The Rubber Robbery by TheMadStrauss 2017-12-05T19:44:53Z
Great
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → WilloXs
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 58 | Collector | Implovisation | jam | 183 | 3.81 | 3.66 | 4.01 | 4.11 | 3.92 | 3.61 | 3.74 | ||
| 2023 | 54 | Limited Space | MoveMasters Limited | jam | 160 | 4.00 | 3.91 | 3.75 | 4.52 | 4.04 | 3.75 | 3.54 | 3.54 | |
| 2023 | 52 | Harvest | 👥 | Plantus Infestantibus | jam | 638 | 3.13 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.63 | 3.86 | 3.08 | ||
| 2022 | 51 | Every 10 seconds | 👥 | Shipanic! | jam | 180 | 3.92 | 3.89 | 3.78 | 3.90 | 3.91 | 3.64 | 3.75 | |
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | The Last Patrol | jam | 926 | 3.34 | 3.01 | 2.81 | 3.14 | 3.61 | 3.41 | 3.42 | ||
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | UnstaBall | jam | 77 | 4.15 | 4.27 | 3.82 | 3.47 | 3.98 | 3.69 | 3.75 | ||
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | 👥 | Billy's Gone Again | jam | 280 | 3.92 | 4.05 | 2.84 | 2.91 | 4.10 | 3.94 | 3.67 | 3.76 |
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Until All Ends | jam | 652 | 3.60 | 3.54 | 3.45 | 3.80 | 3.86 | 2.91 | 2.47 | 3.47 | |
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | 👥 | Zombie Defence | jam | 2165 | 3.02 | 2.95 | 2.66 | 3.09 | 2.78 | 2.88 | 2.78 | 2.87 |
| 2019 | 45 | Start with nothing | Jump'n'Venture | jam | 486 | 3.52 | 3.50 | 3.25 | 4.34 | 3.75 | 3.20 | 3.50 | 3.36 | |
| 2018 | 43 | Sacrifices must be made | Blood Cult Sim | jam | 331 | 3.63 | 3.25 | 3.63 | 3.91 | 3.66 | 3.55 | 4.05 | ||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | 👥 | Shake'n'Shoot | jam | 394 | 3.61 | 3.45 | 3.47 | 4.25 | 3.64 | 3.55 | 2.67 | 3.21 |
| 2017 | 40 | The more you have, the worse it is | 👥 | Kiddy Crush | jam | 846 | 3.13 | 3.39 | 2.65 | 3.63 | 3.02 | 3.02 | 3.73 | 2.97 |
Great
At higher speeds you sometimes slip right through trees and those "power ups (?)". But i like the calm music and the pragmatic theme.
tthe is right gyro would be cool.
I'd say that's the most original entry jet. And the theme matches perfect. No major criticism.
Great in graphics, audio and mood!
The gameplay is a little bit exploitable (by space-spamming) and short but the graphics are really setting the right mood.
Nah, your not bad nor is it too hard. The concept is that you choose the difficulty yourself by angering not that many kids so they slaughter you but not too few that you won't get any points. I personally think it's impossible to get all the candy without exploiting the algorithm (at least i tried to design it that way).
Just wanted to clear the rules a bit (feel free to post your score here).
Mood overkill! xD
The game really was great! Also it's nice to see another gamemaker 1.4 user here.
I love the narration (did I hear Lipschitz !? xD) and the easy to understand controls and gameplay. It wasn't to easy nor to challanging and after playing (only died in the last level but several times) I got your source code which is also quite impressive (for me at least).
Also made a "Texture Pack" for myself!Screenshot 2018-12-17 00.37.59.png
That all said - great entry!
The game really was great! Also it's nice to see another gamemaker 1.4 user here.
I love the narration (did I hear Lipschitz !? xD) and the easy to understand controls and gameplay. It wasn't to easy nor to challanging and after playing (only died in the last level but several times) I got your source code which is also quite impressive (for me at least).
Also made a "Texture Pack" for myselfScreenshot 2018-12-17 00.37.59.png
That all said - great entry!
ups that's meant to go somewhere else (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/the-omicron-fleet)
Now that I'm on it thanks to all the comments and feedback.
I had to try it several times before I realized that your villagers actually starve xD. After that point it was cool though. Are the soundeffect made by yourself? If so let me know how you made the demonic laugh - it was really fitting.
There is a bug where the "enemies" glitch around the doors and you're not able to get past them and sometimes the "e" was shown but pressing it didn't do anything which is frustrating (So that's a "-" for fun). But otherwise the game was great! Awesome graphics, fitting sound and intense gameplay. You even made bonus-content with collectables ... A great job in so little time!
Why do they make such cute sounds when being sacrificed? Heartbreaking... xD
I almost forgot to enable my speakers - would have been bad xD
This was amazing - and so professional even the little buttons had their own animation...
As @megalink said it's really cool. The mechanics and the graphics are great but the difficulty curve is a bit of. What I didn't really like was the screenshake (not that it's there but how extreme it is). Im also really impressed by how many levels you managed to create in time. Good job!
I don't know how he did this in time for the compo...
awesome work
Hadn't I read the comments I'd never known there was a bossfight! Great narrative choice but i think most players will miss it (if i didn't miss some hints for it myself). Cool concept nice art, music and dialoge.
The thing about the backtracking being annoying i can agree. A run button or a gap in the maze after the first walktrough might be an easy solution^^ Oh and there are sometimes problems with the player being drawn on top of trees even tough they should be in front (which isn't a big deal).
In every other aspect a very top entry.
I'm really torn at rating the graphics... I love how the letters look and the cool light-effects that are used but the ugly interface (the font and setting of the "colour-counter") damages the appearance.
Yeah, i got carried away by minor things like menu design and getting more unlockable "skills" into the game than by focusing on the mechanics. It was my first jump and run so i still learned a lot. thanks for the honest feedback @spider-the-second .
@emma-b glad it didn't discourage you xD
I had it only playtested by my brother and it took him some effort too. But i couldn't change in time.
I like the art too except for the block-trains. Another cardboard-cutout sprite for those would have been nice but it doesn't bother me to much.
The music was fitting and the gameplay quick and fun.
I don't think the theme was missed but the game didn't support it to well imo.
Overall a fun entry with good mechanics and an interesting artstyle which i really like.
I know how hard it is to make a compelling platformer. i really liked the mood and general level layout but the floaty physics were a bit to slow for me. Also the hitboxes were a little frustrating at times.
I liked your choice for music which fit the mood really well.
Wow thats a cool idea. I discovered 18/20 both the times i've played so there seems to be something i missed. I like that its short, as smooth controls looks simple (but in coherent and nice way) and the subtle humor. Things that missed were just sound and a restart option.
All in all the best entry i played yet. I've played 3... ...Still the best^^
I also wanted to know the end - but i didn't deserve to exist...
Would be great if you could upload it as a zip because rar is some trouble^^
It took my a few trys to get behind the telekinesis mechanic but it was fun when i finally understood it. It is a bit overpowered though because you can just alway stay in that mode and drive in slowmotion while everybody else crashes (i know there was a power-meter but it really didn't matter).
One thing i didn't like was the "respawning" of the other cars: they shouldn't do it while you are near them - i crashed into them too many times because they ported to the middle of the road while i was driving by
The driving mechanics feel good and take their time to master so it was quite rewarding to do so. Definitely a fun entry!
As sndr says the controls need a slight overhaul - i would say commit to keyboard only or have the mouse control be more precise and intuitive. And the W/A keys should have a reverse option for the casuals among us xD
And i would make the radius for collecting much bigger - i missed them constantly even when i focused.
Aside from it's clunkyness it sounds and looks great and very polished (love the player ship model). I can only imagine how hard it must be to coordinate in such a big team - but the result is pretty cool.
Yeah this one is really nice. The polish is great and the only things bothering me a little is that it showed a gml crash immediately on opening:
Invalid surface dimensions at gml_Object_oSystem_Create_0 ####################################################################################
stack frame is gml_Object_oSystem_Create_0 (line -1)
you might want to look into it but the game works normal for me in windowed mode. It might even be some conflict with my screen setup now that i read the error again (line -1 should not be your fault xD)
Gameplay-wise it is pretty much flawless. Good job! (I will rate it some time later though cause this is the first game i tested this LD and i want to get some references)
@Arden I use a resolution on my main screen that isn't intended from the monitor so this could be the problem^^
Thanks to a all for the feedback and the necessary 20 votes.
We knew from the start that it was poorly balanced but were to exhausted to change it. I really think the general game idea has some potential and think i will rework it in a game engine with another setting/theme.
Art direction was great and the game is overall really good.
But a more traditional platformer control would have been nice (like space to jump 'e' to grab bees or something) or even the option to change the keybindings.
That guy has some serious problems with knives. I mean he was stabbed like 100 times in body parts including the head and yet only catched a few viruses...
The concept is cool and fits the theme pretty well but the gameplay is very slow and doesn't get faster (i think). An upgrade system where you spend points you earn by killing viruses and bacteria on stuff like new and stronger cell types would be cool - but i totally get that this would have been too much time investment for only 72 hours.
As it is it's a nice relaxing entry even though i found it just a bit too slow.
I'm so late so you propably heard it by now: Great game - looks and feels good (apart from walljumps and the artifacts) but please make it instant respawn and not have us wait so long (just a few seconds but it feels loooong)
This is a really cool idea - it's not that gamey but its nice to play around with
The game is really fun to play. Thats the most important thing for a jam game and you did a great job with it - the throwing mechanic combined with the warp reminds me a bit of celeste's level with the guy in a crystal. Sure it isn't as refined but you didn't have that much time on your hands.
My two complaint are:
-The graphics "jitter" i don't know why but it glitches all the time he walks or jumps.
-The level comfort. The walking cycles of the enemies didn't match the respawn-and-go-again thing i would wish for in such hard games (i had 33 deaths in the end). The time waiting for the enemies to move out of the way adds up.
The audio sounds pretty good though and the different images for the idol were a nice touch too (like when its falling).
Thats good to hear^^
I think the move speed could be a little bit higher - it takes some time to get back to the tree when its under attack.
Aside from that i liked the looks and the audio the gameplay is unique (if a bit repetitive). I'm still a bit conflicted about the number of clouds. Assuming its a barren land as the lore has it there shouldn't be that many of them - but then gameplay would be too hard so you had to hit a balance there
there is a bug - hunger doesn't deplete somehow...
