Nuclear blaze by deepnight 2021-05-05T03:50:26Z
This is nothing short of stunning. Brilliant work, perfect scores from me!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Jordan Ottesen
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | The Colorsmith | compo | 18 | 4.22 | 4.25 | 4.05 | 3.92 | 4.26 | 4.28 | 3.08 | 4.06 |
This is nothing short of stunning. Brilliant work, perfect scores from me!
I'm still getting over it.
lol seriously though phenomenal game. The challenge is right in that sweet spot where I feel like it should be easier so I keep trying. It's more difficult than it initially looks, but still so rewarding. This is a super solid submission. Well done!
I should also point out the humor of wielding a sword so big in such tight quarters had me laughing the whole time. It helped me chill out when I got frustrated. Love this game.
Excellent game! I loved how I got the man with the cane to think the other dude was the spy. Very engaging and fun story. This is a solid submission. Deep Cover.JPG
lol I don't know why but the timpani drums really started being funny to me. Something about the look on the character's face accompanied by the epic and incessant drums was funny to me.
Anyway, fun game! I got crushed by a rock pretty early so it was clear to me how to progress through the rest of the game thereafter. BTWHaul.JPG Is $8650 a good score?
Great game! I feel like "psychedelic" is the best descriptor for this game. The graphics are pretty wild and they really fit with the absurdity of Aliens looking for cheese. The music is a great fit for the vibe as well.
Nice job on this.
I love the juice in this game. Screen shakes when firing, the epic(ish) slow motion death animation when you get taken out by a bat, etc. I'd be curious to see who gets the farthest! My only concern is that it seems whether or not the player does well is more up to chance than skill as the way the bats randomly spawn could work for or against you.
I echo every positive sentiment mentioned here. Outstanding game. I'm grateful for your LD47 debrief on Glitch Loop, or I might not have believed you could make something like this from scratch, by yourself, and in 48 hours. But I believe you! Your process works!
Side note, I think a fun approach to playing this is to use both WASD and the Arrow keys to "button mash" a direction by alternating pressing them. I believe it helped me dig a lot faster than I otherwise could have.
Fun concept! It felt pretty quick to learn the mechanics, only had to play a couple times to get a pretty decent I score. I found it was easiest to just let 2 boxes die, then carry one box around and protect it without ever setting it down. Fun stuff!
The rag doll physics work really well I think. The wiggling arms honestly reminded me of spiders... pretty fitting for a deadly bacteria. Very cleaver application of the theme and a memorable game. Nice work!
The animations really make this game shine. You've done a great job building something polished and engaging around a relatively simple mechanic. The puzzles are a good chill level of difficulty, never getting too hard but still making me stop to think before I blindly charge to each gem. The music fits that vibe super well. All in all, this is a solid submission.
I love the mood of this game. Challenging, but simply enough to keep me engaged. Nice work!
Out of curiosity, how does this game tie with the theme? Figured I'd check with the dev before choosing my ranking for "Theme."
Super slick movement. I was grateful and relieved when I could propel myself not only upward, but downward too! The visuals are great and the game has a good feel to it. The only criticism I could muster would be that the only use of the theme is the downward movement, not any mechanics. I'd be curious to see if you had a way to further incorporate the theme in your game. Maybe call stronger attention to the idea of deep space or something related to that. Either way, solid game. Well done!
I'm smitten with the game. I love the innovative use of the theme and how puzzles are built not only on constraints in the blocks/poison, but also in the fact that every root follows the same orders from the player. The music is calming and fits the vibe perfectly. This game is a true gem.
I will admit the inverter is pretty hardcore, but I think it's a valuable piece of the puzzle. It takes it from difficult to absolutely mind-bending. It makes the "slurping" noise all the more satisfying when the roots hit the water.
Nice work.
PS - I actually thought about deeper and deeper tree roots for my game, but ultimately decided on deeper and deeper shades of a color. It's awesome to see other devs thought on the same lines as I did with tree roots and made such a wonderful game with this interpretation of the theme!
Gorgeous game. I was entranced by the artwork every step of the way. Very good use of theme and blend of point and click adventure and story game mechanics. It looks like you know your strengths and you play to them well. Phenomenal entry. Also, this planet was just so cool:Space Game.JPG
Excellent game! Looks like I'm not the only one who tried the "dig straight down" technique only to be stuck at the bottom without enough money to buy the ultra drill. It was super satisfying upgrading my little robot dude and watching it move faster and break bigger and bigger stones. Great game! Dig Game.JPG
lol this game though. Funny interpretation of the theme "deeper and deeper." Although, I'm not sure if I should be amazed or disgusted lol.
I'm a big fan of the physics behind the rope. Nice work on that! I think there's so much to explore in game level designs built around that repelling mechanic. Would be excited to see a game built in more detail related to that.
Something sort of funny, I found this game was easier to beat if I just let go of the rope and rebuilt it over and over again by pressing R and E repetitively. Screen Shot 2021-05-16 at 11.57.15 PM.png
Absolutely brilliant.Screen Shot 2021-05-17 at 12.37.42 AM.png
This game is excellent! You've made a lot of design decisions that I appreciate and agree with. The tutorial does a phenomenal job explaining the gameplay quickly and clearly to the player. The bunny logic would be harder to understand otherwise.
It took me a second to see how it fit with the theme, until I realized you're traveling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. I'd honesty call attention to that in your description so players make the connection!
Great submission.
I think this game turned out really well! I like the way you have one button perform many functions. Clicking not only drops a bomb to create gold, but it also moves your ship. It's an interesting balance trying to create gold while also dodging the damage pipes coming at you. I liked that aspect a lot. Sure the movement isn't super fluid, but that didn't take away from the game's fun factor. Refining the player movement is something that you can do after the Jam.
