Life Death + Lemons by Random Thoughts 2019-05-04T01:26:45Z
Quite fun and polished game. The theme was a bit shoehorned imo, but it's not really a big deal. The mechanics were solid and I was entertained the whole time through. Good job.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → MasterProject
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | Laser Grid | compo | 74 | 3.91 | 3.72 | 3.91 | 3.40 | 3.95 | 3.66 | |||
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | 👥 | Courrier de Souvenirs | jam | 303 | 3.83 | 3.31 | 3.15 | 4.25 | 4.00 | 3.59 | 3.32 | 4.13 |
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | Typing at Midnight | extra | ||||||||||
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | 👥 | Bloodrush | extra | |||||||||
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | 👥 | MechaShift | jam | 529 | 3.68 | 3.54 | 3.89 | 3.71 | 3.45 | 3.48 | 3.41 | |
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | 👥 | ThaumOS | jam | 412 | 3.82 | 3.48 | 4.09 | 3.81 | 3.79 | 3.48 | 3.36 | 3.90 |
| 2019 | 44 | Your life is currency | 👥 | Pilling Debt | jam | 962 | 2.96 | 2.94 | 2.91 | 3.46 | 3.35 | 3.25 | 3.06 |
Quite fun and polished game. The theme was a bit shoehorned imo, but it's not really a big deal. The mechanics were solid and I was entertained the whole time through. Good job.
Great game! The gameplay felt fluid and fun, and the weapon choices were pretty varied. Some things to consider, though: -Having the game close instead of a usual game over screen was pretty frustrating -While the black-and-white aesthetic was cool, it did make it difficult to aim properly at times All in all, I enjoyed it greatly, so good work!
Nice game feel with the gun and the zombie blood effects. I also liked their animation, lol. The resource juggling with the lives and the time was cool, though the game was indeed pretty easy, even with the challenge mode. The controls were also super awkward, but I guess this was probably intentional. All in all, I enjoyed the game, so good job!
I'm not sure what's my opinion on this. The idea was decent, but the gameplay felt lacking and the story was predictable.
Great game! Everything seemed quite polished, and I loved the simple yet effective strategy behind each choice. The music did get tiresome after a while, though.
Great graphics and mood, but the gameplay felt a bit flat. Also, it was a bit too hard imo, but that might be just me sucking at the game, haha
Incredible! Really interesting game. Fit the theme like a glove.
Great game, I loved everything about it. The theme, the music, the gameplay, the game feel... Everything was awesome. My only complaint is that it doesn't have to do with the Game Jam's theme at all...
Slide the slider at the lower-half part of the screen. When you're done, press the circle at the center.
First of all, thanks for all the feedback, everyone.
We're working on a less "floaty" jump and making some adjustments to the Pills screen (I don't know what was I thinking when I wrote "Current" instead of "Remaining"). Additionally, we might add a sliding mechanic to the game, which was originally cut due to me getting ill. We'll see what the future holds.
Great graphics, though the grinding did get tedious after a while, especially considering the lack of music. Still, this shows a lot of promise, and with some work I can see this becoming an actual game.
Simple but effective mechanics. Cute design and story. I like it!
Everything about this is great. The minimalist artstyle is very appealing, and works well with the game's design. The mechanics, what with all the themed layers and wobbly floor are really effective at creating an innovative platformer. The game's polish is also extremely impressive considering your time restraints. Overall, a really solid entry.
I love conversation mechanics, and this has one of the best implementations of it I've seen yet. Keeping track of what lies I told to each person is incredibly engaging, and those individual suspicion bars are a nice resource management puzzle.
The story and writing for this game are also pretty good, and goes along well with the whole 007 parody aesthetic. 5 stars all across the board, this is basically perfect in my book.
This game honestly made me tear up. Amazing, amazing writing. It was funny at appropriate times and at appropriate levels. The space facts were really interesting and added to the game's worldbuilding, even if that world is our own universe. And finally, that ending, man. So many questions. And I liked how you addressed that logic question, it was really smart.
