qweentyne

Year	LD	Theme		Game	Division	Rank	Ov	Fu	In	Th	Gr	Au	Hu	Mo	Co
2016	37	One room		The Cheeseless Pizza	jam
2016	35	Shapeshift		Blobs	compo	155	3.65	3.64	3.67	3.97	3.03	3.24	2.72	3.23	82

The Great Transmuter by Yarg 2016-04-19T22:54:00

This was an enjoyable puzzle game.

I think there is a too steep difficulty curve. If you had more time you could have added more level in between the ones that are already there to help us get more familiar with the mechanics before sending in the difficult level.

I was also very slow at understanding that the two shapes + symbol + shape meant that the two shapes had to come in at the same time (I though it was an or). Now I understand, I could have advised you to add à little "+" in between to help slow-brains like me.

Also, in this situation, the symbol is supposed to not change the direction, but since they are two inputs, it picks the direction of one of the two input. Maybe be more clear on the priority order ?

Apart from that, it was very cool. I enjoyed playing the levels and want to try more.

The design is simple but effective.

A level-selector menu would have been perfect.

Good job !

PS : The Web version didn't work for me. Had to use Windows.

The Deronois by Griz 2016-04-21T20:43:00

Very good idea and very good graphics !

And I really mean it ! Especially the graphics, I love this dark detailed pixel art and the particle smoke-ish body, and I think the way you handled the light plays a huge part in this impression.

The gameplay looks promissing, too bad the game was so short.

Some problems happen when you pass the turrets : the bullets bounce on the shield in strange angles, and if you go far enough the turrets shoot themselves.

The physics where very well done. Maybe the jump height is a little low if you want to do some more complex platform movements.

Cool audio, not so good balance thought. Had to listen to the music with high volume, then reduce it to play with the sound effects.

It's really a shame there's so few content.

Anyway, really good job, I would love to play a complete version. Good luck !

shapeshift beat by Allov 2016-04-29T21:24:00

Cool entry ! I also tried making games for previous ludumdares, but never succeed until this one, so congratulations !!! I know how you feel, good job !

Now the game :

Good minimalist graphics, the beating "volume-bar" contributes to the good feeling.
I didn't feel the link between the shape-spawning and the music itself...
The audio is good, once again it adds something.
There is a pause : ++
Good not invasive tutorial.
And finally : original concept !

Some details I don't like in the mechanics :
The horizontal speed is too high and the shape has too much "inertia". Once you pressed left or right, you have to travel at least a quarter of the screen.
The shapes disappear instantly. Having them fade out would remove the frustration of missing one by a split second.

Apart from that is a solid finished entry ! Once again : well done !

Blobs by Liam :D 2016-04-18T12:45:00

Hello !

I ran the game on Windows with resolution 1280x720.

I'm going to start by what is good :
I like the concept, I found playing the game pretty fun.
The graphics are a bit simple, but they're clean.
It's cool to have an animation in the beginning !

Now some problems I encountered. I believe some of them are linked to the platform, and I'll edit my Rating if they are corrected :
I have a very thin blue line at the bottom during the animation (I believe it's due to my resolution, it might be better to change the camera "Background color" to make it less awkward).
I sometimes feel like hitting invisible walls. It's probably because both colliders are squares. It might be a good idea to smooth the corners of the collider attached to the player to avoid those problems.
Sometimes the square shifts colour on it's own.
You have a blue platform that you have to use before learn the colour-shifting key, and your default colour is blue. (Good thing I know how to randomly press buttons).
Loading a screen takes AGES. It might be a good idea to use LoadSceneAsync next time, and have a little loading bar, or something spinning to inform us that the game is loading and didn't crash (and help me be more patient).
I can only do the tutorial. Is that normal ? If I click on "new" (the button under "tutorial") it's the tutorial that loads.
After ending a level, you have a black screen with the time and nothing else... What should I do after ? Nothing happens if I wait. So I press escape. Maybe they are more levels but I can't access them.
And finally, I don't have access the level edit. It remains greyed out.

I wrote a lot of negative things, but if your an optimist it's positive feedback.

Anyway, good job ! I'll come back later to see if some bugs have been corrected.

Stretch Runner by Baknik 2016-04-29T23:12:00

Pretty cool game !

Simple mechanics, easy to understand and get into the game. Correct clean graphics, the obstacles are especially good-looking. The game in itself gets a little repetitive after some time, but that's to be expected (I mean : what ludum dare game doesn't ?). (But you made the game becomes faster and harder the longer you play : it makes the game a lot more interesting, so good job.)

Some comments on the mechanics : I often shift back my ball to it's original size right after passing through a gate, but I still take some damage. I would expect the collisions to be thinner.
Maybe you could have varied the gameplay a little more, like having to get "flat" to pass low gates, because right now if you don't want points you can simply survive using only the thin-form.

The mechanics are global well-done, I'm just trying to pin-point what I feel could be slightly better.

So good job and good luck for your future projects !

IRRADIATOR by AnaglyphCoding 2016-04-30T14:32:00

Really not bad for a 12h game!

Interesting idea, but the game is still "only" a platform-game with something different. I would have preferred something different that is played like a platform-game. Did I lose you?

I would have liked a more strategic aspect. Right now the game is just : rush to get the box then the Apothekium and then the exit. I would have preferred a game where you have to avoid the radiations, scare the animals so they don't get radiations, then grab the box or don't if you don't have time and prefer to use that time to distract the animals... I don't know, I felt the game could have been less main-stream.

There are some display problems when the animals have mutated (or it's normal?), but the graphics are more than okay. They are sound effects, but they are unbalanced and there is no music, so I don't really know what to say.

