Squirrel Forest by Luminar

[raw]
made by Luminar for LD34 (JAM)
Theme: Growing

A game about growing trees and protecting your forest from the evil vikings that are trying to burn it down.

Controls:
Scroll view - Middle mouse
Interact - Left Mouse

"Black Vortex", "Bumba Crossing", "Intrepid", "Kings of Tara", "Life of Riley", "Universal", "Unwritten Return", "Volatile Reaction"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.41 1086
Fun(Jam) 2.11 1069
Graphics(Jam) 2.37 946
Humor(Jam) 2.26 717
Innovation(Jam) 2.40 929
Mood(Jam) 2.40 948
Theme(Jam) 2.65 1018

Feedback

VytautasLuminar
15. Dec 2015 · 03:34 UTC
:(
DinnerInTheDark
15. Dec 2015 · 18:41 UTC
I was really excited when I saw the starter cards, but besides placing the cards there isn't anything to do but watch?
ajopart
15. Dec 2015 · 18:41 UTC
?
Dooskington
15. Dec 2015 · 18:42 UTC
I liked the way that you plant stuff. But I didn't really know what to do, after that.
Polith Games
15. Dec 2015 · 18:43 UTC
huum....
brainstorm
15. Dec 2015 · 18:52 UTC
I haven't really understanded it at all. Maybe because I haven't a mouse (I use a laptop) and I can't scroll nothing. You maybe should have added keyboard controls. That's a shame because I liked the charming graphics and your choice of incompeetech music. For next Jam, make a more accesible-controls for all game and you could have a good position. :)

2/5
davesoft
15. Dec 2015 · 18:53 UTC
A nice concept, but there's not much to do after placing the trees down. Maybe with some click option on the trees, like launching a seed it might feel more involved. Nice work so far though! The style is cool :)
Ben Allen
15. Dec 2015 · 18:54 UTC
I like the premise but things happen a little too slowly for it to be enjoyable. I also didn't notice any way to protect the forest other than taking the hits and planting more trees, which isn't very productive.
MrMordem
15. Dec 2015 · 19:04 UTC
A little bit hard to understand how it's works, but cool game ;), nice idea :D
Simonaiso
15. Dec 2015 · 19:06 UTC
EPIC MUSIC IS EPIC

nice looking squirrels are looking nice

nothing to do is to do nothing...
MrNyarlathotep
15. Dec 2015 · 19:08 UTC
Okay, I really like this, but I also had to wait a while before what the game actually is emerged - judging from the comments above, most people stopped playing after the 'place trees' phase, because there isn't enough feedback on what to do next.
You should really add more information / instructions to your game description so that people give this a fair chance.

To anyone stumbling on this comment, this game is a bit like Swords and Soldiers if anyone has played that, as its a 2D RTS / Tower defence type game.
After you plant your initial trees and wait a bit, you'll spawn squirrels, and vikings will attack from the left. Killing vikings will drop new cards, and let you expand your forest. I'm not entirely sure on what each card does mechanically, as the info is fairly abstract and it turns out there are quite a lot of different cards dropped.
VideoDog
15. Dec 2015 · 19:10 UTC
I really like commanding a squirrel army! It is quite slow though and not being able to directly impact the combat takes away a lot.
DivineOmega
15. Dec 2015 · 19:12 UTC
Cool game. It took a while for me to understand what I had to do, but once I understood the meaning of the cards and shortly after the first Viking wave, I got a hang of it. :)
thelasthour
15. Dec 2015 · 19:12 UTC
Seemed really cool at first but it takes a long time for any action to happen. This game would really improve if you sped up the pacing.
ohmmus
15. Dec 2015 · 19:13 UTC
SO MANY ACORNS! AWESOME. Let this running in the background as I started work and came back to an army of squirrels hucking nuts at vikings.

The soundtrack is really pleasant.

