FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → oatsbarley

oatsbarley

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCmCo
202455SummoningTERRIBLE TILEScompo1963.383.163.443.30
202352Harvestbloom.compo3.252.753.753.503.752.751.002.50
202251Every 10 secondsSupply Chaincompo2603.373.403.853.323.853.732.253.25
201532An Unconventional WeaponDirk Sharp in 'AN UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPON'compo8662.832.133.243.393.192.323.5020
201431Entire Game on One ScreenShooting Things in Spacecompo5873.172.933.243.693.502.7842
201430Connected Worlds17:20 to Anywherecompo10
201429Beneath the SurfaceThe Gatheringcompo1103.773.513.332.164.263.031.993.69100
201326Minimalismcrush.compo823.823.503.464.393.563.932.213.78100
201121EscapeDamn My Stubby Little Legscompo1233.262.843.163.472.632.611.183.206

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 oatsbarley

LD21 — Escape

Victory by refrag 2011-08-22T15:57:00

I really liked this. It was cool that there was sort of a choice between the easy and more difficult ways out and the escape/addiction link was clever. It helped that it was a fun game to play, too!

Close Your Eyes by Coriander 2011-08-23T22:48:00

I actually ran through the whole thing and finished it before I realised there was the eye-closing mechanic that I should have been using. It wasn't really necessary, but if it had been then I would have found this a lot more challenging!

Cells by Jimjam 2011-08-30T11:09:00

I love this, I only wish it wasn't so painfully short.

Self Destruct: Activated by jauntypixel 2011-08-22T15:47:00

I love the explosion graphic, I'm not sure how well it blends with the rest of the graphics though. Liked the game overall, really fun and pretty exciting when you're inches away from losing and somehow make it. Nice job!

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-22T10:47:00

I've played through a few times and there are surprisingly few bugs for something that I finished coding just 40 minutes before the deadline. There is one issue with the map though, where one of the sections physically won't let you get to the exit.

Also I really probably should have added some sort of instruction or something as to what you're supposed to do, although it's kind of obvious after your first playthrough.

Oh and this can get ridiculously hard (perhaps sometimes impossible?) so if I was to put some real time into this I'd take a look at tweaking various things to make it a bit less punishing. Although I find that part of the fun is pushing to the last second of the breath meter and finally popping out of the water or reaching the exit.

I'm going to write a journal entry on how things went for me, so check it out there.

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-22T22:41:00

Thank you both for your comments and for trying out my game!

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-23T09:30:00

Wow, thanks for your comments guys!

Adding some sort of scoring system is a good idea. If I do work on this again I'll definitely add something like that, and after your comments I'm certainly more motivated to work on it again.

@heck - that's probably the same bug as the one that blocks the exit. I was playing yesterday and found out that on the same section as the exit-block bug I couldn't move back down to the lower section. I think it's something to do with the collision grid not scrolling the same way as the tilemap.

@N0_Named_Guy - I actually might port this to one or both of those! It's not super-complex so it'd pretty much be a lot of direct translation between languages. I have some experience with Java and openGL, not much with Objective-C, so I might give an Android port a go!

@mcc - I'm glad that you like the music. At times I really like how it fits with the game, at others it just seems to annoy me with how long it takes to get anywhere. It's probably just because I've listened to it almost constantly for the whole dare!

I'll look into that exit bug today, seeing as I'm not the only one getting it and I'm going to need to fix it if I want to be serious about this, anyway. I'll fix a couple other issues I've been having and post a link to a non-competition one.

The metagame idea is very interesting. Maybe some sort of difficulty rating could help too, which influences the range of distances that you have to travel to get to the exit. Like I said before, a scoring system is definitely on the cards and I really like that whole tower idea.

You've all given me a lot of stuff to think about! Thanks again.

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-23T13:06:00

I've fixed the exit bug. As per usual it was a single missing character in the code.

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-27T10:17:00

Yeah, I'd love to say that was by design (initially, at least) but it was purely accidental when I made the water a little too fast and loved the excitement of trying to catch up with it. Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you liked it!

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-08-28T22:33:00

Thank you both for your feedback! It means a lot to have people let me know that they like what I've done. I love that sonic-esque countdown suggestion, dogbomb, I'll definitely have to look into including something like that!

You might be interested to know that I'm building on my competition entry and polishing it up. I'm looking into porting it over to Android and possibly iOS as well once I'm happy with the web version.

Thanks again, you guys! It's super-motivating to hear that so many people really like my little game.

Damn My Stubby Little Legs by oatsbarley 2011-09-13T10:16:00

Thanks for your feedback!

I agree that there are some aspects that really need smoothing out. There are parts that I've found that are kind of impossible and other parts where you can literally stay in one position and just float on through. I was really running out of time when I got to designing the level pieces and that's kind of reflected in how poorly thought out some of them are.

I'll look into the bug where you stick to walls. I had noticed it a while back but I cleaned up a lot of the collisions code and thought I'd fixed it. Guess I didn't test that out enough!

