Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → CandleBird
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | 👥 | The Eclipse | jam | 178 | 3.95 | 3.72 | 3.77 | 3.60 | 3.97 | 3.37 | 3.00 | 3.66 |
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | Hatmantha's Apothecary | jam | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.00 | |||
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | Parentage | jam | 642 | 3.66 | 3.36 | 3.28 | 4.50 | 3.48 | 3.98 | 4.54 | ||
| 2018 | 42 | Running out of space | Scrap Yard | jam | 199 | 3.77 | 3.62 | 3.58 | 3.96 | 3.50 | 3.21 | 3.20 | 3.04 |
Surprisingly challenging at some points! This is a pretty good puzzler, and you introduce the mechanics really well through level design. I guess the only bug (other than the one previously mentioned with sliders) is that if you go into the help menu and back to the main menu, the help button stays highlighted.
This was a great game! The visuals really were on point, as well as the soundtrack. The only problem that I saw was with the inventory/running out of space theme tie-in. Limiting the inventory space made for an interesting experience, but the way that item spawning worked took away the urgency. I found myself just completely emptying my inventory and waiting for new items to respawn.
Overall, solid experience, and with a little tweaking it could be even better. Good job!
The sound effects make this game super satisfying, but the looping gentle music takes away from it in my opinion. Overall, the graphics and game play were great! Really fun game!
This was a surprisingly hard, but fun puzzle game! I found myself trying to perfect every level, but getting stuck a lot. Very satisfying whenever I found the solution though. UI is functional (if not of a few bugs) and it fits the overall look of the game.
Overall, this was a surprisingly fun game! The mechanics are solid and the visuals work. Some small changes/fixes would add to the feel (the AI lacking pathfinding made it really easy to get them stuck behind the grinder, and the shotgun actually has 7 shots since the first one doesn't decrease the ammo). Other than that, the gameplay was simple, but fun!
So, the webplayer is working, but the game itself isn't working. All the blocks spawn at the beginning and make a really loud sound. Hopefully you can get the bugs worked out, and if you do just @ me and I'll re-rate your game! GameScreenshot.png
I tried to turn down the music with the settings, but it didn't work. Overall, good concept.
Very clever main menu. Good concept, but I found it really hard to get past even the second level. In the end, I found it hard to balance all the information I was given (2 enemy spawn points, 4 files, ammo, how many spawns left, how many drives corrupted). I feel like you could simplify this game a lot and it would be just as good, if not better. Overall though, I had a really fun time! The game play is satisfying (when you remember to get ammo) and the concept was clever. Good job!
This game was super fun to play! My only few concern was the feel of pushing the blocks, and the ramp up in difficulty. I felt like you had to be too close to push the blocks, or that there was some hidden interval between pushes that just didn't feel perfect. I also found that there wasn't enough time in the early game to get a feel for the controls because after about 45 seconds, the blocks started falling like mad.
Other than those two things, this was a solid game!
Just finished playing the game and I'm a bit conflicted. The animations had all of the right keyframes, but they seemed to play too fast. The movement felt sluggish, but playable. The tone of your game really was the thing that saved it for me. With some bug fixes and changes to the gameplay, I'm sure this could be a really impactful experience. Overall, very good for your first Ludum Dare!
Wow! This is a really clever puzzle game. At first I thought it would be easy, but once I realized that you can't move shapes past each other, it got much more interesting. My only gripe is that the UI/what everything does took a little to understand.
The best thing you can do to make your game run smoother is to delete any/all of the default content that you're not using. I can tell you're using unreal, so when you package your game, everything comes with it. If you're super set on keeping the massive amount of physics objects, you can at least lock their x (or y) axis and spawn much less to fill up the space. Overall, I can see the idea you're going for and with enough effort, (and youtube tutorials) it might just work!
The little animation at the top of the screen really adds to the overall feel of the game. It's also satisfying to see your items bounce around in your backpack as you walk. The only thing I feel was holding back the game was the minimal UI. Even a simple two line story to give the player motivation would have added a lot in my opinion. Otherwise, it's a fun game!
It's a great little game, but the only thing is that it really doesn't get exciting until you have ~5 slots left. Maybe the inventory is too large? One way to remedy that would be to have a small inventory at the start, and let the player decide if they want to sacrifice points during their run to make the inventory bigger. Otherwise, this is a good game!
@sciman101 Thank you so much! Also, yeah, I know exactly what you mean now that you say it. I'm not that good with particles or effects in general. I know what I'll work on practicing before the next Jam!
@tigerj Awesome! Glad you liked it. I totally forgot to explain the powerups! The green one pushes out all the walls, the blue one overcharges your shoves, and the red one heals you. I'll update my controls section on my ludum page. Thanks for the heads up!
@jktransformers Hey, glad you liked it! There actually is music, but I think there's a bug that makes the game default to muted. There's sliders in the settings. I wish I caught that bug!
@rodrigo-molina Yeah, I was debating on whether or not to speed them up. It looks like most people who play the game also wanted a speed increase. Thanks for the feedback!
