Gallery by ExciteMike
Arg, that sneaky extra block!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → furblesmith
furblesmith leaves an average of 32.7 feedback comments each event.
Arg, that sneaky extra block!
Very ambitious, and you've managed to complete something quite cool even though it's less than you planned.
The alien attack wiped out almost all of my ships and started spinning merrily around my homeworld. I rebuilt my forces on the border worlds and came back to fight them off. When there were only a few left, the framerate became acceptable and I could watch the battles. That was cool.
Congratulations on putting something together at the end.
The game is quick and easy, I killed a lot of the bad guys accidentally off screen but there were a few I had to hunt down and take out directly.
I felt like the lighting-up-walls mechanic didn't tie in to the gameplay as much as it could have - seeing where the walls were wasn't very important, perhaps because of how the level generation worked.
Cool. The graphics are simple but they show everything clearly. The transition effects make it easy to understand how each new power works.
Having a power that changes is an interesting take on one-button controls that I haven't seen before - I liked it.
Um... this was kind of mind-expanding and kind of annoying.
At first, I didn't realise that it was interactive (the arrow keys did nothing!) so I watched the little man run.
Once I figured out what I could do, I went hunting for the white things, but nothing happened when I touched them. Some were hard to get to, and when I finally got there they still did nothing. And then there were a few that I never managed to get to.
So for the whole game I don't know know if it was winnable, or if I was doing the right thing to win. Which made it a curious experience, not unpleasant, but pleasantly strange.
This captures a particular mood very well but the slow and awkward controls make it difficult to enjoy.
One problem is that I often got stuck so that I couldn't turn. Because I didn't know what shape my body's collider was, it was hard to work out how to unstick myself.
I did enjoy exploring the ship, and managed to find two treasures before getting stuck and giving up.
Pretty cool. Very unforgiving with its permanent death but maybe that fits the setting. I tried many times, and died in a lot of different places :)
Yay, roguelike!
Yay, java!
This is great. It has all the right parts where you'd expect them, nothing feels rushed or missing.
Minor problems are that the font is hard to read, and it's a bit annoying trying to remember whether some inventory on the ground is better than what you've currently got or not. (Perhaps that's just how roguelikes are?) Also, although I didn't get too far, there wasn't much variety in items with almost everything leather or rusty leather. (I found some better items in shops).
It all looks very stylish and most of the controls (like shooting) are very streamlined.
Thanks for the game.
Thanks for the windows build.
You have some great line-of-sight technology here. I would love to see you do more with it.
I think you've made the game a bit hard by giving the player a very limited field of view and a slow turning speed - I feel like some of the levels can only be beaten by memorising where the enemies will be because the player's vision isn't good enough. (Giving the guards footstep sounds could be an alternative way to make it easier.) I found level three particularly difficult.
Nice sneaking mechanics though, and I thought that the game was just the right length.
My stats:
Lvl 1: 56s. Lost 1 time.
Lvl 2: 21s. Lost 1 time
Level 3: 267s. Lost 24 times.
Level 4: 135s. Lost 7 times.
Level 5: 55s. Lost 7 times.
I zoomed around and named lots of planets. A lot of them have 'N' at the start because of a key entry bug and me not realising that you can backspace with the left arrow key...
Nice idea, and it works well. It feels quite complete in the state that it's in.
At first, I thought I was meant to hit planets with my probes, but I worked it out eventually.
Although it's a fast game with a time limit, I didn't feel a sense of urgency and I had to keep reminding myself to move quickly instead of thinking carefully.
Reminds me of sailing around with a trireme in Civilization.
The world is nice and big for exploring, and I could imagine this being a lot of fun if there were things to discover.
Wow, Chrome is much faster than Firefox...
It's interesting working towards a goal that is such a long way away... not exactly fun but an interesting feeling all the same.
[edit: actually I kept playing. Now I'm earning money than faster I can spend it (holding down enter on the buy button), but I'm sadly limited by the spaceship's ability to accelerate - there's nothing I can buy that will speed that up, so I'm still going to take forever to get anywhere.]
The starfield looks nice. And I'm having fun trying to maximise my income without wasting my probes too soon.
