Fruit Mamba by FrozenCow 2019-10-08T10:14:29Z
This game is a lot more polished and well-planned than I would have expected. It was great fun and I think it'd work as a great base for a larger release! Nice concept and great execution.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → XeduR
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | Signal | The Hunt for Red April | jam | 181 | 3.91 | 3.63 | 3.87 | 4.28 | 3.89 | 1.91 | 4.15 | ||
| 2023 | 53 | Delivery | Grav-O-Delivery | jam | 389 | 3.75 | 3.61 | 3.93 | 4.32 | 3.77 | 2.56 | 3.63 | ||
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | Last Stand | jam | 487 | 3.67 | 3.82 | 2.82 | 3.83 | 3.66 | 2.87 | 3.62 | ||
| 2021 | 49 | Unstable | Uranium-236 | jam | 268 | 3.89 | 3.92 | 4.00 | 4.51 | 4.10 | 3.46 | 2.81 | 3.63 | |
| 2021 | 48 | Deeper and deeper | Gone Diggin' | compo | 179 | 3.79 | 3.83 | 3.66 | 4.39 | 3.89 | 3.03 | 2.91 | 3.28 | |
| 2020 | 47 | Stuck in a loop | Break the Loop | jam | 96 | 4.13 | 4.12 | 4.25 | 4.61 | 3.85 | 3.43 | 3.83 | ||
| 2020 | 46 | Keep it alive | The Dark | compo | 815 | 3.08 | 2.56 | 2.71 | 3.95 | 3.43 | 4.00 | |||
| 2019 | 45 | Start with nothing | Get A Job, Baby! | jam | 370 | 3.62 | 3.58 | 3.62 | 3.85 | 2.48 | 2.41 | 3.93 | 3.37 |
This game is a lot more polished and well-planned than I would have expected. It was great fun and I think it'd work as a great base for a larger release! Nice concept and great execution.
I can't really understand the game. The instructions could be a bit more clear, or maybe I'm just dumb :D
Simply put, this is a cool little mini game! Nice work!
As many have already said, the shadows were too glitchy. I think it would also be a good idea to give each enemy character a flashlight because now it looks like the characters are walking in complete darkness with no vision. Also, it is generally a good idea to spread the controls for two hands in singleplayer games like this. Having Q and E as action buttons and WASD as movement is difficult. You've got something cool to work with here!
I've got to agree with @5n1p3r-4r73m1s about the controls. I had quite the trouble with trying to accurately control the cat. The game has a novel concept though and even some humor, which was a welcome plus!
I can't seem to play your game on Itch.io. I have a button "Restore game", but after I press it, the screen just goes blank.
@oskanberg I got it to run on Firefox, but I can't run it on Chrome.
I appreciate the subtle criticism of the theme! I found Angry Words to be quite a fitting name for the game and the game itself was an interesting one. I got to level 5 and I'll perhaps pick it up again later.
The game was quite weird, which is appreciated when one of the voting categories is humor :D I also appreciated the homage to those old racing games.
Well, this was certainly a unique entry. Interesting concept and art style!
Like so many others have said, the controls were difficult and the sirens also followed you to menu screen. The first time I tried without the tutorial, I just got shot right away... so I figured the tutorial would probably be for the better. :D
I really like where this game is headed and I think it has great potential. Well done!
@darylsteak I certainly will. I didn't even realise it was a bug before you said it was. I've played a few times already.
The built in mouse sensitivity was so high that I had to adjust my mouse to the lowest setting. A neat project, but like many other projects, mine included, it could do with some polish.
This was an interesting and fun game. With further polish, I think you could have something great on your hands!
I liked the idea, but I had quite some trouble realising what the arrow-key gameplay mechanic was at start as the indicators were quite difficult to see. At the beginning, with just the drum, it was also quite a dull sound for a rhythm game. Still, I can see you guys take this game to great lengths if you pursue it further!
To be completely honest, I was shocked when I saw the instructions screen full of text, but my pain was made better by the background music that seemed almost like it was taunting me at the time. :D
Quite a novel game, I must say!
Surprisingly polished for how much work had gone into it. The game is a lot of fun!
Props for the unique art style!
I've frequently thought about making a game with graphics like this. Nicely done!
The level design could be more intuitive. I was already trying to figure out why I couldn't jump and then I just decided to "go with it", after which I found the jump pickup. I'm also personally not a fan of games where you are almost guaranteed to fail at some event because you can't know ahead that you were supposed to do something specific. I'm talking about the "double jump with feint platform". But, some people enjoy them. Overall, it was a nifty little platformer.
I couldn't play it on Chrome, but it did run on Firefox.
The jam's theme was perhaps missed, or at least I think so, but I found this to be a novel and a quite fun game.
I'm not sure if the dialogue was necessary at the beginning, but I liked the overall style.
The background music is absolutely fantastic.
The collisions were a bit off, i.e. getting hit by cars when you are already standing on the other side of the road or when you are waiting for the car to pass, but otherwise I'd say this was a nice entry. Well done!
Yeah, I am thinking of continuing this project after LD45 ends. I have around 15 more mini games (and interactive traps) that I had planned, as well as the improved graphics, but I just completely ran out of time due to poor time management.
