Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → dirkinz
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | WLD: Royal Ruckus | extra | ||||||||
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | TRENCH | compo | 347 | 3.58 | 3.47 | 3.70 | 3.85 | 3.16 | 3.34 | |
| 2019 | 45 | Start with nothing | First there was nothing | jam | ||||||||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Card Clicker Combat | jam | ||||||||
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | 👥 | System Up-grade | jam | 950 | 3.00 | 2.84 | 2.65 | 2.89 | 3.10 | 3.00 |
| 2017 | 39 | Running out of Power | Running from Power | compo | 515 | 2.96 | 3.00 | 2.81 | 3.07 | 2.92 | ||
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | 👥 | Snow Globe | jam |
Thanks for all the comments guys. I don't really know anything about making audio but I hope to have figured some of it out for LD40.
There is no way to win really other than just getting a really high score.
Honestly I don't know how to make a 32 bit build right now and I don't have the time today. I'll look into it tomorrow and see what I can do.
Overall I really liked the game. The simple controls were really nice. It made it easy to get into the rhythm of things. You guys had an interesting take on the theme but I think it could have been executed a bit better. A quick cut-scene showing the hero loosing their powers perhaps? Or perhaps if you had made the level full of colour but left the hero grey-scale until they got their power back. Finally, I think a checkpoint system would be a huge boon to the game. In the available level even one checkpoint right before the second more close quarters part of the game would have saved a lot of frustration.
I really liked your take on the theme.
That was a fantastic game to play for my first one of LD39. Really well designed levels and mechanics. It looks like you've already gotten this but it isn't obvious at first that the coloured tiles move together. I though the level where you first introduce multiple cores might have fit better as the tutorial for the linked tiles. But overall a great game.
It took me a little while to figure out the ice worked like a flame thrower rather than a gun. Once I got that down though it was quite a bit of fun. I noticed a bug where sometimes seemingly for no reason I would slide backwards in an area for a while and I would second the request for checkpoints. I think my favorite part though was the audio. Fantastic sound effects my friend.
A fun entry though I feel like the energy bar should deplete a bit slower, you move a bit faster or the buildings should be a bit closer together.
That was a lot of fun. It reminded me a bit of creeper world (link below) which probably my favorite management game. I'd like to second a request to be able to destroy buildings. I never quite figured out what the black tiles or the right most building (the walls i think?) did though. I tend to find in games like these slower beefier enemies are more fun to fight. When one finally manages to break your defenses it leads to a frantic attempt to find some way to kill it before it can kill you. With smaller faster enemies it seems by the time you notice they broke your defenses its too late and they are swarming your base.
Creeper World: https://knucklecracker.com/
I loved the aesthetic of the game. I felt like not enough batteries spawned though and that it was often luck if you succeed rather than skill.
I'll second that the web link is broken. The windows version isn't though and that was a pretty solid entry. The zombies made some rather unsettling noises and that's a good thing. I do have a couple little tips for you though. First I would recommend you add a screenshot to this page. Second, all the zombies are running on the same animation timer it seems. Perhaps you could assign them each a random animation frame to start at when they spawn, that way they all look a little more different.
As has been said, the graphics, animation and audio are all superb and for a first time group this is incredible. My only real critique is that the game-play is very linear in intensity. A feature that I think would could have broken up the game-play in a fun and immersive way is if you can complete tasks to please Ull. Tasks such as kill 10 rabbits in 8 seconds. or kill a rabbit then a fox then a rabbit. I think something like this could move the focus of the game around and make a better rising and falling action in the intensity of the game.
having to press the movement keys over and over was a great choice. It really added a really frantic feel to the game. Full points for mood.
Wonderful game, five stars for sure! I really liked the colors you chose, they really made the graphics go a long way for being so simple. The music was also very fitting for the kind of game it was. I managed to make it to the end without too much trouble but I think that was because I saw some of your blog posts and I knew to conserve my power. I think perhaps showing more directly that the player needs to conserve power so strictly might be helpful.
That was something glorious! My only complaint is that compared to the opening audio, the funk is too quiet.
Excellent job on the game guys. The puzzles were really well designed and the graphics were stunning.
A gorgeous game to be sure but it does lack content. I know that LD is trying to find ways to incorporate other forms of media and so I think this is a fantastic way to enter a visual entry.
The one critique is this kind of game requires very precise controls and for the most part it has it. I think that the gravity was a little too week. The maximum fall velocity is fine but the turnaround from moving up to moving down is too slow.
for those who had control problems I have updated some of the in game text to try and explain it a bit better but the player binds a key of their choice for each control.