Um, I need to go rate another game now, but I might just leave this running on my other screen...
Very cool idea, and I wanted to like it,but I found it very hard. On my first attempt I never noticed the rate of beeping changing at all. The second time I managed to find a slightly faster patch but couldn't work out exactly where to go.
As others have suggested, more or different audio queues might make it easier. I've seenheard a game that used a wind sound to let you know which way you were facing - the wind is loudest when you're facing into it.
I would like to have been able to see a map showing my stumbling path after I quit.
Visually, I love it. The pink things coming through the walls, the motions of the spikes, the pool of red... it's great.
I did not like the difficulty. I found it very frustrating when I climbed up a ladder and accidentally jumped at the top, hitting spinners, or when I jumped up out of one screen into another and hit a spinner above me - some people like that kind of challenge but to me it feels like the game is being cheap.
Sometimes it's hard to tell how hard your own games are so maybe try watching someone play and see where they die the most and make those bits easier - at least at the start.
I played up until I got one heart segment, but couldn't take any more. I'm sure people who enjoy very hard games will get a kick out of this, though, and However, I think the art style is unique and very creative.
The falling is unpleasant, but I played the updated version through to the end.
There are some balance issues. I got enough boboil gems for the top items before I could afford the gold and amethyst items, and combat seemed very risky and slow and unrewarding compared to mining.
It was satisfying getting the upgrades though and I liked the amusing descriptions of the items. It's nice that the items appear on the character in the animation.
Wow, it's sad that you didn't finish because this looks very interesting.
I like the intro sequence that zooms into the starfield.
As Wiering and phil already said, movement is painfully slow (especially without diagonals) and the ships don't quite seem useful. But I love the idea of putting my wooden space ship back together and cruising back into space.
(I assume you can win by getting three engine parts? I only ever found one.)
Congratulations on your first LD!
When I started playing, I didn't notice the 'metres explored' counter at the top, and I was going to say it's annoying that you don't know how much progress you've made. But now I've noticed the counter so I see that you already thought of that.
Right now, the asteroids appear inside the screen so I can see them appearing - if they appeared just off the edge of the screen instead, it would create the illusion that they were always there.
There isn't much to the game so far but I could imagine you adding a reward system (maybe something happens after you explore a certain amount?) or more things to do to keep it interesting for longer.
I hope you had a good time and will come back for the next ludum dare.
Wow, too hard for me. The first row of blue stars is tough, and it just gets tougher. I got up to the orange sky.
It's nice to stand on stars instead of collecting them for a change.
I pretended that I couldn't touch the walls or bullets and got to the end OK. This has the potential to be a very interesting game - I like the idea of exploring a hostile base in a helicopter - but right now there is not much to it.
A couple of things almost stopped me getting into this game. First, I pressed escape to get out of the inventory screen and the game quit.
Then on my second attempt, I collected junk because that's what I thought you were meant to do, and when I sold it and got no money I thought the game was bugged.
But once I worked out what was going on, I really enjoyed the game. I love the creative items, both the funny ones and others that suggest the story of the destroyed fleet.
The variety keeps the game interesting and I wanted to keep exploring to find bigger and better treasures. The surprise hostilities at the end were great too. The only disappointing thing is that there is no ending, so once I had all the upgrades I was left with no reason to use them.
I enjoyed this. I liked the theme and your ideas about exploration - the game packs a lot of meaning into very simple mechanics.
One annoyance: it was frustrating the first time I played because I had too many rocks by the time I found out the required number. Which left me doomed...
Crazy fun times. I found it more effective to zoom around desperately than to go slow and steady. Going fast and reckless seems to match the music and the storyline too.
A shadow would be nice, to show how far the explorer is to hitting the edge.
I enjoyed the "oh-no-oh-no-oh-no!' feeling of I got as I tried to squeeze into the gap before it was too late :O and the short-lived relief each time I made it.
This is beautiful! I love the bright, creative platforms, and the subtle backgrounds - I didn't notice the huge dinosaur on level 2 until my second playthrough.
Looking forward to seeing your next game :)
The second screen is very hard and I almost quit there. It's not just that it's hard, but that each time you die you have to click through the high score screen and then start all over again. I would prefer to be able to try again straight away.
