Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Caer
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | Infrequency | jam | 333 | 3.69 | 3.22 | 4.32 | 4.28 | 4.34 | 4.10 | 4.02 | ||
| 2025 | 58 | Collector | re:collect | jam | 397 | 3.50 | 3.20 | 3.72 | 3.22 | 3.50 | 4.00 | 2.21 | 4.23 | |
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | Layered | jam | 529 | 3.42 | 3.65 | 3.59 | 2.60 | 3.24 | 1.97 | 3.44 |
Delightfully polished, with a fun gameplay loop of pressing further into the depths...if you dare. I was a bit frustrated by the digging not working on the edges of tiles, but at the same time, this "bug" added a fun challenge, encouraging me to be more precise in how I positioned the character. One actual bug I ran into: My gameplay was cut short at around ~23 fossils due to the HTML5 app using too much memory, forcing a page refresh. ðŸ˜
I loooooove seeing how people create interactive experiences in highly-constrained settings like an 8-bit engine; this game is no exception! I really like how the sound and visual design work together, and it was fun trying to make it to the final level (I...did not). My only point of confusion was that the avatar wouldn't move anywhere past halfway-up on the Y-axis; I wasn't sure if this was intentional or not, but it felt a little frustrating at times...
Great atmosphere and storytelling; like others, I really enjoyed the sonar mechanic! For the first half of my play through, I wasn't entirely sure if I was making progress--I'm not sure how, exactly, but I'd love to have some kind of feedback earlier on that I'm making progress towards the goal.
Amazing graphics, vibes, and overall ambience--I love how all of the visual and audible art come together. The gameplay controls felt really responsive. It's a little silly, but I struggled in the beginning because I didn't understand how the "hold space" mechanic worked, and just kept tapping it... 🙈 One aspect of the gameplay that frustrated me slightly: I really wished _more_ of the blocks were affected by gravity, since I felt like I'd quickly get stuck with no way out except death-by-floating-skull.
A lovely game with great art, sound, and controls; I enjoyed that the speed mechanic gave me the option to increase or decrease the difficulty, in exchange for more or less score. My one critique, which some others have pointed out, is that I mistook the purple blocks for obstacles for quite a while--before realizing they were just a background art.
This entry is one of my favorite ones I've played so far. :sob: I had a ton of fun over-thinking the placement of the creatures, and was frustrated (in a good way) that I had to plan around discarding creatures to the whirlpool between turns. I mis-planned my first round by wasting some shark placements, but still feel happy with my initial score. Great job!
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This one has a really addicting gameplay loop; I love it. The minimalist graphics worked well for me, although I got stuck during the tutorial my first time around because some of the cargo "type" icons look _really_ similar to one another; I'd love to see some more visually distinct iconography for the cargo. In the event the player only has one freighter docked at a location, I'd also love to be able to transfer cargo with one click instead of two.
Fun graphics, audio, and environment design! I liked the twist of using the umbrella as a weapon on enemies. As some other commenters noted, there seems to be a bug where pressing space on solid ground immediately kills the character...or maybe that's intentional?
I love how relaxing the environment art and audio are; it's really lovely! The gameplay loop felt very tight, though I was left a little confused (at first) about how the oxygen tanks and upgrades worked (I'd misinterpreted them as permanent instead of consumable...).
A fun arcade-style game--the pizza shield mechanic was neat! I agree with some other commenters that the environment art felt a little bit lesser quality than the opening cutscene art.
I loooove the concept of forming deep connections--as a deep learning neural network, no less--as an interpretation of "depths"! The gameplay was really challenging in the beginning, but I slowly started to get a feel for which ASCII art would fill the response area.
One critique: When put in full-screen, the UI didn't properly fit my display. This lack of responsiveness meant I had to play in windowed mode and constantly scroll up/down to compare the user prompt with my response which...added a certain level of challenge to the experience.
I love the environment art and the controls! This entry feels incredibly polished, and I really enjoyed the HUD design.
I did feel like there should have been a bit more progression involved before having alternate abilities/weapons, though...it felt a little overwhelming at first. :thinking:
A fun and engaging gameplay loop, with great polish! It was neat having to handle "captchas" and modal dialogues while focusing on digging ever-downwards. I found the controls for digging left/right a _little_cumbersome (having to swap between a/d and q/e), but I'm not sure what the best way around these would be.
