LudumData

Guerrilla Gardening by randomhuman

[raw]
made by randomhuman for LD 41 (JAM)

ItchThumbnailPlusSubx3.png​

Just because you're living in a cyberpunk dystopia doesn't mean you can't have fresh home-grown food. It just takes a slightly more... creative approach to horticulture.

* How To Play *

Plant strawberries in the dirt patches around your neighbourhood and keep them watered until they reach maturity. Get over 85% of the available dirt producing strawberries to win.

Watch out for police drones - shoot them with water or seeds to destroy them, or just run away.

* Controls *

LMB - Shoot water

RMB - Shoot seed

WASD - Move

Mouse - Aim

Controller support is a little bit wonky for now, I would recommend mousey keyboard.

* Notes *

If you encounter a problem with the camera going crazy when you fire seeds or destroy enemies try the NO_SHAKE version of the build. It is identical to the jam version except that the camera shake has been removed. This bug has only been encountered once so far to my knowledge, and I'm not sure the cause of it yet.

* Post-Jam *

I have begun work on a post-jam version of the game, I hope to have the first updated release ready before the LD results come out. You can follow the development on the itch.io devlog, and I will probably also post about most major changes on my twitter.

Windows https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1H4PRLfkNHUz41wdfHsxpByvo2BG8IqV8?usp=sharing
macOS https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1H4PRLfkNHUz41wdfHsxpByvo2BG8IqV8?usp=sharing
Other (platform) https://randomhuman.itch.io/guerrilla-gardening
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/guerrilla-gardening

Ratings

Overall 234th 3.811⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Fun 165th 3.846⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 506th 3.451⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Theme 474th 3.74⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 177th 4.17⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Audio 188th 3.725⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Humor 576th 2.894⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 243th 3.7⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Given 53🗳️ 69🗨️

Feedback

detectiveLosos
24. Apr 2018 · 04:00 UTC
This game has a really good pixel art. The color palette is awesome!
As for the gameplay it lacks an ingame tutorial. Surely there is a description on the game page, but I totally missed it at first I thought that the whole game was just infinitely running and gunning those flying drones. Then I discovered your right click ability and only after my partner told me to go read the description, the game fully opened to me.
And it was pretty interesting and nicely balanced. Drones fly at just the right speeds to punish you for paying too much attention to gardening and not fighting.
Re-Markable
24. Apr 2018 · 12:18 UTC
I absolutely love this game! The amazing music mixed with the fast-paced gameplay has a really good feel to it. I would love to see a full version of this game! :smile:
Gavin Camlin
24. Apr 2018 · 15:04 UTC
The art in this game was fantastic! I also loved all of the little interactions with the environment like knocking over the rubble. The sound track was wonderful as well! If I would suggest anything I would say to add a little bit more feed back when the player gets hit, most of the time I hadn't realized and I'd look up to my health bar and only have half of it left. I also ran into a bug with movement, it seems that when switching directions occasionally you can't move the direction until you let go of the button and then press it down again. Overall great game!
hatchet
24. Apr 2018 · 17:07 UTC
this combination actually works :D beautiful pixel art, I really enjoy your style and color choices. Music follows the rhythm of the game nicely, and planting strawberries, killing enemies, and even walking around is really satisfying. I would only say that the camera moves around a bit too quickly for me, and could benefit from some smoothing and tweaks, but I got used to it quickly and don't think of it as a problem. Overall, very fun entry! :)
blinry
24. Apr 2018 · 18:38 UTC
Hey randomhuman! :) Very enjoyable game! I like the character design and the unmistakable graphics style! Took my a while to figure out that you can shoot seeds, I thought the strawberries were already planted, and I waited for them to grow! ;) Cute ending screens, and nice, undistracting music. Honestly, I can't think of much to improve! Keep hyperlinking!
🎤 randomhuman
25. Apr 2018 · 17:35 UTC
@detectiveLosos A tutorial is definitely going to be the first thing I add post-jam! Thanks for playing!
🎤 randomhuman
25. Apr 2018 · 17:37 UTC
@Re-Markable Thank you! I hope to expand on it a bit in a post-jam version, but then I say that about all of my LD entries, and I've only made good on that for one of them so far... But I have a lot of ideas for this one, so we will see :smile:
🎤 randomhuman
25. Apr 2018 · 17:41 UTC
@Gavin-Camlin Thanks, glad you enjoyed! I had a "hurt" animation in that basically just flashed the player pink a bit, but it gets overridden immediately by any other animation - not sure how to layer them like in Unity. But yeah it is definitely insufficient as it is. Thanks for the feedback
🎤 randomhuman
25. Apr 2018 · 17:42 UTC
@hatchet Thank you very much! I've had a few complaints about the camera, definitely need to tone that down a bit.
🎤 randomhuman
25. Apr 2018 · 17:52 UTC
Hey @blinry good to see you buddy! Glad you enjoyed the game!
Adam Wallberg
25. Apr 2018 · 19:49 UTC
I really like this game. The shooting is very satisfying, especially the seed shooter ^^
tyranosaw
26. Apr 2018 · 03:17 UTC
This is a great game, especially to have it done by yourself, awesome work man:smile:! This game has a lot of potential! Obviously, if you spent some time into it, this can become a quite popular and addicting game.