I did eventually get through that screen though and enjoyed the next few screens, but as you only get one life it is still very unforgiving.
Please consider letting people continue on from the screen where they died instead of starting again.
I got up to the skylinecity level. It looks like there is a lot of variety in the level backgrounds which is cool.
This looks fantastic. I explored everywhere that I could, taking in all the detail in the backgrounds. The character's animation looks great too. Please don't give up on this.
Rex is cool :) I actually smiled at the noises.
I didn't like the popup box after finding each item - I think it breaks the flow. (I'd prefer it if Rex said 'Great!' and got straight on to the next item.)
I also didn't like being asked to find the same object more than once - it took away my feeling of making progress. I would rather be asked to find several different items and then be given a reward (like a thank you screen).
It was sweet that the game thanked me when I finished, though.
Congratulations on your first LD!
I like the comments from the inhabitants of Satisfactoria and the player ship as it ventures forth.
The rotation limiting was fine once I realised what was happening, but before then it was very confusing - it just seemed like my ship suddenly lost the ability to turn. Some kind of feedback to let the player know what has happened would be helpful.
The endings were a bit disappointing. (I enjoyed the first one I found, but then the others all seemed the same.)
Still, it was an interesting experience and conveyed its message well.
This is super awesome. There is so much going on!
The controls are a bit awkward, but hey, ascii platformers were always like that.
I stopped when I got stuck somehow trying to retreat out of volcanicity.
Love the music, love the different locations that I saw.
This has a strong idea and the season changing effect is very compelling and fits in with the theme.
The controls are awkward; I found turning and moving difficult and I couldn't tell what I could and couldn't pass through. This distracted me from the setting and the message of the game. I think that improving the controls would make it easier for people to the other parts of the game (which are really good).
(on playing again, I see that there are shadows around the trees that show the collision circles. The first time I played, the trees were close together and I didn't notice these.)
You managed to get a lot of fun out of a simple idea. The sound is great and the game held my attention for several attempts.
The sudden twists in the tunnel are tricky!
I like the way the robot moves.
Whenever I died, I could always find my way back to where I wanted to be without any trouble. I think that shows that the level layout was well designed.
My only criticism is that the final powerup didn't get much use. It feels a bit anticlimatic after having to master the other powers.
cat planet cat planet cat planet!
I love the music and the cheerful cats and the difficulty curve which starts easy and takes you places you didn't think you'd go.
Good thinking on the "Have you got 61 cats?" tip - it certainly saved the game for me.
I've only got one suggestion, which is that the ending could be more cheerful. The game ends with the player stuck in a grey cave, with no easy way back to the happy cat village. I would prefer to end the game at a happy place.
Fun! Addictive. Cool tunnel effect.
I hate the sound that plays when you reach the next 10%... I like getting progress updates though.
It gets hard at the end - I died a lot after the 90% mark. But I couldn't let myself quit until I won, so well done.
I like the idea - shooting stalactites and getting chain reactions, and deciding whether to sneak past bats or disturb and fight them.
However, I found it frustrating that many ants appeared in places where I could not kill them. I died a lot on level 1 from trying to kill ants :/
Wow, I played this for a long time! Once I worked out how to play well I quickly got into a flow, which only occasionally got broken when I had a piece of sun trapped in a big block of ice so that i had to wait to melt to it.
Lots of fun. Some obvious areas for improvement are making it easier to jump on the melting ice, as sometimes the jump key didn't work, and give some way to tell how far you've gone - although the game feels kind of zen-like without a score.
I love the music :)
There is not much to this, but it's great that you managed to get something finished and playable in those last few hours.
Quite fun although a bit rough. I occasionally got stuck. I liked the density of the enemies, I would have liked a satisfying sound when I destroyed one of them.
This game made me sooo angry. It was hard and the movement was sudden and unforgiving. But it was fair, too, so every time I died I raged for a while and then tried again. Got to the end with 54 deaths.
I like how the game doesn't tell you that you can double jump, but quickly makes you to discover it by yourself.
I would have preferred a livlier or more colourful victory screen after all my hard work. It didn't feel like I was out of the dark cavern.
