Ants by shiqichuan
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!

| Windows | https://gamejolt.com/games/ants_for_ludumdare43/382822 |
| Source code | https://github.com/qwellk/ludumdare43 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/ants |
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🗨️ |
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.
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?
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!
@zanagi
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:
That's a great game. Good job!
I had to make lots of sacrifices...

@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!
It really helped to figure out how things worked. Overall, great job!
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...
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!
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.
@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.
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...
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!
@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!