Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → zazery
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Gr | Au | Hu | Mo | Cm | Co | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 30 | Connected Worlds | Alien Gift Exchange | jam | 294 | 3.35 | 3.33 | 3.52 | 3.95 | 4.30 | 3.90 | 3.29 | 26 | |||
| 2013 | 26 | Minimalism | The Side Factor | jam | 99 | 3.62 | 3.14 | 3.59 | 2.97 | 4.00 | 3.17 | 3.15 | 49 | |||
| 2012 | 25 | You are the Villain | Reclaimed Empire | compo | 635 | 2.46 | 2.08 | 2.42 | 1.88 | 4.04 | 2.29 | 1.23 | 2.42 | 41 | ||
| 2012 | 24 | Evolution | Maple | compo | 641 | 2.41 | 2.35 | 3.09 | 1.87 | 3.04 | 2.43 | 1.62 | 2.47 | 45 | ||
| 2012 | 23 | Tiny World | Desire | compo | 160 | 3.45 | 3.00 | 3.97 | 3.62 | 3.34 | 2.28 | 2.33 | 2.95 | 52 | ||
| 2011 | 22 | Alone | Statue | compo | 186 | 3.00 | 2.53 | 2.11 | 2.94 | 3.60 | 1.50 | 1.09 | 2.83 | 1.70 | 52 | |
| 2011 | 21 | Escape | Qua-tzar | compo | 360 | 2.54 | 2.00 | 3.38 | 2.00 | 2.23 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.80 | 6 |
I like the whole computer feel of the game, especially how the minimal text contributes to it. It didn't feel like I was escaping but I did get the feeling when I was chased by the red enemies.
Very intense! I think it would benefit from a long vertical aspect ratio so you can see the lava and rocks and have more time to react.
This is pretty cool. I think it has a strong connection to everyone participating in the competition. Congrats on making your first game ever.
I really like the concept, especially the water bombs. Oh and the changing tips at the top of the screen were extremely useful and a great way to ease players into playing the game.
Great concept and interesting level design.
Thanks for trying the game everyone! I was planning to implement networking but I ran out of time. I can't believe I forgot to fix the undo feature though. You can undo moves by clicking on a piece again but only if you have action points left.
@Rudy: I wish I could implement a friend. I only had a chance to play it once with a friend half way through the competition.
@Rialgar: I'm really glad you tried it with a friend. Pieces can travel through each other as long as they don't land on the same space. If a BIT is cornered by a TZAR, you can attempt to move to where the TZAR is and avoid capture. However, if your opponent doesn't move your BIT will die.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try your suggestion of giving players more action points and limiting them per token.
I didn't explain this properly but you can score from any square on the back row, not just the one in front of the door.
A non-installation version would be nice.
The hit boxes could be a little more forgiving. Pretty intense game!
My favourite mechanic is pushing boulders into the holes. I can definitely see the Link's Awakening inspiration in there as I'm playing through it myself. Thanks for streaming your process.
More visual feedback would be nice like how much power is available to buildings in a network. I wasn't completely sure how all the buildings worked. Felt lots of tension when the plants get to the mainland. Nice premise.
The spotlight effect works quite well in creating tension. I wish there was music to go along with the visual style.
It took me a couple levels to realize you had to collect two white squares to finish it. If they were more visually distinct or the level structure changed it might be more obvious.
Simple but effective use of lights. Controls were a bit sluggish. Really cool for your first Unity project.
Being chased by other squirrels is awesome. It needed some sound to complement it.
The way the blocks interact with each other is interesting. Consider adding a way for the player to manipulate/create obstacles to help catch the green block and block the red one.
Congrats on finishing your third game ever and first LD submission.
Needs randomization.
Nice concept. It would have been great if you developed it further.
I agree with dramble that it could have used more mechanics. Maybe some special blocks that required obtaining a certain item to break. I think some sound effects would have really made the digging mechanic more fun to use.
Really liked the audio.
The cellular automata mechanic is really neat. I never fully figured out how to use it properly. I had the same technical problem as Robmaister.
I wish you had time for more content. I especially liked the music.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone. I'm glad people are enjoying the game despite the flaws.
Ending: Yes, I ran out of time for a proper ending. You win the game when you collect all three shards and the optional kitten.
Controls: Double jump doesn't work as well as it should and I should have made the controls tighter. I wish I could update the controls but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the competition.
@bitbof: I didn't even think of double jumping on the mountain but I'm glad you got a sense of achievement out of it.
