themadprogramer

SkyRoots Ultra by Giome 2020-05-11T12:07:32Z ♥ 0

Real shame it's Windows only, I'd love to give this a good rating

Scared by epb9000 2020-05-05T12:19:09Z ♥ 1

I really liked the game but some spawns were just too random (hope-orb is right next to monsters).

Still, it's fun to play if you get a nice set-up, nicely done!!

Sabotage Body Gaurd by Angelo Saez 2020-05-03T10:05:03Z ♥ 0

Interesting game, probably the smallest download size so far (though at the cost of hogging up quite a lot of memory since the maps were quite big).

I have to say the bullets could be a bit bigger, the skulls have several hit points as-is, making them harder to hit just guarantees a few will reach my companions.

I liked the deploy, find treasure, return routine; feels like it does good things in terms of progression.

All in all nice job, hope you get your 20 ratings!

Backyard Monsters by SoKette 2020-05-03T09:23:56Z ♥ 1

Well this is awfully similar to my game which was also based on luring animals (in my case a fish) by throwing food.

It's an interesting concept, good to see Godot and Krita are getting some love... Gameplay wise though I have a few remarks, When you spawn as a "cat" or "raccoon" etc. there might be other cats, raccoons. While the arrow over the player's animal shows who you're supposed to help, it's not obvious the first time you play.

2nd, it's easy to lure animals to the sides, but very difficult to break-up 3 animals, if 2 are attacking one from the left **and** the right. Feeding the animal is useless since the heal rate will be lesser than the damage per second, and food thrown to the side won't lure the animals. Ex. a mouse who is facing right won't look at the food on his left, and the raccoon facing left will need to keep attacking the cat in-between to get to the food.

But besides that I really think it's an interesting idea. Nicely done!

Margaret's Little Shop of Wonders by zyow 2020-05-03T09:04:34Z ♥ 4

I have only one complaint, why did you bind esc to quit instead fo back? I found myself quitting the game when I was trying to close the recipe book. Besides that figuring out what the regeants were wasn't always obvious, but I actually liked it that way so I don't mind that as much.

You did great with the art, that's a given. I liked just how many different recipes there were, the game is short but packed with content. Nicely done!

HealWall by xart2012 2020-05-02T22:16:38Z ♥ 1

Could use a few more instructions (your tutorials you later added here on the submission page are nice), but once you learn the rules it's very enjoyable.

Smiley's Grid of Fun by ninjacreeper47 2020-05-02T22:02:29Z ♥ 1

This was super chaotic, definitely needs a difficulty setting though, the default "timer" is way too quick.

The Keep! It's Alive! by minibobbo 2020-04-30T11:09:35Z ♥ 2

Well I'd say you kind of stretched *the theme*, but I have only one thing to say: "DAT MOUSE". The mouse-hand transitions were gorgeous. Switching hands seemlessly, the pixel perfect precission while following the mouse. Just how did you do it?

Phoenix Egg by ZanyG 2020-04-30T10:03:13Z ♥ 1

Untitled.png

5 levels. This game has 5 levels. I have to say, this is the most enjoyable "Hard Game" I'm come across in a long time. I'll be sure to write a review about it to earn you some exposure. Nicely crafted!

B.S.O.D by Madbeagle 2020-04-30T09:32:24Z ♥ 1

Ooooooh, such a good game with such squandered potential.

The gameplay is fine, it's great how the little guys shuffle around and make funny noises. But the requirements to pass the first level alone are so unbalanced that chances are you won't be able to until you luck out and get no red screens for a round. I assume this will get more manageable in future levels, judging by your screenshot. But as is, it was barely playable for me, I hope you find the time to rework the "productivity" requirements at some point. This was a nice try.

Keep the Princess Alive by Fernando Tonon de Rossi 2020-04-30T09:15:06Z ♥ 1

First off, I'd given up on Qt. but your entry in WebAssembly has restored some of my hopes.

Gameplaywise, I _was_ hoping for a score system, but I assume you were short on time, that's ok though you can always rework some things post submission.

Save That Baby by JordyForNow 2020-04-20T10:00:42Z ♥ 2

Congratulations on your first game ever! Now, get ready for your first harsh review ever!

Collision kills!

The floor kills, the walls kill, **even baby corpses kill**. This, combined with how quick horizontal momentum builds up as you reflect babies on the trampoline makes the game unwindable after a while.

To your credit, the blue "paramedics" have cute walking animations so there's that. I liked how they controlled, even if they were almost never able to outrun the baby when it's flying in an arc.

It's a lot better than my first LD (on the old site) which didn't even restart unless you refreshed the page if memory serves right XD I wish you luck in honing your skills today, so can make a better game tomorrow. Cheers!

