Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Baby Dino Herd
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Category | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥈 | 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Pseudonarrative Dissonance | compo | Mood | 4.48 |
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | Go With The Flow | compo | 580 | 3.37 | 3.14 | 4.06 | 3.10 | 2.08 | 3.66 | 3.14 | ||
| 2019 | 44 | Your life is currency | Heart To The Sky | compo | 323 | 3.21 | 2.93 | 3.06 | 2.03 | 3.29 | 3.37 | 3.62 | ||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Pseudonarrative Dissonance | compo | 263 | 3.51 | 2.98 | 3.11 | 2.63 | 3.75 | 4.37 | 3.16 | 4.48 | |
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | Tangram Technologies | compo | 322 | 3.41 | 3.35 | 2.92 | 2.96 | 3.22 | 3.00 | 3.64 | ||
| 2017 | 39 | Running out of Power | The Crown Prince | compo | 424 | 3.14 | 2.75 | 3.83 | 3.36 | 2.91 | 3.60 | 2.93 | ||
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | The Life Amoebic | compo | 221 | 3.43 | 2.85 | 3.76 | 4.03 | 3.32 | 3.77 | 3.77 |
Fantastic animation, attention to detail, and consistency of aesthetics. Game is difficult but reasonable. Not sure if it's a keyboard thing, but couldn't always turn while accelerating and shooting. Excellent.
Really nice animations and resurrection mechanic! I got up to level 5, and wandered a bit, but couldn't find any portal ... anything I'm missing?
Just a really fun, thoughtful game. I really like its take on the theme. Spent way longer playing the random levels than I expected!
Quite a thoughtful take! I really enjoyed having the gameplay come less straight from the mechanics, but rather from thinking about the game. Not sure I really understand all of the ratings, but I don't think it's necessarily needed. Nice simple effective animations, too.
Really great overall effort. Good synergy between theme, graphics, audio, and gameplay. Not much else to add, other than the fact that aiming is a little difficult! Also got a little chuckle out of the intro text. Nicely done. :earth_africa:
I really, really like the atmosphere here. I'd say the procedural generation was a huge success; I think it really worked in obtaining a nice detailed world (small clipping issues aside). I wasn't able to get past the second level, though. Are the levels procedurally generated every time?
I really love this take on the theme -- I'd wanted to do something similar but couldn't come up with a concrete concept for it! I agree with ghodan, the UI is really excellent for a 48-hour game. I could have used just a little more feedback on the effect of friending people -- it was unclear exactly how much it was helping me contact other people. Alas, I couldn't meet more than ~150 people before everyone started to forget about me. :disappointed:
The graphics, atmosphere, environment, and worldbuilding are all top-notch here, quite excellent. I did find it a little frustrating sometimes navigating through the camera angles at a somewhat slow speed. One of the more memorable games I've played this jam.
Need. More. Energy! Nice style and interesting take on the theme. The Missing Sprite mini-cutscene was probably my favourite part!
Atmosphere and mood are excellent, helped by some great music. I was lucky to win thanks to my (somehow) -1650 wood count. Wasn't sure how to make more buildings once the island was full/flooded. It really had me thinking -- well done! :ocean:
Graphics are cute, consistent, and really help to set the mood. Mini-map is really helpful! As others have said, wish jetpack had more reason to be used, perhaps being able to kill the UFO?
I really enjoyed playing this all the way through! Well polished, easy to pick up, with a slight difficulty curve The red and orange were hard to distinguish at times, though. I liked that the drugs could be removed and re-placed without needing to re-start the whole level.
Really interesting take! Probably the most unique game I've played so far this jam. I liked how the 'real' world would grown and shrink.
Really solid entry! Animation worked nicely to make full use of the humour, which really game into its own as the game progressed. :spider:
I really like this take on the theme. I like the combination with the Where's Waldo mechanic. Invisible walls were a little hard to navigate sometimes, though. Really cute game!
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I've added a few notes in the description. The amoeba will become more green the larger it grows; once it's fairly green, life will find a way, and the amoeba will divide -- congratulations! You may encounter an 'exploding' bug occasionally if the amoeba tries to self-intersect too much or too quickly, but things should still remain playable afterwards.
I won't have time in the near future to leave comments on everyone else's game, but I'll try to get to all of them eventually!
Really enjoyed learning the game (playing against myself); was able to figure out the mechanics just by trying things and seeing what happened. Well done getting a tiling spherical strategy game finished in such a short time!
Really cute theme! Enjoyed playing through it. Not much else t add regarding the jam version than what others have said about staying on one hammer for a while. :musical_keyboard:
Interesting concept and cute faces! It did take a while to figure out what was going on. I'd agree with other comments that more feedback would be helpful; particularly, the connection between the spring on the bottom and when the flask breaks is unclear.
This game managed to surprise me with a really great change in mood. Very impressive.
Great execution. Controls were smooth and easy to learn, some nice light humour, and a really clever timing preview with the coloured lines. Despite the caution, I found myself chasing and overtaking asteroids to push them backwards, along with the more slow interception courses. Having this choice was refreshing.
I thought I had all the atmosphere, water, and mass that I needed, but still got 0%. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun!
Really love the use of theme here. Systems interact nicely, but I had a hard time figuring out which port was best for which material, since it took a while to sail between ports. Those angry dolphins sure do scale quickly! :dolphin:
I really liked the game! You've got a lot of different things to think about, both the different planet types and the different results of having too much of any one quantity. I enjoyed seeing the different endings, and also trying to avoid them!
All the elements fit nicely together, and the puzzle was clear and intuitive how to proceed. At one point I got trapped by the spikes from all sides -- would have liked faster movement speed on a retry! Nice music and use of geometry, too.
Really cute and great atmosphere! The graphics really capture the essential feel of le petite ~~prince~~ planetes. I liked to see the colourful loading screen at the start. :star:
Neat! Took me a while to realize it was left-click to attack, but once I did, I got in the rhythm of the game. Any tips for fighting the brown ghosts?
