Happy Life by scalliondelight 2020-04-21T02:23:40Z
Game of the year, every year.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → JackOfCups
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | 👥 | Pouring Rain | jam | 207 | 3.87 | 3.67 | 3.06 | 3.36 | 4.30 | 4.00 | 3.72 | 4.44 |
| 2025 | 58 | Collector | 👥 | Rain | jam | 242 | 3.70 | 3.30 | 3.31 | 3.68 | 3.77 | 3.27 | 3.03 | 3.92 |
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | Worm Quest | jam | 441 | 3.55 | 3.31 | 3.85 | 3.81 | 3.34 | 2.58 | 2.63 | 3.03 |
| 2024 | 56 | Tiny Creatures | 👥 | Tiny Creatures: A Nimkip Story | jam | 789 | 3.30 | 3.04 | 3.20 | 4.08 | 3.20 | 2.45 | 2.54 | 2.90 |
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | 👥 | Inner Workings | jam | 785 | 3.40 | 2.85 | 2.90 | 3.74 | 3.61 | 2.81 | 2.98 | 3.24 |
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | 👥 | Afloat | jam | 903 | 3.17 | 2.98 | 3.17 | 3.46 | 3.57 | 2.95 | 2.53 | 3.14 |
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | 👥 | Delivering Better Worlds | jam | 915 | 3.25 | 3.30 | 3.33 | 3.16 | 3.25 | 2.94 | 2.55 | 2.96 |
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | 👥 | Nimkip! | jam | 177 | 3.84 | 3.81 | 3.41 | 4.22 | 3.54 | 3.17 | 3.46 | 3.52 |
| 2022 | 51 | Every 10 seconds | 👥 | Chicken Golem! | jam | 675 | 3.43 | 3.36 | 3.15 | 4.01 | 3.01 | 2.71 | 3.46 | 2.82 |
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | 👥 | The Great Filter | jam | 725 | 3.50 | 3.20 | 3.37 | 3.67 | 3.52 | 3.08 | 2.70 | 3.38 |
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | 👥 | Unstable Pinball | jam | 1241 | 3.10 | 2.93 | 2.46 | 2.86 | 3.22 | 2.88 | 2.27 | 3.03 |
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | 👥 | In Search of Sigmund I | jam | 1404 | 3.23 | 2.93 | 2.73 | 3.74 | 3.08 | 3.12 | 2.37 | 3.23 |
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | 👥 | Emberkeep | jam | 1693 | 3.28 | 3.08 | 3.13 | 4.01 | 3.08 | 2.60 | 3.03 |
Game of the year, every year.
Amazing game! Top one I've played in this jam so far. Keep up the amazing work!
Loved it! I liked how the frogs could attack and kill each other.
Loved it! Music was very atmospheric. I especially liked the GIANT fish in the background as you got deeper.
That was a lot of fun! I got confused about having to click *and hold* to dig. I know you need to balance things so that a casual reviewer can see all the content, but I'd love to see a more challenging version of this game! Graphics were great and I loved the opening illustrations.
Very cool. And an awesome take on the theme! Also Hellavator is a pretty kickass title.
Very enjoyable. Loved the cave Easter egg, laughed out loud at that!
Aw, I liked where that was going! Hope you guys can put out a longer one next time. Thanks for the entry!
Heck of a game! The visuals are astounding and it's very well-executed, blends smoothly into the soundtrack.
My one complaint? Kept dying because I couldn't see what was happening when the screen bloomed in later levels! But you know, if I wasn't enjoying the game so much, I wouldn't have become so annoyed. Great entry!
I really enjoyed it! Definitely hits the theme, the graphics are on-point, and running around as a little drill robot was quite a bit of fun. Nice work!
Loved it! Was able to survive to round 21 by building large housing units atop each other. To the mooooooon!
Loved it! Fun to just watch the evolved little critters run around eating and murdering each other. If the project were able to be enlarged, evolutions that require multiple points might be fun.
