Bookshelf Brawl by TeamQuadratic 2015-04-23T01:23:00
Neat lil thing!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → elitegoliath
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 43 | Sacrifices must be made | 👥 | Last Key of Robotica 3 | jam | 814 | 3.05 | 2.94 | 2.33 | 2.69 | 3.05 | 2.66 | 2.70 | ||
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | 👥 | Avarice | jam | 554 | 3.47 | 3.32 | 2.89 | 3.39 | 3.32 | 3.12 | |||
| 2015 | 32 | An Unconventional Weapon | Empty Promises | jam | 749 | 2.94 | 2.43 | 2.63 | 3.37 | 2.63 | 3.58 | 2.71 | 58 |
Neat lil thing!
Haha, hilarious.
I love text based games! For a game made in such a small amount of time, I'd say this was pretty well made.
Freaking hysterical! Looks nice too, awesome!
Not bad man! These Jams are hard, doing all this by yourself is impressive. I get the whole thing with bugs. It happens, don't sweat it!
I liked the nostalgic feel. The music fit too. One think about the controls is using only arrows is ok, but incorporating at least another key to help control the character would have been good, but no stars taken for that, just personal preference. I thought this was fairly innovative, had a Mario meets Mega Man feel.
One bug I noticed was that if I hold the up key when jumping and hit a brick, I can hang there in place until I release.
Slick game man! Well done!
I couldn't run it
Good times, looks nice, good sound, fun idea, very nice.
Not too bad. Could use a way to exit the game easily though. Game was smooth, but sound effects would have added a whole lot. The art was really nice. Pretty simple, but as you said, probably easier with a game bad (no stars removed for that haha).
Well done man! This game was really fun, I enjoyed your unconventional weapon haha, very creative, especially for a Jam entry. Bravo!
- Art and animations are on point. - Music is really good. - Gameplay is really fun. I don't really have anything I don't like. It's a very fun idea, and it helps me buy into it when you use rubber bullets to shoot things that wouldn't hurt anyone. Well done guys.
- I was having a hard time connecting the theme to the game. It doesn't count against you, I probably just can't see it. - Not required, but it always helps to provide source-code so the community can benefit from your well-polished game.
I very much enjoy the atmospherics and the glow effects. I think the magnetic effects are a bit much. Maybe attract to people on-command instead of done automatically, or rely on effective area attacks so the player doesn't require precision.
I like the idea of the reaper treating his existing as a regular job. I also think you implemented paperwork into a video game the only way that seems acceptable, haha!! Nice work! :D
Hey guys, I love puzzle games, I really do. I enjoyed this one quite a lot. I especially enjoy how well done the graphics are. It's nice to see a game made in GM for once. That editor was my first love before I moved on. I honestly don't really have any complaints about the game. Kudos guys, you killed this LD! +1
I really like the board game approach here. I think the backstory coupled with the time limit makes things very interesting.
Something it could really use is more verbose instructions once in the game. Also, I couldn't seem to find a way to quit the game, or restart. If there is a way, it should be easier to find or access.
Overall, nice work! I'd like to see this on a store shelf in full-form one day.
I don't have a VR, but I give you kudos for making a game **for the future!** My ratings for you are based on the content I have access to. Either way you spin it, I like what you guys did here. HOORAH! (navy)
First, I have to say WOW about your rewind functionality. Awesome! I also really loved the FX, the phasing and static. Very cool. The game play is simple, but the game is challenging. Most excellent work guys!
I really like the circular level design, like a side scroller but....cylindrical? Anyway, I thought the game was actually pretty fun overall, but it did have a few areas to improve upon.
- I kicked some treasure down the step, which made me to heavy to go back up the stairs after I picked them up. Not sure if that was intended. - I have no way of knowing how much loot I need to get to the next area. It also seems odd that I can be too light to make it up a ladder. I get that you want to incentivise people to gather the loot which in turns adds the "bad" mechanics the theme is asking for though. - I found myself wanting to know how much I was carrying. Some telling number or something. That's probably just me being nit-picky though. - Instead of dropping your entire bag when right-clicking, dropping individual pieces of loot would have been more useful. I was actually expecting that to be what would happen, if anything.
###### Things I really enjoyed.
- I thought the music was appropriate for the mood. Good job there. - The level design. It was unique, and fun. - The graphics are charming, and the animations were well done. I liked the textures and lighting as well. - The physics on the loot was well done. I like the models too.
