LudumData

Free Donutia by the8donut

[raw]
made by the8donut for LD23 (COMPO)
"Free Donutia" is an action/rts game where you have to lead an army of very tiny soldier against the invasion of the evil race of the Tiny Aliens. Of course, they're tiny as well.

Save the donut-shaped planet Donutia by taking back all of the five cities scattered on the very limited planet's surface in large-scale (even though still tiny) battles. Lead your tiny men to victory!

I had SO much fun making this game, and I'm quite happy with the result! Hope you have fun playing it :)

Unfortunately I haven't been able to test the web version on many configurations / OS's, but thanks to the wonderful people on the irc channel i got some great feedback. Even though Chrome seems to be the best choice for running the game, it should work on other browsers as well. If the applet doesn't load, you can download the runnable jar for your OS and hopefully you'll be good to go :)

Here's the link to the time-lapse of my LD weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB06ndhPjyo

Web http://www.the8donut.com/myldentry
Windows http://www.the8donut.com/myldentry/DonutiaWin.rar
Linux http://www.the8donut.com/myldentry/DonutiaLinux.rar
OS/X http://www.the8donut.com/myldentry/DonutiaMacOSX.rar
Source http://www.the8donut.com/myldentry/source.rar
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10453

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall 3.22 284
Audio 2.55 401
Fun 3.03 315
Graphics 3.22 282
Humor 2.29 395
Innovation 2.92 432
Mood 2.77 363
Theme 2.75 565

Feedback

stromchin
23. Apr 2012 路 10:44 UTC
Somehow this game reminded me of herzog zwei
jeroenimooo
23. Apr 2012 路 11:12 UTC
Awesome idea, really like the design. Collision with buildings is quit buggy sometimes. And question: How did you get the lwjgl applet to work? i can't get the libraries done. The keytool command works but the other one doesn't :s got any tips/good tutorials?
aaronsnoswell
23. Apr 2012 路 11:15 UTC
Couldn't master the controls - LWJGL seems to have some issues / glitch out when running in a browser on a mac?
馃帳 the8donut
23. Apr 2012 路 11:25 UTC
@jeroenimoo - Take a look at the source code both of the game and the applet's web page. Make sure you include the signed jars for the natives. Hope it helps :) I'm glad you like the idea, unfortunately collision system is the least polished aspect of the game.

@stromchin - haha yes, had to look it up on youtube, looks like a cool game :D

@aaronsnoswell - I've put a runnable jar for each OS, hope that solves the problem!
yanmania
23. Apr 2012 路 11:26 UTC
I Loved playing this. As mentioned the collisions are a little off and it would be good if the little good guys had better intelligence for walking round buildings. But I loved the way the combat flowed as you gained and lost ground.
Lidfrid
23. Apr 2012 路 11:56 UTC
Web link doesn't wwork for me! :O
馃帳 the8donut
23. Apr 2012 路 12:04 UTC
@Lidfrid: yes, unfortunately it may not work on some systems. LWJGL applet loader is quite easy to use but has VERY WEIRD behaviors sometimes. I've put a downloadable jar for each OS though, that should do the trick :)
Evgis
23. Apr 2012 路 12:34 UTC
Very fun game, good work. Didnt get the point at first, but when i saw the red guys it all went awesome.
Danvil
23. Apr 2012 路 13:51 UTC
Nice idea and i like the design! Didn't got if my guys actually follow me or not.
MarekkPie
23. Apr 2012 路 14:13 UTC
Get a fatal error on start; I think its my comp more than your game though.
devwil
23. Apr 2012 路 14:25 UTC
i read the How To Play, then clicked Play and it didn't go (macbook pro trying to run it in google chrome)
PapyGaragos
23. Apr 2012 路 14:34 UTC
You obviously put some effort in the audio but... I had to mute it :(
Nice game anyway
EricTheCoolDude
23. Apr 2012 路 14:34 UTC
It was pretty boring to be honest. I like the mechanics but it took so long to do anything and the audio made it a bit tedious.
Danik
23. Apr 2012 路 14:44 UTC
I like it! The massive amount of units!

I would like to have some more large scale control of the units though. You have to run back and forth and wait for your units to follow.
Maybe just a way to tell units that spawn in each city which city to attack?

