3,5 days until the deadline, and I just played 100 games.

Here are my favourite games amongst ones I`ve played:

Best by mood:

The world is in your hand,

a compo entry by jacklehamster.

A game with fantastic mood and story. I was almost crying by the end. A simple and minimalistic yet fun and detailed game. And it has quests! The right game for fans of visual novels.

Best by humor:

Steve Can`t Zen,

a compo entry by DaanVanYperen.

A very witty game about fighting and meditation. Has much graphic contend, interesting and polished gameplay, and a very laughable story. Simple and easy to understand for everybody!

Best by audio:

Drug Hunt,

a jam entry by kill0u.

An atmosphere-based game about drugs. Consists of many minigames and only one button to complete them. Has a crazy yet appropriate soundtrack, which will make you feel the mood easily. It will keep you glued to the screen!

Best by graphics:

Gods Will Be Watching,

a jam entry by GreyShock.

A management game, where you try to survive on a planet, waiting for help to come. Has much details in graphics, sounds and storytelling. It makes you live through lives of characters.

Best by theme:

This is not a minimalist game,

a compo entry by Volute.

An RPG-like game, where you complete various quests in order to restore the world. It takes you to a trip though the game history!

Best by fun:

Mind the Gap,

a jam entry by shiprib.

A game about trains. The most minimalistic yet deep game, containing pure meaning, and nothing unnecessary. It`s packed with hours of fun!

Best by innovation:

Square Heart Flower,

a jam entry by JonathanG.

Unique graphics? Check! Original gameplay? Check! A game about communication, set in a minimalistic world. Experimentators will surely like it!

It was difficult to select a best game by overall. I have a lot of games worth be the best, but I need to choose one. Ok, let it be…

*DRUMROLL*

Best by overall:

Of Guards And Thieves,

a jam entry by cominu.

A multiplayer game, which is rare. Very polished. Balanced, interesting and original. Has great graphics and audio. That`s the winner in my list! I see a lot of potential here. I hope it will be extended and become a great game, but even now it`s great. It`s difficult to assemble a team though, so if you need a player, you can call me.

Heyah! I was hoping to go through at least 10% of the entries, but my rating-o-meter is currently sitting at 203 and I’m thoroughly pooped! Hopefully you guys have some mettle left in you, there’s still some time to spread the love around. I compiled a short list of lovely games with somewhat low amount of ratings. See if you can find some gems that you haven’t run into yet!

Shooting!

Pink Haze / SUSTAIN / Bayou

Puzzling!

Princess Chardonnay in Bomb Kingdom / VIB / Minimize This!

Jumping!

Maze of Argus / STL RNNR / 9

Exploration!

World of Minimalism / Small Tale / Kipple

Atmosphere!

L’Hypnose / Cage’s Ghost / The Ethereal Stage

Still looking for more entries to rate? Check my other recommendation post, or take a peek at my entry!

10 days ago, I posted a little highlight of my favourites entries to celebrate my 50 first games played – you can find it HERE.

Now, I reached 100 games, which means it’s time for another highlight for the 50 latest ones. Once again, this is based on my own jugement, and doesn’t mean the games I’m not mentioning “suck” : they just didn’t hook me up as much as those ones. Also, no particular order. Let’s do this !

Aduno - Jam

Minimalize junk forever ! Aduno is a clever puzzle game reminding me some childhood educational games about logic, except more challenging and fun, like some sort of “extra light Space chem”. What struck me is the very polished animations, looking IMO sort of “professionnal” without ruining the game nice style.

Unfurl - Jam

Zen atmosphere, scroll theme, simple rules yet great complexity : Unfurl faced the theme “full power” without betting on minimal graphism. Unfurl scrolls to create lines of shapes, but do it right, as unfurled scrolls will hide bottom ones. This underrated game twisted my mind quite hard despite apparent simplicity – the zen atmosphere almost mocked me !

The team even created a fake traditional game to give presence to the tutoria, which was fun and unexpected.

Drug hunt – Jam

I’m usually not fond of “wtf-game throwing random images and you and call it a day” as it’s often a lack of actual effort to come up with something well thought. One could argue about my point of view and go one step further on the meaning of art, but for now I’ll just praise Drug Hunt’s successful blend of “what the hell ?” factor and actual, well thought features.

This game is basically a suit of thematic mini-games depending on which drug you take. It’s very fast paced yet clear enough for most of games (not EVERY game tho) to bring an actual perceptive challenge. And of course, the atmosphere is nuts, yet “well thought nuts”, rendering the experience IMO even more enjoyable.

Tessitron - Jam

Which seemed to be your average rythm game turned into a creative blend of Guitar hero (well, Frets on fire here) and a rail shooter. I almost felt like playing Rez in some parts. The whold experience, mix of an electro trip and a frantic rail shooting quest for the Evil Boss, is remarkably well put together, despite the somewhat awkward connection between letters, colors and enemies. Minimal 3D trip at its finest, but including satisfying pacing and challenge : deal !