Oh I gotcha! I can totally see where you were going with it now. That pulls everything together. Too bad there was such a time crunch, the things you had in store for this game are very, very good ideas. I still think you guys did great though. There was a lot to appreciate in your game. I look forward to seeing what you make next LD!
I love the idea behind the game. However, there seemed to be a few bugs (lol, not the moths).
After a little bit, the moths stop flying. When the room restarts, virtually none are moving anymore. The large boss moth disappeared almost right away. I think it went behind a wall.
Also, during gameplay, it would be nice to have the ability to invoke a menu so you could quit when you wanted.
I was also able to eat cereal that was surrounded by moths. This may have happened after the first round where the moths were all stuck to walls unmoving.
The game is hilarious though, so kudos there.
The "physics" in the game could use some work. However, I love the game's arcade playstyle, and the graphics. Overall it was pretty fun.
Hey guys! First I would like to say that I really enjoyed the game's graphics. The animations, textures, models, and lighting were all very well done! I also enjoy the idea of the game world. I am 80% caffeine.
My only issue with the game is the "why" of it. I might have missed this, but what is the win condition? And getting to the win condition, are there real risks involved other than chilling out for a bit so you don't get poisoned?
So the Mac version works, just so you know. However, there was no sound. Not sure what was going on with that.
The graphics are by and far the best part about this game. Very well done there. However, it isn't very playable. The controls are too sluggish. Also, when your shots connect with...things, there is no feedback. By that I mean I had no way of telling what shots were doing anything to anything. Also, the UI was missing a little context.
Thanks for the solid feedback guys!!
Also, if you want to, add screenshots of your score. I will check regularly to see who has higher scores, and post them to the top of this page, along with other potential rewards when LD is finished. HAVE FUN!!
@riker-greenslade Thank you for the extensive feedback! I certainly missed a few things when I was doing my playtesting, I made a changelog to reflect them. Also, if you link me your game, I would love to reviews yours as well.
@lyrcaxis Haha, I totally understand. I appreicate your honest feedback. I actually had intended on making a way to regain health crystals (the ones you have if damaged to regenerate) but I simply ran out of time. I will make sure that the next JAM has a way of allowing a player to scrounge up ways to continue the game instead of being forced into a no-return downward slope. Thanks for the feedback!
@nicballinger I agree about the scores. I added that in lieu of not having enough time to implement the Upgrade + Boss system. However, in hopes of making the scores more interesting, I would invite people to post theirs here for a few modest rewards. It's something, lol. Thank you though for your honest feedback. I have found that in most of the games this LD, there seems to be a strong level essence of "why am I doing this."
@tiberiusuciu Haha, I appreciate your feedback, thank you very much. And yes, the melee attacks are a bit risky. I made the enemy's attack a little easy to cheese by going around them if you can do it fast enough. Their attacks are a bit slow, and far between, and have poor range.
But, no matter which way you spin it, that shield slam is super satisfying, and help get you around quicker lmao ;)
Hey there! I enjoy a good drive-around style game. This was pretty fun.
- This didn't have anything to do with the theme. Part of the LD experience is to test your imagination and innovation by making a game under an unfamiliar context. I encourage that in the next you challenge yourself to meet that goal.
- The music fits perfectly with the game. Nice! - The games graphics are simple, but charming. - The mechanics are fun. You did well with the physics.
Kudos to you guys for doing a multiplayer game in 3 days. Wow. Did you guys generate all of the art assets yourself? I like the idea, well done.
I love mining style games. This one was fun, but I think you guys knew that. My only gripe was that I kept getting stuck after mining a block. It was as if an invisible block.
@beanslasher Any time!! Also, if you ever have questions, I am always willing to help. This was a larger undertaking than a lot of people might know, and I think that you did excellent. WORLDS better than my performance in my first LD. +1
Overall this game is a lot of fun! I really enjoyed it! Also, thank you for adding a way to quit the game at will. Not enough people add that.
The game handled very well. Kudos!
###### Some areas you can improve upon for your next game jam:
- I played the game as it was intended to be played the first time so I could get the whole experience so I could rate you as you deserved. However, I was able to skip past everything due to the Survival Timer. Basically, all I had to do for 2 minute was out-fly the enemy. I can strafe faster than their bullets traveled, and could move faster than all the enemies. Without picking up any cargo, I won. One way to fix that is to improve the enemies combat skills. Then make Cargo something that makes the shit more robust in combat to counter them maybe at the cost of there being more enemies and your ship gets slowed as it currently does....or something lol. Make it necessary for survival to pick up the cargo, while attaching a price. - The background is too intense. It makes the game assets hard to follow. If you make the scene more subtle, it would help the eyes quite a bit.