Very cool. The original is quite fun and your post-compo releases improve on all the obvious issues.
I'm not sure I like shooting a rectangle to win the level, though - I would rather win by shooting something made out of destructable pixels, as that's the most satisfying part of the game.
Wow, the rock effect is great! I love the way that the ship will 'sink' through rock when its left alone, and the satisfying bloop sound after collecting a cell of gold.
The torches and lighting puzzles are cool. Fighting the bats was not very interesting though.
In the final battle, the dragon stopped attacking when I stood close to it. This made it very easy to defeat.
Simple but it works well. I think you may be able to tweak the player character movement to be more fluid and less prone to getting stuck on edges.
There are some nice puzzles.
This is a cool idea, and what you have so far is nicely done. As others have said, there isn't much variety or 'game' yet, but I would like to see what you come up with if you develop this further.
I'm on windows, and having the same fast movement problems as other people. This looks like it could become an interesting shooter though.
This was fun to play and feels very complete. Well done.
The slow movement combined with restarting from start when you die and the sudden current in the three-tentacle room is a hash combination! The big square collision boxes are harsh too. (I found the debug mode key that showed them but it didn't help me get through the tentacle room...)
The exploding shark is awesome, as is the tone of the game, but you have some difficulty tweaking to do!
The cover-based gameplay is great and you've made it fun and easy to control. Shopsupgrade systems are always good, and I love trying to surround the enemies and stop them from surrounding my guys.
I found switching between teams with spacebar a bit awkward at first, and would rather be able to press 1 and 2 or some other keys to select the different teams.
After playing the four levels I tried making a longer level in the editor, but I gave up quickly because the editor was slow to use - moving from tile to tile is a bit hard to do quickly.
This looks like it could be very fun, but you need a good example level to show it.
I like the way you've implemented the track changes - it feels very natural and just how I would expect it to work.
I would love to play an updated version if you make one - just a little more time could turn this into a really good game.
Wow! It's an achievement. It was great watching your progress over the weekend and seeing the final product.
Fun! I like the way that you can block off the raptors, giving you all the time in the world, but in the end you have to go back and face them. And the music and all the sound effects give a great vibe.
I think I hit a bug on level 8 - I'm sure I got all the mushrooms but the exit door would not let me out.
I enjoyed this. It looks good and plays well. I got to an 'end' room (going through a 'LD15' room) but didn't play many levels on my way there, and couldn't get back out.
The way the spiders work is very cool and it was fun trying to outsmart them.
This was a lot of fun! Who knew bubbles would make such interesting enemies?
I had an exciting time escaping from the cavern after running out of hearts right at the bottom.
Quite fun, but it's a bit too easy once you get the golden hammer, and a bit too hard if you can't find it.
I made it to level 6.
I like the shading on the tiles, and the way that you have some tiles that are different sizes or which don't line up - it makes the level feel more interesting, like it's not just a grid.
This is cool. It's funny, it's finished and there's a payoff at the end.
The first time I didn't really know what I was doing - I just pressed WASD buttons as quickly as I could - but I got through just in time. It felt good.
This isn't much fun at the moment, but could be the basis for something fun.
The game crashes when I go down one screen then try to escape to the left - the warp sound effect plays and I get a blue error screen.
This was great. The whole game feels friendly and kind of daydreamy - like at the start, when you wonder whether you have lost your memory or if you are just a newborn
The map idea is really cool - especially how it persists between games. But the drawing tool was too frustrating for me. The colours weren't clear, it was hard to draw clean lines and I didn't know where to start on the page or how big I should draw things.
Apart from that, it's great fun to explore the caverns, jump on enemies and listen to the guitar :)
Very hard! I played up to level 2, but did not make it to the first checkpoint on that level.
I like the music, and I like the way you put text throughout the level - when I read 'I wanted to make a game like...' I keep playing to see what you wrote next.
The air control is a bit strange, which makes the game harder - it seems to hard to change your speed in the air but easy to completely reverse direction?
I like! It looks good and it's fun to play. I think it's cool that you've got the essence of Dungeon Keeper even though it's very simple.
The only thing I didn't like was that I couldn't see how many gems a creature had until I switched to it, so sometimes I had lots of gems but didn't know.
