PixelVolution by darokin 2012-09-06T19:16:00
It looks great and has a fun intro. Shame you didn't get the chance to develop it more.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Kmad
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 25 | You are the Villain | I, Goblin | compo | 10 | ||||||||||
| 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Neural Nodes | compo | 128 | 3.46 | 3.37 | 3.38 | 3.04 | 3.92 | 1.10 | 2.24 | 2.96 | 100 |
It looks great and has a fun intro. Shame you didn't get the chance to develop it more.
Wow, the atmosphere, sound and visuals are superb. The game is lots of fun too. I hope you develop this further.
At times a bit difficult but it's fun, has an interesting game mechanic and looks great. Well done!
Looks slick and the mechanics were interesting, good work.
Very original way of creating artwork, the presentation is incredible and the best looking and sounding thing that I've played so far. It was fun to wander about and explore, shame you didn't manage to get the combat in but it was so ambitious that it's understandable.
Quite a fun little game, classic mechanics but implemented well and an interesting take on the theme.
Worked fine for me. Amazing idea, very original. I found it a bit too difficult (even changing the settings as you suggest) but making the tutorial interactive was an excellent touch and helped a lot. Nicely done.
One of the most fun entries that I've played, solid game mechanics and great level design. I had a few little collision issues here and there where my character wouldn't activate a switch but in general it played well. Great entry!
This is pretty great, I love turn-based games and this fits the theme perfectly. Well done.
Nice game. Most of what I'd criticise has already been said (e.g. lack of feedback, grinding) but don't get me wrong I enjoyed having a go on this and think you've made a good looking, smooth game with potential for further development.
Great idea! Just needs a bit of work on collision and polishing up the attachment system.
Plenty of good ideas, I liked how you incorporated the theme and how some evolutions would affect others (e.g. you needed to be light in order to fly). I did get stuck in the ground after evolving arms at one point and had to restart. There is plenty of potential for this to be developed further.
Fabulous looking game with a simple concept that's fun. Good work.
It's a nice concept that fits the theme very well and it looks great too. Hope you get the chance to develop it further. For a first LD this is a good attempt.
Lovely interpretation of the theme, good work. Pressing the z button repeatedly got a little tiresome but the game was fun and looked good.
A fun little game although evolution that could be developed further. Looks great, I'm impressed to see such a good 3d game in 48 hours. I had a few collision problems, sometimes my buffalo went through the wolves and the baby buffalo would collide with me or themselves and get stuck when trying to move towards food. Good entry.
I just realised the first sentence of my comment is gibberish, that was some bad editing. What I meant to say was "A fun little game that could be developed further although it didn't have much to do with evolution."
One of the best concepts (and titles) that I've seen in the competition. Great little sandbox, would be nice to see it developed further.
I tried this out, it runs very smoothly on my system. Classic game mechanics with some nice touches such as choosing a side and the day/night cycle. I think it just needs to be a bit more challenging and tactical. Good effort though.
Crazy game but pretty funny and fun to. Good effort.
Fun game, I like the idea and it plays well. As mentioned some animation would be nice, as would little features like the ability to name horses. Great entry though.
Tried to run this on Windows 7 64-bit and couldn't get it working. Every time it tries to load I get an error prompt saying "LD24_WIN.exe has stopped working." The errors in the command prompt are that it failed to load the textures for the logo, title and background. It also fails to load the fonts and stops after trying to load mordernantiqua12.fnt. I tried downloading the file again but I get the same error.
It's like a little rogue-like on fast forward - great mechanics, this has loads of potential. Very polished, not quite fitting the theme but a great job overall.
Very original concept, played well once I got used to it. Great entry.
Wasn't sure what to expect with this one but it was actually fun and pretty funny. Solid, simple mechanic although a bit difficult to control at times. The cleaner was a nice touch.
The game looks really great, fits the theme perfectly and has nice, simple mechanics.
