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QXD-me

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCmCo
201326MinimalismAnother Day In The Lifecompo10372.691.872.603.293.442.722.053.0080
201122AloneForever Alonecompo6052.001.592.323.212.292.431.633.251.9469

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 QXD-me

LD22 — Alone

Abandon by Acheron 2011-12-21T10:41:00

Decent idea, very nice looking (I didn't even really mind the untextured stuff, except the friend at the end), good level design, I felt fairly alone (I think the background helped a fair bit with that) but movement speed and mouse sensitivity were too high and the ending was pretty unsatisfying. Also, I don't think it's wise to lock the mouse cursor on right click, let me full screen it properly since playing framed by a webpage removes a fair bit of immersion.

Below by OddOneOut 2011-12-21T14:37:00

Nice, it's like the cube bits of portal just without the portals.

The lack of music and sterility of the visuals also work very much in it's favour and help set the mood appropriately.

Good job!

Garbage Hero by HighQuality 2011-12-23T18:21:00

Has basically nothing to do with the theme, but it's quite a nice little game. I especially like the way the ship moves in a slightly unusual way (as far as I could tell). In terms of balancing it takes a bit too long to get interesting - at the start most of the time is spent waiting for stuff to appear so you can collect it. Good start to a game, but not much in its current state.

3 Missing, 4am by Sophie Houlden 2011-12-19T13:07:00

Something about the atmosphere didn't quite grab me, maybe it could have done with some ambient background music or something? Also, searching for batteries and to a lesser extent turning on the generators felt a little arbitrary and forced rather than being part of the game world since they actually didn't provide that much benefit (well, the batteries did, but why would they be scattered around like that?).

On the other hand, nice animation, good lighting - I especially liked seeing the glow of the generators a little way off and being drawn to them like a moth - and I think that the overall concept was pretty good too.

Overall a pretty nice game (especially considering the time limit).

ForeverAloneKitten by Snowflower 2011-12-20T18:22:00

Interesting idea, but perhaps a bit ambitious for 48hrs. It seems like you could have done with more time to work on making it more coherent.

The Break by tayron 2011-12-19T18:02:00

Feedback:

The platforming is very buggy. Flying up into the air occasinally, hanging on walls (I assume that wasn't intentional since it holds no utility), maybe some other stuff.

The theme seems to have very little to do with your game other than minor aesthetic choices such as some backgrounds and the music. The backstory seems completely irrelevant to the game itself, you may as well have said here's two people going on a break, here's a seperate 2d platformer. Picking up the portraits doesn't count since these may as well have been keys. The jumping around as a whole didn't seem to be explained anywhere (I didn't reach the end because I got bored - I've played enough 2d platformers in my life - so maybe it gets explained later).

The frustrating trial and error platforming also clashes quite a bit with the atmosphere.


The platforming (apart from the bugginess) was pretty good, I quite liked the backgrounds and the music was really nice so this isn't too bad, but no innovation or real theme fitting and clashing aesthetics and interaction.

Soliloquy by ratking 2011-12-21T15:58:00

Interesting idea, but the splitting hurts my eyes, am I supposed to always be seeing both views even when I control only one? Seems pretty fun, but I don't think it's that strongly relevant to the theme. I like the visual style.

Sanity by shard123 2012-01-07T17:35:00

The controls are really bad and I don't really understand why I'm walking around shooting things - it's not very representative of an internal mental struggle (well, maybe the bad controls are).

On the other hand it doesn't look too bad, though the lack of a player walking animation was off-putting (players will spend most of the time looking at their avatar in a 3rd person game so make sure that looks good). The music and sounds were also pretty good, but the random loud noises in the music seemed a bit... amateur perhaps??? Overall I thought the sound was fairly good though.

Leaf me Alone by AyCe 2012-01-07T17:47:00

Most amusing entry I've played. It was reasonably fun, the sound (in the post-compo version) fit the mood quite well, graphics were more representative than good and I can't really see how it fit the theme.

A good attempt for 48 hrs.

Oh yeah, also there was a bit of information overload at the start of the game and I couldn't really remember it all. It would have been better to have introduced the information gradually (if possible).

5 DAYS by matthias_zarzecki 2011-12-21T18:20:00

Very well done. I'm not sure what else to say about it.

2011 : TDWIWEEHF by samueldr 2011-12-24T16:49:00

A good start. It looks great and plays nicely as well. I even felt a little bit of atmosphere showing through despite the short length. I found the music a little bit too abrasive and it started to give me a headache - it probably wasn't entirely the fault of the game though since I've been spending a lot of time over the past few days at my computer.

Leave Me Alone by SaiKai 2011-12-23T20:43:00

Probably the most fun game from this LD I've played so far (at least of those I can remember). It looks reasonably nice, though I think that I kept dying without realising because there were some objects that I thought were in the background that actually weren't. Good music/sound. Fits the theme, not in a particularly interesting way, but better than most that I've played.

Extreme Outdoor Survival by wolfmerchant 2011-12-20T18:25:00

Has potential, but isn't really anything in and of itself.

Circle by RichMakeGame 2011-12-21T15:34:00

It's a shame you didn't get to finish as this seems pretty interesting. The atmosphere kind of worked, but kind of didn't - I think I could have done with a little more context or backstory to draw me in (the lack of which is understandable given the time constraints).

A Gravekeeper by downsider 2011-12-21T01:34:00

Slick platforming, nice graphics, but the lack of music/sound brought it down a bit and I didn't really feel very alone while playing it.

Slot Machine by Nonakesh 2011-12-22T14:42:00

Starts out very well, the mood and atmosphere are excellent and it was a very interesting world to explore.

On the negatives: the sign with a cat's head on it took away from the atmosphere a bit - not hugely, but it certainly didn't benefit your game to have it. It could also have done without the platforming, I actually didn't get past that part since I gave up after a couple of attempts. In your post-mortem you list not being able to implement lots of gameplay as "what went wrong" but really that should be in "what went right" since the ideas you propose would almost certainly have destroyed the atmosphere and mood you created with this game.

The Chosen by Balooga03 2011-12-21T10:56:00

Music and visuals really help create an interesting atmosphere that stands out but, I think because I'm really tired right now, it took me quite a while to figure out what I was supposed to be doing and when I did I didn't feel compelled to finish.

I think I might come back and play this later though.

The Sheep & The Peach by Michelle Sleeper 2011-12-19T22:13:00

Probably my favourite of the, admittedly few, entries I've tried so far. I'm impressed that you managed to get me to care about the sheep at all in such a short amount of time.

My only criticisms would be invisible walls are bad and Unity's default gui buttons look kinda out of place, otherwise very nice.

Frostbite by saint11 2011-12-29T12:59:00

Very good. I'm not sure why you say it might be too pretentious though, it's not at all pretentious.

A dark dream by 0x64 2011-12-29T14:42:00

I played on windows and I suspect the controls seem better on a phone.
So saying, I don't think you should reduce the confusion, or make it easier, I don't even think you should have explained in the introduction how to progress (luckily I didn't read them closely enough to realise that you did). I think the confusion really adds to the mood.

I really liked the absoluteness of the darkness combined with the minimality of light you could produce and the sense of hopelessness that produced. I think that was an excellent mechanic and I found the game quite fun overall.

I also found the ending quite humorous/ironic, well maybe not ironic I can't quite think of the word I'm trying to say. It was certainly a nice use of reflexivity that made me laugh.

Perhaps I'm just sadistic though?

Trapped by zanders3 2011-12-19T17:36:00

Godd work so far, here are some impressions I had while playing.

Could do with some sound.

You can walk through pillars.

Due to the scene layout I actually felt more claustrophobic than lonely. In fact, I was too busy feeling claustraphobic to feel at all lonely, even if I was technically anlone. I think it would probably have worked better if the scene were more sparse to emphasise the aloneness, rather than loads of really small rooms where I spent most of my time. Looking at the screenshots it seems there may be some areas that I didn't reach which did a better job of this.

Also, is there an end? I just got stuck after a while.

http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/Screen-lockCursor.html
^^For next time.


Nice job on the graphics though and I think the concept could work quite well.

Welcome to TheCity by ncannasse 2011-12-20T15:46:00

Pretty good idea, good presentation and fits the theme well.

The only real problem is that it didn't keep me interested enough to stick with it after being told to find more terminals/stars.

I Need Someone by Tony Coculuzzi 2011-12-21T15:16:00

It looks very nice and the "plot" seems to fit the theme reasonably well. I especially like certain aspects such as the voice which is atypical for videogames, the fact that you fight with a stick and that the enemies look somewhat like spirits, all of which add a lot of subtext and make it more interesting.

I don't really get why you're smashing graves though, or why they break into the shape of body parts. I think there's also too much emphasis on fighting the black spirit things towards the end. Otherwise very good.

Present Continious by Taugeshtu 2011-12-20T16:07:00

Interesting. I think our interpretations of the theme were perhaps somewhat similar (though there are some key differences), but our attempts to express it were quite different.

I like the idea of the podcast, but I'm not sure how it was supposed to fit in. Was the player character supposed to be saying it? Listening to it? Was it supposed to be more abstract and a commentary on the game itself? It was also pretty hard to understand.

