Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → CorbenG
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | Stable Inc. | compo | 78 | 3.91 | 3.50 | 3.70 | 3.99 | 4.15 | 3.50 | 3.09 | 3.63 | |
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | Caves of the Forgotten | compo | 432 | 3.48 | 2.92 | 2.72 | 3.84 | 3.88 | 2.66 | 3.61 | 3.29 |
Wonderfully juicy! Great concept for risk/reward of splitting the enemies. Beautiful presentation as well! Found that staying in the middle is most effective against the octopi(?) but the laser enemies quickly thwarted that plan :)
Very atmospheric! Great use of simple shapes and interesting textures to build a hauntingly beautiful environment. Audio design is also great, with I think some dynamic music as you get closer to the bird! However, would have been nice to see some more unique pickups or some reason for picking them up. Great work overall!
Really liked how you used the flame and its light as a total representation of vision with how the camera pans to see what it shows. That makes total sense and makes for great natural mapping of how to use it. Well done :)
Super polished experience! Loved the art and the effects were beautiful. Checkpoints would be nice because of the one-hit death, but overall great work!
Interesting idea, found it engaging enough to see all the way through. However, it was a bit hard to select items at times because of the small hitboxes and inverted camera controls on pc. At times, when I couldn't figure out the riddle immediately, it became an effort of just checking every item until something worked. Narration sets the mood very well. Overall nice work! :)
Very great use of systems design in making everything effect everything else (like the environment hurting the enemies or them grabbing the powerups). Some more feedback on whether my attacks were hitting would be nice, and the bow felt clunky to use. You could also use more visual design to communicate what each thing does, because it was hard to tell just from looking at something if it would hurt me, or if it was safe to touch. Consistent color coding would probably help there. Overall great job :)
Good idea with having to avoid the boulders. However it always feels like you can survive if you are paying attention. Charming art, nice work :)
Typing is always a fun challenge, and your method of choosing words works great and is very unintrusive! Background sound was a bit jarring at times, but overall great atmosphere! Nice work!
Great execution! Character writing is very charming. Maybe make restarting after dying faster, and checkpoints would be nice, but overall great work!
Very cute, calming experience. You're able to get a lot more out of just a simple move set. Nice explorable environment and pacing is solid as well. Well done :)
An amazing game, I actually really wanted to play it and finish it. Super polished and the physics based tether worked great and made for really unique puzzles. Some coyote time on the wall jumps would have been nice, but an overall great effort! Well done!
@ismael-rodriguez Thats how game development goes a lot of the time haha. Yeah I had also thought about a reeling mechanic while playing, but I think the time spent on polish and level design was more worth it. Again, very well done :)
Super good use of time as the main mechanic between the combo system and speed of travel through different stones. It gives the gameplay quite a bit of depth and strategy through planning based around the constant of time. I did find it difficult to lose however, so decreasing the rate gas appears quicker or more spaced out would help increase the difficulty and potentially give the player more direction to their choices.
Really like how intuitive the split mechanic works, super quick to switch camera and controls to other character.
Usually expect a lot of slow-paced planning from building games like these, but it kept me on my toes with the rapidly draining water! Maybe a bit difficult though. nice job :)
Great swinging grapple mechanic! Also good visual communication of health without needing UI. One thing, the hazard sign at the start doesn't make me want to go down there immediately (although I did eventually). At first I thought this was just a tutorial level and I had to get the grapple hook to the finish. Didn't immediately realize what cargo I needed to bring. Overall great work!
Very polished experience! Movement felt very responsive, but maybe too responsive at times, especially during tight corridors where pressing up or down could very quickly kill you. I didn't realize I could shoot some enemies to disable them, some more signifiers for that affordance or a pop-up for the first enemy you encounter could help this. Great art and sounds to accompany every action! Also would have liked some checkpoints so players don't have to restart the level every time they touch something once. Overall great work! Keep up the great youtube content!
Really liked that once you grabbed the tanks, the screen became its own mini level that you must escape in order to reap the benefits. Maybe link the pulling back to something other than the oxygen meter, because it didn't feel great when I was so close to the bottom of the screen with oxygen in hand and I ran out and had to restart. Maybe just avoid all obstacles on your way down or you drop it? Nice visuals and audio as well. Overall great work!
Great aesthetic; sounds, visuals, mechanics all tie the idea together. It's hard to read so much text when its compressed into a tiny window. The puzzles were very challenging as well as it's not clear how I might get the second half of a password. Overall great work!
Very cute game! Love the concept, and the upgrade path feels good. Wasn't immediately clear how to play or open the shop. Also the controls would probably benefit from some input buffering, so you don't have to be holding the direction while you press space, and could have some leniency. Overall great work!
This isn't animal crossing... but a very weird and cool experience. Was very interesting exploring the 3d world in 2 dimensions. Would have liked the ability to finish the word typing by hitting space or something, felt like I was just watching it most of the time. Overall great work though! well done :)
Loved the reversed controls button from a usability perspective (I preferred the inverted controls). Great job offering unique abilities to change movement specific to this game style. However, the UI is hard to read with dark on dark, so it becomes harder to count on the abilities if you don't know how much boost you have (maybe put fuel meter on the drill so players don't have to move their eyes). Charming art gets the ideas across with good signifiers for each item's affordances.
