Lead your army of oranges, bananas and potatoes in a heroic quest to save your fly.
Warning: the gameplay takes about 20-40 minutes and rating based only on the first 30 seconds of the gameplay makes me sad.
If you get stuck, I made a complete walkthrough video. If you're interested in the story, there's also a video made out of the story cutscenes. Links are below this description. The controls should be pretty straightforward: pick a unit, then a row and get at least 4 units to the enemy side. Warning: there are long story parts in between the actual game.
Loved the graphic style, liked the story, but the gameplay felt incredibly slow. I don't know if it was the scale of the units or what, but compared to every other line battler I've played that was almost glacial in pace.
I didn't realize right away that I had to mouse over to the sides of the screen to observe the entire battlefield. Story driven games aren't particularly my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed the mood and graphical style of this game.
Okay, I played through the entire game, and I am still confused. I think I get that the player and his opponent are the same person; and I'm guessing the entire game is just "your" imagination playing out a few random items on your desk, but I'm still just very confused about the whole premise. Maybe I missed something.
In any case, the presentation was good, but the gameplay was a bit lacking. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the levels just seemed like a slow grind. I didn't see much of an advantage using any unit except sometimes the clock, and it seemed most effective to just rush either the top or bottom lane with oranges and hope that the spawns are on the opposite side.
I think the game play would be better if the different units actually felt like they had more drastic advantages/disadvantages than what was shown, and maybe if the gameplay was fast or if you could see the whole level at once, it would feel less tedious.
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ViliX6424 Aug 2015, 04:34
@dalbinblue The story should be about the fight between your inner irrational part. I should have made that clearer. That's the problem with surrealism, you never entirely knwo what it means. Thanks for your constructive critics though :)
@ViliX64 no problem. I think the story might have been a little more clear if near the end and in the end scene with the mirror, that the "opposition" was a little more overt about either helping, or getting the the "imaginary" head to realize that there is something deeply wrong. I think a more dramatic mirror scene might have also helped (not sure if that means anything to you, but I have something in my head that's hard to describe).
I think your game length estimate is a little optimistic. I played for an hour and got to the second to last level. The gameplay feels sluggish, and the maps drag on indefinitely with neither side able to press any advantage. The overall speed of the units, and the rate you gain units could be increased, and more information should be surfaced (like health bars) so that the player can see what's happening and intuit what to do differently.
The art and setting is very good. The dialog feels a bit heavy handed, but overall I found that side of the game interesting and cool.
I tried the final level a few times before giving up and watching the last part on the YouTube video. Solid game, but I don't think the gameplay matches well with the story. The story is deliberate and well-paced, while the gameplay (in my experience) devolved into spamming a set rotation of enemies and hoping it would eventually pay off.
One writing critique: The phrase "Isn't it absurd to die for what you've until recently lived for?" is difficult to parse; I'd break it up into two sentences. "You've lived for this until recently. Isn't it absurd to die for it?"
Generally, the art is excellent and the mood is on the right side of surreal without being too much. I dig it!
The mood is amazing, and although some find it boring, I actually really liked the gameplay, it's my kind of game. I would have preferred there to have been more enemy types though. I didn't really get the story and would of preferred to have skipped it by the third cut scene as the walking takes too long. Good fun though, nice!
Gameplay is so slow as to be incomprehensible. Didn't make it past the first "battle" and not for want of trying. Five minutes of throwing apples and oranges at lanes before I realised you could scroll. Some instructions would be nice.
I adore surreal stuff like this, but I tend to agree that the gameplay feels ridiculously slow. You captured a mood perfectly though with the polished pixel art and music. I enjoyed it!
Nice feeling in the game. I didn't figure out what you can do in the game, but the still feeling in the music and graphics makes up for lack of action.
I think people are just impatient, most games in the jam are very fast paced.
Yes it's a bit slow but I have played games in similar genre(warfare 1944) and they were only slightly faster. The game play actually involved strategy to win and when you introduced the new units the level was modeled after them. like when you introduced fast units there was almost no cover on the level, when you introduced clocks there were many enemies in cover. I hated those enemy pots man.....too strong! Game play was among the best so far out of the games I played. Graphics pretty unique. Audio was bad but glad there is a mute button. Over all excellent game.
