Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → Sparky
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Category | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥉 | 2009 | 14 | Advancing Wall of Doom | We Control the Purple Creature | compo | Innovation | 4.08 |
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Po | Cm | Te | Jo | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19 | Discovery | Autoflotilla | compo | 45 | 3.41 | 3.15 | 3.74 | 3.76 | 3.62 | 1.23 | 2.11 | 3.35 | 2 | ||||
| 2010 | 18 | Enemies as Weapons | Bubble Tag | compo | 28 | 3.38 | 3.29 | 3.62 | 3.24 | 3.62 | 1.07 | 1.24 | 3.29 | 16 | ||||
| 2010 | 17 | Islands | Deep Under an Island | compo | 39 | 3.48 | 3.81 | 3.15 | 1.33 | 3.85 | 1.20 | 2.89 | 3.34 | 8 | ||||
| 2009 | 15 | Caverns | The Walls are Not Cheese | compo | 71 | 2.92 | 3.15 | 3.38 | 3.25 | 2.52 | 1.45 | 3.08 | 3.17 | 24 | ||||
| 2009 | 14 | Advancing Wall of Doom | We Control the Purple Creature | compo | 24 | 3.56 | 3.46 | 4.08 | 2.39 | 3.40 | 2.81 | 1.33 | 3.21 | 3.68 | 3.10 |
Neat idea. This is pretty fun. I think it's probably a bit counterintuitive that steering them into the ground doesn't work unless the initial jump was timed right. I wonder if that could be remedied by making it clearer that they're countering our motion? This feels pretty polished given the time constraints. Nice work.
This is fun, I like it. The idea's good, and once I got the hang of it it was very enjoyable. It took me a little while to get the hang of using such slow bullets. I settled on spewing bullets around loosely rather than targeting one enemy until it's been destroyed.
I like the Blue-green bullets- are you using a vector field for those? I've been wanting to play with similar effects, it's nice to see that :D.
I seriously think this idea has potential- I'd love to see a really polished version with really slick tuning and a reduced learning curve. I think something like that would do really well on Flash portals...
Cheers!
This feels pretty well put together given the time constraint.
I think the main piece of feedback I'd give is that I found the hacking to be a bit twitchy- sometimes it worked when I thought it hadn't, and other times it didn't work when I thought it should have.
Congratulations on finishing!
This is a good idea. There's a lot of tension involved in waiting for the enemies to fire. I think a more polished version of this could be really awesome.
Oh, by the way- if you do another version, you might want to fine tune the player movement a little. I found it a bit twitchy, which made it hard to position myself precisely. That's a pretty minor grievance, though. Good job, and congratulations on finishing!
This is pretty visually polished. I particularly like the lighting effect.
Oh, and I like the way there's a special effect when we get a game over, that's a nice touch.
I wonder if I missed something on the strategy front- I messed around a bit, but I never could get any multiple kills or chain reactions or anything. It seems that each controlled bomber can only take out exactly one target. Am I missing something?
I agree, I find the hopping guys too hard to click on.
This is pretty nice other than that. I'd love to see a post-compo version with more forgiving click detection.
This is pretty visually slick for a Ludum Dare game! It's pretty fun too.
I think I'd like it a bit more if the ships felt more distinct. Some of the smaller ones (the little one with blue stripes and one of the jetlike ships) both have very similar weapons.
Good job, though! Congratulations on finishing.
This is quite polished, I'm impressed. I wish I'd played it on a faster computer :).
Hey, congratulations on finishing. This is pretty polished visually. The camera scrolls very smoothly, what function did you use? Is the camera velocity proportional to the distance from the ship?
I have a couple of pieces of (hopefully constructive) feedback.
First, I think the difficulty is pretty dependent on randomness as opposed to skill; asteroids and ships are often so fast that it's all but impossible to dodge them.
Also it would be nice if it were clearer when our ship is taking damage. For a while I flew around holding an asteroid in front of me, thinking that it was protecting me from damage, when in fact it wasn't!
Good job, though, this is an impressive offering. I also think you did a good job of picking an appropriate scope. One of these days I'm going to learn that lesson myself :).
Best wishes!
Congratulations on finishing. This is pretty impressive given the time constraints. I like the way the gibs permanently become part of the ground. That was a neat touch. Oh, I also like the way the protagonist has a wheel on it- I've been wanting to make a character like that for a while, so it's neat to see. I think the large enemies seem a bit rough around the edges- when they pop, the gibs take up so much less space than the enemy that it feels awkward. Maybe it would be good to make them a tad smaller, or make them drop more bits?
Nice job, thanks for making this. I got to wave three, by the way.
This is pretty solid. You were smart to pick a game with limited scope, by the way- it seems like you were able to make a much more polished game as a result.
I like the way the mines feel, by the way- what sort of behavior are they using? I will hazard a guess and say they move straight toward the robot at a velocity which increases with distance (and I'm guessing there's no acceleration?).
I like the "ouch" effects, by the way. Oh, and the tension of approaching a mine as it's getting ready to explode is fun.
Nice job, thanks for making this.
I was idly wondering, do you think it would work to have the robot swing in a fun swishy way instead of popping between angles as we move left and right? I could see little floppy legs being an awesome touch too :D.
Oh, and if you ever want feedback or help testing, I'd be happy to help. I'll be around the #ludumdare channel.
This is pretty ambitious! I'm impressed that you got all this done over the weekend.
Like other people here, I think my main grievance is that the ant's velocity is completely zeroed on colliding with walls (rather than only the perpendicular component being zeroed).
I also tried to get turrets to shoot each other, but it didn't seem to work. Are they invulnerable to each other's projectiles?
Anyway, congratulations on finishing! This was quite an undertaking.
This is a good idea, but to be honest it feels like the execution is holding it back.
I second Pokuto's comment- it would be good to have more feedback when a swarm is damaging a turret. I couldn't tell, do they damage turrets when moving over them on their own, or only when the mouse button is held?
As I mentioned before, I think the idea's really good. I think this idea would work really well if the tuning were different- what if it were a faster game with smaller entities, tuned so it's more about dodging?
I hope I don't sound too negative, I really do like the concept, I just think it needs a bit more love.
Congratulations on finishing! And props for using Java.
Congratulations for finishing! Unfortunately I'm not able to play this to its fullest, because it runs quite slowly on my computer. This is a fairly slow machine, hopefully the game will run better for most.
Congratulations on finishing!
Unfortunately I can't seem to get the character to throw enemies consistently. It worked at first, but then after a few seconds the 'r' and 't' keys stopped responding.
I am glad you entered and had a good time, though! I hope to see you during the next Ludum Dare.
This is a pretty decent idea. Personally, I didn't care for the slidey player movement- I would have preferred tighter control. This is a sound idea, and a pretty direct take on the theme (I disagree with those who have said that it doesn't fit).
This is a really appealing idea. I like how simple it is.
It does seem to run a bit slowly on the computer I'm playing on, but it's playable if I use a very small window. One other thing I noticed is that it's sometimes hard to tell exactly when the player is struck by a projectile. Some sort of impact effect would help to make it clearer.
This is pretty well made. You were smart to choose a game with relatively few moving parts. It really benefitted the level of polish of the final product. Good job.
Wow, I'm totally impressed by how much you got done within the time limit. This is pretty fun, too. In terms of feedback, the main thing I'd recommend improving is the level design. I think it could be denser and more full of interesting situations.
All in all, though, this is a really great Ludum Dare entry! Nice job.
This is a good idea. I like the combination of growing trees and placing turrets. I agree that an expanded post-competition version would be worthwhile.
Ha, this is hard. Hmm.
...
Yay, I did it! This is pretty satisfying, good job and thanks for making it.
I just started to play people's entries- it looks to be a good crop so far! I'm impressed by how densely this is designed, and how each area works in multiple ways. It's also pretty complete feeling. it seems like you did a good job of choosing an appropriate scope and pacing yourself (I wish I'd had the sense to do similarly!) I really enjoyed the game, and played through until I got stuck here (spoilers) http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/907/ss20100822204245.png
I think this fits the theme pretty well, actually. I like the core game here, and it's quite pleasing esthetically. I think the one thing it needs is a proper campaign mode with really nicely designed, thought provoking levels.
I like the sound, by the way. I'm really impressed that you managed to get in an editor and online support- wow.
A friend and I are very impressed by your editor and level sharing system. Might you by any chance be interested in talking with us a bit about the approach you used?
I think this is a great idea, and a really creative use of the theme. To be honest, while I think the basic idea is totally sound, I think the game would benefit from having a bit more depth. I liked some of the later levels where I had to prioritize and make more decisions about where to put controlled burns. Those were the most fun parts of the game for me.
I wonder if it might be fun to allow controlled burns to get out of hand sometimes- perhaps they get too hot if we keep the mouse in one spot for too long? :D
It could add a bit of a risk / reward mechanic. Holding the mouse down would make areas darker, and thus more fireproof, but it would also require a bit of caution.
Anyway congratulations for finishing. Nice idea. I'd love to see more firefighting games, this mechanic seems like it's got a lot of potential.
I like this quite a bit.
It was ambitious of you to make a platformer in 48 hours! The collision is a bit glitchy and movement is a bit awkward, but it works. That's pretty impressive.
I think the level design is the best part of the game. You really managed to do a lot with a small number of elements.
I'd love to see a more polished version of this. I don't necessarily think that adding more enemies would be a good idea, I like the simplicity of it.
Oh, by the way, it would be nice if picking up a second soul would automatically place it in a free slot if one is available. Right now it overwrites whatever's in the selected slot. A second minor note is that the up key seems to be unresponsive while I am pressing right. This caused me a lot of trouble when using the green powerup, as the second jump often wouldn't fire.
I quite liked this, thanks for making it :).
Source is here: vacuumflowers.com/temp/LD18.zip
Thanks for the comments so far, folks. The feedback is very much appreciated. I'm doing a post-competition build, and feedback is very welcome. Expect an upload in the next couple of days :).
The tuning is pretty off in this competition build, you're absolutely right Draknek.
Vieko Franetovic- Ah, the lack of tutorial is probably not working in my favor here! Sorry about any confusion. It's possible to destroy enemy castles and steal their components. Once we destroy an enemy base, we can run over its components and take them home. Once we're there, the components can be placed with the mouse.
I'm happy to announce that I've got a first public post-competition build up here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2010/08/25/first-post-competition-build/
I'm still actively developing this, and there will be more builds to come.
Alan Lynn-
I completely agree with your observation about castle assaults needing more depth to them. Circle strafing absolutely shouldn't work that well. Improving this portion of the combat has been my main focus since releasing this build, actually.
In the latest build, I've added in a destructible wall around each castle. Because the wall blocks incoming shots, it's necessary to focus fire on a patch of wall and break a hole through in order to damage a castle's core. This helps make circle strafing less optimal.
I'm also considering other firing patterns for the enemies. One thing I'd like to try is having turrets aim at our destination, rather than our current position. I'm also interested in trying curtains of fire rather than streams. I'll link to the new build once I've got it up.
Thanks for the comments, everyone :).
There's a new version (with walls in it) up here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2010/08/30/walls/
Wow, nine hours? That's pretty impressive. This is pretty polished visually for a Ludum Dare game, especially one done in such a small parcel of the weekend. I haven't made it very far into the game, I always seem to die when they start using weapons. I suspect I'm not very good at flinging the little guys into each other, and it would be more fun if I understood how to play better.
The scope is pretty ambitious given the time limit! It was pretty ballsy to take on something this large.
The combat felt pretty flat, I think doing something as simple as adding hit and death animations would have made it a lot more interesting. And of course other types of enemies which behave in new ways would be nice, but I imagine you had that in mind and simply didn't have time to execute all your ideas.
I'm impressed with how much you got done within the time limit, congratulations on getting this far!
Unfortunately this wouldn't run on my computer- MSVCP100.dll was not found. I'm running Windows XP service pack 3.
I quite like the idea of sending in little automous heroes to explore an island. I found the totally front-loaded instructions to be confusing. I read through them, but I didn't remember all the particulars once I was in the game.
I think you did a great job of picking an appropriate scope, and congratulations on finishing with such a playable game.
Cheers!
I really love the visuals in this game- I think it's the prettiest game I've seen so far. You really accomplished a lot with a simple set of ingredients.
I ran into frame rate issues in a couple of areas- often the frame rate stabilized as soon as I entered a new screen.
By the way, I ran into one bug:
http://i52.tinypic.com/ng6j2f.png
I entered this screen from the right, and became permanently stuck in the wall.
Thanks for making this, I enjoyed it. An optional full screen mode gets my vote as well.
Oh dear. I appear to have broken the UI in my last round of improvements. I'll be uploading a new version posthaste.
Odd, is anyone having trouble planting flags on new islands? I experienced a bug which made it impossible to place flags, but I've tested this a few times and haven't run into any difficulties on further runs.
There were a number of bugs in the initial upload which affected placing flags on windmill islands. If anyone has played but encountered difficulty expanding past the first windmill, I would recommend playing this new version.
This version which fixes a couple of bugs without adding anything significant.
http://vacuumflowers.com/temp/LD19fix/
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I apologize for the poor performance. I did a bit of culling of offscreen objects, but it could certainly be better optimized. Seemingly the performance is worse under OSX. That's interesting. I wonder if that's true of Processing in general? This is my first time using it for Ludum Dare, so that would be a good thing to take into consideration next time.
I'll be doing a post-competition version with sound and some refinements
I'll be releasing a post-event build of Autoflotilla in the near future. Here's an entry which describes some of the changes:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2010/12/21/continuing-development-of-autoflotilla/
Dock-
Thanks for giving it a whirl. You might like the camera in the next version- I'm altering the camera angle and rendering the seascape as a curved surface instead of a plane, so that distant islands roll up over the horizon as they approach. So you didn't find any other windmills? I think perhaps I put them too far out in this build, sorry about that. I think in the future I'll plant one or two within easy reach to give us a head start.