So yes there were 1000 wolves xD
A very relaxing game but not challenging
i spent a full hour in your game! that says something about the addictive nature of your upgrade system. there are several things i grew to hate though:
-the path to the left has such a weired step-system that you cant "speedrun" it
-the floaty air movement would be ok but it clashes with the sudden spikes in mobility when you want to adjust your position on the edge of a cliff for example
-the collisions in small corridors are a bit buggy like the long snake like path with the bubble and lumen loot
-the "seahorses" can easiely push you through walls wenn you're in a corner
-the bullets of the enemies scale with your bullet-power upgrades (which makes the left path near impossible when you get two shotted by the shooter-enemy)
that i still didn't quit shows just how good the rest of the game really is. a really great entry!
p.s what are the tubes good for? are they just unused or did i miss something?
I feel like it is really laggy (maybe the fancy shaders?)
otherwise really cool game but it took very long for me to understand the mop mechanic
Thats a cool idea for a minigame. I never used the slowdown effect though and change direction wasn't super important to me too. I feel like the switching between the circles allows for enough action to expand on.
For example use that mechanic to fly through a little level maybe shoot a bullet everytime you switch. It really is a neat little mechanic.
"-":
Any backgroundmusic and sounds would have been nice but i too struggle with audio a lot. The difficulty ramps up extremely after the bullets start to bounce and i die shortly after everytime. The keybinding is a bit clunky. I feel like q and e are weired key to press. I propose the time slowdown to be on shift (sprint is on shift in many shooters) and change direction on any wasd key.
"+":
The general concept is great. I really like the little things like the mechanic to not leave the room by not allowing to switch if the circle is outside or that the circles are oscillating.
The jazzy soundtrack really swings. I didn't have someone to play with either but i will get someone and rate it then later.
The rules weren't completely clear to me (once the numbers came in) but as i said i will try again later. Really nice graphics^^
An effective horror game in a gamejam?! Really suspenseful experience. I would make the flamethrower aim at the mouse though. An it could light up the surroundings as well. I didn't really now which pattern the hound was following but that added to the horror feeling nowing it could be anywhere. I'm really impressed with the leveldesign and the graphics. Both added great to the mood.
I agree with most comments before: The idea is really good but there are many bugs which make progress difficult (my game has many bugs to it's no big deal). But the physics seem to be really weired especially with the gravity changers and even the velocity arrows. So i had to quit after room 4 (or 5).
Thanks for all the comments! Never got 20 votes that early.
I agree with the point of the bad audio - didn't have the time to re-record the lines.
I'm a bit surprised how many of you think the white screen is the end though (and therefore the nuke was a meteor). Maybe I should have made the dramatic pause a bit smaller.
Yeah it really is relaxing. I can tell because i didn't rage after i missed the same star 10+ times. The jump seems a bit delay which made good timing pretty hard. What i really would have liked is that you orbit in the direction your going (its hard to explain but what i mean is you always went left when attaching to a new line and not right even if that was what your velocity would indicate).
This defenitly gets a five star for mood (very chill)
Really cool timeloop mechanic. We see it a lot this ld but this one has the escape room challange attached. I didn't manage to save all just the woman and the old man (the muscle guy was switching the lever and sacrificed himself).
My critcs: Using left and right clicks instead of q and e would be easier i feel. And having a way to fast forward would be a huge timesaver. There also were lots of grammar errors but this didn't throw me of (not my first language either)
What i really liked was the determinism of the actions by the other "teammembers" it worked really well. Even if you threw objects they were trying to use somewhere else then before they still could use them to progress on their path.
I just couldn't win the bossfight. It's really hard and you have to redo the whole section every time. More forgiveness there would be nice.
Otherwise really cool game that gets around unnecessary mechanics. I feel like the theme wasn't as palpable as in some other entries i played.
Really fun as well and thats the most important!
The ending was great! With very good underlying soundwork. I really felt the facepalm xD
I really like that you didn't try to be funny the whole game and then comes this ending screen that is all "yay you did it - but actually...". I don't know why but this is by far the funniest sequence in the jam for me.
I can only agree with the commenters before me - the artstyle fits the mood of the game and the sounds are well used. I have some minor critics though:
if you die it's not necessary to press a dedicated restart button. Especially "R" is awkward to reach. I would suggest an (near) instant respawn or replacing "R" with space (especially especially because "R" doesn't even restart if you're still alive).
The bossfight was pretty rage inducing for me. On some projectories there was just no way to avoid the shots and i think it went for 5+ phases or so (thats a bit much). I think adding a way to reverse direction (on a circle) would be a nice addition.
Overall cool entry (will rate it again later though because it's the first one i played this jam)
P.S. this may sound negative but I really agree with every positive point in the comment section and just didn't want to repeat them.
thanks for the feedback-feedback^^
Nice use of the theme - pretty oldschool puzzle feeling. The calm music was pretty fitting too. But maybe have the back to menu button harder to press by mistake. I needed only the key in the safe and dropped from the inventory screen back to the beginning. Sure it was my mistake but it felt bad xD
I really don't know what to do. I think the first level even solved itself. Maybe write a little description. I'll bookmark this and come again later
Yeah the cycles definetly need more time.
The idea is really fun. It feels more like acaterpillar though not a worm (because it moves like a catterpillar).
If the honest option is "i don't love you anymore" can there even be another ending? It's a really tough game after all...
It took me a few seconds to understand that you must kill every enemy to progress but it teaches you by not letting you leave otherwise. So - good job on the invisible tutorial. The hitboxes on the "towersnakes" seem to be head only which is a bit confusing given that the bullets stay on the same level but i guess it's easier to hit that way.
Another cool entry with the ouroboros as theme - fighting on a literal loop that devoures itself has a really nice touch to it.
Charming pixelart but a thing that i don't like about your graphics is the incoherent pixel size. Its better to have them all the same resolution and to not scale them differently.
The puzzle itself was short and fun and the sound effects were just great xD
I don't know if the eating mechanic was necessary but i was too fat and got eaten once so that was a good laugh.
In my personal interpretation of the ending the chicken causes a massive crash that eventually leads to the downfall of humanity and the rise of the chicken empire (chicken number 0 survives obviously)
It looks really cool and the sounds are nice too.
My critics are with the gameplay:
As you said the controls feel clunky. For a tight platformer there should only be a very small accelerate/decelerate time and the jump feels like its hardcoded as "go up for x seconds - then come down again" which i don't like as much as a simple parabel-style jump.
In the sixth level or so the jump button broke. I couldn't jump anymore so gameover for me there xD
As for userfriendliness:
wasd and space is a good choice because almost everybody is familiar with these controls. You then had another button "z" for switching the levers. I feel like this wasn't necessary because you never needed to switch one twice, therefore a simple proximity check would be better (btw. keep in mind that "z" and "y" switch places on european keyboards and can be super hard to reach). And maybe allow to go to the next level with a space press as well, so you dont need to use the mouse after each stage.
For a first platformer (even if clunky) a very stylish and solid entry!
Pretty cool. Once and again you come across non-game entries and they are really unique most of the time.
It's always astounding how polished some games are.
I like the card game idea - even though the theme is not as prevelent as in other games. I feel like the concept is really good and could make for a nice family card game (like real physical cards) if you want to go into that direction. The balance is a bit wanky right now (i feel like the desasters decide more than the player choice at times). I dont know if thats a bug or if i just missed something that happened but i think you can sell desaster cards (so they dont effect the game - but maybe im wrong there).
I have one quick tip for better graphics: the three icons you have are in different styles. Make either all of them pixel art or use the style of the blue one for the other two as well.
But yeah the big selling point is the innovative idea and that really worked for me.
I feel like there has been said so much about the game already that i want to add something else:
I really love that LD attracts so many different people and people with different professions, lifestyles and skillsets. Us amateur game enthusiasts as well as professional devs like you - and we all do it for fun. I also really like it to compare the stuff i manage to create to the gems that are possible with experience and know how.
Great art! And a really good way to make something look nice within the limitations of a jam. The mechanic is very simple but a cool idea. Also a very smooth literal incorporation of the theme. The sound seems to clip for me what forced me to play without it.
Its the first game i played this jam. I was very intrigued by the art.
Ok i really want to like it - but you got the weirdest controls there... I don't know if that is Pico-8 related but i just can't use them properly. What is wrong with wasd (move) + space (jump and drill as it only works in the air anyway)?
That sounds really negative but only because the game feels great otherwise and i just miss out on a lot xD
What i really like is everything else. The sound fits the actions in game great and the music has a nice simple rhytm to it. The main mechanic is fun and also supports the theme. You even have an alternate play mode which is a super cool idea on its own (and was easier to use for me as well for some reason). And the pico graphics are also nice/cute.
So i will bookmark this page and hope that you can implement other controls. Other than that it is a really, REALLY good entry.
@cardboard-box Yeah those are valid points. At the end of the day the controls are personal preference and i am just a hardened wasd user.
Thanks for the critical feedback as well^^
Hi i have some (i hope constructive) criticism.
The dash is really useful but you can dash into a part that was previously offscreen. That means you can dash into stuff you didnt know were there. Id say make the dash a bit shorter but remove the cooldown. I always pressed the next dash when the animation ended and it didnt trigger (shorter cooldown would fix this).
The character looks nice and has a cute death animation. One thing i saw in another game with a similar theme and mechanic was to have air bubbles around the player just for another visual "this is underwater" vibe.
My main criticism comes from the level design. The game area is extremely big and feels very empty. Of course that fits the mood quite well but isn't very interesting to play. There are many long tubes with not even spikes on the walls so there is no danger or challenge to swim through. I liked the areas that were more tight and challenging. Another thing about the level desing is that at some point i didnt know where to go anymore. Maybe some indicators would be helpful.
I agree with many of the other commenters about the good controls, nice little variety in enemies and the music. Good job on the additive soundtrack! It worked really well.
Yeah the concept is pretty neat but it lacks a bit of action. Having more gravity around planets and using them to slingshot yourself even deeper into space would be cool. I also feel like the fuel depletes a bit to fast (at least for my taste).
I read that you are new to unreal but one thing that takes you a bit out of the immersion and there might by an easy fix in engine is having the new planets not pop up in front of you but have them emerge from a fog or something (i have no idea about unreal either).
All in all im not the biggest fan of the gameplay but really like the design, concept and mood.
