The More You Make by TerraCottaFrog 2017-12-05T06:33:20Z
This is one of the best takes on the theme I have seen so far, hilarious idea, not to mention an impressive achievement.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Hertz14
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | Vermin | jam | 53 | 4.07 | 3.90 | 3.88 | 4.14 | 4.45 | 4.04 | 3.71 | 3.85 |
This is one of the best takes on the theme I have seen so far, hilarious idea, not to mention an impressive achievement.
This is a very nice, very chill game. It has similarities to other games but its charm and personality really make it stand out. It's very polished, in a very finished-looking state, and even the title screen sets it apart as a finished product. The game logic works very well and the randomisation (I'm guessing it's randomised?) makes each new game a nice challenge. It's not too difficult or too easy and it is very rewarding to play.
The one thing I would suggest is to add a few more sfx to spice up the game a little. Maybe something that plays whenever a new channel of water is connected to a tree or something. Nothing too intrusive though, just similar to the subtle click sounds you have now. The music is very nice, a bit repetitive but that fits the chill nature of the game.
Overall a joy to play, nice work!
I was playing this with a massive grin on my face, great humour, great visuals, and a great concept. Thoroughly entertaining, nicely done!
A simple idea, but impeccably executed. Even losing is satisfying, but successfully timing things properly is a really engaging challenge. I second the recommendations of adding random events, cyclists, pedestrians, anything to increase the chaos! It has a lot of potential for expansion but as it stands this is already a very entertaining game. Nice job!
A neat little game, a bit rough around the edges but definitely playable. There's a nice little challenge in trying to go back for extra artifacts and risking the lava, which is I guess how you addressed the LD theme? I missed not having a wall jump feature, which would make the gameplay a lot smoother, but the impulse gun did help on that front - although that felt a bit too weak and I didn't use it a huge deal. Otherwise an entertaining entry, nice work!
Damn, I've been seeing a lot of pico-8 games this jam and they are consistently beautiful, yours is no exception. An incredibly charming game and veeeery challenging! This is a game worthy of post-LD continuation for sure. I agree with some of the previous comments that bats are difficult, but that makes them that much more satisfying to kill. My one suggestion (aside from adding more enemies etc if you do decide to expand it), would be to give the jump a bit more oomph, right now it feels more like a normal jump than an attack - maybe a chunkier sound effect or some kind of attack trail or something would work? Just a thought. Overall a very nicely done game, which has actually inspired me to look into pico-8 myself.
Damn Billy and his appetite :D This was an entertaining little game with plenty of polish, simple but enjoyable to play. The difficulty curve is actually in my opinion really well-adjusted - it starts off relaxed enough to allow the player to get used to the rules but soon speeds up into complete chaos. The physics of the foods interacting with each other even when picked up was nice too, added just a little more difficulty as the food started piling up. Highest score I managed was 59 before it all went wrong :D There was only one thing I felt was really missing from this game, that being audio feedback. Just a simple chewing sound and an approval sound for good food and disapproval for bad. Maybe a click sound as well. But as many others have said, the music was nice and helped fill in the silence. Overall a very entertaining little game, nicely done!
I really like this a lot and think it has huge potential for expansion if you wish to. It's like a tower defense but not, because applying traditional laning techniques severely inhibits your dwarves (dwarfs?). It's a little on the easy side as you mentioned, I managed to win by placing towers randomly and then spamming dwarves once I had enough towers up. Also, I feel like the theme mechanic of angrier orcs as you get more gold could definitely be ramped up a bit as it wasn't really noticeable.
Graphics are delightfully retro and heavily evoke the aesthetics of Dwarf Fortress in tileset mode, which is a nice bonus (not sure if intentional :D). The music is also perfect, I smiled the instant the menu music started playing.
The game has huge potential for expansion with more towers, more enemies, and more dwarf types, and I would love to see this idea taken further. Good job!
This is a really addictive game, and absolutely chaotic once it starts spiralling out of control! Perfect take on the theme, and the visuals are really nice. The high score feature really gives it that "just one more game" feeling. A few comments on game play though - sometimes when the critters are overlaid slightly on each other, you can pick up two at once, maybe even three. I don't know if that's intentional, but it feels like a bit of an interruption to the game flow to try and interpret what goes where, so I'd suggest limiting it to just one at a time. Similarly, when flicking away squids it seems like it's also possible to flick away underlaying critters. Apart from that it feels like a very polished game, and very fun! Nicely done.
I really love the graphics, they are suitably dark while remaining nostalgically pixelated. The whole game plays a lot like a classic platformer actually, which is very nice. The music and sounds were simple and fit well, the music never felt repetitive or overbearing. In terms of gameplay, it is pretty difficult, and while I haven't evenmanaged to complete the first level yet I fully intend to try to complete the game - so that's a good indicator of replayability right there. My one suggestion would be to make it more obvious when the soul-imitating creatures die - some sound or particle effect because it is pretty confusing to just dumbly keep smacking a soul orb that has already died :D
Otherwise it is a really nice game with a nice unified, finished feel. Nice work!
Damn this game is hilarious :D It was a lot of fun and had a very finished feel to it. Even had a cutscene! I'm impressed. The concept really fits the theme well (even if it is a slightly disturbing take on it), and the gameplay is nice and engaging. The difficulty ramps up quickly, which is very entertaining as well.
