{"author_link":"\/author\/gear\/","author_name":"Gear","author_uid":"4522","comments":[{"author_name":"FireHawkSoftware","author_uid":"15986","time":"Aug 26, 2012 @ 6:08pm","epoch":1346004180,"text":"This is actually quite fun!  Cheers"},{"author_name":"Sakuyan","author_uid":"13803","time":"Aug 26, 2012 @ 11:00pm","epoch":1346021700,"text":"Pretty good. I'd personally would love it if it was a bit more fast paced."},{"author_name":"Th3dz","author_uid":"7478","time":"Aug 27, 2012 @ 3:43pm","epoch":1346081880,"text":"Pretty nice. A little hard to aim though."},{"author_name":"Pixelulsar","author_uid":"10737","time":"Aug 27, 2012 @ 5:02pm","epoch":1346086620,"text":"Nice, I found it hard to aim too."},{"author_name":"turnip","author_uid":"16168","time":"Aug 27, 2012 @ 5:03pm","epoch":1346086680,"text":"I found this really difficult because bullets shoot forwards, but you need to run away from enemies to stay alive. I wonder what it would be like if the bullets fired backwards."},{"author_name":"Porter","author_uid":"5692","time":"Aug 27, 2012 @ 5:05pm","epoch":1346086800,"text":"A little slow paced, and aggravating to aim. Mouse for fire direction would have been great.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Overall, great start, nice job."},{"author_name":"Robotic","author_uid":"8502","time":"Aug 27, 2012 @ 5:15pm","epoch":1346087400,"text":"It's really hard to hit anybody at the beginning, but the fact that being hit isn't bad is original"},{"author_name":"thewiseguy99","author_uid":"14421","time":"Aug 28, 2012 @ 12:16am","epoch":1346112660,"text":"I agree it is difficult to aim.  However, still enjoyable to play.  Nice job!"},{"author_name":"reismann","author_uid":"14580","time":"Aug 28, 2012 @ 4:45am","epoch":1346128800,"text":"First off, I disagree with many of the comments here, I actually enjoyed the aiming in this game. It adds depth, as the inability to shoot those chasing you forces you to outrun your predators while hunting your prey.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>I love the evolution mechanic, but it feels depressing to have to kill yourself to get stronger.  I can immediately think of two ways to solve this:\r<br\/>1.  Have the options always being visible so the player can spend his XP at any point.  The problem with this is that evolution doesn't exactly work that way.\r<br\/>2.  Make &quot;waves&quot; of enemies, and have the upgrade phase between those waves. I like this one, because it would be as if each wave is fought by the next generation.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>One last thought: The movement controls would be more enjoyable for me if you had used the Asteroids-style RotateCCW\/Forward\/RotateCW controls instead of left\/up\/down\/right.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Overall, this was a very good game that I believe could take up hours of my day after a little polish. Nice job!"},{"author_name":"Yapikom","author_uid":"7497","time":"Aug 28, 2012 @ 12:58pm","epoch":1346158380,"text":"A little to slow paced for my taste."},{"author_name":"ghoulsblade","author_uid":"13111","time":"Aug 28, 2012 @ 1:00pm","epoch":1346158500,"text":"cool idea, but hard to control direction.\r<br\/>small hint for next time: zxc is bad for some non-english keyboards ;)"},{"author_name":"Zoomyzoom","author_uid":"7301","time":"Aug 28, 2012 @ 2:15pm","epoch":1346163000,"text":"Fun game, got to level 9001 :D"},{"author_name":"matthias_zarzecki","author_uid":"3880","time":"Aug 30, 2012 @ 4:18pm","epoch":1346343180,"text":"Nice idea! The auto-bullets are interesting, as they force you to behave tactically. But they wild movement negates that as you can only fire effciently when perfectly horizontally or vertically\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Kudos for chosing Lamarckian Evolution as theme, you're the only one so far I can tell :)\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Also: Why does it have to be XCZ? You do realize that the Z-key is half across the layout in international keyboards. It is \/physically painful\/ to play this."},{"author_name":"Gear","author_uid":"4522","time":"Aug 31, 2012 @ 11:37am","epoch":1346412720,"text":"Yeah, I'm working on a post-compo version that lets you change between Z, W and Y."},{"author_name":"Teknik","author_uid":"15737","time":"Aug 31, 2012 @ 5:25pm","epoch":1346433600,"text":"pretty fun. got really slow paced really fast. maybe to many levels of upgrades."