FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD41 → Farmer's Delight: A Twin-Stalk Shooter

Farmer's Delight: A Twin-Stalk Shooter

By dovakla

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6683.3767
Fun5483.3465
Innovation5043.4566
Theme4193.8066
Graphics8762.9666
Humor3353.3465
Mood6383.2264

Comments

affinitychris 2018-04-24 05:07

Fun! There didn't seem to be any point to the money (other than score), but definitely a fun entree in the farming sim-meets-shooter genre :stuck_out_tongue:

dovakla 2018-04-24 05:12

@AffinityChris there's a shop in the forest to the left! Also it seems like I accidentally left the debug mode on when I built it. The correct version is on Itch now.

affinitychris 2018-04-24 05:15

ahhh, gotcha - thanks!

dovakla 2018-04-24 05:25

@AffinityChris make sure you've got the new build otherwise money will still be pretty pointless

keravcin 2018-04-24 06:30

Nice up beat experience (and contrast that with the creepy shop keeper lol, that was effective). Not sure what water did. Mine has a similar combination of genres, except FPS instead of twin-stick, check it out. I also think your first game jam game turned out well!

caleblewis 2018-04-24 20:16

Interesting idea. Harvesting plants felt a little awkward and the movement felt a bit weird but I think this has a lot of potential as a concept.

dovakla 2018-04-25 00:29

@keravcin thanks for the feedback! The shopkeep is the only known self-portrait of the artist. Plants drink water from the dirt as they grow and if the dirt dries out they'll start to die. Higher-tier plants drink more than lower-tier ones.

solrun 2018-04-25 06:03

I wasn't sure that the crops were ready the first time around. They were all glowing so I thought maybe they needed water, but then they got up and attacked me. It's very handy that they drop a few seeds when you kill them so you don't just end up with nothing if you mess up the harvesting the first time so good job having that safety feature in.

The enemy animations were actually pretty cute. They kinda dance around in a silly way.

yokimbo 2018-04-25 06:06

Fun game! :D Good job!

dovakla 2018-04-25 06:10

@CalebLewis Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'm not completely satisfied with those systems either. I made the drop system for enemy drops first and it didn't translate great to harvesting.

@Solrun Thanks! I wish I could have implemented an indicator to show when crops are ready because you do just have to learn it through trial and error, which isn't great. Enemies are also guaranteed to drop their crops which you can sell to buy seeds, so it should be very difficult to end up in a place where you have no money and no seeds.

dovakla 2018-04-25 06:10

@Yokimbo Glad you liked it!

sohakes 2018-04-25 06:14

Oh man it's so much like my game. Like, SO MUCH. At least the main idea although the way things happen are somewhat different and you preferred a top down approach (honestly working in first person was so buggy I wish I would go back and do the same). Even the somewhat poorly drawn main menu (I used Piskel too!) and models because you probably aren't mainly an artist, or the tradeoff between planting many things and getting gold but getting overwhelmed.

Your is more fun though tbh. The merchant dialogs is funny and it's really cool how you switch to first person after getting to that place. Unexpected but beautiful. It lacks any polishing, but strangely enough I think it matches the overall mood of the game. And I didn't find any bugs. I guess maybe one: I think there was music at the start, and I've seem you used Incompetech's music at the menu, but didn't hear any sound or music after some time!

I like how you mix the twin stick mechanics into the game too, you need to shoot seeds, water, etc. I didn't understand what to use the water for, though. I thought it was to calm down the plants, but it didn't seem to work. Didn't seem to change how fast they grow too. I also bought other seeds but they didn't change anything I think. Didn't understand what they do.

Loved it, congrats for the game.

cole-and-jordan-studios 2018-04-25 06:37

I like this concept! Small movements are a little difficult to make but overall I'd say it's pretty fun once I got the hang of it! I didn't notice the shop until I read the comments then went back and played some more

walkdigidong 2018-04-25 07:25

like it, nice work) good gameplay

david-boeger 2018-04-25 10:01

The game is actually a really impressive mix of genres. Definitely fits the theme. And I have to say, mad respect to you for actually taking the time to make a proper menu and give proper credit for CC-licensed assets. I do the same for my games, and I can't tell you how frustrating it is to do the right thing legally and then see people just ignoring the license requirements.

thatsommes 2018-04-25 14:23

Had a blast playing this for a while, it's really fun and would love to see the idea be expanded upon. Would love to see a more polished and feature rich version. I did have som problems with picking the plants before they started attack, there's probably some trick to it but i couldn't figure it out..

dovakla 2018-04-25 16:29

@sohakes @Cole and Jordan Studios @David Boeger @ThatSommeS Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you all enjoyed it!

