Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Mars
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 56 | Tiny Creatures | 👥 | Snake Rolls | jam | 837 | 3.23 | 3.68 | 3.39 | 2.95 | 3.09 | 3.56 | 4.34 | 3.69 | |
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | Dashing Delivery | compo | 425 | 3.22 | 3.24 | 2.98 | 3.00 | 3.35 | 3.33 | 3.47 | 3.22 | ||
| 2017 | 39 | Running out of Power | Robby Goes Rogue | compo | 437 | 3.12 | 2.65 | 2.96 | 3.73 | 2.76 | 3.12 | 2.46 | 3.21 | ||
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | Floppy McFloppyface | compo | 298 | 3.26 | 3.56 | 2.84 | 3.77 | 2.23 | 2.74 | 4.23 | 3.35 |
Mars leaves an average of 24.8 feedback comments each event.
Interesting collection of minigames. I loved the creepy dialogues from the fans. The minigames were way too hard for me though, they all seemed designed for people who already had practice at them, not people like me who are trying them for the first time.
Very interesting take on the classic tetris mechanic. I loved the little personality quirks of some of the passengers. The graphics look great as well.
Very interesting puzzle mechanics, I don't think I've seen a puzzle like this before so I enjoyed the breath of fresh air. I liked how intuitive figuring out what the puzzle part of the game was as well. Great thing restarting levels was an option as well, or else this could've been very frustrating.
The only drawback I came across was that I didn't immediately figure out that holding down the movement button was the best option, so I tried doing single presses for some time, which was really slow as the dancers would only move some times.
Love the graphics, and the sound effects are great as well. The Christmas mood in this game is palpable. The mouse sensitivty was a bit overtuned though. I usually prefer a pretty slow mouse, but even with my mouse on its lowest DPI settings I felt like the camera movement was way too quick.
Well done, you've put a lot of content into this! I wasn't able to find all the endings, but I did get at least half of them. The amount of thought that's gone into the different routes and options is great, I feel like this is the type of game I wouldn't be surprised to see as a finished entry on one of those old game sites like miniclip / kongregate. It really doesn't feel like a quick weekends work, it feels like a thoroughly fleshed out and finished game, and that's pretty rare with these Ludum Dare games.
The ambience really helped set the mood as well, overall a good game!
Nice game, I love the art style too. The controls were a bit difficult and a little frustrating when it wouldn't go where I tried to go, but I'm sure it's a thing you can get used to. I missed sound a little bit, but it wasn't a big issue.
The more you have, the worse it certainly is... This was a pretty brutal game, the amount of micromanagement needed was nothing to scoff at. Really well done though, I feel like this is a game that's gotten some good attention on all fronts. The graphics look great, I love how unified the whole visual style is, everything fits very nicely together, and the sheer amount of variation in models is pretty impressive. The sound and music is well made as well, although that mute button came in handy after a while.
Overall, well done, you did a good!
Wow, what an original game! You made this?
...
I made this.
Jokes aside, this was an absolute blast. This is the stuff I love to see out of Ludum Dare. Anyone can take a theme and make some generic and uninspired game that recycles old mechanics and gets lost in the seas of mediocrity, myself included, so having someone take the opportunity to just make some bizarre experience that sets itself apart from everything else just warms my heart.
Despite how silly the game is, I love how much thought went into it. Having the amount of things increase over time for each minigame to not only speed them up but also provide some humor in doing so is a great little detail.
Overall I loved everything about this. I hope you go straight to the top of the leaderboards and that you get to swim in some sick ludum dare money.
Pretty nice game, playing with physics and projectiles is always kind of addictive in games.
The sound and the graphics are pretty nice. The controls were okay, but the wall jumping was kind of more in the way than it helped most of the time. The camera switching direction was a little bit jarring as well, but I got used to it over time.
I like the parallax you've added to the background, it looks pretty good. The menu music was great too. I feel like it was easier to learn the game by just playing, because the instructions on the menu was kind of just an information overload so I didn't retain much from what I read there. I think you did a pretty good job of making an RTS in so little time though, well done. The only thing I would change is speed things up a little bit, I felt like I spent most of my time just waiting.
I really liked the particle effects, good work on those! It would've been nice if the game capture my mouse, because my cursor kept going over to my second monitor and when I right-click there it stopped my controls from working until I left clicked the game again.
Nice! You had an idea pretty similar to mine, but the execution is very different!
I never imagined having more bunnies could be worse, but you certainly proved otherwise! I really liked the graphics in this game, the art was very well done! The controls felt pretty good too, a lot of platformer jams struggle with making controls that aren't janky, but I didn't feel like that was the case here. Well done, congratulations on a solid game :)
Great work! Took me a little bit of time to finish it, but I generally enjoy puzzle games so it was definitely worth the effort just for the satisfaction of completion.
The controls took a little bit getting used to, but otherwise playing it felt just fine. The graphics were great, and the low-key ambient music felt very "puzzle game" like. I loved the little intro as well.
I don't think there's too much to say about this game. The colorings on the tubes made it quite intuitive which tubes went where, so at its core the game was simply a straightforward little puzzle game. If there's one point of criticism it'd be how obscurely it ties in with the theme. I understood that it was supposed to be about the ship running out of power and doing the puzzle fixes that, but you could've potentially made a little more obvious. I had to do enough mental gymnastics with the puzzle itself, no need to make the theme require some as well ^^
But it was a well done puzzle game. Good job, nice entry!
I'm guessing this is a prototype, because I didn't really get the point of most of this game. Why was the lamp even there? If I can only move in dark, but there's no advantage to having the light on, why is there even an option?
Also, it seemed to just be an endless series of randomly generated maps.. some with impossible jumps.
The music and the graphcis were nice, but that's about it, unfortunately. Considering this is a 2-person effort over a 72-hour jam period, I can't really rate this particularly high. This seems more like the basics that should be in place after the first day, not the result of an entire 3 day period.
I don't mean to sound too harsh, but there are even 1-person 48-hour compo entries that has more work put into it than this game. It's not a bad start, but as a jam entry I feel like you should've gotten further than this.
