Pix3m

Press i for inventory by mr_tag 2014-12-21T23:06:00

I caught this game and became interested in having my own shot at this, and I think I know a potential solution to any balancing issues you can encounter. I looked at the source code, and I am very certain the issue we have is that the end result of combat cannot be determined and you cannot know until either the hero or the enemy loses the battle. You can have much stricter control of the outcome of the battle if you work backwards, by calculating damage that the hero and the enemy deal to each other before hand. Once you know how much they'll do over time, you can randomly generate a HP value of the enemy to know for certain if you have an easy win, or barely graze death as close as you like.

I'll see where this approach to battle works. Thanks for the inspiration!

Rooms by Pix3M 2014-12-13T06:20:00

Updated descriptions to make the game more clear, and now a walkthrough is provided

Galaxy Force by KK 2014-12-21T00:49:00

I found the keyboard secret by digging into your source code. Press F~

Ethics Simulator: Fishbowl Life by Mindcake 2014-12-21T00:38:00

I found the storyline to be rather bizzaire, and it was very unclear what ethical problems were being simulated beyond maybe a question of "is it right for me to pray a kitty to death, or let the kitty eat me?"

Sorry if there was a deeper story behind this and if that flew over my head.

Their Own Worst Enemies by ObscenelyTrue 2015-04-21T19:32:00

Assembly? You are an amazingly brave game jammer. Shame there's not much to see here though

Kids These Days by Ithildin 2015-04-24T22:35:00

Execution I think could very easily be handled to get the point across more effectively. Then again, you did admit that you didn't have time to implement everything you wanted. Eh

Leaf Blower by phi 2015-04-21T09:55:00

Stupidly entertaining, in a good way, I like and I approve

Cucumbers Shall Not Pass by mortus 2015-04-21T09:33:00

For a game jam game, there feels like a lot of things you can do in this game. I like.

Takes a bit to get into, but maybe it's just the music that made it *feel* great

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-21T07:13:00

It took several reads of that comment to get that it was meant that I uploaded an installer. I WANT to say I uploaded a single executable .exe, but I downloaded my own link and it turns out that it exported an installer. =(

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-21T23:55:00

Version 1.3 with listed bug fixes are released!

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-22T01:12:00

If I was a fantastic programmer, I would totally go for amazing AI, but that is unfortunately not my forte. I went for something simple and straight-forward :)

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-22T11:03:00

Well @Jwatt, I have no particular plans that my reply would be read, but here's what I thought:

Yes, the game is made as if I was an artist and not so much a designer or a programmer. No surprise there...

As for strategies, it sounds like you're a skilled player as the game is made to be considerate for players who might not know what they are doing. This was designed to allow for grinding to make up for lackluster skills, or if you are gifted in ways I could not foresee, you could theoretically rush through the game with no upgrades. It's a shame I was only able to implement five waves which only allows for more progression.

That was how the current balance of the game fares thus far. One person told me they passed with no upgrades (I didn't get to see how he plays though), while I watch a friend struggle a bit.

Anyways, uploading a 1.3.1 to fix the earth tower bug. I literally needed to watch somebody play to see how bad it was. The particular way I played made that bug trivial.

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-22T21:00:00

@Jwatt Well, yeah. My circle of friends aren't always the most skilled of players so making a challenging game wouldn't do me much justice. While I am a game developer, I spend more time working on my art fundamentals rather than spending that time on games. Plus, I am also very uninvolved with gaming culture in general despite being primarily a game artist

Elem3nts by Pix3M 2015-04-28T08:39:00

Oddly, at my current skill level

I can do the first three waves with no upgrades.

I CANNOT deal with the 4th wave.

5th wave, I have never defeated without assistance from buggy movement logic.

It's difficult to balance a game if you can't watch people play, sadly

ForgeCraft by Stals 2015-04-21T07:39:00

Well, there is nothing like trying to beat the game, just so the ultimate weapon doesn't yet exist. I find the balancing as it currently is to be difficult, had to rush the game and ignoring the clients once I realized a gameover state is also not yet implemented

Also funny to see sprites ripped from a game that pixel artist Cyangmou happened to have done

Garden State by cbear_wallis 2015-04-21T07:02:00

It's an interesting game design, though I had to mess around to figure out how this game worked. I think this game might be worth expanding with a larger map, I think :)

Also, 420 fertilize it

Social Sass by abcdef65g 2015-04-21T08:00:00

Well, I started this game, I quickly found that there isn't much to what was submitted. I *think* what the game intended was an adventure game where you interact with various NPC's on a story-based adventure, but all I was able to find out of the game was a large map with an entirely hand-drawn background (without map commission logic), few NPC's who all seem to say the same thing.