Really enjoyed the main mechanic once I figured out it's constraints. Didn't realize that I had to place the blocks on top of other things first. The falling once you've failed lasts maybe longer than it should, because the goal is to go down, and when I lose I'm going down further, but then I die, so it doesn't feel quite right. Great art and sounds as well! Overall great work!
Very intuitive controls! Would work great on mobile. Some more visual feedback on actions would be nice, but overall great work!
Beautiful aesthetic! Felt it as more of an experience than a game, but I think that's what you were going for. Great work all!
Great concept! Some suggestions might be more ways to build momentum, and don't put dead end holes that make you immediately lose, but otherwise great work! (Visuals and palette are gorgeous).
Found it quite addictive after I figured out what I was supposed to do. There is no signifiers for the affordances of the level such as "get to bottom to go to next level" or "where are the precious gems." When I first started playing, I stayed in the first screen just looking for gems, but didn't find anything except one mushroom. Increasing the drop chances of items, especially in rocks, would help increase the risk/reward system you have set up. Loved how quick it was to restart sessions and the minimal menus. Art and music were charming as well :)
Very crazy experience. Great use of various pictures and textures. Feels very difficult to control though, maybe make the jump a little higher so its easier to start the grapple. Well done :)
Word scrambles are always fun, and the time pressure and ability to make any word you want gives it a unique twist. Erasing could be a bit frustrating and unresponsive at times, but the visuals and art fit well. Nice work :)
Great use of modifying game mechanics to depict addiction. Making the base speed lower the more coffee you drink is a great way to showcase the effects. It might be helped even more if the more you drink, the less of an effect it has, and the more you have to drink to get back to that high. Great work all!
Love how intuitive the conversation system works, just walk up and away you go! Found myself often aimlessly wandering rather than moving with purpose based on clues, but overall great work!
What a wild ride. Who thought I'd be playing a third person shooter where you play as a frog mowing down hordes of enemies. Nice work :)
Super interesting abstract art maker. More signifiers about what you're doing and where it's happening would improve the control the player has over the art. But a very unique looking result!
Gorgeous art style! Was a bit startled by the controls at first, but I think they really help build the illusion of driving this hard-to-control cart. However, I think the brake slows the game down too much. I found myself slowing myself down every once in a while as to avoid getting caught off guard and having to restart (I wanted to play more of your level). I think the timer is a good start to keeping the speed up, but some design changes to the brake might make it even better. Great work overall!
Super solid gameplay and visuals, however the level designs feels a bit niche, especially in the beginning when I would have liked more general teaching levels. Overall great work!
Great atmosphere, very LIMBO vibes. When presenting the player with an edge, suggest to them if there's danger or where they should go, I fell into spikes without seeing them first. Great work!
Loved the rogue-like progression system in a herding system. Super unique idea. I liked most of the upgrades, but adding in extra text that describes specifically what they do could help the player inform their decisions. Also more unique and interesting upgrades could serve to make each run more different than the last. It did feel hard to control a large swarm of the flies, maybe too hard as I would often lose as many as I gained, but it did serve to keep the game moving and not benefit the player for just waiting around, hoarding flies.
Very cute game! Felt like a very big world, with the npc's discussing events happening elsewhere to hint at you to go there. That part reminded me of zelda games and their exploration. I thought the light mechanic was pretty neat, but I think it could be used differently to create some checkpoints around the map. With this, you might be able to limit access to some areas and subconsiously lead the player in a desired path? might be something to look into. The visuals were great and sound accompanied it well. Nice work overall!
Super addictive! Love the input buffering. It felt great when the sound started going super fast and I got in the flow. Speaking to that, the game felt at its best when it kept me in the flow, right in my skill level, and so making the mechanics speak to that would help keep players engaged. The speed up is a great way to do this, but maybe less of a slow down on mistakes would let players keep in the flow rather than be punished severely,
Very good tutorialization! Was super easy to learn the controls and what the enemies did! Some of the enemies rush at you very quickly, giving very little time to react and hit the shield button. Visuals and sound effects are stellar as well. Well done :)
Can't play it :( Says its missing UnityPlayer.dll
Glad you're seeing the comments :) However, now it says "Failed to load mono"
Still can't play it :(
Lots of possibilities for puzzles here! Great visuals too! Its always hard to wrap my head around using WASD to control isometric...
I beat it! The progression felt super exponential, as one run I was making it just a few platforms, then with one more energy upgrade I was able to escape. (Energy feels like the best upgrade). Also by making it a unviversal cost for every upgrade, it encourages players to buy the same upgrade over and over so they get a "lvl 4" energy upgrade rather than a "lvl 1" speed upgrade. Maybe speed up the screen scroll when the player gets close to the edge of the screen as well. Overall great work! (and in pygame!)
Great work! You get a lot of play time out of your mechanics, however its held back by repeated events. Maybe reduce the trip duration to accommodate the refined list of events. Beautiful art and atmosphere as well!
