LudumData

The Life Amoebic by Baby Dino Herd

[raw]
made by Baby Dino Herd for LD 38 (COMPO)

title-720x480.png

Play!

Surround, enclose, and eat enough food to grow your amoeba and divide successfully.

Controls:

  • Click and drag near the amoeba's edge to reshape it.
  • Touch and enclose food in the amoeba to eat it.
  • Eat enough food to grow large enough, so that the amoeba can divide.
  • The amoeba will shrink constantly unless given food.
  • Press R to restart.

More explicit tips:

  • If you grow big enough, the amoeba will divide (winning the game).
  • As you grow larger, the amoeba's outline will turn to green as you approach the desired size (as in first screenshot below).
  • You can check the amoeba's size against the background as another gauge to how big it's grown.
  • The amoeba will tend to be stretchier the smaller it is.

Tools: * Unity 5.6

Downloads and source: * WebGL and Standalone versions of the game are at Itch.io, along with the source.

screenshot-3-320x202.png screenshot-1-320x202.png

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/a-life-amoebic

Ratings

Overall 221th 3.433⭐ 136🧑‍⚖️
Fun 382th 2.857⭐ 135🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 72th 3.763⭐ 137🧑‍⚖️
Theme 58th 4.03⭐ 137🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 255th 3.326⭐ 137🧑‍⚖️
Audio 55th 3.772⭐ 129🧑‍⚖️
Mood 65th 3.776⭐ 136🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

Heinrix
01. May 2017 · 13:24 UTC
Very atmospheric. I did initially find it a little difficult to control but once I got the hang of it it worked well.

I found the game quite relaxing, the music and sounds are extremely good and fit well with the theme.
The whole game is very well made! Good job!
Drag0mir
02. May 2017 · 04:12 UTC
Very cool. Atmospheric. There is not enough just any indicator of points
benbennett
02. May 2017 · 05:41 UTC
The music was fantastic, great ambiance. I was a big fan of the continuous circle of life with the game ending and beginning at the growth of the amoeba! Super game.
impbox
02. May 2017 · 05:51 UTC
Great game! Nice gameplay mechanic, i was immersed! my only issue is sometimes I seemed to be able to stretch a long way, other times not very far at all, I couldn't figure out the logic for that. Also maybe some indicator of your progress. It says you're constantly shrinking but I couldn't notice it visually. Sound was great too.
fingamer
02. May 2017 · 06:01 UTC
It's a great game! Great audio and it was really atmospheric. The mechanics are sometimes confusing though. Like @impbox said: the amoeba sometimes was able to stretch a long way, other times not very far at all. Aside of that it was really nice entry.
Aurelien
02. May 2017 · 06:25 UTC
Really good sound design. I would have really appreciated some goals, points or objective in the game. Is there an end?
Still, very relaxing game, good work on that.
Cosmic Adventure Squad
02. May 2017 · 06:37 UTC
I have to agree with everyone else: the mood is very well done. The subtle camera zooming out, the color transitions, and the cell eventually splitting were all oddly calming. I can see it working well as a mobile game too.
drtizzle
02. May 2017 · 06:40 UTC
Really nice mood. The music, SFX and visual style really fit together. It was a very relaxing experience. The stretching of the edge was a bit random, sometimes I could stretch really far, sometimes I almost couldn't.

Overall a really solid entry!
szczebel1995
02. May 2017 · 07:09 UTC
Amazing atmosphere! The sound effects made me really immersed and after couple of seconds I nailed down controls which are a bit confusing at the beginning, overall game is really well done, great entry :D
DeathStorm
02. May 2017 · 07:57 UTC
Very interesting game and a nice Idea.
The sound is a bit anoying after a while.
Unfotunately for me it's not totally clear whats the goal is.

