Terraforming Cookie Tower

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.46
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.29
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.73
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.22
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.30
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.07
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.93
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.15
Help strange creature eat cookies and reach the top of the infinite Terraforming Tower


Development tools:
- Unity 3D
- Visual Studio
- Bosco Ceoil
- Photoshop

Controls
- Use W, A, S, D to move
- Spend your cookies in shop using the "Buy" button

So, that's my first Ludum Dare and I think it's pretty nice (for the 15 years-old-boy's first Ludum Dare):)
Also, there are some trendy rogue-like/rogue-lite mechanics, that are pretty funny, and the AMAZING (maybe) soundtrack

UPD I published my game here https://erendelous.itch.io/terraforming-cookie-tower so I can regularly update it and make better there, like PostLD thing. Currently, I'm working on "global" update to publish it there.

UPD 1.1

- made using of the shop more comfortable with the Space button
- made tutorial on the right side kinda easier to understand
- enemies don't hug the exit now
- bug fixes

Enjoy!

screenshot

Comments59

lsummers
lsummers13 Aug 2018, 06:03
The ZIP is actually a RAR file, so probably won't work for most people. The art style is great, and reminds me a lot of Guild of Dungeoneering, I was a little confused about how to play, but once I understood it I thought you nailed the theme. I enjoyed playing it :)
leviathon
leviathon13 Aug 2018, 06:04
how many floors are there by the way?
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 06:06
@leviathon the tower is infinite, so it's kinda rogue-like/lite thing)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 06:08
@lsummers thanks, I'll fix the ZIP/RAR thing

UPD fixed, now there should be ZIP archives
Mazzletov
Mazzletov13 Aug 2018, 06:29
Wow, it was hard (?) as I didn't expect that and the respawn is pretty fast. I would have already died before I saw we restarted the game. Great work!
Endurion
Endurion13 Aug 2018, 06:33
It's kinda difficult and it feels esp. random. Either you're lucky and there's only a few enemies or you're dead meat.
Maybe make the first few floors a tad easier, and also slower to shrink would help.
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 06:36
@endurion thanks for the feedback! I'll think about it. To be honest, in the first version the main character was growing even faster and the prices in "shop" were kinda 20 and 10 cookies:)
Memel06
Memel0613 Aug 2018, 07:41
Nice theme, the game is very challenging and hard to play!
Maybe the graphics needs some love (UI mainly) but hey, that's a 48h work, it's great!

Thanks for your work, and please give your idea some love working on a Post Jam version (maybe in WebGL!)

Have a nice day pal!
winnie33
winnie3313 Aug 2018, 07:41
No idea if I'm missing something, but this game is really hard. 10% of the time I'll get past level one, but after that it's near impossible to get to level 3. The concept and upgrades all seem really fun but it's no use if the floor is gone after 3 seconds.

The idea with cookies is fun though, and I like the upgrades as well. If I actually had the time to buy them this game would be 10 times better :)

So, great game but sadly too hardcore for me.
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 07:46
@memel06 thanks! Yeah, WebGl version is pretty good idea)
Gulfick13 Aug 2018, 07:47
Is it endless game? If yes, maybe here need some score.
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 07:48
@winnie33 Yeah, it's really that hard, so you need to be pretty fast to reach the next level) Thanks for your feedback:)
Stillnotsure13 Aug 2018, 07:49
It's a really cool take on the theme. Only 1 life feels a bit harsh considering the random AI, sometimes you just get unlucky.
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 07:49
@gulfick yeah, it's endless. You can see the highest floor you've ever reached in the top left room corner)
winnie33
winnie3313 Aug 2018, 07:51
@erendelous Ah, I just noticed on your gif! You don't _need_ to collect all the cookies on every floor (that was what I was doing). I got confused by the text next to the screen saying "... eating all :cookie: on the way". It goes a lot better now :)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 07:52
@stillnotsure it's kinda random, indeed. You know, in early version there were extra lifes, but they worked pretty bad. Right now I have new extra life idea, thanks to you:)maybe i'll add it later)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 07:54
@winnie33 :smile: yeah, you don't really need to eat ALL the cookies, it's just better if you want to spend them on something, but it's quite complicated to collect all the cookies on the floor and move to the next one :sweat_smile:
RavenFlame13 Aug 2018, 08:49
That's tricky. Love the idea, need to pray to the RNG gods before you play ha ha.
TontonPizza
TontonPizza13 Aug 2018, 10:57
good job for your first LD. all the comments are full of good advices. I ll just add that the music should not restart after each level, its killing the brain ^^ (or maybe that's how it loops)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 11:59
@tontonpizza it really restarts each level, that's because I made the music in last hours and, maybe, didn't really pay to it the attention it needs) Thanks for the feedback!
ngUpsiLoN
ngUpsiLoN13 Aug 2018, 15:25
Love the idea, but the game itself lacks feedback, and the movements of the ennemies are too random (sometimes you just can't reach the exit).