Ha Ha I loved this game! I was a bit confused about how the protection worked - it must only decrease the chances of a disaster of a given type striking within its radius? Rather than making it impossible, I mean. That, or there is a particular kind of disaster that no building can protect against.
Had a lot of fun throwing up buildings and watching the universe destroy them. Delicious jam!
I thought the conceit of death and reincarnation was a very clever take on the theme, and using different bodies to solve different puzzles was a lot of fun. Would love to see it fleshed out with more bodies and more puzzles! Great work.
Great piece! I have nothing to add beyond what others have said, so I'll just say: well done. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Hey Bishop @recher ! Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Yeah, the UI had minimal playtesting due to time crunch. Your proposals surely would've led to a more smooth gameplay experience.
The game concept we came up with in brainstorming was based on the Fermi Paradox (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox). That's why the in-game device designed by the IO is called the Fermi Device. The Fermi Paradox addresses the question of why, given the size and complexity of the universe, we have yet to encounter other intelligent life.
One explanation is the Great Filter. Some aspect of becoming an intelligent civilization and surviving to encounter other civilizations is so unlikely that it filters out most civilizations, destroying them before contact can be made.
The best we can do is... Delay the Inevitable. Vote Filter!
Great game! Core mechanic is extremely engaging, fits the theme well. Had to come back and play it a couple times!
Great game. Loved the upgrades and the enemy varieties. I was gonna suggest putting terrain obstacles in, but then I thought about it - and the little yellow, slow-moving slimes are better. So yeah, lotta fun!
The hourglass running out as a character idea is really clever and definitely on-point. To me, the extra mechanics were honey on top of that delicious conceit. Nice job!
Loved it! Visuals very appealing, sound effects contributed without being annoying, central mechanic interesting. Honestly just loved watching the plants grow!
Love your pixel snowflakes and the way that death sort of closes in on you. As others have said, the great strength of this game is the atmosphere, the mood it instills in the player even after just a few minutes of playing. It's the little details that really express this - the grayed-out letters of the ending dialogue, how the Ah... recedes back into itself, swallowing the ellipses, as if an exhalation followed by an inhalation. Very well done!
I enjoyed this quite a bit! A nice feature to add in future version would be a jump, I think. Sound engineering was solid, and I like the idea of endless waves of zombies.
I liked it! Having a score that displays in the end is something lacking from our entry, good idea. Enjoyed the gameplay, thought it was a smart take on the theme. Also the title Wheelbarrow Cash Blast is amazing.
Really enjoyed it! Can't believe what a great tutorial you put together in such a short time. The game itself was fun and challenging, and ramped up well. My hat is off to you!
Art is excellent! And I love all the little touches, the ghosts and graves. Quite a bit of content for a jam game, too.
I enjoyed the game quite a bit! Good sound design, great graphics, fun mechanics. For some reason I didn't seem to be able to replenish blood when I drank it from corpses, however, so each of my plays was pretty short. Even so, the fun concept shone through!
Great game! level generation kept it spicy and I liked how you managed to ramp up the difficulty as it went. I actually think the movement is a factor in the game's favor; it requires a greater level of mastery to slide your way around to victory while fighting a ticking clock. It was a lot of fun! BUT it did get frustrating having to start over so much. In my opinion more lives, or making it easier to renew them, would do the game a service. Kudos!
I enjoyed it! Good graphics, good sound design, and great programming too. The only thing lacking is length, of course, but when the other aspects are so good well - the time crunch is real! Overall great submission.
I really appreciated all the little graphical flairs - the scrolling backgrounds, the explosion of pixels when you hit the note, the transitions between songs, the jukebox-esque lettering. Gave the game a very polished feel. And, of course, the music was great!
Loved it! One of the strongest submissions I've played. Side note - on the bug-fixed version I was unable to continue after dying starting on level 5. Finished the game in the buggy version, heh. Overall - very nice work!