But overall, Good Job ;)
Scriptorum
03. May 2017 · 01:49 UTC
Atmospheric, mellow game. I didn't find it much trouble growing my amoeba; once it becomes all loose and stringy, it's easy and fun to whip a long lasso around. Clever design!
kleinzach
03. May 2017 · 03:30 UTC
My one complaint is that my mouse movements won't count when I reach the edge of the screen, so dragging became cumbersome. Otherwise I really liked it!
mindtricks
03. May 2017 · 09:39 UTC
Nice work there! Really like the concept and I found the atmosphere very relaxing. But I'm not sure how my first play ended, I just swallowed four amoebas together and I said "Life found a way", but I wasn't big enough to win
nilead
03. May 2017 · 09:47 UTC
Great mood, weird art and interesting concept. Controls get unresponsive sometimes.
Bunnery
03. May 2017 · 09:48 UTC
Really enjoyed playing this - once I realised how to enclose food and grow. The sound is awesome - sounds like dripping water really make the game atmospheric. Nice work! :-)
Zarkonnen
03. May 2017 · 09:56 UTC
*bloop* This is a really cool concept, and I like the fact that you really have to enclose your food and not just touch it a bit. Reminds me a bit of Mushroom 11. Only thing I disliked is how you end up with very thin and jaggedly drawn amoeba protuberances.
ChloraVirgo
03. May 2017 · 11:25 UTC
This game is very atmospheric and I like the mechanics. I would be cool to add some levels and more features though. But for the 48 hours It's a nice polished project.
FailedStarfish
03. May 2017 · 19:02 UTC
Really interesting game and concept with unique gameplay. Controls can be a little awkward, especially when the amoebas edge became large.
carlosvVk
03. May 2017 · 20:21 UTC
A little bit strange game, but the feeling of being an amoeba is great!
hectigo
03. May 2017 · 20:58 UTC
My first amoeba kind of exploded, seemed like a bug when you make a certain kind of shape. But on my second go I figured it out and the game worked as it should. The game is pretty unique, follows the theme and I like the music, even though it could have used some sound effects. Ultimately the gameplay doesn't have one hooked for very long though, there's not much challenge to it.
mercerbox
03. May 2017 · 23:58 UTC
Got the same "exploding surface" bug others have mentioned, but yeah, incredibly innovative. Would love to see this expanded, I want to see amoeba vs amoeba 'combat'
5Mixer
04. May 2017 · 10:49 UTC
Gee's, this is incredible. Took me a bit of time to get it, but once you start sucking them in it's very ambient and neat :D I agree with others that commented it could be mobile, poking your finger and spread the membrane :D
Cambryx
04. May 2017 · 17:16 UTC
Cool game! This is very innovative. The graphics, the audio and the mood are great! But I have to say that i wouldn't play it often again after finishing it once. But other than that a great game!

If you want to check out our game, here is a link:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/42-mikronikus

Feel free to leave some feedback
cablay
05. May 2017 · 00:47 UTC
Very nice! Excellent across the board, and impressively polished. One area for improvement may be having the amoeba revert to its original form a little quicker after you're done dragging, but that may mess with the stretchiness balance you seem to have going as you get larger.
Stevie Bushman
05. May 2017 · 02:53 UTC
Great atmosphere. Very relaxing. I'm not sure how much of a game it is vs. a sandbox or enjoyable toy... I wonder how it would play if there was some sort of enemy or competing ameboids trying to steal your food! Just an idea. Thanks for the game!
James Dunlap
05. May 2017 · 03:40 UTC
I enjoyed this game. The ambience created by the music was perfect and very well done. The one thing I saw was that the amoeba seem to be able to stretch in very weird ways (like back on itself) that just did not seem like they should have been possible. The game was so well done, though, that this is easy to overlook and ignore.
doomshmuck
05. May 2017 · 04:06 UTC
I found myself fighting the controls a little bit too much with stretching, but otherwise it was a very solid game. The music and visuals played well with each other and really helped with the mood. I ended up losing on the attempt I did, but I'm not entirely sure why... there didn't seem to be an indicator as to when I was about to lose / win, which would have helped regarding the game aspect.
candlesan
05. May 2017 · 06:50 UTC
Cool game - very calming and relaxing game. I found dragging the amoeba around to be pleasant. I wish I had a bit more control over the shape of my amoeba. I also think after the first few "captures" it might be nice to shake up the gameplay patterns a bit - I found myself repeating the same general approach of "click, surround some globes slowly, release".
andyman404
05. May 2017 · 07:35 UTC
Great game! It felt oddly satisfying to make the amoeba eat the little green food. I can imagine how funky the math and manipulation must get for making the amoeba and detecting when food is engulfed. Well done!
Iluvatar
05. May 2017 · 08:07 UTC
Nice music and mood. Very relaxing. Although rather challenging to eat at least one green food. Overall nice and original concept
gilborn
05. May 2017 · 08:08 UTC
Great. Very well polished, there is nothing missing.
Scores in all points.
Lucas Ferrantelli
05. May 2017 · 08:28 UTC
Duuude thats awesome ! I ve never seen a game like this before !
I played like 30 minutes on it, but it finally crashed x)
Anyway, really nice game.
SleepyStudios
05. May 2017 · 08:32 UTC
Really chill game. Good level of difficulty too, the mechanic was unique and easy to pickup but took some time to get good with. Nice job.
mde
05. May 2017 · 08:34 UTC
Nice game! I especially liked your audio, although the ambient water noise was a bit repetitive in the end. Graphics are great to and your gameplay both made sense in regard to the theme of the game and was fun to play. It would have been great if you could make the border of the amoebic smoother to better suit the mood of the game, but I guess that's to much to ask for 48h.
pcmaster
05. May 2017 · 10:09 UTC
I divided. I didn't expect this to be well playable but it is! Very atmospheric indeed. Awesome!
Tuomo
05. May 2017 · 10:19 UTC
Really interesting game, and I could see this as educational tool for kids to learn about single cell organisms. Nicely done!
makiki99
05. May 2017 · 10:33 UTC
Interesting concept, great audio, but there is one big problem: there is not much game in this game.
LeFayGames
05. May 2017 · 11:01 UTC
The best I did was eating three food thingies at once. It's a nice idea but as others have said, a few more features would have been nice. Music and overall atmosphere worked really well!
Hethsin
05. May 2017 · 12:37 UTC
Really interesting. Even if the gameplay may seem simple, its obvious a lot of work went into this. Very nice aesthetics, solid gameplay. Good job!
Richard Michael Smith
05. May 2017 · 13:32 UTC
I must admit - it took me a very long time to understand how to absorb the food. I was almost at the point of giving up when it finally clicked.

