I like your concept a lot. The added challenges of each level were interesting, and I think you could take the ideas a lot further.

I think the controls need to be more tailored to your theme, though. I didn't feel like a dung beetle rolling a ball - controlling him was more akin to pushing a ball around with a pole. The dung balls slipped around more than it really should if it was gripped at multiple points. I think being able to have a solid grip on the ball, but having to manage it's momentum might give it a better feel. Players would still lose control and have to fight to steer it, but there would be more room to develop skill.

I also think your textures could have used a bit of tweaking. Your grass was cool, but seemingly only a single-sided texture. It seemed OK when viewed from the top, but from a dung beetle POV sometimes blades of grass would 'pop' into view as you walked by them. I also would have loved a fun dung texture for the ball,instead of what looks to be a rock. You could take a base brown color, run it through some noise, and use the noise values in your material to tesselate the sphere for a clumpy look that doesn't affect your physics, too.

Overall, a good entry that I think could be a fun frame for some polish.

🍃🐞💩🌿

I disagree a little with @endlessplumber, I think the pushing mechanic was difficult but I thought it worked pretty well. I was able to get a lot better at it by the end. I also really liked how the ball moved, it moved like it was kinda "lumpy", its' hard to explain but it reacted very well.

The last two levels were especially fun, I thought. I also really liked the little transitions at the beginning of the levels, that was a great touch that I don't usually see in LD games.

The bug animations could definitely use some work, but I expect you knew that. All-in-all very fun, do keep going on it.

I played this on my livestream a few days ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiOC3F43xF0

Really solid game, my first Unreal game in the jam. I think the levels were well thought out, and the mechanics were solid... I think the animations threw me a little, and the character controller was a little stiff and unforgiving.

One of my favourite games of this LD38. Congrats !

Controls were a little difficult, and at one point during the wind area, me and the ball kept getting pushed left and right just inside the home area, but otherwise really cool game!

Once I got used to the controls and my beetle stopped flailing around so much - I had fun! I had been trying to get him to back the dung in - or side-swipe it! Really like the graphics and the light and shade - and the sound effects are wonderful - nice to hear birds chirping.

I'm not sure but I think the beetle is actually facing backwards? Although maybe the beetle pushes stuff around with his butt - heh - I don't know much about beetles.
I didn't know at first that the ball was my dung but once I figured it out it was okay.
The controls were fine for controlling the beetle but they were awkward for pushing the dung around. I kept feeling as though the dung would drift to the left or to the right. Maybe a "grab dung" button would help? Or if the collision at the front of my beetle was slightly concave so I could trap the dung and push it around more easily?

I like the progression of the levels and how each level introduced a new concept/mechanic.

only saw a windows build, couldn't play :(

Great game! I liked all the different levels and the sound effects really added to the atmosphere. The controls seemed a bit clunky, but overall this was a really polished entry. Well done!

Hey Guys,

My first impressive was that the graphics is nice. It's a funny setup as well.

I think you need something to make it more interesting, maybe the pile gets smaller as you go, so there is a limit to your moves, or maybe you need to steal the crap from another beetle. I also think the controls could use some work, its hard to control, I get that it's the point, however I think the best way to go about is to make it hard to master, but there is a way right now it seems really random how you move the dung.

I really liked the music as well, and the camera moves are pretty slick. Gratz on creating this game :)

Probably the best LD38 game I have played so far. The concept was funny and fit to theme. The graphic was polished and vivid. And the camera movement was fluent. The BGM made me nervous while the back ground noise reminds me that this is just a little part of the world, great atmosphere. I stuck at the level where logs(or sticks?) falling from everywhere. Watching my dung ball crashing in to pieces really makes my bemoan. T-T

感觉是目前玩的最好的LD38游戏！整个点子很有趣，也契合主题。画面生动，精细；尤其是运镜很舒服。背景音乐有点紧张的感觉，同时底噪又提醒玩家这是一个开阔世界的小小角落，氛围不错。我卡在那个有很多树枝掉下来的关卡，看着粪球一次次被碾碎感觉真的好肉痛T-T

Great work!
If you have time, I would appreciate you checking out our game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/run-cola-run

@EndlessPlumber It's not easy to balance the controls to be not too easy and not too hard. We will work on the textures.

