exofrenon

nervous climb by daniel 2026-04-26T18:33:12Z ♥ 1

I managed to reach the top in 356.6secs!

Overall this was a super solid platformer. Reminded me of games like Getting over it with Bennett Foddy, Jump King, Chained Together, etc. The movement, jumping and dashing all felt tight. Very cute character design too.

This could potentially become a full time release, but the market is so saturated that I think it should rely on the art style to differentiate it from competitors. Good job overall!

Sigma by peped 2026-04-26T18:14:45Z ♥ 2

Cool vibes with some solid artwork. Nice job on the audio. The gameplay was also harder than I thought it would be, it was quite interesting. I would only wish for it to be a little bit more relevant to the "Signal" theme, hovering over the star to hear their sound was not really an important mechanic since it was pretty obvious which stars are in the same group.

Good job overall!

Raid Simulator: A Raid Reborn by ruruie 2026-04-26T17:49:06Z ♥ 2

I like the general concept of faking a raid by having multiple NPCs behaving like players, I don't think I have seen this anywhere and it could become a thing.

Hadopelagia by Sirplop 2026-04-25T22:04:53Z ♥ 1

A simple and straightforward implementation of the "Signal" theme. Well-polished and very tightly scoped for a Compo game.

Graphics are servicable, and smartly designed so that you didn't have to do a lot of drawing. I also liked the soundwork of the game, it really made you feel like you were in a submarine.

Officially Dead by TechnicalityCreations 2026-04-25T19:13:25Z ♥ 1

There is something about "Signals" and "Zombies" the makes the fit together for some reason (I also made a zombie game).

Overall I liked the idea and the physics based gameplay.

The chairs felt a little bit overpowered (or rather the rest were underpowered) since it was the only object I managed to kill zombies with. The rest were really just obstacles.

I also think that with a small twist of the end condition changing from "survive X minutes" to "survive as long as you can" would have add some replayability to the game. It would have been fun to play with a ridiculous amount of zombies on the screen after awhile.

The funny lines when you interacted with objects was also a nice touch.

With more content, and multplayer as you mentioned, I can see this having potential.

hostile cosmos by unfavorable_enhancer 2026-04-25T18:59:53Z ♥ 1

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A very strong LD entry guys and an excellent implementation of the "Signal" theme.

The aesthetics were spot on and the UI was incredible. It took me a while to figure out all these UI elements meant, but once I did I really started enjoying it.

I also enjoyed the mechanics. They reminded me the power allocation of Starfield. It has just the right amount of depth appopriate for a jam game, it is more complicated than you initially think, but not complicated enough so that you can not figure out everything on your own after playing it a couple of times. The repairing, the throttling / managing inertia, the scanning, they all fit together nicely. That said, I never used the weapons (or found out how to use them), since they didn't look necessary.

Overall I had a blast with it, congrats!

Signal wave path, NEW VERSION by valb soares 2026-04-25T14:38:22Z ♥ 1

Really nice looking game with some great vibes. It reminds of David Szymanski games (Iron Lung, etc) and early 2000s games like Half-Life. I liked the main idea of the game, I think the "Signal" theme really sits well with the horror genre, but this is the first one I encounter.

Having said that, it was really hard to understand what I had to do, and more specifically HOW to do it, even after reading your instructions. It sounds simple enough, but when you play it it feels like it doesn't work, whether by design or by bugs. I had to restart the game 3 times and I only managed to open the first door.

I would suggest to simplify the mechanic and once you find the correct frequency to automatically open the correct door, or at least have numbers on the doors to know the order they are opened. This is because while you play around with the radio to find the frequency you might accidentaly lose track of the correct frequency, maybe by just 1-2 clicks. This means that you will have to go around every door and try every frequency in that 10-20Hz window and still not find it. Also an indication when you are in the correct spot to find the frequency would also be nice, since you don't know if moving around will make the signal stronger or if it is good enough were you stand now.

Overall, great job in the aesthetics and the mood of the game.

Space Supremacy by Pixel Studios 2026-04-25T14:06:31Z ♥ 1

Finally a simple game where I don't have to read the manual to play it. It reminded me very old Atari 2600 / Lynx games, and a little bit of Commander Keen. I loved the story, I didn't expect to go into a spaceship.

The graphics obviously need a lot of work. I understand that there was no artist to create assets and you just used "programmer art", but even then there are still a lot of things you can do in-engine to improve the visuals and make it more "juicy" (you can look up for that term), like particle effects when shooting, a little bit of screen-shake, post-processing, etc.

One main complain about the gameplay is that you can die out of nowhere and the game resets, instead of restarting you from the same level. The movement also felt a little bit floaty.

But the background song was a banger.

Congrats, keep it up!

Happiness by OddballDave 2026-04-25T13:47:42Z ♥ 1

Damn, that boy can lift. 10/10 game.

Overall I was impressed with what you managed to pull off solo in a weekend. It even has voice acting 😆. I liked the game itself, it plays like a mini puzzle from a classic adventure game. I also found it hilarious.

Great job overall!

RadioBattles by PanDuplan 2026-04-25T13:33:54Z ♥ 2

A really nice idea for a game, the roulette mechanic was a cool addition that gave some extra flavor to the gameplay. The graphics were sharp, and overall it looks quite polished. Good job overall.

Now for some constructive criticism on what could have been done better.

Overall, I see a lot of work was put into this, but I think that development priorities were not set straight. Some aspects of the game were very well done and others were undercooked, leading to an unbalanced experience, which I understand can happen often in such short hackathons but I think is the secret in having successful entries.

For example, even though the visuals are 10/10, the game has no sounds or music. You would expect a game that looks this good to have some audio, because it really is a low hanging fruit to add. I even started checking if something was wrong with my setup. So, less time should had been spent on the visuals and more on the audio.

Same thing with the amount of content, I wish there were more signal types to have more options at each, and more troops, even if it came at the cost of having worse visuals.

One final thing, It would have been nice if there was a better explanation of the rules of the game. I know it is a lot to add in-game tutorials, but even something simple as explaining them in more detail right here in the LD page would be enough. You can even do it right now.

I spent a lot of time reviewing this because I think the game (and the team) has a lot of potential. Great effort overall, congrats!

Super Glop Arcade by loveapplegames 2026-04-25T10:16:17Z ♥ 4

I guess this is more of a test-drive for your AI tools than an actual LD game submission, so I will leave some critique on that.

The games are relatively well-coded, in a sense that I did not notice any weird behavior or any bugs, so the pipeline you have built is quite-solid, I would imagine, based on the fact that you were able to generate 9 minigames in 2 days.

But the biggest problem is that they are extremely unbalanced. Every game I tested was simply too fast and hectic, to the point you couldn't really control the player to do what you wanted, and that felt quite frustrating. And for that I think a human in the loop is the solution. While the mechanics are there, the actual speed / acceleration / whatever you call it needs to be carefully finetuned by trial-and-error by a human to maximize fun, and while you are at it, you might realize that another extra mechanic might need to be implemented by A. For example, the AI might have modeled just the speed of the character and throught testing you find out that you also need to model acceleration into your equations, so you will have to go back to the AI do that and then test it again, and so on and so on...

Cheers, I hope to see another entry that is a little bit more polished.

Lightning's Sideline by YukimiItsuka 2026-04-25T09:51:48Z ♥ 1

Very innovative idea for a game and a really nice presentation (visuals, sound / music), highly polished. The art and the cat / fireflies theme were especially cute.

The only slight issue I would raise is that the constant flashing / flickering were a little bit too heavy on the eye, for me it was just a slight annoyance, but if you are photosensitive or whatever it could be big issue, so it needs to be toned down a little.

A great LD entry all-around!

PS: I really appreciate the transparency on the AI usage. But while AI is not prohibited, according to the [soft-rules of LD](https://ludumdare.com/resources/questions/can-i-use-ai/) if most of the assets were generated by AI you need to opt-out of that category. There is no way for me to know exactly how much of it is AI, but just making sure you are aware.

What's Up? UFO! by picross 2026-04-23T23:54:52Z ♥ 4

That was a legit entry, really polished and fully featured. A simple but addictive gameplay loop with great graphics and the sounds. Everything was top notch.

Congrats, I think you will do really well!

