Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → xaver
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Fu | In | Gr | Au | Po | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 7 | Growth | LD48h#7 unofficial and pending votes - xaver results and comments | compo | 2.69 | 3.00 | 2.38 | 3.17 | 2.77 |
Took a while to figure out what to do in this game. Eventually I just mashed the + button to create tons of workers and drew lots of random paths; seeing all the little squares move up and down was a little fun. Not sure on what the overall objective is, maybe there isn't any.
Very hard to aim where you want to, even level 1 was frustrating me. It shouldn't require that many hits to kill the knight at low levels. The pacing does pick up however, I got the hang of it and then made it to the 10th level where it got really hard again due to large enemy swarms. The music certainly is nice though.
A decent farming-type game, click on the barn to plant stuff and watch them grow. You can then eat the stuff once it has grown or sell it. Not sure if the hunger element has anything to do with the gameplay. Graphics are fine, no sound though. I was expecting another level, but it came to an end so soon.
A clone of the growth "rpg" where you have to build things in a particular order or they won't grow properly, not particularly innovative though. It was hard to tell what some of the buttons do (maybe text labels would help for some icons). Multiple levels are a plus, though I didn't get past the 2nd (I didn't look at the solutions btw).
Randomly-generated platform type game, maybe 'too' random at times. At least the grappling hooks adds some depth to the gameplay, otherwise it would've been just standard fare. The growth theme is used in several ways, with the enemies growing when hit and the beanstalk. I found the controls a bit awkward (why not a single button for the grapple?) and health powerups too infrequent based how easy it is to get hit.
A katamari damacy clone roll the ball into objects to pick them up and make the ball bigger. Could use some sensitivity options or allow arrow key movement- I had to move my mouse a great amount to move the ball. Got to the 3rd level and got trapped unfortunately (enclosed by bigger objects and no smaller objects nearby).
A puzzle game in which you must create a path to find keys and open locks. The gameplay is a unique idea, but I thought it lacked variety. Frustrating as you progress, but at least restarting is easy.
Roll the snowball around to smash snowmen, that's about all there is to the gameplay. Plays very similar to katamari, but this time with arrow keys. There is just a single level and then it ends.
Plays like a standard RTS game, but without combat being the main element. The object is to mine minerals and build more units. Structures decay over time, so you need custodians to repair them. The viruses that attacked the minerals are annoying at first, but building warrior units held them off later. AI was a bit lacking, sometimes 3 miners would all try to go for a single mineral spot and some custodians just stood still. Just a few sound effects were used.
A block building game kinda like Tetris, but you build vertically instead of horizontally. When a nail appears, it will earn you points based on how many connected blocks you've built so far. Get the required number of points to reach the next level. There is a lack of strategy though: since the play area extends upward indefinitely, one can just hold the down arrow and let the blocks stack up and get easy points. Music was making a crackling sound sometimes and sound effects were decent.
Controlling the wind direction is an interesting design, but wasn't very fun in this game. It seemed that the flames would go anywhere but to where the house was. Made it only to the 2nd level and gave up in frustration.
A versus-style game in which you are a group of white blobs and you have to defeat the group of black blobs. Collecting white dots grows your player and also increases your ammo supply. The graphics are simplistic but I had fun playing this one. I liked the silly introduction and instructions text, although maybe the all that speech was unnecessary.
Extremely nice graphics. The gameplay is pretty simple, jump from leaf to leaf and the collect the flowers. It's easy to get into, but pretty hard later on. No continues unfortunately, I was on the last level missing one flower and fell all the way down then had to start from level 1 A minor nitpick: it felt as though you are "collecting arrows" since the flowers aren't disappearing when you touch them.
A people-building sim where you have have to build the required amount of objects (or people). The graphics are nicely done, and there is a tutorial. Even after doing the tutorial, I was a bit confused. I wasn't sure why certain squares turned into huts and others didn't. The limited resources you get are too harsh IMO, though I'm not particularly fond of this genre. Thankfully there is a speed control to pick up the pace of the relative slow gameplay.
Gameplay involves a controlling a growing sprout to pick up all the items without bumping into yourself. You can press space to split up into 2 shoots. It's difficult to control when you have a lot of shoots though. It's unfortunate that there is a level ending prematurely bug.
Shoot the black viruses while protecting the green cells. Nothing truly innovative here, but great music. Could have used an effect for the gun though. The viruses can be hard to see and many times I couldn't see them til they were attacking the cells.
Not sure what the objective is- it seems like an RTS variant. Collector units can only travel on crystal. Crystal is created when the paths of 2 units cross (something like that). It's an interesting design, but incomplete unfortunately.
Plant beans to grow beanstalks to reach higher platforms. I found it a bit slow-paced though and frustrating to die in just 1 hit. The player model is pretty well done given the time constraint, even if silly looking.
Simply move your mouse cursor to guide the "termites" (which are just basically dots) to destroy the buildings. You need to replenish your supply of termites by staying on the grass. There is only 1 level though and the gameplay could use more variety.
Hmm a game about shaving chest hair? You don't see too many of those around! There are multiple levels in which you must shave hair in the given time while avoiding the cones and barricades (wonder who put those there?). I purposely screwed up a lot and it still let me pass the level. A little lacking in the growth element, the hair grows too slow to make much of a difference to gameplay! Great music and sound fx to complement the gameplay.
Balancing the growing flower is very difficult. The game is even made harder due to the objects you must avoid. Even without the objects to avoid, the game would be freakin hard The controls weren't responsive at times- sometimes the balance meter shifted to the right very fast even if I let go of the button.
The goal is to trim the tree to get the required number of leaves in the target area. You are only allowed a limited number of leaves outside the area. It starts out pretty easy but the difficulty climbs quickly. There is music mentioned in the readme, but I didn't get it to work.
You are controlling a snake-like creature and collecting the various circles makes a part of it grow. Don't touch the flashing circles though or you lose. It isn't an exact clone of the traditional snake game though- you can grow various parts of it and movement is much more fluid.
It's a pretty realistic cell simulation game but it lacks a "hook factor" though. Too much time spent analyzing various numbers and stats while trying to figure out what was best to build. I've only been able to beat the easiest difficulty. You can also get stuck permanently in this way: say you need more X, but the only thing that produces X costs X (which you do not have) and you are forced to restart.
A platform style game where you must roll an egg around without breaking it. This could have been much more fun with the ability to jump. Unfortunately, it's possible to get stuck too easily if you accidentally fall down a block from where the egg was. The graphics are very polished.
Plant seeds to grow flowers and collect the required number of objects to pass the level. If you wait after your flower grows, it will produce seeds and after that, fertilizer. I played this for a while, but it the later levels got boring. The bugs present a lose/lose situation though- if you touch them you make them change direction and you lose seeds, but if you jump over them they eat your plants. Sounds were funny but the title music was just annoying.