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merrak

Category Medals

YearLDThemeGameDivisionCategoryScore
🥇 2018 41 Combine 2 Incompatible Genres Oregon Trail: Hot Pursuit compo Humor 4.50

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCo
202046Keep it alive"Covid Conundrum" Civil Policy Simulatorcompo7603.172.753.633.43
201841Combine 2 Incompatible GenresOregon Trail: Hot Pursuitcompo244.063.833.223.784.133.604.504.25
201738A Small WorldAether Minecompo1123.723.213.273.684.213.191.933.61
201635ShapeshiftEvolution Dungeoncompo3603.332.933.593.293.343.382.003.3656
201534Two Button Controls / GrowingPanda and Squirrelcompo2443.553.363.423.974.193.532.713.6578
201533You are the MonsterFragmented Realitycompo733.823.113.313.464.113.812.274.4371
201532An Unconventional WeaponElemental Castle Adventurecompo5483.182.792.653.183.562.392.043.5360
201431Entire Game on One ScreenAbeliancompo4453.293.203.103.803.292.562.232.9171

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Humor vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by merrak

LD31 — Entire Game on One Screen

180° Past Pluto by Brassawiking 2014-12-08T04:13:00

Controls seem fine to me. With some practice I got 8... only 109 points short! I really like the graphics and audio.

Shellshock by madlee 2014-12-08T05:32:00

Great idea!

SideLands by MoltenMustafa 2014-12-08T05:22:00

I tried to run it on Wine in Ubuntu 13.04, and it fails to load ("Cabinet is not valid.")

Extracting file failed. It is most likely caused by low memory (low disk space for swapping file) or corrupted Cabinet file.

I have 12GB of memory installed on this machine, so hopefully it's not that ;)

Complete The Ludum by bakudas 2014-12-10T05:33:00

I really liked the idea, but it was frustrating having to start over each time I died.

Slimey's Quest by LMT 2014-12-08T03:24:00

Good job on the level design.

Tiny Bit by A.W. Apps 2014-12-08T03:32:00

I was enjoying it, but then I ran into a bug. It seems that if you hit the red X block, you cannot jump until you've fallen. Since there are no drops in the second room, if you die there then you have to restart the game.

Color Wheel by misto423 2014-12-08T05:47:00

Won't run on my Linux system (Ubuntu 13.04); needs libneko.so

Christmas Revenge by demtool5 2014-12-12T05:24:00

Nice little game. I found the space bar trick and, essentially, just got a score of infinity. Does that mean I win? :)

Line Knight by QuexD 2014-12-08T05:51:00

Nice game, but it seems a bit too easy.

Mutton Mower by comatomatoes 2014-12-08T07:56:00

Interesting game, but the learning curve feels a bit steep.

Speismonster by vekjeft 2014-12-08T05:54:00

I rather enjoyed the challenge in the controls.

rougish by kraln 2014-12-09T05:34:00

Nice! Interesting interpretation of the theme.

Quantum - The Tail of Schrodinger's Cat by ArrowThroughHisEye 2014-12-10T06:05:00

I enjoyed the comments at the top. Bonus points for the title.

Level One Turret by geartech0 2014-12-08T05:43:00

I like the "pop" sound :D

Mission Control by sumguy67 2014-12-09T05:04:00

This was fun, although mission planning probably isn't my calling. I made it to the moon in one piece, but forgot I had to get back. Ooops :D

LD32 — An Unconventional Weapon

The Island by xWarZonex 2015-04-25T04:01:00

I thought it was fun. Music was good!

A Childs Night Terror by bossmojoman 2015-04-20T06:36:00

Great sound! Checkpoints would be nice, though. I keep falling into the hands at the bottom of the screen.

The Attack of the recycling bins ! by Donni11 2015-04-27T04:47:00

I've never played Minecraft, but I looked up the tileset on Google images out of curiosity. I have to say some of your own tiles looks very similar, up to the contrast. If you haven't yet, read the "Derivative Works Explained" part of the LD rules.