I'd agree with the others, the balance was a little off and I found it difficult to do much of anything. I enjoyed the detail of the water receding as the aliens took it away.
Really innovative games that makes the most of such a small play area. The melody and rhythm are really nice. Got up to level four without really knowing what I was doing, and couldn't get past it. Was almost tempted to read the source to find out! Colours are really nicely chosen, too. :musical_note:
Really great game! Graphics are cute, animations are crisp and really nice. Good take on the theme. Gameplay is fun to figure out; I got to level 18 but found it just getting easier afterwards. Well done!
The graphics are absolutely adorable. Controls, camera and animation are really smooth. Enjoyed the game through the final wave, though found it didn't test my skill too much in the final waves. All in all a really polished experienced that I really enjoyed.
Really solid entry -- I really like the sun in the background. The clouds/continents were a little distracting, but perhaps on purpose? The audio feedback from hitting the different colours was a great touch, since it let me keep my eyes ahead of the car at the challenge ahead.:blue_car:
**Big Power!** Solid execution all around, but I need to give a particular shout out to the music and voiceover sfx, which added a perfect mixture of *cheesy* and *fun*.
The mechanics really match up well with your take on the theme! I'm very glad I did switch to joystick, because I found the acceleration using keyboard was very difficult to control without things flipping over. I like the semi-diegetic help information display, too!
I really liked the idea of the mechanic, but like @ellian I never got to a second level (Web version); after the first one there was nothing to click on to continue onwards. I would have enjoyed to play more with the logic gates! One small note that the tiles were pretty small and somewhat difficult to read the icons for start/end points.
I really like the twist of having the plasma balls destroy the alien ships! I found that they looked too similar to the shield power ups, which was confusing at first, and I also found it a little difficult to get to the power-ups in time. Nice challenging game!
Nice concept, though I didn't realize the flashlight could be toggled and, as others have said, the upgrades were a little unbalanced. The sprites were nice and readable even when things got a little dark.
Whistle while you work/walk! The audio did a great job of injecting humour into the game, but I found that detracted from the choice of theme and setting. I would also have enjoyed more choice in the objects you can interact with.
Overall excellent entry -- music was excellent, graphics were great, animations showed great attention to detail. I spend most of the time in the air so I didn't notice the low power walk until much later. The gameplay is slow and deliberate, as required from saving power, but I found it was easy to get stuck in trees, ledges etc. which was a little frustrating. Nice job and I look forward to checkout out the timelapse!
Really interesting take on the theme. I especially like the character graphics and animation; they're a very nice touch. I do wish the controls were a little easier to understand; I found that I didn't have a lot of feedback on what I was trying to do, and I wanted to be able to explore even further.
I'm very impressed by what you've managed to complete in such a short time. The game is interesting and absorbing, relatively easy to pick up, and has a generally excellent tutorial system (though I missed the 'end turn' message at one point and kept getting 'invalid action' messages). Not much more to add other than little polish things, like it'd be helpful to have an easier way to distinguish between objects already placed and about to be placed.
Graphics and animation were excellent! As others have said, because the fishing spots stay, I could just cast at the same cluster of four all the time, and I wish the fuel tied in with the fishing.
Simple to understand, quick to pick up, fun to play! Graphics and audio were a little simple, but also very clear and helped the gameplay. Really nice complete product.
The tycoon aesthetic is an excellent take on the theme of running out of power, and I think you've done an excellent job of fulfilling that aesthetic.
The gameplay itself is a little disjointed from the aesthetic, but even so, it was easy to pick up and get started winning. It's a lot of fun! I may have liked a little less friction on the cubes, as they're sometimes easy to get jammed together for a while.
Cute, funny, and easy to pick up! I like how the audio speeds up over time, very nice touch!
I really enjoyed clicking on the, like, three things in the game I could click on. Great start!
Really nice design balancing the need to kite enemies and keep distance vs. minimizing distance to the next battery pickup. But I also found it quite hard as well; perhaps stages of increasing difficulty would be helpful.
Really interesting gameplay that makes me balance risk/reward of getting to the energy first, vs. falling back to a central position to try to grab the next one. Didn't realize the bottom of the screen meant game over. :( Well done!
The amount of polish, both for the graphics and in overall structure, is really nice. I agree with @azziliz that I had a tough time getting through the first level, since it's not clear if there are any extra helipads to re-gain health. The aiming was a bit fiddly but I find that's all just part of the challenge. :helicopter:
Had a lot of fun upgrading my rocket -- I think it was a good choice to keep the upgrades coming quickly. I think a little more feedback, especially on steering, would be helpful, because I was not always sure exactly how I was affecting things. This is probably my favourite take on the theme so far; well done!
Excellent cohesive structure; the graphics and audio both help to establish a consistent mood. I would have liked a little more feedback on how effective I was / how much damage I was doing to the demon; without that, I did find it a little hard.
Really nice take on the theme -- I felt mostly like I was running out of *mental* power! Hard a difficult time, though, and died quite often.
Really nice game with lots of nice polish touches! Love the menus, multiple music tracks, and especially the eject button. Liked the gameplay, which was just about the right amount of hectic, if a bit difficult. Agree with @terracottafrog about the difficulty of the invisible left/right boundaries. Well done!
This is certainly the cutest game I've seen so far, and it's absolutely just plain pleasant to play. The mood is captured excellently (as is a happy mood, in a nice change of pace from the usual) and the gameplay simple but fun. As others have said it was a little bit easy and the engine sound a little loud (would really enjoy some music), but overall just a great amount of polish here.
Character design and music meshed very well together to give an exciting old-school action feeling - you really nailed these and as a result I really enjoyed playing! As others have said, a balance pass would help, as I found it too straightforward to constantly gain power by spamming arrows.
Graphics are nice and clearly present the information, and I quickly got the hang of what the orb recharging did. After that, it was also nice to think about when/how to exit the vehicle given the enemies and lasers. Nicely done!
Really cute graphics and take on the theme! The landing sound was a little annoying to me. I like that the difficulty ramps up a little quickly, even if I didn't get very far -- had a good time throwing myself against the challenge of wall jumping.
