
Ludum Dare #40compo
Winter Break

CONTROL
You control the ice-paddle, WASD to move.
STORY
The children are starting a snowball fight. Will you show them how to make a snowman, or fight back instead?
HOW TO WIN
The game is over if you make 16 snowmen, or win the snowball fight (no more kids left).
1. Direct the snowballs to the middle of the screen to build the snowman.
2. For every snowman you complete, the ice-paddle will extend!
3. If you prefer, direct the snowballs at the kids. They will run home.
THEME: The more you have, the worse it is.
This theme applies in 3 ways:
1. More snowballs, harder to return them back.
2. Size of ice-paddle extends, and slows down, harder to handle.
3. More kids throwing snowballs
WINDOWS
Extract the entire zip contents and navigate inside the folder. Then double-click `ldjam.exe`
LINUX
Extract the entire zip contents and navigate to the folder in your favourite terminal.
Make the binary executable:
```
chmod +x ldjam
```
To use the included SFML 2 library files (required if you dont have SFML 2.4):
```
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.
```
Run the game:
```
./ldjam
```
BUILDING FROM SOURCE
These are rough guidelines off the top of my head, please only follow this if you know what the commands do.
The game depends on SFML 2.4 and CMake.
Extract the entire zip contents and navigate to the folder in your favourite terminal.
```
mkdir build
cd build
ln -s ../data data
cmake ..
make
```

Tools: SFML
Comments18


shrapx5 Dec 2017, 15:40
You have a point. I wanted the bigger bat to be unwieldy and slidey, but it is not very noticeable :(
Maybe.. I should have started with a huge bat and then brought it down to a tiny bat! Thankyou :D
Maybe.. I should have started with a huge bat and then brought it down to a tiny bat! Thankyou :D
botreats5 Dec 2017, 17:30
It seemed to get easier as I progressed; I found initially that it was very hard to control until I grew in size. The art is very nice.

cortexdeveloper5 Dec 2017, 17:33
+1 for PixelArt
JohnStapler5 Dec 2017, 19:02
Looks really good!
Badly Drawn Rod5 Dec 2017, 20:35
Getting kids in the face with snowballs is a surprisingly guilty pleasure. I think the difficulty needs to ramp up a bit more quickly, eg, by making the bat more obviously slower as it gets bigger, but overall it works really well.

mahalis6 Dec 2017, 02:48
I like this! The gameplay is pretty simple, but trying to direct snowballs either to the center or at the kids is an interesting challenge. Good artwork too - the snow falling in the background is a nice touch. Nice work.

zantze6 Dec 2017, 17:23
Surprisingly good Mood
Pepri6 Dec 2017, 17:30
The mood and graphics are really good! I didn't feel like it got worse the more kids/snowmen/snowballs were there though because there seems to be no way to lose the game
oson6 Dec 2017, 18:07
The ambient sound and the graphics go really well together and set a frosty atmosphere. I felt it was to easy to crush a snowball tho, and the overall pace was a little bit slow for my taste. Nice game!

sunnray6 Dec 2017, 18:17
I've built all the snowmen, aiming exactly at the kids would have been harder I suppose. The atmosphere of the game is great, music, even though repetitive, fits really well.

muromets7 Dec 2017, 01:58
Loved the mood of the game, and very nicely done gameplay, it did however felt not as hard as I expected, maybe for the best, cause it does get the feeling of a relaxing and casual game transmitted

Zinkler8 Dec 2017, 12:53
The game becomes easier with each snowman after the third one - by this time it's quite easy to just hit the snowballs without even aiming anywhere. The snowballs anyway land on children or a new snowmen on their own. The game doesn't feel to be harder. The mood, the graphics and the audio are great though!
Clemzd9 Dec 2017, 22:11
The mood is good and graphics is cool. I would be honest, I didn't finish the game because I found it quite repetitive. There should be changes as you play the game (sorry don't have idea). It does not really fits the theme too me because it gets easier and easier.

TimBeaudet10 Dec 2017, 00:29
I streamed this, you can probably dig up the VoD, however; the graphics looked pretty good, consistent across the board. The "particles" / sheet for snow was effective and not distracting. The see-through boxes stood out as a bit of any eye-sore as they didn't really fit with the rest of the environment. Maybe have them be tall buildings, telephone poles, tree or some other object.
Gameplay: It felt like the game played itself, I had to take a momentary break and when I returned there were many snowmen created. So I restarted. It also feels like the start paddle is a bit too small, although grows pretty quick and I'm not sure it was getting more difficult as the game went on. Finally the end screen, "game over" made it feel like I lost when I'm pretty sure that was the win screen, but otherwise solid effort, good job!
Gameplay: It felt like the game played itself, I had to take a momentary break and when I returned there were many snowmen created. So I restarted. It also feels like the start paddle is a bit too small, although grows pretty quick and I'm not sure it was getting more difficult as the game went on. Finally the end screen, "game over" made it feel like I lost when I'm pretty sure that was the win screen, but otherwise solid effort, good job!

shrapx10 Dec 2017, 03:18
Oh man. Lamp posts would have been perfect for those side walls. If only i thought of it sooner! xD
Kashif11 Dec 2017, 03:39
Nice use of pong mechanics in a unique setting.

jjjjason11 Dec 2017, 06:22
Cool! Really neat inversion of the breakout-style game, as well as appropriately winter themed! It's sort of comforting that it doesn't get too hard, especially since you're ultimately playing in the snow :)
Also definitely appreciated how you posted full build instructions in the description! Even though not a lot of people are going to be building our games from source, I appreciate how you adhere to the open-source spirit of LD.
Also definitely appreciated how you posted full build instructions in the description! Even though not a lot of people are going to be building our games from source, I appreciate how you adhere to the open-source spirit of LD.


I just didn't see the theme that much, because the more snowmen I saw the better I got at the game thanks to the increased bat size.
But otherwise, nice fluid gameplay!