Unnatural Selection by saint11

[raw]
made by saint11 for LD24 (COMPO)
A weird game about a mage and his aways-evolving-race of minions.
This jam I tried to do something different, the game got a little weird and confusing, it's more of an experiment than a game but I think it's playable.

Use WASD or the arrow keys to move around and SPACE to rally/disband your minions. They can reproduce a lot and that causes a mutation on their attributes, creating a natural selection of your minions.Some have special powers, like flying (or having loads of HP)

The game objective is to carry the purple crystals (one by one) to the altar.

Still a lot of unexpected behaviors my happen in the game, and the game is very easy. I plan to polish it a little during the week!

Hope you like it :)

Ratings

Coolness 28% 904
Overall 3.72 51
Audio 3.52 51
Fun 3.54 67
Graphics 4.17 36
Humor 2.73 176
Innovation 3.64 74
Mood 3.45 75
Theme 3.66 103

Feedback

LuizHGMonclar
27. Aug 2012 · 02:23 UTC
Like it a lot, mood, graphics, theme. Awesome game, santo!

Cheers :D
Levynski
27. Aug 2012 · 03:20 UTC
Very GOOD!
pereubu
27. Aug 2012 · 13:03 UTC
best game i've played so far, same title than mine D:
Sestren
27. Aug 2012 · 13:17 UTC
Great sound and graphics. I don't quite have the grasp on the evolving behavior for the minions, but, otherwise, good entry.
GFM
27. Aug 2012 · 14:21 UTC
Great entry!
Nice cute pixelated graphics. =D

I found the game idea interesting... though I didn't quite understand how the game works... ( the strategy involved, I mean...)

Also, it would be nice to carry some of your minions to the next stage...
Andrew
27. Aug 2012 · 20:08 UTC
I disliked that I was essentially reduced to a postman while the minion auto-kill would do a fine job clearing the levels without any input from me.
tripleVisionGames
27. Aug 2012 · 20:40 UTC
Love the graphics, love the movement of the minions and the mechanic is good too. Got a similar feel to a tower defence game but without all that waiting around nonsense.

I'd maybe like to have something where different traits are better against certain enemies and a way to select who rallies to you if you do develop it further (maybe with groups you make though so you can keep the random ability splicing) -- get tweeting links to this after you've had your extra week on it!
ramoncb
28. Aug 2012 · 01:25 UTC
Amazing game! Great music, good graphics and a very nice gameplay! Any chance for a downloadable version?

Greetings from Brazil! \o/
acsantana
28. Aug 2012 · 05:44 UTC
Wow! Nice , Santo! I've always liked your work! Surely, one of the greatest game developer here , in Brazil! Cheers! o/
gustavodort
28. Aug 2012 · 13:27 UTC
Man, I loved it so much!
It reminds me of Toejam and Earl, it only missed a funky soundtrack
:D

Great mood, greater graphics!
Congratulations!
Sebastian
28. Aug 2012 · 17:09 UTC
This is a great one! Only thing I wish is that there was more of it :P I think an unlimited mode would work nice in this, if you end up developing more.
FrederickK
28. Aug 2012 · 17:59 UTC
The minions moves very natural and is cool having an army of them.
Great game!
chambers
29. Aug 2012 · 00:28 UTC
Great game, it was fun and the minion behaviour was very well done, it's impressive you made it in 48 hours. I like the idea of a tower defense-like game where you need to quickly leave your base to look for resources.

I think this could become a really popular game if you worked a little bit more on it - some things weren't properly explained, such as how the evolution and breeding works exactly, and that the red color means low HP (the first time I played, I thought that maybe it was an EXP indicator of some sort)

You could use a few "loading screen tips" during stage transitions to present this kind of information to the players, for example.

Also, sometimes I wanted minions that were low on HP to eat flowers instead of fighting, but they fought instead.

I don't even need to say I loved the graphics =)
xhunterko
29. Aug 2012 · 01:21 UTC
Very well done!
Volute
29. Aug 2012 · 11:12 UTC
This was fun ! I loved watching the minions attack. Great music as well.
deepnight
29. Aug 2012 · 12:20 UTC
Absolutely stunning, you are my fav so far :)
The concept is great.
SiENcE
30. Aug 2012 · 09:12 UTC
Nice gameidea and great music. I love the adlib soundstyle.
Orni
30. Aug 2012 · 09:18 UTC
this is amazingly fun - wow, you're going to get some really high ratings, and you earned them
the only bad thing I could say is that it's a bit too easy and the AI has some (minor) flaws to flatten out (but which AI doesn't)

I enjoyed playing this, solid game in every way
Switchbreak
31. Aug 2012 · 02:00 UTC
Wow, love the art and animations on this, love how unexpected things can come out of the evolution.
Porter
31. Aug 2012 · 03:35 UTC
Doesn't feel complete yet, but there's definitely a core mechanic that's playable. With a bit more player decision (how they upgrade), and more balanced levels, this could be quite fun.
matheod
31. Aug 2012 · 23:48 UTC
Nice game, just upset to have to restart all the game when we die :-(
Miltage
01. Sep 2012 · 16:52 UTC
One of favourites. Fanstastic job!
AuxiliumGames
02. Sep 2012 · 02:31 UTC
The graphics and sound come together really well, and this has potential to be a really awesome game once the gameplay is balanced out and polished a bit more. Already though it is really cool, I am looking forward to the more fleshed out version :D
Kmad
02. Sep 2012 · 19:53 UTC
Fantastic little game that has a lot of potential to be developed further - hope you do carry on working on it.
LoneStranger
06. Sep 2012 · 03:11 UTC
There is something missing from the game... some kind of mechanic involving the creatures. Maybe a sentry mode? I don't know, but I think you're close to something real good.
chuchino
07. Sep 2012 · 02:17 UTC
Cute game. At first I had trouble figuring out strategies for some of the later levels, but eventually I found that just leaving a bunch of minions near your base will work most of the time. I was surprised at how many different types of minion evolutions there were.
rubna
07. Sep 2012 · 18:05 UTC
great job on this!
ncannasse
12. Sep 2012 · 20:35 UTC
Quite nice, good polish, but somehow lack interactivity. I'm not sure that the actions I make on my minions affect the game in a positive way or not
Canard Sauvage
13. Sep 2012 · 20:55 UTC
Really nice, but I needed quite some time and the comments to fully understand the mechanics.
goffmog
15. Sep 2012 · 15:35 UTC
Awesome title... Actually, awesome game too :)
moonmagic
16. Sep 2012 · 14:57 UTC
This has the shape of a fun game, and now it just needs more Guts! Fill the game with Guts and make the creatures evolve based on other player pickups? Or only reproduce when following the player? Or with a crystal? I think then, the agency of Choice would be more apparent.

Love the graphics, particularly the swelling altar. Sound is chirpy and functional. Enjoyed exploring with my swarm of minions.
lekochen
16. Sep 2012 · 23:12 UTC
Nice game. Love it!