extar 2021-04-28 21:39
Getting a 404 page on the Itch link :(
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → Pheromones
By shakedimus
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1687 | 2.93 | 34 | |
| Fun | 1652 | 2.74 | 33 | |
| Innovation | 278 | 3.82 | 33 | |
| Theme | 1243 | 3.38 | 33 | |
| Graphics | 1716 | 2.53 | 33 | |
| Humor | 1219 | 2.29 | 26 | |
| Mood | 1739 | 2.48 | 29 |
Getting a 404 page on the Itch link :(
mention me if the game becomes playable :D
Waauw! I've been quite stupid. I had it set to restricted :( Haven't had the time to check in because I had to catch up at work. Thanks @trexxak and @extar. I will definetly plauy your games ASAP :)
Very nice, very innovative gimmick. While the ants are annoying and uncooperative, that adds to the charm of the game - battling the mechanics in a desperate attempt to escape. The graphics are nice, giving the game a probably unintentional atari feel. If you decide to take the gimmick further - and I suggest you do, it's a very cool idea, albeit in need of fine-tuning - maybe you can also recreate other aspects of ants' behaviour - maybe a bridging mechanic, or a mechanic where you send out your workers to gather resources. Very cool game idea.
Feedback - Some music was really needed - Explain what to do in game - make the ants a bit smarter please
The game is quite confusing but I managed to get to the bottom with the queen.
Very interesting on game, I like this one. There are were some small this I didnt get at first, maybe you should add an in-game tutorial. The collisions were sometimes a little glitchy.
After many attempts, I managed to get the queen and a few other ants to the bottom of the first level. I have given in on the second level though. The basic idea is really interesting, but the game as it is is very fiddly. The queen keeps getting stuck, and the main ant falls through platforms. In the second level it seems useful to jump on other ants, but I can't do it reliably. I also didn't realise for quite some time that there is double jumping. Could do with audio.
At first I was bit confused, but after few attempts I was able to save some ant frieds :) I found the switching bit confusing and the movement was also bit tricky. But overall I think you have made a really original take on the theme and with few adjustments this could work pretty well. Nice job!
@his-games Thanks for the feedback, I think these are some good suggestions!
@meritcoding @kuviman I think you were both right about it being confusing, I tried to add a gif tutorial and the target lines to show where the ants want to go. Thanks for the feedback. @PxlDev I would say buggy ;)
@reheated I'm glad you noticed the jumping on top of each other, I didn't have the time for proper level design to show off this mechanic. That's also why the first level is too easy and the second near impossible to do properly.
@jin9310 Yeah it definetly needs a bit of work ^^ Thanks for the feedback!
It took some time to understand how to play and there are some bugs, but the idea is good.
Good idea but hard to control! I managed to get multiple ants to the bottom but not the queen, she's often stuck in walls ahah
tricky, but cool idea
Hi here is my YouTube Playthrough I hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/F-VMUzH2Ghg
Hey matey, thanks for submitting your game to the stream! I really enjoyed it, and I hope the feedback was helpful. Here's the vod if you wanna rewatch:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1015379431
Not my best try. Hahahahahahah.
Ant.png
I will put the full review here as soon as possible.
Here is the video with my gameplay of your game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ST9BbBj8Sk
**Analysis...**
1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow: The mechanics roughly reproduces the behavior of ants, being both intuitive (for those who have seen ants in childhood, as I did) and challenging. At times the ants can get stuck and the buttons have even confused me (since many games I've played use Space to jump). There is a special unit (in addition to several ant units) that is the queen, I know she reproduces when she is standing, however her "flight" mechanics could be polished (after the event time, because the game already has enough considering how long it took to reach that level). Learning how to play takes a few tries, especially if you have a problem with coordination when the buttons in question are used. I missed having at least the names of the buttons that would serve for something more visible within the context of the game. The flow is under the control of the player, apparently, however, increasing the difficulty only made me have a complicated experience, as the game becomes challenging at a level of decorating the best path (as I understand it), since in the second level the jumps ants do not seem to be enough to continue to depend on the "hole" where they end up falling. The internship project was interesting, in the sense of giving some challenge and making me spend a good time trying to understand how to switch between ants and how to jump forward. I missed a better signal for the end of the internship.
2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative: The graphics are simple and can clearly display the figurative elements. I reiterate that adding images to teach which buttons I can use, as well as adding better signaling to the end, will be very positive for a post-jam version. The use of sound is very subtle (with some effects and other details); it is certainly a part that can evolve considerably in the case of project continuity. The narrative seems very simple: escape with the ants, save yourself, save your colleagues and save the queen. There is no personality development for ants (and that's okay, especially since they can reproduce and you can change ants at any time).
3 - Culture: The game makes use of references to Computational Intelligence paradigms and natural behavior; besides being a platform game with some time challenge in horizontal descent. All of this builds something towards a more or less recognizable atmosphere, generating identification with many elements of the game.
4 - Monetization: I believe that a better work with the stages can lead to a game with many different challenges (I believe the idea is to simplify it even more, and then go on adding elements and new mechanics). Maybe this will make the game a good casual game monetizing by advertisements for smartphones.
Cool mechanics. Awesome ant art. Failed at saving the queen :'(
The mechanics made me lose my sanity. 10/10
It was really frustrating. You mentioned that the Ants are really stupid but they where really heavily and too stupid. TRhe mechanic of following the closest Pheromone is in my opinion not the best, maybe just add the pheromones in a list and let the Ants follow whis list. Start at the closest one to the Ant maybe.
I also would appreciate a way to cancel the Movement and CAll to a Spot ( at least for the queen), because I had to restart the game so ofte becuase of a weird bug or movement issue of the queen. Thas was just frustrating.
The Graphics are not really good and where just there.
The idea is nice, but need a lot of polishing and more work, but you successfull created a GAme and submitted it. And thats what count.
Overall really good job, keep working on it ;)
Hey @deathstorm thanks for the feedback I agree that it should be less frustrating. The list thing is actually already exactly how it works though:p The thing is just that you need to be tactical because if you place a pheromone badly the ants can get stuck because they can't reach it. So the queen getting stuck is not really a bug. I don't know how you played it but if you for example place a lot of pheromones everywhere in stead of only ones at the corners there's a high chance that they will get stuck. But I agree that there should be a way to make it easier to correct if they do get stuck, maybe being able to remove a pheromone or indeed a super pheromone so the others get ignored.
Hey @gustavo-christino thanks for the in-depth review and feedback! Sorry I only got around to playing your game this morning.
Thanks for submitting your game to my stream! I uploaded the VOD if you'd like to rewatch (I start yours at 3:50:10):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7ohNz5jGk
This was a really neat idea, guiding ants around using pheremones to sort of herd them is a really unique mechanic. The puzzle elements of the game were a lot of fun, trying to figure out a good route to take through the level, I just wish the pheremones would fade out after a while, nearly every game seemed to end with the queen just getting stuck trying to go through a wall. It would have been nice to have had some more evocative graphics for the level as well, rather than just boxes, to go along with the nice graphics for the ants. Good effort, though! :smile:
Fun little game to play, had to get used to how dumb the drones were XD. I'll definitely be coming back to this to try to get good at it.
Overall, very interesting mechanic, I think exploring these types of games are the main purpose of gamejams as they allow us to quickly test ideas that might seem a little crazy. Even though it could use some music and the graphics could be more in tune to the nature of the game, the idea behind using different characters to help the "main" character (the queen) to move and get to the end of the level is something worth exploring more and makes this game truly unique and impressive for a single person to have made this. Congrats on finding an interesting mechanic while doing a game jam, in my eyes I think thats a win no matter what! <3
Played the game on-stream!
https://youtu.be/PUjYc80SDag?t=921
Lots of interesting potential with this *Pikmin*-esque game. I like the idea of being able to switch controls between multiple different ants and scouting the area to find the optimal path. Even the need to sacrifice some ants provides an intriguing experience that, while a little frustrating, still feels like an integral part of the game's experience.
Personally, my biggest gripe with the game has less to do with AI or difficulty, but rather, the complexity of the game in its current form. I really do like the very cool experiments this game makes: I think how its mechanics are implemented all needs to be heavily simplified to help the player better absorb the purpose of each of them, and help them come up with ways to create complex strategies this game seems to demand. Some examples of simplification I think the game could use include:
1. Making the game have top-down, 2D *Zelda*-like controls instead of the gravity-based platformer it's like now. 2. Only allow any ant to place exactly one pheremone. If the player taps the pheremone button again, it'll remove the old one, and place the new one to a new place. 3. When selecting an ant to control, pause the game so the player has more time to choose which ant they want to switch to. 4. Add a tutorial section where the player can practice all of the above with infinite amount of time (i.e. no water).
I would love to see more of this game worked on, as it does introduce some really innovative mechanics. As it is now, it's a little too overwhelming for me to enjoy.
This was fun. The path finding seemed to leave the ants stuck in situations that you probably wouldn't expect it, but it was nice to eventually save some friends!
Interesting concept! Was fun having an army of dumb followers. I could see this being expanded into some kind of puzzle game.
Good job!