Rebutia by 43sam 2020-04-20T08:46:57Z ♥ 3

OOOOOH This game! Compo entry of Jam quality, impressive!

First Impressions:

Solid gameplay, NPC allies and simplistic art; this is a kind of retro I haven't seen in a very long time and am glad to see there are still people keeping this sort of "Flash era" tradition alive.

Further Comments:

There's a minor error in the tutorial: The Game Over condition is Rebutia dying **not the player**, par the theme.

Dash was very satisfying, although diagonals were a bit awkward.

Healing was awkward but the **ping** sound was nice, it might be asking for too much but if the healer, player and Rebutia had different sounds (ex. a chant, the usual ping and a happy bark) it could've made it an eency bit better.

Enemy detection is awkward, but dash+clicking seems to be an effective method; whether intentional or not, made for a funner game!

A game which allows for variety! You can play defensively by hiding behind Reburia and the healer or charge ahead to clear a path.

All in all really solid game,

Really Nice Work!

What a horrible night... by chertkov 2020-04-20T08:29:16Z ♥ 0

Hey you forgot to make the itch.io page public! The link returns a 404

In A Game Wherein by SSStormy 2020-04-20T08:10:22Z ♥ 1

* Tips for beating *It Must Not Wither*:

Keep water near 1.0, as the plant grows its consumption seems to increase but the safe-amount is slightly above 1.0. Too much will drown it, so don't over-click. Do this and your plant **too** can produce fruit!

* Tips for beating *To Keep Me Alive*:

Rest->Scavenge->Rest->Scavenge

Repeat until you'er at 20-25 food and then rest until you get to 10 Energy. Now just click travel 10 times to win!

Do this and you **too** can arrive at your destination!

* Tips for beating *In A Game Wherein*:

There are none, the ride never ends.

LayDownLives: Coup Coup by Dazzumbledor 2018-12-24T18:48:09Z ♥ 0

Another unique take on the idea. "Sacrifice the least amount of eggs to survive the longest"

I can see that it was better to roll with SFX than music for a compo entry still it's nice to see you made the most out of it.

The drawings were pretty retro, post-pixelly pre-flash era a style which isn't all that common to see nowadays.

The concept isn't too ambitious but it manages to be what it is without any bugs or issues.

I'm not sure how I feel about the aiming, on one hand it adds challenge but on the other it feels like the eggs are being lobbed too much, when I miss it doesn't always feel like it was my fault which kind of hurts the "sacrifice" philosophy for me. Or maybe it's just that my aim is pretty bad 😓

Still nice job. You're pretty close to getting into Ranked best of luck!

Medieval beasts by Darkwing00Duck 2018-12-24T18:34:26Z ♥ 0

This is beautiful. It takes certain level of humility to ask to not be judged on visuals for this, you'd have easily made it into the top 5. Here's hoping an innovativeness vote counts :D

One for Another - A tactical combat game by muffty 2018-12-24T14:10:24Z ♥ 1

Here's hoping you make it into Ranked! (Please shrink the resolution of the web version, it's playable but very difficult to click on the edges of the screen)

Devil Cult Party by frankiesmileshow 2018-12-24T13:51:26Z ♥ 1

Tried to get it to run on my Mac with Wine but it crashed sadly. FORTUNATELY I was able to hear the main theme and have the graphics for screenshots

@jupiter-hadley also added some brief gameplay so I'll just be rating you on these. Nice job! I found you in DANGER and sure hope you get spotted by a few more people soon enough to boost you into rated. Best of luck!

Crush/Burn/Sacrifice by Finlal 2018-12-24T13:38:17Z ♥ 0

Well this entry was certainly unique and you summed it up yourselves on the itch.io page:

> Unfortunately, this time only half of our team was able to participate in the competition. First two days we spent searching for an artist, we arranged a collaboration with 08-n7r6.79.84 And the full work began on the third day in the morning, and ended at 6 am.

You certainly worked very hard on the audio and visuals. Without them this might as well have been a comp entry. The relation to the theme is really not clear without watching the intro because for all I know those people aren't being "sacrificed".

The game is really hard to beat, as far as I can tell if I don't get enough people the bar will start to drain at a a near exponential rate.

Okay enough banter:

* Although you're moving in one direction at a near constant speed the ability to block is a much appreciated addition. * More than one type of enemy in a runner is always a plus. * Assigning a move to every arrow key was also pretty nice.

So yeah nice job! I found this gem in DANGER, hopefully I'll be able to help propel you into ranked. Best of luck!