Traffic by Matt Swieboda 2026-04-23T23:28:11Z ♥ 3

That was a cool idea that was fitting the theme of the jam. There is potential to spice it up for sure. A few a low-hanging fruits to improve this in a couple of hours of work:

- I second that comment about adding key bindings, it really streamline the game. - A simple sound effect when you are interacting with the traffic lights, like a clicking noise or something, just so that there is minimal feedback to know that the action worked. - A more prominent visual indication of the ambulance / police cars, like a more intense flashing light or an arrow pointing to it, so that you can spot their position easier when they appear, because I would hear the sound but it would take a while to find it.

Good job nonetheless

Untroubled Bliss by Gamayun.Games 2026-04-23T23:13:30Z ♥ 1

I managed to get 3 endings, but I couldn't to get all 5/5 questions correct even with brute force (probably missing the partner one).

Overall some decent writing in there, manages to build a world with only a few sentences. I think it needs a little bit of imagery, if you had simple a drawing of the room and you would click on each element to interact with it instead of choosing a text option it would elevate the game. Adding some ambient music would also have been a low-hanging fruit to set the vibes.

Scares on Schedule by python-b5 2025-04-10T23:34:49Z ♥ 2

A lovely idea with a great implementation. The overall game loop and each individual minigame were fun.

The only complain I have gameplay wise is the difficulty. It is simnply too hard and this hurts the overall quality of the game, and it's a shame it be dragged down by something that is so easy to fix. Especially the music minigame, I played it maybe 15 times and I never got it right. It needs to be at least one, preferably two, notes shorter, or have fewer notes to choose from. The ghost minigame doesn't need to be played 3 times in a row, it consumes a lot of time. Also, the overall game could be a bit easier, either by having a longer room / slower villages, not to lose immediately when one villager crosses (maybe lose when X villagers cross), or need less scare minigames per villager.

Other than that, A+ on the pixel art and music. Highly polished game too.

One of the better LD entries I have played this year, congrats!

Slow Decline by Ntimi 2025-04-10T14:56:49Z ♥ 5

A cool light-metroidvania implemenetation of the "Depths" theme.

I liked the overall visuals of the game, more particularly the color palette and the main characters sprite, even though his walking animation was too slow compared to his movement speed. It also looks like you put a lot of effort in the opening scene of the game, which I appreciate.

Gameplay wise, the movement was functional, but I don't know how to explain it, maybe the height of the character was too big for the level design? something felt slightly off. Also, I think there was a bug with the hit flash effect, it would only get triggered the first time I hit something and some enemies sprite were stuck at being fully white from the beginning before even getting hit. This made it feel like the hits were not connecting. Sound effects would have made a difference if you had managed to squeeze them in the last moment. The level design was also nice, I knew where to go without feeling like I was playing a corridor game.

Overall, a very competent Ludum Dare submission 👏

Subsync by mechanicallife 2025-04-10T14:42:48Z ♥ 1

Cool idea for a game, with a little more polish in the movement mechanics this could have been a great submission.

As others have mentioned, the movement feel a bit stiff and the reason for that I believe is, besides the usual finetuning of hitboxes and balancing parameters, how frustrating it was to hit your head, lose all of the momentum and then wait to get up. I understand you need some sort of punishment in the game, but getting stunned for so long is annoying. I think it would create a more smooth experience to just remove that stun period and convert it into a direct time penalty on your timer. Also, speed boosts from downhills felt satisfying, so I would suggest more of that in your levels.

Besides that, I think the graphics worked for a ludum dare submission, and the music was vibe-y.

Departments of Depth Corp. by reivilibre 2025-04-09T23:17:30Z ♥ 2

This was legitimately the funniest game I have played in any Ludum Dare competition I have entered 😆. I can tell that someone in your team must have had a pretty traumatic experience with either asking for holidays or with general bureaucracy.

Now, some actual critical feedback about the game. The graphics are textbook example of what is called "programmer art" but in this case it really fits the humorous nature of the game. I also loved the audio with the keyboard typing and people coughiing in the background. The humor is of course the strongest point of the game, I burst out laughing when I entered the manager room and they were partying. Also, the level design was legit, there was some thought put into how you would traverse from one room to the other.

Overall, this was a very solid LD submission.

Life&Depth by Jacky San 2025-04-09T22:33:50Z ♥ 2

That is a great game title 😄

Very straight forwward implementation of the theme. I loved the 1-bit pixel art graphics, simple but effective in setting the mood, along with the very fitting omnious music. The controls felt tight and the level was nicely designed, the arrow directions were a nice touch. Polished too.

A nice little Ludum Dare submission that feels like a vertical cut of a larger game.

Abyssal Descent by shiftfox 2025-04-09T22:26:33Z ♥ 0

Damn, that tune is funky 🎶. Very straight forward implementation of the theme. It seems like you have some mechanics that that you couldn't fully utilize in the current state of the game due to time constrains (I mean, you need more stages for the leveling up to make sense).

Also, I think you should edit your project description in this page to update the text with the controls and the goal of the game. I only managed to play it properly after opening the itch.io link and finding out you can attack. Before that I though there was a bug on stage 2 and that I couldn't progress, but after killing all the enemies it opened up

(also "Esc" doens't really work in the webgl build since if you are full screen it will just minimize the game and you are not able to upgrade).

Overall I see some potential in the game, you could just spend a couple of hours to design a few more stages and the quality of the final game will improve dramatically. Finishing the mechanics of a game and not having time to add content is a classic mistake in Ludum Dare that I myself have done countless times 😅.

Good luck on what I see is your first Ludum Dare submission!

Pulse of the Depths by WorestChesty 2025-04-09T21:55:15Z ♥ 1

Welp, I tried playing the game but it is in Russian. Hit me up with a comment if you add english support to give this a try at some point because it looks like you did some solid work there. I will only rate you on visuals for the moment because that's the only thing I can 😄

Lisiy by Neeck Kola 2025-04-09T21:46:49Z ♥ 1

Ok, I played this game for way longer than I should 😄

Great idea for a game, very well implemented, and polished too. In the beginning I thought "ok, I just move food from here to here, that's it?" but after I realized I could play around with the physics and throw food to the other side of the room, it really opened up a new dimension in the gameplay.

The visuals also look really nice, the sound effects get the job done. I loved the main menu.

The only tip I have is maybe make the progression faster?

Great submission, very complete. Bonus points for the humor too.

Avoid the void by Danigabe 2025-04-09T21:25:07Z ♥ 5

A really cool and simple game concept. I loved the visuals and the atmosphere. The game mechanics are nicely implemented too and overall it looks polished for an LD game.

But I have to be honest, even though I played the tutorial I didn't get it at first that you have to look at the monster to stall it. I only found out by reading the comment section here after I finished playing it once and then I had to go back and replay it and it all made sense to me. So my suggestion would be to maybe mention it here in the project description to make it clearer?.

Anyway, cool idea, solid implementation. Great job!.

DURO by Fenix131113 2024-04-29T17:35:42Z ♥ 4

Great idea for a puzzle game and a nice implementation of the theme.

I loved the pixel art and the simple ambient tune that really set the mood.

I think the core idea has a lot of potential. It is all about the level design and slowly introducing new mechanics to them and you slowly progress by making it harder and harder, but in this one it went from 0 to 100. There was a huge difficulty spike after the first 3-4 tutorial levels when you actually get to the first level that you have to think. It took me a while but I eventually got past it, only to get stuck again on the level with the vertical water lines.

Overall, a very solid puzzle game with some nice aesthetics to back it up. Great team effort!

Siela by Gnum_ 2024-04-29T17:06:59Z ♥ 0

Quite atmospheric, nice low-poly graphics and great sound effects. The gameplay was too simple though, with a few key additions (like avoiding patrlling enemies, obstacles, anything to make it more that just walking in a straight line) you could have a great little LD game here but as it is right now it is just an asset showcase.

Do the thing by Furtive Pygmy 2024-04-29T16:45:13Z ♥ 1

Wow, I played this for much longer than I intended to, so I guess this means I liked it 😆 !

A simple implementation of a very addictive core gameplay loop. There are some balancing issues of course, but these can be overlooked since you had to make a game from scratch in only 3 days on your own and I can truly empathize with that.

I loved the music choice too, it created a very imposing tone, along with the vast emptiness of space around the stage. The graphics were nice too, especially the water block.

Overall, I would say it was quite polished as a software, a few bugs here and there, but fully functional from start to finish, which is admirable.

