Hell's Kitchen by DavidZ 2024-10-25T21:58:15Z ♥ 0
This is fun. It's fun to swat at bugs, and this provides me all the fun of swatting without the worry of them actually touching my food. Good job!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → nrankin13
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | Dancing in the Depths | jam | 572 | 3.37 | 3.21 | 3.24 | 2.54 | 3.56 | 3.69 | 3.48 | ||
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | 👥 | Downstairs | jam | 240 | 3.80 | 3.37 | 3.43 | 4.31 | 4.15 | 4.10 | 4.15 | ||
| 2024 | 56 | Tiny Creatures | 👥 | Slime King | jam | 109 | 4.06 | 4.03 | 3.93 | 3.99 | 4.17 | 3.94 | 3.57 | 3.94 | |
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | 👥 | Jiang Shifu | jam | 65 | 4.19 | 4.22 | 4.44 | 3.94 | 4.28 | 4.18 | 3.54 | 4.08 | |
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | 👥 | Disco Diner | extra | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | 👥 | Santa's Slip Up | jam | 1013 | 3.11 | 2.98 | 2.26 | 3.46 | 3.46 | 2.74 | 3.25 |
nrankin13 leaves an average of 21.8 feedback comments each event.
This is fun. It's fun to swat at bugs, and this provides me all the fun of swatting without the worry of them actually touching my food. Good job!
Game kept locking for me on the second generation. It's a neat concept, though!
This game has a great mood, with pretty visuals.
The only thing I dislike is that you can't jump without moving. That made some platforming sequences harder than they should have been. Otherwise, this is well-made; good job!
I was able to play this on mobile in widescreen, which was a treat. High score of 47! Loved the score, sfx, and visuals. I especially loved the crunchy application of the sfx. The difficulty curve was great too. Be proud; this is a great entry!
Some cool stuff here:
-The concept is very unique. Manicure battles sound hilarious, and also cool. It kinda reminds me of Forspoken, in that Frey's nails would provide her with some basic buffs...but this is next level thinking.
-The vibe. The art's great. All around, everything looks and feels funky/mysterious. It's a mood, and it's a good one.
-The battle system. Once I got a bit of a grip on how it worked and what each nail did, I had a lot of fun.
-The cool mouse pointer. Very Halloween-y.
Some problematic stuff that you probably fixed in the post-Jam version:
-Lack of clear explanations. The general explanation was helpful, but not knowing what the individual symbols appearing in the speech bubble meant led to a lot of guessing.
-Lack of ability to hover the mouse over the cards to get a summary of what they did meant I had to learn a lot very quickly and in a somewhat unfriendly way. Ultimately, it was fine, but I would've loved an easy way to access the info.
Overall? Great job. I can see the thought y'all put into this, and it handles well. Good job!
Great visuals, decent SFX, groovy soundtrack (even if canned), and a simple-to-learn but tough-to-master system. It's overall a solid entry; good job!
Three things:
1. As you can probably tell based on my profile picture, I have a certain affinity for those that distrust the government.
2. I love Frogger.
3. I also enjoy sportsball games where a gauge is necessary to hit the ball further (ex. PGA Tour).
This game combines all three. I have no further comments beyond the perennial "Well done..."
EDIT: Ok, there is one thing: sometimes I can't pick up critters, and was unable to do so for 30+ seconds.
This is a lovely treat! My choir has a thing for rubber ducks, so when I saw this I knew I had to play it.
There's a lot of great puzzle design in here. The music and sfx fit the vibe perfectly and the art style is great. Do us all a favor and make this a full release! (I'd pay for it.)
This was a solid entry. Everything was top-notch, but I gotta give you the highest marks for how excellent the lighting is. It's super clean, but also very warm and softening, much like candlelight. Good job.
The audio and overall plot were also well-done. I'm curious how you did whatever the music was in the back -- it was implemented well.
Overall: great work. Make this into a full release; I'd pay money for it!
The backing track is groovy, man. The creatures are cute, and the sound effects are good. It feels like the deck is a little stacked -- I got very, very few 1-2 cost cards for the entire run, which made defense really difficult. Overall, though, great job!
Man, I haven't played a typing game in years. I had a good time, though!
I appreciate how you included controls in the overworld. That's good design. I also liked the eating of cake. ;) Pretty art style, but kinda weird to fight Haunter lol.
This was an attractive "visual novel" type of game. I also enjoyed the subtle ways you built up a larger world. Good job!
This is definitely a vibe check. The audio is the best part of this, which is unfortunate as I can't include it in my rating. I would have liked to see some more challenge in the levels, similar to the first -- as far as "minigames" go, they're just "click the circle within a time limit." I appreciated the overall concept, though!