My feedback is similar to some of the other comments. Interesting premise and plenty of potential but the issues lie with audio/visual feedback and the interface. I wasn't sure initially what the objects were and so plenty of trial and error was required. It's a very ambitious game concept, congrats on getting as far as you have with it in just 48hrs.
Good effort, I think you're a little hard on yourself - LD is tough and you've got something out there that you can build on. I had a bit of trouble with the shooting, the bullets only appeared infrequently but other than that it could work well. I liked the idea of evolving when you die.
Fun sandbox that looks great. Well done!
That video you posted is very helpful, especially in understanding how the little creatures reproduce and evolve. The game itself is definitely one of the most original and innovate things that I've seen in the competition so far.
Looks good and is a decent concept, I found it a little difficult as the sprites were very small and the levels were quite crowded. It's a good effort and quite fun.
I played all of the way through this afternoon, I like the surprises when transforming creatures with the genome gun and then starting to use them tactically (like turning those electric orbs into weapons) makes it really fun.
I enjoyed this a lot. As others have commented it is a bit easy once you get the strategy figured out but I had exactly the same trouble with my own entry, so I can understand completely. Great to see another turn-based game, it looks slick and plays well. Great job.
Simple, fun mechanic that works well.
Fantastic game, looks brilliant and fits the theme really well. It was a real challenge to maintain genetic diversity.
It's definitely odd but I liked it, I thought the art style and mood were excellent personally - very different and works well. Very surreal (that's a good thing in my book) just needs more gameplay to it.
A cool little game. I thought it was a bit fast paced to begin with but then I got the hang of it and it was fun. A little bit of warning/feedback when there are off-screen enemies flying towards you would have been nice. It looks good and is very smooth, great work!
A nice, simple game. The video was very helpful in understanding how to get started. It's an original idea, I hope you have the time to build on it as it just needs a bit more depth. Well done.
The sound effects and ending made me laugh. The gameplay was fun with interesting mechanics, good job.
Great game, very fun and polished - the effects were excellent and the ship evolving mechanic was a nice idea.
Super little puzzle game. Fits the theme brilliantly and is yet very original, I'm impressed with the tutorial too - it teaches the basics of the game well. Great game!
Visual stunning and very smooth, I'd love to see this developed further.
Works well for me, it took me a while to work out what was going on even with the tutorial but when I did it was just brilliant. One of the best concepts that I've seen, fits with the theme really well, looks great, sounds great and is fun. Congratulations.
It is a little difficult at times, I managed to fall from the top almost all the way to the bottom when the gaps aligned but it's a good effort, fits the theme nicely and has interesting but simple game mechanics.
Impressive especially since this was written with C++. Good work, I like the fact that the animals try to jump over obstacles and gaps when they chase you.
Thanks! I made it turn based partly because of how slow Flash can be (I wasn't using Flixel or FlashPunk, I didn't have time to optimise anything and I was using large images) and partly because I've always been a fan of board games and tbs games in general. It may well have been much more interesting real-time as I didn't get a chance to add it some of the tactical mechanics that I wanted to.
@Porpentine - thanks for the feedback and compliments. Hopefully I'll find the time to develop the game a bit more.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!
@Mach60KAS - I missed that bug in testing, thanks for pointing it out.
@dalbinblue - Yeah, I noticed that too late to fix and still keep the game balanced unfortunately. They are too powerful if they can capture nodes as well, should've capped the number of them or something. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone! It is very much appreciated. I really want to find the time to work on a post-compo version and correct some of the bugs/balance issues that people have encountered. Hopefully I'll find the time.
@raohmaru - thanks for letting me know about that bug. The way I handled the game objects is a bit of a mess in the code as I was rushed, I really need to restructure all of that.
Thanks to everyone else for yet more great feedback, I appreciate all of it!
@repstyle - thanks for commenting although I don't have anything to do with Arne nor was I inspired by them. I've just had a look at their page (for the first time) and their art is great, I would've been inspired by it if I'd seen it before. The art style arose because I was panicked and just had to start sketching.
@Everyone - thanks for taking the time to comment and provide feedback.
@Sgt Squirrelly - did you mutate all three life-forms into armoured ones? Armoured life-forms can't capture nodes (it is mentioned in the instructions but I realise that they're a bit of a wall of text), this is a known issue. I did it to prevent them from being too powerful but I really need to add in a 'revert' button or something so you don't get stuck with three of them. I obviously can't make the fix in the compo version though, so to play you need to keep at least one life-form as a normal or a speed unit and they capture nodes while the armoured ones protect them. Thanks for playing and commenting.
Ran okay for me. Nice concept, I liked the idea of taking the pixels from other creatures to evolve your character. The levels were a little awkward to navigate at times but a solid entry overall.
Doesn't run for me either I'm afraid, I get the same error about an incorrect side-by-side configuration as a previous commenter.
This won't run for me, I've ensured that I've got the XNA framework installed but when I double-click on the exe file nothing happens. Evolution.exe appears in the processes tab of my task manager but the game isn't loading up.
@skintkingle - Sorry for the slow reply. I've checked my control panel and it says that I have both the XNA framework 3.1 and 4.0 installed. I'll try uninstalling 3.1 and reinstalling 4.0 and see if that helps.
@skintkingle - I've tried uninstalling XNA framework 3.1 and reinstalling 4.0 but I'm afraid that hasn't helped. It created the content directory and then does nothing. I've tried the post-compo version and that isn't running for me either. Sorry I could be more help, the game looks cool.
@skintkingle - Ah okay, for some reason my default zip extraction software wasn't showing the content directory (no idea why, it normally shows directories inside a zip fine) which was very odd. I tried another one and it extracted and ran fine. I thoroughly enjoyed it, got the hang of it quite quickly and I like turn-based games. I wasn't sure whether or not my units were evolving initially - they took a couple of turns to do so but once I knew that mechanic was working then it was fun. Good work.
It's a nice concept, I like the fact that it is a bit more open and emergent. It runs very smoothly, looks good and sounds great (the audio is much better than most of the entries that I've played so far). It's just a bit too easy and there are a few technical issues here and there but those are understandable. I read your post mortem and I can relate - I had a similar problem - writing way too much code for basic functionality that should've been done before the competition.
Got stuck in a few places when I ran out of energy and that was frustrating. It's a simple, interesting concept though and quite fun when you get the hang of it.
Really interesting little puzzle game idea, I liked how cross-breeding took effect as populations mixed. Hope you develop it further.
A very trippy game, odd concept but pretty playable. Hope you develop it further.
Looks, sounds and controls great. It could be a bit more challenging earlier in the game but it's a good entry.
I thought this was great, loved the use of stop-motion photography (great to see the Hero Quest figures in there too, that brings back memories!). Very original entry, well done!
It's great to see more turn-based games in the competition, I really like a lot of the ideas in this entry. It has a tenuous connection to the theme and is a bit too easy but it looks great and there is plenty of potential for an amazing game to come out of this. Hope you develop it further.
Brilliant concept and very polished. You've got some great ideas in there like the DNA sharing. Great work!
Superb, it has only a tenuous connection to the theme but it really is very playable. You consistently produce brilliant games in such a short space of time.
Interesting idea, there is potential there.
That is one long title! A few little issues as others have mentioned but a pretty fun little game. I like the idea of species of monsters evolving.
Visually it's very nice and it's a good concept that fits the theme. Would be great to see it in a more complete state eventually.
Looks fantastic, would be nice to have the help screen accessible throughout the game though - I had to restart the game to view it again. It was quite confusing initially but it is a very polished entry.
The visuals are excellent, love the minotaur and how it changes as more gear is added. Perhaps not entirely in line with the theme but a good game with the potential to be developed further.
Fun little game, although I got stuck so I checked the spoiler link and I'm still stuck. I get the battery from above the toilet and then return to the room with the bed in it and zap it but nothing happens for me, no hole appears. It's possible that I'm missing something obvious, anyway nice little game with an interesting concept.