That said, I couldn't really understand how the belief system worked. I kept playing and building everything I could build, but I never had enough belief to build the Altar, which is the only thing that I could see would generate belief. Here is what my map looked like: Screenshot_7.png (also a small bug report: notice on the pointer how there is both a house a tower on the same block, i clicked on the block next to it to build it but quickly moved my mouse and it built it on the other block)

Summons by Talif Moor 2024-04-29T16:15:00Z ♥ 1

Great idea, would have been nice if there were more activities, or if new activities were introduced as time went by to make the game more hectic. I loved the programmer art and I think if it was combined with some chill background music it would really set the mood right. Good job overall, props for having a fully functional game as a solo developer on your first jam!

Colormancer by ildfuglen 2024-04-28T11:38:58Z ♥ 1

This was surprisingly good, I didn't expect an ASCII game to be so legit! 10/10 for innovation and level design. Really well thought out puzzle game that is simple but deep. I could see the core gameplayt of this being turned into a full fledged mobile app game.

For some reason it was hard my eyes after a while, which is weird since I am a developer and I look at the terminal all day at work. Maybe because you look intensely on a small area of the screen with things moving around in colors? I dunno.

Anyway, great entry and very unique and different from everything else I played!

Tristram by Rongo Matane 2024-04-28T11:11:34Z ♥ 4

Yeap, definitely the best game I played in this jam, probably it is going to be top place.

Insane what you managed to do in 72 hours, even by such a large team of full professionals.

Great pixel-art, music that hits right in the feels for Diablo fans, addictive gameplay loop. Quite polished (even though the game bugged and I got stuck inside the dungeon, one player refuses to leave, it seems like they got stuck between two dialogues playing at the same time)

Everyone brought their A-game, congrats!

Bobblevision by Voidsay 2024-04-28T10:54:12Z ♥ 2

I didn't read the instructions. At first I didn't know what I was looking at. I though it was a 2D sidescroller with one too many balls on the screen that you had to pick up with your mouse or something. Then my brain started functioning, and with the help of the narrator, I started putting the dots together (see what I did there?) and I realized it was a first person game with a trippy shader.

I saw a wizard, a few potions on the ground, a huge mushroom on top of us. And then I had a seizure. My mother heard the noises coming from my basement and she barged to rush me to the hospital. I am writing this from the hospital bed as we speak.

Jokes aside, I don't know what else to say. The performace was solid (I do have a beefy desktop), but the shader itself is a little bit too much, especially if you are sensitive (like I am), but to some people I imagine it can legitimately be dangerous. Maybe if you are tripping it can augment the experience? I dunno.

Bonus points for the narrator though

Peter Piper in A Rats Tale by Rockers 2024-04-28T10:32:44Z ♥ 0

I loved the vibes of this game! Great visuals and audio / music. The gameplay reminded of vampire survivors, just a lot more chill and simple, but there was still something addictive about the sound you hear when another rat gets enlisted or when you "cash" them out. Quite polished too.

Great entry, good job.

No Tea Time for Slimes by HermitGamesmiths 2024-04-26T21:06:01Z ♥ 0

Props to the level designer because this game had some of the best designed levels in a 2D platformer I have played on a Ludum Dare game! And the levels keep getting better and better.

Graphics were cute, the controls were a bit floaty, but solid.

My only gripe with the game is that it has nothing to do with the theme...

Overall, a great 2D platformer!

Brew Mages by BumBum 2024-04-26T20:43:25Z ♥ 2

Someone has been playing a lot of Helldivers 2 I see 😄 !

A fun little game that tackled the theme head on. I liked the core idea, it looks simple at first sight but once you play around with it for a bit you see how deep it is. The stratagems-like input seemed like a gimmick at first, but once things get hectic and you start summoning armies like crazy it started making sense (as a game-design choice I mean). The graphics were simple but got the job done.

Overall, a very tightly designed game and a great LD submission!

9 Hours Till Chaos Comes by Cubanfrog 2024-04-26T20:27:37Z ♥ 0

Very well thought out game that perfectly fits the theme!

It took me awhile to read the rules, but it was intuitive enough that I never had to look at them again while playing. The game is very complete feature wise, quite a lot of gameplay mechanics were implemented, which is impressive. But the issue always with having many mechanics is that you have to do a lot of balancing, which is the only issue the game had; it was too hard 😆 . I managed to go to 3 hours left after 4 tries. Also, it is hard to understand the battle system, things were just happening without fully knowing why (all of the monsters got hit at once, I didn't understand how order works). Maybe an extra section in the rules would do the job?

Overall, great job, a neat idea fully realized!

The Unsummoning by Unx 2024-04-23T21:21:09Z ♥ 1

Ah cool, and here I was thinking I was the only one that made a 2D platformer! 😆

I liked what I played. Awesome pixel art, tight controls, fast paced gameplay. Too bad it was so short though, I would have loved to play more of it, but I can truly empathize with you running out of time (I also wanted to have a final boss fight and ended up with only 2 stages...)

The Witch's Dungeon by Wadlo 2024-04-23T20:58:22Z ♥ 1

Great variation of the rogue-like genre that fits the theme of the jam very nicely! I appreciate the effort you went through to add the humorous intro with the witch during the panic that is a two-day jam.

On the more constructive criticism side, I think the game would benefit greatly by adding some "juiciness" to it which is quite quick to do but makes a huge difference in a jam (it is an actual game design term, google it if you don't know what it is, basically some sound and visual effects when you shoot / get hit in this case)

Great job!

Jury Doody by smikevth 2024-04-23T20:35:24Z ♥ 1

A very cool implmentation of the theme! I thought about court summoning too, but couldn't really come up with a idea of how to make it work, but you nailed it. Bonus points for humor.

Is there any way to win this or is losing unavoidable? I managed to get all ❤️ in my responses, but I still lost.

Ocarina Summoner by Narlet 2024-04-23T20:29:30Z ♥ 6

I only managed to summon 6 creatures in the end, but I had a lot of fun with it ✌️

The mechanic of decyphering the symbols is quite novel and interesting (I kept notes on a notebook), but it was a little bit time consuming. Great creature design though, and I loved that page flipping animation.

A great implementation of the theme, too. A lot of games about summoning creatures / demons, but this is the first one I saw that you have to do by playing a tune, even though it makes a lot of sense in retrospect.

Good work

Summoner's Delight by StanTheSoupKing 2024-04-23T19:59:54Z ♥ 2

A fun game that is short but sweet and fits the theme. Lovely pixel art.

With a few extra mechanics I can see this being one of those mini-games in open-world / RPG games. Quite polished also, even though keyboard controls are not really working and for some reason I can not make it full screen.

A Long Hello by gamebuilder 2024-04-21T01:05:11Z ♥ 2

Navigating a mental labyrithm and mapping it out in your mind is an interesting mechanic, but I think the mood is the highlight of the game. Lovely melancholic vibes from the music alone.

Air Fried Ice by MadR 2024-04-20T19:25:15Z ♥ 1

Nice entry, perfectly scoped for a Ludum Dare submission. I loved the initial simplicity of the game, but you realize it is deeper than it looks. It actually reminded me of the first arc in the Kaiji anime/manga series. Quite polished also, and the music gives some nice vibes.

I would only suggest that you make it faster maybe, the wait between turns is slightly too long. One idea I have is that you could also add a strength stat to each card (1/2/3 since there are only 3 cards per color) that would be used to settle the outcome when 2 cards of the same element are played. It would add another extra layer of depth to the game.

Solid job overall, congrats!

Summoning Instructions by Yxure 2024-04-20T19:14:32Z ♥ 1

Great vibes and atmosphere. I loved the minimal instructions and having to figure things out on my own. Quite polished also. The 1bit graphics were simple but got the point across. The ending cutscene was well done. Great effort for a solo project, but I wish there was more of it!

No Room in Hell by TomatoLamp 2023-10-19T21:36:38Z ♥ 2

I enjoyed this as a big fan of resident evil. I loved the mood in the game and the idea. I believe the game also needed to borrow a little bit more from resident evil the level design and the pathfinding aspect of it (like find a key, backtracking to a previous location to open a previously locked door to explore a new area, etc). The tank controls where fine, but the camera was too jerky and it gave me a little bit of a headache.

Great job overall, I wish more horror games like this were made in the jam

Skypiercer by Caladrius 2023-10-08T19:54:17Z ♥ 4

Incredible atmosphere and hilarious writing (with a subtle political message). The final revelation was also great (although it crashed on my while the camera was spinning). I think it is the only game I have tested that had a legit story, and also the only fps game I played.

