Soul Jar by farmergnome 2012-08-28T00:55:00
Love the atmosphere you set up. I didn't understand what some of them were supposed to represent, due to some of them being so small. I really enjoyed witnessing my robot friend learn new skills.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → flyingbear
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥉 | 2015 | 34 | Two Button Controls / Growing | Molly's Dreaming | compo | 4.41 |
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Category | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥈 | 2015 | 34 | Two Button Controls / Growing | Molly's Dreaming | compo | Theme | 4.68 | |
| 🥈 | 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Octogeddon | compo | Fun | 4.20 |
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | Neverending Neck | compo | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 2.50 | 3.00 | 3.50 | 5.00 | 3.00 | |||
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | Holey Moley | compo | 3.83 | 3.83 | 2.66 | 4.00 | 3.66 | 4.00 | 3.83 | 3.50 | |||
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Cake Factory | compo | 3.25 | 3.50 | 2.75 | 2.00 | 2.50 | 2.50 | 1.00 | 1.75 | |||
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | Shooty Moony | jam | 121 | 4.11 | 4.20 | 3.54 | 3.84 | 3.75 | 3.29 | 3.31 | 3.40 | ||
| 2018 | 43 | Sacrifices must be made | Dinos Ate My Chickens | compo | |||||||||||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Minebot | jam | 3.66 | 3.33 | 4.16 | 4.66 | 2.66 | 4.16 | 3.50 | 4.00 | |||
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | Battle Bugs | compo | 25 | 4.09 | 4.34 | 3.85 | 3.90 | 3.80 | 3.50 | 3.31 | 3.64 | ||
| 2015 | 34 | Two Button Controls / Growing | Molly's Dreaming | compo | 3 | 4.41 | 4.23 | 3.82 | 4.68 | 4.45 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.25 | 44 | |
| 2015 | 32 | An Unconventional Weapon | Captain Farticus | compo | 64 | 3.90 | 3.95 | 2.92 | 3.95 | 3.23 | 3.64 | 4.10 | 3.13 | 56 | |
| 2014 | 31 | Entire Game on One Screen | SumoBall! | compo | 30 | 3.98 | 4.12 | 3.43 | 3.87 | 3.79 | 3.38 | 3.75 | 3.41 | 100 | |
| 2013 | 27 | 10 Seconds | I Need a Lunch Break! | compo | 54 | 3.84 | 3.58 | 3.53 | 3.91 | 4.09 | 3.61 | 3.87 | 3.50 | 79 | |
| 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Octogeddon | compo | 7 | 4.13 | 4.20 | 3.79 | 3.98 | 3.77 | 3.79 | 3.95 | 3.48 | 87 |
Love the atmosphere you set up. I didn't understand what some of them were supposed to represent, due to some of them being so small. I really enjoyed witnessing my robot friend learn new skills.
Really enjoyed this game. Made me play more wanting to know what the next enemies/evolutions were. awesome art style!
This is an insane amount done by one dude on 48 hours! I'm a sucker for metroidvanias, so I definitely got into this. The expressions on the boss amused me greatly. It took awhile to figure out what the shield did, and once I figured it out tried it on the fireball & the laser, to no avail. boss 4 was really hard for me due to the touchy dash controls. small qualms for an amazing 48 hr entry!
The main character sprite enticed me to check this out. solid gameplay, looked forward to seeing what the upgrades were.
Holy crap I made it past the first level! I feel accomplished =)
I showed that cat who was boss! Took a little time to figure out what to do (I was thought r-click would mine, like in starcraft) Had a neat dynamic of mining to unlock more of the map. Good stuff!
I enjoyed this experience! The audio elements were well put together and I liked discovering what mouse actions moved things forward.
Neat concept! I like the visual pattern matching. Just a little more feedback on whether you succeeded or failed would've helped a lot.
YEAH! Took him down! That was a good challenge, and nice progression between the different stages. Just a few sounds would work wonders, and having the tentacles flash depending on which ones were hit would be a nice touch.
I had fun with this one, it's a nice take on a classic =) Mario Bros, with leveling up? sign me up!
Utterly engrossing experience for me. The puzzle/discovery aspect of the main game was wonderful, and I think I enjoyed the compulsive "filling out the world" game even more. The mood set by the music was really fitting. Excellent work!
It was a moment of coolness when I figured out how I could use the jackhammer+jetpack to dump massive amounts of garbage into the stew. =) Would've been awesome to see a bigger picture of the monstrosity you've created at the end.
This was extremely neat! I love the way everything stuck together. I wish my poor computer could handle it better, the game would chug at the beginning of the level.
I like your game name. And I kicked the crap out of that monkey! I wish there was more I could do to avoid taking damage from the other darwin
I just love that this was inspired by your dog, who hung out with you the whole time you were making it. very heartwarming.