Nice graphics which sets the mood of the game pretty neatly. But the game is too slow, walking needs spamming on mouse clicks. Also, it wouldn't load when I choose my first destination. So, I could not continue playing afterwards.
Interesting game - took a bit of poking around to figure out what I was supposed to do. Liked the surreal atmosphere but it felt slow (esp with 2000+ other games to try)
I really like the visuals but the story is way too vague to understand what was going. Combat felt unnecessarily drawn out, it needed to be much faster.
Mood is really good. Piano sounds b/w and stuff. Gameplay was ok. I just wish thing were a bit faster. Ganerally i rushed levels on one lane but even though it was fairly balnced for a 48 hour game. Well done! (Also i didnt get story very well. But from your comment i get a little bit of idea yeah. I will have thoughts like this from now on. My wallet is trying to kill kinda stuff B))
The music, the art (especially the very first scene) were good. The gameplay felt slow; what really shone to me was the story. I'm not sure I completely understand it but I know I like it a lot. Great interpretation of the theme! :)
I love the mood you set here. I didn't play through the whole story, but long enough to get an idea of the game. A very interesting take on the theme and I think you did a nice job.
I think this is a really good game. Both gameplay and storywise. It's a strategy game. It's not too slow, not too fast, ok the units come a little slowly but it's acceptable, especially when you compare it to the music and the whole setting because everything is melancholic. And that's cool. The art is beautiful and interesting. I won't pretend I understood the story, but it does make me think, and that's the point. Definitely a great entry
I was so sad to let poor potetoes die for me while I used the poor clockwatches and apples finghting until die too... :'(
I noticed a bit late that the shoots made the random piano note, very nice touch.
I quickly realized for the "irrational", but I have not guessed the struggle with himself before the end of the game. I was focused on the idea that the battlefield was a real battlefield, and that the hero considered these units as mere objects of no value. (it was a beautiful metaphor)
Game mechanics requires thinking, congratulations for that!
Really awesome in the mood stakes. Love the surrealism. And the audio is very effective. The gameplay is pretty crazy, and I didn't get how it ties in with the story. Could also do with some explanation of why you're getting these fruit and things to the end, and why you need 4 of them. And also some feedback for when you actually succeed in getting one to the end.
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I didn't quite get why I was throwing little orange and banana men in three different lanes, but it was still fun, so who cares! :)
Nice little game!
In any case, the presentation was good, but the gameplay was a bit lacking. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the levels just seemed like a slow grind. I didn't see much of an advantage using any unit except sometimes the clock, and it seemed most effective to just rush either the top or bottom lane with oranges and hope that the spawns are on the opposite side.
I think the game play would be better if the different units actually felt like they had more drastic advantages/disadvantages than what was shown, and maybe if the gameplay was fast or if you could see the whole level at once, it would feel less tedious.
Thanks for your constructive critics though :)
The art and setting is very good. The dialog feels a bit heavy handed, but overall I found that side of the game interesting and cool.
One writing critique: The phrase "Isn't it absurd to die for what you've until recently lived for?" is difficult to parse; I'd break it up into two sentences. "You've lived for this until recently. Isn't it absurd to die for it?"
Generally, the art is excellent and the mood is on the right side of surreal without being too much. I dig it!
I don't thinkt they can handle complex numbers :D
A strange gameplay idea and a strange mood..
You.. you did a good job, well done! :D
Yes it's a bit slow but I have played games in similar genre(warfare 1944) and they were only slightly faster. The game play actually involved strategy to win and when you introduced the new units the level was modeled after them. like when you introduced fast units there was almost no cover on the level, when you introduced clocks there were many enemies in cover. I hated those enemy pots man.....too strong! Game play was among the best so far out of the games I played. Graphics pretty unique. Audio was bad but glad there is a mute button. Over all excellent game.
some sounds would make it really great.
Combat felt unnecessarily drawn out, it needed to be much faster.
good job!
I noticed a bit late that the shoots made the random piano note, very nice touch.
I quickly realized for the "irrational", but I have not guessed the struggle with himself before the end of the game. I was focused on the idea that the battlefield was a real battlefield, and that the hero considered these units as mere objects of no value. (it was a beautiful metaphor)
Game mechanics requires thinking, congratulations for that!
This game is one of my favorites, good work!
Good graphic work as well. :)