The swimming idea is really interesting. It would definitely make it a lot more panicked and more involved than just holding down the same button. Thanks for the tip!

Stratus by RichMakeGame 2011-08-24T09:52:00

The art is amazing and even though, as you said yourself, this is more of a tech-demo than a game, it was still a lot of fun to play just because of how stunning it looks. I agree with others that it could have been clearer as to what you were supposed to do, initially. I thought left-click was broken, but it turned out that I just hadn't been clicking the medicine cabinet, the only clickable object at the start.

If this was expanded into a fully-fledged game, perhaps with a storyline, you could sell loads of them.

You've got the money: Escape by Thomas Pritchard 2011-08-22T16:04:00

This looks nice, it could have done with some music to create an atmosphere, or even if there was just something chasing you. As it stands it doesn't feel so much like you're escaping because the only indication of a challenge is the countdown clock ticking away.

It works very smoothly and the controls are nice. I'd have loved something in the way of sound effects or music, but eh.

LD26 — Minimalism

Undercolor Agents by farmergnome 2013-05-01T09:45:00

Great game! Graphics/audio are perfect and so the mood is awesome. The only issues I had with this were that if you were playing 1-player there wasn't really any way to save yourself once you were caught. It got kind of annoying getting most of the way through a map and then having an enemy appear right next to you and have to restart. Other than that this is very very good.

Stykk by Entity2D 2013-04-30T13:13:00

The controls are kind of awkward and the jump feels very limited. I expected to be able to reach the platform all the way on the left in the underground once I had the double jump, so that was weird. I love the music though.

Colon Right Parentheses by Pixelulsar 2013-05-06T19:17:00

Cute artstyle and a really simple mechanic, fits with the theme! Well done.

Gods Will Be Watching by Deconstructeam 2013-05-01T10:25:00

I love these types of games. I still haven't managed to win, though. Awesome graphics and nice audio, it creates a good mood. Well done!

Love Connection by Jon Reid 2013-05-02T21:49:00

Very stylish and very cute.

Tic Tactics by youdonotexist 2013-05-02T21:23:00

I love the mechanic, very clever!

The Creation by netgrind 2013-04-29T09:21:00

Lovely! You're right that the difficult part is figuring out the controls, I got stuck for a bit on the metaballs puzzle.

DeaN by Sakuyan 2013-04-30T11:31:00

The graphics are lovely. The game mode was a lot better than the story mode, since that seemed to take ages to get started. It would have been nice with some audio, since you can definitely feel that it's missing.

XYZ by ataxkt 2013-04-29T10:49:00

This is such a stylish game! I got stuck on the title screen for a moment pressing keys, which would have been averted if there was something telling you to click on it, or if it just took any and all input. I've got no criticisms of the actual game, it's great.

Distradiction by shines 2013-05-05T15:20:00

Really short but a cute idea. Definitely an issue very close to my heart! Nice job.

mesh by nseward 2013-05-05T16:07:00

Cute idea and I love the music!

Join by Perry 2013-04-29T10:56:00

I love the whole tone-matrix thing, and some of the levels took a bit of lateral thinking. This is a really clever game.

COLORUS by JokerDen 2013-05-05T15:52:00

Clever mechanic and very stylish graphical style. Well done!

Misshapen by Aaants 2013-04-30T10:55:00

The effect with the narration is lovely (and the level transitions), and the graphical style in general works really well. I would have liked a back button for the cutscenes, just because I accidentally clicked past one that I hadn't read.

I wasn't really sure what I was doing, or if I was doing anything at all other than moving him by clicking. Maybe some instructions somewhere in regards to how combat works? Also the beating sound effect was a bit annoying, but that's easily fixed.

Overall it's a really cool little prototype! Well done for your first LD.

MATAR! by Teejay5 2013-05-03T23:29:00

Neat idea, and the music is pretty good! Well done.

SOLIX by bentog 2013-05-05T16:12:00

Clever mechanic and nice music! Well done.

KeepTheMusicAlive by iamorim 2013-04-29T21:29:00

You web link gives me a 404. I'm downloading the PC version, but I thought I'd let you know ASAP.

KeepTheMusicAlive by iamorim 2013-04-30T11:00:00

I think it's already been said but the music doesn't really make you want to keep playing, which is a big problem when the music is the main focus of the game. It doesn't progress anywhere, so you feel as if you're just grinding away until the time limit goes down and getting nothing for it. It's a unique idea though, well done for that!

Monoboy by jhrrsn 2013-04-30T11:21:00

This is lovely! The graphics and music fit together so well and the levels are really nicely designed. I sort of wish his jump was just a little bit more powerful, but other than that this is awesome.

Minyrinth by crazynito 2013-05-05T16:00:00

Nice! It's a good idea and it really gets tense sometimes when the gap is closing.