My only complaint is that there seems to be no indication of the time limit or the time remaining, which is a bit annoying. And the game would benefit hugely from music - some kind of psychotic jingle going on in the background would really do wonders for the tone of the game :D
But apart from that this is a really great game and a hilarious take on the theme. Well done!
Damn, this looks really neat but I can't seem to get it to run on 32-bit Windows.
Thank you for uploading a 32-bit version to cater to cavemen like myself! I had a craaaazy bug though where the Win32 version played upside down, which was mildly amusing to try to play before I realised I can flip my display to make things easier :D
Absurd bugs aside, I really like this game, you seem to have a knack for perfectly evoking gameboy-like visuals and sound, and the unified theme is really nice. The music is catchy as hell and I have a bit of an ear worm with it right now, I can't stop humming it to myself. That's gotta be a good sign right? In terms of concept the game is solid and sadly very relatable. Also pretty difficult, but the satisfying mechanic keeps it from getting overly frustrating. Implementation of the theme is subtle but it's there, so that's nice to see as well. Overall a very nicely tied together game, very satisfyingly retro. Nice job!
I could only play for a short time because even on low settings my laptop can barely handle it, but the visuals are very nice- the lighting and colour really capture the feel of the game theme and objectives. Like other people have already commented, it suffers a bit from lack of sound but the premise of the game itself is solid and fun, and it fits the theme well. Nicely done!
Very cute little game, the graphics are very nicely done and consistent in style. Gameplay itself is quite a bit more frantic than the music suggests, but is very entertaining. It suffers a bit for not having sound effects (especially some kind of feedback for picking up/being hit by food), and needs some kind of indicator of which character is the player's, but overall a very cohesive and nicely done game, good job!
This is really enjoyable to play, the sound effects for the deflections make it really satisfying to successfully block something. I'm a sucker for horizontal shooters like this and you really made it entertaining with the bouncing bullets, which also provided a nice take on the theme as they kept on bouncing around. My main issue is that some of the upgrades seem a bit overpowered, especially the speed upgrade which after a few levels grants you an indefinite shield from anything in front of you. Otherwise really fun to play, nicely done!
I really like the simplicity of this, in both the art and the game. It's actually one of the games I've spent the most time playing in a single session so far, so that is probably a reliable indicator of the entertainment factor. It's almost meditative to duck and weave between enemies, blasting away and unlocking upgrades - which were a very nice touch and gave a really nice feeling of progression throughout the game. I would have liked to see (or hear, rather) a few more sound effects in the game, and perhaps some kind of feedback when actually successfully hitting an enemy, but otherwise the simplicity of the graphics and sound works wonders. I did seem to occasionally die randomly though, possibly from an enemy spawning right under me? Or maybe I just have terrible peripheral vision and walked into one without realising :D
The way the enemies move is really nice and really keeps the player on their toes when it comes to dodging, that's a really nice touch.
In any case, this is a really solid submission that I really enjoyed playing.
I love the main mechanic here, it's really nicely done and playing with the meter <20% is insanely satisfying :D Nice graphics with a nice cohesion to them, my only small issue is that there is no distinction between the purple of enemies and the purple of projectiles and the purple of ground-corruption, so it gets a bit hard to distinguish things sometimes. Even just a shadow on the projectiles would help a great deal. Gameplay is very fun but I found the movement a little on the sluggish side, would be nice to have a little more agility in the character (or potentially increase or decrease speed according to meter fullness?). As a GM:S user myself I love seeing quality GM:S games and this is one of them, has a lot of potential for expansion post-LD. So good job!
Whoa. This really raised the bar. I don't even know where to start with the praise because this is honestly great. A really innovative implementation of the theme, great graphics, great sound, it even has progression between levels. The only complaint I really have is that the chronopoints scoring doesn't really seem to reward you for risking lower time limits, but otherwise this is a fantastic game. If there is one game I'd like to see developed further post-LD it's this one, has huge potential for expansion.
This game is reaaaally satisfying to play, controls are smooth and the minimalistic graphics fit nicely. Music is great too. My only gripe is what others have already mentioned - there isn't any kind of indicator of depth or speed. Otherwise a really solid entry.
@goplite Thanks for the kind feedback! The horde takes some getting used to, but the basic behaviour is that if the king is moving faster (further right), the horde will form a narrow line behind you. Slower movement causes them to spread out into a wider shape where they will try to align with you vertically.
Thank you everyone for your comments! I have been busy for the last few days but I am now going to start clearing my backlog of games to review. It's great to hear all this feedback on my game :D
@jorgegamedev Wow! Thank you for such a detailed review! You raise some good points and in fact, your two main complaints are the two things I wished I'd dedicated more time to addressing. In general, the rats have a maximum speed that they can keep up with you - this is randomly assigned when they are first spawned. Faster rats will be able to follow you further to the right of the screen, while slower rats will hang back. It was intended to make the horde feel more organic, but unfortunately, it was implemented a bit hamfistedly and it doesn't work as well as I'd like.
In terms of the icons, that is another thing I didn't have time to properly explain in-game but tried to make them more or less self-explanatory. Evidently I failed :D The vampire fangs power-up make rats cannibalistic and allows them to eat the corpses of their fallen companions. The shield allows the rat to survive running into one fence, instantly breaking it. The lightningbolt allows the rat to attack and kill a human (if it can catch up to him). If I take the game further I'll be sure to explain that better, thank you.