Kind of a low-res survival horror in the stone age. I liked it! Like another commenter mentioned, however, my wolf did eventually walk through fire. An idea for future features if you end up expanding it - the ability to light more fires?
I liked your take on the theme - simple but effective.
Loved it! Great take on the concept and great execution. Controls well and looks slick. Gotta get a sick Daft Punk remix soundtrack and you're ready to ship.
VERY enjoyable game. I must commend you for competently controlling the scope of your game such that you could achieve a good level of polish - you didn't go overboard, so what's there feels tight and well-designed. Even the scrolling background and transition to the options screen are *chef's kiss*. Doing it in only 12 hours is even more impressive. Kudos!
I love the name of this game. Also I love the concept! Full marks for innovation, and for the awesome evil boss graphic.
@caveman54 Wow! We didn't see this comment right away cause we generally don't check LD once the final scores are posted. Taking the time to do a video review is pretty huge. Thanks for the feedback!
Lotta fun! Got a little bit buggy when I was moving to complete a word that auto-completed because I had the upgrade that solves the longest word every 25 seconds - I ended up with a letter stuck to my cursor whenever I moved to the bottom row, and as a result couldn't move anything in the bottom row any longer. Otherwise, I love the concept of this game, and great job nailing the theme!
That was fun! I find the premise very intriguing - lapsed memories, the mysterious well.
I really enjoyed the look of all your enemy sprites! Especially the tall ones. Pretty fun how the world shifts every 10 seconds. Made me want to see all the possible world-looks!
Enjoyed this game quite a bit! Made it to level 30. I was unable to unlock Big Cog or Bomb, although I had enough coins. Also the music turns back no every level if you turned it off.
Other than those minor quibbles - great game. Addicting core mechanic, great sound design, and owls are amazing.
Enjoyed that a lot! The music really suited the mood of the game.
I think this is a REALLY clever take on the theme. I only wish it had been longer! Great work.
I enjoyed super-charging the speed and launching the little fellow, but ultimately found slower speeds were better for accomplishing the goal. Character design is great. Would've loved more levels - and that's always a good criticism to see!
Stellar entry! How could I not play all the way to the end?
Oh. Oh God.
I enjoyed it! The sign indicating which way for storage was a good addition. Learning as you went what the benefit was of repairing each object was part of the charm. The graphics are on-point, particularly the monster, who is just really cool to look at. I would have loved if he burst out on lose, but we all know the time commitment to making those kind of flairs. Similarly something to show your triumphant win. If I were to prioritize anything, it would be making it more clear to the player when they are getting low on time - maybe more intense music, or the screen gets shaky, or even more lighting changes.
But, these are nitpicks. Overall, great job!
Loved the mood on this one, really got me into a contemplative kinda vibe. I appreciated the almost story-book feel to the art, and the game as a whole. Relaxing! Loved it.
Yeah this game is a lot of fun. I really like the upgrade system! I found that just blasting with my fireball was more enjoyable than the breath though. Great job!
Love the loading screens!
That was fun! The peaceful little ditty that plays at the end was a real treat, and I enjoyed the character models for the humans. I think I would've liked for the sprint function to give me a little more flat-out speed, so I can really get that surging hungry zombie feel. Incidentally, Deadlicious is a great rapper name.
Thoroughly enjoyed it! Like the pixel graphics and the chainsaw sound effect, as well as the gun cocking sound. Also thought the road sections were a nice change of pace to keep the main loop from getting stale. Nice!
Really fun! Feels very fluid, well-designed, complete. Nice work!
Aw man I was stoked to go on an adventure! Overall good graphics, good audio, controlled well. But such a tease! Still, nice work putting it all together in time.
Love the mood on this one. The song (which I love) fit the character, fit the style of game. Agree with others that the physics were a bit wonky, but I like being able to mojo apples away from me with sheer hippy audacity. Seeing 3d models in a gamejam? That's top notch.
