Swarm Hunter by HuvaaKoodia

[raw]
made by HuvaaKoodia for LD34 (COMPO)
- - - Objective - - -

Defend the Orange Fruit Flies and the flowers of the Yellow Slime Tree against the attacks of the Red Eye Mosquitoes.

Defeat condition:
One of the main branches of the tree runs completely out of flowers.

Victory condition:
The Fruit Flies manage to collect enough nectar from the flowers. This happens after all of the main branches of the tree have fully grown.


- - - Controls - - -

Basic:
WASD - Planar movement
Space - Move up
Q & E - Roll
Mouse - Look around
LMB - Attack

Advanced:
Left Shift / F - Lunge (speed boost)
Left Alt / C - Air-break (hover boost)
Left Control - Stop thrust (drop down)

Misc:
I & O - Change mouse sensitivity


- - - Movement Tips - - -

* The movement is based on a six degrees of freedom input system (as in Descent and Terminal Velocity). On top of this there are gravity and thrust mechanics (similar to air-combat games and flight simulators). You also play as a beetle, not a space ship or an airplane, which complicates things.

* To move (and stay) in air you need thrust. The beetle can use its wings only when oriented properly, as such thrust is gained when right side up and lost when upside down or sideways. If you lose thrust roll around or look around to level the beetle. The low buzzing sound of the beetle's wings is an indicator of thrust.

* The beetle will hover automatically when it has thrust. Hovering can be boosted by air braking which renders the beetle nearly still.

* Combine attack and speed boost for a sweet, sweet lunge attack.


- - - Developer's comments - - -

The game balance is about right now. Concentrate on defending the flowers and you should do just fine.

The web player performs well enough after the optimizations. It still has some minor audio and animation issues which are not present in the standalone builds. Chrome seems to run a bit better than Firefox and doesn't suffer from the audio problems.

If you have trouble with the controls, like a lot of people seem to have, please comment and be specific about the issue. Thank you.


- - - Version log - - -

COMPO V.1.0
Standalone builds
04.55 14.12.2015

COMPO V.1.0
Web player build
05.45 14.12.2015

COMPO V.1.0.1
Optimization + small input tweaks & fixes
00.25 15.12.2015

COMPO V.1.0.2
Further optimization
21.24 16.12.2015

COMPO V.1.0.3
Mouse sensitivity tweak & input + movement speed increase
13.27 18.12.2015

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 2.95 728
Audio 2.70 447
Fun 2.50 853
Graphics 3.35 347
Humor 2.35 489
Innovation 3.14 490
Mood 2.73 649
Theme 2.75 913

Feedback

FacticiusVir
14. Dec 2015 · 03:13 UTC
Couldn't get the hang of the controls, and wasn't sure how close I was supposed to be before I could attack the mosquitos. Enjoyed the art style and animations though.
mactinite
14. Dec 2015 · 03:15 UTC
It's hard to be a bug!
The flying mechanics are pretty cool, kinda clunky, but that's more by nature rather than poor design. I just can't manage to move around fast enough to kill all the other bugs. Awesome job!
AwfulMedia
14. Dec 2015 · 03:17 UTC
Nice work! I had a bit of fun playing this for sure. The big issue I had were the controls. The up and down movement is relative to your rotation it seems, and that could be difficult to get used to. Probably something you would get used to with a bit of time, though.

It also seemed like the attack takes a bit too long to be very accurate, but again, probably something you'll just have to get used to.

Overall, pretty fun little game! :)
danbolt
14. Dec 2015 · 03:21 UTC
The controls took me a few tries, and I original did windowed mode on Mac OS X, which was a bad idea when clicking, haha.

The idea was a cool twist on the "defend the X/Y" genre, and I loved the idea playing as a bug. I would consider simplifying or stabilizing the controls though. I felt like I was battling the flying mechanics more than the bugs sometimes.

The graphics reminded me of Panzer Dragon, which made me automatically give you a four-star rating. If you were to polish it up more after LD34, I would love to see it as a low-resolution Sega Saturn/PS1 game.

Cool idea! I had fun!
Ko_ry
14. Dec 2015 · 03:21 UTC
Very nice art! It's a pretty cool concept, but the controls are a bit too difficult to grasp. Hard to eat any bugs.

Good Job!
ORECROS
14. Dec 2015 · 03:24 UTC
Pretty cool concept!
from the little blurb i wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do? So i just flew around and hit stuff. Flying around was really nice and responsive, though. the field of view coulda been improved if it was a bit bigger.
Evannex
14. Dec 2015 · 03:25 UTC
Very cool game, I really enjoyed this. It takes a bit to figure out the controls though.
cxsquared
14. Dec 2015 · 03:25 UTC
I really enjoyed this. It was kinda hypnotizing but it could get a little disorienting. Not sure if I was winning or losing but it was fun.
mrjorts
14. Dec 2015 · 03:26 UTC
This is very neat. I really like the first person bug perspective, and the animation and sound on the AI bugs is very nice.

I thought the controls felt slow and unresponsive, though, so I wasn't able to kill enough of the bad bugs to make a difference.
SvenFrankson
14. Dec 2015 · 03:30 UTC
Nice one :)
Project seems broken (odd argument in Player script, and no object on Scene1)
Saymon
14. Dec 2015 · 03:32 UTC
Really hard to control, but quite fun !
irwatts
14. Dec 2015 · 04:49 UTC
Controls felt like they were fighting me, but I really liked the art and mood. Bugs were satisfying to crunch too.
terop
14. Dec 2015 · 05:30 UTC
The controls were pretty difficult. I think it relies on too many keys to work properly. Basically couldnt really move around... Nice graphics and theme usage...
🎤 HuvaaKoodia
14. Dec 2015 · 15:04 UTC
Thanks for the comments everyone. It seems I'll have to tweak the controls and communicate better on how they work.

