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Last post Author Topic: Ludum Dare topic for other games  (Read 37182 times)

TaoPhoenix

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Ludum Dare topic for other games
« on: May 01, 2014, 12:35 PM »
A thread for other games.

Here's a great take on the typing game:

http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=18627

Tenkosei ROBO - radmars - Jam Entry

Really uses the "use other artwork" to the advantage!

I'm slow so I could only get past the student. If I wanted to with work I might be able to beat the teacher once, but that's about it.


« Last Edit: May 01, 2014, 01:18 PM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2014, 01:20 PM »
An Ode to Violence - Benn - 48 Hour Compo Entry

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=1865

This one is quite similar to Deozaan's game. With airplanes!  :D


Deozaan

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2014, 01:24 PM »
This one is hilarious. I loved the ridiculousness of it:


Deozaan

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2014, 02:57 PM »
Here's another one that is very similar to mine:


TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2014, 03:27 PM »
Okay, my first favorite today so far is this one:

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=5172
The Gathering - oatsbarley - 48 Hour Compo Entry

This is a pretty clean mini version of Civilization.

Plus it's relaxingly easy - this is the kind of game I'm glad isn't that hard.

I beat it twice this afternoon.

« Last Edit: May 01, 2014, 04:01 PM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2014, 05:34 AM »
This one is a cute little text based mine simulator. It's a 10 round turn each time so you can blast through your games really quick. It's also in my range of "relaxingly easy" because I beat it in ten minutes. : )

(When you're testing Ludum games it's nice to have a few you can zip through!) : )

http://hybridmind.com/game/in-the-black/

Tip: If you worry too much about "improving efficiency" reports, the numbers come back counter-intuitive/buggy. Other things get in there besides the "base" efficiency.

The LD page:
http://www.ludumdare...=preview&uid=234





« Last Edit: May 02, 2014, 06:12 AM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2014, 11:07 PM »
Okay, my first favorite today so far is this one:

http://www.ludumdare...preview&uid=5172
The Gathering - oatsbarley - 48 Hour Compo Entry

This is a pretty clean mini version of Civilization.

Plus it's relaxingly easy - this is the kind of game I'm glad isn't that hard.

I beat it twice this afternoon.



Okay, trying for a "new game in the game", I've gotten a couple of results and equilibriums around 500-600 people. I think with a little work someone can top 700 but that's prob close to the logistical game limit. (I am impressed though for a Ludum Dare it still does the math sorta right with 600 targets.) (I ran into a strategic mistake if your guys are too far away they get stuck in cycles.)


TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2014, 12:12 AM »
Here's a 625 man win.

Ludum Dare 625 man win.pngLudum Dare topic for other games

This is rated Phoenix Easy-Plus or Easy/LowMedium
« Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 06:51 PM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2014, 03:21 PM »
Some of today's Ludum Dare investigations:

Doomsday Bunker
http://www.zyxer.net/ld/doomsdaybunker/

The LD Page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=20509

- a cute little "Sim-Bunker" game, though the difficulty is calibrated a bit tight. The "limiting factors" are food, water, and air, and then when the bombs drop those start to go down. So you can add more people, and more storage for food and water, but it sorta grinds you down after a while. I like sim games that are a bit softer.

Delve
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=31095

The LD Page
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=31095


More of interactive art, with a minor game mechanic. But it's all about grand technicolor art!

Scary Ugly Face
http://jonochrome.it...h.io/scary-ugly-face

The LD Page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=36840

A when xkcd and Hyperbole-and-a-half get drunk and end up in bed together!
;D

« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 06:26 AM by TaoPhoenix, Reason: Adding LD Pages »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2014, 06:07 PM »
Blackwald Forest
https://dl.dropboxus...are29/blackwald.html

The LD Page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=25793

A fairly big team visited the German forests and did lots of 3d photo render scanning of the actual forest. The graphics on this one are amazing! I can't get the hang of the game mechanic but someone with really good hand-eye skills should be able to do pretty well.

« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 06:27 AM by TaoPhoenix »

Deozaan

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2014, 01:06 AM »
It would be great if you would link to the respective LD29 entry page instead of (or in addition to) linking directly to these games so that people who play them can also rate them. :Thmbsup:

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #11 on: May 07, 2014, 06:28 AM »
It would be great if you would link to the respective LD29 entry page instead of (or in addition to) linking directly to these games so that people who play them can also rate them. :Thmbsup:

Sure that makes total sense, I think I just began to drift. ; )


TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #12 on: May 07, 2014, 07:32 AM »
More LD goodness today!

I don't always take screen shots because a lot of the devs did them themselves. But for a couple with something special, here we go.

Lair MD

You are a doctor to goblins getting ready for raids on humans. You're supposed to diagnose and administer cures. The gameplay is a little erratic - I only figured out a quarter of the diseases. But the background art is ... epic.

The LD Page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=20879

And when the devs got feedback, it was "too hard" because it has a very fast timer which runs out before you figure stuff out. So I recommend the "post compo" version.

http://www.manikingames.com/lairmd/

And now for that epic shot:
LD Lair MD Epic art.pngLudum Dare topic for other games

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2014, 09:23 AM »
Okay, that might be about it for me for a couple of days. I might do a couple more later, but it's been fun.


Deozaan

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #14 on: May 07, 2014, 01:23 PM »
Here's one I just played. It was the first one I thought was deserving of 5-stars across the board:

You are an old gangster, locked up in a prison for 42 years, and you suddenly find a way to get out of the cell. Your goal is to escape and stay beneath the surface so you don't get killed.

(There is no preloader and the filesize is 6Mb, so it might take some time to download)


TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #15 on: May 07, 2014, 03:22 PM »
Interesting. I'm not really a Platformer guy myself, but on my wanderings I did see lots of people doing them. How did this make your list as a 5? What finesses about platformers are super important to you?

And how tight do you like your difficulty levels? In the comments I keep seeing notes between the commenters and devs that the devs misjudge the difficulty quite often, maybe because they intuitively have a feel for how they are involved with the controls and the content, and can make all those tight hops. (But then I never mastered the asdw/arrow controls for games either.)

In my surveys here I tend to enjoy relaxing with a game that others might call too easy, but it means I can at least get solidly into the game before maybe some spot just makes me call it a day and move on.

Corollary, I like watching speedruns! : )

Edit: I just needed a nap!

« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 05:07 PM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #16 on: May 07, 2014, 05:17 PM »
For a perfect mix of silliness "Rated PG for ... figure it out."  :P

Princess Fart!
LD Page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=20841

The LD main web copy:
http://jacklehamster...tch.io/princess-fart

For completeness and to see some sterner reviews, here is a Newgrounds copy:
http://www.newground...m/portal/view/638437

And because I am cruising and this is a "concept game" I'm glad there's a walkthrough.
https://sites.google...hrough/princess-fart

And I'm on the verge of making my own rough difficulty ratings! A key aspect is it's really "tough" to die! (There's a pit though, watch for that!) So because of that you just have to work through the puzzles. It's like the yin vs the yang of a walkthrough. (For ex if a game is super hard the walkthrough is only 20% help because it doesn't matter if you die every thirty seconds! But some folks out there really do like tough games.) So combined I'd officially call this "easy".

To climb the ladders sometimes it helps to wiggle left and right on the controls.

And the voices are hysterical! Dev says he (she?) abused Google Translate (somehow.) (Not sure where the voice side comes from.)

« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 05:30 PM by TaoPhoenix »

Deozaan

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #17 on: May 07, 2014, 05:46 PM »
Interesting. I'm not really a Platformer guy myself, but on my wanderings I did see lots of people doing them. How did this make your list as a 5? What finesses about platformers are super important to you?

And how tight do you like your difficulty levels? In the comments I keep seeing notes between the commenters and devs that the devs misjudge the difficulty quite often, maybe because they intuitively have a feel for how they are involved with the controls and the content, and can make all those tight hops. (But then I never mastered the asdw/arrow controls for games either.)

In my surveys here I tend to enjoy relaxing with a game that others might call too easy, but it means I can at least get solidly into the game before maybe some spot just makes me call it a day and move on.

Corollary, I like watching speedruns! : )

Edit: I just needed a nap!

It's definitely a hard game. In fact, I didn't beat it.

But I rated it as a 5 in all categories because...

Somebody created it from scratch in 48 hours.

The art was pretty good. It all fit a style/theme and worked well together. It looked good.
The game itself was pretty well developed. Text above the player's head, the police chasing the escapee, the helicoptor, the platformer controls were pretty good (though I feel there was a problem with knowing where the player's feet were, which made it easy to fall off the edge just as you press the jump button.
The sounds and audio were well done.
It made a good use of the theme "Beneath the Surface"
It wasn't a worm game or underwater game (good innovation).

Etc.

I think most people, when reviewing games, give a rating based on how much they enjoy playing the game, or seeing the pretty visuals, or hearing the nice audio. I think the LD ratings are (or should be) different. I think the rating should be based on the understanding that time was limited, and developing all aspects of a game is difficult with such limitations on time. In other words, I'm rating not just how enjoyable I feel the game is, but also based on how well developed it is.

Senilescape might not be that impressive of a game compared to something like Super Meat Boy (which I believe also had its origins in a LD competition), but the difference between Super Meat Boy and Senilescape is that Senilescape was made in 48 hours by one person while Super Meat Boy was made over the course of several months by (mainly) two or three people and (IIRC) with grant money and other support from Microsoft.

Senilescape is one of the few games that both impressed me from a technical/completeness perspective and from a fun/gameplay perspective. Really, the only complaint I have about it is that the jumping was a tiny bit off, resulting in falling onto spikes when I felt the jump button should have worked. My guess for this problem is that the physics engine probably sees the character as a thinner rectangle than the sprite would indicate.

senilescape character size.png

That is, if the physics sees the character as the size outlined in pink then the sprite gives the player the impression he has some extra width (underlined in green) that is still standing on the ledge before he has to jump. This means that if the pink area is no longer on the ground, but the green area still is, the player will be unable to jump and will fall.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 05:55 PM by Deozaan »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #18 on: May 07, 2014, 06:24 PM »
And here we come to another of the "simple" strategy games that are right down my alley!

A few people were well aware that everyone would be making digging/platformers/underground/underwater games, so some of them went for "emotions beneath the surface". A "Sleeper hit" might be "Undermined" where you have to make trapped miners feel better.

The LD page:
http://www.ludumdare...review&uid=29805

It's a download only - no web version (yet?)

Undermined - Emotional Solace non-timed strategy game.pngLudum Dare topic for other games

Some great aspects:
- Really crisp layout where all the info is mostly there at most a click away, vs traveling all over the terrain all the time.
- Exactly 12 rounds so while some of it does depend on "dice rolls" at worst if you totally botch it I think you can hit enter like 30 times (including the confirmation screens) and blow up the game and start over aka you don't lose five hours of work slowly building a bigger sim.
- Really conducive to making a chart of which miner wants which support action, (vs the ultra hard method of doing it all from memory but I tend not to like memory stuff - I prefer notes.)
- Round based, with no timer. So you can just relax and try to work it out (even vs say a bad dice roll), get a snack, a phone call comes, and again you don't lose your game play effort because all your people died while you were doing something.





« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 06:41 PM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #19 on: May 07, 2014, 06:34 PM »
Great answer Deozaan, and I sorta agree I really get the time limits, so I am only rating games "vs each other". And of course with 2500 games, everyone has different skills so I've really liked reading the tons of post mortems. Some time later I'll go back (again) and check more on the "Alone" theme from a couple of LD challenges ago just to see what the ratio of "underground/water/dig/platformers" is there. I vaguely recall that theme helped inspire a slight bit more creative designs where this one really led a lot of people to compete with each other on finessing the standards.

So yeah if they almost perfectly nailed the gameplay, to me that's huge vs some of the other teams got a little over ambitious then ran themselves out of time to bugtest.

That's one reason I like some of these "simple" strategy games, because often without complex physics going on, the dev can keep it under wraps and do more raw core polishing.

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #20 on: May 07, 2014, 06:42 PM »
More on Undermined, new post to help avoid Wall of Text and making it easier to parse on its own new subthread.

Advanced strategy musings:
I don't have this part completely mastered yet but it shows "emergent strategy from simple rules":
Not unlike how I once beat Rubik's Clock puzzle (disappointingly) easily (but maybe more fun here):
There's something going on with something I'll roughly call "Numerical Overloading".

You start by ...
1. Checking what type of comfort each miner wants. There's 3 types of comfort: Hug, Listen, and Discuss. But there's five miners. So even in the "optimal" layout you get a "pull" of 2 2 1. That last one means that it is a "semi-dead" help type you can't use elsewhere and you'll often have to waste actions. Just now I kept getting bad draws so I kept getting more of that "limited use" one and all my miners died!

But at the meta level, if you make a chart, within two turns you might discover you have a "3 2 0" spread. In my opinion at the speed the problems develop, I consider that an "unwinnable" scenario unless you get incredibly lucky because every single time you get that dead resource you can't use it.

2. This game actually feels like a fantastic "tablebase" exercise. You have to mesh about four factors together, and it really feels like a computer program could produce a table (maybe exported to Excel so you can resort it in several ways to optimally use it!?) to show best play scenarios. But recalling the "gambler's fallacy" there's an element of forward projecting risk here. So You can risk letting one miner try to hang on "hoping" you get more of that crucial resource again next turn etc. But of course depending on the pure randomness of the seed etc, it's perfectly capable of sinking you with bad draws.

I missed the first time that miners either "really like" an action = -2 reduction of distress, but the middle one is "regular" and is a -1 reduction apparently. But the basic "squeezes" still are an issue if you get too many bad draws.

3. When miner's start to die, it looks like your available resources goes down, which looks pretty tough! I don't have all the answers on that one yet. So, looks good! But I also recommend if the initial draw looks impossible, just kill it and restart.

Hmm, maybe I found a bug - it's not detecting all actions used sometimes.

Hmm, it's calibrated rather tight. More reasons I haven't won yet!
:(
« Last Edit: May 07, 2014, 07:58 PM by TaoPhoenix »

tomos

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #21 on: May 07, 2014, 06:43 PM »
Great answer Deozaan ...

+1 :up:
Tom

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #22 on: May 07, 2014, 09:25 PM »
More on Undermined:

It looks like it's not sufficiently randomized when you open the program! And the first layout looks like it is close to unwinnable! It keeps giving you too many resources on the one you can't easily use, almost 80% more than either of the other two, and you "can't use them" on two of the other miners!

So if you die and restart the program, you are back at that draw again!

My next guess is to see how "standardized" the sequence is. It may be the first winnable one is X number of iterations in!

-- Well, the "preferences" seem to be the same, but the spread does move around a little, so it's unclear.

Update:

This is my best result so far: I saved a couple of miners:

« Last Edit: May 08, 2014, 08:02 AM by TaoPhoenix »

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #23 on: May 08, 2014, 09:31 AM »
Heh after current (and future!) OD'ing on LD Post mortems, I think there's room for another couple of funny meta-games designed like the miner one where people are writing the LD game and they have to pick a platform, deal with the theme, have collision problems, have 3d problems, are bad at art, bad at music, too many bugs, and more!

Then at the end of the game they get feedback, and then you have to write a (fast) post mortem where you pick by clicking the parts that went right and wrong!

:)


TaoPhoenix

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Re: Ludum Dare topic for other games
« Reply #24 on: May 08, 2014, 09:34 AM »
(Misc post for a couple of awesome lines that you hotshots might even understand but I don't, but they just sound awesome!)

"PlayerController.cs is a hideous god object singleton that rules over the dystopian wasteland of game state with an iron fist."

(Paraphrased) "So is it Ludum 'dair' or Ludum 'dah-re'?" - "It's prob closer to dah-re based on the Latin roots but pronounce it however you really want to!"