Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → TellusE
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Cm | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 23 | Tiny World | Our Small World | compo | 858 | 2.04 | 1.86 | 2.32 | 2.39 | 1.93 | 2.56 | 1.57 | 1.90 | 48 | ||
| 2011 | 21 | Escape | Flee your Fate | compo | 138 | 3.22 | 2.65 | 3.57 | 3.74 | 2.70 | 3.81 | 2.47 | 2.75 | 6 | ||
| 2011 | 20 | It's Dangerous to Go Alone! Take This! | ZombieRunner...Ware | compo | 176 | 2.73 | 2.44 | 2.51 | 3.38 | 2.75 | 3.02 | 3.22 | 3.76 | 98 |
Very impressive product. Small file size, large gameplay value.
I agree with the general notion that it's very difficult to place yourself within the sphere. Notably I think it's because of a lack of actual depth in the game view. Adding something akin to a minimap to show how deep you're into the sphere would suffice, I think.
Excellent :)
Not bad, not bad at all.
Kept me going constantly, think I've been playing half an hour straight so far :P
great animations, really nice effects with the darkness and bubbles. Excellent detail with the drift on the clam feed in the water.
Tack on a select few features (more upgrades, more locales, achievement or score systems) and get this thing out :)
Had a blast playing his one :D
The sudden change of weapon fits perfectly into the story frame of the crazed hobo. The bomb launcher fit perfectly in that regard, too, I though. The weapons should vary from overpowered to conventional to downright pointless.
Dig it :D Excellent execution only missing a graveyard musical theme of sorts, perhaps in up-beat reggae style?
I liked the basis of the game, and you obviously made more headway with experimental sidesteps than I did :P
The "laggy" jump and roping aside this is a nice little gem you've put together.
Although the theme seemed a bit stitched on in the intro, the visual side especially was pretty interesting to me. the creature from the intro as well as the beasties hinted at an imagination quite unlike what I usually see. It kind of reminded me of the surreal and utterly twisted and unreal aspects of Xeno Clash, utilising anthropomorphic constructs that aren't necessarily out of the ordinary to create entities that strike us as utterly out of this world.
I know it sounds manic coming from such a small selection of sprites, but it had a powerful effect, I thought. :)
The sound was technically well conducted, but it struck me as just a tad misplaced in the setting. This coming from a guy who thought that music sounding like a ToeJam knockoff fit well with zombies, but still... :)
Still, these are small details in a really nice compo entry. I'll strive to reach your level of experimental succes in the next compo :)
First entry throughout this compo that managed to touch me :)
You've hit a style of story-telling that utilizes a minimalistic colouring, forcing the reader to apply themselves to filling out the holes. It strengthens the interactive story-telling as I'm forced to attempt to place myself as the protagonist and not a named character in a defined universe.
A very emotional game. Thank you.
You, sir, have a twisted frickin' mind! A simple three-button game has never had me sulking, let alone weeping in the corner of my bedroom in nothing but my underwear, muttering "Think of a happy place, think of a happy place" to myself while carelessly sifting fingers through my beard.
The mellow music betrays the insanity beneath.
The window insisted on rezising to my main monitor's resolution and it simply cut off the lower part of the window. I had no idea what was going on :-/
Judging from the code it's attempting to go fullscreen but fails to do so, possibly because I run two monitors (different resolutions, at that).
Any ideas?
You've got a good thing going both in style and gameplay. I like the combination of pre-determined hard obstacle patterns with a relatively forgiving checkpoint system. Kept me on that "just one... more... try" edge.
The graphical style hit a really nice spot. I felt it needed perhaps a bit of tweaking/cleaning up, but it was very unique and inviting.
Overall a job very well done.
Likewise I'm afraid. Here's the output from running the application:
Resetting
Wins: 0
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "run.py", line 138, in <module>
File "main.pyc", line 449, in Update
File "main.pyc", line 72, in reset_game
File "shader.pyc", line 135, in use
File "shader.pyc", line 72, in compile
CompileError: Fragment shader failed to compile with the following errors:
ERROR: 0:8: error(#164) l-value required assign "color" (can't modify a varying)
ERROR: 0:10: error(#164) l-value required assign "color" (can't modify a varying)
ERROR: error(#273) 2 compilation errors. No code generated
Fragment shader failed to compile with the following errors:
ERROR: 0:8: error(#164) l-value required assign "color" (can't modify a varying)
ERROR: 0:10: error(#164) l-value required assign "color" (can't modify a varying)
ERROR: error(#273) 2 compilation errors. No code generated
Can you hint at the generation of video cards that support the gl extension?
There we go. Got a run on it :)
Thumbs up for the graphics - somehow a bastard blend of Atari-inspiration, Rayman/Tonic Trouble-stylization and just plain "art nouveau".
Usually I'm not of this conviction, but I actually think that the mechanics you put together here are fit for single-player gameplay, tasking the player for bi-directional multitasking. Stuff like this (for example the exercise of turning vertical circles at your stomach with one hand and horizontal circles above your head with the other) is usually difficult, but it's doable, and the relative simplicity of the gameplay would make it a plausible venue.
Apart from the likeness between the two characters and the lack of any hud elements this is really solid. Nice :)
Despite the bland graphics you managed to introduce some interesting elements in the runner genre, in particular how NOT using skills gives point bonuses, tasking the player to time their usage well and not just mash them. Nice.
I also liked how you changed the normal introductional flow to game actions. It's such a minimal change, but it did make the game feel much less strained than when you're playing through a tutorial level just bashing the space key trying to get to the next image.
On those points, good work.
I loved the control scheme. I may have experienced it a few times before, but having two separate "axis" controls for turret and tank is so intuitive and it works really well. Nice work :)
I agree with the others too, the intro was awesome :P And my game *also* crashes on that one tree. Occlusion/transparency code for the water, perhaps? Doesn't detract from the overall experience at all, though.
Magnificent screen-drawing as has been remarked.
I guess somehow I was hoping for the creepy stranger to either BE grandma or to become som Shyamalan...ian twist; the grandmother and stranger representing the ultimate within the domains of light and darkness, the daughter called hitherto to receive responsibility for the future of the balance of the whole of existence (count the of's; lots of them) and the stranger the dark presence of the world intending to stop it... and so on.