Lovely emergent gameplay--I like how the bucket physics change as more coins get picked up, which adds a natural difficulty curve as you get deeper into the depths! The music looped a _little_ too quickly for my preference, and felt repetitive, but that's more a matter of personal taste...and I really liked the sound effects.
The quick-time events were an interesting mechanic, and I enjoyed the art and environment design! The spacebar controls took me a few tries to understand, and I was a little confused about the blinking obstacles--I think it'd have been neat to have some way to speed the character up to help with avoiding the blinking obstacles.
A fun homage to Doodle Jump! I loved the graphics and sound design, and while I wasn't good enough to get very far, I _really wanted_ to keep going to see what lies at depth 0...
I've been absolutely blown away by everyone's your wonderful feedback and critiques; thank you all so much.
Today I published a log of my Ludum Dare #57 experience, breaking down how I approached making this game, and reflecting on what I learned from the event--for those of you that are curious, you can read it here: https://www.caer.cc/logs/ldjam-57/.
Responding to some of your comments directly (so sorry for the long delay!):
- @gamesplusjames @amikatag @oxnh @jamesgames1000 @marudziik @locke8 @clymm @skyeward : I'm so happy that the biggest complaint was that...you all wanted to keep playing. :sob: You've all inspired me to continue work on this project post-jam; I'll be sure to share updates here, and on my personal site.
- @wuppos : You made a good point about the mouse controls! I do a lot of work with 3D solid modeling for robotics engineering (aka CAD), and got (perhaps _too_) used to the spacebar control from there...I'll see about adding more intuitive left or right click controls in a future version of the game.
- @wouter52 : Ironically, the WASD keys originally were mapped to the world space/grid instead of the screen space (like it is now), since I thought it might be more intuitive. Based on your feedback, and some other friends' feedback, I think I'll add a toggle to change between the two types of control schemes.
- @snowdrama : The wave occlusion was one of my favorite parts of this project. I explain how it works here: https://www.caer.cc/logs/ldjam-57#making-waves. TL;DR, I do some really sketchy 2D ray-tracing.
- @scoobysnacks @skyeward @atmospherium : One of my main (but undocumented...) goals was to give players everything they need to learn to play _in the game_, and _without explicit tutorials_. I'm so happy you all enjoyed the way I presented the controls and ramped the difficulty curve.
- @krummja @oxnh @marudziik @locke8 @wouter52 @blackpulse @soul-grinder @atmospherium : On a personal note, my past few years (not this one!!) were very tough on my emotions and mental health--one of my goals in this jam was to craft the beginnings of something that _felt_ calm, soothing, and/or loving. I'm so glad you all enjoyed the ambience.
- @krummja @oxnh @marudziik @locke8 @wuppos @atmospherium : For more than a decade I've wanted to dabble in making a game engine, but I heard from more than a few people it'd be a bad idea to make one without a game to go with it. I love that so many of you enjoyed that I used a custom engine, and having had so much fun using it during this even, I'm excited to continue working on it!
Thank you all for the warm welcome to LD. :heart:
This game is soooo pretty and relaxing! The art and sound design worked really well together, and made even failed attempts at identifying a constellation feel satisfying. Towards the very beginning, it was a little confusing that I could probe into deeper layers despite not needing those deeper layers at all--I'm not sure if this is actually an issue or not, and I did get past it pretty quickly.
I really enjoyed this one--the sound design and art were eerie, but not scary, and I appreciated how the controls were introduced via the environment early on in the game. I did notice that the submarine's light wouldn't always face the same direction as the submarine itself, which was a little tough in the darker areas. Additionally, I found myself avoiding the upgrade menu because I didn't like how long it took to transition from the gameplay area to the upgrade screen--I _think_ I would've preferred something like a simple menu overlay instead of an entirely new scene. Overall, though, really fun!
Though the visuals were simple, the gameplay felt incredibly polished and responsive--I wanted to keep playing all the way until the very end!
This is one of the most polished titles I've sen so far!! I made it to about 87,000 points by the end of season 5...it was a ton of fun thinking about the synergies between different tiles. My one feedback: I wish there was a way to peek at the tiles I've already placed when choosing which of the three new tiles to add...though perhaps that extra cognitive load is intentional?
