Hive Mind by knarf2011

[raw]
made by knarf2011 for LD32 (JAM)
In this 2D platformer, you don't run very fast, nor does your character have any fighting ability. However, you do have one thing on your side - a swarm of nanobots. Moving your character with WASD and the bots with the arrow keys, use the swarm to defend yourself and create platforms where there are gaps you can't jump.

Created by Frank Duggan, Noah Plotkin, and Dan Howard; this was the first Ludum Dare for all of us

Ratings

Coolness 64% 3
Overall(Jam) 2.97 727
Fun(Jam) 2.57 845
Graphics(Jam) 2.86 725
Innovation(Jam) 3.71 144
Theme(Jam) 3.83 170

Feedback

plams
20. Apr 2015 路 19:48 UTC
Fell through the floor trying to read the instructions :p 1,2,3 keys don't seem to work
UKCoder
20. Apr 2015 路 19:51 UTC
Very interesting game. I loved the concept and how it's balanced so that the further away the swarm moves, the less coherent it's movement becomes making it harder to damage enemies from a distance. Very clever.

Only thing I would have done different is perhaps an optional control scheme. Using 1/2/3 to activate the abilities felt a bit awkward, as I couldn't change what the swarm was doing quickly. Think it'd be nice to play with ASDW for movement and mouse for controlling the swarm, with left click to form a block, mouse movement always controlling the swarm and you could then even have right mouse button for another ability.
MrSchlag
20. Apr 2015 路 19:56 UTC
Nanobots are super cool but i'm stuck at leve2...
shrapx
20. Apr 2015 路 20:22 UTC
I like the concept, and the hive movement, and the scripted introduction. On The 2nd level I cant see the hive on top of the dark background tile, and the hive does hardly any damage to the bats. I cant get any further :(
馃帳 knarf2011
20. Apr 2015 路 23:10 UTC
Thanks for all of your comments. We've split Level 2 into two levels and made the background brighter so you can see the swarm.
ApocoNypse
21. Apr 2015 路 01:27 UTC
Really like the idea behind this one, the swarm doesn't seem to do what i tell it to sometimes, but a pretty solid game overall :)
Teesquared
21. Apr 2015 路 01:42 UTC
I like the nanobots idea. Good take on the theme. I felt the game was a bit too frustrating for me but I kept at it. Finally got the bots to work and it was cool. The white instructions on the blue background are difficult to read.
phi
21. Apr 2015 路 07:07 UTC
Awesome concept! The controls are almost unbearably inconvenient. It would have been much nicer to use the mouse, as UKCoder pointed out. I just can't coordinate my fingers over 11 keys at the same time... Cool visuals though!
Bitterdeath
21. Apr 2015 路 07:08 UTC
Using the swarm to create a movable block is clever. Allowing a little more time on the block would be nice. I was thrown off by the intro but once I understood the swarm, I really enjoyed the mechanic.
morazor
21. Apr 2015 路 07:08 UTC
I like the idea, it's really original and interesting!
I found controls a bit odd anyway... if you intend to target it to PC players, it may be nice to use the mouse to control the nanobots swarm.
Good job anyway!
Ryusui
21. Apr 2015 路 21:58 UTC
Cool premise but needs some tweaks to the controls.
Bishkip
22. Apr 2015 路 00:21 UTC
Pretty cool idea, love to see more abilities
xbcw
22. Apr 2015 路 03:43 UTC
The nano-bot swarm is a fun mechanic.
Dynad
22. Apr 2015 路 11:56 UTC
Very interesting mechanics, using the swarm as a cube aint so easy to get somewhere.... sometimes the modes don't switch all the time when I press them.. with the dark background palette is was pretty hard to notice enemies.. overall.. good work!
GameQuester
24. Apr 2015 路 20:00 UTC
Nice idea for the theme. Controls could need some adjustments. Well done.
12 Pech谩s Of Souls
24. Apr 2015 路 20:09 UTC
Very fun and interesting mechanic. It's a great idea.
syncxzoz
25. Apr 2015 路 04:39 UTC
great swarm!!! lol..
but so hard to synchronize the player and swarm... i wanna fly away with the swarm...
jmborden
25. Apr 2015 路 21:54 UTC
Keys don't seem to work.
johnnwfs
26. Apr 2015 路 12:45 UTC
Great idea with the nanobots but was confused about when a mode was actually active as the 'bots didn't seem to react at first. Took a while to figure out solid mode (actually thought it clever and frustrating at same time that you could fall through the solid mass)... a subtle change in 'bot color might help with showing player the mode they're in. nice graphics.
kunzbe
03. May 2015 路 14:13 UTC
Really cool idea with these nanobots. I think this has potential.
But the controls were a bit off and stiff. for example it was a bit frusting that the solid block of nanobots only kept like half a second when jumped on...