Ants by shiqichuan

[raw]
made by shiqichuan for LD 43 (COMPO)

First ludum dare!

No music yet,I have never done anything about it before,I also struggled with art a lot.

use 'wasd' to guide ants pulling a ball, 'p' to return to last ckeckpoint.

Hope you guys have fun!

欢迎中国的朋友捧场!

Tip: foucus on the ants instead of the ball would hlep a lot.

I have made it easier to the ending. See if you can find the true ending!

1543799712(1).png

Ratings

Overall 351th 3.128⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 280th 3.154⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 66th 3.731⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 285th 3.385⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 361th 2.885⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Audio 392th 1.5⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Humor 315th 2.443⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Mood 398th 2.649⭐ 39🧑‍⚖️
Given 42🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

🎤 shiqichuan
03. Dec 2018 · 02:18 UTC
Cant belive I have spent so much time on art and music but still cant make any music.
wsKilljoy
03. Dec 2018 · 13:30 UTC
Good job! Maybe next time opt out of music if the game doesn't have it.
🎤 shiqichuan
03. Dec 2018 · 16:20 UTC
you are welcome!thank you for testing my game,dont hesitate to leave your comments,its the most important part for me to make my game a lot more better!
Slashee the Cow
04. Dec 2018 · 06:43 UTC
I found this one almost impossible to play - as soon as I started the ball just flew left at high speed, none of my inputs seemed to greatly affect what was happening. I restarted a few times and a couple of times it seemed like I was having an effect but my inputs were having the opposite effect to what I'd expect. I tried a few times but could never get very far.

I think I get what you were going for though and it's a great way to do the theme, and the graphics are quite pretty, I wanted to play it more but it almost seemed to go better if I just took my hands off the keyboard and let it all happen.
zanagi
04. Dec 2018 · 06:47 UTC
Nice game, really enjoyed the ant mechanics and physics part. Managed to play it until the fire part.

At the start of the game the tutorial texts can be easy to miss if the player goes fast, maybe show it in the UI instead, or move the text alongside player for a while?
🎤 shiqichuan
04. Dec 2018 · 08:19 UTC
Thank you for playing my game!Indeed it may become very fast at the begining.I will try to make the instructions easier for you guys to see.

Sometimes you are supposed not to press any key and just let the ants push.

Tip: Try to lift the ball at the fire.See what's above the fire!
🎤 shiqichuan
04. Dec 2018 · 09:18 UTC
I upload a new version of my game,make sure to checkout!(the fire is not the true ending)
@zanagi
GoldRanger
04. Dec 2018 · 14:42 UTC
The ants are cute, their blinking eyes!
The moving system is pretty awesome. When you are moving in max speed, it's like driving an F1 formula car,
Also, that feels great when you get used the control!
However, during the gameplay, actually, I have no idea what I am doing.
I found you said there is an ending, I think you should try to notice player there is a goal to reach :joy:
pantoufle
04. Dec 2018 · 16:37 UTC
Wow! The ending took me by surprise.

That's a great game. Good job!

I had to make lots of sacrifices...
![LF43 ants.png](///raw/387/1/z/1ec79.png)
Sigton
04. Dec 2018 · 17:08 UTC
Love this so much! Would really like to see this as a full game, it could be very atmospheric with some good music and sound effects :)
Furtive Pygmy
05. Dec 2018 · 00:15 UTC
Nice game, I love the physics and the ant art.
🎤 shiqichuan
05. Dec 2018 · 05:20 UTC
@goldranger Thank you for playing my game! I also dont konw what I am doing when I stuck ... Maybe just repeat pressing 's' and 'w'...As for the ending, let's just put it as a hiden ending.

@pantoufle Thank you for playing my game! You got me, that is exactly what I want to tell by this game.

@sigton Thank you for playing my game! I had struggled a lot in music during 48 hours, but still couldnt made any music fit this game. There's also a lot stuff I failed to add to the game, I intended to add a night scene in which you can control one of the ant to pertect the others, just to make the ant become more valuable! When I have a lot of time I will try to make a full game for you guys!

@furtive-pygmy Thank you too! I havent painted a lot of stuff before, but I'm glad to see you love them!
mrwillowb
05. Dec 2018 · 11:15 UTC
No idea what was happening too weird sorry not enjoyable.
🎤 shiqichuan
05. Dec 2018 · 11:42 UTC
@mrwillowb Yes at first you may be confused by the controling,however if you take your time,as long as you get used to the gameplay you would strat to enjoy it!
🎤 shiqichuan
05. Dec 2018 · 11:42 UTC
If you guys found out any bug or something hard to handle, just leave you comments below! I will definitely check them!
BudgieM2
05. Dec 2018 · 12:27 UTC
Very unique game! And that ending was so emotional :(
Suchista
05. Dec 2018 · 12:47 UTC
Wow, it's very original! I really liked it!
jharler
05. Dec 2018 · 13:38 UTC
Wow, this was a really unique take on the theme and the mechanics were really great. I liked the graphical style, but they really didn't look like ants to me. Minor complaint really. Kudos for putting in game instructions.
It really helped to figure out how things worked. Overall, great job!
SuperGobo
06. Dec 2018 · 01:03 UTC
Never made it to the ending, I got bogged down with all my dead ants. LOL It felt more like a simulation that a game (which is valid, but not my style). Maybe if the controls were more responsive? As in, it more directly affected the movement of the ball? Also I kinda got annoyed by the dead ants but I liked the fact I could see them. Their sacrifice shall not be forgotten! RIP
🎤 shiqichuan
06. Dec 2018 · 04:01 UTC
@budgiem2 @suchista @jharler @supergobo Thank you for playing my game whether you reached the ending or not, I'm glad to see you love this game! As for the dead ants ,I also have problems with them, maybe I will make them lighter to make sure other ants can clear their way.