In regards to gameplay, I found the resource management part of the game sadly a bit lacking, though it didn't detract at all from the experience. Art and music worked well with the game, and while not exceptional, they served their purpose.
All in all, a really solid entry. My throat still hurts from the feelings I felt from that ending.
INCIDENTALLY, I was listening to this song right before seeing your post about your game. Its themes are eerily similar to it, and its story is just as powerful. https://youtu.be/ud6LiVJkwyA
I accidentally bruteforced the last two puzzles... Anyway, the visuals and lack of background music made for a very creepy atmosphere, which I liked. The ending, while surprising, was a bit of a letdown, though...
It's a fun game with nice aesthetics and a great soundtrack, and the minigames are engaging enough. My only point of criticism is the lack of variety after a while...
Incredibly atmospheric. The way the game slowly devolves into madness was really well implemented - the pacing was perfect. Overall, one of the most solid entries I've seen so far.
Incredibly beautiful game! The bosses are nicely designed and overall the controls feel pretty tight and responsive. Honestly, great entry.
Fun, engaging game. Reminds me a lot of Katana Zero. I'm just bummed that it lacks an ending...
Hoo boy, I have a LOT to say about this game. Alright, here we go.
I'll start with the presentation. Both the pixel art aesthetic and the sound design were pretty good in my opinion. What especially struck out to me, however, is its animation quality, which is INSANELY good, let alone for a jam game. Seriously, it's really, really impressive.
In regards to gameplay, I found the game loop extremely satisfying. It's a really engaging micromanaging puzzle which manages to interlock all its mechanics in a very satisfying way.
Let's take mining, for example - there are three types of ores (gold, water and fuel), which all contribute to the objective in different ways and are better collected at different points in time. The screen is also divided in two halves by the giant drill, and this divide can be traversed by either jumping over the machine (which wastes precious time) or waiting for the drill to "jump" (which might not be ideal). And then there's the fact that you can strategically see the next two ore rows ahead of time, giving you the chance to strategically plan your actions.
And then there are the game over conditions, or "hazards", as I like to call them - the crumbling walls, the overheating, the fuel and the squirrel. All of them have different solutions but may be more or less urgent at different stages of play. The walls, for example, are also positioned at either side of the screen, making it a good choice to repair them before crossing the middle even when they're not so damaged, as you don't know when you're going to come back, and coming back *just* to repair them might be too costly.
Or the temperature and fuel reserves, which both depend on collected resources to solve. Keeping track of them to prioritize which ore to mine is another interesting second-to-second choice.
I can almost describe this game as a dance, darting over different positions, juggling different resources and keeping track of different hazards. My only and single gripe with this is that this entire dance is really overwhelming for the player at first, and while the gifs present in the LD screen are great, I'd have appreciated if they were also present in the game itself. I understand that there's only so much time for implementing all of this, however, so this is really mostly a nitpick.
All in all, one of the best entries I've seen so far.
@bicheste yep, it took a lot of tries (and a bit of luck), but I beat it.
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It's definitely not polished, but I enjoyed it. That little scope on the corner was a nice addition and when I saw that creature down in the bottom of the ocean I actually bit my tongue out of fear. So yeah, congrats on that. Also how dare you.
For a first game jam, it's pretty good! While the design is somewhat standard, I found this quite polished and light-hearted. The granny's voicelines made me chuckle a bit, too. Cool entry.
I read your post in your blog and I must say, I agree with everything you said. It's a very ambitious game, and its mechanics all gel well together... however, at its current state it's just way too unpolished and there are way too many mechanics thrown at the player at once for me to give a great score in good conscience.
In any case, if you ever decide to continue with this game, I'll support all the way. There's a lot of potential here, and with your blog post you demonstrated a lot of self-awareness and design knowledge. Good luck next jam!
While the game was a bit laggy on my PC, I really liked the game's design, both aesthetically and mechanically. If it were a bit more technically polished, I'd have a lot of fun playing it.
I like its aesthetics and its theme, but I feel like priorities were a bit misplaced here. The choices weren't very engaging in my opinion and I didn't have enough context to care for the ending. It's still enjoyable though.