Amazing submission! And is this a sequel to last year's entry? Loved the soundtrack and the art was stellar.
For me, the best part of this game was the excellent soundtrack. I also like the little robot animations, excellent submission.
Really enjoyed this! Pushing the mechanics you put in place to their limits. Appreciated the sound design, as well. My collaborators and I also did a space delivery game, so as an EXPERT in this particular genre, bravo!
@100th-coin That video is useful feedback. For sure we'll increase the font size next time, at the very least.
@dzugaru I see what you did there. ;)
I thoroughly enjoyed dying, then dying again while attempting to dispose of my own corpse. The dangly physics and the funny hat I apparently wear were also highly amusing. Good entry!
I enjoyed it! Interestingly to me, much of my time was spent trying to determine into which category each item fit. Is a calculator a tool, or technology? Almost leads to an existential crisis.
This is a very strong entry. I thought the power cord mechanic was very clever. I think having a few decoy pillars around - ones that can't be used to solve the puzzle successfully - would make things more challenging. Darn tricky to take into account all possible approaches for every pillar, though.
Great job!
Great submission! I got stuck, but it's so interesting that I'll be back to sort it out. loved the ambiance, and the puzzles are clever and unsettling.
REALLY like the concept for this game, and found the stick figure art charming. The way the cops sort of spaz between fall and walk as the descend a ramp is neat. I played through it twice cause I forgot to talk to all the people with space, and found the dialogue amusing. Obviously any future releases need to implement unicycles.
Nice job!
Was able to play it! This was a lot of fun. Had an angel guy launch one of my boxes into orbit, then I didn't get a new box. I was like, I guess I broke it! And just before I restarted, the box descended again and smacked me in the face. Hijinks.
This is pretty genius. Excellent work.
Art is excellent! I don't think I fully understand how you fit the theme, though. Is it because increasing numbers of enemies limit your space to maneuver? I also really enjoyed the soundtrack. Controls were smooth and bug-free.
I love when the cubes bobbed up and down, that was a nice touch. I also liked how the game kept adding new wrinkles to create greater challenges, and I liked how you fit a puzzle game into the theme. Soundtrack was dope and the orc sprite is ballin. Also, I've seen the extra effort that goes into throwing in a tutorial level, so that's always appreciated. Nice work!
The gameplay was classic arcade, I enjoyed it very much! I also appreciated that the bossfight ramped up the difficulty as much as it did. Art was killer. It literally killed me, and I am now dead. Great writing, full marks in humor. Would've loved to punch it up with that snooty lich.
Really appreciated the little touches like the unique main menu and the little poster with the hand crushed in gears. I love the steampunk aesthetic so that was cool. Created an infinite loop out of curiosity and thought I had broke the game! Then I realized you can hit escape and restart. Was able to divine which portal dispensed which items by considering which exit portal would be harder to reach. Soundtrack was obviously off the chain. I enjoyed it enough to play every level! So nice work.
@labcatgames Yeah when it's a jam I just do 4 frame walking animations - if the sprite wasn't moving relative to the background, it would be unclear if she was walking forwards or backwards! Love your art, thanks for the compliment.
Really liked the little bouncy guys! I seem to favor the orc faction, they kept decimating the poor humans. Hell of an effort for one guy to put out, no bugs that I could discern. 2 thumbs up!
I thought this was hella clever. Making math fun by allowing it to murder your enemies!
Once I grasped the central gameplay loop it was quite fun! I'm dumb so I didn't understand immediately that I was drowning to death. Once I knew that, bobbing up and down was strategic, fast, and enjoyable.
@floppynub Thanks for the review! Hey are you moving with WASD? Your comment made me wonder - controls easier with the arrow keys, I'd say.
@helloimbenjamin This guy gets it. Worm is life!
@koolruz Yeah, thanks for playing all the way to the end! We'll definitely take all this feedback to heart, and by take it to heart I mean I'll repeat it ad nauseum to the other guy.