Bird Cop: Sacrifices Must Be Made by HeyLauraMathews 2018-12-24T13:20:16Z ♥ 0

RIP Birdcop, best thumbnail saddest missing game. You get a 5 on humor too bad I can't rate anything else

Ring of Sacrifice by nul 2018-12-24T13:18:17Z ♥ 1

Okay this is probably one of the more straight-forward interpretations of the theme: Either use the junk you find to defend yourself or "sacrifice" them to stay warm.

The gameplay concept is pretty good, on paper. I mean there were plenty of tips on the menu but this game definitely deserves a manual even with the instructions on the Ludum Dare page. For instance the way that the heat bar works isn't all that obvious. (Goes up near fire depending on the intensity of the flame decreases when you stay in the cold dark for too long).

10 Minutes is WAY too long. I appreciate trying to make a long game since typically a lot of Ludum Dare games seems to end rather quickly, I'd have preferred a "best time" system or at least a variable time length (2/5/10 minutes could have been a bit better).

And finally as has been already stated the attacks could **REALLY** use either sound effects or particles since I can imagine that adding enemy hit animations would have detracted from the game's theme so I can understand why you went with what you went.

Still it's always nice to see a few bullet hells to see this genre isn't dead yet :P That gnome and "(For hard mode) You get to feel better about yourself." earned you a 5/5 on humor. And yeah being able to switch times is definitely a much appreciated game mechanic which I'd like to see all the more often in these types of survival games.

So yeah good job! I found your game through "Danger" and I think I just bumped it up into ranked, best of luck buddy!

101 Ways to Die in Alpha Complex by OddballDave 2018-12-14T12:38:06Z ♥ 1

@oddballdave I actually managed to destroy the computer. Pity that it just crashes the game without a cutscene. I hope I didn't sequence break or anything XD

Tale of Nowheria by XCVZXC 2018-12-04T22:56:58Z ♥ 1

Where to begin?

Compo ended becoming a Jam entry? No surprise! You said it your self barely had any time to add help options 😆

The plot was probably thin as paper, but that probably was never a focus. The issue I had though was that the stakes didn't feel too high as the bolts were dogdeable till the end of the game where the attacks become so frequent that I died while smitten between two spike traps. (OUCH) I also started thinking I'd have to make frequent visits to the altar or get a game over but nope 🤷 instead that's the worst thing to do. (You did add this to the description as a tip so it's on my part for not reading that).

Many have praised the graphics and sound already, the secrets etc. I really liked the magnet pull the player has because incoming candy ends up functioning like an arrow showing you where you *can* go next, not where you have to. But it's a shame that if you stop following a trail it's rather hard to locate it again until you memorize the layout.

The concept might not be original and although I didn't like it's execution the omnipresent danger was a funny idea for an exploration game. There was literally no refuge! You could even get hit in dungeons. I guess the best idea would be to speed through the dungeons and *then* return to the overworld to collect all the remaining sweets so that when the attacks go into "rapid-fire" you'll have some decent room to dodge. Which seemed pretty counter intuitive to me but whatever floats your boat man.

I just noticed one of your screenshots shows three heart containers? Were those hard to reach hearts meant to increase max HP? or did you plan on adding a difficulty setting? Either way as expected as it is, it's sad to see ideas that couldn't come to fruition.

Nice job! (Write a nice response to this lest a smite you next :3 )

Arden's Artisan Artefacts by blinry 2018-12-04T22:04:47Z ♥ 4

Now you might be thinking: How do I run this? Simple:

https://love2d.org

download it NOW you won't regret it:

a beauty.png

I call it Saskatoon Pi with worms.

Not-So-Nicer-Dicer by sadsmile 2018-12-04T21:32:24Z ♥ 3

This game for me was "nostalgic". I remember back in the day where deadly precision platformers were all over the place. This really feels like something I could've played on Armor Games or Newgrounds.

It definitely shows that this was a Jam game as it seems a lot of time went into the visuals, perhaps it was worth _making the sacrifice of not submitting_ for one extra day 😉 . Although I think the instructions could've been a bit better I assume you were too exhausted at that point 😆

Throughout the game I noticed this sort of elliptical shape (the screen narrows towards the edges) I'm not sure what you did with Unity but it _kind of gave the perspective of a video camera_ . Intentional or not I noticed but couldn't help expecting occasional screen static glitches.

Let's talk mechanics:

It took me a while to see that I had 10 seconds to rescue all of the remaining prisoners in the field after completing a level. Something like a big arrow could have been useful 😏

Now your main concept of "sacrifice players" but also "control multiple players" is something I don't think I've seen before. For me sacrificing players though often felt unintentional. I _could have been more careful_ and then switched to the guy waiting in the back but often I never could react to imminent traps so more often than not it didn't feel like my fault that the prisoner died. I mean it _was_ my lack of attention, but I wasn't letting them die off to take an easier route.

