FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → Ben Allen

Ben Allen

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuCo
201534Two Button Controls / GrowingNine till Voidjam2173.653.634.163.953.212.9577

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Comments by Ben Allen

LD34 — Two Button Controls / Growing

Tamamystery by Jezzamon 2015-12-25T04:21:00

Enjoyed the general presentation. Couldn't really get into the game itself once it got going, but I did enjoy the twist. Good use of both themes.

tuinvrouw by TomBoogaart 2015-12-16T01:27:00

Once I figured out what to do, it became really fun and relaxing. I know you put the tip in the description but the seeds should be more obvious because they're very easy to miss.

Space Eater by kevin_pauly 2015-12-15T00:10:00

Awesome game! Used both themes really well! I quit after the mango belt because nothing was really changing. Only complaint is that it's a little hard to tell where the mouth hitbox is and the spin speed can be a little hard to control.

Nuclear Arms 2: Garbage Day by Logicon 2015-12-15T02:05:00

Love the intro and general premise of the game. Voice acting is nice too. It would make sense for you to start with ammo since it seems to be confusing to people that you start with none. I had fun with it though, good job!

Momma's Little Monster by dalbinblue 2015-12-15T20:51:00

Great game! The game delayed actual gameplay way too much though. Falling was excessively slow, the eating animation didn't need to temporarily immobilize the player, and the death and respawn could have been much faster. Besides that it's really well done. Sound and visuals are good and the level design and difficulty progression is perfect. Great job!

99 Steps by George 2015-12-15T21:15:00

Really awesome game! Would love to see it expanded upon. It's super simple, but it works well and is really satisfying to play.

trosor by Ditto 2015-12-16T01:33:00

Great lookin' game as always. The jumping was good, but I didn't like the really tiny corridors you'd have to force yourself though. I didn't feel like the sound effects fit well with the game though. Music was nice though.

space pruning by rubna 2015-12-16T01:50:00

Your GM physics skills are next level. It's a little hard to tell what you're supposed to pick up with your claw and what you're supposed to collect with your actual ship.

BaseExt by Tyler 2015-12-15T21:11:00

Neat game, but there's a lot of waiting. More enemy types and more purchases would be cool. The game also benefit a lot from wave based gameplay, which would give you base building time in between waves and possibly increase the difficulty a bit faster. What I played was enjoyable though, would love to see more in the future.

The Journey East by gallerdude 2015-12-14T22:24:00

Beat it, nice job! The odd jump arc isn't satisfying, but in some ways it worked well for this because of how predictable it is. Some hitboxes could be smaller, like the snakes. Level difficulty also feels wrong. Some of the early levels are quite a bit harder than later ones.

qBen by smealum 2015-12-15T00:27:00

Can hardly tell what's being highlighted which makes the game difficult to play. The tutorial helps, but I think it could use some work. Visuals are great though! When the first tutorial level played itself I was really impressed. I think a video of you playing would be very beneficial. The background sound is lovely too, wish I could enjoy the game more :S

yaschiki by nuprahtor 2015-12-16T01:39:00

Great style as always, but man it's tough. The giant HUD system is great and really adds to the unsettling nature of the game. I love the reload system although I keep thinking I need to change modes to reload, not sure why.

Growbot by Sink 2015-12-18T19:28:00

Can't play the game because this is happening:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63088159/Screenshot%202015-12-18%2014.24.40.png

Is there a full screen button? In general it's better to not make games have a borderless window because it doesn't add anything beneficial and causes weird problems like this.

Twin Condition by jackrugile 2015-12-15T03:04:00

Excellent game. Outstanding job on all fronts, not much else to say.

Adrift: A Space Age Roguelite by srakowski 2015-12-15T01:00:00

I feel like the rotation would make more sense if it was reversed. Hold one key and press the opposite to go that way. But I can see it making sense either way. Great job working around the theme! Some levels felt a little sparse of stuff though. And more stuff is always good in games like this. Visuals are very nice, would love some calming music to go along with it.

Master Baiting by tazdij 2015-12-15T00:19:00

Sound is very nice. Game is pretty fun too! Got an error though:

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_fish:

Pop :: Execution Error - Variable references invalid object (-4).has_fish
at gml_Object_obj_fish_Step_0
############################################################################################

Master Baiting by tazdij 2015-12-15T00:20:00

Sound is very nice. Game is pretty fun too! Name is brilliant, you should consider going for humor just for the title. Got an error though:

___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_fish:

Pop :: Execution Error - Variable references invalid object (-4).has_fish
at gml_Object_obj_fish_Step_0
############################################################################################

Sheep Escape by d_0o_d 2015-12-14T22:58:00

Love the chaos of having like 6 six sheep running around doing their thing. I feel like it needs a lose condition though, because as is it's just a sandbox. Also I saved 3/3 and eventually 8/3 sheep and nothing happened, which confused me because I never saw the "real challenge." Did I miss something or is that it? Either way, great job!

CHILL PILL by alvarop 2015-12-15T21:37:00

77. Simple premise, with a cool twist! Love the screen increase as a punishment, creates some nice chaos when it gets too big to see.

Totally Not Buggy Elevator by veverichka 2015-12-14T22:40:00

Love the look and general smoothness to it, but it does have a lot of physics bugs. Got stuck on corners a lot and frequently found myself not being able to jump. Really wish there was sound. I'm not really getting what to do with the two buttons.

Totally Not Buggy Elevator by veverichka 2015-12-14T22:41:00

Love the look and general smoothness to it, but it does have a lot of physics bugs. Got stuck on corners a lot and frequently found myself not being able to jump. Really wish there was sound. I'm not really getting what to do with the two buttons.

Vine Simulator by paradxil 2015-12-15T01:09:00

Fun game! Very easy to get into and generally very relaxing. The music is very nice but some sound effects would also be good. Example: entering the water, growing through the ground, emerging, etc.

Reap by managore 2015-12-20T16:19:00

Excellent game as always. Love the whole presentation of the circular camera with the sun going around it. A bit confused by how treasure is found. I thought I'd found a treasure map and thought I'd gone to a spot with treasure over it, but I instead found some strange indescribable object. Didn't find anything from digging.

Laser Pew Pew by adamk33n3r 2015-12-15T03:09:00

It's a pretty all right game. Wish there was a little more game to it as it's really just a concept. The effects are nice though, although it could use some more game feel with screenshake and more shot impact.

World Grower - Growth of the civilization by rhebsgaard 2015-12-15T01:26:00

Great game, but it could use some more depth. As it is right now, it's really just a clicker game without the clicking. Nothing wrong with that though! I appreciate not having to click so much.

Obviously can't expect a ton of depth for a compo game though. It's impressive enough as is!

Burgeon by matthewd673 2015-12-15T00:45:00

Can't run the game. I open the .jar and it gives a blank screen.

The Super Bros (that are not Brothers!) by Xinelu 2015-12-15T01:17:00

Love the concept, but man it's hard to keep them together. It sounds silly, but I think it would make sense to add a railing to platforms to prevent them from pushing each other off. Also the tutorial message at the start should be shifted a bit to the left so it can be completely seen right from the get-go.

Overgrow by RyanMan56 2015-12-15T01:45:00

Nice job! It was often difficult to see the rockets from the people though.

Ortogonalis by pjimmy 2015-12-15T01:34:00

Final score: 5415

Great job! You're games are always very unique. Simple, but unique. This is no different. Wish the difficulty increased by more than just the timer though. Maybe some enemies could enter that you have to avoid with direction reversal?

Color Dodge by Abominas 2015-12-14T23:29:00

I like it! It would have been cool if you made size change a controllable thing rather than your health and made it so you get points over time but more points the bigger your size is. That could create some cool risk reward gameplay where you try to be as big as possible as often as possible to get the most points. It's cool as it is not though!

Growth by supajackle 2015-12-18T19:20:00

A strange one. I like how everything gets smaller as you grow. Music is fittingly creepy.

Wöbble by joe 2015-12-14T23:03:00

Great game! Reminds me a lot of line rider and happy wheels. Sound and visuals is well done too, great job!

Destructive Power by DarkGrisen 2015-12-14T23:10:00

Cool Tetris-like game. Having a hard time understanding what the requirements are for using items. Sometimes I'll have enough money or points for any item and won't be able to use them. Is there a cooldown I can't see?

Super Beard by Luke 2015-12-15T00:43:00

Really fun game! I like the super beard explosion but the sound is a little too loud and can be annoying. Great game feel with the screen shake and general effects.

Squirrel Forest by Luminar 2015-12-15T18:59:00

I like the premise but things happen a little too slowly for it to be enjoyable. I also didn't notice any way to protect the forest other than taking the hits and planting more trees, which isn't very productive.

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-14T23:38:00

Thanks guys!

@dalbinblue I agree with what you said about manual use and changed the description. I hope to add more to this game in the future and make the movement use the arrow keys. I was just reeeeeally stubborn with the theme.

@Reggianito yeah coins can be a sad death. Move 4 and coin up are great for replenishing them though!

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-15T01:13:00

@ORECROS Yep! That's the idea. I'm not a huge fan of trial and error stuff but I think it works well here because of how quickly your runs usually end, so there isn't too much punishment.

@bushmango Yeah I want to work on this more at some point, and maybe work towards other platforms like mobile. I think having the item symbols correlate more towards what they do would help a lot, but at the same time I don't want to make everything really obvious, because that's a lot of the fun.

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-15T02:06:00

@ORECROS Yeah totally! I already have ideas for it.

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-15T21:51:00

@Everyone above this comment Thanks! Yeah the main thing I was going for is making it as cryptic as possible while still being possible to understand without the manual. Exploration definitely goes into that. Sorry about sound being loud :(

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-15T22:23:00

@thejimster82 Thanks! Highscores are definitely something I love in games. One thing that I'm really happy with is that I still don't really know the best way to play the game. Even when you know everything about the game, I don't know what combos are actually the best for getting far and getting lots of kills. The second screenshot is my current highscore, and I don't really know how I even pulled it off. After ratings come in I hope to work on the game some more and maybe have global leaderboards and seeded runs etc.

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-16T06:59:00

Thanks alvarop, glad you liked it so much.

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-18T20:01:00

@klianc09 oo, I thought I made it so enemies wouldn't step over bombs. Maybe they're spawning on top of them?? I'll fix that in the post-jam version (which will exist!)

Nine till Void by Ben Allen 2015-12-31T19:36:00

@euske glad you liked it! Yeah I'm currently working on a post jam version which shows the name of the item (which is self-descriptive) at the bottom of the screen when you hover over it in the item panel. I also am adding a tutorial, fixing up the controls, adding new items, fixing bugs, and adding some secrets and an ending. It should make the game better in pretty much every way, and I'm really liking how its coming. I'll post about it and soon.

Elevator Pitch by Rulrite 2015-12-15T21:21:00

I really like the general presentation here. The different modes really added a lot more to the game than I'd expected. Nice work!

Pressure Run by Phil Strahl 2015-12-15T19:11:00

I don't think I completely understand how the game works but I love the whole look and feel of it! Would be cool if the buttons physically pressed while holding the A or D keys.

Egggs by simon.parzer 2015-12-15T00:54:00

Fun game, but it got a bit repetitive. Not much else to say, good job!

FLOW by Romixal 2015-12-15T19:25:00

I don't understand the purpose of this game. You follow a line and every single outcome seems to lead you to the exact same fork in the road. The mood is alright, but it doesn't do anything for the game since there is no game. Graphics and sound are nice, but there's not much else.

Super Kawaii Timeshift Desu by chaomoon 2015-12-15T19:07:00

This is pretty cool! I think the timeshift should slow down your momentum a bit when you release left though. It's quite jarring and difficult to control as is. Levels were enjoyable. Great job!

Unknown by nuuup 2015-12-15T19:53:00

Another nuuuuuuup toybox. Only complaint I ever have about these types of things is that I have to run 7 different programs as opposed to just one program with 7 different games accessible in it.

itch by fasterthanlime 2015-12-15T03:16:00

This is fantastic

Platforms (Two Button Controls) by markoburzan27 2015-12-15T00:04:00

Could you change it to be an executable as opposed to an installer? For small games like this, it's just a hassle to deal with installers. When you're exporting the game, hit the dropdown box and change from NSIS installer to single runtime executable.

I did install and play it though (and beat it). The levels were a little repetitive, but there were a few good ones. I like the level where you had to fall through a bunch of spiked blocks floating the air, but most levels were just climbing to the exit, which isn't a whole lot of fun. More moving obstacles would improve the level variety a lot. The simplicity is nice too though, good job!

Super Meet Ball by Shurty 2015-12-15T19:17:00

Something is wrong with your host because I can't get either the web or windows page to open.

Root-gen by Chewie 2015-12-14T22:52:00

Cool game, the root is really pretty to look at. The restart button is slightly off centered when you die which confused me for a little bit on how to restart.

Botany by Steven Miller 2015-12-15T00:38:00

Fantactic game! Love how it can be played as a top down shooter or a pseudo tower defense and support game. I think it would have made sense to can one of the normal attacks and made the controls: spacebar - normal attack, left click - seed, right click - water. Just to make things a little simpler. The intro was a great touch by the way!

SpaceGrown -- Grow your own space station! (TM) by bushmango 2015-12-15T20:43:00

Cool game. I think some of the mechanics could have been explained better, but it was fun and satisfying to build a little space base. The music is really nice, but the sound effects were a little loud.

Tycho Recon by NoradZero 2015-12-15T02:12:00

It's really hard, or at least, too hard at the start. I like the brake mechanic. It's simple, but it works. Visuals are nice, and the sound is really good. Love the low purr of the hovercraft.

