FOR THE darWIN

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.99
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.70
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.59
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.06
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.60
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.55
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.05
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.59
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
Charles Darwin must dig the soils of a Galapagos island looking for fossil evidence to prove his theory of evolution. Search for sequences of skulls and avoid your pundits. The more evidence of evolution you uncover, the bigger the points!

GO FOR THE darWIN!

CONTROLS:
- Move / Jump / Dig: WASD
- Sequence Fossils: NUM PAD

HINT! Here are the correct skull sequences for both skull types:
http://cl.ly/image/392f371m1S3g

Programming / Design / Sound: Travis Chen (@travischen)
Art / Animation: Nolan Fabricius (@shiftlesshobo)

Genres: puzzle

Comments72

camdensegal
camdensegal27 Aug 2012, 20:02
Really cute graphics I love all the skulls, and even the preach/admonish sound effect. I could see adding some more enemies and a larger map or a non-time-based goal adding to the fun.
Frozen Fractal
Frozen Fractal27 Aug 2012, 20:08
Love the name! Love the graphics even more! Hate the preacher!
Pierrec27 Aug 2012, 21:47
Awesome game!
My only critic would be that the scoring system isn't very exciting. I don't know what could replace it though.
Everything else is excellent!
Amoaeba Junior28 Aug 2012, 02:23
Loved the graphics and the Numpad Inventory that was smart!
stevesefchick28 Aug 2012, 02:23
Awesome! The graphics, audio, and playstyle were all pretty awesome/adorable!
Would love to see more! Multiple rounds with new evolutions would be awesome! Great job!
Kassoon
Kassoon28 Aug 2012, 02:25
Awesome! Could use a goal. The preacher sfx is juuuuust right.
Glamdring28 Aug 2012, 02:26
This is my favorite so far! Loooove it. The sound effect when the bible thumper catches you is so great.
rhill28 Aug 2012, 02:36
Pretty fun. Couldn't figure out what the right sequence was for the bird. Tried it as though it was dinosaur to bird, got nothing, tried it backward, got nothing.
dalbinblue
dalbinblue28 Aug 2012, 02:43
Awesome game, fit the theme well and was quite fun once I figured out the correct sequences (I was going backwards on the bird thinking there was some strange continuation from bird to human).