I like the premise would bet this game can be legitimately interesting if it was finished. I can't picture this being a game that can be finished for a Ludum Dare though, I estimate a game like this would take one solid month if I worked on it full time.

The Hoverboard Convention by HelixFox 2015-04-21T08:53:00

I like it. It just needs more ball pits

Misspelled Zombies by ivan.moay 2015-04-21T08:09:00

Difficult. The game honestly feels punishing when it will severely mess you up if you can't recall the exact spelling of every word

The game looks typical for typing games (the heck happened to them, I used to see plenty of those when I was a kid), but there's no feedback that tells you the correct way to spell a word so you can get better at the game

Super Burning Mummy! by WhoaConstrictor 2015-04-28T09:14:00

I think you accomplished your goal pretty well, the game can be picked up very easily. Visual and audio agree with each other and work well, and overall a pretty good submission

Bees Bears Buzz by CowShark 2015-04-21T05:48:00

I might be just tired from the jam, the difficulty curve as it is doesn't give me enough time to figure out the ins and outs of this game, and I was doing pretty badly

Side note: I also for some reason confused the grass being solid walls since there's a sharp contrast between the grass and the dirt path

Spheres by Ogniok 2015-04-21T10:23:00

Interesting premise, though getting no farther than the fence blocking the bridge, I ran off into a massive forest and discovered a 'hole' in the level where you can jump into the ocean endlessly fall off the level.

I unfortunately found the game overwhelming to play as the creepy music was overwhelming when you're wandering around with no idea what to do. That, and the spheres are nothing more than random annoyances that causes the game to reset back at a past point. It's punishing, eh

Elimination Communication by Mykaelos 2015-04-21T12:05:00

Heheh, your daughter should totally play this game when she gets old enough

Marty Funk by retrogradeorbit 2015-04-22T12:43:00

Well, aside for this tasteless mashup of generic Asian culture, it's a very difficult game

Discord Seeder by ztiromoritz 2015-04-24T22:45:00

The tutorial suggested that this was a game where you have to defend yourself by drawing barriers between enemies. Turns out that the actual game concept is completely different - that it was a timed puzzle game. The lines appear to suck in enemies into the line itself, creating a safe passage.

Mechanical Defender by mar3k 2015-04-21T12:13:00

I am not sure why, but my mouse clicks were unresponsive and getting your attacks to actually tripper was difficult.

Fun with Vacuums by dcRfj15 2015-04-24T01:53:00

Apparently when I tried to run it, the level isn't rendered properly so I watched the health bar on top lower and lower as I stare into a blank white screen. Eh.

Dim Sum Fusion Assassin by mike.cullingham 2015-04-24T09:42:00

Sorry if I sound annoying, please be careful when using elements of a foreign culture. Please don't name your game "Dim Sum" Fusion Assassin when your restaurant is not a dimsum restaurant. We don't eat bowls of rice, bowls of noodles, or dango at a dimsum, we eat a large variety of foods, mostly dumplings. Dimsum restaurants are structured completely differently as well- Dimsums are more similar to eating at an airplane than at a restaurant - you order many small pieces of many kinds of food from servers walking around with carts full of steamed food.

That aside, the layout is clean and effective, and I can figure out the game pretty quickly. Always good to have a game that can easily be picked up.

Sugar Lake Chronicles by ProgrammerSteve 2015-04-24T02:03:00

Could very easily be a fun hack n' slash if the controls felt responsive. I basically killed the things by running away, facing them, then holding my spacebar as I wait for the attack to fire. Sometimes I tap my spacebar and nothing happens, and it felt like the attack fires only some of the time.

Tipping Point by lonestar 2015-04-22T12:29:00

Oooh, this is interesting.

