Combine Competition

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.99
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.17
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.84
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.78
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.97
Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.11
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.02
Molly McCabe has a combine harvester so agile it can turn on the spot. But for it, she had exchanged her soul and thereby any sympathy for the living. That together with no interest in improving her skills, and a severe lack of respect for good old property, might be enough for you to beat her in the yearly Combine Competition!

Control with arrow keys. Harvest as much grain a possible, and avoid hitting cows and fence. Most points after 40 seconds, are appointed as honorary member in the harvest guild, with bragging right until next harvest.


This is my first game jam, my first game made with Phaser, and one of my first "completed" games, besides a few pong and snake clones in native javascript. It have been a really good learning experience. So many setbacks, and so much time spent reading through the Phaser documentation. Especially the insanely basic AI movement took a long time, as I insisted on figuring out how to use the tools given in the framework, instead of writing something myself (although I actually started on exactly that, as I was starting to give up).

Graphics haven't been a focus point (suprise...), as I even with 90%+ time focused on programming, was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it, so I'm really looking forward to hopefully make something prettier next time.

Credits:
The two animated effects are from OpenGameArt.org
https://opengameart.org/users/para - Blood splat visual effect
https://opengameart.org/users/knoblepersona - Wood destruction visual effect

The two sound effects are likewise from that site:
https://opengameart.org/users/willleamon - Hit flesh sound effect
https://opengameart.org/users/qubodup - Destroy wood sound effect

The short music theme, is made by me.
Same with the really basic images.
I've coded everything from scratch.

Software used:
Phaser 3 (Game Engine)
Visual Studio Code (Editor)
Krita (Drawing)
Reason Studios (Music)

Really looking forward to the next jam. I'm so happy with my result, even though it's not anything good. But the feeling of having something "done", is amazing.
Tools: Krita, Phaser

Comments32

ThorPalsson
ThorPalsson9 Jan 2023, 13:54
It seems you might have uploaded an older build for the game, since the game and screenshots are quite different, it would also be nice to get to know the controls since I keep dying without ever figuring them out.
masternoob9 Jan 2023, 14:09
Having the same issues unfortunately.
js_
js_9 Jan 2023, 17:18
All I see is this with some background music playing. Tried to click everywhere or smash random keys to figure out what to do but nothing happened.
CuteSquirrelauthor9 Jan 2023, 17:40
Yeah, I wish I could unpublish the game. I'm trying my best to get the embedded version to work. Probably some issue with Phaser's way of loading images is blocked by the page. Not sure I'll make it in time though. :(
CuteSquirrelauthor9 Jan 2023, 18:54
I've uploaded it on an external server instead. Can't get it to work through the embedded solution.
Loig9 Jan 2023, 21:56
I like the moo of the cows when they get a little to close to the harvester. Difficult to avoid them. Nice game.
LDJam user 262142
LDJam user 2621429 Jan 2023, 23:23
i lost the first time getting used to the controls but subsequently molly was done for even if she was like within 50 points away most of the time. Nice work on the ai and music :>
procrasteroid
procrasteroid9 Jan 2023, 23:42
Our jam submissions have similar themes, cool! I enjoyed the blood spurt when you hit the cow, awesome job!
TheGhostofTommy10 Jan 2023, 01:31
This was fun, really nailed it with the theme
twilightrh10 Jan 2023, 04:49
This was an overall good game, the movement felt really good and was a interesting take on the theme
aevek
aevek10 Jan 2023, 05:02
Fun game! The core gameplay was fun, I enjoyed spending a few minutes figuring out how to trick the AI into sabotaging its own score the most effectively (my favorite way was to leave exactly one row of crop tiles at the top and bottom, it would fully level the fence every time). The music loop was really nice too, it doesn't get annoying and fits the game well. Great work!
CuteSquirrelauthor10 Jan 2023, 05:26
@aevek Thanks for the lovely feedback! I'm so happy you figured that out! I made the ai-movement before implementing fence and cows, so I wasn't sure if it would actually hit them without any changes, but it did, and I quickly found it to be the most enjoyable part of the game, to just see the ai wreck havoc.
HayriCakir10 Jan 2023, 06:31
Really loved the gameplay and the AI, it is hard to beat it but it makes game better! Good job!
Pusheeneiro
Pusheeneiro10 Jan 2023, 11:26
AI do their job, I can't win.
Kosmi10 Jan 2023, 13:54
really funny game!
cannibalgirl
cannibalgirl10 Jan 2023, 16:16
THE HARVEST GHOST IS INSIDE ME

Super nice entry! Simple, yet hard to master mechanics, quick round time so it's fun to try again.
For a first jam entry and first game with a fresh engine, it's a v e r y good result!!!