.claustrophobia. by peggiosoft 2013-04-29T21:44:00

I love the music, and the graphics are neat. It seemed easy to figure out where the monsters were without waking them up, though, which made the whole thing a bit easy.

Def by pansapiens 2013-05-03T10:11:00

With a little bit of balancing this would be great. It gets to the point where you pretty much just can't lose if you spam the enemy with towers. Overall really good, though. Nice job!

MIN(Ball) by cahman 2013-04-30T12:36:00

This is quite an original idea, and some of the puzzles took me a bit to get my head around!

Ludum lupus by Yozz 2013-04-29T09:15:00

Awesome graphics, and the overall atmosphere is great. I wish the controls were a bit tighter, and that there was a way to get to the title screen from the game over screen.

Triage: The life of a combat medic. by anjack 2013-05-05T15:17:00

I agree that the actual game mechanic isn't too fun, and it ends up sort of seeming like work after a few rounds. It's very artistic and it has an interesting subject. Good job for 48 hours!

Weapons of Minimal Destruction by bluescrn 2013-05-06T17:25:00

Awesome game! Super smooth controls and great graphical style, really clever idea too! Well done.

AlterSpace by guestcheap 2013-05-05T15:40:00

The edit mode controls are a bit finicky but other than that this is really nice. Good job, I like the idea!

(R,G,B) by KilledByAPixel 2013-05-05T18:43:00

Awesome! This is a great game. Nice graphics, audio, gameplay. I don't know how you made this in 48 hours. Another game that I'm going to have to check the source code out for. Great job!

RGBA by RetroEpic 2013-05-06T18:05:00

Oh wow, this is stunning for 72-hours. It's all really smooth, and it was fun. Well done!

Mystic Door - by The Mystic Souslik Team by Tipyx 2013-05-03T22:58:00

Like captainkraft I can't run the game in Chrome (28.0.1478.0 beta-m), might want to take a look at that! The graphics are lovely and the effect used to reveal the level is great. I wish it had sound and the controls weren't so clunky, though! But I guess that's something for you to work on in future. Good job!

Sky Tea by OysterKLAN 2013-05-06T18:28:00

This is lovely, although the controls are a bit fiddly. Beautiful atmosphere. Well done!

Mind the Gap by shiprib 2013-05-03T23:21:00

This is really good! Very original idea and it's actually really relaxing to play.

Ming Imah Lism the Wizard ! by Gustera 2013-04-29T18:55:00

The mana gathering mechanic is cool! The point that the fireball comes from isn't very intuitive and I kept forgetting and missing by miles.

Gallery by Andrew Shouldice 2013-05-03T10:00:00

The ambient background sound gives this a really nice feeling, and the sound design in general is great. The mechanic is really clever, the graphics are simple but they look great. Overall this is fantastic. Well done!

Too Many Items by jtzp4 2013-04-30T11:38:00

This is a pretty original idea! I think the collisions are a bit off, since I would shoot 5 or 6 times straight at the guy and it wouldn't kill him. Nice job though.

8 jumps and a fat man by Exclamation Mark 2013-04-30T11:16:00

This is really fun. At one point one of the joining pieces got blown up and there was a gap in between pieces of the ship; I'm not sure if that's a bug or if it's intended. A restart button would have been nice!

Be The Wind by dstozek 2013-04-29T10:19:00

I love so much about this! The leaves floating about when you move are great, and the trees (and the way the break out of the frame) are lovely. I'm definitely going to be going over the source for this and seeing how you did everything.

You Must Escape by GertJohnny 2013-05-05T15:27:00

Wow! This is fantastic. There are a few other games this LD that are about not being able to see but I think this has the coolest mechanic and best finish out of them all. I'm definitely going to be checking out the source for this! Really nice job.

Touch Blocks, Avoid Spikes by ecbambrick 2013-05-02T21:15:00

This is great! Lovely graphics and audio, and a really clever mechanic.

++Pet; by mushbuh 2013-04-29T19:00:00

Agh, this is so cute. I kind of fumbled my way through for a while and got to age 12, but I got the impression it would have just gone on forever. I want to find my old tamagotchi now...

Equalizer by whiteravens 2013-05-05T16:03:00

Cool idea. The platforming mechanics need a bit of tightening up, but other than that it's solid. Well done!

Mini Car Racing by rockford 2013-04-29T09:09:00

This is nice! It did freeze at one point when I was just in the middle of the track and not really doing anything weird. Also perhaps since it's a keyboard-controlled game it would have been handy to be able to start the game by pressing a key instead of having to click with the mouse. Just a suggestion!

Spheres by fueelin 2013-05-05T23:20:00

Really clever idea. And when it gets hectic it almost sounds like you're in a one of those silent movies with the plinky pianos. Good job!

Lunar Rain by LeafThief 2013-05-03T22:42:00

The atmosphere is amazing. I'm not sure how "gamey" this is, but it's an impressive achievement either way for 48 hours. I'd love to see a full adventure game in this sort of style/setting. Great job!

