Slime Evolution Manipulation by shadowdruid

[raw]
made by shadowdruid for LD24 (COMPO)
This is my first game jam aside from the miniLD 34.
The files for Linux and OS/X are included but I could not test them. Maybe someone can check whether they run, please.

I used the Slick2D engine for java to create this game.
Sounds made with Bfxr.

About the game:
If you manipulate the environment of the green slime, he will evolute great toxic power to struggle against invading slimes which evolute in other valleys.
The goal is an evolution to the ultimate slime which has no natural enemies.
In the List of Mutations you can see how they will effect your slime and their requirements. In the Environment Menu you can select and place Objects to achieve these Mutations.

Good Luck and Have Fun

Ratings

Coolness 44% 667
Overall 3.38 164
Audio 2.35 392
Fun 2.81 363
Graphics 3.33 218
Humor 2.06 377
Innovation 3.52 115
Mood 2.88 249
Theme 3.62 112

Feedback

5parrowhawk
27. Aug 2012 · 12:40 UTC
I like the concept, and the idea of limited space forces some interesting choices. It does seem a bit difficult though - I didn't manage to complete it. The most successful path I found was to go for regeneration and shield first, but I'm sure there are other ways to get ahead.
I feel like it might make for a deeper game if the player could regain organic matter by destroying upgrade objects like the poison tree. For instance, the poison tree might cost 5 matter, each enemy drops 5 matter, and when you destroy the poison tree you get 3 or 4 matter back.
Good job!
adventureloop
27. Aug 2012 · 13:08 UTC
This game is quite difficult to get the concept of initially. Once I understood that it became quite a bit of fun, the limited space means you have to decided on which features you want.
Datw
27. Aug 2012 · 16:43 UTC
I loved it! it would be awesome to have more choices of upgrades, etc. But we know we've got just so much time, right?
kevincorrigan
28. Aug 2012 · 14:45 UTC
Nice concept, and graphics, it was fun!
Gungnir
28. Aug 2012 · 14:46 UTC
It took me around 5 plays to understand what was going on and after that it turned into a neat little game.
I think I'd like it if it progressed a little slower in the beginning.
Well done overall.
Gungnir
28. Aug 2012 · 14:47 UTC
Well done.
tigerj
28. Aug 2012 · 14:51 UTC
Looks like the linux files are not marked as executable which will de-rail ubuntu/mint users.

"The file '/home/tigerj/Downloads/linux/Start_LD24.jar' is not marked as executable. If this was downloaded or copied from an untrusted source, it may be dangerous to run. For more details, read about the executable bit."

Enabling permissions to run the jar as a program removes the error, but nothing happens and nothing loads.

Running Mint 64 bit GNU/Linux.

When I get home I will play your game on windows.
Cell
28. Aug 2012 · 15:57 UTC
Cool,i like the art style :)
Robotic
28. Aug 2012 · 16:27 UTC
Great ! It's the first game I see where you modify your environment to mutate, it's really well done. At first it was a bit hard to understand what was going on, but the menus are well done and it's fun, good job :)
Zoomyzoom
28. Aug 2012 · 16:31 UTC
I have no complaints! fun and addictive game :)
tomsik68
28. Aug 2012 · 16:34 UTC
The idea is great. It's highly extensible like adding new mutations and objects, but for 2 days is this enough.
tigerj
29. Aug 2012 · 01:03 UTC
hmm I tried on Linux and on Windows 7-64 and it will not start for me. :( let me know (@tigerj) if you have any fixes and I will check back to try again before the end of LD24
AMSmirnov
29. Aug 2012 · 19:05 UTC
Nice game. I like it.
Raptor85
30. Aug 2012 · 23:07 UTC
you really need to put a shell script to launch the game in there, it's not runnable directly from the jar unless your machine is set up as a lwjgl development machine, it has to be launched as java -Djava.library.path=./ -jar Start_LD24.jar

so a simple shell script as follows would make it runnable for more of us (also, use tar.gz files instead of zip files, zip file strip permissions so executables are no longer runnable after unzipping them)

#!/bin/sh
java -Djava.library.path=./ -jar Start_LD24.jar

also remember on OSX and linux files are case sensitive, your game crashes on load because it's looking for data/BG_WORLDPART.png while you have the file named data/BG_WorldPart.png , so you have to rename the file to play the game

The game itself is pretty good, just kills you pretty easily, once you get to the end you're basicly forced to quickly delete a lot of your upgrades and replace the toxic trees since you no longer have room for them though.
fanatiko
03. Sep 2012 · 20:11 UTC
The idea is very cool. Maybe the game is too fast for my skills, but making it slower may make it tedious at the beginning.

Congrats!
schnerble
06. Sep 2012 · 13:17 UTC
I managed to get it running on Linux for me (a non-Java-literate) thanks to Raptor85's instructions. It took me ages to figure out what was going on - but once I did, it's quite cool :) Some nice strategy in there. I got up to level 36 - everything except the final upgrade, and I had to lose one to make it possible. Quite fun though.
My suggestions would be to polish the launch process (I nearly didn't run it at all!) and add some sort of tutorial, because I found myself a bit lost for the first while :) (I didn't realise I "was" the green slime, and kept missing the things on the multiple menus, etc)