Concker_88

Ice Moon by LTyrosine 2021-10-07T16:58:04Z

@ivanpavlov Man, is that when you had to program your rovers? If yes, we had the same deja-vu feeling (although, I didn't play it a lot as I didn't know coding at the time and so wasn't able to do much).

@ltyrosine Nice game, all the features functionning really good. I would say it's too difficult for my tastes (losing all my precious ores climbing a cliff was frustrating). Also, I think you could enhance the exploration experience by adding some scripted event (like a geyser erupting or a boulder rolling as we pass nearby) and some variety in the landscape. Obviously, considering you're alone, it's an impressive entry.

Take Your Meds Darling by Geckoo1337 2021-10-21T18:40:41Z

Jeu intéressant où tu as réussi à mettre en place une ambiance particulière et vraiment déroutante, tout ça seul et en trois jour, chapeau.

Vu que tu souhaites continuer à le développer, je vais m'attarder plutôt sur le "négatif". C'est évidemment à prendre avec des pincettes, j'entends bien que t'as pas eu le temps d'exploiter tout ce que tu voulais faire. Je précise aussi que j'ai joué à aucune des références que t'as donné (juste vu un collègue faire Antichamber).

- Ca va peut-être paraitre contradictoire avec ma première remarque mais les effets de shaders/post-process me semblent trop violent, en tout cas pas adapter à tout le monde. Je suis sujet à la cinétose et les dernières minutes de jeu, je pensais sérieusement à arrêter (j'ai accueilli la fin avec grand plaisir). Probablement la possibilité de les désactiver/diminuer pourrait suffir, à minima augmentera le nombre de personne qui pourront jouer sans finir avec une migraine. - Le thème me semble sous-exploité. Ici, je parle pas vraiment de "Unstable" mais de la santé mentale. Entre le titre, l'aspect psychédélique et les toiles de peintres, on dirait que tu te diriges dans une certaine direction. Cependant, en l'état, je dirais que ça fait un peu gimmick. Après, attention, je pense que c'est un sujet dans lequel on peut facilement tomber dans le cliché. - Le gameplay évidemment. De ce que j'ai vu d'Antichamber, on est plutôt un puzzle game entre Portal et The Witness. Ici, on est plus dans le walking sim. L'expérience tient par sa durée, j'ai des doutes sur sa capacité à maintenir l'intérêt sur la longueur. Ici, quelque que soit le choix fait, j'essaierais de faire résonner avec le thème, l'expérience globale en serait renforcer.

En tout cas, encore bravo et bon courage pour la suite.

Kaboom Box by kleinzach 2021-10-12T17:43:32Z

Excellent game!

The manipulation is pleasant and puzzles interesting, with a nice difficulty curve. Also, the way you introduced new features and how tutorial messages where integrated on the box made for a really smooth experience. I was disapointed it ended as I was willing to play more!

On the downside, graphics and audio are lackluster, functionnal but not really super pleasant to the eye/ear. Some nicer models and SFX/music would put the game in top-tier category.

That you made it alone is even more impressive and if you have some time, I can only encourage you to play other games (to gain karma) and/or promote it because it would be shame you not get the 20 ratings.

50 Crowns for 50 Kings by juxipolo 2021-10-16T22:45:45Z

You are a FUCKING madman!!

Willing to do such an idea is insane but effectively achieve it is quite the feat. I can't express how impress I am by what you did, especially knowing you're a one man band! I had a ton of fun playing it.

Bravo!!

Unstable Machinery by mechanicallife 2021-10-12T18:20:44Z

Raaaaahhhh! I'm so frustrated.

Your game idea is super cool and has a super vibe, something between a Zachtronics game and OpenTTD. I can totally view how the city will grow bigger and bigger and I'll have to manage tangling up pipes everywhere. But I think controls are an ABSOLUTE pain in the ass. I don't see how controlling a character add much to the game as a "god view" à la Sim City would probably fit better the gameplay (I'm interested to know the reason you went that direction).

