Of The Dark by cogcomp 2020-04-21T01:49:21Z
Really liked the shifting between realms to progress in the game. The goal was a bit confusing, and the 3d scanning was a bit off, but I really liked the aesthetic of it. Gave me a real Hexen or Doom vibe.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Jay Berlin
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Tuneloop | jam | 1482 | 2.90 | 2.95 | 2.94 | 3.07 | 3.10 | 2.95 | 1.83 | 2.81 | |
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | Virtual Fish Tank | compo | 934 | 2.91 | 2.46 | 3.14 | 3.87 | 3.14 | 2.75 | 2.18 | 3.14 |
Really liked the shifting between realms to progress in the game. The goal was a bit confusing, and the 3d scanning was a bit off, but I really liked the aesthetic of it. Gave me a real Hexen or Doom vibe.
There's a great idea here, but it looks like you may have run out of time to finish it before the jam. I'd love to see it in a more complete state, and I hope you keep working on it.
Gameplay was a bit slugging but lots of fun. I think it would add a lot if you could tighten up the controls a bit more, and add more enemies. Otherwise great game. Keep up the good work!
Great game and concept. I think the jump physics could stand a bit of tweaking but otherwise it's got great, snappy controls and it's a great callback to twitch-based FPSs of old.
Really well crafted game. Could definitely use some sound effects and music. I also didn't immediately figure out that the camera orbit was controllable. Maybe it'd be better to start the game with the camera behind the player as that might have prompted me to try moving the mouse like other third-person games that put the camera there. Otherwise, great little experience, and I'd love to see it expanded on.
I liked how the goal was to protect your babies. Definitely a new spin on the top-down shooter. Great job!
Really fun to play but it was definitely lacking sound and music. Would have been great to have a jaunty sea shanty playing in the background and some piratey sound effects to go along with their mood, and when you board another ship. Otherwise great fun, and I hope you keep working on it.
Really fun card game. I had the same idea about keeping fish alive! Really liked the play 2, discard 1 mechanics as it forces you to prioritize. I think I'd add a little more padding for the food and dirty meters (maybe increase each by 1 or 2 at most) since if you already have one down, a little bad luck on the next card can knock you out. I could see where that would provide a lot of challenge, but I kinda wanted to keep playing the game when one knocked me out like that. Over all though, I really had fun playing this game, and I hope you keep working on it. I'd love to see you make more humorous effect cards.
Hey there twin game of mine! That was a really fun game, and I think I did pretty decent. Really like the balancing between food, cleaning, and oxygen, but I think it'd be better if it didn't peak at so many fish so you could see them better on the screen. At my highest point it was just a wall of food/oxygen/dirty bubbles. Other than that small thing, I think you've got a great game here, and I hope you keep expanding on it after the jam. fishing-survivor-extreme-screenshot.png
Great vibe on this game. The vibe reminds me of RoboBliz if you've ever heard of that old game. Love the tank controls and the challenge they pose to keeping your plant safe. Great take on the theme, and it was great fun to play.
Neat concept, and really fun once you get the hang of it. You might want to make the initial instructions clearer. Maybe have a short guided tutorial where it draws one and has you draw the next one. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun playing this game and the pixel art was great!
What a great game. Simple mechanics but really engaging. Loved to watch how the plant grew as I tried to coax it to where the sunlight was. I'd love to see more/harder levels. Great work!
Very challenging, but a great game. Could probably do with some work on how you're randomizing where the meteors are coming from as a couple times I started with an unwinnable scenario, but otherwise it's a great game. Really like the ability to drop an ice cube on the double-jump. It's a really useful extra mechanic that I found myself taking advantage of a lot. Really enjoyed playing it, and I hope you develop it further.
Really fun game. I like how easy it is to figure things out as you go along. Controls are pretty obscure, but maybe I just needed to read the instructions first LOL. Love the idea, and it'd be great to see you expand upon this game after the jam.
Great concept. I love the old GameBoy aesthetic and it's a great interpretation of the theme. I think it could work better if everything was tile based as some of the times the enemies got my player seemed like they were cheating. If the walls were built per-tile then I think it would be easier for the player to understand how they need to block the bad-guys. Otherwise I really enjoyed playing it, and I hope you keep working on it.
