I definitely see some good mechanics at play here. Could use some fleshing out, but I think it's off to a good start! Once I figured out how to deposit the ants at the food, it went pretty smoothly. Thanks!
I could see this being a really good resource management game. Though, right now there is a lack of feedback as to when I'm doing something and controlling the ants is a bit confusing.
The bird added an awesome sense of "OH SHIT GET OUT OF THE WAY" to the 'day in the life of an ant' simulator.
After a day away from it and a much needed full night's sleep, I can see the faults here. FEEDBACK. I won't blame it on a lack of time, rather spending far too much time on dumb things that ended up being scrapped. I wanted the bird to hover up and down a bit before it pounced, but couldn't get it to work so I settled on this. I also wanted some kind of graphic HUD showing the Queen egg growing, but aforementioned bird issues. A "carrying food" version of the dumb ants on hindsight is an inexcusable omission. The negative bug is an interesting little case, also why it's not resetting when you start over will likely occupy my time for the next few days. I'm glad the bird is a great success. I wanted a sense of urgency to the whole thing and this seems to have worked. I'm planning on a few variations of this for the post-compo version.
I won and had no idea how that happened. I think Andrew was right that a little visual feedback would go a long way. Like you could make the ants wiggle while they're eating or something. I think it's a good beginning though.
Was really sure what I was doing. Restarted and read the directions again. Still wasn't sure I was playing the 'right way'. I echo the sentiment that more visual feedback is needed.
[Comments and ratings from this account come from various team members] Looks like a good start and a cool concept but like others have said it was very hard to actually figure out how to play. Love the idea though and would be great to see this complete.
If you worked a bit just on giving the user feedback (for instance, how can you tell which ants are farming?) and add a layer of polish you're on your way to a unique and fun action/strategy game.
If there were 1. a warning where/when the bird is going to strike and 2. a way to gather ants after they're farming, the game would feel more "fair", I think.
Like some others, I wasn't super sure how my actions were affecting the hive. I had fun grabbing ants and moving them onto food, and my number in the corner changed, my egg got laid, and eventually I'd win, but I wasn't clear on anything other than staying away from the danged bird (curse you, damned vertebrate!). The background art was nice, and the movement and interface was smooth and easy (could even play with one hand). I thought initially I'd be laying trails that my fellow ants would follow - that might be another mechanic to consider if you expand it. Nice work!
Interesting idea, I was able to beat it, but it seemed that more than half the time the space and shift keys did nothing. Would definitely have benefited from sound effects to tell the player when they've done something right. The graphics were quite nice, and I liked the bird. Good job. :)
To all those who commented on the negative score bug; I found it and it was a stupid one. But since I found it after changing a whole bunch of other things for a post-compo version, I've left the submission as it is. I've also been working on some new feedback for the farming ants and the queen ant growth stages to address the feedback issues. @DaveDobson the "trail of pheromone crumbs" was the original mechanic but I was having difficulty managing them and getting the dumb ants to follow a trail, so I went with the current scheme to get it working. But I also wanted to put in an "attack" pheromone in the event of termites invading, or an ant-eater. So, I'm playing around with my options at this point and hope to release an improved version soon! Thank you everyone for playing and giving feedback! I love this community!
Seems interesting but I had a lot of trouble telling the ants where to go. I even grabbed some, placed them near food, and then they ran away to another piece of food elsewhere.
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I had -26 ants, and then I won. So that was cool.
The bird added an awesome sense of "OH SHIT GET OUT OF THE WAY" to the 'day in the life of an ant' simulator.
The negative bug is an interesting little case, also why it's not resetting when you start over will likely occupy my time for the next few days.
I'm glad the bird is a great success. I wanted a sense of urgency to the whole thing and this seems to have worked. I'm planning on a few variations of this for the post-compo version.
Looks like a good start and a cool concept but like others have said it was very hard to actually figure out how to play. Love the idea though and would be great to see this complete.
If you worked a bit just on giving the user feedback (for instance, how can you tell which ants are farming?) and add a layer of polish you're on your way to a unique and fun action/strategy game.
If there were 1. a warning where/when the bird is going to strike and 2. a way to gather ants after they're farming, the game would feel more "fair", I think.
I've also been working on some new feedback for the farming ants and the queen ant growth stages to address the feedback issues.
@DaveDobson the "trail of pheromone crumbs" was the original mechanic but I was having difficulty managing them and getting the dumb ants to follow a trail, so I went with the current scheme to get it working. But I also wanted to put in an "attack" pheromone in the event of termites invading, or an ant-eater. So, I'm playing around with my options at this point and hope to release an improved version soon!
Thank you everyone for playing and giving feedback! I love this community!