Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → konfekt
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | STARCHILD | extra | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | deliver me from X | jam | 883 | 3.29 | 2.47 | 3.36 | 3.89 | 3.70 | 3.38 | 1.60 | 4.16 |
I'm wowed by how complete of an experience this is. Everything works smoothly, and it's really nice how you can progress by receiving items from the NPCs along with some lore crumbs. Gives my brain that dopamine hit from fulfilling quests! I think for the last part you're supposed to scale the ladder and I could for the life of me not figure out how to do it, but that may be more of a skill issue on my part.
I was glued to the screen the entire time. The cutscenes were especially potent, but I did enjoy the resource management as well. I wasn't sure if my actions had an effect (I chose to not toss one of the deliveries but it still disappeared from my inventory), but I still appreciated the choices. Super impressed by the amount you were able to fit in in such a short time, definitely one of my favorites.
Wow!! The limited color palette, slow movement, the music & the singular goal work great for creating atmosphere. As others have said there were some bits that were confusing at the beginning, but I actually thought it added to the mysterious vibes of being in a strange world. There's something really unique and innovative to the gameplay. It feels like there's a deeper story behind it that the player can invent themselves. I really liked it!
Very cute graphics and it's fun to unlock more crops. I like that there's a day & night cycle as well! The phone ringing did make me quite nervous, maybe substituting with a more relaxed sound/a single ring or delivered notes instead could work! The notes from aunt Emma are very sweet and add a lot of warmth to the game :)
This feels a lot like the kind of game you'd play on your parents' computer as a kid and be unable to find again as an adult. It has that mysterious whimsical charm to it. Good work!
The graphics are adorable (I love the little king with all my heart). As others have said: depending on where you open the letter on the screen, parts of it are obscured, and more importantly for the story it would feel rewarding to have the letters be somewhat more linear/be given hints and clearer feedback. To make it feel like your decisions matter you could also have the player repeat the day until they get it right/mostly right or have a counter at the end of how well you've done. Aside from that everything worked very smoothly and I really liked how there's a bit of worldbuilding inside the letters!
Incredible how polished this is. A little bit more of a story about Anne-Marie at the beginning and ending would be nice, but it's already perfectly good with the instructions as they are. I think this game is pretty much the beacon of what can be made in 48 hours.
I like the idea, it's sort of Sims/RPG. I felt like my adventurers kept dying too much and there was a lot of waiting involved--maybe with some risk/reward or strategizing those parts could be livened up a little!
love the style and the entire vibe the game gives off, it feels really complete! i found it a bit difficult to use the items effectively and often opted for not collecting them at all, but other than that i felt like the difficulty was well balanced! enjoyed it a lot and played till the end.
Great to see a puzzle game in the jam. I would have liked to see a bit of an instruction on how to go about filling out the sheet and an ending that tells us how Susan is doing instead of just a score. But I got very invested in following the clues and filling out the sheet!
Great aesthetic for the cutscene at the beginning. I'd suggest aligning the dog's dialogue with the right side of the screen under the dog's picture, but it's already helpful to have it color-coded!
this one actually got me hooked in an obsessive "i could play this for hours" kind of way. maybe just slightly too easy; i made a bunch of mistakes in the beginning while i was getting the hang of it but still beat it on my first try with three days to spare. i would have been completely fine with replaying a few times for a bigger sense of accomplishment. altogether a really solid game, i had a lot of fun!
One of the best story-heavy entries I've come across. With a few tweaks to the gameplay itself and maybe a few more puzzles I can see this one really reaching a lot of people. Great work!
@bastinus-rex only one other one i'd like to recommend, it's this one: https://robobarbie.itch.io/lycorislastwords
Really enjoyed exploring the house and investigating. Regarding the puzzle-solving I found the first one to be a bit too much trial and error (I couldn't figure out the location) and ended up trying out every combination, whereas I got the second one correct immediately, so maybe the difficulty there could be fine-tuned a bit. As a story it's very cohesive, good job!