DudeJump by agnulf 2013-04-30T11:43:00

The graphics and music are nice. I wish there'd been a checkpoint system. Starting from the beginning is annoying. The controls are also a bit loose, so some of the time it felt as if it was the controls that were killing me... although most of the time it was because I'm bad at games. Good job!

Dock Zone by Farfin 2013-05-06T17:41:00

Nice job! The sound effects are lovely.

The Minimal Machine by Andromatta 2013-05-05T18:30:00

Lovely graphics and a cool idea. The style of it all is very nice. The music and controls get in the way, though. Awesome entry!

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-04-29T09:31:00

Thanks everyone for your comments!

@GeorgeBroussard - I think I'll try to build on this, and maybe let players use their own music or something. I'll have to think about it!

@Perry - I actually synced up the music by basic arithmetic! It felt a bit cheaty, but since the music was 120bpm it turned out that each drone note lasted 8 seconds, so I just added a new wall every 8 seconds :D

@jhrrsn - The drone in the music *should* line up with the obstacles for at least the first 90 seconds or so, but then for me it all goes out of sync. If I wasn't relying on Flixel's sound and timer classes I could have probably overcome that, but I was too deep into it by the time I got round to trying to fix it!

Thanks again for your feedback, it's really useful.

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-04-29T21:34:00

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@NiallM - if I'd had another day to work on it the difficulty curve would have definitely been one of my priorities, I totally agree that it's a bit slow to start.

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-04-30T12:26:00

Thanks for your messages!

@ataxkt, @scorder - I really wish I'd done a better job with the pacing, and I'll be looking at that in future. Totally agree with what both you guys said.

@Lythom - it's interesting that you've said that it's more arty than gamey. I'd hoped that it was going to be fun first and foremost, but I did spend a lot of time on the polish. It is definitely very zen at times!

@cahman - Yeah, I think I have a bit of tweaking to do with the controls and collisions.

Thanks again, everyone.

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-04-30T16:17:00

Thanks!

Also I just wanted to note here for the sake of transparency that I've just now changed the page the web version is embedded in so that it has a black background and the embed is centered. I haven't actually modified the game at all though.

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-05-02T16:40:00

Thanks guys! I'm glad you all like it so much :D

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-05-03T19:26:00

It actually gets harder a couple of minutes in, to the point that it's almost impossible. I definitely do need to work on the pacing though. Thanks for your comments guys!

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-05-05T19:09:00

Thanks for the comments guys, and the feedback on the controls.

@Julian - by analog control scheme do you mean literally an analog controller? Sorry if I'm being an idiot!

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-05-07T20:57:00

Thanks for your feedback guys!

crush. by oatsbarley 2013-05-21T12:56:00

Thank you so much to anybody who voted for my game, whether positive or negative! And special thanks to anybody who commented! Top 100 woo.

Essence by Make A Game 2013-05-03T10:24:00

Nice graphics and the mechanic is kind of tricky. Well done!

Super Rope Dungeon by Halfbus 2013-04-30T12:21:00

This has a really good atmosphere to it. Both the graphics and audio are great. I'd have liked it if it was obvious where you could and couldn't go though. There are parts where there isn't a ceiling but you can put a rope up, and then other parts where you can't. Good job overall!

Long live the King by Lythom 2013-04-30T11:04:00

Oh, that wasn't what I was expecting at all. The graphical gimmick is pretty cool, and the audio fits really well. I love that you can have two different stories if you play through it silhouetted or lit up. Great work!

Minimal 2 Player Game by NiallM 2013-04-29T11:03:00

Hah, the screenshot is very misleading. Wonderful!

Auraline by Julian Ceipek 2013-05-05T19:16:00

Awesome idea. I fumbled my way through it, and I wish I had a rift because I'm sure it looks great in 3D. Nice job!

The Road by GeorgeBroussard 2013-04-30T10:48:00

"You died of waiting for Firefly to come back to TV." ...too real, man. Too real. This is great, but I'm terrible at it. The music is really good too. It's obviously literally repetitive but it doesn't feel that way, it just sort of fits in the background. Nice job!

Panzers by Canard Sauvage 2013-05-06T19:35:00

That font in the intro cutscene is super retro haha. Nice job overall!

LD29 — Beneath the Surface

Deep Blue Home by Jools64 2014-04-29T09:04:00

The art is nice, the sound design is awesome. The controls and feel are almost perfect, and the powerups and puzzles are really nice. The only real issue I had was that I thought the hitbox on the big electrified boxes could have been a bit smaller; you have no leeway at all - in fact, it seems like sometimes you get killed without even visually being hit.

Very good game, though!

Delve by conormn 2014-04-29T10:27:00

Very short but I loved the art!

Hot Diggity by DragonXVI 2014-04-29T08:41:00

This is a fantastic game! All of it fits together so perfectly.

emilion by Helopol 2014-04-29T14:02:00

Wow, that was really good. The atmosphere was perfect in the underwater and snowy areas!