I hope you'll have more time for your next Jam, seeing what you did in 12h makes me expect a lot for a full 72h!

March of the Wizards by BarkingCat 2016-04-29T11:19:00

Very cool graphics ! The music and sound effects were also pretty cool !

Simple but solid concept. Sadly it gets quickly repetive. A little enemy variation could have helped a little. The game also felt a little slow after some time, the enemies don't come more frequently, and so once you have mastered the art of element-shifting, the game isn't interesting any more.

Very cool wizard-changing effect when you die. Good details (like the wizard changing costume&colour when they change element, not just colour). You should have a little grace period after you die, because if you mess-up at the beginning of a wave, you usually loss another wizard or two.

Anyway : cool small game, good job BarkingCat !

Blob Tales by RaysAndLazors 2016-04-19T13:37:00

Very very beautiful game. Big thumbs up to your graphic designer. The art, animations, everything is top quality.

Good gameplay, it was fun to play. Some little problems when blobs landed on corners made them stuck, so I had to restart the level, but that's okay.

Many different level and they use different mechanics : that's cool, it makes the game far less repetitive.

Some details annoyed me : the game starts paused (I think starting it not paused and having one second of not spawning period could have been better). The back to menu button is also next to the restart en pause/unpause button, so I sometimes clicked on it, and here comes THE problem : Your progress doesn't really save, it's always only the first level that's openable. So one miss-click and you have to restart every thing again.

Correct those problems (The last one mostly) and the game would become awesome !

Congratulations for the team !

Hunters and Hunted by Jadernak 2016-04-30T10:20:00

Finally I finished the game !

It was really fun at the beginning, it started being a little painful after, when you had to restart 4 times to have go enough loot to pass the path on the left of the map.

The music and graphics did a very good job to put you into the game. The blending of the text-box and the map was nicely made. Some extra visual effect could have been cool, (like foot-steps). I think have your ressources always displayed could have helped, and show + and - over them when you find some of them. I also didn't always knew how to reach a certain town, and where had to go first. Maybe a good idea could be that when you hoover a town too fast it shows you the path you should take to reach it ? A "fog of war" could also add a little to the exploration dimension.
Zooming out and being able to drag the map when your not moving could also have been a good mechanic.

I think the game was a little too hard in the sense that due to randomness, you could have awsome suply and food stock one minute, and loose everything by failing a lot of attempts. You could make the randomness more in favor of the player, reduce the randomness range, of artificially make the player less/more lucky depending on his last rolls. Having check point will make the game less frustrating, and you won't have to re-do everything again once you lost.

Apart from that, I was really happy playing a good not-action mouse-based game. The writing was really well done, the story catchy, and there was a pretty big diversity of encounters, and that was awesome.
The resources balanced themself pretty well, and, apart from the raging randomness, the game flow was perfect.

You did a very good job ! You have my respect. I would love to play a longer version.

Alien Shape Shifters by legendpaul 2016-04-18T23:48:00

I couldn't read the windows file (I suppose you need a certain player to read that file).
So I had to download it on Android.

First and most important comment : you can't restart a level (or I haven't found the way). It's very annoying ! I had to restart the game multiples times to be able to test the latter levels, and I had to redo the first levels.
There is also no tutorial. It should be okay because you could fiddle around and find out about how the game works, but since there is the "you can't restart" problem, you're scared of trying new things out.

The concept is interesting, and the controls okay... You could have used the touch screen in a better way I think. Having half the screen taken by buttons is meh.

The graphics' quality is poor, and sometimes feel heterogeneous (the tile style is completely different from the rest for example).

Anyway : First Ludum Dare Game I tried on mobile platform, was worth testing.

I'm Scree! by Jimjam 2016-04-19T18:41:00

Cool game ! The graphics are especially good, and there's audio !

Interesting gameplay. I took some time to figure out that the tentacle can't overlap each other... Made trying to poke humans a little too hard sometimes.
The humans' movements are a bit strange sometimes (feels awkward), and maybe having there cone of vision not instantly flip could lower the frustration in some cases (by having smooth rotations for example).

It's a gameplay that could work very well on touch screen devices.

Sadly, there is no menu (I love menus). I wanted to replay some levels but couldn't. And no quit button... (Details)

Good job !

Maze Runner by varuns 2016-04-19T12:57:00

That feeling when you break the glass.

Antichamber-like shapeshifting.

Some portions load slightly too late, so you can see visually the change, and it breaks the immersion.
And you can't quit the game manually (I think) so you have to play until the game closes on it's own.
And finally, the cursor is displayed when you play... It's very disturbing.

Did I mention I like the sound of the breaking glass ?

Good luck for your latter projects.

The Incredible Vending Machine by Alphish 2016-05-01T02:08:00

Haha! I finally finished the game!

That was actually very very enjoyable. I was sceptical the first 20 minutes, but since you promised it was going to be fun once I play long enough, I kept on playing... I was right to trust you, that was awesome !

I tried both versions, but I'll only give comments on the post-Jam (I only played the Jam version for 15 minutes).

The first twenty minutes were slow. I can completely understand the other players giving up at this point, because you don't understand what's happening, you go back and forth and the game is repetitive. And then : you understand what is happening. I felt very intelligent at that time, then very stupid. The game is then played in a completely different way. Well done ! I had to grab a paper and pen to help myself find the last items.
I think you had a really innovative idea. However, you can't really grasp it unless you had the awkward 15 minutes first try. It's really hard to make the game more accessible without ruining it... I saw you added an indicator in the post-jam version : That didn't really help me, but it was pretty!

