SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD by Tijn
SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD
====[ UPDATE! Web version now available! ]====
Thanks to rnlf's awesome Motor2d, there is now a web version available of SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD, which means you can play it straight from your browser. Click the "web" link below to play it.
Please note: the web version is experimental. If you encounter any issues, please use one of the other downloads instead.
More info about Motor2d can be found here: https://github.com/rnlf/motor/
P.S. the web version doesn't have the variation in the walking sound that the downloadable version does have. This doesn't have implications for the gameplay however, it is merely an audible detail.
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Controls:
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- arrow keys to move
- X and C for combat
About:
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In SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD you assume the role of a small Sauropod with great ambitions. Watch out though, because a pack of aggressive Theropods are hunting for you! Can you survive long enough to evolve into an epic dinosaur that will stand the test of time?
Features:
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* 200+ actual real dinosaur names
* 70+ voice recorded dinosaur sounds (that's me impersonating dinos)
* infinite evolution (they just keep on growing)
* nerve-wracking combat (using just two buttons)
* randomly generated levels
* gameplay spanning millions of years
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This is my 3rd entry for Ludum Dare. It is the first time I've made a game using the L脰VE framework (http://love2d.org). It was quite enjoyable to use it. Hopefully as I gain experience, I will be able to produce better games in shorter amounts of time, because I didn't have time this weekend to do all the art I had intended to make, resulting in a pretty bare looking game xD
The soundtrack is available on my Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/martijnwf/sets/ld34-sauropod-vs-theropod
====[ UPDATE! Web version now available! ]====
Thanks to rnlf's awesome Motor2d, there is now a web version available of SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD, which means you can play it straight from your browser. Click the "web" link below to play it.
Please note: the web version is experimental. If you encounter any issues, please use one of the other downloads instead.
More info about Motor2d can be found here: https://github.com/rnlf/motor/
P.S. the web version doesn't have the variation in the walking sound that the downloadable version does have. This doesn't have implications for the gameplay however, it is merely an audible detail.
================================
Controls:
-----
- arrow keys to move
- X and C for combat
About:
-----
In SAUROPOD vs THEROPOD you assume the role of a small Sauropod with great ambitions. Watch out though, because a pack of aggressive Theropods are hunting for you! Can you survive long enough to evolve into an epic dinosaur that will stand the test of time?
Features:
-----
* 200+ actual real dinosaur names
* 70+ voice recorded dinosaur sounds (that's me impersonating dinos)
* infinite evolution (they just keep on growing)
* nerve-wracking combat (using just two buttons)
* randomly generated levels
* gameplay spanning millions of years
================================
This is my 3rd entry for Ludum Dare. It is the first time I've made a game using the L脰VE framework (http://love2d.org). It was quite enjoyable to use it. Hopefully as I gain experience, I will be able to produce better games in shorter amounts of time, because I didn't have time this weekend to do all the art I had intended to make, resulting in a pretty bare looking game xD
The soundtrack is available on my Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/martijnwf/sets/ld34-sauropod-vs-theropod
Ratings
| Coolness | 54% | 3 |
| Overall | 3.77 | 117 |
| Audio | 4.32 | 4 |
| Fun | 3.55 | 211 |
| Graphics | 3.22 | 410 |
| Humor | 3.87 | 39 |
| Innovation | 3.11 | 521 |
| Mood | 3.57 | 136 |
| Theme | 3.89 | 346 |
I developed a strat, where I gathered the mobs behind me, didn't save me from dying to a Condorraptor in Level 6 though. Unfortunately it was difficult to find plants outside of the center regions. But it was fun, that dinosaur got very big in the end!
As someone else already pointed out, there is not enough to eat outside the center region (or there should be some kind of world border) and maybe there should be a different way to kill predators. I could imagine luring them into deadly ravines are similar things.
Art style and music fit together nicely, too. Both have a somewhat innocent happiness to them.
I don't think evolution is something that happens instantaneously, but in the age of Pok茅mon, who could tell the difference?
I like this game!
The game does get bogged down in later levels, in the sense that you've already lost when you're surrounded and can't outmanouever your enemies but playing through to realize you've actually lost takes time. Still love what you've got going on here, though.