I see that you have spent time polishing the game, adding the footsteps, the hit effects and the camera shake. But there can be a lot more you can do. Polishing isn't just adding the small details to make the game look and feel better, it is also a way to make the game more fun. Try making the water bullets travel faster, have more enemies but with less health. After that, make the death of the drone explode in pieces and leave the pieces on the floor keeping the permanence. Then this will make it much more fun to kill the drones.

The point I'm trying to make is just to make everything as satisfying as possible. Bland games are boring to play. You've done very well, but there can be more. Congratulations man! :thumbsup:
LERPish
26. Apr 2018 · 08:07 UTC
hey really cool game loved the grafics and the music was fine too, loved the way you mixed the gameplay elements i think if you develop on that could lead into a great game maybe a puzzleish game huh think about it, but yeah really great and solid entrance
Langotriel
26. Apr 2018 · 12:12 UTC
Incredibly well done in terms of production quality, certainly top tier on that front. I think the game could improve from expanded scope and possibly increase its mood score with a little more grime added to the visuals. There is also room for additional elements of humour. Overall, incredible entry. Solid 4.5/5
Mr. Blue
26. Apr 2018 · 14:15 UTC
Incredible! I really liked this game. Keep on going! :)
Local Minimum
26. Apr 2018 · 16:15 UTC
What an obviously good combo of themes! Very good setting. And good fun game too.

In the beginning I was just shooting drones, because I had forgotten about that other button. And then when I remembered and started planting I almost had them die on me before I figured out the watering. Perhaps because the water ball wasn't iconic enough to recognize from start. A simple mouse ui showing the two actions would have been helpful with that.
NorthernHawk
28. Apr 2018 · 15:07 UTC
Really good game I loved how you mixed these two concepts! I felt like the camera was a little bit shaky and the shoot mecanics where a little bit rough (this could be easily sovlved with some polish). Good job I really enjoyed it!
Elfcirynn
28. Apr 2018 · 18:12 UTC
Would love to see this in the future with a little more polish, it's super cute, love the color choices, the sounds were kickin'. "Meow" says Oz.
GameDevMumin
28. Apr 2018 · 18:38 UTC
Nice game and art! :D You should develop it. Probably here should be something more to do with those plants, not just win condition. I would see here possibility to crop them, getting points and beating record :D And maybe enemies should sometimes focus on plants and destroy it. If I see posibilites of developing then it means that game has potential! Nice!
🎤 randomhuman
28. Apr 2018 · 18:59 UTC
@GameDevMumin Those are exactly the features I had planned for the first post-jam version :D
patrickgh3
28. Apr 2018 · 21:59 UTC
Short and sweet, pun intended! Gets the point of the core mechanic across quickly, and is fun to play! I like the difficulty level, easy but still interesting. I wish there was more to the game though, maybe another mechanic, but I know time is limited.
Pietro Ferrantelli
29. Apr 2018 · 14:31 UTC
One of my favorite so far, really fun. I loved the fast paced gameplay and the music is great and fits the game well. The pixel art is super eye-candy, I like this kind of colors and minimalist pixels, great job, would play a enhanced version of it.
maesk
29. Apr 2018 · 17:30 UTC
Yes! I got it to the end!

