we didnt test it with anyone outside the dev team so we didnt realize we left that information out. Agree on it being short, we'll probably add a few more levels after the jam is over. Yeah something did seem off about the sea but we were in a rush to finish and upload so I guess thats another in the "post-jam" fix pile
@frostfall Thanks for the positive feedback, glad you liked it :)
@justcamh Yes indeed, I enjoyed watching your stream, discovered a bunch of entries I wouldnt have come across otherwise, thanks for your feedback!
@ismael-rodriguez I agree, we should've tuned down the difficulty on the oxygen meter, it was kind of a failed balancing act between wanting players to use the elements to solve the puzzle rather than just swim down, collect and go back.
Thanks for the feedback and playing through to the end! Valid point on the pixel size, we plan to fix it once the rating period is over.
We've updated controls to make it fully playable with keyboard now thanks to the feedback from everyone!
@gustavo-christino Thanks for playing through to the end! Enjoyed your video. We appreciate the really detailed feedback.
You're right about the narrative, we could do something more with it, with maybe text overlaid on the levels itself, I guess if we develop this further that's something we could add!
Ooh interesting points on monetization, we never really thought of that aspect for the game jam but yeah and ad based version would be the easiest way to go about it, it's also quite common in casual puzzle games. We'd also considered maybe having permanent upgrades to help you in subsequent levels so that's an avenue for monetization too if it goes the F2P way
@ausstein thanks for playing till the end! We really enjoyed your playthrough ,glad you had a good time :)
Oh my god dude! I loved it, what a polished, complete experience! You can really feel the underwater physics. I played it all the way through the end, really love the level design, I really liked how the elements sort of take you right till the puzzle, e.g. the tether getting over and swinging you up, or swinging all the way up to discover an oxygen tank, its really smart work! Really, what a top quality game!
Really cool to see another diving game, its interesting how we both went different ways and how you made a really chill calm diving experience. I adore the art style and music, really sets the mood of the experience. I do wish there was more challenges to the game and that it would be longer, maybe places to discover and people to talk to.
Mainly because it was a nice experience being in the game world you created. This has the potential to be like a upside down 2D version of Short Hike!
I couldn't finish it haha. The green boxes are almost too difficult to hit, especially since you need to get 3 in a row. The type to score element was an unexpected twist that I enjoyed but the rest of the elements felt tooo fast-paced. I'd suggest slowing those elements down to make more players get to the end and receive the full experience
Simple concept executed brilliantly! Really like how polished the game feels and the collision detection is perfect, had some really narrow escapes in between mines. If you were looking to add complexity to the game, you could look at torpedoes (essentially would act as moving mines)
What a neat little detective experience! Smart puzzles to solve, I really enjoyed the "solving" mechanic of connecting strings between clues, really made me feel like a detective! Overall it's a very polished, although short experience. Really enjoyed the art and the overall mood it created. Great job! I guess the puzzles are kind of hit or miss though, I found them to be very easy but someone could find it difficult too since they're sort of dependant on knowledge from outside the game, maybe if the suspect mugshots were more helpful (especially in the second scene) it could improve the experience.
Simple, straightforward and proven gameplay executed well. Since the user input is limited to just mouse clicks, I think it would be worth exploring additional things to shoot at that would change gameplay, for example bombs that explode and kill multiple enemies, or elements which would cause bullets to ricochet which kills enemies but also put you at risk. Basically explore ways to keep the interface simple, but allow players to make meaningful decisions on what to shoot down when.
Interesting concept, I do like how the layers are visually so distinct from each other. The controls could be improved though to make it snappier, I also think it would play better if the camera could show more area below the player than above the player. I say this because the game is about going lower and with the current camera position, its hard to see the spikes below you and you accidentally fall onto them. Focusing the camera below will allow for more careful platforming
This game is oozing with juice, I love it! From the snow fall to the dust from sliding on walls, it "feels" really good! The attack and dash have somewhat unexpected range and delays but once you get used to it, thats okay. The boss felt too difficult though, without a health bar I couldnt tell how much longer I had to keep hitting him and eventually just gave up.
I really enjoyed the environment design paired with the chill music, I'd consider adding some animal-ish sounds. (Unless animals/birds dont hang out in bamboo forests). The narrative was pretty straight forward, like the tone of the messages pointed towards an impending doom so I wonder if messing with that expectation would've made a stronger impression? Like I love a good twist in the tale you know, but thats just my opinion.
And like others have mentioned above, I had performance issues too, I turned on my FPS counter to confirm that it was dropping to 15-20 range at some points in the beginning, it improved as I went deeper in though, if that helps.
Overall, Id say its a good walking simulator which manages to re-create the feel of walking through an interesting environment but could benefit from some more work in the narrative to subvert player expectations and surprise them.
Nice! Neat concept, well executed fast paced action platformer. I really enjoyed the art and the mood of the game, had me feeling like exploring something pyramid-esque. Sweet power ups too, they change up the combat well!
I do wish it wasnt a 1 hit kill though, that made it super difficult and because the levels stay the same in each play through, it kind of made me want to quit after a few tries.
I'd love to see it be a 2 hit kill, one hit sort of destroys your armor and the second one kills you. Maybe the player can earn an armor back after killing a few enemies, but their health never goes beyond 2. So its still a difficult game, but just a little forgiving.
Come on, no way you call this a piece of trash! Its definitely got a "fun" element to it! I think the combination of the floaty jumping and the speed trails sort of gives of this aesthetic of super heroes fighting it out on top of sky scrapers? Its a really cool thing to capture! I did however run into issues with collisions sometimes though and that really sort of breaks the flow. Majority of the jumping and moving around seems fluid so it really stands out when it stops all of a sudden.
I love this! The text to speech audio works really well, the whole experience was super thematic and immersive! I think one thing that wouldve improved it for me is if there was sound effects too in the bird swatting scene? To show clearer feedback that youre hitting the birds.
I had a great time playing this, thanks for your entry!
I could not place the cannons :( I feel like Im missing some instructions