UPDATE: I wrote a manual for the game. Make sure to read the manual, the interface is kinda unintuitive.
UPDATE II: Removed a uncommon bug when selling cats.
Enter the exciting world of breeding kittens! Choose those with the best characteristics in order to please your customers and take their money away (unless they ask very very nicely). Your goal is to please one of your customers enough so that they will offer you a better job!
This game features: * Turn based gameplay! (no need to hurry) * Simple mendelian genetics * Diploid genome for the cats (spots are recessive, for example) * Random genome assignment (each game the alleles-characteristic link is randomized!) * Customers with very different tastes * 4 endings, one for each type of customer * One special event in game * Java platform that can run anywhere!
This game does not feature: * Nice graphics * Any sound at all * Balance
Have fun, and please let me know how the game could improve!
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: -1 at java.util.ArrayList.get(Unknown Source) at ld24.TradingState.mousePressed(TradingState.java:173) at org.newdawn.slick.state.StateBasedGame.mousePressed(StateBasedGame.java:501) at org.newdawn.slick.Input.poll(Input.java:1207) at org.newdawn.slick.GameContainer.updateAndRender(GameContainer.java:635) at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$Container.runloop(AppletGameContainer.java:514) at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$ContainerPanel.start(AppletGameContainer.java:218) at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$1.run(AppletGameContainer.java:92)
I had... Errr... 5 kittens? 3 adults? And I sold two kittens to two little girls. Happened on the second one.
Well, you know already that the game is rather difficult for people to pick up after you had your user testing. I think the mechanics themselves are fine, and the game itself isn't bad at all, but it's the UI that could use work.
Though I do have to say I was very sad when I clicked the happy looking outdoors button and it threw the little kitten into the river. On day 0. Not just because I love little kittens but because nothing about that button said "I'll reduce your inventory" or "I'll kill a kitten". It's just things like those, really.
I wanted to actually draw a hand with a sack over a river, but my art skills failed me when I was doing the placeholder graphics, and I had no time to actually do the real graphics :-(
I will (probably, maybe) do a post-compo version with just a UI upgrade. Thing is, I'm still in that work trip until the end of the next week, and whatever free time I manage to find will have to go to rating games instead...
This was a fun little simulation. It wasn't always obvious what the customers wanted from their words and the description, but I liked that talking to them was part of it. The interface wasn't always completely obvious, but you could get the job done, so it worked. I liked the kitten pictures. The first time I played, the game crashed without warning when I clicked on the Sell button, but I had no trouble the second time. Nice work!
This was fantastic! Great humor too, first time I mistakingly threw all kittens into the river made me laugh. I realized I was just trying to make two males for a while, it could show a message about that too.
This is a nice concept (and good use of kittens btw ;)) but I feel it is let down a bit by the interface: the colours are quite jarring and I would like for the screen to be less cluttered and have more at-a-glance info available (e.g. tool tips / stat bars / etc.) Maybe consider adding a few tutorial rounds also.
I love the graphics!! It looks like a lot of work went into the different kinds of cat faces. Love how you strove for an accurate genetic model, even if that made certain outcomes problematic.
Game crashed without a message after selling a cat that disappointed a customer and then clicking the lens button, and I haven't reached the end yet.
Cake Monitor yeah, that's how I felt about the game too. If I get around to making a post-compo version, I'm planning to add a "assistant", that will give you context-dependent hints to solve the tutorial problem.
Nice simulator. But I feel like a monster now... Because the easiest way to win is always throw away the cats you don't need. And even though PETA protests against you, you can buy them for only 2000Y. One remark: the game crashes too often.
Jorjon: Do you have any crash reports? I fixed one bug reported by MME and Eli, but I might have overdone it.
Well, this game should please both the cat loving and cat hating crowd! I was planning to add some text in the end game if you threw too many cats away, but didn't have the time :-)
Nice concept but I dont see relationship with the theme. Graphics are not pretty and there are no sounds. But idea is interesting and it's a fun little simulation. Great job !
As for the relationship with the theme, artificial selection by plant and dog breeders (in a very similar way as you do in this game) was one of Darwin's main inspirations for his theory of evolution.
I had some confusion in getting it to run. I didn't realize I was supposed to run java on the .zip file..
Once I got it running, I found it pretty engaging to breed cats and sell them to people that I had varying dispositions to, which affected how willing I was to sell to them on days that I didn't really need to sell every cat I could. It could definitely use a little more variety, some graphical love, and some sound effects and music and atmosphere and all that. There's definitely a fun core going on here, though, so nice job!
at java.util.ArrayList.get(Unknown Source)
at ld24.TradingState.mousePressed(TradingState.java:173)
at org.newdawn.slick.state.StateBasedGame.mousePressed(StateBasedGame.java:501)
at org.newdawn.slick.Input.poll(Input.java:1207)
at org.newdawn.slick.GameContainer.updateAndRender(GameContainer.java:635)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$Container.runloop(AppletGameContainer.java:514)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$ContainerPanel.start(AppletGameContainer.java:218)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$1.run(AppletGameContainer.java:92)
I had... Errr... 5 kittens? 3 adults? And I sold two kittens to two little girls. Happened on the second one.