For some reason it reminds me of Dune and Cannonfodder.
Sanguine
23. Apr 2012 路 15:36 UTC
I like the fact that it combines RTS with shoot em up/bullet hell. Good job :)
unicornpooping
23. Apr 2012 路 18:34 UTC
Insane! Lots going on. I like it. Music is good and the graphics are nice. I don't normally like RTS' but I played this one longer than I normally would have. Hats off.
vigrid
23. Apr 2012 路 19:44 UTC
I got hooked on your game :) I just wanted to kill them all, red bastards! Played on my laptop so the touch pad wasn't the best for aiming.
Gremlin
24. Apr 2012 路 01:38 UTC
I thought about making an RTS, but decided it'd be too hard in 48 hours. You've proved me wrong, congratulations. I played it to the end (dragged a bit, but that can be fixed if you ever want to expand it).
Lacutis
24. Apr 2012 路 04:18 UTC
The music was quite loud in the opening screen while you try to read the directions. Then as much as the music was needed it got really repetitive. I like the graphics and how the world wrapped. However, I wish that the little people followed you and helped out more.
restlessturnip
24. Apr 2012 路 10:22 UTC
The collision with the buildings felt kind of buggish.
And after sometime the gameplay becomes kind of boring :(

Maybe winning some kind of item after conquering each city would make less interesting.
Mago
24. Apr 2012 路 10:33 UTC
Good game
I find it hard to understand marking your minions at first.
Good that there is so much health, because otherwise it would be insane hard
zkenshin
24. Apr 2012 路 18:06 UTC
As others have mentioned, building collision was off sometimes, but otherwise I loved it. I'd like to see this with a couple more weeks of content and stuff added in ;D
johanp
24. Apr 2012 路 19:08 UTC
Really nice blend between controlling units and fighting yourself! I felt that the strategy part was lost but it was still fun!
davidllanos22
24. Apr 2012 路 23:07 UTC
Cool game! :D I love to destroy that tiny things!
Hume
24. Apr 2012 路 23:44 UTC
Sad to say I didn't beat it, but I sure enjoyed playing it.

Yes, there's a control issue playing with the applet. Yes, the OS X jar fixes it.

This was really well put together. Very impressive.
maranas
25. Apr 2012 路 02:32 UTC
Good work! I especially like the graphics, but the gameplay is very innovative. Awesome how you put up a good balanced strategy aspect in less than 48 hours
Pierrec
25. Apr 2012 路 06:20 UTC
Mixing RTS and shooter is a great idea! The only problem is that the game si very r茅petitive and the enemies' town too big. It would have been better with an increasing difficulty (first a small town, then, a medium one, then a big one...)

Looks like the main character was invicible. I think it's better that way (he's too big to be shoot down) but why does he have a lifebar then ?
LukeRissacher
25. Apr 2012 路 07:51 UTC
Nice, really enjoyed this one. Died on my first playthrough (main character's life ran out) but figured out some strategies on the second (like get enemy zones into "contested" state as quick as possible so they don't keep spawning). Ended up being a pretty epic battle, with territory going back and forth a few times :).

BTW, think I fixed that problem you were running into in the Microbial game - latest download has a "compatibility mode" exe for some graphics cards.
SidetrackGames
25. Apr 2012 路 15:09 UTC
Collision seems a bit buggy at times, but the game was pretty neat :)
Orni
25. Apr 2012 路 15:53 UTC
great concept and art
loved it
chambers
25. Apr 2012 路 16:02 UTC
I love the main character design. I played it carelessly because I had plenty of HP, but by the end of the game HP is something REALLY precious. I'd suggest perhaps adding a way of recovering HP, or maybe a way of making the player learn that he should be very careful with his HP. I couldn't finish it, though I think I'd be able to in a second run.
AdventureIslands
25. Apr 2012 路 17:35 UTC
Nice idea and the story is funny but the gameplay itself is pretty tedious, the little guys move and capture building very slowly and there isn't much you can do exept run and shoot while waiting for little guys to follow you.
Shigor
25. Apr 2012 路 22:54 UTC
Great! Wasn't able to win, died once, gave up second time because I had problems to keep cities occupied.

