FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD52 → Combine Harv-racer

Combine Harv-racer

By procrasteroid

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2213.76126
Fun1753.77126
Innovation4113.28124
Theme1224.17126
Graphics3463.77126
Audio1433.74124
Humor1983.42120
Mood3883.49120

Comments

knatterton 2023-01-09 20:05

Love the graphics and banjo! And cool system that lets you go faster the bigger the harvest. Flowers taking over where the wheat once grew is a nice touch!

procrasteroid 2023-01-09 20:25

Thank you so much for trying my game @knatterton, you are my first ever comment received on a jam submission! I was worried I'd made a mistake submitting my game so it was such a relief to see someone had played it already.

I'm going to play a load of games later this evening and will try Froot Labs for sure!

jackypark9852 2023-01-09 21:24

The banjo and the crazy combine made me laugh. The particle effects make it very satisfying to drive through the corns. The cows felt pretty abrupt, especially at the speed at which the combine is going. Though, that is partially due to me staring at the particle effects. Also, making the corns regrow slower so that combines have to strategically plan their route for maximum corn could be a fun addition too. Overall, great work!

deppong 2023-01-09 21:24

I think this was a great entry! love the music and the themes overall! I also just thought it was satisfying seeing the routes I took on previous laps!

maymay 2023-01-09 21:24

Really fun game! I was really hoping for some banjo music while I raced around a corn field and I was not let down :) I like how the harvesting affects your speed, and the way that the difficulty ramps up by adding obstacles on later laps is cool too!

cloverfall 2023-01-09 21:25

Really fun game. I especially like the way that the camera is positioned as it makes it hard to see what is coming and creates some last second dodges of the cows. The only feedback I would have is that the harvester should probably start steering worse at high speeds which would make crashes more common adding to the fun. The audio was also really good and overall a great game

rrsmtz 2023-01-09 21:25

The graphics are great, and the speed-up mechanic is innovative. I found the cows to be a bit frustrating as I couldn't see them coming, and generally didn't have a good viewport. It seems like the screen got cut off in itch.io. But it was overall pretty fun and had some nice polish! I got 1:57:94 on my first try :)

sid-fish 2023-01-09 21:28

Fun game, the subtle blood splatter if you hit the cow is a cool touch. I would only suggest have the camera move ahead of the truck so you can see further ahead when you race to better see those cows coming :)

salmonmoose 2023-01-09 21:34

This is great - it'd be nice to see a map, and also I think the controls in reverse are backwards, but was great fun hooning around!

teddyreid 2023-01-09 21:54

A couple of genius little touches in the design here. For example, the corn growing back on your subsequent laps, letting you see a sort of "ghost" of your previous attempts.

It kind of reminds me of the topdown racers you used to get on the GameBoy Advance!

skoufakis 2023-01-09 23:55

Fun little game. Love especially the re-grow Effect :)

procrasteroid 2023-01-10 00:10

@rrsmtz 1:57 is an awesome finishing time for a first try, I haven't gotten below 2:00 yet πŸ˜… glad you liked it and thanks so much for playing my game!

feor 2023-01-10 00:13

Impressive work for a solo game. I agree with the other commenters, the core gameplay is fine but what really stands out are all the little touches like the corn growing back and the cows. I find it funny that hitting the fence doesn't slow you down, but hitting a cow does. And let me say, Cowmaggedon is a great idea. Nice work!

vivyhasadream 2023-01-10 02:22

Immediately it reminded me of the show Clarkson's Farm. The music is very delightful. :smiley:

cutesquirrel 2023-01-10 03:45

I just came from your review on my game, which have a very similar theme! Really like your entry. My first thought when I started it up, was that I should have gone with banjo music too! Also I believe I've killed more cows in one game here, than in all my playtesting of my own entry. xD

Graphic is continuous and good. Music is banger, and makes it so much better when you start getting up in speed. All in all really nice entry!