The gameplay definitely got me hooked. I liked the difficulty and replay value; failed the first time but made my party members suffer a little more on the second run (RIP) to succeed, & tried out different item combos. The dimensions didn't seem quite right to me in full-screen, but the graphics look great in windowed mode. Would love to see some music added to it post-ludum, and I can see myself coming back to it to try out a few different approaches. Congratulations on a really solid entry!
i liked the disconnect between the chill atmosphere and cute rats to pick from despite the gruesome actions you're taking. with a few more options like using the WASD keys to inspect your room or being able to interact with the mice (maybe feeding or training them) or the crow (maybe it could speak and question your actions?) i could see myself playing a bunch of days in this game, though i understand that that was beyond the scope of the compo. nice spin on the theme!
- cute art and concept - i enjoy the vibes of the chill audio and it goes great with the art! - big plus points that you can restart the levels at any time, but i would suggest adding a few extra savepoints - the new features are introduced nicely so you know what you're supposed to be doing
With a bit more polish I could see this being used as a proper educational tool! If I may, I just have two minor suggestions: I would make the bgm a bit quieter and also prevent the game from continuing before the voice-over has completed, because it's a shame not to hear all of the information. Altogether nicely done, and I really like how you went with an educational angle :)
What a cute game, and even with a twist I hadn't seen coming at all. Only thing that confused me in the beginning was that you need to undock from the planet to move. after that the controls were really smooth. near the end i accidentaly flew to the wrong planet and saw that there's extra dialogue, which was a really nice touch!
this game has SO MUCH in it man, and i mean that in the best way. i would've loved a little bit more of an ending, but honestly what an experience. top tier audio and I'm a huge fan of the texting and driving segment.
it's wild to have a mouse be a courier to cats, but i'm all here for it! plus points for the cats' funky designs as well. the distance you need to traverse between cats is reasonable and it's nice that you can spend some of that time reading the letters. i liked that you get some important choices near the end as well. the one thing i'd suggest is making the choices in the beginning feel like they matter (even if they don't? not sure) by having the options be more different from each other. i would also try to show the "click "e" to continue" message only once instead of double (maybe you could just delete the second choice box when there are no choices to make). nice work, i had a fun time and the ending i got made me happy!
The art and background music work great to create the atmosphere. For the story I would have liked slightly more lore/clearer dialogue because I was left confused in parts, but I still really enjoyed it!
I played it through till the end even though it's not the type of game I tend to play, but the difficulty really helped to keep me determined. It was hard enough that I had to replay levels a few times, but easy enough to avoid frustration. At the third level I got stuck for a bit because I didn't realize that you could guide the non-pink cats as well, but I figured it out eventually. Also, really great job on the graphics and the OS and ads.
This game is definitely the most cozy and fun that I've played for the jam so far! It warmed my heart a lot. I think the waiting time for the flowers to bloom is perfect and the phone ties it all together nicely. The only option I wished I could have had was to backtrack on my delivery and choose a different potion, because I felt so bad delivering the wrong one. It does give it replay value though, and I think I'll be checking out what happens if you choose different potions. Really well done!
I'm genuinely blown away. It immediately felt like I was a part of the story thanks to the compelling audio/visuals/writing all coming together. All of the characters felt real to me. In between I was slightly confused whether the character in front of you is the other party or yourself, but it becomes obvious as the game goes on. The gameplay was really pleasant as well and thanks to the minigame not punishing failure too harshly I started failing on purpose to explore all of the dialogue options. The only moment of frustration was getting stuck on the third soul, but it did make it more rewarding to beat. And finally, I loved that you're lulled into a rhythm only for the game to hit you with something new in the best "oh dang i hadn't even THOUGHT about that but it makes sense" way.
