Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → ryte2byte
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 39 | Running out of Power | Airship Engineer | compo | 317 | 3.34 | 2.84 | 3.00 | 3.73 | 3.73 | 3.57 | 3.61 | 3.00 | |
| 2017 | 38 | A Small World | Antagonistic : Hamburger Hill | compo | 222 | 3.42 | 3.41 | 3.23 | 3.83 | 3.19 | 3.16 | 3.11 | 3.00 | |
| 2016 | 36 | Ancient Technology | Runty Raptor's Rock Roller | compo |
I played with fire and didn't get burned. Shows what you know, Ma!
I loved it! Are there only 4 levels or did I glitch it? (Had something on my system pop-up while playing and might have fizzled the web-player)
Ya know, I don't think I've played an ASCII game with WASD controls before, lol.
Kudos on building a whole engine during LD! Great way to leverage the theme.
Yeah, I guess controls got a little bloated. The 'Lean' was one of those 3AM "I need this because Control Freak!" moments. The game works fine without touching 'em. I also had Boost on LShift for a while which worked very well, but I didn't want anyone bumping into Windows Sticky Keys issues.
The art of the cop flying backwards is hysterical!
I really like the slow reload mechanic. Gives it some nice press your luck strategy.
Also funny how many times I misread Skewer Combo as Super Combo. I LOLed when I finally got the joke.
Cute as all get-out! Curiously, I got worse as I started formulating strategies, lol. I like it a lot, but it feels like there are too many reasons for deducting points.
This is a very cool concept! The Mrs. & I are gonna give it a shot later. Wish me luck, she's a math teacher :o
Turbo Pascal FTW!
Reminds me a lot of River Raid! I got 697.
Certainly an atmospheric experience! Quite an accomplishment! I loved the Marco/Polo gimmick! The 'other' Polo response to your call is quite sinister. I think it'd take more time to figure out some audio tricks to do justice to the system, but it is a very cool idea!
I'll be honest: A lot of the hot-spots for movement drove me completely batty. As an example, I thought I figured out that to get out from looking behind rocks It was kinda upper left. Then I hit one that had the 'move back' spot in the upper middle. The hot-spots for the wires in the ship were incredibly odd as well.
The tutorial is borderline broken. It flies through the screen when you hit the mouse button. You probably used something like GetButton as opposed to GetButtonDown.
The AI is very hard to beat due to it's reaction time. For a '5 minute firefight' it felt more like a stalemate most of the time. When a building was eventually destroyed, the AI grabbed the spot long before I could even get my mouse in position.
That said, I love the idea! Maybe with some tweaks to the AI and some more places to build (vertical cities?), it would be an good game.
Love it! Not sure why I was such a sucker for it, though. Minimalist visuals and creepy music certainly help set a great tone. I've also spent waaaaay too much time lately playing Persona 4 and 5 back-to-back, so I guess I'm just a sucker for watching the calendar and counting the days until the stars align and my master plan is finally executed.
Anyway, its a cool idea (Wikileaks: The Game!) and nicely executed. Kudos!
I'm not sure why you hate the player so much in a game about the perils of love. Maybe that's the point. Hmmm...
Anyway, day 1 has a problem with the to message pop-up locking controls while baddies are spawned in a complete circle around the player. Day 2's big sticky wicket was the timing on that friggin' black collider. Also, all the game's colliders in general have some issues (like point-blank shots not working). The trigger on the tree also feels wrong (you have to go above and behind it a little). Things were alright on day 3, but the movement (hard-stop collisions on the environment and not being able to move on diagonals) drove me crazy and made the whole map a chore to navigate.
I chose the girl in the end. Would have liked to see the other ending as well, but I don't want to play through again. The story is merely okay, mostly due to the writing quality. Character, building, and prop sprites are fantastic and I liked the low drone the shadows make when nearby.
So... VR as in with VR headset, I guess. Just fired it up on my poor, headsetless rig and was stuck half-way in the ground with no control. After decades of games trumpeting "VR experiences" I guess I forgot there was finally a consumer model, lol. Gotta love the 21st century!
Congrats on putting out something so cutting edge for LD Compo! Its been quite a while since I haven't met minimum system specs :wink:
Quite and ambitious project you started here! Sadly, there isn't a ton for me to play around with at the moment. I'm rather shocked at the extent to which you created... er, menu stuff. Things like the color picker for crosshair colors, ya know? Would not have expected that to be on your list of features!
I had a couple UX issues with what you do have here. First off, it took me FOREVER to figure out new construction placement was centered on my character and not the cursor. Another other issue is that I would like to hold down the mouse button when harvesting materials rather than clicking over and over again.
Kudos for having the moxie to take on a project like this for LD Compo!
Really love the idea and it is a good start. Had too many problems with resources leaking through from other facilities. Love the way it makes music while it runs!
I like this concept a lot and the backstory is fun fluff. There's some really sticking spots for it being a puzzle game, though. Relying on physics feels like a huge mistake. I've when I perform the same move, I really expect to see the same results. This doesn't always happen. Also, I felt that some of the earlier puzzles (especially that second one) were more difficult than those in the middle.
All that said, I think this is a great prototype and worth exploring further. Good job!
Think I had a bad run. Got all the towers lit and the boat never showed. I thought it was odd that the endgame dragged on so long :wink: I could swear the camera pointed to it during the little blurb after the towers were lit, but it was definitely wasn't there my next turn. Also, the defense shrines (pay 2 mana, -1 calamity) weren't working at endgame (the only time I tried to use them).
Anyway, a couple little nits to pick. I'd really like to see the action icons near the active character rather than off on the side. I sat there mashing on characters for a while before noticing them (the buttons don't exactly stand out, either). Randomly generating the map seems like a bad idea for a puzzle game. I guess time will tell, but there does seem to be a pretty wide variety in heights it can throw together. The intro tutorial window is quite an infodump (and an unformatted one at that). I would have liked it on the Esc/Pause menu to refresh my memory (Kudos on having the time to have a pause screen at all, though!). It also takes far too long for the 'sinking' phase to pass (and the sfx is grating), especially endgame where you have to sit through it twice in a row. Standing NEXT to a building to interact with it is counter-intuitive to anyone who's ever played a strategy game.
Now I'm sure I'm going to be the polar opposite to the LD crowd that thrives on pixel puzzle platformers, but I really disliked the art for both the terrain and buildings. It is an interesting experiment, but, man, did I find it ugly, particularly the ground textures. There's some nice pallet-shifting animation on the castle to give it a bit of life (which is great!), but you spend too much time staring at them too closely. Too low res, maybe? I didn't understand the icons over the character's heads, either. I really had to stare at the crown icon (I think its a crown. The 'I'm holding the baby' icon) before understanding what it was. The province borders, once I figured out what they were, were so distracting as to drive me bonkers. Static lines on the map would have been just fine.
Um... Geez, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't expect to rant this much.
It is a very interesting experiment, both visually and mechanically, and simply oozing with polish (maybe a bit too much polish? (Looking at you, province borders!)), but I feel the game itself has a long way to go.
I couldn't play a ton of this. Yeah, the camera. Even putting that aside, the controls. I mean, are the controls getting wacky in some specific way? It feels more like fighting gimbal lock than a game mechanic. There's also no indicate when its kicking in leaving me to wonder if its me or a bug or what the game is supposed to do. Kudos on finding time to get some music and backstory in there!
Like this a ton! I played with those little electronic boxes with the spring connectors a ton when I was a like, so this brought back happy thoughts for me. Its not necessary, but I would have like to see a little green 'ghost' wire where I was going to build. More of a polish suggestion than anything truely useful. Also, I did run out of wires on the 3rd(?) puzzle and didn't know I even had a finite amount of wire. Not sure if this wasn't pointed out in the tutorial or I missed it because I played first thing in the morning ;)
Anyway, it is a good prototype and I could see it going all kinds of interesting places if expanded upon.
So, let me get this straight: Someone said "Make a game in 48hrs based on this here 'Small World' theme," and you went, "Okay, I'm gonna make No Man's Sky!"?!?! Dang, you got some moxie! I just can't help but be in awe (and, perhaps, a little frightened) of you. Its also a testament to the results that, even at this level of fidelity, hopping from planet to planet in the solar system is quite a wonderful feeling and an impressive sight.
