Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → eli
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Cm | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 30 | Connected Worlds | @tiny_astro_naut | jam | ||||||||||||
| 2013 | 28 | You Only Get One | Out | compo | 815 | 2.59 | 2.41 | 2.91 | 1.91 | 2.57 | 2.41 | 3.61 | 2.65 | 40 | ||
| 2013 | 26 | Minimalism | ALPHBT | compo | 940 | 2.81 | 2.81 | 3.31 | 3.44 | 2.63 | 2.69 | 22 | ||||
| 2012 | 25 | You are the Villain | Greater of Two Evils | compo | 274 | 3.16 | 2.83 | 4.14 | 3.33 | 2.68 | 2.60 | 3.13 | 46 | |||
| 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Bloodline | compo | 449 | 2.83 | 2.57 | 2.91 | 3.17 | 2.43 | 2.78 | 2.53 | 2.72 | 46 | ||
| 2012 | 23 | Tiny World | Aquarium Adventure | compo | 789 | 2.35 | 1.77 | 2.64 | 3.16 | 2.20 | 3.20 | 2.24 | 2.58 | 46 | ||
| 2011 | 22 | Alone | Ghost Town | compo | 186 | 3.00 | 2.53 | 1.86 | 2.64 | 3.67 | 2.00 | 3.36 | 2.71 | 3.00 | 37 | |
| 2011 | 21 | Escape | Escape Imprisonment at the Satanic Mental Hospital | compo | 354 | 2.55 | 2.59 | 1.81 | 3.00 | 2.18 | 3.38 | 2.53 | 1.33 | 1 | ||
| 2011 | 20 | It's Dangerous to Go Alone! Take This! | The Legend of Old Man | compo | 88 | 3.22 | 3.09 | 3.26 | 3.70 | 2.83 | 3.17 | 3.86 | 2.76 | 18 | ||
| 2010 | 19 | Discovery | Lost Races' Abandoned Artifact Recovery | compo | 80 | 3.13 | 2.57 | 3.17 | 3.35 | 2.43 | 3.35 | 2.77 | 3.31 | 4 | ||
| 2010 | 18 | Enemies as Weapons | Atop Mt. Brawlalot | compo | 78 | 2.92 | 2.68 | 2.92 | 3.28 | 2.92 | 3.50 | 3.48 | 3.31 | 36 | ||
| 2010 | 17 | Islands | You are me now | compo | 16 | 3.69 | 3.57 | 3.89 | 3.83 | 2.74 | 3.73 | 2.31 | 3.08 | 47 | ||
| 2009 | 16 | Exploration | Leaving Satisfactoria | compo | 96 | 2.47 | 2.18 | 2.76 | 3.41 | 2.24 | 2.00 | 2.33 | 3.07 | 13 |
Very, very cool concept. I don't know if I've seen this done yet - good, original idea. Controls were extremely frustrating, though.
Definitely took some getting used to. I love the scoring system that quickly gets to the millions (a proper scoring system!).
Lots of tiny collision issues. Also, after reading the comments, I completely ignored the bat and got a much higher score. Could definitely use a lot of polish.
The dash is quite satisfying to perform, especially in chains.
Nice genre mashup =)
Please make a windows version!
Thanks for the Windows version!!
It was fun to play a few levels, but the one-hit deaths were a bit painful. Also, hard to time because of random timeouts in enemy cooldown? Maybe more complex screens could be navigated, if timing were regular. Good job though.
very addicting ... great simple graphics. The effects were nice, but I'd like to see powerups or different kinds of enemies ... unless you did add those and I just never lasted long enough to see them.
The music was very fitting, but ultimately grated as it had a short loop.
Slick movement and nice graphics. However, extremely easy and got boring after a while.
Also ... hard to claim connection with the theme, especially when the score is not influenced by enemy self-kills.
I am adding mirrors and the source as we speak. The source package is 23.8MB, so my poor computer will take a while. Already failed one upload I left overnight.
sfernald: added link to source (finally). I'd be happy to get some feedback, if you can! Thanks!
AClockWorkLemon: Thank you for trying my game! As mentioned, there are numerous problems with the physics. I couldn't get it working properly!!
superflat: Your comment makes me warm and glowy inside!! I didn't mean it to come out that way at all, but I'm so glad that it did. Thank you!
JamesGecko: Thanks for the props! I hope to be better at control in the future.
someone: Yarrr I had no way to test Wine =( sorry about that. Not sure I can do much, as it is in Unity. Thanks for trying.
zigs: Thanks =)
Thanks for the feedback!!!
I'm not really sure what the chompers are, I just allotted myself 3 minutes to smash at a sphere mesh until it looked decidedly un-spherical. I started setting up bones so the dent worked like a mouth, chompering, but it was frustrating and threatened to take up too much time.
Also, it's perfectly legitimate to have just one chomper on a leash, and use him to bash others.
Love the graphic style! The shrapnel is really well done. Strays a LITTLE bit from the theme, but maybe more of that should have happened during this compo.
A little more randomness would have helped - or at least some kind of fighting back of the aliens. As it is, the aliens are very passive and do not pose a threat once the concept is understood.
Good job considering time constraints.
One-shot death and no way to restart without opening again. Add forced fullscreen... =(
A little more work on the presentation would have gone a long way. The game itself seems like a nice retro-take on the theme.
Definitely a stronger entry. I love the look and feel of the game. A bit simplistic, and I got stuck because the tanks need to be perfectly timed (if there is one tank left, you lose the level).
The sound effects and particles/backgrounds are excellent. I like the character animation too, as well as the tanks. A little more cleanup in gameplay and this would be a great game. Also: Maybe some powerups, or collectible items?