Thanks for all the feedback folks. @csanyk The game is color coded. So if you use a red shield you can block red projectiles or to kill a yellow (square) enemy you would use a yellow weapon. I'll definitely admit that was not well explained though, thanks for pointing that out.
@fancyreckless Thanks for the well thought out feedback. I definitely agree the projectiles don't contrast enough. that was something we planned to get fixed before the jam ended but the last day the pipes in my artists house backed up and overflowed and I was scrambling to finish the code. I do regret not prioritizing it a bit more though.
Really fun! Most people won't be able to play it because it's VR but still really awesome.
Pretty neat, like the style. Lacks player feed back.
Really intriguing game. Not more than that though.
Despite your main issue being with a graphics tool you still managed to make incredible graphics and animations.
This was a really fun strategy game! Course I didn't use much strategy, I just found 8 healthy people and kept them safe from all the sick one's until everyone else died out. I might be a monster... GREAT GAME THOUGH.
@minimurgle We also experienced the same issue. We weren't able to interact with planets or launch ships to explore with. There was one occasion in which a ship successfully explored a planet, but nothing else would work after that.
Nice basic art style coupled with simple and fun gameplay. Nice job!
Push you luck games are always fun, and being able to plan your paths just enhanced that. The level design was actually really well done. The people moved around enough to keep you on your toes but without being frustrating. I didn't really find much use for the moss or the smoke though, perhaps if they had a larger area of effect?
As someone who doesn't drink coffee I couldn't really figure out which ingredients to use for the various drinks. They were all just different browns to me that were different to what they actually looked like in the cup.
I love me some good minesweeper-esqu games and this is a really cool take on it. I am definitely going to play some more of this after rating is done.
I gave it a play and it was pretty fun. I don't know what everyone was so confused about though, I thought you made the mouse-over text for all the tiles pretty well worded and the objective was right there on the home screen. And for only ten hours it is a really well designed and fun game. I did find one exploit in that if you double click and hold it goes much faster than if you single click and hold. One critique is I think perhaps a if you used a different word than overflow it might smooth out some of the explanation. Overflow makes me think it will spill into the other tiles. I cant for the life of me think of a good word to use though, up-grade and expand and many others just feel too positive. Finally I just wanted to say thanks for leaving great critique on my entry as well!
@craig I think I've fixed the issue that was causing the crash at the end. Thanks for the feedback.
@japes If I had time for more play testing I wish I would have switched the first and last puzzle.
The way I got the intro screen to work is so jank, haha. I had to make the boat larger just to hide some transitions I had to do in the background.
@jj2oo2 @jamr The slugish controlls are unfortunately due to some issues in how I made the pseudo turn based system. By the time I realized the controls were sluggish it was too late to fix those issues without a rewrite of huge swaths of the code. :expressionless:
Rotoscoping is always cool to see. Also, you went with a very simple game which means you were able to nail the mechanics of it. Nice job!
I like the concept of the game a lot. I feel like its missing a sense of progressions though. In a full release version of this game I could see maybe more aggressive events justified by "riots in the capital" or something like that.
A great game. I don't have much to say which is a good thing. Everything is very stable and polished which is not easy in such a short time. Well done
Managing to keep me engaged for a full 30 minutes is really impressive for a LD game. Nice job!
Oh man. The controlls are really acurate and responsive and a game like this lives and dies on that so well done. Also, thank you for not making this more photo realistic. Much apreciated.
I think a little more feedback in the combat system would have gone a long way, especially in getting the hang of it quicker. The graphics were great! The great pixel art and superb lighting really make a cohesive and effective aesthetic.
Awesome game! The visuals are espetially on point. I could totally see this as a full release, maybe with increased tension by controlling multiple groups at once?
Certainly the best/most writing I've seen in a compo entry so far. Spot on with the aesthetics as well. The art, audio, and writing all worked really well together to set the mood. There was maybe a bit too much waiting though.
Very solid first entry! Despite what you say, I like your interpretation of the theme. Very Psychonauts. Also, the writing was, while short, fun and intriguing.
One little meta tip though: Before uploading you should rename your project files. A lot of people use LD48 as their project name and so it can conflict with other folks' games sometimes when unpacking files.
I think that was the most polished Compo game I've seen so far. Great Job!