On the downside, ship controls are kinda funky and I died a couple times after exiting my ship and, I guess, clipping through the planet. Starting over kinda sucked. Still worth the ride though!
Loved it! I'm pretty sure this is the first Metroidvania I've ever completed. I don't care for platformers, but being able to glitch my ship through the trickier parts of the planets made me happy. Its not a bug, its emergent gameplay!!! The system was as fun to explore as it was to exploit. Also, I could just sit there and play with that engine exhaust particle system all day. But, man, do I hate that map system more than I've hated any other, lol.
I found a bug. There's this thorax-banging spider in every level I played.
Sorry. This is, like, the 100th game I've reviewed and I'm a little cheeky.
This is fantastic! I'm a sucker for those old vector CRTs (I have a little dream that I'll own my own Asteroids machine someday). I don't think you quite pulled it off (missing the flickering and bright overlap points), but I am delighted you tried.
The music is FANTASTIC! THANK YOU for not just slapping a freaking chiptune track in there. There just aren't enough screaming guitars in video games anymore.
I also enjoyed the gameplay. I did complete all the levels. Had some trouble with the second one until I figured out I could wrap around the screen. The grapple in a good idea, but one I got the rhythm of things (Meaning, I guess, I was pretty much invisible as long as I was airborne), I barely used it.
Great game. I would have played more levels.
EDIT: Oh, I forgot one little complaint. Sometimes left/right was backwards from what I expected. I know, tough problem to solve on the spheres, but wanted to mention it.
I played through Level 11 (E:95, P:88). It sure is pretty. Could definitely use some zoom control (or auto zoom-out) for higher level play. Like most building games, there's something satisfying about just building out and making all the pieces fit together. Sadly, I never felt challenged and there may be just too many ways for these pieces to connect. Maybe its just all the time I spent playing Carcasonne, lol.
I feel that it is one interesting mechanic away from being a cool game.
I'm not sure that I get it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that I don't. Is this some kind of social experiment? There doesn't really seem to be any kind of actual city-builder mechanics because states other than score and population aren't shown.
Alright, this is pretty great! Would like to see where my mouse cursor is on-screen, but other than that, its awesome!
First of all, this is a very, very cool concept. I could see this with a dozen people playing and the experienced ones know that standing still is a strangely viable defense.
I see the collisions have already been mentioned, so I'll skip that. Ludum Dare is a harsh mistress!
I am not sure if an FPS camera is the best fit for this game. Top-down would give a much better overview of the engagement as well as making players easier to hit (because it is rather difficult right now). It would save a bunch of fighting with the replay camera as well.
On a similar note, I'd definitely move to a 1-shot kill system. Maybe even a AOE on shots. Think Quake Rocket Arena but with this odd simultaneous turn structure. I'd also ditch the real time bullet movement and replace it with... oh, I don't know, a dashed line or something to show how far it will move in the the turn (But ONLY for the first turn so players can run into their own bomb :) ).
It is a neat prototype. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and it might be worth posting that tip about playing solo in two browser windows on the game page. There may be other folks as dim as I am ;)
So, you bit off a bit more than you could chew in 48hrs, eh? Yeah, we've all been there :wink: Hey, at least you got the sound done! A lot of folks don't get that far.
Aside from the obvious rushed nature of it all, I really didn't like the way the player controlled. It felt more appropriate to vehicle of some kind than a person. It also really feels like I'm doomed regardless. I need to go to the river to get food, but as soon as I'm not at home to chase monkeys, they're gonna take the little food I have.
I love this! I'd imagine that an early build of this had the player doing all four games at once, yeah? If you do a post-jam version, you might want to consider throwing that back in as an optional 'Chaos' mode.
Simple and charming with a really neat twist. Great ramp up and tutorial.
A couple little complaints: Once the tutorial is over it is possible to start with the 4th puzzle. On my first play this happened. As I had never seen the ! screen before, I thought I failed at something in the mini-game. Also not sure if a one-miss-fail mechanic is the best idea.
Man, I'm getting too old for this stuff, lol. Couldn't beat level 2.
This is a strange take on a space shooter. Not even really sure what to call the viewpoint. I do like being able to shoot wherever I want though. I loved how the outline of things represented their health!
Cute game. Nice backstory. I wish the tutorial arrows on level 3 were thee from the start to show how to use gravity in the jump.
Also, I suck at platformers. Would have just rather hit spacebar to respawn rather than enter. I love the little bounce of a planet when you land on it!
Looks neat, but I'm not coordinated enough to handle the wall-run jumps in the first level :(
I love your music in this! Almost as much as I hate that friggin' hammer, lol. Its just so slow and doesn't feel like it hits very hard.
I had a hard time fitting between the bullets from the boss. Was questioning if I was even supposed to by the time I hit the second boss.
The lighting looked great!
Just FYI, your file descriptions for the small window version are being cut off by Itch's template on my browser.
There's no doubting you chops for nice aesthetics. The music and graphics are both spectacular.
Not super thrilled with the game, honestly. Just kinda fly around and collect enough stars to hit the next level. The character switching mechanic that I loved at first quickly becomes a chore, especially the second, mostly empty level. Never actually had a problem with the hunger/fuel mechanic, either.
Love the story and setting and AV fluff, I just think they need a new game to call home.
I like the idea and the graphics. The music was also very pleasant. Added to the sense of urgency but wasn't overwhelming. I am also having the same problem with orders not disappearing when filled (Window 7 x64). On the upside, I can fill and order multiple times. On the downside, I always get hit with the penalty. Makes for a pretty hard game! Driving controls were a bit of a mess, but, ya know, welcome to LD, lol.
Hooray for the 4hr prototype!
So... too easy! All I really had to do was draw and wait for him to draw and then shoot. I was usually my own worst enemy. Maybe he should star faking out from the start. Perhaps some kind of meter that only lets you hold a draw for a period of time (I dunno, something like 'nerve' or 'moxie').
Anyways, kudos for actually completing something in the little time you had!
Kudos on building you own engine! I agree that adding strafe controls would be nice. Would have liked to have my inventory on a physical button in addition to the on-screen one. Still fiddling around to get a feel for everything, but, man, I really wish scrap collection was faster. Not really feeling that I'm a planet either, lol.
Still, it is quite an achievement to pull off a whole survival/crafting game in 2 days!
Lots of mixed feeling on this one. First and foremost, I feel your 'show, don't tell' early tutorial levels do not work at all. I had no idea what was happening on the first 'real' level (3 or so?).
I really liked the art style until about level 7 where I needed to fish out the tiles that needed pops added. Then it was just this giant puddle of mush. More tiles should stand out like the Altar does.
I liked the look of the isometric UI buttons, but it felt like the 'hit box' for them was far too small and led to many misclicks when things got heated.
I also wasn't a fan of the 'whack-a-mole' style re-popping that dominates late game.
SUPER DUPER KUDOS for putting in mute, pause, and menu buttons! There were such welcome niceties I usually don't see in a LD title.
All that said, it is an interesting experiment and I'm glad I played it. Thanks!
Good little game. The fact is was more of a 'walking simulator' (no disrespect intended) than an RPG was a fun surprise and played against my expectations. You sure produced a ton of art in a short time! Kudos! Humor was good throughout and the ending is great. Also enjoyed the fact that there was so much movement amongst the characters during conversations. It really helps sell the scene. The one puzzle area was expertly crafted!
Movement controls really frustrated me. They felt far too sensitive.
Funny story: This is exactly what my nephew wanted me to do when he heard the theme!
This game is probably better than it has any right to be :wink: I had a blast! Lighting and water are both outstanding! My only real gripe is how hard it is to see the baddies sometimes once they're in the boat. Kudos on having two uses for the umbrella! Very clever.
OMG, I've never been so happy to see the word YOU WIN before in my life. Geez, that's hard! I mean, surfing the teapots is kinda tough, but, dang, the jumps coming off of the giant teapot with the purple tip makes me want to throat-punch orphan bunnies!