Easily-vacuumed mindless robots full of immediately-usable ammo and parts just swarming around aimlessly! Must be my birthday!
I loved the weapons and effects for each one.
Excellent retro style! Pretty tedious, however, and I can't figure out how this fits in with the theme.
One of the better entries!! Very, very slick presentation, superb concept and interpretation of theme, and fun to boot.
Trying to think of ways to take this further... maybe a 3-way multiplayer game, each player with a different, secret goal, all trying to influence the outcome of battling AI armies.....
Perfect!! Extremely fun, smooth, pretty, etc. Music is perfectly matched to the fast-paced feel. Controls are exactly what they should be.
I love the detailing too. The idling of the enemies after you die, the feedback from the monster "eyes", the background, etc.
Nice ideas in there, I'd like to see a future version of this game.
Hacking music WIN! Great job on the coolness factor.
Really good look and feel. I'd really like a more shallow learning curve. Also, the visual puzzle was much cooler than the number one.
Graphics are competent and not bad at all. I like the sparse style, actually. I would have liked to see more representation of the "singularity", besides a circle (I understand it affects the world a little longer than the circle is there?). Also, why aren't the enemy gun pellets attracted to the singularity as well?
very slick graphics (love the changing terrain), good concept. Sound design needs work.
The smoothness of this game just leaps out at you. The slick graphics and cohesive styling are fantastic.
Obviously a lot went into this game. Competent graphics, and meaningful sound (I could tell when things were heating up). I didn't really get what was going on, though. Where do those bullets go? Where do the shields go? It says I purchased them, what effect did they have on the field?
(I guess this all goes under "user feedback", which you are aware of.)
I would love to play a more thoroughly-tested version of this game.
Love the graphics and overall feel! The music and sounds add greatly to the atmosphere. Sorry that the gameplay is so rough.
I have heard of this disorder, I think it's called spontaneous decapitation. Shplicht! Love that sound. Excellent music, too! Gameplay needs work, unfortunately.
The music is truly wonderful =)
I liked the main character animations.
Nice that you used the compo to build an emulator thing. Was hoping to see more actual "game" here.
This is pretty bizarre! I like the interpretation, and it's got a nice Terminator feel to it. Definitely needs a cheering robot crowd.
Cute graphics, but I'm not sure what I should be doing. Are birds the enemy? Do they hurt me if I don't wring their neck in midair? Are you trying to make me a vegetarian?
I like the main character and the explorational feel. Gameplay needs much more work.
Great adherence to theme, great retro feel. Really great first entry!
ps. I WILL KILL THESE ROBOTS
Great hustle for such a short time. Endearing graphics and I like the backstory. Unfortunately suffers from many gameplay problems.
I also find the choice of keys a bit confounding.
Nice concept! The music and the game are a bit slow-paced and sedate, however. Could have been much more up-tempo and exciting.
I like the sound upon impact - it has a visceral feel to it.
Fits the theme fairly well. Clean graphic design is pretty nice. I like the score in the background.
The enemies kind of float in from the middle of the screen sometimes - an alpha problem perhaps? Or on purpose?
Also ... I wonder how colorblind people see this game =)
5-stars on graphics. Looks gorgeous. It was a bit tedious for me, though. Really hard to see the connection to the theme.
Nice sound, would have liked to hear your music =)
"The file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable." =(
I really like this! The evolution through the types of creatures is really good, and probably worth the neglect on gameplay just to get that "large" feel in there.
Some gameplay issues, obviously. Polish that up and it could be quite epic indeed.
Cute, cute, cute. The artwork is really perfect. I loved the take on the theme, which just goes to show how much the backstory is important - explaining that you use the enemy AS the weapon makes the difference.
The game got very hard, very quick, and I didn't last long. Solidly done, though, and I liked the sounds too.
nice concept, and fairly original too.
Screenshot looks amazing, but I get the "Error compiling shader" error (also Win7).
Awesome graphics here, the shaders are a great touch (finally did get it working by installing the DX update like you said).
I couldn't get past level 3, but not for lack of trying!! Nearly everything about this is good. Clean and coherent graphics, lovely effects. The attention to detail is what makes it. I'd say mix the extremely satisfying drum beats into some kind of background music, add a scoring mechanism (for time, style, whatever), and you have a winning, addictive casual game.
I got hit!
This game continues your tradition of original and gorgeous graphics. I love the look, feel, and sound of your games.
However - I feel that the mechanics work against it.
Trying to scan the fungi is frustrating because of the lethalness of EVERYTHING (including the white spores, because it ruined the mission for me each time). Single-hit mechanics are a sad story, and it doesn't do your work justice. (Also - sometimes the random generation put two large mushrooms together, and I couldn't get through unarmed... restart again!)
I tried to get the alternate ending, and single-hit deaths got me again, numerous times.
I ended up rage-quitting, without having attained either of the endings.
The only thing missing from this game is a timer to keep the "x" button from rushing through and skipping the next screen.
I loved most everything about this little game, including the graphic style and the extensive dialog "tree".
The game is a little removed from the theme, but I'm glad you did your own thing.
Great prototype, nice style too. Could use some more polish and detailing. Quite fun, but I couldn't beat it.
Thanks, everyone for feedback.
I'm very interested in hearing if anyone managed to LOSE the game. That was kind of the point. If everyone who finished managed to win the game, then it's even worse than I thought =)
@squax, @thristhart, @endurion: I guess relying on that one mechanic was much too flimsy. Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to improve!
@joekinley: I didn't make a timelapse, and I don't believe I ever mentioned one. Thanks for the feedback!