But once again I think it's a really interesting approach of the theme, GG o/ :D
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 15:29
@ngupsilon yeah, movements of the enemies are really kinda random, but it's because the gameplay shouldn't be too easy. I'll think about difficulty levels. Thanks for the feedback :smile:
ngUpsiLoN
ngUpsiLoN13 Aug 2018, 15:39
@erendelous yeah I understand :D but still, keep in mind that if difficulty come from random only, it feels unfair for the player. If I were you, I would try to find a way to make the game difficult without just being random (just adding more ennemies could do the trick) :smile:
XCVZXC
XCVZXC13 Aug 2018, 15:53
Great game! its maybe slightly too random, but fun to play anyway
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 15:59
@xcvzxc Thanks for your feedback! Yeah, it's pretty random:)
thebmxeur13 Aug 2018, 16:29
Collision detection seems a bit off to me, also several time enemies just hug the exit letting no way to progress. Why not make the "buy" thing bound to "space" so it's easy to access ?
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 16:58
@thebmxeur ok, i'm currently working on update, so I'll add the space-button-using :) thanks for the idea)
Noam
Noam13 Aug 2018, 18:31
Good game, fun to play. I suggest adding a menu. Well done.
Chocolat-Endive
Chocolat-Endive13 Aug 2018, 18:33
It's quite difficult and random, but eating cookies is cool. With a gameover with high scores, it could be cool!
Allan Kong
Allan Kong13 Aug 2018, 18:33
The sprites look crisp, the music and game gets a little repetitive over time.
Maybe add a variety of enemies and a different door location
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 18:34
@noam Thanks for your feedback:) I'll think about adding a menu)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 18:35
@chocolat-endive thanks for the feedback :smile: there's the highest floor you've ever reached on top left corner of the room, but I'll think about kinda gameover screen)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 18:39
@allan-kong thanks for the feedback) Yeah, it's pretty cool idea about adding new enemies, maybe i'll add it later (if it isn't against the rules of compo about adding something to the published game)
Erendelousauthor13 Aug 2018, 18:54
@allan-kong or add something pretty small, but a variety of enemies and a different door aren't that small things. thanks for your feedback anyway, i hope you enjoyed the game :smile:
sankacoffee5113 Aug 2018, 22:52
It kinda hurts the eyes after passing levels one after the another, I reached level 35, but it was not very fun, I liked the concept of the shrinking world, but it's too fast-paced for me
Rilifon13 Aug 2018, 23:12
its quite a simple game. I would appreciate more if the bgm would loop instead of repeating everytime
amras0000
amras000013 Aug 2018, 23:41
I think everything I wanted to say has been said already but I'll just repeat it:
The game is way too easy. Ignore the cookies. Press "W", "D", "W" for about a second each, and win. Again and again. The instructions tell you to reach the "top" but I got to over 100 levels with no end in sight. And since the music resets at the start of each level I got treated to the first 1.5 seconds of your music over and over and over again, which started to annoy me a couple dozen levels in.

Small things you could do to fix the game: make the enemies start in random locations, rather than always at the center (just make sure they don't spawn on the player!). Make the music keep playing across levels, instead of restarting. Make the goal to collect cookies, rather than reach further levels. Make each consecutive level harder - faster enemies, more enemies, more cookies.