Fantastic game! I love the mood of this game. The happy music reminded me of the classic Tom & Jerry style of music. The animations were surprisingly fluid and their little happy faces were adorable.
I did have a little bit of trouble with the controls. Hitting the spot where the gesture would actually connect was a bit difficult and sometimes frustrating. Especially with the office workers.
I think your take on the "Running out of Power" theme is a lot of fun, though. Great entry!
I really liked the whole changing of layout as I went on, and all the little landmarks I discovered as I went. The level design was pretty good!
The walking sound did get a tiny bit grating after a while, but it wasn't too bad. I'd suggest maybe adding some music or other ambient noise to make the walking sound not so overpoweringly present.
The graphics were just fine, having some basic 3D models makes a lot of difference. It's something my own game sorely lacks, and it suffers for it.
Overall nice game though, I loved the mood of the game.
Nice game! First person I've seen to try and make a horror game, and I'd say it panned out just fine. First time I fueled the fire at the same time as I died, so I kinda startled myself. Thought it was a jumpscare when the burning sound and the death happened at the same time, haha.
After I played it a little more, I ended up not being able to survive the night. That static man thing has too many hax, going through tables and all.
Anyway, it's nice to see a horror game. While I personally didn't find it that scary, mostly because of the lack of sound, it's a valiant effort considering it's a compo entry. Good job!
Took a bit getting used to, but I managed to win once I got the hang of things. I enjoyed the mood of the game, the music and the graphics went well together. Controls felt fine too, it felt quite intuitive to play this game.
Overall a nice entry, good job!
Haha, this game has surprisingly many similarities to mine! Made in Unreal Engine, you're a robot on the run, glossy 3D graphics, scary security cameras! I'd say you did it best, though!
The gameplay was pretty nice, I liked it.. at first. Later on when all the lasers and stuff came around, I kinda just started to feel dread. Those traps and walking into felt a little bit imposing, and it got so tense that I kinda started enjoying myself less, just hoping I was close to the end so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.
I didn't get to the end though, because I fell through the floor and I couldn't be bothered to start from scratch.
I think there's an impressive amount of levels and content in this considering it's a compo entry, so well done on that part! Your take on the theme is pretty interesting too. The graphics and audio were both quite nice, it had quite the futuristic feel to it.
Overall a good entry, well done!
Great game, I love puzzle games! The puzzle wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't 100% straightforward either so it did take me around 2 minutes to figure it. I loved the hint for the password, nice little bit of humor there.
The graphics were pretty decent, quite the detailed 3D environment. The music was a nice addition to make sure the game didn't feel too empty. Overall the audiovisual experience was pretty good, I generally like the mood of spacey themed games.
Well done, good entry!
Awesome game, I liked it a lot! The puzzles got difficult after level 15, but I made it in the end. Very well designed puzzles, the way they gradually got harder and introduced new concepts was very well thought out. The art and the music were good too, it properly captured the style of the 1980's 8-bit era.
The little particle effects and the UI also served to make the game feel very complete. A lot of LD jam games feel like prototypes, but yours felt like a finished game, and that's a huge plus. Making this on your own in 48 hours is impressive, great entry!
Nice little game, but it was frustratingly difficult.. On my computer just a small tap on the right arrow made me run almost 3 blocks across, the controls were way too sensitive. I pretty much just gave up after 5 minutes on the second map.
Nice little game! I tried my best to type fast, but with a Norwegian keyboard all the damn symbols took too much time. I needed to switch between alt and shift clicking all the time, it made things take so much more time than necessary for me.
I think the sound was a little bit lacking, but otherwise the presentation was fine. The graphics were alright, your take on the Running out of Power theme was interesting too. I also realize you probably didn't account for the fact that keyboard layouts are different all over the world, so I won't hold it against you. Programming with a Norwegian keyboard is a pain too, because all the symbols used in programming were used because they were easy and accessible keys. Not so much on our keyboards, where pretty much anything outside of letters and numbers has us hold shit or alt =P
Awesome concept! I really like the idea of this game, it's a refreshing new concept that's unlike anything I've seen before. The controls felt pretty slick, so the jumping around was quite fun. Difficult as well, the shifting between seats offered significant challenge at first. It seems like the kind of thing you get the hang of over time though, so it's not a bad thing.
I see some complaints about lack of training, but personally I found the whole concept very intuitive. I found it quite easy to ascertain the location of the player character by looking at both the zoomed in view and the zoomed out view in unison. I never had to look for the seats, I found them quite easily.
I really like the presentation of this game. The humor, the music and the setting all incite a particular spacey mood, one that I'm very fond of.
The game itself was quite simple, I sort of expected some sort of puzzle for the passwords but it was pretty much just talking to people and then it was done. I think I'd like it more if it had been a bit more challenging, given that the power was still at 85% when I finished, and I felt like I'd been slow.
I didn't mind the lack of gameplay much though, because I enjoyed the atmosphere very much. Games don't always have to be mechanically complex to be enjoyable, and yours is a good example of that :)
I like it, it's a good start for an infinite "runner" game. I feel like the hitboxes were a bit unpredictable, and as others mentioned there's some issues with crashing/quitting when hitting certain buttons like W and Shift. It also seems like the rotation/orientation of the ship is not entirely reset upon death.
Otherwise fine entry though, the controls felt good and overall aesthetic was decent.
I really like this game! The style of gameplay is quite fun, and having things to upgrade always feels satisfying and rewarding. I didn't find any glitchy or buggy behaviour, it was an all around very finished and complete game. You should be very proud of being able to make this on your own in 48 hours!
However, after I beat the game I had a sneaking suspicion that I just had to check out, and I was right: It's completely possible to finish this game without doing *anything*. I tried to not touch a single key, as in, not move or shoot or do anything, and I still won the game. The zombies couldn't get to me on the RV, and I didn't fall off. So while it's fun to play it as intended, right now there's no need to do so. You're pretty much just shooting the zombies for the fun of it, not because you actually need to.
What an excellent game! The visuals are stunning, the neon 80's tron style is absolutely great and the music goes very well with it. The car physics felt very good, and the controls were slick. It was a lot of fun to play!
