The Button Room by Laylow 2017-05-02T03:32:22Z
Not much to say. I made it to the end, but I'm not really sure what happened. I did get a bit of a chuckle out of the game though, mostly from the goofy text and…whatever happened at the end.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Galan
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 44 | Your life is currency | Time is Money | compo | ||||||||||
| 2018 | 43 | Sacrifices must be made | ShotLight | compo | 458 | 2.71 | 2.55 | 3.21 | 2.60 | 2.60 | 2.86 | 2.03 | 2.81 | |
| 2018 | 42 | Running out of space | Iris | compo | 200 | 3.62 | 3.67 | 3.25 | 3.65 | 3.45 | 3.07 | 1.80 | 3.10 | |
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Brutalball | compo | 3.00 | 2.00 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 2.50 | 3.00 | ||||
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | Bit Swapper | compo | 298 | 3.45 | 3.52 | 3.56 | 3.16 | 3.06 | 2.81 | 1.80 | 2.85 | |
| 2017 | 39 | Running out of Power | Crownless | jam | 440 | 3.33 | 3.20 | 2.47 | 2.78 | 3.40 | 3.00 | 2.50 | 3.08 | |
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | Walkabout | jam | 629 | 2.93 | 2.21 | 3.00 | 3.31 | 3.24 | 2.62 | 2.73 | 3.56 |
Not much to say. I made it to the end, but I'm not really sure what happened. I did get a bit of a chuckle out of the game though, mostly from the goofy text and…whatever happened at the end.
Excellent puzzler, did exactly what it needed to and kept things fresh. The only thing that bugged me was the occasional long load time after dying, but that was only because I wanted to keep tryimg.
I think you nailed the mood. Just so frustratingly dull. And while I've never been a big fan of survival meters, I feel the annoyance they tend to bring to a game really worked well with the mood here.
I alsoliked the sound design. Not only did it mask the lack of animations well, but it gave those few moments were *something* happened all the more impact.
Going to agree with the consensus here: Loved the aesthetic, but the camera and controls are just frustrating.
In addition to the comments above I would like to suggest adding a slight delay after walking off a platform, just a couple frames, where you can still jump. This is a common 'cheat' that you will find in many platformers to make running jumps feel easier.
Excellent work for a first LD game.
I like how you managed to make such an interesting strategy game with such simple mechanics. It's not the most elaborate strategy game in the world, but there was certainly enough for me to want to see it through.
The art was another high point. Along with the audio, it was a wonderfully cute experience. I even like the little hoots the slimes make, even if they got a little repetitive by the end.
The humor really grabbed me at the beginning, and the theme was excellently used. With all that going for it, I really wanted to like the game, but I just couldn't figure it out. The info dump at the beginning was just too dense. On top of that, the frame rate and input lag on my generally capable computer kept me from really being able to experiment and figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I'd love to see it again in a more polished form, though!
This game was a lot of fun, and the visuals were adorable. The carrot car in particular felt really good, even if it could have used a *slightly* better turn speed. The camera would be my only other complaint: I feel like the the sway might have led to motion sickness if the game were longer.
Solid wonky-physics game. Got some laughs out of it, and the physics were **just** wonky enough to make it funny, while still being very playable. The level design helped with that, too: it never seemed too difficult to complete.
Some better hints as to where to go might have made things even better, though. There were a couple points, the first water stage in particular, where I spent a bit too much time trying to go the wrong way. Some gentle signposting might have helped with that. Not that I was unable to complete the game without it.
Not a bad platforrmer, and the scrolling messages really helped it stand out. They were very silly, and I might have to steal the idea in the future :slight_smile:.
I will say though, it was odd how the mechanic clashed with the game design. The map seemed to encourage exploration, but the power draining discouraged it. You managed to work around it by giving the player plenty of power, but I'd have loved to see a more elegant solution. Maybe a power charging mechanic??
Really fun core mechanic, and a clever use of theme. With some polish, this could be a great game.
Really clever mechanic in this one, and the controls are tight. Visuals are great too: I particularly like the discharge effect.
I do kinda wish it was a bit less difficult. That jump on 2.001 just killed it for me, but then again, I'm terrible at this kind of challenge. I may have to come back and try again, though.
Quite challenging, but I liked it!
This game just feels good. The visuals, the audio, the mood: all great.
I do agree with people that it could be sped up a bit. Some explanation for the different resources, and for the resources that you get for each item, would be nice as well. Still, amazing game.