This gets pretty crazy pretty quick! I like the hex layout, but would have appreciated some more shapes (like 'diamonds' or 't's). A little bit of audio would have helped with some player feedback stuff. I unfortunately didn't get to see all the data on my screen (likely because I'm playing on an old widescreen tv instead of a modern monitor); no amount of resizing allowed me to see the "current goal" or the give up option.
Still, it's a clean game. I had fun! Good job.
It takes too long to get each round really going, and some music/sfx (even just some basic attack sounds) would have been welcome. Overall, though, I enjoy the different monsters and the animation is smooth. Good job!
This made me chuckle. The music/sound design was particularly hilarious. I enjoyed the derpy visuals and the little shapes. Good job!
Make the instructions clear. I figured it out after several minutes of trial and error. For anyone else reading:
-The numbers change which colored face you control. You run it into more of the same colors to increase the size of the blob.
-The spider has to always have two tiles in order to cross. When you're ready to have it make the attempt, hit "enter" and D to begin moving it around.
On to the positives!
I enjoyed the actual puzzles. Those were great; you have to get really clever the further you go. The basic sound design did the trick and gave me the feedback I needed. This would be neat to see expanded!
This is a great entry. The gameplay is smooth and fluid, with the rats' line of sight being fairly demonstrated (though there were a few times I was surprised as the red light hadn't quite touched my mouse). I also really appreciated the fact that the map was sort of super-imposed over the gameplay; it really made it feel like a heist. Good job!
The character designs are super cute, and the vibe is super chill. Other people have given feedback on the visuals, so from an audio perspective:
-Consider having the music volume get quieter during stealth. If it did happen, it was unnoticeable to me.
-Consider giving the bees and toadstools some walking noise (like a buzz or a plop).
-As a stretch goal, consider giving each of your three biomes their own sort of ambient noise (birdsong in the woods, gust of wind in the meadow, and the sound of waves on the beach.
-Consider giving the music a B section. It got to the end of the loop and I was ready for a second melodic idea to come in. Also work to make the loop more seamless. :)
While that feedback sounds mostly negative, it's really only because y'all have done some great work otherwise. I had fun! Thanks for making it.
The hardest part is the first 10 seconds, after which it gets more fun. The randomized power-ups were a fun inclusion, but how they're rolled can make or break the game. Overall, a fun take on the theme; good job!
Please make this a bigger game. I loved it all -- the increasing levels of resistance from the villagers, more obstacles, etc. This was just a lot of fun. Making humans the tiny creatures was also a neat twist on the theme; good thinking!
This was a trip (literally and figuratively)! I lucked out with my first two journeys, and decided to try and make a stand against the invaders for the third, to no avail. The random name generator made me chuckle, with Mykunt being my winner.
Simple premise, clean execution, and really snappy response. I like it. (I also like that cheese gives you points, because I'm probably part mouse myself). Good job!
This is one of the most mindbendingly fun games I think I've ever played. And I do mean "ever played." Love the backing track. Faking a 3D environment out of a 2D engine is no small feat. The thing that threw me off was that, when you see the lava and a square between you and it, you roll through the square. I know, I know; it's a feature. I need to gitgud. I'd pay money for more levels of this. Great job!
The vibe of this game is excellent. The track is creepy and the visuals are pretty. Controls work as intended. It's obviously short, but I think you could very easily develop this into something larger, particularly if you nail the execution of puzzles. The whole thing gave me a bit of a LittleBigPlanet vibe, which is one of my favorite AAAs. Keep it up!
This is a neat little puzzler. I really enjoy the combination of inspirations, too, especially given I enjoyed both types of games greatly when I was a kid. The graphics look good and are the right kind of "chunky fluid" that I think of when I think of early snake games. Good job!
The mini-games are generally fun, the visuals are clean, and the overall battle is amusing to watch. Trying to draw a circle with WASD is kinda rough, though. Also, the background music slaps.
Man, there's a lot of good things here.
Overall, the gameplay loop is super fun. I enjoyed having the different units...but what I didn't like was the somewhat awkward way of switching between them because I forgot I had them. Perhaps binding the +/- functions to Q/A, W/S, and E/D respectfully would have been better.
The SFX to music volume was pretty aggressive. The music was a good groove and helped me get into it. The visuals were simple and clean. I really enjoyed the ending, but was hoping for a slightly more aggressive twist as it happened.
Great work!
Great dialogue, and intuitive to play.
Having extra tombstones with red herrings (as suggested by someone else) would have been a welcome addition. Good job!