Nice megastructure!!
very well made! I love the visual effects, and the spikes are the best. Controls still a bit twitchy, but overall great game.
Top score.
RIP Jonny Miner =(
Really great game. Super consistent, completable, and fun. I did need to read some of these comments in order to not give up, though.
Beautiful and mesmerizer graphics! Spot on. The best part was being able to leave intricate designs behind the jet.
Despite many tries, I couldn't even pass the first level. (And I just spent three years doing spherical integrals [not that that means anything].) I don't think I can add anything that Randomnine hasn't already said (good analysis, that).
Would have been nice to be able to see the other levels. I hope you make an enhanced version incorporating some of the suggestions here.
ITEMS!!!!!
High score for humor =)
I wouldn't have wanted to make it shorter, but it did get tedious about halfway through.
Also, I couldn't figure out how to use the depth charges.
Lovely graphics and style. Wish the pants had done something.
REALLY hard to figure out exactly how the controls work from that cluttered (but pretty!) first screen.
Great graphics (despite flickering characters) and concept. Humor was excellent too.
Excellent work!!!
Love it, was easy to understand and exciting.
Very impressive as a first try. I eagerly await your many future games.
Could maybe use a faster pace to begin with, and a slower increase of pace as new items are added.
ps. it's time to serve the guests, biggt
pps. my game idea was along the same lines, but I think you said it more elegantly.
Excellent game. Great interpretation of theme, perfect mood-building. Graphics are simple but consistent. Love the mechanic and how it inevitably changes as you progress.
Loving the premise, the music, the sprites!!
There's a fantastic feel to the visual setup here - a great and foreboding atmosphere.
Ending screen was funny.
Gameplay needs work!
great example of how powerful, solid mechanics trumps complex graphics. Let this be a lesson to us all.
Cool concept, fun to toy around with.
I really, really, really enjoyed playing this game.
The contextual availability/unavailability of certain actions had me thinking that it was unbeatable at first. But I tried again a few times and was pleasantly surprised.
The humor is plentiful and excellent. Really, the sheer amount of content is commendable (especially all the different random modifiers to events that change things here and there). I felt myself falling into this tiny village as a world.
The graphics are a nice touch, as it didn't have to have any graphics at all. The size of the village and its population are nicely represented. (Though the walking animation is pretty freaky.)
Once I understood what I had to do, it wasn't too hard to horde the necessary materials and ensure a win. Some of the events and their outcome are very predictable, and I could apply a simple strategy.
Great work!
I loved the simple music - the atmosphere is perfect.
Cool damage sound =)
Awesome smooth animation going on here! Not just the game, but the overall look and feel is excellent (gui, etc). Wish I could have made it further than area 4, but you start from zero every time.
Also, it might lack some kind of emotional content in order to get me to feel for this little guy.
Excellent game! Except for a few minor flicker-glitches, the graphics really made it nice. The variety, the wide range of animations, etc. The music complemented this nicely!!
The fighting system is totally fun. I just read some negative comments, and I can't say I agree with any of them. The game led me naturally to becoming a bush-hiding predator who assaults students as soon as they stray from the pack. There's a wonderful guilty pleasure when you knock some poor kid down and kick them until their health bar turns yellow. Then it's back into the bushes.
Cutscenes were frustrating when I was being timed to do something, and the timer is counting down while someone is speaking. My humble suggestion is to pause the timer while getting feedback from a student.
The plot holding the dual objective mechanic together was nice. As mentioned in the comments, having them actually affect one another might improve the experience. Also ... we already gave out enough of those alarms on the last day .. besides being a sadistic charity worker, why would I still go to the park and beat everyone up? :D
YES!
We need to explore NPC lives more deeply, good work!
I really, really love the concept. The unhappy wizard graphics really worked well here.
Maybe I'm not good at this kind of game, but there didn't seem to be much connection between what worked where and against whom (especially when it fails despite "75%", as mentioned above).
Sounds were nice, music got rather grating after a few minutes.
Concept is boss. Great twist on the Old Man. Also the spam-email opening dialog is hilarious every time. A lovely micro-universe is created. Poor guy!
The game is fun, if a bit repetitious. Also, I can't get more than a few items on my head.
All in all a nice entry! Good job.
I didn't know I had to re-dock the cat, and I thought it was a bug (I was stuck) until it happened by accident. After that .. pure bliss. Strange, diverse, fun, and the ending was hilarious.
Extreme creepiness!! Good job on all graphical aspects. It had a great look and feel to it. Audio got a bit grating but excellent work on getting all those widely disparate sounds working together.
Graphics are incredibly wonderful. Every tiny detail adds a richness that seems impossible in a 48-hour game. Really good going, it almost makes up for lack of music.
I didn't try your enhanced version, but the pre-jetpack platforming was abysmal. Also, scene transitions seemed wrong (leading to disorientation), it probably should scroll or something.
Good interpretation of theme!
Devious monsters!! I felt I could skip a few parts if I could fall more skillfully (and not drop the torch too far). Exciting game. Maybe a bit too frustrating for some of the "complex" timed jumps, but at least I could rely on checkpoints. The torch mechanic works very well. Maybe future puzzles could deliberately separate you from the torch for certain parts.
The best part was the beady eyes in the darkness.
Very accurate party simulation!
Really cool idea! Very solid puzzle concept for the short competition scope. I liked the color-coded feedback of the pods, and the "traps" that they could fall into. Also, good graphical atmosphere (depth is a nice touch). The music is OK, but it got very tedious, very quickly.
Great audio work!! The opening scene is excellent.
Also, good work on the graphics.
I liked the concept, but it didn't seem to transfer to gameplay. I ended up just inching through the level and kind of ignoring the BUDDI. And of course, it's extremely short.