Damn, this felt really nice, especially the sound effects. Those gunshots feel serious.
The controls could use a bit of work: they felt a bit stiff, and the jump could probably use a dedicated key (kept jumping off the ladder). Overall I feel a lot of potential, though.
I think this may be the best use of theme I've seen. Clever, funny, and fun. Excellent game!
The game feels really good, right up until you hit a wall. Seems like you're missing a slide component on collision. If that was there, I think this would be a *lot* of fun.
Really digging the feel of this game. The music is perfect, and I love the animation on the ship (robot?).
If you have any plans for expanding this post-compo, I'd for it to have a bit more sense of direction. Not necessarily in terms of checkpointing, but some clear, achievable mini-goals would go a long way in keeping interest longer-term. At least for me.
Fun little game, and I love the goofy setup.
I will echo other's comments about the debris falling to fast. There was no way to react, you just had to hope you caught something. I actually found the best strategy was to perch on the edge of your platform and jump whenever something got close. I guess that *is* rather owl-like though
Really challenging, and I love the art style.
Not bad. Simple and it works well. It would have been nice if you could see behind you a bit more, though. It felt like I was spending a lot of my time backpedaling blindly into the darkness. Between that and some more feedback on hitting/getting hit, and I think this would be a lot of lot.
Really good entry. Interesting mechanic, solid visuals, great atmosphere, clever puzzles. Just about everything I could ask for in a LD game. I'd love to see this fleshed out into a longer game!
Really good vibe from this one, but I have to echo the sentiments on checkpointing. It also wouldn't hurt to have tighter collision detection. Even with the current checkpointing, it might actually feel fair if you didn't die quite so often because something got *close* to you.
I'm a sucker for this aesthetic. High marks there. Wish the numbers had a bit more differentiation: it made it a bit of a challenge to keep things in my head. Still quite enjoyable, and the ending was great (and unexpected).
Interesting take on snake, thematically at least. I would have loved to see more of the lore make it into the game itself; Maybe even see the monstrosities, not that there's time for that in a jam.
Everyone has already said the most important things: your entry is amazing. There's so much going on that I barely got anywhere, but I definitely plan on digging deeper into this one after scoring some more games.
I'm glad so many people liked my game. I'll be honest, I wasn't convinced it was fun until after I finished it and had time to do a proper two-player play test, so I'm pleasantly surprised it's gone over so well.
Depending on how the final score goes, I might look into polishing it up into something a bit more complete.
That was surprisingly tough. I was expecting some sort of reward for getting an egg it, like some wishes.
That…was appropriately frustrating: great work on the theme. I really wish it had more sound effects though. My brain was busy making them up while I played, and I really wanted them to actually be there.
Never managed to get that tank…
Felt really great. I struggled a bit with the jumps at first, but once I got the swing of them, I struggled to put the game down. The really great learning curve help a lot with that: I kept doing better each time and wanted to see how well I could do.
This felt really satisfying, and those sound effects where perfect. Controls could got a bit sluggish for me a times (maybe because of browser lag?), but it was still a lot of fun!
I was going to give some suggestions, but it seems you already have plans. I do really like the twist on an *old* classic, and I look forward to seeing the final version.
Wow, great mechanics that work really well together, and it all feels so satisfying. And that cyber-zen music… I may have to come back and play this more later.
Thanks for the suggestions @amras0000. I did realize that hugging the bottom wall was the optimal strategy (and yeah, nothing spawns near the bottom), but hadn't really thought about that as a negative before. But you're right, it's weird to have 2-dimensional movement and then discourage using it. Now I'm thinking adding some "L"-shaped lasers might be a good encouragement for players to use the y-axis, without fundamentally changing the game.
Your other points are valid, too, and I think I have some solutions to some of them. I'm definitely thinking about an improved version — I've got too many ideas to ignore them at this point. And you've given me some more things to think on. I appreciate it!
Nice game. Controls were a bit complex at first, but once I got used to them, they weren't bad. They do resist muscle-memory a bit, though. Which can be good or bad depending on your goals.
I found that the game got easier as I got further in. It probably needs some new challenges as time goes on, but I know how jams are.
Overall, good work. I hope the LOWREZJAM version goes well!
Nice, clear mechanics, and a great color scheme! Yellow is a hard color to make work as the dominant one, but it looks really good here.