I loved the music and the graphics of this game, they really heleped create an atmosphere and a feeling like one of those 90's games you would play as I kid but don't remember their name. The character designs were also great and the gameplay was simple but it go the job done.

Great entry overall. You can see that it takes a lot of people to create this in a weekend.

Tombstone terror by Netarion 2023-10-08T19:30:41Z ♥ 2

An interesting and unique take on the theme. I was kind of consfused with the game mechanics at first but I got it later.

I think your game would benefit greatly by having a grid system for placing the tombstones, or at the very least some snapping. Other than that, it was quite solid (albeit a few bugs here and there, like quiting the game and getting ghosts no matter how I placed the 3 tombstones sometimes). The graphics did the job and the music was very fitting.

A commendable effort for a 1-man project.

Textris by davision 2023-10-08T19:18:18Z ♥ 2

It took me a while to figure out the rules of the game, but once I did I had a blast!

Very unique concept and gameplay mechanics. With some balacing I could see this being one of those _deep_ games that you can play forever (like tetris). Great job on the graphics, too. I would only suggest that you somehow make it clearer how exactly the letter will be aligned on the designated area. A proper tutorial would also be welcome, but I understand that it is hard to do it for 72-hour jam by a single person (I also botched the tutorial in my game).

Overall, this was great submission, good job!

DE-LIMITED by Raivk 2023-10-08T18:39:19Z ♥ 4

Man, this game is identical to what we made for LD 42 where the theme was *Running out of space* (you can check it out in my games if you click on my profile). Only that yours is a lot better 😁.

I had a blast with this game. The gameplay is really addictive, and the presentation is top notch. The aesthetics (graphics and music) are spot on. Props to the UI designer too on the main menu. Every aspect of the game was very polished actually. The most complete (and probably best) submission I have tested so far, to the point that you probably implemented more things than what was necessary for a jam (like the messages on the bottom right of the screen felt like you were flexing when most other teams struggle to come up with something that just works).

Terrific job overall, congrats!

Far Away: A New Home by Skosnowich 2023-10-07T11:26:21Z ♥ 1

That was a great little strategy game that reminded me of Risk with the right scope for a LD jam. I finished all 4 maps, but in the last 2 the castle was not even contested, I just won by default even though the enemy had a lot more troops.

Overall, I liked how polished this was. The UI was very intuitive, there was even a pop up window with explanations when you hovered over an icon, and I didn't encounter any bugs (besides the app crashing when I finished the 4th map). The gameplay loop was also pretty solid, gathering money, then troops and then capturing the castle to train your troops, but I didn't quite get the mechanic of having more gold than your opponent and why it was there though. The graphics also got the job done.

A very nicely designed game overall, congrats!

Tethered by mattiejas 2023-10-07T10:40:09Z ♥ 3

A unique concept with a great implementation. Elegantly designed, the gameplay was very "clean" since the sole idea of pushing and pulling with your only guidance the distance from the object was enough to make an interesting game. I appreciated that you had a the checklist with the mission, usually you have no idea what you have to do in jam games, but the objectives in this one were nicely presented. The dialogues and the speaking sound effects were also hilarious, while the graphics got the job done and the whole atmosphere was fitting of a space game.

This was pretty great, a complete LD submission, bug-free without anything missing. One of the better ones I have tested for this jam so far!

Karma Chameleon by billthechief 2023-10-06T22:17:42Z ♥ 0

I managed to get a score of 140 after many tries, even though I was told I am trash on every try 😆 . My tip is to use your right hand on the num pad for lines 4-5(if your keyboard has) and the left for 1-3.

Anyway, this was polished game overall, I didn't encounter any bugs which is rare to see in what I assume is your first LD entry. I liked the graphics and the CRT filter. The music was also appropriate. But I found the difficulty to be very unbalanced. Some mosquitoes go so fast that you can not do anything to catch them realistically. I should be a little easier to prolong the duration of each round.

Good job for a complete submission.

Align The Sky by CursedEmbassy 2023-10-06T21:34:54Z ♥ 1

Wait, was the whole point of this game the jump scare? If so, 10/10.

The voice acting caught me by surprise. I would be nice if it had subtitles too though, for non-natives it might be hard to understand what is said with the sounds on top.

edit: Goddammit, I even went back to add the password again once I saw it here and nothing happened, you got me twice.

Endangered By The Bell by Leviathonk 2023-10-06T21:24:30Z ♥ 1

I cleared up the space right on time on 2 seconds left!

That was surprisingly fun, much more so than what I expected when I read the instructions 😆. I have played other games about clearing out space in your disk, but this was the most innovative let's say and the most fitting. I loved the sound effects and the subtle humor in the filenames (the motivation and major accomplishments being empty, deleting job files and legal documents, etc). I hoped that at the end I would be able to see the finished video project, but not. Too bad, I expected it to be hilarious.

Overall, a great little ludum dare entry.

Cavescape by Tomssuli 2023-10-06T21:04:31Z ♥ 5

It took me a while but I finally managed to finish the game and get out of the Limbo!

That was a lot of fun! The gameplay was great, the controls and the physics were tight and the level design was also well thought out. The graphics could have been better, but the sprites of the main player and the instructor were hilarious, and so was the non-sensical dialogue and the humming voice acting. The music also created a nice atmosphere.

A nice entry that was very complete. I can see a lot of work went into it (menus, dialogues, etc, are not so trivial to implement in a weekend). Was there any cut content in the game? because I see there was that bomb and the lasers for enemies but there were none in the final game.

Good job!

Room by noya 2023-10-06T20:15:40Z ♥ 1

Naturally, the first thing I tried out of human instict was to draw a huge d*ck. I am not gonna post it here, but after a while, this is what I ended up with: Screenshot_6.png

This was more fun that what I expected it to be at first. One thing I would note is that the cursor moves way too slow and it feels unresponsive. It would feel snapier if it drew instantly on the spot that the mouse is on when you click without having to wait for the cursor to move there. Also, it took me a while to figure out how to select tiles, the UI at the bottom left is too small.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. It would be nice if it had any actual gameplay, but I know how hard it is to get anything done alone in two days. Congratulations on managing to make an online software (I didn't test it tbh, but others say it works) and welcome to Ludum Dare!

Solid State Dive by ConradoClark 2023-10-04T22:26:08Z ♥ 2

This was truly an excellent entry. Hard to believe that a single person can make such a game in a weekend.

Everything was top notch, and on a very polished level. The asset quality of the graphics on their own was serviceable, but that CRT filter really made a differerence (maybe it was too intense?). The platforming was solid, (jumping was a little bit floaty), and there was some thought put into the level design. The shooting was also really satisfying (cool explosion effect) and the music set the mood for the game. Great implementation of the theme and nice small touches with the humor.

Lots of stuff on done here, an excellent job, congrats!

(On a sidenote, does GODOT provide a CRT filter out of the box? also did you use any particle system in GODOT for the explosion animation or was it done manually? Because if you are able to produce so much stuff in 2 days with GODOT, it would make me less hesitant for me to move over from Unity 😝 )

Dodge ! by Guerif 2023-10-04T19:09:36Z ♥ 3

Fun fact: I just opened the game and someone else random was already playing online, and we had a match.

I loved the idea of game, and it is a fitting implementation of the theme. Very ambitious also to make an online pvp game, so bonus points for that. I wish there was a way to experience it though on my own. Tricky thing to require more than one player in a Jam game (I made a 1v1 game too for this LD but also I added CPU opponents)

The gameplay itself (from the little I played) was quite solid, but the whole controlling and shooting with the mouse felt kind of unintuitive. Maybe use keyboard for movement? There is also some balancing to be done with the projectile size / speed, etc to make the most out of the idea.

The music is a real banger and it really set the mood. The sound effects were appropriate. But I really think you would benefit a lot if you had a graphics artist in your team.

Overall a very commendable effort. Props to your develper for managing to setup an online game for a jam, I believe this is the first time I see this in an LD jam, and I have played maaaaany games over the years.

Squasher by Pawel12 2023-10-04T18:16:20Z ♥ 2

Nice implementation of the theme and a funny concept overall.

I won't repeat the same things that others have said (about the game closing directly, highscore, etc). The only thing I would say is worth exploring is adding obstacles in the free area besides the forks, and movement with the keyboard instead of the mouse (there is a lot you can do there to make it more action oriented). Also it looks weird that the forks are stretching on the X axis instead of just translating / moving on axis.

