FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD56 → Mr. Ant

Mr. Ant

By taotang

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall3.359
Fun3.509
Innovation3.649
Theme3.649
Graphics3.579
Audio3.149
Humor2.607
Mood3.009

Comments

mode-0x13 2024-10-07 03:15

neat puzzle game :]

takhomasac 2024-10-07 04:54

interesting concept and cute art style :)

cagibi 2024-10-07 16:06

Cute game! (I think I'll say that a lot this week, given this jam's theme)

conradoclark 2024-10-07 19:01

Very creative concept! Cute visuals and interesting gameplay. The music can get a little stale after a few levels.

One thing that'd be cool would be the ability to walk past multiple steps on a single click. Other than that, I feel like this game has lots of potential gameplay-wise, it makes you think in unusual ways.

Also, I'm curious to know how the level procgen works, it seems pretty well thought. Great job!

taotang 2024-10-08 02:56

Hi @conradoclark, Thanks for your comment, I agree that the ability to past multiple steps is a nice thing to add. (I feel bored after playing for a while and I still have to click and move one step each turn)

About the map generation:

1.generate random points in an area.

2.conect each point to its closest point. Then calculate if it can reach to base point. If not, this point will connect to its closest point (not in its reachable points group) until it can reach to base.

I feel this approach may need to optimize since sometimes Unity freeze when clicking play button. It might lead to endless loop in the this generation process.

galactical 2024-10-08 15:27

I love it! Doing a purely node-traversal strategy game similar to the map in Slay the Spire is really clever, an the ant survival theme is very cute. I'm curious: Is each level possible? They seem a little different each time so I'm assuming there is procedural generation, are you running a solver to traverse the graph to verify levels? That would be a pretty complicated system for a jam so I wouldn't expect it, but I got the feeling as soon as I spawned into some later levels that the challenge was not possible, but that may just be my own lack of skill lol. Great work!

taotang 2024-10-09 10:35

@galactical Thanks! Haha, it is not your lack of skill. The level is generated randomly, and I don't have a solution yet to verify if it is possible to beat in later levels. :smile:

I probably should add more mechanics to make it possible in later level though. I think adding mechanics is easier than verifying the level.

strong99 2024-10-09 13:28

An enjoyable strategic experience with simple yet fitting graphics. Loved it.

You might be able to verify by first generating a solvable path, e.g. 20 points = 3 Kringles + some = ~4 paths that need to match energy usage. And then add additional path branches and items. An alternative is to apply a heuristic using the (distance - energy upgrade) / score to your solver, like a weight/heat map.