Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD55 → Consume the Countryside
By labcatgames
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 774 | 3.40 | 35 | |
| Fun | 864 | 3.16 | 33 | |
| Innovation | 647 | 3.29 | 34 | |
| Theme | 910 | 3.21 | 34 | |
| Graphics | 764 | 3.47 | 35 | |
| Audio | 591 | 3.17 | 33 | |
| Humor | 876 | 2.51 | 31 | |
| Mood | 930 | 3.18 | 32 |
Cute graphics and fun game mechanics (deploying hordes of units and then "vacuuming" the eggs back). What I didn't understand was the difference between the three species and how to choose between them. And once I got to stage 6, the game became quite slow-paced and harder, I keep failing that stage :cold_sweat:
@flogram Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked the basics and aesthetic. I had hoped that each level teaches you about the differences in bug types one at at a time. Mainly it comes down to what crop they prefer, after they eat it, they will drop eggs when they die. This way you can maintain your swarm numbers. You're not the first to get stuck on stage 6; I really appreciate your feedback!
I like the graphics and audio, although the gameplay could be a bit more engaging. It could use some balancing, but other than that, it's a good game.
Interesting mechanics! I really like the green arrow above the insects telling me I can spawn more. :thumbsup:
Nice game and nice graphics! I like the core idea!
I had a lot of fun playing this. It was much more casual than some others I've played, and I actually really appreciated that it was more laid back. This is something I could play at work.
Game with beautiful graphics! However, I can't find the "summoning" theme, perhaps not highlighted enough by the graphics and gameplay? Otherwise overall it's good ๐
Managed to get to stage 12! I find this game enjoyable and unique! Music good, gameplay good, solid entry. :slight_smile:
Unique idea and really fun gameplay. Impressive work :)
Omg, I really like this game. The aesthetic and vibe are clean and simple, I'm enjoying the music, and it's a fun premise altogether. Having a very chill time.
@online-play Thanks for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed the graphics and music. Would love to hear your balancing suggestions!
@collopi Thank you! I'm actually really glad to hear that you appreciated the green arrow, because when I decided to make it, I thought it would be quick and easy, but ended up taking over an hour and I seriously questioned if it was worth it! :hearts: great feedback!
@zanar Thank you for the kind words! The core idea was brewing for a bit, but more or less emerged as I was making it. It was quite a relief when I stumbled upon the 'fun' and then the rest of dev was pretty straightforward. Cheers!
@tater-tater I'm glad you were into the casual vibe, making games you can 'play at work' has been my philosophy lately!
@baubau Glad you managed to wipe out so much of the countryside! Things start to get a bit more hectic in the second half right? :two_hearts: to hear your feedback!
@coffeemakingtoaster Thank you for the compliments :] Having a unique premise is really important to me, glad it came through.
@labcatgames About balancing. You can try with limited time per level? In my opinion that could work and add more strategy to your game.
@Valcka I'm glad you enjoyed the graphics and gameplay. I agree that the 'summoning' theme is pretty thin. Sure we're summoning swarms of insects, but visually it doesn't really portray that very well. I would have liked to add some more juice and maybe UI elements to fit the theme, but time keeps marching on... Thank you for the feedback!
@jake-g Sounds like it hit exactly as planned! Love to hear that people are enjoying. Anything specific you'd like to see changed/added?
@online-play That's a solid way to generate some actual tension for sure, great idea.
Nice game, I enjoyed the overall ambiance with the music and visuals, and the way you managed to introduce the mecanics of the gameplay without a tutorial. Sometimes the end of some levels is very slow when you have only a few insects and some drops of carrots at the corners : maybe adding a victory condition when you destroy like 99% of the crops instead of every last drop could have made the end of the levels a little bit quicker, but really solid realization overall.
@civ92 Happy to hear that the mechanics landed without a tutorial. I've been hearing many folks stumble on stage 6, which is usually because not all the mechanics have been picked up when I intended. I'm not too surprised you gave it a shot as a classic Civ lover ;] I appreciate the feedback :hearts:
I NEED THIS GAME IN MY STEAM!
I am obsessed with the music track playing in the background, transformed the mood so much (who knew destroying crops would feel so fun?)
The gameplay is relaxing, and something about gathering every last fly egg just to !SPAWN MORE DESTRUCTION! cracks me up :smile:
Wow time really flies when consuming all the plants (and houses). Very fun to figure out how everything works and the levels teach a lot without explicitly explaining things. Once I understood things it got surprisingly addicting to summon my swarms of insects even though it seemed to be a good enough strategy to just match them to their favorite crop. I would've liked a bit more depth as it was starting to become a bit too repetitive towards the end. Also the trees could've been a bit faster to consume.
noice game. got till lvl 6. It needs a better communication to the player, for which plant the bugs like more. Also i liked the music a lot.
Liked the graphics, but was not sure exactly what the difference between the two bugs I used were, (maybe the green ones liked flowers more?), I hit collapse in level seven! I really liked the music. Overall lovely work, this could def be developed into a bigger thing, perhaps as a macro part of an idler/clicker.
@iwant-pizza it's the kind of game you'd buy on Steam? Awesome!!! What would you pay / what would you expect from a Steam release?
