FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → fundamental.phantom

fundamental.phantom

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRank
201636Ancient TechnologyTori Tori Panic!jam

Comments by fundamental.phantom

LD36 — Ancient Technology

Arch Journey by skorpyo 2016-09-01T00:48:00

The game is pretty intuitive to play. nice job on your first game!

dim lighting and ominous foot steps really fit the mood, although the walk sound cutting off when you stop walking / lack of jump sound was kind of jarring

this is a relatively short bit of game, but checkpoints would be nice. i kept dying on the part where you have to jump down and backtrack, cause I couldn't see the platforms under me, but I could see the ones above, so that could be a point to consider.

The puzzles are pretty easy, but I'm not say that's a bad thing, as there are some ludum dare games that are Waaaayyy too hard. Feel free to make it harder! Puzzles were also straightforward and not very confusing :). Good attention to detail. I kind of want to say throw in some false leads on later levels, but that depends on how you want your game to feel/play

Guidance by Avalanche Games 2016-08-31T03:17:00

very intuitive, didn't even read the instructions
also looks very nice

i like the potential of multiple solutions :D

Guidance by Avalanche Games 2016-09-02T17:53:00

@blubberquark in their defense, I feel like they might have spent a LOT of time making and designing the other stuff like the art and making the game work well and not be buggy.

(Not saying I don't agree with you on the simplicity of the levels)

but then again neither of us will know unless @avalanche-games makes a post mortem!

Guidance by Avalanche Games 2016-09-04T20:20:00

@avalanche-games

I can't really call myself an expert, but from the post-mortem's I've read/done, it seems to be a general overview of the process behind the game:

how you came up with art style / mechanics / etc
what you spent a lot of time fixing / not that much time
what you wanted to do / what you didn't have time to do
what you feel like you did well / didn't do well
stuff like that.

basically behind the scenes / what you learned

Miky the Inuit by publicidadeba 2016-08-31T06:21:00

Graphics and music are very good!
I really like the semi-dorky walk animation (and it's a top-down 2.5 d game, so much work :O)
the tileset looks nice!

music very moody, makes the game feel cold and snowy, especially the 'wind', and the glassy percussion chimey stuff. The bass playing throughout really adds to the sense of ominousness

winter timer and body temperature UI are good, really add to the sense of urgency and are intuitive.

I like how you didn't give the player a mini map, so they have to explore and memorize the location of the huts. It really makes it more 'exploratory' and 'unknown' cause the player doesn't know where the things are (random), and they have to get a feel for the map

issues:
in a game where time is of the essence, add keyboard shortcuts for inventory management, as i spent too much time fumbling through the inventory

make the intro skippable using buttons, i was clicking everywhere trying to make it go when it was too long

the 'go inside/outside' buttons didn't really look like buttons to me, so i spent time clicking the house trying to go in. make it more clear it's clickable, or make clicking the house go in or use the up arrow key to quickly go into house

add inventory page numbers

overall:
needs a few more UI tweaks to make it more intuitive to the player, but
very moody/good looking game, good exploration gameplay with a sense of urgency!

Tori Tori Panic! by fundamental.phantom 2016-08-31T03:21:00

yeah we had trouble settling on a camera scheme. We'll need to really work on that for the post jam version

SUNWARD by graebor 2016-08-30T02:29:00

soo atmospheric :D
very cool, good attention to detail with the environment
very intuitive
really well done!

only issues I have with the game is retrieving fallen spears (a bit tedious at times), and animals running into the fire

Smart Again by belva1234 2016-08-31T17:14:00

I like how his moustache falls off when he dies :{O
nice art :O

make the item pick up click shorter instead of holding for so long. that made the game a bit tedious

Also, it would be nice if there was a visual indicator for when items are being used, or are Done being used, cause it was kind of confusing using some items and seems like nothing happened.

overall, a fun little point and click adventure!

Alchimancer by vicious_br 2016-09-05T23:04:00

good graphics and music. I'm not exactly a fan of the 80s, but you guys pulled it off.
good sound effects, they add to the immersion
the art is really good, esp the font and landscape

the upgrade system looks cool, but it is not very intuitive at first. It kind of makes you think that you can choose which weapon to use, but you can't.

the in combat UI is pretty intuitive, showing how much health / resources you have, etc..

I really agree with what @HuvaaKoodia says.
The combat gets kind of old after a but, just turns into spamming. I agree with what some of the people said above, to have some sort of different enemies that force you to kind of change your playstyle. Otherwise the progression in this game goes from spamming weak attacks to spamming more efficient attacks.

it would be nice to hear an impact noise or see a particle effect when I am punching the robot, so it doesn't feel like nothing was happening. Either that or he has a wonky hitbox (even if i am hitting from the back)
Also, pause button in combat mode.

Archeology Simulator 3092 by brookzerker 2016-09-01T03:13:00

as you've probably heard before, the game doesn't fit the screen, so it's hard to see things.

I think shields going into negative is fine for one turn, then to 0 on the next. but that might be just me. I like seeing over-damage

make the buttons have different click/unclicked states, so it gives more feedback to what's happening, and gray out things you can't do?

also put laser/missiles max damage on screen?

other than that UI is easy to look at, the colored text helps a lot too when you're running low

it was fun :D

at first I died a lot, because I was too stingy with my missiles at low level, and I also didn't realize you could run from pirate boss...but then after playing for a while I became too overpowered cause I kept finding laser batteries. So that might be something to change?

