Mutate Now! by goerp

[raw]
made by goerp for LD24 (JAM)
Here is my first entry for a Ludum Dare.
I was too late for the regular competition (evolution takes a lot of time, right?), so I submitted it to the jam competition.

It's not much of a game.
It's more like a very short,slightly interactive cartoon/comic with minigame. But I had fun making it!
Winning isn't hard, nor losing, so try to do both at least once.
Use the cursor keys.

(Edit) Allright it needs more instructions:
Your enemy tries to kill all mutations (she doesn't like them). You can mutate normal lifeforms by touching them with your 'mutator'. If you have mutated all normal lifeforms, your enemy will give up for that time.
And yes, it is not always obvious which lifeforms are mutations.

The game looks at its best played in the standalone flash player.

By the way: I like that the scientist had his eyes closed at the moment I took the screenshot (typical).

(EDIT) I've also made a version with build-in help screen. You can press Esc for a popup screen with help. I'm not sure if it is within the rules so I posted it as an post-deadline update.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.69 194
Audio(Jam) 2.29 168
Fun(Jam) 2.64 171
Graphics(Jam) 3.29 118
Humor(Jam) 3.82 12
Innovation(Jam) 2.35 200
Mood(Jam) 2.69 140
Theme(Jam) 3.09 82

Feedback

jprogman
27. Aug 2012 路 19:20 UTC
I sort of had troubles trying to figure out how to play at the start. After finally getting the idea, the game turned out quite enjoyable. Funny humor too.
馃帳 goerp
27. Aug 2012 路 20:22 UTC
thanks, yes it sure needs more explanation. I'll do an update tomorrow.
YopSolo
28. Aug 2012 路 09:21 UTC
LOL :D
Colapsydo
28. Aug 2012 路 09:53 UTC
Humor is present from start to end (both ends).
The gameplay is simple event if it takes few tries to catch the way the mutator works.
cadin
28. Aug 2012 路 16:36 UTC
This is great! You're right, there's not much too the gameplay, but I really like the cartoon style and it's one of the few games I can actually rate in the Humor category. Nice work.
馃帳 goerp
29. Aug 2012 路 12:00 UTC
Thank you for all the compliments!
The Ludum Dare scene is great.
imef
29. Aug 2012 路 12:08 UTC
haha! I liked that game!
Wan
29. Aug 2012 路 12:56 UTC
Funny one, both endings are funny and unexpected! Well I had the same issues as mentioned by others regarding gameplay, otherwise it's all good. Nice job :)
dekart
31. Aug 2012 路 16:18 UTC
Not really a game, i assume, but fun anyway :)
tcstyle
31. Aug 2012 路 20:56 UTC
Awesome intro. Great humor. The controls are a little quirky.
zatyka
01. Sep 2012 路 19:34 UTC
Very silly, but still fun. I wish there were more to it though.
馃帳 goerp
01. Sep 2012 路 20:14 UTC
I wish there was more to it as well. Amazing how time flies when you're having bugs :)
ggiraldez
02. Sep 2012 路 00:10 UTC
There's not much in the form of gameplay, but the graphics are very good and I love the sense of humor. Good job!
Jorjon
02. Sep 2012 路 03:13 UTC
Poor gameplay, but funny story!
Dietrich Epp
02. Sep 2012 路 13:02 UTC
Hilarious script! Gameplay is nice, but a little buggy.
thewiseguy99
02. Sep 2012 路 23:44 UTC
Very funny game. Loved the theme. The artwork is really good and the script/story clever and unique. Few games make me laugh, this one did! Win or lose!!! Wish there was more gameplay as it ended too soon. Great job!
samoojamies
03. Sep 2012 路 14:13 UTC
Funny stuff :). Nice use of the theme and nice cartoonish style. I replied to your question about music made with a script. So you can also include some music next time :).
RobProductions
03. Sep 2012 路 20:16 UTC
Ha, funny but not much to play :D
馃帳 goerp
04. Sep 2012 路 19:25 UTC
@samoojamies, great thanks for the tip. I was working on an autotracker (in Excel, yikes!) but didn't get results nearly as good as yours!
darkshadow
05. Sep 2012 路 18:58 UTC
Nice cartoon animation and great humour both endings are quite funny. Movement felt a bit clunky but otherwise good.
zx81
07. Sep 2012 路 10:51 UTC
It is a good and interesting game! A bit too short for my liking though.
sev_inf
09. Sep 2012 路 13:34 UTC
5 stars for humor:)
airdeck
10. Sep 2012 路 02:43 UTC
The gameplay is a little too simple, but I think the humor and style of the characters make up for it. I enjoyed it.
vigrid
10. Sep 2012 路 16:42 UTC
Kind of hard to figure out how to play this.
Chinchilla
10. Sep 2012 路 17:19 UTC
Short and sweet! :D
馃帳 goerp
11. Sep 2012 路 20:59 UTC
@Vigrid: yes I agree it is not very intuitive. I was totally blind to that, just trying to finish the game. I have an post-compo update where ESCAPE would give you a popup screen with more instructions.
But it still would hasn't a lot of gameplay. But as a first LD I'm pleased with it. Already made another game and if there is a miniLD I'll sure want to do that too.
And be better!
marudziik
12. Sep 2012 路 10:47 UTC
I loved it. :) Great humour, I just love the intro and ending when I lose. The other ending is also quite funny. Animations look really nice (it's funny because now that I looked at them, they're very simple, but look really great) - the talking mouths are something not seen that much in LD, because people usually don't bother, but you did it, so Kudos to you for that. Your graphics are very good, actually.
Some in-game explanations on how to play would be great (like "use arrows to move" during the intro), because during the first playthrough I was sure I needed to push space or some other key to mutate things, and it seems to be done automatically.
Overall, it's a great LD entry: it's short, funny, has some audio (some music would be a plus, though), different endings and feels quite complete. While the gameplay is maybe a little too simple, this works perfectly, because everyone can see every ending.
Plus, your comic strips were awesome. :)
heuermh
13. Sep 2012 路 03:24 UTC
Liked this one a lot, cool animation style, great monkey noises.
Jedi
16. Sep 2012 路 01:26 UTC
Very funny! Like you said, I sometimes had trouble telling what was and wasn't a mutation, so I would waste time mutating the mutants.
hamster_mk_4
16. Sep 2012 路 19:13 UTC
The controls didn't feel very good, but you more than made up for that in humor. Also don't be to hard on yourself for "not much of a game." It has both a win and a loss condition, and that makes it more of a game than many other entries out there.
ramoncb
17. Sep 2012 路 03:18 UTC
I loved it ! I laugh so hard ! Loved the characters! =)
nuria
17. Sep 2012 路 18:30 UTC
Great visuals, animation and mood! The game was a bit too simple, but with some more time and work it's got potential for something great. Quite charming!
Puzzlem00n
18. Sep 2012 路 00:50 UTC
Haha, awesomely cartoony. Nice.