@zc74560 Yeah, it requires a lot of polish and fine-tuning. I had only run the game on a simulator before submitting it and the delays were fine. However, with the HTML build, there seemed to be occasional lag spikes that caused unfortunate delays and too long wait times. This'll be fixed via preloading the scenes, but I doubt I'll do that for this LD version.
@jefvel That's a great idea. I had arrived to the same conclusion as well. This is again one of those "I'll add it to the list" issues that need further polish and development time. I cut down almost all graphics from this build as I nearly ran out of time, and it shows. :D
@kerdelos The % represented your performance at the job. The better performance, the more days you'd work that month until you'd be fired. The difficulty levels were also a bit mixed as I rushed the game together.
I enjoyed your game. It had a similar idea as mine, i.e. keep the fire alive and don't freeze, but yours was a lot more mellow and interactive approach. Nice job!
I am absolutely amazed that someone would create a SNES game in this day and age. Along with Dreamcast, SNES is my all time favourite console :D Oh, and the game is cool as well! It was a nice little nostalgia trip.
I don't know why, but when the first level with the "zig zag" pattern path came along, I thought it was a downward slope and I just ran straight into the pit. :D
The beat gets repetitive after a while, but otherwise a really cool game. I tried seeing what happens to Joe if I fail at the coffee stand obstacle, but after several restarts I just couldn't get one. I guess that random for you. Nice work!
Thanks for all the feedback!
Yeah, I ran out of time and didn't have the time to add any background/ambient music to add to the effect. All I had time to do was add 3 Bfxr "beeps". :D
I had an idea for adding many more gameplay mechanics, but as I realised I wouldn't have the time to implement them I just had to heartlessly cut them out. I barely had the time to draw and animate the character and I even forgot to add the lantern to his hand. :D
I found this to be a great game. Well done with the design and the length. Had it been much longer, it would have worn out its welcome, but at that length, it was just perfect.
This was an interesting one and I could see myself playing this quite a bit more if it were to be developed further. I thoroughly enjoy playing around with radial gravity, but I think that this game would have benefitted greatly from a simple tutorial. For instance, just showing an overlay that explains how you are supposed to adjust the gravity of the planets via left AND RIGHT clicking. I was just left clicking things and wondering why nothing is happening.
This was perhaps the coolest game I've played during the last 3 Ludum Dares. It took me a few too many times to realise what was going on, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Like others have said, the game could have used a bit clearer instructions, but in general it was a relaxing experience.
Thank you all for your feedback, it's been a delight reading them!
@madbeagle Hey Nick! It's been a while! You should really pop by the Solar2D forums/Discord. Things have been picking up quite a lot since the engine went fully open source and there's a lot of interesting stuff going on. :D
That invitation applies to everyone else too!
A bit unpolished, but that's what game jam projects typically are. I really enjoyed the game and I think the approach to the theme was interesting.
An interesting concept, but I don't think that it quite works. For instance, if the first three key moves are supposed to be repeated (and if that's the only mechanic) then some of the levels would be impossible to complete. Still, even if you had "up, right, right" set as your moves, you could still move down if you wanted. But, like I said, I enjoyed the concept, I'm just not sure if I understood the controls completely or if there was some bug or other issue.
I played until the final boss and I'm still amazed at how smooth the game was. Nicely done!
A really interesting concept with a lot of trial (and error) for the player. With enough time, this could go really deep. :thumbsup:
As someone who also created a "digging game", I appreciate the unique take that you took with yours. It's a nifty little game. I would have perhaps added a slight nod to the fact that you can buy more time. When I got to gameover scene the first time, I was also expecting some way to restart the game without having to reload the app.
Still, like so many have said before, nicely done given that you used the engine for the first time. :thumbsup_tone1:
Unless I am mistaken, this is a COMPO entry, but in your video you are clearly working for 72 hours, which would make this a JAM entry.
This was a cool idea and played nicely. I think you could have done the lighting a bit differently. The extra lights that you get aren't really enough to illuminate where you are going enough, i.e. you just need to remember where all the traps are and then use the lights to see where your character is going, and like someone mentioned, the light seemed to be only enough for a single attempt.
The controls are a bit troublesome given that the game runs in the browser. Ctrl+D, for instance, is the shortcut for creating a new bookmark in Chrome, Firefox, etc. I'm surprised that others haven't pointed this out.
If you had control over the code of the website where the game runs, you could prevent the default shortcut behaviour, but given that the game is on Itch.io, I would consider revising the controls.
I would also avoid using text-based tutorials, people tend not to read them. It becomes especially difficult when you try to be fancy and make them look like a part of the backdrop. Ask yourself, for what reason would you want the tutorial texts to blend in with the background? I, for instance, know that I had a lighter (right?) but I didn't know how to use it :smile:
It'd also be great to get to the cave a lot quicker. We want to play your game, so let us get to it asap! :smile:
There's a lot to improve, sure, but I think this was a fun and interesting take on the theme!
@modoc73 Thanks! I agree about the audio. It was the second last thing that I did when I had around half an hour left and I still needed to draw the floorboards for the digging paths, so I didn't have as much time as I had originally hoped to spend on audio.