Welcome to Ludum Dare and congratulations on your first entry! Not many people can jump directly to a compo and deliver something, especially something that was not made in a game engine.

Spinstack by massivejack 2023-10-04T18:02:24Z ♥ 1

This was a really cool idea for a game and a nice implementation of the theme. Really polished, I didn't encounter any bugs and everything worked as it should.

The gameplay was quite fresh and I think it has potential to become a success as a mobile app. It took me a couple of tries before I figured out how it really worked, but I got the highest score (755 exactly, like the poster above me) on my first try by randomly clicking on the map to drop boxes. And this brings to the surface the following issue; luck or randomness or however you call it, is too big of a factor, and it is less about strategy and decision making, which is generally not a good thing for a game. I believe if the rules where simplified and the game was stripped down to its core (for example, less box types, no random stages, etc) it would become a better game. That is the only constructive comment I have to make about the game, but still, it was really enjoyable!

The minimalistic low-res/polygona graphics fit the gameplay.

Overall, a really solid effort.

Oasis of Souls by Forik 2023-01-12T01:27:06Z ♥ 3

Wow, this game looks truly incredible. It reminded me of Journey, which must have been the main inspiration.

The graphics are outstanding, 10/10 for a 3D ludum dare game. I also liked the fixed camera angle which is hard to pull off in a game, it created a more cinematic experience (but it was a little bit glitchy at times). The music was also very atmospheric. Then level design was stellar too. I liked the minimalistic storytelling.

I wish the game was a little bit longer, but I understand that there was a very limited timeframe to make the game.

Overall, this was an A+ LD entry. a legitimately professional effort.

Scarecrow Attack by digitaldude555 2023-01-12T01:09:35Z ♥ 1

Well, this was a weird game 😄 Simple and straightforward. The feedback from punching crows was really satisfying. The graphics did their job.

I think it would make more sense to keep your hands low to harvest and to raise them up when you need to punch the crows. I think it would also spice up the game if you could move the scarecrow left to right to pick up the next harvest.

Harrr-vest by jaj 2023-01-11T23:24:31Z ♥ 1

When I saw the game's title in the thumbnail I immediately had to click on it due to how stupid the pun was, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a visual novel in Ludum Dare. They are not that popular here.

I liked the writing and I found the premise hilarious and cute at the same time. The dialogue was realistic, as if this really happened to you. Solid implementation of a VN, no bugs or issues encountered. Unfortunately I couldn't find the secret ending. I though I would be bored, but I finished it before I knew it.

Good job overall.

The Harvest of the Corn Children by Tero Pulkkinen 2023-01-11T23:11:20Z ♥ 1

That is a pretty badass title for a game, and I was surprised that uncle Donald was that Donald and not Donald Duck. Funny concept.

But the game is in a really rough state. Controls are unresponsive(feels like the player is moving in a grid, which is not ideal for a platformer), collisions are buggy (I was trying to jump on that tile on the right and it was jump falling through it). It kind of reminds me of games in really old portable consoles, like the Atari Lynx, Game Watch, etc. But I shouldn't be too harsh, because this seems like it was built from scratch and not on a game engine that has a lot of stuff already implemented, which is commendable.

I would like to see this idea fully realized after it spends some more time in the oven.

Once a Year by ded 2023-01-11T23:00:00Z ♥ 0

Before I rate the game, is anything supposed to happen after the three ladies start dancing around the hay stack or is that it?

I also noticed that you probably left in some debugging code that skips the harvesting if you press 'space'.

Chill atmosphere though.

Chloroblast by Phibian 2023-01-11T20:49:00Z ♥ 2

An excellent entry and a very complete one at that. The gameplay is addictive and fun. I liked that addition of the plucking mechanic, it adds an extra rush to the TD genre. The graphics are solid. Polished overall. I only encountered one bug that a plant stayed selected and I couldn't deselect it.

But I lost immediately on the first boss. Normally in TD games once a monster passes the boundaries and damages you, they come again back to the start, and you can readjust your tower placement. I didn't even have a chance for that. Also it would be nice if I could rearrange the plants, or at least remove them to place a new stronger one. I would also like to see the stats of each plant somehow to know how strong they are.

Great job overall, congrats!

GAKKI the Water Harvester by ironhandMD 2023-01-11T20:00:59Z ♥ 1

Congratulations on your first LD entry!

A solid first submission. Everything worked, without any bugs, which is a feat by itself (excluding the embedded build, which didn't work for me, so I played the HTML5 version)

The gameplay itself needed something to spice it up. Maybe a timer to pressure you into finding another water source (GAKKI is thirsty), and another mechanic to make the treasure hunting more interesting.

Also, I would suggest you to have a look at RuleTiles in Unity. They can really make a difference in your visuals, because perfectly square repeatable tiles are a little rough. Also, looking at the sprite of the robot, I would suggest you to keep the black outlines thin, one pixel wide. Nice music selection too.

Keep it going with LD!

Grim Harvest by automatonvx 2023-01-11T19:48:47Z ♥ 1

Not bad! I liked the take on the theme and the humorous messages when haversting a grave. The stealth aspect spiced up the gameplay. The graphics were solid, and so were the music and the sound. Also quite polished, with the only exception being how abruptly the day ends and the next begins.

A really commendable effort for a Compo entry.

Crop Season by chaikadev 2023-01-11T01:07:59Z ♥ 3

Such a cute little game. Lovely vibes. The artist did a terrific job with the designs, and the visuals in general. The music also really helped setting up the mood to be so cosy and warm. I don't really have any actual constructive comments to make, because I think the game did perfectly all that it set out to do. It was quite polished also, I didn't encounter any bugs, which is rare for an LD game. Good job everyone! 👏 👏 .

Flavors of Victory by Kyrio 2023-01-11T00:11:49Z ♥ 5

This was extremely professional. One of the most polished LD entries I have tested, ever. The visuals are out of this world, several leagues above anything else. The music was also really fiting. I loved the world that you created with the vegetable knights.

The idea of the game is quite interesting, but I couldn't quite get the rules of the game. How does a stat attack another one and how is the rock-paper-scissors logic played into it? Does each "taste stat" of my champion attack all the other "taste stats" of the other champion (3x3 comparisons) and then we add up how many times I won and lost? A better explanation with a fully explained example of a battle with all calculations taking place would be welcome.

Overall, the art and music of the game are outstanding, and the idea is solid. I would say that this has the potential to become a full fledged game, or even a mini game for a larger game.

Bow Knight Drifter by Kostas Nik 2023-01-10T23:31:10Z ♥ 2

Μπράβο μάγκες, φοβερή δουλειά! 😉

As everyone noted, the visuals are fantastic. I loved the pixel art, especially those trees. The combat feels great, the character controls are respnosive and the attacks are weighty. The use of the mouse was a little bit unnecessary in my opition, you could just use two keyboard keys for sword attacks and shooting, applied on the direction that the player facing (see Hammerwatch). Also, I never had to use the dash. The boss fight was also a proper boss fight, the attacks were nicely designed. Overall, really polished, with the crafting system included I see that a lot of work was put into it, even though it ends abruptly, but understanble given the time constraints.

Only the theme implementation felt a little bit tacked on, since this is essentially just a roguelike and "Harvesting" just went next to it.

HARST by bradu 2023-01-10T22:54:04Z ♥ 1

Good job on what I assume is your first LD entry. Quite polished overall. I loved the intro sequence, with the images and the text. Reminded me of resident evil for some reason. Solid graphics, nice atmosphere.

It took me a while to figure out what I had to do. I died 4-5 times, getting to the right end of the stage to those last two bodies until I collected 4 of them to get the message to go back, but I never had enough health to do it. I though that it would have multiple stages and that the first one was way too hard, but it turns out you just need to go left to collect +1 body so that you don't need to go the right end at all.

As I said, multiple stages would suit well this game, with each one trying to solve a small puzzle on how to do it with the minimum amount of movement.

The Dark Forest and the Memories of Harvest, of One Autumn's Days by Tygrak 2023-01-10T22:28:52Z ♥ 2

I loved it. It was something different. 10/10 for the mood. As good as it gets for an LD game on that perspective. The visuals were quite striking, obviously inspired by the Return of the Obra Dinn. The music and the sound effects also really helped with setting up the atmosphere.

The gameplay could have been a little bit more involved though, but it was not focus I guess. Also, the graphics were a little bit too much at times. The noise effect could be toned down a bit to make it easier on the eyes. Also the story was maybe a little bit incoherent. I feel like I missed some story bits (maybe a bug?).