Nice simple mechanic! Changing your color was interesting in that everything that you'd been avoiding suddenly became this stockpile of goodness.
very interesting premise! I enjoyed the colorful dialogue =) It was hard to figure out the rhyme and reason behind what-eating-what in which order. Maybe that could be simplified a bit, at least in the beginning of the game.
Nice little adventure. It felt very old school in a good way. The sounds in this game were very satisfying for some reason.
I made it through all the levels! I was a little confused at first, but once I figured things out I had a good time. It was great to shoot things with the genome gun and see what they turned into.
This game has the best voice acting ever. And awesome use of selective breeding. Of all the characteristic breeding games this Jam I've seen so far, this one was the most intuitive. Kudos!
Very nice narrative. You got me attached to this cat in a very short time. I really felt old in the last scene!
That was quite fun! Really enjoyed the gradual evolution of my ship.
Wow, awesome graphics and sound! Impressive for just 48 hours
I dig these kind of games! I had a good time expanding my civilization and would love to see this expanded upon.
Holy crap was that spooky! Great job setting up that atmosphere
oh yeah! I got ALL the apples! I liked the perspective/hill, and shifting size to reach apples was interesting.
I was a bit confused on what to do at first, but once I understood, it was really neat! Definitely helped me bolster my color theory =)
I really liked this one! The music fits very well with the aesthetic. I would only suggest making everything a little bigger, as it was hard to click on the small kitties. Well done!
Thanks everyone! For the music I used Skale Tracker, basically a Windows version of Fast Tracker II. The instrument set I used was "nes_in_xm" by 01010111. Been listening to viking metal lately, so some of that influence seeped in there...
That was awesome! I played through the whole thing. Loved how when you evolved the visuals matched the mechanics. The end segment was pretty rough, but it's not unlike games of 22 years ago =)
This was fun! It really captured the feel of battling overgrown vegetation. The upgrades all felt good and the feeling and strategy of trying to stem the vines was unique. Great job!
cool concept for a game, and matched the theme nicely. It really got me rootin' for my beetle team. Might've been nice to have just a little bit to do while the fight was going on. The beetle leg animations really impressed me for some reason =)
Awesome art style! I had to play the game twice to see what would change if I took the other path. My favorite part was seeing the good/bad creatures scroll by in the background. I just wish there was more gameplay
Ok, that was really cool! The sense of scale in this game is amazing. I've not played too many games that let you scale up this much, so this was a unique experience. Thank you for that!
Ok, I laughed a lot. I loved the premise, dodo sprites & sounds. My life is better having played that game.
ok, I haven't laughed so hard playing a video game in awhile!
awesome graphics and atmosphere! the giant jellyfish wrecked me though.
47 points! Good simple gameplay, and I appreciated how the randomly disappearing tile sections changed the terrain.
Clever little game! I enjoyed it =)
I liked the little intro sequence and characters! I wish the game played a little faster (once I had a level figured out, it took awhile to watch the chicken progress through the level)
the controls and logic(like how lava only burns you when you click it, not when you touch it) felt a little wonky at first, but once you get into it and get used to the rules, it's surprisingly fun! I had a good time puzzling out which path I was gonna take. Nice job!
A very nice puzzle game, I'd like to see it expanded in the future. Maybe a different control for rotate, the game didn't respond well to me pressing down+left+right together and would only rotate me like 25% of the time.
Wow, this is awesome, I can't believe how much you did in 48 hours! Crashing a van into a building to make an entrance is a mechanic that needs to be used in more games for sure!
Awesome art, it was fun to dash around and the gameplay really made good use of the 10 second theme. Man that last room was tough! I dug that you managed to even get an ending in the game. Excellent job!
I made it to the sun! I loved that you're presented with a monumental task up front and you slowly build your way up to it. The different lifetimes gave the game some extra meaning. Nice job!
Wow, all the elements put together added up to quite a unique experience! I think the combination of the level design and art style made it so. The monotone-ness of the art was just hard enough to parse that it made things interesting. Very cool.
This game is great in all the ways
awesome mood and music!
Love the puke-attack, especially coming from this mild-mannered, glasses & turtleneck wearing dude! I couldn't figure out why I was dying sometimes, I thought I was taking my pills?
Well done! The player control is excellent and the variety of weapons is impressive!
The between-level transitions are really cool! I didn't feel like there was ever a reason to not hold down spacebar though, so perhaps you could've just had the player "always run"
I love the theming on this! Surprising amount of strategy to it, too. Awesome job!
I managed to pass level 3. I used the "keep the mouse held down" strat!
Some words of wisdom in here! Very enjoyable, thank you.
I had a great time through this =) It's a nicely condensed version of the island survival experience!
Best title screen ever! Theme is really clever too. This game taught me I was spelling the mary poppins song incorrectly this whole time. I would love if after you got a few bonuses you gained access to a page that tracked which bonuses you've completed/mastered.
Ok, that was way awesome.
Solving each level using a trial-and-error approach was fun!
The "both hands in the air dual-wielding magnets" sprite cracked me up. =)
For a first time Ludum Dare entry this is awesome!