sslees 2023-01-10 04:17

Really enjoyed this racer! The corn growing back was awesome, and it helped me see where the track was going to turn, though I swear the cows appear in the track more often than elsewhere. Fun game with satisfying art and "cow pixels". I was steering with both hands by the end

gawain-doell 2023-01-10 04:24

This one is pretty cool, I loved the music, sound, and graphics! The physics of crashing were a little frustrating, with the vehicle constantly getting stuck on walls due to the accurate shape of the front. I liked the meta of having to use alternate approaches to the turns. I think the corn could have used a little more delay to fully grow to really bring that aspect of strategy out. The cows are also a little frustrating because there isn't any way to see them coming up once the player is fast, but I suppose that is part of the challenge.

Nice one! :smile:

mcbombadev 2023-01-10 05:59

:checkered_flag: 1:54:35 babyyyy! I had to check if the music was original because it's that good! Super fun racing game too. The "mowing" effect is so satisfying.

I got so into the music that when I crossed the finish line, I took the piece of wheat out of my mouth, jumped up in the air in my denim overalls, clicked my muck boots together and hollered "YEEEHOOOOO!!!"

procrasteroid 2023-01-10 10:14

@mcbombadev I love this comment and I love you.

Reading this has made my day, thank you! πŸ™Œ

milq 2023-01-10 10:49

Simple but addictive game! I love harvesting wheat to go faster. The music is consistent with the game. I miss some sound effect! Still, awesome game!

tanguylcr 2023-01-10 10:52

Very cool racing game ! I love hitting cows. Hope to see the grand prix in the future it will be so chaoting.

fionasprinkles 2023-01-10 10:54

Awesome game! Really hope you make the grand prix part :D That would be so much fun!

rhewid 2023-01-10 10:57

Neat racing game. I like the graphics and it has a decent difficulty. Also very cool how the corn grows back, when crossing the finish line! Great game!

moonlightbomber 2023-01-10 10:58

The thought of combining a racing game and a harvesting game is a novel idea.

the1 2023-01-10 11:01

Finally some racing game! Racing in harvester is unexpectedly Fun! :D Maybe 1 thing I'd recommend is adding some kind of minimap or increasing the player's field of vision further forward. Waiting for grand prix ;)

muhuk 2023-01-10 11:04

I think I missed a few cows, trying to go fast.

Great music BTW.

kongo 2023-01-10 11:12

Funny experience! The only suggestion is the camera could show more in front of you, but sill really enjoyed time spend with this game!

steffo 2023-01-10 11:12

NOOOO! WHAT HAVE I DONE! I HIT MY COW DAISY WITH MY HARV AND SHE EXPLODED IN A SEA OF BLOOD... :cow: :boom:

Score

My best time was **02:21.83 seconds** !

Feedback

Game

I don't have much to complain about: it's a **very good game** overall!

The corn being cut provided a **very satisfying visual effect**, and is a **very interesting mechanic on its own**, comparable to coins in the Mario Kart games! I wish the Grand Prix mode was finished so I would've been able to see the total mayhem all Harvs would have caused...

**The cows are a bit difficult to see** in the middle of all that corn: I'd add a dark border around them like you've done with the corn meter, so that they'd be easier to spot!

Maybe **the camera could be improved** a bit as well: keeping the player always at the center is somewhat a waste of screen space, as seeing what's behind you in a racing game is not important as seeing what's in front!

Distribution

Thanks for **providing a HTML5 build**! Since I am playing on Linux, I appreciated it!

danmerey 2023-01-10 11:15

Nice art, pretty solid! I like how the wheat grows back after some time (noticed it while trying to "collect" more "bonus" cows). Good job!

enad96 2023-01-10 11:54

The cows were an excellent touch.

leon-oost 2023-01-10 12:32

I'm going crazy on the banjo! Really cool game.

Only feedback I have is that its hard to see a cow comming, but everything els is just amazing!

blublu 2023-01-10 12:45

Great game design, super fun to play. Love the music !

ben-toosey 2023-01-10 13:41

Super fun! The track is short enough to make you want to play again and again to beat your fastest time! Good job :)

dkdwrek 2023-01-10 14:16

Nice little racing game! The corn harvest and regrow effect works very well. Can't wait to see the mode with more vehicles on the track.

hacktrout 2023-01-10 14:23

It's a solid racing game, I especially like the jiggy music in the background. It fits the game perfectly. I think a more dynamic camera would be nice, for example it lagging behind the player to give a sense of speed and also putting the centre of the screen in front of the player to show where you're heading. This would be handy in spotting those cows as I found that they popped out of nowhere.

allan-urique 2023-01-10 14:24

When I realized I was moving faster and faster I was like "OH SHIT!" and proceeded to hitting a cow right in the butt lol... 10/10 would do it again!

Great game!

svenerik 2023-01-10 14:59

Gameplay: What a fun little racer, though albeit too easy. I feel like the cows should move around slowly, though perhaps they did and I never noticed. Had to try again to see what it does if I hit a cow as it's too easy to evade them at the moment.Also the acceleration after hitting something goes instantly back to the max, so it's not as punishing as it could be.

Graphics: I love the minimal graphics of this, very aesthetic overall and solid work! Everything fits together well and colors are good for the eye(don't strain)

Audio: Very neat little track that went on, I imagined it went faster when I went faster, but that may have been my imagination. The other effects I experienced were nice too!

Great work overall!

phillip-scott 2023-01-10 16:23

This is great, how did you do the wheat are they tiles or individual sprites with colliders??

Those cows, first time I hit one I laughed out loud! Great job!

image_2023-01-10_162308215.png

rulrite 2023-01-10 17:05

Combining the thrill of racing with the innate satisfaction of harvesting is a really good idea! I can imagine things getting pretty intense with more combine harvesters on the track, especially if it might lead to punishing scenarios (such as being slow and stranded with very few crops to cut down).

I had a lot of fun with this, and I'm looking forward to seeing it expand past a time trial mode. Well done!

moddingmachine 2023-01-10 18:20

Swell game! I loved plowing over the cows, even though it took out a good chunk of my wheat, It would be cool to see em move around or eat wheat on their own. I gotta say I love some good particle effects, and you stinking nailed that lol. Great Job!

kostas-nik 2023-01-10 18:59

I liked the music and the overall feeling of harvesting the field is very good. The animations and particle effects of the field are nice! it reminds me of the old death rally game i played as kid. I didn't get if the yellow wheat adds more , maybe it would be a game mechanic somehow. Great effort

hfsevans 2023-01-10 21:25

This was great! Reminded me of Micromachines! I wish it was multiplayer

tetrapteryx 2023-01-10 21:49

I would have liked a little more variation in each lap. I liked the effect of the wheat growing back though, that's a nice touch! The racing/harvesting combo works surprisingly well. I apologize to all the cows I pulverized with my awful driving.

fishmasterino 2023-01-10 22:57

Cool racer, the sound when crashing into cows was great. And I crashed a whole lot, especially when going unpwards, when I feel I could'nt see far enough ahead

hmrpf 2023-01-10 23:06

Really like the fact that you need to think each lap where you have to go to gain more speed. Great entry for the jam ! I had a blast. Maybe a little danger sign in front of you where the next cow is about to appear could be nice, or just a way of making them more visible. But really nice anyway !

grotfang 2023-01-10 23:23

ho boy i need a multiplayer version of that game :o, at first i thougth the lap was a little too long but that just because i was bad i loved every second of my second run! well done !

olddog 2023-01-11 03:26

Snipaste_2023-01-11_11-23-49.png

I like the feeling of car harvest ,,enjoy this game so much

chompdev 2023-01-11 06:57

Excellent music (Blast Corps vibes!) and great little details all over this one. I love how the cows slowly start encroaching on the track as you keep racing, and the spin-out is a nice little homage to Mario Kart. I like how you can even see the wheat regrowing in real time, frame by frame. Great work all around! :)

stefan-laimer 2023-01-11 07:32

Nice game! I just wish the camera was zoomed out a bit more so it's easier to avoid the cows at high speeds. Also it might be fun to not limit the speed :D

Screenshot 2023-01-11 083218.png

joefazz 2023-01-11 09:30

Great game I felt genuine pain every time I hit a cow and it ruined my pace when I was on a hot lap. I thought I discovered a secret Strat where cows wouldn't spawn over crops that are growing but I was painfully proved wrong. Really enjoyed playing I also think you did a great job designing the track, it was fun to navigate around and relatively easy to learn which really helped when it came to trying to go faster. My best time was 1:56.17

procrasteroid 2023-01-11 09:42

@joefazz Hey you played my game, awesome! And thanks so much for your kind feedback! 😁

1:56 was on par with my best time too, until a minute ago where I tried _really_ hard and managed to hit 1:46. I reckon, without any cow hits, a 1:30 run is possible.... But that might just be a pipe dream πŸ‘€

bardicmischief 2023-01-11 09:45

There nothing more fit for a country race than high-speed banjo music. It just makes you want to go faster. I loved (and hated) how the tractor spins around when you hit a cow, well done! The corn trail and the wheat particles behind the tractor are very satisfying!

procrasteroid 2023-01-11 09:46

My best score so far! If anyone can beat this, I will bow down to you as **Lord of the Cows** πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„

Screenshot 2023-01-11 093642.png

zakku 2023-01-11 09:55

Good job ! Maybe the camera should run a bit more in advance from the racing lawnmower, we can't see much when the speed is at max ahah. Great pixel art, had my share of fun !

harlow 2023-01-11 09:58

Reallly love these sorts of games! I love the speed increase and the responsiveness! 100% gonna be one I replay a couple of times to beat my own score!

Here is my best! image_2023-01-11_104441921.png

maxuleny 2023-01-11 10:52

The game is pleasant and quite fun, the problem is that I can't avoid the cows because they suddenly appear on the screen and I don't have time to avoid them. Graphically I really like it, I find the way the corn slowly grows back very nice. The music is pleasant and consistent with the context, too bad there are few sound effects. In any case, you did it all by yourself and in a short time. Good job!

jakejet 2023-01-11 11:01

Fun Game and really nice graphics, hit about 20 cows though.

david-mason 2023-01-11 11:05

Really fun idea. The music is perfect.

tvorojok 2023-01-11 11:08

Not bad) Music is good

pusheeneiro 2023-01-11 11:11

I can't wait for the grand prix.

chickensiodev 2023-01-11 11:18

great job! really loved the controls they felt very smooth! the cow and track borders were a bit hard to see but thats not too bad! really liked how each lap gets harder with the cows being introduced in the 2nd lap!

roblaro 2023-01-11 12:41

Very fun! Controls feel great, I like that you can kinda drift around the corners by not accelerating. Great entry!

fnelix 2023-01-11 14:57

Nice game and great banjo spundtrack! The camera lagging behind the player made it quite hard to look ahead and avoid the cows when going at full speed (and who would go slow..). I really liked the corn growing back in the next lap. Really fun entry

noskro 2023-01-11 14:58

wow. I'm glad so many people found your game and gave you feedback. This game absolutely deserves to be played. My feedback also falls in the line of the feedback before me. A better/forward looking camera would make it easier, since sometimes on full speed I feel it was impossible to avoid the cows once I saw them. Also I'd suggest to make the track (border) better visible. Sometimes I couldn't see where the actual track was going between all that corn. It gets better in the 2nd round, but maybe just make the track border thicker. Maybe even use those red and white racing stripes in the corners? Unless that was intentional and you wanted it to feel more like you're racing on an actual field.

lukski-lukilj 2023-01-11 16:21

Really fun game and I love the music! I just found it really hard to see what was in front of me early enough at high speeds, especially when going up/down. Maybe that's just the size of the itch.io embed though, as some parts of the UI are cut off as well

procrasteroid 2023-01-11 16:38

@lukski-lukilj thanks for flagging the UI/viewport cropping, I hadn't experienced that in any of my testing!

I ran a few quick tests and it looks like it can be caused by browser zoom level or screen resolution/aspect ratio. My fault for not anchoring the UI properly in my hurry to get finished! πŸ˜…

Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention, I'll get it fixed in my "V2" update, which I'll be rolling out once the Jam is over πŸ™Œ

sdelay 2023-01-11 17:39

Fun game, the speed of it make it exciting! 2:45 on my first try, 2:15 on my second. Do you plan to make a multi player game "the Grand Prix"?

tanis 2023-01-11 17:58

Oh my! I hate those cows now! Pretty solid entry. I like the art and music and the gameplay is fun. It's quite hard to pre-emptively steer as the camera does not show you the road ahead of you.. which is kind of unforgiving, especially when there are quite a few cows around.

I pretty much agree with all the players who commented that the tracks are hard to follow because it is unclear where the boundaries are. It takes a few laps to memorize the track.

f1krazy 2023-01-11 18:13

Just about managed to go sub-1:45... though sadly it looks like someone's already beaten me to it!

ld52_combine_racer.png

Competition aside, this is great fun! It's very satisfying carving a path through the wheat and then watching it grow back over the following laps, and I always like it when racing games allow you to increase your speed by collecting things. The track layout caught me by surprise on a couple of occasions on my first go, but was fairly easy to learn. The pixel art graphics are great, and the banjo music that plays as you race is just perfect.

I think the main problem with the game is the camera. It should position itself to show you what's in front of you, but instead it does the opposite and shows you what's behind you. That makes it very difficult to dodge obstacles (i.e. cows) because you can't see them coming in time to do anything about them. It also doesn't help that the white cows are barely distinguishable from the pale wheat and flowers - the first time I hit one, I genuinely didn't see it, and was like, "Wait, what just happened?!"

I'd love to see an expanded version of this with all the features you weren't able to include, and maybe some new tracks as well. What you have at the moment, though, is great for a jam game, with the camera being the only thing that lets it down.

bloodfin 2023-01-12 02:46

Very fun game and felt really good to drive. Saw the intention of putting in the grand prix mode which sounds like a blast. I think that a little wider view might help for once you get up to full beans speed but overall had a really fun time playing it. Great work!

allov 2023-01-12 03:25

What's not to like! And f these crows for real... Great job overall, camera should show more in front of the car depending on direction, because going down you don't see much.

cloistered 2023-01-12 03:53

Cool game,very nice graphics. Some feedback: 1.I feel my combine uncontrolable when it speed up.(Too fast for me) 2.It's interesting that corn can grow, but it doesn't affect how the game play.

chybby 2023-01-12 09:50

Really fun! I like the simple art style and the hex-based corn grid.

It was a bit hard to tell where I was going once I got some speed - maybe zooming out the camera the faster you are going would have helped.

papabirb 2023-01-12 10:18

I really love the music. I struggled with driving the tank controls and getting off of walls when I didn't know a turn was coming up. After learning how to play and knowing the track better I tried again, only to I think do worse, though I'm not sure. I would love a high score feature so I can tell if I did better. I also would love a distressed "moo!" when you kill cows, lol. So many cows got hit while I struggled to turn effectively :crying_cat_face:

jormarysky 2023-01-12 19:25

Split screen could really liven up this game, some evil funny tactics to be found for sure. Stole all the corn in front of your friends

yorsh 2023-01-12 20:04

Camera needs some work but otherwise fun game and well made. Graphics are cute and the track evolving each lap is neat.

6smith 2023-01-13 04:51

nice little game, felt fun to play

theothersamp 2023-01-13 05:40

A really lovely execution! The flowers growing back in the trail was a particularly good touch. Technical execution feels very solid, and the art is beautiful.

A couple of small critiques: I had a very hard time seeing the bends coming ahead of time, so I crashed every other corner until I'd been around a few times and learned the track. It would have been nice to have either a visual indication that bends were coming, or perhaps a different camera setup that let me look further forward so I had more time to react. It's not possible to pick a sensible racing line if we don't know which way the next bend will go.