@phi Interesting that you brought up TNT and ladders, because a few hours after I had submitted this game, I had an idea of limited power ups, like having a few ladders and sticks of dynamite when the game starts. :smile:
@laurari I played the game quite a bit while testing, maybe too much since I didn't have time to create better audio for the game. My highscore is 73. :stuck_out_tongue:
The visuals and the audio work well, and I enjoyed the controls, but like @welby, I don't think it's necessary to start off by lengthy opening monologue that mocks the player. It's an attempt at humour, sure, but such humour can be a big turnoff for many players who don't even know what your game is yet.
I liked the idea and I think this was headed in a nice direction!
I'm not a audio guy either, so I can't really comment on that, but the sound effects were quite sharp and loud. Given how the game is about a relaxed topic like a tree's roots growing, the sound effects could have been calmer.
The controls could have probably been a bit smoother and more intuitive. It took me a while to realise what was going on and I had to go check out HELP menu twice.
Still, nice work! :heart:
A nice entry! The rooms gave it a sense of progression, but I would have considered having some "flicker" or other indication where the enemies in the room are. It felt a bit weird doing 360 no scope manoeuvres whenever I entered a new room. :smile:
I had fun, but I wish you'd have implemented a highscore system to keep players (like me) playing it again and again to best their old scores. The gameplay itself was smooth and the audio & visuals were well done!
I managed to glitch the rope and climbed quite deep. I took a few dives before realising how to properly control the character. :smile: All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable little game!
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I think the controls could have been improved a bit, like "holding down shift" and mouse click would shoot fire/water. I found myself a few times just driving around a small tree. :smile:
I enjoyed the audio and the game idea was cool. I got until level 4, and when I failed, I would have liked to play that level again, but I was booted all the way back to level 1.
Like others have pointed out, the music got repetitive fairly fast. With these kind of short loops, I usually try looking for something calm and slow that doesn't take as much attention so even if someone figures out that it is looping, it won't get on their nerves (at least quickly).
By the way, **Book title** is also my favourite book!
I think the gameplay would have been more interactive and engaging if the controls were different. For instance, if you needed to drag and drop the objects and they'd move while you were holding them. It'd add a lot to the unstable nature of the game. Currently, getting to the next level was really just a matter of moving ~3 objects on top of each other without worrying about anything.
I enjoyed the flow of the combat and having the audio adapt to the level of your sanity was a nice touch!
The enemy pathing and them getting stuck at times could have been addressed more. I think that, as others have said, I was missing some causality in the combat. If I swing a wrench/pipe or what it was and hit an enemy, I'd expect them to react to it in some way and not just instantly drop dead after a few swings.
Also, I'm not a big fan of having all of this text here on the submission page. I understand that a lot of effort went into writing the playthrough instructions, but games are about exploration, about figuring things out for ourselves as players. There should be that trial and error and figuring things out for ourselves. Being presented with a wall of text detailing all of that before I even get to download the game isn't a good idea in my opinion.
Finally, mentioning the cut content isn't really necessary. It's a 2-3 day game jam, we all understand that there was much more that could have been done. You did really well with your time and you should be proud of that, and focus on what you did accomplish instead of what you didn't. :trophy:
I had a fair bit of lag spikes, not sure if that was just on my end though.
I liked the game and it gave me some 2012 movie vibes. I would have liked to be able to drive a bit faster, I mean if the ground around me was dropping down and I'd see lava down there, I'd drive over 67km/h! :smile:
I think being able drift around would have also made the gameplay more engaging, but with break essentially being reverse, that was impossible.
Well, I got baited. :smile:
Watching the intro, I immediately thought: "Yeah, there's no way this was done for LD49." but once the real game kicks in, my opinion quickly changed.
The game has a great visual appeal and music to it. I think the difficulty was a bit off as the game was relatively easy, but most levels meant that you needed to die a few times to see where and how the text will appear, so you couldn't just "know" how to play it without trying and dying a few times first.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable game.
Holy shit you got a lot done. :smile:
For starters, the looping background music was perfect balance of calm and relaxing, and long enough to not realise it was looping straight away, and it didn't get on my nerves, so good work with that.
Now, as someone who loves city builders and such, my first thought at seeing the tech trees, building tabs, etc. was "This is gonna take a while to grasp." which is why it took me a few days to get the time to play it properly. :smile:
Thoroughly enjoyable game and great work with it! The onboarding could have been smoother. Long, text heavy tutorials are quite cumbersome.
Short and sweet. Really reminded me of Gunpoint.
I think the visual style was on point and I liked where the game was headed. Like some others said, it did feel like the game was a bit slow. My main complaint, however, as a programmer, is that how was it easier to implement a timer to swap the guns than bind the same function to a key? It's not cool when you are firing an uzi and then, in the middle of a shootout, your gun changes to a pistol and you need to start clicking instead of holding down. :smiley:
The "shadows" were a bit odd too. Given that the shadows seemed to represent the player's field of vision, I would have expected the area that I didn't see to be, well, more dark or entirely invisible to me. I really didn't know if they were supposed to be a line of sight / field of vision indicator, or shadows. But, this is really a relatively small issue.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable game and I'd be interested in playing more of it. Good work everyone!