Fun but dificult. It feels like I get knocked out too easily and then rarely can I recover. Perhaps a bit more bounce or slide on the penguin would make the knockouts not feel so game ending?
I unfortunately had to play all three players myself, lol, but I'll absolutely give any tabletop entry a look!
**presentation:**
As has been already mentioned, the score numbers could have used a bigger size. Once you play a little bit you can start to recognize the images but for first timers, the score should really pop out and make itself obvious.
I had difficulty determining if the Diver counted itself as a unique attractions. I found that the rules explained that but it felt missing from the card. Perhaps each card could have a printed designation somewhere on it. Either Hazard, Attraction, Event (dive cards and maybe more later?), or Diver.
**Gameplay: **
I feel like the crab and snail could be replaced. There is something to be said for giving a player intentionally bad choices to make the good ones feel better but when you only get a max of 15 cards in a game, each choice should feel as good as you can make it. I feel like this is one of the things that makes Sushi Go so much fun.
The quantity of Dive and Hazard cards felt off. I'm not sure exactly what kind of tweak would help but it just felt to unpredictable for the hazards to ever really be worth it.
After thinking for a bit, I came up with a mechanic that might help the feel of the dive cards. Perhaps each turn before drafting, you roll a dice up one number to represent the nautalis diving deeper. Then have hazards and dive cards (or resurface cards?) be worth the current depth instead of the static 5. That could add a fun push your luck kind of mechanic and make it perhaps easier to read when to play hazards. In addition, maybe instead of simply having a number of cards to draft, you draw a card each round so hand sizes stay the same. The depth counter can gamble higher and the mystery of does anyone have a hazard card stays a danger, even once all the hands have gone around the table.
Yikes, I hope I haven't come off too critical. I really liked this game and that just makes want to direct it and theorize about it. So some of the things I liked:
The cumulative collections over all three rounds is a nice departure from a game like Sushi Go. It allows you to develop an actuall long term strategy and makes card denial less devastating.
The art was very cute. I especially liked the Colossal Squid.
The Scuba Diver Card was a really cool one. It added a fairly powerful incentive/strategy to go against most of the other mechanics which means not everyone has to go for the same strategy.
The ability to play the dive cards in multiple ways was clever. It balances a risk with versatility.
Honestly, this inspires me to perhaps try my hand at tabletop one of these times. Great job
Ive seen minesweeper mixed with a lot of things but not platforming. Super cool idea.
Super fun. The controlls are very quick which really makes this game work. I think the audio is my favorite part though. I love the little "ninja!" sfx.
I've played a lot of minesweeper.... too much... I loved your approach to dealing with unknowables. a lot of minesweeper implementations like to generate a level with no guessing required and I always find that really boring. Having multiple types of expendable resources to probe with is fun.
Horror/surreal is really hard to do in such a short time. You nailed the atmosphere though. The music and the super weird graphics were spot on.
Incredibly rendered horribleness. Perhaps an up/down function could help?
The most relaxing game I've played in a while. Theres just enough exposition to give the gameplay some meaning. I was at the point where I felt like I had found everything and run out of things to grow roots in when I came to this page to rate it. I literally went back, drew one more root and I got to the ending. And how adorable it was. Great job!
Wow! That was awesome! I feel like the rock sounds were not quite distinct enough to be super useful and I struggled to gauge turning speed. Maybe if you could instead throw a rock in the four cardinal directions with the arrow keys or something? That way you could get a better 360 degree understanding of your surroundings. Regardless, this was a super unique and interesting idea. Great Job!
@dninosores 👍 Your game reminded me a lot of [Scanner Sombre](https://store.steampowered.com/app/475190/Scanner_Sombre/) which had a sort of pulse you could send out in all directions. That works for a visual game but its harder with sound (unless of course it was a dolphin or a bat playing it perhaps). That lead to the ring of rocks (or directional rocks at least).
Mnini games is a great idea for ludum dare! The only issue I had is it took me a while to figure out how to start. The title says "press A to start" but I didn't realize till afterwards that was supposed to be emulating a gameboy. I was mashing the "A" key on my keyboard for quite a while before I figured out "Z" maps to "A".
Very fun! A really solid sense of progression, pretty sweet music, good difficulty spike with the boss room, and all with even less time than normal?! How did you manage all that!? Great job!
Very fun. This is faster paced than a lot of similar things I've seen and I think that helps it keep interest. It didn't seem like space was working to refuel though.
I feel like you could drop the 1 link pages? Since this runs in browser, a ctrl+f means that the 1 link pages are basically free.
