LudumData

Virus Wars by Ingon

[raw]
made by Ingon for LD23 (COMPO)
Virus Wars is a game where you fight against all the viruses which attack your body. Every virus is made of at least one color. You have the antidotes with the same color as the virus. To kill one you should kill all its colors. But beware - if you try to kill it with the wrong antidote the virus will consume the color and become stronger.

Use WASD to move, SPACE to change color, Mouse to point and shoot.

Mechanics Details: The current color is put around the screen, around yourself and it is used to fire at the enemies. You change it with 'space'. If an enemy is hit with a color one of the following can happen:
- If the enemy already contains this color it will be removed (i.e. its health will be decreased)
- If the enemy does not contain this color it will assimilate it (i.e. its health will be increased)

(Sorry, no time for music or beautiful graphics)

Windows https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B194x5-jHoSRek85VDNYSk15bVk
OS/X https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B194x5-jHoSRek85VDNYSk15bVk
Linux https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B194x5-jHoSRek85VDNYSk15bVk
Web https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B194x5-jHoSRek85VDNYSk15bVk
Source https://github.com/Ingon/ld23-virus
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5130

Ratings

Coolness 73% 3
Overall 2.76 562
Audio 1.47 707
Fun 2.61 548
Graphics 2.03 820
Humor 1.59 727
Innovation 2.87 461
Mood 2.16 737
Theme 2.61 627

Feedback

De10ter
26. Apr 2012 路 11:32 UTC
Hmm, seeed fun enough until/except I couldn't figure out what to do with the red enemies that toggled after shooting them in tut level 3 or survival. Some in game instruction would have helped.
I liked the idea and the subtle but clear indication of enemy type/behaviours.
Topaz
26. Apr 2012 路 12:14 UTC
Cool concept
Hume
26. Apr 2012 路 13:00 UTC
I was perplexed by the tutorial levels that didn't tutor me. I was expecting some kind of how to play walkthrough; instead it just seemed like it was the easier levels.

Controls were good, hit detection was solid. Graphics were clear.
馃帳 Ingon
26. Apr 2012 路 15:11 UTC
I probably did not explain it clearly - you should use 'space' to change your color (the color you are firing with). Then you hit them with the new color. So if you are using blue you can shoot the enemies which contain blue (actually you can shoot all enemies, but if the enemy does not have blue will assimilate it). If a enemy has blue and red, you should hit it with blue, then quickly change and hit it it red. Is this better?
MurrayL
26. Apr 2012 路 15:38 UTC
Excellent idea - I enjoyed the game.

A couple of things I would suggest changing would be:
* Some pumping, action music and awesome sounds
* Allow players to hold down the fire button to save us from injuring our clicking fingers!
* Give a visual warning before the next 'wave' spawns, and make sure they don't spawn too close to or on top of the player.
* Remove the countdown timer after dying. I died a few times and I wanted to get straight back into the game, not wait for a countdown!

Loads of potential here, and a really original idea. Well done!
demonpants
26. Apr 2012 路 17:26 UTC
The tutorial is sort of the opposite of a tutorial. I appreciate learning things organically, but I just mashed buttons until something happened in level 3 (FYI space bar changes your shot color). Overall decent, but I got bored quickly.
racarate
26. Apr 2012 路 17:28 UTC
Wow, that seemed really rough and I was prepared to quit and not come back... but then I played the tutorial and I am glad I did. The Ikaruga-style color swapping adds a nice sheen of complexity and thought. I really like your take on it where hitting the bacteria with the wrong color increases their health. Unfortunately, I couldn't get far enough in the actual game to play with those mechanics. Also, I found it quite bizarre that you messaged the number of seconds until the round began but not the button that activates the color swap. I wonder if that was intentional :). I think with some audio, the right hit and miss theatrics (even keeping the colored square character design), this would be a really cool game.
invaderJim
27. Apr 2012 路 02:23 UTC
Interesting idea. Wasn't able to move, but didn't need to. Good little game :)
R3ason
27. Apr 2012 路 06:15 UTC
Wait. The name of the file I'm downloading is 'virus.jar'? :D I, too, had trouble moving. I really like the concept, though. Would make for a great fast-paced shooter! Thanks!
spirulence
27. Apr 2012 路 06:46 UTC
Movement did not work for me. :/ My gamer skills are clearly not as good as those of invaderJim. :)
Evil Cult
27. Apr 2012 路 07:08 UTC
[Comments and ratings from this account come from various team members]
Had to lol at virus.jar :)
Simple concept that was fun to play. Tutorial could have indeed used a bit more instruction and the difficulty of the later tutorial levels seemed odd for a tutorial. Other than that it was pretty good!
xBlinkedx
27. Apr 2012 路 07:22 UTC
Not bad, I'd like if you could hold down the mouse to shoot. Also, you may want to name it something other than virus.jar xD (Oh, and the web version is misleading, its not actually web.)
NMcCoy
27. Apr 2012 路 07:34 UTC
Quoth Chrome: "This type of file can harm your computer. Do you want to keep virus.jar anyway?"
NMcCoy
27. Apr 2012 路 07:34 UTC
And yes, that was a note of amusement, not a complaint. :)
lorancou
27. Apr 2012 路 18:38 UTC
Holding down the mouse button to auto-shoot would have been nice; except this, nice mechanics.
Jeremias
27. Apr 2012 路 18:38 UTC
When I click on the links for downloading (or web), I get redirected to https://drive.google.com/start?authuser=0#home

Is there another way to share your game?
Benjamin
27. Apr 2012 路 18:42 UTC
fun to play. The beginning ( all blue and blue/red ) should be shorter, it is boring when you want to play your 3rd 4th game and have to wait for game to become challenging. With a faster difficulty curve I could have spend a lot of time on your game ! :)
Jungorend
27. Apr 2012 路 18:45 UTC
Movement didn't work, and holding/pressing space while firing didn't change the color at all...Aside from that, I like the concept of the concept of color affecting which enemies you can hit.
Wampus
27. Apr 2012 路 19:10 UTC
I always find instant death a bit distracting. Having three 'lives' per game would make it smoother to play imo.
xillix
28. Apr 2012 路 15:24 UTC
Very fun and simple game. I like it.
scoopsy
28. Apr 2012 路 20:01 UTC
Clever idea, reminds me of Ikaruga.
JonathanG
28. Apr 2012 路 20:22 UTC
This is a fun little game, could see myself playing this in 5 minute breaks. The mechanic is simple yet effective! It's a shame there's no audio though. The tutorial was actually quite informative, despite containing no text or audio to explain what happens!
someone
28. Apr 2012 路 20:49 UTC
The game didn't seem to accept any keyboard input for me. I could shoot, but that was it.
Also the tutorials are completely unhelpful.
quickfingers
28. Apr 2012 路 20:50 UTC
Changing color was a nice dynamic :) Difficult to play this kind of game on a trackpad but I enjoyed it nevertheless
Gareth Jenkins
29. Apr 2012 路 13:29 UTC
Great fun -- ramps up too much too quickly for trackpad use, and audio would've been nice -- but most importantly, it was fun.
Endurion
07. May 2012 路 12:34 UTC
Nice little game. It definetively needs sounds, and maybe a faster start into mixed color enemies.
Mago
10. May 2012 路 05:52 UTC
I really like the game idea with changing colors. Game is fun to play too bad it lacks of audio and viruses could look more like cells not just blocks