Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Cloughd
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | Aorta | compo | 110 | 3.63 | 3.34 | 3.13 | 3.54 | 3.78 | 3.67 | 2.08 | 4.29 |
A really interesting experience and message around those intrusive thoughts we get throughout life. I liked the charm of the visuals and the swinging of the camera, felt like I was skipping around when harvesting my "success".
Fun little game. I opted to max out pick range first and then went with full damage, the base movement speed felt good enough for a while. I did fall off the map once or twice heh. The crops sometimes would stack up on each other but that was fine because it meant more points when my ability went off. I was a little confused by the attacking at first but I quickly realized it was attacking for me and I got it from there.
@dzejpi I appreciate the feedback!
I believe if you "tab" back into the game, it will hide the mouse. This is an issue I did notice and should have spent a few minutes to figure out. Definitely one of those things going on my checklist before submissions in the future. I agree with the pausing the game to allow more time to read notes and papers. Thanks for playing!
@jk5000 Glad you enjoyed the atmosphere. I think I could have definitely utilized more of my time for sound implementation. Sadly, a banana was harmed in the making of the jam. I recorded sounds of smashing up a banana in my hand trying to make a squishy heart pick up audio clip. Tragically I ended up running out of time before I could edit it and use it! I think in the future I'd definitely prioritize some footstep and interaction sounds. Thank you for the feedback.
@streq I think this may be the issue with the cursor others have mentioned, it was an oversight not to hide and lock the mouse to the window by default. I believe it has something to do with the window focus.
I appreciate you giving it a shot through wine! I probably should have tried to build for Windows, Mac, and Linux since I didn't have a WebGL option. This is my first entry for Ludum Dare, is it too late to make a Linux build and add it to my page? This was my first time building for Mac and would be interested in learning the process for Linux as well. Thank you.
@streq One thing I learned from making this game is that horror works best when its also intertwined with an interesting story. It keeps players motivated enough to push through. If I could redo things, I would put a lot more emphasis on the story elements and clues. Including more time to read the notes they find. I really appreciate that you've come back to play and enjoyed yourself. You gave a lot of solid feedback to work with. You're awesome!
@tevin This is something I had not considered. I wanted it to loop to indicate that the character is in a afterlife loop. Next time I will have the game start again, but have the dialogue change to hint at the character recognizing that they recall being there before and then fading out to a main menu. I am grateful for the playthrough!
@fabian-denter Thanks! Glad you liked the atmosphere.
@elgin-ciani I was a little disappointed too, but I can laugh about it now. Frantically smashing a banana much too close to deadline time was pretty hilarious.
@fnkee Yeah I would definitely change the way paper notes work, and have the player decide when they are done with it rather than a timer. They broke at some point and this was my quick fix to get them displaying again and not remaining on screen for forever. Thanks for the feedback and kind words.
@leon-oost Thanks Leon!
@ale Yeah no true ending is really confusing people from what I have seen. Definitely an oversight in that choice, I would have it load with different dialogue the second time and then have it fade to a main menu or something in the future. The player spawn is random, but the maze is not. Sometimes there's a lucky spawn point where people find the exit without reading the story or facing the monster. I would make it a static spawn point if I could redo it. Thanks for playing!
@astridgoesgamedesign Thanks! The heart beat is one of my favorite parts of game. Happy to hear it did its job well.
@john-gabriel Out of curiosity, what was the reason you didn't make it to the end? Was it just the maze concept itself? Gathering feedback and would appreciate it. Thank you.
@nullval I'm glad you had fun playing!
@hawkin A lot of great feedback to work with here. I intend on revisiting this project and making it from scratch while applying the feedback I get from here. I think that would be the best way to capitalize on this learning experience. I am happy that you got the darkness metaphor, I think you're the first to mention it. I might go about it a different way to be less anti-fun. I think I'll aim to upload a new version on itch after the rating period ends. Thanks again.
@picross Landmarks were one of those things on my trello board that didn't get moved to the complete section. I think I would aim to make rooms that have some environmental story telling and having those serve as anchor points for navigating. That and some wall or floor decals hinting at different directions would be cool. Thank you.
@witchgf Thank you. Would have loved to put more time into the heart rate and heart beat audio. Was a lot of fun.
I have no rhythm heheh. Managed to make it through to the end though. The graphics were really cool, felt like a retro title bad had that modern rhythm game combat. You really start flying around with dashes and cool combos when you get in that rhythm. Well done.
Who knew balancing life and death would be so relaxing? A great casual vibe that is surprisingly fitting for a game where you play as death itself. Interesting start to a sandbox!
Interesting take on a colony management kind of game. It took me a good amount of time to figure out how to play even with the tutorial. The graphics are pretty clean and polished with the animated stick figures.
