LudumData

Winter Is Coming . . . by PixelFeet

[raw]
made by PixelFeet for LD29 (JAM)
Here's PixelFeet's entry in the Jam. Our team consists of Joshua Jackson (Programmer), Zack Walsh ("Producer"), Matthew Carpenter (Graphics), and Jonathan Carpenter (Music).

The object of the game is to create the best tree you can in ten minutes using the resources you are given. Your tree will need to absorb sunlight with its leaves and water and nutrients with its roots in order to do this. After ten minutes, the game ends and you are provided with your final score. And it's pretty obvious how we've incorporated the theme. Have fun.

These are the tools we used:
IDE: FlashDevelop
Engine: HaxeFlixel
Graphics: Aseprite & GIMP
Sound: as3sfxr
Music: Studio One

Edit 1: Corrected typo. "Help!" now reads "Instructions!" on the main menu. Hopefully that'll clear up some confusion.
Edit 2: Switched primary screenshot to title image.
Edit 3: Fixed bug where players could earn extra points by stacking leaves.
Web http://www.kongregate.com/games/joshuamjaxon/winter-is-coming
Postmortem http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/02/winter-is-coming-postmortem/
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=34877

Ratings

Coolness 48% 1359
Overall(Jam) 3.27 339
Audio(Jam) 2.74 489
Fun(Jam) 2.96 401
Graphics(Jam) 2.53 657
Humor(Jam) 1.80 624
Innovation(Jam) 3.73 84
Mood(Jam) 2.83 501
Theme(Jam) 3.70 109

Feedback

PapyGaragos
28. Apr 2014 · 08:54 UTC
I like this one. You get a nice sense of progression, even if it feels slow at first
InvisibleWonder
29. Apr 2014 · 06:47 UTC
Very original!
Hemuuuli
29. Apr 2014 · 07:50 UTC
That was relaxing. Button to randomize new start would be nice addition.
CDK
29. Apr 2014 · 08:30 UTC
could have wanted an highscore list or something .. couldn't really compared my score to anything (got 103).. was an interesting gameplay though. but i think it went quite slow in the beginning making it somewhat boring :) but maybe make it be a bit faster at the start? maybe get 2 yellowballs pr. default.
bombjack
29. Apr 2014 · 10:11 UTC
nice!
Lars Faust
29. Apr 2014 · 10:31 UTC
Really nice gameplay. However, it does start off very slow and also ends very slow when you have gathered all the nutrients there are in the ground.
Got a score of 177.
broepi
29. Apr 2014 · 14:02 UTC
Really good concept, I like that! Yay for the pixel graphics. Yay for the ingame music. the only thing that bothered me a bit is the resource distribution. sometimes it takes half the time to reach water.
stvr
29. Apr 2014 · 16:12 UTC
Surprisingly fun, although it's a bit slow at first if your nutrients are all blocked by water. Would be nice if there was a score you were aiming for, or if you were trying to stockpile a certain amount of nutrients/water by winter.
StencylTuo
29. Apr 2014 · 18:27 UTC
The game desperately needs a x2, x4, or even a x10 button with how slow it is. Still, it was an interesting take on the theme, just not a fun one to just sit and wait around for 10 minutes.
01010111
29. Apr 2014 · 20:38 UTC
Really interesting concept - I just wish it played a little bit faster :) I also couldn't tell when I could place wood or leaves, which really just led to frustration by always clicking and waiting.
🎤 PixelFeet
30. Apr 2014 · 00:30 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback so far! It's pretty great, especially since this is our first non-practice game ever, much less our first Ludum Dare entry.
joe40001
30. Apr 2014 · 04:43 UTC
I liked this. 241 was my score.
sorceress
30. Apr 2014 · 14:37 UTC
score 254. Nice once it gets going, but it's very slow paced for the first 5 minutes. I ran out of nutrients at the end as you did. The amount of nutrients randomly generated at the beginning seems to determine the ending.
DaanVanYperen
30. Apr 2014 · 16:58 UTC
Simple but entertaining game! Had to F5 a couple of time to get a good start.
Sodaware
30. Apr 2014 · 23:06 UTC
As others have said, it's very slow to get started, especially if the nutrients are a long way from the start. A speed-up time option might work well, or maybe starting with more resources to help build the initial tree.

It's a great concept though, and I think with a bit of polish and balancing it could be really fun!
petey123567
03. May 2014 · 05:02 UTC
Love the game, just wish the clock was faster.
drnick
03. May 2014 · 05:36 UTC
Very good concept. In a game like Minecraft you spend so much time chopping blocks from the trees, in this game you get to see the other side of the coin. Some comments:
1) For a jam game, the graphics are poor.
2) There could be more ambient sound, like in the menu.
3) The game is a little short, and often at the end all the nutrients disappeared and you are left with nothing to do.
4) On how to generate better levels/maps/soil: search on Perlin noise and it's applications in content generation.
Raiyumi
03. May 2014 · 05:50 UTC
I really like this concept. I played it a lot longer than I thought I would.
Muciojad
03. May 2014 · 08:04 UTC
One of most original idea I see so far. But is there one bad thing for me - I was very irritated when I had to wait a while to place next tile, but without this - it's quite nice game ;)I like simple art style.
Skipi
03. May 2014 · 11:48 UTC
Reminds me of my entry quite a bit.

I found it mildly frustrating how quickly the ground blocks disappeared, and how long I had to wait if I ran out.


Other than that, it's a neat idea.
Rad Star
03. May 2014 · 13:26 UTC
Really cool idea!
klianc09
03. May 2014 · 14:13 UTC
This really needs a speedup button and some balancing, but when you polish this up, it could make for a really cool resource management game.
ThingoStudios
03. May 2014 · 15:50 UTC
Fairly enjoyable, if a bit slow. None of my structures even remotely resembled trees, though.
ArcturusDeluxe
03. May 2014 · 20:33 UTC
Pretty cool idea. Gameplay is a bit slow though. Graphics are pretty basic but they do the job. Nice job!
jujule
08. May 2014 · 22:24 UTC
A really interesting take on the theme. Graphics are ok. I wish the bird was singing during the game also, as it is super relaxing.
As others have said early game (and early game only, in my opinion) needs to be a bit faster. That could also be twicked with having the nutritiant/water distribution less random.
A really refreshing entry. Keep working on it. It's good but there is tones of space to add content and elaborate gameplay.
Kimau
11. May 2014 · 17:00 UTC
Really enjoyed this!! My kingdom for a fast forward button when I'm resource locked! Also it would have been nice if you had separated the game numbers from those on screen instead of one big update tick. You get tick over anxiety (terrible term I know) and it would be a really nice UX change.
Adrian
14. May 2014 · 07:51 UTC
Interesting concept. It's basically an optimization game, which is fun at first but can get boring very fast. This one I haven't get bored of yet, but I haven't played much. :)

Good job overall, I enjoyed it!