Ludum Dare #52compo
Body Harvest!
For Ludum Dare 52 the Harvest theme was chosen. I saw a lot of people talking about ideas they wanted to do. I saw soul harvesting and regular farm harvesting were the most popular options. I wanted to do something a little outside of the box. Not to mention, my last two Ludum Dare games were a little silly and childish, I wanted to go for a more ominous vibe this time.
In Body Harvest, you are a mad scientist. You have an urge to create a monster you can call your own. The villagers don't think you can do it and they call you crazy. Body parts are pretty difficult to come by these days so you have to harvest body parts from the dead in the local cemetery. Once you harvest all the body parts you need, you can create your, VERY. OWN. MONSTER. *Cue thunder/lightning and flashing lights*.
I did the art, programming, animations, and audio from scratch by myself. It was my first time doing pixel art so I bounced around between 16bit and 32bit a lot. Then towards the end of the compo I thought I was running out of time so some art is rushed in high res instead of pixel art ( like the trees and outside of the laboratory ). I wish I had more time to get the animations smooth, but they'll do.
The controls are very simple, and the game is pretty short in general. However this turned out to be one of my favorite Ludum Dare entries! I hope you enjoy playing it, as much as I enjoyed making it!
W: Move Up
A: Move Left
S: Move Down
D: Move Right
Enter: Interact
Things I didn't get around to:
• Better animations, directional animations for each type of movement.
• Flash for thunder/lightning in the loading sequence.
• Better art for outside, like trees.
• Hints/tips for interacting with things, although it's pretty self explanatory it would still be helpful.
• Rain animation for outside, so you just hear rain but don't see it.
• Audio effects for digging and sawing.
Still very glad with what I did in the amount of time I had! Now time to go sleep for 15 hours straight, then i'll come play everybody's games!
Genres: interactive fiction
Tools: Construct
Comments29
ForeverTrash8 Jan 2023, 21:42
@arscene Thanks for playing the game! Yeah I made the movement a little slow so the game didn't go too fast, otherwise it'd be beatable in about 2 minutes or less. And i'm not sure what you mean by only 1 direction is registered? Should have animations for 3 different directions ( didn't finish walking downwards animations ), and you should be able to move up, down, left, and right, all with animations. Also crap! The monster disappears because I forgot to set persistence on it.... too late now. But yeah you just talk to the monster after you beat the game lol, there's not much else to it. He has about 25 dialogues and you just talk to him. Thanks for playing!
Arscene8 Jan 2023, 21:52
@forevertrash
By 1 direction I mean that you can't walk diagonally.
The monster kept saying something about being the boss, but it only had this line.
Thank you for the game !
By 1 direction I mean that you can't walk diagonally.
The monster kept saying something about being the boss, but it only had this line.
Thank you for the game !
ForeverTrash8 Jan 2023, 22:04
@arscene Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah i set it up so there was only 4 directional instead of 8 directional movement. ( Left, Right, Up, Down instead of Up, Up Diagonals, Down, Down Diagonals, Left, Left Diagonals, Right, Right Diagonals. ) Was just easier. Thanks again :)
FrederoxDev8 Jan 2023, 22:06
Nicely done! Feels like it would be good to be able to walk diagonally, art looks nice!
ForeverTrash8 Jan 2023, 22:20
Thanks for playing! Yeah people seem to keep mentioning that, I just set it at 4 so I had less animations to do, and didn't even get done with those 4 animations, so 8 diagonally would've been insanely hard with the time crunch. Understandable point though!
Jiri Hysek8 Jan 2023, 22:33
Chopin! Nice :) Outside rainy mood with Chopin and lightning bolts and bags with bodies is so cool... And the inside mood is super creepy. Cool entry!
ForeverTrash8 Jan 2023, 22:46
Thank you so much! :) I'm glad you liked it, I worked really hard on the atmosphere and art and music even more so than the game function itself, because I just wanted it to feel really cool even though the game itself is super simple. Thanks for playing!
0xWAVY9 Jan 2023, 01:10
You capture the mood you're going for really well, exactly like you said in your description on itch - the game is very "ominous", I think the sound design really contributes there. I had some issues with items seemingly disappearing if I accidentally moved during an interaction, but I still had a fun time playing. Nice work!
Frib9 Jan 2023, 01:15
very nice sounds and mood, well done! Could use a bit more gameplay, because right now it is only a story being told (in a very good way! :D ). I think if you keep up this mood for future jams and sprinkle a little gameplay loop on top, you've got a very solid entry
rjerez1929 Jan 2023, 02:55
I really dig the mixture between the pixel art character and the drawn backgrounds.I think movement is a little bit slow. The sound and the mood are also very good. Only thing I can think of is to have more time to add more mechanics.
ForeverTrash9 Jan 2023, 13:03
@0xwavy Thanks a lot! My previous entries were more gameplay loops with crappy art, so for this year I definitely wanted to focus on the art and atmosphere and music a lot more, so definitely accomplished that I hope :) And hmm weird, I know animations are a little broken if you move during interactions but didn't know the items actually disappeared :( Thanks for playing though!
