Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → iellswo
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | 👥 | Blort's Big Adventure | jam | 324 | 3.80 | 3.69 | 3.79 | 4.21 | 4.00 | 3.73 | 4.01 | 3.66 | |
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | 👥 | Crashdown | jam | 740 | 3.62 | 3.69 | 3.61 | 4.00 | 3.47 | 3.56 | 2.30 | 3.34 |
iellswo leaves an average of 14.0 feedback comments each event.
Loved the game, the art style was great, making great use of minimal animation to still deliver some great looking assets. Loved the drawing style of the enemies. Music was also incredible.
There were a couple of spots where enemy hitboxes felt a little wonky, times where I felt I shouldn't have been hit or time when I should have hit the enemy but didn't. other than that, loved the entire game.
Really fun puzzle game. Could not beat level 14, will likely come back with a fresh pair of eyes and try again.
Super cool little game, there is a lot you can do with this mechanic. Took a bit of time to figure out the controls, but once I got the hang of it, it was very satisfying to kill enemies without hitting the ground.
Few minor suggestions: - Have slowdown be a hold down rather than a toggle. Toggle on and off felt a little odd. Also maybe consider have slowdown be limited, like you can slow down time for a short time, then have to wait a short time before using it again - Have bow be held down for a moment before firing? Not a huge one, but what I sort of intuitively expect with bow mechanics - Mouse sensitivity was really high, made precise aiming hard, but that also might have been a webgl issue.
Overall a really cool prototype, such a fun little shooter.
Got 68 on my first playthrough. Really cool puzzle game that evolves as you play, starting off focused more on discovery and then evolving into mastery. Really cool ideas and with some quality of life improvements this game would make a great mobile game as is right now! Really great work!
(edit) No, seriously, put this on mobile, and I would play the hell out of this.
Super cute Point and Click game!
Positives: - Love the art, music and sound - The two twists at the end were funny - I liked being able to explore the house after the twist and seeing what everything _really_ is - Dev room!
Critiques: Game suffers from some of the standard Point-and-Click pain points - Lighter puzzle resulted in sever pixel hunting, as the lighter was not super obvious, maybe some way to make interactables a bit more clear to avoid pixel hunting? - Some of the puzzles were a little obtuse, which is why I imagine you had the NPCs tell me where to find things?
Really awesome game, super cute, loved it!
Really neat idea, and a great looking game, the two bit art style is super well executed. I absolutely love the little zombie sprite and all the animations. Unfortunately I didn't get very far because the game is really difficult. It requires precision platforming but without precision control. I understand this is fixed in a post-jam update, but I didn't feel it was fair to judge the game on the post-jam version.
Super cool little game, looks great, the minimal pixel art really adds to the creepy vibe, great music, and the bloody footprints effect was really cool.
Only 2 minor gripes. I do not like the use of V as a melee attack. FPS games barely get away with it, but it's such an annoying thing to stretch my finger down off the movement keys. The other thing is that when I hit escape to try and pause the game (more out of habit than expecting pause to be implemented in a jam game) I went to the main menu and lost my progress, so I didn't get as far as I liked.
Positives: - Cute art style, and the minimal animations on the characters works well with it. - I liked the music track, more on that later - Trying to balance heat while also trying to fend off the enemies is an interesting challenge, there is a lot of depth there - Watching my big round friends slowly sink into the sea broke me.
Critiques: - While a super cool track, I don't know if the music fit the theme of the game _super_ well, something ominous might have fit the feel of the gameplay. - As mentioned above, the possible placements for defenses are not super clear, but after figuring it out it's not too big of a hurdle. - Would probably help to add some clarity as to what the different "towers" do. The names helps, but there is still some ambiguity there that makes figuring out a strategy more difficult.
Overall, really impressed with this game. The core gimmick is a really interesting twist on tower defense, and there are cool ways to make it work. Riding the razors edge between survival while trying to not kill yourself by over-extending, there's a lot you can do with that, and is a bit more interesting than just a currency-based building system.
Music track was pretty cool, sort of a low-fi hip hop to swim to vibe.
A couple of issues with the build as it is on itch. The UI between swims is sized out of the window, not sure if it looks better full screen. Not much as far as gameplay here, but there are places you can take the upgrades and gameplay loop. There also was a small issue with your sprite importing for your animation loop, two of the frames get really blurred out and the character sort of blinks as a result.