Definitely could use more things to do though. Planting trees was cool, but I wanted more of it without having to wait so long for seeds to drop.
Oski
15. Dec 2015 · 19:13 UTC
I found a viking! Only one though. Planting the trees was fun! Wish there would've been more to do.
utgarda
15. Dec 2015 · 19:14 UTC
Doesn't run on my system, neither in fullscreen, nor in windowed mode, quits after resolution select screen, no error messages:

[etsvigun@Jotunheim ludumdare34]$ uname -a
Linux Jotunheim 3.18.24-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Nov 3 21:34:29 UTC 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[etsvigun@Jotunheim ludumdare34]$ ./Squirrel_Forest.x86_64
Set current directory to /home/etsvigun/devenv/ludumdare34
Found path: /home/etsvigun/devenv/ludumdare34/Squirrel_Forest.x86_64
Mono path[0] = '/home/etsvigun/devenv/ludumdare34/Squirrel_Forest_Data/Managed'
Mono path[1] = '/home/etsvigun/devenv/ludumdare34/Squirrel_Forest_Data/Mono'
Mono config path = '/home/etsvigun/devenv/ludumdare34/Squirrel_Forest_Data/Mono/etc'
displaymanager : xrandr version warning. 1.4
client has 4 screens
displaymanager screen (0)(eDP1): 1920 x 1080
Using libudev for joystick management


Importing game controller configs
Big Cow
15. Dec 2015 · 19:20 UTC
Like the concept but lost on the game play.
utoxin
15. Dec 2015 · 19:22 UTC
Not a bad start, but it really needs more development.
tayl1r
15. Dec 2015 · 19:24 UTC
Whoa, I had to read the comments. Neat little game hidden in here!
Diventurer
15. Dec 2015 · 19:25 UTC
The AI ruined it for me. They always go to the right instead of defending the base. I tried many times, and one time I got close to beating them I think, but this game is almost impossible unless you know the details of how the AIs work.
Big Cow
15. Dec 2015 · 19:28 UTC
Like the concept but lost on the game play.
Codexus
15. Dec 2015 · 19:33 UTC
Nice work, it was a bit difficult to understand how the gameplay works, though.
daveh
15. Dec 2015 · 19:35 UTC
I would have liked a pause button since it can be quite long to play. Also a speed up time button would have been handy. Once I understood it I enjoyed it, but it needs more explanation up front.
demogorgon
15. Dec 2015 · 19:37 UTC
I have no idea what this is supposed to be or why I enjoyed it so much, but I did.
xodene
15. Dec 2015 · 19:38 UTC
A really intruging concept, it could be really great with some more polish. There needs to be a little more visual feedback, especially when the player is waiting for the vikings to attack. The AI is very rough as well, but I understand it's hard to get it right under time constraints.
qbicfeet
15. Dec 2015 · 19:40 UTC
Would really benefit from a tutorial or some detailed gameplay instructions in the entry description, I didn't understand what to do until I scrolled down and read the comments.

Like others said, it takes a long time for the game to get going. Interesting and cute concept otherwise.
DonEngland
15. Dec 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Though I was going to kill the vikings. Knocked out their flag and one building. Eventually I was overrun.
denycetm
15. Dec 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Scroll wheel and pan around is what is needed to find the viking village. Most of the action happened off screen for me.

I feel like as a player I lacked any agency in what was happening. I lost two trees to vikings before my squirrels confronted them.
It would be nice if there was some mechanic to bring the squirrels over.
just needs alot more for the player to do.

The graphics had a neat commodore 64 / atari vibe about the, and I dig that.
Yvanor
15. Dec 2015 · 19:44 UTC
So.. like the others said, the controls aren't great, it would be more intuitive to use left and right arrow, or make it scroll with the mouse. However, I like this kind of concept, and the card idea is an really good one. I guess that you didn't have the time to finish the game, that's why the gameplay is slow and the graphics are simple. Anyway, it could be great to remake the game with more time, it could be really great ! ^^
TheJackiMonster
15. Dec 2015 · 20:16 UTC
I saw stuff which was thrown in the screen and I heard a sound, but what's the source..? There seem to be just little squirrels..
Wukkopi
15. Dec 2015 · 21:39 UTC
I like the basic gameplay concept, but this is a quite slow paced game. Also the middle mouse button is a bit awkward to scroll the playarea; right-mouse would've been more better.
Wicked7000
15. Dec 2015 · 21:52 UTC
How.
GoodwolfStudio
15. Dec 2015 · 22:53 UTC
Good music and I like the idea that you plant plants with cards you draw... but apart from that is there much else to do? Also requiring a middle mouse button to play is not the best choice since some play on laptops. You should include at least an alternative button, arrow keys for example.
h.attila
15. Dec 2015 · 23:23 UTC
I'm not sure I understand the concept of this one. I planted the trees but after that I couldn't interact with anything.
The Merge Conflicts
16. Dec 2015 · 06:24 UTC
I waited 10 minutes for the game to load, and it crashed in the end.
tyrants.not.found.team
16. Dec 2015 · 09:13 UTC
Pretty cool concept but certainly needs either more gameplay or more presentation as to what to do. So when that guy came to burn down the tree, I had no idea what/if I was supposed to do anything to prevent it.

Cheers,
Ionut(Tyrants.not.found team)
piper82
16. Dec 2015 · 09:54 UTC
i liked the concept, more interaction would be nice
Sir Magic
16. Dec 2015 · 19:17 UTC
I liked planting stuff. I didn't like watching stuff.
Krafty
17. Dec 2015 · 01:18 UTC
Pretty interesting game, but I wish you could help the squirrels.
publicidadeba
17. Dec 2015 · 01:21 UTC
There is great vid of extra credits that talk about depth x complexity. Anyhow, keep it up :)
nunesbarbosa
17. Dec 2015 · 01:47 UTC
Hum? What do I have to do? I thought it was a tetris like game where you have to place trees on a short spot.
Then nothing happens..
richardboegli
17. Dec 2015 · 09:20 UTC
Unity Player crashed when I tried to run it through web
richardboegli
17. Dec 2015 · 09:26 UTC
Unity Player crashed when I tried to run it through web.
But it worked find on GameJolt??
Alexander Ramsay-Baggs
18. Dec 2015 · 04:45 UTC
It's far too slow and unbalanced, although once I understood how everything worked I really liked the concept.
Claire1605
27. Dec 2015 · 12:15 UTC
Liked the music a lot, not quite sure what to do after I'd placed the trees. Squirrels were cute though!
Gunzil
27. Dec 2015 · 19:43 UTC
A game about vikings burning down a forest and murdering innocent squirrels. I got really bad luck so they wiped me easily.

I was interested in seeing where the building placement at the beginning would go but I couldn't tell the difference between each tree type so I just arranged them in aesthetically pleasing fashion and waited until they got destroyed.

The overwrought epic music being played on top of tiny pixel squirrels throwing acorns at vikings was funny, it was what kept me there until the vikings wiped me.
Warboys
27. Dec 2015 · 21:30 UTC
Wonderful music and a really nice mood. The gameplay itself was firstly super confusing as nothing seemed to happen and I didn't realize it was a tower defense for ages :P

After a while I understood what was happening but found the balance of progression quite topsy turvy and slow. With some balancing this could be really cool.
PowerSpark
31. Dec 2015 · 19:54 UTC
Wasn't sure what to do.
beetracks
01. Jan 2016 · 16:28 UTC
I like the idea of planting to have population to protect the wood (well, at least it was what I understood of the game), but I think the music doesn't fits the graphics. Neither are bad, I just think that they doesn't fit together. A chiptune-ish would fit better, or more detailed graphics with the music it was chosen. Besides, the game becomes too repetitive fast. You could add some features like the sun in Plants vs Zombies, where you need to look for the resources. Or some powers to be used against the enemy, where demands some input of the player. You got a good idea here, but IMHO it needs some improvement.
Xanjos
02. Jan 2016 · 14:30 UTC
Game is pretty much unplayable on laptop trackpads because of the lack of a middle mouse button unless you have a mouse. Also, there's no clear instruction on what I'm supposed to actually do in this game (besides planting trees and defending them against the Vikings).