LudumData

Squarely Alive by Leebo86

[raw]
made by Leebo86 for LD24 (COMPO)
EDIT: I just realized that I broke the AI in Observation Mode when I changed something just before submission, so the squares are incredibly stupid and die off quickly. Oh well.

Language: Actioncript 3
IDE: FlashDevelop
Libraries: Flixel
Other software: Photoshop CS6, SFXR, Audacity, Renoise

Controls:
Arrow keys - move
Enter - start, continue
Escape - pause
M - mute

You are a square, and so is everyone else. You all start with the same stats, but if you can pick up some food before you die, you'll get to continue your legacy with boosted stats in the next generation. Live on and become the ultimate square!

I tested it in Firefox in Chrome.

Web http://leebogames.com/LD24.swf
Source http://leebogames.com/LD24.rar
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=13975

Ratings

Coolness 56% 3
Overall 2.71 521
Audio 2.96 183
Fun 2.23 610
Graphics 2.40 560
Humor 1.42 586
Innovation 2.52 515
Mood 2.40 495
Theme 3.27 227

Feedback

Perry
27. Aug 2012 路 01:57 UTC
Kind of went quite slow, I think it'd be a lot more interesting if the elements grew and mutated their bounding boxes. Now that'd be evolution :D.
jplur
27. Aug 2012 路 02:56 UTC
Not enough adversity for me, but I like the graphics and concept
bryonglass
27. Aug 2012 路 03:02 UTC
There were rounds were no food populated, I didn't like those rounds.Music was great, Also I didn't really see the evolution
馃帳 Leebo86
27. Aug 2012 路 03:03 UTC
I originally planned to add enemies, who would also evolve, but the clock (and the bugs) were bearing down on me...
馃帳 Leebo86
27. Aug 2012 路 03:06 UTC
Concerning the amount of food, it's always there. It's possible to get unlucky and just not see any in the first life, but in my experience that didn't happen much.
Edd Morgan
27. Aug 2012 路 11:38 UTC
A nice, simple game. Kind of easy, but stays true to the theme and very easy to pick up.
camdensegal
27. Aug 2012 路 11:39 UTC
The difficulty seemed to ramp down as time went on at least until my speed got to the point I couldn't steer easily to food.
ncannasse
27. Aug 2012 路 11:43 UTC
This is evolving too slowly :)
馃帳 Leebo86
27. Aug 2012 路 11:44 UTC
Yeah, I agree about the difficulty... balancing that was like, the last thing on my mind and when I submitted it I wished I had spent more time on the AI and tweaking the amount of food based on the population.
jamioflan
27. Aug 2012 路 11:46 UTC
The game seemed to go on forever, with an endless supply of food and nothing really happening.
Ragzouken
27. Aug 2012 路 11:50 UTC
Nice idea :) Seems like vision should increase faster, I didn't realise notice a difference as I played through several generations. If you were interested in expanding it at all later, you should add a memory stat that lets you continue to see things that were in your vision for a short while longer.
amidos2006
27. Aug 2012 路 12:16 UTC
Nice game :)
michax
27. Aug 2012 路 18:42 UTC
Interesting concept.
Guardian_Bob
28. Aug 2012 路 02:01 UTC
So the food can spawn at 1 pixel on screen. That bug makes it hard to find sometimes.

Got to generation 22, very laid back chill game. I like.
馃帳 Leebo86
28. Aug 2012 路 15:05 UTC
"So the food can spawn at 1 pixel on screen. That bug makes it hard to find sometimes. "

Not sure what you mean by this. There's a cache of 10 food pieces and if one gets picked up it gets teleported somewhere else instantly.
nseward
28. Aug 2012 路 15:54 UTC
I enjoyed it. I would like to see more variation however.
Guardian_Bob
28. Aug 2012 路 18:25 UTC
Leebo86 - I may have had the window size too small. I'd see a bouncing line or flashing line sometimes, with most of the "food" off screen.
馃帳 Leebo86
28. Aug 2012 路 19:57 UTC
I see... It's 800x600, so if your browser screen is smaller in one way or the other, it would get cut off.

It would have to be an incredibly small area for the majority of it to be cut off though. If it's possible can you take a screenshot of what you're seeing?
Guardian_Bob
28. Aug 2012 路 20:51 UTC
Leebo86 - You just confirmed it was a problem on my side, I didn't full screen the window. I assumed the game scaled with window size. So not a bug, but user error.
馃帳 Leebo86
28. Aug 2012 路 21:49 UTC
Ah, no biggie.
caranha
01. Sep 2012 路 04:49 UTC
That is a pretty neat game, and an interesting take on evolution!

It would be cool if the cubes that divided from you inherited your movement patterns (maybe imitating you, or doing the reverse, etc). It seems to me that in your world, with such limited vision, movement patterns are more important than speed, etc :-)
chardish
02. Sep 2012 路 09:00 UTC
Great use of theme! Is there an end?
馃帳 Leebo86
02. Sep 2012 路 15:55 UTC
I suppose the end would be if you eliminated all of the other squares by becoming so fast and healthy that you could beat them to food every time. But I didn't program it to recognize that, unfortunately.
yosh
02. Sep 2012 路 16:51 UTC
Nice concept, maybe AI balancing would have been nice... but lack of time is cruel :P