Using the balloon was certainly tricky and challenging to optimize.
Nice, simple game and some great graphics. I love being able to shoot the hat off the other dude's head.
Awesome premise, the expressions on your friends' faces and the way they move had me laughing out loud.
All I can say is the boss must've picked up a way cooler sword than I did.
A platformer where the "platforms" slowly track you is surprisingly interesting to play! I liked the surreal turn the game took.
That was a lot of fun! My only nitpick would be to have the controls be left-click-and-drag to move troops instead of left-click then right-click.
This game is incredible. Well executed setting and multi-tiered game mechanics. Some of the lines of dialog had me laughing out loud. I couldn't tell how the javelin resource was getting used up (I seemed to keep accumulating it), but minor detail in an extremely enjoyable experience.
I slayed a ton of aardvarks!
I really enjoyed this! I had to play it a few times until I beat the high score (mine was 159). I was impressed that some nuances emerged as I played the game more (like how ship 1 seems more effective if I don't use auto-fire, and how ship 2 is the "safest" ship) Nice work!
I had fun playing this! The early levels were a bit trivial feeling, where you just stood at a chokepoint while the enemies were activated but later levels changed this up, thankfully. Once I perfected my "quickly alternate between left and right arrow" technique the enemies stood no chance!
I didn't expect watching my ship go down in flames would be so entertaining. Music and sound are top notch!
Totally demented, but in a good way! The lumberjack dance animations cracked me up!
I really liked how the 2 gameplay styles complemented each other. Well done!
Super creative! I had an idea like this when the jam started, but you executed on this much better than I could've. Awesome job
This hit all the right notes for me. A good mix of farming, discovery, and character interaction plus appealing character design.
No! Not the dreaded glitch-off-the-screen bug! I thought I fixed most of those cases, but I guess a few slipped through the cracks. Shoulda paid more attention in physics class!
I've noticed a few minor glitches as I'm playing through the game myself. Ah... it's nice to be able to relax post-compo and just play the game without freaking out. I have to say it's quite enjoyable and I'm proud of how this one turned out. =) (btw, it does take a lot of time to farm the 15k katana, but it's more tolerable in the 49-hour version where the red-eyed crabs generously explode into bushels of money)
Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to play. And I have to say, you haven't lived until you've hundred hand slapped 5 crabs in a row in the 49 hour edition!
@Todnut hahaha that would be incredible!
Thanks everyone for your feedback and for taking the time to check out the game =)
This is incredibly clever! Also incredibly difficult! (until you figure out that you have to shoot the left side of the screen to slow it down) Some checkpoints would have helped a bunch. Great job, super high marks in innovation and theme. I wish I could come with stuff as clever as this!
Just a few simple elements, yet it adds up to a nice shape-avoiding game as your brain tries to piece all the different circles together. That's some elegant design right there!
Whoa...
Cannon physics, rope swinging, and all this art, all in 48 hours? That's mighty impressive. I really enjoyed firing downward to "double-jump" (though you might consider giving a little hint about that, I was stuck for a while before I figured that out) Relating to the theme of the compo, I know it takes place on a stage, but I definitely got the feel that it was more than one screen. Still, it looks like you got quite a lot accomplished in 48 hours, bravo!
This kept impressing me more and more as I played it. I expected the game to end after 10 or so levels, being an LD game and all, but you almost have enough content in here for a full game! And you kept peppering in more interesting mechanics as I got to the later levels, which I appreciated. The only nitpick I might have is that it's hard to pick out your player character when the level starts, I kept not being able to find it for the first few levels. But yeah, there's something about the base mechanic of clicking on a circle to path there while dodging guards that's very satisfying. Well done!
The level of charm on this game is off the charts! The combo of audio/visuals just put a huge smile on my face while I was playing. Great job!
What an awesome premise! (Who doesn't want to control 100.000000000000000000000% of the galaxy?) It's such a tantalizing and easy-to-understand goal, especially seeing that minuscule 0.000000000...00000001% number. When I first started playing, the clicks felt a bit meaningless, but I soon figured out what does what. The moment it really started to draw me in was when I realized you have to balance what ratio of mines/launchpads/probes you had. I really appreciated how it's not just mindless clicking and everything progresses you forward like it is in some other more baked goods-y games. I've been sucked in this kind of game before, and you definitely got me here.
I loled at "factory factory", and the moment you realize you can build a factory of factory factories is just gold. The underlying beauty of this game is that it really gives you an appreciation of scale, of just what all those zeros mean. Stellar job on this!
I really liked how the map expanded as you went along (although I was confused as to why I couldn't move to explore the fog of war at first, maybe some barriers that lift as the map expands?) The main character's attack animation could definitely be snappier and happen sooner after clicking. Also could use some more ways to spend your money. Nice job overall! That red panda tail is mesmerizing!
How you managed to capture the feeling of dread in such a small game is quite a feat!
