Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → NE-Aquilon
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | HeartW@rd | compo | 160 | 3.39 | 3.06 | 3.44 | 2.66 | 3.88 | 3.08 | 2.11 | 3.57 |
Awesome game. I adore the coloring of signal-space, but normal space would be better with improved visuals. I think you can easily turn this prototype in a full game, because from gameplay point of view it's already feature-complet.
Game froze after this screen. Otherwise pretty fun little game.
ld8.png
Good idea, liked the sound and effects. But hitting hitboxes were sometimes ambiguous, and it's not that easy to check top left corner all the time. I would suggest to put codes directly above the square in 3d scene.
Beautiful. I really enjoyed both the narrative and the puzzles. Also, great music.
I like the minimalistic design, colors, but it's very hard for me.
Amazing. Truly beautiful. Visual style absolutely elevates standard platformer and echo gameplay.
I liked the artstyle and overall atmosphere.
Very solid game. But I think it slightly unbalanced:
-- I understand why enemies move through walls, but with their speed it's hard to counter them, especially the boss. Maybe walls should slow down enemies?
-- I think signal should knock down already unshielded enemies at least for a small time window.
-- Not a big issue, but I wish to have some kind of laser sight maybe for better aim.
"This resident is kinda evil, huh? And the night is cold." — \*Does a backflip\*
Pretty solid short level. Also, am I missing something or is there a no reason to switch characters?
ld10.png
Yay! Cure science-girls in lab coats! Loved the vibes, narrative and gameplay, but I think it's too kinetic:
-- Game gives you ability to send data.
-- Game doesn't let you fake data on your own.
-- Game doesn't let you even measure data, when asked to fake data.
-- Faked data is obviously fake, because one hole combination means nothing.
Still, would like to play a full version.
One of the best games I have touched here yet. Love eerie and at the same time beautiful and nostalgic vibes of the space. Reminded me Mass Effect 1.
Good game but unbalanced, maybe slow down signals a bit. Controls are counterintuitive, but I think it's because the idea is pretty unique.
Solid idea, but spamming scan is really an ultimate strategy. Also, classic novice mistake your character moves faster diagonally. I would like to check an enhanced version of this game.
ld2.png
Overall nice game. I liked the gameplay loop and different celestial bodies. Reminded me the game Voyager-19. Also loved how "Like a star" doesn't count as a danger. At least the is something good among the stars.
But I want to highlight some things to be improved just in case.
-- When you scan the object shouldn't it be already known what exactly you scanning? I mean, you scan a star and then send report "Yep, that the star named Gliese".
-- Thanks to random I was able to scan several things sequentially and won.
-- I liked anomalies due to all possible implications, but I think report should give you a better payoff in case of mistake. Not "something terrifying", but maybe more detailed info, maybe this thing sent signal back too.
I love the feeling of steadily shooting when you can see how projectiles form "trails". Reminds me Defense of Zion from Matrix Revolution.
Loved the concept, but I fell it can be used for so much more: intermittent movements, stasis, state rollback and etc. Still a nice game. Also loved bosses.
Stuck on the blackscreen after any node completion. Music is nice so.
@zakchaos you mean the section shown in the first screenshot? Just wait a little, the opening door gradually opens with each heartbeat. Or do you have a bug? Because I checked again both in itch and Unity Play and it works fine.
@henk
Thanks for feedback. All mentioned issues are valid. I plan to make a full game out of this prototype and these things will be fixed.
About visuals, some time ago I came up with idea of 3D ASCII environment with "stacked" layers and utilized it for this Jam.
@nullval @ansible
Thanks for your support. I really happy people like these visuals, because it was the best I could pull off as a programmer with zero artistic skills.
And thanks for mentioning likes, I'm still figuring out how everything works.
Thanks for the playing.
@helagos
Initially it was standard top-down camera angle, but then I decided to tweak it. Happy to see it was a right decision.
@deng
I didn't have enough time to implement proper AI, so tried to find some balance. I put a limit 10 on each spawner, so if you can give it another chance to finish, I would really appreciate this.
But you and everyone else are completely right about how this is the weakest part of the game. I'll definitely focus first on enemy AI and proper balance.
@freamdev
It was intentional decision to let a player see, how heartbeat affects the world. My only regret I didn't add color to the door.
@cogcomp @bonedaddy @tater-hater @shu-wen
Thanks for the playing!
@wo-ri-gou-le
Yeah, this is why I introduced things with shifted phase, which forces you to swap to second mode and save the color state. But you still can save one color and wait when target will switch to this color... So, yeah, this whole thing requires more tuning, also I want to add enemies which switch colors. Thanks for the feedback!
Maybe I'm too pussy, so I just rushed to each terminal and successfully evacuated without any encounter with enemies. Liked the splatter-punk atmosphere and general vibes.
ld9.png
Not all walls have collisions, also one time green text spawned far outside of main structure. Liked the visuals and atmosphere.
It was too short and almost zero interactivity. BUT, I enjoyed the artstyle and how game feels. I would like to see what can be done with this prototype.
Great buildup, mild payoff. I liked first appearance of the shadow in the corner of the eye, classic stuff with spooky writings on the wall, the cat. I was even expecting human trafficking situation at one point. Unfortunately, ending didn't satisfy me: who wrote task notes, if owner is away? Why not let her out?
Very strange game, honestly. But I liked the narrative part. Also, there is a bug, when you collect the signal origin, but then you can touch this place second time and it'll trigger the dialog script again.