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DonationCoder thread for LudumDare34 Dec 2015

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TaoPhoenix:

Learning to Dance by WetDesertRock / DesertRock
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=30221

This one is an art piece, with a little bit of soft interaction from the middle on.

It's not really a "game". But it's pretty sensitive, so it def will get a post, and I need a couple days when I'm not hyper to study it!

TaoPhoenix:
Ascending Roots by Tim "Blackbird" Beaudet
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=1888
(Downloads)

There's a couple of different types of puzzle games - the ones with "sneak shots" where a player can get really frustrated (some like it though!) with obscure things to do to advance the action along.

This one tries to "play fair" in that it's about the pattern sequencing of the water vs the max capacity 6 drop cap and which way you go which direction and so on.

So I just ran through it with the help of the devs and with one exception once I got past "some funny stuff" I did just fine on all the levels except one.

More detailed stuff in a second post just to avoid walls of text.

The art is solid, there's some soft music, and the puzzles are ultimately very doable. There's one level in the middle Into the Trees that some of us think is actually harder than some later levels so don't get discouraged!

TaoPhoenix:
On the more technical side, a chat with the developer lead yielded the following "fairness tips".

- A couple of the levels have small sprouts that are really hard to see and know they're there. One idea is to just "burn lives" because there's no timer, no game over, each level has a restart, and no need to rush.

- Wander around just trying to water everything in sight to find out what grows. The game "plays fair" so it's about interlocking your water usage, not "find the hidden sprout".

- When you're putting out fires with the water, *don't stand on top of the "smoldering logs" * (that only catch fire when you cross over them once) - you have to stand to the side to put the fire out.

- Mushrooms and other "background" plant lichens don't grow - only the main green sprouts and vines grow.

- Wander around "wasting a couple lives" learning which are "legal" jumps and which are unsafe (you die). Otherwise you could miss a legal move because you thought it was an unsafe / illegal jump down (falling off a raised element.) Some work, some don't.

TaoPhoenix:
More stuff:

- Because there's no time limit, no "lives lost", and full level restarts, go slow, use small taps of the movement keys, make sure you don't scramble your muscle memory trying to do some kind of speed run, because if you mis-click and lose a water droplet, don't waste your time because chances are you're hosed and can't finish the level. just start over.

- The level "Summit" isn't all that hard, but there's a vine on the top level in the middle that you can't see that's the finisher. This game "plays fair" so it's about the water droplets, not trying to find hidden vines.

Two strategy tips:

- The *implications* of only holding six droplets is that you can't "fill up with less than 3" so you waste the last drop you need somewhere else. So make "partial progress" growing something you need.

- In a couple of cases you have to run across a smoldering log and grab the water and back before the fire lights up.

- The trickier levels have "loops" so watch what order and direction you cross the smoldering log because that one's free but it wastes a water coming back and if you do the loop the wrong way you'll likely be one water short somewhere near the end.

Good luck!

I will also be reviewing this one over at DonationCoder.com with mostly a mirror of these notes, along with some other Ludum Dare 34 games!

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=42010.0

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