Also, you get the award for the first time I activated the overlaid num lock on my laptop since I've bought it two years ago. It also caused me to write half this review bef6re 5 rea35zed n40 36c2 was st533 6n!
thewiseguy9928 Aug 2012, 04:32
Great game. Really enjoyed playing. Graphics are very good and the characters funny. Numpad ordering clever. Good job!!!
evilseanbot28 Aug 2012, 07:11
Now that's some polish there! Great job!
aschearer
aschearer28 Aug 2012, 08:19
Great art style. Interesting gameplay. It would be nice if there was some build up so that things got more challenging and required more thought as the player progresses.
Thurig28 Aug 2012, 12:15
Bookmarked.
Matt Rix28 Aug 2012, 15:19
Great looking game, and pretty fun too!
_AM_28 Aug 2012, 15:35
Fantastic work.
zzorn28 Aug 2012, 18:52
Very pretty, and quite fun for a while. Would benefit a lot from some level progression / additional skulls series as the game goes on.
robcozzens
robcozzens28 Aug 2012, 19:21
Really great. Cute graphics and nice controls.
Glamdring28 Aug 2012, 19:33
yeah I keep coming back to this one. Got 31050 without a numpad (go go gadget apple mini keyboard -.-) I might have to bust out ye old logitech keyboard collecting dust in a box so I can improve my score and win all the things.
rylgh28 Aug 2012, 20:01
Amazing, love the missionary guy.
dr_soda
dr_soda28 Aug 2012, 23:02
This is probably one of the best, most funny takes on the theme I've seen so far. The gameplay feels nice, the controls are responsive, and the characters are just really lively.
pjchardt
pjchardt29 Aug 2012, 05:06
Fun game, very addictive. Very funny as well :)
Cell29 Aug 2012, 05:46
Love the graphics :)
eyehawk29 Aug 2012, 06:24
Cool retro sprites and sounds! It reminds me of those old bitmap bros games on the amiga :) I couldn't quite figure out the sequences though.
ChronoDK29 Aug 2012, 07:20
Best graphics I have seen so far in this Ludum Dare - very nice! Game is pretty fun too - would love some more visibility of my scoring, and how it was calculated. It felt random to me.
Orni
Orni29 Aug 2012, 08:14
wow, that was tremendous fun!
very polished indeed - loved it
if you add one or two more gameplay mechanics (like for example sacrificing some fossils for a little fossil wall that blocks out the priest for a short time (of course this ability should have a cooldown)
but man, very well done
bobiniki
bobiniki29 Aug 2012, 08:42
Rated all 5 stars because this is my winer so far. The game is fun, the graphics are great, the music and sounds fit well, there is a lot of humor in the game's name and GOD THAD DIGGING ANIMATION xD for me it looks like Darwin is humping the ground xD
Great game it deserves to win!
juaxix29 Aug 2012, 11:49
This is so fun!
Religion vs Science, i'm not a partidary of no one but this game help us to not be so serious with stuff that does not matter at all :D thanks for your work ,art and time!
i'm laughting at the screen, good graphics!
Barry Abrams
Barry Abrams29 Aug 2012, 12:44
The amount of detail and character in the sprites is incredible.
hamster_mk_430 Aug 2012, 02:44
Darwin Runs like a ninja, digs like a ninja, and publishes controversial ideas like a ninja.
lanzz30 Aug 2012, 06:35
So... how would you order the skulls on a laptop that DOESN'T have an overlay numpad? Like, I don't know, anything Mac? Supporting the regular number keys as well as the numpad surely isn't that much of a problem.
GreyShock
GreyShock30 Aug 2012, 10:09
Nice pixelart there! Great concept and mechanics! Good job :)
imef30 Aug 2012, 14:26
I loved the graphics! It's a short, and yet fun game to play!
Ragzouken
Ragzouken30 Aug 2012, 15:01
Neat idea :) I couldn't figure out the correct sequences, wasn't sure if I even had all the right skulls. I think it might just be me, but I find it really annoying when games put the jump key in the same place as the movement ones - I find it hard to coordinate :(
monz30 Aug 2012, 15:21
Great game! The graphics is awesome.
tripleVisionGames30 Aug 2012, 18:57
Brilliant! Love the graphics they really suit the humour and the idea is really good. Really loads of fun really enjoyed it
BMacIntosh
BMacIntosh31 Aug 2012, 03:57
The design of this game is flawless. The art is also exceptional, and the animations are hilarious (Darwin's running animation is probably my favorite!). Nice job.
gnx31 Aug 2012, 14:07
Delightful and complete graphics, competent audio department.
It is a shame that the gameplay doesn't quite match these strong suits.

But still definitely one of the most awesome looking things around in this jam.
vigrid31 Aug 2012, 15:59
I like it - nicely done everything, especially the priest's nagging sound. I couldn't really figure out what sequences gave scores, but I enjoyed the game.
pereubu31 Aug 2012, 17:23
exellent art, liked it a lot D:
SaintHeiser1 Sep 2012, 03:09
Ahahah! How it addictive and fun! Really nice game! But so far from evolution IMHO.
zatyka
zatyka1 Sep 2012, 21:28
Great visuals. Cool concept but I feel like it was a bit underdeveloped.
SiENcE1 Sep 2012, 22:02
Haha fun game. I love the pixel style and the preacher.
amidos2006
amidos20062 Sep 2012, 16:02
Amazing concept :) and funny and I adored the pixels :)
yosh
yosh2 Sep 2012, 23:56
Pretty graphics and smooth animations... I like it!
matthias_zarzecki3 Sep 2012, 21:03
What a wonderful and approriate use of the numpad. Nice work!
Haddy22
Haddy226 Sep 2012, 21:14
Great game- very solid for a game jam. Art looks great- animations look great and game feels complete. 5/5 from me
jerombd7 Sep 2012, 21:24
Great entry with immediate fun!
Teknik
Teknik9 Sep 2012, 16:40
best game by far. everything about it was awesome. the animations were so funny and the whole gameplay was just great!! i hope you do more with it!
kddekadenz
kddekadenz9 Sep 2012, 17:20
Good graphics and sound, gameplay was ok but not amazing.
Kmad9 Sep 2012, 19:01
Fabulous looking game with a simple concept that's fun. Good work.
darkshadow
darkshadow9 Sep 2012, 19:28
Fun little game, can see how the num pad would be really useful, but trying to work out the link between the normal number keys and the grid was tricky. If you added to ability to click the boxes instead to sequence the fossils that would be really helpful for keyboards without num pads.