Great job on this one. The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is really engaging, and any amount of adaptive music is impressive in a jam scenario. It was quite difficult but I feel like that wasn't due to level design but rather slight imperfections in the controls. Occasionally, it would feel like a spike hitbox is bigger than it should be or I noticed some small stutters in the rope extension if my I was shooting a certain way.
I'm looking forward to a full version. Is there somewhere I should follow you guys for news?
Also getting the Failed to Load Mono. I don't know unity but according to this: https://forum.unity.com/threads/failed-to-load-mono.540209/ it might have something to do with having the wrong DLL packaged with your game? Best luck resolving the issue. I'll be back tomorrow to see if you've got it.
Fun little game! I did have one little issue where a bottle spawned in one of the corners which was off the screen so I got stuck for a little while. The models and visuals in general were superb. Great Job
It's a fun game. The controlls are very responsive which is great but with the randomness of the fish and effectively a one hit kill, a break key would have gone a long way to making them less frustrating.
Fun game! Really tough though.
Great job. As others have said, well done making a whole undo system in the allotted time. The level design was also great. I've tried doing puzzle games for past LD jams and getting the difficulty scaling right is tough.
despite the other comments, I understood what was going on right away. I think that was due to also being a big creeper world fan myself though. I quite enjoyed the game and I think the level design did a really god job of showing off what the mechanics excelled at.
@hiddentavern Thanks so much. I'll be looking forward to hearing back.
If you want to play it online, it can be played via discord streaming. I'm hanging out on there to play with anyone who's interested.
@hiddentavern Just FYI, I've added some pages of tokens to the printable document if that helps.
@matterlinx Thanks!
The concept for the game developed from the idea of a push your luck game (as delaying inevitability) and out from there. By the time I got to something play testable and I realized it wouldn't work with two it was pretty close to submission. I'm still tinkering around with a possible 2 player ruleset but they don't work without compromising some pretty major parts of the game.
If your interested in giving it a try, we are currently looking for one more person over on the discord linked in the downloads.
The amount of randomness makes it tough to really get into this game. That said, I don't think it would take much to make it really compelling. Just a little more information. Maybe adjacent numbers are always within 10 of each other or something to do with odd/even. Perhaps you could add a sum at the end of each row/column
I think I've officially spent more time with this game than any other entry so far. So that's good. I found a few graphical glitches (when your deck gets too big mostly) and some of the keyword syntax could be a little clearer but the one thing that I really felt was missing was something tracking how many games you've won. Either during the games or at least at the very end. Without that the final loss feels really anticlimactic. That said, superb job.
Very fun. Towards the end I was getting tired of waiting through the first two worlds and yet it was still engaging enough for me to finish. I gotta say though, a seriously impressive amount of artwork, and good quality too.
The artwork is supper cute and really clean. Plus, you have a really good attention to detail with the Phone UI. The dialogue could use a little proofreading I think. There are a few grammatical errors I noticed.
As someone who also made a tabletop game, mad respect.
The fact that you have an easy mode is great. It means that someone like me who is not good at bullet hells is able to play the game without too much frustration. Also, it acts as a great tutorial for the various patterns.
This game evokes instant nostalgia. I missed the second balloon spawning the first few times but I think that was on me.
I'd agree with @lakea about the lava being a bit touchy. The crates being physics objects means you were able to make timing puzzles that were fun.
A fun little game. The strategy of trying to line up the paths was very interesting, and I think the idea of the enemies defeating each other is cool. I feel like the controls could use a little work though. The hex grid doesn't work really well with a 4 directional control scheme. I think the hex works well with the gameplay and aesthetic but perhaps it could have been controlled with the mouse?
You managed to do more with just auditory story telling than a lot of people managed to do with their whole game. The only thing I would have loved to see is use of stereo sound to indicate direction.
I really liked the camera decision. I've seen several other similar ish games over the years doing LD and almost always they go for a first person camera and this is a cool change. Also, the stairs function perfectly which I cannot say for a lot of games (even fully produced games). The one thing I would love to see changed is the water. I feel like the water should really be moving past the ship to give a feel of movement. As it is right now, It doesn't really feel like the boat is moving forward.
The sprites are gorgeous. Really impressive quality for a jam game. Plus the VFX/Animation is very pleasing and matches the art style perfectly. My one complaint is that I don't understand how the enemies choose what and where to move.
Voice acting is such a rare treat in game jams. The visuals really reminded me of Myst in a really cool way.