Lord Of The Flies by PixelPortalz

made by PixelPortalz for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

The Story

You have been chosen. The God of Defecation needs you.

Why?

Well, evil Groclocloclotrl (it's pronounced gro-oh-ca-le-ca-lo-ca-rtk-wbnxzktr-ou-ou-ua-ua-ua-uuuuu-t-arrrrrr-l) has trapped all the flies in the world deeper and deeper in the bottom of a pile of shit. Lead them upwards, to freedom.

How?

The flies will tell you. But the idea is to guide them UPWARDS.

The flies will tell me?

Ok, forget the flies. Just read the guide below if you are the kinda person who reads the IKEA instructions booklet before assembling a wooden stool that comes with 9712 different pieces. Personally, I like to give it a blind try first. And my stools look like cubist sculptures. Speaking of stool, let's get to the gameplay.

How To Play

Flies lead to hatching eggs with pheromones. Nature is indeed beautiful. The brown thing you see is POO.

Step 1: Pheromones

By clicking or dragging, you generate pheromones, the white particles which attract flies when they get close. As shown below:

Step 2: The Goal

The goal is simply to lead the flies upwards, eventually you will find the exit of the maze.

Step 3: Power-ups

The flies tend to stick to the walls of pooooop. In doing so they collect spiritual poo for you, which unlocks certain super powers. Choose wisely!

Step 3 (again): Clairvoyance!!!

Clairvoyance shows you more of the map. Clairvoyance is your friend.

Map after leveling up a few levels of clairvoyance. Warning: as a side effect, users may see their own future in real life after quitting the game. Use at your own risk.

Step 5 (where is step 4?): Listen to the flies

The flies like to talk a lot, so listen to what they say. They give good advice sometimes...

Technical Disclaimer about html 5 sound

Somehow html 5 messes up the music. It's my first game jam, I'm a musician and my music gets butchered :) please download the osx or windows binary if possible.

Extras

I added a video of me successfully finishing a run... It's possible, don't lose hope. The force of Poo is strong in You! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvFFD0aHn70

github	https://github.com/aleksfadini/LD48
Link	https://pixelportalz.itch.io/lord-of-the-flies
Link	https://pixelportalz.itch.io/lord-of-the-flies
Link	https://pixelportalz.itch.io/lord-of-the-flies
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/lord-of-the-flies

Ratings

Overall	218^th	3.747⭐	75🧑‍⚖️
Fun	199^th	3.736⭐	74🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	93^th	3.972⭐	74🧑‍⚖️
Theme	597^th	3.349⭐	75🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	482^th	3.396⭐	74🧑‍⚖️
Audio	119^th	3.81⭐	73🧑‍⚖️
Humor	27^th	4.072⭐	71🧑‍⚖️
Mood	246^th	3.609⭐	71🧑‍⚖️
Given		67🗳️	81🗨️

Feedback

liammasters

26. Apr 2021 · 00:54 UTC

The sound design was crazy and really cool! Such an unique concept and really fun to play.

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 01:10 UTC

thank you!

cavedens

26. Apr 2021 · 01:47 UTC

lol Interesting concept. I like the idea and plays pretty well. Great music

sweer

26. Apr 2021 · 01:49 UTC

I really love this game, it is honestly amazing, however I felt like it was 'meta' to take more fruitful eggs over everything else. And the flys do feel a bit funky to control

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 01:53 UTC

@sweer more fruitful eggs make eggs spawn more flies. Is that confusing? I didn't know the right word in English I suppose... Thanks for the feedback, the flies are a little funky hahaha

Greg the Egg

26. Apr 2021 · 02:21 UTC

The gameplay is super unique. It's a little frustrating to try to get the flies to get where you need them to go, but I think that's part of the challenge. The graphics are simple, but effective... I don't think I would want them more high def even if it was possible.

All in all pretty great!

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 02:23 UTC

@greg-the-egg thank you! And yes, you can attract the flies but at the end of the day they love being silly flies :)

Chiller

26. Apr 2021 · 02:24 UTC

Took me a minute to get the hang of it but I like it!

Dr_V

26. Apr 2021 · 02:25 UTC

The windows exe says its missing a .pck file. Did you forget to zip up the rest of the build?