@shane Thanks! I worked hard on animating and modelling those guys. Also, I never thought about that! That would be a great thing to add if I decide to take this game further. I could add it as an alt-fire on the right click and make it propel the enemies a much shorter distance.
@Awix Thanks for the feedback! I did end up rushing through the music in the last 6-ish hours of the game jam. I wish I could have done more!
@happyhour Thanks! I agree, because impact effects are not my strong suit. Glad the rules were understandable! I was worried that I was making the game too complicated for an fps arcade game.
Thanks again for all the feedback everyone!
Very simple, yet effective graphics. The controls were a little confusing to grasp at the start, but once I got them it felt a little better. I still feel like the clicking to move felt too floaty since you're supposed to be moving to precise locations to pick up/drop off the boxes. That being said, the game looks great in it's simplicity. If you do update this game further, I'd suggest focusing most of your effort on the user input, and sticking with the super simple graphics!
The animations really shone! I loved the hit effects and especially how the uppercut felt. As with other reviews, the game really didn't have a difficulty curve. It was also unsettling fighting a bunch of people when they didn't fight back. Overall though, the game was visually impressive! Great job setting the tone with the music too.
Love the visuals! Kind of burnt the churros is half a millisecond so I think they should change the recipe... Other than that, great work!
Great game! I loved the visuals and the writing. Just sad I didn't get to finish the game (I think I was at the end, but since failing brings you back to the first stage, I sort of gave up.) Other than that, it was great!
Might as well take down the web build because it doesn't let you host/connect to games.
Got stuck on the last bit of the game. Don't want to spoil anything, but it was the message area at the bottom of the map (just kept saying danger near or something). Not 100% sure if I was doing everything right. The ideas are all there and the game was great!
@hjorthen I agree! I've never really done any horror games and that was the only ending I could scrap together for the game jam. Thanks for the feedback!
@kovi Thanks! I'm glad you tried it out. I'm in the same boat in terms of story games. This was my first try and it let me practice my storytelling a bit. Totally worth it!
I mean you pretty much summed up what I was going to say in your description. There's a lot going on in the game and I'm sure that, given more time, you could have turned this into a really interesting! Don't get too down on yourself because the actual idea behind this game could be a hidden gem. Overall, just good job getting something posted! Most people don't even make it to this part!
Great work with this one! I agree that the controls felt a bit odd, mostly due to the camera angle not matching the way the character was moving. I like the different spell books, but since it wasn't really explained in game it was somewhat confusing. Other than that and a few bugs, it was an enjoyable experience! Good work!
Just played through and I think I won? I got all of the upgrades and had fun doing so! It was a bit difficult to get far whenever I got the speed upgrades. Also wished that the levels were randomized, but otherwise good execution!
Pretty simple, but nice execution. Only issue I had was that the random generation made a lot of impossible to get through obstacles (double planes + hand wall). I feel like the player was also a little too large to dodge a lot of stuff. Otherwise I liked the visuals, though it would have been nice to have some animation or at least different poses based on fall speed. Great work overall!
For some reason, the link is just a port...? Seems sketch
Hey! I just played through (most?) of your game. I was able to figure out that it's 'X' to place a ladder to get back up. I bought the drill (with 'E'), but couldn't go any deeper when I got down to the bottom? Other than that, good job! I feel like this was a fun experiment to play through.
The aesthetic of this game is great! I agree that the pace of the game was a bit slow, but otherwise the limited inventory was a good touch. I ended up having to send my spy out to the middle of the forest with just a pair of pants and a poison pill... Overall great job!
I hate to say it, but I did the sidescroller move and went straight to the left at the start... The controls felt okay, but the transitions between swimming and walking were a bit inconsistent. I really enjoyed swimming around and both the music and visuals were great! Seems like the game was a bit ambitious, but with some more work this could be a really awesome game. Good work!
I'm not 100% sure if I was playing the game right, but I mined some rocks, travelled into the mine and got rich quick! The first couple attempts though I just kind of walked into walls a bunch because the camera was zoomed in a bunch (if this is a bug, I was playing the WebGl version). Other than that, it was a fun little game!
Small bug I found when playing, if you get enough resources to buy an upgrade and have your drill break and resurface, you can't buy the upgrade. It fixes itself if you manually pause and resurface. Super simple concept executed extremely well! I could totally see mechanics being expanded a bit and more upgrades making this into a full fledged game. Good work on this!
Great controls! Just managed to dig my way out of the map in the bottom right. The drilling mechanic felt a little odd to chain moves together (ie drill down, launch out, try to drill into another block). That kind of interrupted the flow. OOB.png
Really cool take on the theme! The only issue I ran into was that Level 2 wouldn't complete even though I matched the pattern. Other than that, this is a really cool puzzle game! Very good visual style and I like the subtle sound effects. Good work!
Seriously fun! Please do continue to work on this. I can see the potential and I love bees! Obviously there's a tutorial missing and there's a lot of mechanics to flesh out, but the base of the game is surprisingly fun. Good work on this and I look forward to seeing if you update it!
Excellent work on this one! I love the digging/upgrading genre so much and this game does it very well! I ended up playing this one the most out of all the games I checked out today. Very replay-able and really fun during the later game!
