I’ve been playing lots of Ludum Dare games! If you’d like to play the game I made with Will, you can do so here. Meanwhile, here are a few of my favorites so far, so be sure to play them! The theme for what wins my heart seems to be very mechanics-focused in most cases, but that’s not surprising.

Drill, Baby, Drill

This is a simple, snake-ish sort of game, but I thought it did some really nice, simple, elegant twists that made it stand out to me. Having the different materials affect speed was a great way to control pacing, and it did a great job of ramping up in difficulty as far as what rules to be aware of (like crossing over yourself).

Snakeformer

Also a snake-ish game, but with a completely different twist. It did a great job of taking two mechanics that people may have commonly encountered in different contexts and combining them in a really unexpected way. Plus, the combination works really well. It made for some tough puzzles that twisted my mind in unusual ways.

Hyper Seed

I’m not gonna lie, anything that features “In the Hall of the Mountain King” already goes way up in my opinion. But the mechanic in this game was pretty great. Very simple and obviously ideal for touch, it’s a fun little game that ramps up in intensity just along with the music.

The Sun and the Moon

This game’s mechanic was really fluid and delightful to control, but where the game really shines is its level design. The level design is often clever with very good pacing, ramp up, and breathers, and generally presents the perfect level of challenge while making me feel like a clever badass all the while.

Space to Go

DIS GAME. Omg you guys, this is SUCH a well put-together little experience. The flow, the pacing, the music, the clever humor in the interstitials, it just an absolute delight.  I love it!

denudation

This game has SUCH a different mechanic than I’ve ever encountered before, and yet one that is so well conveyed and easy to understand through the game’s feedback. I love how it inherently controls progression. There’s also a lot of really nice, subtle feedback touches in this game. For example, everything in the world is a square except the enemy projectiles, so they really stand out as something to avoid. Super clever.