Hey it's another unstaball! I made a game with the same title xD
I was a bit surprised that you went for one big level with that gameconcept. I thought it was an endless mode until i eventually won. Maybe making smaller but some more levels would be a good way to continue developement.
I really like how the game feels. The view can get a bit awkward but the jump handles good and the explosions have a nice impact.
The graphics are good in many aspects like particle effects and lighting but i dont like how the turrets look (a bit to harmless imo).
Btw. i just found another person who has the same game name as well: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/$270210
I will leave a comment there to your game as well so we bring the unstaball crew together xD
You came up with a really cool concept there. But it has some issues that hold it back.
After like four levels you know all enemies and spells and there is nothing new afterwards. I was spamming 3+4+q all the time because the other ones were just gameplay wise to weak/unnecessary (give or take a few health potions). Having more spells is one way to fix this but i thought having some enmies be immune or resistent to fire may be cool idea to force the player to use other stuff like the poison too. Or having a limited supply of basic potions and they get dropped by enemies instead so if you are out of red ones you need to do something else.
The crafting in itself works surprisingly well and is fun. I even wish some spells would need more than just two ingredients so it would be a bit harder - maybe more ingredients equals more powerful spell or something.
You make much out of a few simple mechanic i like that a lot. Here are some points i noted:
Good:
The level-design really carried here. Most rooms were pretty straight forward but they almost all had their own quirks and tricks. You had levels with precise jumps and others that were more puzzle heavy. All in all a good variety and not to much to get bored.
The console is a charming way to add info to the player and also build a little narrative to follow.
The sprites were very simple but you kept that consistent throughout the game and the glitches and little effects were a nice touch too.
And after all the controls feel good and the game is fun. The dash is naturally the main mechanic and the standard-set keybinds should be comfortable to most players (good choice going with shift and not y/z or smt).
Less Good:
Many rooms felt a bit empty with the vast unfilled areas in them. That can be the cost of going with such a simple style but can be prevented with a bit of camerawork for example. Thats just a minor nitpick though.
My only real critcism is the choice to have the 'dashpoints' generate over time. That leads to some longer waiting around and slows that otherwise fast paced gameplay.
TLDR: fun jump'n'dash with good level design and clean (if a bit sterile) art and an enjoyable little narrative. Deserves the 4.5 in fun for sure.
Wow that is maybe the implementation wise best take on the theme so far. I got to read through the code how you made the unstable planets. Really well done!
Wow that is really cool.
"I did have the dictionary system ready as I’ve made other word games in the past. So I pretty much had it partially ready for checking if given string is a match or not."
^^Do you use like a dictionary api somewhere? Because im really courious how that is implemented.
Im not a big fan of chromatic abboration but the game looks great never the less.
Also i suck at it - never heard most words before (not native english though)
Ah thx - didnt notice its open source:
"https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en_US/" + word
for other readers who are as blind as i am
@cromo thanks thats really good to know. the point with the camera is also really good - i should probably have done it that way
@lucdeligne thanks too. Im really happy about the names myself 😅. I guess the music isnt so bad if you dont hear it two days straight.
Thanks for playing to the other commenters as well.
Thanks everybody for the now 20 ratings!
@tastiham @sam-gorman I played around with the feel of the controls a lot before making the levels. I wanted a sort of semi-low gravity feel and the floaty controls were fitting for that. I can see why one would prefer tighter controls but i liked these a bit more (but thanks for the honesty).
@mig-moog @hawkin I would have changed the music if i had thought of it longer. Maybe dropping out of audio and using a free but fitting track would have been better for the game.
@fre Hey i saw you somewhere else before. You really write well thought out comments - thank you! I like the background suggestion i'll keep that in mind for another time (may come in handy next LD). The font size isnt scaled for different monitor sizes. So text is small on big screens and even leaves the window on small screens.
The last level is indeed quite challanging (would have wished for some more honestly). I like the concept/main mechanic of dropping through the floors.
But i have a few improvements for some minor other things:
- i think the undo move needs a sound effect too
- tying moves to push/release and not hold
- a little bit of background music
thats all^^
That was pretty unforgiving - it took me like ten minutes to beat the first moving platforms. Then i tried to jump over the saw and immediately fell back down...
I think i am not made for the rage games xD
mood 5/5 xD
That is a really good looking game. The light effects and the great background art were epecially noticable. I also like the dynamic camera that is looking ahead of your movement.
Its cool you managed a story based game in so little time even if you are basically only walkinf/floating from a to b. The floating controls are really unique. Maybe there could have been a few puzzles about how you move around to give a bit more deoth to the gameplay.
Oh and i got stuck in doors 3 times and had to restart (that was a bit annoying).
But all in all its really the visuals and the mood that are top tier^^
Really cool and good looking game. The one year time limit is a good way to keep it from getting boring (even though i would even love to play it in sandbox). It has the casual fun vibe all over it and works really well for that matter. It would be cool if we could control were to place the new wizards as they are so chaotic on their own. And i thought the stone blocks were fireproof but werent - maybe in an update.
But yes i can only repeat what others already said: Super fun topped with very nice graphics.
Well done and keep going!
Hey thats indeed very relaxing. Good music for that purpose. I think a level system would maybe a bit more engaging than the highscore one. Having to break a specific height each level to proceed and throwing in other things like wind or platform shake later would be a really cool expansion.
It was fun - got the four potions with my second try. I try to list some good and less good things:
Good:
The soundtrack was really well used. The speeding up really made you feel a sense of urgency with the brewing. I know you dropped out of audio because of not making it yourselves but knowing how to use it well is a good skill to have.
The overall game idea and goofy style really fits the gameplay ( your a meowgician after all).
And also the game has many cute details like the ravens and fishs animation and the cats walk cycle.
Less Good:
The theme could have a bigger impact on the gameplay. Like relying on the 'earthquakes' to craft something for example as right now they are only for visual flavor.
And one thing that could really help the games overall visual quality is keeping to a consistent pixel size. All the sprites look good on their own but some bite each other because of the different resolution. Sticking to one for the whole game is usually the better approach (imo) for pixelart.
TLDR: Good stuff - like the cuteness and details - could be even better with some minor improvements
It really takes a while to get behind the controls but the movement is pretty fun once it clicks.
The different behaviours with the mood swings are a good concept but i feel like the level design holds it back. You are almost always back in 'angryland' and dont need to play strategically with the different moods (maybe i just hoped for more puzzles).
The levels werent too hard for my taste just a bit confusing (why does the antidote open doors/make you ill). I have still no idea how the star system works though. Do i need to make them happy or something?
I like the suggestions of ramps from above. Seems like a fitting addition to the movement.
TLDR: Very nice movement and concept but maybe make the levels/goals a bit clearer.
The gameplay is nice and i like the high friction between blocks. I played a few other takes on that mechanic already and some struggled with a to 'icey' feel. A nice touch i noticed is that the tower 'freezes' after you get to a new height, which makes further stacking easier and more fun.
I really like the neon graphics (i used them myself) but have some improvements there:
The glow/bloom effect can be toned down just a bit for my taste. And some colours are far brighter than others - maybe playing around with the hsv values (especially the value) can be an easy fix. Also there are destinct visual differences between hand drawn and some of the more geometric shapes (circle, rectangle etc.). Keeping it visually consistent is always important to me. And at last - maybe use a different font. The pixel font really doesnt suit the general aesthetics of the game.
That sounds a bit too nitpicky but is just meant to help^^
Otherwise i really like it and the bounce sounds are nice too.
Agree with the comment above. I found all of the letters first and went on to the puzzles afterwards. For me it could have just been the puzzles and i wouldnt feel like i missed out on much. I dont know how you could have connected the two 'games' better myself maybe more clues in the world instead of the very on-the-nose pages.
The puzzles itself were nice and not to hard with the novelty of having to literally write launch codes.
On graphics i feel like there is a big discrepancy between overworld and puzzle screens. I really like the style of the puzzles and the fallout like device you came up with for them. And the journal pages were fine too. But the hub world felt very bland and empty with honestly not much to do or explore (the earth model is the one thing standing out here).
So as you may have noticed im not a fan of the diconnected 'overworld' (sorry xD) but after all the puzzles were actually really fun to solve and had their own good visuals too.
Wow that may be the entry with the highest replayability. Loved the different upgrade routes to take.
The visuals and sounds are great at first but become a bit of a clusterfuck towards the later levels. I think i actually managed to beat the game as there werent any new levels after i think 28 or so. My final 'winning' strat was the lightning with super high damage and radius:
Seesaw King by LukeGLi, Figueroa - Google Chrome 14.10.2021 23_57_31.png
All in all it was really great and the gameplay unique. Great job and good luck with the ratings - maybe you contest for the first places!
The text system is very well implemented and the story is fun. You also dont run into stuff and dont know how to get further as the game is fairly easy (even a bit too easy - the only real puzzle was to google the name from the picture). The visuals are super messy on purpose so it has a consistent style - that is nothing for everybody i guess but it works well for here. Audio is good too.
I feel like the game is a bit to linear with the only path i found being the last choice with the endings. And i think you missed a big chance to make something super funny (which is hard to do but always very enjoiable).
Ok so after struggeling to get what was happening this is a cool concept. To bad i just cant beat the 'flappy birds' level. I made some notes:
Less Good:
The pixel art is in itself really good but the overall style is to inconsistent. Many characters, background elements and ui pieces have different resolutions and that downgrades otherwise good art (imo). It is also really hard to read what is going on (i had to restart way to often in the beginning because i thought the thorns were background). I feel like some hitboxes are not aligned with the actual sprites or way bigger leading to seemingly unfair restarts.
Good:
The thematic concept is unique and the mechanics i saw until i couldnt progress further were interesting too. The heart shrinking (without love i guess) and flying away (with help of the lady) are nice metaphors. But my favourite levels were the ones with the switching gravity (i dont know what that stood for though).
The idea of an assist mode is great and could even be expanded on for people like me (who lets just say 'didnt do so well' in the levels)
TLDR: A game with a concept that is definetly worth playing - a bit held back by some problems in the execution
yes a skip option would be cool^^
and dont worry about my art critcism - ld is for learning and the pieces themselves are really good for a first time
I love the kerbal like idea! Yes please go for a full game. The idea of assigning keys to the single engines is so good. With ui improvements and more things to build i can really see this as a full game
I like the idea of the game but i think they could have been implemented better (always hard under the jam time pressure). The player will first do things if possible and in a random order and then in the next playthroughs slowly get thoughtful about his actions. I think it wouldnt even be necessary to show the entropy meter - just the impacts on the scenes like the sinkhole or the bunny could be enough.
