Luigi Lupo

Age of Utan by Yetikatt 2017-05-17T19:26:57Z

The concept of building your own small world is not incredibly innovative per se, but you executed it very well.

The gameplay feels nice, simple and polished, which goes well with the visuals and the music to create a relaxed, enjoyable mood. As @daisy remarked, the way the camera snaps when you rotate it can feel a bit weird, but I did not feel like rotating the camera was instrumental to the experience, as I managed to do a few playthroughs without ever using the feature.

All in all a solid game: solid gameplay, solid mood, good to just kick back and relax and yet with some depth (finding out through attempts how the various blocks and their numbers altered the balance of heat and cold was a funny little challenge), ultimately very fun to play.

Good job,I hope to see more games from you in the future.

Lil Planet by BladeSides 2017-05-10T22:04:20Z

Let's see here. I think this is a very simple but solid game, challenging but not frustrating or overly harsh. The change of seasons and hazards was a nice little touch, it made the world feel a little more alive, and gave the game an identity, something that defines it and makes it stand out, which is extremely important. As others before me have remarked, there are some blemishes here and there, I personally found the abrupt start of the game to be the biggest issue. That being said, you worked alone and had to do everything in 72 hours, so I'd say this is actually a rather impressive result. Well done, especially with the controls, they feel fluid and responsive, a must for any game that wants to be hard but fair. All in all I think you did a great job.

Spermicorn by Fanu 2017-05-08T20:48:11Z

Let's see. This is a fun little game, quirky may be the best word to describe it. The music and the visuals help create a strange and entertaining atmosphere, reinforced by the narration. You nailed the theme in an original and creative way. As it is to be expected by a game made in 72 hours, the game kind of lacks a bit of polish here and there. The gameplay especially was very serviceable but not exceptional in any way, but the presentation made up for it. If I understand well, you seem to intend to continue developing this project. I for one would be curious to see how that goes. Good job, hope to see more from you!

Samhain: Fly Away Home by Vanillycake 2017-05-16T20:59:38Z

Usually calling an entry a "nice little game" may sound like a slight, but this one here is a "nice little game", both literally and in the best possible sense of the word (line?).

The Theme of the "small world" was implemented in a solid way, and the lovely music and 2D/3D hybrid graphics (massive props to both the artists and the composer) worked together really well to evoke the right atmosphere. An impressive result, especially seeing as mixing 2D sprites with 3D models is never easy. I liked the ending, it might have been a single image, but it felt really satisfying.

The flight/gliding mechanic did not feel too floaty or unresponsive, at least to me, and the jumping and running controls felt very precise, a must for any "platform" worthy of the name.

The gameplay was simple and intuitive. To elaborate: I forgot to look at the controls in the description, and yet after not even 10 seconds of gameplay I knew everything I needed to know. Again it is not easy to make a game readily playable, accessible, without coming off as overly simple, or in the worst case scenario even boring and trite. You managed to pull it off with a clean, simple gameplay, devoid of useless intricacies, that while familiar does not feel stale. I think you all deserve praise for that.

All in all, crossing the level felt fun, even though I may or may not have spent most of my time exploring the anthill.... I failed three times before making it to the end of the level, but not once did I feel like it was the controls' fault: those three deaths were on me. Sorry about that, Anna, but hey, in the end we made it through somehow.

Speaking of Anna the beetle, good job on the Main Character design. Said design and what little storytelling you included in the game's description easily made me sympathize with her, and, as I just wrote, made me try again and again until on the fourth attempt we reached the goal.

There is room for improvement, mainly adding more feedback and tuning the difficulty, and I am not sure being able to kill enemies is entirely necessary: I never felt like I had to resort to that, as all obstacles could simply be dodged, but for a Ludum Dare (72 hours) game this is really good, and I believe it could, with a bit of work and polish, become a "Nice little released game".

The Dance We Do by PapyPilgrim 2017-05-19T21:25:23Z

A simple, relaxing game. There is not much in the way of challenge, but playing something like this is just what I needed to kick back and kill some time. I liked how the puzzles became slightly more complex over time, without being punishing or harsh (I consider that to be one of the classic pitfalls for developing puzzle games, or any game really, over a short period of time). I really liked the minimalist approach to graphics, the visuals worked really well with the music. A simple concept, executed in a very solid fashion. Well done.

Slightly Angry Max by Takusan 2017-05-04T22:06:38Z

Let's see. I really liked this game: you managed to create what felt like a good progression in difficulty, which is not easy to pull off, and a coherent mood too, by using assets from different sources. This too is no small feat. I also appreciated the simple but clever humor with the title and opening narration.

The balance of challenge and fun is, to me at least, undoubtedly the strongest point of this game, and it is what kept me playing for quite a while, trying time after time to top my highscore. It simply felt fun to play and play again.

Personally I did not mind it being a little more on the slower/tactical side rather than pure fast paced action, as a matter of fact I think it complements the "crowd control" gameplay well, but that might be just me. The fact you cannot shoot through bonuses on the floor is actually a plus to me, for it forces me to think and actually be smart about my positioning.

There is however room for improvement, at least in some regards: the balance of the game, as you yourself said, needs some tweaking.

During my playthrough for instance, it felt really easy to create a snowball situation with the powered up shot bonus, to the point where I could sometimes clear a dozen or more enemies in one volley of bullets, pick up the power up again and repeat, while pretty much ignoring the whole overheat mechanic. My rate of fire was so high, even multiple bosses at the same time could do very little to stop me.

The enemies themselves might need some reworking: I almost never felt like those who could not shoot posed a serious threat. I was able to almost literally run circles around them without getting hit, and that was before I realized I could snag them into objects and keep them running against walls. Enemies who can shoot on the other hand pose a real threat, and feel fair to me.

I have seen others suggesting to add some invincibility frames after taking damage so that your entire healthbar does not get drained too quickly at the first mistake, and while it did not bother me too much, I took it as part of the challenge, I can see their point, and I believe it is worth taking into consideration.

These blemishes are however minor, especially considering you only had 72 hours to work with. The only real shortcoming could be seen in the "innovation" category, but there is nothing wrong, I think, in choosing to try and create a solid consistent and cohesive game over a crazy innovative one, and a solid game this is. All in all, excellent work!

The Nedludd Club by zaibakk 2017-05-02T23:02:01Z

Greetings, everyone. First of all, thank you for playing our game, I sincerely hope you are enjoying it!

Unfortunately, while playing it once again from start to finish myself, I noticed a number of grammar mistakes here and there in the dialogues.

Not very surprising: putting the text into the game was, strangely enough, one of the very last things we did, and by that time we were incredibly tired. In that state, mistakes were almost unavoidable.

That being said, since the game has a strong focus on story and dialogues, we will have to correct these mistakes. As soon as it is feasible, we will work to do so. I hope you can all enjoy a version free from these blemishes as soon as possible.

NB: Of Course, since the Ludum Dare has ended already, we will take care to specify in the game's description that the "grammar fix" was done after the end of the Dare.