yueyao-wang 2026-04-21 01:04
Great idea! I pass all the level just by walking up, just pressing W
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD59 → Sheep Trials
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 639 | 3.24 | 56 | |
| Fun | 643 | 3.00 | 56 | |
| Innovation | 284 | 3.59 | 55 | |
| Theme | 420 | 3.75 | 55 | |
| Graphics | 680 | 3.08 | 55 | |
| Humor | 264 | 3.25 | 53 |
Great idea! I pass all the level just by walking up, just pressing W
Thanks for playing @yueyao-wang!
Sometimes (most of the time?) that works, but other times the sheep scatter in all directions and it's more of a mission to round them up. I think I need to add in scattering to the sheep's initial positions.
A little difficult, but I liked the premise! My dogs were VERY interested in what was going on when I was playing too.
When the sheep started scattering, it got pretty fun! I would recommend increasing the scatter for a little more variety. I feel like it'd be really satisfying to gather up sheep from all across the screen.
Also, holy cow the whistles are loud and high pitched. I'm sure it's realistic but it hurt my ears :(
very cute sheep
Great use of the theme! Loved it. Did have to turn down the sound a lot of course. I also think it would be hilarious to use this control scheme in a first-person game. Quake with dog whistles.
Thanks for your comments!
@steven-garberg : that's hilarious! just like our dogs when *any* kind of animal appears on TV
@judjudson : yes, it's more fun when you're chasing down the sheep. Got an idea for the scattering, might implement in a post-jam version.
@shivvvy : thanks -- it's all programmer art, I wish I could make them cuter
@khaotom : thanks -- I noticed the whistles were quite loud (compared to the other sounds) so I added the option to turn them off!
The sheep are really cute! The whistle sound is a bit too sharp though. I finished the game and realized I could basically just press W to herd all the sheep in, haha. Maybe adding some background music would make it more fun. It might also help to have the sheep spread out at the start—having them all right next to the gate makes it pretty easy.
thanks for playing, @naidove !
I agree about spreading the sheep out more at the beginning, and the whistles being quite aggressive (hence the option to turn them off). Tried adding music in the last half-hour of the jam, but it didn't work for some reason.
Having the actual sheepdog commands is really cool! I appreciate that control scheme a lot, more fun than simple WASD movement. Would be fun with some more sheepdog-like movement, I think the border collies like to dash and make wider circles and are generally faster. Also agree with the other commenters about spreading the sheep out more. Cool game :)
Thanks for playing and commenting, @poboy !
Struggled a bit to et multiple sheep to cooperate but I liked the idea and the art!
That took me way longer than I would like to admit. The idea is pretty great. Good call on the 'whistle off' feature!
Thanks for playing!
@julia-nistel : yes, just like real life, apparently :grin: The art could be improved, especially the dog's sprite (which originally looked like a hellhound before I tweaked it).
@jpat : Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes you've spent a few minutes chasing down that last darned sheep! The whistle-off feature was as much for my sanity while testing.
ive not rated your game yet because I havent been able to play it :(
https://i.gyazo.com/c55a4b8078763b1c9065d6428300df5c.png
Hi @balimaarthebassfish, that's odd -- no-one else has reported a problem. What browser are you using?
Alternatively, I do have Windows and Lunux builds you could download.
SO CUTE ,,BUT THE WHISTLE VOISE MAKES ME DEAF[[[
Very creative idea! Quite challenging but eventuall I got the hang of it. Would've loved some real recorded whistles.
All in all a solid effort. As others have said the whistles are too loud, id recommend if possible in future game jams implementing a settings menu where sliders can adjust sounds.
The game mechanics are fun though, my only issue id raise there would be perhaps the sheep should likely start scattering in earlier levels a little so the player has time to adjust to how the logic works.
I ended up using Google Chrome. Looks like Godot web building doesnt like firefox
Thanks for playing and commenting!
@chusui77 : yeah, sorry about that. I probably should have spent some time in Audacity tweaking the volume of the clips (it's also why I put the option to turn whistles off into the game).
@franklyn01 : glad you enjoyed it; not sure what you mean by "real recorded whistles" -- they were.
