Junk Racer XL by Nikolaj 2019-10-10T23:41:31Z
Played the time trial version alone. The controls and visual were basic, but fit the theming of the game. Everything worked well, and the car controlled as expected. Nice work.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → WelshDivision
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 57 | Depths | Knights From Inside My Walls | jam | 3.58 | 3.45 | 2.75 | 2.70 | 3.45 | 3.00 | 2.87 | 3.62 | ||
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Hell on (not) Wheels | jam | 2.00 | |||||||||
| 2019 | 45 | Start with nothing | Running | jam | 1119 | 2.38 | 2.44 | 2.19 | 1.88 | 1.86 |
Played the time trial version alone. The controls and visual were basic, but fit the theming of the game. Everything worked well, and the car controlled as expected. Nice work.
This is the second difficult game that I have played this Ludum Dare, and it was definitely close in difficulty as the other one. Just like the other one, I believe that it is completely the players fault if they die, and losing your power-ups is just a consequence of that. It is super punishing and really filled me with a sense of dread when I had to trudge back to where I died. I will definitely visit this again when I have time to finish it, but I'm way to frustrated right now. The graphics could have been more refined, and sounds/music could have been added, but I think the game is completely serviceable, well-rounded game with the perfect blend of character progression and difficulty. Nice work.
This game was a really solid play for me. However, I had a few major issues with this entry. For one, it seems games made with Unreal with some sort of VR support turned on seem to make my game lag after loading a level after around 20 seconds. This is the second entry I have played made in Unreal with this issue, and since you have to restart after dying and it immediately reloads the level, it made it frustrating on more difficult, trial-and-error levels. However, I did finish your entire entry, and it was a very, very well polished and enjoyable platformer. The different platforms and introduced beautifully, the graphics all follow a consistent feel, the inclusion of a menu to restart or quit the game is a nice touch. The music and sound perfectly compliment the aesthetic of the game. This is one of the best entries I have played so far, so congratulations to both of you.
Very strong and robust gameplay elements, had minor to no gameplay glitches. However, about 20 seconds into each level, my game to slow to a crawl for about 15 seconds, then run smoothly after that. I think it may have been caused by SteamVR trying to launch, but I'm honestly unsure.
The gameplay is tight, responsive, and rewarding. It reminds me a lot of Super Mario 64 in regards to movement, especially in the 2D sections (2D SM64 romhacks).
The music was superb and fits the game perfectly. Wish there was more tracks to listen to, in the best way possible. I will definitely be adding the song in the game to my playlist.
Overall, the game was fantastic. Congratulations to everyone who created it.
This game is top-notch in terms of difficulty and controls. Everything is up to the player to do, and the game does not hold your hand, which I think works really well with the aesthetic and theming. I enjoyed this game thoroughly and would play more if there was more. The lack of sounds is the only issue with this game. Even without them, this is one of my favorite entries I've played so far.
I got pretty far in. You pretty much have to type words that may or may not relate to the current words, but they are all real words. I might come back and see if I can beat the game (if it actually exists). Interesting concept.
Everything controlled well and the menu was well done. All of the systems of the game worked as intended (on the Window's build version). Some things such as the cursor not unlocking when menu elements were up and the graphics kinda made it hard to follow the action. Other than that, the game worked well.
Very enjoyable experience with some nice music and graphics. The game was quite challenging, especially staring with nothing and doing a 900 coin quest. Everything functioned well.
These kinds of games are always a treat to play. Especially for any one who has any experience with the shell, it is always interesting to see how developers translate into game commands. As well, these games typically engage their reader in unique ways, such as telling the story through emails and IRC chats. For what it is, it kept me engaged throughout the entire experience. Nice job.
Very funny and clever game. At some point, I must have clicked the microphone 'stop recording' button too many times or something, because I couldn't record sound after that. However, everything still worked flawlessly without my sounds. The game was robust, funny and incorporated the theme perfectly. Incredible job!
Game play works well and everything functions well. Has a aesthetic that it works with and sticks to well. Wish there was a way to turn down the music of the game (common problem with entries). Pretty good.
The atmosphere and small quotes the game gives to you really fit well with the theme of this Ludum Dare. Graphically and sound wise, this is a very solid product. Gameplay definitely isn't the focus, so there's not much to say there. "Desert" does really well at what it tries to do. Nice work.
The Gold version of the game is seriously impressive. The fact that you were able to do so much in so little time is astounding. The gameplay works and flows well, with a medium amount of difficulty. The music works well with the game, and the graphics complement the story of the game very, very well. I really enjoyed playing this. Congratulations!
Overall a very good start to somethign that could be truly special. The voice-acting is very well done and the concept and visuals match the theme of the game (and the jam) very well.
