LudumData

Frogotten Focus by Clare_Chan1738

[raw]
made by Clare_Chan1738 for Ludum Dare 56 (COMPO)

Hi, I'm Clare! I'm a pretty inexperienced developer and this is my first time participating in Ludum Dare. Hope you enjoy!

In this game, you play as Todd, a tadpole who is swimming inside a painting hanging on someone's wall. Your goal is to help him survive for 3 minutes while taking out as many enemies as you can. Feel free to put your high scores in the comments!

UPDATE: I fixed the spawning bug with the enemies, so it should work as intended now hopefully... I've left the original build up in case you want to see the difference but feel free to try the "FIXED" version.

It's a little messy but... https://github.com/clarechan1738/LDJam56_ClareBenn
itch.io page --> https://clare-chan1738.itch.io/frogotten-focus
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/frogotten-focus

Ratings

Overall 294th 2.875⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 291th 2.643⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 299th 2.558⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 221th 3.315⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 273th 2.833⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 218th 2.833⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 223th 2.591⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 237th 3.04⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 62🗳️ 29🗨️

Feedback

gnats
07. Oct 2024 · 00:12 UTC
Congrats on your first LD! I really like your concept/theme. My advice for post-jam cleanup would be to angle the sprite to your keyboard input so we get a better sense of moving down/up. You can even set the projectiles to come out in the direction of the last input. All this just serves to give the player a better sense of control. Thanks for making this!
Guadalupe Murgo
07. Oct 2024 · 00:22 UTC
good start! keep working on it
milq
07. Oct 2024 · 10:02 UTC
Great game! Honestly, for being your first participation in Ludum Dare, it's really well done! And on top of that, in the Compo format, which is the hardest. I find the game entertaining, and being inside a painting makes it adorable. At first, I had trouble understanding how the game worked, and that was because my browser on GNU/Linux wasn't displaying the entire screen. Once I switched to full-screen mode, I was able to play it without any issues. Great game!
Yoav Kagan
07. Oct 2024 · 11:34 UTC
well done! for an inexperienced developer its impressive to complete a game in 48 hours!
LDJam user 258850
07. Oct 2024 · 17:04 UTC
first LD lets gooo :) i managed to save the painting!

![image_2024-10-07_180440010.png](///raw/223/f3/z/6657f.png)
SatLess
07. Oct 2024 · 20:45 UTC
Put the game in fullcreen and was able to play it properly. It's an interesting concept, however the enemies stopped spawning after the first ones pop up, even though I still took damage. Congrats on your first LD!
LightningST
08. Oct 2024 · 01:13 UTC
Great idea making him inside the painting! Felt very unique!
🎤 Clare_Chan1738
08. Oct 2024 · 02:27 UTC
Thank you for all the positive feedback so far, I've added a fixed build for anyone who wants to give it another shot! :)
ItsAina
08. Oct 2024 · 07:00 UTC
Congratulations on your first LD game!
It's a cute little game, I liked the idea of swimming inside a painting, it's pretty creative!

I think the only negative I have to say is that sometimes it feels like i'm getting hurt from nothing. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I keep losing health when nothing is even close to me (sometimes not even on screen).
iovorobiev
08. Oct 2024 · 22:08 UTC
Great entry, especially given this is your first LD! It would've been nice to see animations on the background and maybe some power-ups / healing items on the level, as I found it the safest to just shoot from the wall.
Other than that, great entry overall!
davidsheadgames
09. Oct 2024 · 19:18 UTC
I cannot beat this one. It's a bit hard to aim and move at the same time and my muscle memory with 'Q' makes it way harder to hit 'Q' than to hit 'E'.

Great job on your first entry, though! Especially as a compo!
Phyrocast
09. Oct 2024 · 22:53 UTC
Nice job on your first ! Starting with a compo is ambitious, and its a nice result!
Here are the little issues i felt in the fixed build :
- Sometimes i received damage without knowing why
- Having Q and E as shooting button makes it hard to move at the same time, maybe using the mouse buttons could make it more comfortable?
- Only being able to shoot from the sides makes it difficult to deal with some situations, though it could also be intentional to add challenge!
Overall a nice piece! Keep it up and I'd say definitely keep working on this one!
LDJam user 319166
10. Oct 2024 · 04:05 UTC
Congratulations for your first LD！ I didn't know why I died for the first time. but good job!
stormburpee
10. Oct 2024 · 05:06 UTC
Congratulations on your first ludum dare! You did very well! Would love to see you continue developing this into something else!
lumbra
10. Oct 2024 · 11:51 UTC
congrats on your first entry! it needs some polishing (im no programmer myself so, cant rly help but) sometimes i received damage and i didnt really get why- but its a pretty cool concept :]
Ecaterina
10. Oct 2024 · 13:45 UTC
I'm thrilled with the game's concept. It's something new and original. I'm glad I gave it a try. All the issues were resolved once I switched to full-screen mode. Great job!
Nazariglez
10. Oct 2024 · 18:20 UTC
Congrats on your first Ludum Dare! The whole idea of swimming inside a painting is super creative! With a little more polish, like fixing the invisible damage and tweaking the controls, it could be even more fun. Great start, keep going!
🎤 Clare_Chan1738
10. Oct 2024 · 19:07 UTC
Thank you to everyone who rated the game, I have a few ideas on how to fix the issues so hopefully in the future after the jam ends, I'll try to fix it up more! :)
daflamingpotato
10. Oct 2024 · 21:10 UTC
Nice job!
AdamG
11. Oct 2024 · 00:05 UTC
Having the attack buttons right next to the movement controls was a little clunky, but once I realized I could also use arrow keys to move it felt much better. I enjoyed playing, the gameplay was fun, although I think if the enemies moved a little less predictably, such as a small chance to strafe around you a little bit, would make it feel a lot more polished
knarf
11. Oct 2024 · 10:16 UTC
Interesting take on the theme, but I had some trouble taking damage but not really understanding why; I only saw some monsters on the bottom but never in the painting so i couldn't shoot them neither as it only shoots horizontally ? Well done for a first LD game anyway :)
Tried html and last build, falso fullscreen but i think i miss something ; also music sounded nice ^^ Good job !
LDJam user 280624
11. Oct 2024 · 14:21 UTC
That was challenging! But I like it =)
bacalear
12. Oct 2024 · 10:46 UTC
Great! Liked idea very much.
silkworm_sweatshop
16. Oct 2024 · 19:58 UTC
Congrats on your first jam! Biggest issue I had was the control layout, like others have mentioned. I'm happy you didn't neglect audio as it gives important feedback that sometime is overlooked (although sound effects are a bit too loud compaired to the music). Visual effects can also be added for additional clearity/feedback, for example some particles or flashing when an enemy is hit/dies or when you are shooting charging. Little things to add polish and better game feel. Good job on finishing, keep it up!
Kateryna
19. Oct 2024 · 17:35 UTC
Well done with your first entry!
I think that with some improvements this game can be quite fun. I did find it rather challenging because of shooting only being horizontal, and health diminishing while no enemies were around. One idea: maybe shooting can be from the back and not front of the character. Then it would be easier to shoot and run away at the same time. Or aiming could be a separate control, for example, mouse pointer. Those are just some ideas to explore.
Dianavi
20. Oct 2024 · 16:22 UTC
Great job, and well done for your first jam and the compo! You have a complete gameplay loop with simple, but cool, gameplay. ^^