Super solid dialogue! The king is really believable throughout in his attitude. At the very end when he sees reason I was expecting him to grapple slightly longer with his emotions, but other than that every reaction felt realistic. I also loved crafting my delivery and getting new tips from the prisoners as time went on.
I really like the concept and mood and wanted Little Death to do well. It was a little too challenging for me to proceed, but then I really don't play platform games usually so I might just not be the intended audience!
Definitely my favorite entry in the humor category so far. I think there's something about AI that people find innately funny, so it was clever to use it for that! If you wanted to up the immersion you could consider sticking to one prompt for a bit longer and/or using a timer so the player has to think on the spot more, but I did also enjoy taking a ridiculously long time to come up with lines. Really cool submission!
I really like that completing the levels is easy and chill but full victory seems quite difficult. My only (tiny) nitpick is that there was a sound that the cloud made sometimes that made me think I was failing when I'm pretty sure everything was fine? Regarding the characters, all of them are super endearing and imbued with so much personality! It's very cute to see them all given names and reacting to getting rained on at the end. I'm a sucker for creative credits, and these were superb!!
Hello fellow first-timer! I really like what you did with the worldbuilding and atmosphere. The story is solid and the ending really threw me for a loop (in a good way!). The villagers are fun and quirky and fill the world with life. Similar to above comments, for future games I'd suggest practical fixes, i. e. working on making the movement a bit smoother&faster (though it might have been bc i was running in browser?) and making it a bit clearer which parts of the environment can be interacted with. Hope you have fun creating more games in the future :)
The vibes of the room design and bgm were awesome, and I'll admit it was a bit of a power trip to play as a bouncer. I'm a little torn on the waiting portions of the game--on the one hand it made it more realistic and gives you time to look around the room and I assume it's well-suited for streaming, on the other hand it can get a little bit long when playing for yourself. Maybe one or two more notes you can check out or a little bit of extra dialogue after you've let in/denied a person would take care of that. Either way, nicely done!
What a wholesome game, I played this while very sleepy and you really got the mood right to make the player feel relaxed :) I think an inventory for the letters or something would be very cute, but it's not necessary. Another thing I really liked is that there's often extra dialogue when you speak to the villagers again which makes them feel a lot more alive. Very nice entry!
the space whale is super cute! making sure Deli doesn't puke was a bit too difficult for me to figure out (from reading the comments I see now how I could have done it) but I really like the idea! nice chill and relaxing atmosphere as well
I'm incredibly happy that you liked it, thank you so much!
bag of milk was definitely an inspiration, thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely try to implement more choices/choices that affect the gameplay in the future, sadly I was pressed for time so the decisions at the beginning really only affect one or two lines of dialogue.
@aile Thank you for your detailed comment! If I decide to make some fixes to the game the audio is going to be a top priority as I've received a lot of comments on that. Regarding the characters, I think of it as two opposing forces and one human, but as I left it all very ambiguous it's entirely up to the player to interpret as they see fit.
I love that you jump straight into this cute and silly premise. It lets you imagine what kind of relationship the postman has with the box (I thought of it like an adult going along with a child's antics). The introduction of the different mechanics is well-done. I did get stuck after a few levels but I'm also not good with puzzles (and it's 2am). Good job!
Fantastic job with the writing & wonderful take on the theme, it really moved me. As others have said, if you want to keep working on the game (or a future one) I think audio (atmospheric leaves rustling, wind howling...) could go a long way for immersion, and I think for graphics, some stock photos with an overlaid filter for example might work nicely.
Altogether it felt like a really magical experience that I'll treasure.
I like the concept and mood so far! For the full version I think it would be nice to be able to speak with the Souls first to better be able to guess at which object is the correct one. I definitely like that you can offer them the wrong ones as well and see their reactions to it. I'd also suggest working on the textbox a bit so it doesn't warp around the items (maybe a smaller font?). Hope you enjoy working more on this game :)
So wholesome! And really different from all other games I've played so far. It would be cool to have some more strategy (like only getting to play some cards if a certain stat is high enough) but considering the time frame you had to work with it's fantastic!!