},{"author_name":"hgcummings","author_uid":"11392","time":"Aug 31, 2012 @ 11:05pm","epoch":1346454000,"text":"Graphics were minimalist but (I thought) effective. I found it odd that you had to collide with other critters in order to upgrade, but that you also seemed to be supposed to avoid it... I liked the way they chased you and you had to time it carefully to fire at them. I didn't mind the controls, except that only being able to face in eight directions was a bit frustrating."},{"author_name":"aare","author_uid":"15039","time":"Aug 31, 2012 @ 11:13pm","epoch":1346454480,"text":"Very fun to play, and what is more important extreamly well balanced game!"},{"author_name":"EatThePath","author_uid":"7743","time":"Aug 31, 2012 @ 11:13pm","epoch":1346454480,"text":"Neat idea, but the controls were hard to handle...  Aiming was difficult and it didn't tell me what the zxc keys were for at first.  More upgrades as you level up would be neat."},{"author_name":"goffmog","author_uid":"2011","time":"Sep 1, 2012 @ 1:21pm","epoch":1346505360,"text":"Really liked it once I realised I can only press z and x while I'm dead :) Did you try it with the ability to spend xp to evolve at any time? I also liked the fact that when you evolved your enemies did too"},{"author_name":"berareu","author_uid":"15244","time":"Sep 1, 2012 @ 1:27pm","epoch":1346505720,"text":"Pretty fun game! It's a bit slow to start and the aim may seems difficult at first but you just need to get used to it! Great work :)"},{"author_name":"Corn\u00e9 Dorrestijn","author_uid":"4506","time":"Sep 1, 2012 @ 8:12pm","epoch":1346530020,"text":"Very nice idea, but it is pretty hard in the beginning."},{"author_name":"AleksandarDev","author_uid":"5974","time":"Sep 1, 2012 @ 9:53pm","epoch":1346536080,"text":"It is fun, but i don't see too much evolution except leveling?"},{"author_name":"Syarahsy","author_uid":"17100","time":"Sep 2, 2012 @ 4:42am","epoch":1346560620,"text":"Nice try, Starburst promotional team. Seriously, though, fun game. I didn't have the issues that others are commenting on. My only issue was that if I kill the chaser block while I'm invincible, I can pretty much stand still and rack up points. (I am really craving Starbursts right now.)"},{"author_name":"AdventureIslands","author_uid":"11391","time":"Sep 2, 2012 @ 8:51pm","epoch":1346618760,"text":"Fun, but very slow paced, I found it pretty annoying that I can only shoot forwards and I have to constantly keep on run not facing the enemies. Some music would have been nice, but good job with the game anyways, nice work."},{"author_name":"Huitre","author_uid":"11779","time":"Sep 3, 2012 @ 3:34pm","epoch":1346686140,"text":"Nice idea of having to evolve to pass the level, but the enemies seem much more powerful and you don't feel like you evolve that much... you can't hope to kill anything bigger than you. I played it for quite some time and in the end I quit when I realized that even if I evolved all the way I still wouldn't stand a chance (and wouldn't have a super rapid gun)."},{"author_name":"Puzzlem00n","author_uid":"11003","time":"Sep 5, 2012 @ 11:39pm","epoch":1346888040,"text":"Aiming is, in fact, hard. But this is a good game, even if it's a little slow."},{"author_name":"Ezzam","author_uid":"11033","time":"Sep 15, 2012 @ 7:22am","epoch":1347693420,"text":"One of the best games i played so far. Controls are good and responsive, though it takes a while to get used to them. Game gets really hard later on, perhaps killing an enemy could give 2xp instead of usual 1? I liked different enemy behaviors, too."}],"images":["ld24\/4522-6979f6b2ec12a3d5091148daee79873e.jpg","ld24\/4522-699399dfcbdfef8216e0c0926b70bd24.jpg"],"links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.newgrounds.com\/portal\/view\/601775","text":"Web (Newgrounds)"},{"url":"http:\/\/dl.dropbox.com\/u\/25559328\/LToE.zip","text":"Source"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"29152","g_author":"4522","g_event":"LD24","g_eventkey":"12","g_subevent":"COMPO","g_urlkey":"29182","g_title":"Lamarck's Theory of Evolution","g_status":"UCHK1","g_place":"414","g_commentcount":"27","g_site2_node_id":"0","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":[],"node":null,"orig_images":["http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/163678\/4522-shot0.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/163678\/4522-shot1.png-eq-900-500.jpg"],"text":"Second entry for Ludum Dare, went about as casually as last time, whilst being careful of past mistakes (impossible difficulty, anyone?). Thanks for reading, and enjoy.\r\n\r\nZ,X,C to pick options after you die\r\nArrow keys to move\r\nShooting is automatic<\/p>","title":"Lamarck's Theory of Evolution"}