Planet Desumaton by SiegfriedCroes 2017-05-01T19:08:33Z
Innovative mechanics, cute graphics, fits the theme well...my only gripe is a lack of sound, and I wish there was a bit more variety in Desumaton's attacks.
Still a very strong entry however!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Articulated9
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | A Tale of Two Towers | jam | 488 | 3.53 | 3.31 | 3.69 | 3.74 | 2.95 | 2.58 | 3.03 | 3.28 | |
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | A World in a Shoebox... | jam | 727 | 2.61 | 2.61 | 2.16 | 2.21 | 2.63 | 2.94 | 2.47 |
Innovative mechanics, cute graphics, fits the theme well...my only gripe is a lack of sound, and I wish there was a bit more variety in Desumaton's attacks.
Still a very strong entry however!
This entry is jam-packed with features - polished visuals, competent sound design, a coherent mood throughout and a story with a beginning, middle and end. I like this take on the theme too - not a planet in sight :)
It did end a bit abruptly, but I haven't marked you down for that because it's a jam for god's sake!
Overall an ambitious entry that succeeded in doing what it set out to do. Well done! :D
@bendev-games ooh that's a new one! Did you have an xbox controller plugged in by any chance? Maybe it's picking that (or some other random peripheral) up instead of the keyboard?
Thanks for trying anyway!
Neat little game! The graphics have a nice feel to them, and the planet deformation looks and feels nice. I think gameplay-wise it would really benefit from a bit more telegraphing to make it fairer - if you're on the opposite end of the planet it's impossible to get all the way round to the other side in time which doesn't feel fun. Even just a vague "Danger!" indicator on one half of the screen would give the player a tiny bit more chance to react.
That's just my opinion anyway, still a fun one and a polished product regardless!
Not to repeat what everyone else has already said, but the soundtrack makes this game! It's clear you have a talent for composition, and the pieces really set the tone for the game. The simple but colourful graphics reinforce add to the game's themes, too.
All in all it felt like a well-thought-out, consistent experience with enough variety in gameplay to hold the attention.
Cheers!
This is a really strong entry! Some good design choices on display here - the black and white visuals suited the game's mood and the music was fitting. The gameplay was solid - a simple mechanic made complex and interesting as the levels went on. A nice difficulty curve and overall it felt challenging without being unfair.
Good stuff! :D
The core concept could definitely be used in future - I can see a neat little game in the making here!
Some of the stats ended up in the negative for me, which I assume is a bug.
The gameplay was a bit opaque at first - some in-game instructions/tutorialising would go a long way if you plan to develop the concept.
Cheers!
The original concept has potential, but I feel like the game would benefit from a few design changes. Firstly, I think that getting rid of the white square and making it controllable with the mouse would fit with the game's themes a bit better than WASD controls - it would make decision-making more responsive, which would make the game feel better in my opinion.
Overall a promising effort with room to grow, given some time and TLC :)
An original concept with unique mechanics! I think you're right to take another look at the control scheme - things felt a little unresponsive - some tutorialising would be handy in a later version. Overall though a sturdy, well-built entry with bags of character.
This game surprised me! When it first opened I thought I was in for a classic-style top-down shooter, but instead I got planet-hopping resource management shenanigans! Innovative mechanics which added depth and replayability to this entry!
A couple of bits of constructive feedback:
- It wasn't immediately clear what the resources were or what they did. I would have really appreciated some tooltip text when mousing over the various UI elements. The text could then also be written in such a way as to flesh out the world and tell the story a bit at a time.
- In a similar vein, it might be good to be a bit more descriptive with the text on the game over screen, so the player knows why they died. Could also be a good opportunity for world building!
- I don't think running out of time while on a planet should be a fail state. In my opinion it would make more sense just to dump you back into space? That might keep game flow going and allow players to make mistakes and learn the resource gathering mechanics without getting punished with a restart? I dunno. Just a thought.
Overall a strong entry though! Enjoyable, quirky and unique :)
This was an utterly unique entry! Well-executed and well-documented. Interesting blend of programming game and turn-based strategy with a sporting theme to boot!.
Really strong entry. This deserves to score highly!
Finished it - peppy was well and truly toasted :smile:
I especially liked the voices and the music. Nice one!
This was a funny entry! I enjoyed the humour and the mechanics were solid (and delightfully weird!).
Nice job! :smile:
I had a blast playing this one! I'd be really surprised if it didn't score highly. Excellent work guys! :smile:
I like the idea of this but I struggled to play because I have a QWERTY keyboard :frowning2:
If you add this in I will be happy to take another look!
I like the concept and the mechanics are all working as intended! Fits the theme nicely too. I agree that if the game was introduced a bit more slowly, and the collision boxes were a bit more...forgiving...then it would improve the player experience a bit.