As others mentioned, the game is a bit too easy. It could also use a little more precision in the shooting: between the long, narrow hallway, large boxes, and wide bullets, it makes it really hard to hit anything on purpose. I honestly just sprayed wildly with only the slightest token attempt to avoid the red blocks. With some tweaking it could be really fun.
I really got into hurling satellites! It was really satisfying, and the chimes added a nice, relaxing atmosphere to the whole thing. I do kinda wish the debris was a bit easier to clean up — it was a bit time-consuming to find and click on all the tiny pieces. Admittedly that might have bothered me more than most people. I just wanted to get back to making more satellites. :slight_smile:
I really liked the idea, but despite several attempts at playing, it wouldn't let me pick up any meteors after the 1st or 2nd one. Between that and the kinda wonky planet-rotating controls (honestly, I think it might have worked better to have auto-rotating when you move) I think there's a lot of room for improvement. I'd love to try it again if those were fixed.
This felt _far_ too real… **Great job**! You absolutely nailed the feeling of being stuck in a social situation when all you want is space. Every mechanic: even the tank controls, helped to reinforce that feeling. I particularly like the health regen mechanic. I caught myself taking a breather every time I got space.
It took me a while, but I managed to get through level 2. Level 3 seemed impossible. So, uh… thanks for making the most frustrating game of this jam. :stuck_out_tongue:
Oh, and for something more constructive: the flute music worked really well on the whole, but some of the high notes hit a bit…piercingly. It did add to the overall vibe, but maybe **too** much.
Cool idea, with some interesting puzzles. The shear ways that the tribbles messed with the level layout was kinda surprising.
The controls were good enough, although I do feel like they could do with a bit more precision. It was a little frustrating the number of things that counted as "jumping over" the tribbles, and I never really figured out where the line was between landing on a tribble and getting hit by one. Overall I didn't quite feel in control of the puzzles, for better or worse.
Overall, great concept and level design. A little bit more work would make for a really fun game.
That was really entertaining. While I'm not normally a big fan of this kind of humor, it was delivered so charmingly that I couldn't help but enjoy it, and I was actually disappointed when it ended. Keep up the good work!
1425… not great I guess??
Your game on the other hand: it's good! A different take on the bullet hell genre, and I really appreciated the variety of challenges. Aesthetics where great too, and it was generally easy to follow the action (although the green planets in the background looked like they might be in the foreground). Controls were a bit weird at first, but they worked great once I got used to them. Excellent work!
Controls took a bit to get used to, but once I got the handle of them they felt really cool, almost like I was flying. Really interesting take on Snake, and I love the colorful, creepy-cute centipede.
Great take on the theme! It could use a bit more gameplay variety and require a bit more strategy — as it is it feels highly random. But high marks for the idea.
I like it. Between the weird pigs and the happy pre-pigs music, it has a really off-kilter vibe that I appreciate. And it's really fun. I'd say that if the pigs piled up faster, it might work better for the theme of the jam — it felt like it took a bit long to get to the point. That said, the pacing was actually perfect for a regular, not-jam game.
Really clever risk-reward mechanic with the the toxic waste. A little complicated to figure out, but definitely fun. I might come back to this one later to see if I can get past stage 4.
Short and sweet. Emphasis on the 'sweet'. I really love the idea, and there's definitely room to expand on it, particularly if you gave the player more options for self-expression. As it is, it made me smile. :slight_smile:
An endless floater?? Gave me a bit of a Flappy Bird feel, but with a gun and no pipes! Pretty solid overall, although I couldn't get my gun to fire consistently, sorta like it jammed for no discernible reason. Other than that, it was an interesting challenge and I love the slight eeriness of it all.
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Sorry for the spam before. The site was running slow and I multiclicked the 'publish' button >_<.
I tried the game again with the knowledge that I needed to be near the meteor to shoot, and it made a big difference — I even got the unlock! Modified the score accordingly. A clearer separation of the gun and character, and maybe a 'reload' sound effect, would go a long way to communicating that feature.
At first I was like, "this is too easy". Then I let the cats collide and the game started. Then the strays showed up. Then I had a house full of cats.
Once I restarted and figured out how to herd the cats, the challenge was perfect. Just enough to feel like I had SOME control, but not much…
Pretty much the perfect cat herding simulator.
Fun idea, and a solid presentation, but there really isn't enough energy to keep it going for long. The game needs to provide a more regular supply of batteries, and maybe a (slow) automatic recharge. Once you run out of juice, the game just **stops**, long before it gets hectic. I imagine it getting really crazy as you try to keep up with the mess, but as it is right now the game never gets there.