This is good fun, combining resource collection with a top-down action mechanic was a nice idea. Plays well and there is potential here to develop this into something really interesting by adding a bit more variety and making it a little more challenging.
This is different from anything else I've seen in the competition so far, quite an original approach to the theme and nicely written. I enjoyed it a lot.
The game could do with a bit more content and development but it has solid mechanics and is pretty fun.
Even with the gameplay video I was a bit lost to be honest, I could have done with a tutorial. I think this idea is great and I can see how it fits the theme, the visuals and audio are very polished too.
The 32-bit version runs fine for me on windows 7 64bit. All works well, fun little game and fits well with the theme. A little feedback would be good (e.g. animation/sound effects when you are injured) but other than that it's a good effort.
Excellent little game, very funny and original.
Wow, impressive stuff. I love turn-based games, this is much better than the one I made. Classic gameplay, minimal but effective graphics. Very ambitious, could do with a little more feedback when research has been completed but other than that great work.
Great to see a card game, I love these kinds of games and wasn't expecting to see one based on this theme. I enjoyed it once I got into it but some elements are still a bit of a mystery to me, more explanations of icons and cards would be good. Great effort though.
I like the idea of combining an rpg with a beat 'em up, it looks great and plays quite well.
Nice game, a simple rts is great idea. I got the hang of it quite quickly and beat it on my first go but not without a bit of a challenge. Hope you build on this further.
Fits the theme very well and the level design is good. The jumping felt a little strange to me, almost as though it was levitating or a jet pack or something - a little too smooth and slow to rise. Overall, good work.
It's a funny idea that fits the theme. Could be turned into an interesting game.
Interesting concept, I thought the narrative really held it together. Hope you expand on this in the future, good work.
Excellent take on the theme - good idea! It was quite a challenge in places but I got through to the end. This is a great entry, well done!
Great idea, I like that you've given physics to a match 3 game. I did have some trouble as it wouldn't always register that I had 3 objects of the same colour next to each other. Really interesting though and worth developing some more.
The web version didn't work for me even after I updated silverlight, it just didn't load. I tried the windows version and that worked fine. Interesting idea, I got through level 1 without knowing what was going on but after that it became more challenging and fun. Cool entry that fits the theme well.
Interesting idea, took me a while to work out what was going on. The atmosphere is very good.
Fantastic little game that has a lot of potential to be developed further - hope you do carry on working on it.
Very original mechanic and fun too.
Really fun game with very classic mechanics. I liked the dino evolutions/power-ups and the effect where the music changed when you went underwater was a lovely touch. Great work.
This is very well made, looks good and the audio is fantastic. The game mechanics are solid - it took me a few attempts to get the hang of this, however, once I did there wasn't much to do after building up my town other than waiting for the debt to be paid off. Overall, a good, polished entry.
The game has a good atmosphere, it took me a while to work out what I was supposed to be doing - could've done with a bit more help. Original concept, fits the theme nicely, good attempt.
Nice concept, it's a bit difficult to get into but fits the theme well. Might be nice if it was a bit slower paced to begin with but good work overall.
Lots of fun, I really enjoyed the super powers - the laser eyes are perhaps a bit overpowered but the effect is cool. Good work on getting a platformer done in the time.
@Everyone - Thanks for the kind comments, to be honest I wasn't expecting any feedback really... I was pretty down about my effort as things didn't work out (hence why I've not replied to the comments sooner, I wasn't expecting any and so didn't check!). Forgot how great the community was.
@hissssssssss - Thanks for commenting. Yes, the idea was sort of Monopoly meets HeroQuest. So your goblin would travel around the board capturing locations, then on those locations they would leave minions and traps to make it harder for opponents to control the board. As for victory conditions (obviously none are implemented at the moment but from a design perspective...), I was thinking that maybe it would be to collect a certain amount of gold/treasure. I was aiming for that condition because I thought it might be a bit too easy to win by just taking locations and if gold was the target then there would be more opportunity to capture/recapture the locations of other players. Those ideas probably would've changed with a lot more play testing though.