This is a nice prototype that could be developed further into something with more of a challenge. Nice work!
Altron
05. May 2017 · 13:32 UTC
Really nice and relaxing experience with great audio.
Papaver
05. May 2017 · 14:06 UTC
Congats, you made a very nice and relaxing game! :) It is very innovative as well, and the music suits the game.
DemyHallar
06. May 2017 · 17:36 UTC
Nice and minimalistic. Didn't make it to the division but it's quite fun. Upd: made it to the end!
MartensCedric
06. May 2017 · 20:11 UTC
Very good mood, the audio makes it really relaxing. The game is quite fun, but I find the controls a bit hard, it's hard to stretch especially when the cell "explodes", i'm not sure if the explosions are a bug or are intended
wobbleboxx
06. May 2017 · 20:14 UTC
Nidely done! I missed some progress bar or something, because I wasn't sure if I was doing it the right way. But then life found a way... :)
🎤 Baby Dino Herd
08. May 2017 · 03:56 UTC
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I've added a few notes in the description. The amoeba will become more green the larger it grows; once it's fairly green, life will find a way, and the amoeba will divide -- congratulations! You may encounter an 'exploding' bug occasionally if the amoeba tries to self-intersect too much or too quickly, but things should still remain playable afterwards.

I won't have time in the near future to leave comments on everyone else's game, but I'll try to get to all of them eventually!
KappaIX
08. May 2017 · 19:54 UTC
I actually really enjoyed this. Very relaxing. Found the controls quite weird... but you are an amoeba.

My favourite parts were the sound, particularly the little tinkling noise when eating things.

Really well done! Thanks for sharing!
Fiery Squirrel
09. May 2017 · 00:25 UTC
I really like this interpretation of the theme, it's very unique. Reshaping the amoeba is fun itself, I enjoyed it a lot. You should consider making this game for mobile devices, of course more content should be added but the core is fun. As feedback, I think you could have some graphic feedback that lets you know how well you are performing, I know that the amoeba grows when it eats but you don't know exactly how much food you have to eat to win, I think that it would help. Good game!
Spinaljack
09. May 2017 · 00:31 UTC
Cool game, I made an Amoeba game as well :)
Eli Delventhal
09. May 2017 · 00:48 UTC
Pretty good game. I thought it was nice that you tried out a new mechanic, which felt pretty good. I got bored reasonably quickly though – it was a little slow-moving and there wasn't a lot changing over time.
yves
09. May 2017 · 01:12 UTC
Really a "Small World" :D The mood was fantastic and the sounds worked together very well. My Amoeba divided pretty fast which is kind a good I think? :D Overall I played multiple rounds and it was very relaxing and chilled. Nice entry for the compo :)

Cheers
glimaleite
09. May 2017 · 02:40 UTC
Very unique game! I don't think I've ever seen a game with phagocytosis before. I had some problems with the controls some times. There were times that it felt like the lines were too heavy to drag, and sometimes they would follow the mouse without any problem. I'm super curious to how you've implemented these controls! The audio worked well, establishing a nice mood.