Nice improvement with the battery drop rate. I still find myself going for batteries almost exclusively, but it definitely feels more proactive now.
This reminds me of old RPG minigames: the kind that made me stop playing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: In all seriousness, this is hard. I only managed to get about 6 corners in or so, and he instantaneous camera rotation was really disorienting. I will say that you really succeeded at making a rage-game! Someone with more patience for those kinds of games than I would probably have a really good time.
On a less critical(??) note, I really like the story comic. It got a chuckle out of me.
I don't really have much to add that others haven't already said. The atmosphere is great, the pixel art is excellent, and the music really gives a feel that you are doing dark (robot) work.
Challenge was not so much hard, but rather intimidating. It took a bit to wrap my head around how everything I had to do. With more development time, I would recommend starting with a few mechanics at first and gradually adding more over time, but that's not always doable in a jam.
I like the regenerating health mechanic, in addition to the closing walls: it makes for a very different game. Rather than worrying as much about colliding into myself, I was more worried about running out of time to get the pellets, and sometimes it was worth hitting myself to get one. Really interesting twist on a classic!
Great entry. The graphics are great and it's darkly charming. The UI could have been a bit more clear in places — it to a bit to figure out what the bars represented and I had to guess at the controls. Other than that, it's hard to come up with useful criticism, aside from the obvious things (like music) that I'm sure you didn't have time to make. If you want to expand the game, I guess you could add some more complex animal AI, possibly some interesting interactions between them. But honestly, for a jam game, this is very close to a perfect version of itself.
@ruthiepee Glad you liked it! You can actually cheese it pretty easily by doing slow circle around the area and firing at regular intervals to light the space. It takes a while before the enemies become unmanageable.
@teo989 Thanks for the heads up. Sadly, the errors are the side effect of using an alpha release of Godot to make my game. I had to hack a solution to release a binary at all, and had to display the errors as a result. Thankfully you're right, though — they aren't really causing any problems.
I actually got to play against a real player, and once I got into the flow of it, it was an interesting challenge optimizing my moves over a growing and changing play space. I think it could use a UX pass, especially in regards to letting players know whose turn it is and what moves are allowed, but still an interesting entry, and clever use of the theme.
Really love the aesthetic, looks great and felt really calm/eerie. The puzzles were solid as well. I just wish I could figured out how to get into the Vault: that one drove me up the wall.
I'll second @djh on the chromatic abberation, though, my eyes actually hurt a bit now.
Although I enjoyed the humor, I do question how well it melded with the aesthetic, but that may just be me.
Overall great entry, and I'd love to solve more of these puzzles.
Really great pixel art, especially in the intro. Audio is great too, although is seemed like there could have been more sound effects. I wish I had a better idea of exactly how the balance between killing and food was going. Without visible indicators of some sort, it was impossible to tell how I was doing until the invasion ended or a rebellion began. I'd love it if it was something subtle, like more guys with pitchforks showing up as revolt was stirring. I could see myself spending a good bit of time playing a more fleshed out version.
Great twist on eldritch horror themes, and really fun. As an LD game, it could have possibly accelerated to the inevitable ending a bit faster (you don't really have the time to add enough mechanics to keep things fresh). Aside from that, and the fact that it was window big for my browser, great entry!
I'm on a retina display (1440x960, iirc). Looks like it's not scaling correctly, If I set the scale manually, it looks great.
I did try using the devour mechanic, which actually seems to make me die faster?? Regardless, I haven't been able to keep going as long as I did the first time. Seems I caught a sweet spot where I just barely kept ahead by raging ~3 people every time I passed an altar.
Really good for a first jam game! Ignoring the more general collision bugs, it would have been nice to have some friction when standing on a moving body. Other than that, this a simple idea, executed well. Great work!
Really solid aesthetic for such a minimal art style! I struggled a bit to figure out what to do, but once figured it out, I found myself in a groove and had to complete it.
Two small things would have helped a lot, though: Firstly, some texturing on the walls might have helped to give the player a sense of movement when you don't have enough light to see corners ahead. Second, I felt like I had to sacrifice myself a bit TOO often — it would have been nice if the lights could had a bit more range, so that I could see an entire room without having to sacrifice myself several times. Leaving the brightness low is fine, I just would have liked to be able to tell where the corners are.