This is a very complex game for such a short timeframe. Good job!
What would I change?
-Get the music in-game ASAP. Good choice of track, by the way; it fits the theme super well.(If you end up wanting original music, shoot me a note!)
-Get sound effects in/fix SFX bug. (Some other users have noted they didn't have any sound effects. Even a basic "strike" sound with a modulator will do.)
-A visual delineator between front and backline runes. I know, I know, it seems silly, but it's easy to forget with all the other (excellent) stuff going on. Even just a dot or something in the corner of the backline will help an idiot like me remember that important fact. :D
Great job on:
-Summon and enemy variety
-Strategy design
-Visuals
Great work!
For being so short, there's a lot of craft here. Clean visuals, good audio, and *polished* controls. This would be fun to see expanded; the hammertime ability was well-done.
I'm stuck on what I think is the last level, simply because I cannot see which small range the section needs to be filled in. Otherwise:
Simple, clean visuals. Reminds me of early 00s flash games, as someone else said. A little graphics intensive for my machine, but that's really my own fault. I enjoyed the patterns and the birds were cool. They didn't distract me till later levels, so they had their intended effect.
Overall, fun game. Good job!
This was awesome. The visuals were crisp, the music was nice, and the action was pretty smooth. I had an issue where I felt like the move and jump inputs were a little garbled -- but that forced me to slow down and approach the puzzles more carefully. Some of those were real headscratchers, by the way!
Separately, I want to make note of the fact that the sound effects were *perfect*, particularly for the green tonic. That brought such a smile to my face.
As others have said, making the summoned skull a slightly different color -- perhaps the same color as Tao's robe? -- would be a welcome update. If this were developed further as a mobile game, I would pay cash for it.
Overall, great work. You should be proud!
Well done. The mechanics are solid, though the fact that summoning circles are single-use (while actual summoning mechanics are not) would've been useful to know from the get-go. That sixth level is no joke!
All in all, I had fun. Good job!
This was a fun time. I enjoyed the simple mechanics, and can see how scaling them would be hectic and fun. The audio effects were charming and matched the visual style.
I could have done with a basic loop to help ratchet up the tension. You might have added some music in the post-jam version, but consider having different music for each of the phases -- one for memorizing the tiles and the other for stumbling in the dark.
Overall, good work!
I love the feel and how the puzzles are done. It reminds me of Trine, which is high praise because I think the Trine games have some of the best combinations of puzzles and platforming.
It would be nice to not have the various personalities have to be apart for so long, but I understand why that game design choice was made.
The music fits the game super well.
Overall: good job!
This was a good take on classic route defense. I enjoyed watching the numbers go brrr. The color pallet was excellent; good job. The soundtrack was an absolute bop and I'll be humming it in my sleep.
This was fun and made me chuckle. Love the visuals, love the frame story. The controls feel a little finnicky, as I can't get a particularly good grasp of when I can summon my chicken bridges. There were some weird gaps that I thought the chicken wizard could clear, but I'll chalk that up to the learning curve.
Also, love the music and sound design. Very crisp...y. Crispy. Yup.
The art work is excellent; the cards are beautiful.
Running this on my rig, I found the ratio didn't line up with my display, meaning a lot of information was cut off. I think I also lucked out with my initial play, because I was able to win all the rounds without changing anything. Pulling cards off the summoning circle and drawing more would have been helpful.
Good job; I think this could be really neat if you choose to continue developing it!
The art is the selling point; it's a shame that whatever aspect ratio doesn't translate well to fullscreen for me; I was having to scroll a lot to see everything, so I missed out on some dialogue.
Still, neat take. Good job!
Very reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy. I also like that it's kind of a 3D Rock-Paper-Scissors. The sprite art is beautiful, and the sounds took me back to the days of the GameBoy. Good work!
This was fun AND humorous. Love the TechnoMonk; I'm gonna be the mall Santa version of him when I grow up. Music was good, loved the visuals. Mechanics were intuitive, too. Good work!
The mechanics are simple but well-designed, the summoning is intuitive, and the visuals are solid. I would have appreciated a slightly wider color palette to help differentiate the villagers from the background. The music and SFX were also quiet despite having my volume on my rig pretty high.
Good job! I had fun. :)
This was a beautiful experience. Loved the art, loved the music, loved the mechanics. All-around excellent work; be proud, and please expand it! (I'll buy it.)
This is fun. A lot of fun. The various items thrown by Ms. Witch are hilarious, and I like the overall aesthetic. The arena was a nice shape, so I wish there had been something to do with it, but that's a minor complaint. The music was groovy but I feel a little too downtempo when you have 25 enemies chasing you -- even just triggering a double-time feel drum section would have helped the dramatic tension.