@koosalagoopagoop Hearing so many people enjoy the music really is quite the surprise! I had assumed a few chill drum loops over some synth samples wouldn't make much of an impact (in fact the goal was just to provide an ambient vibe) but it seems like the casual, mellow pace is actually quite the treat for more players than I expected!
@sibi Thank you for the lovely feedback! Teaching without explicitly explaining is 100% my goal but is often a double edged sword, leaving players in the dark wondering what to do. I tried really hard to build the first 5 levels with the sole intention of teaching mechanics, and hearing that it worked (maybe not for everyone) is one of the most delightful things you could have said. Your comments are appreciated!
@the-bm Thanks for playing! I agree that the mechanics are a bit difficult to understand without any tutorial. A lot of folks have gotten stuck on level 6, and in hindsight it does properly test you compared to the first 5, so my apologies for the steep difficulty. Can I ask what your understanding of the mechanics were at that point? Your response might be helpful for building a tutorial.
@ungarblapp First, huge thanks for playing and giving feedback, it's incredibly helpful to my process. You did get it right; the green aphids indeed prefer flowers. Your suggestion to incorporate this project into a larger game is spot on, I'm in fact already thinking about a way to implement it as a mini-game in an incremental farmer I've been developing for some time. Awesome to hear your perspective, thank you!
Great job. Nice clicky and chill game.
Original game not so chalenging ^^'
Fun game, played it through. Nice mix of puzzle and simulation.
I liked how the game taught you in the earlier levels how eating different plants affect different pests. You could well guess that the third one was a wood eater when it emerged as no-one else would lay eggs when eating wood.
Great mood: I grow chilis irl and immediately got a creepy feeling about the aphids landing on the crops, the badass-music perfecting the horror ๐
Very nice!
@shaneshanekavanagh Thanks, I quite enjoyed yours as well!
@jean-francois I'm happy you find it original, I prefer to push things in new directions as much as possible. I understand that it might not be as challenging as some people would like but I wanted it to be widely approachable. The final levels were meant to be a bit harder, what did you think of them?
@tomssuli Puzzle simulation.... What a great genre! I hadn't really articulated it before but that's definitely a good way describe this one. I've made mistakes throwing players in too deep too soon before and since then I've really tried to teach mechanics in a more deliberate way through level design. Wonderful to hear that is coming through for many players. Also chuffed to hear that it's hitting that cute & creepy vibe :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
@labcatgames yes youโre right :)
I like art and music, I have had a good time playing it. Good job!
@Baluj Thank you for playing! Great to hear that you enjoyed the art and music. Can I ask if you have any ideas for changes that should be made?
Some possible things to put: - A tutorial (I didn't need it but I understand that some people do need it) with an explanation of how the eggs are generated within the game and some mention of the insects aging within the game (it took a little time but I realized that the sprites got darker over time). - A level selector (perhaps the most missing thing, although not much because it is short).
Anyway, I played it again to give you feedback and I enjoyed it again.
Restful and at the same time a minimum of strategy to be able to continue to another level.
The graphics are clean, with a well-transcribed atmosphere for the bees.
A job well done!
@Baluj Spot on ideas, thank you! An optional tutorial with some text tips would be quite helpful I think. On that note, you are partially right about the insect color but let me clarify. Once a bug eats it's preferred food, it changes to a darker color to signal that it will drop eggs/grubs. So they do sort of get darker over time, but that's more coincidental than the actual reason they change color, which is eating the right food. A level select would definitely be built in to a full game. For now you can hit Page Up/Down to cycle through the levels though. Now you know the cheat codez!
@k-toll Thanks for playing and enjoying my little creation! Sounds like it hit the exact balance I was interested in, great to hear!
I wish it was bit more clear which plants each species of bug finds tasty
@kallico Thank you for playing and giving your feedback. My goal was to teach which plants matched with each bug through level design instead of text. I'm sorry that didn't come through, I'm hoping you at least got that the locusts liked the wheat?
I did get it after a few stages, but first level is what threw me off I think. I think it would be helpful for to introduce the eat favorite -> reproduce mechanic right away. If I may suggest some changes, here's what I would do
Stage 1: Field of wheat (Basically impossible to fail, and you should see your babies multiply)
Stage 2: Field of wheat + some carrots in the center. With a small starting amount of bugs so that if you place them on the carrots, you may lose.
The rest of the stages you introduce the new bugs and what they like one at a time, as you did.
@kallico I like your suggestions. It's funny I had originally started with just wheat on stage 1 but I determined that players might then assume eating any crop would give you offspring. So I thought that seeing nothing spawn after eating carrots, and then on the next stage seeing grubs after eating wheat would solve that conundrum. Of course nothing is bulletproof, and opaque mechanics are often misunderstood. But I still want players to have the fun of theorizing and discovering them somewhat unguided. Your instincts are spot on though, very good level ideas, cheers!
had fun! it was nice to watch the bugs eat everything up. I like how there was some logic with how they would turn back to eggs depending where they were eating. The panel on the bottom make me think there could be move bugs. I think there could be cool things to figure out per bug (for example if bugs perform better individually versus in a group, or if they eat your other bugs, etc). nice job!