That said, I never saw the questionable tiles in the actual game, just in the screenshot you posted.

If you're still stuck on the "falling through the tiles" problem, you could try posting your source, and maybe someone with Stencyl could help you figure out what's going on.

Elemental Castle Adventure by merrak 2015-04-20T05:43:00

I added a bit more info on the page. The original was, admittedly, rushed due to time. Also, I added a link to a walkthrough.

Some items are red herrings, both figuratively and literally :)

HUGbot by Calvin B 2015-04-20T06:45:00

Neat concept :) -- Just needs a bit more variety and challenge.

LD33 — You are the Monster

Beat Bunny by alkazar 2015-08-24T02:59:00

That bunny means business!

Panda Monium by AlexFili 2015-08-24T02:54:00

My high score is... 3! Definitely requires some careful timing. Catchy music! As short as the games can be, I'd suggest not restarting it when the game resets.

Ghostmen by 1176Studios 2015-08-24T03:02:00

Not bad! I had trouble getting the ghosts to fit through the corridors, though.

Shape Shooter by weazen 2015-08-24T06:03:00

This was fun to play-- didn't seem to fit the theme that well, though. Good for 48 hours!

Monster Destroy Things by Cory Martin 2015-08-26T03:24:00

One of my favorite jam entries! Playtime does feel a little long, though--you can always play a second round or two to explore.

The house of toilets was a nice touch.

Gravity Snake by lessmilk 2015-08-24T06:15:00

Interesting take on the snake game!

Volcano Charge by Pantelis Petsopoulos 2015-08-24T03:25:00

This was pretty challenging and fun to play!

The Banana Eater by Dizzyman572 2015-08-25T03:20:00

Music really made it :D

The Monster Inside by xWarZonex 2015-08-24T03:14:00

The simpler art works pretty well here--music was very fitting!

Serious Business by superjoebob 2015-08-26T03:29:00

I had a lot of fun with this game. Only thing that feels missing is a save feature.

Raging Snowman by ETHproductions 2015-08-26T03:21:00

This was great! The fall-apart animation was a nice touch. I was kind of hoping to see the Unicode snowman from LD31, though :)

FBI Attack by Donni11 2015-08-26T21:32:00

Good job getting that crash bug fixed! It's now playable. The speed of the bullets, angle, etc. could use some variation. That's a quick way to address the problem of the game being solvable.

Fragmented Reality by merrak 2015-08-24T01:22:00

Thanks! I wasn't sure how the art would come out at the start. I wasted a lot of time on another game that I just wasn't into.

The Tour by KevinWorkman 2015-08-28T04:21:00

Leaving the theme up to the "player" was the right thing to do.

There's a lot to take from this if you give yourself some time to think it over. I'd expect anyone who did so would likely find something different than the next person.

Bearzilla by iman1000000 2015-08-24T02:44:00

Looks great! I agree with the first comment--I think there's some good potential.

Dragon Tax Return Simulator 2015 by walsh9 2015-08-25T01:35:00

I love the image of a dragon sitting in its study with a cup of coffee, working on this after a long day of trampling villages and eating knights.

I enjoyed this more than filing my real tax return.

Glutton by AtlantisArmor 2015-08-28T04:11:00

The artwork is simple, but I think it works well. Pretty good overall!

A couple suggestions--I had no idea what the story was until I read the comments. I would have added it into the game instructions. Also, I feel the little monster moves a bit too slow, especially in the harder modes.

LD34 — Two Button Controls / Growing

Rise by Crafting4U 2015-12-14T03:47:00

Clever design! This was a fun little game.

One of the levels crashed on me, though, and I had to restart. I think it occurred when I moved the mouse over a water tile. Here's the terminal output:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.LinkedList.node(LinkedList.java:577)
at java.util.LinkedList.get(LinkedList.java:477)
at com.harrisonguest.ldjam.ld34.input.MouseInput.mouseMoved(MouseInput.java:27)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseMotionEvent(Component.java:6570)

SILooET by Pantelis Petsopoulos 2015-12-14T04:38:00

Level progression felt very appropriate. The dramatic music is great--this game has a surprisingly dark mood.