@angelnm already mentioned this but another issue is that while more deaths make your platforming life easier sometimes they'll block the path and force you to restart. I think that having a way of "disposing of corpses" could have led to faster gameplay and I honestly can't decide if I'd rather have that or have the ability to control the other prisoners.

And finally I wish I knew if I had to "press" or "hold" a button. I could generally guess from the level layout but I "misplanned" some of my routes because I was expecting to "leave prisoners" to wait for the others.

Okay, okay I'm almost done complaining. Springs and jumping seem to be a bit awkward but it didn't matter except for maybe one or two levels so it's no big deal.

It's a new spin on a long forgotten idea, one which I admittedly wasn't that big of a fan of. Yet still didn't I play it until the end anyway? Good job!

Each level more or less required you to use a different strategy even if there were only 10 or so.

I really don't like it when in a game when someone just dies and vanishes into thin air so even if I just complained about *too many corpses* I give anyone who finds a way to *not* poof them off of the screen a plus.

But yeah, I see a lot of potential in this. It's not a completely original idea but it *has* a few completely original ideas within it. Like I kind of wished that there was a purpose for me to use shift to solve a puzzle rather than just leaving someone to wait on a button and then pressing it again at the end of the level to rush to the exit. Or maybe have the players jump on each other *without them having to die* in the ending corridor I thought I was supposed to do that and was kind of disappointed when I remembered they just fall through each other. You can now without a time limit take this even further, see what else you can add for yourself..

It's a real shame this hasn't gotten much attention yet, here I'm voting and hoping you'll get picked up soon enough. Good job buddy!

Plushie Piler by shieldgenerator7 2018-12-04T20:58:02Z ♥ 1

Nice art! Shame I wasn't able to get it to run on my Mac :(

♦Anarbot♦ by Hirunso 2018-12-04T20:56:10Z ♥ 1

Still despite the limited time it's nice that you were able to do something. I've never had a Ludum Dare where something didn't turn up, often leading to the sleepless nights being even more tiring. And I disagree if you were able to do this much with Scratch I don't think you really ever needed Game Maker

Rip Apart by muzigpuzig 2018-12-04T14:17:41Z ♥ 2

Minor question: was this originally meant to be a platform rather than a puzzle game?

I discovered a lot of things you never mentioned in the instructions while playing: >The ability to wall cling (automatic whenever you jump into a wall) >The ability to pull back eyes and arms (by pressing Q if you're within a certain range) >The ability to reverse direction before rolling your eyes or head

https://www.ssbwiki.com/images/0/0a/Shadowballdc.gif

Like a B-reversal from Smash Bros.

Were these added as features for a game with a wider scope? did the time constraints hurt you?

Human Meat Is Very Nourishing by Rolly 2018-12-03T03:43:11Z ♥ 1

"Until death do us apart"

Gravitone by AkbarMna 2016-09-04T20:36:00

This game is quite simply put perhaps the most glorious first Ludum Dare I have ever seen. The logo killed me :> This is beautiful this is amazing, it's so fast paced it's hilarious. The concept is also great although I'm not really sure if we can consider this "ancient tech" even though you did say it was "a long time ago in a something far far away" Aw dude I hope you manage to place somewhat high. I really loved this. :>

You Go First by usrtrv 2016-09-04T20:31:00

Nice graphics. I'm a real sucker for paper-esque graphics.
Too bad it's windows exclusive. >:>

Barbarity by soldierbear 2016-09-04T20:28:00

Y U NO HAVE MAC :<

I really like the concept though. Nice wonders BTW.

Choose Your Fate by sacredseedstudio 2016-09-04T20:22:00

1. Nice animations and music
2. Mind telling me how you made those two characters random each play through?
3. HOW AM I SUPPOSED GET BACK TO WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN I DON'T HAVE ANY OBJECTIVES.
4. I like how the time of day alters dialogue.
5. I do not like having to re-enter the room to engage in conversation with these snobby folk.

I liked it :> Don't forget ludum dare next time please. I did too and well my game suffers from opposite problems. The game is playable although the graphics are lame the music is non existent and after a while it becomes impossible to lose :<

Wild West Hero by chocobyte 2016-09-04T20:03:00

Uh... the AI seems smart. :>

Dino Lazer by Chaoslab 2016-09-04T20:00:00

Wow this game looks amazing, but I can't get it to run on mac. Nice ninja BTW

Tree of Spells by Lim3s 2015-12-14T15:38:00

Great Game, though I can't seem to die :P

The Miracle of Life: A Therapeutic Approach by Kaphonaits 2015-12-14T00:38:00

2016000/2016000 would plant again