Fantastic! One of the funniest games I've ever played, jam or otherwise. The expressions of the office workers is golden. Perfect use of the theme too.
Thank you for giving me such a wonderfully huge (and intricately illustrated) world to explore! I really liked the music too
You chose an art style with a lot of charm! I really enjoyed the whole "cold things vs hot things" theme, and the game definitely skewed me towards the pro-cold side. Darn you, hairdryer! You could probably make the "Skip Turn" button something more useful, like perhaps a "Defend" button (and have some enemies telegraph some larger attacks). Great job on this!
I'm really drawn to the idea of navigating a tiny character through an intricate map that all fits on one screen, and would love to play a more fleshed out version of this. Could really use checkpoints though, hitting a spike halfway through the map is really harsh.
Love the presentation of this! The art was well done, but the enemies and the text was a bit hard to parse due to the angle of the "screen" (and also hard to see against the sea of bug corpses, maybe they could disappear after awhile?) Nice job overall!
Wow, how awesome is that art? I really liked the dragon's animation as it darted across the screen too.
Holy Cow, I can't juggle in real life but you certainly made me feel like I could! The snowman with all his animations and expressions is simply incredible. Best art I've seen this LD so far!
That's some charming sprite art you got there! I don't think there's enough going on the gameplay side of things, though. It just ends up being too easy to avoid everything.
Wow, this is like "real game" art, not game jam art! (it's unbelievably good) The core mechanics are solid, although there was a lot to take in at first so it was hard to figure out what was going on in the beginning. I could see ramping up the elements of the game as you go, giving you less options in the beginning and keeping you from getting confused/overwhelmed as you're learning the ropes. Very impressive!
This is neat! Definitely fun to try to figure out who the murderer was (got it on the first try) I would love to play a more fleshed out version of this. And gotta love that stutter-er-er-ing tech!
5/5 for audio
I've got a tagline for you:
Fart Force One- The only game where you can fart so hard your legs fall off
that was frantic! and fun! It really liked how as you completed more levels the objective changed from staying alive to seeing how quickly you could die (so you could switch to the one room you had left)
Just like in real life, where I'm always pooping my pants if I don't fart enough! The high-intensity music makes this game. 5/5 in humor, with one of the stars due to the name alone.
A bite-sized metroidvania that constantly expands yet stays on one screen (so you don't need to keep looking at a map!) What's not to like? That was very enjoyable to play through, thank you for that!
Awesome presentation and interpretation of the theme! Took me right back to the Apple II days. Love the unexpected twist. (I kept clicking on the spider at first to squish it, then I realized... I *am* the spider!)
Very creative, and great use of the theme! I appreciate how the name of the game tells you what your goal is too.
Hey, gimme back my pipe!
The game taught you the mechanics in an good way (I especially liked those curves you drew to illustrate how I should use the double jump)
The first time I did the rocket punch it felt awesome!
The level where you first encounter ice is a bit of a difficulty spike
I laughed out loud when I first understood the objective =) Nothing like getting bad guys off your tower by ramming into them! really liked the sprite art and oooo, that pixel sky...
Which chord? DisChord! Feel free to use that tagline if you want. This base mechanic led to some interesting puzzles, sort of like a super-sokoban. I really enjoyed it!
My brain was not prepared for the first 5 seconds of this game! It sure was an overload of senses, maybe that's what you're going for? I think the game could benefit from a ramping up of all the different game elements.
I loved this! It really appeals to the tinkerer in me. I've played some games like this before, but what sets this one apart is how you pick up the new pieces to work with as you progress through the level. And how you're going back and forth between setting things up to go further into the level vs. getting setting things up to acquire that one new piece.
I love that the larger you get, the more out of control you get. That, and the goal of getting every object on the screen, kept me playing for longer than I thought I would! The little touches like how the civilians get sucked into the snowball were great. I had a lot of fun with this one!
Nothing like beating the 1s and 0s out of cookies, eh? This was extremely clever, and I'd love to play more if you expand on this!
I loved this! There's an awesome sense of mystery as you're exploring the nooks and crannies of the screen. I really enjoyed the darkened pieces of the map that would reveal themselves as you got to the right places. I also like that you didn't explain too much, as the game is about discovery. The main character could be a little more visible at the beginning (I get that he gets more visible as you go, but I had a really hard time finding my character) But man! I wish I could play more of this. Did I say awesome graphics? Awesome graphics!
What a brilliant take on the Tetris formula! It's one of those things that makes me say "I can't believe no one's thought of this before", so kudos for being the one to think of it! One thing I would really really like is the ability to click on my current piece to rotate it so I can better visualize which tiles I want to click.
Wow, what an awesome style you've got going here. Really creative with the way you build up and tear down stages, and the wooden cutout look really unifies everything. Minor nitpick is that you don't mention how to jump before you have to jump over a police car, so I almost got stuck there. This is really impressive though.