My biggest issue with it is that the "running out of power" part seems like it's just kinda tacked on to a racing game, and it feels kind of unfair when only the player needs power. The AI cars just keep on driving without needing to refill their power, so it's pretty much just a tacked on mechanic that obstructs the player because otherwise it wouldn't fit the theme. I think you should've made it a little bit more integral to the game than it is.
I also got a bug where I was always 8th place, regardless of what position I finished at.
I still really liked it though. Extremely well made considering the time limit.
Very nice audiovisual aesthetic in this game! I love the style, and the puzzles were fun too. Since HTML5 games aren't quittable, it was a little bit weird to just be able to freeroam after the point where the game was supposed to end, but it wasn't really a big issue.
Well done, I liked it!
I really liked this game! I just had to beat it, but I gave up on hard and went to Normal difficulty. The lack of checkpoints on hard was just too damn brutal!
The controls felt pretty tight! I could sort of feel where Emma would go when I was pressing the buttons, and that's the hallmark of well tuned controls. In other games the controls have had me over or undershoot, but in this game it felt just right. It made those nearly pin-point precision jumps needed for the small blocks pretty overcomable with practice.
The music slowly fading in as the light goes out was a nice touch, it really added to the urgency of it all. It made me feel the tension Emma felt as her light was going out.
If there's one point of criticism I have, it's that the cutscenes feel a bit slow and they're not skippable. This made changing difficulty sort of a pain, so I just minimized the game while doing other things just to wait the intro out.
Really good entry though, one of the better ones I've seen so far! :)
I love the character animation, and the music is great too. I found the controls to be very clunky, they didn't feel particularly good to use. The way the camera lagged behind also made it kind of unfair to go into new areas, as there's virtually no reaction time to be had when you can't see the area you're going to beforehand.
I think you'd be better served with a camera that's static, or if you want a dynamic one at least make it move forwards in the direction of the characters velocity instead of lagging behind. Having to cross your fingers that the area you're landing in won't be spikes or an enemy isn't very fun, especially not when it turns out that the area is just that.
Nice concept though, the mood and feel of the game was nice. With some polish, I think it'd be a neat little game for sure.
Nice little game! Reminds me of those popular web games with the same premise of eating to grow larger. I wouldn't say there's anything particularly good or bad that stands out about it, it just works at a familiar and base level. My only gripe would be how my hitbox did not grow proportionately to my size, making it hard to eat smaller balls when I was much larger than then, since I had to guid them to somewhere around my middle. Otherwise, I liked it!
Very nice little experience. The music and dialogue go well together to create a very cozy, slice of life atmosphere. So the mood was excellent, and I liked the story and how it interpreted the theme as well. The graphics were very consistent throughout as well, it felt very complete and not at all rushed.
The gameplay was a little lackluster, it felt less like playing a game and more like a roadblock for narrative progression. Which is fine if that's what you were aiming to make, but personally I feel like the gameplay might as well not have been there. It kinda felt like this project had no reason whatsoever to be a game instead of just an animated short film.
I also got stuck on the last puzzle because it took me ages to realize there was a tool outside of the van too. You might have intended this, to make the last puzzle harder to guess, but this way it didn't really feel satisfying to figure it out, it felt more along the lines of "Wait, really?".
So as a game, I didn't really like it that much. As an experience and story though, I absolutely loved it. I do not regret finishing it!
I really liked this game, it was short and sweet. It took me a little while to understand how the power-ups worked. At first I thought I needed to pick them up and then that was it, but when I saw there were so many I expected there to be something more to it. Once I found out, I grew massively powerful.
If I have any complaint, it's probably that the other kings were pretty terrible at powering up. I just needed to find a monster spawn point and farm it for a little while, then grab some pick-ups, and all of the kings ended up being really weak in comparison.
The combat system was quite nice, the auto-attack was an interesting mechanic. Very satisfying once I built up some speed too!
Pretty alright game, I like that you took the challenge to make a full 3D terrain in only 72 hours, and the result is decent all things considered. I particularly liked the smoke on the water, pretty cool little detail.
The gameplay itself was fine, even though I wish it could've felt a little more intense. At least when I played it, I kind of just stood in the same spot strafing back and forth as a I tried to shoot drones far away that wouldn't come towards me. If they'd ganged up on me more actively it probably would've felt more intense.
As for the controls I had a few bugs. About 50% of the time when I used shift to zoom in, zooming back out made my character jitter uncontrollably. It was as if I just couldn't get a proper foothold, and the resulting "overlay" effect made it almost look like the game was in stereoscopic 3D. Considering shift also was a sprint button, this resulted in me having to zoom whenever I wanted to sprint.
Liked the audio, the sound effects and the music fit in with the theme of your game. I think with slightly more polished graphics, or more dedication to a cartoony style, and some bug fixing, this could be quite an enjoyable wave shooter. Well done on your entry!
I love the concept, and I enjoyed the game. Might be because I'm partial to space stuff (just look at my name).
I think it's a little bit rough though. The graphics are passable, but there's no audio, and the controls don't feel particularly good. I also didn't get to see the ending, because when I got to the part where I needed to destroy buildings it said I had 46/47 buildings destroyed, but there were no more buildings on the planet.
I think with more polish and some bug fixes, this could be a pretty interesting game. There's something alluring about the concept of flying around in space and landing on planets, so the concept is definitely good.
Amusing little game, for sure!
I'm very grateful to the blinking effect when the munch mode is about to run out, because I kept thinking the first time around "what if it runs out right before I hit a rock"? It's small quality of life details like these that really sets apart the polished games from the unpolished ones.
The graphics, audio and controls were all well done and fit together to make a coherent and cute aesthetic. I can't really find anything to critique about them, especially not considering you've all done this within 72 hours. Solid entry for sure, well done!
What a nice, relaxing game to play. I can actually see myself returning to this later on just to chill a little bit. The music and overall sound design is very soothing and easy on the ears. The gameplay itself isn't very advanced, but seeing the world expand and seeing the little people do things as you build the world feels quite satisfying.
My only complaint would the the controls. Rotating tiles did not work particularly well unless my cursors was hovering over the tile. Which is even less excusable when considering that the tile was not always placed at the location I had my cursors if I was trying to place a tile at the edged of the screen. Some other way to move across the map than WASD would probably help too, because I primarly used my mouse for the gameplay, so I ended up forgetting about WASD a few times. Maybe some way to drag yourself around the map with the mouse would be a good alternative.
Either way though, aside from the controls, I felt everything in this game was well done. The graphcis are nice and meld well with the sounds. Just hands down an overall enjoyable experience.
What a lovely little thing. As you say, it's not much, but it's charming for what it is. I actually think the art style would've been very interesting to see in an actual game.
Regardless of that though, it does work on its own as a tiny little experience. I'd actually love to see more kindergarten drawings turned into these little scenes, and I'm sure the little artists themselves would adore it as well. Better yet, it could easily be put into a VR setting, and what could be more amazing for a little child to step into a world based on their own drawing?
I might be getting too excited here, but there's just something very charming about this. Despite not being a game, and being very small considering you uploaded it as part of the 72-hour jam, I still just really liked it. Thanks for making this!
Jeez, this was really fun to play, I loved just about everything about this one! The graphics are great, the music is great, the gameplay is great.
This is just through and through well made, I can't think of anything negative to say about. Really well done, good job!
Loving the style!
The graphics and the audio really come together to make a very unique and interesting aesthetic. I liked the little mystery story too, loved trying to get to the bottom of it.
The controls and initial experience needs a little bit of work, though. At first it's pretty difficult to know where to go or what to do, and later on I kept wanting to press space because I can read a lot faster than the text's appearance speed, but when I skipped forward the text I only got like half a second to read it before it went to the next piece of text. Basically, either add the option of turning off the auto-continue for the text, or at least remove the option to make the text skip the typing animation because that feature is useless when it anyway auto-continues right at the end of the typing animation.
Really enjoyed the game though, very unique and full of your own style.
This feels a little bit empty, but I get the gist from the little content available.
I like the humor, I liked seeing what kinds of things happened by trying the other branches. As I tried getting all the endings I noticed that it become kind of tedious to wait for the prayers to arrive, the little wait inbetween them felt kind of annoying after a while. Some way to skip ahead to soothe the increasing impatience as that little pause arrives again and again would probably be nice.
I like the concept too, I think with more complex branching and maybe even some deeper storylines, it could be a pretty compelling experience. Obviously it needs some sound as well, as audio done well always enhances an experience.
So, good job on your entry!
Fun little game!
I like all the little things the people were doing as the game progressed, and the sounds they made were funny. Took me a little while to figure out that the missiles I shoot stopped at my curser location, but once I did everything suddenly got a lot easier.
It's a little bit repetitive, but I don't really see how it could avoid being so given the concept. Maybe some kind of secondary mechanics or resource management would do the trick. It could even be an interesting moral choice if you added some scenario in which choosing to sacrifice some population would help you win the game easier. All for the greater good, you know?
I did have a pretty odd bug, where the trees and the final missile become unhinged from the planet and started floating in space. Because of that, I couldn't reach the missile when I had 100/100 progress, so it wouldn't launch. Luckily I fixed that by voluntarily being tractor beamed by an alien into the missile, so I was able to fire it anyway.
I liked it, good compo entry!
I loved the music and the graphics in this game, it all looks and sounds very good.
The way I had to keep picking up the tiles left behind me somehow added a lot to the experience, because it made the gameplay be a combination of resource management and puzzles. It's a pretty interesting combination, and it adds somewhat of an edge to the typical puzzle genre gameplay.
I think maybe using WASD or the arrow keys for movement, it felt a little bit awkward to move and interact with the two mouse buttons. More than once did I accidentally place something I didn't mean to place. Outside of that the controls felt very fluid and responsive.
The thing that really carries this game is the sense of completion though. It's clear you haven't neglected any aspect of the game, the difficulty, mechanics, graphics and audio all feels well fleshed out. Overall a nice and complete entry, well done!
I really enjoyed this game, there's something very pleasing about the simple "drag and launch" format.
The music is very nice, you did a good job with it. The little tick sound as the ball hits the goal was oddly pleasing as well. The graphics are pretty simple, but for the type of game this is it doesn't really feel out of place. Does what it needs to do, and nothing more.
One issue I had was the start of the game. There's a lot of visual information hitting you right at the beginning, so it's a little bit unclear what to do. I understood I could drag the planet to launch it, but I had no idea yet that filling empty black capsules was my goal, so I tried to hit the white part a few times first. Then I was taken to a new menu which I had no was a menu. At first I thought it was either a puzzle, or portals to different sets of levels.
It wasn't until I completed the game and game back to it that I figured out that it was levels in chronological order. At that point I realized it was by sheer luck that I started the game at the beginning, because I could've just as easily chosen to start at the last level simply because I wasn't sure what it meant to send the planet into either of the capsules at first.
Those are just minor issues though, as I spent most of my time playing the game, and enjoying myself doing so. I think you've made a pretty good game here, this is a solid compo entry for sure!
Very nice entry you've got here. I loved seeing how the people dynamically grew and expanded, and it was great to see how they were leading themselves into an inevitable resource shortage.
I've never seen anything like this before either, feels like a very novel concept, and I really like it too. Very interesting simulation, for sure.
The sound and graphics are both pretty good. The pieces have just the right amount of detail for their size and the cartoony aesthetic, and I love the little tile-raising effect when I hover my mouse over them. The sound just adds to the atmosphere, making it all seem very cute, bubbly and cozy. It all just fits well.
Might not be much in the gameplay sense, but it honestly doesn't need to. Most of the action of the game comes from seeing the town grown, and just mashing the spacebar to see it happen on speed is satisfying enough to kind of overshadow the lack of things to do.
So in the end, it ends up being thoroughly enjoyable experience. Good job on your entry!
I like the concept of this game, and the stuff happening at the edges of the world as it shrinks is really great.
I found the controls to be very unintuitive, though. In my opinion, one should always stick to the familiar when it comes to controls. In other words, don't forsake WASD unless you have a really good reason to, and in this case I don't see why the camera can't be controlled by WASD. Just this simple change would immensely improve experience of playing this game.
