FoonLudum Dare ExplorerUsers → sparewizard

sparewizard

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrAuHuMoCo
201944Your life is currencyCourage, My Knightcompo563.853.753.523.854.233.553.73
201841Combine 2 Incompatible GenresSargasso Derelictunfinished
201740The more you have, the worse it isIn Temperance Ruinjam1473.893.823.343.414.022.663.88
201739Running out of PowerPower Rhythmjam4143.373.503.203.582.624.04
201635ShapeshiftGeometer's Follyjam8272.942.683.693.143.002.693.0673
201534Two Button Controls / GrowingStrong Like Orcjam5413.303.462.743.562.952.862.9769

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Audio vs Overall

Humor vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by sparewizard

LD34 — Two Button Controls / Growing

become a game developer in 60 seconds by unprompted 2015-12-17T07:40:00

I made a level where you picked up a bunch of coins, but there was an enemy disguised as a coin, and there was no attack or jump.

It's a mastapeece.

Vines of Darkness by BMacIntosh 2015-12-15T07:30:00

An enjoyable settlement sim. The music and the vines create an atmosphere of foreboding.

Could do with a description of what all of the items do, and perhaps slightly faster pacing.

Greenfinger by paulfysh 2015-12-16T06:04:00

Fun puzzler with a'moo'sing elements.

Dog Gone Big! by HulkHandsome 2015-12-16T06:56:00

The machine evolving as you played was a cool addition.

In the beginning by Liam :D 2015-12-16T06:50:00

An interesting concept, it would be cool if it was expanded on some more.

Fatness - The Epic Buffet Journey (Read Controls) by Outbreak 2015-12-15T06:23:00

Quite simple, but I enjoyed it. The controls were a bit of a hurdle initially, but made the game more interesting once I had them figured out.

Cavern Climber by fashionbatman 2015-12-15T07:49:00

Nice aesthetic. There should have been a small amount of tolerance in the controls so that you can jump without changing directions unintentionally.

Snake Dungeon by tGiant 2015-12-15T07:16:00

Decent snake clone/dungeon exploration game, the level editor was rough, but a nice touch.

InfiniGrow by niccholaspage 2015-12-17T07:48:00

Some of the obstacles were too difficult to jump through, but it was a good thematic take on flappy bird, and the character was well animated.

Zap Runagain by PaperboxStudios 2015-12-16T06:39:00

I like the mechanic of more aliens is worth more, but more difficult to score.

Beyond Happily Ever After by MoonlightBomber 2015-12-15T06:34:00

Wow, the theme was two button controls, not one!

All jokes aside, a neat little story about how life and love are, in a word, growth.

retrovirus by razieliyo 2015-12-15T04:52:00

Overall good, created a nice tense atmosphere. I gave up on level 5 because it was very tedious waiting for healing and bots to stop chasing you. I think level 4 was a perfect mix of suspense, frustration, and reward.

Fun fact - If you drag the screen while you are moving, your character will miss the node and fly into empty space.

Flove by SpringCabal 2015-12-17T06:55:00

I love the use of the Spring engine. I'm not into TA as much as I used to be, but I'd recognize those shields anywhere.

Tap Root by mattlevonian 2015-12-15T06:10:00

I didn't have other controllers (or people...), but I had a good enough time growing around.

Nature's Will by 4B 2015-12-15T05:57:00

I found the music to be a little bit annoying and repetitive, but after I lost and restarted, the music was playing twice!

The controls felt like they were limiting the game, but the gameplay was alright. With some polish, this could be a pretty cool game.

American Excess by lectric.monk 2015-12-15T06:49:00

Very fitting audio, I like how the character expresses my frustration at the controls. Feels like he's drunk with purchasing power.

What does Sam do ? by Garazbolg 2015-12-16T04:12:00

So many tasty options...

Swarms in Space by HongerTrollie 2015-12-17T06:10:00

I love how all of your weaponry shoots fast but at a low range, so that it looks like you are fighting against overwhelming odds, but as long as you pick up a few crystals you are never in any real danger.