To be clear, it's very good entry, just a bit sad to not be able to fully enjoy the experience.

Unstable Machinery by mechanicallife 2021-10-13T07:50:30Z

@tannimun OK, I understand the reflection, it makes sense. Thanks for the answer.

Frail Ascent by ql28 2021-10-21T17:38:04Z

Bien content que vous ayez mis un post sur la page principale, ça aurait été dommage de passer à côté de ça.

Beaucoup de plaisir sur ce jeu, gameplay simple et prenant, ambiance accrocheuse, c'est très réussi.

Mon avis sur de possible de pistes d'amélioration/approfondissement : - L'introduction : peut-être un peu de contexte/narration, histoire d'appuyer l'ambiance, mais surtout le gameplay. Dans l'idéal, un petit tuto pour manipuler la caméra, placer un module, monter un étage. A minima, je dirais, mettre en évidence la page d'explications (je l'ai vu qu'au second essai). - Plus de feedbacks : notamment sur la partie "penchage" de la tour. C'est pas facile de sentir la limite, ni même de prévoir l'évolution que va avoir la montée de l'étage. Une prévisualisation de la chute du module "montée d'étage" pourrait aussi être un plus. - Etendre la gameplay/Augmenter le challenge (bon évidemment, ça dépend clairement de la direction que vous aviez en tête) : en l'état (sauf si j'ai râté quelque chose), il y a un seul moyen de "manipuler" la tour, c'est le placement de module, avoir plus de possibilités augmenterait le challenge dans le processus de prise de décision du joueur. Aussi, une ressource pour limiter la création de module (paiement à l'achat ou limitation du nombre de module) : j'ai eu l'impression que je pouvais me contenter de détruire et reconstruire à l'infini pour maintenir ma tour stable.

En tout cas, très beau boulot.

The Salatroitsk Incident by DrunkardWolf 2021-10-05T12:13:27Z

Your arts and sound design really bring back some memory from childhood. In this way, the game hit the bullseye and is really immersing. Unfortunately, mechanics are not solid enough to push me to the seventh heaven. I felt lost too many times and the rock collect was a bit more tedious than rewarding. In my opinion, you could take away the "nemesis" (and even maybe the rock mission), put some piece of history here and there (so that we don't get lost anymore but we stumble across nice surprises) and get a super nice walking-sim. You would have been able to focus more on the great atmosphere you created. Anyway, still an amazing entry (especially considering it's a Compo).

Quantum Splitter by thetatautau 2021-10-05T20:23:34Z

Extremely solid entry here. Each element fits well together for a soothing experience. As for the feedback you asked, there's my opinion : - The way you designed the game, a tutorial would be superfluous. Each time there's a new feature, the level serves as a tutorial. If people find difficult to understand a feature, I'd suggest to rework the level introducing it. - I didn't find the last levels very funny. I think it was because it wasn't possible anymore (at least for me) to figure out what the chain reaction will but more a die & retry process. - As for the aesthetic, I thinks it lacks a bit of juicyness, especially when we win. Adding some effects could make big chain reaction even more satisfying (I obviously talk about something subtle to fit with your minimalist theme).

Anyway, it's a promising project and I wish you good luck for the future.

Escape from Space by Xwilarg 2021-10-05T09:34:04Z

Really cool game. Atmoshpere is nice and progression is well put, taking off slowly and getting harder and harder as we're losing every leader. The sanity mechanic should receive some love though, as it's not very polished and it's relation with the cards is not very clear throughout the game. Great job! (and btw, I made 5200 :) )

Orbital Turbulence by Bewelge 2021-10-05T13:29:15Z

Graphics are not that "eye candy", music is not that catchy, mechanics are not that complex but this game is clearly the proof that a whole is often better than the sum of its parts. It was almost poetic watching these planets dancing around, barely escaping stars and finally getting expelled in space just tenths of second away from completing the level. Great game, thank you.

