FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD24 → Pincers

Pincers

By ggiraldez

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness280
Theme294.00
Overall513.72
Fun673.54
Graphics1413.59
Mood1523.10
Innovation2603.13
Audio2622.71
Humor4641.82

Comments

thomastc 2012-08-27 12:13

I love this. The controls took a little getting used to, but the way the creatures move is very reminiscent of bacteria under a microscope, or maybe larger aquatic micro-organisms.

Very clever how the various body parts make for a large variety of different creatures, from tiny particles to menacing scorpion-like things.

Graphics look great, and it was wonderful to see my creature grow until I got overconfident and died at level 18.

One complaint would be that the game is maybe too easy. A carrion-eating strategy works quite well, but then, it's the same in nature!

thewiseguy99 2012-08-28 04:07

precice controls needed but that's a good thing. I can tell this was built and load with coolness. I can see this game having a good relay value.

The world is really large with many AI driven enemies and evolving material to collect.

I got a fairly long tail in the end and would try it again later to see how I do.

seconddimension 2012-08-28 17:51

It felt similar to the first level of Spore, but I think it was very well done and fits the theme perfectly. I enjoyed playing this one

andygo 2012-08-28 18:13

Nice. IA looks good.
Controls are quite hard but that makes challenge.

Reminds me of Flow.

ggiraldez 2012-08-28 20:07

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! This is my second LD, but the first one I actually finish. At some point in the next few days I'll try to write a post-mortem.

@Frozen Fractal: better AI fell out of the time budget, as well as a proper skill system that makes use of energy. But I'll definitely continue to work on this.

@thewiseguy99: I had a great time making it. Thanks for playing.

@SecondDimension: funny, I haven't played Spore :) Will have to check it out.

@Andy Go: flOw was my starting point. Then I added variation from the three types of body parts. The progression system is not immediately clear though and I should have added some kind of tutorial.

zatyka 2012-08-29 01:48

Very nicely done. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

ditto 2012-08-29 02:58

You are right our games are very much alike! ^^ I really love the expansive space you play in, with the paralaxing stars and everything! Only thing I would complain about is that my snake got pretty overpowered once I hit level 5 or something.. ^^ Great game, congrats! :D

panzermancer 2012-08-29 03:47

Really well-done. I had no problems with the controls, really. The game was challenging, yet rewarding. I went mostly for speed and attack and scavenged around; it's surprising how often the creatures end up killing each other :P But that's a good thing, that gives life to the AI. Great job, man, really!

bobiniki 2012-08-29 13:41

I played like 15 min and died. It was fun. The only thing i don't like is the background effect when you are low. It just looks wrong.

teejay5 2012-08-29 22:38

I see we had similar game ideas! :D
Well done, I especially liked the evolution phases.

hgcummings 2012-08-29 22:55

Nice graphics and I loved the size and complexity of the game world. It felt quite like flOw. I found the controls slightly tricky (especially using the keyboard) and ended up pointlessly circling bits of food initially, but getting more adept at controlling the creature is quite rewarding. Might have been good to have more goals than just wandering around eating & leveling up, to give the game a bit more purpose (but then again, that's all that snake is and it's one of the most popular games ever).

plule 2012-08-30 19:25

I agree that the controls are not very good.
But this is the LD game I spent the most time on. I loved how you can play a badass killer or a swift carrion feeder (not sure it's the word).
Obvious inspiration from flOw, but the gameplay felt really different, and that's awesome.

gnx 2012-09-01 22:18

I first tried keyboard control, that was weird but mouse control works well enough. I'd wish though the worm would retain the velocity so you wouldn't have to hold the mouse key constantly :)

There were enough different creatures and I liked the way the world (unexpectedly) got darker and the monsters bigger when you started wandering outwards.

Nice job.

cappelnord 2012-09-03 16:46

I liked this a lot! Our games are quite similar :-D

azurenimbus 2012-09-04 18:15

Pretty good job! Seems like you got a whole world going and it's very polished and consistent.

In my own experience it felt a bit monotonous after some minutes, and I wonder if some level design wouldn't create a bit of structure that would make it more fun, now that you've set the mechanics.

But nicely done!