Its just a bit short right now but with a few more options and events this can be a nice open ended puzzle game. The collision detection is a bit annoying though.
Anyway im a fan of something a little bit different and the mood is also quite nice
Looks beautiful and super calming to play. I hate to give a generic "i really like the game" kind of comment but i really dont have anything bad to say about it. The bloom and effects are super fitting and the ui is slick well integrated into the visual style.
What a great job - i hope you get some more ratings as this is clearly a hidden gem right now.
i recommend a simpler control scheme. arrow keys are awkward to use if you are used to wasd and many people dont know this but many european keyboard use the qwertz system that means that z and y are switched. that is why x and z make for a bad pairing.
Thats definitely a new take on the theme. But even though the idea is great it imo lacks satisfying gameplay.
The map is a bit too big for my taste and it is not necessary to use the whole of it. I came pretty far by just focusing on a tiny corner and making sure everything there lives in balance. The graphics are obviously super cute which is another reason why zooming out to much hurts a bit.
I wish there was more variety to the gameplay itself (but i dont know how to make it better).
Anyway i like that you went in for the big concept.
Yeah i have to agree with the other comments. The idea is great and so well executed. There is not much bad to say aside the obvious lack of audio which sadly hurts the overall score.
Great consistency in the resolution. Even the rotating pieces respect the underlying pixel grid. I see a lot of pixel art games (my own included) go for the easy solution to do a 'fake' grid with smooth rotations overhead but you really can see the difference it makes here.
I feel like the turret enemies could spawn more often but yeah - what even say xD
great game - happy you commented under mine so i found it^^
I played till the framerate dropped to like 1fpm xD
I guess millions of turrets do that to you. My biggest problem was just that there were no civillians left after a few minutes. So i defended an empty landing zone from there on.
Great Game! I like your approach not to use a life system but to tie it even more to the theme. The music was outstanding imo - didnt distract and just felt really fitting.
One thing i would suggest is to make the main base hp a bit lower to encourage precision gameplay. i felt that just blasting it from all sides until all weapons were down was the best but more boring way to play.
That said the weapons were really really good and thought through. I honestly think we need a game-design category or something similar as it is really impressive how the different weapon systems force you to adjust your gameplay. One could easily fall into the bullet hell trap and just orbit the thing - but that wasnt the best strategy because of how the weapons synergized. The lasers brake up or prohibit your movement and the missiles keep you running and make you aim somewhere other than the middle of the screen.
Eternal Crisis by Cerno_b - Google Chrome 19.04.2022 22_39_56 (2).png
I think i did good btw^^
Really a great job and glad to see you back again!
Ok most things have already been said. But the thing that drives my CRAZY is the mouse acceleration... I think i would spend a lot more time hunting every last achievement if it would just use my raw mouse input.
But the idea is cool and a very unique interpretation of the theme.
I dont see the point in using the fast-shooting as it really doesnt do anything to the enemies. The standard or heavy shot however its called is way better. It also takes some skill to lead your shots which makes for more fun than just aiming in a general direction. The mines are a good idea but not great in the execution as they trigger the reload too and dont even kill enemies - so you just waste possible shots. That said i also feel like the reload could be faster.
You went for a moody atmosphere and everything was quite dark (and also a bit small) so it could be hard to hit stuff.
Even though it could imo be a tiny bit more chill - i really like the music and how it ramps up over time
There are also some balance issues with the spawning. As it is very likely heavily randomized there are times when you just dont have any chance and die. You can hit all shots but there are just to many enemies spawned in at a short time and its over. I know its part of the theme to be inevitable but its just to random - sometimes it happens after just 50 seconds sometimes after 100. My record is 140ish but i didnt feel the need to improve because the game could basically end my run once it wishes (if i dont make mistakes earlier myself of course)
But the game held me engaged for way longer than i thought so you definitively did a good job in fun!
I like how we see so many variations on the "control panel games" this LD. I had to lose twice without archieving anything before i got the hang of things.
Very good implementation of the theme id say. And the minimalistic graphics were weirdly fitting. Also i like the ending - seems like a fair reward for saving everyone xD
@rodrigo-montenegro Yeah your completely right - a bit of screenshake on hit would have been so easy to do. Why didnt i think of it in time xD
@tendencydriven Im a big fan of "you die but take over something else" and i appreciate the voice line love
@mindexpositions Yeah i guess a little notification aside from the narration would have helped
thanks for being my first commenters this LD! Ill make sure to check your games when i have time
Thanks for all the quality feedback
@trev3lyan nah the code is such a mess - im not touching that again xD
@taaada the bigger ships are supposed to be the bombers send to destroy the moonbase and the smaller ones are their fighter escortes. Good point about the emptynes - i felt the same and tried randomly generated asteroids that you have to avoid. But that was too ambitious as it required altering the AI to avoid them as well...
@jesse-martin thanks! No music was an "artistic choice" actually.
@raiponz yeah the feedback was brought up before - thats a good point. I think next time i need a few playtesters.
@hawkin controller support and custom keybindings were the first things to be thrown out to save time. The ability to switch at will would have been really cool! Again - i should get playtesters to tell me such things xD
@david-york @copito @someone Oh no! I completely forgot to account for different screen sizes... Will definitely do that again next time.
@human-writes-code Thanks for playing - and mentioning the juice xD
@wouter52 Also thanks for actually finishing the game! I have no idea how hard the difficulty actually is and yours is the first comment to reference the ending. Thats not to say everyone else didnt get it but the number is now definitely higher than zero.
@rhoka Yes switching at will would have been a great feature...
@martink @gamescodedogs Yeah - having just one hd monitor and no further testing comes to bite me here. Really bad not to think of larger screensetups ahead of time. But thanks for playing anyway - and calling out the glitches.
Its really just that the background is not scaled. That means if your screen is bigger than the (pretty big) background there is no surface left to cover those parts of the screen and thus it will still render the sprites but wont clear the stuff drawn before... i should probably put up a post jam version that is windowed so it works on larger screens as so many seem to have problems with it.
@skruffye thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate that you liked the sound design - im really proud of that.
@martink and psst dont tell anybody - but i did not have the time to implement the planet destruction. So even if the goal is to prevent the bombers from reaching the base - that ending never gets triggered.
I just hoped nobody will notice that the big ships are essentially just target practice.
@bitculture thanks for the lengthy comment and glad you liked it. I actually had placeholder music at times during the jam but i felt that it was way better with just background noise so scrapped it.
And yeah also thx for telling me that the version i put up for all the people that would otherwise have terrible glitches (see above (and below) comments) was completely broken xD
@skleembof im really happy (and a bit surprised) that so many here seem to like the voice-acting xD thank you
@gamescodedogs @martink @david-york @someone i now have a version that forces a windowed mode for big screens and should prevent the visual glitches. A bit late but i though i at least tell you.
I think the tutorial would work better if you had seen the office before. Because i jumped straight into the tedious work stuff instead of wasting company time at the minigames.
Navigating the "overworld" could be a tiny bit faster for my taste but its not too bad. The minigames are pretty hat or miss in how fun they are. Im not a fan of the button mashing type games but to come up with novel ideas in that short of a time is hard.
The graphics are really good and the office has some cute details. The theme implementation is unique but could be a bit more straight forward imo. I like that you could adjust the sound levels and the audio in general.
Really nice use of sprite stretching. Reminds me of those principles of animation. I didnt see a good use for the dash as the cost seems to high - but the chasing sawblades teached me otherwise. That was an enemy that felt really good designed. Because most of the time you only see the "shoot at your current position and chase" enemies and those make for not so entertaining gameplay on their own.
But i felt like the difficulty could be ramped up a bit. As in more enemies - i only really died because i ran out of bubbles as i could not find enemies or they were not spwaning fast enough.
But i like the visual style and the sounds did work (again?)
Guys rate some more games! This is great but almost nobody will see it in the end!
That being said love the visuals and especially the audio. You really have dedicated sounds for everything. My favourite is the crunch when jumping onto the ice-platforms.
One problem that might stem from the cutout artstyle is actually hitting the firecats when they are to the left or right. Im pretty sure you have actual 3d hitboxes overlayed but it makes aiming very difficult nonetheless.
The pace is very fast and you get overwhelmed pretty quickly as i feel. Thats ok though and forces more action oriented play. (Btw im the current record holder - not bragging or anything xD)
Its a really really good entry! It would be a shame to only get <20 votes.
Those lousy modern browsers with their wimpy attitude...
Runs fine one windows though xD
I had to set my mouse sensitivity super low and even then the camera behaved... irratic? Maybe tone that down a bit as the rest of the game is rather low paced and yeah i just didnt like it xP
I really wish there would be more happening. But the Game looks great with the particle effects, the models and the "ruined" base.
I was very confused by the range each ship had. Maybe an indicator would be nice. Also is it just me or did everything oneshot everything?
The balance needs some adjustments imo. As some pointed out the camera feels strange at times - i figured out that you can move it with mouse-to-edge but it doesnt work towards the bottom for some reason.
I think you choose a very ambitious project for your first LD. It is generally worth it to scope smaller but finishing more polished. With that said i think its really astonishing that you finished. I remember failing my first two jams because of time/scope problems - so good job in any case!
Hope to see you next LD as well.
Edit: Sorry didnt see its not your first LD xD - didnt mean to belittle or something
Thats really technically impressive to me. Great idea!
Agree with Benji - the red boxes are a bit awkward. And i was confused at first how exactly that lift works but got it after a few tries.
The concept is really good but the level design holds it a bit back imo. Getting a really far "jump" feels great and landing in the boxes is really difficult so you have a good loop going there.
The background track is a banger by the way xD
At least he got to see those majestic camels...
That was really fun. The art was of course completely peaced together at times but didnt hurt the gameplay. The driving physics were pretty weird but that wasnt to bad as you could turn without needing to drive and you dont lose health when crashing into walls.
I like the idea of the items but never actually found c4 anywhere and was surprised that the spikes hit me as well xD
The ant corpses are very hard to make out as they have almost the same color as the ground. I think the level area could be a bit smaller (or the ant a bit faster). The idea is pretty fun and the visuals are neat - i really like the look of the hornets - but as i said the look lacks a bit of visual clarity at times.