Great game and an interesting take on tower defense. A lot of emergent complexity from a set of simple concepts, and quite a challenge to get the balance just right. I'd love to see more types of enemies and defences, but otherwise really cool. I really enjoyed playing this game.
That was a great little experience. You've got a really great game here, and I'd love to see a more expanded story.
Nice smooth gameplay, but I think it could be a little more challenging to keep my MyTube channel alive and hit that 100 million subs. Otherwise, I really like the concept, the gameplay is responsive and smooth, and the art style is really great. I'd love to see this game expanded upon.
Really interesting game, and has a good variety of encounters. Only thing I could suggest is to have your resources/money displayed on the dialog screens so you know what you have with you (for hiring people, etc.) Otherwise, great game that is fun to play. Hope you keep expanding on it.
Great concept and a lot of fun to watch the jets fight it out over your city. I feel like the difficulty curve is too easy. I quickly realized I was far outpacing the waves of enemies, and it didn't take long to get to a point where I was not able to buy enough stuff in the time before the next wave to even spend the money I was making. I also noticed that as I ramped up on jets, the audio would clip out on the WebGL version, and eventually the game actually crashed due to how many jets I had fighting it out. I've included a screenshot to show you where the game eventually ground to a halt. Hope it helps.
I'd love to see an unfolding mechanic where you go from buying buildings to whole blocks, and maybe have different types of jets or even anti-aircraft get introduced. Lots of possibilities, and I'd love to see you keep pulling this thread and expand on what you have. earth-defense-1-crash.jpg
Neat concept. I could definitely see this being popular as a mobile game. Really liked how you highlighted the change in poison foods with a little animation. It'd be great if there were more food types as you progressed (maybe by way of adding levels) Otherwise, I really enjoyed playing it, and I hope you continue developing this idea.
Love the music and the art style. Great low-key game that you can kinda just relax to. I think you could work on the spawn rate and randomness as it didn't really feel like things got any harder with each new wave. Also, I couldn't really tell what the power ups did except the one that restores your turnip's health. Otherwise, really great concept, and I hope you keep working on it.
Great concept, and lots of fun to play. There were a couple bugs I found with the crow getting stuck in the sky, the camera controller can be tough to control when looking straight down, and some of the controls could be more responsive but the bones of this game are really great. You could definitely expand on this to include more enemies and more levels and turn this into a really neat game. Thanks for making it, and I really hope you keep working on it.
Great little game that balances resource management and a shooter. I think if you connected the resources more with the third person shootout sequences, it'd make for a really interesting balancing act. For example, maybe you could use some of the wood to fashion better weapons, or feed some of your food to your horses so they'd move faster and could outrun some bandits. Otherwise, a great game, and I had a lot of fun playing it.
Great idea, but it seems like you could use some balancing in your spawners. Flames spawned very rarely for me, and the ghosts always took more flame to kill than they gave back. Otherwise, I really like the art style, and I'd love to see you develop this idea further.
Playing on Keyboard/Mouse, I ran into some issues past 300 as well. After a while the boxes that spawn seemed to be out of reach, and I was unable to pick them up. Otherwise, it's a great game, and I really enjoyed playing it.
Very challenging, but I really enjoyed it. Definitely gave me flashbacks of a few places I've worked where the only way to debug the code was to use a duck, LOL. I think an automation/upgrade mechanic would be great for this game. Something where you'd use the money you make to upgrade their coffee pot into a caraffe and then maybe a coffee machine, and maybe you could expand on the duck to add an army of duck-wearing interns. Even if you don't like that idea, I really hope you expand on this game.
Great game idea! Loved the floppy nature of the fish, but I think it could use some tweaking on when/where you can click to try another shot. Also would love to be able to look ahead on the course to see where to go. The minimap did help, but it doesn't always show enough. Had a lot of fun playing this game though, and I hope you keep working on it.
Definitely doesn't take long to figure out how to beat the game. Great concept though, and maybe having progressively more difficult levels would be the best way to take this game forward. Love the concept though, and I think it'd be great as a simple game you can jump into fast when you have a little free time. Maybe convert it to a mobile game?
Great concept for a game. I'd like to see the intro instructions replaced with more of an in-game / self discovery approach where you learn how to play the game by playing the game, but otherwise it was a lot of fun to play.