I were inspired by the ants' natrue of potecting them selves by sacrificing and named this game. In fact, I don't even know how to call that tiny black creature...
Amanda Priest
06. Dec 2018 · 07:06 UTC
Very cute idea :slight_smile: Shame about the music but hey it takes time to learn. Great job.
designernap
06. Dec 2018 · 10:11 UTC
RIGHT, this took a while to understand for a few reasons... I actually had to close and restart three times before I understood the game, but am very glad I did.

The opening asks you to press D to move the ant's right.... however, I just endlessly drove them into the right wall. Traditionally, western games tend to move left to right so when I realised this was a right to left game, it all became clear. It is not immediately understandable that your goal is to the left so a simple arrow at the start would help.

Once I understood, the flow and movement was great. The high speeds and jumps felt lovely and the world came to life. Great work!
boundtotheearth
06. Dec 2018 · 11:48 UTC
你好! 我不是中国人,但我会说一点中文

I understood the controls almost immediately, but it was still pretty hard to controls the ants.

The art was really nice and cute, and its pretty much the best part about this game.

As for the level design, the part before the 2nd checkpoint (the slopes) are a little confusing because all the slopes look the same. I actually thought that I was falling off the level and restarting. A few extra sprites in the background would help to fix this I think. The rest of the game was fun and challenging.

Its a pity that you didn't have time to add music. A light, cutesy BGM and SFX would work really well with your great art to improve the mood.
🎤 shiqichuan
06. Dec 2018 · 15:45 UTC
@amanda-priest Glad to see you got used to the gameplay, thank you!

@designernap Nice advice! I have make it more easy to handle at the begining in my new version!

@boundtotheearth Thank you for your advices! I thought I can make a music, however after spent hours into it and still no progress. It's more difficult and time consuming as I thought.

The slopes were intended to have some spikes on it, I removed them to make sure everyone can have a easy start. But now they seems a little bit tedium, maybe later I'll do some modification on them.
rjhelms
07. Dec 2018 · 05:03 UTC
This was fun - a nice take on the theme, and the controls felt really fun once I got the hang of them. Some sound and music would really bring it to the next level, but I get that it's really tough in 48 hours!
NNNIKKI
07. Dec 2018 · 08:28 UTC
It's kinda weird because to move in one direction I had to press the arrow to the other direction and I didn't really use W or S much.
dunin
07. Dec 2018 · 11:04 UTC
Clever concept!

But for it to work properly, you would have to move the camera back, and have some protection so that you don't get stuck for hours against a rock...
LastLeaf
09. Dec 2018 · 09:40 UTC
一群蚂蚁的西游记!

Very innovative concept! It was a challenge to control but finally I made through the last hill. Great fun! It was enjoyable to see the ball rolling fast, but sound effects were really needed. And... the English text passed too fast for a Chinese like me.

The gameplay has great potential! It is so great for your first LD!
🎤 shiqichuan
09. Dec 2018 · 11:06 UTC
@rjhelms Thanks for playing! I'm really appreciate that you like this game!

@nnnikki Thank you, generally W or S are used when you are stucked of faced with obstacles, but sometimes with a extremely high speed you can ignore anything in your way.

@dunin Thank you too. Sometimes just press W frequently can get you through some bad situations.

@lastleaf 很高兴你喜欢这款游戏! The last hill is quite challenging, I'm glad you passed it. Maybe next time I will add some introductions in chinese!
Quasar47
09. Dec 2018 · 14:36 UTC
It was very hard for me to control the ants. The controls on the screen don't match what really happens to the ants when you press the correct button. In the end, I was stuck at the first level and I couldn't make the ants lift the ball to guide them to the next part of the level. It it something risky to let the physics control how the game should be played, and unfortunately, that didn't hit for me. The lack of music and any king of audio effect hits the nail in the coffin for me. I see you wanted to compose music for your game, but I think you should have taken some music on internet and quickly focus on the controls instead of that part.
🎤 shiqichuan
10. Dec 2018 · 17:28 UTC
@all You guys said the original one is too hard. Your advices have been taken! I uploaded a new version, made the 's' button more useful and eaiser to reach the ending! if you give up last time, try this!
jk5000
10. Dec 2018 · 18:13 UTC
The idea for this game is interesting and the game is overall fun to play. The graphics is okay, but I do not like the standard unity sky as background. The missing sound effects and music is too bad, but okay this is your first LD game. The controls is okay, but could have been better. Overall a good LD game. Well done.