Opening and ending cutscenes were really gripping, and the color palette is lovely! And as others have said, a few more gameplay mechanics and some music could definitely add to the experience.
I think I wasn't the intended audience because I got a bit confused by the gameplay lol. But from the small bit I did manage to play, I enjoyed the descriptions of the blocks a lot along with the color scheme. Really innovative where you took the idea of limited space!
Really immersive narrative experience, it was a joy to play. I really liked how you combined it with trivia questions. Nice use of the theme as well. I felt like you made sure to keep the scope reasonable but really flesh out what you had. And I loved the voice-overs! One of my favorite entries for sure.
Are there multiple endings (not counting the game-over)?
When I read the description on itch.io, I thought to myself: Fabulous, I hope this game scratches the exact itch in my brain that I need it to. I was not disappointed. It feels like something you'd find digging around an old PC that you have no business snooping around on. Really solidly executed, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. All I was missing was some sort of closure at the end (break of the 4th wall, game shutting down, error messages, etc.). Going to be keeping this game in my mental collection of absolutely derailed games that taste crunchy to my brain.
Such a fun premise, I thought way too hard about where to place everyone and have vowed never to take this job on in my life lol. The only thing I found a bit difficult was the amount of information presented once everyone is seated and you see how your actions affect them. maybe splitting things up into points you can win/lose for fights breaking out etc. could add to the replay value to optimize those stats (or create absolute disaster).
The voice acting was really cool! Just wish a bit more had happened, the end came a little out of nowhere for me. I had fun walking around the ship while listening though :)
I think it's neat!! As others have said, it would be helpful to be able to press a button to learn which level you're on as well as to repeat which sound stands for what. I found myself getting a bit frustrated from running into walls, which might be lessened if the sound was a bit more pleasant/maybe leaving out sound for the walls entirely? If you intend to expand on this game narratively, tying the sounds in with what's happening could work too ("You keep hitting the wall.. will you ever get out?" / "You step over the boulder to cross the pit" etc). Congrats on your entry!
I only managed to save two people but I did my best until the timer ran out! I like that you can return to the entrance to talk to the people you've rescued. As a suggestion, it would be nice if while talking to them they also offered some information on how many people you still need to find and rescue. Fun entry, as others have said the wall kicking is a cool mechanic.
I love how the levels & title screen look & tie in with the theme along with the title. The presentation feels really exciting and satisfying, as if as the player you're manipulating code itself. I think a bit of extra explanation regarding what you're able to do would be very beneficial, along with an easier way to undo the space compression. Had a great time with this game and if you intend to work more on it I think it will be spectacular!
I love text adventures a lot and the idea of walking the pig is a lot of fun :) I was trying to put the apple in the crate and would never have figured out that you can just drop it, so a bit of guidance or some hints in-game would've been super helpful. Definitely appreciate that there's a transcript, I couldn't rest till I'd successfully walked the pig!!
I liked what I saw a lot! Only got to day 2 though because I restarted a few times before I got the hang of it and then it crashed on me. Here's a few ideas I had while playing: I think for a sense of accomplishment it would be cool to have the amount of days you've played show up in the corner somewhere. It would also be cool if every day adds a specific small quest or introduces new rules to watch out for. You could also have each day end/begin with a new little message from the racoon or something like that to add a bit of story!
Altogether very cool entry, I think it could be really addicting with quicker gameplay and more to watch out for :)
I like the design of the rooms and the audio in the beginning a lot. The puzzles look intriguing as well but after two jumpscares I quit because I could for the life of me not figure out how to fend the animatronics off and would have needed more time to figure out the puzzles lol. I'm not sure if the gameplay is just more obvious for people familiar with FNAF, but I think a little tutorial in the beginning would be very helpful!
Very unique take on the theme! Needed a moment to figure out how to play, but once I did I enjoyed playing both modes a lot. It offers plenty of ways to be expanded on too (keeping track of the player's daily scores, online leaderboard..). Reminds me a bit of the type of games the New York Times offer in the sense that it's word-based and simple but challenging and the kind of thing that's nice to play for a few minutes daily :)
Really nice! I think the lack of lineart works great. I also appreciate that you can use the starting screen to practice your moves beforehand and are shown the basic tutorial each time (since I needed a while to understand how to use the leash). I understand there's little time for this in the compo, but I think one thing that would add to the fun could be to give the background some personality as well (decorating the fence/changing the color of the grass to something more fun etc.)
Incredibly elegant and unique game, you made me see that functions can be something very beautiful. I had a minor crisis because I couldn't figure out that you're meant to move the sliders lol, I think an indicator or small explanation would be very helpful there. Once that problem was solved I felt very serene trying to find the solutions. Will definitely be coming back to this game after rating just to experience all the levels in peace.
Definitely one of my favorites already!
Really fun and a lot of stuff to do considering the short time you had to work with! I got so immersed I spent over 20 minutes :) I enjoyed the freedom of being able to do what I liked & the mystery of being thrown into this world without much explanation. At the same time the non-linearity made it so that I felt a bit like I was solving most puzzles by chance without really understanding what I was doing. It would be nice to balance this to some extent (i.e. maybe a guidebook for the already-solved puzzles/a book that shows you how many puzzles you've yet to solve etc).
I didn't really manage to get the hang of the gameplay (it helped that someone wrote that you can put down the shark to get light, but the Shift key didn't always respond) but I can see that you had a really solid idea and I liked what I saw!
I've sorted my feedback into a little list of positives (+) and things I think could use a bit of work to make the experience more polished (-)
+ lovely artstyle & character design + coherent color palette that's pretty to look at! - in the beginning I was a bit confused as to what was going on -> maybe some clearer dialogue could help clear up the confusion! but I understand your native language isn't English and it's still understandable as it goes on!! + very nicely selected BGM for the fights (it makes them seem so mysterious! especially the first one when you don't expect the battles yet!) - I find the stone puzzle a bit repetitive and unnecessary. as an alternative I would suggest maybe something like a question that a sheep asks you/ required amount of sheep to collect/ a battle you need to win each time to open the next door? + Ending 02 made me smile :)
I've been following (at least some of) your team so I knew I'd be in for a treat.
I do think that after attaining an ending with one of the girls it would be neat if you could skip the card game/mice, as the prospect of redoing the gameplay bits not related to the dialogue prevented me from seeking out Karina's ending.
The production value for something made as a jam game is just so high it's mind-blowing. Will definitely be returning if just to look at the beautiful art.
Great use of the theme. I'm honestly not into decorating games at all but you still got me invested to play for a bit because of the pretty art and cute magpie!! (sorry to my magpie for not fitting all the necessities, guess they'll need to wash their laundry down the street..). A confirm button to ask if you're sure that you're satisfied with your room would have been great b/c I was clumsy and kept finishing accidentally lol.
Also I wish you the best for your PhD journey!!
The new animals are introduced at a very reasonable pace for a suitable learning curve, and I appreciate that you can check the animal movements any time. The animals' different shapes are fun and add a nice difficulty as well (reminded me a bit of wooden puzzle toys for children!). Even as someone who doesn't tend to play this kind of game I went through quite a few levels before giving up. Very cleverly put together :)
I thought it was on topic since the central discussion did resolve around "limited space." The discussion was my favorite part, it made me try and figure out what the optimal choice would be (I went with Dalton because of the gun). A bit more agency (like asking why not all of them can be good friends and stick together and camp outside overnight together?) would have been nice. Congrats on your first entry!
@ditam You're right, I forgot to disable the audio rating! Thanks for pointing that out. To be honest I'm not sure if the program I used supports audio so I wasn't able to add any, but I agree it would have improved the atmosphere. I'll try to keep this in mind for future entries!