The graphics are what stood out to me and grabbed my attention and is no doubt done by very talented people. I only wish that the art had a stronger distinction between background and foreground objects. While the environment art is wonderful, it really sets a very high standard for yourself when easier shortcuts used in the levels proper, while not bad by itself, is a bit of a disappointment compared to the uniquely-made assets from earlier maps.

The music is also wonderful, though there is stylistic dissonance between sound effects and the musical score.

I also died from falling into a pit (which oh... I guess the ice thing is not something you want to touch), the game doesn't reload for some reason. eh

Best of luck in finishing the rest of this project. Organizing a team after a jam is a hurdle in my experience

Wok Quest! by ogrepixel 2015-04-21T19:24:00

Fun and silly, though there isn't much else to the game after you learn that you mostly have to run around toward campfires and the piggies will leave you alone

Blind Spot by RebelMoogle 2015-04-21T04:59:00

Sounds like this game can get somewhere, if only if I don't get bad motion sickness from first-person perspective games

For M'lady by KcY 2015-04-24T01:46:00

For a satire, it's not much. The story is basically a fedora-tipper with a hatred against popular jocks on a mission against sexual frustration. I did not pick up on any social commentary here and comes off as trying to be funny by only exaggerating this common theme.

As for the game, it doesn't appear beatable, so I gave up :L

If there was more to the story than what I saw because of the ending, it honestly doesn't feel funny. It could easily be funny with an appropriately funny art style, but it's not what I saw here.

Ivan by chaomoon 2015-04-24T23:07:00

Says that a .dll file is missing, though I can't tell if it's because my antivirus is being stupid

Ivan by chaomoon 2015-04-24T23:08:00

Forgot to add - the missing .dll file is MSVCP120d.dll

Destroy&Oppress by YaaZ 2015-04-21T09:01:00

The game unfortunately doesn't seem to work. It starts some music, renders the screen once then the game crashes and closes

Solar Tycoon by Arowx 2015-04-21T20:23:00

This looks like a game I could easily enjoy but a strategy game of this kind needs some pretty solid tutorials to explain the game. I click around and almost nothing is responsive - I can get info on a plot of land, but I can't do anything more than this

How do I build something? How do I get money? Can I do something with the houses? Do I need staff?

Badass Barbecue Zombie Brawl by wintermute 2015-04-21T10:55:00

It's a good and simple game. Ofc, there can always be more content to mix up the gameplay a little =)

Follow The Light by pokenoufl 2016-08-29T05:36:00

The game seems pretty straight forward, you can easily figure out how to play the game from simple experimentation and introducing new things one by one.

I usually don't give graphical critiques but the amount of effort put in here definitely warrants it. Definitely watch out for your lack of value contrasts that makes everything very difficult to see. Things to look out for:

*Typically, walls are darker than the floor since light sources are typically from above.
*Keep the floor texture subtle. Currently it has more contrast than nearly everything else except for the ladder to the next level
*Rule of thumb: things in a 'color scheme' needs to be clearly lighter or darker than another.
*The symbols on the runes needs to be clearly darker or clearly lighter than the rock that bears those runes

Otherwise, while it is short, it's pretty solid for what little content it has

The Trade Network by scriptorum 2016-08-29T06:15:00

Easily one of the more polished games I've played thus far. I've been replaying it a couple of times. Nice work!

evolver - tinder for evolution by squigglez 2016-08-29T07:14:00

I think I "get" the kind of game you are trying to make.

To really get the max potential out of evolution-based games, it is probably not a good idea to create a unique instance of every possible combination you can get, but rather have them be a product of all the different parameters fed into the organism.

If it is within your ability, creature images should be computer-generated, which a vector or 3D-based medium would be suited for.

(Sorry if I am not wording this clearly)

A viking game by quentinus60 2016-08-29T03:00:00

It is a really simple game, but for what little it provides, it is well-designed to give you many options for how to play the game. Shame my playthroughs only last for about 15 seconds though

Archaic Light by NinjaNic 2016-08-29T06:41:00

Fairly simple and straight forward. Controls definitely did not feel responsive if I wanted to make abrupt turns

I would also recommend creating a visible ground platform so you're not standing on the bottom of the window

No Excavation Needed by PetterBergmar 2016-08-29T04:01:00

I got as far as your third screenshot before I gave up. Overall, this is really good, really solid. My patience only goes so far though, and I am pretty sure you did not purposefully rig the controls to be slightly different for different jumps.