The post-jam version was also more colourful, had more images, and you could quickly switch from Newton to Richelle. I was a little scared because you added an animation when you switch page next to Richelle, but it wasn't really bothersome. I was a little confused by the extra buttons on the vending machine too, but it turned out alright. I would have personally have the "start" button be the same as the "reroll", and not on the "accept", but that's my personal choice. It's just that I was often picking items I didn't want at the beginning because my hand clicked on the button again thinking it would make something new appear.

You improved the graphics, but I'm surprised you didn't make a sort of animation when the vending machine presents something, especially during the re-roll. A sort of the-new-item-swipes-the-unwanted-one-down type of thing doesn't seem too complicated and would look nice (I think... I might have bad taste... I hope not...).

The thing that was really a pain when I played was that I didn't know which items I had registered at Richelle's and which I didn't. 3 out of the last 5 items I needed to finish the game where actually items I had already discovered but never added to the library. Having the items automatically registered might be a little overkill, but maybe having a small indicator next to the image (a small "New" in a corner for example) stay until that item type has been registered would make the end-game far less frustrating.

So... I think I wrote enough already...

Very good job! Here, have my lame suggestions! Hopefully they will be a little useful to you in your next builds. If they're not, I will at least wish you good luck!

Sheep Shift by A-Flat Miner Studios 2016-05-09T21:58:00

Very cool and very innoveative game !

I never could have guessed anyone would make a game like this! The idea was very good and worked very well.

Pushing the sheep was sometimes a bit difficult. I didn't feel like barking did anything, I would have expected the "green wave" to push the sheep close enough in the direction your barking... But I didn't notice a difference between scaring the sheeps normally and barking. It could have helped in making some movements less frustrating. (There always is those three sheep that really don't want to help you).

Succeeding a level didn't require have a perfect shape-shift : that was good because it would have been very painful other wise.

The graphics and sounds were well done. Good job to you artist(s). I don't really have anything to say, the sheep are drawn in many different angles, and the music is cool with varied sound effects...

I remember having a level that ended a little too quickly, maybe some shapes aren't rendered like they really are in the code... I don't know, I just remember it felt strange that I already won with so few sheep visually in the right zone.

Good job to this team ! I hope I'll see you again in the next ludum dare !

Werewolf Escape by BSODDevTeam 2016-05-09T20:42:00

Very good graphics and audio. The werewolf transformation was especially awesome.

However, like a lot of people said already : I expected a bit more in the game. I though something was going to happen once I reached midnight... You could have had a change in gameplay : you morph into a werewolf and start eating humans to regain some health. Then you turn back into a human and have to survive the day one more time : that could be make a more diversed game, and the theme would really fit in the gameplay, not just as an excuse.

The physics were okay. The collisions could be a little reworked.
Maybe you should "see" your character get pushed a little (not too much) once he gets hit, because right now it feels as if he's a ghost that doesn't like going through cars.

The game is playable and enjoyable, so I might have been a little harsh in the previous paragraphs. I just wanted to say some things are missing, and where you could improve.

Good luck for the next ludum dare!

Flow by flummox3d 2016-05-02T13:00:00

This was awesome! You had a very very good idea, and you made something awesome out of it.

You made many different levels, there was a good difficulty/complexity curve, and the introduced interesting new mechanics and forced us to use the same mechanics in many different way. I really have nothing to criticize concerning the game play. One level was maybe a little less good then the others, I forgot the number, it's around 17 I think : you just had to move to a lot of water from the top to the bottom just my following a swirly road, so it wasn't difficult but long... That's really just a detail, the level design was very good !

You could have worked more on the graphics and audio, but I suppose you already now that... There was some sound effects, and those were good. The orange-square pushing sound was still played when you pressed against them put couldn't move them, maybe that's not intended ?

You could have made a level selector of some sort...

I really have few things I can criticize. The game was really fun to play through : good job !

Blobs by Swynfel 2016-04-30T15:49:00

Thank you everyone for your feed-back!

I didn't answered before because I wanted to try all of your games before as a proper thank-you, and more and more people wrote comments, so I was a little late... Now I finally caught-up!

@Marsouin : Thank you!

@Yarg : Thanks! I didn't know level 9 could be hard, but I guess the solution seemed a lot more obvious to me since I made the game and played around the shapes for 48h...

@aberdeenphoenix : Thanks, you're right, I should have tried to remove friction and have a jump height depend on the time you pressed the jump key... I could also have been nice and made the spikes' hit-box a little smaller.

@Griz : Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it!

@BarkingCat : Thank you! Since I always played with arrow keys + space + 'e' 'r' 't', I never noticed the controls with "wads" were not very convenient...

@Allov : Thanks! I'm happy you enjoyed the music!

@dwhiffing : Thanks a lot! I really did all I could to make sure I had enough time to play test, make levels, and polish the game.

@Baknik : Thank you! I understood when I let friends play test that I didn't make it clear enough. The number of blobs you have left is actually displayed in the top-right corner. If you didn't know, I understand your frustration.

@guin36 : Thank you very much! I'll reduce the slippery-ness in a post-version. I'm happy you enjoyed your time playing it. The last levels, especially number 14, are hard. I should have made the solution clearer.

@Jadernak : Thank you! My screen-shot was a troll because I didn't want to show the solution, I hope that's not what blocked your inspiration.

@ayewyn : Thanks! I'll spend more time on polishing the physics !

@Pellanor : Thank you! You're right, I completely forgot the reset button... I won't forget next time I make a game that needs one.

@OveRMolo : Thanks a lot! :D

@Daukan : Thanks! I'm glad I manage to keep you playing. And I didn't expect someone to like my drawings, it makes me happy.

@sai_aya : Thank you! We have a winner here. I noticed too late that my last level was a complete fail, and that there was another too simple solution... But I didn't know it was doable with so little blobs...