Frogdog is great, as is the title screen and the variety of creatures.
(I am teaching myself ActionScript so I'll take a look at your source when I've finished rating games...)
I love how going closer to the ground gets you more rocks and more points but risks losing your multiplier. So the temptation to go lower is always there...
This is a whole lot of fun. The way rocks propel you upwards is satisfying in itself; the rest of the game makes it even better.
Lovely music, and the sound of the prey was effective too. I did not enjoy the aimless wandering between hints, but it was fun enough following the hints and catching the prey.
Nice retro feel.
It seems like a good little puzzle. I don't have the patience to draw a map as I play a game, but some people do and this would probably appeal to them.
(I played up until I got blocked by a white barrier, and couldn't remember the way to the white switch - that's when I realised I would have to draw a map.)
Nice guano effect. As others have said, the controls are a bit hard - I would feel more bat-like if I had more agility, and had to worry less about keeping in the air and more about avoiding stones and miners.
On my first attempt I got the same error as mjau. (This is in the Windows version.)
On second attempt, I managed to get attacked by the enemy but got an error when I tried to attack back:
uninitialized constant LD15::State::PlayerChoosingAction::PlayerConfirmsAttack
State/PlayerChoosingAction.rb:24:in `initialize'
...
So I couldn't really play it.
The mouse controlled menu is awful, but I read your comments and used keyboard shortcuts on my second playthrough and got going much more quickly.
Dangit, no key!
The voices are great fun and there's something very amusing about the way the enemies move.
It takes a bit long to find a key, though.
This looks like a great party game. I didn't actually test with friends it but I will next time I have a few people around the PC.
I'm glad the music can be disabled :) I liked it at first but not after a few minutes.
I found it a bit hard to aim my attacks, and would prefer it if the stalactites fell faster of if the collision checking was more generous.
I love the atmosphere. The music is perfect, and the intro adds a lot to the game too.
An amazing concept. I kept finding new surprises.
But after 20 minutes, when I got stuck in a cavern with some underwater cities, I had had enough. This is very hard, and while you normally respawn close to where you die, this doesn't happen in the small tunnels where I needed it most.
If you make an easier version, I would love to try it!
This is impressive. Every aspect of this game is great - the graphics, controls, level design. It feels complete, both in exploring the game mechanic and in ending the story.
My favourite level was one where I had to keep running the whole time to keep up - I didn't die much, but felt danger the whole time.
This is a cool idea but needs some tweaks to make a really fun game. I find the way the player moves a bit difficult - you move fast, fall fast and get stuck on things a lot. It's also easy to make a wall that is then hard to get past.
I think you could make killing the dinos more satisfying with some sound, animation or just by leaving a dead body on the ground. That could help to make the player feel like they are making progress.
This does not work for me in Windows 7. I see a tiny blank window and hear the scary scary music.
This was fun, thank you. Movement is very comfortable.
My favourite moment was when I went into the blue room and was attacked by heaps of enemy ships - after only ever fighting one before!
LD17 — Islands (23)
The Adventures of Archie Pegalo by rogual
Flailing bear attack! I found this difficult at first but I got the hang of it - every time I died I learned something new.
I love how much variety there is. Also, the flying platforms gave me Sonic the Hedgehog flashbacks.
Ascention by kd5bjo
Cool mechanic, and I enjoyed the different ideas in the levels. I have a feeling I got stuck by eagerly finishing a level before I'd touched all of the magic squares? Either that or I got to the end. Or I found a puzzle that I couldn't figure out. Not really sure.
Turtle Ferry by dock
20 kitties! This looks amazing, was easy to pick up and fun to play.
Arks of Mercy by Tenoch
I really enjoyed this. There's a great feeling of doom as the water rises and islands appear out of the terrain.
The 'centre pixel' control system is a bit awkward, especially when selecting objects on steep terrain.
The game felt well balanced to me. I had to use all of the construction types, with my last ark assembled just in time and hastily-built boats to pick up the last few refugees who couldn't fit.
BRAVE ISLAND DIVER by jwaap
3 hours?! This is great. I haven't won this yet (5 stars left) but I'll come back for it :)
edit: and I did.