Control Two Buttons by ceosol 2015-12-15T06:13:00

One of the more interesting interpretations of the theme I've seen.

Snake Blaster by A.W. Apps 2015-12-14T03:53:00

Pretty cool! I like the concept. It'd be nice to have the option to play the computer (maybe an idea for a later version)

Deceit by xWarZonex 2015-12-14T04:29:00

I liked the introduction. Audio is great and the atmosphere is spot on.

I didn't have any problems moving, but one of the early jumps--over the very first plant--felt a bit unforgiving for such an early stage. The low ceiling makes it hard to clear.

Exttach by VascoF 2015-12-14T04:54:00

Intriguing concept!

Blue and Red by ETHproductions 2015-12-14T04:33:00

Clever use of the themes!

Panda and Squirrel by merrak 2015-12-14T05:22:00

@Ceosol: I included that feature in the code, but the effect is pretty weak if you are already dropping fast. I think it may need to be bumped up a bit in a post-compo version.

If I had more time, I would've liked to have included some more things in the sky :)

The original game I imagined had most of its action on the ground.

@JohnGalt: If you release the right arrow in mid-air then the squirrel will descend at a steeper angle. The amount of mass the snowball will lose is also a function of how hard it hits a steep incline. You'll get the most height out of a jump if you jump off of the snowball when it's on an incline and big.

So if you keep it from losing too much mass on bumpy downward slopes, you can get a nice big ball rolling and get some good air. The higher acorns are worth more points.

LD35 — Shapeshift

Creased by Cosine 2016-04-19T02:40:00

Neat idea! This was relaxing to play. An undo feature would be nice if this is developed further.

In/Out Of Shape by Gabe 2016-04-19T04:04:00

Great interpretation of "shapeshift".

Totem Chess 2 by ceosol 2016-04-19T03:58:00

It took me a moment to figure out how to play, but once I did it was fun. I like the background music. It's a perfect fit.

Absorber by FaeDine 2016-04-18T05:51:00

6 hours is pretty tough, but this was a fun game :)

Subpar Silly Shifty Shapes by namrog84 2016-04-18T05:38:00

Great soundtrack :D

Shifto by rayman1900 2016-04-18T06:20:00

Pretty good for 8 hours! Shifting left/right feels a little sluggish, though. I think movement would be more responsive if the shape moved on the key being pressed instead of released.

Evolution Dungeon by merrak 2016-04-18T06:30:00

You can hold the mouse pointer over any creature to see their stats. I would've liked some kind of HUD, but ran out of time to get it in.

Combo attacks would have been fun >:) Had I had more time, I would have put in some special moves and abilities.

@hijomo: The site can be slow at times. The .swf file may not have loaded enough to even see the loading bar.

If I do a postcomp version, I'd definitely make it bigger and better resolution. I'd probably go with an isometric perspective instead of top-down. I think this LD version was a good opportunity to play with the concept and mechanics. I spent a lot of time on math and rules (hit vs miss probability, etc.), which is where the time for more graphics effects went.

Evolution Dungeon by merrak 2016-04-26T06:54:00

Thanks for the feedback so far! I've responded to the more popular/frequent comments in a Post Mortem:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/2016/04/26/evolution-dungeon-post-mortem/

@rayman1900: The main reason you can't have control of characters on two different floors is a technical one. Switching between screens would require saving the state of the original screen so that it can be restored when control has been returned to its occupants. It's a neat idea and a fair point, but a bit too tough to program within the time limit.

@wheerd: Given more time I would have elaborated the displays. It would've been nice to have highlighted the ones that would improve, and maybe shaded the ones that would decline in red.