Really good start for just 15 hours! I like the idea, and the level gives a lot to explore. I found that it was hard to collect energy and that sometimes the tutorial messages were out of order; I'd like to see what a further developed version could bring!
Really timely and topical take on the theme! I especially enjoyed the double meaning of losing power when you get fired.
The game makes an interesting transition from puzzle game to clicker game the more generators you get. After a while I couldn't keep up ... I'm fired!
Not sure what to say about this, but after getting to the title screen, I had high expectations ... and they were met exactly. The audio is fantastic and really sets the mood. The overall polish is excellent.
It is a bit easy, though, since red car is OP.
Really nice job to successfully execute a fun and interesting puzzle game! Like others have said, I *really* wish the battery filled upon restart. That said, I think the tutorial text that accompanied the first few levels was extremely effective -- well done!
Really nice graphics (helped set your theme really well) and random generation! Would have like a progress counter (if there is such a thing) as I descended down the levels. :bread:
I really like the music - it gets you into the perfect circle-clicking mood. The gameplay was simple but effective. I would have liked to have choice between circles to click; the risk-reward element is already in the scoring system. Nice job for just a day of programming!
I really like this take on the theme! I couldn't work out how to steer at the beginning, but then I had a UI bug (I think ...) after trying to adjust the blue gun and the camera moved down so the ship was almost all off-screen. Would have liked to explored more!
Really nice job establishing the mood and having the flashlight weaken as the battery depletes!
Nice UI with animations, and excellent use of the camera zoom-in during an attack; it really makes it feel cinematic and was a real 'wow' moment the first time. Wish there was a little more variability in the waves, but I managed to make it through 100% with about 20 power left. Nicely done!
I really like the overall aesthetic. Though the graphics and audio are simple, they work together really nicely. I agree with others about the trial and error nature of the gameplay, but I think that's part of the style (spend one run trying to gather information about location of other energy sources, rather than just try to get to the exit) to be more of a memory-based game. Nicely done!
Took me one try to figure out how to play, but this is, in effect, a really interesting puzzle game! I got a little confused at the start because I thought the fuel was smaller and sitting on the dashboard, not realizing it got teleported into the back. I managed to work my way up to 160 speed, at which point even click-spamming near the towers I couldn't pick up more barrels, and was eventually overtaken. Well done!
At first I was a little unimpressed ... but you really did a great job of introducing 'running out of power' in an interesting way through the game mechanics. Was a little sad that I got stuck and couldn't make a jump I needed to that only had a little bit of headroom. Agree with @walterp about the parallax effect; it's simple but very effective.
I really like the music; it does a great job of establishing the mood. I agree with @nick-rafalski in that I like the trade-off between movement, aggression, and energy usage.
Whoops! Sorry for the multi-post.
Whoops! Sorry for the multi-post.
I liked the music and thought the audio had a good beat! The game at this stage was fairly straightforward, but I had fun pushing my luck, because at higher numbers approaching the loss condition could happen very quickly. Simple but clear and effective presentation was put to good use.
Really interesting! Had a very hard time collective very many gemstones, though. I enjoyed the decisions to place additional charging points around the map, making it important to space them out thoughtfully.
Short but sweet, this really kept me engaged the whole time. With short levels, (re)learning the controls was frustrating, either. Nice, innovative puzzling. For me, the sudden deceleration that would sometimes happen was a little off-putting, but otherwise, the controls were fine.
I really like this take on the theme, and you definitely were able to capture the mood you were going for. Agree with @filippy that eventually it seemed like I wasn't making further progress.
Took a little while to understand what the fans were doing, but I like it! Agree with @gilborn that the minimap was a little too powerful; it was difficult to resist the temptation to keep it visible all the time.
Your take on the theme was very clever, and you managed to weave the mechanics in nicely.
Difficult game but I really like the simple mechanic! I had a very difficult time before I realized I had 3 max flips before landing, but had fun after that. I like the detail of the green/red text hover colours too!
Short but sweet! Really enjoyed learning all of the abilities and figuring out how to defeat the enemies. The jumping sunflower pot was probably my favourite enemy. The door opening animation was very satisfying, as well.
Really love this take on the theme, and how people may not have the power to control all the aspects of their lives as they would like. Very intuitive to play, and the layout was quite nice. The font was a little hard to read, for me, and the music a little repetitive. One of the funniest/cleverest games I've seen in LD39.
This is a game that I definitely wanted to go back to and play again right after finishing. Well done!
Graphics are nice and clear, gameplay easy to pick up, and I like that it's quick to restart. I found myself wanting a little more variation, and ended up taking risks that caused me to miss. Your take on the theme is a little bit of a stretch, but nice and quirky.
Really impressive to see such an expansive and wide-scoped design! Like others have said, I wish the font was a little more easy to read, as well as the attack animation (was hard to see when I was attacking since the sword would often overlap my opponent's).
Really interesting take on the theme! I really like the concept, but found that it was a little difficult to read all of the relevant information with the current layout. It was an interesting puzzle to figure out the riht balance of food production!
Really like the idea! Graphics were nice and clean, everything was easy to read. Had some fun playing around with circular Tetris! Being able to win/lose would certainly be a nice next step.
A little more feedback on enemy damage would really help -- the first time I played, I couldn't tell if I was damaging the purple enemy. After that though, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. It's one of the most fun I've played this jam. The link between the weapon type and enemy behaviour was, in the end, distinct, but different enough to be interesting. Great game!
Really well done! The way you incorporated so many polished elements within a two-room architecture made this feel like a full, complete game. Some additional feedback on when you're spending money to buy gifts would have been helplfull (I eventually figured it out, though).
Mood is captured excellently. I had the same issue as @patrick-d, unfortunately, so I couldn't get too far in this one. Still really enjoyed exploring around in the space!