That part with the patrolling beetle blocking your path - actually he WAS supposed to block your path! We conceived of 2 possible ways for you to get out of there. The first is, if you creep in reeeeally carefully you can crush him with a block by standing in front of him in such a way that the dropped block doesn't block your path, like so:
Scenario A.png
Then we were like, but you can still solve it if you crush him and accidentally block your path, in this fashion:
Scenario B.png
And that is by strategically disassembling the dirt pillars you hopped up to reach that point, and going up the right edge of the level:
Scenario B Solution.png
Judging from how you dismantled the pillar of dirt on the left of the enemy, you found a third way that we didn't even think of! That's pretty cool.
So thanks for taking the time and giving us this great intel.
Euridyce performed admirably under pressure, never losing confidence for even a second. Fun game!
Very nice, and beautifully worm-themed. Graphics are on point and controls well.
Great entry, I love this take on the theme. I was able to collect only 3 chests but I liked it enough I'll likely return after rating a few games and see if I can get 'em all.
Like this as a jam entry, wonky controls were fun. Took me a minute to realize I could create up-and-down movement with w and s. I enjoyed smacking bats even though I was ostensibly supposed to avoid them.
Loved the music and the ending. I thought jumping was a little wonky, but then I got better at it and now I think maybe I just need to get good? Full marks for the concept.
@ckane144 Thanks! We hoped the kingfisher puzzle would be a good introduction to how the mechanics work.
The scenes were constructed by me, from collage-ing together pictures found on the internet to create like a Frankenstein reference picture, then drawn and colored with a mouse in Gimp.
Then, @t-c went through in Unity and added dynamic lighting and rain, which really kicked the visuals up a notch I think.
I did the pixel art in Aseprite, no references.
@katastudios
Glad you enjoyed it! The things being on the thing is the hook that reels you into a conspiracy so deep and vast, the fish that live there swallow curious Inquisitors whole.
And that's the secret - the person put the things on the thing, and they used the stuff to do it, in the place.
Actually if you have any spoilery questions feel free to ask.
@local-minimum
Oh thanks for that spoiler explanation! We fixed it. Thanks also for a full play-through video, that's incredibly valuable data. Just really grateful you took the time!
@ira-baciu While I was in there I added a little title card as well, per your suggestion.
Had a lot of fun completing the collection log! But I was hoping to unlock something by doing so. What's outstanding in this entry is character design, including dialogue and sound. My favorite is the otter hands down.
Collection.png
Love the art and the jumping part of the gameplay. This is a complete idea, well-executed an on-theme - everything you look for in a jam.
I enjoyed this, and I thought the message being portrayed was interesting and well-presented. I tried to find the second ending suggested by the launch page by repeatedly backtracking and getting my jump to ridiculous heights, but couldn't find anything by jumping around. I wonder what the second ending is?
Love the flavor on your launch page. The tilty-ness of the world was a neat touch. I thought the puzzles were well-designed.
I got to the 4th lever device controlled by a shadow and couldn't figure out where to go from there - there's a tall door blocking you from going right, and none of the levers appear to open it.
Overall I still really dig the game!
The little folder is really the crown jewel of this game, so adorable. The sound design, of course, really shines out. I enjoyed it so much it made me wish there were more puzzles! Oh, and I was able to jump all the way to above the game zone by walking left and standing on the invisible wall as I continued to jump upward. Overall I loved it.
I liked it! The radiating lines are a clever take on the theme and the music you found slaps.
Love the use of the pulses as a signal and I liked the level design. The art is also top-notch. I actually liked MORE challenging passages to navigate, but you don't wanna make a game jam game too hard, so I think you landed on the right side of the difficulty curve for most folks. Thanks for making it!
I loved the radio tuning concept and the audio, especially the crackling, staticky sounds. Excellent voice acting! Put me in mind of those old numbers stations.
You've made math fun and I don't know how to feel about that. Nice work!