Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Domino Marama
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 45 | Start with nothing | Expect Nothing | unfinished |
Had fun with WebGL version up until I discovered CTRL-D adds a new bookmark in Firefox.. No, I don't want a DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD bookmark, I want to run towards that skeleton and bash it!
Nice work otherwise :)
Control is a touch sensitive on keyboard, I couldn't make small enough movements. It's not always clear why the level reset, it could do with a death squeak rather than just the musical riff to help user realise. The control issue meant I quit playing at the ruler, where my bacteria also started drifting off the table for no apparent reason. It felt a lot like the gameplay aspect was the biggest victim of the time limit, and it's a shame as other elements seem well polished.
Great job. I had to come back and reread the description for the level 2 hint as I just jumped in to play and got stuck. Probably an idea to have say an all red one with a jump around the icing eater as an intro to that concept.
Collected enough light to see, but found it a bit easy to die from banging head on platform above which put me off playing further. Maybe look into Unity's platform script that stops player from colliding from underneath to make the jumps feel fairer.
Music got a bit repetitive, but was fun enough to ignore and play through all levels. Character got stuck in physics a few times on last level but in the game context that didn't stick out as wrong, just as me doing something wrong..
Had a fun few minutes with this game. I eventually quit when I fell between two small platforms in the flames. The size of those platforms and the floaty controls seemed like a challenge too far. Great result for your first jam, I'd enjoy playing a fixed version.
Nice work on the audio, really helps set the atmosphere for this fun challenge.
EDIT: The bug is fixed now, so avoid the video if you don't want spoilers :)
I've checked my code and can't figure out why the letter collector resets in a build when it works fine in the editor.
I've done a playthrough video https://youtu.be/rea2f6DGLIQ for anyone interested in what the game should have been.
Hi @jedd Thanks for playing and the feedback. The controls are supposed to be a little frustrating (part of the "Expect Nothing" theme), though on watching my play though I did realise I was stopping to think what button to use a little more than I intended.
The player is basically a spring and a wheel, and the controls change to the appropriate mode for the grounded part when you release all keys. So wheel is A-D left and right, W-S rotate and spring mode is A-D rotate and S arms the spring.
It does perhaps need some visual indicator adding for those close cases where you can't tell if it's wheel or spring mode, but W is a safe key to press to find out - if it does nothing it's spring mode, in wheel it's a safe rotate.
My original plan was to use W in spring mode as the 'Something' upgrade to change the spring to a stick for spearing / bashing enemies. Yet more features that I ran out of time before adding.
Your Antexander game looks interesting but I've only got Linux machines, so sadly can't play it.
@jedd I'm already working on post jam features for my game, I've added an indictator for the mode and a scanner to find the nearest collectable. The indicator makes it a lot easier to play, thanks again for the feedback that gave me the idea. I had to add a time penalty for using the scanner to avoid overuse - it makes all my hiding spots obvious.. I'm going to take my time now and work towards a polished release, but if you did want to try the improved version, I can put up a build somewhere.
Screenshot from 2019-10-10 15:52:12.png
I can't believe how many hours it took to find this random audio "bug". I lost over half a day during the jam and more since. I guess I exported all rather than selection in Audacity. So easy to overlook the obvious sometimes.
@jedd you can see the result of your feedback in the post jam version http://dominodesigns.info/games/ExpectNothingPreview/ If you do get chance to play again, I'd appreciate hearing if the changes make it more playable for you.
@TheMiSta92 I guess you played the jam edition (asking for info at beginning is the giveaway), though I've only freed the camera a little more in later versions. How can you 'Expect Nothing' if you see where you are jumping?
I've added a scanner to show nearest collectable which should help with navigation while learning the level. It doubles as an indictator for wheel / spring modes which does make things more predicatable too.
Originally I did plan a more traditional platformer, but hit on the idea of one big level with a dropping floor to open up new areas. As the floor drops you get a bigger spring so the available platforms tend to increase upwards and downwards at the same time. It was a jam hack to save time on level design / testing but revisiting the same areas does help with learning the layout and in the end I think it improved the game.
The game is really designed for speed running, not the slow I'm lost, there's nothing, exploration that first impressions give. Things like which order to collect things can make big difference to your time and that only comes out with repeat plays unfortunately. I certainly enjoy playing it (I'm under 6 mins to complete the game now) though there are still a few things I want to improve. At least the known bugs are fixed now :)
Thanks for playing and taking the time to give feedback.