Review based on HTML version -

Interesting concept, the weakness of the pheromones makes me feel like I dont have too much control and I kind of have to rush to get to the next eggs before the flie convoy falls apart which makes success dependent on RNG. I think if you rebalanced it to have more control it might give a better gameplay experience. Overall still very good.

mechamew

26. Apr 2021 · 02:30 UTC

The most fun I've had leading any army of flies to eat poop.

CorbenG

26. Apr 2021 · 02:30 UTC

Loved the rogue-like progression system in a herding system. Super unique idea. I liked most of the upgrades, but adding in extra text that describes specifically what they do could help the player inform their decisions. Also more unique and interesting upgrades could serve to make each run more different than the last. It did feel hard to control a large swarm of the flies, maybe too hard as I would often lose as many as I gained, but it did serve to keep the game moving and not benefit the player for just waiting around, hoarding flies.

William Corrin

26. Apr 2021 · 02:31 UTC

Haha I actually really like this, the theming is spot on. The name of your upgrades gave me a couple laughs, nice work!

nethead

26. Apr 2021 · 02:32 UTC

Omg this is amazing, feels like a flash game I woulda played back in the day. Music is such a jam and it didn't take me too long to beat :3

austin27

26. Apr 2021 · 02:32 UTC

I won! Barely. I got one single fly out. very fun!

Choppers

26. Apr 2021 · 02:33 UTC

Very interesting idea, I liked the simplistic graphics and mood.

Spydercrawler

26. Apr 2021 · 02:34 UTC

I really enjoyed this! I did run into a bug however, where at some point it just kept giving me infinite upgrades while not letting me really play the game easily because it kept stopping time to give me upgrades. Even so, the parts I did play were quite nice!

Nisovin

26. Apr 2021 · 02:38 UTC

This game has great audio. The opening dialogue was weird (in a good way). Leading the flies was a bit awkward, but I guess they are flies. The art is simple but I still think it looks great.

LakshyaIsAGod

26. Apr 2021 · 02:40 UTC

Originality Squared.Will Definately wait for the full game

Onygox

26. Apr 2021 · 02:41 UTC

the music is great!!

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 02:49 UTC

@nethead Really appreciate the music comment coming from you. I suck at coding so I rushed the music at the end, and the mix def needs some work. I'm a fan of the music on your games.

TheseusInABottle

26. Apr 2021 · 02:51 UTC

Certainty an original take on the them. Had to restart once because I lost all of my flies but after that I quickly found myself enjoying the game.

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 02:59 UTC

@dr-v Thank you for pointing it out. Alas, I did not include the .pck (forgot!) but now it's available at itch.io
Thank you for taking the time to try it anyways! Also, I like the idea of making you rush to the next egg, but I agree, giving more control could open up the game to a more relaxed and "deeper" gameplay perhaps. Did you manage to beat the game?

Hestrateja

26. Apr 2021 · 03:32 UTC

@pixelportalz why is poo something you related with deep? lol

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 03:38 UTC

@hestrateja maybe because I'm deep into it? Jokes aside, I thought instead of digging down, I wanted to make a game in which you could escape upwards from a deep pile of menure. (Although to win you might need to go a little deeper to find those eggs!!).

Dr_V

26. Apr 2021 · 03:45 UTC

@pixelportalz I did manage to beat it, but took a bit of RNG to get there. I always just dug up and hoped that I would find the next set of eggs before it was too late.

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 03:48 UTC

@dr-v Thanks. I think you are right. Putting more control on the flies would maybe minimize RNG. Or maybe I can minimize RNG in other ways...

Pixelhurricane

26. Apr 2021 · 03:50 UTC

Surprisngly I had a fantastic time! I really thought that the upgrade and control system for making your way out of this maze worked really well! having the flies grow and die off was the perfect way to give the player motivation to explore. All in all a really fun and well made entry

Turkey

26. Apr 2021 · 03:52 UTC

> (it’s pronounced gro-oh-ca-le-ca-lo-ca-rtk-wbnxzktr-ou-ou-ua-ua-ua-uuuuu-t-arrrrrr-l)

Ok, that one got me xD

Neat little game! Felt a bit awkward trying to control the flies, but it also moving the camera. Made it a bit difficult to really control the flies. Overall though neat concept and cool upgrades!