Regardless of my expectations, this went far and beyond anything I'd expect of a 48 hour deal. Very nice.
Just a sec, need to pick up my jaw from the floor.
The few glitches aside this is an amazing achievement over the weekend. From a solid graphical style, rife with life, animation and pretty physics to the actual gameplay that is simple yet challenging. A potent combination.
I've nothing to say. Get your ass in gear and get this fleshed out and finished up :D
Crashes with invalid operation exception. A short debugging attempt (without sources, good luck, Tellus :P) insinuated the music files were a problem.
billknye: Found the problem, and another requirement you can add to the list :)
You need to have Windows Media Player installed as well. Being hateful of the problem I removed it from my system. The Exceptions couldn't quite handle it (pun intended).
I liked the control scheme, but it was very hard to get used to (strafing when it would move your chopper in the opposite direction at times, up at others, that kind of thing). Perhaps if the camera rotated with the chopper it would be easier?
I loved the minimalist graphical style. A really nice combination of retro Atari and neo physics.
Excellent piece of work for a mere 48 hours, dude.
Beautiful art assets, perfectly hitting a SNES vibe.
The music was pretty good but I found the sounds just a tad too annoying (I think a combination of pitch and volume - tweaks, really).
Very solid piece of work. Nice :)
All the singular pieces are really well done. The animations of the cats with small details like their eyes following the dot when preparing for a jump, sometimes not, it quite elegant. The music (realz, whoa!) - delish.
The control scheme is a different matter. I commend you, sir, for trying something as difficult as this :) For better and for worse, controlling two cats with a laser pointer is as difficult as it is in real life.
The theme didn't really seem to come into play as more than a nuisance when trying to get two cats up on a platform from a screen below, but really the game quite good none the less.
It seems to me that you're walking a very thin line when using the sort of backdrop graphics you've applied. The upshot is that they are inherently organic, vibrant in their appearance and reminded me heavily of claymation-based video games like Clay Fighter or The Neverhood. The style brings a surreal sort of realism and believability to a game that simply cannot be attained through high-def graphics or live-action cutscenes. This is a definite strength I think you should play on if you want to delve further with the game.
However, the same graphical style becomes a burden on the actual animated sprites, in particular the player character. His very stiff animations hurt the overall impression, but given the LD time frame I cannot see how anyone would be able to achieve more than you have accomplished.
What I'm *trying* to say (looking back it does seem pretty critical) is that the graphical style you've set, especially in the backdrops an platforms, are f'in awesome, missing only a lively set of frontal sprites.
Given the humorous back story you proposed in your notes, maybe you could consider going for the comical "clay" style of graphics, giving you an open avenue for animated antics during the game proper?
In spite of all (and in case you get to the bottom of this wall of text): despite the lack of any (notable) gameplay, an excellent piece of work and a good basis for further work.
Your use of the theme in this way is quite marvellous. This is one of the few entries where I'd say that the theme was put spot on in the center of the action. Indeed, it is dangerous to go alone.
The execution was actually quite good most of the way. I worried a bit that my robot was just a tad too straying for my tastes, but worked fine otherwise.
Put in moar content and release!
The graphics were beautiful. If the enemies were also somewhat mobile (the bullets perhaps a bit larger) then I think this could really be a semi-psychotropic experience to remember. I felt the screen space was a bit too small for the gameplay, though, giving me very little reaction time when just meeting enemies.
Still sorta kind mega broken :-/
Sorry, man, I've been checking bad several times during the judging period and I won't get in another check before judging ends.
In you wanna make it alien, add an "X" to the name :P
The music was really good, but the rest of the game felt a bit lacking. There didn't seem to be any way to actually lose the game and the theme was pretty whammed on the end.
You seem to have a knack for atmosphere, and it did work quite fine in the intro sequences. Try and give that to the gameplay sections as well and I think you'll really lift it up.
As has been said, an excellent idea, especially such a brilliant tie-in with the theme. It's really unfortunate, because of the low chance of meeting someone coincidentally.
I also launched two processes to give it a try myself and I loved what I saw.
Consider adding a local coop mode (two usb mouse inputs?) particularly for these events so it may be easier to try the fullness :)
In reality I've got nothing bad to say, it's merely the circumstances of the compo that detracts from the hilarious experience.
I can imagine the conversations even now, sitting with VoIP gaming with a buddy. "Go left, go left - no, your OTHER-OTHER left!!11". Classic.
Excellent entry, dude :)
mwest - first of, don't knock yourself for any lacking details, real or otherwise.
I liked the graphics, actually. Had a nice feel, like I was viewing a wargame simulation on old-style ASCII terminals. Just claim you did it on purpose and I'll deem it a nice touch :P
I'll have to agree with the others on the theme, though. It was hardly, if at all, present :-/
The black/white graphical style worked out pretty nicely.
But - uhm - am I doing something completely wrong or is it "just" running to the basement and surviving or plain old dying?
Ditto, not loading in Chrome, does load in Firefox. And... pretty as it is (I get what's going on - city's collide! Muaha! I recognized Manhatten, right?).
It's a shame you didn't have the time to implement more than you did. The platforms in the first level had an entertaining likeness to the platformed world of The Dragon Hunters (the CGI movie). I wanted to suggest you followed that style but feared it might just bring it towards another type of Super Mario Galaxy. Still, the notion of a world, fragmented by an ancient cataclysm, its pieces still floating in the atmosphere... intriguing.
I'd definitely suggest you should push it further.
Excellent entry. I agree with the sentiment that the music might need a small lift, but the medieval theme of it is spot on.
I hardly think I can say anything constructive about the gameplay - it dwells perfectly within itself and you've already got a great start on some smart brain puzzles.
I don't know if it was purposeful, but the graphics reminded me of a kind of puppet, and I couldn't resist thinking that the game would get a brilliant graphical style if all the characters were marionettes or two-dimensional paper cut-outs on sticks :P
I agree with ladron on the quality. Well-executed, and the theme had a decent tie-in.