Amazing use of the theme, it leads to some interesting puzzles for sure. I kept having the urge to move slides that weren't the top-most slide. (maybe because I feel like you'd be able to do that if these were slides in real-life) If you wanted to let the player do that, you could try letting the player move a lower slide if they click on a solid object on that slide (as long as there's only empty space on slides in front of it)
I know the secret of the cottage, and boy is it creepy! (I had to play until I found all 3 endings) It's extremely impressive how you manage to capture that survival-in-the-wilderness feel in so few pixels and actions. The art is top notch too.
Narwhal with a Gun?? Awesome theme! I wish there was more depth to the gameplay though. Did you think about letting 'W' jump the character? I prefer that with games that require my right hand to use the mouse. I also wasn't sure what the bacon did at first, but I soon figured it out.
Those graphics! THOSE GRAPHICS! How much appeal can you pack on a single screen? I dug the music too. Gameplay was solid, though I had a lot of trouble not falling into the water...
Quite an inventive version of a plate-spinning game, with a great build-up of elements.
That was wonderful, thanks for making it. If you told me so few pixels could move me this much I wouldn't have believed you. The music really enhances the mood, and going through the seasons is such a nice way to time-travel while keeping to the one-screen theme.
This game made me realize I most definitely need more voxel penguins in my life (I love the look of those little guys!)
I just love how ridiculous this game is. It's one of those games where you can be so focused on the matter at hand (in this case connecting a pencil to a cat) until you take a step back and think "What on earth am I doing??"
oh man, that was brilliant! Totally captured the feeling of going through technical support when the company couldn't be bothered to put a live person on the phone with you. I enjoyed this entry immensely =)
This game brought a huge smile to my face! =D There's really something appealing about that frog's simple character design. Made it to the end, and I'd totally play more of this.
Wow, the production quality of this is off the charts! I love the attention to detail you put into this. Little touches like the truck bopping to the beat of the music and that arrow key diagram on the title screen. Also, that ice cream cone has the best expression ever
Yay I got the game! Very impressed by your artwork! I love that knitting the runners a sweater = incapacitating them, hahaha
I really enjoyed this game! The ridiculousness of the art made me intrigued enough to try it out and I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice, simple, compelling game mechanic within.
That... was... awesome! Everything about it was incredible, from the effects to the gameplay to the music. Letting the jam drip down to some gears to blow them up felt real good. If this doesn't win then I don't even know anymore. How you managed as one person to do all of this in 42 hours is beyond me. I am in awe!
That mechanic is extremely cool! I'd love to play a full game with this base mechanic. Dropping an enemy into the lava by swapping in mid-air just felt soo good! I had trouble parsing which colored walls did what, even with the reminders. (Thank you for putting the reminders there, though, they did help) If you expand on this game, perhaps you could use sort of a "grate" metaphor for walls that you can shoot lasers through but not pass through.
I really enjoyed this! I love how you used the hair dryer to do 3 different things: fight enemy snowmen, melt ice-block obstacles, and the goal element of fixing all your friends' bad hair days. It was really satisfying to find all your friends, owing in part to the nice level design you did. Great stuff!
What a hilarious premise! Sweet backstory too. I really felt for the guy when he was getting pummeled while trying to think of something, anything to type. That was an awesome moment. It's pretty punishing to lose a life and still be restricted from words you used before. Makes each time you die even more difficult. This game sure made me appreciate 10 letter words though. Anyway, this is the perfect kind of game to be doing with a jam of this theme.
This was such a creative concept! The tunes were excellent, and I especially loved how each weapon introduced a variation of the base song.
Wow! Games should be about giving you unique experiences and your game has done just that. Thank you!
That was super cool! It's like Ikaruga meets pinball! I loved how just 2 buttons controlled so many elements, and how barriers/boost pads/flippers were at odds with each other so that you'd want to turn them on/off at different times
That was fun! My favorite moments were when I was heavily focused in one direction and then I turn to the other direction to see like a hundred crows!! Upgrades all felt meaningful, and it was extremely satisfying to nuke them crows!
This felt demented in a good way. Controls were responsive and it felt good to uppercut enemies due to the sound + screen shake. I kept feeling the desire to move in mid-air after uppercutting which was hard due to having to press both buttons at once
The art and presentation are top notch! And the look of that water! Oh, that water! The boat was quite difficult to control, I would've liked that to be toned down a notch. You got me to laugh though, so points for that!
Got all 5 gold trophies, BOYEEEE! I love how each level has a distinct feel both visually and aurally. The last level is my favorite of course! ;)
Was interesting when I wanted to go left but couldn't due to the 2 button restriction. I didn't get what the purpose of growing was, would've been nice to have a game mechanic tied to it. Oh, and super harsh to start you all the way over!
