Comme vous le savez, j’ai participé aux 3 dernières éditions du Ludum Dare.
Les revues des jeux fonctionnent avec un système de karma. Plus vous testez et notez les jeux d’autres personnes, plus votre jeu remonte dans la liste. La proportion est d’à peu près 1 pour 1. Lorsque vous donnez un avis sur un jeu, vous finissez par recevoir un avis sur votre jeu. Il faut une vingtaine de notes pour espérer apparaître dans le classement final.
Le classement par karma est indépendant du classement final. Vous pouvez avoir un karma très haut et beaucoup de personnes qui viennent vous noter, mais si votre jeu n’est pas génial, les notes seront pourries et votre classement final sera très bas.
On peut aussi avoir l’effet inverse. Si vous avez déjà une certaine réputation et du talent, les gens viendront en masse noter votre jeu, et vous n’arriverez pas à contrebalancer le karma avec vos propres notations. Genre Deepnight, qui reçoit 446 notes pour Nuclear Blaze sans avoir besoin de lever le petit doigt. Forcément les 16 notes qu’il a données ne suffisent pas, et c’est tant mieux pour lui. (Je suis peut-être un peu jaloux, je dois avouer).
J’essaye de donner des notes de qualité, que j’accompagne toujours d’un petit commentaire de revue. D’abord parce que c’est classe, et ensuite parce que si votre revue est likée, je crois que ça fait un petit bonus de karma. C’est toujours ça de pris.
Je vous ai rassemblé ici mes revues de la 48ème édition. Ça me fait un article de blog à peu de frais. Comme vous l’aurez deviné, je suis une fois de plus à l’arrache.
Au fait, il s’agit du traditionnel « article publié le jour de Noël qui parle pas du tout de Noël ». C’est les vacances, ce qui a pour effet bénéfique de me désalarracher un tout petit peu pour mes activités créatives, d’où paf « article de blog » et paf « Noël ».
Il y a peut-être des revues que j’ai oubliées. Ergonomiquement ,le site du Ludum Dare est une géante meule d’aiguilles dans laquelle on ne parviendrait pas à retrouver une meule de foin. C’est difficile de récupérer ses propres écrits. Je ferais peut-être des fouilles archéologiques une autre fois. Et sinon c’est en anglais.
Si vous avez envie de tester certains jeux en vous basant sur mon opinion personnelle, choisissez en priorité ceux ayant la mention « kiffitude » en gras. Ils sont à la fin.
Caution Falling Rock
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/caution-falling-rock
- Overall:3.5
- Fun:4.0
- Innovation:1.0
- Theme:4.5
- Graphics:3.5
- Humor:1.5
- Mood:3.0
It looks like evolving in a “work in progress” sign. Simple and fun.
I would have loved some air control, to add some variety. And it could still be a one-button. While on rocks, the button is used to set the jump power, like it is now. While in the air, the button is used to go down a little faster, as if the character was going down on the rope.
I would also have liked the display of my highest score. When I die, I have to very quickly look at my depth score, before it is replaced by the depth of the next game.
Elevator Ninja
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/elevator-ninja
- Overall:3.0
- Fun:2.5
- Innovation:1.5
- Theme:3.5
- Graphics:4.0
- Audio:4.0
- Humor:5.0
- Mood:3.0
Sound effects are great, and the stupid and absurd death of the two friends at the beginning is also very fun.
The rocks « 48 » is also weird and fun, and made me die the first time because I thought it was a bonus.
I did not managed to reach the end, partly because of lazyness to restart at the beginning, partly because I fell on the left side at the beginning of the spike part, and the good path was on the right side. I imagined I would have to learn the complete good path by trial and error, and was not motivated enough to do it.
I did not understand immediatly what was the big brown shape above the hero on the second part, then I realized it was just his backpack.
