Beneath the Mushroom by Zer0XoL

[raw]
made by Zer0XoL for LD29 (COMPO)
A a game about the force behind the life of a mushroom, and how to control it.

Goal:
You need to consume all nearby resources, using the life force of the mushroom to survive and spread.
Resources you consume gets sent to the mushroom.
The mushroom converts the resources into enrgy, that gets distributed to the life forces after a time.

Controls:
You select a force with left mouse button.
Move it with right mouse button.
Select and apply an action to the force using the 3 buttons in the top-left corner of the screen.

GUI:
In the top-left corner you can see how much energy the selected force has.
The 3 actions are in order: nothing, dig walls, dig enemy mushroom.
And you can also see their costs in energy.

Top-right buttons are:
Restart level, exit game.

Thanks for playing my game! :)

Please ask if you have any questions.(Or if the controls are unclear.)

Update: Windows build added! (Will try for Mac later)

Ratings

Coolness 69% 3
Overall 3.00 717
Audio 1.60 1007
Fun 2.84 724
Graphics 2.21 1125
Humor 2.36 613
Innovation 3.95 83
Mood 2.61 892
Theme 3.92 70

Feedback

mess110
28. Apr 2014 路 09:04 UTC
'enemy mushrooms' can't we all just.. spore around?
GiveMeAllYourCats
28. Apr 2014 路 10:43 UTC
It was okay, imo pretty innovative
馃帳 Zer0XoL
28. Apr 2014 路 10:54 UTC
Thanks! :)
sam101
28. Apr 2014 路 12:12 UTC
It was nice, the controls are a bit weird but overall it is a good idea.
JangoBrick
28. Apr 2014 路 13:24 UTC
Very innovative game, but the controls are strange.
tiffi
28. Apr 2014 路 13:37 UTC
Needed a bit time to get the controls and the logic, but waiting paid off, great game!
devince
28. Apr 2014 路 16:21 UTC
Innovative game well done
Jason Lay
28. Apr 2014 路 18:22 UTC
The controls were rough, but it was definitely unique.
neosam
29. Apr 2014 路 18:36 UTC
Cool idea :). It also took a while for me to understand the controls.
igwb
29. Apr 2014 路 18:42 UTC
Yet another plant game. Just kidding.
I've seen many plant games, but not one with a mushroom.

Graphics are simple, yet straight forward.

What took me a while were the controls. I didn't realy understand what these green dots are until I accidentaly clicked one and found that they are controlable.

I was a little disappointed by the food/water not flowing through your mushroom-roots(is that even a term?).

Besides that, this game is an interesting take on the plant grow genenre. I haven't see it this way before. Perhaps with some finetuning and clearer graphics for the levels this game could become something I can imagine to play. I already spent more time on it that I thought at first.
馃帳 Zer0XoL
29. Apr 2014 路 20:40 UTC
Thanks, yeah I wanted the resources to "flow" thru the "mushroom-roots" at first, but it became too advanced. Thanks for the detailed review. :)
dalbinblue
30. Apr 2014 路 01:55 UTC
Look me a while to see the energy up in the top left corner; those are really small dots. After seeing that things were much smoother. Additionally it took a while to produce more energy which in and of itself isn't bad, but the game didn't really indicate what was happening. The game is cool and quite unique, but it would e much better with some more direct feedback to the user (something as simple as a progress bar to show energy conversion would help a lot).
Zerkruemler
30. Apr 2014 路 11:12 UTC
What a cool idea! It would however be better to have clearer controls. It is almost impossible to see which action is active. Some sound effects could also support the usability.Somehow I stuck in the third level without any energy left. It is not 100% clear what produces enough energy to survive.
Very good work. Could be a really cool game when redesigned with better ui and maybe sound.
StudioWolfox
01. May 2014 路 17:02 UTC
By clicking on a force it already costs energy? So i was switching between buttons and that already caused my energy to be depleted. Seems like a fun game, but I can't really get the hang of it unfortunately
馃帳 Zer0XoL
01. May 2014 路 20:09 UTC
The cost of changing action is displayed on the button. No energy is drained by selecting a force. Energy is drained when the force moves.
x1212
03. May 2014 路 19:43 UTC
I like the idea, it's just a little hard to get what you are supposed to do in the beginning, since this is rather unique.
davidB
04. May 2014 路 12:17 UTC
LD29.exe can't run on Windows 8.1 (block by OS, message in French on my os).
mechabit
04. May 2014 路 13:07 UTC
Brilliant! Never seen a game where you play a mushroom.
jsmars
05. May 2014 路 09:12 UTC
Really nice and unique idea! A bit more polished graphics and sounds would have make this really nice!