Project Tethys by vilya 2014-04-28T11:29:00

The music is awesome! Could do with some less drag and some gravity to make it feel a bit more "submarine". Good job!

It Came From The Sewer by Catman 2014-04-28T13:55:00

The art and music fit so well with each other, and with the theme of the game. Nice job!

Die Backpfeife aus dem Nichts by primaerfunktion 2014-04-28T10:38:00

Everything about this is great!

A boy and his Hellworm by orangepascal 2014-04-29T07:23:00

Nice! It has a really arcadey feel to it that makes me want to try again when I die.

Diving Simulator 2015 by Phobos001 2014-04-28T11:17:00

I'd say it fits with the theme quite well, being that the goal is to get beneath the surface of the ice.

This is hilarious, and quite fun!

An Ode to Violence by Benn 2014-04-28T13:47:00

Awesome! The slow motion works really well and it's fun to control.

What's Beneath? by Lerc 2014-04-28T10:55:00

The paper-style works pretty well! It's a bit confusing that you can fly out of the level (flying upwards at the start) and end up on the wrong side of walls. It would maybe also be nice to be able to bump off the walls a couple times before dying, or maybe have it based on how fast you hit the wall.

Nice job, though!

Some Guy and the Blind Date Adventure by Jonapulse 2014-04-29T07:32:00

It seems to make light of people with panic disorders. The interface is also very clunky and the text is often white against a light background. The outcomes just seem completely random.

I'm not trying to be harsh, but it's definitely lacking some polish that would make it a lot more fun to play, and when you have such a serious subject matter you have to be more careful about how you deal with it.

Kappa cat by cinnamonmelonpig 2014-04-28T11:23:00

I want to live in a world where 7-UP oceans exist.

I love this. The controls are good, the atmosphere is right, the art is cute and even the music fits in a weird way. Nice job!

Yumbugs by Hypnohustla 2014-04-29T08:46:00

When they lose their shells it's pretty horrifying! Nice job.

Topsail by Devon 2014-04-28T14:14:00

Pretty!

Dereck by Fnkee 2014-04-30T13:53:00

Nice idea! Holding the key down to move was a bit annoying though, it probably would have been smoother if you could just hit the key to move.

The graphics and music are great. Good job!

Office Simulator 2014 by FuzzyWuzzie 2014-04-29T07:52:00

Well done! I liked the IT Crowd reference.

Soulitude by bitserum 2014-04-29T09:08:00

Very interesting mechanic, and I love the effect when it switches. Lovely art, too!

Lost Sheep by Boneloaf 2014-04-29T14:09:00

It's super fun to play and I love the little sheep.

Splitted by CodeHat 2014-04-30T11:03:00

Smaller hitboxes on hazards and a little more power in the jump would make this a lot less frustrating. Nice idea, though!

DIVE by Lars Faust 2014-04-28T13:22:00

Really nice graphical style and an interesting mechanic. The audio is very fitting, although the ambient background sort of clashes with the lo-fi sound effects.

I had a few issues:

The menus before and after the game are incredibly sluggish, which makes the game a bit more frustrating than challenging. It's a pain to have to spend 10-15 seconds paging through screens just to try again. It's quicker to refresh the page than it is to wait for the end game screen to move on.

If you run rings around the enemies a few times they bunch in the middle, and stay there when you've left the layer. It makes it trivial to get fish once you've done that. If I had to suggest a fix, maybe just making them roam randomly when you're not in the layer would solve the problem?

The enemies all seem like they have the same mechanic but at differing speeds. I might be missing something, but it makes having more than 2 layers kind of moot, since you could just flip between the two. Having different enemy mechanics for each layer would make it a lot more tactical, I think.

Anyway, great entry! You gave a detailed comment for my game so I wanted to do the same. Nice job!

Hanoka by Wolve 2014-04-30T10:59:00

You definitely should have submitted this to the jam and not the compo if you're going to use someone else's music; it's unfair to everyone in the compo who made everything in their game.

The art is lovely and the gameplay mechanic is really fun, I just wish the fish were quicker and there were more of them near the top. It takes too long to build up enough to buy an upgrade when you have to swim down a ways and then wait for them to catch you up.

Grimlock's Lair by Supernaught 2014-04-29T09:31:00

The SFX work really well, and the game is juicy in general!

Gold Submarine by Slader16 2014-04-28T10:25:00

It has a nice feel to it, and the music fits quite well (even though it's a very short loop - could have maybe put a slow bassline under it). There are some nice touches like the sound changing above the surface, but some extra little bits of juice would have really helped the feel (e.g. maybe off the walls a little instead of just stopping).

It could be a good idea in a game like this to add more coins than the player actually needs to collect. That way they aren't left searching every inch of the level for the last coin.

It has potential!

Kraken by Kate Kligman 2014-04-28T15:59:00

I've not played any Atari 2600 games, so I can't compare, but it looks authentic! Nice job.