I've heard people talk about how things would fall apart without them at the office, but I had never imagined how it'd look, so thanks for this. I especially appreciated the music when things did "get fine." :smiley:
I think the interaction area could have been a bit more generous, for getting coffee, water, etc. but other than that, I think it was a really enjoyable and well put together game.
I like that you've specified Alt+F4 as the "button to quit" the game. :smiley:
I think the game could have used the list of controls inside the game as well. I really didn't know what I was doing the first time around.
The second time around it was a lot easier, perhaps even too easy.
I did enjoy the fact that this has been the only game I've ever played on Ludum Dare with real nature sounds.
Whenever a game starts with a screen full of written instructions, I'm a bit worried. :stuck_out_tongue:
I'm not sure about the application of the theme. Having to return to those zones to charge back up and then go back venturing to find a new one to get further didn't feel like unstable. It felt more like being leashed and kept under control.
The game had a pretty good vibe though and I appreciated the audio. The music loop could have been a bit longer or made to loop in a bit smoother fashion. Still, it's a nice entry!
The game was fun and it was an interesting take on the theme.
I think you could have worked a bit more on the clarity and difficulty though. I got to about 230 score and as the yellow and black coloured enemies started appearing, I started to wonder "Oh, these seem to be faster? Oh, they seem to take more hits?" but I think there could have been more to differentiate the enemy types than just colour.
The balancing act paired with the shooting was a nice idea and it made the game a lot more interesting. For future work, if you plan on continuing on this, I'd look into making the game a bit more varied. The only lose condition seemed to be that there will just come a time where you are overwhelmed because enemies are spawning too fast to be even theoretically shot down in time.
Having an intro cinematic for a Ludum Dare game is a rarity. :smile:
The controls took a bit of getting used to, but once I got there, I found it quite enjoyable. The audio and the music are relaxed enough that the climbing doesn't seem all that bad. After having got fairly high up, hitting an ice block and falling back to the start in a matter of seconds, I just decided "Yeah, that's enough." :smile:
I think the punishing element could be reduced a bit, and the controls were a bit odd with the "just pressing space" instead of left or right at the same time, but it was an enjoyable game.
Like others have noted, the game feels a bit unresponsive. It seemed to come with a fair bit of lag and the buttons/handles didn't always react as you'd hope for them to. It took me a few tries to figure out what was going on, but once I did, I do think that it is the start of an interesting game.
The art style could have been a bit more uniform. The level looks cool, but the particles kinda seem like they were a "last minute addition", which they obviously weren't given that they are the key to the entire game. Making the particles easier to see by perhaps having some bright emitters on them could have upped the visuals quite a bit.
The idea of having a beat to which the particles move was cool, but the movement animation could have been spiced up a little bit by using easing effects, for instance.
As others have noted, the perspective was a bit difficult. There was also little to no reaction time to the lasers. I also found myself shot by several lasers firing at once without warning. The movements also felt somewhat unresponsive or detached from the player character.
I liked the soundtrack and I was positively surprised to see someone using Unreal here.
Well, this was certainly a unique approach to the theme.
First of all, I loved that the menu already had interactive elements in it. Very few games do, and this already gave good pointers as to what the game would be about.
I think that the game had a far too high emphasis on random chance. I played the game three times. First time I didn't even know what I was supposed to have done or do when the dragon came. The next time I though, maybe I need certain buildings. But when the type of buildings you get is entirely up to random chance, it reduces player agency. I felt as if I had no real control in the game.
I thought I'd wipe the JSON and see what happens, and the game crashed. So, yeah, it's unstable. :stuck_out_tongue: As some others suggested, enabling some prettifying the JSON file and implementing some error checking would have been a nice touch.
It's a really meta game, that's for sure. Given that we're all game devs here, it's got its best (and only) audience here.
It's a fun little clicker game, but I wish the controls were a bit clearer. There were times when I tried to buy the second gun, but it wouldn't let me. There was no feedback as to why and I had the money to do so. Also dragging the gun to the location also seemed a bit unresponsive, same with the upgrades.
The audio, visual style and animations were all thoroughly enjoyable.
Very simple, yet effective visuals and controls. I agree with @peace-of-cake-games that I would have preferred to map the controls. Whenever I had to jump, I instinctively felt like pressing space.
Nice use of the repeating background as well!
I got to level 3. Based on this experience, I'm not sure whether the game or its author is the more unstable one. :smile: Silliness and physics tend to go well in hand!
A fellow reactor game!
I always enjoy this kind of "nifty little" physics puzzle games. The background audio looping got tedious and repetitive very quickly, but as for the gameplay, I'm very intrigued. I even bookmarked the game so that I can give it another go tomorrow as well. :smile:
I think the tutorial segment should have been more intuitive. When you load all of the game mechanics on the player at the start, via slow loading text I might add, it feels like being given a lecture before you can play the game. I also had to take the dash jump three times as it required near perfect jump, which shouldn't really be required in a tutorial. Finally, the time from death to restart was fairly long, especially for a tutorial segment. I did, however, enjoy the game bringing me right before the point where I died.
The game's mood was pretty good and you guys had an interesting take on the theme. Still, I couldn't help but think the game was fairly slow paced, especially given the "runner" in the game's title.
The voice acting was fantastic and not something you often see on Ludum Dare projects.
The reloading could have used some work, I would have liked to see some indicator of the reloading process, but all I saw was "old casings" still being fired from the gun even though I was reloading.
I'm not sure of how this fits the theme though.
There was also a point where the platforms just vanished. If this was an intentional game mechanic, there should have been some indication that it was about to happen. The robots still kept on riding as if there were platforms, so I expect it was a bug.
The first 10-20s or so, I was just watching it thinking: "Am I supposed to do something?" Then a few bits come lose and I stuff them back together. Again, waiting, I'm thinking that this isn't much of a game. Then shit hits the fan and I can't keep up with what's going on. :smile:
It's a bit *unstable* gameplay wise. Like others mentioned, the web version seemed to have some issues with the controls.
Still, this is a solid entry and I had fun!
Like many others have said, this was a surprisingly polished and a thoroughly fun game. I wouldn't be surprised if this was around the top games this time around.
It's arguable whether this is unstable though, given how stable the construction materials were, but I'm being pedantic here. :smile:
The entire game was simply relaxing and a lot of fun. The audio, art and the gameplay were all tied well together. Really nicely done!
The web version seems to be a bit laggy, but regardless, this is perhaps the best game in terms of mood I've played during any LD.
The gameplay, visuals and audio go well together and the approach to the theme was great as well!
This was quite a challenging game. Even after taking a look at the manual and going to play with mini games, it felt like I had no idea what I was doing. Even with the hydrotron, I was spam clicking as fast as I could, and I still couldn't get them close to each other. Maybe I was missing something?
The atmosphere was great and like others have also pointed out, I did enjoy the little interactions you added, like the light switches.
Oh, and PS. Don't have screeching audio at the start. Some of us have headphones! :sweat_smile:
This was certainly a challenge. I can't say I got very far.
Just a personal pet peeve of mine for LD games:
The controls should be easy enough that anyone can pick them up quickly without any instructions, or if not, then the instructions should be found within the game.
The audio was good and the game looked nice, but I needed to get out of the game and come back to this page to read the instructions on how to play it.
I was also expecting to "do something" to the burning trees and building, not just chase the horses around. I think the game's clarity could have used some work.
The graphics were charming and minimalist, so points there. Also, like many have said, kudos for making a game based on real physics (it was, right?).
The gameplay, on the other hand, could have been more interactive. I didn't really know if I was supposed to do something or just wait the first few times. If the game's entire point is to create unstable compounds (or elements), then the gameplay should be clear. Don't make the player wait for so long. I think the wait time was random as well? If so, it really didn't help but make me feel confused if I was even doing the right thing or not. Finally, if the game was based on real physics, then help those of us who've forgotten their physics lessons from ages ago as I had no idea what I was supposed to do with Natrium, I think that was it.
First game jam entries are always tough. For next game jams, you should try on focusing more on the gameplay elements and the fun of it. Most people won't play your game for more than a minute or two, so length isn't as imporant.
A real cool take on the theme, and I thoroughly appreciated the art style. :smile:
For a first jam entry, I think this was a great job!
I played a few rounds and I'm not sure how well this fits the theme as I don't know what the inevitable was that was supposed to be delayed. :smile:
The art style was clean and minimal, and made me think this was intended for a phone. A card battler is fun nonetheless!
The thing that impressed me the most, however, is if you really bought a domain, set up hosting and made a multiplayer auto battler over the weekend for LD. That's impressive. :thumbsup:
Well, I died after the fire went out and the zombies kept on kicking me. I guess you can flog a dead horse! :smile:
The audio, visuals and mood were thoroughly enjoyable. I think the fireplace mechanic could have used a bit more work. I died because the fireplace went out, but I think that should have had some type of "warmth mechanic" so that you wouldn't just die when the fire dies, but you would have needed to stay by the fire to keep warm. I'm also not sure where and how to get the firewood, so that's on me as well.
Like @conroy said, my game and yours are somewhat each others 2D and 3D counterparts. :smile: Oh, and your fireplace mechanic reminds me of another older LD entry of mine. :smiley:
Like some others have suggested, I felt like a very brief tutorial could have helped me. I placed my first minigun in the bottom of the screen as I was clicking on the other UI elements. :smile:
It's a cutesy game with a simple goal, and I enjoyed the simple graphics. I just think the game could have been a bit more interactive.
Oh, and the calming audio definitely helped with eradicating those "space slugs".
I lost the axe a couple of times, which made the game fairly difficult to play, but I loved the execution otherwise. The game's art and audio were also fantastic!
The art was certainly a delight. I think your game could have also greatly benefited from any any background music or audio. With a jam entry, you could have been lazy like I was and just fetch some CC0 materials. :smile: Even if audio isn't being rated, having audio makes the overall experience better. :thumbsup:
I do enjoy these discovery type games where you need to mix and match, and learn of positive and negative side effects. Nice work!
The visuals and audio were great, apart from that screech which genuinely hurt when I was playing this using headset.
The game's mood was definitely among the best in LD50. I just wished the game could be a bit more interactive or at least more descriptive as I didn't even realise why Seda died. :smile:
@dogesquad @timetravelhamster Thanks for your feedback!
