FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD52 → Shoo!

Shoo!

By lex

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1463.5242
Fun1673.3742
Innovation2023.2043
Theme1303.8043
Graphics1353.6742
Audio933.5541
Humor343.7941
Mood1633.2941

Comments

drunkardwolf 2023-01-08 23:49

Fun game, loved the 'shooo' voice sfx. Feel like the scares should have a bit of an AOE effect as it felt like I was sometimes not hitting the rodents when I clicked. Overall really good entry.

slantyoj 2023-01-09 02:24

Oh my god I hate those mice.

paulstraw 2023-01-09 05:12

Fun game, sound effects and graphics are both fantastic. Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!

I was having trouble getting past level 3.

augmotic 2023-01-09 05:55

Those sounds are fantastic

I couldn't make it past level 3, seemed like I was too slow to cover all the crops in time even when spamming the dash button.

The shoo thing when mixing with the dash felt a bit clunky, I think because it moves you forward a tiny bit and it has to wait until the dash is finished. Maybe doing the shoo as an aoe like drunkardwolf mentioned but being able to do it mid dash would help alot.

I think removing the dash and just increasing the movement speed to compensate or something would feel more fluid than needing to constantly spam the dash to keep up, especially since you do it on cooldown with no cost.

I'm curious how it would feel with the camera locked in the center up high looking over the whole field, kinda like a mario party game.

Really enjoyed it though! Was a fun little glimpse into the painful life of a scarecrow lol

fabian-denter 2023-01-09 11:52

Loved the sound when spamming the shoo button, but I hope my neighbors didn't hear it. Good game with a simple and clear loop, though I also couldn't get past level 3. I feel like the shoos should affect a larger area, like the others said. Overall very well done!

lex 2023-01-09 18:02

@drunkardwolf @slantyoj @paulstraw @augmotic @fabian-denter

Thanks for the feedback guys, this is exactly the kind of thing that helps a lot when building games. I thought about re-balancing the objectives for level 3 but instead I just increased the Shoo's AoE range. It wasn't a huge change but it should feel more responsive and make things easier now.

I didn't change the level balance because Level 3 is really supposed to be a little harder, you have to lookout for crows on your carrots, since you have only 5, and 3 getting eaten means defeat. Crows eat crops faster than mice.

The compo version without this little balance change is still available for download on itch.io page.

fusionnist 2023-01-09 23:09

Cute graphics and sound. Cheers!

poietic-ruby 2023-01-10 05:39

The sounds are really interesting.At first I try my best to chase the mice.But after 2 levels,they become unstoppable.There is one problem.It's the animation.The player just has "shoo" animation,leaving out walking while the mice has walking animation.It looks strange.All in all a fun game.I like it!!

owca 2023-01-10 12:09

I love the audio. I kept smiling all the time :)

tanis 2023-01-10 17:44

Hah! That "Shoo!" is awesome! :smile:

I really enjoyed this game. I would have liked some kind of power-ups in the levels to get some more movement boost or to scare away mices from further away, something like that.

But overall I found it quite balanced, difficult but not extremely. Well done!

captaindreamcast 2023-01-10 17:46

That final level man, what an onslaught, that was the hypest scarecrow moment. I made it through though, the farm survived, all fields above the thresholds.

Yeah, I got very invested in the well-being of my farm, I dashed around like a man possessed, no mice or crows got any inch of land. The shoos made it very immersive and responsive too, it felt very enjoyable to break up a group of crows and mice. I thought the art worked well with it too, the mice animations when they're scuttering around and the crows flying above the field, it really draws you in. All in all really great job on this!

t90 2023-01-10 18:12

Nice little game. Moving speed felt a bit slow, like there's no way you'll chase rats far enough, so you'll just stick to inner circle in a futile attempt to cover at least something. Cute "Shoo"!

Well done!

roblaro 2023-01-10 18:25

Nice audio well done, fun little game!

jk5000 2023-01-10 19:06

I like the idea and I had fun trying the game. I found the game a bit too difficult and the farmers movement speed felt a bit slow. But I liked the sounds and the visuals is also pretty good. Overall a good jam game.

wuppos 2023-01-10 21:01

This was a lot of fun! Maybe the start of every level was a bit slow, but when it started it was real chaotic. Especially that last level was rdiciulous XD I beat it in the end though :D I really liked the pixelated 3D look that your game had. How did you make that? Was it simply 3D objects rendered on a very coarse texture? Or some shader? I would love to know :)

What I really liked is that you had to make value judgements all the time. Should I go for that rat/bird, or would it be better to go for those over there? Can I make it? Stuff like that :D Perhaps what I was missing is some indication of crops being eaten that were not on my screen. Especially on the last level I feel I lost a few plants even though I had no idea they were being eaten.

The 'shoo' sound effect with changing pitch was simple, but extremely effective. I really liked this submission. Well done! :D

jormarysky 2023-01-10 21:44

Fun little idea and decent execution, even if it controls bit clunky. It takes non violent approach, making it differ from most of the same types of games in jam.

nicekot 2023-01-11 00:21

The SFX made me laugh, I guess it's an achievement that in the game where you have to SHOO constantly the sound of it didn't irritate. Instead it was fun. But my favourite sound is bird's cackling.

And not only SFX, game works well as a whole. It is challenging and works with the theme. I also didn't encounter a single issue.

It still amazes me what experienced COMPO guys can do. Mad props Lex!

lex 2023-01-11 00:28

For everyone who played the game and found it too difficult, I'm really sorry. I appreciate your feedback and totally agree with most if not all of the suggestions. I ended up balancing all 5 level just in the last hours of the jam I wasn't able to really fine tune things like walking speed, animations, etc. Also, I'm a hard fun player so I tend to make things a bit too hard sometimes.

For those who reached the end, thank you for your efforts. I guess you are kind of like me, a player who enjoys hard fun.

It's really hard to find the middle ground. x_x

@wuppos you guessed right, it's just a render texture with a lower resolution (426x240), there are probably better ways to do that but for 42 hours that was the most effortless solution with good enough results.

@jormarysky thanks for acknowledging that! I was initially going for a combat system with contact and stuff, but then I realized it wasn't necessary. I could make it fun without the use of violence, and in the end the "Shoo"attack turned out to be the fans' favorite. Everyone seems to be enjoying it.

jajakeim 2023-01-11 01:39

I hate rats, liked the game though. Decent entry, nice job

gormand-a 2023-01-11 09:31

"shoooo" so funny haha thank you for this game

taikinaaa 2023-01-11 15:33

Great game!

cogcomp 2023-01-11 20:39

Nice idea. I think the scarecrow needs to be a bit faster or maybe it's just the controls that feel slightly unresponsive at times? The shooing is so much fun :laughing: Well done!

deniskazantsev 2023-01-12 09:21

It was really engaging, I especially liked pixelated graphics and sound effects. Overall looking very polished and balanced.

witchgf 2023-01-12 14:09

This peaceful-looking game actually made me anxious of darn mice eating the crops I also wanted to point out in the review about instant cool down dash mechanics, cuz I thought that it's broken. Oh boy, how I was mistaken... Well done

rasblo 2023-01-12 22:00

Didn't think I had a fear of rats, but you got me itching and feeling like they're on me for some reason, so thanks for that! Solid entry, I appreciate the balance, it felt challening but I managed to beat the levels. Funny but fitting audio so you def get points for that! And nice simplistic art that definitely did it's job.

Wished I could feel the dash a bit more, I like regular movement being slow but in turn the dash could be buffed a bit to have the contrast. And I'm imagining you acting out "woosh" on dash, and in the style of the "Shoo"-text, "Woosh" (or something similar) is left behind as a trail :)

I would also prefer shorter and faster levels! Can be a bit exhausting if it's too long between down-times.

Great job overall!

candlesan 2023-01-13 08:56

Fun! The core concept is good where I run around trying to protect my fields. The "shoo" sounds are amazing and made me laugh :) Nicely done there. I'm not sure if this is a problem but more of an observation - as you start to lose some corn the amount of land you have to protect gets smaller. This means you lose a lot early but then as the game goes longer you start being able to cover everything more.

tildecat 2023-01-13 17:23

Really funny game! I like concept and also visual style.

grid96 2023-01-13 17:27

haha, it's funny how we both had basically the same game idea :D unfortunately I won't be able to play this one without my hands, but maybe I will come back to it someday in the future :)

spyranteros 2023-01-13 21:50

Hahaha the Shooo never got old! I loved the art and concept!

honest-dan 2023-01-14 23:23

Hey lex! A nice and original concept! I too found it hard to get past level 3! I think I made mistake of trying to chase creatures off the farm, instead of just interrupting them eating the crops! The concept was cute and very good for the theme. Made me empathise with the scarecrows... I thought they got to just stand around all day, but it was hard work!!

lfreinoso 2023-01-16 17:50

I loved! Very good, with new mechanics emerging, variety of enemies between stages, very good and solid. Only one song was missing to accompany the tragedy of the plantations kkkk, but very good.

Check out my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/space-harvest