(From the look of the protagonist, he might need a crowbar...)
very cool graphics! It looks like an extensive character system was built for this game. The system deserves more use!
It was frustrating to reload the page and lose all progress upon dying, and I didn't play through to the end. I'd like to see a more polished version of this eventually.
Why only violate conservation of mass when you can violate conservation of mass AND conservation of momentum?? Two for the price of one!
Very cool concept and execution. Some of the transitions were somehow timed spectacularly, and the effect was quite elating. Unfortunately I am not very good at twitchy games, and I didn't make it very far even after a few tries.
While audio is lacking in general, the most important sound missing is that of the clones left behind dying gruesomely and with spiteful curses.
The boss fight animation is excellent. I made it all the way to him without finding the paperclip first, so I thought something was broken! But I read the page here and I figured it out. Also I was a coward and I stood near the door-to-be, where the monster couldn't get me.
Good work! I can't wait to see what you come up with next.
Awesome concept! First playthrough was disorienting, second was exciting and fun. The controls are perfect.
I'm going to hazard a guess and say it's broken.
The idea, as I understood, was to go into the first cave and get the "bring me things" quest. Then, you go around the map that looks suspiciously similar to the first screen, and then items can be found.
When I get the first item, the game invariably stops. Is that the end? If not, it's broken. If it is ... then I don't get it.
Yay, another NPC game!!! Good work!
Nice mini-game (though not very hidden).
Now we just need a game that lets you play as the narrator who insults all your customers behind their back.
The references to other games were so-so, but the whole semi-internal dialog trying to decide if it is a joke or not, whether or not to go back down, "is there a surface?", etc. ... those were the killers.
I thought I continued higher than others .. then I saw the high scores here on the compo page :D
The graphics are phenomenal! I loved the animations. Also the level seems to be huge and well-constructed.
However, the game suffers from a number of strange bugs. Cloning myself only made the skeletons hungrier. How am I supposed to kill them or defend myself? Touching many of the walls teleports the player to a random location, often killing him. I couldn't see a difference between taking the item and not taking the item.
While not a bug, the one-hit-kill made it difficult to explore.
Also, I wonder what made the game take up 75MB? I am not familiar with Game Maker so maybe that's ok.
As I mentioned, your visual style is wonderful! I hope you continue to make games and I'd love to see a less-buggy version of this game as well. Good luck!
The contrast between music is what makes it for me. Excellent work there.
Cool mechanic, would be nice to have more.
I like the game's message! Not subtle, but good nonetheless.
Looking at the source, it seems you hard-coded the obstacles directly into the game. I admire your perseverance!! Using a map tool (say, Tiled, for instance) might help your level-building immensely.
Good work this LD! I like your style and I want to see more of your stuff.
ps. I thought the .rar system was a creative solution.
Even after learning about the save function, I just am not good enough at this kind of game =) What I saw was fantastic, though, and it's definitely a very solid first entry. Good job!!!
GREAT concept, amazing graphics and sounds give a great feedback feel.
Destructible walls ... boss fight ... a rolling protagonist ... what more could you want???!
Great clean tileset, fun mechanic. I especially liked the multiple heights to the level (ie. underground) - it was pretty surprising.
Not a hard game, but I don't know if how I won was "right".
Cool entry! Liked the mechanic and REALLY liked the music.
(I'm just leaving "Graphics" blank there.)
Love this game mechanic! Another win for NPC-games!
Some of the puzzles were very clever!
The fact that I could figure them out probably means that the difficulty could be raised a bit :D
I thought there was a huge scrolling bug until I realized that the mouse controlled it. Afterwards, it was fine.
The dialog added a lot.
Good work!!
I also would like to see what appears to be an accurate simulation of living in Australia, alas: no phone.
yay, someone resurrected the buried "Sexuality" theme! A bit dry however!
Though basically this is how it works, you and your SO put on the jock strap and stand at the window until a perfectly-sized condom is shot into your hand.
As always, a seemingly impossible feat for 48 hours! Your work is beautiful and inspiring. I made it to the piloting-the-red-blob-missile-up-the-gap puzzle (or first one thereof :D ) and decided I had seen enough. Great work on graphics especially.
I know this mechanic took some effort to create, but I personally would have liked to see more polish on the platforming aspect. It's not so much a hard game as it is frustrating.
This game deserves an "A", for "Increpare"
The special ending was nice, but the unexpected gags themselves are more than enough reward. Truly a good feeling to "figure it out".
It did take me a while to understand that choosing an action ends the scene, even if 20 seconds is not up. Once I caught on, it was extremely fun.
Amazing game! Lots of fun to play. Does not explore the mechanics fully, there is much room for a post-compo version. Also I feel I cheated on a few of the screens. Graphics good but sparse. I'm especially impressed at how you made an entirely different game than what you usually do. It is inspiring for me for next time!! Good work!!
I thought the audio was less annoying than advertised. The rarer sound effects (win, lose, etc.) were great.
I really love the single-mindedness of the gamestate (johnfn's likening of it to pac-man was spot on). But because it's on a platforming course, there were some interesting patterns and strategies.
Really well done, especially for a first-platformer-ever. good work man!! Looking forward to future yonigames.
Interesting take on the theme. "Escape" debt while "escaping" gravitational pull. Excellent first entry, keep it up! I liked the music too.
KahoTom: Thank you!
Stavu: Thank you! I hoped it wasn't too silly. A whole storyline got cut because of time constraints.
Galman: Thanks dude! Yes, I'm dieting until 2015... =)
Blahoink: thank you! Don't we all wish ... =\
summanky: Thank you for the feedback!
idanmiller: Unfortunately something I suffer from nearly every time. Bad controls seem to follow me around. Thanks for the suggestions!
