It’s been forever* since I last made a game with you. That’s a pretty long time. I tried to make another one multiple times, but always gave up.
I also gave up yesterday.
But the game idea wouldn’t let me go, and so I had to start working on it again today. Don't expect wonders though, I lost a lot of time. In fact, better don't expect anything at all.
And now, without any further ado...
The Ludum Dare Flame 🔥 is a massively multiplayer online cooperative clicker-type game about keeping a fire burning. How long can the LD community keep the fire🔥 alive? Will any trees be left in the end? What is your True Animal Name? Find the answer to these questions and more at https://the-ludum-dare-flame.herokuapp.com!
- Number of simultaneous players: ∞ - Playtime: ∞ - Available fun per player: 1/∞
I used base code ripped out of another one of my projects for the basic React/node.js/socket.io/MongoDB/Typescript project, because making JavaScript projects without a template leads only to madness. You can see that base code in the second commit. I also used the NameChange component from that base project because I felt too lazy to code it again. Everything else was made during the jam.
Game-breaking bugfixes after the deadline: - Made two variables local instead of global to prevent players from influencing each others state when leaving. - Only one tab per player to prevent massive botting operations. (Please don't bot at all. Thanks!)
PS: If you comment here, I'll play/rate/comment on yours too. Thanks for playing my game! :sparkles:
I really enjoyed this as a departure from working on my Jam. It was very clean/elegant and made me feel like I knew what I was doing. There's a sense of accomplishment that comes from other people working with you to create a large fire.
Rated! Like @matt-d-parker said, this is not only great to play while I finish my jam, it's also really fun!! I did not expect an "MMO" from a game jam at all.
Really neat concept. You don't see multiplayer games in LD that often. One cheese I've found is to open up multiple tabs to get more wood faster :) Would love to see this reach a bunch of concurrent players at once.
Updated review: I have now seen this reach a bunch of concurrent players at once, and it's just as glorious as I imagined. Really cool to see people taking on specialized roles to keep the fire alive most efficiently!
Thank you very much, @louis-hong and @matt-d-parker! The main reason I almost gave up on the game was because I thought the mechanics wouldn't be fun and the game wouldn't have much value apart from the achievement of being massively online cooperative, so seeing that you actual enjoy playing it feels great!
@lectvs, thanks! Don't worry, I don't consider it cheese since it's more work for that one player and I see the game more as a coop marathon than a sprint. And one of my core values in LD multiplayer games is that while they should shine when played with a crowd, they should also be possible to be played alone.
(And what I'm really hoping for is a bunch of *consecutive* players to keep the flame alive for a long time :D)
@tobiasw from my favourite book Creative Inc. from the founder of Pixar.
“People who take on complicated creative projects become lost at some point in the process. It is the nature of things—in order to create, you must internalize and almost become the project for a while, and that near-fusing with the project is an essential part of its emergence. But it is also confusing. Where once a movie’s writer/director had perspective, he or she loses it. Where once he or she could see a forest, now there are only trees. The details converge to obscure the whole, and that makes it difficult to move forward substantially in any one direction. The experience can be overwhelming.” ― Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
really interesting concept here, I wasn't able to play at a time with lots of others on but I think coordination is super valuable to help keep a fire going here - very important that chat is included! I would like to see an expansion on the concept of a multiplayer clicker game or even just more expansive progression in this game, it definitely has potential.
It is a really simple concept "keep a fire alive with other people" but it is a really fun and in my opinion polished game. The little text which pops up if someone joins, leaves or does something really makes it feel like you are in it together with other people and that's awesome in my opinion. So really well done, I enjoyed it very much!
Wow this game is amazingly cool. I wish I played earlier im sure there would have been more people, but this is such an interesting concept! I loved all of it! Great job.
This game is so *simple* yet so *interesting*. I've never seen a multiplayer idle game before but I hope I see more of them now because it's such a neat and interesting idea. It's like sitting in an IRC channel chatting with strangers, but being able to do something menial while you chat. It's like sitting around an *actual* fire in the middle of a forest. Amazing!
This is a really interesting idea. I really enjoyed sitting down a playing this for few minutes :) I really like how simple the game is and how it keeps you busy but also isn't super brain intensive! Great Job!!
A multiplayer cooperative idle game, that's a new one. A very interesting concept, and fits the theme very well. There's a lot of further potential for a concept like this in my eyes.
It is a simple game, but it is executed effectively. Very well done!
