Little Sheep by Alexandre

[raw]
made by Alexandre for LD23 (JAM)
Little Sheep is about a sheep living alone on a very small world, until he meets a migrating goose...

Unzip the archive and launch littleSheep.jar to start the game.
Playthrough is about 10 minutes long, with three different "endings" ("end states" may be more appropriate).

The tools and libraries used are:
_ Java / Slick2D
_ Tiled to create the maps
_ Paint.net and Gimp for the sprites and tiles
_ Bfxr and LMMS for the sound and music

I created this with a friend (he did the art/music and I did the coding). This was both our first game, and a very instructing one. What we would have improved with more time/experience:
_ Put a few more elements in the storyline
_ Use the paths tool in Gimp instead of Paint.net's curved lines
_ Improve the bass line in the music

An updated version is available, which fixes framerate issues on the third world, a collision bug, compatibility issues with MacOS/linux and some typos.

Ratings

Coolness 74% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.00 132
Audio(Jam) 3.08 99
Fun(Jam) 2.56 172
Graphics(Jam) 3.27 127
Humor(Jam) 2.50 107
Innovation(Jam) 2.85 137
Mood(Jam) 3.21 72
Theme(Jam) 3.12 101

Feedback

kutuup1989
23. Apr 2012 路 23:33 UTC
I can't find an executable in the folder :(
馃帳 Alexandre
24. Apr 2012 路 08:38 UTC
I forgot to put a readme file in the archive, thanks for the notice!
You have to launch littleSheep.jar to start the game
evilseanbot
24. Apr 2012 路 12:08 UTC
I really dig the spooky fable vibe. The third planet ran dog slow for some reason.
DaveDobson
26. Apr 2012 路 17:41 UTC
Neat game - but I had trouble figuring out what to do. Very whimsical; using the platformer format for an artsy fable-style story is a cool idea, and I like the way you used the planet theme.
tlaine
28. Apr 2012 路 15:32 UTC
I agree with Dave in all aspects. My sheep got stuck in the roof of the bunny cave though, that wasn't cool :/
refreshcreations
29. Apr 2012 路 12:40 UTC
Nice, restful game, glad I explored to find the extra bits. Music and sfx add to the general flow of the game. Nice ending also, yay!
Sanguine
29. Apr 2012 路 12:41 UTC
Played it and liked it, a bit short though
SFBTom
30. Apr 2012 路 14:05 UTC
I really really enjoyed this game, thanks so much for making it!
Jeffalisk
30. Apr 2012 路 18:07 UTC
Nice atmosphere in this! As others have said, something very restful about it.
ragnister
30. Apr 2012 路 18:25 UTC
I was liking, but like tlaine, my sheep got stuck in the roof of the rabbit's cave!!!
tripleVisionGames
30. Apr 2012 路 18:49 UTC
Hi I really like the graphics they're really cute and the world is laid out nicely.
Andrew
30. Apr 2012 路 19:53 UTC
For some odd reason the game was really laggy on my machine, but I assume that's my laptop's fault. It was a cute and clever little game.
ChrisWhitman
30. Apr 2012 路 20:40 UTC
I also suffered from the ceiling bug. Cute little game, and the music was nice. Bounding boxes seemed a little mis-sized, which made some of the jumping a little tricky. The conversation system could use some visual/usability improvements, but it's nice to see an LD game with a little more narrative.
Jezzamon
01. May 2012 路 08:44 UTC
Oh no! When I tried to run it on my mac, it didn't work! I got this error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no lwjgl in java.library.path
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:1758)
at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:823)
at java.lang.System.loadLibrary(System.java:1045)
at org.lwjgl.Sys$1.run(Sys.java:73)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.doLoadLibrary(Sys.java:66)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.loadLibrary(Sys.java:95)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.<clinit>(Sys.java:112)
at org.lwjgl.opengl.Display.<clinit>(Display.java:135)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppGameContainer$1.run(AppGameContainer.java:39)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppGameContainer.<clinit>(AppGameContainer.java:36)
at test6.LD23Main.main(LD23Main.java:55)


...does that mean I have to download LWGJL to run it? If so, that's a bit annoying.
BlackBulletIV
01. May 2012 路 08:51 UTC
Quite short, but interesting. I did like the peaceful chiptune music in the background.