@ollieoa The dash area is fairly limited, so you'd need to hit the enemies directly. Otherwise you can just use it to escape and move faster, and yeah, having no weapon leaves very few options for survival.
@yukimiitsuka I agree. I ran out of time so I didn't get to properly balance the weapon drop rates, so a very quick player can hold the enemies off almost indefinitely... but there will come a time where you need to step away from the game, and that's when it'll end for certain! :smile:
@vixenmink The shotgun shots do spray, but you need to have a bit more distance so that they have time to spread. All of the shells leave from the barrel, so if there's not enough space, they won't have the time to spread.
@conroy I played your game and I agree, they're sibling games. :smile:
@cyzaine I agree with every point. Hopefully with LD51, I won't have to work every day of the jam, so that I'll have as much time as I need to tune everything and add more content next time.
**Thank you everyone for playing!**
The controls were smooth and the art great. Like others have said, I liked the idea of battery dying as a means of delaying the inevitable, but I agree that with the theme, there should be no chance of completing a level, even if the ending is bad.
The audio seems to be getting stuck across games and can get a bit jarring.
All that said, I did give it a good several plays and I found it enjoyable!
The game was real cool. Seems like we had a similar idea of having a "last stand" type of game set inside a circular arena. :smile:
The visuals and background music were great, and I really enjoyed the talent system. I would, however, implement some sort of mechanic to avoid selecting talents accidentally. Perhaps you could show a "level up!" indicator above the player and prompt them to press a key to select a new talent, and then you could have the player select the talent and press a different button to confirm it. I picked half of my talents by accident. :sweat_smile:
On a final note, I'd have liked to see some more feedback from actually firing the gun and hitting enemies, perhaps some screen shakes or sound effects?
I enjoyed the art and audio, but like others said, I found the goal to be a bit mysterious (and not necessarily in the good way). Some extra feedback could have also helped me know if I was doing good or bad.
Well, this was definitely a unique kind of game.
Like others have said, the look, sound and mood were great. I could have maybe used a bit more direction as to "what the goal was" as I got the idea that I was supposed to do stuff until I'd want to get to bed, and after 1000 points, I thought I would "finish the game" but there was no finishing it after all, so I let the "sleep demon"/"monster" drink my sanity away? I guess that's what it did? :smile:
An enjoyable and well crafted game nonetheless!
I don't know if it was an issue with the game or with my system, but the cannon shots were so short that they couldn't possible cover the entire area. I also kept randomly spamming WASD in order to just merge the cats to attack.
I think having that kind of split controls is a cool idea, but it can be very difficult to pull off. You need to focus on two things at once and both are time sensitive, but there's no penalty for either, so I just kept firing the cannon and spamming WASD, without paying any attention to the merging aspect.
The art and audio were great, but I think the gameplay could do with some more polish. The idea of dual controls is ambitious, but not necessary doable for this type of game.
I think everyone can relate to being woken up early and how it feels like a fight. :smile:
The alarm clocks might have been bugged, or maybe I was just too impatient, as they took certain amount of damage and then just laid there. After waiting some time, I ran into them and lost. If it was some delay mechanic, it could use a clearer indicator?
The visuals and audio were cool, apart from as I'm writing this comment and I'm hearing the gameover sound looping in the back indefinitely. :smile:
Oh, and one more idea, if your game is played entirely using the keyboard, then it'd be great if the menus worked using keyboard only as well, that way you wouldn't need to take one of your hands off to navigate.
The graphics and mood were fantastic.
The writing could have been improved a bit though, as the father changed their mind within 1 second of telling the kid they are too young to know the truth. :smile:
I'm also not sure if I completed the game or if I failed, because I hit the wrong key at the QTE before the house, and then it just ended. I don't know if it would have continued if I had hit the correct key, but when I tried to replay it, I just got a black screen when I tried leaving the first screen.
The game has a definitive interesting quality to it, and if it were to be polished more later, I'd be looking to learn more about it.
The intro at the start was a cool idea, but there should be a "skip button" as some players would just want to get straight into the game and those replaying it would likely want to skip it as well.
I liked the visuals and it kind of resembled Fez feat. Canabalt to me, and the gameplay was responsive.
I played the game twice. On the first time I got to ~4700 and the game just ended. I'm guessing the meteor hit? The next time around, I got to ~8300 and there simply wasn't a next platform. I don't know if it was by design or a bug, but I think these things should be accompanied with some more clues to let the player know what the cause was. :thumbsup:
As for the theme, I do agree that this fits the theme, but I would have liked the "delaying the inevitable" to be dependent on how I'm playing. For instance, the game could get faster and faster until I am no longer able to keep up, but if for some reason I could, then I'd like the game to keep playing. :smile:
I'm an obvious fan of screen shakes with guns. I used them in my game as well. :smile: I think you could have used the screen shake whenever the gun was fired and then had some different visual effect when something was hit.
The gameplay itself is fairly simple and easy to get into, which is great! The simple visual style was also endearing.
I agree with the others that the camera was problematic. The main difficulty in the game was that I couldn't see where I needed to go/jump to next and that's something you definitely want in a platformer. The visual style was relaxing and fairly polished though!
The game looks great and the sounds fit well. I would have liked to see some more variety in the game regarding obstacles, increasing speed or changes in difficulty in general. After having delivered about 11 parcels, I got the feeling that "this was it". Having obstacles that would punish double jumps, needing to do some sliding, etc. would have given the game a lot more complexity and replayablity.
I would have liked to see an option to send the truck away faster, but overall I enjoyed the simple nature of the game. It would have also been beneficial that the parcels on the line would have stopped in a place where they would have all been visible on the screen so that you could have always known what the next parcel is going to be.
The audio fits the game well.
I feel like the game itself could (and should) contain some playing instructions. I tend to start a game and if I can't figure it out, then I come back to read the instructions on this site. Even a single image showing the controls and the game's goal, or which is good and which is bad, would be a fantastic help and make the game more approachable.
Adding some sort of restart/replay mechanic would be great too so that the player could just try again instead of having to restart the entire app.
Cutesy and fun. I liked the game, but I wish the customer speech bubbles would have been a bit more prominent and/or easier to read.
A fun little game. Like some others, in level 1 I tried stacking things properly, but by level 2 I was just tossing everything in due to time constraints. I think the game would have benefited from some clear feedback to the player regarding how they were doing.
I have to agree with the others. I made it close to the end, but then would have died without the cheat feature. Having it in a game jam project like this was a great decision and made me able to get to the end.
I feel like the combat system could have been simpler in terms of math and that the player would have had more influence on it apart from accepting a good result or rerolling until they've run out of rerolls.
I do have a soft spot for the art style used in the portraits. For a game as cutesy as this, I felt the brothers were a bit too expendable. :smile:
At first I thought you were supposed to run on the wall, but then I realised you can just run across the field and that was the entire point (or only way to survive given how the firing zones worked). I think that could have been stressed a bit more. That cost the lives of at least 3 brothers.
@frabjous-studios Yeah, the deliveries do work as expected, but you just need to pay attention to which satellite the delivery is supposed to go via the arrow since all of the satellites share the same graphic. :sweat_smile:
@thinkofname Just needs a few more playthroughs and they'll become quite predictable. :smile:
@harami I did have a "ghost parcel" at one point that showed where and how the parcels would travel in real-time, but it made the game way too easy.
Like others have mentioned, the controls feel quite unintuitive and that likely contributes to the feeling of being excessively punished (killed) for somewhat minor mistake (hitting your head). Using enter to interact with locations also seemed a bit uncomfortable because you had to, at least partially, let go of the controls.
That being said, I did enjoy the take on the theme and the "driving off asteroids" aspect was well executed and fun. The audio was also fairly soothing of the amount of deaths that were going on. :sweat_smile:
@civmaniac I guess the unintuitive feeling comes partly from how left and right arrows are used to control the main movement direction. They work fine, but when you get to flipping around in space, you can lose your "real direction" and "suddenly" left moves right and right moves left. I guess another minor aspect is how the tilting/rotating is so much slower and feels much less responsive than the left/right main controls.
Like so many LD games, with more time and more polish, this'd could be turned into a real smooth game. It's already fun, but it could be smoother. :thumbsup:
@civmaniac One possible option could be to have a "go forward" button and "flip direction" button. But yeah, these issues are always tricky and require a lot of playtesting.
Well, this game certainly is difficult. :sweat_smile:
Refining the camera would make this significantly more comfortable to play. It's a bit jarring when the map and your character changes entirely or swaps positions between frames.
The game's audio could be a bit lower as the gameover prompt caught me off guard a few times.
I feel like with some more polish, this could be a really fun game. :thumbsup:
Like others have said, the controls are exceedingly difficult. I enjoy difficult games, but I felt like this was just way too difficult. When the control list UI disappeared in level 2, I just gave up. :sweat_smile:
You could have, for instance, made the controls using standard 4-directional movement. Moving just left or right moves the character left or right, but when paired with up or down movement, the character is moved diagonally. This way the controls would have been a lot easier to grasp.
Like someone else had mentioned, if you don't wait for the intro slides to finish and just click on "continue" as soon as you can, the game crashes.
The art style is nice and the music is relaxing and fits the setting. I think the game could have benefited from a compass that directs the player to their destination. The camera should have also been pushed a bit further as there were a few instances where I died to a rat that was under the top right UI. I died before I ever saw the rat.
Edit:
I just saw the message in the description above about playing the game in full screen. It does improve the experience, but you should try to make the UI scale for smaller viewports as well, especially if its playable in the browser.
This was my initial view: image.png
The fast paced music does suit the game and the car audio is alright as well.
The gameplay is fun, but I feel like you could have significantly improved it by having a small minimap in some corner of the screen, showing a literal "drop off point" for the pizzas, and refining the collisions with the walls a bit more. The game calls for speed and I'd like to drift the streets and occasionally bump the curb (or houses) in tight corners, but each collision just drains the entire momentum of the car.
Still, it's fun and entertaining, and a good game jam entry! :thumbsup:
Like others have said, the game looks great and sounds good. Unlike others, I don't think there was all that much game to be played. Just buying items, putting them back for sale and proceeding to the next day isn't all that interactive or engaging.
A quick tooltip or intro in the game would have also been helpful. I just skipped the first two days by clicking on the bed. It took me another couple of days to realise that the "sell" button doesn't actually sell the items at the indicated price, but I get to assign it after pressing the button. :sweat_smile:
I don't know if it's me or if something's not working as it should, but I kept getting the words to turn green only to have "..." appear in the speech below.
For replayability, I'd recommend including an option to skip the lengthy opening cutscene so that players can get to playing your game faster (especially if and when they've already seen the opening cutscene once).
Now this is what I'd call a meta game! :smile:
That was a great little experience and definitely a unique one.
Like some others, I'm not sure if the game is actually beatable right now. I feel like the game could definitely guide the player a bit more. For instance, some buildings were within my towers' range, but none of them were using the network. Increasing range or signal didn't have any effect on them. I wasn't sure what the intended strategy was and as the game is 95% waiting without anything to do, I didn't feel like trying again.
The game captures the theme well and there's the seeds of what could be an interesting game, but it needs a lot more work and polish to get there.
The game looks and sounds beautiful!
Judging from the 1-6 controls mentioned for the bots, I'm guessing some were cut due to lack of time? It'd be interesting to see what they would have been.
Ah, it was the famous l2p issue. :laughing:
It's a simple, fun and enjoyable game.
I think the pinging sound could have been "less annoying" on the ears as the games general atmosphere was otherwise so relaxed. The controls did feel like they could have worked a bit differently, but overall it was a great experience.
Thank you all for your feedback!
@indigowolf, @sam-horner a few players have voiced feedback about the controls, so given that I still had almost 10 hours left before JAM submissions, I went ahead and updated the game to use tank controls. I think that's the better control scheme after all.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
@james-7777 That's by design to make the game a bit more challenging. Submarines are also quite a bit slower in real life than patrol boats and destroyers.
@notime4games The sonar should always work, but it has a cooldown (visible in the lower right corner). The enemy ships are on the surface and sail over the obstacles. I figured it'd be easier that way and make the game a bit more difficult (as well as easier to program the AI. :sweat_smile:).
@shernik they don't have torpedoes. The enemy destroyers and patrol boats have depth charges.
Fundamentally changing how the game changes multiple times during the gameplay is an interesting idea. It does make it a bit more challenging in terms of time as you (kinda) need to develop 3 separate games, which means testing, balancing and debugging for 3 games. The obvious drawback with this approach is that players will likely enjoy one game/mode more than others and it's difficult to finish, let alone polish a single game/mode during a short game jam, let alone 3.
That being said, I did like the idea and game jams are a perfect place to try out things like this! I think adding a slight transition animation to when the game modes change would make it easier for the player to grasp the new game mode's style and rules. Seeing some feedback to when you hit the enemies or they hit you would also make the game feel more responsive. This could be something as simple as flashing the model, adding a little knockback, etc.
The audio seems to be breaking and results in fairly loud screeching after a while.
I enjoyed the game's general mood and the simple controls that allowed me to just jump into the game. The obstacles and other game objects could have used higher contrast as light grey rocks can be difficult to see over light purple-ish ground.
Some of the tiles might have been bugged, like the one "force move down" tile that actually allowed me to just walk over it, but overall this a neat jam entry! :v_tone1:
I don't know if the game ended as intended or if it crashed. I don't know if I will keep watching or stop watching? :sweat_smile:
Like others have said, it's an interesting twist on clicker games. I think the upgrade system should have used a different method for updating, like keyboard, so that I could keep collecting things while updating.
It's a neat entry!
It took me a few attempts to realise the planets "activate" just by mouse hover and that clicking on them just deactivated them. :sweat_smile:
The background music is a bit repetitive, but the atmosphere and the style is fun. I think the most difficult part with a game like this is to communicate the rules effectively to the player, perhaps via a simple tutorial level?
Like a few others, I was also wondering the connection to the theme a bit... though I was more puzzled as to why I was killing goats in a forest. :sweat_smile: It's a neat game and I see you were another one of who decided to play around with a CRT shader. :smile:
"The enemy hearing/seeing your pings." Seems like we had a similar idea with this mechanic.
I liked the game's general mood and its concept. I think the game could have benefited from "playing faster". The walk animation and the delay made the game feel perhaps a bit unresponsive.
I agree with goodwayman that the game didn't use/reach its full potential. The ping wasn't necessary to complete the levels, it felt more like a limited use power up or cheat.
I found the art style and the soundscape relaxing.
I may be too much of a min-maxer, but I found the robots to be a hindrance. The robots are fairly slow at mining and the time that it takes you to buy a robot and for it to get to mining, you could have mined significantly more if you had just kept on manually mining. For a game as short as this, I don't think the robots are actually worth buying, unless you (the player) plans on stepping away from the game.
I loved the overall vibe and pacing of the game. Having the option to control the sound levels in the game without having to adjust my speakers manually was also a great little addition. :sweat_smile:
The game was fun and it plays well. If you've still got the time, I'd an option to skip the intro cinematic on subsequent playthroughs.
My one nitpick would be camera. With games like this, enemies that are directly above or below the player can "just appear out of nowhere". By having the camera track the player's cursor as well as the player location, it allows the player more control as to what they see and then these surprise enemies become a skill issue instead of a game feature.
Nicely done! :100: