Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → uncannyvalley
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 42 | Running out of space | Electric Sleep | jam | 635 | 3.35 | 2.62 | 3.05 | 3.27 | 3.75 |
This is a really great idea! The ability to choose what YOU find sad, happy, etc. is exciting and allows the player to express their own morality without being prompted by the game- you have to really pay attention. Also, like everyone else mentioned, the audio and blurred painterly quality were both wonderful. Nice!
Wow, after I figured out exactly what to do, I really enjoyed this! It engaged me- and I love the idea of only having a series of limited, cycling actions to use. It made me think harder about how I was going to approach. AMAZING job!
Very well done! Your use of the theme was wonderfully executed- I especially like the data corruption patterns- I I don't know how you did it exactly (I'm more of a designer-ish kind of person, not a programmer) but they somehow felt like they were bearing down on me and subtly guiding my way at the same time. Good touch. I especially like when, during one screen, you let the players see the exit but walled it off- I of course thought I would never make it because you did such a good job of making everything appear very dangerous, so it felt like a mad dash to the exit and picked up the pace nicely.
Wow, like you mentioned, it's so strange and cool to see someone else tackle the same concept we had- and this is really well done! Especially the first moment I realized I would have to make an extremely difficult choice between two important memories once my space was filled up. I spent a long time trying to decide. Another moment I really liked was: "sometimes I wish I could forget"... That really made me stop for a moment, and it is a very clever way to blur the line between 'right' and 'wrong' when it comes to choosing between memories. Being forced to choose between and essentially 'prioritize' the memories before seeing them all was a wonderful mechanic to bring out the poignancy of the story. The presentation was great as well!
Very nice use of the theme! I really enjoyed how the mechanics perfectly balanced each other (such as having a limited weapon range so you have to move towards certain enemies and thus away from others) and I had a blast playing!
Very Nice!! My only suggestion would be to implement some kind of visual indicator when a crowdy is fully grown (since it's not just a binary state and hard to tell sometimes when it's ~90% grown)
@swini, you can use the 'back' command (without quotes) to go back from any menu, or the 'home' command to go back to the main menu from any screen. However I do wish I had more time to add instructive text to those menus, so you are absolutely correct to be confused. Thank you for the play and kind words!
@michael-feldman, Thank you so much! That's exactly what we were trying to accomplish, so it feels great to have somebody appreciate it. I would have liked to add in even more 'sign-posting' and clues about which memories are affected but I didn't manage my time very well.
@nihilaleph Thank you for the feedback! A lot of the commands listed in the help screen are optional- such as if someone thought to type in 'access 1' instead of just '1', but I understand the confusion. Also, you are definitely right about the cons you mention- I wanted to add in a lot more 'sign-posting' and clues to which memories are infected but ran out of time, haha. I appreciate it!
@demn Thank you so much for the review! To answer your question (SPOILER) Yes, you are supposed to delete the infected memories but, because I didn't notice a bug in time, the 'delete' feature does not work in the individual memory screens themselves- It only works from the MEMORY SYSTEMS screen where the entire list of memories shows up (So typing 'delete 2' for example, would delete memory 2) I understand this is terribly annoying and I am working to fix it! We really appreciate the kind words as well- telling a story through the 'game mechanics' was our main goal and 'experiment' going into this jam (This is my first game) so it's wonderful to hear that other players picked up on it. As soon as I get home from work I'll review your game and leave my thoughts! Thanks again so much!
@squid Thank you! (I think they do, haha) @jordantanner Thank you for playing!- especially since you say you don't play very many text-based games. I was very curious to hear what the game would feel like to players without experience in that realm. I'm working on fixing up the menus and providing better sign-posting, clues, etc. @occultone I appreciate that! We really wanted to deliver an experience and you are right about the menus, we're working on that (and the bug) For now, deleting memories does not work in the individual memory screens themselves, only the Memory Systems screen. We'll get that fixed! @fmressel Thank you for the feedback! I'll definitely be implementing a 'restart' feature- I also wanted to add more clues, etc. into the system but ran out of time haha, you know how it goes. Adding more clues and better signposting/explanations will be our number one priority! @thislooksfun Thank you very much! We'll take that into consideration for our next update. Others have reported a bug with those memories and that might be part of the problem. @blinkenlights Appreciate that! We are definitely adding in more clues as to what the goals are, etc. and working on a way to give the player more exposition/story to work with. Navigation will also be addressed with some more descriptive menu options. @ursagames Wow Thank you so much!! It's great to hear about someone's experience but even more wonderful to SEE someone playing! I really, really appreciate the play and feedback! We're currently working on adding in more/better clues, more story, systems, etc.
And overall, thank you to EVERYBODY who played the game! It's amazing that even this many people took the time to check it out! It's very interesting- When I was making this, I thought to myself that 'selling' people on the text-based, console element would be the hardest part. I was totally wrong! haha. It appears that people really seem to be enjoying the feel of it, for which I am SO grateful! Hopefully soon we'll be able to update the game and fix all of the problems that player feedback brought up!
Great character design! The sfx/music were a bit too loud but great game overall! I liked how moving to dodge and cast spells naturally balances against how many rooms you can see and fix.
This might be my favorite entry I've seen thus far- you absolutely nailed the theme, using running out of space as an actual mechanic that changes game-play instead of just window-dressing. Not only was it engaging, but bokeh effects were impressive for a game created that fast, and actually worked as a visual indicator of distance without having to think about it. The only very small criticism I have is that I feel like the planet shrinks a bit too slowly near the beginning- maybe have some kind of time curve that starts off faster and slows down the smaller the planet? I also understand, however, that you need to give players time to acclimate themselves. Fantastic!
Great adherence to theme! All of the mechanics nicely balanced each other (i.e choice between dodging or shooting) and it kept me playing for a long time! The only tweak I would make would be the speed of the enemies- I feel if they were a bit slower then it would make the choice between shooting or dodging even more fun. Great game!