Also, some small issues with the camera (turning to the right was blocked if I turned more than 180 degrees, sometimes the look direction was acting up).

Really solid entry though, especially for a Compo game. 5/5 overall.

Maudits Fantômes / Cursed Ghosts by Mossieur Patate 2023-01-11T00:39:49Z ♥ 0

Really neat idea for an arcade game. Simple but elegant. I loved the pac-man skin.

Now for some more constructive comments.

Not sure if it is a bug or not, but what I played on the HTML build had an aisometric viewing angle, which made it hard to keep track of the ghosts and to pick them up. The top down view I see on your images makes a lot more sence, it is a lot clearer than the isometric angle, and I hope it was a bug and not a design choice. I also think that a huge portion of the screen was wasted that way by not really showing anything. The actual game should take up the whole screen.

Also, it was not clear enough to me when does the stage end. Like when do I lose and how many ghosts do I need to feed to win? Maybe the UI needs a little bit of work on that front.

Good job overall, perfect scope for a LD game. Also, I am really impressed by how consistently thorough you are with everything you do. Every review, every comment, even the game description are really verbose.

Cat-Livery!(Cat Delivery) by M1chael_dev 2022-10-21T22:50:14Z ♥ 1

Strong mood due to the graphics and the sound effects. The core gameplay could also be fun, but it takes way too long to unwind. I think the submission would greatly benefit if you sped up the progression (I mean, doing 10 deliveries on the first 2 houses is a drag, but once more houses are added the gameplay becomes more involved). If you have something like 10 houses, the game would make more sense, since you would need to memorize the times of each house and plan it out. Solid entry for a 1-man job.

A Song of Red and Blue (and Green) by Squarefox 2022-10-21T22:35:39Z ♥ 1

I guess this was a test case for your custom raytracing shader. It run quite well on my PC, but it is quite beefy. I liked the materials, and I think the game had some potential if you knocked things up to eleven. By that I mean having multiple green and blue balls at the same time(it would highlight the visuals more), faster movement, more hazards in the stage, etc.

Chef Jeff wants you! by jkniest 2022-10-21T22:00:27Z ♥ 0

Impressive that you managed to make an overcooked clone in such a short amount of time. Not the most innovative game, but I liked the adjustments you did to the game for the theme (everything is faster). Very polished overall (graphics, gameplay). Also, nice One Piece reference.

My 1st Game: Water Ball Challenge 10S by Thanks4AllTheFish 2022-10-21T21:52:15Z ♥ 1

This was a refreshing take on the breakout / arkanoid genre. Simple, addictive, you immediately get what you have to do and what the rules are. I also didn't encounter any bugs. A very solid first entry.

Blackout by Frasse 2021-04-30T23:10:04Z ♥ 7

Outstanding job. Truly a 10/10 entry and by far the best game I have tested in this jam. Very professional. It offers the complete package. The amount of detail in the pixel art and the animations, the music and sounds, the overall atmosphere. The game itself was also interesting as an point-and-click adventure game that managed to tell a short story without ever being boring. I liked the double twist. Perfect length also

Very polished for an LD game. I mean, most people barely manage to put their game together at the very last moment, but you even had time to add ingame credits as an easter egg with the portrait room. That was a nice touch.

I generally try to make a leave more constructive comments, but there is not much to say here. Only minor complaint is that it was a little hard to figure out the cigarettes. You know that there is something there because of the hint by the zombie downstairs, and since clicking on the bed is a separate interaction that does nothing, it doesn't go through your mind that you must click at the top. It doesn't help that it doesn't really stand out, it looks like a regular pillow in the bed drawing.

Deep Dive to the wormhole by Retro Banana Man NL 2021-04-29T23:24:24Z ♥ 1

This was fun to play and could become very addictive after a while. Great implementation of the theme also.

I liked the mechanic that you could only dig if you had ground below you. It was a nice addition that added some necessary depth to the game, since without it things would get boring pretty fast. I can't put my finger on it, but I felt like something was missing. Maybe a couple of mechanics could spice things up, fuel for example like the others mention, or even something to make the drilling more involved, maybe a specific kind of rock tiles that you would need to spam the click button to break? I don't know. Also, I didn't get why you had both a shop to convert rocks to money and an upgrade building to spend the money. They could be one and the same to reduce the back and forthing.

Finally, I think that the game would benefit a lot by better graphics. It doesn't have to be anything amazing. I would suggest you start looking into pixel art even if art is not your thing. It is quite easy to get into for everyone and after a while you will be surprised with what you can achieve. A simple rule tile to break the monotony of the ground and some particle systems when a tile is broken would also make a difference in the "juicyness" of the game.

Other than that, cool idea, nice implenetation, the core loop was there, I didn't notice any bugs. A job well done for a first solo jam.

Sweet Lies by Fundee Squad 2021-04-29T18:15:09Z ♥ 2

Interesting genre you chose here. I liked the whole sugar theme of the world and the artsyle of course. The length was also just right for an LD game, but I couldn't really see how it was connected with the deeper and deeper theme.

But I did run into some bugs with the UI. When investigating, sometimes the text was either cut short or there was no text shown at all. The UI in general was quite barebones and was sticking out like a sore thumb next to the rest of the graphics. A few animations here and there would be welcome too.

I also think that the game would benefit a lot by some background music and maybe even some sound effects, because as it is right now it feels kinda empty and lifeless. Even some free stock music would do the job.

It would also be nice if you had a limited amount of time to investigate each room so that you carefully picked your actions instead of doing everything. Picking one of two options on an item was a little weird since your character sound be able to do both of them realistically (why would anyone either take a sample from the bag or take a photo of the name and not do both?)

Carpet Flea by MrPouletBZH 2021-04-29T00:12:34Z ♥ 4

A great little platformer you made there, and a very strong LD entry. I was a little mad with the game in the begfgining because I played through a couple of levels by only using the jump button before I noticed you could dash. . After that the game really clicked. Very neat mechanic to have a limited amount of jumps and dashes and picking them up to se them.

Nice art direction, the main character was kinda cute and reminded me of super meat boy. The sounds / music were moody. The levels were nicely designed and offered the right amount of challenge, and you also had 10 of them which is a suprising amount of content for an LD jam. The whole package was quite polished, without any bugs and very functional UI, which is rare to see in this jam.

My only gripe is with the controls, which were a little bit stiff and could use some work. There are a lot of small tricks you can apply to make it feel better. I would suggest you to read this blog post on Gamasutra on how to make a satisfying platforming controller: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YoannPignole/20131010/202080/The_hobbyist_coder_1_2D_platformer_controller.php

Great job overall.

Ariel Cleanomancer and the Eldritch Sweep by alyd asmar 2021-04-28T23:50:22Z ♥ 3

A very cool spin on the Sokoban genre. Very professional. The graphics were top notch, the level design well though, the sounds / music very fitting and atmospheric.

Probably the best and most complete game I have played so far in this jam that can stand by its own rights, not just as an LD game. This could be a smash hit as a browser game. I have nothing bad to point out or any improvements to make, which says a lot. Congrats!

Déjà Vu by BabaDesBois 2021-04-28T23:38:08Z ♥ 2

Interesting idea, it could become a nice little puzzle game if further expanded. I reached the final stage without really understanding how, and by the time I understood the puzzle I felt like an idiot. The graphics were nice and the music very chill. But it could have been a little bit longer.

Since this is your first jam, my number one tip for your next jam is to keep it simple and wrap up the mechanics / graphics of the game faster, even if you have to make some sacrifices, so that have more time to spend on designing the levels and not do it at the very last moment (which I guess is what happened here, judging by experience).

Deep Snails Night by JLMast 2021-04-28T23:23:14Z ♥ 1

This was a cool game. The graphics were awesome, it is obvious that you have an art background and that you put most of your effort on that. I also liked your sense of humor, the little jokes here and there on the background were quite smart. The whole game reminded me of 90's cartoons, Animaniacs specifically for some reason. Nice choice of soundtrack too. Unfortunately it was too short and the gameplay needed some work, it was quite basic and I felt it was only there to navigate and look at the art, but given how much time you have to do this and the amount of time you probably spent on the graphics, it is expected to cut a few corners here and there.

Overall, this is a very admirable effort for one person.