Great interpretation of the theme incorporating smash mechanics. It was really easy to figure out, and get pretty good at fast. The controls could use a little tweaking, especially on the jump and dash but otherwise, I really enjoyed playing this game.
Very challenging to keep from overshooting, but that's how it goes in space. Maybe you could have a gravitational pull from the sun, kinda like the old SpaceWar game. Neat concept, and great mechanics!
Very interesting concept. I really like that as it gets more intense you need to start playing tactically, moving certain colors into certain places. I'd love to see you balance that mechanic a little more so that it doesn't get difficult/impossible so quick. Definitely a balance to be struck there, and I really thing you're on the right track. Great game, and a great idea!
Great concept and a whole lot of fun. I did notice some weirdness in the controls while playing it though. Seems like if I was moving sideways it would sometimes not register up or down until I let off the sideways key. Otherwise, it played very well, and the more sluggish response is fitting for an underwater swimming game.
Nice play on the theme, and the game has a great feel to it. Dash mechanics are really good, and I think I could really master them with a little more practice. Just enough difficulty to keep it interesting in the beginning but not frustrate a new player, but I think it ramps up a little fast once you're in the fray. Otherwise great concept!
Really beautiful pixelart game. I love the give and take life mechanics, and I'd love to see you expand on that. Maybe the plants should have multiple levels of decay where you can take some of their life and they bounce back but too much and they die, forcing you to go out further from the tree to find more life to take. Just a thought, but I'd love to see you keep going with this idea.
While stress level is important to manage, it doesn't actually kill the fish like hunger and sickness, so watch those two meters more carefully as they're the only two things that can kill your fish. Welcome to the balancing act of virtual fish-keeping!
To answer some questions, I was planning to let you buy more food and medicine with an allowance that increments every so often. Had to cut it for time, but I'll try to include it after the jam.
As for pacing, I was planning to speed things up a bit for the jam but I couldn't get the balancing right.
I'm loving the ideas you guys have. Keep them coming and thanks for the feedback everyone!
@purpledartfrog @sydream You'll be happy to know that I've toned down the air pump sound, and made an option to turn it off. Once voting is over, I'll push an update that includes the change as well as lots of other things I've been working on.
@studiocurtis @jk5000 It's definitely in a semi-finished state and I've been working on some improvements since submitting. I'm planning to upload a new and improved version after voting is over though, so check back on my itch page in a week or so (https://capitoljay.itch.io/virtual-fish-tank) if you wanna see what I've been up to these past few weeks.
If anyone was looking to play the updated version, I put it out on itch.io this morning. I also put together a devlog on the updates here: https://capitoljay.itch.io/virtual-fish-tank/devlog/145882/big-updates-for-little-fish
Awesome game, and it plays very smooth and responsive. Very intuitive as well as after the intro/tutorial I was able to figure out how to play from there with no issues. Would love to see you expand on this, like special attacks, etc. Over all though I had a lot of fun playing this game.
Really fun little game. Could have used different/progressively more difficult falling hazards but it's highly enjoyable even without them. Made it 3 minutes before the fire went out. Is that good? Thanks for a neat little experience!
KeptItBurning.png
Great game and the driving controls are awesome! Seems like your car is pretty much invincible though. Might be helpful to add damage to the vehicle the more the cops crash into you. Pretty sure I could have gone on forever with the car as it is. Otherwise, really loved driving around and it reminded me a lot of running from the cops in GTA.
That was surprisingly fun and I wound up playing till I could make a loaf of sourdough. I'd say the physics could be easier to work with, but I think that's part of this game's charm is the challenge of wrangling water, flour, and a yeast jar with a mouse cursor. Great idea and an excellent implementation!
Thanks everyone for playing. I'll be adjusting the volume after voting, and as for spamming the fire, you can actually just hold down the button. You can also use the left mouse button in the same way if that's more comfortable.
Nice one. Took me a while to figure out the last level so good job there :smile: Really like the low-key music mixed with the carnage of dying all the time. Great work!
Lots of fun to play. Great mechanics and the controls were smooth and responsive. Definitely pretty punishing having to restart the whole map if you die. Maybe needs some work on where checkpoints are located in a few levels so that you can restart from there if you hit a hazard but otherwise a really great game.