Rise of the Wee Giraffes by khaotom 2024-10-12T18:21:00Z
This is pretty much the exact tomato rain giraffe feeding game we all expected when we read this prompt, but you executed it beautifully!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Indie Game Academy
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 56 | Tiny Creatures | 👥 | Strange New Tides | jam | 826 | 3.25 | 2.87 | 2.94 | 3.21 | 3.30 | 3.75 | 3.39 | 3.42 |
This is pretty much the exact tomato rain giraffe feeding game we all expected when we read this prompt, but you executed it beautifully!
The art and general vibes of the game are so wonderful! From the color scheme to the main character to the monster design, I was gleeful the whole time. I found the core idea that the same monsters would swell in size to become the boss very compelling. I wish the sword swinging itself could match that in fun and tacticalness, because it sort of undermined these other wonderful parts of the game. Overall, a very impressive game!
Really beautiful vibes and a fun game idea! It was easy to fall in love with this world, despite it being a pretty small game. I think the core appeal of the game is the mystery and fun of connecting the tile map to the platforming level design and in my opinion that could be amplified quite a bit. For instance, the intuitive connection between a top down map and a 2D view of platforming is difficult to comprehend. Maybe the tiles aren't meant to look like a top down map, but that was the impression I got. Additionally, it feels like it might be more interesting to be able to get the tile map wrong somehow and then try to overcome it with platforming or something. Something that complicates the relationship between the two in a rewarding way. Lastly, the promise of a lava tile map piece feels like it has to then be rewarded by the platforming reflecting that. Overall, it's such an enchanting idea with so much space to explore! I hope you guys keep developing this beautiful idea.
The core idea of the puzzles is so smart and charming! It's really cool how essential the theme is and it was genuinely satisfying to solve the bridge puzzle. For critique, the external world could could've been completely cut. The camera was so sensitive that it made me feel a bit ill and it didn't add anything to this version of the product. In the end, I also wonder if a Wizard really is the best player character for us to invest in. It didn't feel like this was about spells. Maybe some sort of nature coded person or druid? In any case, awesome job!
@tenshi42 Very cool! Just reacting to the game we see here :D I hope you keep building it out.
Very fun use of the theme!
Fundamentally, this was so cool. There were truly magic moments desperately trying to wrestle some sort of object out of a stuck corner. You really feel the theme's importance. Honestly, despite the copy's claims, the goblin seems like a wonderful homemaker!
What an utter joy!! Raccoon antics are tragically underrepresented in gaming. What has the world even given us since Sly Cooper?? The characters somehow manage to be so charming and distinct inherently and the puzzles are really cool. It's just an awesome game concept and execution all around.
@ember44 Thank you so much for taking the time to give thoughtful critique. We're planning to polish the game up post jam, so it's super helpful to get these things pointed out. Just to give some context: one of the core goals of our megajams is to give early career devs something akin to AA experience. We try to do so while honoring their creative and professional autonomy, which means we had leads getting a crack at running teams for the first time, people participating in LJ for the first time, people in roles up and down the hierarchy for the first time all while trying to empower them to set strategy, learn and somehow pull a beautiful project together. Since that's part of our secret "design prompt", the too many cooks of it all is totally fair and yet the solve has to be something that brings these folks together. We're getting a little better at it each time and having done this the first time myself (Lead Producer speaking), it's honestly so cool and such a total geekout to be learning together. Shared fully because I'm hyped about this metaproject and not to be defensive. I think everything you said is on point.
@yayagame Thank you for checking it out! Every comment like this is so exciting and such an honor.
@sviborg Totes agreed on the controls. We're looking forward to polishing this up once the jam is over. Thank you for giving us your time and writing such beautiful comments. They really warm the team's heart.
@weefairyfabi So happy there's another Crabigail in this world! We fell in love with ours so we know how lovable they are. Also, thank you for playing the game and sending us this love <3
@desibragg Thanks for checking it out! :champagne:
@paroxysmal A seemingly small but never trivial concern! We have some non-Americans participating thankfully, which probably helped drive that decision. Your appreciation was passed on! Thanks for checking the game out!!
@xparker not just you at all! We'll def try and get some of the player experience tested for stuff like this as we polish it post-jam. Thanks so much for checking it out. Passed your comments along to the audio team!!
@mdsalomon Thanks so much! The narrative team did beyond incredible and you should've seen them pivot and learn to implement dialogue in engine on the fly when we realized we had an implementation bottleneck. Amazing. What you're diagnosing is a legit problem that echoed a production choice: we knew AC had so many complicated interlinked systems and had to pick only one or two to give depth to. In this case, we chose to emphasize the friendship system and deepen the relationships. We're def going to keep adding and polishing all the other systems for final release! Ty so much for playing.
@demiclod My answer to MDSalomon above will def also inform you (if you were curious), but fundamentally you're dead on and we're gonna keep building them out for a release post-jam. Thanks for such a thoughtful write up and for giving solid crit we can use!!
@langotriel Omg... geeked by this reference. We have a couple Monkey Island megafans on the team and one of them may or may not be responding to you right now. The answer to how you organize that many people is... make sure you work with people who are incredibly kind! Jk kinda of course it takes a lot but we have such an impassioned and kind team so when you run into a million inevitable tangles... the shared love and excitement gets us through.
@kseniya Thanks so much for playing!! Your kind words have been passed along to the art team.
@wraithind You're totally right. See my answer to mdsalomon in the comment above for context if curious, but we had deeper systems intended for all of the games you mention and they simply fell out of scope. We absolutely want to follow through on your thoughts as we build out/polish the game post jam!
@glaikunt Thanks so much for pointing out that bug! I passed along your comment on the ending to the narrative team.
@bacalear Thanks for playing!
@milq thanks for such a lovely and attentive comment!! It's really beautiful to have someone think through all the various parts of the game like this. Honored truly. If you'd like, would you offer some more thoughts on the disconnect with the main character? Maybe Munch will never be for you, but maybe it could help the narrative team as we're planning to finish and polish the game post-jam!
@zathnic thanks for playing!! I address the need for depth in our systems in some of my comments above, but suffice to say you're right on the money and we really appreciate your comment!
@milq Awesome! Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass it along. I definitely see the art team working on adding and polishing a lot of those things in weeks post-Jam!
Really cool idea! Congrats on your first jam. Many of our team were doing Ludum Dare for the first time as well and it was such a nerve wracking and exciting ride.
Really loved the vibes and was immediately hooked by the combination of the concept, aesthetic and the environment. It was pretty amazing how immediately the stealth metaphor hit me and searching the house and avoiding the pest control was cool. For crit, it would've been nice to have the player goal feel a little more urgent and compelling... I don't really feel like I'm saving my buds, escaping, surviving nor that having a larger army of bugs will add up to something. It makes the fun of the game a bit frontloaded. Still an awesome job!