I died twice to the weight and once to the spider - but i couldnt see it. Like i checked to look up a bunch of times but necer saw a spider... I am pretty sure i just looked at the wrong spots but it wasnt pretty clear to me.
The "taming"-minigame was a nice touch btw.
This has potential to be really good. I have to be honest though and say that some of it gets wasted by the level design. Your main "attack"-plant is the sunflower which shoots horizontally. That leaves the bottom row as the best row to plant them. If the enemy path were more irratic it would open up many more strategic decisions!
Or if you really want to move forward with the idea: make the enemies use pathfinding to navigate on a grid on which you place the flowers (yeah no time for this in a jam).
But anyway the concept is great! I also like the asset choice - works nicely with the idea.
Wow i actually won! May sound evil but getting cooked anyway would be better with this theme xD
I think the first part is really good with the rythm and the knives. Its a challenge but not unfair or way to hard. But the bossfight came a bit quick - would have loved one or two more stages beforehand.
And i was not a big fan of the bossfight. It takes very long but you use the same maneuver over and over again so its a bit boring.
BUT the art is great - even the credits (especially the credits) are gorgeous and the music was very good too!
Agree with the other commenters about the art - its very unique and fits well.
The gameplay is a bit too simple for my taste - maybe a bit of directional control up- and downwards would be nice. Or maybe have the player fall a bit faster if the umberella is damaged.
The floatiness of the controls were actually really fitting i think but i would have made the edges of the screen be connected (as in when you leave to the left you come back in from the right).
The art and music are great and very polished of course!
I second most points the others made before: good art, clunky attack, no audio...
But i want to nitpick something about the pixel sizes - they are not consistent! It would look even better if all sprites were scaled to the same resolution. Its not too bad and i dont think its a big issue for a jam game but i think its useful advice moving forward.
But as a first publish the art especially is really impressive.
Oh that is a very hands on approach to the theme xD
That said i think its one of the really good interpretations. And it actually manages to create a sense of horror when playing.
The problem is: i suck at the game and die after at most 20 seconds everytime. I feel like the level layout is so confusing and combined with the nice retro but hard to make out graphics makes for a tough time. Maybe the speed could be a bit lower as looking back would be a cool mechanic if i wouldnt bump into something immediately.
Also like the tombstone idea its a nice little way to impress me.
The post jam version is a really good improvement - the minimap is super helpful!
That was really good. It scales well with the upgrades from the shops and such. I aways like turn based games. One thing i found strange however is how the suringe gives you more health but negates that immeditely with faster burning - but maybe that was intended as a balance mechanic.
i think im playing it wrong - i cant get more than 40 saved pods.
i know im not supposed to shoot them but the high sensitivity makes aiming hard so i just spray the whole area and pray xD
Mh - i am pretty torn on the bloom effect. I know that it can give a nice upgrade to easthetics but it doesnt fit every game and can easily be overdone. I wouldnt say that its annoying me - but its a bit too high to really add to the experience id say.
I really like the look of the knight! it would be great to have all other sprites with the same pixel sizes so they dont clash as much (the slimes are noticably upscaled).
The basic gameplay would be ok - you even had different abilities - but the enemies behave so erratic and even spawn on top of the player very often. More polish and fun in the gameplay would be worth it (things like knockback and power scaling for example)
Did you pitch your voice or did you get someone else to help out? As a fellow voice-over-entrepreneur i know how time consuming the recording and editing really is xD
You really went all in there on the voice lines to carry the game. I think its worth it and makes for a very quick but enjoyable experience.
That might have been unintentional but the tedious/repetetive task lets you focus on the little jokes more.
This game sadly runs into balance issues many jam games face. I like the idea to give the zombies a higher speed than the player - that could make for fun action scenarios. But that doesnt work here as the zombies stay in place for their attacks and thus miss you.
Killing zombies takes way to long with the one weapon you start with so you are forces to walk backwards and shoot the whole game or just ignore the zombies as they will miss you if you move.
My "quick" fixes would be:
- limit the aggro range of the zombies so they could lurk behind corners and not pile on you from all over the map. Maybe combine that with a low render-distance/fog for horror atmosphere.
- let them attack you while moving but make them easier to kill.
But building the first jam game is a big achievement. Hope to see you in the next LD again!
Congratulations to your first finished jam game!
The game is simple but i got overwhelmed by accidents very quickly (high score only 4700). Also i think there are some objects that brake but cant be repaired (bug report).
I think gameplay could be improved upon as it gets repetitive fast. Some sort of second objective may be cool to mix things up.
Good job on the audio balance and the voices btw. I hope we see you around for the next LDs as well!
Yeah agree with everybody - its great
Only things that could be improved are:
- adding sounds and music
- moving the camera from on rover position to the next instead of jumping - its a bit draining on the eye after a while
but really i can only repeat what was allready said. it feels so really complete for a jam game! the upgrades and exploration make for a satisfying game loop. the graphics are great. i for one had no problem with the controls. It even was homorous at times without it feeling forced.
Obviously a top contender for overall victory this LD. Good Luck!
It took me so long to figure out the missiles... I always thought "why even use them?" but ok they have their very important place but are hard to handle nervertheless. Nukes could be even a bit more powerful imo but should probably destroy your facilities too.
One thing that could be very cool - if you keep working on the game - are buildings that continuously shoot the red stuff. Something like turrets. Id also as you said improve the UI as its very cluttered but you seem to have the same impression. Maybe get rid of the "ordering" part so you can just buy things and they have a cooldown afterwards.
Anyway it was fun for a few minutes (i got to 8 on my second try but could have delayed it further with mines spam) good job. nice idea.
The concept is really nice. I wonder if there is a way to integrate it smoother into the gameplay. As others have said its so difficult to focus on your ship and fixing the controls at the same time. Maybe have a small time window everytime things get jambled to fix it - and if you run out of time you have to play the next wave with fucked up controls xD
Yeah that said i would prefer a wave system as it gives some sense of progress and relax time in between.
Overall the gameplay is held back by the concept - but i think in a jam innovation is key and the idea is really cool.
To bad there is no music! The dog sounds deserve a better rating than what i put in but the lack of music hurts here.
On the other hand i first thought the story would follow the "Jurassic Bark" path till i saw the free dog sign... Maybe he is happier with his new owner(s).
On difficulty - the two balloons at once are my limit got to 87 one time but thats it
Oh i didnt notice its your first jam. Well done to finish in time!
And yeah as to all newcomers - i hope to see you around next time!
I actually got to the point where there is so much oil out that by just holding "s" all the time i would never run out of it.
Maybe an interesting programming challenge would be to keep the oil volume in line with how much there really is.
I would see it as an interesting tech demo!
This game really has no business being as good as it is! The concept is so simple yet fun and for the presentation the same thing holds. I really like the determinism of the physics so you can build large ping-pong contraptions with the help of just one cannon.
Great job - top contender!
That is one of the most fun games i played this jam. And the theme is well integrated too. Most things have already been praised so let me instead nitpick a few minor problems:
The 3d floor could rise a tiny bit lower as it distracts if you are behind it. The dash once got stuck in place. The notes (lives) sound doesnt really fit into the rhythm (though i wouldnt know how to "fix" that).
As you can see all these things are barely problems at all and you did a great job. I btw love how the players hair lookss like a discoball.
This is great. I want to especially praise the sound design! Together with the bright lights it accomplishes an earie feeling of dread when the barrage hits. Really really stylish.
My main critique is that its pretty easy - but that doesnt really deminish the fun. Another surprising find when scrolling through the danger category - there are a few real gems still out there waiting to be played. I will definitely recommend this one. Outstanding job!
I want to be honest and therefore disagree with a lot of comments about the graphics. I think the individual pieces of art sure are good on their own but they dont work as well together. It always hurts me to see differently scaled assets in pixelart games. Almost every sprite has a different scale from another. I think the graphics would really profit from a more coherent art direction be it the pixelsizes or colour palettes.
This sounds really negative but i hope it is appreciated.
On the other hand i like the idea of the storms every ten seconds. If the colliders wouldnt be so fiddly this could even make for a really fun and fast paced runner.
The death animation is really nice and creepy as is the overall mood which is also carried by the cool music. Id say this was a very ambitous project that - while still very rough around the edges - shows a lot of promise.
Mh im agree with the majority here that the chain reactions are fun but i didnt feel like i earned them. Just luck. Maybe there could be a mechanic (limited dynamite or friendly fire f.e) to force more strategic play - but that would come with its own downsides too.
I got the good end(?) on my first try and was just fooling around the other times to get the bad one. Didnt encounter any bugs in the current version - good job.
I like it. The concept is nothing new but the presentation is really well done. The exploration of the level is a really fun part. I had a hard time seeing anything even with full brightness on my pc as the sun was up but now it feels really calming and moody (and of course i can see the level).
Not much bad to say i think - maybe the sound of the gates could be a bit more quiet as they are pretty loud.
Style was great with the ww1 in space aesthetics. But the interface felt really clunky and unresponsive. Pretty much as nicekot already said.
One minor nitpick would be that the icon for the restock points feels a bit out of place - a medival gold cup just doesnt fit the setting.
I like the main game loop idea and the mini battle visualizer on the top its really charming.
The poses are really good telegrafed and fit the assigned keys perfectly. Nice touch with him wandering left and right on the stage. Just a really good looking game in general!
Yes this game is more fun with two human players than vs the ai. Considering the time constraints its impressive you even got one up and running even if it appears to be mostly random. Had fun playing vs my brother but it comes down to luck too. Which is not a bad thing per se.
Very clean entry i must say - menus backstory and all.
I liked it more on my second run. At first i just didnt get used to the controls. Shift (and right even) is a strange choice for an attack/use button. Also didnt find any scythes on that playthrough so it was rough.
The second time things worked much better with the better weapon found pretty early on. I dont know if the sword is just worse in everything but it felt so to me. Maybe let the sword kill the tendrils in one hit while the scythe takes two but has more reach or something to make the difference worthwhile.
The hitboxes are a bit clunky as some said and the level generation sometimes cuts of paths that i think should go on. But the gameloop of going out collecting fire and bringing it back in time is really fun. I wish the tendrils would be a more primary danger to the fire though - the three times i played i always just failed to keep the fire alive without them getting even close.
Further notes and nitpicks: Bombs are underpowered; Maybe mouse controls could be better for orientating and scrolling through the items. One more item space overall would be nice. Not finding double weapons in chests (i always had tons of swords lying around). Maybe one more tree sprite for more variation.
Things i really liked: The premise is endearing and also a bit creepy. The graphics were nice and didnt bite another or had different pixel sizes (im really picky about that). Fun gameloop.
Good job and see you around next time^^
Agree with most of the things said by the other commenters. I want to add though that the rotation is going in an unintuitive direction. Scroll up and down should work the other way around! Cost me valuable seconds on each tile because it felt weird.
Anyway good relaxing idea - who doesnt like carcassonne?
It was really creepy and the sprites look very good. The sound effects were nice too. Just the gameplay was very disorienting and confusing partly because the level looks so dark and the camera is so close. I tried it several times but didnt get anywhere - maybe you can hint on what to do?
The darkness problem might just be a problem with my monitor as i struggled with some other rather dark entries as well. Couldnt play during day for example.
But yeah i just saw locked doors and was pretty stuck. Id love to try it again if you want to spoil how to start! I havent rated yet as i thought i havent given the game a fair chance at gameplay.
Hey so i tried it again and now i realized that you need to use the mouse xD
It is still to confusing to me to actually know what im doing but i got a ring and an axe. Then i died to rats which are impossible to avoid when they are in front of you (as the camera doesnt show them). I think im just not made for the game as -again- i just couldnt see much (im sorry).
But here are the things that are not influenced by how much i suck at puzzles and my monitor:
(-) - camera: its just not really made for any other direction than moving forward - level layout: the rooms mostly look the same and its hard to recognize anything - control scheme: should be a bit better communicated that you need the mouse and what the numbers in the interface are - theme: i dont think i saw it used anywhere.
(+) + graphics: the opening scene looks a bit eclectic but somehow endearingly creepy. the rest of the game looks really spooky as well + sounddesign: the heartbeat rhythm that gets faster when Moirah is near is really a great touch to add horror and well needed player feedback + mood/suspense: once the camera cuts to Moirah slowly creeping towards you you are hooked and on the edge of your seat. Sure i dont know how the ai works and if she is really going to A*-pathfind her way to me but it sure FEELS like it xD
So this is a pretty ambitous game (considering its your first) and for that it has its faults. But its pretty obvious that you focused on the general mood (and probably puzzle design) and that it does really well. Anyway good job and i hope we see you around next time!
Thats really cute - to bad i cant type and read the infotext at the same time. Now that i think about it for a programmer i really suck at typing...
That was weird...
The game has some problems: The random control and view switches really make it impossible to get through any of the open floor sections. The camera really hates you xD. Everything is creepy... BUT
The concept has potential if the random effects get even more weird (shaders, jump height, etc.) and there wouldnt be those insta death pits. It can be fun to struggle with the camera and the now reversed controls f.e. if you could take some seconds to get along with it and dont just fall out of the world.
In that sense - the game was really really weird but interesting.
I really like games in which you fight fire, so this topic really peaks my interest. The spreading feels overwhelming at first until you get the additional trucks. It is really fun (besides the bugs with stuck trucks) to strategically position your units to slowly fight back against the flames. The refilling gets a bit hectic at times but as a main mechanic its a good idea.
I think the part where your game struggles the most is feedback to the player. Its not always clear what happens and why (at least to me). Maybe some suttle sound clues can be helpful?
But yeah as said a really neat and engaging idea even if there are flaws. Grafics are nice too.
Charming art style and a good sense of humour. Even if its just a still image it looks so pleasing and the tiny waddling animation and speach sounds are great! Good job even though it was pretty easy to win.
Cant decide if its cute or horrifying. But the gameplay was fun. I like the decision to not have a dedicated dash key and instead use double space (or space in the air). Many jam games struggle with the keybinding but this felt really intuitive.
My main critque is actually just that its a bit easy because the level design was not as good as it could be. The tutorial levels were fine but then the difficulty didnt really spike. But i think that might even be a positive xD
The ever increasing "crimepool" is a fun idea. I just wish it would have been a bit more to it than just outfits and jobs. Dont get me wrong it works and for a jam one cant really expect much more but it would have been fun if you really had to question them about stuff.
Funny side note - many of the people of the jury would need to be executed for smiling xD
This game plays really great! The tutorial through level system works incredibly well. Granted i read a few comments beforehand and therefore knew about the up and under difference but i think with trial and error i would have found out anyway. The Graphics and Sounds are very charming and provide a relaxed gameplay experience even though there are some (rather unnoticable) time constraints.
This is my only negative point of critique: The 10 seconds dont really feel necessary. Its never really to short but makes an otherwise super calm game a tiny bit hectic. Sometimes it is just even a bit to long to wait for the new elements to appear.
But depite my grudges with the theme-implementation i will definitely recommend your game to friends!
I have to say that its a shame you didnt have some high res assets for the balls in the style of the rest of the game. Its really weird seeing these clunky blobs interact with the neon fused level/backgrounds. I also dont think that the pixel fonts suit the aesthetics of the rest of the game.
On the other points i mostly aggree with the already said: looks good but controls hard.
The different stages are varied and all look really cool (with the circle one being terribly hard). Would have wished for some more pressure by the 10 seconds rule - its not that hard to get in one ball per 10 seconds.
I just noticed that that all sounds rather negative but i hope it helps. Overall of course a really nice jam game!
thats a very inoovative take on the build up / tower defense genre. I really like the depth to which combinations are possible. I expected one layer at first but the combinations of combinations are a great surprise. I dont think the game is particularely challenging though - i managed to beat it without understanding half the mechanics for the first minutes.
My only suggestions: Allow A/D as a secondary control scheme. And i was sometimes confused about what error I made exactly because it switches so fast (but i wouldnt really know how to improve this).
That was really good. Lovely Pixel Art. Super clean and polished game overall. Great job especially for such a noval idea.
My biggest crutch is with the background noise. I get that you were going for alien hospital vibes but the constant cracking sounds are rather unpleasant.
Asides I like the puzzle design - its not too hard so we stay engaged in the game. The easthetics are neat. It really shows that a coherent art direction is far more important than the look of individual sprites. I also really like how well integrated the ui elements were especially the connections with their fade-in-and-out appearance.
Thats so good! I loved pretty much the whole experience. I guess it was a bit easy - but i now have to play it again on hard mode. I thought the mystery plants would give some kind of crazy bonus - I was actually a bit shocked after i just won xD
The music is nice and calming. The cards are well designed (there are balance issues with attack cards though) and even though there arent really any combos it felt like i slowly built a competetive deck. This is (one of) the best cardgames i played in all my LDs on par with that one game where you play with/against animals (i sadly forgot its name).
Really great job! Make some advertisement/rate some games - it would be a shame to get so few ratings!
I really think there should be a "design" category. Because things like the nice tutorial and good control scheme are really hard to add to any other category than "overall" which is a shame. The graphics especially the tractor/hayball-hybrid look good yet its pretty empty aside of those. Maybe add a texture to the ground? Music was really calming which is nice as it suits the gameplay.
On that end i have to say - i guess its fun. But my attention span for puzzle games is embarrassingly short, so i didnt actually manage to "beat" it.
Yes I agree with the other comments - wasd+eq is an unfamiliar control scheme, especially when you already use the mouse. There is no need not to put fire/plant on lmb/rmb.
Another thing - maybe use a default setting of audio at 50% or something on those lines. I played my first round completely muted because i thought somehow it was at 100% before.
Your pixel art looks individually good. You even have animations for both player and enemies - BUT many sprites are scaled to different sizes. That results in an unclean appearance and can be pretty easily prevented by using one scale throughout the whole project.
Those are the simple fixes i can give.
Overall id say its not bad but does get boring very quickly. The ai isnt particularely smart and there is no new stuff to discover quite fast. This probably stems from the usual time shortage so the game feels unfinished (we had the same problem). Probably the best things to learn from a jam is how to correctly scale a project and manage your time doing so.
(I hope that doesnt come off as rude - i just want to give honest and hopefully helpful feedback)
Now to end on the good stuff:
I really like the music and the idea behind the theme implementation is good. The sprites as said are individually nice looking especially the player. Hopefully we see you around for the next jam and good luck!
Oh i love the ryhming! Otherwise the game was quick and fun. No real critique from my part - maybe to be really nitpicky the world looked very weird once the assets got devoured but im like 70% sure that was kinda intended.
Some critizism on the feeling of the controls: They are very floaty so its hard to control the player. For a platformer its generally easier to go with very tight and responsive inputs. It didnt help that you got stuck on the walls all the time. it would also be nice to have a way to better control the jump. Maybe have "s" double as a "get faster back down" option.
The art was nice and i really like the limited colour palette - gives it an otherworldly vibe. It was just a little bit hard to spot the soul shards. I completed it after some trial and error and finding a good cycle in which all the obstacles lined up well - that was well designed.
Great job at polishing everything! There are so many small details that i want to highlight:
- Every interactable object (ui and game) has a visual notifier like changing brightness on hover - The scrolling background in ALL of the screens - The subtle use of colour to indicate effects (the hunger bar blinks red the energy one green)
Its overall just a great game. Love the pixel art and colour choice!
I agree with the others that the controls are a bit too clunky. I dont want to make any suggestions just the feedback that they didnt work as intuitively as could be. Item pickup was also confusing - i dont see a reason why you need to add an extra action for the pickup. Just collect them when you move onto the tile seems far easier.
As of now the game is a bit to unchallenging for my taste. I think the concept is quite ambitous but needs to much time for a jam game. This way we have a big level but only essentially fetch quests with no real danger apart from timing out due to oxygen (which is really not to bad as the generators are cheap to come by).
I played the newer version and finished it. It was a bit sad that the cutscene left one of the little guys stranded at the station xD
A bit late of a response but i had PC fatigue the last day.
@margoovian That sucks to hear. I guess you didnt have a screenshot for me to figure things out? Or perhaps your screen resolution/setup?
@gorglomux @okshirl Yes, the password game was part of the inspiration. It's the first time i really had time for some sort of tutorial/instruction part for any of my jam games so there is of course way to improve - but im glad that it overall seems to be well received. Funnily i removed some of the hints at later demands as i thought they really disturbed the gameflow. For example with the sightlines - they just check a direct line and i think part of the fun is figuring those out.
@c42 @somewan I have a section on hints above, where you can look if you're getting stuck. Essentially the gaming chair is a mean puzzle as you should place the toilet next to the pc. Now i get that many people probably think it's just a bug... Mhh - perhaps better communicating that.
But anyway - thanks for playing everybody.
@matthewstott99 Not a bug! Ahhhhrgh - trust the devs a bit more xD
No it‘s ok - the feedback makes it pretty clear that the gaming chair puzzle was a bit too weird. As for the rotation suggestion that would of course be great but requires double the number of spritework for just asthetics. Not feasible during the limited time i think.
thanks for the feedback
@rincs Scrolling to new demands would indeed be a good addition - didn't think about this. Some problems arise when you solve several demands before they occure as then you don't see them as new if you later one fail to meet them. It's not generated and the order is fixed to generally have that not be the case but it can and probably did happen.
@hawkin Thanks for beating it! And even choosing it for the appreciation post - that's very nice.
@shiny-elster I'm happy you felt that the music was fitting - there wasn't any feedback on audio yet.
This game snowballs really hard on you when you miss a shot. I think you have to really get into the feel of the enemy movements to have a chance. I figured them out after like two tries and its pretty fun when you get the hang of it. I'm not the biggest fan of the requirement to have to completely stop moving to use the radar though. Maybe just halfing the move speed while doing would be fine. Because in the later stages and when you miss one (or a few) enemies, attacks come from all sides and you can only dodge or die and cant stop to use the radar.
For me it's quite easy to get to 3000ish and then it gets really hard with the new stationary enemies.
A bit of music would have been nice, but i like the subtle sounds that every action causes.
I really like the artdirection with the simple style that works nicely with the environment/setting.
That had a very unexpected dynamic. I was not terribly impressed at first. "Well it's just a reskinned tile fitting game but even easier as you can just leave tiles out and win anyway". But after a few levels it got to the point were the puzzle became not how to fit the tiles but where to fit them and which ones to alternate. That was pretty cool and i like the narrative aspect - that must have taken some time to add.
Two quality of life features that would be great if you do a post jam version would be:
- An unobstructed view of the level before the journey starts.
- A slowdown when dragging tiles (to relief some of the stress and misclicks resulting from it).
Of course the artwork is beautiful and the tunes are great too. I think it notices when your about to run out and plays the "didididi didididi" soundtrack? If so, great touch!
I really have nothing bad to say - well done!
After failing miserably at the first try, i too figured out that you can cheese it by launching the cars out of the parking lot immediately. Funnily enough the checkmark will not be removed if you drive the car back in - so that made things easier.
I managed to beat the game and i noticed that it stayed a bit repetitive. While the driving is fun, the levels didnt really feel different from one another. I think this would have been a thing to improve on with more time.
And another (small) gripe i have is the missing visual uniformity: While the actual game world has a coherent style, the texts/ui really lack one. We have the handdrawn font and the post it style for time and score, but then the very standard font blue on white for the car identifiers. And also a tiny light blue settings icon in the bottom left corner. I would suggest sticking to the post it format for all of the ui. It fits the game better and is nicer to look at if it's uniform.
The handling of the cars felt quite tight. I think for this scenario that made sense. Ssomehow i managed to make my cars airborn on numerous ocasions anyway xD
Really cool game and super polished. It looks like i dont have the hand eye coordination to get to the top places though. For me it feels a bit hard to spot the player cube with all the particles floating about at times. And i'd wish for a bit more lenience when it comes to leaving the limited space - more like football where it only counts as "ball out" if it's over the line with its whole volume.
But these are just personal takes. The game looks sounds and feels great to play and as everybody can see there is even a large competetive player base xD
Ah that makes sense. I guess it would feel off in that regard otherwise.
Hey - fun idea! But nope, after like 10 minutes of trying i'll give up on level 3. I hope you didnt make an awesome endscreen i missed out on. On the other hand - im pretty sure i saw every popup of the owner complaining about me killing his satellites.
Anyway - i think i have some design suggestions. There are three factors that determine how the satellites launch: launch angle, satellite speed and rocket lifetime. As it is now, you have sliders for the latter two and direct game-like control over the angle. I know that for determinism the sliders are good, but as a game experience i would like it more if i would control them directly too. For the rocket lifetime for example you could charge it up with holding down the mouse at launch. I dont have a perfect intergration for the satellite speed yet but maybe something similar.
Ok i love it too all around 4~5 stars. But there is one tiny thing i dislike: Nothing in the game uses the mouse but between levels we are forced to. Just accept any keypress as well or perhaps just space.
Anyway - great game and a very cute credit sequence.
Edit: just saw your comment above xD But enter is a bit out of the way too. I still keep suggesting any key to progress text.
Really cool - but i hate hate hate the tiny cars! Give me 10 more levels with the normal ones and i'll gladly play them once again xD
Cool idea - best use of the theme ive seen so far (slight disclaimer: ive played 5 games til now). And all the little details are cute. The leaves, the smoke, the bird - all really charming.
Oh no - i have a problem with my browser. It seems like some combination of left and right klick triggers the back to last site option. Do you have a downloadable version perhaps? Because right now its sadly unplayable (with no fault of yours).
Hey - yeah i was unsure about later uploading either. I switched to my slightly underpowered laptop (didnt want to install chrome on pc) and i don't have the problems here. Just a slight freeze roughly every 30 seconds. Maybe that's when new enemies are spawned - or it's just the laptop.
But i must say i had a lot of fun. Throughout the year i keep notes of ideas for the big LD brainstorm and "have an engaging progression system" is high up there. I didn't find a way to use it but this game does it really well.
I cheesed it a bit in the beginning, by not buying anything until i had 100 squares. I noticed that no enemies would spawn then.
I really like the feel of the game and the theme is incorporated in an interesting way with being thethered and all. Also a good use of glow for the extra style points.
Hi - I didn‘t finish anything this time so I can‘t rate but maybe help with some feedback: The visuals and calm music are well chosen. I also love basically every game that goes for the hex-grid aesthetic instead of the traditional squares. But my main criticism is that it feels to me like a puzzle game with a way to easy puzzle. As far as i understood you gain „production“ of each resource for each tile thats associated with the resource in its connected component (or did i miss anything?). I think some more rules and thereby created complexity would do wonders for the enjoyment. But granted - I can‘t easily come up with good ideas at that end myself. Btw. nice cheeky additional theme incorporation there „you may not even see them“. I guess these people have some giant houses an must live in constant terror of their mega-sheep xD
Ok so i managed to beat it. But its sooo hard - I beat the last wave by letting the turrets shoot each other mainly and then 1v1ing the last one. I feel like the controls kinda work against you as a player. The main idea of a fast paced bullet hell with the ability to grapple away, damage enemies with it and having to collect ammo out of the air is great, but every single one of those mechanics could use a lot of polishing here. So let me quickly write a very critical novel about it.
Player Movement:
The player is very slow and floaty and that makes calculated dodging incredibly difficult. Your best strategy is to walk in big circles and conserve momentum this way. But this makes the whole movement more tedious than fun. I want to dodge and outmaneuver my enemies not just exploit them by running away and knowing they won't hit me.
Enemy Movement:
I found out a that enemies don't need to be "smart" in the sense that they move toward the player if they are ranged. If all enemies (that can move) move straight at you, you end up with a big clump that is slowly following you and that's just not very engaging. Its fine for the slimes, but the drones should probably just move very slowly or even randomly.
Collisions:
Once i got stuck on an enemy it was game over. I would just drop the physical collisions here, i see no benefit in your game for them. I like the knochback on the slimes because it frees up movement again. Then there is the issue of the enemy hitboxes. I am sure i have missed so many shots that should have hit. Just make them a bit bigger than the sprite. And for the player make it a bit smaller. Just for the better feeling.
The Grapple:
I practically couldn't use the grappling for anything else but snatching projectiles out of the air. Mainly because its so slow. It would need to be way faster to make dodging with it worthwhile. And once you actually use it to dash, you are so vulnerable that you will generally take damage. Therefore invincibility during the grapple dash would be a great solution too. That said, grabbing projectiles works fine and is a good mechanic. Its not easy due to the offset, but that is fine and a nice challenge.
These are my main issues. The thing is that many of those can be eliminated with changing a few lines and numbers around. I don't want to hold time issues against anybody in a jam so not getting to implement upgrades is fine. I know this whole comment sounds super critical, but that's just what i do best! Criticizing is easy praise is hard. So to end on the truly positive: No game this jam gave me such a challenge and relieve to actually beat it like yours did. Cheers!
Such a great game! And a goal I can really get behind.
I managed to apply for every job pretty much immediately and only got fired once. The challenge would be a bit higher with one or two more mechanics for keeping a job (i'm sure there was no time for it though) sprinkled in.
But seriously even though the gameplay is simple there are so many lovely details that it doesn't get boring at all (also you are kinda stressed - who figured?). I love the ultra confident tone in which we write the letters. The OS aesthetic was great, you even have a background colour option.
And finally the ending being part of the upgrade system is a really clever way to tell us what we are working towards, and the upgrades themselves were also cool (though the no timeout one is a bit extreme imo).
The game loop worked really well on its own, with all the upgrades being worthwhile and the little "sidequests" are also a great addition. Though im not a fan of rotated pixel art - it didn't bother me in this case as it didn't feel like it clashes with the artstyle overall. Also the shopkeep has an awesome look.
My only critiques really are that after all that attention to detail and quality, the missing ending really catches (pun hehe) you off guard (i didn't have time for an ending either xP) and that the collectibles respawn (which slightly annoys the completionist in me).
Finally i wanna really commend you for putting yourself out there with the voice acting! Its so rough and clunky but that's what makes it so charming. And i actually burst when i heard the fishing song (looping it afterwards was also definitely a bold choice xD) - for sure the funniest moment for me this LD so far.
It took me a while to figure out what i actually had to do to get stuff to work. The X/Y resource indicator is pretty confusing. You naturally assume that you want X to be higher and not lower. I personally see no reason to not just say 20/20 when you have 20 of 20 available. After I got that the game was a lot less confusing, and building things up for more and more numbers is always a solid baseline.
I was missing some more intricate processes. Each resource was pretty much linearly producible. It would be cool to have more dynamic "puzzle" like decisions to make. The biggest bottleneck for the last upgrade was pretty much money. And the best way is to mindlessly build compartments. Your only real "precise" instrument is the park, which is nice, but i wish there was even more. Especially to make the cool hex grid really worthwhile.
I feel like the tutorial could have included the activating of tiles too, but in the length of the jam its cool that you even have one, so that's fine.