Oh yeah, I totally understand how that goes. When t's your game, and you know every bite of information that makes it tick, it's really hard to tell how people will be affected by the mechanics that only see what they can see. As for the starts, a little more translucent, and smaller and they would have been fine. You could add some brither stars here and there, a nebula or something, but yeah, that kind of stuff is hard to get the look and feel right for.
I did forget to mention though that I really liked the design of the ship. I very much enjoyed the way it controlled, and the aesthetics you applied to movements, such as tilting. Again, I think you did very well. Kudos!
I thought the game was actually pretty fun, and the idea was very good.
I thought that the art was appropriate, and the controls worked well. This doesn't hurt your rating, but I think using "A" and "D" along with the arrow keys would be great.
The only thing I saw the could have used work were the way the plates let you know how unstable they were. It wasn't easy to see, as they piled up, how much of a risk I was running on dropping them. It wasn't until I tried to spill the pile did I start seeing the wobbling, then it just went overboard. My only recommendation would be to make the scale of instability more known to the player.
Hey guys! Overall I gotta give you guys some real kudos here. This game reminded me of Blizzard's Warcraft, Orcs and Humans in art style which is one of my favorite low-res art styles. The attacks, animations, environment, creatures, and mechanics are all very well done. I really liked how when you went under a tree or something, it faded so you could see through it. I also enjoy the mood, the aesthetics, and the fact you included a screen with the controls (which a lot of people miss). My only real gripe is that there is no way to exit the game that I was able to find, but maybe I missed it. If it isn't there, I would suggest adding one for next time.
Also, making the source-code available really helps the community a whole lot. It obviously isn't required, but you guys did so well, it would be a shame to not share how you did it with your fellow LD'ers.
Link is broken, but I totally know what you mean about scope creep. If you can master scope, the world opens itself to you.
Hey guys, a few things:
- Although it isn't required of you, adding the source-code benefits the community greatly. - It's a good idea to list the controls for the game in the description so people don't have to guess. I also didn't notice it inside the game. - Kudos for adding a menu. You would be surprised at how many people don't give you a way to quit the game. - I actually like how well the controls worked. It didn't feel heavy, or janky. Very smooth guys. - I enjoyed the art style. It was fun, and charming. - I sort of struggled to see how it met the theme. I might have missed something, sorry!
Man, that sucks. I hate being snuffed out by technical difficulties. I hope that it gets resolved soon!
Man, I love a good automation style game! So, obviously people are big fan of what you were going for here. And of course you guys are aware of the bugs and other things that just isn't possible to handle in the tight time constraints of LD.
I could go on repeat about what others have said, but instead I will give you advice given to me EACH Ludum Dare I participated in until this one (as I was finally able to exercise the discipline).
Scope.
Your game was super ambitious, and you guys actually almost did it. However, a simple game that's butter will almost always be better than a feature-packed game that works like a square wheel. Not saying your game is a square wheel, but you get the idea.
It's obvious you guys have talent. I want to see you at the next LD achieve a more polished game. If you guys want any ideas on how to manage scope and what to do when you get the urge to include a new must have idea, hit me up! We're all friends here, I like to believe.
Man, I feel like you guys really crushed this. Wow! Actually, your game has inspired me to step away from 2D and brave 3D. I didn't know a game could be this good with such low-poly models. I loved the lighting in the game, 100%. I feel like your mechanics were done very well. I mean, 4 days, 2 devs, how could anyone expect anything better?
This is my 5th LD, and I can say that I hope I can achieve a good balance of all areas of game dev as you guys seem to have done for this game. Kudos, fellas!
Haha, man, I can attest to biting off more than one can chew in the span of a Ludum Dare. This is my 5th and I still had troubles keeping things reigned in. Do you guys plan on doing another one? If so, I can share some things with you guys that has helped me be somewhat more successful.
What I enjoyed the most about the game were the graphics and the ambition. I know there wasn't enough time to get everything done but I can tell a lot of effort went into it.
Some things that would be good for any LD games at a minimum would be a menu in the game that can be invoked during gameplay that will allow for the player to quit if needed. Sound is never a big deal to me, you either have the people for it or you don't, so no big there. The other thing I've found that is a MUST is clear instructions. Not on the game's LD page, but in the game where it applies. I'm very bad at this, but I've noticed that about half of my negative reviews are that people didn't understand what they were supposed to do. After taking time to provide better instruction inside the game, I saw much less of these types of reviews.
