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JoeEliTommy

Games

YearLDThemeGameDivisionRankOvFuInThGrMoCo
201430Connected WorldsPlanet Exploderjam5572.953.103.003.382.572.6337

Performance over time

overall score (left axis) percentile (right axis)

Scatterplots

Fun vs Overall

Innovation vs Overall

Theme vs Overall

Graphics vs Overall

Mood vs Overall

Comments by JoeEliTommy

LD30 — Connected Worlds

Oculus Souls by OrangeeZ 2014-08-26T18:43:00

Nice hack'n'slash game. Good job on the 3D graphics, and the music and sounds are nice too.

My best guess at the Connected Worlds theme is: the outer "real world" is connected to the inner "virtual world" via the VR goggles.

I can't say I understood what the Well of Light and Well of Greed were for. That being said, I only deposited once.

Combat and moving around was a little clunky, though I did eventually master it. Initially I didn't understand that the red blobs were Sweets; I thought they were just bloody decorations.

Advesperation by dook 2014-08-27T21:58:00

Nice simple point-and-click interactive fiction. The overall presentation is good: smooth graphics, and nice writing style.

The story felt fairly linear, and I played through a second time to verify this. Linearity is expected for a jam game though.

I can't say I understood much of the details of the story. What kind of experiment was going on? Why was the world "dark"? What manner of connection did G have with H? Was the briefcase real, or just symbolic?

Anyway, it's a neat little game.
-- Tommy

3 Connected Worlds by technocf 2014-08-26T17:18:00

A nice 2D minecraft/terraria clone. Differently-styled areas are connected by a portal, so that fits the theme.

The instructions were very crucial to being able to play the game. It would've been nice to mention the double jump ability in there.

The hearts in the corner of the screen don't seem to do anything. The credits screen mentioned "computer" as the creator of sound, but I didn't hear any audio from your game.

My First Public Meltdown by Piat 2014-08-26T05:27:00

"Overall" category is 2 stars because the game's controls are not explained well enough. After I understand the controls, the game is reasonably fun.

My First Public Meltdown by Piat 2014-08-26T16:30:00

I ended up playing the game a lot because I liked the concept.

My understanding of the game mechanics:
Each month, you lose an (exponentially increasing) amount of money. Charisma points increase over time, regardless of player action. Showman and Beggar increase followers, which greatly increases money gained, up to a maximum (about 20x). Each month, a disaster event might randomly occur, killing all of your followers. Parental Loan and Attention Whore can sometimes help but are generally not worth it unless you have excess Charisma. Grifter, Gamer, Vapid, and Marketing don't do anything.

Where have you been so long? by Satyre 2014-08-26T16:43:00

Nice simple "serious game" (technical term). The imagery is pretty open to interpretation.

It would've helped to have an indicator letting you know when you can walk off the side of a screen, and letting you know that this is a completely different action than pressing [up].

Back and forth by suppi 2014-08-26T16:13:00

Nice simple platformer. Audio makes everything better.
I reached the end by glitching through a gate.

Spaceway Transportation by CodeNMore 2014-08-26T18:16:00

Nice shoot-em-up. Graphics are good, and the story is cute.

The initial difficulty (and element of randomness) of the game is too high for my taste. There is no penalty for failure though, which makes it not quite so bad.

It took me several attempts to complete the first mission, and I was unable to complete a second longer mission even after 50 or so attempts. I was unmotivated to "grind" on easier missions to get upgrades to make the second mission easier -- I felt like the second mission should be doable even without upgrades, and I was disappointed in myself to find that I couldn't do it.

The element of randomness is the most especially frustrating part. A fast, large asteroid is nearly unavoidable and is completely beyond the player's control.

When Worlds Collide by OfficialDingbat 2014-08-28T00:14:00

Nice silly shooter game with grapple mechanic. The graphics and animations are pretty nice. I didn't hear any music or sounds when I played.

The enemy ships were pretty dangerous. They sure did irritate me quite a bit when I was just trying to play around with the grapple mechanics. They were also relentless, so running away from them didn't work very well either. I was also disappointed that the grappled planets didn't affect the enemy ships at all. And I was unhappy at how easily the planets would get broken accidentally and disappear.

It might be nice to be able to un-grapple sometimes? Not really sure about that.

Finally, I found it quite strange that I needed to thrust continuously in order to follow a "fast-moving" planet -- but perhaps that's just because my team made a space game with quite different physics =]

-- Tommy

Spirit Aerie by tanjent 2014-08-26T18:47:00

Yeah the link seems to be broken at the moment.

Coexisting Worlds by PurpleApes 2014-08-27T23:27:00

It's an interesting game. I like the concept of guiding the growth of nature.