Some observations: - The voice acting is extremely well done. - The music and style of the game is perfectly matched, very good stylistic choices made. - The visuals of the talking speed are sometimes not synced with the audio. - Adding WASD controls on top of arrow keys would be a addition. - A feature for speeding up your falling speed by holding down (and the inverse for holding up) would likely add to the gameplay. - Indicators for the sides before you get to the land segment would likely be a good addition. - Moving the land to be exactly when the voice lines end would likely be a good idea to speed-up people replaying the game. - Some strange background noise during the game over screen.
Overall, a very good submission for the jam, very nice work!
High-Score: 5446
A very unique concept executed very well with some minor difficulty issues. Even being a relatively fast typer, I had trouble keeping up with the pace of downwards movement. Despite that, I found myself pushing to see if I could see all there was in the game as the idea was very novel to me.
Some notes I made during gameplay: - The initial screen being a small white box in the top left made me think it was broken in my browser. Some indicator the user needs to type (fading in gray text after a bit) would likely be a good idea. - This seems to be due to the size of the window on itch.io? Zooming in by 175% fixed it. - Difficulty is very, very high with the default movement speed. - Similarly, reading Clippy messages while moving at this speed is also difficult. - Collision for words doesn't seem to work sometimes (for long words only?). - Word length is sometimes overly long for not being able to queue them up. - Separating typing and movement into different modes or buttons might be a good choice.
Overall, a very good concept which fits the theme very well. I think this idea has great potential. Good luck in your future endeavors!
Overall, a competent game that knows what it is trying to be with a few nice touches.
- The games textures and sprites have a coherent style. - Having proper credit and licensing info is very nice to see, as most (including myself) don't bother. - The music changing with the increase in numbers is a very nice touch (although the shrillness of the music does get a little grating after a while). - Not sure how much it matters about the tuning of my purchases when I can spam click to purchase everything. - A progress bar to the center / goal (if there is one) would be good. - Conversion of the large numbers to human-readable versions might be a good choice for this style of game.
Overall, nice work.
I like the aesthetics of the game quite a bit. Has some mechanical quirks, but has good potential.
- Game has a strong aesthetic identity which is matched by character design and animation beautifully. - The animation work is very good. - Music doesn't especially fit the theme of the caves, but is pleasant sounding. - No resource usage for casting spell encourages spam-clicking, which isn't very mechanically engaging. - A cooldown system with auto-fire would likely be a good fit. - Health loss is extremely rapid and unforgiving. - Some indication that inventory cannot be opened during cave segments would be good for new players.
Overall, has a distinct identity which with some reinforcement could be something unique.
Overall a very good-looking game which had me wishing there was more to do.
Some observations I made while playing: - It can be hard to select a card in-between two cards. Having them more spread out would likely aid in seeing what every card is. - The font is a little difficult to read. An option to select a different one for better readability would likely be good for accessibility. - Card effects are sometimes a little difficult to read / parse ("Look at the next card; choose to top or bottom"). The card text during the effect is fine and descriptive enough. - I honestly didn't realize 5% damage was 5% of max rather than 5% of current, making me less likely to use those cards in the beginning and thinking I couldn't do (meaningful) damage / lower health enough to kill. - Not exposing numbers might be a stylistic choice, but it makes it hard to gauge if I am doing well or not / what to prioritize. - Releasing cards onto the field sometimes seems to does nothing, which might be some mechanic which I don't understand. I tried merging multiple cards together up top, but couldn't find a combination that worked.
Aesthetically, the game is extremely strong and all of the base-line functionality is there to turn this into a competent card battler. Very nice work!
I like the aesthetics and the viewpoint chosen and think they compliment each other perfectly. The only thing I'm left wanting for is any gameplay. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
Some quick notes: - While queuing actions is fine (and might be appropriate depending on what the game idea was), being able to interrupt them would make the game feel more responsive. - Space / Ctrl for dive would likely be more appropriate than D, with WASD either relative to the direction the sub is facing or from the perspective of the camera probably feeling better.
Overall a mechanically-sound game with humorous dialogue. With a little bit of polish, this game has tons of potential.
Some notes I took during gameplay: - Collision could be expanded for objects to prevent clipping. - While throwing the objects is rather funny, a mechanic to put them down would likely be better for a fast-paced game like this. - Objects which fall on each-other sometimes seem to clip through the floor and are lost. A similar problem exists with slimes pushing ore into the ground. - Highlighting for the various objects in the tutorial would likely help to ease the player into the gameplay loop. - The tools can be thrown behind the machines, making it hard to grab them. - The hover detection for held ore to be put into the furnace is a little strict, sometimes making it hard to actually insert it without throwing it. Separate buttons for interaction and throwing would likely work just fine. - Multiple ore put into the furnace is not processed as multiple items. - The rapid-falling animation is very well done, but also exposes some of the items which have been pushed beneath the elevator.
Best of luck in your future work!