I like the candle gimick. The amount of air control you have while jumping is strangely out of place for a FPS. Once I discovered it, it was kinda nice, though. The visuals are just bonkers. I'm not sure if there's some kind of shader voodoo going on if it is just horribly broken UVs on the models, but it sure is alien.
But, of course, the real star of the show here is the music. It pretty much sells the whole show.
So, its a rather difficult 'art game' FPS platformer. A horrible idea executed very, very well :wink:
BTW, Ran the Win64 version on Windows 7 X64 with no problems at all.
A very fun toy and a spectacular set of particle systems! I think calling this a card game is pretty far off the mark. Don't get me wrong, this title is better for having them, I'm simply commenting on the fact you labeled this as a card game.
You're missing some kind of event to add ground mass back to the planet. Once I lost my core (which happens after a single play of 'Hollow Earth', especially if there are ICBMs bouncing around), it was impossible to get anything more than a small ball back.
I love these types of games! Plan on spending a lot more time with it soon (Gotta go fix the plumbing right now :( ). I love the day/night cycle and that you can actually rotate around the planet all while keeping a very pixely 2D perspective. Very inventive. Additionally, you certainly nailed the whole 'city-builder style music' thing! Its perfect! Also, huge props for the bonus that gave me cash because I didn't think about building a shop first time around.
The one problem I had was with the build/pick building buttons. I was constantly building with the last thing via the Build button. Maybe those two options should just be combined. I know how you were trying to save some clicking, but it just adds to the UI confusion. Additionally, I would love an up/down arrow next to each stat to show the way it is trending.
Very impressed you managed to pull this off in such a short time! Kudos!
@pyokoanarogue Came back and fixed it. Best of luck to you!
Thanks a million for the feedback, everyone!
You think the aiming is strange now, you should have seen it an hour before deadline! I haven't made a first/third person controller for several years now and had to blow the cobwebs outta my brain to get this far ;) I added a dot crosshair at one point, but pulled it for immersion reasons.
The acid blob does have an AOE on it (more by accident than design), it is just pretty rare to get it connect on more than one baddie. I'll definitely consider adding real AOE logic if I use this sort of projectile in the future.
The wings were a constant struggle on how to implement graphically. I just hope they're not giving anyone seizures ;)
@ryan-rose Unless there's something horribly botched in one of the builds, there's a lengthy series of instructions that plays at the beginning of the game. Could you elaborate?
Okay @mars, I'll let you in on a little secret if you promise not to take my Audio points away. Promise? Good. Alright, here it is: The music is procedurally generated. Worse, its a 15 second loop. Granted, I had to wade through a lot of crap that probably shouldn't even be called music to get it, and then I remasted the MIDI with a nice soundfont, but compared to the hours spent modeling the insects, it was nothing. As for the rest of the audio, that's just me and a microphone.
Its funny what clicks with people, eh?
@hbocao OMG, I hard-coded the 'run' button! Geez, I am so very, very sorry! I don't usually make 1st/3rd person action games and LD's time limit can make you do horrible things to your code. I never should've let this happen with Unity's input manager at my disposal. This is easily one of the most important pieces of feedback I've gotten. Thank you!!!
Congratulations, @xxDOOMbox ! You're the top score on Antagonistic for LD38! My Mrs. may come gunning for you though. She used to be the best at 82%. 100% is definitely possible!
And, just of the off-chance that someone who's commented wanders back in, HUGE thanks to all of you! Designing this peculiar little hybrid in such a short time was a very daunting challenge and I'm thrilled so many folks gave it a chance (and some of you even understood it!).
Very good and moody. The music really helps sell this 'last bastion of humanity' setting. Graphics are also excellent. The title screen is particularly striking!
I found it odd that some item descriptions don't change after 'taking' from them, like the locker constantly stating the you found your aspirin. I would like to click through the introduction at my own pace ('any key to continue') as opposed to waiting for a timer. I also like it in adventure games when I can double-click to instantly move to the connected scene. There are a couple typos (enought vs enough), but I kinda feel bad even mentioning them considering the amount of text you've got in here. It is a real shame the game ends where it does, but we all understand how demanding LD's clock is :wink:
Very impressive graphically, but the controls and collisions are a bit of a mess. I think a little more air control is called for (well, ya know, more than none) for the areas you set up. Had several instances of getting stuck on the sides of the platforms also (and a couple in overhead platforms but, to your credit, the game caught those and respawned me). The music is great. Shame there wasn't more sound. Even a little 'woosh from the jetpack would've been welcome.
Anyway, I'm not great at platformers and didn't finish. If the controls were better, I probably would've toughed it out.
This is quite the tough little shooter! I would like to see the bullets and explosion in a different color to stand out more from the terrain. Your ship doesn't move much like a ship, but you'd probably have to redesign everything around it if it did, lol.
Super polished with great controls. You're obviously no stranger to pixel-platformers ;) Lots of original stuff going on here, too!
Sadly, the give/take mechanic just didn't click with me. I always felt that the best (frequently, only) way forward was to cry myself to death and respawn.
These social experiments are always a hard sell. I must admit, I'm glad to have walked in on this once after folks had been tinkering with it for a while. Avis sure seems to have had fun :wink:
Kudos on getting all of this implemented in a day. Shame there wasn't more of a community goal other than 'do whatever'.
I love sims and city-builders. I need to spend a bunch more time with this one to really get a feel for if everything is working nicely or not, but it seems to be a very promising start. I love the Minos and their different environments and how cooperation is the key to survival.
Also, WOW, look at all the art you made in a LD game!
Now I'm gonna rip your UI to shreds. Sorry.
I REALLY don't like that the X button is what you use to confirm building something. Very counter-intuitive. Feels like that would be a cancel button. There's also a problem with your building placement ghosts showing on the green terrain or even on some of the buildings. There should always be some way to cancel building placement as well. Oh, and tooltips or an infobox available when choosing stuff. I'm not gonna remember what all these things are when starting out. Not thrilled with the UI being semi-transparent at all, either.
It is a great start! City-builders at just super UI heavy and you need to get that beast tamed.
Okay, so I actually applauded at the end, lol!
This whole experience was a fresh and welcome surprise from start to finish! I loved it! I'm glad you didn't blow the concept in your game description. The sheer number of times I started to groan about what I was seeing on the screen and then the realization that I had just been set up was phenomenal. Kudos!
So I'm a sucker for video game physics, ergo, I had a lot of fun playing with this :) Yeah, there's no denying that it's "Super Incomplete", but it is a good start! At minimum, all you're missing in a shot counter and something to acknowledge the victory condition. The gravity from the large planet was a fun surprise!
A neat idea and shows restraint ( I would've complicated this to no end ;) ). Doesn't appear to be any kind of difficulty curve, though.
Fun game. I'm assuming you were consciously making a Nuclear Throne clone from the name. Might want to look at that title and note the recoil and screen fx used to really give the guns some punch.
I'm not sure it if was an issue on my system (since no one else mentioned it), but the pace of the game was very slow. Also, maybe the started gun should suck a little less ;)
I loved the explosions! Shooting the enemy bullets to create my own safe zone was satisfying. Also, good job on all the bullet patterns! This is one of the aspects I see neglected most often.
Pretty good! Had me laugh out lout a couple times, even when I could see the gag coming. Man, do I feel sorry for your modelers trying to get all this done under the deadline! Somebody had too much fun with the analysis machine in the hatchery :wink" Also really liked the posters on Anti-Ant.
Oh, I did push my luck just to see if it was possible to be killed (there was no hit reaction on the player) and was kinda surprised I died. Not sure if this is appropriate for what should fall under the (no disrespect intended) 'Walking Simulator' genre. No biggie, just an odd choice for your game's style. I guess I should poke the issue of the broken fingers on the player's idle, but I'm not gonna.
Kudos on pulling this thing off! I had a fun time!
I have to admit, I felt better after seeing the comments here. I suck at platformers, and this one did unspeakable things to me. Thanks goodness the music was so great considering how long it took to just get a quarter of the way through. Instant respawning would go a long way towards keeping the player dialed in, me thinks.
Well, I'm pretty confused after giving this several tries. There just isn't much feedback as to what is or isn't working. Reading through the comments now, I see Smiling Cat has pretty much locked things down. You should totally listen to everything he said.