Root Route ! – Jam

This may be my favourite entry of 100. Everything in this game feels “right. The gameplay is simple, effective, includes ressource management, yet it’s a NON-RUNNER-one-button-game (okey, well, it’s some sort of vertical, super twisted runner-like). This kind of minimalism allows some liberty on graphic design, which happens to be very well crafted, feeling both nostalgic and polished, yet very coherent with the music & sfx, which happen to be very enjoyable and setting a soothing mood.

But the most impressive feature, which perfectly makes up for the few imperfections (high difficulty curve, no previous zoom which would be handy to plan the level ahead, hitbox somewhat difficult to guess), is the amount of appealing details : clear interface, the flower blooming more or less depending of the scoring, the zoom back on top when the level is finished and the general feeling of constructing something different each time.

Some extra games I liked very much as well (-> look at them, really, they are great) :

Street of rave – It’s not only the name : this game is great fun, to play, to watch and to complete ! Make people dance, avoid angry cops : what’s not to like ?

Mind the gap – Minimal, symbolic subway simulation. Downright excellent, great atmosphere (very soothing), playable for hours : totally worth playing !

Escape the minimalism – May seem like a basic platformer, but really has an interesting mood with variating epileptic rainbows, very powerful.

Metahotel - An interesting puzzle game blending AI management, logic and reflexes with elegant graphism.

Less is more? – Everybody is talking about that one and I can see why. Mesmerizing puzzle game twisting Mondrian with style.

QbQbQb – “Orbital match 3″, great in every field with very impressive polish and mood.

Rainbow rocket – The most interesting way to pilot a rocket ! So very hard to handle but great potential and excellent experience.

Bezier challenge – Will ring a bell to every “maths nerd” for a reason : very peculiar concept and design, which makes the game fun to play.

Aranmi - The sole idea of making a game based on a rake and sand is amazing enough, but succeding it is even better. Relaxing yet challenging RAKE game !

A simple circle – Smart puzzle game with smart scoring system : this game proves that simple doesn’t mean stupid or meaningless.

That’s it. Also, feel to take a look at my own entry (which includes a cute circle and a creepy voice) : YAHG.

I’m only halfway at the moment. I have 2 weeks though. I found out that if I play games all the day and play them till the end, give detailed feedback, etc. I rate 25 games per day. However, on the second day some people had over 100 ratings………

I was playing games randomly: sometimes by the default rating, sometimes just random games from the front page, sometimes games by request… Here are some games I liked those have rather little votes:

The Lamp

A minimalistic horror game, where you have to run away from different-colored eyes.

The world is in your hand

A one-button adventure game with an amazing story and outstanding mood.

.cp

A very innovative yet minimalistic strategy game about pixels.

I’m going to post a more detailed list, but only when I’ll rate another 50.

Okey, I have been playing 50 games so far, so I felt like doing a small highlight post to share my discoveries ! This is based on my own jugement, and doesn’t mean the games I’m not mentioning “suck” : they just didn’t hook me up as much as those ones.

So here we go !

IAO - Compo

Take the control of a line ended with two red dots. Rotate the line, hit the small “triangle” icons flying with your red dots while avoiding “line” icons, and voilà, you evolve into a triangle. Now, catch the “square” icons. Rince, repeat, evolve.

Minimal yet very interesting gameplay, rising challenge tho the game may be a bit too hard, simple but very elegant graphism (very nice particle effect on catching a symbol): it nailed the theme very well. What really impressed me tho is the jazzy tune, incredibly fitting the game. Plus it’s a web game so you have no excuse not to try it !

Unst - Compo

Click a square to make it move. Green square + red square = death. Fit the green squares in the center. That’s it. With clear rules, good feedbacks and well crafted tutorial levels, Unst seems to be impossible not to understand. I wondered if I could find any challenge.

Boy was I wrong. The game becomes really challenging, maybe even a bit too much as the level rises dramatically on “The chosen one” level, but that’s the point of a puzzle game : getting one’s mind challenged. Simple yet deep, add a tune, you’ve got it right.

Dock zone - Compo

So, you play some schoolgirl fleeing from the rise of a strange, abstract water while picking up pyramids with making plank-bridges. This game got some weird yet very enjoyable style, greatly helped by a very unique audio atmosphere, both calm and disturbing with resonating, dramatic-beat-like footsteps.

Gameplay-wise, the game works quite well, with numerous puzzle levels mostly playing on timing. While not sure about the “minimal” part, I really appreciated the whole lot.

Russian blob - Jam

Let’s start by a warning : the people who made this game are good friends of mine, coming from the same school. But quite frankly, I wish I didn’t know them, so I would appreciate even more the cheer quality of the game without feeling corporate.

There’s so many things right about this game I don’t even know where to start. The game idea is simple : a 2D platformer. It’s also unique : you play a blob which can split into several smaller blobs, allowing you to make more elaborate actions that I won’t spoil as discovering them is really satisfying. The graphic design is very well made, and the music/sfx are both great downright hilarious (I sometimes randomly listen it). Also, there’s quite a lot of levels for a LD entry.

But the best part may be that it’s a GBA game. I’m not kidding. Wow.