There were some issues with the conversations; for example, when we'd migrated the bird indicating we were still migrating when I asked where we were going.

Finally, there's a typo in the main screen. It says "press espace to interact;" I thought it meant escape at first.
馃帳 Alexandre
01. May 2012 路 11:17 UTC
@Jezzamon Thanks for the bug report! You should not have to download anything to run the game, I'll try to look into it!

@BlackBulletIV Thanks also, I did not realize that! I'll correct it in the post-compo version soon
spiral
01. May 2012 路 12:19 UTC
super cute
DainVadda
01. May 2012 路 12:24 UTC
It does not seam to work for me (Mac OS X 10.7.3)

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: //littleSheep/jar
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: ..littleSheep.jar
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:306)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:247)
Beerman
01. May 2012 路 12:44 UTC
Very nice. Really chilled out and relaxing, the way the night/day transitions follow you around the planets was really effective :)
jeffz
01. May 2012 路 14:04 UTC
novel idea, nice little story.
netmute
01. May 2012 路 18:53 UTC
Crashes on Mac OSX :(
moonkid
02. May 2012 路 10:52 UTC
Adelaide?
cantorfew
02. May 2012 路 20:17 UTC
I also got Jezzamon's error at first. I think its because java doesn't add lib to its classpath by default. I tried copying the base littleSheep.jar to lib and running it from there but got a different error now.

I'm not well versed in java but will be back if I figure out how to make it work (I'm on Linux). Leaving this unrated for now.

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/newdawn/slick/state/StateBasedGame
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(ClassLoader.java:632)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:616)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:141)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:283)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:58)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:197)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.newdawn.slick.state.StateBasedGame
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248)
... 12 more
cantorfew
02. May 2012 路 20:56 UTC
I figured it out. There were some .so files in lib/native/linux. So running

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=`pwd`/lib/native/linux

before the usual

java -jar littleSheep.jar

worked. I'm assuming Mac users would need to somehow use/link to the files in lib/native/macosx/

I'm out of time now and will play and comment on the actual game at some later time.
cantorfew
03. May 2012 路 14:49 UTC
Nice atmosphere, though it was a bit short. I didn't find anything on the second planet (but I assume I'm supposed to?). So I only found two end states.

Also, the rabbit came with me even our conversation suggests that it would not (I don't know if this is a bug).
someone
03. May 2012 路 15:56 UTC
Interesting game.
You can also get it to work by defining java's library path:
java -Djava.library.path=./lib/native/linux/ -jar littleSheep.jar
馃帳 Alexandre
06. May 2012 路 15:53 UTC
The updated version should run on linux and MacOS without special manipulation. Thanks for the bug reports!
Nehmulos
06. May 2012 路 17:52 UTC
This is amazing! The music, the atmosphere, especially the characters! Also some very nice graphics for the sun and a cool way the different planets feel (gravity, day/night shift aso.) I surely enjoyed it.

I'm on Linux and it didn't run using the graphical (open)java launcher but it worked by starting it from comandline with:

java -jar littleSheep.jar

(using openjdk java)
jfroco
06. May 2012 路 18:20 UTC
Not my kind of game, sorry :( but it looks great and have a nice music.
free_napalm
06. May 2012 路 18:26 UTC
Great mood in this one, every planet was different in its own way, so I was quite excited where I'd float next.
More events would have been nice though.
Datw
06. May 2012 路 19:34 UTC
Pretty Graphics & Sound, they made up to a great "mood". The game itself isn't that much fun (well, at least for me), but besides that it is quite good :)
Jedi
07. May 2012 路 10:42 UTC
Graphics, sound and mood are all really good. The gameplay, however, is almost nonexistent but almost in a good way. The lack of risk seems to fit the mood but at the end of the day it barely feels interactive.
caranha
13. May 2012 路 00:59 UTC
I really liked the sound effects, and the graphics are not bad either. The minimalistic planet + the spooky music made me expect something sinister to be going on in the background :-) Controls were nice too.

That said, for a "story" game, it feels a bit short in content -- suddently "your journey ends here!". Also, there are a few bugs in the script - the rabbit on the third planet told me he was not coming, but then he showed up in the sheep planet. Uh, ok.
hamburger
13. May 2012 路 21:46 UTC
Nice atmosphere :)
crhallberg
13. May 2012 路 22:18 UTC
Adorable! Nice concept, good exploration and maps.