@Nodari Kobakhidze : Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it!

@kleinzach : Thank you! I guess not everyone dislikes my controls. ^^ I'll give you a tip for level 9 : the bar is 6 blocs long.

@mike.cullingham : Thanks a lot! I agree, the jumps can sometimes require a little too much precision. It's exactly as you said, the rectangle only stretches as far as it can. It was supposed to be used as a game mechanic (but I didn't have time to include it) and it removed some problems (when you shape-shift in a tight spot, the rectangle was slung out of the screen). I might make a walk-through of a more advances version.

@MayankUnreal : Thank you very much!

@AnaglyphCoding : Thanks! I guess puzzle games aren't for everyone (personally I love them, but that's to be expected from someone that made one). Thanks again, your making me blush.

@11Schotter : Thank you! Glad it was fun!

Thanks again to everyone that tried my game!

Blobs by Swynfel 2016-05-09T22:31:00

@BSODDevTeam : Thank you !

@Alphish : Thanks ! Yes, I have to rework the physics, and make less pixel-perfect puzzles. I'll remember to ass a quick restart button next time too! You could restart by pressing escape, select restart (by pressing the down arrow key) and then pressing enter, but I guess that's already too much keys for a game of this type.

@geekguy100 : Thanks a lot! I'm glad you loved it!

@Fantasieleben : Thank you! It is a little similar to your game, but the approach is radically different.

@A-Flat Miner Studios : Thanks! I knew saving time for the level-design and difficulty curve was a good choice. I'll add a restart short-cut next time.

Thanks to all of you that played my game!

VHS WARS by goodbadokay 2016-04-29T23:39:00

Very very good game.

The music is good, the sound effects are good, the graphics are minimalist... but good, the animations/effects are good, the game flow is good... really, everything is good !

There even is a pseudo-boss battle regularly.
The gameplay is not-so-linear-but-maybe-a-little. The shape-shifting theme is well used and the fact that you have to shape-shift to heal is an interesting mechanic.

Some details you could correct if your a perfectionist, you have time, and your willing to listen to a person with bad tastes (me):
When your really low on life, the distortion effect is too invading (the effect is awesomely awesome by the way). You don't really see what's happening any more, that's a shame.
The triangle feels really a lot more un-easy to play than his circle and square buddy (mainly because he shoots in unusual angles). Maybe have it move a little faster to compensate ?
You don't really have to change shape unless your in bad shape (sorry), so maybe a mechanic that makes switching cool even when you're healed could (maybe eventually) be a good idea ? Like you have a sort of "bomb" that gets reloaded every 4 pentagon collected. If that's the case, maybe leave a certain time between collected and re-spawning (or not, it's your choice).

Anyway ! I wrote a lot of crappy ideas, but I wanted to write stuff to thank you for making such a game. So thank you and keep up the good work !

Sculpt Master by LimeniusTeam 2016-04-18T23:40:00

I really liked this game !

The concept is very innovative and it was very fun to play. It had a good game feel and all, too bad it was so short. Good difficulty peaks.

The art is simple and clean : no display problem or big pixels. The different displayed colour match each other pretty well. Those minimalist graphics might be a little dull sometimes, but I like it.

A music could have made it a little better.

The "pluses" and "minuses" are sometimes a little off-centered.

You're a little lost at the beginning (at least I was). A first scene where you can fiddle around could have been a good idea. You feel stupid when you lost half your lives on the first level.

Maybe add a little period of time before you can place shapes to understand what is happening. The hardest is always using the first shape, because you have to plan out all the other shapes. The following placements are easy.

But those are minor details.

Well-done !

Rectomancer by mike.cullingham 2016-04-30T13:46:00

Really really cool idea.

Most of the shape transformation were really smooth and really well done, the speed shifting gives you is a super cool idea. However, sometimes it has a weird behaviour, which is sad because apart from that it was perfect : once it finishes transforming into a horizontal rectangle, if you touch it you're slung horizontally (sometimes it kills you...) I also think that the area of effect of the slinging in general (even when it's correctly happening) is a little too big.

They are some displaying problems when the rectangles shape-shift, but that's minor.

The graphics where really well done, especially the wizard, but not only. Maybe make some tiles instead of the blackness, and it would be awesome.

The controls were very responsive (cool !) but the jump was a little too slow... Once you're in the air you stay their too long (I think). Maybe you could increase the gravity a little and give the wizard a higher jumping power ? It would make the game a little more dynamic, and the player will stop feeling like his controlling a real grand-pa.

I criticized a lot but this game was actually very fun to play. Very good level design I think : you made a lot of different puzzles with a simple (but well executed) mechanics.

Congratulations for this game, I hope you'll continue working on it!

LabRadDog by MoreRPG Team 2016-04-30T23:43:00

Cool game...

I wasn't as desperate as the other players concerning the controls. It could have been better, but it was okay for me.

The different point of view of the animals was awesomely awesome. It really makes your game stand out.

I think the floor and walls are missing a little texture, because you don't always feel like your walking, because it has the same colour.

Some collisions were very strange. Maybe the animal is too small, because you can fit in very thin gaps, even when your a dog. When you jump (especially the cat) and you land on a fin gap, you drop to the ground... It's really strange.

I think the game also lack a little indication on where you should go. I like exploring, but I regularly felt completely lost, not knowing if the next room was really ahead or if I was the wrong way. The room disposition wasn't linear, so you should be more clear on what is the correct way. Especially the last room : I really though I was in the wrong place, because there seemed to be a invisible wall (I understood later that it was actually supposed to be glass). I was lucky to find the solution accidentally looking for food.