Conquistador by invicticide
Pretty cool, I met a wide variety of unfortunate ends :)
Despite the description, I always brought a priest just in case...
Gaiadi by xerus
I love how much is going on visually - the player's flame trail, the particle effects as islands are built, different island sizes, the little squishy motion as the fish stop moving and start to attack... I had fun building up my islands and defending them to get the flowers.
One suggestion, I would have liked to be able to continue playing or at least see and scroll around the game world after I won.
Island Defense by CapnRat
Quite fun but I had trouble switching to the island I wanted when many of the islands were directly above or below each other.
When I got down to one island it was fun to see how long I could hold out.
Piratey Tycoon by Tyler
I thought it was interesting how all the numbers updated in real time as I looked at the screen. (It was a bit strange when it happened during a battle at sea, though.)
Like Tom 7, I found myself wishing for some kind of aid to help me know if I was getting a good deal or not - or at least remind me what price I paid for the goods that I was about to sell, so I could tell if I was making a profit.
Coconut Island by Built by Man
Nice, this game was easy to get straight into I liked how each level added something new. Also, having an ending screen is great. (I always forget to do that!)
There are some movement bugs, someone who has used GameMaker a lot could probably give you some good tips there.
Planetfall by Grieve
Congratulations on your first LD! I thought this was pretty fun.
On my best attempt, I started by throwing islands around randomly because aiming was too much effort - that got me to a safe height, then I had time to aim precisely but the game was too easy from that point.
I like the fuzzy outlines and how they translate into solid shapes.
Whales Deep by karlinfox
Nice whale sounds. I had some bugs: one time the game crashed, other times it restarted, or exited, and I wasn't sure why.
The Naturalist by JMNielly
Ah ha! So _that's_ how evolution works.
ROW, FUCK!!! by tembac
Awesome.
My biggest problem was that I sometimes crashed into an island and got stuck on it. It was hard to break free again and frustrating.
Apart from that, speeding along and crashing through islands feels fantastic.
Isolated by roBurky
Even after several attempts at making conversation I was still completely useless at it. And then I came home and played this game, and the same thing happened!
SautEUR by ickylevel
This is pretty funny. I didn't get that far into it because of the difficulty and insanity but I did like
* the crazy danger of travelling on land
* collecting rocks to throw at jellyfish
* oh wow everything wants to kill me
I did not like
* biting is useless
* bouncing is a bit too erratic for my taste
* trying to work out what items did what while bouncing at high speed across floating islands and dodging seagull droppings and running out of oxygen
Super Island Colonizer by skintkingle
fun! I played through 'Cheetah' and 'Rabbit'. I quickly learned that managing food supplies was the key and spent most of my time making sure I had enough food to feed the growing population.
Nice music too.
Island Escape by NateNaterson
There are so many things I like about this one! The world map, the scroll-across-the-level-at-the-start thing, the simple but effective intro movie, the low-fi sounds that actually sound good...
Underwater, I found sinking and jumping a bit awkward and unforgiving. Although this did give me opportunities to see the great death animation :)
Island World by moltanem2000
I liked collecting different materials and making things.
When I got to a pirate lair, I killed everyone and nothing happened - I didn't know what to do from there.
Also, when I got the sword I didn't know how to use it. I assumed I had to click on the pirates. It was only later that I noticed the tooltip that said to use shift.
Apart from that, I thought this was great. Especially the little lantern.
a bridge too far by hazman
That's a bit mean :p
Loneliness by Jordan Magnuson
Nice idea, well executed. I liked seeing the way the different groups behaved - of course, knowing I could never take part for myself...
Later on I came across someone on their own. I thought maybe things would be different... no :'(
So I felt the mood which was great. I think the game could be more emotionally powerful with some music, even a fairly simple tune.
Micro Silent Hunter by DJ_JIA
This is a bit rough around the edges. I didn't have much success with my submarine submerged, and resorted to sitting on the surface firing heaps of torpedoes as the ships approached.
Island Balance by pekuja
I think that with some more control and difficulty tweaking this trainwreck would be a really good game.
I tried your last RTS build too. It looked good. I know what you mean about getting paralysed because you want to do something with the game but you know it can't be finished in time.