Super fun gameplay! Could maybe look at making the obstacles more visually obvious that they hurt you, but great job on all aspects! :)
The presentation is beautiful! I really the like the concept, and it makes for really interesting puzzles to solve. However, due to the enemy movement being random, it feels bad sometimes when you get stuck and can't avoid taking damage due to an unlucky roll. Overall great work!
Excellent job! Especially for your first game! Great art style, everything feels in place, great lighting with it as well. The knife is super satisfying to use! Loved that I could swing it or LITERALLY swing it with my mouse to break the leaves.
Beautifully terrifying void sounds! Would have liked to see that level of sound design on the other actions as well. Great visual effects on the portal as well! However, it was often hard to tell if my actions did something or not. Could use more visual feedback on actions. Overall good atmosphere!
@jiri-one @cmdrapollo ah, thanks for catching that bug!
Nice concept ;) Also the horde mechanic is very interesting to control with just some simple controls. I think the progression options are very good to allow for deeper penetration (nice). Good work!
Nice little game! Felt like it moved too fast at times as to make it feel more luck based around the generation and if something might hit me. Also some more visual feedback on what my actions are doing would be nice, but overall nice work. The visuals also fit nicely. :)
Super cool concept! Loved the challenge the two sides brought. However the mirrored controls felt frustrating at times as the right side was typically where I was looking when trying to avoid something. Well done!
Really unlike anything else I've played! It was fun trying to figure out what each next step was. Really feels like an old command line OS! Nice work :)
Found the gameplay to be quite engaging! I had to stay focused to balance my stamina meter and speed past the cowboys. Really adorable animations. Found the other horses to be quite frustrating when I stuck to them. Overall great work :)
Really fun and super engaging! A bit more tutorialization at the start would be nice, but once I figured out where everything was and what everything does, it was a blast.
My take on the theme was also an unstable reactor!
Really adorable, cohesive art stlye! Stacking was pretty tricky, especially with how slippery the ground is! I liked that I had to pay attention to not knock over my tower with the piece I'm holding. Nice work :)
Really fun gameplay loop! Found it really engaging to both try to hit the enemies and not hit myself. Pretty charming art, but could use a bit more polish. Great take on the theme! Nice work :)
Neat idea! Feels like a side-scroller RTS. Didn't immediately get that the buttons at the bottom had a cost, or what they did, but once I figured them all out, I flipped the tides of the battle and beat the greens! Nice work :)
Really liked the tutorial area, nice work on that! The controls felt a bit clunky, like the time between shots felt a bit long for example. Some visual and audio feedback on the reload would be a cool thing to implement. Overall nice work, congrats!
Had a lot of fun with this one! I did play with a controller as you said, but I needed to click the UI with the mouse to restart, would be nice to be able to select it with the controller too. Sometimes if a trick was nearing the end of the animation just as I hit the ground, I would fail when it didn't look like I should, maybe work in some leeway there as to feel more fair to the player. Also discovered that you can just spam a trick button and gain tons of points even if the animation wasn't finished yet! Nice work and congrats on your first compo! :)
Really interesting puzzle mechanic! Really feels like the witness in how you figure stuff out by trying. However, as some other comments were saying, if you haven't played The Witness and know how you solve it's puzzles, it can be overwhelming to start this game, maybe look into even easier first stages to get across the idea of solving the puzzles by trying. Also really cool presentation of the story. Some more graphical polish and content and you have a solid commercial game :)
Fun concept! Really cute, cohesive aesthetic. Found myself wanting a sensitivity slider as it was way too high for my liking, but I made it all the way through! I had fun :) Nice work!
Really fun gameplay! Very hollow knight vibes. Great work on the controls, they were super snappy, which is needed for a game like this. Lost most of my lives in the first room, but beat the second and third room with only one life! I think that's a result of getting used to the controls, so maybe start off even slower and then jump into the boss fights. Looked great too! Nice work :)
Super sweet, cohesive aesthetic. Really well put together. Really great concept, would be super sweet with multiple levels on mobile! Great work :)
Super fun, clever experience. Really unique take on the theme. The error codes provided adequate hints such that I was able to make it to the end after a few tries. Nice work :)
@6smith Yeah I'm sorry about that. I realized this would be hard for colorblind people and so I added a colorblind mode. Did you find it? If so did it help? Feedback on that mode would be greatly appreciated as its the first time I implemented an accessibility feature like that.
Super cool concept! I think this is the best way to convey the experience of Jenga in a video game! Could use some more polish, some multiplayer, and this could be a sweet way to play jenga online! Nice work! :)
Love your take on the theme! Really cohesive art style and the music matches perfectly. Found it pretty engaging to try to balance my rate of money with satisfying or defeating the citizens. Just wish I could have won by going full training! Nice work :)
Super relaxing, polished game! Really liked your take on the theme. Felt a bit long for the limited variety currently in the game, but one of my favorite submissions so far! Great work :)
Top 3 AI here, Nice work! Took me a minute to figure out the mechanic as I didn't fully understand what to do just based off the text. A more interactive tutorial would be great! Once I figured it out I was on a roll! but it didn't feel like it ever got too hard, had to purposely lose. Great effort, congrats on your first submission!