@balimaarthebassfish : glad you were able to play it eventually!
Hmm, just noticed a bug where the game finishes at level 5, when it should finish at level 10 -- which is a bit more challenging. I'll get the version changed soon.
Edit: bug fixed, all 10 levels can be played now (I might have also moved the sheep spawn point and fixed the scattering bug so they're not as clustered any more at the start).
I like the interpretation of the theme and the visuals, but these sounds deafened me
Great idea, really enjoyed playing it! Disabling whistles is a must-have after the second level or so - I'm glad there's the option for it :joy:
It would've been nice if the dog ran a bit faster, just to make it a bit less frustrating when the sheep suddenly move in odd directions so I can correct it easier. But very innovative idea, and well-executed!
It was interesting! It took me a bit to get used to the controls. I did have to turn off the whistling though XD
This is so fun! The game design is simple, but herding sheep gets harder and harder! Guess I’m just not cut out to be a sheepdog lololololol
Level 1 was already hard enough haha, but level 2 was much easier to me! Propably because the mechanics were... "not really traditional". But that's the point of the game and I loved it! How did you come to this idea? It somehow feels very specific to me
I like that you added some options for the whistle sounds. Are those sounds accurate? As in: to real herders use those?
77 whistles it took to get one sheep in there! Also the wistles are insane, they shouldnt be in the game at those volumes. Nice submission though, hopefully real herding isnt this frantic D:
Thanks for playing and commenting!
For everyone "bleating" :grin: about the volume of the whistles, I've modified the audio assets so they're a bit quieter now.
@pipetto : apologies for deafening you :grimacing: -- see previous sentence
@rynti : an early idea was to have different dogs that would have different skills (faster, able to get closer to the sheep, etc.) but decided that it would increase the scope too much.
@frowsyfrog : yes, I don't think I did a very good job of explaining the controls in the game.
@rinnnzy : thanks! I did start with grand ideas of different dogs and breeds of sheep, but cut those early on to avoid running out of time (something I've been **very** guilty of in previous jams).
@wouter52 : speak for yourself, the last time I tried Level 2 after fixing the sheep spawning, it took me over two minutes to get the second sheep into the pen! The idea wasn't mine: my wife called me about four hours into the jam, and asked how it was going. I had to explain that I was having trouble coming up with an idea. She said, "What about whistling to dogs?" And I said, "I can make a game with that!" And this is the result ... so blame her :grin: It's not specific, except that we love dogs. And according to [the website](https://www.thebordercollie.co.uk/collections/whistle-command-sounds-and-how-to-use-a-sheepdog-whistle) I used, the signals are what real herders use. There's a few more that are used, but I didn't include them to keep the complexity/scope down.
@blue-pin-studio : real herding looks to be a lot easier (though farmers usually have at least two dogs, who are much more well-trained and smarter than the dog in the game!). I've turned the volume down on the whistles, so they should be a bit more bearable now.
Really interesting game!
Great interpretation of the theme! I think I’d be a pretty terrible shepherd/dog handler in real life. I needed way too many whistles to keep the sheep under control
awesome idea, but controll it so hard for me
@dywanix : Thanks for playing!
@jasmin : Thanks for playing! I think I'd be worse -- my whistles are pathetic....
@ternarycat : Thanks for playing! I usually get told my games are too easy. I think I may have over-corrected this time :laughing:
stuck with it way too long but had to stop as my sheep always got stuck behind a tree and the dog in a circle with them :D but great simple game and i learned about how to control a sheepdog, never thought about it
a very interesting concept, to me though it felt hard to figure out how to use the commands espically since they are WASD at first I kinda just spammed thinking I could walk. (also I think someone else also said this, but you can beat most if not all levels by just using W)
It's a good concept with good mechanics but the level design could use some innovation and work.
Thanks for playing and commenting!
@bananabobbert : if you leave the sheep long enough, they'll eventually start wandering from behind the tree (though I'll probably still need to look at the colliders).
@j4cko16 : yes, I need to do something better about explaining the commands for the dog. Level design was limited by what I could put in the level, and that was down to deliberately limiting the scope of the game.
Super cute, the cover, the icon, the background, all of them are great. The game is interesting, but some levels may a little bit easy QvQ.
Good core-feature, but control is so difficult to understand - i completed 4 levels but haven't understood what other keys are doing These sounds remind me a drill in a dental clinic if i'm pressing this much times)
You can add enemies that will chase away the sheep.
Nice idea, i like the sfx too! It's a little bit hard for me to understand how whistle signals /keyboard work, but overall nice job
Thanks for playing and commenting!
@jiawen-hu : thanks, I'm somewhat happy with how that sheep head icon came out. Level design is one thing that definitely needs some attention.
@deraxus : yes, I need to make the instructions clearer.
@3blackpixels : interesting idea, I'll have a think about how that could work -- thanks!
@cedaoan : yes, the instructions are a bit unclear -- need to work on that.
Very innovative take on the theme! Nicely done on the cute pixel art. Would have liked a "nearest sheep indicator" or maybe a way to select a target sheep, as the controls sometimes acted weird. Overall well done!
photo_2026-04-26_14-56-26.jpg
Congras for an interesting idea, sheep herding with something similar to real sheep dog commands! Gameplay can be an exercise in frustration, as that last sheep keeps randomly escaping and the dog flanks it so slowly. Maybe the dog should move faster or there should be two dogs to control (or have the shepherd in the game along with the dog).
Thanks for playing and commenting!
@djtequila : the pathing needs work, I agree. Walk-on just finds the centre of the flock, and heads there, while the two flanking moves (come-bye and away-to-me) finds the nearest sheep.
@loveapplegames : I think I mentioned in an earlier comment that I did have an idea for different dogs (faster, stealthier, etc.) but kept them out to keep the scope small. Unfortunately, I forgot to increase the default dog's speed to compensate! I also did think about having multiple dogs, but again, kept them out for scoping reasons.
Really interesting mechanic! I like how it turns into a kind of order-of-operations puzzle. I was unfortunately only able to get a few levels in, after which point they started taking a lot longer; though, for most of the levels I completed, all but one sheep made it to the pen due to me just pressing W a few times at the start, and the remaining time was spent chasing down that remaining sheep. A reset option of some kind (perhaps in the pause menu, or by pressing R) would be nice, since sometimes starting over could be less time-consuming than trying to get a lone remaining sheep out of the corner of the screen.
Thanks @python-b5 ! I think you're right about the reset option. There's also some work to be done on level design, which should get rid of a lot of the "press W to win" problem.
Such a cute concept. I love the art style and the voice acting. It takes some patience to play, but I really like it.
That is a lot harder than it looks. I kinda got stuck on level 4 (I think) I wanted to restart the entire level and couldn't figure out how. I couldn't get the dog to get to where I wanted them to go, so I unfortunately gave up... until I came back. :smirk: I made it to level 8 and I couldn't find a way still to get the dog to go where I wanted. I refuse to give up on this game, I have to make it to level 10.
@ieee333 : Thanks! Not sure what you mean by "voice acting"... unless you meant the sheep and dog noises?
@mrtroy : Yes, I need a reset option. There is an actual dog command to "return to me", but I didn't implement it. Guess I should :laughing:
I've mentioned it on stream how I struggled with multiple indirect systems working against me but I like the concept and the minimal but very charming pixel art. I agree that it needs a reset button and maybe some element over which I have a little more direct control, but perhaps that's just me 😅 Here’s the VOD of me playing it on stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMR3_KTESOU
Thanks for playing on stream @philstrahl !
Creative use of the theme! Feels like a very retro game, something you could imagine on the NES or even earlier. Definitely tricky at times, especially when the sheep decide to run left or right when you thought you'd push them. But there's a unique appeal to it, again like playing an old game.
Well done!
I liked the use on non standard controls and the sheep are so cute I love how they walk!
Thanks for playing!
@kahztein : I love old retro games, so I'm always trying to recreate the vibe.
@ellas : glad you like the sheep!
Really creative entry.I found it hard, but pretty rewarding. Once I realized W was "towards the sheep" and not "up", it made much more sense!
Thanks for playing and commenting @artur-hawkwing ! I need to write better instructions!