Still if that is the only criticism I can find that means that everything else was all pretty amazing!
Cake&Code9 Sep 2012, 21:08
Really awesome! A bit more explanation would have been nice, but after putting in the bird skulls backwards the first time I caught on pretty quick.

Really fun mechanics meet really solid controls. Great work! :)
BNeutral
BNeutral10 Sep 2012, 06:02
Hahaha amazing.
sfernald10 Sep 2012, 07:18
Really strong entry. Amazing graphics. In fact incredible graphics. Still trying to get through it but gameplay seems fun so far. Feels like a classic arcade game. Fantastic job!
KevinWorkman
KevinWorkman12 Sep 2012, 00:44
This is great. I had trouble figuring out what to do with the skulls, but this idea is wonderful and I'd love to see it expanded into a full game. Great job for 72 hours!
TravisChen
TravisChenauthor12 Sep 2012, 01:03
Thanks everybody for playing our game! Nolan and I have had a blast reading through the awesome comments you all have left. We're going to be posting a developer post-mortem sometime tonight. Stay tuned!

Also, for people stuck figuring out the skulls, here's the correct sequences for each skull type:
http://cl.ly/image/392f371m1S3g

Go for a high score! I'd love to see what scores people are getting. I've been able to get over 90k.

Cheers,
Travis
goerp12 Sep 2012, 19:32
It all fits, sounds and graphics style and theme. It looks funny and it IS funny.
There's just one thing: on my browser (Chrome on XP), not everything was visible. Only after seeing the screenshots I saw that there were THREE sequence positions. Maybe some autoscaling is possible or a notice telling people that its widescreen?
munchor
munchor12 Sep 2012, 23:14
Best game I played of all. THIS SHOULD REALLY WIN!
johnfn
johnfn13 Sep 2012, 00:01
Heh, very nice game. Really beautiful visuals. Some of the best looking clouds I've ever seen. :D But yeah really nice! I want to be able to throw the skulls at the preacher. haha.
johnfn
johnfn13 Sep 2012, 00:47
BTW, I managed to get the game to crash! I didn't collect skulls for a while and then boom stack overflow at:

at SkullSpawner/addSkull()[/Users/travischen/Flash/Evolution/src/SkullSpawner.as:44]

(lol yup, I was using the flash debugger at the time, so now I know the contents of your computer! haha! ha! ha!)

Anyway, I checked your source code and it looks like you're using recursion to choose the location of the new skull, but you don't take into account what would happen if there was no good place to put the skull. You may want to fix that ;-)
davidwparker13 Sep 2012, 01:30
The preacher thing was just annoying... interesting idea though. Great graphics and audio.
sP0CkEr213 Sep 2012, 03:58
really great game -- one of the best i played
Benjamin13 Sep 2012, 04:37
Fantastic I really like it ! I think the preacher freezing time is not a big handicap for the player, but make it longer would be frustrating. Maybe it could steal one of your skull ?
For the scoring system 1000/200/50 pts for skulls instead of 50 could add strategy : hunting only the valuable older skulls or focus on combo.
Great graphics and sounds ! I like the preacher voice :)
nseward
nseward13 Sep 2012, 16:01
Very fun game. It just had a great feel.
marudziik
marudziik13 Sep 2012, 21:03
Awesome entry, but everyone already said everything that is to say about it. :) Very playable. Great job!
Canard Sauvage15 Sep 2012, 14:55
This was really nice and a great example of a good ld game: Short, looks great, sound and music, hits the theme and is fun to play!
Jedi15 Sep 2012, 21:50
This is such a well-presented entry!

It looks like it would be right at home on the Super-Nintendo. :) 5*'s Overall, Graphics and Mood. 4* everything else.

I would have liked to see it more goal-oriented and less about trying to get the high-score. Otherwise, it's short, sweet and to the point. The perfect Jam entry!
kibertoad
kibertoad16 Sep 2012, 18:00
Cool idea and great graphics!
Fadobo16 Sep 2012, 19:13
Really great in pretty much every regard :)

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