My multitasking skills aside, this game was super fun to play, even solo! Only real issue I ran into was that I kept swimming off screen with player one. Really loved the art and the simple spawning mechanic. The story bits at the end were great. Good job on this one!
Captain Mumbles Bumbum, Earth's Greatest Wrestling Terror Philosopher, wholeheartedly approves of this game. It's art style and dialogue are both great! Seriously, the writing is stellar! The music also ties the mood together perfectly. I want to talk so much about the story, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. Good job Team Lazerbeam!
This game cured my fear of horses and stopped me from balding.
I believe the link to your game is broken!
Seriously chaotic, horrific and wonderful all at the same time! Love the music and the subtle (and not so subtle) comedy is perfect! Great job on this one!
Absolutely wonderful voice acting and art direction! This was a joy to play, and if it were expanded more, I could certainly see this being worth a long playthrough. The only issue that I ended up having was that the combat felt a bit imbalanced at times. Definitely something that, if tuned up, would improve the game greatly. Other than those minor complaints, everything else was very solidly polished! Overall great work to all of you!
@christian-zommerfelds Thanks so much for all of the detailed feedback! I totally agree with a lot of the suggested changes. We were having a lot of trouble balancing the game during the jam because... well, it's a jam and time is precious. That being said, you're totally right about the confusion with the win-conditions. A lot of it was just slapped on right before submission, but we're already getting started on working on fixing a lot of that stuff for a post-jam version! Oh, also we did just use Unreal Engine 4 as a game engine. Thanks again!
@devparty Sorry, just saw your question right now! I just used the built in landscape tools in Unreal Engine 4. Then I made a custom material that uses the normals of the landscape to apply certain colors to the texture, so I didn't have to hand paint it!
Extremely clever mechanics! I really enjoyed learning how the game worked and the overall style of it. I would say that it was a little slow paced for my taste, but otherwise it was a cool little game. Good work on this one!
Overall a pretty good game with some nice mechanics! I did find that the heat mechanic was a bit tough to understand. The enemies also moved pretty slow, so you can just avoid them until the night ticks down. Overall though, it was a fun game. Good work!
Very cool concept! Never seen another game quite like this one and I think that with more polish it could be a really fun time! It did take a while to get a hold of the mechanics, but once I did I started enjoying the game a lot. There's a surprising amount of depth, so it would have been nice to have the start of the game be more limited (I think my first playthrough I ended up wasting all of my wood on walls and since no enemies drop wood, I never got to build tree farms/food farms) Other than that, it's a pretty solid base for a great game! Great work on this!
Overall this game was pretty fun! Really enjoyed the story and all of the little dialogue. Took a while to get used to the controls and I honestly wish they were a bit tighter because I ended up giving up before I could afford the third organ. Otherwise, great submission overall!
Cute little game oozing with style! The movement and camera took a bit of getting used to, but afterwards it was a fun experience overall. Great work on the visuals and music as well! Even without dialogue or anything I can just imagine what's going on in the protagonist's head because of how everything moves and feels. Overall great submission!
Absolutely polished and really fun mechanics! The simplicity of the game combined with the depth of the movement mechanic made this game a joy to play. I suppose my only feedback would be that it's tough to gauge the current direction whenever you're aiming your next shot. I would have liked if there was a "current direction" or some way to see your current movement vector. Other than that, this is a great game that I could see expanded upon if you wanted! Great submission!
I got to 6.57 KM on my second run! Overall I'd say this is very impressive, especially for your first game jam! I would say that my only complaint would be the movement, specifically the slipperiness when landing on small platforms. Otherwise, this is a solid game with great art and music! Good job!
A nice small game that's been polished very well! Still kind of confused as to what I was doing, or what the strategy was supposed to be though. I think the main issue I ran into was that there wasn't much instant feedback to tell me whether or not I made a good or bad choice. Some text to describe what the effects story-wise would have also increased the impact a lot. Otherwise this is a really cool idea! I could totally see this becoming a full-fledged game with a bit more work.
I think the most impressive part of this game is the team organization! I applaud whoever was managing so many people for a game jam! I found a couple small bugs (menu settings don't work, might want to hide the options button. There are also some visual issues with animations playing slowly and sometimes freezing). Otherwise, I can see the potential in this game. Good work!
Something about the simple nature of the game along side the great sound design made this game send a chill up my spine. Something about the slowly creeping red wave causing more and more distortion hit all the right notes. Gameplay was pretty good, but I did end up losing much quicker than I expected. I got much further on the second playthrough, but I feel like the difficulty ramps up very quickly. Other than that, this was a great game!
The game is so great that I just have it running in the background while I play other jam games! I loved all of the little mechanics that each item could get. I did run into a few bugs on the web version, mostly relating to dragging items out of the game frame, but otherwise it worked flawlessly. Extremely good submission!
Couldn't stop playing! I got to 4:40 as my high score. At a certain point I just ended up running straight through and avoiding all of the obstacles because it got way too hectic to even read the question. Overall though, great game with a fun premise!