I must admit I first thought I only had to take care of the plants in the middle. Actually, when I died, the second time no-one came, so it was kind of easy. Then I saw there were way more places to take care and everything clicked in my mind, and soon after, it was done :D.

Incredibly beautiful game, I really like how being a rather simple and clean pixel art you got it nicely charming for the eyes. Good effects, animations and even music. Excellent work!

EDIT: I forgot! You even carefully chose the itch.io colors! Impressive!
gamesplusjames
29. Apr 2018 · 21:14 UTC
This was a real fun combo! I really loved the artstyle of the game, and the controls felt really nice. There was a little too much controller vibration for me but that may be more of a personal preference. My only real problem with the game was that I wanted it to go on a bit longer :D Fantastic work!
Neon
01. May 2018 · 17:04 UTC
Really good pixels, tight controls. I'd have preferred if the reticle followed the mouse accurately instead of just pointing the same way, but that's a minor problem.
GiraffeCat
02. May 2018 · 21:11 UTC
Looks and sounds great, and a good combination of mechanics. Like a few others, I spent quite a while not wondering why I didn't seem to be making progress, before realising there were other plots further away from the centre of the map.
Ryunos
03. May 2018 · 15:42 UTC
Great game! It took me some time to understand what I had to do but once it was clear, I really enjoyed watering my plants and killing the enemies. I would have loved to see more background!
cristiano.m.garcia
03. May 2018 · 15:58 UTC
Good job! Cool game!

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape
Lost Dutchman Software
04. May 2018 · 16:55 UTC
Played this a few too many times and am now behind on my schedule for today, very addictive game play :)
🎤 randomhuman
04. May 2018 · 17:20 UTC
@Lost-Dutchman-Software My bad ;)
VeryEvilTomato
05. May 2018 · 01:49 UTC
Damn! This game was really nice, took me a bit to understand but just a bit, so I think it's good, the art is really nice, only thing I'd criticize is that I didn't enjoy the mouse being locked on and that it was too easy (This due to the simple enemy AI, it's a jam so congrats nonetheless!).

My game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/dungeon-racers
machrom
05. May 2018 · 10:42 UTC
Really nice game. The art is awesome and the music was great as well. A bit too easy, but great overall :)
ElGregos
07. May 2018 · 08:17 UTC
In case anyone was wondering, yes! arrow keys can be used instead of WASD. So no excuse to ignore this very lovable game. The small scope (one small level, win or lose) perfectly fits the jam. It's fun with just the right challenge: first try was a mess, then I could make it once I understood what to do. Didn't feel the need for a tutorial. Sure it cries for a post jam version with more levels ;). Good game with simple concept and solid gameplay, and again the art is what really shines. I love the palette and simple, very legible graphics, as well as the tunes and sfx.
Simon Rahnasto
07. May 2018 · 11:07 UTC
I finally had time to test the game. Before I get into feedback I just want to highlight how amazing the developer is, while trying to play his game on stream, for some unknown reason the screenshake was acting up for me, rendering the game unplayable. He sent me a custom version with screenshake turned off so that I was able to play without the bug. Mad props!


Now to back to the entry. Anyone who has played it will agree that this is one of the absolute best games in this LD, it uses the theme perfectly, has lovely graphics with a ton of juice and everything comes together to create a fantastic feel. Great job! :slight_smile:
Paulo Brunassi
07. May 2018 · 12:03 UTC
I liked the pixel art and the pallete so much!! Very fun game.
Jupiter_Hadley
07. May 2018 · 13:08 UTC
Nice game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 41 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrYzQfgK9hU
BlakeMcDeezy
12. May 2018 · 20:14 UTC
Cool game! Loved the pixel art the the merging of the themes! Nicely done :)
aeveis
14. May 2018 · 01:50 UTC
Very nice! It has nice fx with walking and shooting. It did take me a bit to understand it was water (had to look at instructions again), but was able to water all the strawberries. The red of strawberries against all the grey is a nice touch. I was a bit confused on the progress of growth - I guess the bar was just how much water they had? Anyway good job, keep up the good work!
Rodrysson
15. May 2018 · 19:49 UTC
I liked the graphics and the gameplay was very cool. I don't really understand the purpose of the level the first time I played, but I think I didn't 'seed' the way xD just kidding... Pretty nice game with cool mechanics I like it :D