FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD52 → Harvest or Die

Harvest or Die

By ninnec and Sean Spiggle

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2863.6648
Fun2983.5447
Innovation1373.7348
Theme4323.6647
Graphics3613.7148
Mood2623.6846

Comments

tevin 2023-01-09 17:09

Nice challenging game! Also the graphics and intro is really well done!

js 2023-01-09 17:14

I would suggest adding a more interactive or graphical tutorial. It was a lot of text to read before starting the actual game. Other than that, it is a pretty nice entry. I liked the graphics and music despite not being able to finish the game.

owca 2023-01-09 17:43

It took me few minutes to figure out the rules but after that I was able to finish the game. Very interesting mechanics. I like the graphics and audio. Great job.

maxflav 2023-01-09 18:26

I agree with other commenters that it took some time to figure out what was going on. But once you get it, that this is a very interesting strategic puzzle game! I kept harvesting the same big crop group that I was standing on, so I was surrounded by holes and instantly died after one step 🤣

yamzho 2023-01-09 20:30

Very nice concept. As said above, it took me few minutes to fully understand what to do. But once I did, the game was pretty fun to play. The art and the mood is great. Music is nice ! :) Well done guys !

historygym 2023-01-10 19:04

Fun game. Took me way too long to figure out the pickup seed mechanic, but you had a nice long instruction page with I appreciated, too many of these didn't do that.

Good mental balance between dumping slime into holes and trying to actually efficiently manage the garden. I appreciate the fact that as soon as I figured out I could bait the slime pretty easily then I died in a hole.

mololo 2023-01-10 19:17

It took me some time to figure out what I needed to do even with the tutorial :smile:, but after that it was fun to play, a bit challenging, but fun. The art is great and the mechanics are interesting. Well done!

alexascher 2023-01-10 19:42

Completed it after 59 turns, and 5 restarts to read the instruction ) I liked the game Recoloring big areas was quite satisfying. Also making traps for monsters was cool I would have placed the instruction somewhere the player could see during gameplay Also I did not realise till the end, that the outer border was safe to travel. Maybe because it was the place where monsters spawned The music fitted the theme, but was too short

alexascher 2023-01-10 19:42

zonoxx 2023-01-10 19:48

Just wanted to say I really like your art direction and idea. I would recommend as well to have an interactive tutorial (show dont tell) as I expect the walls of text in the beginning will discourage some people. Nevertheless, a really cool game!

t-c 2023-01-10 19:49

Interesting game. Very moody. Took a bit but had an "aha!" moment with how the mechanics work and how to not get overrun by the slimes. Felt it was a bit strange that even when you were at 100%, you still had to replace one more time, but that makes sense cause that's the harvest. Was just spooky cause you have nowhere to run once it happens! Got the bunny party at the end. Good job!

greenphox 2023-01-10 20:01

Great game!! I enjoyed it very much The graphics were very cute, and the lighting made it very nice. I was confused at first with the rules, but still congrats for including a tutorial! I finally finished it, after failing 2 times while having to plant only one seed :( Wonderful game, vary nice!

senso 2023-01-11 09:54

Funny puzzle game with more dept when you play a little longer. Good art, matching music and smart mechanics. Tip:(write a little controls/mechanics on top of your page here) some people may overlook it on the itch.io

torban 2023-01-12 00:27

Fun puzzle game! Great work designing this. The art and music add a nice feel to the spookiness of the game. Everything also combines with the Harvest theme well.

togo-sepultraut 2023-01-12 00:36

nice puzzle! keeping track of the monsters to stay safe and planning for the next color change is a fun thing to juggle

shiiro-10psi 2023-01-12 00:39

This is fun and challenging in a way that made me want to beat it instead of getting frustrated.

fluburbio 2023-01-12 06:08

Nice game! I love the visuals :D Like many others, it took me a while to get it, maybe a small tutorial level could have helped, or animations to go with the text, but once you get it it's a lot of fun! Great job!

jonqs 2023-01-12 08:23

Struggle to find a good strategy but after i understood the rules game was fun ! The idea is really cool and original. I was thinking what could it be with a candy crush like mechanic, with special effects coming from aligning some colors. Anyway cool entry ! Congrats !

passbykamenrider 2023-01-12 08:31

Fun and challenging puzzle game! Take me a few minutes to understand the rules, need foreplanning to trap the emenies. Really cool idea, love this game.

ntb896 2023-01-12 15:01

Nice game! Pretty challenging sometimes. The game forces me to think ahead and be really careful about my next move, which helps me train my brain a lot.

tweekstudios 2023-01-12 16:56

I love the art style (reminds of of Klei) and the music too! I couldn't quite figure out what to do though, but it looks really fun!

javasaurus 2023-01-12 18:17

Very nice concept ! Simple but effective ! I love the art style and the atmosphere, the audio matches really nicely. Great job on the mechanics, it really keeps you on your toes. Well done, thank you for making it !

parker-nalch 2023-01-13 06:42

I'll echo a lot of what I'm seeing in these comments. The game loop is simple, but allows for exploration of the mechanics to find the best way for you to beat the game. The music was moody and I'm always here for a bunny (or bunny-adjacent) protag. Well done!

tomatoomelet 2023-01-13 07:27

A little difficult but super fun!

jumpirate 2023-01-13 08:52

Interesting game, but I can’t achieve to 100%!

harmofish 2023-01-13 09:30

Excellent game. The rules are somewhat complicated, and the difficulty level is somewhat high. Congratulations

amarokczukay 2023-01-13 13:18

Really great and challenging game! It is the kind of game i was hoping to make at the very beginning of the jam, something with top view, colors, etc… And i'm happy i didn't do it, because yours is really cool. It's a bit hard to exactly get what you're doing on the first run, but it soon becomes really clear!

