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Dualhammers

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCo
201429Beneath the SurfaceProject Islajam2973.332.813.192.883.593.333.143.8139

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Humor vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by Dualhammers

LD29 — Beneath the Surface

Battle Through Hell! by shatley123 2014-05-01T06:12:00

First off, for 15 this is really good. I definitely could not do this at 15 so way-to-go! That being said, it still has a ways to go. Here is a few thoughts, take them as completely subjective.

Graphics were decent, but there was not much in the way of feedback. Even some hit, walk, or attack animations would have helped. The style is already so basic it would be nice to have that. This would be especially helpful when enemies are near. Sometimes I couldn't gauge if they were attacking me until I was dead.

Audio is good, some more variation could be good but overall it worked well. Some of the weapon sounds could have been nicer though. They didn't feel quite hefty enough.

Balance-wise it was impossible for me to get the key even after 5 tries. There is not enough ammo to kill all the enemies by circle-strafing so your only option is to run the gauntlet and hope you don't get too close. HP drains quick so there is no real room to recover from a mistake.

Generally it is good for the player to feel like they have agency. There should be multiple ways to solve and problem and having some room to recover and come back from a mistake feels extremely satisfying.

Keep these in mind as you move forward, and definitely keep making games!

City Beneath the Surface by SmilingCat 2014-05-01T21:27:00

I didn't know how to drop items so I got irrevocably stuck several times. This was unfortunate because I was wondering what lay ahead. If, however, it was all just swimming around and collecting, well, I think this game needs a bit more. The idea of exploring an underwater city is wonderful, but the fact that what I was was empty boxes was disappointing.

In Deep by BlazeCell 2014-05-01T06:14:00

Good start, you can still resubmit to make the game beatable.

Rosa Neurosa by Wertle 2014-05-05T20:14:00

One of my favorite games on here! The creative use of the theme is excellent, and the performative aspect of the way you interact with the game is a simply but incredibly effective choice. The game itself demands that the player dance with it for it to work its magic and that is extra special.

Here is my story: http://tinyurl.com/mlrwgyb

Here are a few thoughts on how I might refine the entire experience. Take these as purely subjective.

I completely missed the first text box. Overall, UI-wise it wasn't very clear which item I was writing about. Because the circled items were previous items, and the current item was sort of visually buried in the level I was offset in my story.

The "challenge" of avoiding the light-bulbs was really more an annoyance and not exciting, nor was it intrinsically about the game's main focus. Either flesh that out or cut it completely. Personally I'd have liked to see a deeper challenge involved in finding the memories if the game was suppose to be about challenge, but honestly I don't think that is the real focus either. Maybe delving to secret places allows for longer stories?

Does this game need traditional mechanical challenge? I'm not so sure.

SnakeFormer - Half Snake, Half Platformer by TobiasW 2014-05-05T20:25:00

An interesting take on Snake! I thought the style all felt very of a piece which is good. Thematically it is a bit weak but that's fine considering the game itself holds up well.

My major issue was with the game's difficulty. I got stuck on level two simply because there is no space to recover from errors. Even after figuring out how to drain the Lava I found that I had eaten too many bricks and was unable to fall over to the exit. This happened several times and proved frustrating enough to cause me to quit. A metaphor for the vicissitudes of life?

I know it is accurate that when you occupy the square adjacent to lava the lava hurts you, but it isn't clear gameplay wise nor did it feel right. Normally in a game when you touch lava you die, and in grid games only the grid you're on counts for touching. I assume that because the lava tries to flow whenever there is a gap in the rock it was flowing into my square and touching me? This makes sense, but it also meant that every square around the lava was just as off-limits as the lava itself. This reduced the possibilities for movement on the edges two only two columns, and it only felt like there was really one right answer.

If you want to refine this I'd say figure out a better way to handle lava and provide more flexibility to the early puzzles. Good job!

Vaults Inc by Bruno Massa 2014-05-01T06:28:00

Some thoughts:
The plausibility of the game seems... beyond unlikely, the length of the intro hammering in the topical nature of the intro made it feel even less so. All that text could have been on a single screen -- nothing felt added by it being an animated intro.

The thematic elements don't seem intrinsically linked to the mechanics, especially since most of the things you build cannot actually be built inside of a vault.