But, your character's DNA will always be on the left, and the acquired DNA on the right. The result of merging will average each of the red/green/blue scores.

William's Dilemma by thunderklaus 2016-04-19T03:06:00

Great concept!

Shape Escape by WeaverDeveloper 2016-04-19T02:27:00

I really enjoyed it.

LD37 — One room

Masquerade by xWarZonex 2016-12-12T04:22:00

Neat stuff. Audio fits well with the game action.

LD38 — A Small World

Escape The World by Ajayajayaj 2017-05-02T02:54:37Z

I like the block moving sound effect :D

I agree that showing the current color would help a lot, but it was enjoyable as is. If a score was added, it'd be neat to see a bonus for removing several blocks in a row.

Timeless by Chaseplays 2017-05-02T03:03:29Z

Neat idea and solid entry! Progression and pacing seems good. I got to around 2002 BC. Unfortunately, the game seemed to hang there. I think I switched times while I was in the wall and the level didn't reset.

Obelisk by Orcolom 2017-05-11T19:57:34Z

I really liked the graphics and atmosphere--this is one of the better looking games I've played.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how the bridges worked, mainly because there are some that look like they should be aligned, but really aren't. The perspective can make it hard to tell.

I would've preferred two-button controls. I just couldn't get used to mapping WASD to diagonal movements. Maybe make a configuration option?

Still, very impressive game, especially for only 72 hours!

Pale White Dot by cosine 2017-05-04T05:33:08Z

I got caught up in this longer than I'd care to admit, but I have a lot of gas mines to show for it! It'd be neat to see this developed further. I would've liked to have seen more of the battles, maybe some animation. A 10x, 100x option like mentioned above would've spared my poor mouse button some exercise. There is a good foundation to build on, though. Would definitely like to see where it goes.

Vegicide by Reactor-Scram 2017-05-07T05:07:37Z

Background music seemed very fitting.

littleBLASTplanet by gamepopper 2017-05-04T04:38:29Z

I thought the simple graphics worked well in this game. It's enjoyable--I ended up playing several rounds and felt like I was making some progress.

I noticed the lag, but it didn't really get in the way. Unfortunately, I can't play the Windows version.

HexCity by MartensCedric 2017-05-01T04:57:44Z

It'd be interesting to work out an algorithm that computes the maximum possible score, rather than just brute-forcing it.

The Core by ectucker1 2017-05-03T03:45:36Z

Pretty good overall! I found the portals to make the game a bit too easy, but I can see some kind of scoring system where you receive a higher score for not using certain blocks.

It's a Small World by NedMakesGames 2017-05-03T03:55:19Z

This was a pretty enjoyable game--nice idea. I liked the idea of hopping around on the stars, but I think there should be some kind of bonus for doing so (maybe more hearts or hearts worth higher points?)

Retro Rabbit by wtoa 2017-05-01T04:50:05Z

Great job! One of my favorites so far. It would be nice to see more content, but it was still enjoyable to play.

Small World Smasher by howardcs 2017-05-07T05:14:17Z

Pretty good game overall! I would've liked a score and some indication of when the planets would shift downward... like Snood's "danger" bar.

Symbios by drestuff 2017-05-03T03:50:30Z

Great artwork! I agree with the above comment that this would make a good mobile game. It'd be easier to play with touch controls than with a mouse.

The microscope effect was a pretty creative take on 'small world'.

Aether Mine by merrak 2017-05-04T05:06:56Z

Thanks, everyone, for the comments! :smiley:

I'd like to leave some responses:

@landosystems, @Rick, I agree this project was a bit too ambitious for 48 hours. This was my first LD game since last year, and I forgot just how short 48 hours is :sweat_smile: The original plan was to defend the structures and incorporate a "happiness" stat where workers who feel safer work more efficiently, more merchants will arrive, etc. Structures could be destroyed, but you'd also have some choice of where to venture. Deleting structures is surprisingly complicated, which leads me to...