Interesting concept but a bit difficult to play. The dwarves are too unpredictable and most of the time clicking to place traps didn't work when I had the money.
Amazing! I felt really immersed in the environment and it felt like I was alone.
On the third level I managed to pull off a narrow escape and make the enemies fall off. That felt good.
I really enjoyed the puzzles and the mood created from the audio and graphics.
Really cool concept and intro sequence.
At first I had trouble getting the game to work (Windows 7 64 bit) but starting it via the console helped. I liked how the old man accompanied you on your journey but it doesn't go with the theme.
The level design reminds me of Link's Awakening where it reveals a screen to show you where to go but you must take the long way around.
I thought it was absolutely amazing. Clever puzzles and take on the theme. I was about to close the game but then I came across the first puzzle where you have another self and then I played until the end. The ending was quite special, no pun intended. It reminds me of the shift you make at the end of Portal 2 although not as dramatic.
As you said in your postmortem, better puzzle design would have been nice but it's pretty good for 48 hours.
What a crazy storyline. At first I thought by staying still or hiding in small areas I could recover but I quickly realized the only way was to take the pills.
The first thing you receive should be bullets. In my first attempt a zombie came and killed me. In my second attempt I got a gun and one zombie came for a minute. I heard zombie noises though but didn't see any zombies. Visually you could make the area the player must stay in more obvious like others have suggested.
I liked how you panned the audio as the player moves around the screen. Movement was quite annoying even after learning about dashing.
I stopped when things changed and didn't realize you could hold down to do something special until I read the comments. It seems like the whole game unfolds then, which is pretty cool. But the controls were quite frustrating so I had to give up on the more complicated block puzzles.
Definitely could use a lot more visual feedback such as a score and fuel counters. The enemies don't actually threaten the small world, instead they threaten the player so I was a bit confused as to how I would protect it.
I didn't develop a good understanding of the collision volumes so I found myself dying a lot. The first time I played through I didn't realize you could double jump even though I read it. When I did double jump I felt even less in control of the player. Landing is hard!
Absolutely loved the game. The audio, animation, and graphics are superb. At first I found myself wanting to go back to the first screen with the story to see who the first and last person in the chain but then I realized the story tells you at the appropriate hour.
I liked the in game tutorial. The game was really fun to play. The waves got pretty crazy. I managed to win my first game though. I'm still a little confused as to how the power value works and grows over time. It seems to go down as I take action yet the game says if the power is too high the other deities will take action.
Definitely could use more visual feedback like a warning if you are close to drawing attention from other deities. Also I'd like to know the breakdown of what is causing the life force number to go up.
Robot mating season? Laser proof Viking helmet? Awesome. That said I would like to see the helmet actually knock the robots back. I died many times since I held my arrow keys too long.
I must have played this at least 20 times. The core mechanic is really fun. I made it past the first 2 levels and half way through the third. This game has a lot of potential and I could see it being successful on mobile devices or web portals.
At first it took a bit to figure out how the the mouth worked. I thought the yellow bar indicated how large the mouth was. Since the green squares are on a grid, the corners of the mouth are the same size. Drawing a distinctive mouth on all sides of the cube would make it much easier to understand.
I'm still not clear on how the orange bar works, the semi-transparent rectangles you leave behind, and what direction the cube expands. Although I think the last two are related.
It feels like this is a mechanic that can be explored even further. I hope you expand on it.
Found a bug. Sometimes you can eat a rectangle larger than you if you try to go diagonal near a corner.
http://puu.sh/u3co
In that screenshot the square I'm touching was eaten once on the left.
I definitely enjoy time travel games. Managed to figure out the battery to open the door and how to grow the plant. I wasn't sure what to do with the spider, open electrical panel, or gun.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that started rampaging the moment I accidentally hit a house. Perhaps there could be a way for the giant to regain the world's patience by doing good deeds. Wish there was audio.
It just keeps going and going. The boss was really fun to fight.
The ammo in binary and score in hex is a nice touch.
Nice idea. It took me a bit to realize you could travel anywhere you wanted instead of just the windows and your home base.
Well done for your first entry. The worlds that generated for me were quite barren compared to the screenshots until I teleported to the man.
Wow, it's hard to believe this was done in 72 hours. The world feels big but it's a delight to explore. One moment that I enjoyed early on is climbing up a long rope into the clouds. The propeller hat while holding jump is really neat. Animation and art style is great.