@bobafett89 I agree, audio definitely could have elevated the story! Regarding the theme, I did intend for it to be about limited space. I interpreted limited space = limited ways to be and express yourself. And then more literally, the Starchild isn't able to explore "space"(= the cosmos) as freely as the others. However this is more implied so I completely understand that you saw it as unconnected to the theme.
I liked the puns and little turtle facts a lot :) Got stuck on lvl 11, 14 and 17 so I enjoyed that you could choose levels straight from the menu. The screen effect was a bit distracting and I don't think it's really necessary. The mechanics were introduced very smoothly. Altogether I got pretty hooked and spent a long time!
Played to the end and had fun! I thought surviving was a bit too easy (I wouldn't have minded being forced to restart the final dungeon, since mostly I was just standing there catching bullets). I think it would also be nice to have a sort of final boss. But with the time you had I think you made a very nice game! My favorite part was the cute pixel animation as you wait for the next room to load.
The suspense is really intense. Even though it's just shapes it feels like there's a story here. I was actually surprised by how immersed I got, well done! It reminded me a bit of minigames in JRPG games. I actually quite enjoyed that there was no time limit so I could take it slow and figure out how the elements work. However I can also imagine it being fun if there was a system that scores you based on how fast you move / how long you survive or some other sort of "reward" mechanic.
I like the chill vibe and sleek aesthetic a lot (played the effects-off-version due to lag). Got a bit confused by the exact mechanics, an in-game tutorial would be very helpful I think. Definitely appreciated that there are hints :)
I really like the visuals! It's definitely helpful that items are marked as red/green to show you whether you've placed them.
Some feedback for features I would have really liked: I think it would be really helpful if it was possible to rotate the pieces with the mouse wheel and remove them with a click of ther right mouse button for a more seamless gaming experience. That way a keyboard isn't required at all. Regarding the trash can, I actually think it could be skipped outright since you don't actually mess any of the food up and could simply place the items back to where they were before (and it gave me a twinge of anxiety to be throwing out so much food lol). Altogether a very nice and chill game, congrats!
I may have lost some crewmates but the dog is okay and that's what matters.
At some points I felt like I was losing track of everyone's status only to find that they were already dying (woops). Especially near the end I also got the impression that there weren't many choices to make and as I had no way of regaining food or water I kind of resigned myself. Though in a way that's not too unlike what it might be like for the player character as well. I liked that the items you choose in the beginning shape the actions you can take later on, and the little conversations!
Congratulations on your first game!
I like that you needed to think about which items to add to your inventory for each quest which was a nice use of the theme as well. One small suggestion I have is that (in my opinion) it's much more pleasant to read text that appears from left to right rather than having it appear in the center and then move.
As others have said some challenge could be added to the gameplay and such but it plays as a very complete experience and I enjoyed it :)
Really pretty and the story is very sweet. I got a bit frustrated when I kept messing up by mopping up objects. Might help to be able to see how far your mopping radius extends. I'd also personally prefer if you didn't jump every time you walk into a mopped area (maybe just once in the beginning to showcase that you can't walk there). I liked the spin on the theme!
I'm a big sucker for custom OS in games so it was really cool to see this entry! I feel like you also kind of made a meta statement on the theme considering the limited capability of Piko8 itself. I was really impressed by how much stuff there was to do and how polished this feels for a compo game. The challenge factor and humor kept me motivated to replay. Still haven't beaten it (it's a lot of stress at once lol), but I see myself coming back to the game again to see what else this unusual hacker has in store. The fun you had while working on this game definitely shines through!
The idea is so cute and funny and the comic look works amazingly, too. I'd suggest maybe slowing down the opening animation so the player can take in the art a bit more before the gameplay starts. Playing I think day 3(?) unlocked two days at once which confused me a little bit.
Will be following the updates, I think with some more tweaks to the movement this is going to be such a great completed game!!