Animancer by Nick Weihs

made by Nick Weihs for LD32 (COMPO)

Robots have taken over the world

Wield the power of the forest to take back control of the planet from the robot usurpers.

Summon snakes, birds squirrels and more!

I decided to forgo the frustration of dealing with my color blindness (moderate protanopia) and do this one in greyscale. I think it came out pretty good!

Source for the Unity port is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/AnimancerUnitySrc.zip

Web	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/Animancer/Webplayer.html
Windows	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/Animancer.zip
OS/X	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/Animancer.app.zip
Linux	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/AnimancerLinux.zip
Source	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/154796290/LD5Source.zip
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=21927

Ratings

Coolness	32%	1952
Overall	3.93	55

Audio	3.77	74
Fun	3.88	53
Graphics	3.93	128
Humor	3.16	327
Innovation	3.56	248
Mood	3.90	43
Theme	4.37	13

Feedback

Franklin's Ghost

20. Apr 2015 · 11:45 UTC

Liked that you had the animals help with the fight back against the robots and that you had time to include a boss. Took me awhile to beat him but once I had, I liked the surprise ending.

UltraRat

20. Apr 2015 · 19:17 UTC

I really want to know what sound does a summoned squirrel makes.

Liz England

20. Apr 2015 · 19:33 UTC

Am I the savior of the animals or sending them to their deaths?!

The sound & music is top notch.

little_polygon

21. Apr 2015 · 05:47 UTC

I summoned an eagle! <3

syncxzoz

21. Apr 2015 · 05:53 UTC

lol... i like this game!!!

the summoner.... who summon animation.. then the animation will kill any enemy... lol

the sound and that trick to summon bird are good!

lorenzo456

21. Apr 2015 · 05:55 UTC

This game is awesome, I really like it. The sounds were really good, I loved the boss animations, you've really but in some small details like when you die your health goes all the way down before restarting, stuff like that. I really liked it :), simple and fun game. Plus boss was challanging.

sararyCow

21. Apr 2015 · 06:03 UTC

Good art & music, I love the animal animations. And what an end! :O
I enjoyed the experience.

The Pixel Collective

21. Apr 2015 · 06:23 UTC

This may be my favorite LD game I have played yet! Summoning a horde of animals feels so amazing. Animations are solid, sprite work is spot on, movement feels perfect. Spot on game!

wg_phancock

21. Apr 2015 · 07:09 UTC

I really enjoyed the greyscale, and I think it actually probably came out better than it would have if you had done color. The silhouettes just really feel "right." Overall a very sold platformer with a good challenge.

The part with the two bomb throwing guys on the stairs was tricky. Gave me trouble, but I got past it!

Adreqi

21. Apr 2015 · 07:14 UTC

Couldn't beat the boss *_* (well I suck at bosses anyway)
Great game though, I love sending animals to their death to kill robots :3
Liked both graphics and music, well it doesn't loop perfectly but it does the job.

Archonthewizard

21. Apr 2015 · 07:20 UTC

Great game, very well made. I felt super powerful summoning hordes of forest creatures to my aid.

GeorgeBroussard

21. Apr 2015 · 07:33 UTC

Great entry! I loved this. It was really satisfying to summon animals to attack. Loved the b&w style art. Music was great. And a terrific boss fight. Legitimately great entry.

GeorgeBroussard

21. Apr 2015 · 07:40 UTC

re: source...took a quick peek. Didn't see any Unity stuff and a lot of XNA source?

PIXEL^3

21. Apr 2015 · 08:24 UTC

Nice solid game with some good potential here. The boss patterns were pretty good and the enemies were used in pretty smart ways. Could use a graphic overhaul and some more bosses, and whales.

Murchurl

21. Apr 2015 · 11:15 UTC

Really well presented game fore its simplicity! love the idea for the theme great job!

alpha_rat

21. Apr 2015 · 11:19 UTC

Great entry with a very original idea
I especially like the music

🎤 Nick Weihs

21. Apr 2015 · 17:21 UTC

@GeorgeBroussard My process involves creating the game initially with an engine/tools set that I made based on XNA. I then import everything into Unity using a compatibility layer that I also made. I've linked the unity source in the description.

AtomicVikings

21. Apr 2015 · 19:09 UTC

I had fun. I loved the way you taught the player, without actually telling the player what to do, but through gameplay.

PIXEL^3

21. Apr 2015 · 20:41 UTC

Made a Twitch highlight of my playthrough. http://www.twitch.tv/alucardx60/c/6578467

asobi tech

22. Apr 2015 · 08:33 UTC

I really liked this, great art style and animation. Lovely variety of animals to attack with, all with different speeds and sizes. A little sad they all got slaughtered by the robots.
The castlevania/megaman knock back was a killer, but I liked that as it made me more cautious.
Great variety on the final boss attacks and lovely ending.
Music and sound was all very fitting.
Excellent work :D

decodersmith

24. Apr 2015 · 04:56 UTC

Great music and graphics! A very impressive entry. All of the animal animations are really smooth. Feels like a long lost Gameboy game.

vidarn

24. Apr 2015 · 20:38 UTC

That was amazing!
A fun, fast paced and beautiful game.
I think the game length was perfect, it was engaging the whole way through and the final boss fight was epic!

Buzzwerd

25. Apr 2015 · 06:37 UTC

We really enjoyed playing this on our stream. Super cool concept and really fun to play! It seems like a lot of thought was put into the game design.

tripleVisionGames

25. Apr 2015 · 09:30 UTC

Very lovely audio work and you've done a good job with the look of it too, particularly with the animations. Felt well made altogether

robboberty

27. Apr 2015 · 23:23 UTC

This is pretty fun. I think this could be a really awesome game if fleshed out after the Compo. I could see leveling and different animals to accomplish different tasks working out really good.

I made a video of my playthrough: http://youtu.be/xMZ2pqRubcc

ButtonMasherBros

01. May 2015 · 15:58 UTC

Pssst - you are featured in todays Ludum Dare to Believe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmc4AHczjLo

Lukbebalduke

01. May 2015 · 16:42 UTC

The animations are amazing!
Congrats =D

ChuiGum

02. May 2015 · 04:28 UTC

I LOVE the idea, really innovative. Perfect with the theme too, well done!

joe40001

02. May 2015 · 07:41 UTC

Great, innovative well polished little game.