Otherwise, I like it! Nice entry! :smile:
What a quirky game! Liked the shaders used and the overall graphical style. Dialogue was funny too. I think I finished it? I got past the crow and jumped to the right, falling forever...seemed like a fitting end to a group of farmers and animals stricken with an incurable plague!
Dance on, my weird friend, dance on. Enjoyable entry!
I think this is a decent entry! Plenty to like here, like the other commenters said I think building out the sound effects and music should be a priority. That could boost the atmosphere like nobody's business!
Also just a stylistic choice, but it might be good if, if you three-star a level, it sends you straight to the next level instead of cutting you to the menu and making the player sit through two loading screens instead of one.
Nice one! :smile:
This was a neat game, and there are a lot of working mechanics packed in here - really impressive from a technical point of view!
I think I picked up a bug however - in the 'Play with Tutorial' section I could not get the tutorial text to scroll or disappear no matter what I did.
Still! The graphics were good and the text was funny. The gameplay worked well and fit the theme neatly. Nice game! :smile:
I agree with the others in that there's a whole game's worth of material here if it was fleshed out. To give an example, Red Dwarf was basically about 4 shmucks stuck on a tin bucket millions of light years from Earth, and the compelling story came from the interaction between characters. If you decided to turn this into a full sized game you could have something like that!
What I saw, I enjoyed, though. Nice art, music was good, and the gameplay was interesting and enjoyable. Nice one! :smile:
I like the idea of a kind of real-time, competitive reversi game, but agree with @Egon that I'd like to see the idea fleshed out a bit. Powerups, different levels, something like that.
I definitely think it's got promise though! :smile:
This is definitely one of the best ones I played so far! Action! Romance! Revenge! It's got it all!
Seriously, the level of polish on this is superb. I usually try and leave suggestions on these comments but in this case I've got nothing to add. Absolutely fantastic effort :smile:
I won! Nice job on the platforming mechanics. The gameplay worked well and I didn't encounter any bugs. Well done!
I finished it! Great little self-contained package here. Central concept is fun and the levels get progressively more challenging culminating in a cute little boss battle at the end! I would have like to hear a little sound effect or two but overall it doesn't kill the game that they're not in there.
BTW if in the future you do want to add some quick sfx there's an awesome tool called sfxr - just mash randomize a few times til you find something you like and jam it in there. Works a treat!
Overall it felt really polished and enjoyable - good entry! :smile:
This is a strong entry! Good graphics, nice variety in the quiz section and challenge in the arcade bit. Well-presented and in keeping with the theme. Overall I enjoyed it! :smile:
My initial thoughts: - Ooh nice textures - This is pretty polished. Pew pew! - Hey I wonder why they call it puzzle g- OH CHRIST.
The mechanics worked well together, I would've liked a couple of powerups to even the score a bit - maybe with different puzzles? Like a screen clearing bomb with a match 3 game or something.
I think you're onto something here, idea-wise. Keep working at it!
@cheesey_bob, @Dekobii , @Toryf, @CapnAT - Thanks for playing and for your feedback! I am working on a manual 'speed up/down' command right now and should implement shortly!
#### Edit: this has now been implemented! Type 'FAST' or 'SLOW' to change the game speed.
@Togis thanks a lot for the detailed review! Zip link available now :smile:. Do you know what you were trying to type? I tried to include upper and lower case for all the commands but could well have missed some.
Thanks again all!
@durgan Thanks for your feedback! Am working on a clickable button that will display the help text in its own little box. Should have it up and running by tomorrow!
@iamtalin @RAFFE @Artur Hawkwing @fazz thanks so much for the nice feedback, it really means a lot! :smiley:
@Durgan @differentname @nardandas Awesome ideas!
#### Recruiting peasants and an easier command menu have been added to the game.
Thanks for the suggestions!
@Alex13 Thanks for the feedback! Have made some slight tweaks to balance, if I carry on with the project I'll probably look into this more but right now I'm just stoked people are playing it :smiley:
@japes Thanks for the feedback! And yep recruit and speed stuff was implemented after the submission deadline so totally fair.
I thought about halfway through designing this thing, "This would've been awesome in a sci-fi theme" because as you say, the vast distances rely on getting information second-hand, which could add elements to it. Perhaps adding different advisors with different levels of skill, that could affect the player's decision-making process? Anyway, I'm just rambling at this point.
I appreciate the kind words! :smiley:
Nice idea and well-executed. Everything fits neatly together and makes this feel like a finished product. Well done.
Solid little game, if a little easy. Graphics and sound were on point! Overall a nice effort :smile:
The graphics are great, sounds are fun. The gameplay is a nice idea and I'm surprised how good the AI is (even if it is blatantly biased against me! :frowning:)
Seriously this is great. Keep at it and you could have a release here!
Darth Tater defeated me, sadly! I still enjoyed what I saw. The mixture of turn-based and real-time definitely felt incompatible at times so 5/5 for theme! :smiley:
Seriously though, I had fun and think with some new sprites and a few sound effects here and there this game will get even better!!
I guess you could say he had no BODY to celebrate his birthday with! Eh? Because he- ah whatever.
Fun little game with nice art, especially on the intro 'cutscene'. The voice acting was a nice touch.
Overall quite light on 'game' but there were two genres and they did feel a bit incompatible - especially when I was groping for the shop button while trying hard not to die!
Just an FYI I think I encountered a bug - I think the 'origin' point of the first sword upgrade is misaligned, as the pommel rested neatly in skelly's crotch region.
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No bones about it though, overall a skullful game with enough challenge to rattle the bone box. Well presented and characterful. A decent entry!
Much like the van dating sim, I now have the sudden urge to sit down in the shower and think about the choices that led to this moment.
So good job! The themes made for a fun combination and the individual elements were well-implemented. I dig it! :smile:
I saw the initial graphics and didn't think much of this entry, but played five games in a row after downloading it because I was having fun, so that just shows what I know about first impressions!
Fits the theme, nice music, didn't crash. Overall, solid entry.
Well I played it almost the end without it crashing! I had a couple of ideas that would improve the game experience.
It seems like the collision box for the player is a bit larger than the sprite. This is leading to a few frustrating deaths, especially on the coach's level. Also if you just put the collision box over the sprite's feet, it will give the player much finer control and also give a cool fake-3D effect to a range of 2D sprites.
This was a well-implemented idea! Good animation, solid gameplay mechanic, and it successfully iterates on the theme and does so in a way that's easy to pick up and fun.
Like it! :smile:
Like the look of this one though I struggled with the controls in the web version! Is there a way to toggle the controls to WASD?
Not bad for a 3-hour game! I must admit it took me a while to figure out what the heck I was suppposed to do.
For the benefit of anyone else playing: the objective is to make the skeletons collide with the fireballs. You can only move in a rhythm game-like manner - that is, when the skeleton sprite disappears you move one space using the arrow keys.
Once I figured that out it was a decent breeze through. Got quite far but didn't get all the way to the end.
Fits well with the theme, and nice-looking considering the time constraints. Nice entry!
Hey! I got the following error while trying to start the game. Possibly a missing/misplaced file?
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@stephen321 Sorted! Working now :smiley:
Decent entry! I especially liked the sprites and the animation was very smooth. The two themes were present and worked well also.
Nice one! :smile:
Ha! this game is so silly. I love it! The music, the lighting, the tactical stealth trucking action...it's got everything I want in a Ludum Dare game.
Great stuff!
Holy crap this game was difficult! This one really felt like the genres were incompatible - 5 stars for theme from me!
Overall I'm impressed by the variety of music on offer and the solid rhythm mechanics, though I would've appreciated a shallower learning curve.
Nice entry!
@Akadream sorted! Working now :smile:
I'm impressed with what I see! There's a lot of promise here. The art in particular is good. I would maybe take another look at the platforming though as a lot of the issues seem to stem from the same thing - collisions with solid objects. Check out Heartbeast on Youtube for a really awesome tutorial series on platformers for inspiration.
Other than that, a decent entry! :smile:
Controlling the player was really difficult, and I couldn't even finish the first level, but the themes mash up well together and there's a lot of potential here I think! :smile:
I thought it was decent! Surprising how much a single music track can add to the mood. A clearer indicator of when enemies are being summoned, or when the shrine changes ownership, would be awesome. Also it'd be nice if my dudes helped with the war effort - not all together obviously because they'd steamroll, but maybe a wave of a handful of dudes every x amount of time?
Anyway, I'm just spitballing here. Overall I thought this was a decent effort and I had fun playing it! :smile:
Wow, this was really good! Managed to pick up the mechanics within the first half-dozen deaths, after that it was straightforward! I say straightforward...I died again and again and again! But I went back again and again too, so it was clearly doing a lot right!
Graphics were gorgeous, music and sfx fit the style well. The bullet hell and tetris themes definitely felt incompatible! (in a fun way! :smile:)
FYI I did run into a bug - when the ship had a full tetris piece, if I held down the fire button and pressed the rotate button it skipped the ship to the very edge of the view.
Tidy this up a bit and add a story mode and you've got a release here! Good entry!
This is peak Ludum Dare. Utterly unique. THE best interpretation on the theme that I've seen so far.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need an adult.