Good job finishing the jam!
Positives:
- Really cool environment art - Super impressed that you did some procgen in a jam, we thought about it but ditched it super early - With the exception of the giant bow/sword sticking out I really like the look and animations of the character, simple and effective - Music was cool and moody and really fit the environment well. - Once I remembered the bombs they were fun to use when they worked. - Super cool that you support both keyboard and controller! - I like the idea of the timer that forces you to move, in your case the moisture.
Critiques:
- I had no idea what the powerups do, they didn't seem super clear to me. - Jump and bow shoot sounds effects have a really high pitched squeal at the end that hurt my ears - 4 directional aiming makes it hard to hit enemies, especially when the sword swings in such a small arc
Overall really impressive for a 72 hour jam, especially with just 1 person. I didn't get very far because of the sound effect setting off my tinnitus, but very cool jam game!
Shift and space at the same time is a really awkward combination for me, especially while trying to also control my jumps. I literally couldn't get past the second set of spikes in the first level. The core mechanic looks like a really neat idea, but the controls just made the game unbeatable for me and my awkward hands.
Super cool, amazing work, especially for a jam, best game that I've played yet from the jam
Wow, awesome! Loved the way you were able to get a lot of mileage with just a few art assets, not to mention the really cool style of those art assets. Only advice would be to add some form of indicator (+1, -2, etc) to indicate the value of each resource to make it more clear, but other than that I thought this was a really great little game!
I really liked this puzzle game. Took me a little while to realize what the square nodes were doing, so could use some tutorialization, but it was super cool. The later puzzles were tricky and definitely stretched my mind, didn't seem like they could be brute-forced, forcing me to understand the mechanics. Nodes moving off screen I feel didn't add to the experience, just made things a little slow and frustrating, but other than that, it was a super neat game! Great job!!!
Interesting concept, though the controls are really unintuitive. Would be better to have the controls listed within the game itself rather than just on the itch page, I died about 5 times before I finally backed out and saw the controls listed, and by then I had run out of resources so all future runs became impossible.
There is a lot you can do with this concept, and I am interested in the narrative beats presented.
Definitely some potential here for some kind of clicker/idle game. I can see where you are going with it and it looks like a decent start!
In the current version there are a few issues. The aspect ratio is too wide that I have to scroll side to side on my monitor, I didn't even notice the buttons at first. There is no indication that tells me how much it costs to buy dwarves or dig deeper, and also I can't even click the "buy dwarves" button because it is placed under other buttons inside the page on itch.
LD55 — Summoning (12)
Summoning by Gao Ming 2024-04-18T02:16:15Z ♥ 1
Fun little puzzle game, simple but the more circles and items you get it became an interesting challenge to get everything right. I especially loved the reveal at the end (which I won't spoil here). Sounds design and visuals were really good, however, the tutorial text on the first screen gets lost against the background, so I would recommend putting some sort of background or border so that the user doesn't miss important information.
Hellevator by JHax 2024-04-17T01:14:44Z ♥ 2
The Good: - Love the art, am a big fan of pixel art. - Gameplay was pretty fun for the first couple levels. - Really enjoyed _most_ of the sound design.
The Not So Good: - Was not a fan of the high pitched elevator noises, found them a bit grating. - The game gets extremely difficult on level 3, when you are suddenly managing multiple elevators, especially because moving between them is such a hassle.
Design Thoughts:
The biggest points of confusion to me came in the controls for the imp. It might be a _me_ problem, but keeping track of multiple elevators, multiple doors, and multiple sides that the imp can exit on felt like too much for my brain to handle. Several times I would accidentally exit when I meant to open a door or I would jump out on the wrong side and plummet. Also the death on the sides of the screen felt a little bit too tight, would have liked more wiggle room.
TL;DR
Great art, good aesthetic, game was too difficult for me and I only played until I failed level 3, also one sound effect in particular gave me a headache but I loved the rest of the SFX.
Harvest Havoc by mortusnegati 2024-04-17T01:00:06Z ♥ 2
The Good: - fun art design, love the little veggies. - The control mechanic of drawing symbols was fun and unique
The Not So Good: - I was a little confused on how I was supposed to learn new spells. You have a hint about finding them in the world but the only one I ever learned in the environment was the crows.