Cube Wars by Chubb1337 2015-12-15T22:37:00

Sweet game! Not really a fan of not being able to strafe away from enemies while shooting, but I understand that the theme limits that a lot.

Vacuum Fish by ORECROS 2015-12-15T00:31:00

Great game! Flappy shmup makes sense. Like others said, it should be on autofire since there's never a need to not be firing. It's a lot easier to control when you don't need to worry about another button. Game was fun though, would benefit a lot from a good soundtrack but that obviously can't be expected of all compo games.

The game of life by Frank_Hiroma 2015-12-14T22:31:00

I don't understand what I'm doing. The text has looped on my already and it's advancing at a snail's pace. Enter, arrows, or mouse does nothing. Sound is great so far, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

Bridge Balance by blohod 2015-12-15T21:02:00

Great job for a first game! Agree with everyone on adding a log timer. Graphics aren't great but I legitimately like how the lightning cloud looks.

My Dino by Reggianito 2015-12-15T20:58:00

Cool multitasking game, but very hard. The thing that irks me the most is that there's no noticeable way to tell which panel does what, which makes the first try of the game a crapshoot. It's also not very responsive, in that there's no sound effects. Health bar could also be more visible. Once you get the hang of things and remember which panel does what it's a pretty good game that just needs a bit more refining (can't be expected of a compo entry, let alone a first compo entry though). Would love to see support for it post-LD.

Seven Weeks of Cat Monarchy by Fathom 2015-12-16T01:14:00

Great writing as always, Jason. Could have used the theme a bit more, but the quality exempts that a little.

Fuzzy The Bouncing Ball by InfinitySquaredGames 2015-12-15T01:48:00

Awesome game! The gamplay itself isn't anything too special but the levels are well designed and interesting. Game looks and sounds good too. Good job!

Infinite Runner by Penthaquill 2015-12-14T23:16:00

Cool take on the runner genre. There isn't enough contrast between the player, the spikes, and the background though. Everything blends in with the background which makes it tough to see the spikes sometimes. Good job though, would like to see this expanded upon!

Wasteful Revenge by Sourtrance 2015-12-15T01:39:00

Brilliant. I was mostly confused with the farming section but the revenge section really makes the game sense you only have as much ammo as you got in the farming section. I think the farming could be explained a little better but overall it's a great game.

Waffle Hunters by Mechamism 2015-12-15T02:51:00

Not bad! I honestly appreciate it being short since there isn't a whole lot too it. Keeps it from becoming too repetitive. It's a nice, simple game. Although it's a little hard to read, I really like the font.

Try to eat me by Zintex 2015-12-15T19:03:00

Neat game. I don't understand the point of creating allies though since they don't do anything to directly benefit you.

Micro Danmaku by makiki99 2015-12-15T19:16:00

I think it's only going to be relatively easy to those who play these kinds of games a lot. I can't get past 7000ish points, but the game well made. Lot's of contrast so it was never hard to tell what was going on. Wish there were sound effects though.

Poultry Punt by diest 2015-12-15T02:46:00

Love it, very satisfying poultry-punting game. Wish the camera would be more to the right of the chicken so I could see more of what's coming as opposed to what has already passed.

The Pits of Mazow by Azor1 2015-12-15T01:04:00

Love it! I find it odd how you can change directions mid jump but I guess it makes sense and adds more depth.

Cell growth by vulcain 2015-12-14T23:13:00

Got an error running it on win10 64bit "The program can't start because VCRUNTIME140.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix the problem."

Worm Massacre by shiny 2015-12-15T00:17:00

Really great job! There should be an indication for when a ship is about to come from offscreen though as it can lead to some unfair hits with the particularly fast ships. I also find it odd how your size can still decrease while in metal mode. Really fun game! Would love to see it expanded upon!

Multi-Snake-Arcade by JonathonDHart 2015-12-14T22:47:00

Took me a few tries, but I think I get it now. It's a pretty cool game that I imagine would be a lot more fun with other people. Only complaint is I wish there was a quick restart so I don't have to wait for the AI to finish.

Build by JoonaDev 2015-12-15T19:56:00

Love the concept! Should be a quick restart for when you trap yourself and run out of bombs though.

Consumerism by Spag Head Games 2015-12-15T02:57:00

Fun game, AI would get stuck after a while but usually find it's way. Would benefit from some sound effects.

Little Penguin by littlepenguinteam 2015-12-15T01:59:00

Really great job! It's short, but the quality is so good that it doesn't really matter. The fox and bear animations are really cute and well done. Would love to see a whole game with that art style.