I enjoyed this one! The turn-based runner mechanic worked well and was well-implemented. It was fun to play and the theme was well handled. Good entry! :smile:
This was really well-presented. The graphics made me think of Knytt and Fez, so great job on that front!
The platforming was tricky! The furthest I got was to two of the four ends. I agree that a life system might be useful. But that's just my impatient self talking :smile:
I did come across a bug, however. After getting the top-right corner I jumped off the right side of the platform which caused the game to freeze. Maybe worth adding an invisible wall or some kind of instant death there to cover it?
Anyway, nice title. Like it! :smile:
I really enjoyed the idea, and would like to see it expanded on. Maybe add a branch to the story with a different outcome, or dialogue between the characters between matches?
Either way I'd like to see a bigger, more fleshed out version of this - you have a talent for writing!
I thought this was a great entry! Good mix of genres that combined to form a fun little game, and the polish on display is really impressive given the time constraints and the working with 3D models.
I think I did pick up one glitch, however. When I 'died' against the wall, occasionally the player's 3D model would just explode into an amorphous mass and careen all over the place until it disappeared off screen.
I know nothing about 3D models so I just assumed it was a hidden Cthullu level I missed :shrug: :squid:
Anyway, apart from that I thought the whole thing was really well executed. Nice one! :smile:
I agree that the use of a rewind feature would be good, perhaps with it some indication of where the bullets are headed?
Solid iteration on the theme that could be built out into a good game!
I seem to have encountered a bug on the x86_64 windows version...apparently every time I start the game is lost and restarting doesn't fix it.
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@Axe Sorted! Working now.
The first thing I thought of when I started playing was the old net yaroze games that used to come on Playstation Magazine demo discs. Anyone else remember Net Yaroze? Does anyone remember demo discs? No? I'm old.
I especially liked this entry because it was one of the few games I didn't immediately die from. In fact, I lasted quite a while, and RNGesus held off on screwing me til things got really hairy.
The assets are neatly modeled given the time constraints, and the music/sfx is fun and fits the style. And there were definitely times when the card/defense themes felt incompatible.
Overall a nice entry! :smile:
I think this is a neat little entry! The core mechanic of pulling up a map and then having a stage generated depending on the length of the journey works really well imo.
Add some more resource management mechanics, balance the gameplay and build out the RPG elements and you've got a decent game idea here! Seriously!
This was a fun entry! If you keep working on it I'd prioritise adding some music and sfx to the game ASAP as I think that could really add to the mood, which is already quite silly and fun.
Otherwise I like the layout of the level, the shop, and the two themes mashed together. I enjoyed playing it! :smile:
I Like the idea and think you've got a great framework for a game here!
If I could just add one suggestion it would be to have some kind of trash can to ditch unwanted orders. There was a time where I just missed delivering an order and the next customer had already arrived with a different one. It would've been handy to be able to ditch the order I was holding.
Other than that though, I thought it was fast-paced and enjoyable, with nice graphics and good music. Good entry! :smile:
I played this one for quite a while! I think there's a great concept here, and think that with some work on the UI and on balancing decks (perhaps by having the player create their own decks and by giving them specific objectives? i.e. earn $10000 by x date or something) this could be a gem!
I really liked this entry - well done! :smile:
Excellent entry! The pixel art is superb (dat dithering), mechanics are original, robust and fun to play with, and it fits in well with the theme. I can see this game scoring really highly.
Nice one!
I like it! The graphics are well done and fit neatly together, and as you mentioned there are a few bits of polish here and there to be added. You can add them now, just keep the download link to the original file and mark the updated one as 'updated' or 'latest' or something so people know which version to rate you on.
Regardless, I had fun! Nice job! :smile:
This game was really atmospheric - whoever did the voiceover did a great job!
Although there's not much gameplay here it's impressive what you managed to achieve in the time. Procedural generation, decent lighting, asynchronous networking? Massive props for putting that all in and still making the thing look good and play well.
Easily in my top 3 games played so far!
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I ran out of space :frowning2:
Relaxing little game, my dude. Like it. Nice music, nice simple graphics, simple and enjoyable mechanics.
Good job all - fits the theme and the mechanics work. Nice one! :smile:
I think the idea here is good! I have a few tips for improvement if you keep working on it.
- Separate animations for working and stopping. It was quite hard to figure out if I was having an impact on the workers until I'd already passed them.
- Some kind of sound effects. Even some keyboard tapping noises when people are working would help a lot, I think!
- An end goal to work towards, perhaps broken into stages? That could open up more opportunity for jokes about targets, stretch goals and SCRUM meetings, or whatever the lingo is these days :smiley:
Overall I think the idea has some promise, would enjoy seeing it again if you were to build on the central idea. Nice one! :smile: