Apples of Agony by LDJam user 12890

[raw]
made by LDJam user 12890 for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

Apples of Agony!

You are a harvester of fruit, and your best friend is a Tree-friend. Tree-friend produces amazing star fruits, standard fruits and sometimes not so good fruits all depending on its mood. Tree-friend does not like it if you pick fruit directly from the tree, but the fruit that lands on the ground rots quickly and is a little over-ripe (not as many points gained). A great harvester could catch the fruit as it falls for max profit and a happy Tree-friend! Good harvesting!

start-scene.PNG

https://youtu.be/UjmHkbpNr7A

Ratings

Given 8🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

kenneth-dd
09. Jan 2023 · 04:47 UTC
Simple but have an interesting concept. I like the idea that I need to keep the tree happy for it to grow fruits normally, instead of just abusing it to get the most performance. Kinda dark. LOL

![Screenshot_20230109_124017.png](///raw/44b/c4/z/54aec.png)
TolMera
09. Jan 2023 · 10:46 UTC
Wow, that's... well like Kenneth said, kinda dark, I love it!
fnelix
09. Jan 2023 · 15:29 UTC
Cool little game, I like how you conveyed some kind of narrative with this simple gameplay.
I'm glad that we're friends, too, Mr. Tree.
LookLeftStudio
09. Jan 2023 · 18:30 UTC
It would be nice to have a timer from the start to let players know how long the game would last. It's a great base for a fun not so idle idle game! The tree's reactions were also entertaining, but there wasn't much of a reason to upset the tree until the last few seconds of the game.
Fluburbio
09. Jan 2023 · 18:34 UTC
Great little game! I spent my first try only picking fruits on the tree just to see its reactions and got a score or 1770. Love what you did with such a simple premise!
dkdwrek
09. Jan 2023 · 19:01 UTC
Funny and cute game, well done!
maxflav
09. Jan 2023 · 19:17 UTC
Haha my mouse skills are not up to par for this. I need to practice catching those fruits!
Henrik S
09. Jan 2023 · 19:32 UTC
tree doesnt like me, go(o)d game, simplistic but very nice graphics.
🎤 LDJam user 12890
09. Jan 2023 · 19:52 UTC
@lookleftstudio thanks for the callout on timer improvement. Will definitely implement that next go around. :)
Fromage
09. Jan 2023 · 20:01 UTC
Nice! I agree a timer from the start would be nice, but fun little game!
nyxkn
09. Jan 2023 · 20:51 UTC
Very cute idea! Now I feel bad that I wanted to try picking the fruits on the tree despite the warnings :D Art is really nice and everything is very clear. Game is very simple though and doesn't stay engaging for long. Some sound effects would make a huge improvement.
Wuppos
09. Jan 2023 · 20:54 UTC
The gameplay was not new, but the setting of the game definitely was. I ended up with a score of 5475 :)
For a long time it seemed there was not much reason to hurt the tree by picking the fruit before it fell, as it would just make the quality of the fruit worse. However, near the end, when the timer showed up, it became very tempting to just get the fruit from the tree, as the quality of future fruits would not matter anyway (even though it would hurt your friend). A very interesting bit of human psychology going on there :)

As a tiny bit of feedback (besides obviously adding sound and music) was that the hitbox of the fruits felt a bit small. Often I thought I clicked a fruit, but it did not register. Perhaps just me though :)

Very interesting submission for the jam! Thanks a lot, I had fun playing your game!
Sid Fish
09. Jan 2023 · 21:14 UTC
Very charming game that gives you an interesting dilemma at the end to try and max out your score.
🎤 LDJam user 12890
09. Jan 2023 · 21:26 UTC
@wuppos I'm not sure why the hit detection is a bit laggy yet. The hit area is a little larger than the food itself, but I noticed the same thing. This was the first 2D attempt in unity, I'm wondering if we used the wrong raycast or what not. Something that is definitely on the list for exploring and learning more about.
Wuppos
09. Jan 2023 · 21:36 UTC
@joey-shipley Usually what I go for is just checking if the mouse position was within the collider of a gameobject when the mouse button was pressed, without using raycasts at all. In 2D this is rather easy to do. (If I remember correctly 2D colliders have a property where they can check if a position is within the bounds of the collider or not.)
🎤 LDJam user 12890
09. Jan 2023 · 21:51 UTC
Nice, thanks for the advice. I'll explore that next time around. :)
LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 22:09 UTC
Lovely graphics and I like the concept of having a tree friend! I'm not too sure if it would work, but I think you could get away with having more frequent fruit spawns if they also wiggled or something right before they fell, I spent a lot of time just waiting for something to happen in the early stages. Great submission, though!
Jeremy Scott Olsen
09. Jan 2023 · 22:16 UTC
Nice little game! I had issues trying to catch any fruit as it fell -- it didn't seem completely consistent whether it worked or not. I love the art / visual aesthetic. Wish it had some kind of music or sound. As observed by someone else, a great base for a not-so-idle idle game.
IndivisibleParticles
09. Jan 2023 · 22:21 UTC
I like the idea and graphics. It feels like sometimes it's not registering clicks, but maybe I just cannot click :smile: . Overall nice little game.
jcg
09. Jan 2023 · 23:03 UTC
The hidden theme was certainly unexpected! I'm going to think differently about apple picking from now on.
xaviarrob123
10. Jan 2023 · 00:01 UTC
I feel like this is one of those games that shows an example of if fruiting plants ever become sentient we're all screwed.

Overall good graphics and fun little minigame!
CO5MONAUT
10. Jan 2023 · 01:00 UTC
Wow, Apples of Agony sounds like an amazing game! It's so cool that you have to work with your Tree-friend to collect fruit and that the challenge of catching the fruit as it falls adds an extra layer of fun. It sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon!
JuanRod707
10. Jan 2023 · 12:04 UTC
This game makes vegans return to meat, 10/10
zimny11
10. Jan 2023 · 16:15 UTC
Cool little game! The art style of the Tree-Firend is super nice! I just wish there were some sound effect, it would add a lot to the game. Anyway go 5600 points :) Good job with the game!
Aoxian
11. Jan 2023 · 04:52 UTC
thanks for all the comments, this was my first ever jam and it was really fun. I too wish we had sound; we wanted to have the tree actually talk, and not just chat bubbles. It would be the first thing I'd want to improve after the click on fruit fall.
syudzius
11. Jan 2023 · 16:22 UTC
Nice game! Simple and fun, and the art is good too :) Keep up the good work!
Depression
11. Jan 2023 · 18:53 UTC
Pretty cool! But why are the watermelons blue?..
shimmerscale
12. Jan 2023 · 01:15 UTC
Simple but fun game :) I got through most of the game without any of the fruits rotting, so I let one go to see how long it would take, and I think it would be more challenging and fun if it took less time for them to go bad once they hit the ground. I liked how the tree made little comments throughout the game :)
secrt101
13. Jan 2023 · 02:50 UTC
didn't realize until I read the comments there were different methods of harvesting. Made me go back and play again! Nice job with the replayability! Though the tree was hilarious
Cat Lab
26. Jan 2023 · 20:54 UTC
Simple but enjoyable concept! The little happy words of encouragement from the tree were a nice touch, and yeah definitely a game to test the moral compass. Great duality with that!
🎤 LDJam user 12890
26. Jan 2023 · 22:05 UTC
@depression The Kiddo imagined that the watermelons were magical ice-cream filled and requested they be blue and such, and she’s the boss… 😅
LDJam user 221561
27. Jan 2023 · 19:32 UTC
A wee bit of audio would be great but it's well executed and can imagine would play well on a phone or tablet. Seems logical you pay for your brutality by getting served up rotten fruit from the start :) well done!