LudumData

The Polar Vet and the Non-Swimming Penguin by bezbiletnym

[raw]
made by bezbiletnym for Ludum Dare 52 (COMPO)

A cozy little puzzle game.

During the polar expedition, you've noticed some poor penguins who can't swim. Catch them and bring them to the vet's!

HOW TO PLAY:

Drive the non-swimming penguin into the trap.

Use arrow keys to move. Press Space to restart.

The penguin and you stop only at the edges.

The penguin runs from you when you are on a next cell to it.

ezgif.com-gif-maker (1).gif

harvest [ hahr-vist ]: verb (used with object): to catch, take, or remove (animals)

UPDATES:

Fixed a visual level transition bug in the full screen mode

Added a link to this entry on the game itch.io page

Link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QNIGyPD4RZAaEmTPTC30jJxtKt1Sd30p/view?usp=sharing
Link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mOsp-3I4gKmobLUrvKVFmJoMSXCb06jT/view?usp=sharing
Link https://bezbiletnym.itch.io/the-polar-vet-and-the-non-swimming-penguin
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/the-polar-vet-and-the-non-swimming-penguin

Ratings

Overall 196th 3.357⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 129th 3.514⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 300th 2.676⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 321th 2.457⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 139th 3.657⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 268th 2.419⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 186th 2.594⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Mood 211th 3.118⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 42🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

Pe7e
08. Jan 2023 · 23:58 UTC
Is there a level restart i missed?
🎤 bezbiletnym
09. Jan 2023 · 00:03 UTC
@pe7e a level restarts by pressing Space
HolySparks
09. Jan 2023 · 16:57 UTC
This game is just too cute!

Very well done all around, and polished too. Played all the levels. Only thing I'd change was the tweening of the player character which makes it move faster when moving longer distances and (very) slowly when on shorter ones.

Having the penguin move away from the player as soon as we get close enough is pretty smart and unique, loved that.
🎤 bezbiletnym
10. Jan 2023 · 07:58 UTC
@holysparks thank you for your feedback! I'm glad to know you've played all 5 levels!
As for the characters' speed, I was going to change it, but just didn't have time :wink:
John Gabriel
10. Jan 2023 · 11:29 UTC
Quite cute, but I don't see how it connects to the theme, and the sound effects can be quite annoying.
muriel
10. Jan 2023 · 11:37 UTC
Hello, good job with your game, me and my wife love to play puzzle games together and we really enjoyed playing yours :). It reminds us to one game that we've played when we were younger about pingu :) Also the graphics are very, very nice and clean :) Great Job and Happy 2023!
🎤 bezbiletnym
10. Jan 2023 · 12:13 UTC
@john-gabriel thank you for the frank feedback! I think about adding sound settings after the jam.
Verb 'to harvest' also means to catch, take, or remove (animals).
🎤 bezbiletnym
10. Jan 2023 · 12:16 UTC
@muriel Happy 2023!It's so cool to know that my game has managed to give you some fun
LDJam user 244504
10. Jan 2023 · 14:52 UTC
Nice and cute puzzle game ! Levels has been designed smartly to have some challenge yet not too hard :smile:

As for the theme, Harvest do have these synonyms but it is used for things that are meant to be eaten. So it sounds a bit weird to harvest animals that we are supposed to help haha (Unless the polar expedition is going to eat the penguin ? :smirk: :fork_knife_plate: :penguin: :scream_cat: )

Anyhow it's a game well done ! Good job ! :tada:
🎤 bezbiletnym
10. Jan 2023 · 16:22 UTC
@gcake I really hope they're not going to do that :laughing:
LDJam user 2331
10. Jan 2023 · 18:30 UTC
Fun little sliding-sokoban puzzle game- bonus points for including a penguin! 🐧 Like others said, the theme made me think the penguins were being harvested to eat, but thankfully read the description for clarification :'D Nice short puzzle pack with really cute sprites, great work!
🎤 bezbiletnym
10. Jan 2023 · 20:25 UTC
@meep Penguin POWER! :sweat_smile:
secrt101
11. Jan 2023 · 04:43 UTC
Reminds me of the old Pokemon games with the ice puzzles. Super cute penguin and vet!
🎤 bezbiletnym
11. Jan 2023 · 06:16 UTC
@secrt101 wow, it's really very similar! Didn't know about them, thanks for the info!
KlinsmannHengles
11. Jan 2023 · 09:01 UTC
Good puzzles and beatiful art. I liked the fact that you explained in the description that you are capturing them to help because they don't know how to swimm. I was afraid that I was contributing to capture them and then finding them on the black market. But the description reassured me. Thanks!
fnelix
11. Jan 2023 · 09:48 UTC
Cool little puzzle game! Very cute art. Player movement could be a bit faster, but maybe i am too impatient. Really liked the puzzle design. Great entry!
TRraim
11. Jan 2023 · 15:40 UTC
Very rewarding puzzles!
Gonzo13
11. Jan 2023 · 19:47 UTC
Nice little puzzle game! Cute art, good puzzles!
Fammy
12. Jan 2023 · 16:32 UTC
Cute and simple art style ! It would be great to have a music :) Love the gameplay good job !
🎤 bezbiletnym
12. Jan 2023 · 18:39 UTC
@fammy, i've made a note to contact you if I'll need music for my next game :smiley:
BurnsDesigns
12. Jan 2023 · 22:04 UTC
Am I harvesting these penguins?! Truly evil!

