Oplo by Harry Alissavakis 2020-10-06T13:19:04Z
I saw your WIPs on Twitter and i was already hyped by the bounciness and the overall feeling from the screens. The game is polished and feels good to play, I really enjoyed it !
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → TheAppleCake
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | Down Under | jam | 524 | 3.75 | 3.53 | 2.90 | 4.03 | 3.91 | 2.47 | 3.51 | ||
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Piece Of Cake | jam | 260 | 3.92 | 3.93 | 3.65 | 3.52 | 4.25 | 3.75 | 3.00 | 3.85 |
I saw your WIPs on Twitter and i was already hyped by the bounciness and the overall feeling from the screens. The game is polished and feels good to play, I really enjoyed it !
This is so great !
I loved the game mechanic and it has so much potential ! You really embraced the theme in such a good way with this.
The atmosphere is really well constructed as well and it really told a story while not having a single text. Excellent work !
This is a really finished and polished product ! The graphics and sounds are really nice. This color palette is well used and everything is cohesive (also props to the fluid physic, it looks really nice). The controls are fluid, the mechanic well executed and the difficulty is just at the right level.
Only downside I can think of is the inclusion of the theme, but at this point it's almost anecdotal and the quality make up for it in my opinion.
Though it is minimalistic, the atmosphere is eerily haunting. I was kinda upset you "spoiled" the depression of the character in the description but after playing, I know I wouldn't have necessarily understood what was going on with E key. Still a good job ! (Also that bathroom is HUGE)
I was so confused when I first started the game because I didn't noticed my character right away. I died in 2s but got the hand of it on my second attempt. That was pretty fun and the color palette is nice, but yeah it's just a bit hard to read what's happening at first glance, especially with the rolling enemies.
I laughed wayyy too much playing this game. The concept is really cool too ! Nice submission :D
Loved it ! Everything is so sleek and satisfying ! The mechanic with the linked circles were a good twist on what appeared a simple concept at first. Nice job :smile:
As previously said by others, the prompt screens feel a bit slow after a few try. Other than that, the game looks sleek, the controls are fluid and I had a good few chuckles with the jokes and the atmosphere. Will definitely try to finish it a bit later ! Nice job to you all !
@zest-is-best Yeah sorry about that, this is my first submission and I only had a few minutes left to upload, so I had to do it the easiest way I knew haha
Also thanks everyone for the kind feedbacks, it really warms my heart ! :heart:
Loved the atmosphere ! Pretty impressive to manage to make a game where you're basically only dying so soothing and chill !
This is a good one ! The music, the art and the mechanics together create a great atmosphere and really catch that feeling of being stuck in a loop. I guess the slow transitions from scene to scene may add to that but they are just a bit "too" slow and become quite quickly frustrating in my opinion. But overall I thought this was a great approach to the theme !
Great great game ! So much done in so little time ! I love the graphics and most of the gameplay ! The only thing that was not so great in my opinion was the camera angle at some times, especially during the jetpack phase. It was hard to land on some platforms i was aiming for as i had trouble reading my position mid air sometimes. Other than that, this is a really cool idea and game !
A final boss could be a great addition, making it so you have to go back and forth to prepare before going to the deepest stage of the hole and end the battle. But i understand that in 72h that was a short time to achieve that so props to you all for this great work !
The music is great and the art is gorgeous. I really like the gameplay and the idea of combining the rythm management with your movement. However, the game is so unforgiving. Not only the pattern changes, but also the tempo of the rythm. Sometimes i really thought i was in sync but it turns out i must have been a few frames early and lost my oxygen almost instantly in the 3rd partition each time. I think adding a small frame of time before (like a few fractions of seconds) would make it less frustrating and would make everything easier to coordinate. (But also i might just be bad at the game, i don't know lol)
@tyrannas To be honest i already don't remember but by the feeling of it i guess i played the jam version. I'll give it another shot with the postjam !
Edit : Yes i definitely played the jam version before. This one is more accessible and it's really such a good game with the addition of the acceptance time, so more enjoyable and less frustrating ! Awesome work !
At first i thought it was a "I made whatever i wanted no matter the theme" game, but then i kinda got how it was "deeper and deeper". The game is pretty simple but this is a fun entry, made me chuckle a couple of time :smile: Well done !