@TMW, I thought about including a deconstruct/sell button, but there's a quirk in how structure data is saved that made me nervous about debugging the feature within the time limit.

For those curious, the colony data is stored as a graph, which includes nodes that represent built structures and "buildable spaces"--the latter of which are created when a brace is put down and deleted when something else is built. Looking back, I don't think it'd be too difficult to recompute the locations of the "buildable spaces" nodes... but it's one of those things that got dropped when time began running short.

@cosine, both sound like good ideas. Fullscreen would've been easy, but the thought didn't even cross my mind. A future version of this game should definitely support it, though. There are also several UI improvements I'd like to make, including a better build menu like @drestuff mentioned above.

@CheesyMoo, the turrets have to reach a pretty high level to be effective. Part of the reasoning was that there's a much higher cash bonus for protecting a leaving merchant than you receive in sales. I would've liked to have gone in a different direction with the red ships, but ran out of time as mentioned above.

Aether Mine by merrak 2017-05-07T04:51:59Z

@OccultOne, Are you referring to the source or the playable game? The playable game is Flash-based, and the source is a Stencyl project export.

Aether Mine by merrak 2017-05-08T04:25:17Z

@Chaseplays Thanks!

@Cosine I just noticed the screenshot edit. That's awesome! :thumbsup:

I didn't think about upgrading the solar panels until it was too late.

World of My Own by kantieno 2017-05-01T05:04:44Z

I really like this concept. It'd be neat to see it expanded--perhaps some more variety within each world.

LD46 — Keep it alive

Ducky's Day Out by Kosmo 2020-04-23T02:28:42Z

Very innovative! I liked the concept. Zooming would have been helpful, though. My only complaint is that the levels felt a bit too large. Seeing more at once would've been helpful when coming up with a strategy.

Drop the egg Jeff by Dextreon 2020-04-24T01:24:10Z

Eggcellent!

Soul Seed by unept 2020-04-22T01:37:33Z

Great entry! Mood and atmosphere works really well for the theme.

VITAMAN by bubbadubc 2020-04-22T01:42:51Z

Nice work! Would be nice to have some more power-ups--maybe in a future version?

LD41 — Combine 2 Incompatible Genres

My Witch Shop (unfinished) by tinyworlds 2018-04-25T00:22:18Z

This looks really good so far! It's too bad it didn't get finished in time, but I'd be interested in seeing where it goes if you keep working on it.

No-Brain Jogging by gonutz 2018-04-23T04:08:38Z

Great idea. Difficulty seemed about right to me. Would be neat to see more variety math, though. I thought the roman numeral score was a nice touch.

Oregon Trail: Hot Pursuit by merrak 2018-04-24T03:46:47Z

Thanks for all the feedback so far!

I think the original game came with a separate manual--probably in a folder with other materials for the teacher to use in class. It would've been nice to have had time to write up a proper manual. One of the bigger features I didn't have time to implement was the map of the entire trail, which would help with planning.

For anyone wondering, here is the trail: (start)---(river)---(outpost)---(river)---(river)---(outpost)---(barrier)---(river)---(goal)

The sheriff gets faster in the later "levels", and the probability of successfully rafting across the river decreases. The main difference between the difficulty levels is how many nitrous oxide bottles you can afford.

You can only hunt if you're far from the sheriff. If you run low on food you can use a nitrous bottle to leap far ahead of him, then go hunting for a couple of rounds.

@epiin Thanks for your interest! I added an HTML5 version. Please see the comment in the change log, though. I didn't make any changes to the source, so this should be identical to the Flash version--but I'm using a beta version of my development environment (Stencyl), so I can't guarantee there aren't new bugs in this version that aren't present in the Flash.

Oregon Trail: Hot Pursuit by merrak 2018-04-28T02:20:00Z

@cpt-slimers I can't seem to reproduce that bug, but I also don't think you're the only one to mention it. Glad you enjoyed the visuals and audio!

