i_tried by bobola66
I started learning programming about a month ago, and i thought ludum dare was the best way i can practice. I spent most of the time learning new stuff which is why there isn't much done, i didn't even get close to what i had in mind, but at least i had fun. So here is one buggy and no where near done game made by me.
Ratings
| Coolness | 33% | 1896 |
| Overall | 2.90 | 860 |
| Fun | 3.10 | 535 |
| Graphics | 2.65 | 841 |
| Humor | 2.94 | 282 |
| Innovation | 2.90 | 727 |
| Mood | 2.69 | 760 |
| Theme | 3.65 | 482 |
It was really fun playing it, even if understanding that you have to use to 2 clicks is hard if you don't read like me :p
It's a really good job for a first game, keep going !
Keep doing what you're doing. (see you next ludum dare?) :)
The diminishing returns on the upgrades is great too, very well implemented and decently balanced.
The way it's implemented now the snowflake clicking feels a bit tedious, and one of the reasons for that is that it feels like you're just counting your clicks. If you would give everything snow related higher values, that would help a lot in making it more abstract. Just multiply it by whatever arbitrary number. The scale with which the upgrades become less cost efficient is a great addition, and that doesn't need to go. It's just that when you click a snowflake, it disappears, and you get 1 snow, that makes it much more obvious that you're essentially just counting clicks than it would if it gave you 7 points. Or 10, or whatever. Something that doesn't make you instantly realize "I will have to press this button exactly 148 more times to be able to afford the next upgrade - and that's if I do it flawlessly, hitting a snowflake with every single click".
There are a couple of smart strategical points that you've created too, and that I'd like to highlight. 1: the angles the snowman can shoot in. This makes it a lot less obvious how to defend yourself. 2: the speed of the snowflakes and enemies increase over time, meaning that "mining" snow flakes is more efficient at the top, where they all spawn and stay for a little while, than it is in the middle where they're just everywhere. As for the enemies, it becomes harder estimate when you need to shoot and in what direction to hit them. 3: obviously the two games running in parallel, making you choose whether to defend yourself or whether to mine.
I'm missing some sort of indicator for the health of the enemies, right now you don't really know if you need to upgrade or not. Also, it would be nice of the enemies became stronger (and/or more plentiful perhaps) as you went along. That would help emphasize the need to make these strategical choices. The way it is now, you can choose to just defend yourself, and that way you'd be able to reach as high levels as you'd have the patience for, which means that you can choose to play the game in a way that pretty much requires no skill. With some sort of time restraint (like enemies growing stronger, for example), this wouldn't be possible in the same way.
Anyway, that was a mammoth post! I'm really impressed, you've got potential! Looking forward to seeing you in the next entries :)
Love the snowman pixel art and game mechanics are quite nice.
Some bugs (reset, as mentioned above), but that happens to the best. Keep at it :)