You have a whole lot of screen and you're not using it for anything. How about putting the flowers there so I can watch my workers work rather than them moving off-screen? Oh, and your web build run is WAY to large of a window!
I liked the parallax background and you background music a lot!
Nice looking, stylized environment to walk around it. I liked the little villages a lot! Had a super hard time picking stuff up. The range felt very short and interaction zone too small. I also died/continued TONS! Not sure if this was possible to be finished without dying or not. Maybe I should've just camped the fruit trees or something...
An attack as well as an enemy hit effect is sorely needed. Enemies can also stack on top of each other, which doesn't feel right. I thought that the run/stamina bar is far too long. I guess it is nice for the player, but seems a little overly generous. I love the terraforming concept! Perhaps the 'corrupted' terrain should hurt or slow down the player. The music is amazing!
Congratulations on finishing your first Ludum Dare! You should all be very proud!
Hats off to the modeling/skinning of your bug! It is simply fantastic.
Sorry, but I really didn't like the game very much. Just using what felt like default game engine physics to push a ball wasn't an engaging experience for me. I mean, I love playing with video game physics, but this just reminded me of some minigame section that they'd shoehorn into early 360/PS3 console games where you had to push a ball around pits for a level for the sake of variety. I'll be honest, I quit after trying the level with the wind puffs.
Oh, also you recommend a controller (I agree wholeheartedly!) but the main menu does not take controller input.
Super nice to look at, but not a fun game to play.
You should probably have a 'Press Space to Continue' prompt on the first tutorial screen. Had to mash a lot of buttons before I found it, lol. Too many LD games played this week for me to have any clue as to what 'standard' controls are anymore! Also, kinda strange the the tutorial for the Small Mart gameplay section to happen on the second visit to the store. Actually, I'm not really sure why there is the first visit section at all.
One more nit to pick: I did not like the slide-y movement at all. Not just from a control standpoint, but the retro visuals really play against expectations for this sort of movement. It was very jarring and strange.
Alright, now that that's out of the way, I loved both the gameplay and backstory/fluff! Totally wasn't expecting a stealth-ish experience from the screenshots. Graphics and audio were top notch!
Fun little arcade game. Always neat to run around a sphere! The graphics are great, especially the main character. This game sure does ramp up quick! Not totally thrilled with eating and kicking being on the same button. I guess its to avoid what I was trying to do, which was camping a good bit of fruit until I was hungry. Something about kicking felt a little awkward. Can't put my finger on it and it might have to do with the camera view as well. Getting a good running punt on one of those lil' suckers feels great, though!
Oddly enough, I got stuck at the "Enter your name" part at the end. I typed stuff in and hit Enter, then it just sat there. Hitting Escape at that point dumped me out of the program altogether.
Played the web build and got a giant, pink "You're missing a texture" skybox. I would like to see the reason I lost on the Game Over screen. Pretty sure the rhinos got out of control, but I can't be watching the counter constantly. I know it is a LD game and you couldn't have sorted it out in time, but the pacing is all over the place and when the balance tips, it tips hard.
A very good game with an original concept executed very well.
You are SO freaking lucky you put the gum table screenshot on this page, lol!
I like this a lot. Finished it. Not a huge fan of the 'right-click' to close message box thing, but not super annoyed either. That effect on the room transition is to die for! Your writing was good and, overall, the game is rather charming.
Kudos on pulling of a RTS for LD! Had fun with this! Reached Wave 16 but plan on giving it another go. I know it is asking a lot for a LD RTS, but really, really missed being able to double-click on a unit and select all of that type.
A) THIS is how you start a video game! B) Cosmic Katamari? Yes, please!
Also, I totally applaud you decision to opt out of audio in order to use that music! It was the right decision for the game you envisioned.
EDIT: Yes, I LOLed at "You are now bigger than Uranus" like a frickin' 6 year-old.
I love everything about the look of this game. The gameplay itself has some issues. I was able to blitz forward with cities and close off the map for the other player. Maybe some way to change already built tiles? Also, I have some doubts that there is any catching up once someone gets a good lead due to the territory control. Would take a ton more testing to sort all that out tho.
It is a very promising prototype. I get the general gist of it, but have had very little luck keeping it running for long. Firefox was just buggered altogether and not showing any of the moving holo-things. Chrome version nagged me about overclocking the CPU (wasn't even close) and then just stopped placing agents in any of the cryopods.
I really like where this is going, both from a game and style standpoint. I'll give it another go after a clean reboot later.
It looks like I played and rated your game a while ago, but forgot to leave some feedback. Whoops!
This was a fun romp! I'm intrigued by the notion of a 'walking simulator' (rolling simulator? Thumping sim?) interspersed with quick little no-fail mini-games like your lunch or work sequences. Its a great way to add a little variety without adding complexity.
Sure, this title is fun and charming, but my favorite part was how you reinforced the sense of scale throughout. The kaiju-esque flop down Main Street is easily the standout, but the thump and screen shake presented across the whole journey cemented the... reality of your character's girth. Even the lunch mini-game plays to how much it takes to feed Giant.
It was amusing to ride along with this absurd character on his ordinary day. I loved it!
Congrats on completing you first game!
I like the variety of tricks to collecting the different planets, but the movement drove me absolutely bonkers. It didn't feel like my thrusters did much and then the radical force from colliding with some stuff was just rough. Thank goodness for the "radar" attachment to your ship. Good thinking!
You might want to add the basic controls to your game page. I had to fish around of the interact button that let me open the tutorial sign ;)
Also, WOW, I have a hard time fighting all the baddies!
I am become Life; Destroyer of credit ratings. You'll understand after your third grandchild.
Silly and meaningful. You picked an very interesting idea and did it justice. This would have been too easy to nosedive into parody or crude humor. I appreciate the route you took artistically. Kudos!
Map design could use a little work. There was no point in the lower portion. Worse, there is a gap down there I could leave through and just cruise around outside.
There were some very interesting learning moments. First, the follow the pack mentality works well to guide players through. Secondly, I liked learning that the guys in the lead aren't going to make it. There's an interesting strategy to winning this game that I appreciated.
I'm sure it goes without saying that the music is great. Since you've got some audio chops there, it would've been nice if you could have fit in some light 'tinks' to 'wumps' when an agent hits a wall or dies or something, just to round out the soundscape.
EDIT: Oh, you could've done better on the name. I'm looking at the link title "The Best Game Ever Conceived" and my mind is racing with punny possibilities. Little sorry you played it save with "Sim Sperm".
When I first saw the screenshot, I was all "Oh, man, another platformer for me to suck at" but, then, BLAMMO, adventure game! Woot!
So, first off, I think the window for the web version on Itch is setup for the wrong resolution. It cut off the extreme left and right on my screen. Full screen button fixes it, but, ya know, FYI.
I thought this was a fun little adventure. I liked the investigative aspect of it as opposed to the usual inventory stuff. It was fun to try and keep all the details in my head (because I didn't find the journal button until after the game was over. Derp!)
Loved the look and feel of stuff as well. I know its a simple trick, but the eyeballs were my favorites. Speaking of simple tricks, I also got a chuckle out of the ghost that was afraid of ghosts. Also, kudos to getting a flickering/constantly shifting color effect going on without creating something seizure inducing!
I thought this was rather fun! The 3D models looked nice. I liked swinging the line/hook around. It was too easy to complete before timer ran out. The electric fish sound is too loud. Sorry, but I found all of the music to be very annoying.
Not sure if I buy that this is the first game you've ever completed since you crammed a full blown 'art' game into 48hrs, but... Anyway, Amazing job here! I had the portal out of the 'top-down' worlds showing up after only coloring one tree rather than all of them. Not sure if bug or WAI.
Great graphics, sound, and concept! Surprised to see the various types/modes in a LD Compo game. Heck of a job all around! Colorfly me impressd :)
Hey, sorry @zelos. I didn't mean to imply that I didn't believe you made this during Compo. I was in a state of disbelief that this was the first game you had finished. I mean, what with the menu and production company name, it shows the marks of someone who's been to this rodeo before. Your ability simply shattered my expectations and I phrased it poorly.