All in all, great work here.
I love the clever application of the phrase "deeper and deeper" in reference to sleep. Also a big fan of the juxtaposition between a little girl in PJs and violently battling nightmare sheep. Solid submission!
I think the launch mechanic is an excellent idea. I'd love to see you pursue this idea with more levels built around that mechanic. Nice work.
I really like the idea of shifting layers and how that blends with the "deeper and deeper theme". I think this game could benefit from playtesting for difficulty, more polished physics, and less jerky camera movements. Even so, I love the idea and the challenge it provides.
I think there's a lot of fun potential for designing levels for speed runs around the "launch out of the ground mechanic." Cool submission!
Visually this game is gorgeous. I also really enjoyed the springy physics of the platforms.
I'd be curious to know your thoughts on mitigating the "leaps of faith" I had to do occasionally. I couldn't see super far down on some of the falls, so I ended up just kind of letting the square fall and hoping for the best. Maybe this is intentional, but I think it could make this game even better than it already is if you designed obstacles to prevent having to blindly jump.
Anyway, I'm amazed this is a compo game! The physics and graphics alone are really really well done. Nice work on this one!
I have sound canceling headphones so I literally felt like I was in a cave. I greatly appreciated the ghost recognizing that he had a "creepy voice." Helped defuse an otherwise unsettling vibe. Very clever game! There's actually one in the B&W Jam right now that uses a similar mechanic called Audio Runner. Kind of cool to see multiple devs thought to use a mechanic that entirely removed visuals for two totally different themes. https://mastro2k.itch.io/audio-runner
Not sure which engine you're using, but is there any chance you could make a windows or HTML5 build? I'd love to try this game out and give it a score!
TheColorsmithDemo1.gif
(See full game details and devlog at: https://jottesen.itch.io/the-colorsmith)
@oxrock, thank you for playing! I'm glad you liked the audio, was one of my favorite parts to develop! I totally agree the levels are too linear. Honestly just didn't have as much time as I needed to design more engaging puzzles.
@pijamar thank you for the high praise and thoughtful play through! Having made many platformers, I have a sort of framework I use with gravity, acceleration, deceleration, etc. for refining the movement quickly based on the game's needs. This one I wanted to be responsive, snappy, but still organic. So I'm stoked and flattered that you noticed the movement! A lot of effort went into that!
Cumulatively I really did make it in about 10 hours (12 if I'm counting all the time I spent tweaking my itch.io page, writing the blurb, making the thumbnail image, blah blah). I have a tendency to map out my game development plans in my head throughout the day, so while I watched my kid at the playground, I was thinking about the game design and coding logic. I have a problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks again, your genuineness is heavily appreciated. Do you have a game in the Jam? I'd love to play it.
Also, I saw on your profile you're from Brazil. I served a mission in São Paulo Brazil and Sorocaba. Lived there for two years! Aquela cidade tem um espaço especial no meu coração :)
@pijamar excellent, I'm excited to check out your game!
In São Paulo, I was inviting people to follow Jesus Christ as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I made some amazing lifelong friends there as we talked with anyone who wanted to learn more about our religion. My mission in Brazil really shaped the rest of my life honestly, wouldn't trade it for the world. A church leader recently gave a talk that I think captures the core of my beliefs. He certainly words it better than I ever could lol: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/41soares?lang=eng
@pijamar and thank you for your kind words! It's funny the friendships that come from these Jams, video games connect us lol. BTW you probably already saw my feedback, but I loved your game and the world/story you're building with it.
@danframe thank you for the praise. I did indeed go solo! Part of why it's short lol. Thinking I'll probably build out a lot more after the jam :)
@mamon thank you! I put a lot of effort into the sound design. Those footsteps are literally my knuckles on a glass jar lol.
@jimbly Thank you for the thoughtful feedback! You're further confirming my suspicions and the feedback of many others. The levels are designed too linearly/predictably. I'm excited to start designing more engaging puzzles in the post-compo version :)
@felo07 thanks for the praise, feedback, and heads up on the bugs! I'll let "the team" know (lol jk, it's just me) and I'll dig into those for sure.
@luis-giron holy wow, that is extremely high praise. I'm flattered. Thank you thank you! I'll be sure to give your game a go soon! Just need to see if I can get my hands on a PC... you don't happen to have an HTML5 version of your game do you?
@euler-moises thanks for the kind feedback! There is a soundtrack! It's honestly one of my favorite parts of the game. I've found that sometimes you just need to refresh your browser.. not sure why it sometimes plays without music. Frustrating issue with some browsers and HTML5 games. Anyway, this video shows the music: https://youtu.be/225lE3dyzJ8?t=633
I think I will ultimately invest in this idea. All of the positive feedback has been very encouraging.
IntothewoodsHighScore.JPG
Check it out, I got over 2000 points! ;) In all honesty though, great work! I like the use of theme by going deeper and deeper into the woods. Playing the actual game without falling off the edge, I can appreciate the direction this game is heading and the potential you guys have as game developers. This is exciting stuff!
Excellent submission, especially for a Compo game! I think the real shining element of this game is the underlying story and lore. I genuinely had a desire to continue progressing through the levels to see how the story would unfold (though just to be sure, there's currently no further story after the intro scene, right?) If you end up developing this game further, I'd love to follow the story and see where Dahla's quest to answer the question of the meaning of life leads.
I think the gameplay itself is good groundwork for more complex puzzles in the future, maybe with enemies that eventually have predictable paths based on some sort of visual cue. I feel like the current strategy is to just ensure you're always one square away from an enemy until they approach you first so you can attack them safely. I got pretty far following that rule of thumb. Honestly that mechanic of waiting for the enemy to make the first move might lend itself well to a metaphor with the storyline too...
Anyway, great game and nice work!