SonnyBone: I'm working on a real-life mod that does just that.
Amazing atmosphere! I loved the parallax background and convoluted level.
Otherwise it felt like a good tech demo, not an overly fun game. But again, excellent graphics, and you got my "mood" vote for sure.
This sure takes me back a few years.
Great job on the writing.
Could use a lot more polish on the usability aspect (like NOT reverting to "walk" every time I do anything).
Great job and I'm sure next time will be even better. Good luck!
really, really hard...! I also didn't understand that the feelings to be "shot" could be outside the track. So it took me quite a while to figure out how to pass the tutorial level!
Good literal interpretation of the theme. Very lonely feeling indeed, especially with the music.
Outstanding game. Though if others hadn't raved so much about it, I might have just skipped trying to figure out what's going on. Excellent polish and even the repetitive music was a nice touch.
Awesome game! I didn't solve all the levels, some of them are very hard! But amazing that you made so many. Great concept!
Something is quite amazing about this game. There is a seeming disconnect between the sounds and the visuals, yet it really does tie together with the "alone" theme.
I liked the idea of increasing/reducing your polygon order using the other shapes. I am not sure I understand exactly how it works, because sometimes a shape would add two orders to my polygon.
Very lonely mood here.
What an interesting world! I loved the back-story and variety in interactions and locations. Things like the castle added a feeling that the world is bigger than it looks. Also the music helps a lot, as mentioned.
It did take me a while to figure out that killing the creatures got me coins somehow... I do wonder about the ethical repercussions.
Great game!
The lack of music seems to work here. Love the atmosphere, very good mood and sense of being lonely/alone. Didn't like the control scheme, too many things and I wasn't able to move the ship the way I wanted. I guess that's part of "being alone", you only have the ship's manual to figure out how to survive.
I'm pretty amazed at this. Quite a lovely engine and feel you have here. Wish the controls were more friendly. I would love to explore your world more.
Heh!! Nice to know that in a Hard world, I would never reach the toilet. I love these kinds of generative things. Nice simple graphics -- when he was moving, I really got a feeling of urgency.
Good job on your first game, keep it up!!
love those graphics!
Love the squishy little creatures! They are very cute. I didn't love the way the levels ran into one another so abruptly. But it was fun and I played twice. Nice work!!
I haven't played too many LD23 games (shame on me!) but if I had to choose my favorite, this would be it. The graphics and audio work so well together. I really loved the way the player falls into the gravity well of each planet, yet they can navigate wherever they want. The day/night change makes all the difference in the world. Despite the static frozen-in-time nature of the world, being able to see both sides of the planets adds this kind of time-sensitive feel ... it's hard to explain. Also the travel velocity seems tuned perfectly.
Of course I set the controls for the heart of the sun, and I made it there. I think the system went kind of haywire but it seems consistent for the game world.
Definitely a Proteus feel, and also reminded me a lot of Mirror Moon. Really good work. Yes, the mouse controls could be improved for Unity (but my game suffers similar problems and I know how frustrating it is).
I'm really excited by your work, and I'd love to see this expanded or polished further.
Powerful game, powerful message. Unfortunately, I didn't have the patience to follow through to the end, especially after the reversal mode came in. Music fits great, a little repetitive though. Love the simplicity and feel of it. AWESOME first game!!! Can't wait to see what else you come up with. Good work!!
oh man so cute. Love the vector graphics and the randomness. I don't understand if it is more than one level getting harder or just another random scenario each time. Needs more variety! Great music and sounds, of course. Love how this is yet another change from your "regular" work. Good job!!!!!!
Nice! I kind of read it as a critique on modern games to give these dichotomy choices and then summarize as "good" or "bad" overall.
woah, nice graphics!! Music and sounds fit well. Had a great feel to it. I found it extremely easy, but I didn't try the post-jam version (which you say has been re-tuned). Good job for a jam!
Dude .. this is incredible. Great job. Lots of fun to play, and very hard! Needs a little more balance between upgrades and enemies (a little less random would be better). I know you didn't have a huge amount of time to make the game, but you did much much better than I did (and I had the whole weekend!). Keep up the great work.
Cool take on the theme! I find it interesting that there are a few in-mouth games made this Ludum Dare. I loved the idea and the details (upgrades, the graphics, the little bacteria ...). It was a bit unbalanced, with the dragon being too random and too powerful. I'm not really sure what the strategy is. But for a weekend game, it's very strong and a nice idea. I hope there isn't anything similar in my own mouth. I suppose I should get that dragon brush going.
What a strong entry! Beautiful graphics, interesting gameplay ... audio is very well done, but could use slightly longer loops. Loved the variety of sfx.
I WON infinitely!!
Had me hooked for a while! Not big on tower defense, but this was interesting and new. The changing world size and way it wrapped on screen got me. Also much easier to control than I would have thought. I'm glad you didn't list the possible keystrokes in the description, otherwise it would have discouraged me from playing.
Technically: had some resolution problems on my 1366x768 laptop monitor (game didn't fit heightwise). Luckily I was able to play because it scrolled and I didn't need the bottom part too much.
Wow!! What a great game. Really simple yet you really explored the various "AI" methods to provide some interesting challenges. The simple graphics were EXCELLENT, I really loved the look.
One thing I didn't like was how I couldn't feel like I really "figured out" any of the puzzles -- the shape of the level was always exactly right for everything. No passage unused.
But the movement was really good, and the little animations were excellent (especially the blinking virus). Great job.