Sloopy the Microkiller by SandCastlesStudio 2021-04-28T23:05:03Z ♥ 1

This was a very cool idea for a platformer, that can very easily work on mobile devices since you only have to tap at the screen to jump. SImple and elegant. At first I thought it was made by one user and I said that this person must be really talented, an industry veteran, but then I saw that you were three, which made more sense. But each member of the team did a fine job. The graphics were neat and consistent, the music rocked, the levels were nicely designed and I didn't notice any bugs. it also had a lot of content for an LD game, considering how little time you have to make it. Didn't even notice it was procedural before I read the description.

Overall very solid, I can easily see this being released on mobile phones by adding some sort of score and leaderboards, collectables to pick up and items to buy.

Down the Edge by SludgeKey 2021-04-28T22:51:11Z ♥ 2

Great work! You did a fine job with the graphics, both the quality of the assets and the color scheme. I also liked what you did with the lighting. For me the strongest point was probably the music and the sound effects, they created a very moody, even nostalgic, atmosphere. Very straight implementation of the theme, you are literally going deeper and deeper.

Just Fishin' by Antti Haavikko 2021-04-27T22:51:36Z ♥ 0

This was a cool game and way more exciting than what I thought it would be when I read it was about fishing :D. Out of all the games I tested for LD, I invested the most time with this, probably due to the nature of the genre.

Overall it is a very complete and polished product. The gameplay was addictive, the graphics were nice, the music was very chill, even the UI was working surprisingly without any bugs. A truly astonishing achievement for something developed from scratch in 48h. But I do not see the connection with the "deeper and deeper" theme, which makes it a little bit suspicious given the completeness of the overall package, if you know what I mean (the timelapse video is enough proof though).

Now getting into the actual criticism: - The movement felt a little bit laggy, sometimes I was clicking on almost the same spot to fish again but the player was moving place, making the delay a little frustrating. - The game needs a little bit more balancing. It is too slow for an LD jam, where you don't want to spend to much time testing one game. I also felt that some of the upgrades I bought didn't do anything really. - The main loop is go to the lake, fish, go back to the shop to sell / buy and then go back to the lake. So ideally you need to fish as close to the lake as possible to save time. But you are allowed to go anywhere in the lake, even to the other end, which doesn't make sense if you have nothing to gain out of it. And to the best of my knowledge, no matter where you fish, you would get the same rewards. So what I would suggest is to spice it up and make the furthest part of the lake to offer more expensive fish that are harder to add some progression in the game. You would start by fishing close to the shop with your cheap rod and as you get better you would go to the other end little by little. Maybe the lake gets deeper and deeper the further you go, which would also fit the theme of this LD jam.

Great game overall, very professional, but the theme was kinda ignored.

Captain Zapdash by Nazorus 2021-04-27T22:07:58Z ♥ 1

This was brilliant. Not only was it fun to play, but it also had a great sense of humor (I LOLed at the what I assume is a recorded sound effect when you get hit). You obviously have some music background, because the music is legit, and the fact that it was not fitting at all made it even funnier. The graphics were serviceable. I enjoyed the "juiceness" when zapping an orb. Overall it was great for what it was, not much nitpicking to do.

The only thing that has room for improvement are the graphic. I see you used the classic "primitive shapes + high gloom" trick, but having pretty graphics was not really necessary in this case since they added to the humor. The game was also quite short (it was repeating every 12 orbs I believe) which is probably because it is as far as you can go when you have a fully procedural "level design" before becoming boring or getting out of hand, so if you wanted to make it longer you would need a more sophisticated algorithm to generate a more interesting placement of obstacles.

Overall pretty great and very admirable that you did everything yourself in only 48 hours.

Animals in the Deep by Spicy Boi 2005 2021-04-27T12:22:38Z ♥ 1

Bro, why are ducks stuck underground :D?

A very fresh idea for the theme, simple but fun. I liked the graphics and the music, the mood in general. I also found the whole thing kind of hilarious if you think about it for a second. Great effort for a 1-man project.

The only thing that felt off a little bit was the physics / character controller. It was getting stuck on the wall, so you will need to play around a little bit with the RigidBody2D component to get it right.

Descending by János Parádi 2021-04-27T12:11:37Z ♥ 1

As the others mentioned, the link is not working. Ping me to check this back again.

Deep Seeker by DaF 2021-04-27T11:50:29Z ♥ 1

I like the main idea of the game, it is quite fresh and innovative, but it is very difficult to understand what you have to do. It gets complicated right from the moment you boot the game and there is no proper guidance to teach you how to play it step-by-step other than a huge instruction text that is a little bit too technical. I spent quite some time reading the instructions but I couldn't make much out of it.

Props for the effort though, the graphics and the music are well done, they create a nice atmoshere, the UI is functional (but not very intuitive). For a solo project this is a big achievement. I only wish I could play it without spending so much time to understand it.

deepfeater by Shoc 2021-04-27T11:32:04Z ♥ 1

Sorry, I tried playing this game 10 times in a row and I couldn't figure out what you have to do. What do these symbols mean and what do I have to press? No matter what I pressed nothing happens and you die. The instructions are not very clear. It is a shame because I can see a lot of effort went into the game with the graphics, the intro scene, the music, it even has a the main menu (even though the instructions menu is buggy). Please ping me so that I can recheck it later.

shaftception by testudor 2021-04-27T09:28:44Z ♥ 3

Great graphics, music and sounds! The gameplay fitted the theme and it had more depth than I initially thought, trying to manage your boost to get the lowest time possible on repeated tries, even though the content was quite limited. The idea was also not the most innovative, but I am not one to judge since I made pretty much the same game :p.

A few remarks: = The boosting feels a little bit buggy. Some times it didn't work at all and others it worked when I was pressing only shift. Also I think it should be remapped to a single key press, only `Shift` for example since it doesn't do anything else by its own (it would be even better to have only `S` but I can see you might have problems with the WASD button promts you are asked to press duing the game) - Speaking about the button prompts, it took me a while to understand what I had to do and I was ready to give up right at the beggining. Some more guidance on this the first time you see it would be welcome.

Overall great try, but for your next LD I would suggest to cut a few corners and spend less time on implementing the mechanics of the game and more time on creating more levels and finetuning the level design. It took me a few LD entries to understand this for myself and it made a difference in the final quality of the game.

Revenge of Loopy the Turtle by Flying Dog Fish 2020-10-11T16:28:45Z ♥ 1

Damn, our games are too similar! 😅

I see you kept it simpler and were able to make more out of it instead of having something half-finished. I also love how you combined it thematically with the story of the turtle, but it would have been more fitting if you tried to save other animals or combat environmental waste, but it is funnier this way. a little bit of enemy variety would be nice to have, too.

Ghost in the LOOP by sankacoffee51 2020-10-11T16:03:28Z ♥ 0

Interesting art style, the ink-like cell shading reminds me of Don't Starve and it is definitely the highlight of the game. I can see what you went for, but the combat needs some work. Collisions feel off, there is no feeling of impact (visual or audial) when landing a hit or getting hit, and the melee attack was either buggy or missing an animation. There is also a lack of enemy variety, but you probably didn't have time for that, which is understandable.

Other than that, if the combat is fixed and the game is balanced, I can see the core gameplay loop becoming addictive.

Hoops by Captain Nakou 2020-10-11T14:34:32Z ♥ 0

Nice core idea, simple but fun. I can see the similarity with super hexagon as you mentioned, so it probably needs a couple of more mechanics to differentiate those to AND it would also make it more complete, but it should not be overdone. I also think that losing was kind of random, meaning that if it happens that you go on the opposite side of the next hole (since you can not see it yet), then you will lose no matter what.

It would help a ton with this it you would show an indication/arrow where rotate next, counter clockwise (cc) or clockwise(c), or at least make it a rule that you follow a pattern of directions (i.e. cc->c->cc->c and so on)

Around The Jungle by Makbeard 2020-10-11T14:22:53Z ♥ 1

The core mechanic is very satisfying and I believe it has a lot of potential for a full fledged mobile phone with multiple stages and more mechanics. The graphics were not bad and the sounds were spot on. Fun overall, but I feel that the "stuck in a loop" mechanic was kinda tacked on and not part of the main game design. It was confusing what the main goal was, which I guess it was to go around the stage as fast as you can.

I think you should give better guidance on where you need to go next to end the loop (either by having arrow signs or by showing the whole stage at the beginning so that the player knows roughly what they should do, or even better to have a larger field of view with smaller stages and some implicit guidance based on intuitive level design). I think you should also have a UI to show where the force will be applied while you drag the mouse (I kind of expected the ball to follow the mouse when you click and when you release a force to be applied towards the vector from the ball to the anchor). The use of mushrooms was also a bit confusing.