The controls and feedback definitely could use improvement. I reached the end screen, but I still don't feel like I understand exactly how everything worked. For example, I'm not sure when I'm allowed to connect a fungus to a tree. I understand that connections require FungiEnergie, but is there also a maximum of 3 connections allowed for each fungus? I suppose that's what you mean by "connection limited"? Tutorials and instructions are important!

I'm happy that you included a victory screen -- this is an example of GOOD feedback to the player!

-- Tommy

KHIVY by PhilippeAnder 2014-08-26T17:37:00

Always nice to see a 2D platformer with gravity reversal. The graphics and music were quite nice. The theme is satisfied by the upper planet and lower planet with interacting gravity.

Without a health bar or other indicator, it was difficult to tell how much danger I was in. The enemies were tough to avoid, which was frustrating, but I was able to survive quite a lot of hits. A victory screen would have been nice, so that I could feel absolutely certain that I defeated the final enemy, and not the other way around (and that I collected all the robot parts!).

The gravity reversal was also frustrating because it was difficult to understand when the reversals would happen. At one point, I found myself standing on the underside of a grassy platform, which didn't seem to make sense.

Ice Cream Aliens by snowconesolid 2014-08-28T00:51:00

Nice 3D platformer with no jumping! The graphics are nice and the game is reasonably fun.

The camera motion could be better, but I eventually got used to it.

The yellow blocks made me hate your game designer's rotten guts. I guessed incorrectly 3 times and had to start over at the beginning each time. Furthermore, I was dissatisfied with the "correct" arrow because it turned out to just be a teleportation tile rather than a moving platform like everything else. If I had known I was looking for a teleport block, I might've been able to guess correctly on the first try!

Otherwise, great job!
-- Tommy

Micro Worlds by Vidd 2014-08-26T16:56:00

Nice simple platformer. Commendable graphics, animations and audio.

I guess the Connected Worlds are the boxes (with different backgrounds) being connected by doors.

Controls feel a bit slow to me, but that's a matter of opinion. It would've been convenient to have more checkpoints, especially for a first-time playthrough. But I still finished in 4:35 so I suppose it's not too problematic.

Stellarlink Corp by LTyrosine 2014-08-28T18:18:00

Awesome game! The mechanics are really simple but also really fun! The graphics and audio are also quite polished.

Feedback:
* My performance was best when focusing on just one link at a time. Accordingly, when more links were added to the waiting list, I found it easier to pull them from the BOTTOM of the list rather than from the top, since the ones at the bottom would have more time left. This was problematic though, because the associated transmitter might not be "ready" to transmit that particular link yet (because a different link is currently "active" on that transmitter).
* I'm surprised that you chose to randomize the rotation speeds of the planets at the start of each game. I suppose it adds replay value, but it also makes it more difficult to transfer skill from one playthrough to the next. It also needlessly adds an element of chance to the game.
* Based on the description, I initially thought that the Joint Limits upgrade would decrease the size of the "walls" on either side of the transmitters. It confused me initially that the upgrade could allow your transmitters to shoot "through" these walls.
* I never figured out what a Mirror Satellite does. I tried buying a Transmitter Satellite once, but I didn't find it very helpful for some reason. I was able to reach $1000 without using any satellites.
* I have mixed feelings about the Transmitter Power upgrade. Personally, my aim is best when I'm fully accustomed to the speed of the projectile, but since the Transmitter Power upgrade changes the speed, it becomes harder to aim after buying it. Furthermore, it becomes harder to re-play your game because restarting the game will bring the transmission speed back down to the slowest setting again, which again screws up my aim.
* I have some suggestions for making the aiming interface a little nicer, but I probably can't describe them succinctly here.

Other feedback:
* Clicking a transmitter to select it sometimes doesn't work.
* Shooting toward a transmitter that is "too close" will result in a missed transmission.
* It's difficult to distinguish the yellow from orange, and also the two shades of purple.

That said, your game is my favorite so far from this Ludum Dare! Awesome work!
-- Tommy

Simple Realms by mramaizng 2014-08-27T22:33:00

Nice action game! The graphics are cute, and the music is really sweet! Those chords are classic.

The gameplay is also really fun, though I was briefly frustrated by the snakes. The unfortunate combination was:
(1) the snakes are agile in all directions, and
(2) it's only possible to shoot in 4 directions; hence,
(3) it takes practice to learn to fight them effectively, but
(4) upon dying, the entire game must be restarted.
Also, it's questionable whether the randomness (enemies and powerups) was good for your game.

I suppose the theme is technically fulfilled, since each level is thematically distinct, and connected to the next via a doorway.

Anyway, I enjoyed it!
-- Tommy