The audio also worked really well with the visuals, combined with the transitions and animation it felt like one of the same entity, rather than two separate parts.
An enjoyable experience with a good sense of humor, even if simple in terms of gameplay.
Sort of repetitive gameplay, and easy to accidentally run away from all the plants and have nothing more to eat, but besides that
Great sounds, really great music, nice evolution mechanic with the changed graphics for each stage
At first I thought that if I meet an evil Theropod I lose, but then when I was really large I saw a small one and critically kicked its arse.
While graphics are modest, the dinosaurs getting longer (instead of bigger) was pretty amusing :)
A very solid entry, well done!
Your graphics are pretty simple, and while they may not be a style you would want in the end, I think a few simple things could make this style work for you much better. One thing is the fact that the only things on screen are things you care about. While its true that everything on screen should have a function, not everything has to relate directly to the gameplay. So maybe things like minimalistic patches of grass (pretty easy to make with the simplex noise generator included in LOVE), maybe patches of water, dead dinosaurs, or just various things like that.
Also, I'm not sure about the background color choice for the battle screen. The battle screen could have some sort of background art to it.
This brings us to the biggest issue. I killed dinosaurs, but couldn't eat them. I don't care if I'm not made to eat them, if they taste disgusting, or the fact that my teeth just aren't cut for it. I worked hard to kill them, I want my reward.
On a serious note, maybe some factors could guide your evolution. Like the fact that I tried becoming a carnivore, but couldn't.
I got to level 12 easily, too. :)
Good job! :)
Haha, I played that longer than I thought I would. Solid entry, great voice (?) acting! Loved it.
Do different dinosaurs have all distinct voices?
I absolutely loved the music and sound effects in this game, several times I actually laughed out loud at the hilarious dinosaur sounds! The game itself has so much promise, and saying that the submission itself is an amazingly fun game in itself. Check out my video for my playthrough of it.
It's definitely interesting to have a tile-based game in which the player occupies multiple tiles. It wasn't the most intuitive, but once I figured out I eat with my head it made sense.
The combat is painfully repetitive, though. The amount of dodges and light scratches just makes the event drag on, and since there's no way to skip cutscenes or auto-attack, I'm just stuck mashing X until my hand hurts. Since you're aping pokemon, one of the things that makes the grind more bearable in pokemon is that you can take out much weaker enemies with one, two hits max. That balance would have improved this game greatly.
Also, running should really despawn the enemy you're running from, since I ended up immediately getting into combat after running.
After a couple evolutions, I got stuck with no food anywhere in range. I tried exploring but I couldn't outrun the enemies and after not finding any food for about half a dozen battles I just gave up.
Sound and visual design is great, but the core gameplay needs serious balancing.
As others have said, balance issues drag the game down after a while. Wonky AI movement behavior causes them to combine into an impenetrable wall of death if you're unlucky, locking you out of the starting area where the plants are. They never attack each other or give up chasing you, and once you get in combat with them it's often impossible to escape - right after running, you get into combat again the very next turn. You're forced to just muscle your way through, which seems to be entirely luck-based. It's also slightly frustrating that combat is purely detrimental; you get no reward for victory other than your continued survival, so strategically it's best to avoid combat at all times. It would be nice if the player was rewarded for strategic combat choices, like attacking weaker animals, if only through something like improved combat capacity in the next evolution.
The music was great and the sounds were fitting and added a lot to the experience. However, I would've loved to see different sounds per dinosaur for attacking and being hit; as it is right now, you repeatedly have the exact sample playing twice in a row every turn, which just sounds weird in addition to not making it clear whether it's the 'attacking' or 'being hit' sound.
Graphics were great but a bit too repetitive. I like the minimalist look, but you can't easily deduce an enemy's (or hell, your own) characteristics by their look, and many different enemies look the exact same (not even color differences).
Also one time I got lost in the infinite nothingness and couldn't find back to my patch of gras in the middle. Enemies had a really aggressive chase pattern and most of the time it was impossible to avoid them.
Graphics were nice, the fight screen very nice! Awesome work. The battle music is perfect!
Good work i was stuck for nearly half an hour in playing this funny game.