@sohakes The music and sound effects both completely stopped? Do you know when it happened? The dirt tiles can dry out after plants have grown on them for a while. Higher-tier plants need more water. I like your idea of making it calm down enemies though. You can choose different seeds in the planting menu (tool #2) and they grow different plants.

@david-boeger The menu was actually the last thing I implemented (which is why it's so janky), but I totally agree with you. It's such a basic thing to do.

@ThatSommeS You can pick plants when they're at the final stage of growth by using tool #1 while standing near them. I would have liked to add a visual indicator to show when they're ready, since you do sort of have to learn through trial and error now.

let-off-studios 2018-04-26 01:45

I enjoyed puzzling out the balance between growth to harvest, and growth to KILL. It was a nice decision point to face. Once I discovered the shopkeeper, I was impressed with the variety of hostile plants. Definitely scratches that twin-stick shooter itch. The tension that mounts when the plants start wriggling was a nice touch. Well done!

axe 2018-04-26 05:13

ok so this is the game i spent the most time on and probably the best implementation of this concept. great work!

obviously its rough as hell, poorly optimised, completely unfinished but the fun is through the roof. the game was really broken by just using flamethrowers on turnips but hell it was satisfying

warzoku 2018-04-26 05:23

not bad

biobazard 2018-04-26 11:24

A totally wtf idea haha ! It just lacks animation but good job !

mordokay 2018-04-26 16:11

Fun game and a very good idea ... could have been more polished but during a Ludum Dare its a hard thing to do. I always loved farming games and adding the shooting plants component to it was nice. Good Job!

maxklimenok 2018-04-26 16:35

Funtastic implementation for a one man jam!

Today I already have rated a few shooting farm sims here on the LD site, and your one is my favorite so far.

Nice dynamic game play where you totally control the risks. Plant to little crops, and you are out of funds, plant to many - and you are dead.

It is obvious that the game is not polished enough and not optimized (becomes turn based strategy with 300+ mobs), but hell yea! It delivers... delivers a lot of fun!

Well done!

lesconneriesdered 2018-04-26 18:08

Really impressive, and you made it alone. Congrat ! ;)

If you have the time be sure to check out my game : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/blocksnblaster-1

dovakla 2018-04-26 19:39

@let-off-studios @Axe @warzoku @biobazard @Mordokay @MaxKlimenok @LesConneriesDeRed thanks for playing, everyone!

stefenism 2018-04-26 23:34

I can't seem to stop laughing.

articulated9 2018-04-26 23:44

This was a fun entry! If you keep working on it I'd prioritise adding some music and sfx to the game ASAP as I think that could really add to the mood, which is already quite silly and fun.

Otherwise I like the layout of the level, the shop, and the two themes mashed together. I enjoyed playing it! :smile:

nick-gooch 2018-04-27 00:53

like the concept of planting enemies nice twist!

matt-pattabhi 2018-04-27 04:28

LOL neat game, was this inspired by minecraft by any chance?

shivur 2018-04-27 04:42

Good concept.

dovakla 2018-04-27 06:23

@Articulated9 it should have music and sfx. Was it completely silent for you?

@Matt Pattabhi thanks! It wasn't, but I can see the similarities

mbrezu 2018-04-27 06:36

Nice game, I wish there was a bit more visual feedback when doing things (especially harvesting and watering).

Loved the music :-)

blinkenlights 2018-04-27 17:42

Pity there's no Linux version, would've liked to play.

dovakla 2018-04-27 17:56

@Blinkenlights I meant to do do that yesterday, sorry. There's a Linux build up now.

theamazingb 2018-04-27 19:31

I really like the concept. I would try out some different sound effects. I really like how the music adds to the zany feel of it! Tons of fun. Great job. Try ours https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/infinite-typer

jaime-paz-lopes 2018-04-27 19:58

really cool genre combination

aumbra 2018-04-28 03:07

This was really cool. I wasn't expecting loot explosions like that but they were really fun. Things got a lot crazier than I expected and I loved it. There was quite a lot of stuff in the game too which was impressive. I liked the mix of themes too. Great job!

johnnydalvi 2018-04-28 11:04

Nice game :) I've spotted two issues with the main character, he seems to be using 3d physics all the time, which makes him "jump" if you are walking up in a ramp. The other thing is that diagonals make you move faster, you could normalize the vector3 before applying the actual movement so it will always be a unit vector * speed.