After playing this i have now a fear of pineapples. (Or whatever these little flying monstrosities were)
It was pretty fun overall ! Really liked it better after picking the ranged upgrade though as i had troubles with the melee attack on the pineapples.
I got stuck at the bottom of LD13. Like stuck stuck. Don't know why, i couldn't go lower, the next level didn't load and i could only go left and right, stuck in my fall for eternity. I also had a weird bug (or is it a feature ?) where i could grab infinite life. I didn't count the heart i picked, but i think i ended up with at least 50 of them (could see the health bar moving at each pick up)
But overall it was well made, and the graphics were really cool ! The pickups weren't very clear of what they were, but the palette was pleasing to the eye. A music would have helped a lot to finish the mood but i guess you guys ran out of time.
Good job !
I wanna start by saying that the art is incredible ! These crewmates doing some kind of Jojo poses are cracking me up.
The gameplay is simple to understand, it's fun and just a bit challenging. I didn't really get what the air blast module did as it never scared the fishes away, or maybe i was too afraid of using it for too long. I don't really get the point of the radio station module due to its price. It's supposed to help you get more money, yet it's the most expensive item in the shop. Feels kind of counterproductive in my opinion.
I was just not a fan of the sound. Any kind of music would have helped a lot and i must admit that the sound effect was just in the wrong frequency for my ear and i had to turn it off.
Great job overall ! This was a really good game !
It was fun ! The graphics were cool and the controls felt nice. I have to say, i didn't read all the description so i could discover everything ingame but i didn't even noticed i could dash hahaha
(Also the boy hanging on the head and the squeaking sounds, these ideas are adorable)
Really solid entry. Overall it's really polished and the gameplay is well thought. I was playing on the keyboard and had some troubles with the diagonal dash too. I also had a weird experience with the ressource management : * When i first started to play, i was playing using the browser on my desktop computer. Movement felt correct but i couldn't go past the first level. I was always out of air after landing on the platform between the spikes. * Then i tried downloading the game and it got worse. Movements felt slower, air management felt kind of the same. The character would on occasion run at normal speed and then randomly get really slow before going back to normal speed. * Then i started using my laptop, played on browser. And here it's normal speed and better air managemnent, could easily pass the first level with the air i had. But other than that, tthis game was... breathtaking. *badum tss* No but for real the atmosphere is great, the level design was fun &nd the graphics really set the mood. The breathing animation felt satisfying with the little screenshake added to it and it just shows the polish you did on this one.
Great job !
Nice job ! The graphics are so cool (i love these creepy fishes, they look so dope) and combined with the soundtrack, it really creates a feeling of action and danger in these depths. The fact that you integrated a procedural aspect to it is great, but it can also screw your game. During my first playthrough, i was locked in a cave without end and at first i thought i was supposed to find some upgrade to shoot the wall because i didn't even catch that it was generated.
The randomness of the shots is a bit frustrating at times when the controls are already not so easy to use at first but it gets better with time.
procgen.png
After a first level where i didn't get hit once and didn't even worry about the ennemies, i didn't expect this second level that seemed incredibly hard hahaha
The art and music really blend well together to create this retro upbeat game ! I just thought the background felt really empty, but i'm kind of nitpicking here.
Overall it was a fun game ! Good job !
The "paper flip" effect was such a nice touch and was really effective to set up the playful mood ! I know the music was already mentionned but yeah it doesn't really add much to the game as it gets really repetitive and feels really slow in contrast of the submarines streams launching you left and right.
Overall it was good experience, good job !
Okay this one is something else ! The narration and voice acting was on point, and the music and artstyle really created a deranged small world. The fight mechanic could be better explained ingame but it's still kind of random and if you're not lucky you can just die even if you play correctly. There should be an hint of either what the preferred move(s) is/are or maybe sometimes what move the ennemy is going to pick (at least one of them). Didn't finish the game but i'll try again tomorrow !
It was really fun but there is a bug that basically killed my game. I tried to upgrade the drill for the second time but didn't have enough energy (even though the upgrade button didn't show any requirement in it) and the game didn't upgrade it... but still consummed my resources. When i wanted to refund some houses to build another power plant to resolve the power issue, I noticed i couldn't destroy any of them because i couldn't get refunded the consummed population. So yeah, i got softlock by this.