There are just few minor problems, sticky collision, too repetetive short music, maybe some balancing to make game a bit more playable. Any other improvements from my wishlist go beyond the scope of the LD :)
Impossible
26. Apr 2012 路 03:47 UTC
Cool game. Really like the graphics and the armies of little dudes. Would be great if there was a little more strategy and challenge involved.
Zillix
26. Apr 2012 路 04:23 UTC
Genocide was never so much fun! Really had a great mood and theme here, and loved commanding the units.
Monkey Armada
26. Apr 2012 路 10:43 UTC
A good idea, but you could have worked a bit more on playability, it takes too long to gather your forces, and when you lose them it takes too long to go back for more. I think this has a lot of potential though. I didn't really liked the graphics and the audio was annoying ;) I hope to see the idea evolved.
Thotep
26. Apr 2012 路 14:42 UTC
Gameplay and graphics are nice, but I'm missing some death feedback. Critters just disappear now. And I won't say a word about the music! ;)
Jezzamon
27. Apr 2012 路 12:14 UTC
This game looks kinda cool, although it's kinda annoying when the enemy comes back and starts reclaiming buildings. :C

Still pretty good job. Good for a 48 hour game, definitely. :D
Muu?
27. Apr 2012 路 17:10 UTC
Your tiny friends sometimes got stuck on buldings, i hated the audio part, but i loved the graphics style. Overall I think your game is quite impressive for a 48h compo.
ratboy2713
27. Apr 2012 路 19:28 UTC
I kept getting stuck on buildings that I thought I could walk around, and it was too hard to control the little guys to follow me once actually in the city. It is very nice looking and I liked the rts idea behind it.
Zoomyzoom
27. Apr 2012 路 21:33 UTC
AWESOME
bastiandantilus
27. Apr 2012 路 21:58 UTC
A bit boring and frustrating.
Dracir
28. Apr 2012 路 00:40 UTC
Kill more aliens !!!
Evil Cult
28. Apr 2012 路 07:03 UTC
[Comments and ratings from this account come from various team members]
Cool concept but I found the minions to be really slow and couldn't really get over that combined with their collision. However I did enjoy simply going on a rampage killing all the red dudes solo. Audio could use a lot of work but graphics were quite charming. Could be great with a bit more work!
matthias_zarzecki
28. Apr 2012 路 19:24 UTC
Love the graphics. It's a quite unique style.
deepnight
29. Apr 2012 路 19:18 UTC
Very interesting idea here ! Few comments anyway :

- PLEASE support alternative controls for foreign keyboards (WASD / ZQSD / Arrows)
- the movement speed of the troops is maybe a bit to slow to take over 5 cities: it takes a loong time (I gave up after 2 cities)

How did you make the music? Was it generated or did you use a composer?
angrygeometry
29. Apr 2012 路 23:20 UTC
i'm afraid my wooden pc, for whatever reason, decided to freeze up completely on trying to open your game. 6 year old badly treated laptop so i'm afraid i can't play, sorry!
jwolf
29. Apr 2012 路 23:55 UTC
As a game, it could definitely use more variety to the units and gameplay, but the engine is solid. Very nice entry!
Gunmonkey
30. Apr 2012 路 01:17 UTC
fun game, setup reminds me of zombie smasher for some reason
R3ason
30. Apr 2012 路 03:07 UTC
Great! Really enjoyed this entry! Would love it if you could somehow build defenses (walls, turrets?). Thanks!
angelk
30. Apr 2012 路 03:43 UTC
The concept is pretty nice, and the graphics are cool. I like all the dots flying around on the screen. Sorry to say I too had to mute the music.
netmute
01. May 2012 路 20:23 UTC
Very well executed! Music, graphics, gameplay, all was good.
Datamosh
01. May 2012 路 23:59 UTC
Collisions were weird sometimes, but overall I liked it! Really good! The graphics reminded me a little of "Z", that old strategy game...
Hazard
02. May 2012 路 19:26 UTC
Amesome idea and nice graphics. Unfortunately the audio made my ears bleed (seriously, didn't you ever play it with audio on?) and the inabilitiy of units to walk around buildings makes it quite frustrating.
azurenimbus
04. May 2012 路 03:06 UTC
Well made and very well-rounded game. It's not my cup of tea, but I even played it for a while!
Make A Game
05. May 2012 路 00:43 UTC
Awesome entry! Visuals are charming, loved especially how chaotic the game becomes! Sometimes collisions are a little buggy, but the game played almost flawlessly!
marudziik
06. May 2012 路 13:55 UTC
It's really hard to control the enemy's towns, and the game becomes quickly kinda frustrating. Needs some more polish, but there's quite a lot here for 48hours of work anyway.
castor
09. May 2012 路 18:28 UTC
I died after an epic struggle for the middle city. Cool game.
RobProductions
09. May 2012 路 22:08 UTC
Cool, I liked the music and AI!
thegreystudios
13. May 2012 路 07:09 UTC
Nice game. Like the idea! I think some blood and gore would be awesome to give a little bit more feedback on how hard the battle is! ;) Simon
BenW
13. May 2012 路 19:44 UTC
I had a hard time putting this game down.