Life of an Ant by Connor McGrory

[raw]
made by Connor McGrory for LD 38 (COMPO)

screenshot.jpg You play as an ant in a small little ant hill. (This is not the theme reference though:p) This was the first time I staked awake for the full 48 hours. Naturally, I feel dead. I have posted the code below, but I will compile it into an executable first thing in the morning. Thank you for the support! :)

UPDATE: The executable jar file is up! I look forward to the start of the judging period!

UPDATE2: I just realized why my file was upwards of 160MB. I was able to reduce it down to 40MB

Controls: When in a cut-scene, press ENTER to progress through the dialogue. (But please read it :p) When the cut-scene fades away and the game runs, press 'C' to see a full list of controls. Press 'Q' for stats and instructions of what you're supposed to do.

I realize the game play is a bit weak, but follow the dialogue to the end for a funny ride!

Executable Jar File (the game) https://www.mediafire.com/?dj0eg7f7jtnuuzt

Screenshot https://www.mediafire.com/?scm20o9husb9sdp

Code https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz67F2t9r4ksR0dpNFkzSFNXWnM

Oh, so this year I took a quick video of myself at the top of every hour during the competition. Check out the madness! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypYYMzMJEaM

Ratings

Overall 38th 4⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 205th 3.316⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 154th 3.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 29th 4.211⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 319th 3.053⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 24th 4⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 20th 4.105⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 29th 4.053⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 30🗳️ 23🗨️

Feedback

Epicsoft
02. May 2017 · 01:18 UTC
Fine game , I couldn't find any bugs, graphics are retro and I liked audio
MartensCedric
02. May 2017 · 01:34 UTC
Wow this is by far one of my favorite compo game, good work! You should definitely upload some screenshots, I have a hard time believing I'm only the second comment! I gave a 5 in humor and it really deserves more. The audio is nice the graphics are really nice and the best is all the ant jokes :) I couldnt really play the game since the first day I struggled to find food (realized it was just at the left) and didnt bring a single one. Anthena died :( The second day I could not find dirt and got slowed down, I don't know where to eat. If you could reply to me with clarifications I will play it again! Good job :)
Steve Johnson
02. May 2017 · 01:36 UTC
I liked this game so much [I wrote a post about it.](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/rogue-basement/funniest-game-so-far-life-of-an-ant) Five stars from me in all categories.

I would say this is the best game in LD38, but once I turn into a cave-in repair ant the plot seems to get stuck and I am doomed to fix walls forever. So I just let the colony collapse on purpose because I was done working for the man (er, the queen).

The music is perfect. The sound is good and not just made with bfxr. The graphics are appropriate. The writing is ant-alyzingly good and ant-i-not-funny.

So if there's more plot, I would be so happy if you could make a build that starts the game right after you do the cave-in repair job so I can finish this masterwork!
Aurelien
02. May 2017 · 05:19 UTC
The dialogues are gold. The music is also really good, it's not too repetitive as we can often see in compo games.

I also didn't know what to do after I became a red ant. And I couldn't find a way to carry the food and the dirt. Hope you can fix it so that I can know what happen at the end :p
🎤 Connor McGrory
02. May 2017 · 14:24 UTC
Thanks for the comments so far guys! I changed the game so that when you are the red ant, it's virtually impossible for the day to reset. When you are the red ant you must find where the dirt is leaking from the ceiling and press SPACE bar on it to patch it.

I must warn you after you win as the red ant the game gets kinda weird haha. This is mostly due to my sleep deprivation. Thanks again for playing and I enjoy all feedback!
Steve Johnson
02. May 2017 · 19:01 UTC
You should totally put this on itch.io so it's easy to find after LD38 is over.
Steve Johnson
02. May 2017 · 19:25 UTC
I finished the game! Total work of genius, 5/5 all categories, if we ever meet I will give you a hundred high fives.
simonhutchinson
02. May 2017 · 23:06 UTC
@Epicsoft, you couldn't find any bugs?

Ok, that's a terrible joke, but this game is great. The life of an ant seems awesome if you get to listen to that music all day (except for the bully's of course).

The movement feels a bit slow at the beginning when I'm still exploring and don't know where anything is, but perhaps that's part of the point--feeling like a rookie who's still learning the ropes.
candlesan
03. May 2017 · 07:16 UTC
Really digging the music and sound. The ant concept is awesome too. The puns are so groan-worthy it's awesome :)
gilborn
03. May 2017 · 07:25 UTC
Very good game, it has an easy feel-good mod and at the end it got quite philosophical.
Although I don´t know if doing nothing gets punished by the game, I always had the feeling that I didn´t repair enough or carry too less dirt to the outside :-)
larzan
03. May 2017 · 12:01 UTC
Wow, intense 'game', love it. It is more a short story with small game elements but the dialog is very funny and i like the existential discussion that you incorporated at the end, haha.

Enjoyed it a lot, very well done, a small piece of art :)
gustavo.christino
03. May 2017 · 15:21 UTC
Oh, life.
dwemthy
04. May 2017 · 03:13 UTC
Very funny game with nice music! Controls felt a little slow and on the second day even though I found and picked up 0 dirt I got praised. The end made it worth it and the scripted feel made sense. For the controls: up and down are overriden by right and left but not the other way around and if it did allow switching to whichever direction is pressed last it'd be really nice.
🎤 Connor McGrory
04. May 2017 · 14:38 UTC
@dwemthy
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!

In most games I make I always have a cascading if-else sequence for checking keyboard buttons. This is what causes the weird controls you were talking about. I think you're right that the last pressed key should always override. Thanks again for the input!
Smiling Cat Entertainment
06. May 2017 · 03:04 UTC
Fun story, with a good soundtrack to accompany it. Nice twist at the end, too. During the workday sequences I couldn't understand why I kept slowing down, but all of the other ants were still moving the same speed, but that was pretty minor and never lasted long before moving on to the next sequence. Great job!
superjoebob
06. May 2017 · 06:10 UTC
antrew ryan
GameQuester
10. May 2017 · 20:23 UTC
I really liked the game. Not because of the gameplay or the graphics, but because of the story and the characters. Also, the music was very well fitting and added to the mood. Really good Work!
Wheffle
12. May 2017 · 02:42 UTC
This was good! It seemed really well polished, the graphics and animations were great, and the music was fantastic! It gave off a strong SimAnt vibe, and I *loved* that game as a kid. I don't think the game lingered too long on each task, so it was always interesting to play. Surprise depressing ending though haha. At first I thought the premise was that they were in an ant farm, but it got even more meta than I anticipated :P

Loved it, nice job!
mikethewayne
14. May 2017 · 18:55 UTC
Really nice game, calm, relaxing, and nothing is better than ant-puns. Hope your brain is OK!
pschichtel
15. May 2017 · 17:23 UTC
There are so many good ways to publish the game binaries, but mediafire is not one of them.

Other than that: Simple but nice entry. A few AI problems (ants stuck in loops or walls).
Baraa Marwan
16. May 2017 · 17:23 UTC
Good game!I liked the music most!!
Please rate my game to get 20!!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/monster-island
csanyk
18. May 2017 · 03:11 UTC
I don't have java installed so I can't play it, but thanks for checking out my game :)
Steve Johnson
20. May 2017 · 22:28 UTC
Congrats on the great scores! I'm glad your genius is reflected by all the the judges.