Good work guys, hit me up some time if any of you want to swap notes.
I love the art style of this game! The blend of doodle + markers with digital lighting was excellent. The music was perfect for it too. The mood was on point! It's a good story and a fun adventure and so far, one of the more interesting games I've played yet. overall, you guys did a wonderful job! Well done!
Things to improve upon (fewer than most, actually): Collision was a bit unexpected in some areas. If you start moving in a direction, then simultaneously move in another, then stop moving in the first direction, the avatar doesn't change. Small detail, but I was able to basically moonwalk lol.
Man, I have to hand it to you, that's a wonderful attitude!! Kudo's to you, my friend. Not only did you post your source code, but you also wrote about your experience.
I would love to see this when you make more progress. Keep it up man. If this were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Also, what is your experience level?
Ok, so, I like to keep context at the forefront of my reviews. In this case, this is a game 1 person made in an insane time crunch. With that in mind...
Wow. Ok, so the controls aren't the greatest, ok, but they aren't convoluted, and they seem to do what you intended them to do, so kudos there!
I'm impressed you were able to include these particle effects in this time crunch too. I mean, the graphics in general are top notch for a Jam. You did well meeting the theme, and overall I have to say that I have nothing new that others had not already mentioned to tell you other than I think you really crushed this. You obviously have a lot of talent, and you should be proud of this entry. This is a real accomplishment, not just anyone can pull off. And, you seem humble and honest. I'd pick you for a team any day.
Hell, this was a very good story. I also think the transitions between text elements was very smooth. Strategic use of word highlighting and coloration was impactful.
@matevt @talesofpixelia Thanks for your patience guys. My burnt-brain forgot to add functions to the main menu buttons when they were made pretty by @drekler.
@poweranze Thank you for the feedback! The bots can be detonated to clear debris to make it easier to move. And I think the spawn rate of them is too high as well.
I like this idea. It's very similar to one of my favorite games, Kingdom. It was a pretty ambitious undertaking trying to pack this many mechanics in a 4-day dev cycle for a game haha. Gotta say you guys did very well.
The art looks wonderful, and the music fits the mood perfectly. With more sound effects, that feeling would be complete.
Very well done, guys.
Hey guys, this was a pretty entertaining game. The music was well done, and it seemed to be timed with the appearance of obstacles which was a nice touch. Helped keep the rhythm going. It was simple and straight forward which is nice.
It seemed like you guys kept scope in a reasonable level, and you finished, which is a pretty tough task. It's easy to make a game that oversteps it's time-frame limitations. Good job guys! I hope that working as a team you all learned a lot of new things, and that next LD you'll take this 1 step further.
So the music is pretty decent, and I like the story. The environment collisions didn't seem to make sense. What looked like a walk-able path wasn't much of the time.
I liked where you went with the room-based transitions similar to OG Zelda, but enemies encountered in one room was still able to attack me in the previous one. At one point I wasn't able to advance into the next room because all the enemies in it were packed in the entrance, and although they could damage me, I couldn't damage them.
The potion mixing is a pretty great idea, and it was executed well. The artwork was good too.
How much LD experience do you guys have?
The story is hilarious, and so are the sound effects. The music just adds to the weird feeling you get while playing. I actually had fun playing this. It was super entertaining. I ended up winning after 20 sacrifices.
There are little this's and that's that could be improved on, but honestly for a first round, I can't say there was anything you should have done better or different. You have what it takes to crush more of these. I hope to see more entries from you in the future!
All by yourself, this is damn good! Controls are simple, gameplay is straightforward, and it seems like you had reasonable scope. You have a good unique style, take advantage of that.
I have to say this entry is pretty refreshing. The "Jam" is the ultimate challenge, and you did it. It's simple, it's entertaining, and it's far from what I wuld call "jank". You should be proud that you were able to complete this entry.
The game's music, look, and feel are pretty good. All this work by one person is such a short amount of time, I have to say you did very well! I love indirect-control style mechanics, and puzzles. You nailed these concepts for sure. This is, so far, the game I've played the longest so far.
Here are a few small things I found that next time may be the sorts of things you can look out for.
No way for the user to exit the game. Collisions on slimes are a bit spotty. First instruction block should include "what" to click on with left click. Second instruction block says to right click, but you must left click instead.