Great game, had a lot of fun playing it. The enemies are diverse and orthogonal enough to force me to quickly think about whom to prioritize, and I really dig the cel-shaded aesthetic. I'd appreciate, however, if the enemies had better visual/auditory feedback when receiving damage, as currently the guns feel a bit weak.
As a complete side-note, I'm happy to see fellow brazilians participating in the Ludum Dare. Finding your blog was a nice surprise too.
This is an extremely charming and endearing game. The aesthetics are great and more than make up for the lack of sound. While the gameplay loop is a bit basic, at the same time it is also very satisfying thanks to the little side-step animation you added. Also, jumping from ship to ship is a cool mechanic that reminds me a lot of Heat Signature. This definitely has expansion potential.
Huh, interesting game. I'm particularly impressed with that orbit preview feature - it works really well and doesn't seem very trivial to program. While this isn't exactly my type of game, I still moderately enjoyed it. Good work.
Great visuals and art direction. This is a promising concept, though sadly it's not exactly groundbreaking - still, I really liked the way you pulled it off, with all the background alterations, shader glitches, sound corruptions and the like. My biggest gripe with it was its repetition - the game sadly doesn't deviate much from the standard puzzle, and at the end I expected some sort of twist. Maybe that was a bit more of my fault though.
Really polished game. The art and animation are both very charming, and the idea for the game is something I've never quite seen before. These kind of social experiments are always a treat, so good job!
I think everything that must be said has already been said - the game is gorgeous, the audio is pretty good, the game design concept is solid, but the ladder controls are Half-Life-level atrocious. In any case, although the controls were frustrating, the rest of the game was superb. So, congrats!
Also, good to see a fellow brazilian developer! Oi!
@jaspior Oof, that's unfortunate. I'll definitely look into adding that in a future post-jam version.
@kwiper yeah, at first we planned to make it a bit more minimalistic (especially because we were all tired due to a jam we participated in a week prior), but as the main mechanic revolved around juggling cooldowns, having only 3-4 abilities made that a bit weak. I do agree that settling at 6 ended up being an unfortunate complication in terms of learning the game.
Being honest though, 2 of those abilities (namely the teleport and the bounce toggle) weren't designed to be used much, especially the former, and are more there to serve as a get-out-of-jail free card and a tool for more advanced players, respectively. Given more time to flesh up these ideas, we'd probably introduce these abilities one at a time and shuffle them around to better balance the cognitive load on the player.
The art style, soundtrack and gameplay all complement each other to create a very compelling experience. At first, the game seemed a bit flat, considering the player's supposedly only decision is to move around the field. However, once I discovered what each enemy type and power-up did, things got a lot more interesting. I stopped seeing the player's healthbar as a failure meter and more as a resource, or a tool. Exploding enemies right before they get to the last tile became a viable option, especially with plentiful shield and health drops.
Overall, I really enjoyed this game. It's a solid entry with no apparent flaws and a very strong design.
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By the way, barely made it into the scoreboard. I'll probably not last long though, lol.
It's a decent game. The random effects were a nice addition, though the overall gameplay, while solid, was pretty by-the-books. Still, I had fun with the game, especially due to the bullets' knockback. Juggling enemies around really made a difference.
It's a very polished game with cute visuals and strong sound design. The audiologs especially were a nice addition - while the voice acting borderlined on being a bit over the top sometimes, this honestly made the performance more charmful and fun imo. Regarding gameplay, it was... okay. The platformer physics were solid, but all-around very basic and standard. Having to make the trip back did make the game a bit more thoughtful though, which I enjoyed - but I just left feeling like it could have something more.
All in all, it's a good game. Nice work!
I'm very torn on this game. On one hand, it looks, feels and sounds GREAT. And I mean REALLY, REALLY GREAT. The game feel is crunchy as hell and the mechanics all gel well together. The bullet reflect mechanic is one of the best things in this. The inspirations from My Friend Pedro are clear, and that game is awesome.
