Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Layne Stokes
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Among The Stars | compo | 298 | 3.45 | 3.43 | 3.28 | 3.81 | 3.48 | 3.85 | 3.25 |
Interesting text adventure. It was at its best when the puzzles were intuative and solveable. You can guess your way through quickly if you don't care about the plot but it is well written and had some really fun moments.
Took me a bit to get into the game as the initial zip download failed and then I had to install OpenAL which I haven't needed until this entry but it was worth it when I got in. Really good entry!
Good concept and good platforming. I wish the rules of the portals were clearer from the start. It's only after you get the map they really make sense. Some of the puzzles with using the portal to get past the enemies were really fun. Overall a really good entry
Excellent job with the audio in this game, the music and clinking sound are really great! It is a little easy for the marble to get lost behind the camera. It would be great if the camera followed the marble dynamically. Other ways you could take this idea further is to maybe change the loop itself, have narrower sections the player has to me more cautious around or include jumps where the obstacle becomes a helpful part of the game. Overall cool concept and great work getting it finished
Very interesting concept and some really great design choices! I especially liked that when hitting the dangers you didn't lose lives or restart the level as expected but you lost the keys. It can feel a little unfair on the last few levels but overall a really fun entry
That was a fun game! The battle at the end was a really nice change from the standard incremental gameplay and twist after winning the fight was a nice surprise. The graphics and music work well. The design of the boss was really quite good also.
@marbles I did get both endings! Both were great in their own way
Really nice innovative take on the loop idea. I definitely had fun taking down the viruses. There was only one small issue with the game and that was the balancing between abilities but since you have only 48 hours it's amazing you achieved this much
I was really impressed by this entry especially by the ever evolving soundtrack. The story telling was on point and the visuals looked great.
However, I did encounter a glitch which made me have to restart. When I was looking for the bald guy and his tool to open the door I was suddenly unable to walk either direction after interacting with the door. The font was also very hard to read at times but I understand why it was chosen to keep in tone with the rest of the game.
This is a great entry
This is a great entry! The mechanics, art and puzzles are all super fun! Well done
Fun Game! I really enoyed playing this game. It had a great artstyle, good design and good audio. The only thing I wish it had was a link between the audio and the gameplay itself. Overall great game
Great game that is educational while still being fun. The mechanics and puzzles were engaging and anyone playing would be able to grasp how to break out of a while loop.
The only thing I wish this game had was a step back mechanic because the amount of times I accidentally hit the arrow key one too many times and got the tile stuck and had to restart the level, but that's more of a me issue. I had lots of fun with this one
Great work with the audio! It's a shame it doesn't work with chrome
Great game, really great graphics, audio and into cutscene. I got stuck where it said keep shooting which was a little frustrating as the rest of the game was really impressive!
@ismael-rodriguez I didn't get that, the arrow pointing to the next room made me think you have to keep shooting through that hole or to make the time you need to fire as soon as you get into the next room. I went back and played it all with the idea you could reshoot the hourglass and the experience was way better. Definitely one of the best entries I have played
Nice mix of a dungeon crawler and top down shooter. The player shooting feels really nice and the movement is smooth. I do wish that the bullets were more contrasted against the background. The powerup loop does add an extra layer to the game and makes even the repeat encounters feel great.
I really like the core idea presented here: A boss rush game where your own actions can either help or hinder you. It would be really awesome to see the full idea with the new attacks and other bosses. The risk/reward for taking certain actions would be super interesting.
Overall this game has a really great premise and is fun. I would be really interested to see the idea taken further
A great simple little game. The simple art style helps to make the game easy to play and I love the charming little pixel art style. It is satisfying to hit that dev button over and over again. This is a really creative take on the idea of being stuck in a loop and one I think most game devs can identify with.
Very innovative idea once you get the hang of it! It has been said plenty above but having a clearer explanation of the overall game idea and also clearer communication about what your actions do in game would help a lot. Overall really cool
I really like the adorable graphics style of this game. The mood you created through the gamplay, graphics and audio definitely sells the experience!
Love the aesthetics and how the game feels like complete experience. Definitely a unique take on a kinf of classic arcade game. The mechanics were really satisfying especially when you just managed to escape from a whirpool. A clear example of the statement "Less is more." Overall a super fun little game that is definitely worth playing!
Great game will some cool innovative mechanics. Great entry
Fun innovative take on a arcade shooter. Lots and lots of fun and the hard mode is definitely a challange. The only issues I faced was sometimes the character would get stuck in the vertical mid point of the circle and the particles could make it hard to see. Overall a really fun game!
There are some fun puzzles in this game and the audio and graphics work well together. I do wish that you didn't have to complete the same puzzle to open the door every loop. Overall a really solid game that has lots of fun endings!