Overall, great job. This would be a super cool game to see expanded with a leaderboard. :)
This was fun. The music was a bop, and I loved the visuals. The crusader was definitely tough, but slinging together prefixes and summons helped me see (almost) all the possible combos. Seriously: great mechanical take on the theme. I'd love to see a game like this in the future!
This is a super fun game with a well-executed concept, excellent character design, and a fun little story. I also admire the save system! Only thing I would like is a compass rose showing which way your WASD and IJKL would function: as someone who isn't used to keyboard stuff, it was rather confusing.
Great job!
(In the future, if you'd like to add music, I'd love to help!)
Great work. Loved the visuals, and the puzzles had some fun head-scratchers!
This is one of my favorite game jam games I've ever played. It was awesome, and y'all should be proud. GREAT work.
I enjoyed this. Feels like classic RPGs. Great work!
This was great fun. Love the quips from Jim Brimstone.
I enjoyed the concept. Took me a minute to figure out how to play my cards, but once I did I had a great time. Would have enjoyed a little bit more sound or a cheesy DnD-esque track in the background to make the battleground feel as epic as it was!
That third puzzle in the spell book was delightful. Very clever; good job!
This was a delight. Great music and sound effects, super clean visuals. My only complaint is that sometimes the hitbox for the various imps is unforgiving; not a problem in the early game, but gets more frustrating later when juggling multiple classes.
Great work!
This was neat. Loved the visuals. The music was good -- I would have liked to see a bit of extra sound design in the world (ex. hearing the children's choir in the church), especially since we (understandably) don't get to see the insides, but that's a minor complaint. Great job!
This was awesome. I played SO MUCH SA2, so as soon as you mentioned that, I was sold. I'm a dingus and played with a trackpad, but still generally had an excellent time.
There were a few levels which caused my system to lag -- the minefield in the second set being the trickiest as it made timing jumps harder -- but overall it's well-engineered. Liked the music, too!
This was really well-executed, and I would totally buy this on the app store for those times where I have five minutes waiting in the doctor's office. Loved the sound and music choices; great job!
No download, friends.
I enjoyed this. Saucy the Sauce-Bottle has some weird firing mechanics, but other than that, great work.
I would also like a slightly larger magnetic field for the napkins. Like, if I give people their fork or knife, I should basically be able to get napkins almost instantly.
I enjoyed this for several reasons:
1. The player character sprite reminds me of the simpler days of Pokemon RBY/GSC.
2. The mechanics were straightforward and easy to understand.
3. The atmosphere was great.
4. Good sound effects.
Things that I would love to see improved:
1. Background music of some variety. If it was there, I wasn't able to hear it.
2. Some grammatical errors.
3. Correct updates as to what's in your inventory. I helped save a cat, and got an apple! Great. I actually got 2, which while being a pleasant surprise, changed how I was planning to proceed with item consumption.
Great work!
I love the lite horror/creepy vibe. The music is delightful. For those of you that need help, the answer is further left.
The animations are clean, and I like how the levels are laid out. There's a slight hiccup when pressing a movement key AND jump at the same time, but overall not a big deal. Well done!
I like the various art styles. I don't necessarily *get* it, but you have the visual style nailed. Also, the music tracks are bangers.
I appreciate the premise -- find an AI art from Bing and make a tile slider. The music is chill, too.
I generally like the layout and the color scheme. The GPS is a nice pickup. The spawn rate for zombies could maybe stand to be slightly slower depending on the players' weapons.
Good job!
LD57 — Depths (18)
Sea Devil by Tom3y 2025-04-24T19:33:04Z ♥ 1
The art and sound is absolutely mesmerizing. The mechanic is simple, but feeling our little fish's story is honestly really touching. Good job!
Break Down! by hulien22 2025-04-24T19:28:06Z ♥ 1
I dig the visuals! Breakout is a fun concept, too. Overall, I like the controls and the feel. Good job!
Depth Survivor by mukult 2025-04-24T19:20:20Z ♥ 0
I enjoyed the movement and the ability upgrades! Some of the enemy attacks were a little out-of-nowhere, but other than that, it was great. Good job!
Echoes in the Deep by midamida 2025-04-24T19:09:18Z ♥ 0
This was a neat concept! I enjoy the sonar-based gameplay; it's pretty unique and definitely a twist you don't typically see in Ludum Dare. I enjoyed the way that sonar also highlights enemies individually; the animations were fluid, too! Only criticism I have is that how the sonar can be weirdly oriented with the mouse. Good job!