Atlatl Hunter by Zaretsu 2016-08-29T07:43:00

A little funny that mammoths live in the freezing cold while this looks like it takes place in the tropics

Congrats with getting something done and finished!

The Ancients Call by smilewood 2016-08-29T05:21:00

You did it correctly, though my computer seems to not know how to execute .jar files. Otherwise, if it's a jar file you wanted to give people, you did it right

Pax Extraterrestria by t3h_3lyk 2016-08-29T07:28:00

Very difficult. Walking speed is slower than a walk which is very unfitting if I play as a Roman warrior.

As an animator, a suggestion. Before an enemy attacks, so the player is able to make proper decisions to block the attack, it would be ideal if the aliens gave some kind of signal that they are about to shoot.

I could theoretically learn the exact timing that they may shoot, and conserve my limited blocking time this way, but I don't have the patience for this.

Since my block apparently cannot be held for very long, I am basically not given any tools to go through levels and succeed.

I don't have a way to block, I don't have a way to approach my enemy. I don't have a way to play this game.

Highly-Accurate Shepherd Simulator by Pix3M 2016-08-29T07:34:00

@gurkan96 Hmm, I think I know what's going on

Doublechecked my source code, there was this hint given by the old man "Gods appreciate sacrifices of animals in good health!". Basically, sacrificing sheep won't do anything unless it was at 100% health.

I should probably be more clear on that

Roswell by jaxonf92 2016-08-29T07:20:00

Max score was 14. Most of the difficulty I encountered was the arcing of the projectile, especially if it covers a lot of horizontal area reaching a peak height about as high as my spaceship hovers. Even more difficult when tanks are on both sides of the screen which they are capable of shooting projectiles you literally cannot dodge

Pulling people from the ground is also very difficult. Often you have to dodge which means not being able to aim the tractor beam

Fine tuning would benefit this game a lot, otherwise my game plays would last maybe 30 seconds or less

The Eating Machine by ValiaP 2016-08-29T07:00:00

Pffaaahaha, just like QWOP, being amazed at your inability to control something normally easy and intuitive

I like this. The way you put these graphics together is really well-done considering that it's all borrowed from the internet. Music is also absolutely perfect for what this game needed. Thanks for sharing this with the world. Cheers!

Ancient Mars by negativegeforce 2016-08-29T05:14:00

Well, that is a twist ending.

A Fox's Pottery by Pusty 2016-08-29T05:19:00

LMAO I am a little drunk when I fired this game up, I told myself

"What kind of careless mischief can I pull off in this game?"

...

"Well. LOL"

Carp Diem by pogo575 2016-08-29T04:07:00

I usually score 100 or 0. eh. Most of it was fish coming from nowhere with no time for me to react, or that the collisions get confusing and I accidentally swim into a bad position that takes all my health instantly

Blunderbuss by Steven Miller 2016-08-29T05:03:00

Pretty interesting to see early firearms used in a game like this. After the second boss, my fingers definitely need a break

No Man Has Gone Before by KevKevOnFire 2016-08-29T04:16:00

Quickly found it isn't quite the type of game I would enjoy, but I decided to sabotage the trip on purpose, set everything to 0%.

Everyone dies except for one person, heheh, presumably me?

Tech Support, 3162 by KingEthaniel 2016-08-29T04:44:00

I got 11 out of 13 endings, apparently entering in the random numbers you see what makes the aliens angry gives you alternate endings that got almost as far as I did.

Tried pessing random buttons to see if that would trigger a hidden ending, I pressed F2 which restarts the game and brings me back to 0/13 endings

Artifact Hunter by CMLSC 2016-08-29T03:43:00

Level 3, 0 points

Also, why am I dying with full health? (The green thing on the topleft corner?)

God'sPlagueFighter2000BC by MaTeX-7seven 2016-08-29T03:32:00

I would suggest this for its control scheme:

WASD move
Left mouse button places or removes a block
1-4 switches blocks
Space jumps
S launches

Most people are accustomed to using WASD for movement while using the mouse for precision, such as placing or removing blocks in games like these

Mouse and Blade by superpokeunicorn 2017-05-03T20:51:44Z

It feels like a visual clutter when your backgrounds tiles are a similar value so it clashes with your foreground tiles. Controls are also very sticky and stiff. Despite sticky controls, managed to reach the end.