Great replay value, great idea, great entry :D

kevin-barrios 2023-01-13 23:05

I'm terrible at retaining front loaded instructions so half the fun for me was figuring out what I was trying to do. It ended up being intuitive enough after a few deaths. Didn't have the patience to complete the puzzle, but I enjoyed the gameplay and the spooky cartoon atmosphere.

patrickrmc 2023-01-13 23:08

Challenging! A game that requires you to think about every step and every move. Love the graphics, they really help set a tone for the game. Solid entry good job!

orhu 2023-01-14 02:20

Interesting game. I think it's a little weird that the bunny falls into it's own holes, but I guess that makes sense since slime monsters do. I think it'd be nice if instead of dying immediately and having to restart, you had a few lives so you don't have to play perfectly.

schnodelfactory 2023-01-14 13:06

It's not easy coming up with puzzle ideas and you did a great job doing so. The Tutorial looked great but was a bit much to read. But after playing for a couple of minutes it all came together and I had fun playing. I loved the dark atmosphere. Great submission.<3

foxwindler 2023-01-14 13:15

Good idea, it was so difficult to understood how i can influence the enemies, but i did it. Realty qualitative graphics, well done!

beeb-gamecodecompany 2023-01-14 21:27

I think this shows it could be fleshed out into something more, that'd be cool. I liked the Tim Burton style atmosphere. I didn't care for the controls, I wish the character had turned in the direction you wanted first using the arrow keys, then moved after pressing the arrow key again.

tricky-fat-cat 2023-01-14 21:38

Quite a peculiar puzzle game. Really easy to grasp without tutorial, yep, I skipped your text tutorial to test how easy it's to learn just playing it.:)

binaryprinciple 2023-01-14 23:48

At first is a bit overwhelming and did not understood why I keep on dying. Still, I enjoyed the turn-based mechanic and the look and feel of it. The music gives it a nice tension and I like seen my progress.

My recommendation would be to simplify the controls (WASD and Arrows can be the same) and setup a test level.

khadia 2023-01-15 04:11

Interesting game idea and take on the theme! Agree with other commenters that a tutorial level or two would really help players access your gameplay ... maybe one in which you just manage the crops, then introduce slime on the next level? Could also use some feedback on death (i.e. what killed you and a tip on how to avoid that next time). But I understand it's very hard to fit these kinds of features into a game jam in favour of getting the core game loop working, which you've succeeded at very well. Great job and congrats on your game!

arron-fowler 2023-01-16 13:59

This is really challenging. An interesting use of the theme and athe kind of game that probably requires a deeper dive. Good work

froissant 2023-01-23 13:11

Really fun game! Took quite a while to get the hang of the mechanic, but the concept is really fun!

Liked the art direction, the creepiness of the level and monsters is interesting :smile:

ninnec 2023-01-23 17:01

@froissant Thank you for testing it out, unfortunately I was unable to watch your stream since I am at work. Do you record any of the videos?

froissant 2023-01-23 17:03

@ninnec here's the replay: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1716029414 :smile: (I was at work, too!)

ninnec 2023-01-23 17:05

@froissant Thanks!

svemir 2023-01-24 02:17

Very nice atmosphere and very challenging. Didn't take too long to figure it out, but is quite complex and makes you really think. The graphics are also nicely done!

kikiriki367 2023-01-24 13:58

Party time! party.png

Phone game thoughts: I like the gameplay and the simple mechanics which you can build upon with ease. For a mobile game, i could see it as such to be honest. It has simple mechanics and gives that just one more level vibes that phone games tend to need :)). One thing that i would say to consider is the tone of the game though. I like it, its cool that its spooky a bit, but i think for mobile it would benefit from a more cheerful vibe. As much as it kills me to say, theres a reason why candy crush graphics are popular these days :((

For the mechanic side its a really good base to build upon. Here are some extra ideas or things to consider in that regard: -Make it level based, each level being harder and bigger -Make an interactive tutorial, starting with a 3x3 grid and expanding on it with more colors and tiles, adding enemies then and so on. Its a lot better to learn through play than text. -Make it area based, so that each area has 5-10 levels before you get to the next one and get introduced to a new mechanic(tiles which you can walk over once, enemies that behave differently(for example like a horse/bishop from chess), fruit that you need to dig next to first before being able to dig it...) -Some sort of friends leaderboards maybe since i saw you already have a number of turns counter!(but this is really just extra...)

I think you have a great base which i can see being expanded on to make a neat little mobile game. You have the challenge and gameplay, you only need variety and more content! So great base and good luck on it, and i will follow you in case you decide to post anything further about the game!:D.

PS you can make an easy port by just adding unity buttons for the controls, and the game will probably be playable in html! I found that by accident with my game so yeah, small tip!

ninnec 2023-01-24 18:45

@kikiriki367 Thank you for your very thorough feed back. I agree with you, and everyone else who mentioned it, that a learn through play approach would have been ALOT better. We have actually started making an android port on unity but are finding that everything is very hard to see on the phone, so we are playing around with ideas on how to make the experience more visibly pleasing. Maybe brighter theme, like you suggested, could help with that