Gods will be watching - Jam

I have already seen a billion reviews mentioning that game, so I felt putting it here would be a bit redundant. But the game really deserves it. Yet again, everything is incredibly well made. Manage a team who have to survive 40 days in terrible conditions : the food is lacking, there’s a deadly virus rampaging in the air, it’s so cold you have to lit a fire, everybody’s morale is getting low, you have to repair a radio… There’s so many things which can go wrong that surviving seems to be a miracle. But guess what ? The game is so hard, winning may indeed be a miracle. But it’s not frustrating. Would you fail, it’ probably because you fucked up something. So I hope you’re ready to feel guilty about someone’s death.

But hey, let’s mention… everything else. The graphics are simply gorgeous, the audio atmosphere is excellent and the whole mood of the game is stunning. Some feedbacks may help about which action costs or doesn’t cost action points and the story introduction may seem pointless by parts, but mentioning these “polish” elements just proves how well made the game is.

Also, there’s some other games I’d like to mention briefly as well (-> you should look at them) :

Stalker - Atmospheric point & click with actual pictures, inspired from the book stalker. Immersive.

Sociales Santillana – Minimal “match 3″ with a twist : you play on polygons. Enjoyable !

Alien Raid – Very minimal STR. Pummel down aliens. Interesting.

Cottonhead – Cute and gorgeous pixel plartformer, short but refreshing.

TNAFT - Social game : guess which colors people prefer. Addictive. Playable on mobile !

Hubu handler – Pet simulation, incredibly cute and well made. Don’t you DARE slap him, you MONSTER.

Oh, and, if you feel like taking a look at my entry, here is it : YAHG.

Another 20 games rated, bringing the total to 60 so far To celebrate this and the holidays, I’m making a list of the 5 most fun games I’ve played so far.

These are games that, for one reason or another, make you stick to them even after you played enough to be able to rate it. I was no longer playing just to review and rate the game, I was playing them because they were damn well FUN, and I hope you enjoy them too!

Here they go:

• Stop him now – by TijmenTio


This is a reverse shooter game, where you select an enemy on the screen to control, and try to hit the good guy. The movements of the good guy are quite well done — he will more than once foil your tries at killing him. This challenge makes the game loads of fun, as you try different strategies with the different powered birds that show up.

• The princess is Mine – by Emveyh


In this game, you control three villains that have to prevent good guys from reaching the princess. The controls are simple, and make the game highly dynamic, as you scramble to position your three servants. Power ups will appear at the corners of the board – can you spare one of your minions to go pick them up? And then your minions get hurt, and you have to move them away from the front lines while they heal – there is a lot of Micro to be done in this game!

• Midboss – by Eniko


A very well done roguelike. You control an imp that can possess defeated enemies. It is possible to learn their skills, and you get to use their attributes for a while. The game is very difficult, as expected from a roguelike, and yet there is that feeling that victory is just around the corner if you play more carefully next time. The complexities of controlling different enemies are really interesting as well.

• Dr. Vile and the greater good – by green pixel


This game is not only fun to play, it is very fun to watch as well, with its cute graphics and story. You are the under-appreciated evil genius, Dr. Vile, on a quest to gather materials to your evil gun. The game plays as a top down beat them up game. It is reasonably difficult, with a small but welcome component of knowing when to “aggro” your enemies.

• Kill all earthlings – by savethejets1

KaE is a reverse space invaders. You control when the invaders shoot, and if they advance/retreat in their way down. This game has very cool visuals, including lots of “pew pew pew”s (a weakness of mine), and plenty of particle effects. It is also fast paced, and gives you a great feeling of “zerging” the defenders through sheer force of numbers. It is a bit on the easy side when you get the hang of it, but you will still have a lot of fun.

If you liked this selection, make sure to also check my other game reviews:

• Review List 1: Good use of the Theme
• Review List 2: Awesome Graphics
And check my own game too, if you have the time

This time around I saw a lot of good games with a lot of great art styles! Unfortunately I didn’t see much use of distinct music in a lot of games, but they were still nice.

Some things I noticed were:

ABSOLUTELY NO FIRST PERSON UNITY GAMES HAD A PAUSE SCREEN EXCEPT FOR MINE!!!

(with the exception of Accidental Rebel’s Complexivity )

I ALWAYS have a pause screen in my games and for some that I played, it wasn’t even possible to quit without Force Quiting the App.

Please people think about BASICS in a first person game.

However most people nailed the graphics style, and that was nice.

Anyways thats me rambling, play my game HERE and happy gaming! <3

This is the first time I really finished a game for the compo and I am myself satisfied with it, so it deservs a postmortem! (more…)

I have organised my channel on youtube so you can find everything easier – I hope. Check it out!

Also I have started a review series where I try to review 5 games a day. Critics are based on my personal experience during gameplay and can be either bad or good! I review everyones game who rated mine and I also read the developement journal and rate. However I’ll not tell you how I rated and can be different from what you think by watching the video as rates can be changed and my opinion too.

Here is the first video, don’t forget to subscribe for more!

Rate my entry here!

Okay LD-ers, you’ve actually had quite a long time to think about the theme this time, not just the 48 hours. That said, I’ve categorized games into 7 categories based on how they examine the “evolution” theme. I’ll pick five good games from the fifty that I’ve played for examples. To clarify: I’m picking games based on whether they represent these categories.

1. Munch and evolve (7/50): In quite a few games, you play a critter which has to eat things in order to evolve into better things. I’m choosing Nom’s Evolvathlon to represent this category. This is the “movie science” version of evolution — totally not how evolution works, but no matter. I like Nom’s Evolvathlon because you have to evolve the right set of abilities to eat everything on the board. This category also includes “Osmos” clones (3/50), and by extrapolation we can conclude that there are 84 Osmos clones in the contest.
2. Evolution as cultural topic (3/50): You don’t have to incorporate the theory of evolution when you can work with evolution as a cultural phenomenon. Evidently chose this route and made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed all week. These games usually play Church versus Science, perhaps in an utterly ridiculous way.
3. Upgrades (11/50): If you’re having trouble matching the theme, you can always think of upgrades as a kind of evolution. This gives you a lot of flexibility since just about anything can be an “upgrade”. I’ve chosen A Castle in the Desert for this category, which is a fun game but uses a broad interpretation of evolution. It has an impressive gameplay script.
4. Simulation (4/50): Some people made a valiant effort to actually simulate some evolutionary process, and Galapagos is a great example. You’re influencing the evolution of birds, but I managed to make the simulation go horribly wrong — I gave the birds too much food at once, which lead to overpopulation. They wiped out the food supply and completely died off. That’s what I love about simulation games — they embrace emergent behavior.
5. Evolution of the game (3/50): And some brave participants decided that it would be the game itself that evolves. Stevie Asteroid Rescues the Hovercredits is a great example in this category — at first it looks like the most horrible, primitive game. Then you get to the next level and suddenly the graphics and music are better — they keep getting better as you get farther in the game. Now you have to understand the reason I say brave here is because if you took this route, you basically committed to making multiple games during the contest. It’s hard enough to make one!
6. And finally, I think the sprite from my game, Digital Generation looks like Freddy Mercury wearing a space suit. Or something. The walking animation is more like a pelvic-thrust dance animation than anything else. (Incidentally, my game is also in category #5… and stringing together multiple games drove me crazy!)

The sixth category is none/background (21/50): for some games, evolution only really appears in the background, and you’ll miss it if you don’t pay attention to the text that scrolls by. Or evolution isn’t relevant to the game at all. I’ve played a few platformers this time where you just jump to the level end… I think if you can string a few words together you can make a platformer about anything.

And the final category is unique (1/50): games that I feel just don’t belong in other categories. The example I have is Vesuvius, which takes a “what does not kill you makes you stronger” approach to the game.

Well, time for bed, then I can play another 50 games…

Hey y’all! It’s already been almost 3 weeks since we all finished working on our games… And even though the 48-hour marathon, which was the reason why I took part of this, was immensely fun and satisfying, I can’t help but say I these 21 days have been even more enjoyable than the competition itself. Waking up to see new comments on my page made me smile every day. I was already happy enough to make a playable game all by myself in 48 hours, but this was my first LD and I had no expectations that the community would be so nice and had no idea that so many people actively rated and commented on each others games. So reading everyone’s nice comments and finding my game in other people’s recommendation lists made me feel it was all more than worth it.

Even though Ludum Dare is a competition, I can’t think of a better prize than knowing that other people enjoyed the experience your game created. I believe the real “winning” here is feeling satisfied with your final product, and of course, knowing that your game achieved what it intended to. My game has a lot flaws and there’s always improvement to be done, but I can say with confidence that, in the end, the overall experience from these 23 days was very fulfilling. So congratulations for everyone who achieved this, and in case there are people who haven’t, I hope it becomes motivation for taking part of more and more LDs!

Something that also made this 3-week experience incredible was getting to play other people’s games, which I enjoyed a lot. There are a lot of delightful surprises and a huge variety of good ideas around. It doesn’t matter how many times I look, I always find some new pearls, and knowing that there are so many people with creative ideas out there is always good and inspiring. Even though I already wrote a review post, a few games that I played very recently instantly became some of my favorites, such as SubAtomic (which was funny as hell), Planet ZOOB (highly addictive) and Tinytanic (whose humor and shifting mood I loved).

Anyway, I’d like to thank once again everyone who played my game and left a comment on my page, and to tell everyone from the LD community that you are awesome. Seriously. I’m still amazed at how friendly everyone is and how genuinely helpful and caring the participants are toward each other. Some competitors have helped me out and I also feel like I’ve helped a few people.

I will also take this occasion to let you know I decided to start using twitter (@BiggerBoo) so if I’ll post there any updates on Recluse and other games I’m working on, so keep tuned. To take a look at other projects, check out the indie group I’m part of, Catavento. (@catavento_games). Like many other participants here, I’m from a country with a relatively underdeveloped game industry and having your support means a lot to us.

Also, if you still haven’t played and rated my game, Recluse, please check it out – there’s still time! The post-compo version should be released soon, so please stick around!

Thanks for reading and good luck, everyone!

Just in time, I’ve finished rating 100 games, a LOT of them were really good. I’ve made a list of 25 games. I’ve listed some of the best divided into 5 categories.

Play these games because they are original!!

These games all added something new to their genres that I hadn’t seen before in other games.

1. Boxed by Starpixie

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12750

I was pretty awed by this concept. It’s about a box that is inside a box. However, the second box is also inside the first box and one box influences what happens in the other. Can’t get your head around it? Play the game and you might. A really great take on the theme. The game has it’s problems however, but it was too original not to place on number one.

2. Recluse by Chambers

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11981

I disliked this game at first because of its small game window. That was until something really surprising happened that had everything to do with the window size.

3. Moon base by morganquirk

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=4243

A game that shows what happens when the world is as small as a beach ball but still has the same gravitational pull. This game is also very polished, but has a difficulty curve that is a bit steep.

4. Bottlecolonies by tcstyle

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=4834

I don’t think I have ever seen a videogame that appears to be so simple, and then turns out to be surprisingly well thought through. That’s a pretty original quality in a videogame if you ask me.

5. Spaceship in the sky with colors by quixotic-project

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10726

Collect colors to be able to fly in the sky with the same color without dying. It gets pretty tricky. Not a perfect game but it provides a very unique game experience.

Play these games because they have a lot of depth (for a 48 hour game!)!

These games are ambitious and have depth, but you need to take your time for them and they have their flaws. But they are worth figuring out.

1. Gale Axile by free_napalm

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12423

A random galaxy is generated and you have to try to build a spaceship and get away. To do this you have to plant and harvest fruits, trees, make weapons, collect ore, kill spacemice and find a way to get to the right planets, while not starving and keeping warm (your choice between a campfire or a piece of uranium.) The downside to a game having all these elements is that you have to give the game a couple of tries before you even know what you have to do.

2. ONLY US by Datamosh

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10942

In this case the game is deep for a different reason than the other games in this list. You are on the moon with your astronaut partner, and while your partner stays behind at the ship, you go explore the moon. But if you go further, you get lonelier, and it keeps getting harder to go back.

3. Deconstructorium by GreyShock

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11045

Collect molecules and make them interact with each other to gain new powers, only to lose them again when one of your experiments goes wrong. Playing this game truly feels like experimenting with the world, and there are a lot of possibilities.

4. Tinysasters by Volute

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11243

A tiny world has four types of land. If you build a shrine on that land, each land will produce a different type of mana. If you build a workplace on it, each one will produce a different kind of resource. You have to keep improving the world, but often natural disasters happen that will ruin everything again.

5. Exposed by 01101101

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5105

In this very polished game you have to evolve little creatures by exposing them to different elements in the lab. It feels a bit like deconstructorium mentioned above, but is a bit more limited.

Play these games because they are epic!!

I can’t really define what makes these games so great, so don’t expect any good arguments. Just play the games.

1. Tiny World: The Musical: The Game by pdyxs

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=2440

A game that’s also a musical, why is that epic?

Because it is.

2: Prince of Leaves by evilseanbot

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=7902

As with number one, it is the audio that makes this game truly epic. You won’t understand until you have played it.

3. T in Y World by Tom 7

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=1984

I still have no clue what this game is and what makes it so awesome, but it’s just amazingly original.

4. Hero of rain by 31eee384

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=1712

The idea of a tiny world in a raindrop that is in the last fase of it’s fall, facing inevitable destruction just gave me chills.

5. Eye Quest – eigenbom

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=1695

I don’t know why. Just play it.

Play these games because they are polished!!

These games all feel really complete and polished. Most arn’t really original, but they are all beautiful and you won’t be getting stuck in any walls.

1. Memento XII by deepnight

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=2982

I think this was my favorite game of all. Very polished and very beautiful in more than one way. You just have to play this one.

2. Tiny Island Adventure by AdventureIslands

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11391

No flaws. Looks great, sounds nice and well animated. The only negative thing you can say about it is that it’s ‘just’ another platform game. But it’s a very, very polished one.

3. Zephyr by cadin

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=7233

This one really needed it’s own category, it’s really relaxing. It’s a simple, beautiful game where you have to guide forest sprites to a flower. It makes great use of audio that sets the right mood and gives feedback at the same time.

4. Dude, where’s my planet by Zamando

play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12041

One of the many games with small round planets that you have to travel between, what makes this one stand out? It looks absolutely amazing. (And the fact that it has an added mechanic.)

5. Evolve by jerombd

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12512

This isn’t even a game, really. You have a planet and each round you have to make a choice, deciding the fate of the planet. It just looks really amazing and has some very funny outcomes.

Play these games because they are fun!!

These games are all really simple in design, but extremely fun.

1. Overpopulous by Make A Game

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5631

Great theme! You have to ‘colonise’ new planets by crashing into them with your own planet. It’s chaotic, it’s funny, it’s fast.

2. Astro Break by hulahulahest

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=528

The presentation, the sound effects, the simple gameplay, the fact that you shoot at things, it all just screams fun. And it is.

3. Eight O’Clock by Kendja

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12019

A small adventure game where you search for keys and talk to strangers who say silly things.

4. Dave is in a Fish Tank by Toast

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=6788

Dave is a tiny guy who is in a fish tank. You need to feed him, but not everything you drop in the tank is food. There are some really surprising and fun elements to this game.

5. Nom Nom Planet by Arkazon

Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=6492

Aliens are eating your planet. You don’t want aliens to eat your planet. Shoot them.