I'm interested to see what you do in future.

Present Continious by Taugeshtu 2011-12-21T01:25:00

That looks pretty cool. I'll be keeping track of it.

Quiet City by Leverpastej 2011-12-20T15:18:00

It's the enemies from that episode of Dr. Who!

It's a fun games, but the graphics aren't great and it would have been a lot more effective with some sound.

I also don't think it fits the theme too well since, by the nature of the gameplay, you're always very aware that you're not alone and something else is there. Admittedly, they're hostile and presumably alien, but their presence is always felt (which is actually what makes the game so intense).

Nihil by vibgyor 2011-12-24T16:34:00

I think this is the first rougelike I've played (if you don't count desktop dungeons). I found the atmosphere and mood pretty powerful, I'm surprised you managed to achieve that with such primitive graphics. I also liked the audio. I found the game pretty confusing (maybe that's part of being a rougelike? or due to my lack of experience with them?) and I think I'd have enjoyed it more with a bit more direction, though that would probably have detracted from the confused, abandoned atmosphere you created here.

Overall - good.

Forever Alone by QXD-me 2011-12-23T23:06:00

@Jorjon A valid complaint, one I'm thinking on how I might improve.

@AyCe I'm not sure if that's the goal, I guess it's as good as any (and you can't actually effect any other sort of end in-game anyway)

@binary_girl Sorry about that. Does it not fit to your screen if you right-click then select fullscreen? You can usually also zoom out on the webpage to see it if you need to.

The Wizard Apprentice by Ralkarin 2011-12-21T12:22:00

"I feel so alone and amnesiac..." Erm what? Judging from the rest of the game I assume that was supposed to be funny, but it just seems like poor writing, especially when it's the first impression of the game.

Some of the later bits were more amusing though and this is a pretty nice puzzle game prototype.

One suggestion for the gameplay is to make it more obvious when you pick up a key because I picked up the second key without realising it and spent ages trying to find it before I realised I had it.

LD26 — Minimalism

Stranded by vico87 2013-04-29T20:21:00

Conceptually I do like the idea of a restricted text adventure game like this (it's essentially a twine game but without the hyperlinks) and it is minimalistic.

On the other hand I didn't think the text was all that well written or interesting. It also didn't go anywhere. I'm not trying to be negative, but it kind of seems that if a game contains only text and minimalist interactions then at least one of those should be engaging or interesting.

Ball & Cup by ohsqueezy 2013-05-18T22:19:00

Non of the buttons seemed to do anything for me (tried both 'a' and 'left' as well as mashing the keyboard). I was using the .exe on windows 7 64bit.

Stargazers by Cake&Code 2013-05-05T16:31:00

Good game, although ascribing a numeric score to my attempts seemed somewhat unnecessary. Firstly because I never really looked at my score, but also because it added absolutely nothing to the experience.

DIG QUEST Deluxe: ASCII Mining Adventure by SuperDisk 2013-04-30T22:00:00

Funny. Incidentally also pretty fun, although I got squashed between an enemy and a wall and was insta-killed.

Gods Will Be Watching by Deconstructeam 2013-05-01T20:05:00

Really good. It was very tense and stressful.

F*** This Job by Casino Jack 2013-05-06T14:36:00

Nice job - simple but effective, what minimalism is all about.

I wasn't too crazy about the replays though. This isn't Super Meat Boy, with its really difficult levels where you die a lot and it's kinda cool to see all those deaths at once. Here it seemed a little unnecessary.

To What End? by Shugor 2013-04-30T22:28:00

Weird, I liked it.

p.s. Nice commentary

Of Guards And Thieves by cominu 2013-04-30T22:22:00

Really enjoyed this, hopefully there will still be people playing later.

Depletion by Riley Adams 2013-05-04T16:29:00

This was really good: it created a very tense atmosphere, although it desperately needs some audio.

I only saw a few buildings near the start then couldn't find any. I don't know if that was intentional, but it would be nice to have more of them appear. There was also occasional pop-in of the landscape, but that was only a minor issue.

What Would You Do? by Psytew 2013-04-29T21:06:00

I quite liked it for the most part. Some of the more serious parts seem to have been handled a little heavy-handedly but on the whole it was good.

One bug I noticed: the reaction to the choise talk to him in person or go to robbery site is backwards

SOLIX by bentog 2013-04-29T21:54:00

Ok, so this game is great, far better than my sleep-deprived brain can fully appreciate.

The only issue I has was that on the last level I thought the controls were a bit icky, but then I realised that I was just trying to solve the puzzle wrong and everything was fine.