Really nice job! Once I got the hang of it (and saw some return customers) I got into the organization groove. Found it was easy to get stuck in the pathing of the robot when there were lots of crates around me, but that's all part of the experience, I guess. :package:
Interesting take on the theme! I liked that the prices would fluctuate a little bit over time. Presentation was nice and clear, but sometimes line heights would vary a little bit depending on what you were doing, throwing off the layout a little bit. Milking machine made for a good goal to aim for.
Really fun game, just the perfect length for me. Audio was the standout here -- graphics are clean and easy to read, but the 3D projection made some of the controls a little weirder than I would have expected. Nicely done!
Really enjoyed the concept. Graphics and audio were great, and really helped to set the ambiance of the bar. Found the game very difficult -- not just directionality but also when/how much effect I was having on each drink plate. Great take on the theme!
Excellent polish, lots of fun, presentation really ties everything together. Not much else to say, other than that I'd have liked a little more connection with the theme.
Really enjoyed playing the game, and I'd say it ended at exactly the right time before I got too frustrated. Despite the (rather loud) volume, the music helped to create the frantic feeling even before I found myself overwhelmed with multiple cooling options. Nicely done! :keyboard:
Graphics are nice and cute, I like the mushroom headbutt! Audio is the standout here, the music fits extremely well. Gameplay loses much of the decision-making when all you're doing is kiting the mushrooms.
The music really gets the tone and mood exactly right - really makes me feel like I'm in a Mad Max-esque wasteland fight. Enjoyed the game, but found that it would just spawn a lot of normal enemies, but give me no incentive to create/kill more -- getting additional metal just helps against extra enemies. Tutorial was nice and clear. Well done!
I really liked your take on the idea! In the end I found it a little difficult to strike a balance where the ship was nicely controllable, so I found myself generally playing it safe. The boss battle and additional worlds were nice and refreshing, too -- well done fitting all that stuff in!
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
I agree that increased contrast/outlines would help, and definitely wanted to change the colour of the piece you're currently moving. I got sick and ran out of time, unfortunately.
I also went too subtle with the theme: you were meant to play as an A.I. gaining more *self-awareness*. The text and tangram shapes in the later levels hint at what you're meant to uncover about your true purpose, but there's not a lot to go on, especially if you don't make it to the end.
@jimbly if it faded to black, congratulations, you beat it! I just designed levels based on complexity; I wasn't particularly concerned if it would have multiple or just a single solution.
Fun, difficult, engaging, with just the right level of ramp up. Really solid execution!
Presentation was simple, but very effective. Gameplay was fun but perhaps rewarded caution a little too much. Would have liked to get a little more feedback as to when you 'crash' or not. Very nicely done!
Have to agree with the others, found this game very difficult and could not progress very far, even though I really wanted to - theme was very well established, the concept was interesting and I would've liked to explore it further. Audio and visuals really worked well together to establish the mood. I died very quickly many times, unfortunately, because I couldn't figure out how to run away from any monsters.
The voice acting/tutorial/story is very well done. Almost to a fault - I found that I preferred 'advancing the story' over the gameplay itself. I might have preferred more to do in navigating around the stars - without landmarks or anything else to occupy your attention, navigating was a little less interesting than it could have been. Really liked the nod to asteroids. Well done!
Interesting take on the theme, gameplay was fun, and the music help me keep the pace up in the kind of way you'd like to see in an arena shooter. The tradeoff of gems to points wasn't always clear, however, especially while in the middle of a fight! :gem:
The crisp, vibrant graphics really help to pull the concept together and reinforce the theme & aesthetic you're going for. Really well done! Unfortunately couldn't play too much of this due to needing a Player 2 handy.
Really cute game! I think the graphics and audio really went well together to create a nice 'lo-fi' aesthetic. Game was fun, although I didn't get the high scores of some of the other posters. Wasn't sure exactly what changing the racket side did; a little more feedback on that would have been helpful. Well done! :tennis:
Overall excellent job. Beautifully-drawn visuals and excellent use of audio really helped to establish the mood you were going for. Mechanically, though, I felt that the process was a little bit slow and was a little bit too subtle in revealing what was going on. Some more obvious feedback that years were passing, or that the 'chores' were being accomplished, would certainly have helped. Very memorable experience!
Really cute game! Easy to pick up, clearly understood mechanics, and a good take on the theme. Just would have really enjoyed a little music to round out the presentation!
I really enjoyed the concept. It took me a while to figure out how to change colours -- would help to have an in-game reminder at the same time. I wish the challenge ramped up a little more slowly, but regardless, you've made a really interesting and replayable game. Well done!
Agreed with @tetra -- was confused when the score wasn't updating. I was pretty sure that I was getting rid of some of the aliens, but they would continue to float around. I really like the risk/reward mechanic of hitting the aliens with the meteors, but having them avoid your ship. Nicely done! Wish there was some music/sfx to go along with the game, too.
Really solid game, nice polish with the cell shading and run animation. Generally easy to pick up, but it was hard to avoid water bottles when you're moving slowly, so it could be really slow to pick up enough speed from coffee mugs. SFX were quite nice, would have liked some music to go along with them as well!
I really like the concept! I think your take on having a small defined adventure works really well -- I always felt like I had a clear next place to go / thing to do. Perhaps the instructions text could be a little bit condensed -- I found that I hadn't quite understood them correctly when I went to go play the game, but everything was easy to pick up nonetheless.
Nicely done! I will admit to dying due to my own carelessness in walking too fast upon entering a new screen. Dr. Lud Umdare strikes again!
Really impressed that you made a multiplayer game in such a short period of time! There was no one else playing, so I went up against myself in another tab. To be honest, I didn't really have any idea what was happening in the battle phase and how it related to the money I'd previously made.
The presentation was nice and clear, and in particular, I really like the shine effect on the coins.
Overall, I'd have to say that this was a very WELL DONE effort!
What an excellent game! The entire presentation is clean, effective, super-polished, and does an excellent job of setting the mood. The gameplay itself is fun to figure out, and very well balanced. The use of infinities in the game and the story is very well done. Sometimes the log would empty when I'm not sure it was supposed to, but otherwise this is a fantastic entry that kept me wanting to play the whole time through.