I love how tightly scoped and well executed this entry felt--especially considering it was made on mobile devices, for mobile devices!
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I loved the reversal of the roles of a traditional survivor game--having the player collect the experience while the AI handles the enemies. Interestingly, I tried avoiding the range increasing upgrades since it seemed easier for enemies to die closer to the center so I could quickly pick up and deposit experience...
This was one of my favorite games so far!! I was a little confused about how to make turns happen (clearer instructions might be helpful...or the option to skip movement and execute a turn), but I really enjoyed having to decide what pieces to collect for my team--and the consequences of what pieces the opponent would get.
I loved the narrative and world building in this game--it felt so polished! I'm not sure how you'd do it differently, but I sometimes found myself frustrated by the long delays between actions--it makes sense, since time is a valuable resource, but I wonder if there'd be a way to reduce the pauses...
Such beautiful graphics! :sob: I love this spin on the collector theme--and one day, I hope to be competent enough to actually control the velocity of sheep.
I loved the art and overall world concept. The objective felt a little unclear in the beginning before the doors opened, but once I got into it, it was fun trying to dodge other shoppers and lift giant TVs into the cart!
I really loved the art style, worldbuilding, _and_ gameplay loop of this one!! It felt really peaceful, and it kept pulling me back in to seek out more fauna to capture. My only wish is that the keyboard controls were reflected in the game UI itself, instead of needing to refer back to the game page.
I had a blast collecting all the different bugs--I found it _so_ sneaky that the bomb bugs would occasionally emerge from the stump (...or maybe I just wasn't observant enough), and the art is adorable.
I looooved the sound effects and animations for picking up resources, and that I had the option to manually collect resources. One thing I longed for a little bit was a way to _upgrade_ my installations--I felt like my progress was rather linear instead of exponential, and exponential growth in production is something I really enjoy from resource games like this one.
This one was super hard for me! I enjoyed that the entire game revolved around one resource--both for health and collection.
What an adorable game! I enjoyed the power-up mechanic and the pick-up effects--my only feedback was that I'd love more in-game context clues or tutorials on how to use the power-ups.
This was a fun take on the collector theme! Like other reviewers said, the meters added a level of tension, and I enjoyed needing to occasionally take shelter from the coming storm.
An absolutely adorable platformer--as other commenters have said, the gameplay is _quite_ brutal without checkpoints. But perhaps that's part of the fun?
Thank you all so much for the amazing feedback! This Jam was my first time working with audio from scratch, and I'm so excited that my goal of a peaceful atmosphere came through.
@wouter52 : This version of the game doesn't have an ending, so it's just exploring and listening--for now! I've learned a lot from this jam and my last one, though, and I'm thinking of transforming this submission into an actual game (as daunting as that feels...).
@rosypenguin @anthony-katona : Thank you for the feedback on the wall sliding--that wasn't a mechanic that occurred to me at all. I just published an update that adds sliding to the version of the game hosted on my own website (https://www.caer.cc/app/ld58/).
Thank you all agin for the amazing feedback. :heart:
77 darts later, I collected 46 countries...I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I had a great time. One thing that seemed slightly confusing were the modifiers--it felt like the scale of the planet didn't actually change in response to some of the selections I made.
I loved the reality-inspired controls and inertia of the ship...and the art!! One thing that _slightly_ confused me was that the UI seemed to imply I would _lose_ money when depositing trash at the station (by prefixing the gains with a `-`), but I got past this confusion pretty quickly.
This is a fantastic first entry into Ludum Dare; well done.
As a roboticist, I really loved this take on the theme--you captured the pain and suffering of teleoperated hardware so, so well. :see_no_evil: Fantastic job.
I normally don't go for games on the edge of psychological horror, but this one was _just_ creepy enough that I survived trying it. The writing was delightfully creepy, and I really enjoyed the novel take on text-based gameplay that had me scanning through text--both literally and figuratively.
I've seen some fantastic entries in this jam, yet this one is by far my favorite: The atmosphere, the music, and the core mechanical interpretation of the theme. It _feels_ like a complete game--and even has story and a narrative! Also, for some reason I have a weird soft spot and association for signals and mountains. Great job.