Design Notes:
learning the runes in the environment is a neat idea, and I wish it was used more. Most of the time I learned new spells from just copying my opponent, which required me to pay really close attention to them instead of to the battlefield. I'm guessing you had plans for additional environmental hits, but if there were any, I completely missed them.
TL;DR
Fun little war game with a cool control twist, could have used some balancing, and maybe more clear instructions.
Shay’s Goldem Mob by KriSsS Gonko 2024-04-17T00:42:47Z ♥ 4
The Good: - Very cute art, especially love the main character - The summoning mechanic is interesting, especially the different arrows used to buff them. - really like the music.
The Not So Good: - Lack of feedback. The enemies are too bullet spongy and this is made worse by the fact that there is no feedback telling me if I am doing damage (same goes for taking damage) - The background was cute, but the solid yellow was straining on my eyes. - A bit too easy to end up just swarmed and unable to move or do anything.
Design Notes: The game really has a lot of potential, I think the above notes on feedback are the biggest design changes I would make. When I played the tutorial the first few hits I thought I had completely missed the enemy.
It was really unclear to me in my brief playthrough the differences between the golems. Again with the feedback I had no indicator that the golems were doing anything.
When the player is hit I would recommend some kind of knockback effect or i-frames, that way it's possible to escape from being swarmed and locked down in place. The general difficulty could be tweaked as well, I felt like my game was over really quickly because I was overwhelmed.
TL;DR Really cute art, a fun concept with a lot of potential, needs some polish and maybe a little bit less yellow.
bergs by burnttoastdev 2024-04-17T00:30:09Z ♥ 2
The Good: - Love the silly little guys. - BERG!!! - music and sfx were a lot of fun. - summoning more dudes mid-air was a really neat mechanic.
The Not So Good: - Didn't really have any major issues or bugs, but one thing I found mildly frustrating on the last level was that if I missed a jump and died it would reset _all_ of my progress.
Design Notes: - I found a few places where I could bypass some obstacles by jumping carefully just _barely_ off the edge of the screen. Pretty sure this is not intended. - Related to my not so good note: I would personally make it so that dying just respawns a berg at the same location you last spawned one. Especially with levels that have _multiple_ buttons to press, it feels a little frustrating to lose all progress because of a missed jump. Reserve a full reset of the level for only if the player presses reset.
TL;DR Really fun, super creative, love the little guys and the art. Only a minor design gripe that only really bit me on the very last level.
BERG!!
The Great Salmmoning by OadT 2024-04-17T00:15:36Z ♥ 1
The Good: - funny concept - liked what sound effect there were. - nice pixel art
The Not So Good: - herding mechanics were a little frustrating - I felt the intro cutscene took too long, personally.
Design Thoughts: - I died to running out of oxygen, and I feel like as a player I didn't really have enough info to parse that. My one suggestion there would be to increase the size of the oxygen meter and make it more obvious.
TL;DR Fun sounds, good art, gameplay wasn't for me.
Siela by Gnum_ 2024-04-17T00:05:06Z ♥ 6
The Good: - love the atmosphere, it was cool and creepy. - Art was effective, I love well executed low-poly art. - great sound design.
The Not So Good: - gameplay felt lacking, like there was nothing really to do. - Camera control was way too sensitive and lagged behind, making looking around difficult and disorienting - People have mentioned the voice acting, but it struck me as very odd, like it was maybe AI generated. If I'm wrong about that I apologize. - map markers glitched a few times, I would be facing a blue soul and then strafe or step back and it would wig out and put the marker behind me.
Design Thoughts: - why a jump button if there is nothing that requires a jump? Feels a bit odd. - I would give the player something else to do, as it stands there are no puzzles, no enemies, just walk between points. - Why are the souls so far away from one another?
TL;DR Very cool atmosphere, an excellent mood piece, gameplay is a little lacking and felt padded out. Also was not a fan of the voice acting.
Summoner's Speakeasy by HollowBearGames 2024-04-16T23:09:56Z ♥ 2
The Good: - Like the art and the atmosphere. - While simple, the starting cutscene is fun
The Not So Good: - gameplay was a bit frustrating - A lack of feedback made me completely unsure as to why I was getting a game over.
Design Notes: - A lack of tutorialization really brings this game down. It took me 2 tries to realize that I could hover over the emotion icons to know what they were. - The lack of any sort of feedback is I think the biggest problem the game has. I had no idea if I was getting drinks right or wrong, I would hand the dude a drink and suddenly he now has more emotions... I'd hand another drink and get a game over. Adding some sort of feedback to the player would go a long way. - Is the game timed? If there was some sort of timer or indicator of such I missed it.
