Watercolor Wheel Evolution by tcstyle

[raw]
made by tcstyle for LD24 (JAM)
*** Had to make a bugfix (within bugfixing rule #1). The original version will eventually crash when reaching generation 10. If you have downloaded the original version, please redownload. ***

* Almost all arts by my daughter, who will become 3 this week! *

Absorb the stuff floating around with the Wheel to influence the next generation. Depending on the stuff you absorb you will be faster, bigger, slower or smaller next round. The stuff that makes you smaller and slower also hurts you. Your size represents your health.
Each type of stuff influences an aspect of the Wheel.
Absorbing stuff influences aspects and number of the stuff in the next generation. If you leave out types of stuff they will be bigger and faster next round and even get random movement changes.

Go try it out.

** Windows version: Start WatercolorWE.exe **
** On systems with python/pygame (Linux) start WercolorWE.py **

Ratings

Coolness 72% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.03 136
Audio(Jam) 3.55 41
Fun(Jam) 2.78 150
Graphics(Jam) 3.89 56
Humor(Jam) 2.56 97
Innovation(Jam) 2.66 159
Mood(Jam) 2.97 96
Theme(Jam) 3.00 89

Feedback

馃帳 tcstyle
28. Aug 2012 路 06:05 UTC
Had to make a bugfix (within bugfixing rule #1). The original version will eventually crash when reaching generation 10. If you have downloaded the original version, please redownload.
Frozen Fractal
28. Aug 2012 路 18:23 UTC
Charming :D
marudziik
28. Aug 2012 路 19:45 UTC
Pretty fun to play, I played for more than a few mins. Kudos for involving your kid. You should probably include some kind of packed exe version, for those without Python (yes, there are such people - crazy, I know!) or PyGame, though. Try py2exe or something similar. Anyway, very nice entry.
馃帳 tcstyle
28. Aug 2012 路 19:49 UTC
@marudziik:
There is a windows version available already (the 'Windows' link) made with py2exe.
bvanschooten
28. Aug 2012 路 19:57 UTC
OK, so it's a jam because your daughter participated :-) I like the graphics and sound.
Kayelgee
28. Aug 2012 路 20:00 UTC
ok I am really displeased I tried so hard to get only the good ones and did it I got every good stuff and no bad stuff in one level but I didn't get some special award for this :(
I really like the art style ^^
bobiniki
28. Aug 2012 路 20:01 UTC
I like the handmade feel of everything
Guardian_Bob
28. Aug 2012 路 20:08 UTC
There are a couple of bugs, I stopped shrinking and the first movement was at much faster speed. That said this was different and cute.
馃帳 tcstyle
28. Aug 2012 路 20:14 UTC
@Kayelgee:
The "special award" issue is something I noticed to late. Would enhance the gameplay alot, I guess.

@Guardian_Bob:
Do you mean stop shrinking at contact or from generation to generation? Was the movement in the second stage slower after absorbing a lot of brown/black stuff? If that's the case, that is intended by gamedesign but probably not communicated clear enough.
Guardian_Bob
28. Aug 2012 路 21:01 UTC
tcstyle - both. I stopped shrinking from generation to generation and from contact.

And after absorbing lots of brown and black stuff, I would start a round going up and move quickly. When I then went down I would slow down.
vigrid
28. Aug 2012 路 21:40 UTC
Wow, I love the traditional art and music feel this game has. You have a great daughter, you're a lucky man she agreed to jam with you :)
savethejets1
28. Aug 2012 路 22:33 UTC
Really cool that you involved your daughter. I dig the music too!
ButtercupSaiyan
28. Aug 2012 路 23:57 UTC
Awwww! This is really sweet...
Gidaio
29. Aug 2012 路 21:11 UTC
It was a lot of fun. Animation and/or variation would have been nice, but you can't expect too much from a three-year-old. :) Initially, I was confused with the whole 'evolution' part, until I played it a while. Then I noticed that the 'cripples' started getting bigger.
brett-kaplan
29. Aug 2012 路 21:21 UTC
While the basic concept is solid, I feel that the level gap in between colliding with something and getting the effect makes the game feel too disconnected.
Yakka
29. Aug 2012 路 21:31 UTC
I loved the art :-)
berareu
30. Aug 2012 路 10:20 UTC
Great game! The watercolor artstyle combined with the music offer a very pleasant mood :)
The gameplay is fun too even if in some levels I could barely move...mostly because in the beginning I tried to eat everything instead of selecting stuff :)
infernet89
30. Aug 2012 路 10:26 UTC
Really loved the graphics and sound style!
Zed
30. Aug 2012 路 13:05 UTC
This is adorable. You know things are bad when a three-year-old draws better game graphics than you do... I really enjoyed this! Thank her (and yourself) for me.
JaJ
01. Sep 2012 路 14:29 UTC
As far as generation 14, I could absorb all enemies and it still wouldn't kill me, so I didn't like the difficulty curve, but the rest of the game is very sweet, from the paintings to the guitar music.
Andrew
02. Sep 2012 路 02:28 UTC
I'm not really noticing any difference in wheel size. The graphics were nice, more games should be drawn by 3 yearolds.
goerp
02. Sep 2012 路 14:05 UTC
handrawn style is nice and in the menus as well. Music fits the style. Smooth gameplay made me play longer.
wlad
04. Sep 2012 路 19:53 UTC
I played it until generation 10 with a lot of fun, but 5 generations later I stopped because not much changed from generation to generation. But overall a very nice game! Especially the graphics :-)
McFunkypants
06. Sep 2012 路 23:42 UTC
I absolutely LOVE that you got to make a game with your little daughter. This is a dream of mine: someday I hope to to gamedev with my baby son. Great work!
DaveDobson
14. Sep 2012 路 04:41 UTC
This is fun - reminds me of my entry for Tiny World in LD 23 ( http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10977 ). I love your daughter's art - really fun, and I'm sure she enjoyed working on it with you. Sound effects and music are fun and cute, and gameplay is smooth. I wish there were a little more variety to it, although I enjoyed playing (got to level 12). The evolution aspect was fun; the speed was really the most noticeable improvement. Nice work!
RawBits
14. Sep 2012 路 12:00 UTC
I'am so jealous about you managed to get coop with your daughter... :) She must be looking at you like if you are a mage or something bringing her drawings to life!

I love the art and music. Also it's a so simple concept. Good job!
Datw
14. Sep 2012 路 16:55 UTC
Yea, the game looked and sounded really nice, although there wasn't much changing from generation to generation. :)
tompudding
17. Sep 2012 路 21:01 UTC
Looks and sounds great.
PaulSB
17. Sep 2012 路 21:02 UTC
Definitely adorable presentation. I didn't find the game that rewarding as I only managed barely noticeable changes between generations but yeah, totally loving the cute looks.