Enjoyable collection of minigames that got a bit tedious when they started repeating. I got tripped up during basic math section because I couldn't tell what was a 1 or 7
I kinda adore this game! It does feel rough around the edges but it's a game jam so that's to be expected. Landing your ship feels really awkward, and until you find the map it's real easy to get lost in space (maybe something on the first planet that hints you toward the planet with the map). I really liked how you taught things only as the player needed to know and in a fluid way. I would definitely play a fleshed out version of this game!
This game made me smile. I really liked how you elegantly taught the controls on your title screen. I found the game very difficult but instead of being frustrated when I lost over and over I just laughed, because cat paws! The cat itself is quite adorable and you nailed the "small world" theme.
Awesome mashup! I would've liked to have my character move just a tad faster, as backtracking felt kinda tedious with his current movement speed. The secret disappearing blocks were a wonderful addition, made exploring feel rewarding when you discovered a new passageway. Loved that the music changed as you filled the world with color (the tracks were pretty groovy too!)
I had a lot of fun with this! It's extremely satisfying to try to fit all pieces in while trying to balance colors. I might tune the need to balance colors to be more aggressive, meaning just one or two extra pieces of a color will drastically tip the scales. I'd love to play a polished version of this game!
I love games like this! I had an awesome time discovering all the different interactions. Really fitting to the theme and a great choice for type of game to make in 48 hours. Great job!
Possibly the best intro I've seen in an LD game! The art in this game is charming as hell. Game structure is solid and kept me playing hoping I could buy some sweet upgrades. It's tricky, but I would've liked the enemies to be bigger. The size they were made em real difficult to hit. Oh, and the game name is great. Awesome job on this!
Yay Starcraft! Great music and ambience. Just like in Starcraft though, you really ought to be able to left-click a single unit or building and be able to select it.
"You are that kid." What a great backstory! I dig this game. It's one of those games that's uber difficult but you can't help but keep trying and trying. Once you get into a groove you're like YEAH
It was cool to traverse all these different locales within such a short period of time, rotating as you go. That fit the theme really well. I noticed you even put a molten core in the middle of your world, which was a nice touch. More noticeable change (like an up-and-down bob) added to the run animation would've gone a long way. As it is it looks like squareface is just sliding along the ground. Also I couldn't tell why you weren't allowed to jump on certain enemies. When in doubt, look at what Super Mario does. No one expects that you can jump on the Spiny enemies! Overall a solid game!
This was a lot of fun! Collecting the little ducks for power-ups had me wanting to keep playing to see what new power-ups I would get. Rubber ducky with laser eyes in a bathtub is such a great theme. I love the little touches you put in with the bathroom tiles reflected in the water and the decorations on the edge of the tub. The squeak sound effects do a great job in selling me that the duck is made out of rubber, and the music is appropriately whimsical. Great stuff!
Lovely art and animation! I enjoyed the mix of 2d and 3d. At first I tried collecting the snowflakes and was surprised when they damaged me, but thinking about it later I guess to a tiny little bug snowflakes could hurt.
The art and effects are top notch! Nice choice of music too, it really gels with the visuals. At first I thought you were supposed to stop the arrows from hitting your planet, so the game seemed really easy. Then when I realized this planet was suicidal(I think) the gameplay made a lot more sense!
What a super cool premise. I'd love to see where you can take this. I would say that the character movement speed could be faster and the game seems to hang a bit when switching scenes but it looks like you've already addressed both of these!
I loved this, it had me cracking up big time! I managed to swing from his mustache and nab the gold tooth but it doesn't look like you can replace any teeth yet.
Super fascinating game! The grain & zoom effects you added to make the world feel microscopic were a real nice touch. I was almost ready to dismiss the game as more of a "toy" than a "game" when I discovered that the 3 letter codes weren't random presets, rather they correlated to your actual amoeba! I do think that's the key point you need to get across in the tutorial. Maybe start generation one with just a few amoeba, and when they all perish, display their 3 letter codes above them so you know the buttons correlate to actual amoeba. Perhaps you could also break it up into 2 phases where the first phase you're just choosing the amoeba you want to start your next strain with, and the second phase you're using DNA to augment that. Once I understood that, though, the other stuff was fun to discover on my own. Great job making something original and with lots to discover!
At first I wanted to click to drop sugar cubes for the ant, but once I understood the controls it became a clever way to adhere to the theme "Keep *It* Alive" vs "Keep Yourself Alive". (I also interpreted the theme to mean that you couldn't directly control the thing you are trying to keep alive) I found I could easily run a loop around the edge of the screen without any threat of getting hit by the magnifying glass. I would suggest having fruit appear somewhere in the middle section of the screen so that the magnifying glass could be more of a threat. Beyond that I think you'd want to add some more gameplay depth, as the current game is perhaps too simplistic. The art is well done and very clearly establishes the theme
I was already pretty on board with this zany theme of yours and the puppy arms wildly swaying about in the intro sealed the deal. Art was really well done, and the soundtrack is just amazing! The way I was playing the game I didn't feel like I was making any meaningful decisions though, just jamming the e key and watching the vehicle grow. In general the game could've benefited from more visual clarity with the UI elements. I thought the things that appeared on the sides of the carts were guns at first, but now I'm thinking they were health bars? There were tiny numbers all over the place and I wasn't able to tell what pertained to what. Something else problematic is I spent much of the game not knowing how much scrap I had. (only later did I notice the tiny yellow number beneath me) I'm a big believer in having UI elements be bigger the more important they are, and I think the scrap count is an important one. In addition to making it bigger, I might've found a permanent UI place for it somewhere near the prices for the upgrades, the proximity of those two would help me associate them. Also when I died, it came out of the blue, as I didn't know what number amongst all the numbers that I was supposed to be watching. I think calling more attention to that number would've been a big help.