Tim77

26. Apr 2021 · 04:16 UTC

I played this in browser. I loved the use of some pseudo-flocking behavior. I enjoyed the realisation I could drag and attract the flies! I would love to see a version more zoomed out and with more stable / predictable camera behavior.

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 04:18 UTC

@tim77 Zooming out can be increased by "purchasing" clairvoyance. Also, dragging instead of clicking helps the control. Will think of other options for controls. Thank you for the feedback!

LDJam user 236545

26. Apr 2021 · 04:27 UTC

I struggled to make it out, but I did have laser powered flies at one point, which has always been a dream of mine :).

LakshyaIsAGod

26. Apr 2021 · 04:29 UTC

TODO: review game

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 04:31 UTC

@andrewkennedy haha yeah plot twist: flies are actually alien microdrones

AdamsMcCall

26. Apr 2021 · 04:48 UTC

I never thought I would have that much fun playing with shit.
Awesome game. And a lot of replayability ! The graphics and audio are great too. I can't think of a signle bad thing about this game lol

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 04:55 UTC

@adamsmccall I think your judgement is strongly biased by your fondness of Poop. I understand that and enjoy the positive feedback.

AdamsMcCall

26. Apr 2021 · 04:57 UTC

@pixelportalz :flushed: :flushed: :flushed:

mudlee

26. Apr 2021 · 08:50 UTC

Laught. A Bit. :D The music is indeed great ;)

GoodMan233

26. Apr 2021 · 09:06 UTC

This game is so interesting that I have been playing with shit for so long, lol. Very nice game!

squimmy

26. Apr 2021 · 09:39 UTC

Quirky and fun with nice funky music. I didn't understand how the eggs work at first, but the game is quick and intuitive so after a couple of tries I soon worked it out.

Avi

26. Apr 2021 · 11:03 UTC

This was a great game :) is it possible to eat all the poo on the map?

ville

26. Apr 2021 · 13:08 UTC

I loved it. Simple, plays well, gameplay is rewarding and it has this distinct feel of "herding" or quiding the flies, rather than directly controlling them. Took me around 6 (ish) tries to get my first win. Feels complete, ie. the level of polish is just right :)

Hoeleboele

26. Apr 2021 · 14:23 UTC

Did not get the game tried 3 times but when the flies start dieing they just lose it. :(

Vaanrile

26. Apr 2021 · 18:42 UTC

Really great game ! It takes a bit of time to get used to, but at least it is quite fun to learn how to do so. I really enjoyed the sound design, the graphic style was pretty neat and overall I had a great time playing through the game. Awesome job !

mdotedot

26. Apr 2021 · 19:04 UTC

Very great game. Cool mechanic. The only downside is that I tend to go DEEPER with my navigation and that wasn't always the good thing. Felt a nice vibe between games like lemmings with some beautiful little shader code. Great entry!

PookiPoot

26. Apr 2021 · 19:32 UTC

Anything involving poop and flies is typically a winner in my book. Good job!

Hotpaw

26. Apr 2021 · 19:36 UTC

screen was a little small on WEB and i don't know it just didnt feel so great with me, but i think something was off. it looked cool and cool mechanic though

sawtan

26. Apr 2021 · 19:44 UTC

$1.000.000!!! I'm sooo happy! Wow! This was a great game, I love the progression and trying to figure out the best strategy to be able to reach the surface! A truly magnificent experience and journey. Great job! Cheerz

GarethTheDestro

26. Apr 2021 · 20:42 UTC

It took me a second to figure out what I needed to do but once I did it was on. And I think that's a good thing btw, you state it in the intro that you can't tell the player, the flies have to, that was a great touch. The upgrades as you go made progression really fun and made me want to keep player. Great entry, congrats! :poop:

bw_devel

26. Apr 2021 · 21:04 UTC

Things I liked:
- great art
- good game concept (I love swarm mechanics)
- great sound and music
- great humor in the intro

Improvements:
- combat with rival flies? they could be gatekeepers of sorts; and as reward to the risk; they drop eggs
- a scoreboard to compete with your previous playthoughs
- maybe an MVP screen for end-game to highly the fly with the the biggest acheivement in a given game (mainly just some fun flavor to the game)

Bugs:
- hehe, bugs... seriously though, where's my $1,000,000?!

