Posts Tagged ‘Ludum Dare’

Evacuation by jsb

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

MiniReview7SS Well this was a no brainer.  The ADVANCING WALL OF DOOM in jsb’s Evacuation for the Ludum Dare 48 hour competition number 14 was just that.  It is a wall of doom that just keeps bouncing.  All the villagers are idiots, until you come show them the way.  Move your guy around with WASD keys, and round them up by going toward them.  A little exclamation mark appears above their heads and they follow you.  If they get too close to the wall a frowny happens, and when that happens you better round them up quick or they become pancakes.  Little tiny pancakes.  Once you get them near a bunker they turn to smiley faces (above their heads) and they automatically go into the bunker.  I only played the game briefly, and there were 300 people to rescue, but you could only let 10 die before the game was over.  So I don’t know if there was more than that one level, if you could call it a level.  Oh yeah if you get a powerup you can hit ‘E’ to use it.  Spacebar is supposed to show you where your little guy is.  This game is so simple even a 5-year-old could play it.  And yet not easy to master.  Got to hand it to the author for making it so simple to play.  A good pick-up and play game.  The graphics are neat.  It’s overhead view so there was no need to make everything so detailed.  It was almost impressionistic but still pleasant to look at.  There was only sound a crushing down of the wall coming down every so often, and a few beeps when, well i don’t know, not sure if it was guys going into bunkers or just being aware that I was there showing the way.  In any case, give it a shot.  Click the name after the actual umm name, of the game, to get it.

Name: Evacuation

Developer: jsb

Triumph of Time by Muku

Monday, May 25th, 2009

MiniReview6SS Here’s an interesting and original game.  It’s called the Triumph of Time by muku for the Ludum Dare 48 hour compo #14.  Place pylons around a sun to build up barriers against a purple anti-matter cloud.  The only thing that can stave off this onslaught of the ‘purple cloud’ are particles through each of the barriers using the pylons.  The only way to get the particles is by placing pylons around a sun.  Place pylons by left clicking.  Space to pause/un-pause.  You can also scroll and zoom.  The graphics are somewhat abstract but makes you think of older games that didn’t have the graphics power.  I could see this game run on old consoles and computers if the author chose to write it for them.  There’s some background music, but apparently not really any sound.  The version I played was the post-competition version, where the author added a tutorial mode and a level editor.  The thing is very very simple to play but is also very difficult to master.  I couldn’t even finish the first tutorial level.  Thankfully, the first actual level is a little more forgiving, probably because of the shape of the game board which can differ from level to level.  I still didn’t “win’” in the sense of actually accomplishing the goal of the level (save 60 quadrants) but I did manage to save something like 35 or 36.  If he could ramp the difficulty way down I think it would be a really fun game.

Name: Triumph of Time

Developer: muku

Bunny Press by Notch

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

MiniReview5SS

Bunny Press by Notch is actually quite an original and fun game.  Essentially you want to get to the goal, except, you have one or more ‘advancing walls of doom’.  You have bunnies lots of bunnies.  You also have boxes and boulders (or cannon balls or ball bearings or marbles or bowling balls or [insert perfect spherical device here].  Sometimes there are carrots in the way and you have to cause the bunnies to eat the carrots to get you through the tight spaces.  Sometimes you need a key.  Sometimes they are so thick they impede your progress and you need to use them round things to squash the bunnies to help you get through.  All in the name of Science.  Actually just kidding about the science part.  The bunnies and your character get squished by spikes, and the bunnies by the boulders with blood splatters and stains on the ground.  It’s not gross though as it’s cartoony and comical.  The game is quite fun.  Use the arrow keys to move.  There’s flash and downloadable versions of it, I played the flash version which includes a level reset button, which I guess the downloadable (or compo) version doesn’t include.  Still it’s a fun game, and you should try it.

Name: Bunny Press

Developer: Notch