Otherwise the game was really fun before that. The voice is pretty fun, except for the Destroy button. The voiceline is definitely funny once, but after the 100th i couldn't hear it anymore hahahaha
Congrats on the graphics too, the game looks nice !
First time around, i died immediatly after encountering the first monster because i was not expecting it and ran right into him. Second time, i was expecting him so i was more cautious and snuck around him. But then i saw another one a little later in the edge of my screen and heard it coming and from there it was running in the 90s playing on loop. Was so relieved when i found the doggo.
So yeah, good experience in general, but as other said, i would loose the scream when loosing at it's a bit of a cheap trope. Good job !
Wow, what a great one !
My brain couldn't compute everything when i had to control both characters and dodge enemies and destroy them and reload the knight and destroy this wall and oh shit they damage me because they crash against the rail and oh no my knight is out of bombs and nooooo not that way aaa- You get the idea. But with a little practice it gets better. The gameplay idea is really cool but everything is a bit too "big" on screen for this type of game. By that i mean you don't really have a lot of time to react to the oncoming ennemies once you made one or two mistakes and then it's panic time. (Or at least that's what happened to me)
The artstyle. C'mon now. This was really really cool. The animations are funny, the lighting is great, everything blends together in a good way. The only things i would change would be to make the gauge a bit less "busy" to make the bomb counter more visible.
Great work !!
I like this ! The animations and sounds were so on point, it really took the game to another level of funny. Smashing their heads in the bowl was so hilarious and i really tried my best but i couldn't go past 25K, where it was full panic mode hahaha
Not sure how it really fits the theme in my opinion but who cares, this game is fun and it's all that matters.
I think i didn't get the digging mechanic correctly as i was holding CTRL and tried to use the arrows but i only dug like 25% of the time i was pressing the keys. Made it very difficult to bury the coffin. The character felt kind of slippery too haha
The graphics are good and fun, really setting a comic and lighthearted tone for a theme that could be easily creepy or unsettling.
Overall, good job ! And congratulations if you made that in 14h like you said !!
Thanks for the kind words and the reviews everyone ! I'll make sure to check and review your games too !
@keppersnapper If i had more time during the jam, obstacles and variety would have definitely been a priority to boost the gameplay. But i like these suggestions, and i'll consider them if i ever do a "full version" of this game !
@nosfer Believe it or not, but i had never heard of that game before your comment. When i explained to my friends on Discord what i was doing, one of them started "Oh it makes me think about-" and i stopped him, saying i didn't want to feel like i was coding an imitation of an already made game (even if i know this is impossible lol). Just asked him what game it was and turns out he was also thinking about this one. Guess i'll have to give it a shot haha
@icehunter-wm I actually had the code down for indestructible blocks. It was actually one of the first features i implemented but this was back when i was dabbling with the game design at the start of the project. In the end i ditched them when i decided the player couldn't go up to prevent being soft locked in a U shape of these blocks. But i like the idea of making it a risk to dig upward. I know the mineral loss feels a bit too harsh in the beginning and, again, with more time i would have balanced it a bit so it wouldn't be too frustrating in the early stages.
@kelvination One of my friends tested it yesterday and also had the same issue. To be honest it was intended to be limitless but it's actually a bug (and i know exactly where it's located). If i have enough time tomorrow, i'll try to correct the bug and provide an alternate download link for it, but i'm not sure how fair it's considered to patch the game after the time limit. Your idea of soft depth limit was actually what i was going for, but i didn't test the endgame enough to balance it correctly.
About the resource loss between each run, it's kind of a consequence of the first iterations of the game design. At first i wanted to make it a tough, unforgiving roguelite (e.g. Rogue Legacy). As the game advanced, this feeling got kinda lost in favour of a more relaxed, laid-back type of game. But i heard the criticism, and when i'll push the project further (which will most likely happen due to the good feedbacks i've gotten so far), i'll reconsider my thinking about it.
And thanks again everyone !
I wanted to try it so bad after seing the screenshots but the game keeps crashing after a few seconds and then i can't start the .exe Got a message saying it can't access the device or that i don't have the rights... (Even when executing as an admin) :sob:
But damn these graphics look dope !
@stone-studio I just had the same issue with another game so i looked into it a bit more. Turns out it was my antivirus that was being mean. Deactivated it and everything worked, so now i can write a real review...