I figured out teleporting right away thanks to the x+c on the title screen. I really do enjoy the mechanic and the enemies that forced you to use it. The presentation is great, especially the checkpoint and boss battle text.
I beat the game on Tiny World mode. I really like how landing and taking off from planets works. It feels really good. In space unless you see planets it's hard to gauge how fast you're travelling. If there are little specks of stars that move in the background it might make it easier. The mini map was certainly helpful. Combat had a lot to be desired.
Played it by myself. I really like the building mechanic. I think the end condition should be tied to building things. Like once a player builds somewhere, there's a period where another player can destroy it until it becomes permanent. Whoever has the most buildings win. Buildings could have upgrades too. So much potential!
A bit hard to know what to do. The 3D elements look interesting for the perspective.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it. I definitely agree that the board should have been smaller or maybe I could have gone with multiple smaller levels. I only realized this close to the end of the compo when I sat down and played through a full game myself as a normal player would.
@robocozzens - That's a very strange issue. I developed the game using my Macbook so it should work on a Mac.
Thanks for the amazing feedback everyone. It's humbling to have so many people play my game and take the time to leave quality feedback.
Sorry about all the text issues and the 1024 height resolution. I'll see if I can fix that and upload it separately.
@Several: Waving at desired people is an excellent idea. I was struggling with how to do that!
Like others have said, a bit more polish with the UI would be great. I found that even though I deployed ships to a certain sector they wound up far away from that point. Really liked the ship designs and it was a fun experience.
Really liked the concept and the perspective the game was set at. Nice, relaxing and sort of creepy. At first I thought the ambient sounds were someone sleeping but then I realized it's what breathing sounds like. Collision detection could use a little work.
*Hits spacebar* "Whoah!!!"
I really liked your game. Shooting worked well but I felt it could use a little more visual feedback. The character could use more frames for aiming the crossbow. Something feels off when the player's visuals don't change when moving the mouse around. Lots of content, great music and good pacing.
Nice and simple but surprisingly fun. Would have liked to see a bit more variety and AI that reacts to the player. Liked the music.
Very interesting control mechanic. Took me a bit to figure out how to move the legs though since I thought after time the arrows appear instead of clicking on the foot. Laser is pretty awesome too. I wanted to know how damaged each part of the mech was and some way to defend those parts better.
I wasn't sure what the objective of the game was. I assume it's to annihilate all life on the planet but that doesn't seem to match the name.
This game feels really fun. Thee visual effects, specifically the speed trail and how it changes based on speed feels really tight.
Catching birds isn't a mechanic I've seen in the games I've rated so far. It's interesting but like other people have said there needs to be a point to it. I was expecting to die of starvation without eating birds, then I thought it was about matching birds like catching 6 of a kind.
Animations are nice but the sound effects are a bit annoying. Sounds like sfxr. Try selecting a Sin wave for a softer chirp and running it through the equalization filter in Audacity. I'm not an audio expert though.
Neat idea but it's not fun at this point but I can see it becoming fun after some tweaks. Mainly the interface needs improvement. For example, displaying the name of each horse next to them on the main screen. The racing screen is fun since watching your horse race is pretty entertaining. At first I was confused which similarly coloured horse was mine so maybe an indicator above that horse would help. Without entering the breeding screen it should be easy to tell when a horse is ready to breed. Perhaps a heart could float above the horse's head when they are ready. The put down button is kind of close to the okay button and there is no confirmation. I ended up losing a horse I wanted to keep.
There's a lot of downtime between breeding since you can only have 6 horses. Still, overall this is a pretty cool idea.
Fun little tool and interesting take on the theme. I'm usually pretty bad at drum machines but I was able to make something decent with this one.
Once you understand how to play it's a pretty fun game. Ask the villagers questions and know when to migrate before the dumb cat comes.
Interesting concept but I wish there were more powers you could research. The music gives it a nice mood.
Love the pixel art animations. Gameplay feels tight but sometimes it's hard to know if you got hit.
It's a bit frustrating when you fall down. Thought it was really cool how you evolve when you move up a level.
That got creepy fast. Beautiful pixel art, great mood, and the audio is really well done. The timelapse was pretty cool to watch too.
I watched in horror as my Mincertrons huddled up between the ramps starving while an impending asteroid attack was coming. Most starved before the asteroids came. 2 survived in the end.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm glad to know people like the control mechanic and audio.
I was definitely inspired by Captain Forever for the ship building. I have been mulling over a ship building game for a couple years and once I came up with the button control system I knew I had to build it. One of the biggest influences for the game which might not be obvious from what I implemented is C&C Red Alert 1.
I'm definitely going to explore the idea further and see what comes out of it. It's pretty awesome people are asking if they can steal the idea since that means the idea is worth pursuing. As diki points out there is a lot of design space to explore.
It took a bit to figure out what was going on but it was pretty fun once I figured it out. I like the dynamic of crashing into planets to pickup bacteria and avoiding hitting newly seeded planets.
This is so awesome. The DNA code sharing is awesome.
The web version didn't work for me despite other Unity games working so I downloaded the Windows build.
I enjoyed watching the ecosystem grow. At first I ate a lot of trees and grew really big. Then I wanted to try to be a carnivore but there's a slight delay after you take a bite out of another cube that was frustrating so I gave up on that. The relationship between what you eat and what you become is a bit confusing. Graphics were nice but the audio was a bit repetitive.
It's hard to tell which areas will lead you to your doom. It's also quite easy to get lost without recognizable landmarks. The audio really works well with the visual style.
Freezes in Chrome so I downloaded the Windows version. Not a big fan of installers but I played it anyway. I liked the ending I got, it was a pretty neat idea. It took me awhile to figure out I couldn't jump over the black platforms (it does look like you can walk under them too)
At first I thought the health icon represented portals and that every time I fell it looped me back to the top. The speed you can get is insane. Just hold right and you're a blur.
When I first read the description of the game I imagined upgrading the AI to adapt to the behavior of the enemy. Well, the experience was completely different but it was pretty interesting. The malfunctions had more to do with the environment than the ships themselves. The gameplay had a really good tempo to it.
I thought the concept was interesting. At first I didn't realize I had to stay upright but once I failed I understood. It was difficult to tell if you were touching an object or not.
Nice graphic style.
Nice aesthetic and concept.
I enjoyed playing it. The choices were intuitive enough to figure out what would happen to your stats.
I really like the concept but I found it a bit difficult to control. Audio was awesome.
I found this game very challenging. Graphics and level design are interesting.
Unfortunately I didn't get to that part. Originally the idea was if you destroyed all the beacons it would give you the option to bombard the planet from space and thus beat the level.
When I saw the screenshot I became really excited. Great concept and I was not disappointed with the execution.
As others have mentioned the controls were difficult to master. Often I would try to jump from a wall and just fall instead. The game looks nice and the audio is pretty good. I did skip to the end to see the theme and it's an interesting idea.
Nice atmosphere. I saw an early screenshot of your game and it inspired me to explore Unity's image effects in mine. I especially liked the rooms with the curved walls near the beginning.
I really enjoyed the game, great work! I was able to figure out how to play the game without reading your instructions. The graphics you have are good but I think you could push it a bit further if you had time. Instead of using arrows the path could be a dirt path. It would be great to see art for each building that showed the progress of your upgrades. I had a hard time remembering which buildings I had already maxed out. What you did for the compo is fine, however, I'm just talking about where you can go from here.
As for gameplay I found it too easy but I can see a lot of potential in the current systems. See what you can do to give players more meaningful choices. There are some interesting ones now and the upgrades are very thematic to the building.
Here's a screenshot of when I stopped playing: http://puu.sh/1Eyxv (all upgrades)
Cool idea. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I could kill one chef but not the other with the wire. Then I found it I was supposed to poison the food. I think if you add some animations that explain why a method doesn't work would make the game more interesting. For example I thought about why killing the right chef first wouldn't work since the other one would see it.
Nice graphics. I think the theme would've come through more if it was easier since villains need to think they are winning.
At first I was shooting everything, then I read about the idea and thought it was pretty neat. It would've helped if there was a bit of feedback but I guess it's very minimal.
Nice multiplayer game. It's a bit hard to tell when a ball is going to be repelled by a ring and who owns each ball. I do like the force mechanic but I always forget to release movement. Great job on the game!
Very deep game. I felt a connection to the characters.
It's very satisfying to see them fight. The visuals are quite pleasing and it's just cubes. I discovered on my own that you could click on a unit to zoom in, that was a pleasant surprise. Great job!
The audio is a bit quiet and the music stops playing in game.
No problem running it on Windows 7. Controls are intuitive but feel a little sluggish. It's hard to tell when you hit something or how much health you have left. I like the ship design and the graphic style of using AO and flat shaded low-poly ships.
Pretty challenging but I like the idea of putting on different hats to change your controls. The sword's idle position makes it seem like just running into an enemy should damage them.
Loved the music and the art. It set a good mood for the story which I quite liked. I beat the game.
Anyone who is having trouble beating the game should be holding down spacebar for rapid fire. Your shots have a longer reach than the turrets too.
I clicked on the link without seeing the screenshot. I was pleasantly surprised when I hit the green S'. Sometimes it was a bit hard to understand but it was pretty cool.
It didn't take me long after reading the instructions. At first I didn't realize it was timed and when I started playing I lost almost immediately.
I really loved the concept and the execution. Excellent work!
Took me 9 rounds to beat the CPU. I like how minimal the rules are and yet it's quite interesting. The trick I found to defeating the CPU is to more 1 square a turn by moving a space, forward, and back. I also noticed blue didn't move sometimes.
The attention to detail in the animations is incredible and the gameplay feels pretty tight. I'm a big fan of local multiplayer games so I'll try it when my friends are over.
I think it would look even better at 2x pixel resolution. Both Chrome and Firefox make the edges fuzzy when zooming in.
Really interesting game. If you made the rules behind each module more clear ahead of time it would be a really solid game. Consider making a board game version of it with randomized event cards and releasing it on The Game Crafter.
Made it to the second platform. This game is really hard without visuals in the background to tell your velocity. It sounds like this was intention because of the theme. One way you could have done it without adding visuals is make the camera lag slightly behind the character. Congrats on your first LD!
Beautiful game. The levels were very entertaining to play with the low passage ways so you'll rapidly destroy blocks to break up the pacing.
Looks so pretty both in visuals and animation. The ending was beautiful. At first I was trying to collect as much junk as possible. Reverse Katamari, neat!
Yes, disabled pieces can't deal damage except indirectly by pushing a ship into the plasma barrier. They are still useful after they are disabled and you get an additional action because of it too.
Thanks for the feedback. Damage stacks but the only scenario where it's possible is if you amplify through multiple allied ships. I think it might be more intuitive if pushing and damaging could both happen.
For a post-jam version I'm first planning to balance and tweak gameplay. If it's solid I'll consider adding networking and writing AI. Interesting thought about other types of maps.
Outstanding game! Reminds me of SpaceChem.
It took me awhile to realize I needed to drag a component onto a vat because I thought I needed to rearrange them on the board. The in game tutorial is very well done otherwise and the level design is smart.
I scored 25 on my second go once I read the instructions. Once you get a nice rhythm going it feels great.
Solid experience overall. The graphics, gameplay, and audio come together quite well. I noticed balls clipping through already drawn lines. I like how the spaces you create need to adhere to Mondrian dimensions.
Think about adding more levels and challenges for the player to meet like a point/area that needs to be covered in a specific colour.
I played against myself. It's an interesting game. I like the aesthetics and the audio is pretty good. Gameplay wise I found the Wizard the most difficult piece to position but it was also the most useful.
Took a long time to load the HTML5 version. I like the resource system and the speed of the game. I died almost instantly since it took me a few seconds to realize where my character was.
Very nice portal effect. Yellow world is tricky because of the inverse controls. I would have liked to see more variation but what you have works very well.
Absolutely agree we could have done a better job communicating what aliens desire. I updated the entry description with an explanation of how the underlying system works.
Also made a minor tweak (post jam version) to the combat system to actually make it beatable. Enemies deal less devastation and have slightly less (hidden) health per enemy.
Lastly I remove the Wait message, which was to prevent players from interacting before the alien dialogue sequence was finished. Clicking too fast might break things but it feels better without it.
Thanks for the feedback!
-Eric
The death quotes are great. Once the sun leaves the screen it's a bit hard to tell how close it is. Also when you are running away you can't see that far in front of you either. The asteroids being attracted to the Earth was a nice surprise. Camera issues aside it's a nice game. Also nice music!
I spent a long time just playing with it creating music before actually trying to figure out the patterns. It was a bit frustrating with everything rotating to hit the correct colours sometimes. Great job overall!
The animation is my favourite part. All the little bits hitting your ship and the weaving animation your ship's spine makes. Really amazing ship design too.
Really cool concept. I ended up failing but I'm not sure why. Sometimes it was hard to figure out how each of my actions affected the different numbers.
Easy to figure out and later levels present some interesting puzzles. Once you figure out what to do it would be nice if there was a button to speed up the planetary movement.