On the other hand... well, I really, really don't like the level design. Usually that's not something that bothers me, but there were some bits in which the player has to fall down in a complete leap of faith because the camera doesn't reach that low, and some others where I got stuck or didn't know where to go. That was really frustrating.
Still, that didn't ruin the game by any stretch, but it did sour it nonetheless. It's a great game with a big flaw - and considering it's a jam, that still makes for a damn good experience.
Very charming art direction. The gameplay can be frustrating at times, but overall I can get behind it. Nice game.
This didn't work for me. The stories are too short and too generic to make me care. There are no meaningful repercussions to refusing the stones, nor a powerful significance between their characters and their stones, or their impact on the overall gameplay. In other words, the story is here and the gameplay is there - their connection is too tenous and too arbitrary.
Not only that, but I found the gameplay itself rather frustrating, though I admit that mostly comes down to my inability to stack rocks. Even then, the fact that the rocks can roll to outside the screen and that the player is able to constantly hit existing rocks with rocks they hold means that the possibility of accidentally toppling the entire thing by simply moving a rock is quite high.
In any case, the mood and the art style were relatively successful in captivating me, despite the other factors not quite working. This premise has potential, but its design needs to improve.
It got repetitive quickly, but damn if chucking those horses wasn't hilarious! Surprising game.
Great aesthetics and soundtrack. Everything felt really cohesive and harmonic, making the game as a whole have a personality. The little easter egg was also pretty fun.
Something I'm a bit more torn in is the absence of indicators of how many coins the player needs to go through a certain door. On one hand, it's a bit frustrating to spend half a loop to get to a door just to find it closed. On the other hand, it forces the player to memorize each location and try it out after getting a new coin. So that's nice.
Anyway, overall, I liked this game.
While simple, this game oozes personality and is overall a really nice, almost relaxing, experience. Something that caught my attention was the way the game conveys the platforms' integrity - baking them into the sprites themselves was a really clever idea. Good game.
I'm not one to criticize complicated games, but... I honestly, truly did not understand what to do. I mean, yeah, I have to find out what is healthy for Gus... but which 'symptoms' are good and which ones aren't? If I fly into the air, is that good or bad? Am I dumb? Maybe, probably. But unfortunately that didn't change the fact that I didn't have fun with this game.
This game has such a strong atmosphere. The visuals are gorgeous, simply gorgeous. And the mechanics, while simple, complement the entire design. This is a very strong entry, congrats.
This is a great game, and fits the theme really well. Planning the boxes' positioning inside of the truck based on the location of their delivery target is just a great logistics puzzle. And the artstyle, music and sound effects all lend themselves to this wholesome, slice-of-life mood that accentuates the mundane yet charming nature of this task. I seriously love it.
I never gave an all-5 rating to any game until now. My god, everything is just so good! The art is stunning, the music is catchy as all hell, the gameplay gimmicks are fun and innovative, and the writing, god, the writing!
The game constantly throws all these absurd curveballs at the player, all within the context and narrative of the story. Talking about this game will make anyone sound insane - 'yeah, I crashed on stage 4 because I was double-dating on Tinder while driving sleep-deprived'. I love it, seriously, I love it.
Hey, that was a load of fun! Simple and engaging game with good visuals, soundtrack and premise. Really enjoyed it.
Just as everyone mentioned before, I love the uniqueness of this mechanic. Not only that, but its natural, almost 'organic' feel, like you don't really have control over the slugs, and can only gesture towards the general direction where you want them to go... it really makes the game feel alive. The atmosphere, delivered expertly with its sound effects and soundtrack, is sublime. I loved this game.
@someoneman sorry, we were setting up the page. It's public now.
@gross-papillon we implemented gamepad support, but never managed to test it. On the topic of navigation, remember - you're in space, so there's no inertia. If you accelerate in a direction, you'll keep going until you accelerate in another one.
@0x-void-x0 thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the game! We had a plan to include a reference to Napigeon (something like a mysterious feather on one of the asteroids), but on the thick of it we ended up forgetting to add that...
This game is so fucking awesome, jesus. The artstyle has so much charm, and complements the absurd gameplay really well. And when he starts to sing, wow... that really caught me by surprise. Love it, love it.