Nice simple game for the time you gave it. The music felt a little like a 70s science program? Could use a labcoated scientist in big glasses explaining things and a bit of VCR grain to complete the effect.
@timtipgames > The upgrades do have an effect (each one different), but they take a few generations to really start changing anything. Therefore you can control which "direction" the bloodline goes, one small step at a time.
And actually I was saying "bidibidibidi", if that helps.
@Colapsydo > Because there's an end to the game, difficulty does not ramp up forever. So I opted to make it harder and make the player focus more on strategy (which mutation to go for). Yes it is hard, and I don't like my battle mechanic at all. A future version would have something very different. Thanks for the input.
@Caranha > each mutation has a different effect, and I tried to color code the different elements appropriately. Look for blue, red, and green in the game and you should get an idea of what changes. It does take a while to see an effect -- this was on purpose to make players explore without knowing exactly what does what. But the information is in there. Thanks for the feedback.
Love this calming game. It has a great time-feel, because it's not very stressful but you need to do SOMETHING. The limit of three plants and seeds is perfect. My hardest choices were which seed do I "throw out". Not a trivial game but I did beat both difficulty levels without having too hard a time.
Perhaps there should be a penalty for inbreeding of the plants?
I enjoyed the mechanic greatly. The graphics and music are perfect, if a bit repetitive.
As for tutorial .. I really think @jamin has it right. It's much more rewarding (and fun) to discover via trial and error.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ok that's addictive =)
This one takes Best of Jam. Huge effort with tons of depth, lots of great ideas, executed with great precision. The variety of level mechanics alone deserves a trophy, with many surprising twists along the way. And yes, the dance-off is genius.
A few small changes could probably make this an EXTREMELY fun game. Allowing jumping and shooting, speeding up the motion a little, and maybe a few more features besides "normal platform" vs. "unstable platform". Also a little more hinting for the blind jumps in the cave level wouldn't hurt.
I managed to get to the cave level without losing the game, after which I tried the cheat code. Still couldn't pass the cave level, and I feel cheating cheapened the remaining levels by being able to skip them and see all the weapons. Maybe a better way to encourage people to see all the content would be to make less "filler" levels (including the water one, sorry) and a checkpoint system for the harder ones.
But despite these points the fact remains that the game is solid and fun, and the atmosphere (music, sound, graphics, humor) is simply perfect.
I loved this one!! I couldn't figure out how to win, but I really appreciate the depth here. (Yes it does kind of remind me of my own game ...) The seemingly endless possibilities add a lot of depth to this simple configuration.
The bugs you mention are really fascinating too. I thought I had "won" because one of the creatures seemed to move on its own, but I think it was just too crowded.
I'm going to play your post-compo version now.
Really hard! But fun. Great feel to it.
Challenging game with plenty of depth! A few simple powerups mean all the difference, each time changing the way you play. Cool entry. Loved the music and the simple graphics. A little twitch-heavy....
The thing I liked the most was the "programmability" of the levels. You have really cool things like loops and switches going on with those triggered blocks. Reminds me a little of the old Windows game "Kye".
What a great game! I love the simple and effective graphics. I have to agree with some other comments that it could use some tuning here or there, and some more interesting environments. But still, the "depth" feeling was quite good (the shafts of light really helped), and the graphic design is solid.
You get bonus points for the sonar waves being actual sprites! You could use this game as a demonstration of the Doppler effect.
... and on the other hand the longitude indication seems a bit off. It should be ', not " (minutes come after degrees, and only then seconds). Also it seems to behave correctly near the starting location, but I went far west, and the minutes tick UPWARDS while the degrees tick DOWNWARDS.... but these are just nitpicks =)
uhm WOW.
Love it.
Love the broken clinical feel. Love the terminology. Love the ambiguity of who is being tested and why. Also probably one of the more proficient games from a technical standpoint (central database, genetic algorithm, etc.). I saw some Twitter discussions from the sidelines and it seems like quite a feat.
Kind of opens the mind too, yeah? Like this stark kind of interface and what might lie behind it, if only the right commands or combinations of input could be found.
Awesome, I love your style. Seems to have come leaps and bounds since last time, and now with amazing sound design as well. Really solid work for a weekend. Keep it up!
Great work! You succeeded in making a really soothing game.
I notice that you tend to spawn enemies right on top of you towards the edges... other than that, the difficulty levels up nicely with the player. Great concept. I also like the build-your-own-being mechanic.
Great job =)
Love the graphic style and the concept!! Needs challenge beyond being able to tap space quickly.
Awesome game! I got past 1000m with 50-something bones.
Loved the graphics. My favorite was the different Skippy stages, very cool. I also liked how the dog could avoid obstacles -- not a bad way to notify the player of the upcoming territory. Although flying Skippy doesn't need to avoid planes..? I kind of expected the angle of the leash to constrain or affect the player's movement.
Also loved the mischievous tinkling-piano music. Good work, a great jam game.
Loved this gem!! What attention to detail.
The movement felt really solid, and the graphics were a dream to look at. Perfect sound to go with it. A really nice polished little game. The evolution aspect seemed a bit tacked on, but it led to some game-theory kind of strategies. I only played against the computer, but I can imagine how a real opponent might increase the strategic aspect.
Cool game!
I love the graphics!! It looks like a lot of work went into the different kinds of cat faces. Love how you strove for an accurate genetic model, even if that made certain outcomes problematic.
Game crashed without a message after selling a cat that disappointed a customer and then clicking the lens button, and I haven't reached the end yet.
Very, very cool concept. Using the phone to "see" what was in the room was refreshing and quite creepy. As mentioned in other comments, the movement was extremely frustrating. Also I'm glad I read the other comments before trying every possible permutation of the dialog trying to "fix" the past when it cannot be fixed =)
I love how this game looks!! The tiles are extremely expressive. I'd like to see a more fleshed-out version.