I don't think this is a bad game in design or in execution, but it's horribly broken right now, and the optimal strategy makes for really bad gameplay.
Erendelousauthor14 Aug 2018, 05:24
@sankacoffee51 @rilifon @amras0000 thank you for invaluable feedback:) yeah, I know there are some problems with music and randomness, but, hey, I had only 48h) The tower doesn't really have the top right now, because the game is about rogue-like/lite experience. But I'll think about adding it. Collecting cookies was the main goal in the first version, that wasn't published, but, as for me, the gameplay was quite monotous. I think, that I can make some small changes here, so I'll make the update with some fixes as soon as I can (but, unfortunately, I can't add cookie highscore, because it's like new feature/big change). I hope you enjoyed the game :smile:
aaranos
aaranos14 Aug 2018, 05:24
The updates put in kind of break the rules of the compo. Fixing bugs is good, but quality of life improvements are new additions not fixes. Please make use of versions to have one that was for the submission with whatever bug fixes are put in, and one for post ludum dare with new features if you continue to develop for it.
Erendelousauthor14 Aug 2018, 05:27
@aaranos yeah, I think, I'll just publish my game on itch.io and leave here a link, so here will be just bug fixed LD version, and on itch.io I'll make important updates)
ZenriS
ZenriS14 Aug 2018, 12:01
Cool game and who don't like cookies. Think maybe the shrinking should smart slow and speed up the higher you go.
limered14 Aug 2018, 12:09
Cool. Sometimes i couldn't get the cookies because they were unter an enemy. I wish you good luck with your worldwide realease!
Erendelousauthor14 Aug 2018, 12:09
@zenris nice idea, maybe, i'll add it to the game! Thanks for the feedback:)
Erendelousauthor14 Aug 2018, 12:16
@limered thank you really much:) yeah, cookies sometimes are too close to enemies, I'm currently fixing that!
AwiX
AwiX15 Aug 2018, 06:34
A good game idea, the music should be improved. The graphics are good.
But our game is better)))
Erendelousauthor15 Aug 2018, 07:12
@awix strange comment, lol. I had 48h, not 72, and worked alone... But, hey, thanks, your game is not really bad, too:)
Nitin Kumar17 Aug 2018, 16:47
Good Game. Could be improved. Would be better if turn based but it would take away the frantic that it currently causes. Maybe give different spawns or a diminishing area in a different sense.
LastLeaf
LastLeaf17 Aug 2018, 17:02
Quite challenging. I think first several levels should shrink slower. Anyway it is still nice and fun to play!
Erendelousauthor17 Aug 2018, 18:35
@nitin-kumar thank you! turn-based system is too slow, and I want to make the gameplay as fast as it can be, but I'll think about different spawns :) Please, rate the game on itch.io, if you can)
Erendelousauthor17 Aug 2018, 18:36
@lastleaf thanks) pretty good idea about slower shrinking on the first levels, maybe I'll add it :smile:
It would be amazing if you could rate the game on itch.io :)
n.feofentov
n.feofentov17 Aug 2018, 20:22
Cool idea) I found bug: sometimes shop window is left on screen after passing the level. I guess it happens when level door and shop are close to each other. Good luck!
Erendelousauthor18 Aug 2018, 05:25
@n-feofentov tahnks for the feedback! Yeah, there's that bug, I'll fix it in the next UPD:)
Irhileth21 Aug 2018, 19:38
The game time made me a little crazy. The screen shrinks very quickly to have enough time to read and choose what bonus the cookies gave me, and they are not very useful for a level so short.
Jazmin Giolito21 Aug 2018, 19:43
I think this is a nice idea, overall. I do think, as well, that there are some things to polish or reconsider, if you plan to continuing working on this game.
This is a quite hardcore game. Those are not my kind of games, tbh... but, even so, I played it for quite a long time.
My major observation has to do with audio. I like where you aimed for with the style, but I'd recommend to have the music looping "independently". That way, it wouldn't restart every time the player dies and the "scene" loads again.

Great entry!
Erendelousauthor22 Aug 2018, 07:22
@irhileth @jazmin-giolito thank you for the feedback!) Yeah, cookies aren't really useful sometimes, I'm currently working on that problem. And I'm working on audio problems, too! In itch.io version, music isn't as crazy as it is in LD version

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