@fupi kkkkk tamo por aí! Parabéns pelo jogo, sério mesmo. Te mandei um friend request no Discord!
Yep, I agree with the others - I'd have appreciated if there were some feedback regarding whether I hit the boxes or not, and also making the scoring system a bit more clear. That said, considering this was one of your first forays into 3D games, this was a quite decent entry.
This game is actually pretty good - pacing feels good, mechanics are introduced in a fun and charming way, and the gameplay is placed on a sweet middle ground between dextrous platforming and puzzle-solving. Overall, I really like this game.
The artstyle, like everyone mentioned, is simply superb, wow! I did find the game confusing, though - many patrons mention stuff all the time and the time limit doesn't really afford me being able to write them down... so while I don't think the game's unfair, it does feel a bit arbitrary, even if it isn't.
Yep, like most commented here, the artstyle and colorwork of this game is superb. I did, however, find myself a bit frustrated, mostly due to the respawn happening before the tutorial, the boss' contact damage, and the relative lack of warnings before the robot's bullets attack, which is pretty strong. Still, I did have some fun during the fight, and the quality of the animations made the combat almost feel like a dance, which I always appreciate.
I'd describe the gameplay as... balanced. Not in the sense of game balance, but in the sense of control - having to control two things, each with one hand, feels really good to manage. On the other hand, I did find that the laser was a bit weak, and more often than not I preferred to stay in the middle of the screen instead of moving around with the laser. There's room for improvement, but overall, I liked the game.
This is amazing, especially for Compo. Gameplay is pretty fluid, the concept works, the artstyle and sound effects all provide good gameplay cues and create a good atmosphere... no notes, this is just awesome.
I absolutely love this game - its execution is superb, and its premise, oh my god. Taking the idea 'limited space' and transforming it into an information theory puzzle with an old man as its main character is just... so awesome. I love what you did with this one. Great game, no notes.
The mood is captured expertly here, well done. This reminded me a lot of Prey's tutorial - doing inane tasks for some unknown reason, with a sense of dread building and building with each new room.
This is astounding, simply astounding. The atmosphere is very captivating, the game seems unendingly expansive, and overall, I've had fun with it. I do admit that the enemy towers felt a bit off, as the game seemed more of an exploration puzzle than anything else, but that's my only gripe with it.
@fupi kkkk acertou, era isso mesmo! Os com 8 pontas eram mais rápidos para detonar tbm. Obrigado por jogar!
This game is so juicy! For a game without engine, you've polished it really well. The gameplay loop is satisfying enough, and overall, I enjoyed this. My score was 153.
Loved this idea, very innovative. The base concept is solid, and with a couple more polish and design passes, this could turn into a real gem! Something I'd suggest is maybe have enemies shoot projectiles instead of hitscan? That way, dodging becomes more fun, and the environment can be more easily utilized for cover and stuff.
Also, yay for Godot! Screenshot_1.png
When we were discussing the jam, my friends almost decided to go with this idea. I'm glad someone did! The background music was really tense and gave off a lot of Deus Ex vibes. The implementation is a bit barebones, but it works. Overall, I like the concept, and I think it has potential to be developed further!
I'll go a bit against the grain here and say that I didn't quite get what you were going with here. The economics thing gave me the impression that this would be a Zachtronics-esque puzzle game with limited resources, so when I started shooting green enemies, I was very confused.
The shooting, by the way, was indeed fun, as the visual and sound effects were crunchy enough for me to enjoy the simple act of destroying the enemies... however, I didn't really understand why I was doing any of that. The two game components - namely, the resource management and the action bits - felt a bit tacked on. I'm not sure what could be done... maybe with a tutorial, I'd understand how they work together better? As of now, though, I admit I was left a bit puzzled by the entire experience. I hope you find success with it, though!
Interesting and mind-bending puzzles, I enjoyed it! Having to move around the cube to solve this 3D conundrum was very intriguing, giving me a sensation of dissassembling a 4D machine. The artstyle gave me a bit of a headache, not gonna lie, but other than that, this was very enjoyable.