Play this game because I made it

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5496

The title says it all!  Here are some more of the many amazing games I’ve had the privilege of playing thanks to Ludum Dare.  Go and show them some love, we’ve only got until tomorrow night at 9!

Necro Gaia - lazybraingames

A really fun take on tower defense with a great visual style and sound design.  This game only has 7 ratings at the time of writing, it needs some love!  You won’t regret it.

Space Cabin - trylle

The first thing that struck me about this game is its great visual style.  It’s such a pretty game.  As for the game play, it is a visual adventure game that relies heavily on classic text-based adventure game mechanics.  I love this combination, it makes for a very fun and fresh feeling game.

Shrunkit - MagnesiumNinja

A really fun puzzle-platformer with an interesting mechanic.  The puzzles are well thought out and the shrinking/growing mechanic is fun to play with.  With some more polish, work, and lengthening, this would be a game I’d want to buy.  You should definitely go give it a play.

ascii world - dwrensha

ascii world is definitely an interesting game.  I don’t want to spoil the discovery element of this game; I think that’s what makes it so interesting.  Give it a go, it’s pretty short and you can play it in your browser.

Curse of Grimwood - digital_sorceress

A neat little action-rpg that feels extremely polished for the given timeframe.  Definitely worth a go.

Quantum Entanglement – icefallgames

Quantum Entanglement is a really well designed puzzle game.  The puzzles feel well thought out and the mechanics at play are interesting and fun to mess around with.

That’s all for now!  Please continue to spread the love around the community and rate more games everyone!  And as others have said, it’s always nice to leave a comment saying what you liked/didn’t like about the game and offer some constructive criticism when you rate a game.  It’s how we all can help each other to grow as game developers, and I think it’s what makes the Ludum Dare community so special.

Finally have rated 10% of all games and wanted to bring some attention to some entries I don’t think have enough love yet:

Tiny Colony

A delightful mash-up of ant life simulation, RPG and light strategy.

Zephyr

A beautiful, relaxing game. Also a good example of arcade mechanics fashioned for casual players.

Nineties Hollywood Hacker

An interesting game in two stages: stage one is where you fit together a series of circuits (ala Pipemania). Stage two you enter the circuits and must navigate yourself through the levels you have laid down, battling enemies, etc.

On Another Scale

Less emphasis on gameplay and more on the experience here: a beautiful, dreamlike world to navigate from one end to the other.

Tiny Worids

A super-fun word game take on the theme.

The World of Marceline

Again, this is less about ‘gameplay’ and more about an experience – in this case, the Holocaust. Very emotional.

Tiny’s World

I dare you to play this to the end AND NOT end up singing slong or collapsing in a heap of giggles.

Orbiter

Like a lot of other entries, this is towere defense that takes place on a tiny planet, but this one stood out to me: though maybe not as action packed as some of it’s bretheren, it has a chill, lego-esque vibe that resonated with me.

Extensionism

A moody puzzle game where the goal is to literally extend the borders of your tiny world.

And in the interest of shameless self promotion try my game, Tiny Planet:

9 out of 10 commenters agree that it will make your eyes bleed.

The final day of rating is approaching very fast. After playing about 10 percent of the Ludum Dare 23 games and my LD23 folder growing to alomst 1 gig I would like to suggest a few games with only few ratings that should get more ratings (Click the headlines):

Cracked – BlackBird (33 ratings)

Interesting puzzle game. Gets more challenging in later levels. Game mechanics work pretty well.

Robots Are Red, Violets Are Blue – d_durham (39 ratings)

The control mechanics for the robot are pretty unique and make this game interesting to play and quite challenging.

c!ph3r – frosty (33 ratings)

A game about the right timing. The setting is great and the sound effects almost make a soundtrack.

World In A Bottle – Serilyn (38 ratings)

Pretty atmospheric concept about balancing a world in a tiny bottle. Also it has the smem basic idea as my game with a completely different execution.

Tiny Garden of Hope – steamgirl (40 ratings)

Very beautiful game which isn’t that difficult to beat if you are patient enough for letting the robot give you some advice.

Go and play those, they deserve more ratings than that. For my own game I’m actually working on the next post-compo version. You can find some information here.

So today I’ve finally reached 100 titles rated, and out of all of that I’ve picked my 10 favorite games.

(in no particular order)

the most humorous game so far is:

To What a Mountain?, not much gameplay but a very funny game.

the most innovative games:

Phobius, the melting mechanic is  very nice.

Tiny Tim and Big Bill, playing 2 characters that rely on each-other, great idea

Recluse, probably the most original idea with the window control, I’ve never seen this done before.

The games I spent the most time on:

Tiny World, Big War, there’s no end to this game but it’s pretty addicting.

Tiny Domination, RTS, time consuming, addicting fun.

Electron Cloud, funny gameplay, socially awkward atom.

Greed Wars, I think I played this game for 4 hours or so, very fun and polished.

The most relaxing polished games:

Another Kind of World, nice pace, fun, great graphics.

Zephyr, addicting, calm, very nice graphics.

all these games are great and if you haven’t played them yet please go and try them out.

Post-Mortem:

In Delusion 

So it didn’t come out nearly as good as I thought it would, not because the ideas were bad, but because I didn’t have enough time to put them all together.

This was my first ludum dare so I wanted to try something I’ve never done before and thought, “Why not make a game from scratch?” this way I would learn new things and test my quick thinking abilities. Unfortunately my ideas for the game were almost completely incompatible with the way I was making it. What I did when the theme got announced was sit down and think for a bit. I wrote down a list of ideas that immediately came to my head and then when the list was complete, I crossed them all off.

I wanted to make something original, so instead of using an idea that first popped into my head I did the opposite. Anything that first popped into my head I didn’t do, because those are probably the same ideas that are popping into everyone else’s head.

The funny thing is all of the ideas that I wrote down/thought of were used. Every time I played a game that was on my list I chuckled a bit because I was surprised  how many people came up with the same ideas.

Anyway that was the big reason I wasn’t able to finish in time, after writing a list of what  not to do and after coding some base game logic I started writing down new things and came up with a rough outline for in delusion then I wrote a more detailed outline. At this point I was designing a heavily story based game for my first “2 day game engine”. Those ideas definitely do not fit together.

What went right:

Almost nothing, the only things that somewhat came through were the mood and the graphics.

What went wrong:

I had to redo collisions 3 times because I kept getting sidetracked writing story.

1 slide was unintentionally  being skipped at the end(Bill’s slide).

the slide idea was a last minute idea to broadly fit together as much as possible because I didn’t get to finish pretty much the last 75% of the game.

the inventory system randomly decided not to work properly after I put the slides in at the end.

What I learned:

Don’t expect a huge story to fit in a tiny “game engine” in 2 days.

Being original is good, but don’t get too carried away.

What’s next:

Right now I’m making my own flash engine and a remake of In Delusion is going to be the first game I make with it. This time I’ll put everything I planned in it and then some.

if you haven’t played my game yet, you can play it here

Now that I’ve reached the 75 ratings milestone, I thought I’d bring to light just a few of the great entries I’ve come across in my journey for the gold!  These will likely be lesser known entries with fewer ratings, so go give them some love!

Get The FROG Off My World!! - by CitrusPunchSamurai

This game made me smile.  It’s a really simple game, but it’s presented very well.  Also, the catchy tune will get stuck in your head for quite some time after playing it!

Bottlecolonies - by tcstyle

A little strategy/puzzle game with a really great, distinct visual style.  Awesome presentation.

Tiny Planet - by CherryNukaCola

The music in this game combined with the euphoric explosions as you send stars off  into the galaxy was very relaxing.   Really nice, simple art style to this one as well.

Darkness Creeping - by AD-Edge

The intro to this game pulled me in, and the creepy atmosphere and interesting little creature-controlling mechanic kept me playing.  It’s a 3D first person puzzler of sorts.  Very impressive for 48 hours.

Interstellar Moai Ranger - by Shifty

This is a super-fun on-rails shooter in the same vein as games such as Space Harrier.  Very nice art style, music, and sound effects.

These are just a few of the great games I’ve gotten to play as a result of this amazing community.  Great job everyone!

Last week I got a bit busy, and had to cut back on the game reviews, but now I’m back, with a vengeance!

Baby Farm — Have you ever asked yourself how is babby formed? You NEED to play this game, or your LD23 experience won’t be complete. Being drunk is highly recommended.

Dangerons Baby World — Another baby game. This time a runner. The controls are really awkward and the game is hard to play, but it is worth a mention because it really nails the feel of the theme.

Save the World — If you are rating any games AT ALL, you have probably seen by now dozens of variations on “ship defending a small planet in the middle of the screen” game. Well, this one manages to turn the idea on its head: every time you shoot, your planet moves in the opposite direction! Worth a try.

Away from home — A platformer/puzzle/building game, with multiple, quite distinct game modes. The graphics are quite simple, but the game has a depth that attracted me a lot.

Mineral Cities — A very minimalistic strategy game, you have to construct different buildings in the right places and balances to maximize your point output. But the way the rules work in this game makes it for a very interesting challenge, if you try for the high score.

The Earth is Dying — The game is still rather incomplete, but the idea is quite unique and worth a mention. The earth is dying, and the goal of the game is to colonize nearby planets and send as many people to these planets as possible, before our planet dies.

Colours in the Void — Frustratingly difficult, but very innovative shooter: you shoot by making connections between you and obstacles in the scenario. The graphics and gameplay are well tied together, and the game feels quite polished.

And with 102 games, I bow out of the review race for this LD This
Sunday I will make a last stretch, by picking games from other people’s review lists. If you want to plug your game in the comments, go right ahead too!

And…… Done! I got through 10% of the total games and I’m mighty impressed. I have been mostly just searching for web games and am pleased that there are soo many games that don’t require anything to download. Anyway, here are my favorites (as in they received a 4 or 5 in the overall category).

Atomsmash - By Dan C. It’s a C64 game, like for reals. If you bother to you could actually play it on a  Commodore 64, and it would be awesome. If you don’t want to go through that, there is an emulator you can get to experience the awesome for yourself.

Aether - by Danik. It’s a planet defense game, with a bit of a twist. What happens to the planet on a large scale is experienced on the small scale. I love the concept, and the visuals for both large and small are stunning. Really a great game.

Deconstructorium - by GreyShock. Go into objects and steal their molecules, then use these molecules to destroy the world! Essentially a collection of minigames with a linking story of mad scientist. Really fun and very funny.

This Precious Land - by Ishisoft. A nice puzzle game where you create resources to try to grow a new land. Very relaxing and yet still engaging.

The Good Ship Higgs Boson – by Jezzamon. Its a platformer. No, hear me out, it’s a gravity manipulating platformer. Give it a chance, it is actually very polished and provides some good puzzles.

ANT SURF HERO: THE SURFENING – by Jigxor. This has been on everybody’s top N games list and if you haven’t played it by now, for shame. Anyway, very good, very pretty, very funny, play the game already!

My Little Planetoid – by matthias_zarzecki. You build up a planet and evolve to the point where you can travel through space. Very nicely done and relaxing to play. I would also like to thank Mathias Zarzecki for playing everyone’s game. Seriously, look at his coolness, he is really trying to play all of them and I salute you for your efforts.

Atom Planet - by NMcCoy. A little puzzle game that is a mix of minecraft and alchemy, with a cute little character and relaxing music.

Tiny World - by piterlouis. A planetary defense game with a bit of a twist. Defend your planet with your own orbiting moon. Very fun. Should have picked a better title, however.

Michael is Myopic - by Several. Another puzzle game where you eat to grow, and have to avoid growing too large too fast. Has a nice zoom out feature that just looks awesome.

Tiny World Cardgame - by SusanTheCat. A fantastic card game that I wish was real. I would play everybody in it. In fact, I’m going to print off the cards as soon as I’m done with this post.

Fracuum - by TylerGlaiel. A maze game where you zoom in to advance in the maze. Reach the center to win, but there will be enemies trying to impede your progress.

And there you go, my list of games you should play. It has been a long hard ride through some 140 odd games, but these gems made it all worth while. And, if you are feeling generous, also play my game, Path O’ Invasion. Not as good as those games, but it has squishy movement, and really that’s what Ludum Dare is all about.

I don’t think I’ll be able to play many more games until the judging period ends, so I guess I can already post a few of my favorite ones, since I know that posting this kind of list helps some people (like me) a lot.

I decided to divide them into categories in case people are looking for something specific, but most of these games could easily win at other categories as well, other than the ones in which I’ve included them. Some of them received quite a lot of attention already, and some still haven’t, but certainly deserve yours. You should definitely check them all out.

Innovation

T in Y World by Tom 7 – I can’t really describe this without making it sound like a very confusing game. Perhaps it’s because it is one, indeed. But it’s also a very unique concept. Be sure to play it!

Fracuum by TylerGlaiel – A very simple and short game but with an amazing core mechanic. One of the best entries I’ve played so far.

Soul Searchin’ by MaximSchoemaker – It’s a different take on the same mechanic as Fracuum, with some narrative involved. I personally prefer this one because of the overall mood and humor, but the graphics are not polished like the above game.

Atom Planet by NMcCoy – Very fun concept, though it would be better if it wasn’t so hard to find out what you have to do.

Stellar Nurse by Bleck’s team – Feels like a completed game because it’s very well-polished, but it still needs some balancing on the pace. The game’s name is awesome too.

Fun

Planet 161 by Saint11 – Lots of well-thought puzzles, will leave you wanting more. Not to mention it’s also amazingly well-polished.

Astro Break by hulahulahest – This could have easily been a real Golden Age arcade game.

This Precious Land - Ishisoft – Even though it’s very similar to Triple Town, it has some unique mechanics which make it almost as addictive as Spry Fox’s hit.

Tiny Shards by Gabriel’s team – Best story I’ve seen in a jam/compo entry. The game itself is very hard but feels like a completed work.

MakHappy by JosephGribbin – Very simple and short but enjoyable. The dialogues made me laugh a lot.

Predicament by Orangepascal – Short adventure that takes place in a single room. Finding out what to do is fun and satisfying.

Graphics

Planet Trot by Logan – Best graphics in the competition! Too bad the gameplay needs more work…

Nook by PoV’s team – A lovely short platformer with very professional-looking graphics.

Apocalypse Inc. by mooosh – Creative, memorable art style. The game is quite fun too, if you like pressure =P

Inside my Radio by TurboDindon – A lot of polish in this one. It’s also a fun synesthesic experience, though frustrating at some times.

Little Biyubi by edbadiux’s team – Makes me want to make a game with those looks. Reminds me of the 3D Link’s Awakening project by MithosKuu.

Hamster Bowling by tfendall – Very well-done visuals for a jam game. Play it until the end!

Mood

There is a Picture by MortisGhost’s team – Although I didn’t quite get the ending, the Earthbound-like mood and the abstract graphics made this game one of my favorites.

Obsolescence by quickfingers – Probably the most meaningful game I’ve seen so far, the message is very strong and the graphics are beautiful. Too bad it gets boring quite soon, though.

Memento XII by deepnight – One of the most well-finished games I’ve seen so far, the plot is quite interesting for a short game.

Asylum by Orni – A very involving short narrative, which amazingly has a very strong mood despite the fact that it has no sound.