ForeverTrash9 Jan 2023, 13:04
@frib Thank you! My previous entries were more gameplay loops with crappy art, so for this year I definitely wanted to focus on the art and atmosphere and music a lot more, so definitely accomplished that I hope :) I definitely wish i had more time to add some more core mechanics, but spent literally until there was only 30 minutes left finishing the art and animations haha. Thank you for playing!
ForeverTrash9 Jan 2023, 13:06
@rjerez192 Thanks! The backgrounds actually for the most part are pixel art too, but It was my first time doing pixel art so they vary between 16 bit and 128 bit for the backgrounds haha, i wasn't very good at keeping everything the same pixel ratio, so backgrounds look smoother. Also the lighting effects in the game make it darker and harder to see ( which is the point ), but if those effects were removed you could probably see the background pixelation better. But alas, it was fun to make! Thank you so much for playing, hopefully next year I'll have more time for some core mechanics :P :)
LDJam user 3131809 Jan 2023, 13:23
Very cool atmoshpere and also loved the explanation in the beginning. As others have said the movement feels a bit slow but its a game jam after all :D
rjerez1929 Jan 2023, 14:19
@forevertrash Oh didn't notice. I really thought the background was drawn as it looks very different from the character itself.
Torban10 Jan 2023, 02:02
Very awesome vibes with the art and audio. I feel like the slow walking almost added to that vibe so didn't mind. Great work!
error10 Jan 2023, 06:21
I think I would have preferred the animation to move a bit faster and maybe some more clear directions for where the player should go. I wasn't sure if I got the end by activating the switch or if there was more to it. I beat the game with a body sack so I'm not sure if I glitched it or not. The music was a good choice.
Phillip Scott10 Jan 2023, 18:11
nice idea - the monster likes cheeseburgers, I approve of this monster
ForeverTrash10 Jan 2023, 21:10
@ab0303 Thank you for playing and for the feedback! :)
ForeverTrash10 Jan 2023, 21:10
@rjerez192 Haha, well thanks for playing!
ForeverTrash10 Jan 2023, 21:10
@error Yeah I feel you. I wanted the walking slow otherwise the game would've been like 1 minute to beat. But a lot of people agree with you. But thanks for playing and for the feedback!
arowx15 Jan 2023, 10:31
Nice work, atomospheric sound used well.
Got to the last bag and took it to the table and hit enter but nothing happened there might be a bug there. The monster had no torso but head, arms, legs. There could be a logic bug.
Then there was a lightning flash and the monster was fully formed and in the room and nothing seemed to happen after that?
It could be more fun if there was a night watchman you have to avoid or can attack and harvest but triggers mob storyline ending?
Or rats that eat the corpses and you have to scare away/kill.
Got to the last bag and took it to the table and hit enter but nothing happened there might be a bug there. The monster had no torso but head, arms, legs. There could be a logic bug.
Then there was a lightning flash and the monster was fully formed and in the room and nothing seemed to happen after that?
It could be more fun if there was a night watchman you have to avoid or can attack and harvest but triggers mob storyline ending?
Or rats that eat the corpses and you have to scare away/kill.
ForeverTrash23 Jan 2023, 18:11
Thank you so much @arowx ! But yeah seems to be a few bugs here and there sadly. Also once the monster appears you just talk to him that's about it haha. Thanks for playing though :)
lizelive25 Jan 2023, 06:21
i do love that loading screen! it really sets the mood. audio way too loud and my hitboxes are really weird. but got a nice laugh out of it so thatnks!
PoshDan25 Jan 2023, 08:26
Funny thing, our games have a similar concept! The one I made with my team is more action-oriented, but yours really nails the mood!
There's not much to say about the gameplay here but I feel like with enough practice (and time), you could create some very compelling experiences in the future. Well done!
There's not much to say about the gameplay here but I feel like with enough practice (and time), you could create some very compelling experiences in the future. Well done!
milq25 Jan 2023, 11:16
Wow! I find it incredible what you have done in just 48 hours by yourself. Everything is perfectly well fitted making a round game. To put some drawbacks, to say something, well, it's that the movement is not 8D and that in pixel art I see the problems of Doubles and Jaggies (I don't like to see them, IMHO). Still my congratulations, it's a great game.
kostya25 Jan 2023, 13:41
Nice entry! Love the atmosphere and sound design.
LDJam user 25090526 Jan 2023, 04:55
That was pretty neat, but *veryyy very* simple; although for what it is, I enjoyed it! I thought the monster's dialogue at the end was humorous, it made me smile, I do just wish there was that little bit more oumph to it -- for a Compo entry however, well done, I admire you people who actually come out with something during those 48 hours (:laughing:)! I think you've got a good start on the art, I noticed the guy's collar kept disappearing, but that's just a nitpick, everything else worked well!
Not too much to say about this one, but you should be proud of what you came out with in 2 days! Here's a clap for a job well done, I'll see you next jam! :clap:
Not too much to say about this one, but you should be proud of what you came out with in 2 days! Here's a clap for a job well done, I'll see you next jam! :clap:
The movements of the player are kind of slow and the fact that only 1 direction is registred makes it even slower. The beginning of the game is well explained, and the backstory is pretty cool. But the end lacks clarity. What happens with that monster ? Is there something to do once it is spawned ? Going outside makes the monster disappear.
You made a very beautiful entry, congratulations !