I love the premise of trying to fulfill a needy slime's needs, that's super clever! I noticed "press WASD" in your ldjam page, but I would put it on your html5 page too (at the beginning of the instructions) because I spent a minute or two not being able to figure out what to do. (I tried pressing z, x, and clicking on everything) If you have the time, simple in-game messages like "Use WASD to move" go a long way.
I couldn't figure out what to do to get the food cooked, I tried bringing it to the oven and it looks like there's a minigame to get to get the food cooked. I tried clicking and tried pressing x or e when the line was over the hot dog but to no avail.
Sound effects are top notch! They made everything hilarious. When I hit a rock I wasn't upset, I was laughing! I thought the sharks would go towards the free food when I placed it but that didn't seem to be the case. I couldn't figure out what the icon for the other power up was. Having clear icons and visuals for these game jam games goes a long way. For instance, for bombs, having the round black ball with a fuse lets us instantly tell that it'll explode.
Pretty great puzzle game you came up with here! With some polish and additions I could see this becoming one of those puzzle games people get crazy addicted to. It's extremely satisfying to fill a space perfectly.
Some random notes: -On lvl 1 I was thinking "I really want to rotate!" and you gave it to me on the very next level. Nice! -I don't know if the alive % chart UI is necessary, and it initially had me thinking there was more to it than it was. There might be a better way of displaying this or perhaps not displaying it at all is the answer. -I liked the way the game ramped up, I found chapter five (confrontation) was the sweet spot where the game got really good for me. That said, the last level was a step back for me in terms of fun. I get that the last level's supposed to be very difficult, though. -letting the player reply with "Very Well" upon losing fits the flavor of the game perfectly -The three point triangle pieces (with gaps in between each point) and to a lesser extent the 2 vertical roses with a gap in between were problematic for me. Even after using them for awhile I could never get the hang of which of the two triangle variants I had, and would "try out" a triangle piece, rotating it through all the rotations before figuring out I had the wrong one. A few approaches on how to solve this: 1. Make these pieces very rare. If I encounter them less then I spend less of the game being frustrated. 2. Remove them altogether. 3. Remove one of the variants. Perhaps with one of the variants missing it makes it easier to learn that shape. 4. Combine the two triangle pieces into one. Instead of having the triangle piece cycle through after 2 rotations(180 degrees rotation), combine the two and alternate between them, creating an uber-triangle piece that cycles through in 4 rotations(90 degrees each rotation). You end of with a piece with a lot more versatility and likely relieve the frustrations I had
Neat little physics puzzler! I would maybe halve the number of banana boxes needed to pass each level, as once I had the levels figured out they would tend to be on the tedious side to complete (Especially the early levels tended to overstay their welcome) The sound used whenever a box hits something is elevated in volume disproportionately to how important it is. I would either leave it out and find other places to incorporate sound or turn that sound way down in volume. The main monster design is appealing and is what drew me to want to try this game out!
This was quite enjoyable, I can see it potentially getting quite addictive with the right additions! One thing that seemed odd was that to get the highest score (my impression is that it factors in most time elapsed) the right strategy might be to just sit there and let your time run out once you're low enough on battery power and you can't see any batteries to pick up. Scoring "how far down can you dig?" instead would let you avoid that weirdness.
I was initially drawn to this game because of the walnut. As someone who's spent some amount of time designing walnuts with faces on them, it just seemed so familiar... and then I saw the zombies lol.
I have to give you kudos on the way you teach players the game. The text that's "stuck to the wall" is my favorite kind of tutorial for platformers because it gives you the info right when you need it.
I was stuck for a long time on the first puzzle where you're trying to throw the walnut upward to hit a button. I was pointing it in the right direction but never could throw with enough force. It was only after maybe the 20th try where I figured out that the further you hold the mouse the further the walnut goes.