![Screenshot 2021-04-26 230156.png](///raw/af7/c/z/3e3a9.png)

neverautomatic

26. Apr 2021 · 21:20 UTC

There's a bug with the win button, I keep checking my bank account but still have not received $1,000,000. Pls fix.

Anyway, this was a great and fun little game! I initially tried to go down, I guess I should have read the description.

minibobbo

26. Apr 2021 · 22:50 UTC

I like these types of jam games that know exactly what they agree attempting to do and just go that thing well. Graphics were simple but worked well. Sounds and music were on point. The gameplay itself was simple but fun and getting upgrades made things interesting.

Nice work! I liked the absurd humor throughout.

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 23:06 UTC

@neverautomatic the bug about the payment has been fixed. Please check your bank account in 3 to 5 days from now :)

🎤 PixelPortalz

26. Apr 2021 · 23:09 UTC

@sawtan @bw-devel funds will be sent in 3-5 days. Check bank account then. Apparently an earlier bug SUBTRACTED that same amount from each user's checkings account. Be sure to check

🎤 PixelPortalz

27. Apr 2021 · 02:41 UTC

@spydercrawler I am trying to reproduce that bug. Thanks a lot for bringing it up. I think for some reason the poo counter didn't reset to zero. Imagine infinite poop: not a great sight!

Britt Henderson

27. Apr 2021 · 03:27 UTC

This was an incredible game. The humor, the music, the game play are all so top notch- i had a ton of fun playing this :)
Really excellent procedural generation too.

The only suggestion i have is two fold:
1) playing the game was so fun i didn't even wanna go to the end. i just loved getting more flies. To build on this, i think the power ups coulda been even more op bc there's nothing better than getting a busted build in a rougelike. I loved the +10 flies, clairvoyance, better poo collection, better attraction, and more fruitful flies- those are really excellent power ups. I wasn't sure what the laser power did or the stronger flies did, and i kinda wish i had gotten even more flies out of fruitful flies.
Otherwise, really excellent mechanic

2) at the end, when i'm offer 1,000,000$ i tried clicking on it and nothing happened- it felt a little anti-climactic. so, i think an ending would make the game absolutely perfect.

Aside from these two, this is incredible. Absolutely amazing game :)
Ty for making it

🎤 PixelPortalz

27. Apr 2021 · 03:47 UTC

@britt-henderson Thank you so much for the feedback! 1) I think you are 100% right, the power-ups could be more obvious to reward the playing experience more. Between you and me, laser power gives your flies extra speed and flight time, and stronger flies makes the flies live longer (it's perhaps the best upgrade, but as you point out it is not clear enough to the player). 2) I ran out of time at the end and I couldn't code anything glorious enough. So I figured I would troll everybody making a non-functional 1,000,000$ button. But check this out: apparently Bank Of America agreed to pay each winner a real 1,000,000$! Check your bank account in 3 to 5 (or 9999999999) days. :)))

(would give your comment 2 hearts if I could)

OMG BlackBeard

27. Apr 2021 · 13:10 UTC

@pixelportalz Innovative, humorous. Music is also very catchy. Fun to play. Also, love the fact it was Godot

TommyTheITGuy

27. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC

I very much like games like this when I can make several upgrades and make my army (of flies) stronger :D This is one game that went to shit that I enjoyed. Also, where's my $1,000,000? :P

nyxkn

27. Apr 2021 · 20:55 UTC

This was so much fun! Super solid entry. I approached this with skepticism but the humor was absolutely on point and the gameplay was glorious! Sounds and diaglogues are beautiful. Ended up playing until I managed to win.

thesnide

27. Apr 2021 · 21:09 UTC

@pixelportalz swarm gameplay are awesome! The music is very nice, indeed.

nyanpierre

27. Apr 2021 · 22:25 UTC

insane sound design & feedback !

mrtnldm

27. Apr 2021 · 22:30 UTC

Love the simplicty of the graphics. Great music and really cool voice. Just a little counterintuitive for me that going deeper was up on the screen. Otherwise a really well made game - I had fun playing it!

Grewoss

28. Apr 2021 · 08:53 UTC

Very interesting idea, the music is also quite catchy.

chrissx2

28. Apr 2021 · 15:11 UTC

Never tought playing with feces could be this entertaining.