I really like the risk-reward mechanic here! It's quite simple, but I definitely found my strategy needed to change as the time went on and additional waves started to spawn. The addition of even a couple of new enemy movement types could really help to flesh this out.
Nicely done! Reminded me of Geometry Wars in the best possible way.
I loved the clarity of the graphics -- the vibrant colour palette and clear iconography are really polished and help sell this as a complete game instead of a prototype. One issue I did have was that the brown vs. grey of the sphere could be difficult to tell apart, so I wasn't always sure when it was complete or missing wood.
The pacing was good and kept me engaged throughout the levels until they repeated, and you managed to squeeze a nice amount of strategy out of the two sword slots. Nicely done!
What a delightful game! The 'tutorial' section was excellently woven into the start of the level -- I really liked how you kept all of that UI within the world as much as possible. Turning, moving and firing all at once was a little awkward on the keyboard -- is it possible?
The music was nice and punchy and immediately caught my attention. Agree wholeheartedly with @johanhelsing regarding the asteroids's health. Great work!
I really like your aesthetic here, and I think the music in particular really helps to give an '80s vibe to the game, even though it's not what '80s game music would have sounded like!
I liked the tradeoff between using the risky staff attack vs. using the fireball. However, I found that sometimes I was able to attack the bats with the staff without losing life, and other times I would get hit quite often, and I couldn't really tell the difference between those cases. As others have noted, a little more bounding box feedback would really help your mechanics shine!
You really nailed the mood here, setting up a classic JRPG intro. Both the story and audio were excellent callbacks to those cheesy stories of the the past, without coming across cheesy itself -- a great balancing act.
Would have liked a little more variation between floors. That teleport animation was really awesome as well.
The breadth of choice and outcomes here is outstanding! The attention to all the details really sets it apart. In particular, the ending screen is a very nice touch. One thing I would note is that there is a lot of repeat clicking, especially when young, with repeat choices. But I guess that's part of life, too, right? Well done!
I really enjoy this take on the theme! The graphics are cute and effective, but most importantly, all of the UI is nicely laid out and easy to understand -- quite an impressive feat for 48 hours!
I think I somehow clicked through the final page of explanation without realizing it, so I didn't expect the payroll the first time it came up! But it immediately made sense -- you did a good job mirroring the real world with your mechanics.
Really nice concept and execution! I think I eventually figured out the lock-on timer, but in later levels I had a hard time avoiding missiles because there were so many turrets relative to the number of people.
I especially enjoyed the camera angle for the zoomed-in traction beam and how you could still see the sides of the ship animate as it stopped. Wish I had more to add, but just an overall well done job!
Really fun game! I was so motivated to get all the upgrades -- fun animations too.
I really liked the touch with the window in the castle showing the time of day.
Nicely done. Congratulations!
@paul59 Sorry to hear that! What version of Firefox are you using? Which OS?
If you feel like running it, waiting ~10 seconds, and pressing space, you should hear music (assuming it's only a graphics issue).
Amazing idea for gameplay! It took me a little while to get -- I agree with others that the feedback could probably be made a little more obvious. Once I understood the mechanics, everything clicked, and just made thematic sense. I found myself making decisions, trade-off, and legitimately forming strategy over medium and long term. Excellent design work!
A fun infinite runner and take on the theme. I liked how you have to look and shoot to the side while paying attention to the obstacles and ammo in the middle. Nicely done!
Overall, this is an excellent game, with a really clear and crisp presentation that works excellently for the type of story you're telling. I'm really impressed with the story you were able to create in such a short time.
I will, however, sheepishly admit also to reading _story.json_, simply because I wanted to see what happened, but the mechanics of trying out answers became a little tedious when repeated constantly (especially when I was trying to find out-of-the-box combinations). Dragging the words was a great tactile feel the first couple of times, but then I just wanted to get into puzzle solving mode. Nonetheless, excellent job, can't wait to see more!
The music here is really great, and helps to set a nice lighthearted tone that meshes well with the rest of the aesthetics, providing a perfect complement to the actual subject matter of the game.
Like others, I thought the game was a little too hard (even with your helpful tips), which is a shame, because I was having fun learning the game and _did_ feel myself improving. Sometimes, though, I had trouble getting enemies even within the frame of the camera without taking damage, so even mopping up the last few enemies could feel a little random. Nonetheless, really well done! The painting of the cookie at the beginning, I have to say, was my favorite touch.
Really nice take on things -- I like have the varied weapons, though I found that the ice sword was by far the most effective with its cool freeze mechanic.
Well done having varied music, levels, backgrounds, enemies, and (at least one) boss!
Great take on the theme! I really like the retro feel of the graphics and music as well.
The music was really catchy and I found myself getting into the groove of it every time I restarted a level. Nicely done!
Nice, classic clicker game! I really like the mouse camera controls -- middle click zoom and dragging is a really nice touch. Building descriptions were really cute, too!
I would have liked to have something pushing me a little bit towards not just selling all of my less-expensive buildings once I'd gotten to the more-expensive ones. Still, it's a well done sense of progression -- everything seemed out of reach until it suddenly wasn't!
Really solid work from start to finish! I agree with other comments about hit feedback and enemy progression -- I enjoyed what was here and would have liked to have seen more!
The standouts were the music, which nicely set the stage for the action sequences, as well the overall UI and game structure. I really liked the attention to detail in the menus and scene transitions, it helps it feel like a full game instead of a prototype.
Really innovative take on a 'shooter', though on the Web version, I found the mouse controls and limited field of view to be a little disorienting while trying to search around all angles.
You did a really great job of establishing a somber mood, and you managed to tie the story in very well with the theme. Even the somewhat heavy-handed references to the theme at the ending felt appropriate given the mood of the story. Well done!
At first I found the controls a little confusing, but I had a great breakthrough moment when I hauled back 15 plants and saw the Earth turn noticeably greener! The jetpack could get a little hard to control, but the lack of damage from hitting planets made things manageable.
The thematic concept is really innovative and immediately appealing. I'm impressed that you managed to capture that scope within a small game.
