the vole beneath by mcapraro
there is a vole.
he lives beneath the soil.
waiting.
for a walnut.
I am super excited to be part of my second ludum dare! i was hoping to be ready for the compo but it wasn't in the cards this month. i did manage to get something together, even if its just one level!
i hope to expand this if time permits...
it's silly but i hope you like it!
UPDATE: wow! thanks for all the awesome comments and critiques, it's really helpful and encouraging and proves what a great community LD has. Some questions that have come up:
1. i had really hoped to make more levels, so it is a really short game :) i do have ideas for obstacles, powerups, etc and hope to get there with a released game.
2. the leaf was meant as a bonus/secondary goal. so as you bump the ground to get the walnut into the hole, you could get the walnut to bump into and collect the leaf (there would be a leaf counter) and some levels would have more leaves to get. at the end of each level, that would give you additional points.
3. @local minimum: great idea about bumping the ground to release the walnut! i will definitely add that in a release version of this game
he lives beneath the soil.
waiting.
for a walnut.
I am super excited to be part of my second ludum dare! i was hoping to be ready for the compo but it wasn't in the cards this month. i did manage to get something together, even if its just one level!
i hope to expand this if time permits...
it's silly but i hope you like it!
UPDATE: wow! thanks for all the awesome comments and critiques, it's really helpful and encouraging and proves what a great community LD has. Some questions that have come up:
1. i had really hoped to make more levels, so it is a really short game :) i do have ideas for obstacles, powerups, etc and hope to get there with a released game.
2. the leaf was meant as a bonus/secondary goal. so as you bump the ground to get the walnut into the hole, you could get the walnut to bump into and collect the leaf (there would be a leaf counter) and some levels would have more leaves to get. at the end of each level, that would give you additional points.
3. @local minimum: great idea about bumping the ground to release the walnut! i will definitely add that in a release version of this game
Ratings
| Coolness | 100% | 1 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.38 | 258 |
| Audio(Jam) | 2.86 | 458 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.14 | 286 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 4.06 | 133 |
| Humor(Jam) | 2.75 | 305 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 3.75 | 79 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.29 | 264 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.93 | 34 |
I love it :) Please build on it more, because I wanna play more! :D
The animations are delightful and the palette is very pleasant.
Really nice presentation and sound though
It seems to only have a single level, right?
It is also a bit hard to get the bumps to be smooth enough for the nut to roll over, but I enjoyed solving that little challenge. Well done :)
But I don't understand the rule :/
Do I have to take the leaf then get the nut in the hole ? or do I need to avoid the hole ? Because there is nothing written when I get the nut in the hole, and I can't manage to avoid the hole when I take the leaf...
About control : you should add a key (enter?) to release the nut.
Good work, want to see more !
This vole has much better play-feel and nice animations going. I really liked the way the ground got bent. It did take me a little while to actually figure out the way the game worked, but while at it I discovered some minor things you could adjust:
First off, the leaf -- I'm not understanding it's purpose, and it get a bit weird that I can knock ground so it comes below the surface yet still I can't catch it.
Second, if I knock the surface (btw I want a thud-sound for that) in the very left end of the knock-able area I can make ground discontinuous, so you probably want to extend the flex-region at least one step outside the knock-able region.
Then, instead of the "go!" button, (because it is annoying to have a to switch between keyboard and mouse, make a special knock-area under the nut that will just dislodge it.
When the nut is rolling, there's a loose condition when nut doesn't reach/pass the hole which lacks logic for game to detect it (zero speed nut).
The win seems to be lacking as well.
Hope you enjoyed the comments, I sure enjoyed the game! And yeah, you and your son should put links in your descriptions to each other!
Good game, and good use of theme.
Also, having the possibility to repeat an attempt without having to make the ramp all anew would be nice. If only you'd not get the three stars (it does feel like a game that would work with the three stars kind of level system).
I think it could be a great mobile game. Good job.
It took me a while to realise that I could still bump the ground after the walnut had been released - I assumed once you pressed go you just had to wait and see. That might just be me being dumb (wouldn't be the first time!) but maybe that's worth mentioning somewhere?