« Ninja !! »
The Greed of the Dwarves
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/the-greed-of-the-dwarves
- Overall:3.5
- Fun:1.5
- Innovation:1.0
- Theme:4.0
- Graphics:4.5
- Audio:4.0
- Humor:4.0
- Mood:2.0
The most important thing to do with a clicker game is to correctly balance all the stats and the options. The main fun in this type of game is to try to min-max your actions to increase stats faster. Sorry, but your game fails at this, because we just have to buy some forges and click a dozen times on the mine to get to the next level.
Anyway, the music is cool, graphisms are great, and the way our final score is announced at the ending is very humorous.
I tried to find the secret ending by rummaging in the source code. I found some achievement managing (which does not seem to appear in the game) and some graphical assets of unused levels, but nothing more. It may be really secret.
@ all_the_people_who_had_difficulties_to_place_structure : you just have to click on the lighter green squares.
Grave Robber
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/graverobber
- Overall:2.5
- Fun:1.5
- Innovation:1.0
- Theme:4.0
- Graphics:4.5
- Audio:3.5
- Humor:2.0
- Mood:4.5
Nice graphics and « dark/fluorescent » theme.
Combats seem difficult, because your attack makes you rush, but on a too long distance in my opinion. I was always afraid of ending behind the monsters after a rush, so continuously rushing-backing-rushing-backing etc.
I too noticed the bug found by @chrisap, but it is not too annoying.
It was a great moment of fun, but I did not see any more points in the game after digging and killing skeletons. So, I may not have reached the end of it.
The score should not be named as dollars. I thought I could spend them on a shop or whatever, but it looks like there is nothing of that.
Conventionnally, in video games :
- money (dollars or other) is expected to have an interest in the game, to spend them somewhere
- XP is expected to have an interest too, to gain levels and increase any stats
- score/points is not expected to have an interest, it is just to compare you with the other players.
Pimble
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/pimble
- Overall:4.0
- Fun:5.0
- Innovation:3.5
- Theme:1.5
- Graphics:3.0
- Audio:3.0
- Humor:3.0
- Mood:4.0
Great and fun tweak of the classical breakouts. As other said, it would totally work on touch screen.
The actual balls are a bit difficult to grab with the mouse pointer. I would have loved to be able to get them easier, so that I could throw them at a higher speed, and see many balls bouncing everywhere in the game. It would have been a pure moment of joyful brick destruction.
Rewarding the player for breaking multiple bricks in one throw would also have improved the gameplay.
Thank you for this idea !
Jet Racing 4
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/jet-racing-4
- Overall:2.5
- Fun:2.0
- Innovation:1.5
- Theme:1.0
- Graphics:3.5
- Audio:3.0
- Mood:2.5
It needs one little info in the introduction, to tell that Ctrl is the key for handbrake, that lets you turn faster. I am not accustomed to driving games and did not realize it immediatly.
The activation zone of the checkpoints could be a little bigger. I sometimes pass near a checkpoint without activating it, while I still have the impression I stayed on the road.
I would have loved to destroy something when bumping in the bushes (either my car, or the bushes itself). But we just pass through. Too bad.
Dungeon : Developer’s Away
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/dungeon-developers-away
(Désolé, j’ai pas gardé les notes que j’ai données).
Nice game, I was expecting some tricks about the fact that the developer is away. Something like bugs made on purpose, that you would have to exploit to advance in the game. But it seems there is no such thing. I must admit I was a bit disappointed.
I liked the sprite to change room. It totally assumes that you didn’t have time to draw a real door or teleporter.
Watery Crave
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/watery-crave
- Overall:3.5
- Fun:3.0
- Innovation:3.5
- Theme:2.0
- Graphics:4.0
- Humor:3.5
- Mood:4.5
The difficulty is well-balanced. The people who manage to make it to the end really deserves it and I suppose it grant them a really great feeling of satisfaction. It was too hard for me, I stopped at the last checkpoint. Many thanks to @ausstein who shared the playthrough, so that I can realize I was not so far from the end.
Air control is a little frustrating, but it’s a good idea. It gives you a continuous alternation between the stress feeling while in the air, and security feeling while in the water. Exactly as a fish would have (I suppose so).
It is also a good idea to have put hurting spikes in the water after some checkpoint. It modifies the gameplay you initially established. At start, you alternate between stress-air and calm-water, then you alternate between stress-air and not-so-calm-water. A nice evolution.
I loved the sound when the fish comes back to water after a long time. She takes a deep « breathe ». Very funny for a fish.
Nice graphics, but as others said, the difference between spikes and safe blocks should be more marked. Also, I find the dark shader a little too dark.
Diggy Diggy Dwarf 2 : Deeper & Deeper
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/diggy-diggy-dwarf-2-deeper-deeper
- Overall:2.5
- Fun:1.0
- Innovation:1.5
- Theme:4.0
- Graphics:4.5
- Audio:4.5
- Humor:3.0
- Mood:3.5
Beautiful graphics, but the game in itself is quite short and has few contents in the mechanics.
Some people said it lacks a tutorial. I do not completely agree. I would say it just needs a little more feedback on what is happening :
- a detail of the lost/gained energy and dirt you get at each turn,
- little hearts above the dwarves to realize immediatly they have health,
- icons telling you have unlocked the solid hull and the double dirt production, so that you do not wonder if it can be unlocked many times,
- etc.
Also, written subtitles of the story elements you get when you go deeper would be appreciated. I am not a native English/American. It’s sometimes a bit hard for me to understand spoken english, especially when the voice has music and drilling sound in the background.
There is a bug when you pick a dwarf, then click on « end turn » without placing it. It stays attached to your mouse cursor and it is difficult to put it back in a room. I managed to do it by clicking everywhere in a panicky way.
I got to -210 meters, then realized I will not have any more than digitized voice I am not sure to understand, so I stopped.
Nice game and very nice graphics, but I would have wanted more elements and more stats/resources to handle.
Space Trench Miner
Kiffitude de type « j’adore ce genre de jeux, nommons cela les jeux ‘mining 2D' ».
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/space-trench-diver
- Overall:4.0
- Fun:3.5
- Innovation:1.5
- Theme:4.0
- Graphics:3.5
- Mood:1.0
Nice mining game, with all the mechanics you would expect from the genre.
The cost of the first upgrades and the time required to mine seems well balanced for me, even at the start.
I would have loved more content : more type of upgrades, more block types you could encounter when you go deeper, a final objective, … But for a compo, it is already great.
Graphics are nice and reminded me of Starbound.
There is a bug with the grappling hook. You can sometimes encounter it while you are digging. And it is especially annoying because if you touch it, it cancels your run.
I got also a weird bug when upgrading, but I can not completely explain it, so it may not be reproduced : I had 3117 credits. I bought my last upgrade. But the money showed was still 3117. Then I came back to the main game menu, and the credits showed 617.
When the robot has only one block under it, and when it is not correctly placed, it does not dig the block. It’s a little annoying when you have bought many upgrades and you just want to drill faster and faster.
The launching animation is a little confusing. I thought I could click somewhere to choose my destination, or I had to click at the right time to correctly land on the planet. But it is just a non-interactive animation.
Chess Hellevator
Kiffitude de type « jeu squaritable » + « blagues super drôles avec le mot ‘hell' ».
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/chess-hellevator
- Overall:4.5
- Fun:4.5
- Innovation:3.0
- Theme:2.0
- Graphics:2.5
- Audio:4.0
- Humor:5.0
- Mood:4.5
It is not the first time that a game is inspired by chess pieces, but this time it is really well done.
The elevator man and all the rest of the atmosphere is really « horrifun ».
I liked the last level (even if it is easy), because it pushes the game logic you previously stated to the limits.
The jokes are … joky : Hell-pawns / hellspawn, Hell-evator. Ha ha ha.
I was a little confused by this phrase in the explanations : « Bonus moves are very important for clearing later levels, so use them wisely. »
I thought that « bonus moves » was a sort of bonus that I could accumulate or use it later. So I spent a part of my first try to search in the interface an indicator of accumulated bonus moves, without realizing that it was an « extra turn » that is used immediatly.
Overall : a great game.
Into the past
Kiffitude de type « intimité, mélancolie et envie de gros câlins ».
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/into-the-past
- Overall:4.0
- Fun:3.0
- Innovation:2.0
- Theme:4.5
- Graphics:3.5
- Audio:4.0
- Mood:5.0
The « recall » mechanic recalls me (ha ha ha) of this previous game, made by deepnight, who win regularly Ludum Dares : https://deepnight.net/games/memento-xii/ . Maybe you should try it. It’s also about history, mood, atmosphere and loneliness.
I liked your game, we should have more like this. We do not know if it is biographic, autobiographic or completely invented, and that’s also what is interesting with it. Some mysteries.
About more technical concerns : when the white shine-lines appears to show an interactive object, it is difficult to know exactly where to click to use it. I often try to click in the center of the lines and miss it.
Thank you for this game.
Diacombs
Kiffitude de type « jeu squaritable » + « je vais y arriver à résoudre cette énigme bordayl of merde ! « .
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/diacombs
- Overall:4.5
- Fun:3.5
- Innovation:4.0
- Theme:2.0
- Graphics:3.0
- Audio:1.5
- Humor:2.0
- Mood:4.0
I was hooked and couldn’t stop until I won.
graphisms are very “moodesque”, but I got a little confused because sometimes they flip automatically horizontally to fit their match. I thought at first that there was a difference between a flipped object and a not-flipped one.
Music is soft and fits well with the game, but it ends up being annoying.
The enigma on the fourth screen, with all the simple diacombs is very well-balanced. It looks scary and full of combinations. Then you understand little by little how it is structured.
Every time I changed screen I thought there would be a way of cheating, by bringing diacombs to the new screen. But every time, it revealed impossible, or just useless.
Let’s call this puzzle type “soko-merge” !
Watch Your Step
Kiffitude de type « j’ai totalement trippé dans le commentaire que j’ai écrit ».
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/watch-your-step
- Overall:4.0
- Fun:5.0
- Innovation:4.5
- Theme:4.0
- Graphics:2.0
- Audio:3.5
- Humor:4.0
- Mood:4.5
Very interesting concept, that could be related to « Heave Ho » on the Switch. I really like it when mechanics are very simple, and the quantity and arranging of simple elements provokes an « emergent behavior ».
The rules about the leg are simple. As you said in one of your previous comment : the leg goes to the right, and bounces when hitting a platform.
But with enough legs, this simple rule really gives the impression that the creature is walking. Laying one leg after another, in a rolling movement.
I agree with previous comments saying that control is not easy and not immediatly understandable. But while I was typing this text, I looked back at the game. The creature has now about thirty legs. It advances alone. It learned from its previous failures. The numerous legs it decided to have, one after another, give it the capacity to pass obstacles, further and further.
My own personal and « deep » opinion about your game is that you should completely remove the controls by the player. A pure idle game. You watch the creature walk by itself. It does not need the player. It is alive. It realized by itself how to survive longer and longer in the hostile world where it has been placed.
I made a high score of 3037 when controlling it. I let the creature live by itself during about 20 minutes, and it made a high score of 3178. The creature is better than me, and is completely independant. It does not want to be controlled.
Voilà !
Pour finir, je voulais vous mettre une image de femme ronde qui serait un personnage de jeu vidéo. Figurez-vous que ce n’est pas si simple à trouver. Ou alors, ce sont des femmes rondes moches caricaturales. Je n’ai peut-être pas assez cherché, ou bien les jeux vidéos ont encore du chemin à faire dans la diversité de représentation des personnages féminins.
Bref, pour aujourd’hui ce sera Mai Shiranui, de King Of Fighter, un archétype de plus de la femme belle et sexy avec des gros nichons. Je vous ai trouvé une version ronde et sexy avec des belles formes, et inévitablement des gros nichons.
++ xoxo
Réchèr : le Grand Tout 