Really fun little timed puzzle game. All the interactions make sense and are pretty satisfying to figure out. There were a few little glitches and the game would struggle in the idol room if you were too efficient at solving the puzzles. Overall a really really fun game!
Very "cool" idea and it's great when you are looking for a "chill" time. "Icy" the effort you put into making this game. Okay that's enough of that.
Funny intro and the game is built around a pretty humorous idea. The premise reminds me of the arctic expedition to get ice in the Simpsons.
I did encounter some oddities when launching through space. Most times the player would move at a constant managable rate but every so often the player would fly super fast like I got punted by a giant from skyrim. Nothing game breaking just something unusual I encountered.
The graphics are great and help sell the humour and sets the tone well for the game. Overall a great compo entry
Technically impressive game! Playing the game alone means you have a lot to think about and you have to manage a lot of different systems. I had a small UI glitch where when I gathered the 4 spheres the kill virus action was still greyed out but when I pressed the button I got the win screen.
Really great game! The clones are a really good way to stop death from feeling so bad to the player having an army of clones helping keep you alive feels great. This combined with the fact that only your kills count towards a high score means you still need to put in work to progress in the game.
The art is also another highlight. Great aesthetics with a clear visual distinction between the background and enemies making it easy to focus despite the game being hectic. The only gripe I have is the camera it would be cool to have an option to tune to your preferred tracking. Overall a really great, fun action game!
The game feels great to play and killing the zombies is super satisfying. When you get powerups it feels so good especially the infine ammo/rapid fire one. The upgrades didn't seem super effective when I played but perhaps I just got unlucky with the random pool.
The only area where this came would improve is in the art and UI/UX. The dark colour theme can make it a bit hard to pick the important information you need and having to look down to the bottom left to see your stamina/health when you are fighting off zombies in the upper right corner can be a little annoying. This is a super minor issue especially considering you made this in 48 hours. Anyway, the game is heaps of fun as is!
Very ambitious entry with some cool ideas. It would be great if you could lock the cursor so mouse controls worked better in the browser. Also allowing left click and right click to be light and heavy attacks respectively would be awesome. Great work!
The jetpack and player movement is really well done! An innovative take on the theme. The guitar lick was a really nice touch for the audio. Overall a great entry
Pretty difficult game but fun nonetheless. It would be cool if there was some different difficulty modes that maybe allowed you to gain power retreating, had a quicker cool down on the gun, and give you more shots for a full power bar. The music slaps hard and the art works well. The slowmo features makes the game feel super juicy when you get a good kill shot!
Great little jam entry! I particularly enjoyed the look you created for this game. As has been said there are some lag spikes that happen as you make your way around the level for the first time.
I don't mind the game being a single level but some kind of game over screen would be great to let you know you finished the content. I think it's quite an interesting approaching to controls to combine movement and shooting and I think it could be really interesting if you decide to keep working on this title
Really interesting take on the concept, it did make me feel like I was going down some of my own social media sites. There are some great jokes here, Fun-Facts01 made me laugh a bit
Fun little rail shooter. Good theme and execution. Only thing this game needed was clearer communication. It would be really cool to have the one shot target look something like: download.png and then vary those for the different strength targets ie have the two shots start off blue and white and after being hit once they go to the classic target.
Excellent art, compelling loop and a really fun idle game. Only issue I had was I encountered a glitch when I first tried to play the game and I couldn't gain any money. It was fixed when I refreshed it
@zwodahs I originally had a circle point orientation control in the game so if you were at the top of the circle and pressed d you'd move clockwise and if you were on the bottom of the circle you'd move counter-clockwise. After some playtesting I simplified things to a clockwise or counter-clockwise orientation so the same key would always move you clockwise or c-clockwise. I might add it back as an option in the future. Thanks so much for playing the game I hope you had fun!
@thevideogamester Thanks for playing! Yeah the perspective challenge came from a weird experiment and people tended to find it challenging in playtest for a short time and then for most it suddenly clicked for them and they become much better/invested in the game
@echo-gameworks Cheers! The leaderboard has gotten much more competetive since you banked the second highest score. I hope that's a good sign :smile:
@cryptomnesic Thank you so much!
@noahw Thank you so much for playing! Yeah you are right the controls could use a little refinement to make it even better but it's good to hear they are fun how they are.
@kovalok I wish I had more time to refine the hitboxes but I tried to err on the side of giving the player an advantage. I should have really made a reference to the fact that the thrusters are invincible and it's only the body of the ship you need to worry about. Thank you for taking the time to play it
@mrredbeard Thanks for playing it! I agree the depth perception is a pretty difficult challange I decided to keep it in playtesting because some players adapted to the game really well and really enjoyed the challenge. I wish I had time to add an accessibility option to show the depth of objects in relation to the player easier to allow even more players to enjoy the game. Something I will definitely look at in the future
@kuro I appreciate you taking the time to play my game. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. And thank you for letting me know about clearly defining dangers vs pickups something I should add to the game in future builds
@tamail Great advice for the UI changes! I do admit it's hard to read. Thank you so much for playing!