Overall, great job!

Dig Down by Dampfwaltze 2020-10-11T13:44:47Z ♥ 1

Cool idea for a game, but I felt that the "stuck in a loop" theme was an afterthought and it was just tacked on top of the digging. Also the main character's shape should be simpler and 1:1 with its collider so that you can see exactly where it gets stuck, and even better if it was a ball or something so that it would slide and not get stuck in a single ground pixel which becomes kind of frustrating. I didn't play it long enough, but some new mechanics as you progress would be a welcome addition to the game.

Pufferfish Panic : Proliferating Pressure by Teanan 2020-10-11T13:32:06Z ♥ 2

Quite possibly the best game I have played in this LD so far. Nicely designed (both mechanics and levels) and very clean graphics and user interface. The concept is very innovative on its own, even though I am not sure if it is completely novel (maybe other games like that exist out there?), and it is also not very relevant to the "stuck in a loop" theme. Props to the one with the idea of not having multiple small levels (as usual with these games), but having only one level that is expanded with more and more stuff.

Moving on to the minor stuff: there was a bug with the rotation of the objects on the HTML5 version (scrolling was waaay too sensitive, making it hard to rotate it as I wanted, also you should mention how you rotate somewhere), and I also think you should have a button or something to clean up all the fish that are stuck.

Orbitality by CruelMotivator 2020-10-11T12:00:07Z ♥ 1

Very cool and fresh idea for a game and very well implemented. As @supergamersgames mentioned it could have some slight auto-aiming to make it play smoother, and maybe the UFOs could be a little bit slower, or pause from time to time to hit them. The graphics were also quite polished.

Jack's Inferno by mharring 2020-10-11T11:48:06Z ♥ 1

Surprisingly well polished for an LD entry, right from the moment you launch the game, but there was a bug after the second level and the game was stuck on a black screen with a cursor. Great controls, graphics and music, but it was not very relevant to the theme.

RAIL LIES by Dazrow 2020-10-11T11:32:49Z ♥ 3

Great idea, a funny game you made there. Could have been a little bit longer and what you have to do a little bit clearer. The music and the mood was also well executed.

The Calamity Coil by WobbleBlocks 2020-10-11T11:16:55Z ♥ 2

Great effort for a LD entry, built within the limited time constraints. The strongest point of the game was the atmosphere / mood, but I would expect more fleshed out combat mechanics since it is the only thing that you do in the game.

Unholy Echo by Dizzy 2020-10-11T11:02:55Z ♥ 5

Nice idea, decent graphics and sound.

Metal Gear Noah by Dizzy Dalvin 2018-08-24T11:20:20Z ♥ 1

Graphics and animations are great, and so is the music and the sound effects. They create a nice atmosphere. The idea is nice and well executed. If you had this working on time you would have done great in the competition. The final version looks almost like a complete game, if it had more content of course. One of the best games I played in the competition, but unfortunately you didn't have time to finish it.

Smoke: it's ok to feel by Lumpy 2018-08-18T02:18:56Z ♥ 2

Very cool graphics and audio, it is incredible how much effort was put into building the world and the characters in this game. I didn't expect a Ludum Dare entry to handle such a heavy subject like this, it really struck me when I found out that Smoke has an estranged son, and everything thereafter.

It also has the most innovative dialogue mechanic I have seen for being drunk, it would be cool to see that in an actual RPG.

The Iglesier by razieliyo 2018-08-16T21:04:37Z ♥ 1

I loved the idea and the religious concept. Solid implementation without any bugs. I also liked the graphics reminds me one of those games that windows 95 came preinstalled with where you had to push some blocks. With some improvements I can see this becoming a very addictive game.

I believe the game would benefit a lot from some balancing, cause at its current form if you build as many prayers as you can at the beginning and then 1 or 2 of the heavy prayers, then every parishioner leaves immediately and there is not much after that. It would also be a good idea to have an area of effect of the prayers so that you also have to think where to place them and maybe some kind of different upgrades.

Digital Abyss by TwinGhosts 2018-08-16T18:54:40Z ♥ 0

Wow, great job man, one of the most complete games I have played in this jam. You totally nailed the retro aesthetics, graphics and sound wise. The game feels very fluid and it is a nice take on the "Snake" genre. I loved the challenge and I also like how you made the effort to add dialogues at the beginning of each level explaining you what to do. Very polished overall. You even have AI on the enemies!

Now moving on into the Critical Feedback section...

Maybe it is just me, but after a while the game became a little bit hard on the eyes, so maybe you could tone down the neon glow effect of the background or something?

Even though I loved the challenge, I think the difficulty has a big spike. It took me 10 minutes to finish the second level, and some people like me who are short-tempered might even become frustrated by the time they reach the 4th level 😆 . So maybe you could add some easier levels at the beginning to ease you in?

On a smaller note, I don't know if it is a bug or a feature, but I think it would be best if you didn't instantly die when you pressed the opposite direction. Also, I know that you can speed up the dialogues but if you could skip them all together at the beginning it would reduce the waiting time of the player and increase the playing time.

As you can see, I don't have anything really important to add about improvements which really speaks about the quality of your game. It is amazing how you managed to do this by yourself in a weekend.

PS: I am the guy doing my Master on AI from your stream. Didn't see that you were from the Netherlands. Finishing my master at the UvA AI program soon.

Follow Line by mukult 2018-08-15T19:42:31Z ♥ 1

Excellent graphics and really solid platforming mechanics. Very polished for a game made in a weekend. No complaints here.

Stock Overflow by afendar 2018-08-15T15:55:23Z ♥ 2

Very nice graphics and cool idea, but it could do with a little better explanation of the game and how it is played. I felt lost at the beginning and didn't know what to do until I restarted it for 5-6 times. Other than that, very solid job.

Plug It! by Arkadynn 2018-08-15T12:07:38Z ♥ 0

Cool concept, pretty good effort coming from what I assume is one person, I bet if it was a little more polished it would become quite addictive. Having a small popup when the cursor is over the buildings showing you their cost and their gold/second would be a welcome feature.

The Mansion by EVEN GAMES 2018-08-15T11:51:19Z ♥ 1

Nice graphics and music create an eerie atmosphere. I also liked the challenge. But the jumping mechanics need some work, it feels like double jumping only works half of the times and it leads to a lot of frustrations. Pretty good job overall.

Space Cavern by guzzungo 2018-08-15T11:32:52Z ♥ 0

Simple concept, decent execution. As others mentioned, the background makes it hard on the eye and you could make it a little more challenging on the earlier levels.

Space Collapse by ALourenco 2018-08-15T00:22:16Z ♥ 0

I like the concept, it gets pretty intense later on, reminds me of Super Hexagon. My only complain is the random generation of fuel, most of the times I died on the first level because no fuels were spawned.

Altair's Quest by CarlosBueloni 2018-08-15T00:11:36Z ♥ 3

Solid jumping mechanics, the movement generally feels good. But I got lost in level 2 and didn't know where to go, so it needs some kind of indicator about where to go next.

Chill Daddy by guilhermesouza 2018-08-14T19:28:21Z ♥ 2

Nice graphics and the choice of music is very fitting, it makes the game very atmospheric. The story is simple but effective. The only downside is that I don't see the 'Running out of space' theme and the gameplay is very simple, but at least it is very well implemented, no bugs and the general feel is quite good. It only needs a little more variety and content.

SpaceBreaker by MarkD 2018-08-14T13:44:21Z ♥ 1

Love the 80's retro aesthetics, we tried to capture the same feel with our game but you aced it. My only complain is that the glow / bloom effect needs to be reduced a little bit because it is hard on the eyes.

Space Invader - File Explorer Edition by MadreDeDios 2018-08-14T13:21:47Z ♥ 2

This is probably the most innovative implementation of the "Running out of space" theme and it also very well done, the Windows interface looks almost as good as the real thing. Now if only I could navigate using the keyboard arrows and go to the previous folder using backspace...

T3DRIS by Return Null 2018-08-14T13:07:12Z ♥ 1

Great idea and it works better than expected but is a little hard to handle the rotation on three dimensions

Don't Drown by schsam 2018-08-14T12:51:22Z ♥ 1

Interesting concept and awesome physics, the amount of water particles is insane, but the gameplay needs more variety