@SvenFranson
I tried opening up the source as a new project and it works for me. I'm using Unity 5.3.0f.4.
XbooperxdX
14. Dec 2015 · 20:13 UTC
Controls are way to clunky for me, very hard to operate while in the air. The art is decent though, along with the idea, but the controls are quite hard to control.
x92rwzb
14. Dec 2015 · 22:44 UTC
Being a bug sure is a hard job.
liquidmedia
14. Dec 2015 · 22:50 UTC
Just trying to find how to use the controls I ended up in the Unity Void LOL Good 3d I have not seen many attempts of full 3d Very nice
DracoLizardStudios
14. Dec 2015 · 22:54 UTC
Nice game, controls are a little wacky in my opinion. Other then that its a really fun game!
NuvlearGames
15. Dec 2015 · 09:17 UTC
The controls were a little difficult. But from coders stand point the game is nice
Andrew Deem
16. Dec 2015 · 02:14 UTC
Interesting idea. Very hard to control, but I understand why. I like how the beetle can only use its wings when right-side up. Also the mood is set well for a weird reason. I kinda dig it. Graphics were nice too.

But I couldn't finish it. The controls were too awkward for me.

Good work!
REIN1
16. Dec 2015 · 08:39 UTC
Great idea ! Good job !
Riftpoint
16. Dec 2015 · 16:51 UTC
Very cool game. The graphics look good and the art style is amazing
Sosolol261
17. Dec 2015 · 00:06 UTC
Enjoyed the sound and the art style. It could be an amazing game except for the fact that the controls are very clunky and you couldn't really get decent aim on the mosquitos. Other than that it was fun to play
renegadeninjanl
17. Dec 2015 · 17:03 UTC
This was a nice idea but it was hard to control the beetle. Took me quite a lot of tries to get my first kill. I liked the sound effects.
alpha_rat
17. Dec 2015 · 19:26 UTC
The controls felt very furstrating as it was difficult to control the beatle movements, and what we saw on the screen lacked clarity. On this last aspect, maybe the first person point of view wasn't the greatest choice possible.
It would have been easier to be able to fly only using mouse controls for example (left click to attack, right click to move in desired direction). Catching all the bugs seemed very tedious from the start and not really encouraging!
intXparts
17. Dec 2015 · 22:22 UTC
Holy moly this is one of my favorite games so far! Nice work on the controls. Any game where I get to take the war back to the mosquitoes is already a winner...but then you gave me the power to jackknife at breakneck speed between flower petals and execute a few barrel rolls while doing it! Yes!!! Well done!
SSJMetroid
17. Dec 2015 · 22:42 UTC
My recommendations: Increase mouse look sensitivity by a LOT. Player movement does NOT need to include roll. Speed up the player motion a lot as well. Giving the player some indicator of progress on the HUD might be good too. Of course, I suppose it depends on how much you want to immerse the player in the roll of a bug. :) Oh also, the bite animation could use some tweaking.
pjimmy
17. Dec 2015 · 23:25 UTC
cool game, not very common to see a first person bug-like perspective, very clever. However controls are a bit awkward. Other than that, well done
🎤 HuvaaKoodia
18. Dec 2015 · 00:02 UTC
@alpha_rat
Thanks for the input. I'll certainly work on clarity and conveying the objective in less a tedious way in the Post-Jam version.

@intXparts
You're one of the few who liked the 6dof controls as much as I do, high five!

@SSJMetroid
Thanks, good recommendations. Mouse sensitivity is something I can most certainly adjust within the COMPO update rules. Progress indication I'll look into in the Post-Jam version. Rolling stays... I love it!
nunesbarbosa
19. Dec 2015 · 02:58 UTC
I have no idea what I have to do.. I got stuck for a while until a read the giant text tutorial on the entry (not cool).

What is the theme about? Growth? Where?
🎤 HuvaaKoodia
19. Dec 2015 · 11:30 UTC
@nunesbarbosa
I had no time to implement in-game help unfortunately, the post-jam version will have it of course.

I reformatted the description a bit to make it seem less like a wall of text and easier to read. Still not cool, I know.

The theme is not reflected much in gameplay. The tree grows when the flies have collected enough nectar (don't ask me why) and a bigger tree is harder to defend against the mosquitoes. That's about it.
utgarda
20. Dec 2015 · 22:01 UTC
Yup, the controls are complicated. But after reading the manual I managed to fly around and even kill some enemies :)
banana4life
22. Dec 2015 · 01:29 UTC
Nice audio and overall graphics! The controls are quite hard. I understand that you wanted to make it challenging but that severly dampens the fun in my opinion because it is very disorienting at some times.
adsilcott
24. Dec 2015 · 04:43 UTC
A cool idea, and fun too, once I got the hang of it. It's pretty satisfying to chomp flies. I like the vivid colorful graphics and unique setting.
crucknuk
26. Dec 2015 · 13:53 UTC
Nice entry! At first, I played it on my web browser and it was a pain to control my beetle, but then I switched to windows version and it became a lot more smoother. I wish there were less ennemies but they damaged the tree much, because it is not easy to see the repercussion of there action on such a large scale. Appart from this, good job ;)
Gins
30. Dec 2015 · 10:09 UTC
I couldn't really figure out how to play :(
Maybe it's a bit too complex for a 48-hour jam?
Guard13007
03. Jan 2016 · 20:49 UTC
Was a bit hard to get the hang of the controls, but once I started to see how to do things, it was really fun. I feel like the base speed should be a little faster, and the lunge a little slower though.