@mind0o Yeah the controls at the moment are a little unforgiving. The original idea was to have a sligh ease in/out on the controls so you could make really fine adjustments unfortunately I literally just run out of time to implement this. Thank you so much for playing as well!
@marbles The main menu uses the in game controls to progress so I can see the confusion but it's good the click made you learn the jump control as well. I do agree the depth perception can be a bit of a challenge. Thanks for taking the time to play thye game
@glaikunt Thanks for playing, I appreciate it! Great advice in the future I would definitely be refining the depth perception of the objects.
@vivoubos Great point and I will be looking into how to make the spacial distance clearer to the player. I have found it helps a bit if you make the game full screen. Thanks for playing!
@happydevilgames Thank you so much, I appreciate the comments!!
@rgilpt I am really happy to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks for playing!
@chaosinism Yeah the rings are a an extra layer of challenge but you are right I should also spawn some out of the center to make it easier for all players to pick up. One of the goals I had which I ran out of time to implement was extending my spawn manager to allow the rings and asteroids to spawn together in tandem to create more satisfying patterns in the gameplay, something I will look to add in the future. Thank you for playing!
@kunonooni Thanks so much for the kind words I am just glad you enjoyed playing it!
@ismael-rodriguez I've had a few requests for shooting now so that is something I will definitely look at adding in the future! Thanks for taking the time to play my game!
@haustgeirr If it helps you feel better I am pretty terrible at most of the games I make and this is no exception. Luckily I have some friends who are big fans of the genre who helped me playtest this game which made it much better. Thanks for the kind words and also playing my game I appreciate it!
@ramble-house-games Thanks for playing! I have gotten very mixed responses on how the depth is presented to the players but I do agree there should be some ways to improve it for the player even adding accessibility options to allow all players to enjoy the game. If I had more time I definitely would have loved to add this! I appreciate the feedback!
@glaciereclipse Thanks for taking the time to play. I agree it needed more feedback. A game can never have enough juice. I'll definitely be adding more to this game in the future
@fumybulb You are right I could have refined the controls and hitboxes more. Originally I was going to add ease in/out on the movement controls so the player would be able to make very fine movement controls with quick presses but I didn't have time to implement that with a compo entry. I should also have made it clear in game that you only have to worry about the body of the ship and not the thrusters. Thank you for playing the game!
@balance686 It's funny I find the default controls inverted as well but heaps of playtesters preferred the default controls as implemented. From the feedback and playtest it seems people either have a clockwise/counter-clockwise mentaility or perceive movement relative to the top or bottom of the cirlce which is interesting. Thanks so much for taking the time to play and giving me feedback!
@nitero An indicator to show the result of the jump is a great idea! I have addressed the colliders in messages above but tl;dr ran out of time to really fine tune colliders in the 48 hours and the thursters are invincible it's only the body of the ship you need to worry about. Thank you for taking the time to play
@monkosum Thanks for taking the time to play! I have addressed the perspective issue in above comments and it's actually a core part of the game's challenge that some players enjoy and some don't. Given more time I would have loved to add an accessibility option to allow all players to enjoy but using techniques to show highlight the depth.
@frogman A VR port would be really interesting! Was this on the html version? I'll look into the invert controls issue now. Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to play the game.
@witekwitek Thanks for the feedback! I actually made it in 48 hours not 72 as it is a compo entry
@cogcomp Thanks for playing!
@pkenney Thanks so much, I really appreciate the detailed feedback you left! I agree with all of your points especially the few frames of ramp-up on the responsiveness. It was on the wishlist but I just ran out of time to implement it.
It's awesome to have such a detailed look into my game with super great suggestions on how to improve it. When I go back to work on it I will definitely be looking at ways to take care of the friction. Thanks again!
I was interested to see how the gameplay would evolve when I completed the first section. The varied minigames are an interesting idea but the third minigame was lacking any challenge. The art and music are really good.
This game is a solid entry and could be really great if the camera worked better with the player controller. Great work
There are some really cool ideas in this game. The overall idea fits really well with the theme as well. Unfortunately, some of the gameplay is really unclear. There isn't a consistent visual language about good gameobjects vs bad objects. ie The cross and souls are both green but one makes you lose souls while the other gives you souls. The opening intro/comic was really well done.
I enjoyed the challanges to the core gameloop with the lights going out and the book flipping the world upside down. The webs are perhaps too frequent for how much of an advantage they give. It would be cool to see the idea taken further in the future.