Congrats, great job!
adsilcott
09. May 2017 · 04:32 UTC
Great concept for this theme and impressive execution of the organic cell walls. I would have loved a little bit more to do, like maybe having to avoid bad food by using your "limbs" to separate them from the good food. Very nice!
BlackRose
09. May 2017 · 11:07 UTC
Its so relaxing game and very atmospheric ^^ Maybe new mechanics will be great
La mecanique du plastique
09. May 2017 · 12:50 UTC
Interesting experience. I liked the idea and it would be great to polish it a little further if you have the opportunity. As it is now I found it a little bit too slow and the graphics and sound effects could be improved but it is already pretty convincing. Bravo !
bestnickname
10. May 2017 · 20:55 UTC
Good execution around a simple but interesting idea. The controls also worked quite well, and the atmosphere is excellent. As some above have mentioned, it is quite bare-bones in terms of mechanics, but I personally quite like that as it made for a nice relaxing experience without having to think too much. Good job!
JayBeeArr
10. May 2017 · 21:05 UTC
Awesome atmosphere, really enjoyed a game where you look microscopically and move cell boundaries. The music and the graphics instantly put me in a pondering mood for the game and the game really nailed the theme. Great job!
bobsleigh
10. May 2017 · 23:39 UTC
The game felt quite polished and was very fun to complete. More diverse features such as different foods and moving stuff would be nice, but the core gameplay is solid and well done. I loved the music and the overall atmosphere. The stretching felt a bit weird at times, like when you stretch for long enough the cell wall you drag suddenly becomes very thin and you can lasso food without really "engulfing" it. But very nice job!
MestreRothLD
10. May 2017 · 23:48 UTC
Great sound and atmosphere. I would like it to be faster, but it is quite a relaxing game. It all fits together very well. Congrats.
jelch
11. May 2017 · 00:27 UTC
Makes 10/10 butts.

All around excellent.
XenosNS
11. May 2017 · 01:14 UTC
Would make a great science class game for school. Looks great, the stretching mechanic is cool.
pjnovas
11. May 2017 · 03:22 UTC
really cool mood, peaceful game, loved it and I just saw the movie Lucy last weekend haha what are the odds :P
josefalanga
11. May 2017 · 04:06 UTC
you have some music skills there! a wonderful concept applied with elegant style. The only thing I'm missing is more levels! (with obstacles and such) Good work!
BAJARYMI
11. May 2017 · 04:53 UTC
Really creative idea, fit the theme really well. Audio was perfect, only change I would make would be more detail in the art, otherwise awesome, especially for 48 hrs.
Sn4pi
11. May 2017 · 06:46 UTC
Really creative and comfortable gameplay! It was a lot of fun to play although it doesnt't have a long playtime to get through the game. Audio was great too, you put much effort into this for only 48 hours.
Here is our game(I'm not the author of the game so..): https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/plutiny
Chupachu
11. May 2017 · 11:12 UTC
Amazing and neat game. The sounds were good, the physics were good, and it was all around very well made and responsive. Nice work, especially since you made this from scratch in 2 days, amazing.
icxon
13. May 2017 · 22:52 UTC
It requires some getting used to, but feels nice overal. Have you tried to implement moving mechanics? Like if you need to move between rocks, sticks, etc.
Takusan
15. May 2017 · 19:20 UTC
After a few moments control becomes clear, and the playthrough is very relaxing. It could benefit from some more variety though, like moving (just as @icxon siggested) through the environment and some more challenge, although carefully, not to become too close to some other games based on the principle 'eat to grow and evolve'.

Fun entry, well done :)
csanyk
19. May 2017 · 02:54 UTC
This looks awesome!

Unfortunately, in a web browser window, I have a really hard time controlling the game. Whenever I mouse outside of the play area, the window wants to scroll, and sometimes I even end up registering clicks on other tabs in my browser window, which interrupts play.

It's too bad, I'd really like to play this in a fullscreen version so I can properly play and enjoy it.

I think it looks like you did a really good job with it though.
Kaisean Games
19. May 2017 · 16:49 UTC
I always wanted to something like this - controlling the boundaries of an object. Never managed to do that.

You made a nice ambient, music really relaxes.
I just felt that dragging was a bit unresponsive, but I guess it would be too easy.
Also I was expecting those inner bubbles to do something. Didn't seem to, though.

However, it's a well executed game.
Good luck.
ondrej.paska
31. Jul 2017 · 21:08 UTC
Original and relaxing. The line seems to explode from time to time. Nice audio to go with the mood.