@raiyumi Thanks! I thought about having a selling goods option too, actually. I tried to stick as close to the Apple II version, though--which I'm glad I did. I pushed this one right up to the last minute. (The hunting minigame was the last thing I did and I had about 30 minutes to do it).

@dark-roast-studios Sometimes it takes a while for animals to appear. For better or worse, I think I did capture the feel of the original hunting game. I remember sometimes nothing would appear. It works on a timer--every so many seconds one tick passes, and there's a chance an animal may appear at the start of a tick. After so many ticks your hunter will give up. If you're unlucky, all ticks may pass without an animal appearing at all.

@jeffrey-hwang Thanks!

@sophie So close! I think people remember the game more fondly because it was a game we could play at school.

Oregon Trail: Hot Pursuit by merrak 2018-05-08T05:45:27Z

@init-py Thanks! I don't think you could sell or trade in the original Apple II version, which is why I left it out. But I think it would make sense to be able to do that. After all, there are other travelers on the trail, too. It'd definitely be something to put into an updated version... along with other travelers to trade with and maybe interact with on the trail itself.

Dungeon Drifter by TwinGhosts 2018-04-23T03:23:44Z

Well done! It took me a moment to figure out the control, but I picked it up quickly. It'd be neat to see this with the rest of the features you didn't get to. Definitely a good use of the theme. I can only think of King's Knight as an RPG/scrolling shooter mix.

Opposing Worlds by Particles GameStudio 2018-04-25T00:32:57Z

I think it's pretty good overall. The gameplay is a bit too hard too early. Being able to throw the boomerang farther would help a lot. I got stuck early on trying to get across the crocodiles.

Audio and atmosphere are great. I really like the background music.

Grid Gunner by SuperTibbles 2018-04-23T04:27:35Z

This is a great idea. Seems like there's a lot of possibility for clever AI--like a hybrid between a bullet hell and chess

Adventure Defense by NateTheGreat 2018-04-23T03:42:37Z

I thought it was a great idea. Balance seemed about right. It'd be nice to have some more information on the mini map, like how close the enemies are to the house. Good job!

Zuma Defence by Poroh 2018-04-25T04:34:51Z

This is one of my favorite concepts so far. Great idea!

Type'n Run by souzanod 2018-04-25T00:12:32Z

Great idea for the theme! I'd be interested in seeing a "challenge mode" where you didn't have the queue. That'd probably be closer to a combination of endless runner and MUD game.

Life Simulator 9000 by Alans Antics 2018-04-23T04:00:09Z

These descriptions are great :)

AeroWrit - Text/Flight Sim by AzimuthGames 2018-04-23T03:15:41Z

I was wondering how this was going to work, but the text interface was very well done. Managed to get get a few rings :) What was that thing? A langolier? Wasn't expecting such a foreboding atmosphere.

Zlornko Teaches Typing by katie 2018-04-23T03:50:50Z

This looked like a lot of fun to play. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for Linux :( I got:

This game was made for a different version of LÖVE. It may not be not be compatible with the running version (0.9.1). Error: main.lua:194: attempt to call method 'setQuads' (a nil value) stack traceback: main.lua:194: in function 'load' [string "boot.lua"]:406: in function <[string "boot.lua"]:399> [C]: in function 'xpcall'

Zlornko Teaches Typing by katie 2018-04-23T04:44:45Z

@TimeLoad @katie I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. I tried the quick fix--running the Windows version with Wine and that worked well.

Now that I got it working, this is great. It definitely escalates in difficulty quickly. I tried playing it with my Wacom tablet and that significantly changed the game. It'd be interesting to try it with a touch screen, but that seems like it would be too far on the cheating side of the line.

Very clever idea. I like all personality touches.

Raucous Raccard by noumenus 2018-04-23T23:52:59Z

I thought this was a great concept! -- a platformer with a bit of a programming aspect to it. It'd be helpful to have a few more details on the cards (like how strong the jump/move/slide is), but what you have at the moment works really well. I'll come back to it when it's done.