Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Salmonmeagar
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | The Race Against Death | jam | 416 | 3.85 | 3.67 | 3.54 | 4.03 | 3.79 | 3.40 | 3.61 |
Certainly a very chill garden. I'd say I didn't really feel responsible for the life of the plants, but I guess that wasn't really the point, was it? I really love the art style, and I enjoyed waiting to see what new plants would sprout (I found 5 different varieties after 8 plants, if you're curious). That said, it was a looooot of waiting.
I think this game doesn't really have a good connection to the theme. Yes, you keep the guy alive, but it's to the same extent as countless other games. The real highlight is of course the rearrangement mechanic, and that doesn't hit the theme for me.
It's a very good concept, but every level I saw was exactly the same but with more monsters, which was a disappointment. I think this concept would work better as a puzzle-oriented game.
First thing, weird. In a good way. I can't really think of a better incentive for math than saving dinosaurs. That said, I have to say that it does *feel* like a bunch of ideas thrown together. I don't mean it's a mess, because everything worked great, but I didn't really get any atmosphere from this game.
First off, well done. Much better than my first game ever, especially in only 5 hours (it was also about slimes, coincidentally). That said, here's that feedback you requested.
This game needs to be better at telling the player things. What does the meat counter mean? How many slimes is a good number? Why am i just standing here? You should make sure players know this stuff. As the creator of the game, who designed everything in it, it can be easy to forget that players might not know what's going on or what those numbers mean. There is a lot of stuff players can usually just "figure out", but generally the better game is the one that doesn't require players to do that.
Again though, these are problems every new game dev has to figure out. I think it's amazing that you were able to get anything out in only five hours with no experience!
I like everything aesthetically about this game- the atmosphere is great, and I really like the pixel art. That said, in terms of gameplay it's best described as loose, from the combat to the objectives. Specifically, the map was just to big and empty - once I actually found stuff, it was a chore to navigate all the way back to the robot, and when I found fuses my inventory was often already filled with batteries.
These are some legitimate critiques, but I actually really liked a lot about this game, I just thing real critiques are important. Positive rating from me!
I have to point out the rudimentary 3D graphics - but other than that, I found this game to be great. It had a such a great blend of thinking, experimenting and frantic block-placing that I couldn't help but play every level, even when the last few took me dozens of attempts. It's both simple and complex in the best ways.
It's very nicely polished and aesthetic to boot, but messing up a climb is way too harsh due to the slow stamina regen. Also, I think I pressed shift mid-jump or something and ended up stuck in the jump animation, unable to move.
@aditya-kumar I also wasn't really satisfied with the controls, the whole "up goes right" thing is probably my biggest dissatisfaction with the game. Sorry it hurt your experience!
While solid overall, the controls felt quite loose, and the creativity wasn't there for me.
Very good implementation of the theme in my opinion, and very cute. However, the "quest for love" atmosphere was lacking, and the controls were just a biiiiiit clunky.
Rather rough aesthetically, but plays well and is very on the nose. I especially appreciate that I have influence over the dinosaurs - I've had enough of these games where my object of interest just stands there waiting to be pummeled.