Cat Evolution! by Mamick
Cat Evolution! A Cellular Automaton War Evolution God Strategy Game
My first LD Game!
Features!
-Procedural Music
-Natural selection decides which cats survive and which traits evolve
-Crisp, high fidelity graphics
-A plot! (technically)
-Monoliths which guide evolution and empower cats
-Death ray to cull the weak cats of your tribe
-Enough power to act as a (very) minor god
-Leveling system with 6 monoliths and higher stats
Instructions are in game.
Only your level is saved and it may or may not work.
----------------This Part is Added Post Compo----------------
IMPORTANT NOTE: Though the game is hopefully fun to play even without instructions, it's hard to understand. Some things I've noticed are confusing from the comments are examined below.
Appearence changes according to stats. Images can be found in the instructions
Monoliths give bonuses which can be found in the instructions
Playing the game once before reading instructions might be a good idea
Killing inferior cats (to stop them from making weak children) is necessary for optimal play and it helps quite a bit, but you can get pretty far just from grinding.
My first LD Game!
Features!
-Procedural Music
-Natural selection decides which cats survive and which traits evolve
-Crisp, high fidelity graphics
-A plot! (technically)
-Monoliths which guide evolution and empower cats
-Death ray to cull the weak cats of your tribe
-Enough power to act as a (very) minor god
-Leveling system with 6 monoliths and higher stats
Instructions are in game.
Only your level is saved and it may or may not work.
----------------This Part is Added Post Compo----------------
IMPORTANT NOTE: Though the game is hopefully fun to play even without instructions, it's hard to understand. Some things I've noticed are confusing from the comments are examined below.
Appearence changes according to stats. Images can be found in the instructions
Monoliths give bonuses which can be found in the instructions
Playing the game once before reading instructions might be a good idea
Killing inferior cats (to stop them from making weak children) is necessary for optimal play and it helps quite a bit, but you can get pretty far just from grinding.
| Windows | https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20329150/catevolution.exe |
| Source | https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20329150/evolution.gmk |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=15144 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 66% | 3 |
| Overall | 3.06 | 324 |
| Audio | 2.36 | 387 |
| Fun | 2.62 | 469 |
| Graphics | 2.59 | 488 |
| Humor | 3.13 | 95 |
| Innovation | 3.38 | 153 |
| Mood | 2.32 | 533 |
| Theme | 3.53 | 132 |
I found myself really wanting DNA cats. I didn't know at all what to do but enjoyed trying to figure out where to put monoliths. I think my suggestion is just to make the first screen a lot less cluttered. Too many clicks are required to get into the game and I feel like I'm adjusting settings in a control panel. Watching the evolution battle unfold is fun.
A thing that I believe would improve the game, requiring more thought on the player's side would be allowing the re-positioning of player owned monoliths between rounds.
I really liked the small touches to the interface, like mapping the monoliths to asdf...; also, is it intentional that once you place a monolith you can't move it? (I mean even before actually starting the round) I tend to misclick a lot :P
I liked the ending story, it was pretty nice.
Also, you might want to fix the typos in the game (you're cats and they're cats). :P
I like the idea of killing individual cats, but I never wanted to do it. First of all, I hate the idea of killing my own cats, even in a silly game. If they were worms or beetles, it might work better. Second, the gameplay is just too slow and tedious if you are trying to individually pick off cats. If you want killing weak individuals to be part of the gameplay, maybe each level needs to be smaller/shorter and the mechanic needs to be easier to read.
I think the ideas in here are pretty good though, and I love this take on the Evolution theme. Good work!
The more particular you are in picking out the weak cats, the stronger your army gets! Loved the procedural music and funny graphics. Great idea giving the cats visual differences based on their stats. I enjoyed it and played for around an hour. Only beat the 3rd level though... This game could be great if you keep developing it!
Also, am I doing it right?
http://www.pacifistgames.com/files/screen.png