I finished the full game. I was having good fun with them.

Perhaps a bit of pitch modulation on the move sfx would keep it from becoming too redundant too quickly.
🎤 bezbiletnym
13. Jan 2023 · 07:59 UTC
@burnsdesigns I think it becomes a conspiracy theory :laughing: You only need to get them to the vet)


Thank you for the advice!
jaywoody
13. Jan 2023 · 13:03 UTC
Very cool little puzzle game! I liked it all very much. The graphics were cute and cohesive and level design was great with a clear progression in the solutions. Overall a great entry to the compo!
TildeCat
13. Jan 2023 · 17:11 UTC
I like this game so much! Visual is very cute, also level design is fantastic! Maybe movement speed can be more faster. But overall great game!
🎤 bezbiletnym
13. Jan 2023 · 17:14 UTC
@tildecat thank you for your feedback!
I'm going to polish the movement after the jam
LoHii
14. Jan 2023 · 18:41 UTC
I really like sliding ice puzzles, and the penguin brought a nice little twist for it. The sliding lasting a constant time was a bit weird, and the soundscape would've really benefitted from some music (I know, it's a compo, can't have everything). Restart button would've also been nice, although trapping yourself is a funny way to reset. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself and beat the game!
Itzemii
14. Jan 2023 · 22:29 UTC
This is a very polished, nice looking game. Even animations of the water - looks good without being too much. No uncleanliness, bugs. That's great for a game jam!
I can see a bit the harvest theme. The game idea is very much Sokoban, but that's ok.
Congratulations for a complete game!!!
CaptAndrey
17. Jan 2023 · 11:34 UTC
➕cute graphics

➕good choice of setting for the main mechanic

➕interesting interpretation of the theme

➖need more levels)
zubspace
18. Jan 2023 · 21:59 UTC
What a wonderful little game! I love how it looks. The sprites are super cute. The falling snow and dancing waves are small details which I really enjoyed. The game mechanic is simple, but I'm impressed by the levels you did. Some solutions are really not that obvious, but still doable and fun to solve. The progression curve is smooth and does not overwhelm the player.

Great job overall and thanks for the game!
zimny11
19. Jan 2023 · 15:56 UTC
Nice game! I really like puzzle games like this :) My only suggestion would be: less monotonous sounds for movement, maybe some cute penguin-like noises? Anyway, good job!
grid96
20. Jan 2023 · 12:29 UTC
nice graphics and comprehensible mechanic! was fun to slide around on the eyes :D
i wonder what gets done to all of these poor penguins though :O
🎤 bezbiletnym
20. Jan 2023 · 15:24 UTC
@grid96 they're just transported to the vet's :sweat_smile:
mr_lazy
21. Jan 2023 · 19:49 UTC
this is litttt bro...no coooool bro....i love this game...the art is cute and polished..game concept and mech is simply super cool..simple game but like to play it again...glad i made to the last level
Itskdog
23. Jan 2023 · 00:39 UTC
Nice puzzle game. I liked the difficulty of the levels. They were not too hard which is nice for a Game Jam.
OadT
23. Jan 2023 · 17:38 UTC
Very cute game! The levels were pretty good designed, because you were able to logically find the solution without being too obvious. Wished there were some more of them!

Maybe you could increase the speed of the player a bit, because especially when the player only moves one tile its pretty slow. I think this could potentially improve the flow of the game but still very cool entry!
VerttiXPertti
24. Jan 2023 · 07:10 UTC
Last two levels were very well designed!
Echo GameWorks
25. Jan 2023 · 01:21 UTC
Cozy little game with really good puzzle design doing the whole subversion of the "obvious" solution. Really strong sokoban mechanic. As a quality of life thing, I'd suggest factoring in the distance that the characters move so that is the same time of travel for 1 square vs 4+ squares away. Great work!
yetanother
25. Jan 2023 · 01:22 UTC
Nice twist on a classic gameplay.
I feel like when you move by just one tile the animation is really slow.
The level design is good, I was able to finish but not to easly.
Flauschzelle
27. Jan 2023 · 16:15 UTC
Very cute graphics <3 I like puzzle games, and had a lot of fun playing this :) Would have loved more levels!
One thing I would improve is maybe add some music.