The other small issue is that the cows have low contrast with the wheat, making them fairly hard to notice at speed. It would be good if they stood out more.

Well done though, this feels very technically polished.

she-wrote 2023-01-13 10:46

I hate the cows, lol. The idea is creative, it is fun to harvest the wheat and watch it grow; Good game! Well done!

pauljs 2023-01-13 12:20

Cute and polished! Congrats!

tttt 2023-01-13 17:11

You game is very nice and fun. Good work.

As other mentioned the main issue is that the camera don't allow to see the cows incoming in time to avoid hitting them. Maybe one could add some arrows that indicate the cow (when is outside the screen) or zoom out based on your speed. Also the cows should stand out a bit more in my opinion.

hawkin 2023-01-13 23:43

Well this was a ho-down of a good time! The visual aesthetic was just perfect for what you were going for. The growing corn sprites were a very nice touch. And the exploding cows were just hilarious XD

I really like the idea of fueling the harvest by mowing down corn. If you keep working on this, look into leading the player camera just a bit so that they see more of where they are going, instead of centering the vehicle on the screen!

osh-studio 2023-01-14 05:36

music slaps, love the increase in speed when you harvest wheat. maybe the game would benefit with a bit of look-ahead on the camera, but other than that, loved this entry :)

chisenoa 2023-01-14 12:44

such a polish game

roroto-sic 2023-01-14 17:19

fun "car course game" . here my best : Capture d’écran 2023-01-14 181757.png

ategon 2023-01-14 18:55

Really nice racing game implementing the mechanic of harvesting well with making the player both be able to see where they were last lap + encourage them to take other paths. The music worked well with the vibes of the game and the corn regrowing was a nice effect. On the first lap it was a bit difficult to see where you were supposed to go for the turns since the fence blends in to the background a bit plus the lines of no corn around the turns made it seem like there actually wasnt a turn there

ginxel 2023-01-16 04:15

I love the concept and nice pixel art!

captandrey 2023-01-17 11:34

βž•really great sound design

βž•100% theme usage

βž•good pace

βž–i can't see the road as the speed increases. It's almost impossible to dodge cows

oleg20111511 2023-01-22 08:52

Love the music, really fits the vibe of combine race. Nice game!

ava-skoog 2023-01-27 19:19

Simple and clean, slick and fun πŸ’ͺ Looks and sounds very nice. Plays quite well! My heart broke for the cows but at least collisions were punished; perhaps not enough tho because there was just so much corn that the bar refilled almost instantly πŸ˜…

Driving feels pretty good. Definitely had to rely on braking a bit. Drifting would've been fun with all the curves. The graphics are nice and consistent. Music is really cool the way it builds up, and how it's almost timed to your initial acceleration at the start of the track, and then keeps climbing 🀩 Would've been cool if the intro was skipped on looping. Liked how the sounds for the countdown lights matched.

Corn growing back over time even if there was probably enough anyway was a nice touch. Cool to see your previous trails slowly filling in again. Would've been nice to be able to control the menu with the keyboard since the main gameplay doesn't use the mouse.

Yeah, can't really criticise anything on this one, only suggest additional polish. Very well done! Good luck with the grand prix addition 🏁

profan 2023-01-27 19:21

Playing this game made me feel like I should have leaned into the "combine harvester go zoom" aspect a bit more, lots of fun!

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And my probably mediocre time! :D

jordantanner 2023-01-27 19:54

Really fun game! The wheat-harvesting animation when you drive through it is really satisfying. Did you use a hex-tilemap for the wheat field? Looks cool and works really well.

nikolaj 2023-01-28 01:24

wow super fun! love the harvesting, audio.. those pesky cows though.. it's almost like they wanted to get butchered!

Great job!

grunkgrunk 2023-01-28 10:50

I don’t have much to complain about: it’s a very good game overall! The cows were an excellent touch.