The Taker by Epicsoft 2017-05-03T19:51:29Z

I can't really make heads or tails of the point of the game. I saw a castle, some baddies move towards my castle. Alright.

I can click and drag all my resources on to the map and lag my game. Then I wait for things to die. I can't navigate the map very much. I drag some castles to the edge of my screen and click on them, but my view wouldn't move.

If I'm lucky, I might even get to the next level after spamming my screen

Solar Smash by blacksheepza 2017-05-03T18:49:55Z

Artwork is pretty solid. The color palette is well controlled and looks very professional. Gameplay is very simple, intuitive and got me spending a few more sessions after winning the first time.

A Small Earth by Skywilly 2017-05-02T05:55:56Z

Gave me a smile, but all in all, a game with terrible controls and a random political message to interrupt my experience.

I agree with the sentiment, but I hardly find this entertaining :I

Tomorrow or When the world is not bigger than a house by Versatile Box 2017-05-02T07:05:36Z

I really like this concept. I wanted to do something with a settling like this but went with another idea better suited to my strengths. I think most people should be able to relate with this theme.

Main confusing part is how there's very little feedback that gives you a better idea of how to operate the shower. Otherwise, I like this little game.

Colonize by JustinM 2017-05-03T19:47:47Z

Not very engaging to be honest. The biggest weakness is probably the lack of sound effects to make the use of the UI considerably more engaging. Sound can really help make it more exciting when you get a nice package of wood from adventuring. Otherwise, it's about as exciting as watching a number get bigger

Little bug by Altron 2017-05-03T19:05:20Z

Feels pretty boring, to be honest, and I think it's because of the controls. Controls will feel very clunky and not very engaging when your movements are based on moving a fixed distance if keyboard controls are held down. Smoother controls will typically instead add to your speed instead.

Colorfly by Zelos 2017-05-02T08:06:45Z

The work on the music paid off very well, but I think you've gotten that a million times already. Good work!

Turtle Hero by KillToLive 2017-04-24T02:23:55Z

Played for about 20 minutes and felt there wasn't much more of the game to see. My main dissappointment is how the RNG never gives prices that makes buying and selling a viable source of income

Terra by TheShrug 2017-05-02T05:46:24Z

Lost patience after dying on the 3rd stage three times :/

Since you're emphasizing art, I will also critique the art. One of the biggest things I noticed was Arial type being used in the game. The planet artwork was actually very great - good use of colors, though lack of foreshortening broke the illusion of volume. Resolutions are also inconsistent as one sprite may have fat pixels while others may be rendered at 1:1, which will break the consistency of the art style. Overall, I would rate it at 4/5. Individual sprites are well done, but the graphics in its entirety is not completely pulled together

Escape The Room by Isllael 2017-04-24T01:54:50Z

Couldn't figure it out. I got no farther than the bottom three platforms on this level. After that, I had no idea how to scale the wall to get inside the smaller room in the center. Otherwise, you have a pretty good start for a puzzle platformer game

Lovebug by Pix3m 2017-05-03T06:56:38Z

Thank you all for the feedback, version 1.1 is rebalanced for an easier difficulty - Dragonflies reappear less frequent (the wait time is more than twice as long), and the lilypads are rearranged so the tutorial section cannot be skipped unintentionally.

Bubblenaut by TheFunAttic 2017-05-03T20:12:24Z

I love the interpretation of the theme, hollow planets made of plants, with a watery core. It's amazing to see a professionally made game for Ludum Dare. The artwork is perfect, the music is very well done. I got into a weird infinite falling loop when I was wedged between the thorns and the first elevated platform on the final level though.

Only real flaw is that you guys were very ambitious with this game. As it is, there isn't much content to complement the hard work you guys did on making this look pretty.

FREEDUMB! by Brothers Arcade 2017-05-03T19:20:38Z

I enjoyed the satire, what better than to mock our president by making a game out of how he thinks? Acting on questionable sources of information, and lacking in nuance with an overly simple world view.

I got the "America can't be nuked" bug though