LudumData

Harvest Swarm by LuhUchiha

[raw]
made by LuhUchiha for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

ld52-cover.png A simple farming game with 2bits graphics!

Tools:

Engine: Unity

Audio: BeepBox and Audacity

Graphs: Aseprite

Everything was done from scratch (COMPO attempt), but as I missed the deadline by 10 minutes (compiling and uploading to itch io took a while...) it is now a JAM entry!

-- Instructions:

  • Move with the arrows (or W/S/A/D)

  • Touch the tool to grab it

  • Execute action with "Space"

  • Use the Hoe tool to prepare the soil

  • Use seeds on prepared soil

  • Use the water on the seeds

  • Wait for the seed to grow

  • Harvest :)

  • Exterminate the bugs with the spray! If they are left alive for too long, you lose a life.

  • Bugs will spawn on crops, unless there isn't any available (then they will spawn nearby!)

  • If there is a bug on the crop, you cant do anything there!

That's all!

Hacked features:

  • The action was supposed to be effective on the diretion the player is facing. Due to time constraints and other bugs, the action is executed on the visible "square", and is always a bit above the player :)

  • The grasshopper's animation was done using only "scaling", as lot of time was already invested on the other many animations and tiles.

Development summary:

  • Creating all the graphics took a LONG time, which meant Game Design/Programming/Audio ended up not being polished
  • Lots of critical features ended up being left out of, which made the game feel kinda "boring"
  • Compilation time/file upload and setup/Internet provider's availability should be taken in consideration when submitting :)
Link https://gitlab.com/lcarvalhogs/ld52
Link https://lcarvalhogs.itch.io/ld52-harvest-swarm
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/harvest-swarm

Ratings

Overall 543th 3.288⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 610th 2.97⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 544th 3.076⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 98th 4.212⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 209th 4.045⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 232th 3.561⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 489th 2.667⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 459th 3.371⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 43🗳️ 51🗨️

Feedback

HypernoodleJon
09. Jan 2023 · 03:50 UTC
The focus on art definitely shows, the farm, the player sprite, all the tools look wonderful. Really well done!

That said, the moment when I picked up something wasn't quite clear to me, although I believe that was mostly due to the web player cropping. the interaction reticle seemed to be always locked to the upper right of the character which made interaction awkward, and interaction seemed often to just not work even though I don't think I was spamming. also the bug in my game was bugged and would always spawn in the same place.

Again though, really good vibes from the sound, art and sfx :smile:
LDJam user 49756
09. Jan 2023 · 15:15 UTC
The style is gorgeous, i love the gameboy feel^^ i had the same issues as mentioned above, it lacks a bit of feedback on the pickup actions.
Fun game!
LDJam user 320211
09. Jan 2023 · 22:49 UTC
That's too bad about the compo deadline, but jams are just as good! I like the concept, it's definitely a farming game first and foremost which is very on theme. Scrambling to get the bug spray added some tension at first, but it became kind of tedious when I could only plant two or three things before having to run all the way back. Maybe some kind of ammo counter where you have to run back only to refill? Plenty of room for growth (no pun intended) with the mechanics anyway, great work!
Paroxysmal
10. Jan 2023 · 00:55 UTC
Good entry. Having done a gameboy style game I had to check this one out. Was unsure on if I could move the cursor or it is always at the top. Well done.
cappa_games
10. Jan 2023 · 01:03 UTC
I love the art! I would separate the tools a little bit. I was selecting the one next to the one I want by accident and took me a moment to realize why the tool wasn't working.

