Sum Monsters by eonarheim 2024-04-20T12:55:11Z
Wonderful game. I loved how easy it was to try something, then undo it with the mouse. Great interface, and fun twists. Thanks for sharing!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Mcgiants
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | R.E.M. Really Enraging Mosquito | jam | 515 | 3.44 | 3.68 | 4.18 | 3.65 | 2.94 | 3.61 | 4.05 | 3.60 |
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | 👥 | SacriSquare | jam | 553 | 3.59 | 3.95 | 3.85 | 3.23 | 2.81 | 2.36 | 2.80 |
Wonderful game. I loved how easy it was to try something, then undo it with the mouse. Great interface, and fun twists. Thanks for sharing!
Great game! Thanks for sharing!
Love the humor. Fun idea. Thanks for sharing!
Nice game! Took a bit to understand, but a nice variety. Thank you for sharing!
Fascinating game! The random set up meant I had no rocks in my first run, but did in my 2nd. It did feel a little bad when, even after 2 rolls, all my worms were on a color I had no dice of. Still, fun experience, got 8 worms my 2nd try, and thanks for sharing!
Most people avoid ice levels, but you found a way to use it to introduce a unique challenge. Thanks for sharing. (PS, thought I was clever on one level where you get a cultist by default with right clicking it, but it did nothing. Dang).
Simple but enjoyable. Only complaint is how abrupt it ended (I didn't realize it was the last wave of enemies). Thanks for sharing! (Never did get my lemon...)
Probably not intentional but found some humor in getting a guilty verdict even when I "won" the roulette at the end of case 2 multiple times. Oh well. Everything up to that point worked fine. Thank you for sharing!
Interesting push and pull of when to summon vs wait, and if others are charging for a ring, trying to find another one the path-finding overlooked. Thanks for sharing!
Very Ambitious! Thanks for sharing!
Does anyone know if you are allowed to edit the description after the deadline? Had a last second scramble when the finished build reverted to earlier colored squares, and when trying to replace ORANGE with PURPLE in the description, we seem to have missed one. (Did make the corrections on Itch.io)
Fascinating game. Took a while to realize you are supposed to type the word that matches the written testimony then hit enter. Unfortunately, I felt like I typed every word for the fanfic ghost, yet couldn't get the last evidence, so I stopped there. Wonderful art! Options menu doesn't do anything when clicked. Still, thanks for sharing!
I enjoy how unique of an interpretation for depth this has. I satisfied the beast as soon as possible (day 2), but not sure what reading had to do with it, nor how "sacrificing oneself" comments on the banality of evil, but that's fine.
Oh why did you put the "go back to main menu which restarts the game" button on the same screen as "shop you need to constantly open"? It got me twice!
I loved the atmosphere the use of limited lighting, monochrome, anchor point with progress number, and particle effects had! Fun twist at the end.
Also, thank you for playing Sacrisquare last year!
What a lovely game. Movement felt janky in such a smooth way! I did the first 3 crystals without realizing the "glue the other parts of the moon together" mechanic. I kinda loved how tough but doable the 3rd crystal is without the dust destroyer. I almost wish solving that rewarded with you with the dust destroyer. You made backtracking such a breeze via the drill mechanic. All that would have been enough, but also adding full silly voice acting, a boss battle, and an ending that tied the mechanics to humor, as well as the "respawn" button, put it over the top.
PS: I love that you didn't disable the gravity gun while respawning. Respawn speed go brrrr. Thanks for sharing!
Loved how the addition of the guard dog helped keep the game from just being a regular incremental game! Only complaint: somehow lost the guard dog button before I could buy any guard dogs. Still, game went on fine without them (wolves only appeared one more time after, so I had to be an active doggo). Also, great to find another "Depth = deep sleep" interpretation out there!
Game froze for a bit at the very start, but was smooth after! I enjoyed discovering the different types of dives and decisions each dive made. (Didn't catch a fish right away-> Hold dive to try to chase one VS pop out right away so the next dive is deep instead of risking being shallow and needing to spend a JUMP to dive again). I also appreciate the audio alert when performing a "perfect dive" since I would not have figured out I had done one without it. Graphics were very cool. Thanks for sharing! (PS, played on controller).
It is very impressive how many levels you fit into 72 hours. Great job!
Cool particle effects, music that encourages you to keep going, satisfying crunch to breaking through barriers. Also found gems sticking to you an interesting idea. Thanks for sharing. Fun fact: first game I kept launching "up" for a few seconds, was confused when I encountered nothing. Once I launched down, I instantly refreshed for a "real" run.
(Sees a game involving moving right the author played a while ago) Could it be Someone else who's played my favorite "move right" game that the creator took down from the web years ago! *plays game* Nope, this is a very different game. Still, I'm very impressed how much storytelling can be told with so few pixels and changing velocity!
(For the record, the game I remembered was called The Shaman. It came out a bit after the indie darling Passage, another "move right" game. In The Shaman, as you walk right, words appear discussing how you are on a journey to see the Shaman. Words about missing your beloved, and what the villagers had to say about the Shaman, and the powers the Shaman is supposed to have, what you sacrificed to make this journey, wondering if you will even find The Shaman. Then, when you finally reach a cloaked individual, the ambient music goes quiet and... ... ... "The Witch Doctor" starts playing, sped up and speeding up faster, repeating Ooh Eee Ooh Ah Ah, as an image of the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie poster slowly fades in, as the quality of the song deteriorates.)