Regarding the Game Design, I liked it although there is a flow curve problem, the player spend too much time with the first weapon before being able to buy other ones, perhaps decreasing the price of the items or increase the amount of money each prop gives.

abductedplatypus 2018-04-28 13:24

__Fun__ The mechanics in this game are ridiculous, and that's great. "Quick we have to harvest!" "Why? Its mid-summer!" "The plants are turning into zombies!" There's a lot of content, and I really mean a TON. But it could have a lot of polish on a lot of things. A few are: Normalize the player movement, right now when I go diagonal I go about 1.41 times faster than otherwise. A bit more animations would be great. That being said, this level of unpolishedness does really add to the ridiculousness of it, which is most of the fun of the game anyways. Good fun that is.

__Innovation__ Is this new? I guess it is, it's not a very large leap though. Is it an improvement? Not with this level of polish. For me at least. But it was definitely different from most similar things and I try to be objective so I guess a decent score is in place.

__Theme__ I'm not sure if this is really two incompatible themes. It could very well be a much faster Stardew Valley with guns where your crops turn into enemies. But maybe Stardew Valley also uses two themes. So I guess you did all right here too.

__Graphics__ I'm not a fan of the graphics. You did use a lot of material tricks that make it look more interesting, but I dare say you are not a professional graphics artist. Then again, it matches the ridiculousness of it.

__Humor__ I have to admit, actual LOLs were lolled. This is insane.

__Mood__ It didn't really strike an emotional thing with me. I feel a bit more polish is needed for that. Sorry.

__Overall__ I think you did a really great job at getting a ton of content out there. Amount-of-content-wise this is extremely impressive. It did cost a lot of polishing tine though, but you pulled it off by just making everything insane. Overall it is really decent, and I spent waaaaay more time than I though I would at first.

piller-yann 2018-04-28 13:25

I really like the concept. He made me laugh. Too bad there are no sounds:,-( Good job

dovakla 2018-04-28 17:11

@johnnydalvi @abductedPlatypus I totally forgot about the diagonals. Yeah, I did not really budget any time to polish things and instead kept adding new content basically right up until the deadline. I need to be careful about that next time.

@Piller Yann it should have music and sound effects. Was it completely silent the whole time?

cristiano-m-garcia 2018-04-29 02:01

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape

wizcas 2018-04-29 03:15

To be honest this game was a little bit boring, UNTIL I GOT THE FLAME THROWER!! I love how the loots popped out from dead vegs, and the way you present things with billboard. It's very innovative and interesting to switch to first person view when entering the shop, and the shop interaction is smooth. I'd like to see your game more polished and hopefully one day it'll be complete :smile:

2018-04-29 05:13

Fun and charming, the shop keeper adds a nice twist to the game. I'll definitely play it through to higher tier weapons. :smile:

smiling-cat-entertainment 2018-04-29 12:49

Wow. This was really cool and held my attention for quite a while, until over 1000 mobs beset me with massive lag. :smile: I felt that the shotgun should have come before the flamethrower, as the flamethrower seems best against the largest crowds. Great job!

toulou 2018-04-29 14:52

Pretty fun game, I like the concept a lot. There's a few bugs here and there, like, after I killed my first ennemies they dropped seeds, but when I collected it my inventory said I had none. But overall, it's a cool game fun to play, and a good entry for this LD. Good job !

dovakla 2018-04-29 15:33

@Toulou Thanks for the feedback! Are you sure they were seeds and not grown crops? Did seeds work later?

ultrarat 2018-04-30 03:42

Nice, you got a lot in. The shop is hard to discover on your own since the farming part of the game makes it seem like you should plant ( hehe ) yourself in one place and not explore much. I think it's clearer if you update your description to include features like the shop. I had to play again because I try not to read comments before I play, but always read the descriptions carefully.

dannyboy 2018-04-30 10:21

Really like the idea and gameplay. :)

jk5000 2018-05-06 18:52

The idea is really good, and with a bit polish, this can be a super great little game.

ursagames 2018-05-12 20:32

Interesting switch of controls when going to the shop. It was intuitive, but unexpected. Definitely a lot of potential here, farming up monsters that you have to beat is a really fun idea. Mechanics felt pretty solid, but I did have a bit of a hard time aiming where I was planting my crops. Nice job! There's a lot of content here for a LD game :D