Speaking of food : the food is never reset, but you can shape shift as much as you want. That can create situation were you're stuck, and that's a bad thing. So I decided to shape-shift as little as possible, only when it was absolutely necessary. It's a good thing you wanted to limit the frequency of shape-shifting, but not too much, because it's a big mechanic of the game. You should have had food that re appears when you die, after a certain time, or have a reset-room button. It will avoid this problem, and I could have played around with the mechanics how I wanted without preventing me from progressing.

Funny jumping-effects and flea "foot"-steps. I would have loved a little more, but I always want more so it's not really your fault.

Good job to you three!

PS : I really love the LabRadDog logo! That's what made me click on your game.

SHAPEshiftSHIFTshape by aberdeenphoenix 2016-04-20T22:23:00

Cool !

When I first saw the shift&Z switching triangle, I felt like I was going to die.

It turned out okay ! I had awesome one digit-scores in my first tries, but once I got used to it, it felt great.

Interesting idea. And it was actually very addicting (I got a score of 939. Not very related, I just wanted to brag). A little frustrating sometimes (often) when a door and a enemy come at the same time, but the player can live with it (good job making a door fail not instant death).

Having to be in the opposite of an enemy to beat him is a good idea. Makes your brain melt in the first few minutes).

There was audio and particle effects : Cool !

A little repetitive after a few try, and the game play is limited... But I played your game anyway, strange...

Good job !

Dawn of the Shapeshifter by Daukan 2016-04-19T13:21:00

Simple gameplay, but effective. The gameplay has some problem : You don't know what enemies your effective against, you can't see the back of enemies, enemies can change direction anytime (linked to the "can't see the back" problem), you spawn surrounded by enemies, the yeti feels useless (sorry yeti), etc...

The death is also visually strange (you keep on playing a little with negative life...)

But all of that can be improved by spending more time on the game.

I think this game has potential. With a little more work and polish it could be pretty cool.

PS : Good thing you're healed between stairs.

Stellar Pendulum by dwhiffing 2016-04-29T21:54:00

Wow ! This game was sooo cooool !

It's very innovative and it feels very polished. It "felt" very good just spinning the ball around like an idiot. Congratulations on the mechanics !

The graphics are simple, but not ugly. Pleasant "trace" visual effect. Maybe you could have either filled or removed the inside of the grey circle, the end of the rubber-band-like segment is displayed and it's not perfect (it's a details, because there isn't any big reproachable problem).

Maybe losing is a little bit too brutal ? Just showing a "fake" elasticity could have help (you show 100% force when you're actually spinning at 90%). It would make the snapping feel less random.

Good thing the next spawning locations are shown. Good "after-death" "animation" (the star bouncing feels good, it lowers your rage)

So simple but (very) pleasant game : good job ! It might be simple, but since I played for so long it means you have done your work !

Cat Tapper by jirrev 2016-05-02T21:57:00

This game has awesome graphics, music, sound effects and they are no bugs or anything.

However, sadly, what's missing is the gameplay in itself. I know I'm not really into idle/clicking games, but even if you are a adept of the genre, I think you expect a little more than just clicking...

You added a "random" aspect to the spawning cats. That was a good idea, because most of the clicking games always have the same enemies, just with different sprites. You had a LOT of sprites, and random levels / life : that made the game more diverse. However, it was not always so balanced, especially in the beginning.
I would have liked a few upgrades, and a "story" in the sense that giving ramen to Pumpum (that's his name?) could actually make him say more things on the universe (or something). The game really feels uni-dimensional right now.

It's really a shame for the gameplay, because your team knows how to make cool art, and a very polished game (the help/tutorial was awesome, even the "credits" rocked).

I hope you to see your team again for the next ludumdare, and if so I hope you make a game of a genre I like more!

THE SHAPELINGS by Fantasieleben 2016-05-09T22:23:00

Pretty cool game.

Interesting ideas. I think the player had a too limited amount of shapes to choose from (two other than the circle isn't much). A least all the forms have distinct roles.

Some level resolutions seemed a little too random to me. The shapes can sometimes push the squares/triangles and make them fall down a pit, or the circles don't always gain the same speed once the pass over a triangle : that can be very frustrating. All levels depend on some luck. You could have made the triangles/squares un-pushable if they're on ground, on remove the default physics while launching a circle, it could have made the game more determinist.

On level 4 (I think ?) When I clicked on the "reload" button, I was sent back to the first level... I was a little irritated.

Good game nonetheless. Could be a lot better with some polishing. Good job!

Hasardeux by Llucile 2016-04-19T23:14:00

Cool ! Was interesting to play.

It was a bit simple, but it's already impressive for a one day work (makes me jealous).

Very straight-forward mechanisms, and even though it's simple it creates many different possible scenarios. Interesting isn't it ?
"When you're bigger = the harder it gets" is a good thing, but you could play this game indefinitely once you mastered the art of absorbing small circles. Maybe make the game harder and harder ? Having less colour after a certain time ? Spacing the circles more and making them smaller ? Making weaker regeneration ? (You're the designer)

Sometimes the randomized spawning circles spawned in the wrong places (that means right next to me / on me while being are the same colour as me), and so it can be a little frustrating, but I guess that's why you called it Hasardeux !

Good Job ! And good luck for your other jam's results (I'm sure it's a good game as well)!

Shape Switch by stefvanschie 2016-04-19T07:25:00

Cool game.

The puzzles are simple and there's too few, but it can already be interesting sometimes.

Some details that you should correct for next time :
The filedialog box in the beginning is confusing, and it opens every time. You could have openned the dialog box only when you want to save or load, and have the default path be where the file is (more handy I think).

Also, I didn't find a return button (kind of annoying if you accentually opened the tutorial, or clicked on "load file" when you don't have a save).

Maybe a camera that follows the player could have been cool ?

But the game was interesting !

And I don't think the tutorial should be mandatory, you can understand most of the game by playing.

Good luck for your next ludum dares !

Genre Hopper by kleinzach 2016-04-30T13:26:00

Interesting gameplay !

The idea was great. It's not really the right theme but as long as it inspired you it's cool !

This game could have been a lot more fun if less enemies popped, because the beginning is already hard, and after a few second you're bound to be overwhelmed by the amount of enemies (especially the ufos).
Speaking of the ufos : they're far too hard to kill. The only way to reach them is to use the astranaut, but he jumps a little too high, and his bullets are too weak. You need to jump and shoot correctly 3 times to kill one, that's already hard, but during that time 3 or 4 other ufos spawn : it's better to ignore the ufos than to try to kill them. A little more effective solution I found is jump with the astronaut and switch to knight in mid-air to be able to inflict more dammage. That's still hard and not effective enough. Killing ufo is even harder than that because if you land on an enemy, you can't jump, you have to go on the ground : ufos are too hard to kill.
So the best stategy to have a high score right now is not kill ufos and shoot with the cow-boy, maybe switching to the knight. Balancing the ufos can quickly make the game more fun and diverse.

The game is missing some audio (especially music), but the graphics are well done for most parts. The catapult's bullet is the only thing that I think doesn't fit.

Good job ! I look forward to you polishing the game.

Relec Hunter by geekguy100 2016-05-09T21:05:00

Hey !

Interesting game. You spend time putting audio, that's cool.

The graphics were okay... The shape-shifting power-up trophies were pretty, but the ground tiles were a bit too harsh for eyes, probably due to the fact that it's always the same repeating itself. Some little variation and a change for the top tiles (a soft surface, you see what I mean ?...) could make it better.

The worms had a ok AI, however, once there one you, you can't jump (they're so heavy). You never mind the 10 health points, if your in a hole, you're doomed.

The shape-shifting was used to open doors... But only to open doors (or maybe pass under low ceiling). The really felt like "keys" more than "powers", which is sad. The shapes could have done something "more" (I think).

I also had a bug : once I got the triangle, I tried to get back a the beginning. However, I jumped against the wall and zblam I was inside it. A worm was over me (and I still took damage although I was below ground), so I moved to the left and... I fell into nothingness... For eternity (poor astronaut).

So that really sucks... Maybe you could check that is the player's y position is close enough to -infinity (like -4), you could reappear over the ground? That was too much for me I stopped the game there, I didn't want to redo the beginning.

The game felt a little slow. Some passages where just too long and nothing happened. I think you tried to make too bigs maps with just too few mechanics.

I'm done talking. So good job, good luck for your next work.

Literal Shifting by RoboOggy 2016-04-19T12:39:00

I... What did I just play ?

This was unexpected !

Awkward feeling, but it was fun to play.

Two big bugs :
- You sometimes fall into the void for an infinite amount of time.
- The jump command works only sometimes.

So I made a script that spams the 'space' when you press 'c' (Here for those that have trouble jumping :
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/p24tng32aft82wu/SpaceSpam.exe). It made playing the game a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Also, I wouldn't advise you to have a mouse-based "menu" when the rest of the game is keyboard.

Cool thing to have a "Cinematic" at the end. Also very funny graphics and especially the music made the game stand out.

Good job !

Morpheus Triad by 11Schotter 2016-04-30T15:14:00

Wow !

I'm really impressed with the music and graphics. I have nothing to say, your art is top quality.

I knew I shouldn't have clicked that button. I knew I shouldn't have clicked it a hundred times...

Two things, once corrected could make the game a lot better :
Make "checkpoints", or do something to show your going the right way. I was often feeling lost, not knowing if I was really going the right way (I was, but I didn't knew).
The "falling". Once you fall, you can still walk, and so you don't really know if you're alive or not. If you can go on a platform quickly enough your saved, but if your not, you "walk" below... It's really strange... I would have liked a clearer death, and not this awkward drop thing.

I also noticed that you could shoot things to kill the innocent music animals. I think it could have been interesting to use that mechanics more, because you can completely do the game without it, and you're never told you can use it.

You could have made more complex levels. Your game works very well, it would have been cool to stretch the limits of the game by having more than just walking almost-straight and switching colour, because your game can obviously do so much more.

Big congratulations to the team !

Oops! My Dear is a Deer by Remdiky 2016-04-19T13:07:00

Very good art ! Cool animations and "shapeshifting" transition

No bugs or anything, that's good too.

Also interesting gameplay, although randomness sometime kills the pleasure a little.

Good job.

Pellanor's Shapeshift Game With A Terrible Title by Pellanor 2016-04-19T00:09:00

Interesting game.

I didn't have problems with the shift control.

Good concept. You had to die to understand what is happening, but since death isn't punishing it's okay.

What is the red bar for ?

A little text/image telling us what the controls are could have been cool. The player is smart enough to test them (and it would have helped me, because I had to stop my play session to read it).

By the way, is there a simple way to stop the game on windows ? By spamming buttons I opened the console and then typed "quit", is there is a simpler way ? By the way you shouldn't be able to open the console in a finished product normally.

The physics could be a little better. And the graphics are a little "flat".

Good luck on your future work.

Fixing Sparks by fairwolf games 2016-04-19T19:02:00

Good job !

I really liked the "flow" of the game. The pace, difficulty and new body parts made the game never boring. I was into it until the very end, was it definitely worth playing.