TL;DR Fun aesthetic, fun design. The core gameplay loop is simple but has potential, but a lack of meaningful feedback makes the gameplay obtuse.
Tower Of Madness by Chiara Sanviti 2024-04-16T22:57:21Z ♥ 4
The Good: - quick, fun gameplay - a really good twist on the clicker/idle game genre, for one thing, it was anything but idle. - Love the art. - The balancing of both chaos and time made for a fun optimization challenge. - really liked the music and sound. - replayability.
The Not So Good: - Tutorial was a bit lacking I feel, there were a few mechanics I didn't understand until my second or third playthrough, but otherwise, really good!
Design notes: - The little bonuses on the side could be a little better marked, maybe a simple UI element that says "current effect" or "current buff" or something like that. - As said above the optimization loop is really fun. I am curious how much tweaking and balancing you did with the different demons.
TL;DR Fast paced gameplay, very busy clicker-like mechanics, good use of the theme, with some great art and aesthetic.
Sminer by LightningST 2024-04-16T20:22:19Z ♥ 1
The Good: - Really fun mechanics - Love the graphics! Big fan of the minimalism while still being clear and readable - good sound design - So much juice! Especially love the way the screen shakes when you hit things.
The Not So Good: - Took me a round of dying to understand what was going on in the upper right. It's intuitive once I got a grasp on it, but there might be a better way to tutorialize it. - Holy shit did it feel like the difficulty ramped up in the end game. Maybe a smoother difficulty curve so you don't go from dominating to dead as quickly
Design notes: - Sometimes I would hold down just a little too long and dig one layer deeper than I wanted, which then meant I missed out on doing a row of resources easily. Not sure how I would fix this, the inability to dig while flying feels good and intentional, but the occasional mishap like that did feel bad.
TL;DR Really loved this, played through like four times. Super fun gameplay, great aesthetics, my only real gripe is it felt like the difficulty curve could use some tweaking. Great job!
Lorem Ipsummon by Hugimugi7 2024-04-16T19:44:27Z ♥ 3
The Good: - Love the narration. The little comments when I died were funny, but did get annoying (covered below) - Love the art and style, I'm always a fan of well executed pixel art. - the idea of dragging the words to summon is a neat one, wish it was used more.
I will admit, I did not finish the whole thing, for reasons below:
The Not So Good: - Game controls felt like they flopped from being floaty to way too precise. Made it really hard to judge my jumps. - The fall speeds of the player and the blocks were off enough that I was able to push a block and then get crushed by it immediately. - my jump inputs got eaten _constantly_. I died about ten times in a row to the same obstacle because I would press space and the guy would not jump instead he just fell off a cliff. The little quips when you die are cute, but after enough unfair feeling deaths they got a bit grating.
Design notes: - I would have liked to see the summon mechanic used more. I'm sure there was more of it later (as I said I didn't finish the game), but in the early part at least it felt underutilized. - I do not understand the need for a wall grab. if I jumped against a wall I would slide down it, and there didn't appear to be wall jumping, so this slowdown felt unnecessary and just slowed me down.
TL;DR Neat idea, great art, love the voice acting. Controls and eaten inputs kept me from finishing.
Boots Of Summoning by detectiveLosos 2024-04-16T19:25:23Z ♥ 3
The good: - Like the visuals, the gun model looks really cool and I like the samurai look on the demons themselves. - Love the guitar riff in the music, very cool. - Has a good classic shooter feel.
The less good: - The mouse sensitivity was way too high, it was nearly impossible for me to aim. - The environment is not particularly interesting to look at.
Some design thoughts: - The summoning mechanic is interesting, but the fact that demons are summoned where you walk encourages you to walk backwards, which resulted in me walking off cliffs several times. If the mouse sensitivity issue wasn't a problem I would be better able to turn around to watch where I'm going, but as it is I kept falling off, which resulted in minor frustration. - The death timer is interesting, but seemed to move really quickly. This also might be because I was really bad at aiming and killing demons. - The powerups didn't seem super clear to me, but this also might be because of my earlier walking backwards problem.
TL;DR Pretty fun, good models and music, some clunky controls and an interesting idea.