Jelly Hugs by Snild

[raw]
made by Snild for LD29 (JAM)
Being a jellyfish isn't easy. You go where the sea takes you, which will often separate you from your friends.

Some jellyfish need more love than others, but no one likes too much of a good thing. Help them hug the exact number of friends they want!

Written by Snild Dolkow and Ali Utku Selen at the Ludum Dare 29 event hosted by Sony Mobile in Lund, Sweden (thanks for a great weekend!).

Android source code is available at https://github.com/auselen/graph-bender

Based on game mechanics from Havel-Hakimi by Jacopo Notarstefano: http://jacquerie.github.io/hh/

Ratings

Coolness 42% 1651
Overall(Jam) 3.48 191
Fun(Jam) 3.52 106
Graphics(Jam) 3.22 437
Humor(Jam) 3.11 179
Innovation(Jam) 3.74 80
Mood(Jam) 3.05 379
Theme(Jam) 2.91 497

Feedback

HeyChinaski
28. Apr 2014 · 23:14 UTC
Hugs! Great mechanic. It was new to me. Very nice graphics and a pretty solid game. Would have been easier to play if the hugs didn't cluster the jellyfish quite so tightly but was huge fun anyway.

Rate more games so more people will see this!
João Kucera
01. May 2014 · 17:01 UTC
Great game! You need to show this game!
Tititesouris
01. May 2014 · 17:10 UTC
Really good idea & game. One thing though, after a few breeding the jellyfish are on top off each other and it's really hard to aim.
metkis
01. May 2014 · 17:12 UTC
I think it's awesome you have an android build. Great work here.
pighead10
01. May 2014 · 17:12 UTC
Erm. Can I play this on a PC?
FGM
01. May 2014 · 17:44 UTC
Cool concept. Although in higher levels, it kinda gets crowded and I can't see which jellyfish are connected.
Neonlare
01. May 2014 · 18:10 UTC
Absolutely great mechanics here. Later levels did get a bit clustered but the concept is pretty damn fun and unique in itself. All credit to you, this is pretty damn good!
AtkinsSJ
01. May 2014 · 19:40 UTC
Nice! Might be nice to see some more complexity - maybe some jellyfish won't hug others - but what's there is nice. :D
I played on a 10-inch tablet, so I didn't have problems with them being troo close together.
iiechapman
01. May 2014 · 19:59 UTC
Could you make a video , I do not own any android devices, I wanna see this in action!
Jiddo
01. May 2014 · 20:13 UTC
Hey Snild! Cool to run into you here. (John David from uni @ LTH here.)

Nice game! Simple but very effective and surprisingly fun game mechanics. I love it!

Seems like there might be a rather fool-proof "algorithm" for solving the levels, which sort of lowers the replay value once you figure it out. I beat it in 160 seconds. I hope that's decent. :)

It'd be nice with some sounds btw!
rojo
01. May 2014 · 20:16 UTC
Cool puzzle mechanic. Fairly easy in my opinion (though certainly not easier than my own game, which is impossible to lose). Was cool to play a mobile LD entry.
🎤 Snild
01. May 2014 · 20:40 UTC
Thanks for the nice words, everyone!

For those requesting a video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGXTolEvlEE (also added it to the links at the top).

And some credit-where-credit-is-due: The game mechanic is from Havel-Hakimi by Jacopo Notarstefano. It can be played here: http://jacquerie.github.io/hh/

@Jiddo:
Hey man! Yeah, there is a fool-proof algorithm for solving the levels (which are randomized, BTW). Figuring that algorithm out (and failing to address certain cases in my first hypothesis) was part of the fun of the game for me. :)
Ithildin
04. May 2014 · 14:10 UTC
The core mechanic is really cool, it would be nice to see it expanded into something bigger. Nice job!
ohsqueezy
08. May 2014 · 02:39 UTC
So cute and joyful! I like that the algorithm seems simple, but when I stop to think, I realize I'd rather play to figure it out.

Best score: 246