Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → SigmoidDev
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | Elementary Evocation | compo | 101 | 3.73 | 3.64 | 3.33 | 4.04 | 4.45 | 2.64 | 3.37 |
Simple but effective - I could definitely see this being turned into something good, but in its current state it felt a bit lacking. There wasn't really any variation or randomness to the levels, and there weren't any decorations or anything. The environment felt a bit uninspired - even a few trees or bushes in the background would make it feel a lot more finished.
Good concept though, and I liked the audio!
Quite fun, but a bit buggy and hard to understand - I couldn't really tell which resources I should be assigning people to, and also couldn't see any clear indication of when it was going to be night. For some reason as well, after the first night, the blue ghost was still there, but didn't seem to attack anything on the second night. I don't know if they were meant to disappear in the day or what, but overall the idea was definitely there.
Nice, solid entry. Wasn't really sure what each type of powerup did, but the game was generally pretty fun
The game definitely takes a bit of getting used to. I found it rather frustrating how many times I had to restart because I ran out of something. It felt like everything was just a race against the clock as at least one of my resources always seemed to be going down.
If it was made clearer what I was running out of/what I needed, or if there was a way to remove/pause some of the towers it would be a lot easier, but overall it was alright. I don't __really__ get what it had to do with summoning, but as a resource management game, it was relatively fun - just a rather steep learning curve.
I must say, I was a bit confused what to do at first, but once I figured it out by reading the book, it was actually relatively fun trying the different combinations and seeing what happened. The art style, while very simple, is consistent and the black and white aesthetic really adds to the atmosphere. Despite a lack of physical detail, the game actually feels quite immersive and sticks very closely to the theme!
Overall, a good concept - the atmosphere and the art style felt quite spooky, and the link to the theme of summoning was clear.
I did find though that the actual drawing of the spells was a bit unforgiving. It often failed even when it looked as if I'd done it correctly, and I didn't find the gameplay particularly intuitive (even after reading the tutorial in the description).
I also found that there was never really much incentive; there was never really a sense of panic (I know it's just a demo), but once you defeated the first few enemies, the game felt kind of empty. Of course you'd have difficulty ramping and a reason to progress, but there was no sense of urgency - no time limit or anything.
Definitely a fun concept though - good luck with the game!
Really unique game, and a fun mechanic, but I will say that the horizontal movement just felt really sluggish. I get that it was done to fit the lore of the character or whatever, but it felt as if it could easily have just been either a bit faster, or automatic.
Surprisingly fun given how simple it is - really easy to get the hang of, and really satisfying to watch (even if I am literally deaf now from all the popping noises)! Having the achievements pop up every once in a while helps to give a sense of progression, and I think it could be turned into something really fun if there were maybe more upgrade paths.
One slight critique (although it isn't a problem with the actual game) is just the bouncing physics. I thought that the way everything bounced was kind of unnatural and janky - it felt more like they were being pushed off the ground randomly rather than being 'bouncy'.
Overall though, the game looks really nice!
P.S. OH MY GOD MY FRAMERATE!Screenshot 2024-04-15 155355.png
Honestly this was really fun - I loved its simplicity, and the art looks really nice! One thing I did find annoying though was that you HAD to pick something from the shop, even if the options were all worse than your current deck.
First of all - I love the art; the game looks really nice. The gameplay was good as a 'proof of concept' as you said, but it wasn't particularly interesting. If you were to continue developing the game, potentially adding in new enemy types, a larger map and so on, I think it definitely has potential, but was a bit too easy in its current state.
Also, with the slimes, they seem to spawn in the most random of places. At first I thought the game was bugged as I couldn't see any more slimes and wasn't sure what to do, but then I noticed a bunch of them getting stuck behind trees and stuff.
Overall though, a good idea!
Probably one of the most **fun** games I've played in this jam. I see everyone commenting on it being too hard and the momentum being uncontrollable, but honestly I think they just have a skill issue (no offense). Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but once you master the timings it's actually a really fun game. As a concept, I can see this being turned into something really good if there were more levels or whatever. I made it to 12 stars, but it was starting to just be the same thing over and over.
As everyone else said - the web build doesn't seem to work, but all good. The actual game isn't bad, but I found it really confusing. There seem to be about 3 trillion different abilities and the keybinds are really weird. I didn't really understand what I was doing apart from randomly attacking enemies, and even then - I couldn't tell why sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. I assume that there was some kind of ammo or something, but overall I don't think anything was particularly clear.
I think it would've been better to keep it a bit simpler, having less abilities and focusing more on player experience over having loads of semi-finished content.