I got permanently stuck on the tall wall puzzle. (right before the end of the first level) I thought that dropping the walnut would let me jump higher, so I double-jumped and dropped the walnut on the upper ledge first, then tried to jump unencumbered but couldn't make it up the wall any more, and the walnut was now out of reach
Theme is great, it's hard to go wrong with protecting a walnut with a bow tie on it. :)
I really enjoyed the theme and really liked the look of the plant animating by bobbling back and forth. Unfortunately for me, tying the mechanics of the game to the bobbling made it too difficult to hit the bugs. I think it's already enough of a challenge with pulling back and aiming using the arc, adding the bobbling just made it frustrating. I think for the first level at least just a stationary place to fire from would've made the game a lot more playable for me. As it was, it gave me such an uneasy feeling trying to aim that I couldn't bring myself to try again after I'd lost twice, despite reading that people were having fun on the second level. Something else I might adjust is that it's extra punishing once bugs reach your plant. If I was having a hard time hitting them already, they were extra hard to hit when they're right underneath you. It makes less thematic sense, but perhaps making the bugs go away after chomping your plant some number of times would be less punishing
This is really cool! There's a surprising amount of polish for a game jam game with the ice extending at the end of the level, the lines that telegraph the eggs, and the tutorial. Sound, music, art are solid all around. I was also impressed by the variety of patterns eggs would come at you in.
I only have a few minor nitpicks that don't really affect my score for this: 1. The penguin that eats your fish should be a different color, kinda like the enemy penguins. I was confused and thought I was eating the fish at first 2. The time between when you teach how to fight enemy penguins and when you next encounter them is pretty long. I can see people forgetting what key to press in that time.
The art for this game is quite good, I loved the looks of all the different creature party-goers! It was fun to figure out where in the party everything was at, but once I was past that, the gameplay felt a bit shallow. Also, thematically I feel like I should still be able to queue up more music while my hands are full (I get that the trade-off makes gameplay more interesting)
Wow, the character artwork for this game is just incredible! The parent and baby plats are just oozing with charm! The controls felt just a tad wonky at times, like I wanted the picking up and putting down of crates to feel less floaty/glide-y. Since it looks like you have physics implemented I would've liked to some expanding on that mechanics-wise. (I realize that with game jams time can be short, though)
I appreciate the sense of discovery you get out of this game, when I managed to make my first blue and red egg monsters that was a real satisfying moment. The main thing I would suggest is there is a lot to teach in this game, I would perhaps break it up into levels and just let the player learn feeding level 1, breeding and entertaining level 2, and power ups level 3. (I didn't even get to using the power-ups because there was so much other stuff to take in)
The shift-click to add to bank vs ctrl-click to feed to king felt awkward here in that it's near impossible to intuit that those were the controls unless you thoroughly read the help section. I would implement dragging goop onto your bank adds to the bank and dragging goop onto the king feeds the king. (Or clicking the goop banks it and dragging it onto the king feeds him)
I enjoyed the art, it had its charm for sure. A minor nitpick is the numbers on the goop were difficult to see.
This was an adorable game! This is why I love playing and giving feedback after game jams it's to discover unique games like this that you'd otherwise *never* get to play! Sure, it's a little rough around the edges, (the weight doesn't seem to reset between restarts) but I feel like this game taught me about culture (German culture *and* yeast culture!) and did so in an adorable way.
There's definitely something that drew me in and made me want to keep playing until I beat it! I did feel like I was getting better at it with each retry, so that's a good thing as well. I do wonder if some rock formations just make it impossible to beat? Overall, impressive job on this one!
Best intro and game name ever! The premise is hilarious and the gameplay definitely has potential. I'm not a fan of Josh starting off already running and think the game would be just as interesting if you could set everything up the way you want it then press the "Josh GO" button. I also found myself fighting with the controls a lot. I knew what I wanted to do, but between pressing 1 to cycle and pressing 3 I was constantly not doing what I wanted to do. This frustration was amplified being on a timer with Josh starting off already running. Since you have mouse controls already, why not let the player directly click on the upper menu which would put the desired piece into the cursor, then click again to place it? Destroying rocks could be just another item on that menu (like dynamite) and with limited charges would make things pretty interesting. Like I said, the premise really sold me on this game and it's very impressive for your first game jam. Looking forward to playing more of your jam games in the future!
Very cool premise! Fresh concepts like these usually require lots of teaching but the theme was so well integrated that it feels very intuitive (everyone knows you point the light at the plant to keep it alive, for instance)
I did manage to get stuck inside some between some glass and a ledge
Maybe it was just me falling off that ledge repeatedly, but as a first obstacle I might've put some more area to stand on after that first spike. It felt abnormally difficult for something so early on to hop over the spike and land on the sliver of space to the right of it before making a larger jump.
I saw what this game was about and I HAD to play it! (I'm the creator of Plants vs. Zombies)
The music stood out to me right away as being really well done.
I'm not sure about using a diamond as a weapon. It didn't scream "weapon" to me. (Now here's where you laugh and say "Yeah, and Peas are??") I was thinking something like shotgun or throwing knives or even a yo-yo would say "weapon" more
Once I realized I could shoot through the plant I just stood in place and the game got a lot easier. Too easy I think. The game is a bit too simplistic in my opinion, I would love to see an added element or two to keep the gameplay interesting.