@fenwick Thanks :) It was our first character animation, so we have to rework it. The first step will be to animate only when moving and at the right speed.

@OccultOne Appreciate the stream!

@Skywilly Thank you very much, and we really appreciated your stream :)

@uvwar We had not noticed that!

@Bunnery Its funny :) They are birds from my garden!

@candlesan Yeah the beetle uses its back paws to push its dung. We hesitated for the grab feature but the gameplay is based on not letting your ball fall, so it should'n be too easy.

@Jason Kennedy The mac version is now released ! Please give it a try :)

@Jerm Thank you

@Dev Dennis we will release soon a new version with easier controls

@valiap Thank you very much! It was clearly the message we wanted to give.

Great graphics and mood. Love the idea. Kinda challenging for such a sh...ty game (get it?). Jokes aside, the physics were sloppy sometimes, but overall, it was fun and with the incredible environment I think one of the highest quality game there is in LD 38.

The graphics and music is really good. The game idea is fun, and it fits the game jams theme very well. The Dung Beetle walk animations is a bit strange, especially when it goes backwards. Overall a good LD game.

Nice game! Atmosphere is great and fun gameplay despite little clunkiness in controls. The flybys in every level are great touch! Just some nitpicking: Dung ball felt almost lightweight, like a ping pong ball or something like that. As mentioned earlier animations could use some work, the beetle’s walk is slow compared to the movement speed and it looks like it is gliding when moving. Art looks bit mismatched (some assets are more realistic some more cartoony).

Runs re-e-e-ealy slow on my macbook. I don't think there should be so many grass models at the same time.

Great concept. Loved the camera work introducing the levels. The introduction of new mechanics was great. I would have really loved it if the dung beetle both animated more like a dung beetle and controlled more like it.

Great entry!

@illuvatar Nice joke :smile:. Thank you very much

@jk5000 It is true that we didn't manage the backward anim, OK it's noted

@tuomo We've tried to fix that in the incoming version

@demyhallar Have you played with the settings ? We have tested the game on a 2016 MacBook Pro 13" its works smoothly in LOW settings (especially shadows)

@mooncalf It is not easy but we are working on it 😊

Also felt the ball was bouncing off of the beetle more than me actually moving it around. Had to rage-quit at the wind level, sorry.
Good idea with good theme fit. Nice beetle model and good overall package.
BTW: works fine on my 2013 iMac 27" at highest quality levels.

A dung beetle!?!?! lmao one of the funniest games I've played yet. Reminded me of playing bugs life on my N64 but better cause...dung beetle! I've seen some cool games this time around but this actually made me laugh pretty hard. Polish it and this could be the next goat simulator. Keep it up!!!

Very innovative game with good concept. For some reason my PC cannot behold the almighty power of Unreal Engine (time to buy a new one! :smiley:). I've tried all settings in minimum, still can't get 60 FPS.

