LudumData

tiny_sim by crcdng

[raw]
made by crcdng for Ludum Dare 56 (COMPO)

links to playable game on itch.io and to source code zip (Flutter project) below

tiny_sim

an exercise in micromanagement

YOU are MAGENTA. move with WASD keys. friendly faction is BLUE, opponents are RED, neutrals GREEN

collisions are resolved at ticks:

Rule 1 "neutralize":
BLUE + RED -> GREEN
YOU + RED -> GREEN and you lose a life.

Rule 2 "release": BLUE + GREEN -> BLUE + BLUE YOU + GREEN -> BLUE + BLUE RED + GREEN -> RED + RED

how long can you fend off RED?

tl;dr avoid RED seek GREEN

3 difficulty levels: chill (no death), normal, insane

made from scratch in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 56 by @crcdng (handcoded without ai assistant)

made with Flame Game engine sound effects from https://sfxr.me/ and https://jfxr.frozenfractal.com/ font: Kenney-Mini-Square

links to playable game on itch.io and to source code (Flutter project) below

Flutter source directory https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H9xn3b0JscdfweyTorOadXI0kaC9V0U_/view?usp=sharing
Playable Game at itch.io https://crcdng.itch.io/tiny-sim
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/tiny-sim

Ratings

Overall 311th 2.64⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 292th 2.64⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 149th 3.4⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 297th 2.76⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 310th 2.26⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Audio 246th 2.46⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

zwartraider
07. Oct 2024 · 14:30 UTC
Interesting game concept! I got really protective of my green tiles, went straight for them. Quite challenging as well, I found myself scrolling down to the combinations explanation to check how it all works again. But practice makes perfect, and having a chill difficulty setting helps as well! :thumbsup:
voidraizer
07. Oct 2024 · 14:34 UTC
This was honestly really interesting. It's a novel concept but the rules are a very confusing at first and the way things jump around all the time, it's hard to tell what's going on or if what you're doing is having an impact. Overall I liked it a lot though
sbackman
07. Oct 2024 · 18:03 UTC
Interesting game. Took a while to get the hang of it. A visible score would have been nice to try and get a highscore.
Brendan Aeria
09. Oct 2024 · 23:37 UTC
I like the simplistic idea. It reminds me of Conway's game of life simulation. I just wish the instructions told me how to help the blue faction (do I sit on green tiles and avoid red tiles?)
pierallard
10. Oct 2024 · 16:46 UTC
Simple but it's working as I played several minutes trying to get an end score... But I never had it!
khaotom
10. Oct 2024 · 16:53 UTC
Observe and experiment. Very chill.
Martingonn
11. Oct 2024 · 04:45 UTC
Simple yet fun!
henk
11. Oct 2024 · 20:45 UTC
My little magenta square seems to die randomly even when it's nowhere near any red squares.
I thought I might be the victim of wraparound or red squares hiding under blue
squares, but neither seem to be the cause. Is this a bug? Or a mechanic I'm not understanding?

Aside from that, I thought it was fun. It might be good to have some sort of visual indication
of the number of lives, though. I started on "chill" mode and didn't realize that
meant "no death" until several minutes had passed.
SdCorpse
12. Oct 2024 · 01:05 UTC
Nice game.
LDJam user 238500
12. Oct 2024 · 10:51 UTC
Interesting idea, but very hard to understand what is going on. Sometimes I am just randomly moved somewhere else, I died I guess? But was not close to any red squares (or any squares actually). Sometimes there is a sound when I am moved somewhere else, did I die here too? Or did I level up or something?
PlasmaPuffs
13. Oct 2024 · 03:23 UTC
I found the rules and colors kind of confusing. I think a score or health indicator would be really useful, but good game (and it was pretty fun dodging the red squares on insane mode)!
Adrien Tremblay
13. Oct 2024 · 17:30 UTC
Im sorry. I didn't really understand this game. This is the type of game put out in like 1979 lmfao
Harmadillo
13. Oct 2024 · 19:54 UTC
It took me a while to work out what I should be doing and I don't think I understand 100%. Especially why i would randomly(seemingly) teleport. Interesting to play. Insane difficulty definitely was.
🎤 crcdng
14. Oct 2024 · 01:51 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback so far, it is very much appreciated. I definitely want to see if the concept works out with a few improvements, many of which are mentioned here. Therefore I am hard at work on a post-LD version. And I can't wait to share with you after the rating period is over. It will be available at the same place: https://crcdng.itch.io/tiny-sim
ellaris
14. Oct 2024 · 19:01 UTC
Interesting, I feel I understood the rules, but even tho I never touched red the game was over?
tinykidtoo
17. Oct 2024 · 03:18 UTC
Didn't really understand the rules. But avoiding the red was fun.
DzejPi
17. Oct 2024 · 19:38 UTC
Interesting stack, you don't see Flutter often, I still have nightmares about working with it occasionally. Joking asides — interesting game which reminded me of Game of Life a bit. But I have to agree with most of the people — rules are quite hard to understand. And I too was moved randomly few times, which I was not sure whether it was bug or not. And then I died seemingly out of nowhere, because there was nothing around me. But avoiding the red squares was fun.
If you plan to work on this further, then I would definitely try to introduce the rules slowly, so, that everyone gets them well. Otherwise very original entry, it's great to experiment a bit!
CatZP
22. Oct 2024 · 21:48 UTC
Fun game! Still it would be nice to have a score in the end ^^
stmate03
23. Oct 2024 · 11:15 UTC
simple and clean, easy to understand the main mechanics, can get hectic on high difficulty, I had fun just watching what happen on easier difficulty only really dodging every blue moon or seeking green to reduce red numbers, wish there was a life indicator :(