Another Minimalistic War by psychomonster 2013-04-29T20:37:00

Pretty fun. Somewhat of a mess aesthetically, but mechanically solid (apart from being a bit easy). Nice first entry.

p.s. that enemy death sound made me laugh way more than it should have - one of those "so bad it's great" moments

dotLife by ddionisio 2013-04-30T21:42:00

This was really good. I especially liked the atmosphere of it. My only criticism would be that I found the audio a little annoying, not a huge problem.

Also, you shouldn't really be tweaking gameplay after the deadline, we're supposed to judge what was done in the 48hrs so that stuff should go into a post-compo version instead.

Chez Angelo by EdoMiyamoto 2013-05-03T20:48:00

Very nice, reminded me a lot of Thirty Flights of Loving. I hope you continue with it.

Minimal Ammo by T800 2013-04-30T19:21:00

Pretty funny, although as jolle said you aren't allowed to use sounds (or any content) from the internet. You might want to take a look at the rules for next time.

Complete Revenge: A Hero s Journey by Nuclear_Hammer 2013-05-03T20:52:00

I liked the music but the game was really buggy (web version, Firefox). I seemed to be able to fly if I held space, then my character started facing the opposite direction to the one they were moving in, then they flew off the screen and it went black. I'm assuming that wasn't intentional :P

EmotimCrawl by Tamik 2013-04-30T19:14:00

Aaah... the old create levels in notepad, I've done that before. It turned out to not be as good an idea as I thought it would be.

(R,G,B) by KilledByAPixel 2013-05-04T16:55:00

Graphics are great, but it has really bad performance on my computer

Minimal Memory by Stuffie 2013-05-01T21:52:00

Interesting idea, though I found it pretty difficult.

Showdown by Team Sleipnir by TeamSleipnir 2013-05-03T20:27:00

It doesn't really seem like you tried to go for the theme at all but the game was quite fun.

Also, if you're going to use music try an make sure it fits with the game - the in-game music fit well but the other pieces seemed out of place (although incidentally I'm using the same piece you used in the main menu for my current long-term project's main menu).

The Islander by Yezu 2013-05-05T14:20:00

I got this error on startup:

Could not find the main class:
eu.cherrytree.ld48.islander.GameApplication. Program will exit.

Dream Fishing by Sophie Houlden 2013-05-02T22:53:00

That was amazing.

Balls Balls Balls by matthias_zarzecki 2013-04-29T22:14:00

It's like a more visually appealing version of snooker/golf!

It was fun although the controls were a little annoying at times. I liked the music but, call me greedy, I would have like some sounds effects for the click and the balls rolling.

The ending of the levels (and the entire game to some extend) reminds me of Auditorium... in a good way.

I encountered a bug where one of the balls that was moving really fast disappeared off the screen :(

LOOP by vandriver 2013-05-05T17:36:00

Really good game, I especially like the bird-like feel of the movement.

I didn't really like the android port - virtual buttons? Really? (I rated based on the windows version.)

Curiosity by geckojsc 2013-05-19T14:48:00

Really good exploration-based platformer. I liked all the secrets (that I found).

I managed to plant the last seed and still have one left over :)

Minimalismism by tayl1r 2013-05-01T20:16:00

That was good, I really liked how the levels readjusted themselves during gameplay. My criticisms would be that it took a little too long (in my opinion) to get to the challenging parts and also the audio was really grating by the end. Maybe you could randomise the pitch slightly to avoid this?

Lead the Bunny by Joseph Roque 2013-04-29T21:29:00

I really like that control scheme. It took a few levels to get used to it so maybe it could use a bit of polish to make it more "beginner friendly"?

The only criticisms I have are that limiting the frequency of my dashes seems a bit arbitrary since it isn't actually timing me. And similarly, lives seem like an unnecessary retro throwback - it takes a more polished game than this to get a replay out of me.

But on the whole it was good.

Another Day In The Life by QXD-me 2013-04-29T22:52:00

Thank you Robert, I've added that in since as I see it that's a change to the interfacing with the game rather than a change to the game itself (I really need to create a LD template project that has all these little things in it).

And thank you all for taking the time to play and comment :)

Another Day In The Life by QXD-me 2013-05-04T08:59:00

I've finally added a "proper" description, though I'm not sure I could have written it without the feedback - the game seemed pretty self-explanatory to me.

I'll be adding a post-compo "director's cut" version, hopefully, later today.

Thank you for playing.

Another Day In The Life by QXD-me 2013-05-06T11:44:00

@someone
Mugs of tea were in my initial idea but I ran out of time. But since there is clearly a demand I have added them to the post-compo build.