Don't worry about the GFX too much, it is aesthetically pleasing and instantly understandable / readable - that's a lot already.

It would be extra fun with a friend if it had 2-player couch vs mode (disable the AI and e.g. WASD for the second harvester controls)! Maybe something for a small post-jam update?

In my mind, I also imagined the harvester drifting. That would be glorious as well.
LDJam user 276593
LDJam user 27659310 Jan 2023, 20:01
Good first game!

Handling on the combine is nice, feels weighty and "correct". Core mechanic is really satisfying, shades of Powerwashing Simulator and Farming Simulator.

I've played 2 games now about harvest wheat and avoiding cows, but yours is the only one so far where the cows make a satisfying *splat* noise if you fail to avoid them lol
Ekoxe
Ekoxe10 Jan 2023, 21:33
These poor cows :open_mouth:

Enjoyed the game. Quick and easy to play. Great job!
nardandas
nardandas11 Jan 2023, 07:28
That other harvester is so quick. I'm not used to slowing down in games but it worked okay. It gave the harvester the right feeling, but I did destroy some fencing. I also eventually got the other harvester to destroy some fence, and won, which was cool. I dunno. Just kind of a fun little game! Good job!
paci
paci11 Jan 2023, 07:49
Really cool for a first game, keep up! This kind of concept could be quickly expand to a more complete game with extra content and mechanics to spice things up!
Francois Dervaux
Francois Dervaux11 Jan 2023, 14:09
The Game is cool, but it's very difficult to turn, and IA turn instantly, that is cheating !!! Impressive for one man game, Congrats
aduermael
aduermael11 Jan 2023, 22:50
Haha, I had to retry 3 times to beat the AI, so the balance is pretty good, for my skills. 🙂 Well done!
BoxedMeatRevolution
BoxedMeatRevolution12 Jan 2023, 00:15
Simple but fun! I enjoyed perfecting my strategy of going fast but slowing for turns, and avoiding cows+fences at all costs. Even though the AI cheated on the turns it felt pretty easy to beat, and it would have been nice if it got better after each round. Nevertheless, it was fun to play and master the game as is!
Moosey12 Jan 2023, 16:08
A very fun little game! A simple concept executed quite nicely- I think this has the potential to be transformed into something like a puzzle game, where you have to figure out how to score more points then the opponent on different levels. Awesome work!
GoldRanger12 Jan 2023, 17:05
simple idea, executed pretty well. I mean, you created a small game and it feels completed! it is a very good outcome as first jam, good job!
Ninnec13 Jan 2023, 04:49
I like the AI for the enemy. It feels more chaotic than just a computer going on agrid, so I really appreciate that. I would have enjoyed more control of the tractor. It felt very hard to drive the tractor without hitting things.
Blue Pin Studio
Blue Pin Studio13 Jan 2023, 04:58
Very cool! I loved the chaos that all the sound effects caused. Unfortunately i ran off the screen before i could complete the level, but i had a good time nonetheless! Excited to see what you come up with next in Ludum Dare 53 :)
Ysendrin15 Jan 2023, 23:06
Nice entry, really liked the story haha!
amarokczukay
amarokczukay18 Jan 2023, 19:54
fun and nice game, especially for a first jam, well done! hopefully for me the AI was worse than me and kept smashing all the cows, so i was good in terms of scoring haha
OadT
OadT19 Jan 2023, 18:54
Simple but very fun game! Competing against the AI makes the game instantly a lot more interesting and is something that lets this game stand out compared to most other jam games.
kuggenhoffen
kuggenhoffen22 Jan 2023, 15:49
That's a decent little game. A minor thing that I thought when playing is that since the game is played using keyboard it would be best if one can operate the menu using keyboard also, as it is one has to use mouse to start the game. Anyways very good job!
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