FWIW, I recommended your game to the Mrs. Of course, I also recommended Floppy McFloppyFace, so... :wink:
Okay, so this is TOTALLY my jam! Man, I just love building and playing sim/strategy games, which is stupid because they take forever to make and no one ever plays 'em long enough to appreciate the mechanics and .rant.rant.rant. Anyways, I had a blast here! Thank you so much!!!
Also, dear worker #3: You want a pond?! The freaking world is flooding! Open a damn window!
So, constructive feedback time: First thing I'd like to see is a pause button. I played your game for way too long, ran out of tea, and needed to go out for a smoke. Fortunately, I had built up pretty far, but would've been nice if just opening the Help screen would've paused.
Another nice addition would've been some measure of progress. Levels build/sunk or maybe a sea level number. I dunno. Something that would allow players to brag "Hey, I got this far."
Any other complaints would just be unfair for a Ludum Dare (especially Compo) game (Its a one trick pony, ya know). I need to stop now because this dang site is doing stupid scrolling stuff and I can't see what I'm typing. Anyway, it is a very cool foundation (er, no pun intended ;) )and a very neat concept for a city builder. Congrats!
I am shocked that these comments are not full of pictures! What a shame. Lemme fix that...
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Even in Ludum Dare, where stuff I've never thought I'd ever see is commonplace, this one surprised me. I love the idea of there being a whole page of these... Visual Mad Libs. Kudos!
Lots of fun! Fairly traditional, but well executed. Great variety in the enemy types. They were all distictive in both form and function. Loved the recoil forcing caution to avoid falling. That speed powerup is suicide, though, lol. The background elements are superb! I'm honestly shocked as to how well dressed this scene is.
Okay, right out of the gate, the 'Next' button for the tutorial is in the middle-left?! I'm a pretty open-minded guy, but... Yeah, WTF?
I love the base concept. I'm a sucker for indirect control games, so this was right up my alley. I could see this expanded in a huge number of ways. The modular damage system in particular is a very cool idea. Couldn't crack the third wave after a bunch of tries, though. Would have like to see more slots available for ships in further waves. I assume this probably got scrapped due to time (much like the 'Available Budget' not really being a factor). LD is a harsh mistress, lol!
Oh, and, of course, shout out to the rockin' soundtrack!
Congrats on surviving your first Ludum Dare! Be proud!
Me again. After two days, this is the one I keep coming back to. I understand the building and budget systems a lot more now. Still can't be level 3, lol.
Really great job. This is only the second game this LD I've replayed days later.
Nice idea and it came out well. Maybe I missed it (still waking up), but I wasn't really sure what failed me out. Was losing on several fronts at the time, lol. Would be nice if the last screen told me which mechanic delivered the killing blow.
This is super great! I loved it. It is a fantastic concept and you created so many levels in such a short amount of time. I'll admit, I could take or leave the Gameboy inspired presentation, but it at least makes it unique. I played before reading the instructions and found it very intuitive.
It is a bit of a strange thing that the levels are in a random order. I would like to have some measure of progress/score. Simply keeping a level counter on the screen would probably suffice. Also, that level with the TONS of bunnies: Not a fan. It takes FAR to long for all of them to move. Like, "I walked away and made dinner while the bunnies were moving" too long (True story!)
Kudos on making one of the most solid and complete entries I've played from this LD!
A very cute game! I tell ya though, my poor eyes started breaking down at level three, lol. Achievement box could be smaller or somewhere other than the middle of the screen (or maybe just have an OK button), but that's just nit-picking. The very first achievement for Introvert made me laugh and realize that I should actually be doing something at that point in time. A great little nudge in the right direction for the player! I was also impressed with the metropolitan flavor of all the people's responses.
Yeah, there's not much to the gameplay itself, but you did everything with great style, variety, and humor.
This is a great little adventure game full of love about how nice guys finish dead.
I like the idea a ton. A cool twist on... what do they call these? 'Life Simulators"? Ya know, the a 'Monster Loves You' type game. It is a good start but pretty rough. I wish there had been more time to see where you went with it. Definitely worth continuing to build on.
One concern about the UI: The power/menu and RNG/restart buttons are right under the event responses. I could see someone accidentally double-clicking and losing their progress.
Well, you sure can set a mood ;) I feel that there's something missing in the puzzle mechanic tho. Like only having a certain number of inspections or a timer or something. I dunno, maybe I'm just too old school.
Couple of changes I'd like to see would be faster transitions in to/out of inspection mode and a little pause after a line of dialog completes (My eyes are getting bad and I usually missed the last couple words squinting).
Great job on getting all the bells and whistles of a full blown game squeezed into a Compo title!
So, congrats on winning "Best Title Pandering to a Bunch of Nerd Programmers"! :wink:
I love your game! Its tough, but not so demanding you can't get that hang of it quickly. The 'keypad-swipe' controls is innovative and satisfying to pull off. Color-coding the enemies based on the direction of swipe needed to take 'em out is brilliant and the swipe sound effect is adorable. I especially loved your 'hand-drawn' UI! Only real nit to pick would be that I'd like to either toggle the shield off/on or just have shield work while the spacebar is held down. Might make it a bit too easy, but it was the only control that bugged me.
First LD, huh? You sure have set the bar high for yourself!
This is super, super great! Also, bonus points for the Zardoz quote. The whole 'build your response' thing from the limited visual clues is brilliant! Also make fun Mad-Libs. Simlish SFX equally smart and the music is charming.
Couple little nit-picks: The number of people who pop up seems to be random. This leads to impossible game sessions. It also too a while to understand that the timer fills up. Yeah, I understand that its filling up with urine, but it is still counter-intuitive.
A wholly original concept wonderfully executed. Great job!
Nice little Spacewar clone! Love the 4v4 team deathmatch chaos.
I always appreciate finding some different (ie. not a platformer) at LD, and this certainly qualifies ;) I did manage to win, but had to go back and re-read the directions after tinkering with it for a bit. Having recently played Gods Among Us, I really, really love being able to see those resource bars!
Conceptually, I like this a lot! Execution wise... eh. Something about the collection of elements being done in 1st person and just kinda waiting and hoping that what you need happens to drift into a small enough area doesn't feel appropriate to the style. It was a good experiment, but IMO, not a successful one.
I really love that concept and scene you set up. The book and the element system are both fantastic! Glad I'm not the only one talking into a mic to make his sound effects for LD, lol!
This is really cool. I always like seeing reductionist twists on established genres and this one does it both RPGs and Tower Defense! Those spiders can suck it, though ;) . I don't know what agility does.
This is a spectacularly fun toy to play with! It was satisfying trying to see how many little "riffs" I could get to sustain orbit at once. Fantastic job!
I've been grinning from ear-to-ear ever since firing this up! I admire your restraint in not going over-the-top gross with this concept and just letting it shine in innocent silliness.
Little too short, little too easy (kinda wish it was an infinite runner), but, man, did it make me happy.
I love slingshotting around the system! Took me a while to get the hang on it, but once I did, it was tons of fun! I wish there was something else to do, though. Maybe just some points to pick up or whatever.
Kudos on at least attempting to pull off an RTS is 48hrs. Quite a genre to take on in LD. It sure is a heck of a lot of progress for two days! I'm sure you'll get it next time!
Very cool! I had trouble hitting the dome with anything other than grenades. Also would have liked my cursor locked to the game window. I kept dragging the edges around, lol.
I love your backstory and "You play as a god of explosives who magically does not damage the city" got a laugh!
I was a busy bee! Still, having a hard time getting more than 12. Mini-map is a great help! Control is a little strange. Forward momentum actually changes based on where front is pointing even after I stop pressing W. Also, strafe controls are very, very slow. Finally, I feel a slight bump when collecting flowers. Not sure if by design or from using colliders instead of triggers.
Its a really cool idea and I like the view/graphics a lot, but I'm not feeling any sort of... build-up curve? Its just starts with a couple UFOs then, suddenly, the sky is full of 'em. After a couple runs I figured I should just cluster my defenses in one area to earn money rather than actually defending and that feels a little weird. I dunno. Its a different style of TD and would take a bunch of playtesting and experimenting to nail a learning curve down.