Also, this game brings up some existential questions regarding the conversion of plants to humans.
Really interesting setting and aesthetic! Your mechanic is an excellent balance of risk-reward in determining who you heal, who you immunize, and who you leave be. It turned out to be a lot more difficult to balance than I thought!
I did end up in a state with almost no savings and a lot of infected in the next area, meaning I couldn't avoid touching an infected (losing all my savings), so the best I could do was immunize one person, giving me back one savings for the next area. Any way to get around this (maybe upgrades I hadn't prioritized)?
Well done!
There's something really whimsical and nostalgic about this game -- the combination of the simple controls, music, and ease of jumping right it really all worked well. I liked that the size increases with your currency, and that the decay is faster the larger you are.
One thing that would have been nice is a keyboard button to restart, so the entire loop is easily doable over with minimal interruption.
Really interesting and fresh take on the theme! This was a really cute and effective way of doing the storytelling, but you managed to keep everything easy to manage and understand by giving enough structure and guidance, and keeping the size limited. That's important especially for this genre where it's easy to feel lost when faced with a text parser. Really nicely done!
I just have one question, because it wasn't quite clear from the game: _what did you think of the theme?_
Really like the simple, minimalist take on the concept! Managed to get up to 278 seconds. I found that sometimes I would be bombarded with cubes at random and just not have enough rate of fire to get rid of them. The shield concept was nice, but it often wouldn't save more than 1 HP of damage, so I agree with @vinay-rao in this way.
The explosion after the initial shot was what really made the game, for me, adding a whole other dimension to strategy of firing, and getting me to try to push away multiple cubes with one shot. Nicely done!
I found that (even before double jump was unlocked) I could do a jump off the side of a platform. But, because the time limits were so short, I found myself using that as part of the puzzle solving element, so it ended up being very interesting!
I also liked that even as your speed and jump really increased, the fall speed didn't, so you had to be deliberate about falling down.
Nicely done!
I really liked that you made an idle game that didn't make it feel like I was _idle_ while playing it -- I was really pleasantly surprised to be able to see all that the game had to offer without feeling like I was waiting around!
Also, I really hope the name is a pun and this is really a _miser_-ly game.
Excellent presentation and smooths controls! I'm _really_ impressed with the pixel art on display here; it really helps all the elements of the game fit together very nicely. I found it a little challenging, though, and quicker restarts (not having to use the mouse) might help.
Really great job! I'm impressed with the number of mechanics, and the way you managed to evoke the mood through a combination of graphics, music, and the mechanics themselves -- the sleeping mechanic really reinforced the sense of danger and needing to find a safe space (especially if you auto-sleep because the meter has run out). The claustrophobia and needing to constantly crouch also really added to the mood.
I think an easy mode definitely would have been nice for me, to be able to make it a little bit further and see more of what there is to offer.
I really like your take on the "currency" theme. The music was funky and fresh -- a perfect complement to the grid structure of the game. The end screen music was fun too. Really enjoyable game. Nicely done!
Excellent job pulling this together in just five hours! You managed to establish a great mood and humour effectively given the limited elements at your disposal.
I did have the same experience as @nicksmaddog, also initially stopping after 101 days, not realizing there was an ending I was working towards.
Well done and congrats on both the game and the baby!
Excellent work! The presentation and polish was excellent throughout, visual cues were helpful, and the game was easy to pick up and fun to play. Not much else to say -- excellent job!
Great take on the Game of Life! This was a really nice and polished way to play around and try to come up with some of the common Game of Life patterns, which I'd never really done before.
Great job building a management game -- I really liked the concept, and you've definitely built in a good bit of complexity. I would say that the number of resources is quite large and it was never really clear how to make more of them -- food, in particular, I was always running out of no matter which options I tried. Tooltips or instructions for each resource explaining how they can be used/created might be helpful for people jumping in. I don't have color comments on the level of detail of @renrith except that the light blue font was a little hard to read. Nonetheless, and intriguing and well done game!
Nice choice of perspective! It made it a little difficult to exactly judge where the rocks were going to be, but that made for an interesting challenge. I really enjoyed the cinematic aspect of the camera zoom as you got closer to the volcano, and how you had to adapt your dodging strategy as a result.
Those WebGL issues can be quite annoying. Nonetheless, I enjoyed taking my nice nap in the volcano.
What an intense experience! I really like the music, it help establish the rugged rock-and-roll atmosphere of this Mad Max-style gardening! Once I got close to 100 flowers I had a hard time clicking fast enough, though!
I really liked the whimsical mood created by both the graphics and the audio. Both were well executed and made for a charming presentation!
I liked the idea of the game, and choosing between seeds was an interesting touch. However, I found the UI to be a little confusing, and sometimes the seeds would cycle while I was trying to look or click on them, making it a little hard to determine what the current state of the game was. Getting into a death spiral was easy, but seemingly impossible to get out of. Nonetheless, a neat concept that could be even stronger with a little rebalancing. Nicely done!
I think you managed to capture everything you wanted to about escort missions! A very well-executed entry, managing to capture a good balance of annoying, charming, and funny. The dialog sequences and 'choices' were a nice touch as well. Well done!
You've done a really stellar job with this game! Art, music, story, mood, everything was done very well with obvious levels of polish, and I enjoyed playing through all of it.
I will agree with some other comments: the mouse scrolling didn't end up working very well, especially when trying to repeatedly click back and forth between different areas. A static camera, or one controlled by arrow keys, may have been a nicer fit. This would also help speed up the game when doing those tasks.
Other than that, excellent job!
A really clever idea that maybe could have used some tutorial levels to better introduce what happens during combat -- sometimes I would win handily and other times lose many troops, even if I was colliding at maximum speed. It was also not readily apparent that the red character was the king -- being so far zoomed out, it looked more like a rectangle than a crown (which I now see on getting closer). I'd definitely be interested in playing a more-balanced post-compo version!
The background photos added a really great tough! The UI was nice and clean, with helpful notifications, and the ability to drag and drop the Omigas. Fantastic concept for a 'clicker' game!
