It’s estimated that millions of tiny creatures live on our faces. This is their story.
Move your creature forward with cursor up, W or A on the gamepad. Move your creature back with cursor down, S or B on the gamepad. Turn your creature with cursor left/right, AD or the left gamepad stick. Zoom in with + and -, the mouse wheel or the right gamepad stick.
Find a mate of the other sex to mate and procreate.
But watch out: Spiders eat Dermodex. Dermodex eat Worms. Worms eat Spiders. You win when your species is the dominant creature on your face. (>70%)
Standouts: - The planetoid/phaux gravity physics - Rock/paper/scissors mechanics of species - Mating/population control
Work Needed: - Creature movement feels slow and bad, since there is no way for your creature to go any faster than any other creature - i found myself chasing a female Demodex around trying to mate and couldn't catch up at all - The planetoid physics really start to break on the ears and more protruded surfaces - There should be a way for a species to come back to life, once there is only 2 left, it makes it impossible for one to win
Wow! Some very challenging problems that you had to solve. Crawling along the topology of a face. Automaticlaly managing the camera as the character moved around.
I do wish I wasn't put in a starting position that I sometimes just died instantly.
Its pretty hard. The worms and the derma things look the same, so its a bit hard to know what you can touch. Maybe there should be an hp system to just prevent immediately losing? Anyway, good entry.
There is something interesting about the gameplay and the challenge for the player, but personally I didn't particularly enjoy the presentation and head rotation.
The game is simply magnificent! 😄 The graphics are simply stunning, and the idea with "planetoid" physics and ecosystem makes me smile! 🌍 Despite some minor difficulties with the controls, I had an interesting and exciting experience. 🐛❤️ A fun combination of love and war is just a godsend! 🎉 Well done, team! Keep creating such original projects! 👏
About planetoid physics and camera: Yeah, I admit, I put minimal effort into the camera. It's just a raycast towards the center of the head and the camera is just attached to the player creature. Some like it, some hate it. The planetoid collision detection could be more sophisticated.
About the ecosystem: I while back I saw a rock paper scissors video:
Very original game, about creatures struggling to live on someone head. Liked orbiting camera. I played and somewhat randomly won 1st time and randomly lost 2nd time. It's not very clear how exactly I start mating. It was feeling like I chase and cannot catch anyone, and even if we're near they ignoring me, then sometimes other colored creature produces larva among those couple of my color. I guess they did all hard work while I just travelled. Wish you good luck.
@SkyyStorm, @candlesan: Too late, but I just thought of an easy solution: When the player dies I should have made the controls switch to another creature of his species.
@gdman Instead of chasing mates, look out for partners who are moving horizontally relative to you and intercept them. I thought about giving the player a speed advantage but felt like why should the player creature be special?
Nice use of Blender's Suzanne mascot. I can see how this would work with different 3D Topologies, from simple ones like a sphere to elaborate custom ones. As others mentioned, balancing and movement require some attention but I think it is worth to pursue the idea further and see where it goes.
This was a fun little simulation. It seemed like maybe eating a lot of food at the beginning was actually detrimental, since you're essentially removing your own pest control. I chose spider every time, but the spider race was never quite successful. It's lonely being the only spider on my face /╲/\( •̀ ω •́ )/\╱\
It might be nice if the game made sure creatures didn't start in an overlapping state (to prevent an instant loss condition). And there could be a bit more differentiation between worms and demodex (they were hard to tell apart on the small screen embedded into the Itch page).
Otherwise, it was fun just exploring the face and seeing the bugs do their thing.
For some reason the game didn't end when I won, it just blanked everything but the score. As I went to screenshot it seems a spider managed to walk over and eat me, so I 'lost' :P
Love the concept. The model of the face is cute. I played as a dermodex which could be hard to see based on where you are. The game win condition doesn't seem to be working too well as I def had more than 70% population. The game is also a little too easy.
Comments20
Standouts:
- The planetoid/phaux gravity physics
- Rock/paper/scissors mechanics of species
- Mating/population control
Work Needed:
- Creature movement feels slow and bad, since there is no way for your creature to go any faster than any other creature - i found myself chasing a female Demodex around trying to mate and couldn't catch up at all
- The planetoid physics really start to break on the ears and more protruded surfaces
- There should be a way for a species to come back to life, once there is only 2 left, it makes it impossible for one to win
Demodex Gang!! Really nice work :)
I do wish I wasn't put in a starting position that I sometimes just died instantly.
Yeah, I admit, I put minimal effort into the camera. It's just a raycast towards the center of the head and the camera is just attached to the player creature. Some like it, some hate it.
The planetoid collision detection could be more sophisticated.
About the ecosystem:
I while back I saw a rock paper scissors video:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NonPoliticalTwitter/comments/172lose/rock_paper_scissors_finale/
That's where I got the idea.
But yeah, I should have put more thought in balancing the difficulty.
@svibor Wow, that is high praise. Thank you very much, but now I feel like an imposter ;)
Overall, thanks for the great feedback :)
Great idea and a good game!
Thanks for playing!
Too late, but I just thought of an easy solution: When the player dies I should have made the controls switch to another creature of his species.
@gdman
Instead of chasing mates, look out for partners who are moving horizontally relative to you and intercept them.
I thought about giving the player a speed advantage but felt like why should the player creature be special?
It might be nice if the game made sure creatures didn't start in an overlapping state (to prevent an instant loss condition). And there could be a bit more differentiation between worms and demodex (they were hard to tell apart on the small screen embedded into the Itch page).
Otherwise, it was fun just exploring the face and seeing the bugs do their thing.
Neat game though, nice work!