Concluding:
(-) Doesn't use tile placement much and doesn't have many options for the player to choose
(+) Has Hex Grid aesthetic, tutorial, good Basics and Theme
thx for playing everybody!
@ghost-in-the-toast @loveapplegames i am really proud of the soundwork this time - that usually comes last (and least) in my games. Though i noticed some glitching and weird delays in the html built - no idea why.
@marcus-otterstrom Great that you came back to beat it. I couldn't really judge if it leans on the too hard or too easy side so that makes me happy. The enemy ai is really simple - it chooses a random point at least some percentage away from the border. I thought that would be enough of a buffer for them to not fly out of screen, but the floatier ones do, which is suboptimal.
@ruruie yeah that is a problem i didn't fix in time. I should have forced the player to stay onscreen, so this doesn't happen...
The redness as an indicator for how long you are allowed to be spotted is a great design choice. I hate it when stealth games let you fail from being seen immediately and in the time of a jam a proper "escape" sequence would have probably been overscope so thats a good call.
I did't feel like the game was too hard. Once you onlocked the other cage thats a pretty safe hiding spot. This doesn't quite have the same chaotic energy as untitled goose game, but i think it might have been the inspriation.
I got them all! Screenshot (15).png
Or did I...?
gallery.PNG
Is there a secret that I missed? Its kinda interesting how easy it is to capture my attention with such a simple game loop xD
As you can see I really enjoyed it for its length. Though as others have said, the controls are a bit off. May i suggest:
Left click -> take/use if in hand
Right click -> throw/sell
The game world right now is a bit empty, maybe integrate the gallery and stocks-window into the environment - and probably the shop too. All in all i really enjoyed my time with your game.
Btw. I can reliably reproduce the bug that @recursor described by exiting the fullscreen on itch. In fullscreen the bug doesn't happen for me and even goes away.
This was the most fun game i played yet this jam. You perfected what many me included often struggle with: A fun, rewarding and self sustained game loop.
That said you also really deserve the five star rating for theme - as the collector aspect is integrated into setting AND mechanics.
I think i played this for up to 20 minutes and didn't get totally annoyed by the music which is also always a plus. The choice of having something "classicy" als further fits the setting and mood.
Also i think this could make for a great board game if you want to go in that direction. I can easily see my boardgame friends enjoying it and there are so many options for stamps and even more mechanics in a game for multiple players (stealing stamps, auctioning etc). If you ever try in that direction leave a post here!
That was really cute. We did a lot of drawing games with friends during covid so the chaos is kinda familiar xD
Btw as a German both VAs have clearly a dutch accent to me (which is also cute)^^
I think there is not much left to say but anyway: Its really cute and the art is unique, but there is not a lot to do. I gathered that you had many more ideas in mind, but not enough time. That happens - i’m happy you finished what you did and maybe you keep enough motivation after the jam to expand a bit (though i myself always ~want~ to keep working on a game, just to get a new idea an abandon the old project)
Ok - terrible confession: I completely missed the sun/shadow mechanic! I just stumbled my way through every single level without understanding the core puzzle principle xD
I was quite confused as to why the rovers sometimes seemed to drain and sometimes not - and the power exchange pads were quite random to me too, but it somehow intuitively worked when i put in the solution. This is completely on me - I just restarted it to see if it's really that hard to see and there is even a tutorial screen that i must have promptly skipped.
I think this shows that the puzzles are probably leaning a bit on the easier side, which is always the better decision for a jam (imo).
The planning movement ahead of time idea is neat and the presentation/ui works mostly intuitive. There are some small annoyances: The order of the starting positions are not always matching the order of the ui, and removing commands doesn't automatically switch back to the rover in question, so i often times entered them for the wrong rover first after a change.
The graphics are simple but charming - and the cute bopping of the rovers didn't go unnoticed.
Really nice idea for an upgrade system. Would be nice if there would even be a bit more to buy (like boots for faster movement, jacket for slower freezing etc.). Right now i have unlocked everything after the second trip already and then i'm only searching for the artifacts alone, which is a bit less fun than upgrading stuff.
So i think i solved the game: To get the headquarters as fast as possibly you build in turn each of the collectors until you have 5 of grey and green and four of purple. You DON‘T want to get drones - they are a waste of ressources in this scenario, as you can just do one circle mouse motion to do their job anyway. After you got this setup you click the purple stuff to keep up or overcome the production of the others until you have enough.
There is no mathematical formular or anything but 5-4 seems to be the point of deminishing returns for how long the wait time seems to be till the end.
Mhh - the main "problem" seems to be just that you don't need drones. This could be helped by making resources disappear after some time afterwards, but then it gets annying to the player. Also the collection mechanic for the mouse is very efficient so you could make it harder to collect them for the player without drones (for example you need to actually click them as well) but again this would be really annoying...
There is also the thing that collecting the res by mouse feels more rewarding than droning them in.
My best but kinda frustrating guess is to replace the drone system by something more impactful.
Wow - coming up with any maechanics is really hard. That shows you did a good job designing it in such a short time 😅
That was a really fun game. Though i didn't really change my ship after level 8 or so because the strategy became unbeatable. I first maximize collection rate with six collectors behind a wall of armor, then spam as much missiles as possible. That did overwhelm each enemy ship because they go for shields quite early and don't attack for some time.
I the game idea is great. I have no idea how well the weapon systems are balanced but it felt pretty good. I just exploited the ai a bit. It might be fun vs other human players. It wouldn't even have to be real time. I follow a game on itch called [fool king](https://lootdonkey.itch.io/fool-king), which uses a really clever system for a sort of "faux-multiplayer" that could work great for your game. You progress battle for battle and fight the loadouts of other players at this point. I can see this work great with the battleship theme. And a big plus would be that you could watch the whole battle play out without stress in clicking upgrades all the time.
This was really new. The "combat" system is really cool and it's impressive how well it works within just the time of a jam. I think the combat would work even better as a kinda rougelike deckbuilder, because right now there it's really hard to reliably use any synergies because the options are so random, and you have no idea what the opponent does so you need to be a bit lucky sometimes.
I found it to be a good strategy to farm gold in the easy early fights and later on go to scale people and strength quickly. I think there are slight balance issues in the jam version, but you seem to have adressed balance already in the post jam patch. Also good job on the sound effects.
I have no idea how you did this, and as someone with no idea how to implement this myself, chapeau.
Though now i have to somehow rate this in a fair way with the other games and that's hard...
The camera "shake" on drag is really cool - but also way to strong. It gets a bit nauseating after some time. The game itself struggles a bit with speed. Even though i get to the solution of the puzzle quite easily, the execution takes so long that i grow impacient. And if i then realise that i have to look at the action 5 times in a row it doesn't help. A fast forward would help greatly.
The sound grows a bit repetitive. I think the cuts between each clip is a bit hard. Maybe letting them last into the start of the next action would help. Also one trick i have learned with one-play sounds especially, is to pitch them randomly up or down. This way it always sounds slightly different each time.
I have to say that the UI looks great! Really nice work with icons and responsiveness.
This interpretation of the theme is unique. Did you immediately think of collecting your own body parts or how did this come to pass? I am generally curious.
Anyway - there are some gripes i have with the gameplay: I hate the keybind choice!!! Most people are at this point just too accustumed to wasd to ever switch back to arrow keys. And even if we go to use arrow keys - why would i ever need a jump button that is on different part of the keyboard? Just let me use the up-key! I constantly switched shooting and jumping by mistake.
This is by far my biggest problem (as this unhinged paragraph probably showed) but there are some other minor ones too: The edges of platforms feel very unforgiving with their collision especially when jumping late or from below. The bossfight is really hard - i could only kill it when it got stuck in a wall. After the boss an default checkpoint would have been great. And the insta death from the teleport into wall is a bit too punishing for my taste.
Ok now i wrote a lot of negative things, but mainly because the feel of the game was actually great as it had the mood of one of the early metroids, and the points i raise seem to be easy fixes. To me the fun i had was just always slightly lowered by the frustration over the controls.
The size of the world and the depth of the mechanics is truly impressive for a one dev entry! I liked it a lot but i am just reaaaally nitpicky.
Well - I knew exactly two of those paperplanes! The first two ones xD
Its not much of a game but a visual tutorial. It definitively gets you in the mood for some real plane crafting again.
I think though some of the folds are quite hard to see with some of the colours and the perspective.
Wow thats literally the best entry i ever played in any Ludum Dare. The concept, the art, the 3-2d view - almost perfect. But Epono is right - i was stuck at the first screen for quite some time... Maybe add a "press x to start" or something similar.
The gameplay is super fun and its quite hard to hit those skeletons (they're so unpredictable xD). The only "weak" category is grafics and even there you get +1 star alone for that superiorly designed link-car.
I played it ten times - i didn't find love... Is it really random? xD
The controls are a little bit to direct for the jumping parts and some collisions seemed of but overall it was fun. Some more/different powerups would be nice (speed or jumping boost etc.).
The rules are still unclear to me. Why do i die? And i would have liked it more if you could interact with the balls you already brougth into the game. It is a good concept though yet it still needs a lot of finetuning. A breakout where you drive around could be pretty fun^^
That was really cool... But i found a glitch at the end of the level. At the segment where you have to go down you can slide into the right wall an have to restart.
Wow that was an awesome game... To bad i continuesly die at level 8. Anyway i think that would give a good selling mobile game even in this early state.
@Yetman You can actually resize the window using "z" but i forgot to mention this... A little bit late now xD
@hello-coder There should be no problem... It could be that you ran out of ammo. But thats the main mechanic of the game and should be explained above^^
I really like this kind of gameview and the controls felt smooth and intuitive. But the whole combat thing needs a bit of fine tuning. You don't really have a way to challange the enemy but on collision-course (so you take a lot of damage while doing). But who am i to complain - the positive outweighs the bad!
Cool concept well executed. More platforms would have been nice (but thats only because i can't time these jumps). Since i fixed my speakers today this will be my first game that gets an audio-rating xD
I expected a jump scare. Pleasent surprise it was a mild one...
It's nice to see someone else does his first steps learning unity. I did the same project two month ago with the help of brackeys to get a feel for the software. Eventually i came back to gamemaker this ld but i plan to use unity next time. But wish your levels would be a little bit longer xD
Wow this game was fun and complex. How did you implement so many features in so few time? Sadly i had a bug so that after the 15 minutes no enemies spawned...