Warp Stone by Madsj 2016-09-07T03:12:00

The art is simple, but it's pretty cute. and it works.
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The music is nice, sounds very exploratory.
I really like how it starts when you grab that puzzle piece, and also how the boss has a different theme music, it really gives it a different mood.

The main music starts off really strong (all your sections start off strong), but they seem to kind of wander aimlessly, not really giving a sense of progression; Try modifying the chord progression/rhythm/presence of each instrument.

I can see what you're going for with the slower bridge, but the rhythm kind of makes it incoherent; I feel like a nice, slow flowing melody could contrast with the original nicely (and I think you're capable of that :D)
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I like the platformer controls, they feel good, and generally let you move as you want, but sometimes they do leave some precision to be desired.
On the other hand, the bouncy ball controls/mechanic feel really clunky and hard to control. Some of the levels I skipped because it felt like too much waiting for a good bounce.

I'm not sure I like how you drop like a rock whenever you come out of the Bubble.. but I guess that's to prevent jumping right when you get out.

The instant restart is a very nice touch, it kind of mitigates some frustration.

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I kind of like the boss fight, though there wasn't much leading up to it that really prepared you for it. There were some bugs such as when I was in the bubble and got stuck under him, so when the bubble ended, I died...

The rain actually was kind of fair: it forced the players to move around carefully and quickly, but wasn't generated so harshly that it was impossible.

I think a good thing to do for this boss would be to 'telegraph' his moves. as in make his rain move versus his charge move have slightly different but distinct windup animations. A lot of games where bosses have varied attacks (e.g. Dark Souls) have this 'telegraph' so that players can have a fair chance of avoiding the right attack in the right way, but are also fairly punished when they panic and do the wrong thing.

You did this very well with the spikes! first having the tips show, with no damage, followed up by the actual damage. However, the boss has different attacks with different consequences, so that's why it will need different windups.
(The way this boss is is a little too twitchy, players are always on edge when they see him preparing for an attack. And its not very forgiving cause you have to hit the boss multiple times and you die in one hit.)

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On a last note, please make it so when player touches the exit, they instantly complete the level, instead of having to wait for a short time. In a game where people are constantly dying and trying again, the exit is supposed to be a safe haven. But since it's not like that in this game, it doesn't just seem 'unforgiving', it's unfair.
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Overall, I like the mechanic of the bubble, where you sacrifice some control for protection, but it feels like the bubble is waaay too hard to control.

In addition, I feel you do a good job with the earlier level design (up till the level with the 4 red walls in the middle), introducing the player to specific mechanics/strategies.
I definitely found the game fun, but starting from that level with the 4 red walls, the game just started to seem more like 'get the right bounce, and be VERY specific about when you press which button'. It didn't seem as fun anymore because it seemed to be about super precise nuanced platforming. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's good level design.
But you do have good ideas:
- the level right after the 4 walls level, with the spikes in the middle, trying to teach players about when to use the bubble mid air
- the second to last level before the boss, teaching players about clever platforming and use of double jumps

This definitely has potential, don't let the negatives bring you down :D
you completed a game in 48 hours ALL BY yourself!!! that's something to be proud of

now go make more games!!!!

Lost Kas by ThreeLivesGames 2016-08-31T23:11:00

this is a really really cool and unique concept! I really like the circles idea, forcing the player to consider rhythm and character spacing.

some notes
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The music fits the aesthetic well: gives a sense of exploring a mysterious and decrepit dungeon
However, I think it would be better to make the beat more clear to the player other than bass notes and sparse percussion (speaking from experience, as I spent entire spring semester with a team making a rhythm platformer, and also making the music for it).
I like the beginning where you get to test out the rhythm mechanic before actually going into a room, but maybe add some rhythm percussion or beat indication in that room?

also it seems i can't put out more than 4 circles at a time without breaking a string??
This might just be me, but I feel the tremolo effect on the sitar is a little distracting from the rythm

the pause to restring is a good idea to punish players from spamming, but it seems too punishing:
you lose your circles AND your movement, so you're left with no way to defend yourself.
maybe choose one thing for the player to lose instead of both, like losing circles...or some other way to punish them
because as it is, breaking the string is a guaranteed health loss

the levels appear to be procedurally generated, which is pretty cool,
but some of the levels seem impossible to beat, as in I enter a room,
the door closes, and I'm right in a bottleneck with a bunch of enemies I can't avoid

the art is very well done too! I really like the tileset, player character, and the death animation :D

overall:
this is a pretty cool game, mechanics and art wise. My main issues with it are the beat detection and level design.

Since your gameplay mainly seems to revolve around the player running around trying to avoid touching enemies while shooting the musical circles out, I feel like it would make more sense to make some of the rooms less linear, and more loop-ish, with strategic obstacles to account for the unique way the game is played.

I think this game has a lot of potential, esp if you address those issues (my 2 cents)

you guys are very ambitious, making a rhythm game for ludum dare :O

***i opened up your Mainmusic in Audacity, and the file doesn't line up with the start, there's a tiny bit of space until the actual music starts. I don't know if you accounted for that or not, or I could just be really bad a the game, but that could be an issue.

Lost Kas by ThreeLivesGames 2016-08-31T23:19:00

I also opened up your sitar twang files in audacity, and there is also a small delay of ~.08 seconds before each sound starts, So I think that is the issue here: not accounting for that delay.

(~15 milliseconds, or 0.015 s is around the lower bound of where humans can detect rhythm discrepancies)

I think I'm decent at music, so the chance I am playing off consistently is lower.