FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD56 → Bug Squad

Bug Squad

By civmaniac and fabula-rasa

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall524.1958
Fun444.1358
Innovation2953.6057
Theme1174.2057
Graphics1814.2658
Humor4853.1452
Mood3153.8057

Comments

cosmic-dust 2024-10-08 12:04

Nice graphics and overall atmosphere of the game. I also liked the level design, when you have to plan ahead how to win. Playing was fun, nice entry.

nikolas-van-rus 2024-10-08 22:03

Good job! I stayed in the game longer than I planned and that’s not what I regret. I would like to note the high-quality level design and balance.

noah-mazard 2024-10-08 22:05

I realy like the gameplay and the art ! Nice job

royur 2024-10-08 22:06

fun strategy game. funstrategy.PNG

kanity 2024-10-09 15:43

The art looks unique, like it was drawn with pencils, and I really like that! Design of the game and all the screens in it are great,

The gameplay itself is not very intuitive, so I kept going back to the explanation how to play before I got the grasp of it. So I appreciate Help button being available when in-game already!

The game is quite difficult, which many players might like. I tried my best, but couldn't get very far :')

papaver 2024-10-09 19:11

Sooo cute! Both the in-game art as well as the cover art are lovely :heart_eyes: Epic music choice as well!

Very nice that you provided an in-game tutorial, a help button and a menu! :thumbsup: Somehow I was confused where to find the HP of my characters for the first levels. I am still a bit confused as how to know how far my creatures (or those of the other team) could reach with their attacks or which 'skill' could summon more creatures. :thinking:

I managed to finish the game! :smile: :mouse: :chestnut:

Well done, great job again!

civmaniac 2024-10-09 20:08

@papaver Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it! :smile:

We got a small "tooltip" on the side, like this:

2024-10-09_21-44-35.png

It shows how far a unit can move and how far it can shoot, and the same for enemy units. We made it low-key, so it's not distracting, but I guess it became harder to notice? Ideally, it would be cool to visualize distance and attack patterns on the map for enemy units, but we ran out of time for that.

calcopod 2024-10-09 20:47

I really enjoyed the game! The art, while not quite my style, was still really cohesive and flowed well, leading me to spend quite a bit more time than I expected I would! The music also helped with that, greatly reducing tiredness / repetitiveness.

The level design was really good! A very solid entry!

papaver 2024-10-09 21:22

@civmaniac I did notice that after a while, but I was unsure what the word 'ranged' meant ;)

civmaniac 2024-10-09 21:32

@papaver Riiight :face_palm: Should've been "attack range 5". Thanks for the tip!

fabula-rasa 2024-10-09 22:54

@papaver Yes! I was totally aiming at cute :grin:! I'm glad you liked the game, even with all the confusion. As to a skill that summons more creatures - there is none. The enemy team just gets reinforcements on some level on a timer. They really, really want those acorns :wink:

fabula-rasa 2024-10-09 23:01

@kanity I'm very glad you like the art! I'm drawing with some self-modified brushes in Affinity Designer to achieve exactly that pencil-shaded look :smile:

It's actually nice to hear that you found the game challenging. I was worried we might have made it too easy. When you know how to play your game, it's often hard to appropriately judge the difficulty. And don't worry about not getting far - not every game is for everyone :smile_cat:

togis 2024-10-10 00:16

I had a blast playing your game on stream, like every LD jam!

Once again, you manage to make a super interesting game, with beautiful graphics and high level of polish. It was really fun, challenging yet achievable.

The only thing I would change is: when you die and restart the level, the game should bring the player to the "acorn customization screen" instead of directly to the combat screen. :chestnut: :chestnut: :bug: :heart:

kseniya 2024-10-10 22:18

a very beautiful visual! The game is quite enjoyable! You guys are great

master-yeet 2024-10-10 23:22

Awesome game, it was fun, it looked great, the art was cute and the game felt very polished for a game jam! I can't find anything bad to say. Best game so far, congrats!

pachino55 2024-10-10 23:41

Great game, nice art and graphics

frozenfire92 2024-10-11 00:02

Excellent game, it felt very rewarding to see that triumph screen. The puzzles were challenging yet fair, great work here! Keep on making games :smile:

lollister 2024-10-11 07:36

Very nice game. It reminded me when i played "Into the Breach". The game looks really polished and i had fun playing it.

jbartelsson 2024-10-11 13:41

You really made into the breach in 3 days! Very nice game, nice graphics, good feel overall. I was missing the undo move button though :D

arluci 2024-10-11 19:37

I love this little strategic fighting game! It's so relaxing and the artstyle is so pretty. I personally am not a fan of tutorials that you have to read I would suggest a little tutorial level. But everything else is amazing^^

fabula-rasa 2024-10-11 22:29

@arluci You are very correct - a tutorial level would be so much better. We're not fans of written tutorials, either. Especially when the player didn't see the game yet and has no idea what we're talking about. However, we did run out of time for such luxuries as a pretty tutorial level - so wall of text it had to be. At least it has pretty pictures :wink: And thanks for playing! Very glad to hear you enjoyed the game :smile:

alexascher 2024-10-11 23:56

Great game. It reminded me a bit of Into the Breach, but with cute little animals. Good progression through acorns and a very consistent art style. I did feel like there was a lack of indicators (for shot distances, knockback effects) and the ability to reset a unit’s move. I understand that even the work done for the game jam looks really impressive, but if you’re planning a post-jam version, I’d love to see more indicators and new units with different abilities. Overall, I really enjoyed the game—definitely one of the best in this jam!

mdsalomon 2024-10-12 01:30

This is wild. I can't imagine the amount of effort to make something so polished in such a short amount of time. Mechanics were clear and worked well, all the art was solid and there's a lot more content than you'd initially expect. Impressive work!

stega 2024-10-12 10:15

Great gameplay and art! Sucked me in for a minute there :D Simple, but fun.

lussard-studio 2024-10-12 16:35

Really polished game ! Original concept to have a tactical game with ladybird haha

nazariglez 2024-10-12 16:35

Hey, just wanted to say your game is really awesome! The art style is so cool and gives the whole thing a unique vibe. I had a great time with the strategy elements, it was challenging but super rewarding. Seriously, great job. Congrats!

coleslaughter 2024-10-13 03:28

[Thanks for submitting your game to stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2274205446?t=02h52m51s)

Despite being overwhelmed by the tutorial, once I got into the game, I had a great time! Would love to see more levels on this one!

rsheepdv 2024-10-13 05:50

Love the game! The rat+knockback was extremely overpowered, no complaints tho XD

riv 2024-10-13 17:06

Loved the game! It's really funny, and pretty impressive to have be done in just 48 hours!

jonasolsson 2024-10-13 19:59

Great game! It was hard to stop playing in order to give more games a shot:) Nice artwork and music combined with a good gameplay.

andriana-mantidfly 2024-10-14 05:18

A very cool game, I think this is the rare case when the game is very competently made!

lllarso 2024-10-14 12:33

Played trough the game and had a lot fun! :)

Our team made a similar Turn-Based-Strategy game, so I was exited exploring your game.

First of all I like the visuals. The little idle-bouncy-animations look good. The title screen fits to the game. I think if I would change something, it would be the background of the levels. In the end it is just a black screen. Using a background, which does not distract the player, could work well.

I like the progression system of the game. At first I thought: "Why should I get the acorns, if you get them at the end of the level?" But then the cat came. :D It's also nice that the enemies can steal the acorns from you. Falling of the map was a cool element, which added depth to the strategy.

In my opinion the difficulty was well balanced. In the end it is a Game Jam, so making it too hard wouldn't be a good idea. It got harder through the campaign, which is a good thing.

The game feedback is nicely done. You could see the damage delt or if you regenerated HPs. It was clear where I could attack and move my creatures.

Congrats for finishing your game. It was nice playing it! :)

exa 2024-10-15 07:11

Nice game,very interesting plot!!!!Nice job!!!!

ang-parodi 2024-10-15 20:22

Fun little game, I enjoyed playing it.

ditam 2024-10-15 20:42

This is a very cozy little strategy game, I had a lot of fun with it. Plays very well and looks great too.

I gave up on the level where you start off with 3 enemies and 4 more join in the second round. I think I needed to rethink my brute-force strategy. It would be nice if you could re-spec at the beginning of levels, or at least on the death/retry screens. Otherwise a level selection view would be cool, so that one could at least see their progress, or return to specific levels.

jiri-hysek 2024-10-15 20:56

This was absolutely amazing! It's hard to balance tactics game in a game jam. But this one was so fun it kept me playing till the end. It was challenging sometimes but not unfair or impossible, I always thought next time I'd beat the level. It was easy to understand. Also, the visuals were pretty, the audio spot on, and the music as well! This is the game I spent the most time playing within this LD! Awesome work!

Snímek obrazovky 2024-10-15 v 22.52.23.png

jerem-watts 2024-10-16 18:15

fuck yeah. the king and queen of strategy games are back and rocking my world. thank you guys for everything you do~✨

https://youtu.be/DrASVDksos8

mateusboga 2024-10-18 19:10

Such a cute game! It's a unique take on the turnbased fire emblem-style strategy, plus the added hazard of the paw crushing random creatures in an area really makes you believe that these bugs are fighting on a random patch of grass in the forest. I think the moves could have been done with like a toolbar instead of using the same mouse click for everything, sometimes you accidentally move a creature you didn't mean to, so it would be nice to have better control of what you want to do with each creature. It's also weird that you can remove previous upgrades to get acorns back, but I guess it's an interesting mechanic. Overall, great job!

Screenshot_136.png

lelulagames 2024-10-20 19:20

This is a great puzzle game. Loved the twist of the cats paw. Also love getting upgrades, and trying to figure out what is best with each level. lots of replay-ability here as you try to min max it.

philstrahl 2024-10-21 01:43

Had greats fun with it, as it tickled that _Into the Breach_ part of my brain. Not easy but well worth it! Also, so polished!

For your records, here’s my archived stream 😊 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkg-HvNRZgU

dp3rucha 2024-10-23 19:57

Fun strategy game. It took me some time to think my next moves.:D GJ!

hexyvexy 2024-10-23 22:52

An extremely strong showing, I love the beetle and the scenarios are a good balance for a jam game. The UI is very polished, but I was unaware that I could take upgrades outside of the linear order they appear to be in.

lcstark 2024-10-25 08:39

Amazing jam entry! The graphics side is just fantastic. Ton of extremely cute creatures, nice environment and the... additional "environmental hazards" are really well drawn. The little animations do a lot to make them feel alive. Sound design is pretty great too, well chosen music track adds tension a game like this needs. Mechanically, the game is well executed, it made me recall all the time spent playing Into The Breach with similarly-designed creatures and their abilities. And it's similarly difficult! Nice job on giving us the ability to rearrange the acorns to modify our builds, that adds a lot to the overall strategy.

tigerj 2024-10-31 21:21

I want to play it again already. https://youtu.be/1CYe-mjd5gM