The blocked style of the player ... block ... and the other ... blocks ... fell together beautifully with the waterfall. I almost wish you'd reduced the falling boulders and the chopper to the same style to give it a complete feel.
In regards to the theme it wasn't as much absent as I'd consider it unspoken. While the mechanics of the game didn't give a powerful incentive to join together with the other climbers (aside from being an actual objective), it definitely could have strengthened the theme's impression. However, I did think it did signify the warning values of going alone, lest you get stuck at an unlikely spot beneath a platform floating in mid-air at a waterfall :P I'm definitely stretching the theme itself, but to me it could be "take this" could be justified in the conversation between the climbers. "Take this rope!", "take this hand", "don't take this plunge into death!!!". Perhaps adding som small dialogue texts when rescuing people could add to that feel.
However we interpret the existence of theme or not I enjoyed the experience. Thank you.
Likewise, I still haven't quite managed Mac OSX to run on my PC :-)
I'll be mentioning this pretty often, I think, but retro = win to me. Screw the shortness of the game, it was a wholesome, decent ordeal.
Nice piece of work.
Holy carp, man :P
I was taken completely aback by the graphical style of this thing, and the first time I used the object I nearly fell off my chair - had the perfect timing of a horror twist :)
The controls seemed a little jumpy. Most likely a result of the rendering technique you mentioned.
The story was magnificent in its almost mute presentation.
Oh yeah - "Me like bloobies". New internet même? :P
The theme of the compo seemed to be omitted completely, but that aside I think you made an extremely solid piece of work for a mere 48 hours. The control scheme worked very well, the character was responsive and the flashing of hitting enemies was a nice visual feedback touch.
Put in some story, perhaps flex the gameplay to a bit more variation (combos, different powers, I don't know), maybe flesh out the enemies just a tag (to fit the story) and this is actually very solid. Basically, "the rest is just content" :D
"No one messes with Adam We" - classic :P
Dear god, what the hell is this?! There are fish bones in my brains?! And crabs? How can I have crabs up THERE?! Why. Wha... faa-screw it, I'll just blow them up and snort some more drugs. Wooo!
Very well done on the graphical style. It's got the frame numbers that most sprites don't get close to in this compo.
Bugged me that when starting the game I had a really powerful gun and suddenly someone wants to "help" me, gives me a pill, and I'm no longer all-powerful :(
I can't get past the crab army during level 1, so I can't competently say anything about how the theme was placed into all of this, sorry.
I'm afraid I keep getting 404's on all of the links :-/
Bullet hell, and quite well tweaked at that. I found that on the second boss and the circular firing patterns with a single hole was impossible to dodge from the left side of the screen when it reset back to the right - the player simply doesn't move quick enough, methinks :-X
The music had an excellent way of amplifying the hectic action on-screen, keeping up the adrenaline. Likewise, the graphics were smooth and pretty, perfectly accentuating what they were and how they could be hit.
However, I couldn't help but feel that the game was completely devoid of anything related to the theme :-/
Ah, finally got to try the finished product :)
It plays well, overall - the controls are responsive the action is clear and the graphics serve a nice purpose. I can't determine if I like the style or it seems simplified for the purpose, but I know that the visual feedback is quite clear between colours and their directions, so that won't become any sort of negative criticism.
The super still struck me as a tad overpowered, though. I found myself playing red colour all the way through, absorbing all red and discharging all the supers it would let me.
Oh, and on the upshot, this is the fourth XNA entry labelled "ld20.exe" and the first XNA entry that *DID NOT* cause my anti-virus program to spas out. Whatever you did, thank you :P
Took two runs of install-bat to go through (intentional?), but ran fine otherwise. Liked the humour and every new game screen had my mind screaming "oh what fresh new hell is this?" to my great amusement. Thank you.
Ugh, installers. I really, really dislike Windows installers :)
The game has a nice "Mirror's Edge" kind of hectic game style. I like it, although the randomly generated obstacles do present impossible scenarios every now and then.
@thristhart: One could argue that the them is represented in the visual representation of the game and the loss element. You are in a dark cityscape - usually this implies both loneliness and danger. But that might be stretching the thematic strength juuust a bit ;-)
Good entry.
I agree that the music becomes tedious very quickly, simply because of the brevity of the loop :P
The mechanics have a great thing going, having the thought process of puzzles with the care and precision of action games. A bit of tweaking on the controls, especially the ball, but otherwise few things need to be altered for this to stand nicely on its own.
The controls seemed a bit unresponsive and the utter lack of any HUD or in-gamge description made it hard to figure out exactly what to do, but given the few hours you actually had to pull this off, it's *very* impressive :)
"It's dangerous to go alone. Ride this!"
There's very little gameplay to show in the entry, but it's obvious that you had some amusing mechanics in mind. I'm not sure, however, how well it would work relying exclusively on moving from creature to creature without any risk to the player. Still, if you keep developing the web version I get we'll see where it takes you :)
The damage was perhaps on the low side (4 shots for robots that were basically sitting ducks is just a bit tedious). The rest, however, was excellent.
Solid platforming, interesting risk-benefit elements when working with the boxes.
But why, oh, why didn't you put in more music? The ending music is actually pretty good :)
Seems I can't PM, so here's a massive post :P
From the VS2010 debugger I get the following:
System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled
Message=Song playback failed. Please verify that the song is not DRM protected. DRM protected songs are not supported for creator games.
Source=Microsoft.Xna.Framework
StackTrace:
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media.MediaQueue.Play(Song song)
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media.MediaPlayer.Play(Song song)
at LudumDare20.Game1.Update(GameTime gameTime)
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run()
at LudumDare20.Program.Main(String[] args)
InnerException: System.InvalidOperationException
Message=An unexpected error has occurred.
InnerException:
From Windows 7 itself the following:
Description:
Stopped working
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: ludumdare20.exe
Problem Signature 02: 1.0.0.0
Problem Signature 03: 4dbdb4c8
Problem Signature 04: Microsoft.Xna.Framework
Problem Signature 05: 3.1.0.0
Problem Signature 06: 4a1e2d16
Problem Signature 07: b89
Problem Signature 08: 51
Problem Signature 09: System.InvalidOperationException
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1030
I would've tried to replace the song files as a short fix, but my straight-up hatred for ClickOnce application installers has me hissing every time I get near it :P
And thus the review: an exceedingly well produced puzzler, especially given the time limit. The puzzles were challenging (this is the impressive part to me, thinking them up in a short while like that) and the mechanics the tool gave an alluring illusion of choice in the matter of solutions :)
Great job.
I like how the use of the theme had a subtle way of materializing. Nice :)
The falling rock/god laugh sound, though, had me getting up to see if my drain was clogged every time X-) Sounded just like my kitchen sink backfiring.
Excellent piece of work.
From the graphics - which to me almost embody the spirit of the styles flixel was built for - to the smooth and hectic gameplay, a very polished piece of work. The theme tie-in was perhaps somewhat freely interpreted, but I could see where you were going with it and it seemed to fall together nicely.
Both thumbs up. Make sure to finish it, I need something to spend thousands of hours simply trying to score in :)
The 32/64-bit conundrum is also on the Windows version. A 64-bit Python 2.7.1 could not run the game, however a 32-bit had no issues.
I really liked the mechanics with the bottles - having a large array of combinations could offer a very deep puzzle concept (varying colour combinations as solutions for the same problem).
Maybe the jump mechanics were just off (not a problem), but I got the feeling that you were trying something interesting with how the jumps worked as well. I did get "stuck" mid-jump at times, though, so I'd only start dropping down instead of moving left or right. Minor details.
The real two issues was the lack of a recent checkpoint or restart function. I messed up the purple colour combination and was forced to restart the game :-/ The other point was the control scheme. Space for activating items, enter for activating bottle (to the left of the control keys) and numpad 1/2 on the right makes it exceedingly difficult to get intuitively into the game. I'd suggest you put all functional keys to one side of the directional keys for best effect :)
All-in-all, however, I'd love to see this concept move forwards. There's definitely some sort of precious mineral hidden in this thing.
Excellent use of the theme and an impressive game considering the platform :)
Once again my AV scanner deems XNA or Gamemaker games to be bug-ridden. I have to agree, pesky pieces of software ;P
Anyway, I actually liked the wall jump mechanics, given the design of the puzzles. To my mind you can approach wall jumping in two principle ways: either with an outgoing velocity on dismount or not, and it should really fit the rest of the gameplay. In this case it suits the game fine - given the alternative I'm happy that wall jumping wouldn't automatically send me flying into the boss :P
The puzzles/rooms fit well and gave a stepwise introduction to how the physics of the game world worked. I would suggest, though, that you swap the first room with floating platforms with the platform floating over water. On my first runthrough I automatically assumed that anything moving would kill me and so I jumped all the way up via the yellow bricks. Forcing the player to step on one over water would symbolise its friendly stance implicitly.
Finally, the music. You've got some nice instruments going and they have a neat harmony to them overall. Unfortunately you seem to leave a gap after each riff between each measure (I think that's the terminology) giving it an unfortunate clunky feel. If you could remove the gaps and have a single flowing movement I think it would be quite soothing to listen to.
A decent entry, overall. Well done.
Darkness is a powerful tool in storytelling and it has a decent effect here. The framework is definitely set for an effective mechanic. I'm sad to say that the game crashed on me several times in a row when picking up coal close to an enemy, so I never came to any level beyond the third, so my comments may be partially futile. :/
The base sound in the background really starting bugging me about three seconds in - I'm not sure what source you were recording, but it sounded like my room when the computer is turned on and all fans are blowing on full :P
On the graphical side you had a beautiful base, although I felt it missed a bit of life. I'm not sure if the amount of colour was just a shade too low for the resolution of the game or whether the minimal animations made the creatures a bit static, but I'm sure that with a little more time that would have smoothed itself out.
Essentially I'm just poking holes trying to suggest places to expand upon :) . Given the time frame this is a rock solid entry. Well done.
As has been said I liked the mechanics. The theme did seem very forced, but the characters' comments and facial expressions had me grinning all the way through.
With the sand mechanic you could probably create some very interesting puzzles - sand of varying weight, effect, colours.... there are some flexible options if you would want to pursue it further, definitely.
Hey epaik
Doesn't... really... start :-/
I get a console window that just sits there. And continues sitting there. No errors or anything. Any ideas?
@epaik:
Any specific specs?
Windows 7, i7 processor, an old ATI 4870x2 card... all but the RAM and graphics card is top of the line as of march 1st. I do run a dual-monitor setup. I tried disabling one without any change in the results :-/
Unless you make use of some very specific hardware-related code I can't see how it would be affected at all.
I'm beginning to see that many entries have a great potential without the time to complete it.
I dig the backstory and units, using the worst and most obscure of medieval society to help the valiant (and small...) knight on his way. Never will their songs even be written and only he will stand as the conqueror of dragons :P Nice.
The graphics were a bit bland (too few colours, methinks), but they were functional and fully sufficient for the purpose :)
Indeed, I'd suggest a py2exe version to ease the strain on people :) Especially seeing as pygame isn't officially built for python 2.7 yet it's a bit of work to get it in place.
Anyway, that aside you've got a solid basis. I would've loved to see how companion powers worked out.
A small suggestion on the colour choices, though. A slightly darker green or grey on the sword. It wasn't until I hit the game border on the right that I saw the character was actually tossing a sword around in his sprite animation :)
Finish it up, could be a nice little game with another few days of work.
So far (about halfway through all the games) this is the best interpretation of the theme I'm seen. The haunting necessity to stay in the limbo between isolation and conformity combined with graphics and music that instantly took me back to the desolate dystopias of Future Wars and the less humorous parts of Space Quest. To tell you the truth the hairs were standing up on my nape. Incredible.
I gotta try this a couple more rounds before moving on. An absolutely excellent piece of LeafThief.
Loved it. Just. Loved it.
The real chink to me was that it was very difficult to figure out what the characters actually needed. Even then I kept on giving them whatever came to mind and had a great giggle over the changing shop name :)
As has been said by others so far, great job!
The graphics and audio fall together in a beautiful symbiosis and the gameplay in general was functional and polished. I missed an option to release the rope with the jump key instead of the mouse button, but that's a minor detail in the larger scale.
I guess the real problem is the theme itself. I guess it could be argued that the Nyoms (love the name) are quite helpless and would be in danger if they went out (even in numbers), and you did throw the punchline when activating the rope, but they both seemed very strained :-/
Still, that's "just" the theme - the remainder of the game was excellent, top notch.
Well, first of, the audio. Actually I'm not that biased on it. When it first turned on I tossed off the headset like a horse throws off its rider, even yelping a little. But that was mostly due to the insane volume on the music, not its particulars. Now, the music has merits determined entirely by your intent with. Although somewhat monotonous in its proceedings it had the characteristics of either alien worlds in the style of the Twilight Zone (or The Outer Limits - whichever series you like better :P) or the sort of musical style you'd associate with psychedelic mental illnesses. Given the backstory I guess neither was the intention, but disregarding the mismatch I wouldn't discount it *entirely*. But I am glad that people won't risk going deaf when playtesting your game with the fix :P
On the gameplay mechanics I agree with Dan on the variation and possibilities, but I wouldn't really call it a problem if you didn't manage to put up some well-thought puzzles. In my experience puzzles require some degree of inspiration and if you're sweating just trying to get the work done in the allotted time frame I wouldn't worry too much about their immediate genius :)
However, the teleporters did move far too slowly, I think that too. You mentioned that you didn't have proper ways of doing its speed. Have you considered a reverse logarithmic movement scale, starting the teleporter at a high base speed that slows down as it comes farther away from the player? Hm... might cause problems if you rely on using the minimap to hit a target far away (more often than just in this copy), the problem would be no less than it is now.
It may sound like a bad patch, but I did actually like the player character's movements. They felt less strained than the teleporters, smooth and pleasant. It worked nice.
A final note on the graphics. I have a feeling they were rushed a bit. In particular it seems you used a lot of generating methods in your editor of choice. The smoke effects on the ground, the colour variations in poison pools and the HUD icons, they rarely work as well as intended. Personally I feel that a simple two-colour image made by hand has a far better effect than something calculated by the system :)
Regardless of the criticisms, you actually managed to make a complete game experience, something not all the entries can claim. Well done.
Throughout, the animations were the clear highpoint. Smooth and beautiful, they were really nicely done.
The gameplay itself though seemed to miss something. I don't know if it was lack of information or if you just didn't have the time to put it in, but as has been mentioned I don't know how (if at all) I'm supposed to deal with skeletons. I saw that they would slow down (to eat?) when grabbing a clone - maybe the intention was to keep the player constantly on his toes, able only to delay the enemy, not destroy them.
Likewise I didn't know how to deal with flames or solid gold blocks (gooold! Must have!) - especially the female NPC trapped behind flames was intriguing and I had no idea how to get there :-/
Still, graphics were top notch and it did seem like you were headed somewhere interesting with the game itself.
I agree with Cosr on both points, especially since the movement speed of the character meant me sweating hard every time I had to jump a chasm of three blocks :P I like tight jumps, but it seemed just a tad too much.
On the plus side, however, I kind of liked the blocky graphical style. If you made the colour choice a bit grubbier or simplified the complete impression (think "Atari simple") it could stand well on its own.
There was obviously also the makings of a proper platformer. Tweaking movement and jumping a bit, add perhaps a few more items, and then the rest of the story - this could become a nice little gem.
I'm so easily swayed by retro graphics, but I like the way this played out. Unfortunate the game is so short, but the mechanics were solid enough to warrant high grades. Well done :)
I might be playing this wrong... am I supposed to be able to get out of the room? :)
Impressive tech use, dude.
The acceleration in space bugged me bit, but I think it was mostly a question of getting used to it.
Really I think the only real issue was the lack of time to make better sounds, models an testing - I've nothing really specific to suggest :)
Fair warning, my anti-virus bugs out on this one :-/
I tried running the game three times, once with the Max/Linux version instead. It crashed my system every time. :-/
I disagree a bit with mintman on the visuals (with all due respect :P) - I thought the scratchy, pseudo "drawing come alive" style fit the surreal world backdrop pretty well. The shocking background image might've been a bit over the top from time to time but the general direction was very good.
Indeed, you've managed to take the theme merely to apply it to more valid and interesting contexts. Whether its gun control in general, the meaningless violence in the world or simply jabbing at the constant stepping-up of guns in develping games it works well.
I particularly liked the contrast between a world in peace, a utopia in its innocence, ruined by the enigmatic stranger constantly proffering you weapons for no good reasons, and how otherwise benevolent (or at least passive) creatures became a threat to you once you set out to "end the violence". Thought-provoking at every turn...
If I wanted an improvement I'd mention two things in particular: mouse aiming and coop mode :) It's close to offering the same levels of addictive gameplay that Bubble Bobble was able to provide.
The mechanics are the brilliant high point. I do like how you plan your movements ahead, carefully laying out the tracks before attempting a run.
I'm having a hard time rating the graphics properly. On the one hand it perfectly follows the style you'd find from someone drawing in paint.exe down to the spray brush used when drawing. On the other I had a feeling it might be an even more beautiful impression if targetted more towards water painting. Anyway, such an art direction would require far more than 48 hours :P
I'm really impressed with the mechanisms connected to the drawing, dynamically applying changes in the world based on the quite unpredictable nature of players. Well done :)
A plethora of highly detailed hand-drawn art, several tracks of fitting music, a humorous adventure with a tongue-in-cheek approach to the classic RPG story. And boobs!
Albeit not thought-provoking I hate to admit I was drawn into the story; if only for the boobs.
And boobs.
... nevermind. Excellent entry! Looking forward to the next one :)
You have the basis for a solid cooperative puzzler. I figure the time constraints were the real reason the puzzles were very simple - rather get the thing working than spend half the time coming up with brain-busters, right?
I wonder if there's any value to try and make these quasi-cooperative games with a single user in mind. Are our brains even capable of that level of multi-tasking simultaneously between characters? Interesting notion, there.
I liked how the theme played into the game. "buy this" versus "take this" isn't really an issue to me. The spirit is maintained, imo :)
I very quickly just hit a single pattern of selling (sword, bottle, heart) - would I earn more by varying the sold items instead of just persistently keeping the clients alive?
I think your game is a very solid LD entry at any rate - if you wanted to expand the concept, however, I'd suggest a variation of items, perhaps forcing you to keep stock of items (follow the trend, introduce new or higher-level items to maintain profitability, have enough variety to satisfy player NPC's that "level-up" how they choose).
I was looking forward to this one :)
RPG elements, achievements and retro style graphics - I couldn't ask for more. And this in 48 hours? Nice!
Hey Adam, I can't start the game. Barring my distrust (hate is such a strong word) for ClickOnce installers it just dies on me before ever starting :-/
Can get you a crash report if need be.
fatality674: found the problem.
The game also requires Windows Media Player to be installed. I hate the program so I feverishly remove it every time I install Windows. Activated it and the problem was gone :)
F'in HARD game, man! The graphics were missing quite a bit of direction, but although the style was all over the place I couldn't help but be in a very safe place every time I looked at that plant life... blue... cool... colours...
And the music was pretty good, too.
<jawdrop />
Magnificent enry, although the theme itself was perhaps not entirely at the core.
Everything from blog activity to game content is beyond expectations, I'd say. Your "metroidvania" hybrid is full on.
I'm - well - I'm just full of nice words. Let it remain at that.
I'm afraid I can't rate the entry for the compo. The use of an external icon set not made by you (or within the compo timeframe) is against the rules :-/
Couldn't help but feel I was trying to push drugs to the kids on the block (or the blocks on the... eh... well).
Pretty graphics, but like the others I fail to understand how I could lose the game by plastering the land with delicious 'shrooms.
Pretty, none the less, and I applaud any work with HTML5.
I like the graphical touch - despite the lack of animations there was a nice completeness to it.
Tried running the game both with game.exe (complains of a missing 2.6 dll, I run 2.7) as well as through the command line where it complains about bad magic numbers (both in your pygame source and my own).
Any last-minute suggestions?
I think the visual style works regardless of the atmosphere. Dreary or comical the silhouettes seem almost style-neutral.
The mouse sensitivity was a bit on the high side, but not much (and a mouse on-the-fly sensitivity helps). I guess to improve upon the concept you could challenge players to shoot it into the hand they have the best dexterity with (interpret as you wish...) or add subtle body language and animations in order to send it to the "giving" party. Also, add more failure notices - they're humorous :)
Honestly, I was on the verge of calling it too vulgar for anything, but you actually pulled it off very nicely. Maybe you could get a licensing deal with sexual health associations? :)
Hilarious, dude, and actually the game manages to show exactly the mêmes that the theme is based on.
Excellent entry in its minimalism :)
My Chrome browser freezes on the loading screen. Firefox, however, has no issue. Strange, as the plugins ought to be the same.
It was a nice interpretation of the theme, but the jumping had me growling at the screen. Once I started jumping in one direction there was no way to change it :P
Phenomenal concept. Reminded me of all the good things about the old Ghost Master game. I disagree with your "completion" statement. Slightly tighter graphics and a bit of gameplay tweaking is all you'd need for a very solid base. I guess my only real issue was that you needed to isolate single people, not just very small groups. Very, very difficult to achieve, I thought :P
Expanding with various monster types (perhaps a sort of resource to limit usage) would be the obvious choice to give options for varying scenarios.
Teary-eyed, still chuckling... I didn't even see the punchline coming.
Beautiful!
I'll ditto this one. Well, actually I tried installing pyglet and it keeps claiming that I don't have Python installed (I do) :-/
py2exe, hugs all around! :D
Intentional or not, I dig the whole "Deus Ex Machina" thing going on with the player making sure that Ted has exactly what he needs at any point - almost, at any rate.
Apart from the brick texture (I still can't see straight after the doubles) I liked the style. The pixels did their job remarkably well, spot on representations of their meaning (except for the dagger/sword drop - I only figured it harmed stuff :P). The death animation for the monsters had a nice visual feedback touch to it - make it obvious it was dead.
For a 48 hour job, not bad at all. I'd love to see a full-fledge edition; touched up graphics, more items, evol puzzles (perhaps even an ongoing dialogue between Ted and narrator?) - excellent.
Hate to ask, Armetis, but isn't the player sprite a copy of Megaman X?
Love the graphical style. How the environment shifts with movement and the old Lucas-style character fits great into it.
Insidious twist on the theme. I like it.
Nifty graphics, got a wonderful simplicity that fits perfectly with the scheme of things - a somewhat bland expression that speaks to the very life of the insurance salesman. Are we, perhaps, seeing the world through his eyes, filled with cattle ripe for the milking with simple pitfalls that to avoid?
And you're getting a third thumbs up for the ludicrous dev notes... "they were going to say funny things". Lol :P I guess that's what Valve had written up for Freeman in Half-Life, too X-)
I read on your dev posts than you spent about 10 hours on the end product. That's a lot less than most people are able to squeeze out of the weekend and given the timeframe you've done pretty decently, I think.
Improving anything would really require more time, so I figure that was your greatest enemy :)
Loved it. From the graphics, an almost medieval variant of cannon fodder, to the bargaining mechanics this is an extraordinary product for a mere 48 hours. Give it another 72 hours and you'll have an internet bug on your hands :)
The few drawbacks would be - as have been mentioned - the inventory, and perhaps a few more hotkeys to improve the speed of both crafting and selling. It was a bit awkward to move the mouse cursor to the right half of the screen to craft and back to the left only to accept or refuse an offer. I know we're talking pixels of movement (literally :P), but this movement is constant almost throughout the game and becomes a bit tedious if you're just hectically crafting from a small combination to constantly sell.
Another option would be introducing a view of all (or all recent) purchase interests, so you can plan just a few crafts ahead.
But barring those few, unremarkable notes, this is a good concept, with an excellent execution.
Thank for for the utter lack of extreme punishment in your criticism :) You seem to have experienced what I had hoped from the game - a brief (very brief) fit of laughter and not much else.
I had grandiose plans for a selection of different items trying to restrict the player as much as possible to the workings of that one item (sparklers, shields, guns with ammo, guns without ammo...) - unfortunately, I spent all too much time just getting the few ones there in a relatively functional state. Spear rotations, baby tears, several hours just figuring out why normal collisions worked in some parts of my code and not others (turns out collision() needs to be called very early on in the game loop).
I'm trying to figure out if I should spend the time and polish it up - a bunch of levels (one for each item archetype), randomly seeded at the start of the game and improve both audio and visual impressions. Any thoughts or should this just be the LD48 learning experience.
Oh, and Rialgar just made my week :D That's going on a T-Shirt. Or a Ringtone, or my login sound. "ride a sheep and die"... heh.
Hey Random, I just saw. Turns out I crashed my server :P
If I don't have the web up in 15 mins I'm uploading the game to Dropbox temporarily.
And it's back again. I apologize to those who tried to play the game to no avail (and I appreciate them trying).
Seems fixed at this point.
The basics of the gameplay has a great touch to it, slingshotting upwards whilst conserving fuel the best way possible. Apart from the somewhat bland graphics I guess I really only missed a little slower gameplay. I rarely got more than 3 jumps through because the game simply started speeding up faster than I could follow it :D
The implemented mechanics obviously show promise for a number of clone-based puzzles. As an alternative to the other suggestions for control, retain the fact that you cannot control a specific individual. Perhaps, instead, let all new copies do the *exact* movements the first clone does, so each room becomes question of finding the right "choreography" to attain the necessary items and perform the necessary objectives with them.
Shrugging off the last vestiges of my testosterone I have to admit that I was almost teary-eyed when reading the various comments and the music kept reminding me of my best times at LAN parties during the late nineties.
In 48 hours you've managed to compile the struggle of so many desperate existences through clear graphical silhouettes, trance-inducing music and hauntingly telling platforming mechanics.
All that does sound lofty, but sir: I tip my hat to you.
Although I'd mostly characterize this as an impressive tech demo, it was an engaging experience, nonetheless. I was actually sad when I realised there was only three fireflies :P I want moar!
Despite the brevity and marked lack of audio this was a beautiful entry, methinks.
I had a bit of bile about the theme I wanted to get rid of first, but in retrospect I saw a really nice interpretation of escaping. Being stuck in a thankless job that will ultimately be your end, and the attempts at fleeing it. Excellent :D
That aside, I dig the technical features. Although simple in its own way, the dirt tracks wheels really come to their own in the graphical aspect - I dig 'em :) Particul
Finally, the music deserves praise. Beautiful harmonics and some nice chilly riffs kept me going through the game without really feeling bored. It kept me going. Imo a real strong point :)
I'm biased. I love railshooters to a fault. But this was an incredible piece of work for 48 hours.
Animations, scripted scene, ragdolls (I adore ragdolls - ragdolls are proven to make any game 83% more legendary) - considering I spent the better half of a day not making squares collide I must bow to you sir.
Excellent piece of work :)
Oh yeah, great twist on the prison break meaning :D
I liked the mechanics a lot. I've wondered about a game with similar visibility issues, but you've pulled it off pretty fine.
If I had to put a finger on something, I'd mostly put it on the difficulty. I never got past the "Lasers" level (although obviously did - well done XD), and every time I actually progressed it was more a question of luckily pushing against the proper part of darkness :P
None the less, a really good entry. Well done.
As the others commented, you're far too hard on yourself, dude.
This is an excellent entry by my count. Everything falls together in a beautiful well-playing package.
Only thing missing is a sweet, guitar-and-harmonica-heavy music track ;)
I wonder, is it cynical or philanthropic to suggest you love as many people as possible? :P
This, I consider a confounding question garnered from your game. Thank you.
Short, sweet, smooth.
I spent countless attempts trying to dodge the notoriously evil blocks. Once you're just a dozen pixels under the water it's almost impossible to catch up.
As you noted yourself, though, it's very polished, the minimalist soundscape and slick graphics creating the essential focus of the game.
Neat :)
Are you *kidding* me that's a difficult game :P
I liked how the enemy movements seemed timed to perfection for someone who didn't spend an unseemly amount of time making a jump :P The timing was good, my aim wasn't.
I had a slight difficulty with some of the colour choices. Most of the time there was a clear distinction between solid and not, but the bridge in the second level had me freaked for a moment (with no checkpoints I was being paranoid about touching stuff) among other things. Ignoring the palette, the feel of the graphics were quite delicious.
I'm hoping it was just my system, but the music seemed to mess up several times. I tried reloading the game but the invariance persisted. It's most notable right when the superhero teleports in. I don't know if this was intentional, but it also popped up in the second level's music at a late point of the track. Besides that little popup the tracks were actually delicious. Smooth, mellow; reminded me of a lot of music I heard from Cyrex in times past.
When I first played this I double-checked to make sure I had eaten the right brownies from the fridge. Once I'd been assured that my party pies were indeed still in stock for the weekend, I continued to become engorged in this d'arte abstracte that challenged both my senses as well as fill me with a considerable sense of motion sickness.
I'll agree with the remarks that the face travels a bit too slowly - add to it that the constantly rotating camera (especially on long travels) really did make me sick :D I ended up looking in the opposite direction of my screen until the sounds ceased.
Regardless of these details (mere details, I tell you!), I think this could become a phenomenal "interactive art" piece. Add some truly queer random quotes throughout the movement and think this would become a profound piece kind of like the Path.
Nice hifi sound effects, and a nice double-pronged threat in the form of both health and time - I like the pressure and haphazard gameplay forced upon the player by the time limit, only increased by, well, playing.
I gotta agree with the others, Casey. I've been messing with the source for two hours now and the farthest I've gotten (after noticing the class naming conflict between your Game class and the abstract Game class in libgdx) is being told it can't start up a window.
I'm sorry, but I just won't spend more time trying to make this work.
I'm kind of stumped as well. Judging from your description of the game, I'm assuming this isn't a question of escaping the title screen :P
tneslond: I just ran it through my system again without issue. Can you describe what kind of problem you encounter?
I'm staring at the startup-cli and nothing's happening. Should I give it longer than 30 seconds to start up or are there any essential libs I should install?
At first I had no idea how you would introduce anything challenging, but it came with the zombies, indeed. Good fun.
The 2d assets and textures in particular are nice in that thick pseudo-cell-shaded style.
Took me a few rounds to actually realise what the point was. The shooting is a little too random to be manageable, but I liked the "do protect!" edict.
I lolled :D
Barring the feeling that's more a simulation than a game, it's still a nice unique idea, with an impressive execution. The cells' interaction with each other feels like and organic.
Pretty good work. I particularly liked the overall gameplay, a mix of action, puzzle and adventure to my taste. The controls were a little wonky, and since you need to stay out of sight, I'd have appreciated some sort of easy camera control.
Otherwies a job well done. I mean, this almost has the production quality of late-nineties retail games (Croc3D, anyone?), barring the slight lack of polish.
Cute take on the theme. I loved the feeling of weight as you drew on several more planets. I was missing a feeling of momentum from the lack of a background, but perhaps this was intentional.
As a prototype, I like it. The simple risk-reward of rolling around dung or just banking on it could have a nice addictive value. "Just one more meter before returning with the ball".
I dug the graphics - smooth, all the way. Kept trying to beat the computer as well. An idiot is me.
Very nice work on the graphics. I really liked the little details - the bobbing ship, the extra cannons on the side, the volumetric fog on the explosions - kept me going for a few turns just basking in it.
That being said, it is a bit stumped, but hey, with this time frame you're forced to make sacrifices, yeh?
Far as I can tell from a Google lookup, it's related to not running the game using Panda3D's Python version.
Sempai, is it possible for you to make a bundled version of this project?
(To downloaders: I ended up cloning the git and uploading it to my phone)
I got about 10 balls bumping into my world and giving me points regardless of rotation, while I failed to lose a life at any point.
Also, I'm not entirely sure why you set the game up so it needs network and phone access.
Can you give a writeup of the game so people might better understand what's going on?
Excellent piece of work. I kind of like the Megaman vibe you get from working the various powers against bosses hinted throughout. I have a personal dislike of mazing, though, so without a map it almost felt like a chore to get around :-/
Don't let that discourage you, though, the graphics is where it's at.
What this game really wins on is the excellent execution. It doesn't try to be more than it is, but does so with elegance. The retro graphics and audio betray the depth of gameplay. I exaggerate the latter only slightly, but it's a very nice production given the time frame.
Triple thumbs.
I'm guessing it's been linked with the Visual Studio 2012 Beta - the newest C++ runtime lib available from MS is the 2010 edition (the, for some, notorious msvcr100.dll error)
I hate to be a bother, but with about 1400 games I'm not really in the mood to get the deps and build it myself, even with the cmake file easing it a bit.
zorrtwice, the source is actually bundled with the download (the, eh, "Source.zip" kind of gives it away :P)
As requested, sir:
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 DEBUG:MAIN - Starting application.
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 INFO:Slick Build #274
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 DEBUG:start game
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 INFO:LWJGL Version: 2.8.2
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 INFO:OriginalDisplayMode: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @60Hz
Tue Apr 24 23:23:35 CEST 2012 INFO:TargetDisplayMode: 352 x 288 x 0 @0Hz
Tue Apr 24 23:23:36 CEST 2012 INFO:Starting display 352x288
Tue Apr 24 23:23:36 CEST 2012 INFO:Use Java PNG Loader = true
Tue Apr 24 23:23:36 CEST 2012 INFO:Controllers not available
Tue Apr 24 23:23:36 CEST 2012 DEBUG:GAME - Initializing game states.
Tue Apr 24 23:23:36 CEST 2012 DEBUG:INTROGAME - Initializing
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: Resource not found: /resources/spritesheets/intro.png
at org.newdawn.slick.util.ResourceLoader.getResourceAsStream(ResourceLoader.java:69)
at org.newdawn.slick.opengl.InternalTextureLoader.getTexture(InternalTextureLoader.java:169)
at org.newdawn.slick.Image.<init>(Image.java:196)
at org.newdawn.slick.SpriteSheet.<init>(SpriteSheet.java:129)
at org.newdawn.slick.SpriteSheet.<init>(SpriteSheet.java:115)
at org.newdawn.slick.SpriteSheet.<init>(SpriteSheet.java:102)
at net.mymilkedeek.ludum.tinythumb.states.IntroState.init(IntroState.java:28)
at org.newdawn.slick.state.StateBasedGame.init(StateBasedGame.java:171)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppGameContainer.setup(AppGameContainer.java:390)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppGameContainer.start(AppGameContainer.java:314)
at net.mymilkedeek.ludum.Main.main(Main.java:25)
Aside from the few graphical glitches and odd hitboxes, I liked the premise of basically being a Reaver, Galactus and the Silver Surfer - all wrapped up in one - and answering to a moody version of Trollface :P
You might want to note that any manual runners will need not only Ruby, but also gosu (which can easily be installed if you install ruby gems as well).
The z-sorting is completely off, true. I didn't mess with it in the hotfix, considered the improvement cheating.
Thanks for your comment and for trying the game :-)
Thank you all for your comments, they've been very enlightening and - surprisingly - constructive without prejudice :)
I've added a new screenshot with mechanics description as well as added an in-depth explanation in the description field.
Wonderful idea :D
The randomness of the worms aside (as you've mentioned), I dig the "reverse Snake" style. Maybe if you have several patterns going at once, the single-queued food might be easier to work with (or one could simply create completely random worms and hope one would come up :P)
Neat work, dude.
I really dug the message of small worlds as a result of social isolation, and the whole experience was pretty moving.
Well-executed, finely-tuned. Excellent work.
I agree with hulahulahest (cheers DK!) on the mechanics side of things. It's not a new formula, but you've wielded the creation of new puzzles and a solid code base very well.
I like the style of guitar play you're going for, but possibly the low fidelity of the mic made the picking and sliding sound a bit more frazzled than it could have.