Good work!
A wondrous experience. Slapstick timing done right, all the way to the end.
I really dig what you were trying to do here. It's a shame I had to read some comments to figure it out!!! At the risk of undermining your own creative vision, there may be a few things you can tweak to improve that.
The "powerups" you made are extremely tiny -- and they make a loud noise when you are nearby. So only after reading some comments and playing three times did I finally understand that I was picking them up! And only one at a time. I thought at first the whole planet was making static sounds, because that's how the game started.
Also, getting the "good" ending means you played for a few minutes with that static sound in your ears. It seemed a bit wrong if the idea was to "smell the roses".
Besides these points, the look and feel was very special. I love how the atmosphere changes with your actions. I love the colors and the exploration (which reminded me of Knytt). The idea is really solid and fits the theme!!
I imagine an improved version with the "good" ending much more pleasant to play -- but with some strong hints that "something is potentially going wrong".
Really good work, hope to see more of this kind of thing!
Awesome!!!! Not an easy game, but lots of fun to fling minions at the good guy. Great graphics, ship names, music, AI behavior .... everything is great.
Really loved it.
want to play this ... it just prompts me for the unity web player. Reinstalled it, same message....
Oh my goodness.
This was a really special game.
I haven't played a lot of LD games this time, but this one was unique (so far) in making me feel really, really bad for being an evil villain. I think the choices you get (especially after getting caught by the police) are really strong and well made. You made a really cool mix between Mastermind, Choose Your Own Adventure, and those games where you have to choose when you "retire".
I do not agree with the other comments that you need better instructions. I found the chaos in the game really pulled me in, making it more realistic.
Also, congratulations on your first solo game!!! Good luck!
Haha!!! Great game. Love the visuals and sound, really well-done.
I do have trouble with Frankenstein's monster being a villain, but we'll let that slide for now. Also playing Frankenbalt is pretty awkward.
Excellent mood in this game, and was great overall. Good work!
@aare: thanks! Sorry, it's a board game. Maybe I'll digitize it some day.
@suese: sorry to hear that. In testing I found that the disintegrating board allows for some nontrivial choke strategies. But it's not chess, I suppose.... Thanks for the feedback.
Best stealth game ever. Loved it. Loved the Game Over screen, played again and won with 12,158 points!! Could have done better. I didn't read the part about the "suspicion" mechanic, so I didn't understand why the flatmates were giving me red gazes...
Excellent graphics (I don't think they were incongruous at all!), excellent "AI". Humor+. My cat used the cat-box while I was playing so that's another point.
Definitely, definitely could have used sound to great effect -- I'm thinking for flatmate reactions...
Good work!
Awesome, great music and the background was really slick. Very touchy controls!
Nice entry!! Graphics are great. Downing a police balloon is very satisfying. Gameplay did get a bit tedious after a while.
This is ... immense. Obviously there is much more here than I can appreciate, being a work in progress. I enjoyed playing the board game against the competent AI. The voice sounds were excellent (more Vader clips needed!). The game was extremely confusing at first, because of the mix between board game and RTS. But then I figured out who was against who and it went smoother.
Loved the graphics and sounds, the concept is solid. Wish you had gone for something a little less ambitious (and completed it!), but it's good to dream. Hope to see a finished version of this some day.
Pretty creepy. I had a hard time finding where the clowns could be placed, but figured out how to do it before the first round was over. Yes, I imagine clowns can be somewhat evil **scribbles dubiously in notepad**
I don't mind short games, but it lacks depth. A few little touches might have helped, say a rating system to tell you how you did (minimize clowns, maximize death toll, etc.), or a timer or something. A few animations would not have gone amiss, even if the graphic quality was reduced!
Congratulations on your entry, and good luck!
This game was quite entertaining. I enjoyed playing to the end. I agree with the usability problems mentioned by others, but frankly they lent a charmingly broken atmosphere to the game that might not have happened otherwise. The best part was when I said "examine key" or something, and the game told me "you alredy [sic] carry the guard". Similarly, I said "take goat" and found myself with the cyan key, without even knowing it was there. I thought the goat turned into a key. Also the way the game simply refuses to do things, even "examine window".
The content seems to be put together with a similar kind of dijointedness. Why would a blood spatter in one word be the code to another door...? Why would someone even try to blow up the LHC...? All these things remind me lovingly of something Stephen Thecatamites might make.
You made an IF engine in PHP in 48 hours, complete with effects and graphical inventory. This is remarkable and wonderful.
I understand this is your first LD -- congratulations!!
You put a lot into this. Keep it up!
Innovative, beautiful, moody as heck. Trial-and-error play made it quite aggravating, but I guess that only adds to the Mood score? I feel this is an extremely personal game that I can only see the surface of. Thank you for sharing this intimate experience.
Aha, aha! The classic punster approach. Well done!
I enjoyed the settings and the dialog a lot. The menus popping up all over really added some nice depth to the system, making it much more substantial. Gameplay could have used more challenge.
(ps thank you for the extremely warm review on my board game. I really appreciate it!!)
Ohhhhhh yeah, let's wipe that grin off those heroes!!
Love the graphics, really great work there. Love the units and their abilities. Really well done and informative (though I am not sure what the beehive guy does).
Ever since I complained it was too hard (on Twitter) now it's far too easy. Having enough money means the difference between throwing your units carelessly at the enemy or managing each one in detail ....
Nice tower-defensish kind of mechanic. I wish there was more meaning to the 2D aspect (right now I just arrange the units in a line).