Got pretty far with the strat of "Spam missiles, wait, when dots get close, speed ahead, wait, spam missiles. Didn't really engage with turning much once I had this strat. Felt a bit broken to always have a straight ahead free since missiles did no harm. Still, there was a dance to not outrunning the missiles and knowing how long to wait before rocketing forward with enemies on the other sides/ knowing when rocketing forward will dodge them. Also, I swear the pinging slowed down at some point. Made me feel I was towards the end, and I did feel the tension rise. Still, as you can see from the lack of victory screen, my cheese strat wasn't foolproof. Thanks for sharing an interesting game. EDIT: Oh wow, just noticed you both played Sacrisquare last year AND made Cultists on Ice, which I instantly remembered being a fascinating experience as soon as I saw the thumbnail again. Nice to see a familiar game-face!
I played first with "swipe" controls via mouse, 2nd time with keyboard. (Keyboard felt a little faster movement, though that could very well be psychological rather than mechanically true). Let's start with the things I didn't like: There is one rock pattern both times I'm pretty sure I didn't quite have the built in speed in order to clear without taking damage. Knowing I need to fire an arrow to deal with one demon, but using 2 arrows since another demon was nearby felt bad. The "edges" of rocks sometimes hurt me, other times I passed through fine. Things I found odd: A timer for a game where I fell at a set rate. Things I liked: Getting the weaving just right between thin rocks, as well as dodging "towards" the path the demons are coming from. The resource management, and firing an arrow when I "know" a demon is unavoidable. The ending was a fun twist (even if it contradicts what the arrows did before...) Thanks for sharing! (And thanks for playing Sacrisquare last year!)
My only critique (unless it was intentional) was that, while Energy was clear (and easy enough to pay attention to how much is used per block/step), and you did a good job defining when a collapse occurs (and were even nice enough to provide a warning when close), I never intuitively understood the relationship to amount of Orange framing material and whether or not it would prevent a collapse. Still, this is nitpicky: I did enjoy your game and rated it highly overall! I agree with every compliment above my post!
Heads up: the fortune teller "mimic" hint looped twice in a row when I got it.
Wonderful game. Fun fish puns, cool use of sound effects and word art, and lovely variety for a choose your own adventure (simple memory puzzle, sculpture timing, randomized ending). At first, when the fortune teller said their words would change later, I thought it meant "come back after seeing all other endings" but I guess it just is randomized (which for a competition is a little rough considering how long it takes to get there). Also, my first play through, I accidentally picked the shrimp route, not on purpose, but because I was clicking to advance text and that was were the option one. Also love on itch you changed the name of the "game type." I enjoy doing that as well! Thanks for sharing!
My strategy was to ignore shooting the flying enemies whenever possible, especially since bullets and missiles were limited cooldown. Bombs are mostly dodge-able, and trying to collect the bits after a bomb had already been dropped usually equaled damage. Turrets could not be dodged, so the only way to reduce damage was to destroy them, and they dropped safe bits. Lock on was frustrating when A) A flying enemy was in front of a turret B)two turrets were side by side. Felt like unavoidable damage whenever two turrets loved each other very much. (I assume enough power upgrades helps deal with this).
That said, fighting robot go zoom! Enemies go boom! Dodging left, right and up kept me engaged! Thanks for sharing!
This is the tale/ Of a struggling writer./ Dives into his mind/ And dies right awayyyyyyy!/
So easy to get overwhelmed by so many thoughts (and in the game!) Thought I was clever thinking "I'll let that word pass over my head" only to be hit by the U-turn! Still, love the theme, love the concept, love the innovation, and love the background! Thanks for sharing!
Eventually figured out that walking past someone multiple times meant more words. Still, it helps the game does not depend on reading, just exploring. What a cool effect on the tower and ending. Thanks for sharing!
Also a brute forcer, but enjoyed the absurdity of the bucket and figuring out I can brute force "better" by rapidly putting more stuff in after a "wrong" answer. (Ending was a "little" confusing. Without spoiling, wasn't sure what the bucket was referencing).
Heads up: odd that W can hike the ball but only Arrow Keys can move during a scramble. This is a challenging game, but that just makes the moments you succeed all the more inspiring. There is some decision making hidden in here after the first stage (do I do multiple short throws to inch forward, or do I wait until the defenders break through so I can either change my angle by running forward with a short throw or hang back and have more time to charge a long throw.) "focusing" on the lineback is a neat simulation mechanic, but since they run at a set rate/path, it ends up being more about memorization.
Favorite moment: 2nd stage, defenders broke through, (I might have been on my fourth down), I dodged them to head up to the line towards the top, started charging, saw defenders coming, let go and prayed it would make it, and it DID! Due to the difficulty, I doubt many will have this literal Hail Mary lucky moment, but just wanted to report that I did!
I do think the power meter is a bit overtuned. the fact that a full bar goes WAY over the touchdown from full field makes it feel even worse from half or (the way your game begins and leaves the biggest impression on the player) the first stage. It is also hard to predict the arc without lots of practice. I think there would have been enough challenge even knowing exactly where you were throwing due to having to line up where the linebacker was moving. (If you showed the linebacker path, or made it the "right click" ability, I think you could still have a challenge by making it more wobbley). Still, that would be a different game.
As someone who knows American football, I was a little sad during the scramble that I couldn't just run into the end zone. (but of course, that would defeat the purpose of the game). I also wanted to try moving before the scramble to adjust my angle (since the ball arcs upward, I figured going down might increase the chance of line back collision), but alas, I must wait it seems.
Very cool graphics! Honestly, an impressive first entry, and fun seeing all the non-Americans be bemused!
Clever use of the mechanic thematically at the end. Unfortunately, any misstep before that point causing a restart means having to start over. Due to the linearity, there's nothing enjoyable about starting from the beginning, you just mash till you catch up. It's a bit like a horror game losing horror when you die and respawn.
All that aside, great art, fun writing, fitting music, and I did like how you ended it. Plus, mechanics don't have to be fun, and you found a way to make it memorable.