Gravedigger by Kulomin 2014-04-28T10:35:00

Really fun and a good interpretation of the theme!

The Dark Things by gnerkus 2014-04-28T10:50:00

Everybody's already mentioned the lack of start/finish screens, but really the only issue for me was having to refresh the page to start the level again; maybe have it just restart the level when you lose, instead of going to a different screen.

The music is nice and the graphics are quite pretty; the gameplay can be quite tricky, too!

Total Tipanic by tiffi_gaming 2014-04-28T15:45:00

Super difficult on a touchpad! IMO the fail/retry cycle would be a lot tighter if you ended the game when the iceberg was too big, instead of waiting until a timer runs out. It's frustrating when you know you've lost but you have to wait until the end to restart.

Nice entry though!

Water Temple by pLaw 2014-04-28T14:01:00

It is pretty straightforward, but the graphics/audio are really nice and it's relaxing to play. I'd be interested to see what this could turn in to if you worked on it more!

Dwarves & Goblins by PlasterPhantom 2014-04-30T11:06:00

Very nice! Could definitely do with some sound effects though.

pixel bat attack by enderosc 2014-04-30T07:29:00

Nice work! Looks like you're on the path to making some great games.

Beneath the Rain by CruelMotivator 2014-04-30T08:45:00

Very atmospheric! One time after work the game completely froze, but other than that everything worked fine.

Baum by Waterman7 2014-04-29T07:56:00

Interesting! I definitely agree with the other commenters that music would have made it even better.

Atomicle - LostAutumn.net by AutumnGuy 2014-04-28T14:44:00

There's nothing I can really say that hasn't already been said, but it's a really nice game. Super polished!

Nether by zdonkeyx 2014-04-29T08:15:00

I'll echo the camera comment that was made. The game was super interesting, and the mechanic is cool! Originally I thought it was just gravity switching, but it seems like it switches a few different things that you have to keep track of.

The music was a little bit annoying and the ability did just stop working for me part way through the level, but other than that it was great.

Beneath the Surface by bowatatoy 2014-04-28T11:11:00

While the story was a bit two dimensional, the cuts to static were used really well, and the overall mood of it is spot on. Interesting!

Esc by Crumpet 2014-04-28T16:19:00

Tough subject to make a game about, but - speaking as someone without any relevant experience - I think you did a good job.

The twist is very good and I was shocked when it happened. Well done!

Beneath The Surface by adamwoolridge 2014-04-28T14:38:00

Awesome! I got to the 5th level and couldn't get any futher, but it was pretty fun until then.

Underneath Our Faces by undefinist 2014-04-28T14:32:00

Nice idea, and quite well executed! I agree that it could do with some feedback when you pick up good/bad faces.

Poopy Kitty Defense by burquitlambadgers 2014-04-29T07:36:00

Tricky! I'm not a huge fan of (literal) toilet humour, but the game is fun to play and difficult. Nice job!

Oil Drillers by PixelMind 2014-04-29T20:30:00

Really interesting idea! The UI could have done with some work - sometimes it was hard to read the money in the top left - but it was good other than that!

Save your tribe! by FrameMatt 2014-04-28T11:02:00

The music is really nice, and I like the rising heat as you go deeper into the volcano.

Gray Surface by Geckoo1337 2014-04-28T14:40:00

Nice effect.

WHAT IS IN THE SWAMP? (IT'S MONSTERS) by tacs 2014-04-28T14:48:00

Really nice graphical style, and the idea is interesting!

Kill or Kill by GreatBigJerk 2014-04-28T13:39:00

Some sort of checkpointing would be great. The mood is perfect!

Losing it by Fox_in_sox 2014-04-29T11:16:00

The art and sound work together really well to create the mood. It's a very tricky game, too!

Water Miner by elefantopia 2014-04-28T14:12:00

Just so you know, there aren't any links to builds/players. Makes it tough to vote for! ;)

Deep by ahmeni 2014-04-29T08:01:00

Maybe a health system that lets you get hit a few times would have made this a bit less frustrating. Because the game starts so slow, it's kind of tiring getting really far down and then losing.

The mood is great, though, and it's kind of relaxing!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-28T07:50:00

Thanks guys!

@Slader - Probably not anytime soon ): I'm super busy with other games right now. Maybe sometime in the future, though!

@Kulomin - Thanks for the feedback! There's a tooltip in the bottom right of the screen that tells you things about stuff you hover over. I'm not super happy with the UI in general, and I can see why it'd not be obvious!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-28T12:56:00

@Lars Thanks for the feedback. I can reassure you that it is beatable! It's just a bit tricky. A lot of how the game goes depends on how you start.

The general strategy is: make a couple houses very close to the forest, and a lodge far away from it. For the first day, build houses next to the first two as soon as you have the resources for them, but try to keep in mind the hunger value. The second day you might want to build another lodge, and keep building houses. By the end of the second or during the third, start building villas while keeping your house level constant. Maybe build another lodge or two if the wood is too low.