Deepwell Safety Inc. by rock-gong 2021-10-12T23:31:58Z

Amazing, best game I played over the almost 200 I tested during this jam. The game is extremely polished but not just on aesthetics, we can see that game design received a good amount of love.

When the theme was revealed, I immediately dreaded to see a lot of people use physics engine, and I "wasn't" disapointed. I know that not all people are interested in design, that constraints in time and people make it hard to put together a game in just 72H and (obviously and fortunately) that not all physics game are bad. But it seems that for a lot of people, it's some sort of shortpath to "easy fun". All in all, it makes game like yours all the more pleasant to stumble upon as I enjoyed to have some well balanced mechanics to deal with. As others said, there's a bit of "Paper please" in your game, but with more chalenging and interesting gameplay. To be picky, I'd say storage UI could be a bit better, especially the "life bar". On UX side, to get informations on items stored, I didn't find any other way than take them back on the "table". Getting information hovering them seems a nice improvement.

Anyway, well done, you should be proud of yourselves.

Eudora by EdevJogos 2021-10-05T01:05:57Z

Nice game, I really liked the mood, graphics and idea. It's a pity controls are a bit slippery and lacks precision, it could be a really solid entry.

Red Flag (Le Temps des Tempêtes) by Achiru 2021-10-08T11:16:47Z

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLIXrQfku9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lqrigjRcGM

(déso j'étais obligé en lisant le titre)

Red Flag (Le Temps des Tempêtes) by Achiru 2021-10-09T12:46:09Z

@wakobu Je me disais aussi qu'il y avait quand même peu de chance que ce soit une coïncidence. Maintenant, il faut rajouter un cheatcode qui remplace les bateaux ennemis par des têtes de Nicolas Sarkozy. Et à chaque tir, il sort une petite phrase genre "pour Audible", "double rations de frites" ou "quelle indignité!".

(Vous passeriez sans conteste meilleur jeu de la Jam, au moins dans mon cœur)

Red Flag (Le Temps des Tempêtes) by Achiru 2021-10-09T13:11:55Z

@wakobu Les possibilités semblent infinies... :smirk:

Council of Emotions by squirmonkey 2021-10-12T20:16:36Z

Such a nice and wholesome game. I really like the whole metaphor and especially the "preserving emotion" part. The gameplay is easy to get and well-balanced and scenarios are relatable and touching without being overly dramatic or too soppy (a mistake you could easily have fell for). The art direction and audio are nice although UI could probably be improved to fit better with rest of the game.

Globaly, a wonderful job.

Nuclear Danger by Fluffy_Kaeloky 2021-10-07T09:48:59Z

"And Russian voicelines spoken by a French guy after translating in English !" I don't think you could sell it better. It adds a lot of charm to the game. But did you check with a russian speaking person to know if it's understandable?

As for the game, game's mechanics are clearly not for me (I'm not that patient or tactful with physics) but the mood is really nice.

Project Earth by anstabo 2021-10-05T02:24:09Z

I played a planet with a giant reactor and I loved every second of it. I clearly didn't made the best out of my journey but it was a nice one for sure. Nice mix between the management mechanics and the "race" against the dying star. (Oh, and it seems we have the same taste about great sci-fi 4X)

It Was Desert by senar93 2021-10-05T09:56:16Z

Really nice and well polished. After some time, my sleep-deprived mind went auto-pilot and I found myself cruising in the levels without really thinking about it. With some sound design, would make a really smooth and relaxing experience.

DeePenguin and the Sunken Temple by Staquet Sylvain 2021-10-09T21:38:24Z

ArchibaldVonPenguin.jpg

C'est lui Archibald Von Penguin? Ce serait le grand papy de Canardman?

Among Monolyths by Dekajoo 2021-10-05T10:28:46Z

Extremely well made and polished. I totally get the "The witness" vibe in how each puzzle expand the previous one and how basic rules complement each other to create new complex puzzle. Awesome job!