There are a few no-win scenarios. I stumbled into one because the few tutorial bits of information you gave did not clearly explain to me how the mechanics of the game worked, merely that I could buy or upgrade. I accidentally bought too many plots that drained my monthly income and then I was stuck. The fact that there was no end turn option, merely choosing an option advanced the game, was confusing.

The art style does not feel right given the theme of the game. I felt torn between the colorful and happy artistic elements and the attempt at a brooding mood. There wasn't any humor inside the game so I couldn't tell if it was trying to be serious or satirical.

Escape the Terror by okeyboy99 2014-05-01T06:34:00

Actually pretty terrifying, but possibly only because I have no backbone. Very good job setting a mood. Overall I didn't know what to do or where to go so I just died repeatedly. Even in a game about exploring the dark it is good to have some agency over the situation. I felt powerless in a way that I am not sure was your intent since the game felt more like a moody escape game.

Good start, keep going.

SkinDeep by Kitatus_Studios 2014-05-01T20:43:00

Decent job for 6 hours, but there were a few bugs that caused the game to break completely. When a block was pushed into me I was occasionally pushed in front of the blocks and could no longer grab, rendering the rest of the game impossible to finish. When falling down a hole I also found myself having to reset the game since there was no kill volume.

The controls felt a big sluggish and there was a lack of weight of to the character that I found displeasing.

The intro text didn't really sell me on the mood, and the mechanics seemed to have nothing to do intrinsically with the theme. Overall, it just needs work but it is by no means bad. I found the animations to be quite good.

TRESHUR by Zupoman 2014-05-01T21:11:00

Pretty good. The game has a good feel, the mechanics are simple but effective, and the art style, sound, and theme all fit well together. Digging isn't the most creative use of the theme but the game itself is very playable.

A few thoughts on how to improve:

Right now there is no feedback that allows the player to prepare to respond to bombs. This may be an intentional part of the minimalist aesthetic but it makes the experience more frustrating. Knowing when they are about to drop the bomb would give you time to prepare or dodge.

Attack enemies is wonky at times. The hitboxes heavily favor the enemies in a way that felt more frustrating than satisfying. I could only routinely kill enemies if they came at me from the side. If they were angled or landing on me I almost always died. This didn't feel right.

Not being able to dig sideways felt odd. In reality, there was only one critical path - dig straight down as fast as possible. The problem with this is there is no real way to dodge bombs if you do this. Essentially you're setting yourself up for a situation where winning is more a matter of luck than skill. This is not so enjoyable.

Add more player agency and this would be a great game.

Beneath The Surface by adamwoolridge 2014-05-01T22:01:00

This actually works quite well. Overall I think this is the first game I've really enjoyed on here. A few caveats:

Later levels become difficult in a rather unsatisfying way given the high rotational-speed of lower levels. I could either never get around to them in time or struggle to line up a shot rotating in the opposite direction due to the large amount of cover from higher levels.

If enemies were on the opposite side from the camera I had no way of knowing where I was getting hit from, this is was frustrating.

I spent all my time simply holding down the left mouse button. There was no reason not to have it held down so I wonder why I needed to press it at all. If a control is going to exist there should be ways to be expressive with it. Maybe add some additional ways to use the laser that involve the left mouse button. Pulsing laser fire, larger beams, etc., could all work.

CAVE TO DOWN by kato 2014-05-01T20:55:00

I spent most of the game simply spamming the space-bar to kill enemies. I understand this is the primary challenge of the game but it was not one of skill, merely dexterity. This game would destroy phone screens on mobile.

It would be nice to see this game expanded with some kind of strategic elements. Not being able to pass over holes, for example, could provide some depth to the experience.

Cybs Submarine by Cybs 2014-05-01T06:18:00

Good job making your first game! Overall it needs a lot of work but this is a good start. Here are a few subjective thoughts:

The controls are smooth but they are not responsible. The way you are calculating force makes it very hard to recover from mistakes. Compare this to another flappy bird game like MaverickBird - responsive, quick, precise. With this game I often felt like the mistake was because the controls were sluggish not because I made a mistake. Whether that is true or not it is how I felt and that is a huge part of the experience.