Stupid Ants by rvmook

[raw]
made by rvmook for LD23 (COMPO)
Ants are stupid, they just walk around randomly. Help them collect food by marking a path. Food means more ants, more ants > more food > more ants... You get what I'm saying.

Try to gather 200 ants before the time runs out !

- ants pickup food (berries and sugar)
- if they bring it back to a heap, more ants will come
- create bounding boxes to keep them in a certain area
- use your boxes wisely, sometimes it's better to just let them run arround


-- UPDATE --

Thanks for the comments so far, here's a quick apology on why the game is so short.
I tried to implement different levels so you could get the hang of how the boxes would react and what the better tactics were. But unfortunately I ran out of time leaving the game without levels but with a few bugs. Those bugs are:

- once the food recource is gone all remaining recources (if the ants are still carrying them) won't spawn any new ants.
- when you deselect a tile the collision detection fails horribly and warps ants at the border to an adjacent tile.

For those who are interested, I'll try to upload a fixed and an enhanced version somewhere this weekend.

-- THANKS FOR PLAYING --

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 2.89 477
Audio 2.65 357
Fun 2.44 633
Graphics 2.78 492
Humor 2.31 381
Innovation 3.28 271
Mood 2.59 499
Theme 3.13 384

Feedback

sharbelfs
24. Apr 2012 · 02:35 UTC
Good game, more time in the level could be a good thing
barigorokarl
24. Apr 2012 · 20:03 UTC
This one is over to fast. The idea is nice, though. I would have liked to play the level for a minute or so :-)
BubuIIC
24. Apr 2012 · 21:26 UTC
Nice concept, finally made it to 200 ants. But you don't really have too much control over the whole situation. I almost made it just by removing all boxes.
Maybe this needs longer levels?
dukope
25. Apr 2012 · 09:18 UTC
I liked the concept, but the best move was always just to remove all the boxes and let them roam free.
strega
25. Apr 2012 · 09:20 UTC
Interesting mechanic. I think you portrayed the in game ants really well. Their movements were just what I expected in ants. It was hard to tell which box was going to move when you clicked on a square tough.
Danvil
25. Apr 2012 · 13:08 UTC
Indirect control is funny and I like your little game, but I wasn't sure if my box markings had any effect at all.
davidllanos22
25. Apr 2012 · 13:18 UTC
It's hardddd! But I love it! I will play later again :)God work ! Much better than my first game :D
Gabriel
25. Apr 2012 · 20:21 UTC
Interesting concept, and does adhere well to the theme! Only problem is the combination of non-trivial mechanics with the super-fast timer, gets really difficult to understand what is going on. But nice entry overall, and I know how limiting 48 hours are! :)
Kayamon
25. Apr 2012 · 20:23 UTC
I have to be honest, I don't really understand what I'm supposed to be doing here.

If I try and keep them in the boxes, I lose. If I just move all the boxes out of the way, I win easily. I'm not sure what the mechanic is here.

I like the music though. Very Dig-Dug.
BenW
26. Apr 2012 · 05:17 UTC
I like the idea of the game but the whole bounding box thing needs to be reworked. It could be neat if you made removing them less effective and if the game was a bit longer.
Catman
26. Apr 2012 · 18:58 UTC
Fun idea! Too bad there is just a single level. It feels a bit random in its gameplay, however!
zorf
26. Apr 2012 · 18:58 UTC
Cool idea. Too bad there is so little control, removing all the boxes is the best strategy... :)
Cyboot
30. Apr 2012 · 09:11 UTC
It could be such a great game with more time...
I really like the concept and the graphics are nice too.

Good game for now. I look forward to play the fixed and enhanced version :)
onehandclap
02. May 2012 · 10:48 UTC
Very interesting. Well done! =)
JaJ
02. May 2012 · 15:03 UTC
I see where this could go, but as it is, I couldn't even get close to 200 (got to 90) without just removing all the boxes.
galman
02. May 2012 · 20:10 UTC
Really intresting concept..
However, more control would make it great :-)
Jeffalisk
03. May 2012 · 12:19 UTC
Nice game, neat idea! But needed a MUCH longer time limit, or maybe an infinite mode. I would have liked to have spent more time with it.
Jezzamon
04. May 2012 · 12:00 UTC
Interesting, although the game was kinda too quick...

maybe if there was some mode without a time-limit to get you started it would be a bit easier.
someone
04. May 2012 · 18:06 UTC
Interesting concept. The interaction was confusing though.
Won just by turning off all the boxes.
FrankTheTank
04. May 2012 · 18:10 UTC
Like others have said it is too short, but I really like the concept. You should try to make longer levels. Well done!
neosam
04. May 2012 · 18:18 UTC
Nice! Bit if you just remove the boxes the population will grow very fast :)
Pacifist Games
07. May 2012 · 02:27 UTC
The only way to win is to let the ants loose, maybe the game is just being ironic? Liked the catchy little song. Cool concept, I enjoyed it. :)
bscott
08. May 2012 · 00:50 UTC
I liked it, nice classic look and feel, although I thought the time limit was reached too quickly, still got 250 ants though
davidwparker
08. May 2012 · 13:20 UTC
Game was really hard, but I really liked the idea... reminded me of classic Sim Ant. Well done. I like the border smiling boxes too.
castor
08. May 2012 · 17:10 UTC
Nice little game. I would have liked it to last longer too.
Valeour
08. May 2012 · 21:33 UTC
Wasn't particularly sure what was going on, but it seemed enjoyable enough.
schnerble
08. May 2012 · 22:13 UTC
Interesting idea. For me, though, by far the best tactic was to just remove all the boxes and hope. I got 150+ every time I did that (including winning once out of about five goes), as opposed to no better than 50 by any other tactic. The idea has potential, though!
tcstyle
10. May 2012 · 19:48 UTC
Took me a way to figure out a working strategy. Quiet difficult. But I really loke the basic idea and the whole game feels very consistent.
orgarus
11. May 2012 · 06:23 UTC
One thing is clear for me I'm not an ant leader. :)
I dont't totally understand how the bounding boxes mechanics work, sometimes I make grow the ant population over one hundred (180 my best) and others I only got 40.
I like the graphics and the music remembers me old school music 80s arcade so I love it :)
COngratulations.
nornagon
12. May 2012 · 05:34 UTC
Really cool idea, but it didn't really seem to matter much what I did in the game.
KevinWorkman
13. May 2012 · 04:48 UTC
I like the idea here, but the only way I could figure out how to win was by removing all the boxes. This is a fun concept, and it would be cool to see you explore it a little further. Good work for 48 hours!
Make A Game
13. May 2012 · 23:59 UTC
I keep losing, it's over too fast. I like the visuals and the sound, but there's not enough time to know if I'm doing something right or wrong.