Blue & Red by zaniarm 2015-12-15T08:01:00

Challenging. I got 19 on hard.

Grow, Flower! by emmavanderbrug 2015-12-15T07:57:00

A bit bizarre that the numbers need to match exactly. I ended up having to poison my flower so it would bloom.

Growing Beat by David Cookie 2015-12-17T07:06:00

This was very enjoyable. The music felt random but very cohesive, good job!

Strong Like Orc by SpareWizard 2015-12-16T04:24:00

Yes, swing/jump chains are intentional. That's why one of the scores is longest air time, and it sometimes says "You can jump again after swinging" at the end.

LD35 — Shapeshift

I Have Brig Plans by reheated 2016-04-19T16:44:00

You shift the shapes of cells... That hold shapeshifters... Too many layers!

The cat of two worlds by Thijs Tak 2016-04-19T14:01:00

I liked the momentum from running up ramps, and the long jump vs high jump trade off.

The plaforming was a bit slow, and I got stuck at the first enemy.

Cherokid by EdoMiyamoto 2016-04-19T13:44:00

I enjoyed the gaining animal powers aspect. I think the objectives were a bit too far apart, or perhaps there were not enough things to do between them.

Swine Fortress: Bacons On Strike! by One Seed Fruit 2016-04-20T15:40:00

Cool idea, the controls were a bit floaty

Terrain Shifter by AshkoreDracson 2016-05-05T03:58:00

Great mechanics.

There were a few camera issues, especially on one level where a wall comes between the camera and the ball. Perhaps make the ball visible through terrain, or move the camera higher?

Duality by HolyBlackCat 2016-04-19T14:56:00

Very clever puzzles, I got to the end with 84 deaths. My only wish is that the platforms wouldn't move back when you weren't moving them yourself.

Shifters by Beard 2016-04-19T15:12:00

On high resolutions, the move left/right buttons, and the leave battle buttons are missing, for some reason.

Atlantis Dare by James Coote 2016-04-19T21:20:00

Cool strategy game. It would be nice if there were shortcuts to placing things on the map.

Shapeshift Inc by Jajo 2016-05-03T17:43:00

I really liked the concept, but it would be better with more strategic depth than click on the largest area. Perhaps if the different shapes did different actions?

Purity by Sean 2016-04-19T15:02:00

I liked how the noise from deflecting guys lined up well with the the music.

Korial by Korial 2016-05-05T03:28:00

I didn't know how to play the game except through the web player from the source download, so right clicking to shoot didn't work. Enemies don't kill you very fast, so eventually my game became a massive wall of tanks with a never ending hail of meatball bullets.

Jazz War by BruReale 2016-04-20T15:34:00

Played with 2 players, there were some bugs, but it was a lot of fun!

Dungeon Man and the Shifting Sword by fistmaker 2016-04-20T15:03:00

I liked the shapeshifting sword mechanic! I got stuck at the first key the first time after pushing in the wrong direction, maybe allow the player to hit keys to bounce them around.

SizeBlock by MrMegawatts 2016-04-19T12:02:00

Very intuitive mechanics.

SkyShip by Mikaza 2016-04-19T12:28:00

Fun game! I think it would be better if player bullets moved faster. Also, if there is no disadvantage to holding down fire forever, would it not be better to remove the button and have the player auto-fire?

Elemental Runner by zamotany 2016-05-03T17:54:00

The models are well done, a bit of animation could make the game feel quite lively.

Polytopian by sudojess 2016-05-07T04:21:00

Very great idea! The game was quite interesting once I figured out how to deal with the problematic controls.

<FREEEE> by Team Pineaplestorm Warrior 2016-05-05T03:53:00

Neat game, died of spook first run, boss got stuck on tree second run.

Does the shapeshifting do anything, mechanically? It was fun to take down a giant weeping land squid as a cactus with a gun, but more interactions as the different characters would be great.

LizardPope by Raphael_ 2016-04-19T11:55:00

Very cool.

The hit detection on punches doesn't seem to work when guys are very close to you, so the first game I didn't get any rage and thought the game was busted.

The second game I stood on their heads until the gun guys showed up and started shooting them, which somehow gave me rage.

Magic Shapes by gq_deltex 2016-05-03T18:24:00

Neat that the game came with modifiable levels.

The platforming design could use tightening up, it's sometimes annoying to jump into corridors as tall as the player, or to jump onto a platform directly above the one you are on.

I liked the changing characters, but do they do anything differently? I just stayed as the same guy for a few levels once.

Count Spoopy's dance club by MrBoxBox 2016-04-19T17:50:00

Shapeshifting worked well in this game, I also enjoyed creating an army of undead to do my bidding. It would be good if transforming next to a wall pushed you away from the wall, instead of doing nothing.

Evolator by Peringo 2016-05-03T18:34:00

Cool game, I really enjoyed the music!

I found it strange that I could use WASD in the menu, but not in the game itself.

Try to export as an executable, rather than an installer, next time.

Knightwolf by Ironhead 2016-04-19T20:29:00

I enjoyed the platforming in this one. I found it strange that the shapeshift had limited uses, exactly as many times as there were sections that needed it.

It's also possible to use the bounce pads forever, until you're going so fast you clip through the ground.

CactaiGotchi by Tym17 2016-04-19T14:06:00

I couldn't run it, getting the message MSVCP140.dll is missing, installing VC++ redistributable from online didn't seem to help.

Revenge of the Loot by Hyve 2016-05-05T03:41:00

I had a lot of fun with this game, playing as a mimic was a twist I hadn't seen yet this jam.

Apparently the knights will forget all about you if you change into a different object in front of their eyes.

Loathsome Shifter by bigmangames 2016-04-19T15:39:00

Very funny, some refinement could make this great.

I had a few bugs sometimes where the NPC's couldn't be talked to.

Dragon Knight by virtual_void 2016-04-19T15:29:00

It was fun turning into a dragon and destroying everything. I found the levels were a bit too straight forward, it would be good if you could save an orb for when you needed it.

Shifting planes by PatrickAartssen 2016-05-05T04:44:00

I liked the multi dimensional maze aspect, and the different areas having different controls. The last couple of levels were quite challenging.

Virus Killer by LazyDaniPanda 2016-05-03T18:06:00

Interesting mechanics/form switching. The different forms and their abilities were a bit confusing at first.

LD39 — Running out of Power

Intercontinental Birdsman Competition 2018 by euske 2017-08-22T13:55:12Z

I like the way the flying mechanic works, how instead of going complete button mashing, there's half a second where you can hold the button.

WrongWay by Geckoo1337 2017-08-01T05:04:29Z

Simple but effective, the music was very good for creating a tense atmosphere. I also really enjoyed the leaderboard feature.

Mega-mia by Frozen Stick 2017-08-21T16:47:13Z

I enjoyed the atmosphere and the minimal art, and the varied soundtrack, but it takes too long to get back into the game after you die. There's a whole 10 seconds of you fading out, and the intro replaying that could be mostly cut out.

I had thought that you were playing as a series of clones, and I thought that, for instance, after opening the fan gate, that it would stay open on subsequent lives. This might be an interesting mechanic to consider.

RobotiLab by afendar 2017-08-22T13:37:27Z

Drawing using Java2D is slow, I recommend using something backed by OpenGL such as LWJGL or LibGDX (I used LibGDX for my jam game).

The aesthetic is neat, I like the way the UI looks! There was also quite a lot of stuff to explore. It took me a while to figure out there was a climbing mechanic. There seems to be a bug in the way the climbing and jumping mechanics interact, where you can stick to a ceiling by holding space.

Windup by kleinzach 2017-08-20T15:54:20Z

I really enjoyed the way the spring powerup worked, there were a couple of cool puzzles designed around that. I also liked the way the player was designed with the buttons on the front, though I think maybe they should have stuck out half as much.

I 100% completed the first level, but couldn't make much headway on the second. If you're controlling with both sticks, then it might be better to jump with the shoulder buttons.

I might be in the minority on this, but an option to invert the camera axes would be appreciated; I'm used to thinking that moving the control up/down/left/right moves the camera rather than the way the player looks.

0|0|0|0 by infinitycore 2017-08-21T00:55:45Z

Very cool game!

I wish there was a bit less acceleration to the movement, and I wish you could hold the mouse button to fire.

LOW BATT by simonhutchinson 2017-08-20T13:56:02Z

I like the procedural music feel of this one, how more sounds keep being added in addition to the notes you are playing.

Rude Bear ReRPG by alexrose 2017-08-20T19:25:38Z

I think the combat's a little too fast paced to be controlling so many people at once. You could make some really wacky battles if everyone was controlled by a different human player.

POWER! Run Out ! by angry-cyboot 2017-08-20T19:55:09Z

I couldn't figure out what was going on in this game, a better description even on this page would help.

As far as I could gather, you need energy to operate various devices, and the incoming cloud provides energy, but is also dangerous, so you need to use charging stations to collect the energy? If the goal is the switch all the way to the right, you can just run past everything and press it. Is there supposed to be more to the game?

I really dig the design of the main character, though.

Intrepid by Arkthalohs 2017-08-01T06:13:44Z

The game moved a little slowly, but it was a lot of fun, especially the dice. I ended up 3 energy short of winning.

Ludum Dare Simulator - Click your way to the top of Ludum Dare leaderboard! by Nufflee 2017-08-21T18:23:31Z

Not bad. I'm not normally a fan of the genre, but this was an interesting take with a finite end, though I think the upgrades should have a greater impact on the game.

Whenever I completed the game on the web, I got a big scary javascript notification, and the restart button didn't work:

An error occurred running the Unity content on this page. See your browser JavaScript console for more info. The error was: uncaught exception: abort(90) at jsStackTrace (WEB.asm.framework.unityweb:2:27460) stackTrace (WEB.asm.framework.unityweb:2:27631) abort (WEB.asm.framework.unityweb:4:33150) Pnn (blob:24:1) Ufh (blob:7:1) ...

The Blind Date by dos 2017-08-02T21:04:06Z

It took me a bit to warm up to the drawing, but I really enjoyed this tale! The light expanding as you talked was interesting, but I figured out what the reveal was as soon as the characters started talking about their fears.

GLOW by abductedPlatypus 2017-08-20T16:10:36Z

Great game!

An option for gamepad would be appreciated, so you could move smoothly between directions.

Power Rhythm by sparewizard 2017-08-02T19:09:03Z

You'll need to have Java installed to run the game, [download here](https://java.com/en/download/). If it still doesn't work then, you can either add Java to the system path and use the .bat file, or set Java to be the default program for running .jar files.

Captain Abraham's Inter-Dimensional Adventures by kantieno 2017-08-21T16:21:26Z

The artwork is very good, but I kept running out of food meter and couldn't find any way to fill it up. The crabs that I found hardly replenish the food; it seems it takes more food to hunt a crab than the crab gives you.

Also, does Game Maker not come with an option to export an exe for the game rather than an installer?

Zombie Rush by Duck_Games 2017-08-20T02:13:17Z

I liked the concept of trading off fuel vs health with regards to dodging zombies and moving cautiously. A possible addition to consider is using more fuel to drive on the shoulder or on the grass, but putting some benefit there to balance.

A couple of things bothered me - you couldn't see far enough ahead of you to dodge zombies while staying ahead of the horde on the fastest level. The game calling you a cheater and softlocking for driving out of bounds should have been handled in a way that doesn't require closing and restarting the game. The music also felt random, and was distracting to me.

I also found a bug - the goal at the end of the level is drawn over the ui text.

< Mr. Plug > by Drachmor 2017-08-20T15:28:40Z

Cool game! I enjoyed discovering different kinds of terrain and their effects.

I don't think the limited power worked with some of the precision platforming, where you had to get it almost perfect, or restart the level.

Space Bear Panic by Chris Coe 2017-08-01T05:51:54Z

Cool game! I had some balance issues though; the entity only spawned on one half of the station, and I won easily by welding three doors shut.

Not Enough Cat Lives by Lloyd Angifer 2017-08-22T13:50:58Z

Godot engine, nice!

The lives mechanic and the trap mechanic could have been interesting, but it felt like the cat was too slow to use either well. If you were faster, it would be easier to lure mice into traps, and traversing the level would be less tedious.

The cat and mouse graphics also felt like they should have been more distinct.

Space Rescue. My first Jam game by Joskineide 2017-08-02T20:30:08Z

I enjoyed this game, getting stranded in space worked well for the theme. I think it might have been better (or at least easier) if you aimed with the mouse, or if the jetpacks were continuous rather than single boosts.

Soul Gun by EX3 2017-08-02T20:48:18Z

I enjoy the aesthetic of this game. There's a bug, I think, where you can die while you're already dead, causing you to respawn and then respawn again.

LD40 — The more you have, the worse it is

Loot & Looter by NickZangus 2017-12-09T02:05:32Z

Very innovate and interesting idea! I got to about 40 loot by making a pile by the exit; I had to leave early after I kept getting caught on the walls when trying to avoid skeletons.

Bob the conqueror by Thijs Tak 2017-12-08T03:23:18Z

I liked the music, but it felt very out of place in the game. My favourite part was taking over a castle early, and instantly taking control of all farms and town of the colour.

Synapse by Geckoo1337 2017-12-14T17:58:32Z

Nice game, it took me a while, but I figured out what was going on in the game. The graphics and sound were very stylish, and worked together well.

The controls didn't feel very good to me, with the rotations snapping forward and back. Maybe if a key tap corresponded to one rotation?

M - (name is too short) by WetDesertRock 2017-12-08T04:27:40Z

Took a bit to get the game running, had to download the engine, the game, and then drag it onto the engine.

The game was stylish, I liked the environment changing as you did stuff. You could have made the music build up more and more as you flipped switches.

Bum Bag Bangin' by DuzzOnDrums 2017-12-08T04:07:54Z

Is most beautiful game in all of Krusz. Mainly because is only game.

Gameplay was a little simplistic, but everything else about this was top shelf. Art, animation, voice acting... maybe the most personality of any LD game I've played.

Nuclear Arms 5: Orphan Overdrive by Logicon211 2017-12-08T03:54:33Z

I ended up winning the game because the overflowing orphans flew into the rest of the buildings by chance.

Maurim: Unepic thief by bakudas 2017-12-09T02:30:49Z

Very good, especially the pixel art. I ended up getting stuck on level 3 (I think?) because there were always skulls following right behind me, and I was always slower than them after picking up enough treasure to exit the level.

Project MADNESS by Iluvatar 2017-12-15T04:36:46Z

Neat game, but the game got more and more bogged down as time passed. It might be good if talking to your girlfriend or playing with your dog also increased your fun bar a little bit.

Boxes of Guns by reecer9714 2017-12-09T04:07:00Z

Microtransactions, pay to win, shallow DLC... Congratulations on your EA publishing deal!

I was able to fall off the map by walking past the boss. (Is this game also satire on Steam shovelware???)

In Temperance Ruin by sparewizard 2017-12-29T13:56:50Z

@Chao I had thought about that, which is why I let monsters attack first when you try to run away. Most of the gold is lying around the levels; in the post-jam I added each enemy drops a gold when it is beat for the first time

Tower of Mana by Pedro Henrique Cesar 2017-12-09T01:11:41Z

Interesting concept, but I found the window between having enough mana to do a useful jump and dying was too small. Many times I looked at the screen for a second to prepare, then died from too much energy.

Battle on the frontier by GroverTheGrovekeeper 2017-12-09T01:51:48Z

There's a good foundation for a game here, but I wasn't aware of any objectives. The resource management was good, but it wasn't hard to survive just by making sure there was no deficit. The AI players were there, I saw them buying and selling in the shop, and the backstories for them were impressive, but this game would have been so much better if there were some interactions between players.

Copperia's Peristalsis Peril by Activated_Onion 2017-12-14T15:09:01Z

Cool game, haven't seen a tower defense in a while. I liked the distortion effects as the food slid around the level.

It would be better if the mechanics tied into the theme of the game, for instance instead of gun turrets, you bought enzymes/cells, and instead of money, you earned energy/nutrients.

Radioactive Runner by Hydro_Games 2017-12-14T15:24:53Z

Cool graphics and animations! It was hard to judge when to jump over obstacles because the jump arc didn't make much sense to me (straight up, then straight line down vs. parabola with gravity)

Mizu by sbarrio 2017-12-14T14:58:33Z

Great concept, some of the puzzles and levels are quite good, and really connected with the theme. But, my least favourite platformer trope: spikes are instant kill on touch, even if you aren't moving into the pointy bit.

Also, I don't think it's a good idea to have a limited amount of lives, and a level that can kill you in a second if you don't move. Perhaps you could add checkpoints to a level, and if you run out of lives, you restart from that level?

Wisp by arrigo 2017-12-09T03:30:07Z

Cool idea, I liked that leaving potions behind instead of always picking them up gave something for the monsters to move towards. I ran out of time on level 6 because there was too much space to search, and I couldn't find the stairs anywhere.

LD44 — Your life is currency

Conway's Currency by klianc09 2019-05-03T15:33:10Z

I made it to the top! The potion was one of my favourite mechanics, taking advantage of large clusters that appeared.

Unbalanced Silly Slot Game by SimplePotential 2019-05-03T23:12:10Z

Silly indeed, and chaotic! There's a big difference in scale between the different characters, so it seems only high rollers matter, and they trade money with you until one jackpots.

Courage, My Knight by sparewizard 2019-05-03T21:16:11Z

@klianc09 You can sleep at the tavern to restore to full energy.

Battery is here to stay by Aterlamia 2019-05-03T18:35:24Z

I really enjoyed finding different objects and using them to upgrade the robot! I think it could have been a little more clear what the interactable objects were. In particular, the levers had very small touch regions, which were hard to line up with the cursor objects.

Showdown Arena by aplite 2019-05-03T23:58:56Z

It seems you're always losing ground fighting the robots just due to the balance of the drops. If it takes 5 bullets or 1 shell to kill a robot that drops 10 health 50% of the time, that's an even match. I think the game would be better if the enemies were more challenging, but the drops were in your favour a bit.

Evil Dungeon by Balance686 2019-05-03T18:59:30Z

The light was a good mechanic, allowing you to peer beyond the gates to see if it would be worth it. The mazes felt a little trial and error, perhaps you could put a few more potions in dead ends so that they feel less like a waste.

Definitely very tense, though!

Decay by Spaceface14Dev 2019-05-02T02:28:49Z

Definitely a visually interesting way of spending your life to attack!

Gold Digger 2084 by Tony Redmer 2019-05-04T00:25:58Z

Very good spritework, I especially liked the scene transitions!

Xtrem Soviet Builder by Dukes 2019-05-03T17:58:27Z

There's a lot of strategy in placing buildings because of the way build location and worker respawn works. My favourite things to do are to build houses near construction sites, and to run off into the woods to build factories and die.

Neat game!

cut'n'align by neguse 2019-05-03T14:49:56Z

I made it to 1010 points. Very fun when the combos start racking up!

The X's messed up my plans a few times, I think it could be more strategic if you knew a turn in advance where they would show up. Or perhaps a reward for cutting more blocks at once.

Tiacol - A journey through life by Camocc_Studios 2019-05-03T17:41:04Z

Interesting interpretation of the theme, the dim graphics and various noises create a strong sense of atmosphere.

I think the story could have been portrayed better, perhaps if the environments and sounds became darker as the game progressed, or if you could observe more characters also going through life.

Get Me My Drones! by floxy 2019-05-04T12:22:40Z

The river is moving really fast! The enemy bullets and missiles are so slow compared to this, it feels a little odd.

Interesting idea though, where you take damage directly to your bullets. There's a fun glitch, if you restart, you return with no drones, but your body destroys everything in one hit.