Some sort of gradual introduction to the tools and buildings and objectives would probably be nice too, to ease the player into the game.
I think at the core of this there's a pretty good game, but as it is now it's kind of hidden by the wall of unfamiliar control schemes and lack of direction. Improve the user experience a little bit, and I think you'll end up with something even better than what you have now.
I really like the idea of doing tower defense on a planet! The way the water drains away was a really nice touch too, really added to the sense of impending doom.
The balancing is a little bit off though. The UFO's keep coming all the time, and there's not much I can do because the land turrets fire slowly and the satellites are pretty much a pipedream after the starter money is spent given the slow rate of acquiring money. And I couldn't select the mines, so I never got to use them. Might've been a different tale if I could.
The tutorial could need some work too, because first of all the game shouldn't play in the background while I'm going through the tutorial, and secondly I shouldn't need to see it at the start of every single game.
Outside of that though, it's a really good idea and I enjoyed it. With some balancing, it could be a pretty neat little addictive game.
Simple concept, but it works. I wouldn't say the gameplay is engaging enough to warrant playing many times over, but I did enjoy it the first time at least.
You've done well at invoking the pleasure of purification. Even though the player is technically destroying things when chopping down trees, it leaves you with a even surface, so it gives you that kind of good feeling that cleaning something does. If there'd been some more visual feedback as the player does so as well, it could become a really satisfying experience.
The edge camera snap is possibly a little too abrupt, if it was a smooth pan it might feel less jarring to go over the edges.
It's pretty decent as is, but with some more polish and work it could definitely be even better. Except for the "muh shekels" money. Can't top that.
Decent game, I enjoyed it.
I liked the third person perspective not being right behind the ant, it was a pretty interesting experience. As others have mentioned, the aiming felt a little bit off at first but I stopped noticing as I got used to it. The gameplay was alright, but it did start to feel a little bit empty after a while.
I think the sound is the game's strongest suit, especially the music. It felt like it was at a level way above the graphics, almost out of place even. If the graphics, mostly the environment, had looked less quickly done, I think the overall aesthetic impression could improve a lot.
But hey, one person can't be good at everything, so all things considered it's a solid compo entry. Good job!
This is a very good compo entry!
The gameplay is simple, but challenging at first. The discreet sound and cute graphics aids it well, because they're both very well made and fit well together. And I have to say, when I put a basket right next to a gathering point, the rapid sounds and super fast numbers increase felt extremely rewarding.
Overall, I'm impressed that you managed to nail the graphics, audio **and** gameplay all by yourself in the 48-hour compo. Your game is complete, and performs above average in every category. Good job!
Certified dank!
I wish I didn't need to see the intro every time I played, and I really wish I didn't have to install the game to play it.
Outside of that though, I liked it. The Russian self-deprecating humor was great, and I loved the music.
The meme game is strong in this one.
Very fun little game, I loved watching my planet grow. Always kept wondering what the next stage would be, so I couldn't stop playing. The little "Ludum Dare 38" sign was a lovely touch.
I found it pretty refreshing to just play a spaceship game where nothing was trying to kill me. No lethal collisions, no enemies, just a little ship gathering resources for its planet. Nice to see someone take the "small planet in space" trope somewhere else.
The sounds very nice too, very pleasing to the ear because it wasn't so rough like these shooty sounds tend to be. The planet upgrade sound too was played with very warm tones, and overall it just added to the pleasant feeling of the game.
Not much I can say against this one, it was just an engaging and almost meditative little thing. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Very nice entry!
It feels like a complete game, the mechanics all work fine, and the graphics look great! The controls were easy to grasp and felt very fluid and properly tweaked. I can't really think of many things to critique with this game, because it does exactly what it tries to do and it does it well.
I like the idea of this game, but I think the turn-based system is not explained well enough. The tutorial states that I can only do 1 action per turn, but there's no indication as to when a turn begins or end. Does it end when I make an action? Is it based on time? It's not very clear.
Every time I tried to play the game too, I was just killed from somewhere and it was never clear from where because I couldn't tell whose turn it was or how anything worked. I was just suddenly dead and the game was over.
I liked the sound and the concept though, I think with a bit more polish on the system's presentation, it could be a lot more fun.
Really difficult to get into the controls of this game, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. If the thingamajig had been easy to control, then I don't think the game would have much merit to it. However, the steering itself is the challenge, which makes it actually feel like a race against time.
After the first attempt, I got a little better at the controls, and that's when I could tell where you were going with the game. I think that is the games biggest weakness though, that the controls don't feel intentional at first. At first it feels like they're just bad, but as I started getting the hang of it I realized that overcoming the steering issues was the core of the games challenge. If that had been communicated a little better, I think you would have fewer people complaining about the controls.
The music was great, it really set a spacey mood for the game. It also felt pretty retro, which mashed well with the graphics. While the graphics weren't amazing, together with the music they kind of reminded me of those good old DOS-era 3D games, so they weren't all bad.
Overall, a pretty decent game, I liked it!
I like the style of this game. The controls took a little getting used to, mainly because I wasn't incrementally introduced to them but just had them all presented to me immediately in a large text blurb. It was fine though, given that I could open up the description again whenever I wanted.
The gameplay was pretty alright, just a nice little progression system. Since the game is so short, the gameplay worked just fine. If you were ever to make this a longer game though, it'll need some sort of challenge to it in order to make it engaging for longer amounts of time.
I loved the graphics and the audio, simply because they're consistently programmer-y in nature. It's a clever thing to turn your weakness in the art area into a strength of your game. Well done!
Great game, I found it really addictive to play.
I would've conpleted it too, if it hadn't been for the frustrating movement scheme. You should've just made movement controlled by WASD, because having to use the mouse to determine direction and the keyboard determine velocity splits the act of movement into two separate actions. It's not very intuitive, and it makes it hard to make snap movement decisions. Which is why I often ended up running straight into the enemies when they showed up, which is a pretty frustrating way to die.
The gameplay itself was great though. I might be biased because I have a thing for simple micro-managing and building games, but either way I really enjoyed it. With a better control scheme and maybe some refurbished graphics, I think the game could be even better. Even as it is now though, this game is one of the only entries to make me want to keep playing longer than usual, so good job!
Considering it's a jam entry, this isn't a particularly good game. The controls don't do what I expect them to at all, with random sheening to the sides even when I try to go straight forward. The turning happens at such a speed that I get completely disoriented.
And the gameplay only consists of making small model buildings fly around to make a number go up on screen. Without any sort of opposition, as far as I could see at least, the game just feels like it has no goal, and the mechanics alone aren't engaging enough on their own.
This game needs a lot of polish and fleshing out, because right now it feels like an early prototype, not a finished 3-day team effort.
I absolutely love the music in this game! I don't even need to play the game, I could just sit here and listen to the music. It's so soothing and spacey and absolutely perfect to set the games mood.
The gameplay itself is alright too. The controls feel intuitive, and the thresholds of the gravitational pulls become familiar and recognizable over time. But the game still doesn't turn into a cakewalk, and offers a challenge like you'd expect from a platformer.
The graphics aren't amazing, but they're good enough to not be a distraction from the rest of the games aesthetical presentation.
The biggest complaint I have about the game is probably the sound when I die. It's louder than I expect every time, and it cuts out the soothing music, leading to a very jarring experience. Dying in the game is bad enough, no need to completely annihilate my immersion into the mood as well.
In the end though, that's most of the critique I can offer, so I can confidently say that I find this game to be a well made one. Good work on your jam!
I like the graphics and the atmosphere a lot, the retro style is thoroughly well done. The music and sound design does a lot to aid that as well.
The controls are a little bit off though. It's hard to put my finger on it, but moving around just didn't feel very good, probably a little bit too slow. It was also a bit jarring how attacking made me unable to move or stopped all my momentum instantly.
I also found a big on my first playthrough where I could jump over the red door in the first part in order to get inside, but it didn't work both ways so I was trapped inside even after killing the boss.
Overall I liked it though, despite all the issues and feeling a bit lost and wandering at some points. With some tweaking to the controls and bug fixing, and maybe some more direction given to the player through hints or story points, I think it could be a pretty good game.
Pretty decent game, considering you learned the tools you were using during the compo. Despite needing time to simply learn how to make the game, your game still feels more complete than a lot of other entries I've tried that don't have the luxury of claiming they had that handicap.
All things considered, it works quite alright. The UI is a little bit ugly and feels like it's part of the background rather than an overlay on the screen, but otherwise the game feels just fine both graphically and soundwise.
I enjoyed the upgrade system, but I found myself just going for recharge rate all the time, because at first glance I couldn't find any indicator to the planets health, and all enemies died in one shot. I found that planet HP and Damage never enticed me as upgrades, because they didn't have the immedate feedback of "things are going better for you now" that the recharge rate did. That is, if I chose either of them, I couldn't really tell any difference.
Even so though, the game concept is based on a pretty addictive wave-based format, and it succeeds fairly well at living up to that. Dying only made me want to try again. So the gameplay worked, even though at times the hitboxes felt a little bit off as I could see my beam going through the enemies but not killing them.
Given your constraints, the bottom line is that I think you should be happy with what you accomplished. It's a good compo entry in my book.
Funny game, who thought unicorn llama conception could be this cute?
The game was pretty short, but I think that's what allowed me to like it as much as I did. Had it been longer it might have been tedious as the gameplay wasn't revolutionary. The intro and outro videos very pretty funny, and somehow they reminded me of low budget cartoons from my childhood.
Charming game, for sure!
Neat little game!
Even though I could just fling meteors outside of the screen, I find myself juggling them to keep them around until another one showed up so I could smash them together, it was a lot of fun.
I'm not really sure what the rain clouds did, because I never saw them do anything bad. On the other hand, no matter how quick I was I couldn't avoid the volcanos spewing out a few pieces of lava, so they always seemed like bad news.
The gameplay did get a little tedious after a while though, I think the game either needs to be radically harder and appeal to the "just one more time" sense, or add some progression system to make the time spent feel worthwhile for longer than it currently does.
Overall a pretty decent game, though!
This is a decent game, but I think it suffers a little bit from a balancing issue.
I felt like as a player, the only way I could be harmed was in the beginning before I could react to the enemies position. As soon as I survived that though, killing the enemies was easy. This is a bad thing for two reasons: First of all, my defeat is technically out of my hands. There's no amount of skill or planning that can save me from being hit before I am even allowed to react. Secondly, the enemies aren't enough of a challenge on their own.
Ideally, I should be fearing the enemies for how hard they are to fight, not for how they'll always start with the upper hand because the computer reacts before I do at the very beginning of the fight.
The graphics and the sounds are somewhat redeeming qualities though, they are decent. But as a result of the lackluster gameplay they kind of feel slightly out of place. Despite being a compo, it's almost like the sound and graphics were made by a different person.
So, I think the game could benefit from having the player not annihilate the enemies as easily, but in return let the player be able to get their wits about them at the start of a level before the enemy AI has a chance to bum rush him.
The idea of this game is pretty interesting, it's a shame you weren't able to complete it.
The graphics are pretty good, and the sound is decent. It was a little bit hard to understand at first, but then I read the description and I got it. I think maybe the gameplay could get a bit tedious over time, but that could also change if you added the things you'd planned and maybe something like levels or measurable progress.
It does definitely feel a little bit unfinished at this point, but despite that I think it's a neat little concept.
I absolutely love the stars sound! It manages to be both imposing and funny at the same time. It made the end feel pretty empowering considering the star acts as if it's gonna get me, but in the end I got it!
The game itself is pretty simple though. Gameplay is pretty standard, the graphics aren't much and the game idea itself is nothing new. I think having a regular follow cam would be a lot better than the section-switching one too. The audio, both the music and the dark star, is definitely the games strength.
Despite that though, I enjoyed it. It was a pretty short game, so its drawbacks never really reached the point of being actively sabotaging the experience. So instead, its good parts sort of carried the whole thing leaving me with a pretty enjoyable experience.
The controls are slick and responsive, and coupled with the graphics it all feels very good to play. The gameplay is simple, but it does exactly what it sets out to do and it does it well. There could always be room for more content, but being a game jam product it has plenty all things considered.
The music and sound design is good as well, so the whole package is just consistently well done all over. Feels like a very complete game, rather than a rushed prototype. All in all, a good entry!
Great work with the music, having so many different tracks tied together by a thematic unity, and at such a quality, is really impressive for a 48-hour compo entry.
It does kind of show where your focus went though, because the gameplay, while pretty due to the simple and colorful graphics, isn't too engaging. It feels a little more like minigames meant to be contained within a larger game, rather than the core of a game, as if the gameplay is kind of just there as an excuse to tell the story and use your music.
Besides that though, this game is definitely the one with the best overall presentation of the ones I've seen so far. The music really made it feel like I was playing a game with high production value. It was a very calming and soothing experience overall, overshadowing the drawbacks of the lacking gameplay.
The boss was a really nice touch as well, it was for sure the only parts of the game where I felt engaged by the gameplay. I liked how its animation seemed like a more jagged version of the players animation, which coupled with its colors gave it a sort of harrowing feel. The way the game ended took me by surprise too, and it led to me actually sitting around for the credits just enjoying what I just experienced.
Exceptionally solid entry! Of what I've seen so far, I think this one is a top contender for sure.
Very solid entry! I enjoyed trying to get all the optional parts (which I succeeded at, giving me quite a sense of accomplishment). The controls and graphics all felt very well designed and it never seemed like you'd cut any corners anywhere, it was a complete and thoroughly well done experience.
The music is very well done too, it really completes the whole pixely 8-bit aesthetic of the game. Considering you've made everything yourself, I'm very impressed with all the work you've put in. You did a good, my friend, well done! =)
This is is a *really* good compo entry. All the aspects of the physics, from the orbital mechanics to the exploding rocket, feel very good. The controls are very responsive and do exactly what I expect them to, as well.
The game was pretty difficult too, and I enjoyed trying over and over to attempt making it further than I did last time. The graphics aren't complex but they're consistent and not sloppy, so they end up being one of the games strengths.
All in all a very enjoyable experience, well done!
Very interesting choice of graphics, but I liked it. As a story telling format, I think it was really nice. It really gave me the feeling of being in the middle of some ancient paradigm or proverb. Given the simple controls and uninteresting gameplay mechanics, I think the length is just about right as well.
I like it as a small self-contained thing, but I don't think it has much potential to be much more than that, and it may not be much of a game. I could see this being somewhat of a format for small short stories, sort of like an interactive webcomic format. It's interesting for sure.
I really enjoyed the humor in this game!
And I think I would've liked the gameplay too, if I hadn't encountered what looked like a lot of bugs. Some times the text I got as a result of my choice had nothing to do with what I was choosing. Like when a fight over a plot of land happened and my answer gave me the "the caste has been abolished" text. Also, some stats (like aggression) seemed unaffected even when it said aggression rose. Growth didn't seem to do anything either.
I like the concept, and the humor is great, but unfortunately the technical difficulties made me unable to actually play the game very much.
This is an alright game. The soundtrack is definitely its best point. The controls take a little bit getting used to, but I think that's part of the challenge of this game. It could potentially have been a little longer, or have more content, being a 72 hour game jam with a 2-person team it is a little barebones. Maybe some more levels and other powerups.
Definitely not a bad entry, though, good job on finishing your game!
I like that the game isn't too long! I think the essence of a Ludum Dare is small short experiences made in short time, and that's exactly what you've done here. I think maybe the game could've benefited from some audio, and maybe some more exciting gameplay. As the game isn't driven by its sound, graphics or story as many other entires are, it should at least offer some engaging gameplay, but right now it's somewhat of a walking simulator.
That wasn't too bad of a downside though, as the game isn't too long. Overall I enjoyed it, I loved the little people especially.
I really liked this game!
The graphics really sell the whole concept. They look simple without looking overly quick or poorly done, and the colors work very well. It's really satisfying to see the water and grass slowly appear, as well as the light blue atmospheric halo, as you plant more flowers about in the world. It reminds me a lot of the kind of mood That Game Company elicit in their games.
The gameplay is enjoyable, though a lot of that comes by proxy of the mood and atmosphere. As soon as I figured out how the game works, it sort of became a numbers game which I know would've left the game feeling tedious had I tried to 100% all of the planets. I also think movement felt a little jarring due to the flowers having collision hitboxes, and I think maybe being able to walk through the flowers would add a flow to the movement which in turn would've further aided towards the fleeting and light overall mood of the game.
Those are definitely only minor points though, as overall I really enjoyed the game. It's most certainly one of my favorites so far, feels very aesthetically complete.
I enjoyed this game!
I didn't take the time to play through all of the levels obviously, but that alone is quite telling. Given that you've only spend a weekend making this game, but still has something that could be played for a long time, I'd say that's pretty impressive in itself. Granted, the game can feel a little slow at times and could do with a way to be sped up.
Figuring out the strategies needed to make sure I could both defend against enemy termites and also have enough room to get enough workers and food and soil was pretty fun!
LD56 — Tiny Creatures (20)
Waddle by grizeldi 2024-10-12T18:55:05Z ♥ 2
Tried this after seeing it on a guys stream. Very polished entry, and very fun puzzles. One of my favorites so far!
M.E.S - Mini Ecosystem Simulator by Itskdog 2024-10-12T17:08:37Z ♥ 1
Always love a good simulator, there's something so fascinating about sitting there and just watching the results of your parameters. Spent quite some time looking at this simulation, very engaging!
Exter-meh-nator by Samuel Fine 2024-10-12T15:23:37Z ♥ 1
Very fun and interesting idea. Might be the first game I've come across that actually deserves a high rating in the "innovation" category! I'll have you know I managed to fail hard enough to get zero stars! 😎
Always love when people make a Linux build, you're a real one for that!
Harvestal by Kaiynest 2024-10-12T15:17:49Z ♥ 1
I found that the installer was a bit unnecessary, would've preferred to just have a packaged version with an .exe. Played this through WINE on Linux. Had some bugs, but I'm not sure if they're from the game or because I run it on Linux. At the very least I couldn't play the tutorial, so I ended up not quite understanding how to play the game.
But outside of that, wow, what a great job you've done here! This is a lot of work to achieve in such a short game jam. The vibe is absolutely immaculate, the graphics, the setting, the mechanics and the soundtrack.
Of all the games I've played and rated so far, this one is by far the one that feels the most like an actual game instead of a small prototype. Yes, it's unfinished, but it's still really impressive. Well done!
Undersengen by tom_ahawk 2024-10-12T15:05:16Z ♥ 1
Fellow scandinavian here, great game name 😎
A little bit undercooked as a game, given the short nature of it, but the art and atmosphere is really good. Love the vibe and the aesthetics of the environment.
Would love to see this fleshed out!
Fry Quest by Togis 2024-10-12T15:00:13Z ♥ 2
Very fun experience! The mouse singing reminds me of the soundtrack to our own game. Fun writing, and nice little mini-games to keep the experience fresh. Love the humor, the puns and LotR reference.
I also have to give a +1 for the Linux build, I always appreciate that.
I have two criticisms though:
1. I feel like the intro was maybe a little bit too long.
2. This is how all fries are made 😂
Gloomies by SpaceMonkey 2024-10-12T14:46:34Z ♥ 1
Very cute game! Not a lot to do, but it was fun for a few minutes to see how many I could get to spawn. The answer was: very many.
Runs well on Linux when using WINE :)
🐜 Antwars 🐜 by Mibi88 2024-10-12T14:41:10Z ♥ 1
+1 for the Linux build! Unfortunately I couldn't get it to run, because it seems to want SDL bundled with the build, but it isn't, and I haven't got it installed and set up a path for it locally.
The web build didn't work for me either, so for the time being I can't really rate this.
Down In The Well of Souls by damdoshi 2024-10-11T19:09:20Z ♥ 1
Really solid entry, love the art style and sound design. I also always have to love a native Linux build, really appreciate that!
In the end there will be the Number by KAVERZA 2024-10-11T19:06:53Z ♥ 1
Very solid entry, and also oddly the second religiously themed game I've played so far. The vibe is really creep here, but I suppose that's fitting considering angels are supposed to be terrifying for a human to behold.
The gameplay is simple, but oddly addictive, and the visuals and sound really add to the whole experience. Well done!
Grablin Battle Festival by HaaYaargh 2024-10-11T19:01:36Z ♥ 4
Really good entry, love the whole vibe of the game! Polished, easy to understand, and fun to play.
Grubbo by RobLaro 2024-10-10T13:30:51Z ♥ 2
Highest rating I've given to a game so far! The gameplay feels really good, very satisfying to play, and the graphics and audio amplify the experience to make the game really juicy. All the tiny little details to the art really adds to the visual experience.
Very well done, really enjoyed this game and am super impressed with what you managed to do in such a short time.
Tiny Little Terrors by Senso 2024-10-10T13:24:47Z ♥ 1
Very well done!!
The sound design, the art design, the gameplay, it all feels very polished and cohesive. It all serves to come together as a tight and neat little game with an excellent vibe. It's very impressive that you did this in just 3 days. Your experience really shows here!
Molly the Mole by Linus Szokody 2024-10-10T13:15:26Z ♥ 1
Very nice game, feels very polished and complete. Usually you can tell where people ran out of time with their jam games (like mine), but this feels like you managed to do everything you set out to do!
Tiny Sanctuary by 03gramat 2024-10-10T11:47:30Z ♥ 1
Very nice and cozy little game!
Noah's Rabbit Chase by Jesse Martin 2024-10-09T19:46:36Z ♥ 1
I couldn't catch the rabbit, but I enjoyed trying!
SlimeBall by DanGengar 2024-10-09T14:34:35Z ♥ 2
Very nice atmosphere in this game, the aesthetics are very cohesive and cute. The music gives it a very nice mood too. I've always enjoyed games with nicely handcrafted environments with little details to discover.
I didn't really enjoy the gameplay too much. You don't really know how heavy a slime is until you throw it, so for some slimes you're going to have to take a gamble which end with all your progress so far being deleted. That to me isn't really a fun kind of challenge, because it means I'm going to have to keep doing the same things over and over for reasons outside of my control.
All the other parts make up for it though, so this still deserves a good rating in my eyes!
Monster Strike by COKE 2024-10-09T14:25:34Z ♥ 1
I like the concept, and the illustrations are nice! The soundtrack is cool, although maybe a little harsh to the point of becoming a little grating after hearing it repeat multiple times.
The gameplay could probably do with being a little faster, especially in the second level where you only had one demon to do all the job. You're kind just waiting, not really playing.
Spud Customs by Lost Rabbit Digital 2024-10-08T08:27:05Z ♥ 2
Great entry, very funny concept!
Well executed, I can't really find anything to fault with neither the graphics, sound design, writing or gameplay. Feels polished and finished, and it seems to do successfully accomplish what it's set out to do.
Exaltation by HellHound 2024-10-08T07:28:45Z ♥ 4
Great work! Overall a solid game for a game jam, good art, music, nice concept and a quite big level filled with some interesting puzzles. Very cool that y'all managed to put this together in just 3 days! I especially liked your take on the theme, and how you made the tiny creature a companion for some classic "control two characters to solve puzzles" gameplay.
I have three criticisms, though:
1. I found the visual language a little confusing at times. For example, I thought the checkpoints had to be avoided at first, because they look like spinning sawblades. Seemed like something I needed to stay away from. It also took me a while to understand the ledges. When I see ledges in a 2D platform, I assume they are platforms to stand on, it took me a while to understand they were ledges to hang from instead. I got stuck at the first ledges for almost a minute because I was so confused about why I kept falling throught the platforms. I see from @andrewkennedys comment that I'm not the only one who made this mistake.
2. For a platformer, the movement speed of the character felt a little bit sluggish.
3. I kinda didn't get the ending. It was visually cool, and there seems to be a narrative here, but I don't understand it.