Once you get over the initial night with 3 or so houses left intact, you should be good to go. Eventually you have enough resources for guard towers and then it's just a case of building a perimeter.

I haven't noticed any sync issues on my end, but the monsters do come at the end of the night and leave just after dawn. If I had a bit more time, I'd probably adjust the timing of the monsters, since having them appear and disappear with the night is more intuitive! Houses disappear when all of their occupants are dead (you can mouse over a building to see its occupants), and this includes dying from hunger at the start of the next day.

The houses nearest the forest are the ones that get chosen.

Thanks again for your feedback. Let me know if you're still having trouble!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-28T14:06:00

I'm glad it clicked for you!

I'll stick a bit of info about the hunger mechanic into the description, since that's something I completely forgot to explain anywhere!

I totally agree about the balancing. It's hard to tell whether it's balanced when you're really good at the game. It's very easy to make it too difficult!

Thanks for your comments, this sort of feedback is very useful.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-28T22:09:00

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

@elefantopia - I'm glad you had a good time with it. I'm working on Cloudface right now (http://www.cloudfacegame.com) in a small team and a little puzzle game on my own!

@philip_sinclair - Haha, the ambient bird noises is from outside my window. I forgot I was recording, so when I processed the audio I had to go through and remove all the keyboard clacking and exasperated cries.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-29T10:59:00

Thanks guys!

@Tifu - Hmm, I moved some stuff around in the folder on Google Drive and it might have screwed something up. It should be fixed now, though!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-30T12:11:00

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@Maschinen - The link with the theme is sort of explained in the description at the top of the page. The forest is an endless source of food, but beneath the surface it's a murderous man-eating entity.

There's also a link in the gameplay, in that you're building a town and at the same time sacrificing the poorer villagers to the forest to save everybody else.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-04-30T12:13:00

@spotco - The walkthrough is there just in case you're stuck with the game. A lot of people found it hard to get past the first few nights!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-05-01T06:14:00

Thanks for the feedback!

@Diptoman - there's a tooltip at the bottom left of the screen, but I have a feeling it's getting cut off for people who have shorter screens.

@dkkarate - that's weird. The houses disappearing was probably due to starvation (the hunger value was higher than the food value) but people shouldn't have been appearing. Thanks for the heads up!

@mjrevel - the guard doesn't come out of the guard tower! He shoots from the windows. I probably should have made that clearer, as every other building spawns a visible villager.

@mrexcessive - the camera is pointing north and the sun is going from east to west. I'm fairly certain that's how it goes everywhere! ;)

Thanks again, guys.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-05-01T11:39:00

Thanks guys!

@joe40001 - the win condition triggers at the start of the next day. It _should_ be 3 nights, but I might have accidentally made it 4! There is a win screen.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-05-01T21:23:00

Thanks for the feedback. There's two ways the theme plays into the game:

- The forest is the thing that allows your village to grow, but under the cover of darkness it's actually out to kill everyone.

- You're building the foundations of a new village/town on the idea of sacrificing the poorest members of your society.

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-05-03T09:21:00

@VDZ - that's a good point. Admittedly replayability wasn't really high on my list when I was making the game, since I didn't expect anyone to play it more than once when they were voting. If I do something more with it I'll definitely look into that, though!

@SnoringFrog - there must be a collisions bug if it let you put a building in the forest, whoops! And I think some sort of building removal would be a good idea, to help out in situations like you described with the tents and the guard towers.

Thanks for your comments!

The Gathering by oatsbarley 2014-05-07T07:17:00

Thanks for your comments, everyone. They mean a lot, and I'm definitely taking on board your suggestions/criticisms!

You are a metro car by fserb 2014-04-28T10:44:00

Fun! If I wasn't trying to get through a lot of games I could definitely see myself playing this for ages. The highscore table is definitely a good addition.

Nereids' Sea by Tifu 2014-04-29T11:12:00

You've done a good job of making the diving suit feel claustrophobic! Well done!

LD30 — Connected Worlds

17:20 to Anywhere by oatsbarley 2014-08-25T16:42:00

Yeah, sorry about that. It's a bug!

LD31 — Entire Game on One Screen

Adrift by Supernaught 2014-12-09T21:07:00

I really like the art style. Cute characters!

Wide Opened Eyes by nzgiije 2014-12-09T13:05:00

Wow! Perfect atmosphere and great use of the audio, screenshakes, etc. for effect. It's impressive that you came up with something that's genuinely scary in the space of an LD.

Velcro by camlang 2014-12-09T13:09:00

Very polished, definitely agree it could have done with a leaderboard. Nice job!

Office Gaming Inception by AMS 2014-12-09T21:23:00

Really great game idea - felt very stressed too!