Really like the Rambo-Teddy theme! Game was fun and charming, with nice colorful graphics. Sometimes I found I ran out of ammo without clicking, but perhaps I'm missing something. The Cork Gun in particular I felt really rewarded tactics and positioning -- well done!
Really fun and intriguing puzzle mechanic! It was easy to pick up but still made me think by level three. I think having a slight delay in between adding/extinguishing a square and having the people move would really help solidify why things are happening. I agree that it's a shame it's so short, but I'm looking forward to trying out the post-compo levels!
This is a really neat idea, although the instructions were particularly helpful, and I had to figure things out by trial and error, much like @meelo. The 'pulling' mechanic in particular I'm not sure I ever fully understood. Nevertheless, I really liked the idea of having multiple sides of the dice represent multiple sides of the same person, and you only get access to one each turn. The interface was also clean, simple, and intuitive. Nicely done!
Excellent job setting the mood with the writing, graphics, and audio. The ephemeral line style really helped establish the setting and context. This game goes to show that self-reflection can be a good game mechanic if done right!
Cute game! Like the music and graphics -- they work well together to establish the mood you were going for. The concept of using up spirits was really neat, but think I'm not nearly as good as the others in the comments, because I couldn't get very far at all!
The zoomed-out scale made things a little hard to see sometimes, but I liked the sense of scale it provided, and let me see what I was looking forward to further on in the level. Well done!
What a great puzzle mechanic! Makes you think, and yet feel clever when you figure it out.
Sometimes the background graphics made it hard to see exactly where the circles were overlapping, but the icons and text were nice and clear. I liked the color-coding you did with the text, it was very helpful. Nicely done!
Managed to win at 8%! The slow animations were quite helpful at forcing a choice about when to defend and when to march forward. Love the music and, of course, the punny name. Well done!
Really like your approach and theme! Interface worked well, graphics were clean, and the initial scrolling cutscene was a very nice touch. I'd have to say that adding paragraph breaks into the text would really enhance the readability, particularly in the initial background checks.
Overall, really solid work from start to end, and great music, too!
Cool idea, and I really appreciated the ability to zoom out, though it was a little sensitive to the scrolling. I agree with @nicolas-diniz that there were many times when the enemy was already shooting and I felt like I could do nothing to stop it from hitting a power source. That made it just a little bit too difficult for me, which is too bad, because I would have liked to have seen more!
Really nicely done! I really like this take on the theme, it really captures and shows the experience of being a doctoral student.
I couldn't figure out how to publish papers, even after taking all classes and getting research progress up to full. Perhaps this also is a reflection of the doctoral student life.
Nice idea! I really like the surrealist take of the endless plan runner. I agree with the other comments that the perspective and lack of restart actually make this quite a difficult game to make much progress on.
The art style is really clean and cute, and the walk animation is simple but really charming. Well done! I agree with @kevinworkman that the restart could be a little easier on the player, especially since margin of error can be really thin once enemies start pushing you around. :snake:
Like the art style and the surrealist take on things! Agree with some of the other that some instructions on the double-jump, in particular, would help, since it doesn't function well if you try to jump again at the apex like most platformers. Would have liked more audio to go with the art style, too. Nicely done and only slightly creepy!
What a relaxing and enjoyable simulator! The foley sounds were done excellently: they were calming without ever feeling too repetitive or loud. I agree with other that the game could be a little faster _or_ slower, to keep the player constantly engaged, or able to check out for a while. Well done!
This game gets straight to the point and pulls no punches! The quick restart time, short games, and rather brutal difficulty really fits well with your interpretation of the theme. Nicely done!
I thought this was a cute and clever game! I like the combination of the puzzle elements and the timer -- it really made me think on my feet to decide which hearts I should pick up in which order.
The presentation and colour scheme was really nice too. I enjoyed the touches of polish, from the light effect around the cursor in the title screen, to the wrap-around health bar, to the ending sequence.
As others have said, the game was perhaps a little short, but I enjoyed my time the whole way through. Great job!
Really cute game, easy to pick up and play! The graphics are very charming and endearing -- the 'Me and Berta' picture is a really excellent touch.
Really interesting idea! The cooldown on the ability, combined with the loss of control of the animation when you're hit by a bomb, makes it interest to have to sequence your blocks in a tactical way. Even the spears end up being threatening when you're focused on the larger threats. Maybe additional visual feedback when weapons can no longer deal damage (if this is the case) would have been helpful. Nicely done!
Really great idea, excellent music, and well-polished gameplay! It really kept me engaged!
I would have preferred smaller/shorter minesweeper sessions, maybe even timed, to keep the pace up so I can more time on the narrative half of the game.
I really like the crisp and clear presentation; the icons are all nice and distinct and help to suggest the unit's function as well. The game was a fun sandbox to play around with, and I enjoyed seeing how all the units interacted. I think additional feedback would be helpful, particular in visualizing where units are going/attacking; without having clear/discrete rules it wasn't obvious how things would play out.
Excellent humour and mood; you really captured things.
For the longest time, it looked like I was entering a turn, but I actually needed to go straight. After I figured things out, everything began to click!
Well done -- I think you probably accomplished exactly what you set out to do with this game.
You really set the mood nicely! The framing story was cute and effective. I really enjoyed the whole package; really impressed with what you did in 48 hours!
I would maybe have liked a little different pacing -- faster pacing on the cut-scenes in particular. Also, once you get the timing of blocking, I found typing attacks quickly to be quite easy so that the 'additional' elements could be mostly ignored.
Really excellent job! I'm very impressed with the overall level of polish, particularly in terms of the graphics, UI, mechanics, and game flow. Everything works really well for a nice short-form experience.
The end-game animation was perfect, the music fit in wonderfully, and the game was legitimately funny. Well done! I did find it a little easy, not being punished for incorrect keystrokes, but I had a great experience nonetheless.
I really like the take on the theme. 'Competitive' stealth really helps to push players to take more risks.
Really solid split-screen action! The only comment I would make is that the viewport's shape/size was often not quite large enough to really see what was going on in front of me. So, I kind of had to 'guess' where the next part of the course was.