AND OH MY GOD did i like this ! The concept is really cool, the graphics are so cute, the ambiance is very well made. I cheesed the last screen of the last level by roaming a bit before getting to the bed and it was actually so satisfying to randomly get it right !
Great job to you ! :sparkling_heart:
It was really fun, but also a bit frustrating because you can't really anticipate the red platforms under you since you're usually going mach speed. It was fun to panic and try to declutter the walls when i got stuck in it though !
Très bon jeu !
Le feeling des contrôles est excellent à prendre en main. Tout semble fluide et chaque ability est agréable à utiliser. Le seul truc qui pose problème, et qui a déjà été mentionné, c'est le mapping au clavier. Un WASD et peut-être quelque chose comme IJKL pour les compétences aurait été peut-être été plus efficace selon moi. Le fait de mourir sans checkpoint quand on tombe à court d'énergie est très punitif pour une game jam, et tout le monde ne sera peut-être pas assez motivé de tout refaire si il était proche de la fin. Un simple retour au corps aurait été peut-être moins violent pour apprendre, ou au moins un message dès le début qui préviens que plus d'énergie = back to the beginning.
Les graphismes sont splendides, les animations sont belles, l'environnement est meublé et très sympa. Là encore, le seul point négatif selon moi est que toutes les couleurs chaleureuses et vibrantes sont perdues pendant tout le jeu à cause du filtre noir et blanc pour donner l'idée de monde du sommeil. C'est un parti pris, mais ce qui aurait pu être très cool ça aurait été d'avoir une "aura" des vraies couleurs autour des points d'intérêts à visiter pour faciliter la visibilité.
J'ai l'air critique mais ce ne sont que des suggestions pour pousser le projet si c'est dans vos objectifs. Dans l'ensemble c'était très plaisant et polished, surtout en si peu de temps !
The graphics are incredible and the idea of the gameplay is really nice ! The controls are really hard to handle and the physic of the cage really doesn't help. Some kind of rail on the top of the chains would have helped to anticipate where the cage will be when you stop the button and it stops swinging so much haha
Overall, good job !
This game felt a bit weird, i'm not going to lie. I didn't make it past level 2 because the jumps on the tiny block were too difficult. The thing that frustrated me the most was that in level 1 you could double jump but not in level 2 ? The controls are really challenging, mostly due to the speed of the character. I'm not sure if you tested it out, but you can also hold the two guns at the same time in the first level.
I'd just like to point out something in the options : the commands are really hard to read. They were deep gray on brown here.
@timepass Sorry to hear that it was a frustrating experience for you :(
The two guns mechanic could actually be a cool mechanic. I mean dual wielding is not a bad thing. But in the future, i would recommend trying to make it so you don't have the guns overlapping each others, as it makes it more look like a bug than a feature :)
And yeah i know the struggles of running out of time, it happened a lot to me many many times. But congrats for submitting in time !
The concept is cool and fitting to the theme, but DAMN this game is hard ! The timer was so short here, i had barely time to think which button to press and even when i did zero mistake, i didn't even get to finish the first stratum ! Soo yeah, the music sounds good i guess ? I only heard the 5 first seconds everytime hahaha (But i love the age of empire-esque voice saying "Deeper" lol)
This was something else ! The narration and atmosphere were very well done and i really got a feeling of dread in the end (not gonna spoil too much)
As it been said many times, it just feels a bit slow at some points but i think this may have been intentional to get into the slowness of our character ? I don't know maybe i'm just overthinking it haha
Great job !
Cool game ! Everything was well made and the controls were satisfying to use. If i had to change something, i would maybe just lower the size of the spikes to make it easier to jump over them at some points but i'm really nitpicking to find some advice here haha
I couldn't finish because i had a weird bug (HTML version) where the second door that requires a key wouldn't open even though i had the key. But great job !
This entry was funny. The opening joke immediatly sets the mood for the game and how stupid it's going to be (saying that in a good way). I was not expecting a "choose your story" type of game but it was actually quite fun ! Well done :)
Don't diminish yourselves guys ! The game over screen made me sad ! It's a simple yet good platformer. I wish there were more puzzles/trials like the one where you had to jump and use the pickaxe at the same time. It would have added some challenge to the game. The polish is really good.
The background is splendid, and i love the vibrant colors of the foreground. However these two are not in the same artstyle at all and it feels a bit disjointed. (But i'm being a bit picky here)
Keep up the good work !