Click The Power by hungare 2017-08-05T15:02:41Z ♥ 1
Hey HunGARE! It's Snowy (because that wasn't obvious from my name lol). Didn't know you joined this Dare, so when I saw your response, I thought I might as well check your game out.
First of all, I'm really sad the game was only 40 waves long. It was a fun little game with an interesting premise, and I enjoyed playing it all the way through. I was disappointed (maybe disappointed isn't the right word... 'surprised'?) when it stopped after about two minutes of playing. Man, did I wish it went on longer...
The graphics, though not revolutionary, were great in their own right. The simple representation of everything made sure it was apparent which card was power-related. They were simple, efficient and - above all else - adorable.
The music was great to such an extent that it actually kept me waiting to start up the game to hear the entire track first. It carries that electricity/power feel fantastically and I feel like it fits the entire game very well. The only thing that broke it for me was how it looped. The end of the track and the beginning didn't feel like a natural loop to me, which is sad, because I loved the music.
I did think it lacked some difficulty (then again, I love me some unforgiving, challenging games). It played through it twice: the first time I pressed the right buttons as soon as I could, the second time I started by letting the bar drop down into the red. I found it was really easy getting it back up, and that the power drain overall was really slow.
Overall, You did a great job at the game! I still wish it was a bit longer and more challenging though...
LD41 — Combine 2 Incompatible Genres (13)
aVOID by boats 2018-04-29T13:34:27Z ♥ 2
This game is great, and it just borders amazing if it weren't for the impact RNG has on the experience.
There's more people before me who commented on this, but the power of RNG in this game is too big. Most of the time I could head straight up for a bit and get far enough away to just silence the music completely (which I do want to point out was a nice touch). It's good to get a head start, especially since The Void can catch up to you extremely quickly, but games where you don't get one get really difficult really quickly. My first run was one where I started on a branch that only went *down*, which was just absolutely horrendous. Luckily the games are short and the music is an absolute banger, which made me try again.
Other than that, the game's great. Like I said: the music's a genuine banger, the graphics are simple but good and the game felt responsive. The extra occult rooms (the "Space" ones) were a nice touch to keep you on your toes, as was the fact that making any mistake increased The Void's pace too. This makes it feel like it's your own fault for losing. Or it would do that if you weren't getting messed over by the RNG.
All in all, it's a great game, and you did an amazing job taking into account it's a Ludum Dare.
About Love by maskinmask 2018-04-28T10:14:11Z ♥ 3
The game is pretty good.
I want to praise your artist. They've done a very good job on the art style; it's simple and plain, yet cute and charming. Same goes for the music. It set the tone of the game really well and interacts greatly with the story. Talking about the story...
I see it's the main focus of the game (as you also claimed yourself), and while I think the story is executed well in the sense that it's clear one by exclusively showing - no telling, the story in and of itself is a pretty mediocre and cliche one. It worked well as an add-on to the game, and it was interesting to see it evolved, but the ending fell flat for me. Heartwarming and happy, sure, but it didn't feel satisfying enough.
I want to applaud you for telling the story through gameplay too. The game grew gradually more difficult (well... "difficult", it took longer and more effort to fill the bar at least) as it became more difficult to maintain the love between the characters. That's an impressive thing to pull off right, and I don't see many people doing it anymore. That entire concept fell a bit flat with the last part though, where the relationship was stronger than ever, but the difficulty stayed. I understand the rising "difficulty" curve, because that's logical in games, but it was a let-down for the concept of integrating story into gameplay, sadly.
Forgive me for the essay on the game (and more specifically its story). I'm very passionate about game design and writing in games, so if a game has story, I just can't not talk about it. I also don't want to say it's a bad game. I enjoyed playing it very much, and you did a very good job on it.
Sky Serpent Paint by Tuomo 2018-04-27T19:58:54Z ♥ 1
I have very mixed feelings about this work (I'm deliberately not using "game"). I love it, but I don't like it.
The art is absolutely astounding and gorgeous in every aspect. The music is amazing as well, and both the music and the visuals truly create an enchanting atmosphere of peace and tranquility. They work so very well together and could probably wash all the worries off my back on their own. I'm not being hyperbolic for the sake of praising either; I genuinely mean this.
The reason I don't like it is because it doesn't feel right as a game. The idea is interesting, but the controls are too wonky and the dragon feels too unresponsive. There were times at which the dragon was moving in a completely different direction than where I was drawing, and there were even more times at which the dragon wasn't responding to my drawings at all. The interactivity feels very off a lot of the time.
This work is astounding beautiful, almost even a piece of art. But it doesn't work as a "game", in my honest opinion.
Dancemazing by MariosManiatis 2018-04-27T19:00:56Z ♥ 2
This game is weird, but I don't know if it's a good kind of weird or a bad kind of weird.
The graphics are relatively simple, but very well-made. They have a smooth, seamless look that reminded me somewhat of The Witness. The main audio track was also amazing. The music feels slightly alien, and after hearing it for a while, it made me feel slightly... uneasy (for the lack of a better word).
The idea is unique and odd, which is both a blessing and a curse. You can mildly tell it's supposed to be a dancing/horror game, but I feel like the main mechanics of both could've been explored better to fully express it. The atmosphere - except from the music - feels too cheery to be a horror game (might be just me; I don't get scared quickly), but the music doesn't entirely fit with being a dancing game either. It's missing some sort of rhythm or beat to tap the arrows to.
The sense of humor of the game was great, and I like how you dared to combine those two ideas, so props for that. For a Ludum Dare, it's definitely not a bad game. In fact, I'd say it's top 20% of the games I've seen so far. Well done!
5ive 4 me, thr3e 2 u !1 - a turn-based platformer! by alferbayter 2018-04-25T17:43:09Z ♥ 0
Safe for the very awkward controls, this is a solid game with a good concept.
The game itself is fun, the mechanics work very well and the game has some good flow to it. The graphics, despite consisting of a "Simon Says" main character and only plain colors, are very clear and make it easy to sight-read *what* is going to move and hurt.
My main problem with the game is the audio, or rather the fact it repeats from the start on death. A game like this, where you can't always sight-read *how* something is going to move, has you falling prey to an unexpected death pretty often (or I'm just bad). It gets samey hearing the same starting tune starting over from the start each time again.
It's a solid game though, and a really enjoyable one, to say the least.
Flatformer by Nick Rafalski 2018-04-25T17:27:19Z ♥ 1
I don't like card games... at all. *But* I did really enjoy playing this game. I don't know whether it was the charm of a simple platformer, the cute graphics or the... "A Capella" voice effects (for the lack of a better description), but this game spoke to me.
The flow of the game was, however, interrupted by a long pause between playing two cards. I'm not the first person to comment on this though, so I won't add to that long list of repetitive comments on it. There was some polish and a certain degree of challenge I missed though, and I don't know if that can be really excused by the amount of content in the game.
Dear Clicker by blubberquark 2018-04-25T17:09:34Z ♥ 1
Yes, I need more.
As someone who is a very big fan of the "walking simulator" genre, this game was absolutely astounding. The combination of walking sim and clicker game is one that I'd never think would work out at all, but oh dear, how pleasantly surprised I was.
I don't know how much of this game was meant to be take as a serious walking simulator, but the combination with the clicker genre made it come off as a satire more than anything. The fact you could buy poems and the generic random objects scattered around the landscape without any reason (along with the ending) really enforced that idea. If you were going for that, I applaud you. If not, well... I liked it as being a satire.
I have to mention that I had trouble accepting the invisible barriers literally everywhere, even *if* it was an artistic choice. They made me feel cheated out of an entire island to freely explore since they just set you on rails towards the ending. The absence of ambient music or sound effects for the coins was mildly disappointing as well.
Overall you did a fantastic job. Subverted my expectations completely.
Beatcraft by Ithildin 2018-04-25T16:30:33Z ♥ 1
I like this game. It's neat; it's got a decent art-style (though I'll admit it looks more like a prototype from a graphical standpoint, I don't judge games by their covers).
The concept is unique and interesting, but I feel like you could've expanded on it better. There's some lost potential in there with the resource management and RTS-aspect of it. The combination of the two themes works pretty well too, but I feel like there's more in there waiting to be uncovered... I can't quite tell you what it is though.
Anyway, great job on the game!
Crafty by Brackeys 2018-04-25T14:41:02Z ♥ 1
It's decent. I can't say any more of it, nor any less. Just decent.
The graphical side is done amazingly, and the flavor text of some creations along with the way you create some things have some good sense of humor. The sound effects are also generally very well-made. I'll even be the first to admit I got sucked in trying to 100% it, but quit due to my frustration of ending up brute-forcing it.
Like many people pointed out, however, the fact that you have to take out your crafted material yourself and drop it in your inventory was a questionable design decision, as was the inability to switch out two materials by dragging one on top of the other. These two facts combined made brute-forcing extremely bad, boring and frustrating after a while (especially since the amount of possible combinations increases at such a quick rate).
I saw praise for you trying to incorporate a story into this, and I'll admit I did enjoy that idea. The thing I found rather unsatisfying is how you can just get some of the elements by pure chance it seems. Magic goo and - if I recall correctly - the enemy castle/army just were added to force you further into the supposed "story". I get *why* it was done, but I don't think it was the right way to do it. Either make the player experience it passively or just cut the story-element out entirely.
I'm a fan of your videos and a proud member of the community, so I'm not hating on your game just to hate on it. Again: I enjoyed playing it very much (and it's about a hundred times better than my own entry), but I can't go without noting the problems I found with the game, even if they are *slightly* nit-picky.
Turn Around - When turn-based rules meets their opposite ! by ValBoise 2018-04-25T14:23:52Z ♥ 0
It's very obvious this game was well-crafted and made with a lot of love. The art was simple and charming and the music was decent. The loop did get repetitive after a while, and the volume of the main track was very, *very* quiet compared to the sound effects.
The concept of "You're the only one in a turn-based world" is neat and interesting, but it could've been better executed. I understand the need for a limited move space, but the wait time of five seconds between each turn made it very tedious to navigate some levels. If you're expanding on this further, I'd suggest you add some sort of "fast forward" to make the waiting less... obnoxious (though that's my personal opinion).
The controls were - bluntly said - horrendously awkward. The fact they were configured relative to the plane you're walking on and not to the camera angle is a decision that goes beyond me. I might just be stupid, and I realize that, but I couldn't predict what movement button would move me in which way due to this.
All in all, I truly enjoyed the game (despite my comment probably looking more negative than positive), and it's made well (sans the few points I mentioned here). Given that it's a Ludum Dare, you did a great job overall.
Don't leave me by lolfrad 2018-04-25T13:57:00Z ♥ 3
It's... okay.
I want to say I enjoyed playing the game, and I think you did a pretty good job at making it. Amazing puzzle games are hell to design, but you did a good job at designing your puzzles here. Everything was clear without needing any explanation, which is good game design. The graphical style was simple, and mildly charming.
However, this didn't feel like a mix of two incompatible themes. Turn-based/puzzle go pretty hand in hand, especially the way you made it. It doesn't feel like something innovative (frankly, it doesn't need to be), it's just a pretty mundane puzzler.
Though I found the reflection of the end on the main menu to be very neat and cool, I didn't get moved by the ending, mostly because I just didn't have enough time to get attached to either of the cubes. Green suddenly appears out of nowhere, then green suddenly is gone out of nowhere. There's no build-up in relationship between the two cubes, nor any time for the player to bond with them. The fact it didn't feature music didn't help that. Just by adding one track with three variations (neutral, cheerful once green joins, sad once green leaves) it would've changed the tone and emotions completely. (I'm going on about this because I'm very passionate about stories in games).
I don't want to be all negative about this game, because I did enjoy playing it and I know Ludum Dare enforces focus on specific fields. There's a lot of potential in here (even just as a puzzler), and I would absolutely love to see the game/story expanded upon.
TypeRunner by ShiMapleLeaf 2018-04-25T13:35:14Z ♥ 1
Simple concept, great execution.
Though it could use some fleshing out (i.e. "JUMP" being tedious to type fast since it's all on the right side of the keyboard, "LEAP" would've been less awkward), the art style is simple yet charming and the gameplay is generally a lot of fun. I personally don't like the choice of background music though, but the sound effects are very good and satisfying.
Run N' Cook by LeonLaci 2018-04-25T13:26:28Z ♥ 1
Definitely a niche little idea that has at least *some* amount of potential, and the potato gun/stringless guitar definitely had its charm. The graphics were appealing and neat too, and I'm definitely flattered by the many references in the game.
Sadly, I can't say it's an amazing game (and I know you agree with me). Though the gameplay in essence is fun, it's not polished enough in its current state, and about 80% of the game is time-gated content by waiting for bars to fill. There's little challenge except not getting jump-scared by an enemy spawning right on top of you, and a severe lack of interactivity.