Also really enjoyed the game name and cardboard boxes used for the 'racetrack'.
Just an overall excellent and polished entry, right from the title screen to graphics to audio to UI! Really impressed with all you managed to accomplish in 48 hours. Maybe slightly faster pacing would help, but other than that, nothing much else to comment on!
Really solid entry! Agree with @petitpois that I had a real hard time getting things to happen because I'd end up with a lot of Left 4 when I really needed any sort of rotate. I don't think the discard mechanic helped me as much as I'd have liked in those situations. Nice take on the theme!
Really nice take on the theme! As soon as I read the description, I was really impressed by how you managed to come up with an idea that's obviously intuitive and fun. And the execution didn't disappoint! It was easy to pick up and I managed to get a pretty good run going. The music was a really good choice also.
I would echo slightly others' comments on feedback, but in a slightly different vein: making more obvious visual changes to the gates as they're hit. Especially when the game is going really fast it's hard to tell how many more shots I might need.
Really nice and easy to pick up, fun to play, lots of variety!
I had similar WebGL mouse capture issues with my game; it can be really finicky.
Graphics were nice and clear and extremely easy to read; I'm really impressed with the presentation in general. Also the destruction was a really nice touch!
Really excellent mashup! Lots of stuff going on here. I'm impressed you were able to fit in four uniquely useful characters into the game. I was surprised how quickly I was able to pick up the game after just having read the description/tutorial text.
I agree with @LMB that additional feedback would help, particularly in terms of destroying enemies. Often I would destroy one just to see another respawn.
Great music, nice animations, and fun take on the theme! Really well done.
I would have liked a little more feedback when taking damage, and had some slightly-easier-to-read font color choice, but other than that it played really well!
A formidable amount of content and game here for only 48 hours -- well done!
Learning the game was a little difficult -- the tutorial text was instructive and funny, but there was a lot of it and I sometimes lost the context for what I was trying to do. For instance, it wasn't clear where to place the towers initially; so I placed them around the green, but it seemed like the goblins would just run around them.
Well done! Graphics are clear and effective, and I think you really achieved "Frozen Synapse as platformer." The replay function is really impressive for such a short time. I had a lot of fun, but the variable length of turns means that just taking small moves when you need to becomes the best option.
I really like the background art and theme, but I had a really difficult time! I wandered for several minutes and couldn't find any distinct buildings ... and I died often. Would have liked to have seen where the story went!
@MZA I really liked the tutorial, but didn't understand the blackouts until you mentioned it in the comments! The presentation was nice and clean, but once I got going in the game, I found it hard to get feedback on what I was doing and if it was right. One time I encountered an enemy but had trouble getting ammunition. I did enjoy that you could 'boost' yourself by moving a platform above you randomly below you.
Really cute game! Loved the graphics and animation!
Gameplay was simple but effective, once I figured out the right-click action. I would note that the current scoring system heavily encourages just waiting until the right food shows up; maybe something to encourage more risk taking would add some longevity.
Really cute! Loved the music (and that you've shared the score). Game is simple but fun, and the graphics are effective enough.
I would agree with @Ananace that the low lateral friction felt weird -- being able to accelerate so much in mid-air is not very intuitive and makes it a little difficult to control in the small spaces of the levels. Great job otherwise!
That was a blast! Agree with @Evan Minto that it was sometimes hard to tell the mode; I think the explanatory text that popped up on mode change was a little hard to read.
A typing game full of puns ... I have to *hand* it to you, very well done!
Really fun! I thought I was doing quite well until I hit level 13; those spawning enemies were unexpectedly difficult! The game kept me hooked and gave me enough information about the mechanics to give me thoughtful decisions to make, so I was engaged through the whole process. Well done!
I really liked it! After just one playthrough I got the hang of it and lasted a fair while before game over.
I like the premise and that the geometry of the track makes it a little bit strategic where you want to be before the resources spawn. I would have maybe liked a little bit more of a graphical representation of where the grass/dirt divide exists (preventing crossing) and where you can enter. Also found that I was not spending a lot of time paying attention to the tower defense part, so I often didn't really see what I could have done better on that front.
I really enjoyed the idea! I like the push and pull between the timed levels and the needs to very carefully line up your shots.
I did find it difficult to approach some enemies when they didn't move rows and you had to try to enter their row, fire, and get out.
Really cute and clever take on the theme! I had loaded the game without reading the description, so for the first few seconds I was very confused until I caught on to what was happening. My only other comment would be to agree with @infinitycore that adding any additional cues to help depth perceptual would be quite helpful, as it's already very easy to get disoriented with this viewpoint.
Really nice idea! The main menu was really fun and well-implemented.
I really liked the gameplay, too, but had difficulty determining when cars/deer etc would actually make their way into the lane. A little more tutorial might be helpful, but I'm not sure exactly how that would work.
UI was easy to use after playing around with it for a few seconds. Well done!
Really excellent mashup! I've thoroughly impressed you managed to make that many well-designed puzzles in such a short period of time!
User interface was generally intuitive and easy to use, though some of the timing on the tile-swapping was a little finicky.
I really like how the rotating turn structure turns an action game into a puzzle game! Really cool. I agree with @JLV that shorter levels (or checkpoints) would be a little nicer, especially since there are some trial-and-error parts where you won't get information on a current turn until it's too late.
Graphics were nice and clear and readable, controls and gameplay easy to pick up. Well done!
I think this is the most fun game I've played this jam! Really nicely done. Not much to add other than it got super-hard later in the game with a screen full of enemies and not a lot of options, and that the clicking aspect kind of fell by the wayside once your BPS got quite high and there's not an urgent need to buy stuff.
First, your game name is amazing.
Second, I think you did a really great job with the basics. The game was really easy to pick up and it was immediately clear what you had to do. I agree with @Jimbly that more feedback on note correctness would help -- you do get the overall score that behaves in the expected way, but the 'tomato' icon perhaps is not precise enough to get full feedback on how close you were to the note.