This is such a polished, cute, and fun game! Although I struggled to find its connection to the theme, I really enjoyed playing it. Well done. :heart:
This is the trippiest game I've played so far during LD59! I love the very literal interpretation of riding a sine wave. My one feedback is that the controls didn't _feel_ responsive (they felt like they lagged very far behind)...though perhaps that is my own lack of skill coming through...
The graphics, the movement, and the radar mechanic - in other words, the whole package - are just _so_ satisfying. I really appreciate the restricted color palette and the fun post-processing. I enjoyed (and struggled) finding the right balance between speed and not colliding with objects.
Fantastic work.
This game nails the idea of "moody", and fits the jam theme really well. I loved having to listen to signal really closely to find my way to survivors--I feel like most games default to visual signals, and it's been a while since I've had to use a different sense (like sound) to engage with a core mechanic.
Also, I didn't find it lonely at all...at least, not in an undeserved way. Like I said, super moody, super delightful.
This is the most literal interpretation of the theme I've seen, and I _absolutely_ love it. I feel like this is the kind of concept that, with a teensy bit of polish, could be turned into a full title. I enjoyed that you needed to put a literal oscilloscope on the grid to see your generated waveforms--though I wonder if some non-technical players might benefit from a brief tutorial or hint that it's worth using. Delightful work!
I'm blown away that this game is a Compo entry! I loved the atmosphere, art style, and unique take on the signal concept--and the RTS genre as a whole. The one thing that confused me during gameplay was the left/right click behavior. I admittedly don't play many RTS, so these controls might be standard...they just confused me. :see_no_evil:
Once I figured out why outputs were getting deactivated and started tuning into different frequencies, I really started enjoying this game. What a fun--if not overwhelming--gameplay loop.
Amazing early feedback--thank you @oxnh and @rhookx! I'm so glad the audio and ambience hit the mark.
I do agree the early gameplay is a little...unconstrained. I like to teach gameplay through the environment instead of through explicit tutorials, but I think this entry might've benefited from some stronger guidance in the first few levels. I have some post-jam thinking to do...
@acd @tymus @rend @atmospherium I'm so happy all of you enjoyed the vibes and the atmosphere! It was a fun challenge seeing how far I could push my 2D engine into 3D space, while building a rather literal take on the signal theme.
A common point of feedback I'm seeing is definitely around the intuitiveness/accessibility of the core game loop--I'm thinking of ways to tighten it up in the next version so that it's a bit clearer...
This game was addictive; it was so satisfying watching the signal propagate from tower to tower. A fantastic interpretation of the theme.
I was a little surprised that signals could only be sent from the main citadel, and that you couldn't chain cities together--but that did add an interesting layer of difficulty.
Is it wrong that I signal them poorly just to see how ~~fantastic~~ bad of a rapid disassembly I can engineer? :thinking: This is a delightful interpretation of the challenge, and a wonderful game. My one point of feedback: I found myself clicking on the arrows on the tracks themselves and getting frustrated...until I realized all the signals off to the side of the tracks were interactive.
The mini games confused me, but I adored the art style and the general atmosphere of the game--a fantastic first game jam entry!
This entry feels so polished--I'd expect to see something like it on an app store (actually, it's prettier than most titles I find on an app store or steam...).
The gameplay loop did initially confuse me, but I enjoyed seeing what I'd get next in my deck as I expanded my territory--and the reach of my signal.
What a fantastic first entry in Ludum Dare! I really enjoyed the graphics, sound, and overall vibe. The core gameplay loop was enthralling once I got into it, but I couldn't help but wonder: What's the point of scouts? What causes enemies to spawn? Is it the scouts? I was never able to answer these questions through gameplay, so I wonder if some kind of tutorial would help answer them more clearly.
Overall, though, great work.
The atmosphere on this one was so beautiful and moody--I love it. The gameplay was incredibly challenging for me, but I'm also not an avid platformer...
I really enjoyed the concept of signaling a pet/friend/golem/nature spirit--like some other reviewers mentioned, I didn't realize you could stand _on_ the golem to get it to do different behaviors. Once I realized that, it really broadened the scope of the kinds of puzzles I could solve. It's a simple mechanic, and well executed!
Also, pretty art. :heart: