LudumData

Anthill by kutuup1989

[raw]
made by kutuup1989 for LD23 (COMPO)
Source included in download.

Anthill is a puzzle/strategy/infection game where black and red ants do battle for control of the anthill! Help the black ants win by destroying the stone the red ants lay and planting grass along with the black ants. Ensure there is more grass than stone on the map when time runs out!

NOTE:

For those who asked, as far as I know, there is no way to deploy XNA games as a standalone .exe and have it work reliably across all machines without requiring installation. It can be done, but the failure rate goes through the roof. If anyone wants a standalone .exe version to try, you can get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?t29xvhkehvigngu

The likelihood of issues is high, however. This is due to XNA projects being dependent on other libraries that the installer puts in place if they are not already present. Essentially, if the XNA framework libraries are already present and correct, the game should work, if not, you will likely have issues if the game even runs at all.

Windows http://www.mediafire.com/?c93c9kid894xsa9
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=8490

Ratings

Coolness 50% 3
Overall 2.73 583
Audio 3.29 117
Fun 2.35 680
Graphics 2.77 499
Humor 2.47 312
Innovation 3.19 319
Mood 2.57 512
Theme 3.46 208

Feedback

johnfn
23. Apr 2012 · 22:33 UTC
Nice game - although I think it would be better with a shorter timespan and fewer ants (so I could have more control). As it was, I kinda felt like just spamming the world with green the whole time was an effective strategy, which didn't feel very strategic.

The music was really good though. I just want to ensure - you did compose it all yourself, right?
mattchu
23. Apr 2012 · 22:39 UTC
Was hard to play with a touchpad, but it seemed simple enough. My ants were losing bigtime, mostly due to not realizing I could place grass tiles. :P

The tiles also seemed a bit small.
tompudding
23. Apr 2012 · 22:40 UTC
The wall of text as the first screen was a bit intimidating. The music was very cool, but I agree the time limit seemed quite high
Jungorend
23. Apr 2012 · 22:44 UTC
Nice idea, liked the music too.
Verrazano
23. Apr 2012 · 22:49 UTC
It was a good game although I think it was a little to long and tedious for my tastes. The idea was a good one, I thought it was very innovative :) also the music was fantastic good job with that.
🎤 kutuup1989
23. Apr 2012 · 22:59 UTC
To answer the music question, it was not composed by me, so I can't take credit lol it was composed by a friend who works as a session musician and composer. You can find some more of his work at http://www.myspace.com/superstardefender. He composes a lot of license free music for newgrounds too which you can also check out if you need music for any projects :)

The music for this game will likely end up on there very soon too.

His name is Nikolai Husted if you want to search him. He has a claim to fame in that he was the drummer with Out of Sight before they split.
🎤 kutuup1989
23. Apr 2012 · 23:06 UTC
You can also find a bizarre video of us recording for a shoddy comedy film we did a few years back at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOtSzf0Nz60
Oye Beto
23. Apr 2012 · 23:29 UTC
The march music of the beginning sounds complex and well done. Is it some kind of open source music or you made it?

I think the instructions should be briefer and the time countdown shorter.
🎤 kutuup1989
23. Apr 2012 · 23:31 UTC
The fanfare is open source and comes with Sonar as a demo. It pops up all over the internet on license free sites too. The in game music was composed by a friend as mentioned above.
VDOgamez
24. Apr 2012 · 00:21 UTC
I really didn't get what the point was. You just erase all the enemy tiles and draw everywhere with your tiles all the time. The ants are barely a factor. If you wanted to make the ants more important, take out the ability to paint tiles, and let the player indirectly influence the ants through pheromones or something, or just do something else to what the player does so that their power doesn't make the ants background noise.
🎤 kutuup1989
24. Apr 2012 · 00:40 UTC
@VDOgamez that was originally an idea I toyed with but it proved too complex to get working within the time limit since I had already invested so much time in getting the ants to move as a swarm. I added the ability to add grass tiles since the game became too hard if you had to rely on the ants alone to do it. Thanks for your feedback though!
🎤 kutuup1989
24. Apr 2012 · 00:44 UTC
@VDOgamez "You just erase all the enemy tiles and draw everywhere with your tiles". That's the whole point of the game. You have to keep up with the red ants when they spread out and clear the land they move out of and keep them in check when they retreat. The whole idea is that you can't control the ants and have to adapt and respond to what they do.
cadin
24. Apr 2012 · 00:48 UTC
Windows only :(
🎤 kutuup1989
24. Apr 2012 · 00:50 UTC
@cadin you gave a rating even though you couldn't play it?
Izzimach
24. Apr 2012 · 01:24 UTC
The basic idea is interesting, but I think a smaller play area and shorter time limit would help a lot, or some additional mechanics like you described. As it currently stands, the painting/repainting gets a little repetitive.
🎤 kutuup1989
24. Apr 2012 · 01:35 UTC
@Izzimach the large play area with loads of tiny tiles was my take on the Tiny World theme, plus I figured ants are pretty tiny lol I just pulled the time limit out of the air as a decent amount of time, but thinking back it might be a little too long.
pighead10
24. Apr 2012 · 16:34 UTC
damn, clicked on the screenshot because it said "click to start". But nice music!
edg3
24. Apr 2012 · 16:54 UTC
I like the idea, though the time length caused me to eventually give up and let the red ants win [why shouldnt I let them win, I am ANT GOD! :3 ], pretty cool idea
quickfingers
24. Apr 2012 · 17:13 UTC
Awesome! I won but it was a good struggle, very enjoyable :)
R3ason
27. Apr 2012 · 06:06 UTC
Interesting idea! A bit long, but I like the premise behind it! Thanks!
xillix
28. Apr 2012 · 18:44 UTC
I though the time limit was a bit long, but other than that the game was very well done. Keep up the good work!
dansludumdare
01. May 2012 · 04:32 UTC
Didn't play because I don't like installing things -- not just Ludum Dare entries, but anything (I use portable programs). I don't trust programs to uninstall themselves completely, or not screw around with my boot sequence. Don't know what tools you were using, but can you compile to a simple executable?
HybridMind
01. May 2012 · 04:34 UTC
First off, the music really cracked me up. That tune that plays while you're helping the ants is hilariously fast-paced and frantic--just what you need while you're helping ants!

I felt the timer dragged on a bit long for what is still most a game about spray painting. Things got better when I figured out a nice way to cheat by just holding down both the left and right mouse buttons at the same time. I definitely like the concept of indirectly affecting the outcome, but the gameplay is lacking a little bit for me. It just felt a bit too out of my control, and I really had some serious doubts I'd be able to win w/o the cheat I found. Not sure I've thought of any tweaks to the gameplay though that might help.
Vilborg
04. May 2012 · 05:26 UTC
For users that have the XNA Framework already installed, you can build the project, then copy the exe and the Content Folder from Projects\Projectname\Projectname\Projectname\bin\x86\Debug. You will have to distribute the installer for those without XNA, but those with it can run the exe/Content fine. Not to shamelessly plug my own game, but if you want to see how to distribute the installer/no installer packages, take a look at how I did my game: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=4884
davidwparker
10. May 2012 · 19:47 UTC
Sorry, I don't have Windows.
JellyFame
13. May 2012 · 11:52 UTC
Unfortunately cannot play, don't have access to windows box.
HTML5 :)