Citride by Asemic 2021-10-05T00:24:19Z

This game is pretty nice overall. I struggle a bit to understand the mechanics in the beginning but it was fun once I figured it out.

AFTER SUN by rufson 2021-10-06T22:07:48Z

Really good game. Pixel art is on point, ship controls are nice and there's even a funny ending. My only real concern is that's a bit tedious to board people into the ship. I would have probably also add a timer, but it's highly debatable.

Unsteinable by shakastrai 2021-10-09T18:59:39Z

PauvreFacteur.PNG

Ok, mais comment le facteur est-il arrivé jusque là?? Et comment notre scientifique fait pour ramener ses courses à la maison?? D'ailleurs, ces potes ont-ils la moindre chance de trouver la porte d'entrée??? Du coup, j'ai bloqué sur ces questions existentielles et j'ai obtenu un score de 1/3!!

Plus sérieusement, j'avoue m'être engagé à reculons en voyant que c'était un "jeu à potion" (j'en ai trop testé ces derniers jours) mais la partie "platformer" permet au jeu de se démarquer. Je pense que le GD mériterait d'être encore peaufiné (surtout la partie "création de potion") pour obtenir un challenge plus consistant. L'esthétique générale est soignée et votre direction artistique est chouette, je salue d'ailleurs la volonté de partir sur de la 3D, en 72h c'est costaud. En tout cas, joli travail!

Unstable Empire by oneiromancer 2021-10-05T10:39:03Z

Nice experience albeit a bit rough around the edge. I'm really eager to see your post about the portraits implementation.

Cultist aboard ! by Guilloteam 2021-10-05T11:00:59Z

Atmosphere is fantastic and you are one of the few games where the goal is to destabilize rather than keep the stability (which is really refreshing). I would have like more different events though as it seems the journey is always the same. (Also, you made a blog post but you didn't put the link to this page in it)

falling flamingo by butterfly 2021-10-05T01:31:24Z

I can't really explain it but I felt keeping my flamingo steady by expelling its poop like there's no tommorow...oddly satisfaying.

Baba Yaga by Teegan 2021-10-07T11:40:51Z

Art direction is stunning and give the game a really unique atmosphere.

Rook Bishop Knight by nshbae 2021-10-05T10:22:16Z

Really excellent. Mechanics are simple to understand but challenging enough to make for a great puzzle game. Lacks just a bit in aesthetics to wrap it up as a complete experience but very interesting game nonetheless.

Charon by EthanKessler 2021-10-08T10:15:25Z

Nice game which fits the theme really well and where I enjoyed the atmosphere. Steering the boat with weighted objets could be a nice mechanic but I didn't enjoyed it that much.

I think it's because you linked two objectives to the same mechanic which rely to randomness (to be clear, it's not by nature bad but it's really much harder to balance). For instance, a barrel serve as fuel AND as a way to steer the boat, meaning that all of a sudden the furnace can use a barrel you were using to control the boat. In the same way, you have to steer the boat to avoid floating rocks AND to collect barrels. So sometimes, you need a barrel to keep the furnace burning but getting it will throw you to the rocks.

Here's the leads I'd follow : - Get three zone to stock objects, where they couldn't escape (seing your barrels rolling overboard is kinda frustrating). Right and left zone would serve to steer, middle zone as the primary reserve for the furnace. - A grapling to get more easily objects floating around. - New types of objects. At least one which cannot be used by the furnace so you'll be sure it didn't disapear. - An evolution of the steering according to the weight : the more it weight, the more you steer (maybe it's already the case, I just wasn't able to be sure). - Maybe use the player as the weight himself.

At the end of the day, just my cents, hope it could help your reflection.

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-06T13:11:02Z

Thank to all of you for your messages, it's really fulfilling to see a lot of people enjoying the game.

We pushed a new version fixing some annoying bugs (cards shouldn't disappear anymore!). All informations are in the changelog. You can still get the original release in the itch.io page by downloading the v0.2.

A little note about the Gods as a lot of you seem disapointed not getting one. The game was designed with getting a creature as the main goal and the Gods more a special reward/achievement. With hindsight, the game doesn't convey successfully this feeling and could let you feel you failed. It's obviously multifactorial but I think the most important is the process'randomness (for those whose interested, there's 12 differents traits so 220 combinations of 3 traits. Each 10 gods representing one unique combination, you have less than 5% chances to get a God by picking traits randomly). I'll probably add a rule during the week-end so you can get at least one "god drawing" by game. All in all, if you completed a ritual and got a creature, don't feel disapointed, know you won :).

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-07T09:06:30Z

@saltysa Hello. I'm really happy you liked the game. Concerning the whispers, we didn't even know that could cause some problems. I'll add an option during this week-end to turn it off.

@hotowlgirls You're right about game's beginning. It was designed as an introduction to the mechanics and a way to "experiment" the game without much punishment but it feels boring after 2/3 runs. We're thinking on how to improve this part.

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-10T22:20:10Z

@skallywags Keep rambling, no problem, it's always nice reading people who saw the work/time invested in designing the game and giving such feedback.

Concerning your points, you're totally right about the success not being rewarding enough. We worked mainly on the gameplay loop and didn't have much time to polish the endgame (either victory or defeat) and it's showing. Obviously, adding some SFX and art is the easiest way to improve it and would have been enough for the jam. As for the future, your take about "unstable state" is interesting so I'll explain a bit more our process : the game was more designed around the difficulty curve and how we put more and more pressure on the player as the ritual go on more than sustain an "on the verge of dying" feeling. The two main reasons were the crescendo feeling seemed more fitting the theme (we don't see the theme as a "must have" but still a matter you try to take into account) and more importantly, the difficulty to balance randomness in such a situation. To maintain the player in this "zone", you'd have to acknowledge the game state (player's life, current turn, position of each characteristic...) and tweak the rules governing randomness accordingly and pretty precisely. In 72H, such a system seems almost impossible to produce as it requires a HUGE amount of calculations and/or playtesting. Of course now there's no theme to follow and we have more time to devellop the idea.

Now, concerning the way we keep the player interested in the long run... good question! We had some discussion but we haven't decided a direction at the moment. If you're interested, you can complete [this survey](https://forms.gle/NmaSYGdk8aYd7qaQA), let us know your impressions and maybe even take part in playtesting.

@jpgfg Woah... :relaxed:

@jpatchz It's really touching but I have to disagree. [This one](https://anotherworld.fr/anotherworld_uk/another_world.htm) will forever be the epitome of video game. :wink:

@artonix @alexej @piper-thompson @jusw85 @boaheck-artgent @echo-gameworks and to all the others people who commented, thanks for your messages and your sight on the game. It's a great feeling seeing that much reactions about our game(and for those wondering, even if we didn't answer much, we read all the comments).

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-13T15:23:50Z

@leokrechmer Happy you liked the game. I made a mistake when building the last version for WebGL. It should work fine now. Thanks for telling us.

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-18T14:18:32Z

@papabirb Hello, nice to see you came back after almost 2 weeks to test again the game, even if it's a bit sad to hear that our game isn't a cure to backache (hope you'll feel better).

Concerning UI, you're right, we focused on make it fit on PC and we need to work on accessibility on portable devices.

As for the gods, it's a point of design we didn't polished enough. As you and others mentionned, it can be frustrating to not get any gods (or at least a hint). We made some modifications (a hint system, tweak on randomness) to try to solve this but it'll only be available friday to comply to LD rules.

Anyway, thanks for your feebacks,it always appreciated.

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-21T21:40:13Z

@geckoo1337 Oula, je crois qu'on a une petite incompréhension là, j'ai peur que tu l'ai quand même pris un peu de travers (ce que je peux comprendre, pas de soucis).