The physics are strange sometimes. You either go left or right at a fixed speed depending on the last key you pressed (or none if you touched the ground). A little more "acceleration"-like movement could have been better. (Hard to control and feels unnatural).

The graphics are cool. I like the "clean" aspect of the scene (although the floor-tiles feels awkward to me), and the swaggy many different hand-drawn animations.

ShapeShift by Doombox 2016-04-18T22:30:00

This game is pretty. I loved the simple menu, and the end-level box.

The camera movements are pretty well done (it makes the game so much more dynamic). However, since the position on the active camera decides how the wasd-keys impact the cube/ball, it can be very annoying sometimes, especially on thin platforms.
Another problem is the game-feel and the physics : I feel like there is way too much inertia. When I press a key, I feel the consequence a second latter and I already want to change direction. Combined with the camera problem, its extremely annoying.
And the moving-carpet-thingy behaviour is bugged. It makes the cube behave tilt, and slings the ball at the speed of light.

Apart from those comments (that should be considered positive feedback), if found the aspect and graphics cool (once again I like the camera-handling).
There is so many levels, something we don't see enough in Ludum Dares.
The scene loading is smooth, I like it.

Congratulations to the team !

Connected-Souls by MayankUnreal 2016-04-30T14:15:00

Interesting game, very good for a first game and first ludum dare game!

You hand-drew everything : impressive!

The game-play in itself isn't always perfect. You hit obstacles or spikes even when you seem to be far enough. There is no checkpoints and so some levels where painful (especially n°3, when you had to restart everything every-time).
Sometimes their is two paths, and one of them is a troll, you get stuck and can't move any further. Since you did that, can you at least include a restart button? I was stuck in level 2 and had to restart the game and redo level 1.

The controls are little slow, especially the transformation and the movements of the bird. Since you can't slow down the bird, it's controls should be very precise.

At first I though that the bird is way better than the boy, and so that I didn't need the latter, but you proved me wrong ! Your level design forced the use of both, so good job you didn't fall into the trap.

There also is a lot of different types of enemies (like I kind of mentioned in the last paragraph). That's a good thing : just pay a slightly more attention on the coherence. Two different enemies sometimes have too different sprites (the spikes are unicoloured and pixelized, unlike the rest ; or the vacum-cleaner-heads look like they have slaughtered thousands of birds, while the rest of the obstacles are clean).

Apart from that : very good job for a first try, I hope you'll submit more in the next ludum dares!

Space Morphers by OWi Games 2016-04-18T21:47:00

Rha this, game had a lot of potential... But it's so short !

The idea was not very original, but it is was still enjoyable to play the short demo.
I'm sure you could have made more puzzles, but right now each form feels a little one-dimensional.
I'll look into your finished version later.

I think you spent too much time on the tile screen... It looks cool, but I would have preferred more levels.
The physics could be changed a little (the high-jumping-creature's jump feels... awkward). And maybe a jump height that depends on how long you pressed the space key ?

The graphisms are unbalanced in quality. Some things like the title screen, the ship, the energy particles, or the "form selector" (the thing in the top-right corner), look cool, but for the doors, the creatures, and the tile set, it's... not pretty. A simple tile variation could ease my eyes a little for example.

Anyway : Congratulations for this game and good luck in improving this game and for your future projects.

Shapeshift into a Rabbit ! by Marsouin 2016-04-19T22:30:00

Good game,

Good game-feel, but I don't feel like I have enough time to avoid new spawning zombies. It also gets a little repetitive (even if you varied the weapons), and you quickly give up on restarting from the beginning if you died in a late level.

Apart from that the game is very polished. Good music, animations, graphics, sound effects, and all of that.

I'm just very very sceptical about the theme usage (and I don't seem to be the only one).

Good job !

DYEL by ayewyn 2016-04-30T11:29:00

Cool little game.

You should have worked more on the balance and progress curve. The beginning is a little slow, but right after you can buy everything in no time.

Very responsive "clicks", and okay graphics. The different lifting animations is a good idea. However there hardly is any difference in gameplay when you switch (or I didn't notice). Maybe have the muscles increase depending on what you did ? Or give different "money" ? I don't know...

The game feels a little empty for a game made for a jam. Having the game a little more balanced, having unlock-able upgrades, or including a little variation could have helped, but it's hard to make a idle game stand out.

Good luck for your future games !

DNA Madness by OveRMolo 2016-04-19T12:07:00

Very cool ! And very interesting concept !

Good little variation in the gameplay by having the DNA move. It could have been a little more varied maybe.

The pieces where sometimes a little hard to grab, but since they attached themself so smoothly it's okay !

The only one big problem (for me) is handling the screen resolution. I had to try a couple of them before finding one that doesn't cut of the top. Also, since your game is "vertical", it could have been a good idea to impose certain resolutions that you tested and you know that work, and that don't show empty areas. And a vertical game window is original and cool.

Cool little graphics when you succeed/fail (#goatnicorn). Made me smile.

Good job !

Neon Shapes by Srednuht 2016-05-09T23:19:00

Pretty addicting game!

Very simple concept but it works very well! Very addicting especially with the leader boards! :3 (My nickname is Bamboo, I finally got the top score!)

Some things could be corrected to improve the "game-feel" :
Apart from the green colour nothing indicates that you have passed a barrier / when you pass that barrier. It feels very un-precise.
Also, sometimes, when you press a shape-shifting key you don't actually shape-shift. Maybe it's my keyboard ? So I had to double tap the keys when I had to change shape to reduce to amount of fails I did. I don't know what could cause it... Maybe it's because I try to shape-shift right after I moved ?