Darkest Depths by Shasaur 2025-04-24T19:00:37Z ♥ 1
This was a pleasant surprise! Good music and sfx. I enjoyed balancing the different archetypes to make a good team, too! Only thing I would change would be to add a "fast forward" button for certain parts -- the very early game felt really sluggish. Overall, though, great job!
Au fond du trou (Down in the rabbit hole) by thogg 2025-04-24T18:51:46Z ♥ 0
Congrats on making a game! no small feat. The jumping feels a little floaty, and the fact that you can't easily just drop off the edge makes platforming a little tough. Love the wine as a checkpoint, though!
Pandora's Box by Dovodx 2025-04-24T18:46:52Z ♥ 1
I had a good time with this. The shooting is clean and the movement is snappy. BGM is fun, too! Good job.
Hooking Back by Stending 2025-04-24T18:34:27Z ♥ 1
Ok, so this game is definitely a mood, and I mean that in the best way. Baptiste's music and audio is great, though it could stand to have a little better mixing for when you hook an object -- it feels like it comes at me really loud.
It took me a minute to get a grip on the controls -- namely that you have to actually explore the depths with the hook -- but once I got that in my head, it felt really intuitive and, honestly, fun! This is the type of game you could definitely just pour a beer and play when you want to decompress after a stressful day. Good job!
Into The Dungeon depths by chs_flws 2025-04-24T18:28:22Z ♥ 1
This is definitely the seed of a great idea. I enjoy dungeon delvers, and this is reminiscent of some of those older games where you had to memorize the path. That would be an excellent step, should you choose. In any case, the random generation of floors hurts the overall progression, as much like Junimo Cart in Stardew Valley, there are simply areas you won't be able to pass due to randomly-spawned terrain. This takes away from the overall "fun" factor, as its removing any true skill progression.
The visuals are snappy and clearly explain everything. I enjoyed the looks of the enemies, too! Good job.
SIRTET by Airgameboys 2025-04-13T20:09:18Z ♥ 2
This is definitely a case of "opposite Tetris" as @chloew said. It took a while for me to wrap my mind around, but there's a neat little puzzle hook. The presentation is great; Pico-8 was a good choice, and making it look vaguely GameBoy was a nostalgia hit I didn't know I needed.
Good job!
Treats for Charybdis by fragskye 2025-04-11T13:13:28Z ♥ 1
This was a hoot. I loved watching the battery roll in the deep for a good 30 seconds. My first score was like 760, which was hilariously high compared to the CPU.
The basic mechanics are fun. I enjoy the overall look of everything too. Good job!
Deep City by MilkiWay 2025-04-11T13:05:35Z ♥ 2
There's a lot to like here. I enjoyed the aesthetics and audio (seriously, great job with the audio!). The gameplay loop is good but needs to be honed a bit. The hint for the beginning helped, but I found that building a farm after the second upgrade didn't really help, instead draining my energy and causing everything to collapse.
Overall, good job. This has some potential to be a legit release.
What Happened to Pinewell? by Pixelstain 2025-04-11T12:49:57Z ♥ 1
That was solid. Took me a minute to actually get into the headspace, but once I did, the puzzles were fun. Great job, and excellent vibes!
Claw of the Mantis by Shadow Veil Society 2025-04-11T12:38:05Z ♥ 1
Cool concept. I do wish that the mouse had been how you controlled the direction of the ship; WASD felt fairly unintuitive. The sound effects and visuals are crisp! Good job.
Descent Protocol by fingolfin 2025-04-11T12:31:28Z ♥ 3
This was enjoyable. It gave me WarioWare vibes, which I appreciate. To that end, adding a timed component to the various challenges could have been a way to make it a bit more of a pressure cooker. Good job!
Li-Buried by Darkhog 2025-04-11T12:15:46Z ♥ 1
I couldn't really figure out how to dig, but I had fun helping the ghosts. :) Cute concept, and I also loved the book titles (Spiritual Practices of St. Ignatius, Early Years of the Angelic Doctor). :D
DI(V)E - Beneath the Waves by HowToBeHayes 2025-04-11T12:05:24Z ♥ 2
Had a good time with this one. The atmosphere is solid, loved the cutscenes. Some of the enemy hitboxes felt larger than they should have. The light mechanic was super fun! Good job.
Where's My Pants?! by gamesplusjames 2025-04-11T11:48:59Z ♥ 1
This was fun. I can safely say that I only gave into the depths of despair twice (while playing pantsless from the safety of my own home)!
It took me a minute to realize that the meter was constantly going DOWN as opposed to going UP. Once I got ahold of that, it made more sense. Great little game; good job!