Je vais pas m'étaler sur tous les éléments mais j'aimerais juste préciser 2/3 trucs : - Le ton que j'emploi. Bon déja, c'est par écrit, donc je peux pas être aussi exhaustif et précis que je le souhaiterais, y faire passer toutes les nuances de mon point de vue, sinon j'y passe l'après-midi et je ponds un roman (jusque là, je t'apprends rien). Ensuite, en me basant sur ta description et tes réponses aux autres commentaires, je me suis mis en mode "professionel". Je me suis trompé, je m'en excuse. Je reconnais que j'aurais pu m'arrêter plus longtemps sur les qualités de ton jeu. - *"On est d’accord - tout est à revoir dans mon projet."* Non pas d'accord. Un peu déçu de t'avoir transmis ce sentiment. - *"En premier lieu, j’ai imaginé un jeu d’équilibre (comme les centaines que l’on a considérées durant la 49ème LD). J’ai choisi une autre orientation."* Tu en es sincérement remercié, j'en ai vu assez. - *"Je crois que tu ne sais pas ce qu’est un simulateur de marche. C’est bien plus basique."* C'est vrai que "walking sim", ça fait péjoratif. C'était une simple comparaison sur la boucle de gameplay. Après, c'est clairement pénible d'expliquer ce genre de truc à l'écrit, je vais pas m'étendre. - *"Il faut bien plus, mais je me désole du fait que tu juges une entrée pour ce qu’elle aurait pu être avec davantage de temps, de réflexion et d’éléments."* Mon jugement, que ca soit la notation ou l'analyse, ne se fait que sur l'existant (mon expérience de l'existant en tout cas, c'est nécessairement subjectif). J'ai l'impression que t'as vu des reproches dans une phrase comme *"Le thème me semble sous-exploité"*. Qu'on soit clair, pour moi c'est à la fois un fait neutre et quelque chose de logique (t'as pas eu le temps d'en faire plus). Donc dans la perspective de la Game Jam, je trouve ça très bon. Pour le post-Jam, ça me semble à approfondir. En gros, comme ta remarque sur l'aspect cyclique de notre jeu (auquel je souscris). Bref, on rejoint mon premier point sur mon approche. - *"Peut-être en reparlerons-nous une autre fois après des mois de développement."* Ce soir, demain, la semaine prochaine, dans plusieurs mois : avec plaisir.

Bon finalement, c'est un plus que 2/3 trucs :/

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-22T08:15:16Z

@adrian-guevara Man, as nice it is to see you praise us, I think you should take some time off because you seem a bit angry. You're even rude to some people, I saw your comment on Quantum Splitter and it's not nice. I think his first place is deserved and one of the best Compo Game I played (I tested 220+ games in total).

I can understand you're a bit disapointed about ratings and yes, the system is not perfect (but none are). At the end of the day, it's just a friendly competition and we all know how it works before the results. Take some time to cool off, enjoy the positive outcome (your game received a lot of attention) and come back to us with a clearer mind.

Lovecrafting by Concker_88 2021-10-22T18:35:31Z

@adrian-guevara I don't deny you the right to be angry. What I meant it's probably not the good state of mind to express your disapproval towards ratings system. Besides my point is not only about politeness but also about efficiency. If your goal is to try to improve Ludum Dare, being direspectful to organisation and other jammer is without a doubt not the good strategy to win them over your point of view.

Now to talk to the core of the problem (ie : the rating system), I can see what you mean. Yes, there's a (little) mathematical bias whether you got a lot of ratings or not. But I think you miss something : no system are flawless. There'll always be a way to cheat or people feeling it's unfair towards them. At the end of the day, rankings are cool but not that important.

One last point : your critics on Mike and his team not wanting to improve the LD is uncalled for. They proved it just this night by adding the results countdown.

To sum up my thoughts, as a friendly advice, please try to be more charitable, it'll be beneficial not only to others, but more importantly, to you.