Fits the theme solidly =)
good luck!
Solid visual here, liked the sound too (even though it was a bit loud as mentioned above). The gameplay wasn't really to my taste -- but I guess it was authentic? After reading some comments I decided to barrel through and buy a ticket to the next level. I did so, and the game seems to have crashed? I'm stuck at a map-like screen with bobbies on it. Nothing happens when I press all over the keyboard.
I also liked the combat (even though I didn't get a chance to try it out!).
Good work!
Your signature look is wonderful.
I didn't have much trouble figuring out what to do. Player actions are limited, though, and the game felt grindy and "make numbers go up". It's clear there is more that you didn't have time for. Good work!!!
Hey cool race! I found it a little picky as to what constitutes a "pickup". Also not sure if you can keep going necessarily, even if you get them all -- are you guaranteed enough fuel? But it was fun. Nice job!
Don't listen to nay-sayers!!! Exploration is just as much a game as anything else. I found it quite relaxing and aesthetic. I made some cool stuff!
Some humble suggestions:
The help screen may be a bit of an overkill. Having the player discover the controls herself is a lot of fun.
Maybe leaving the finished "work" visible for a while after each stage is complete. (+ screenshot option??)
There might be a better way to show the "completion" than a video game bar. After all, the shapes are being filled up on their own, it might suffice.
New colors go under old colors, which often times hides the current rectangle. Should be put on top.
Another solid entry!!! So much stuff piled in, so many things to see. Audio and visual work are, as usual, quite impressive. Innovative concept with the flipping mechanic, as well the the tens of other little doo-dads you put in to spice up the platforming.
Strict collision detection and unforgiving flip-constraints do make the game rather punishing. I felt it most after working very hard to achieve a platform only to have it whisked away "from under my feet" because I messed up a flip+jump combo. And then you fall all the way to the bottom of the level. Sharp block edges can prevent the player from completing trivial jumps. Definitely glad you put in the "skip level" button!!
Anyway, always a pleasure to get rickrolled and seeing some reminders of your previous games. Good work, hope to see you next time!
Nailed it!! Challenging and cool. Loved the music a LOT (could have been a longer loop though). Needed sounds!
I think the balloon hitbox could be a little smaller (I'm pretty sure the string deflated the balloon).
There's something wonderful about the game not actually ending when it's over. You can keep flapping for a long time.
Someone on facebook spoke of different endings??? I only found one.
I thought it was lovely. Everything worked together so nicely.
Ahaaahaaa wonderful comic relief. Great feel to it. A little frustrating with the controls -- I didn't manage to get a single combo. Using the mounted guns only made it harder to retrieve the harpoon, no noticeable effect otherwise. Best strategy I found was rushing from monster to monster to hit them with the harpoon and immediately regaining it for the next one.
Good theme interpretation, excellent use of David's monster mesh. Much fun (when ignoring the mounted guns).
Awesome game!!
The music is really wonderful and adds a whole lot.
The walk animations (and hat!) are pretty good.
I thought the puzzles were a bit simplistic, and progressed by simply making it take longer for each level. But when I found you could revisit the changed levels, it felt really good. They were easier than the first time, but I really like the idea that the player is acting to permanently remove all color from the world. It feels like untying a knot.
Wow, loving the beautiful artwork! It's extremely consistent and has a great visual language. Except for a few background pieces (like the cherry) that I thought were sweets.
Great work!
Haha!!! Great artwork and sounds. Less frustrating controls would really make this a winner.
Hi Pickle!! Congrats on your first entry!
I think the graphics really stand out in this game, because they are pragmatic and do the job well. It was very hard to tell how far away the lake was (and it was more like a giant blue blob?). I was also confused by the marine coyotes.
Perhaps a little terrain would help spice things up, as well as allowing you an easier way to show where the lake is. Check it out, really nice terrain tools are built into Unity.
In any case, good work. I look forward to seeing you around in the future.
Pretty chilling. Nice interpretation and very detailed.
Wowwwwww this is the most SoundGuy game possible!!
Congratulations on bringing back FMV games. I'm very impressed that you made this in only a few hours.
5/5 finger pointing.
The moment is chilling and resonates for a few good minutes after it's gone. Great style and delivery.
OK this was amazing. I really suck at it but I saw the gameplay vid and feel I "got the idea".
Really ... the judging is worth the whole game and I want to watch high-level players go at an extended version of this.
Love the stark atmosphere. Love the simple sounds and how well they go with the graphics.
I couldn't solve the puzzle pictured in the screenshot above, but the story was intriguing, so I cheated!! A little cliched, but well suited for the visuals and audio.
As others have mentioned: a little more polish on the controls would have helped greatly.
Good work!
Heyyyyy Lonebot ... this is fantastic!!!
Everything clicks and feels great. Such attention to detail. It has a real Spelunky feel, down to the "in-game" menu.
I am still stuck on level 12, I'll come back to it soon. But high high marks for such a well-rounded and clever game.
You get an A+ for absurd elf slapstick.
HUHHHHH!!! I will have to play the Alternate Eli's "Out" game for sure!
The game runs fine but I can't see the bottom of the window (my screen is 1366x768). I assume some kind of start button is down there? =\
Yay, I finished it!
Loved the storytelling, found the platforming to be quite hard. Great atmosphere -- I especially loved the simple yet effective graphics. Good work!!
(ps. a simple trick to help the player leap off platforms is to have a counter keep track of how many frames have passed since the player was last on a surface. Then you can say "if player is on a surface OR counter < X, allow jump". Play with X and now it should be much easier to jump across the level. [You might need to add a test to make sure the player doesn't double-jump.])