Thanks for rating my game! Here to provide some feedback for yours (I'm playing while writing this!):
I agree with everyone else, this is a lovely idea. I can see you made the page responsive, so props for that. There's not much on the side of art but you used an orange/red an green tones that go well with each other. However, while the simplicity is nice and helps locate the elements easily it would have been great to make it feel a little more alive to add some more custom styles and art, even if kept in the background.
Thanks for making this, hope to see more games from you in the five years to come!
This is such a neat concept :D Really wish more people played/ stayed though, especially because you could simply idle and only show up once in a while, like chatrooms back in the day. Thank you for delivering this great project!
Wow, I didn't know games like this could exist here. Simple, but great idea and features, feels like a hub with friends. I wonder how long it will remain.
Great take on the theme and very innovative too. Would like to see it fleshed out more. Would be great if you could earn upgrades and some automation the more you play. I think being able to idle more would encourage players (or a certain section of them anyway) to stick around a lot longer.
This is super cool, much different than the usual Ludum Dare game. I like how co-operative it is and how I can just pop in occasionally for a few minutes to see how things are going. Nice work!
Great concept game. Reminds me of that paperclip game a bit (https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/). If you're interested in another ld46 multiplayer game, check out mine (though I only saw multiple people playing on the first night of the jam...).
Really cool and interesting take on the theme! Surprising thing is it actually works and is fun! Often these ideas are poorly executed leading to people losing interest. But, somehow, it seems to have built a community around it! Really amazing job!
This is excellent! I really like the concept and the simplicity of the design. It is an example that you don't need to have good graphics (or graphics at all to make a good game). It could definitely be a bit more complicated and have a few more features, to keep the players engaged for longer. I am really eager to see how this will evolve after ludum dare ends. Again congratulations!
This is such a great idea and very addicting! It has given me hours of entertainment beyond just the game play. Superb job! Keep up the wonderful work!
Pretty fun, I wanted to grow the forest a bit. So, I decided to stoke the fire to 50. That meant nobody had time to chop down trees, and the forest grew from 10 to 33. The moment we reached 50 and I stopped stoking the fire, it fell back down to 10 XD.
I enjoyed sitting at the fire with kindred spirits, watching the flamy float go up and down, interacting now and then. Thank you for this very social experience! I guess not having any graphics was a good choice to make as it avoids exagerated user interaction and sets the focus more on the long-term use. Thumbs up!
I saw it and I was like "Ho ok I get it, not gonna play long" ... 30 minutes later I'm fighting for our fire to survive! Also loved the mood regarding of the minimalist look of the game! Good job! Extra point for originality!
EDIT : Turns out I spent two hours on this game! Officially the game I've played the most this LD!
This is really addictive (curse you, I just wanted to play one last game before going to bed, now I have to stay up to feed the fire and make trees grow)
The multiplayer part is a very good addition. I was a bit I'd be playing alone since I only found this game pretty late in the rating period, but actually there were a few other people there.
It is a really nice community idea and it is pretty amazing that you had the fire burning non-stop for 2.5 days! Surprising and refreshing. Gameplay is, well, exceedingly simple - not much to say here :wink: and it didn't really grab me. But I can surely see how people can get into it.
This is super interesting, I don't think I've ever seen an MMO clicker game before. This seems super novel and challenging to build in a weekend (at least to me, someone who has basically no experience networked games. This actually sparks a lot of ideas in me, which is really cool! Great work!
Having a MMO to play, definitely a cool thing. I can already see that at this point over 6000 people have played it. One of the most innovative ideas I've seen in the compo so far. Definitely going to delve into the source code on this one to understand how this was all put together. Probably the first game that's ever driven me to go do that.
Thanks for bringing your game by my stream for us to check out. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to it while you were there, but I was able to catch up on some of my queue later that week. If you'd like to watch, the highlight can be found at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/617517569
I myself do the streaming and recording of passages for different games. I can immediately tell those who are going to start this too that you must be able to find a good video editor for yourself. In addition, if you have a game theme, you are likely to produce 3-5 clips a day and just no time to mount them on heavyweight programs. That's why I found https://www.fastreel.com/slideshow-maker.html here, I often use it to make fun slideshows, and the rest of the editing too. It is an online editor, you can open it directly from your browser. So be sure to take a look at it and get acquainted with it. Good luck.
\*holds up a Man in Black Neuralyzer\*
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