a matter of life and death. by Ryan Harriman

[raw]
made by Ryan Harriman for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

For my family.

This is my first completed game and my first game jam.

This is a simple game about the circle of life. It is about observing all the interactions as you control the tiger and try to get a high score by eating zebras.

Splash.jpg

How To Play

When you have the green light to move, use either WASD or the arrows to control the tiger. When the tiger moves she leaves behind tiger tracks, a zebra will not cross her tracks. Use the tracks to control the herds into larger groups. When you eat a zebra you will also eat all zebras that are touching that zebra. Eating larger groups gives you more points.

The tiles all have interactions with the animals.

The Zebras need to eat grass at least every three turns. Grass when eaten turns into dirt. Dirt when rained on turns into a impassable lake. When a zebra dies its bones fertilize the ground to create overgrowth. When a zebra enters an overgrowth is spawns an additional zebra. The game is forced to conclusion by lakes being created when rain is generated on dirt. Rain has a 2% chance to spawn on any tile at the beginning of tigers turn. There are many other interactions.

Each turn you lose 50 points. If you get down to 0 points you starve. If all the zebra's die you lose.

Credits;

I did not make the music or sound. I coded and did the "art". My brother Josh Harriman created the title screen.

Music: SoundImage.org Tiger SFX: FreeSoundEffects.Com

I wish I had more time as I know the game ins't perfect. It feels a little sluggish while you wait for your turn. Also its very luck based.

Thanks for Playing.!

Ratings

Overall 1590th 3.333⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1579th 3.146⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 825th 3.479⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1164th 3.688⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1982th 2.938⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1458th 2.63⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

petrifiedapple
21. Apr 2020 · 15:18 UTC
The graphics and even gameplay remind me of some early computer games
hiisileiri
21. Apr 2020 · 15:35 UTC
The concept is interesting; you have to control the wild animal in the wilderness and you have to secure that you have enough supplement (food) for a next period and dominate the area you're living in. Also using the different and clever solutions to control your 'food income' makes this game logical and to have a strong base. While it is hard to get starved while you are on the top of the food chain, but the general mistake there is to make short-lived decisions nor living with the line of sustainable development. This game atmosphere really works and is
partly an addictive game
smirnov48
21. Apr 2020 · 15:37 UTC
Good game. I like. I played about 10 times) Sometime it's crush - you eat big group of zebras, all freeze and you need restart. And scores from last game does't reset.
🎤 Ryan Harriman
21. Apr 2020 · 17:12 UTC
Thanks for all your feedback. I love the time of DOS games and early nes and SNES graphics. Really made me happy to see people playing and liking my game. Thank you
srknvrnbskrt
21. Apr 2020 · 19:02 UTC
I've realized I missed my first pc and games. Good job! :)
Uğurcan
21. Apr 2020 · 19:10 UTC
I liked the retro thing and the gameplay idea.
laau
21. Apr 2020 · 23:36 UTC
Thermodynamics and games cant go wrong ♥.
laau
21. Apr 2020 · 23:43 UTC
I loved the concept, and it is really fun to play!! A detail for future modifications perhaps, add a restart botton! I reloaded the page to start again :)
Does it have an end? i lost every time! lol. (I played it many he)
Great job!!
Subby
22. Apr 2020 · 11:50 UTC
Retro feeling and great idea to the theme.
🎤 Ryan Harriman
22. Apr 2020 · 16:58 UTC
@laau Thanks. I fixed the restart button. I also fixed the resolution size. This was my first time uploading a game to itch so bit of a learning curve. Thanks so much for playing
SAVVU
22. Apr 2020 · 17:00 UTC
The music and sound effects are amazing! Loved the idea and the atmosphere. I tried pressing 2 buttons at the same time in order to move to a diagonal tile (haha wanted to cheat a bit) but the game crashed so my bad! Despite that a really fun entry.
OndraSej
22. Apr 2020 · 18:56 UTC
I'm sure this was fun to code (at least I always wanted to make a simulation like this), but I'm lacking an objective and a reason to keep playing after the first couple of games. Maybe you could add levels/missions to the game to give an objective to players who don't just enjoy watching the simulation.

The graphics and the sound are functional, matching this kind of game. One thing I'd change though is the timing of animation (when the tiger moves to eat a zebra, it's not completely clear if the zebra died before the move, or after). It would also be nice if the game moved faster - with the current speed, it felt like I was waiting for the simulation most of the time...
🎤 Ryan Harriman
22. Apr 2020 · 19:30 UTC
@ondrasej Great points. I agree the pacing isn’t great and the waiting is the least fun part of the game. I basically started with the simulation and worked backwards to find room for player interaction. I learned that was a really hard way to do it. I also agree there is confusion in what is actually going on. I think this could be cleared up with more animation and more time. Thanks you so much for your thoughtful comments and thanks for trying my game.
Gafled
22. Apr 2020 · 23:33 UTC
This is a really fun game and the virtual ecosystem is wonderful. Waiting to move can get somewhat tedious but everything else is well done.
Zanthous
04. May 2020 · 01:03 UTC
Cool as a simulation even if the gameplay isn't super interactive/interesting from what I could tell. I also accidentally softlocked my game
CG_Fred
05. May 2020 · 21:46 UTC
The music really get's you zooooned out while playing but I still like it for some weird reason even if the loop is super simple. I liked the simulation and I think I ate most the animals on the planet but I'm not sure what influence the weather etc had. Good work!
Rhiz
05. May 2020 · 21:48 UTC
Interesting game. It was difficult to herd them because the tracks disappear quickly and they move as much as the player.