I like the gameplay idea you have here. I think the next step would be to add upgrades you can buy in exchange for the money you make on vegetables.
chompdev
10. Jan 2023 · 03:10 UTC
Fun idea! I like the mad dash between spraying bugs, preparing land/seeds, and harvesting. It gets pretty tricky after a while, but it's a good challenge level for a game like this. If you happen to work on a future version, I'd love to have a way to carry two tools at a time, or sell the harvest for gold to buy upgraded tools/seeds. Very well done!
LDJam user 252856
12. Jan 2023 · 00:37 UTC
Good game. I think the player should accelerate more quickly, and it would be good to fix the issue with the cursor and add an easier way of selecting tools.
Torban
12. Jan 2023 · 00:42 UTC
Great work on this! So sorry to hear about the compo deadline. Stupid unity build time...
Still, the artwork is just awesome and fits well with the music as well. The gameplay is fun and is really similar to my entry too.
upcharlie
12. Jan 2023 · 00:42 UTC
Cute game with a nice retro gameboy aesthetic. I liked the gameplay too, but I think going between the items was generally unfun personally, especially if you got too close to another tool on accident it would pick it up. Overall though I did like it and you did a great job!
togo sepultraut
12. Jan 2023 · 00:52 UTC
very nice pixel art!
although the urgency from the bugs doesn't really let you go around the farm much.
i imagine adjusting the spawn times and a bit of feedback when you pick up an item would be nice improvement
Hare Software
12. Jan 2023 · 01:28 UTC
Love the graphics and it's great how easy it was to understand what to do. The insects were a bit annoying to deal with but I imagine that is the reason they are there. A good entry!
WitchGF
12. Jan 2023 · 13:56 UTC
The visuals remind of old pixel games, when color wasn't an option.
The controls are a bit... Inconvenient, but I guess that was in the description, so you know already about this flaw
Maytch
12. Jan 2023 · 17:59 UTC
Nice gameboy-esque style to the game. I got the hang of it fairly quickly, those bugs are a menace! Good job
LDJam user 314423
13. Jan 2023 · 23:47 UTC
The art is really nice — good example of 'less is more' with the 2 bpp palette, but sadly there isn't much else to the game.
NvrSkipGameDay
14. Jan 2023 · 04:21 UTC
I love the look of the art as well as the music. Also, I know you said this was a compo game, I feel like even 5 minutes after it still counts in spirit! Great job, honestly, compo is intense, I really like where this game is going :)
LDJam user 277954
14. Jan 2023 · 04:26 UTC
Maybe you should add some more destructive weapons to kill the annoying bugs lol.
vivek.sharma20
14. Jan 2023 · 06:09 UTC
Points for art style if developed during this jam. Game controls are fun and precise which is a plus point. The enemies can be a bit more aggressive to make it more challenging. would love to see more environment !!
JJ Cruikshanks
14. Jan 2023 · 06:23 UTC
You guys mentioned that you were hoping for more from the gameplay side of things but the visuals and sfx were great! Had that retro feel that I know many people here mentioned and I'm singing those praises too! sfx when interacting the items were nice but an animation of picking up would've helped a lot with clarity. I found myself running past the RAID can and would accidentally get the hoe but I wouldn't notice I had it until I got to the plot I was spraying. Great little bite sized game tho!
pazzi
14. Jan 2023 · 06:24 UTC
Hey this was pretty cool! The controls felt pretty good and I like how I can equip the tool just by walking up to it- This is one of the better feeling controls for straight-farming mechanics! Nice job!
![plante.PNG](///raw/800/e4/z/56673.png)
Sarah Alexa
14. Jan 2023 · 16:39 UTC
I really enjoyed this! Feels similar to my last game in particular in many ways so I'm a little biased in liking it but it seemed great! Your art was very nice, I love the GameBoy green aesthetic personally so this was very nice to see. Weapon switching worked well and crop growing seemed to be nice and fast!

The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the bugs ticking health down just by existing instead of by attacking but once I got into the habit of taking care of them, it wasn't an issue. I got the timing down too so I found I could get into a rhythm.

Great job with this!
Chum Chum
15. Jan 2023 · 03:06 UTC
The art looks really nice, however the player movement is pretty wonky. Very cool game though. :ant:
LDJam user 300422
15. Jan 2023 · 14:49 UTC
Nice game, i like the mixture of 2bit pixel graphics animations that aren't bound to pixels. The music is also quite chill and not too repetitive.

For the gameplay, apart from what bugs you already mentioned, i felt it weird that the bugs were spawning so often and then directly on a crop tile every time. Maybe having them spawn randomly, but move towards those tiles could be more interesting :thinking: As it is it's hard to get anything done cuz you have to run back to the tools every 5s to get the insecticide :joy:

Oh the screen resizes when you go fullscreen, just to let you know.

Anyways, for what i assume from your description only 48h (+10min) its a good little game, that looks great. Good job :thumbsup:
imyellowfish
16. Jan 2023 · 05:04 UTC
Great art! both the sprites and music are nice. Enjoyable to play. The bugs are kind of pushy though, as they spawn from the beginning and every few seconds, before I could get all things done. Kind of wish there could be some rest intervals.
PROJECTaroid
16. Jan 2023 · 16:33 UTC
Cool game. It looks nice and plays well.
Iluvatar
17. Jan 2023 · 10:46 UTC
I really love the Gameboy vibes and well done graphics. Music and audio fit well into your game (even though I would personally used some 8bit sounds to fit the GB vibes :) ).

The gameplay feels good, I can imagine this being a really good game with some tweaks here and there, but for a Jam entry it is more than enough.
bobo_oh
18. Jan 2023 · 12:01 UTC
Cool GB Vibes :) Congrats!
euske
18. Jan 2023 · 20:36 UTC
The gameplay was hard but I loved the mood. Well done!
stevepixelface
21. Jan 2023 · 19:06 UTC
Top notch artwork and a fun game. Great stuff!
Cat Lab
26. Jan 2023 · 08:13 UTC
Nostalgic vibes and cool concept for harvest! The graphic showing what is equipped is a little hard to make out but doesn't take too long to get the hang of it. Love the style!