The art is really good here. I died a few times because I got a little too greedy growing to many enemies at once, but I think that's perfectly fair lol. I liked that a lot of the items also had upgrade paths, I wasn't expecting that considering time constraints for it added a lot of replay.
I enjoy the art and creepy mood of the game. You really nailed the atmosphere of something very strange going on. I could not figure out what to do after a couple minutes. Pressed all the keys I could think of for additional controls as I see there is an icon in the top left. Still left puzzled, but an interesting vibe.
I did not go into this expecting to be playing as an investigator trying to solve a mystery. The timer countdown had me quickly switching back and forth trying to find all the relevant data. Not my usual kind of game but I had fun. The intro scene was well modeled!
The level editor edition is really impressive! The Wheatshifters are excellent hunters! Be extra sneaky..
Terrible at platformers but this one was a lot of fun! Nailed that old school vibe. Honestly nothing else I could comment on, well done.
The pixel art is some of the best I've seen in the jam and all the varying animations add a ton of polish. The polish overall is pretty top notch on this project. The soundtrack offers a great relaxing vibe with hints of adventure that allows you to sink into the game. The overall mood of the game is greatly elevated by its addition. I played through the game 3 times, exploring the various plants. I think that's the only thing I could 'complain' about, wanting more plant tower units to discover, but that's absolutely intended as a compliment towards this project. You captured my attention and I wanted to play more!
The game has a hands off tutorial approach where you discover the mechanics by exploring and clicking through things. Once you've figured out the mechanics of growing/selling and then placing your first plant, it will then send the first wave of critters. This is a great non-intrusive way to teach players if they didn't read the description.
Wow this so good! Love the older game aesthetics and walking through the cornfield was so eerie! Admittedly a little jealous of this submission, I can see that there was a lot of effort put it. Prioritizing sound is something I tend to forget and its so important in horror.
Dashing through the levels is really fun! Zig-zagging through and harvesting souls left and right. Love that you made the sound effects.
I was blown away when I went to put up a poster and I had to actually straighten it out with WASD. This is a unique take on the theme, kudos for the creativity and mood.
I tried cutting the fire off and saving as many crops as I could but it spread too quickly for a single farmer. Farm life is tough. I think I saved enough to support my family though. I did not end up using the bucket as much, opted for trying to harvest as much as I could instead. I enjoy the intuitive control scheme you had used here. It made me feel like I had concise control even in the chaotic environment.
After playing, I had to check if I was real today. I am. Sandwich advertising poster is effective. Would get yelled at for existing again. Nice guitar skills.
Harvesting with the scythe animation felt really satisfying. Big swoops and all the crops floating up! The lore text in the beginning could use a little editing to present the lore in a less 4th wall breaking way. The art is pretty charming.
Oh man as soon as I had given my plant a name it was over. I was hooked. This is a neat little experience, especially if you like taking care of plants IRL like I do. The achievements were a nice addition.
One of the more complete and well rounded projects I have played. The action and dashing is pretty fun. The camera felt a little rough around the edges at times moving when I didn't intend on it. Outside of that great game, the amount of polish is impressive with animations and sounds. Combat was fluid once you get towards the end of days. Well done. I came out with an 'acceptable' favour score. I may live.
Took me a minute to figure out how to play but once I got it, it was pretty fun! This is a very polished puzzle game with cute art.
I liked the emails on the side. "Big event, you're not invited" had me laughing to myself. Took a little time to understand what I should be aiming for in regards to which people to harvest and sell but I got the hang of it after a few minutes. Struggling with the idea of getting better at knowing which people sell the best lol.
Incredible. Nailed that classic vibe, and I love the mash of genres here. I was doing spins in the air and doing laps around maps collecting what I could. The effects and audio come together really well!
The overall aesthetics were nice and the music was synthy. Admittedly I am terrible at platformers. The weight of the character feels a little too snappy. Rather than falling to the ground it felt like I was dragged down instantly. I ended up using the teleport mechanic a lot which was interesting.
The music is a good vibe. Liked that the game pauses and gives you time to think about which direction to build your platform. Cool that the tutorial was also voiced!
This was a lot of fun, the slow motion added a lot and I liked that I could use little jumps. Never thought id be drifting through zombies but it works.
Oh man flapping around made collecting things so much fun! Flap flap! Pico8 seems pretty interesting.
Wow once you start moving you really move! Movement felt a little slippy at first but you get used to it. Dashing and gliding around the world was really fun, made you feel like a vampire with lots of mobility.
Funny story line. Felt bad for the mother every time I sucked and died. Good core concept of a arcade vampire survivors like game. Only thing I would comment on would be the lack of audio. The art was amusing, evil carrot was the most interesting lol.