The game was also a little laggy for a game of this type. I also noticed you changed level based on time : when the game froze long enough, a level could last only a third of it's usual length. It can be a little frustrating, luckily the first level don't give out so much points.

The graphics where not that bad! It's just that when you "pass" a barrier, you actually just have over-lapping sprites, which is not that pretty (and doesn't feel right... it kind of pulls you out of the game).

It could have been fun (and difficult) to try and synchronise the music and the patterns. You could also have varied the speed at which the shape come (like once every half-second, than one and a second pause, and again once every half-second... this type of thing, you could then have those "half-seconds" synchronised with the music).

Anyway : good job and good luck for your future work.

Chess Brawler Legendary Console Edition by TCD 2016-04-18T13:03:00

Had to play on a limited-width console. Was painful.

Anyway !

First of all congratulations for posting a game ! :)
And very... innovative concept.

Making a console based game isn't easy, and yours feels kind of... empty. I don't really know what is the point of the game and it is very repetitive.
Understanding the game mechanics through the "tutorial" was also hard. I didn't really understand what I should do until I actually failed multiple times.
Also, your game is only for windows, and my windows console is limited in width. Try to have a game that ports to more platforms.

Good luck for your next games !

ChickLife by Nodari Kobakhidze 2016-04-30T12:09:00

Good job for a 24h hour game !

The game feels unfinished (and it is apparently, since it's missing 3 levels).

Two very important things I think you should rework to make the game more enjoyable :
The collisions - You should have chose a square or circle shaped collider for you chick. Sometimes it feels as if it follows the shape of the sprite : that's not really good for performance (for a small 2D game that's actually not really a problem) ; and for game play : when I missed my jumps, I sometimes stayed stuck on the edge on a platform, surviving thanks to my belly, but couldn't jump or go any further (I had to commit suicide).
The horizontal movement - Your chicken doesn't know how to slow down! Once you pressed left or right, you chicken will keep on running for a while. You should add a faster "slow-down" when no key is pressed : on each update, if the chicken is on the ground, and no horizontal key is pressed, divide the speed by a value close to one (1 + updatetime*something) /or/ set the horizontal speed to (rightKeyPressed-leftKeyPressed)*speed (a bit too violent I think). Do something like that, because right now it feels like the chicken is on very slippery ice.

Some other things that could make the game better :
Add animations (you planned on doing it but couldn't, I understand), effects (particle effects following the chicken, hen, or egg for example), and visual indicators. I don't really know where I re-spawned most of the time because all the platforms look identical. Add a palm-tree here and there, dry grass, etc... Could be cool.
More graphics in general would be could. Be careful of not-so-compatible colours. (I'm thinking of the desert level where the chicken's bright yellow, the orange of sand in the background and the platforms' brown don't go so well. Try taking either colours that are far enough from each other, or take colours with the same "hue" and close "saturation".
Reduce the length of the not difficult parts. Sometimes you have to get from one "puzzle" to another, and you have empty horizontal platforms : remove some of them. It will make the game more dynamic. It's also true for the end of the second level, where you have to run for a month (measured it) to reach the end.

I felt like you had a lot of very good varied idea, but it wasn't correctly executed. I saw variation in gameplay (the hen part for example was very good) and it was cool.

Good job to you two ! I wish you good luck on your future projects ! I hope you'll be able to spend a full 72h for the next ludum dare.

Shapeshiftmaze by duenschnlate 2016-04-18T22:05:00

This game has a cool concept ! But it lacks a lot of polish. The menu selector for example is not very pretty...

Another thing that could be improved is be able to select your shape order on the same screen as where you play the level. It that case you can think and order the shapes at the same time, and if you failed the level, the order shouldn't be reset.

Good ideas are present (having to go back to change to the right shape, +1 shapes, doors etc...) but sometimes (level 4 - if finished it by just walking strait) you should watch-out for overly-simple solutions you didn't expect.

Congratulations for submitting a game and good luck for future ludum-dare-s.

Town by guin36 2016-04-30T00:43:00

Hey !

Cool game. I can understand this type of game isn't for everyone, but I was very happy to get to play something "different" for a ludumdare.

The gameplay could be reworked a little (too long distance between certain villagers, strange collisions), and your own assets would have been a lot lot better. I understand you didn't have time, but it would have improved my impression a lot. But it's true making very cool sprites that have impact are hard to make along the rest of the game in 72h.

Cool story, but I expected the "plot twist". I still cried at the end.

Thank you for this experience, it was completely worth my time. Good luck for your next works.

Make your Queen happy by Rafos Games 2016-05-02T22:16:00

Yo!

Very cute game! And pink!

Very innovative mechanic, I think I have never played anything of the sort (or I can't remember).

However they are some problems, because those last-millisecond-shapeshifts where extremely annoying !

Maybe you could have stopped the random shape shifts during the last second? I also think there was too much time : what you do in the beginning is more or less useless.

I also saw that clicking on already-correct shapes didn't do anything : you could have been a little more evil and made them shape-shift back to a wrong shape, it would the "I'm just clicking randomly" strategy (which is actually pretty effective).

The game also gets a little repetitive after a while. I saw that once you have too few shapes, they start randomly moving : very good idea! This could have maybe been done a little better, by preventing the shapes from overlapping, and/or having the shapes "move" instead of teleporting (you could have had them bounce around : so much fun!) That allowed a change in the game pace which was cool !

You could also have different times of "mini-games" in the same theme to make the game less repetitive : some rounds, the shapes are all blue, and you have to find the single one that is the same shape as the queen, in a very limited
amount of time. Unfortunately, that only works with a lot of shapes.

Anyway: Good job and good luck for your next ludum dare!

Swynfel

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Comments by Swynfel

LD35 — Shapeshift