Congrats on completing your first LD! You also did it with quite a cool entry! Very impressive.
Neat little experiment. I wish there was some way to abort the creation window. Sometimes I realized it was going to put something where I didn't want it to go. Could use a lot more things to place also. Maybe some kind of 'stardust' particle to show movement and give a sense of speed?
That's really super hard! I really want to move faster (or, at least, have the illusion of moving faster). I really, really, want to be able to shoot down enemy projectiles. I feel that system energy goes away a bit too fast and takes a bit too long to come back online. Heck of an achievement, tho!
This is really awe inspiring! Granted, I found your game from the technical article explaining how it was done, but, wow, seeing it in action is really something! Great job and a fun game!
I also had a problem where RNG just kinda screwed me. Also had a tough time getting stuck on the head & tail of the whales without being able to jump. Overall, a pretty frustrating Doodle Jump clone.
I really like the idea of this (memories of the early parts of Spore), but the execution is pretty lacking.
Just from the start, the color key for the parts should be on the build screen, not just in a little pop-up. Also, just start the player with a color block. There's no point in mousewheeling away from the unplaceable block. Also, I need to know which direction forward is.
So... controls problem. Like, all the control problems. I get how you were going for a 'swimmy' feel to it, but it was frustrating. Acceleration too low, turn speed too high. Couple this with enemies that are VERY aggressive, and I honestly couldn't get very far. I see other players have done much better, so maybe just me. Maybe all it would take is changing to a more camera relative control system (ie. up is up).
Music was excellent!
Well... Its a start. There isn't an actual game here. Just a little car with wonky controls (no reverse, you can drive on your side) and some coins. Speaking of coins, did you know that the player's points persists even if the game is closed out and restarted? There is nothing to race against, not even a timer. I got excited when I dove off the table, thinking 'Oh, there's a whole secret world under here and this is gonna turn all Frog Fractions," but nope.
The music is cool and catchy and I'm very impressed with how many 3d models you were able to generate. It is a shame you didn't actually have time to complete the game.
Congrats on finishing your first LD! Quite an accomplishment! I agree that the original is too slow, but the car is very hard to control in the new one.
Wow, that's a mean little shooter ya got there! Of course, its not half as mean as the camera system :wink: It is really neat to watch all the projectiles curve around the planet, especially once you get the spread-shot.
Made it to Wave 14. Fun little game. It conveys it's sense of scale well. There was always a feeling of dread when a person's shadow loomed over me. I think it take a little too long to get going. Was pretty dull at the beginning. I was always concerned about being immediately killed again after respawning. Only happened once, but was frustrating. Might be nice to have a little safe zone to respawn in. I also had trouble getting pickups when they were at the height of their little bobble movement. Not sure if this was by design or just and oversight.
Your game's title card (the image on this page) is fantastic!
Edit: Oh, and please lock the cursor to the window! It would help a lot with steering.
Yay, I won! Wasn't sure if it was going to possible by the end, lol.
This is a good looking little game! Since you don't have a screenshot on this page, I was pretty shocked to see it upon launch. Simple, but very effective!
Only real complaint would be that up/down should be up/down! I was able to remap in the Unity launcher, but still... Speeding up didn't actually seem to do much anyway.
Man, this thing goes for the balls the first time you try it! Its fine, I got 'em all on the second go, but, dang was I scared that first game, lol. The UI text for the towers was too small and, IMO, the wrong color (white on light blue). Also, not sure if it was a bug on my end or not, but I didn't see any kind of bullet graphics. I enjoy the spectacle of TD games and really missed it in this one.
Congrats on completing your first LD! That's quite a feat and you should feel proud for having survived!
Alright, that's pretty good. Had lots of fun smashing things and the ending was both appropriate and hysterical. Would have loved to see this expanded several levels and get really nuts (Katamari-style!).
A quiz game?! Don't think I've ever seen on on LD before (There MUST have been several by now, but this was a total surprise to me). The game part itself works fine and the presentation is nice, it just has one rather major problem: The fake answers aren't even remotely plausible. This kinda breaks the whole game as the correct answer is almost always obvious. I appreciate that creating content tough during LD, but this REALLY needs a custom set of alternate answers for each question.
I love it! There's something super satisfying about little AI things moving boxes to make money. Also, who doesn't love trains? At first I was all like, "I'm never gonna crash a train. I got this down." Then my hubris kicked in a a trashed 3 very expensive trains in 30 seconds, lol.
In the tutorial, some of the text didn't line up with the button properly (Playing at 1080). No biggie, just FYI. UI scaling is the devil :wink: As for improvements, just the obvious: More levels with more complicated routes.
Oh, and my secret weapon for sound in LD? A microphone. You can make tons of sounds fast with just your mouth and some tweaking in Audacity. Heck, one time I even used a voice recorder app on my phone that synched with Dropbox!
An interesting concept, but I can't say I'm a fan of the execution. Not sure how WASD was supposed to move me. I just ended up using mouse and E and playing it like a space shooter. Except with gravity for some reason...
The stuff getting stuck to your ship (er, ya know, cell. Whatever) is just the worst! They are far too large, distracting, and constantly clipping through the camera plane. While the visuals are good, there is something a little... motion-sicky about them (I almost never have motion sickness issues). The audio, however, is all around superb!
Again, a cool concept, but perhaps a bit too alien for it's own good (Especially after reading your info/directions above after playing for a good while). Heck, maybe just ditching the 3rd person viewpoint would be the answer. You've definitely got something, but you need to figure out a way to tame this beast.
Your sound effects are all over the place in there. Would like to have those normalized. Other than that... Well, let's just say I don't get the appeal of clicker games.
I played your game! Space shooters are fun! Here's a little list of suggestions that I think would improve it:
* I don't like smoothing/inertia on the player in these types of games. I like 'em to feel tight and precicse. This one is a bit floaty coasting to a stop. * Needs to have difficulty. Ideally, you'd have a hand-made progression of enemy waves, but even some kind of '+1 dude every so often' would help. Right now it gets boring fast with just 1 or 2 enemies on screen. * Ya know that dude that flies off the top of the screen? I hate him. He needs to stay on the map! * It doesn't take much to make a background repeat. GIMP is a free art program and has Filter/Map/Make Seamless (I think). Doesn't always look great, but won't be as jarring as it is now. *Old-school games get old-school mechanics. One-hit kills and player gets a number of lives goes great with this genre!
...And, of course, all the stuff you don't have time to get to in a LD game :wink:
Wow, really impressed you got that water system done, let alone a game on top of it! I love the design on the ships. Great job crossing kart racer aesthetics with wooden ships! I really would have loved a HP bar on the ships. Also, maybe the crosshair for the cannons should always be there and just change in color when an enemy is under it. Perhaps a little radial cooldown bar on the crosshair for cannon reloading as well. I guess while I'm suggesting stuff I should mention that kart racers traditionally have power-up :wink:
I really liked the concept and flavor. Revealing the monsters as toys in the room is a great concept! Art and music were very well done. Loved the 2d 'flip' when the character turns.
I don't think you needed quite so large a light beam. Your controls work well and enemies pop after one hit, so maybe a thinner beam would've added a little challenge. Might be my skills (or lack thereof), but it pretty much amounted to Game Over whenever I had to put the light down and crank the generator.
Made it 3189 before blowing it and hitting a rock to score some power I didn't need ,lol.
I like it! Fun little game. Audio was the high point for me, both the voice and music. Might be nice to have a couple different takes of "Power!" to break up to monotony.
I'm kinda of two minds on the Time Pocket power-up. On one hand, it really slows down the difficulty curve (Okay, actually it completely resets it) every time you pick one up. On the other hand, I actually had one occasion where I purposely avoided it because I was low on power and wanted thing to fall faster. Maybe limit Time Pockets to appearing only after a certain threshold? I dunno. I do know that I would have liked the game to get more difficult a lot faster!
I really like this game on a conceptual level. Also, the music is 'fun'.
The big problem I had was with the character controller. I really disliked the way my avatar slides around. This problem is only compounded by the fact that battery placement for lights feels a bit picky (diagonals don't seem to work). Maybe batteries should have a bit more a radius.
I did not encounter any bugs.
Fantastic little puzzle game! This is probably going to sound stupid, but I was super impressed by the graphic for the RCA jacks, lol.
Oh, and just an FYI, you're game's title image didn't take. It just has that grey test pattern default in the LD game list.
Having a real tough time with this one. The sparkies are just so aggressive and, after a while, too numerous to get the job done. Can't get past level 3.
I love the art and music!
Good game! Shame there wasn't more than two levels, but I really liked what was there. The music is great and at the end I'll admit to mashing on X to the beat to make the robot dance, lol.
At first I was pretty baffled by the interactions of the switches in the second level and thought it might be bugged. After some experimentation, I realized it worked consistently and was good to go. That whole level really stretched my brain a bit as I played this shortly after waking up (Still only on my second cup of tea now :wink:).
My only real complaint would be that it is a little awkward to hold X while moving right.
Not nit-picking, but you have a typo in the intro ("Impressing" vs "Impressive"). Just figured you'd like to know.
Boy, am I happy to actually find a platformer even I can play, lol. That said, I think the police chase timer is a little too lenient and I never felt I was in danger of being caught.
Controls felt great. I liked the character designs as well. It was a pleasant change to see pixel-art characters this large for a change. They have a lot of personality.
I actually lost it several times during the ending. Love the #RobBob gimmick. I may just use that my next game to figure out exactly who I should be spending my feedback time on next LD.
Edit: I just realized that there was supposed to be music. I didn't hear any.
Interesting idea. Couldn't find the victory condition. Thought it might be the yellow thing, but that didn't seem to trigger. The pink ones are a nasty infection. I also don't really understand why neurons sometimes just up and die. Usually it is due to a lack of power, but other times they just seem to die off without any real reason.
Couple little UI niggles: I would have liked a way to shut off the forced tutorial on repeated plays. I'm not sure I agree with 'food' being colored red. My first game I just started expanding to escape them thinking I was under attack. For as much as the tutorial says, it doesn't explain. Maybe less text dedicated to controls and more to concepts.
All that said, I think this is a promising prototype to a very good game!
Very good entry! The music is especially nice. The exendo-arm punch attack kinda does some weird stuff, but it's not a deal-breaker. I think the floaty jump was the right decision for this game but I would like to have had a faster movement speed. Kinda feels like wading through molasses.
REALLY tough game. I've gotten up to 5 so far.
I really don't like how the player gets stuck on the sides of things while jumping.
Well, you've never heard of Nuclear Throne :wink:.
Something about your screen shake implementation gives me a headache. Can't really put my finger on what it is, tho. Never had a problem like that before. Would have like to see some more threatening enemies thrown into the mix on the early levels.
Looks and sounds great! A real class act!
Not gonna hold it against you, but I'm one of those old-school 'Y inverted' players. I only mention it since you had time to make a menu and such it would've been nice to change it.
I played on an Xbox 360 gamepad and the controls were great.
Graphics and audio are top-notch! Kudos on getting all this setup and tested in such a short time!
It took me a while to realized the springs were jumppads and not pickups. They REALLY look like pickups.
A 'death clock' timer would have gone a long way, not just in allowing the player to know how much life they have, but in adding tension to the game.
Scored 850 after 4 tries. Had a lot fun!
Man, it's been a really long time since I've hated a pixel art flying saucer as much as I hate Energy Stealer, lol.
I love the psedo-race setup. I also find it really interesting the you have two competitors with different forms of locomotion that both feel balanced. Might have been a nice feature to be able to choose which ship to pilot.
Maybe a little 'dropping dead' animation for that frigging UFO SoB so I'd have more time to gloat over his well deserved death :wink:
I like the idea of this, but I'm not sure if it's quite done here. Unless something bugged out (possible, see below), I didn't see any kind of budget to control building thing. As such, coal turned out to be less efficient (due to waiting on conveyor belt deliver) than just building massive solar farms. I was able to power through is a short time with, seemingly, no pushback from the systems.
Also, the game told me I had researched everything when I was still @ 40%, so might be a bit of a bug there.
Kudos on actually having a functional tutorial in a LD game :wink:
Very impressed you pulled it off in 12 hours. I did finish the game. Er, I think. After a certain wave, it dropped me back to the main menu.
The game itself is fine for covering TD basics, but my big problem was the UI. I've never seen a drag-click scrolling method implemented like this (where you hold a button to activate edge scrolling). I also would have liked a wave counter to know how far I had lasted. Finally, there's some real weirdness going on with the $400 turret button. Hard to explain, but it doesn't seem to be in the same 'toggle group' as the first and third turrets.
Anyway, I enjoyed my run-through. Hope you had a great vacation!
Thanks for the feedback everyone! This was a very difficult LD for me as I ended up switching games after about the 16 hour mark. Let me cast Feedback Loop on a couple of your comments:
@nintendoeats : I'm delighted you thought my walk cycle was passable! I consider myself a fairly terrible animator. It's nice to know I might have made a little progress over the years.
I am extremely sorry about the color blindness issues. It was not a thought that occurred to me. I shall endeavor to keep this in mind for the future.
@RootPew : There are actually two fail states: A) Not 'beating the star' and B) Blowing up the ship. An engine component can take a 3 damage points (indicated by smoke) before catching fire. Afterwards, it will catch fire and the game will be lost if is not repaired after a (perhaps too gracious) period of time. Sadly, my time crunch didn't allow a ton of balancing and I erred on the side of keeping the game winnable.
@Thorneto and @Peredom : I have a known problem with wordy tutorials :wink:. I keep trying to cut 'em down, but always fail out of fear of leaving things unexplained.
Again, thank you for your time and feedback!
*Duplicate post
Whoops, missed one!
@Justashadow : Make sure 'windowed' mode is unchecked and you should see your full screen resolution. Windowed mode is enabled by default to make life easier for folks with multiple monitors.
@themonsterfromthedeep Good catch on the bug! Hunted down the cause and added a warning to this entry page.
Not to bore you with what you've already heard, but I too found this game to be very hard. I couldn't get anywhere alternating keys as various speeds. I did okay mashing both buttons, but it was sporadic and I still didn't make it in time when it worked. Finally, I 'cheated' and setup a macro. That got the job done!
Gameplay is a bit thin. I think that just adding a key to actually grab the remote would have helped. It would have given some kind of physical payoff at the end. Kinda like a charge-charge-charge-BURST! feel.
Art and audio are excellent and the game is very charming. I love the character designs and the setting.
Escaped with a score of 10577. Took about four tries.
I love it! Let me count the ways...
Music is great especially the change when an alien is around. The combination of 2d & 3d was a great idea and each suits its particular setting and therefore does not feel 'gimmicky'. The pacing is very good.
A couple quibbles: My mouse was too sensitive inside the base. Also, you may want to lock & hide the mouse cursor on (at least) the web version as it gives fits to anyone not playing in full screen. Not totally sold on the block falling/moving mechanic. I'm not sure that the game really needs it with the jetpack. Being carried off by the alien feels like it takes control away from the player for too long.
This is a great prototype and I enjoyed it a lot more than your last LD game!
This is great an I had a lot of fun. Reminds me of a 2d Starmade. I would have liked an arrow on the core to indicate which direction was forward. Also wouldn't mind seeing enemy ships just turn into pickups as soon as the core was killed, but it looks like this was done on purpose.
Well, I'll admin I'm not great at platformers under normal circumstances, so this one gave me fits. The light level just drops SO fast! It would have been nice to start in a lit area just to get a feel for the controls, scale, and level design before being plunged into the darkness and having to worry about budgeting the light on top of it.
I'm sorry, but I do not have access to a OSx system to play your game. That said, I did read your entire entry page and wanted to let you know that your vector art looks great! I'm not sure which style is most appropriate, but, since I'm here, I wanted you to know that the original looked good.
Another polished little 'art game'. Kudos, Zelos!
I was rather frustrated with this one in the beginning. I wasn't expecting the gravity on the player avatar and it took a while to notice. This led to me fighting the controls. It also took a while before I noticed that I could proceed to the next screen. The barrier removal is very subtle and the moving starfield led me to believe that I might already be moving forward. Things were smooth sailing after that point, however.
I feel the real star of the show is the aggregate player choices at the end. Sure, the decisions are a little hokey and the gimmick is very Telltale Games (A gimmick that they themselves have pretty thoroughly beaten to death), but it was a welcome surprise in a LD game.
Compared to ColorFly, I feel this one is a step down. Gradient provides a very linear experience where the only freedom comes from dialog box where as ColorFly offered a more varied experience and real exploration leading to some true "Ah-Ha!" moments of realization. I'll score this game as its own thing, of course, I just wanted to offer the input for your consideration as an artist.
With shooting being so costly (ie. life and death), there REALLY needs to be some kind of crosshair. I understand that you don't exactly want folks blasting cameras willy-nilly, but I couldn't find a way to complete the game without shooting one camera (the low-level one by the final door).
The trudge across the final courtyard is rather long, especially since I had to replay a few time before I was able to win.
I was a bit surprised (an bummed) that the ending dialog was so... meh. I was expecting more after the colorful intro bit.
I found the second staircase camera light a little hard to read. Maybe adding some kind of cookie to the spot would help.
I had no problems running this and enjoyed this bit of the ol' sneaky-sneaky. I really liked the music!
@Mars I don't think that the game suffers from the lack of being able to complete it as a "pacifist", especially as the enemies as just cameras. I was just pointing out that the need to shoot a camera is what makes the aiming a real issue. The lack of a crosshair would've been easier to swallow if you didn't have to using the shooting mechanic at all.
I certainly appreciate you going the route you did to make aiming difficult (I actually made the same decision with my last LD game and got an earful about it in the comments). Perhaps a 'fatter' projectile, or a blast radius on impact, or beam, or EMP grenade, or some silly thing that doesn't require the precision the current bolt does could alleviate the frustration.
You should have the link to the fixed version at the top of the page. That old one is completely unplayable (speed problems more than the pink text) and I wasted a bit of time trying various settings on my end trying to get it running. Keep the link to the original also in case anyone wants to be picky enough to play it, but have it AFTER the working one :wink:
I'm glad you're having fun with LD and improving!
Cool game. I am a fan of the action/TD mash-up.
So, first thing's first: I'm one of those 'Inverted Y' freaks, so aiming was very difficult for me. If it wasn't for the targeting laser (Which works WONDERFULLY, BTW), I would have been truely screwed.
The only real problem here is that gas can drops appear to be random. My first game I had plenty and barely had any the second go-around.
Leaderboards weren't working when I tried. Just sat at 'Fetching data' for a while.
Maybe it's from growing up in the era of Pac-Man Fever, but I adore your aliens :)
Having the same problem as Wabble where the game crashes after each level (Windows 7). Fortunately, unlocks are saved.
Your aiming system gave me a bit of motion sickness. I feel like the targeting should be confined. Also, there wasn't really any reason to move as the baddies just headed straight for the orb. Is it possible to switch back to a previous weapon? Not a big fan of the Beam.
Congratulations on completing LD on your first time out (Compo division, no less)! Be proud!
I like this game a lot. It's a cool concept and you executed it very well. Moreover, you dodged making this too complicated. I like the fact that the driver in the game follows the 'rules of the road' and only using the phone while stopped.
I think the only hangups I had were A) Initially understanding that W represented the goods pickup warehouses and B) Understanding what the closed road with the construction crews were.
Overall, you did a great job!
My copy of Avast Anti-virus is reporting this as infected. Hopefully, just a false positive, but, ya know, head's up.
I really liked the mellow groove of the music. It definitely helped take the edge off the learning curve. Had a ton of problems with the physics just pushing stuff everywhere. I absolutely adore the analog dial digit display.
I guess this could best be classified as a 'clicker' game, yeah? Haven't played many of these (like two. Ever), so I cannot comment on balance. Money was never a problem so I just kept building whatever was latest and greatest.
One think I couldn't stand was the 'bounce back' effect on scrolling. Drove me completely up a wall when scrolling around to fill up facilities.
Hit 252 years and completed the tech tree. Not sure how much money I made because the counter keeps rolling after the game is over.
Great game! Had a lot of fun and the learning curve felt just right. Took about four tries.
Kinda torn about the rotation controls being so touchy. I'm going lean towards the fact that it was the right call for this game.
It would have been great if you had put the toggle keys on the actually control buttons themselves or made the activate via mouse click.
Took a while to get the hang of it even after reading all the directions both on site and in game. BTW, many of the in-game instructions are in rather inconvenient or useless places (on clips right into the ground and the text over the base probably won't be seen by a number of people). Additionally, the build percentage for creating towers is WAY out of the player's view point. It took a while before I noticed I was doing anything at all.
Think there is a bit of a bug where if you run out of power while standing in the recharge circle, you won't recharge.
The game also feels unfairly balanced (or I just suck). Even after getting a few turrets running, I never felt safe making a run on others. This was compounded by the fact that if I fell into the trenches, I was pretty much boned.
I like the concept a great deal and the controls work fine, but I think the odd are stacked against me too much.
Loved everything about this! I seem to be the dumbest guy yet to play this as I found the 3rd(? The one in your screenshot) puzzle extremely difficult. On the upside, it kept me from progressing until I understood the 'language' of the puzzles. I'll be honest (and a little embarrassed) and admit I might have bailed if the story hadn't reeled me in from the start.
I would have liked more chances to interact with the characters. I feel a couple more button responses could have made me feel like more of a participant in addition to alleviating the occasional 'Do I click now?' feeling on a couple of the dialog screens (One of the earlier dialogs is halting and sets up the 'click this button' mechanic early, but it only shows up one other time). The gag with the 'Nope' button is priceless!
You should update the description on this page now that a Windows version is available so you don't accidentally scare someone off :wink:
The narration at the beginning was a welcome touch! Volume on it was a bit low compared to the rest of the game, but it was pretty great. Next time out you may want to consider adding subtitles for the hearing impared or folks playing without the sound on.
I loved the music throughout! It is incredible.
Very good detail in all the locations.
I did have a problem with the dialog. I could have been funny if the swearing was restricted to one character (I'd pick Ton Hi :wink:) and maybe running with the 'Carla's a bitch' joke, but with everyone swearing all the time it just lost its punch and felt juvenile.
Heck of a job for a jam game. Color me impressed!
Finished on Easy with 38 fuel left on my second attempt. Not sure if I'm up to a run on hard mode, lol.
So... Yeah, this is a tricky one. I guess the one big beef I have with it is the inability to look straight down which, ironically, is the most important place to see. Rotation is also rather tricky. It starts off pretty slow and then shoots over to being too much. I also found the controls for manually adjusting thrust far too touchy.
Tough but fair. I enjoyed playing it.
My first thought at seeing this was "Man, I'm glad I don't have to get this guy's comments," lol. Fortunately, everyone seems to be cool here, so, congrats on that!
Funny concept, good art, and fitting music.
I did have one very aggravating problem: Words that start with the same letter should not be on screen at the same time. The game seems to auto-select the closest word with the first letter you type and that poses a bit a problem if you're purposefully letting a tricky word fail. I feel that tracking what starting letters are in play and filtering the dictionary appropriately would go a long way to improving this title.
Hit 6919.
I like this game a ton! I found it interesting to switch tasks between hauling fuel and kiting zombies into the electric fence. Everything just felt right about this one. Kudos!
Interesting little adventure game. The writing was excellent, if a little long in places. THANK YOU for having a 'click to display all text' type thing setup. I wouldn't have minded a couple more pictures :wink:
Think I found a bit of a bug: A storm hit and blew away my level 1 shelter, but I also got the message that my fire was sheltered by the storm.
Interesting idea, but very confusing. The player really blends in with the background. Same with the UI as they're all blue.
A mini-map (or, better yet, some visual indication of where you and the controls are on the titan in the battle screen) would have gone a long way. I found it difficult to know where I was based on the background.
Also a bit of an oversight: When playing with a controller, if the player exits the control screen using Button 1, they will immediately be falling as the game starts. It took a while for me to even understand that Button 1 also grabbed. I usually expect platforms in games that look like this.
Being such an interesting concept, I feel this game really suffers from a lack of instruction/player training.
Art, music, style, and concept are all top notch!