LD32 — An Unconventional Weapon

Dirk Sharp in 'AN UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPON' by oatsbarley 2015-04-21T09:46:00

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. Sorry about the bugs/crashes; some will no doubt be my fault, but it seems as if the WebGL build is unstable. I've added a Unity web player build, hopefully that works out better.

LD51 — Every 10 seconds

Golfploration by Nicso 2022-10-03T18:41:17Z

Really innovative, like the use of 10 seconds - almost makes it feel like you're running out of air between shots. Agree with another comment about it being slightly harsh (although there are checkpoints) -- maybe you could respawn where you initially took the shot from?

A couple of times the character struggled to get over a bridge -- obviously that's something you could easily iron out with a bit more time to polish.

Great job!

An Average Day At The Cat Cafe by alexrose 2022-10-09T10:21:32Z

Love it. Super chill while at the same time getting really challenging at times.

Night Watch by Gus the Shark 2022-10-09T09:23:24Z

Nice idea. Would be interesting to see how an endless gamemode where you just have to survive for as long as possible would work. Also interactions between cards (e.g. adjacent or same row/column) might be fun.

Sunk Cost Fallacy by Mara 2022-10-12T16:28:36Z

Nice idea. A little grace period like the previous commenter mentioned would be nice; and if the time stacked instead of resetting each floor, so that you benefit from moving through earlier floors quicker.

Poda Wants a Statue by Doot 2022-10-05T12:27:22Z

204, not bad! The graphics/audio on this are so good, it has a really chill mood. Bit of awkward clicking, trying to get pick up a resource when a rabbit got in the way. No big deal.

Really good!

Moo Moo Care by kory 2022-10-04T19:04:58Z

Really nice little Pico-8 game. Some hazards could really make it more challenging, like a wolf or something that you need to keep away from the cows.

Call me. Maybe? by Martinek 2022-10-09T13:11:29Z

Nice concept. Having to remember which call goes with which line was more frustrating than challenging. I agree with the other comment that it could do with more feedback.

Could be really fun with more time spent on it and some post-jam balancing!

Faster Food by Ani 2022-10-03T18:35:03Z

Super hectic, but fun. You could do a lot with this if you lean into the party game aspect of it: multiplayer, themes (different styles of food, etc.).

Supply Chain by oatsbarley 2022-10-02T21:41:01Z

Having trouble updating the description, so here are the links: - HTML5: https://oatsbarley.itch.io/ld51 - Source: https://github.com/craigmjohnston/ld51

Supply Chain by oatsbarley 2022-10-04T19:40:59Z

Hey @kory thanks for giving it a go. Totally get it, the UX side of things didn't get as much attention as I'd hoped it would so it's not super obvious what to do.

You drag and drop the lines between the small circles that appear to the left and right of each node. Distance doesn't really matter so you can space all your nodes out. Inputs are on the left and outputs on the right.

Let me know how it goes!

Supply Chain by oatsbarley 2022-10-05T12:13:25Z

@cafebeef thanks for playing! And good shout on the info, I've added it :thumbsup:

Supply Chain by oatsbarley 2022-10-09T09:26:23Z

Thanks for all the comments.

@corporation @m4ttu @jimbly @loveapplegames all super solid feedback, I really get what you're saying about it being unforgiving, and definitely about it being too fast.

I think a lot of games this compo/jam probably suffered by using the "10 seconds" literally for timing, so it's going to be interesting to see post-jam versions once they've had their timing tuned.

The Only Way Is Forward by Fabian Denter 2022-10-04T19:25:56Z

Really strong atmosphere. Also super strong on the visual, I was surprised when what I thought was a static image turned out to be a 3D scene. Really polished.

If I had to pick at anything -- the UI could be more responsive, there were a few times I clicked and it didn't register because the fade-in hadn't finished.

LD55 — Summoning

The Great Witch by lectvs 2024-04-16T14:14:29Z

Really good! A graphical indicator showing that a turret has been upgraded would be handy. Some of the animations also took a lot of time, which slowed the action down a bit (the upgrade and summoning ones).

Respawning was a really nice touch.

Blood, Sweat and Seals by Achiru 2024-04-16T14:00:16Z

Fun! The sigil recognition is pretty inaccurate, but it was still satisfying to draw out loads of pentagrams. I couldn't figure out how to combine sigils like was mentioned in the description, and I didn't find all 6, so some way of hinting missing ones could be good.

SUMMOGON by Nash 2024-04-16T14:55:58Z

Fantastic! The VO was great, and the art-style is really nice.

Demon 91 by c-13mu 2024-04-17T18:36:19Z

Grim! The web build works for me (MacOS Chrome) for what it's worth. This definitely feels like there could be a lot of depth to it if you had more time to spend.

For UX, an "undo" button would be nice, rather than having to restart from the very beginning if you make a mistake.

Boneworks by Imbajoe 2024-04-16T11:47:50Z

Nice! Hard to beat, so definitely could do with a balance pass, but it's difficult to find the time for something like that in the compo.