Nibbles by NefariousZhen

[raw]
made by NefariousZhen for LD23 (COMPO)
This is my first LD entry.

The game is probably not very unique like it is. But, a lot of the code is setup for my primary idea... which I think is mostly unique.

The idea that I wanted to do is that as you kill enemies you level up and gain more bits. You store programs in your memory bank. Some take up a single bit and others more. You have four to start with. I was hopefully going to make these programs item drops from the mobs. In fact the mobs are setup very similarly and have a random set of programs that fit into their memory (which has the same size as yours if you're at the same level).

I didn't get to do everything I wanted. Here's the short list:
1) enemies need to attack back
2) inventory to hold dropped algorithms
3) the ability to reflash your memory...

The code is fairly close to having everything work together, and I'll probably finish it in the near future.

Here is the list of the current programs (many of which are implemented, but you can't change which ones you use).

Aesthetic Programs:
ChangeShape
ChangeColor (Note: the random colors of mobs! They look particularly good for no good reason.)

Stat Programs:
SpeedBoost
SightBoost
ArmorBoost
AttackBoost
HealthBoost
AttackRangeBoost

Specialized Programs
DetectSight
ElementalAttack
RangedAttack (Note: I imagine that as this grew that I'd have to live with the fact that all attacks are ranged and remove this is a special.)
PoisonAttack
SplashAttack

If I end up doing more work I'll add an extra link in the description as to not mix it up with the entry itself.

Ratings

Coolness 63% 3
Overall 2.45 749
Audio 2.08 584
Fun 2.31 702
Graphics 2.90 423
Humor 1.50 748
Innovation 2.06 796
Mood 2.44 590
Theme 2.14 808

Feedback

Jonathan Whiting
24. Apr 2012 路 05:35 UTC
Web link doesn't seem to work for me. Windows 7 + Firefox.
Raptor85
24. Apr 2012 路 05:51 UTC
takes a looooong time to load after you click the link, i thought it had actually frozen for some time.
馃帳 NefariousZhen
24. Apr 2012 路 11:41 UTC
Alright, I'll try to reduce the size of the entry. I couldn't figure out how to play the music as mp3's during the competition, but it looks like it might be more straightforward than I had thought.
馃帳 NefariousZhen
24. Apr 2012 路 13:51 UTC
Ok, I figured out how to play MP3's, unfortunately everyone will get a security warning. I also figured out how to use ProGuard to reduce the total size of my jar. Now it's just under 1MB instead of near 30MB. Fantastic. Now you may try to enjoy my game =)
azurenimbus
24. Apr 2012 路 22:04 UTC
Game is very promising, you should keep working on it!

The look, controls and general feel of the game are all great. On top of adding the things that you said, especially a better challenge from the enemies, it would be good if there were things we could do around the level, since it seemed to get repetitive after a while.

Very solid up to where you got, though. Good job!
piterlouis
24. Apr 2012 路 22:08 UTC
uaaaau, a very laaarge level, it's funny discover all the laaaarge map. XD
ratboy2713
24. Apr 2012 路 22:08 UTC
Without the enemies doing anything it isn't really much of a game, and I didn't hear any sound because I don't trust security warnings. Sorry if that isn't your fault. I love dungeon crawlers, however, so I would love to see the game you were planning on making.
馃帳 NefariousZhen
24. Apr 2012 路 22:39 UTC
I had some ideas that I believe were going to be fantastic, but were clearly out of scope. Here are some of the ideas:

1) Whenever you enter an area that appears to be a room (i.e. of some reasonable size (not too big) and every exit is only one block wide) then place down a handful of doors and spawn enemies at a slightly higher level than you. This could only happen once per area and it could drop a particularly nice power-up.
2) I was going to introduce locks that require you to change your shape or color to something specific to unlock ... so you'd have to go kill a handful of enemies of that shape or color before one would drop that "program"/"power-up".

Yeah that security warning is to play mp3's... I'll have to try and look and see if there is yet another library.

Thanks for the encouragement! =) I am interested in finishing it up -- just need to find some extra time first =).
racarate
25. Apr 2012 路 04:42 UTC
This was way more fun than shooting colored blobs should be. I liked how gigantic the level was. I didn't hear any audio, which was a bummer. I couldn't really tell what the hero was supposed to be. My favorite part was the way the numbers bounced around after hitting an enemy. The feel of the shots was a little odd though -- I don't know if was the animation of the bullet or what, but the combat was a little floaty. Also, the fog of war felt like using MSPaint, in a good way. I kept wanting to find the next exit. Hand-drawn graphics were pretty, but not enough variety. I didn't read the text about powers, etc. until after I played. I never would have guessed any of that. I thought it was just one enemy and one shot type. Either way, neat.
SonnyBone
25. Apr 2012 路 04:46 UTC
She shooting felt a bit awkward, but the character movement is solid. I couldn't hear any audio, either. HUGE world, though... with tiny things in it.
Transmit
25. Apr 2012 路 10:12 UTC
Link seems dead to me again, just getting a black screen for ages.
馃帳 NefariousZhen
25. Apr 2012 路 10:47 UTC
If the link doesn't seem to work for you please post OS / Browser so that I can try to track down the issue. I'm hosting it on github and got the file size down to 1MB, as far as I'm aware it should work fine anywhere you can run a java applet.
cr0ybot
25. Apr 2012 路 14:09 UTC
Not sure how well this fits the theme, but it is fun and your ideas for further development sound really interesting. The music, while repetitive, fit the environment very well. The x button did nothing for me, no menu like it mentions in the help. You should definitely finish this after the compo!
schizofunky
26. Apr 2012 路 12:53 UTC
I think its a cool little dungeon game! Nice job!
invaderJim
27. Apr 2012 路 01:38 UTC
Good choice going with the fog. Makes me feel extra tiny :)
R3ason
27. Apr 2012 路 06:00 UTC
Great start! I like the look and feel of it; keep it up! Thanks for sharing!
Endurion
29. Apr 2012 路 06:29 UTC
Can't fairly vote for overall as there really isn't a game yet.
It does look promising, please finish it!
alexlarioza
29. Apr 2012 路 06:33 UTC
Ah, too bad you didn't get the "program" bit in, it sounded really promising.
Sanguine
29. Apr 2012 路 15:29 UTC
World gen is cool, but the game doesn't seem very complete to me.
netguy204
29. Apr 2012 路 17:29 UTC
This world is anything but tiny! Wow. Big map.
emongev
29. Apr 2012 路 20:19 UTC
Loved it. Love the map painting mechanic, and the huge map. Maybe adding some more gameplay mechanics, would make this a great full game. =) Great work dude!
hamburger
29. Apr 2012 路 21:33 UTC
Hmmm I just get a white screen when I try to load the web version.
beeglebug
29. Apr 2012 路 21:40 UTC
I liked it, it's shame you didn't manage to get all the features in, but i like the art style, and the exploration is quite addictive, keep working on it!
Zaxuhe
01. May 2012 路 01:20 UTC
liked the game, but lags, also I liked the sprites :)
Zythiku
01. May 2012 路 04:35 UTC
The idea sounds cool. Would really like to see an updated version with it fleshed out more.
MadGnomeGamer
07. May 2012 路 02:37 UTC
Neat! Seems to be the start of something pretty cool.
Gunmonkey
11. May 2012 路 00:32 UTC
Web link doesn't seem to work
gormio
13. May 2012 路 07:45 UTC
The world is HHUUUUGGEEEEEE!!! :)