Some suggestions (as I always do):
+ :pushpin: Gamepad Deadzone
+ :scroll: There is no deadzone. A lot of analog sticks (like mine) still emit residual inputs in resting position (e.g.: 0.01), which leads to a slight and constant camera rotation or walking motion by the simple fact gamepad is plugged.
+ :bulb: When reading gamepad input, instead of doing this:
+ if (InputAxisX)
Try doing this:
+ if (InputAxisX **>= DEADZONE**)
I often use 0.3 or 0.2 as value for DEADZONE. Some people add an item in options with a slider ranging from 0 to 1.
+ :pushpin: Animation Sync
+ :scroll: Beetle's pushing animation is always the same, even when you walk slowly. This is a simple detail that could make your game look way more polished if changed.
+ :bulb: Set pushing animation speed to a value **proportional to xinput**:
+ animationSpeed = moveSpeed * xinput;
+ :pushpin: Player/Dung Controller
+ :scroll: Dung control is very very physics-based and feels too out of control, because the physics is push-only. I suppose you are applying force to ball on contact using as force the Vector3 that goes from player's center to dung's center.
+ :bulb: When we push stuff, we also hold it with the friction from our hands to prevent it from slipping away. You could simulate this and reduce ball sliding/strafing by using as force the Vector3 that is **playerCenter + Vector3(playerInput.x, playerInput.y, 0)** assuming z is up axis.
+ :warning: When doing this, do not forget to limit yourself to the case in which **y > 0** (use an if statement), or you will allow the player to pull Dung towards self.
+ :pushpin: Dung texture is fit for a plane UV map, not for a sphere one.
+ :scroll: Dung texture looks stretched closer to the poles and sides.
+ :bulb: Editing sphere UV map in a software like Blender or repainting the texture over the current UV map should solve this issue.
+ :pushpin: Credits Screen cannot be canceled.
+ :scroll: Credits screen cannot be interrupted on missclick.
+ :bulb: In credits screen do this:
+ if (ConfirmInput) //jump to Credits Final State

I hope my comment helps you in this project. Good job and let's keep improving! :grin:

Hats off to the modeling/skinning of your bug! It is simply fantastic.

Sorry, but I really didn't like the game very much. Just using what felt like default game engine physics to push a ball wasn't an engaging experience for me. I mean, I love playing with video game physics, but this just reminded me of some minigame section that they'd shoehorn into early 360/PS3 console games where you had to push a ball around pits for a level for the sake of variety. I'll be honest, I quit after trying the level with the wind puffs.

Oh, also you recommend a controller (I agree wholeheartedly!) but the main menu does not take controller input.

Super nice to look at, but not a fun game to play.

Gorgeous graphics! Nice modelling and animations.

Well done, guys!

I never knew I wanted to know what life was like as a dung beetle. Turns out, it's quite enjoyable!

Don't htink I have much bad to say about this; yes, the dung would slip out of your control when strafing left and right, but if it did stick with you as you turned there wouldn't be much of a challenge. The dung felt like it had the right weight to it and didn't go rolling off with low friction as you might expect from lesser-polished games.

Art was good, the music was enjoyable. I laughed at the wind sound effect :) Overall, great humour and mood!

A very enjoyable game with nice graphics. The difficulty is adequate, but the randomness of the last level became rather frustrating for me. There's still a lot of potential in your game, good luck with the further development!

I had no idea Unreal Engine made mac executables!

This was a lovely cute game! I love the idea and despite that there are so many other games that need reviews I played this one anyway!

WOW! nice game!!! Graphically is awesome, congrats!

Free coockie !!!! :cookie:

Very, very good! I played with a controller (for a better experience! :grinning:)

Not only have you got a great **looking** game here but a very well balanced one. The wind level took me about 7 or 8 attempts to complete but at no point was it a case of "that's not fair" - it was all on me. Me versus the dung! (How often do you get to say that???)

If you forced me to criticise then I would say: when I fell into the holes in the second level - it seemed to restart too quickly - I would have preferred to see my little beetle fall into the water before the restart - but of course this is a minor thing!

Excellent game! Well done!

Very cool art and good idea! Great job!

Great idea for the Small World theme! What a tough life that must be. I think the weakest part was the traps -- they looked kind of cheesy and a better solution would be some kind of mesh deformation or maybe just a shader or particle effect, I am not sure. The camera animation to show the path at the start of the level is well done.

The idea is new and the graphics are really cool but for me the controls were too difficult. I'm not used to games that tests your control of movement so may be that was just me. Also the animation of the beetle was too scary :D But all in all well done :)

Cool little game! Reminded me of super monkey ball in some ways. Great graphics and sounds. Unreal! Great job! Would love to see some more animations (easy to say :)) for the beetle, as long as this pose still happens while falling!!! EDIT: Played on mac with keyboard.


AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEYAAAA! Love this lil stinker!

Lovely graphics!! I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcx-zIJDIVM