Plantagone by Gins

[raw]
made by Gins for LD34 (COMPO)
When I found out about the two themes, I remembered an old idea of mine about a potted plant. It turns out that this idea lent itself really well to being controlled with only two buttons. As for the growing part, you play as a quite flexible plant, so I suppose that counts as both if you're generous ;)

The game can also be played on touch devices. Tapping the left or right halves of the screen is equivalent to pressing left or right on the keyboard, so you should be able to play the game in your tablets or even on phones.

The game has no sound effects this time and it's shorter than I hoped to make it, but I have to submit now because I have to get up tomorrow. Please still let me know what you think, I might work on this more after LD!

That said, just start the game and have fun!

As usual, I will be reading every comment and will answer all questions, whenever possible.
I will play and rate all (non-anonymous) commenter's games (if I can run them), so please don't just rate, also leave a comment! :)


CONTROLS
Left/Right: tap to hop, hold to aim.
R: restart the level


UPDATE HISTORY
2015/12/18: I had accidentally left the R-key to reset the whole game instead of only the current level. Fixed, as I consider this a typo bug.

Ratings

Coolness 63% 3
Overall 3.58 227
Fun 3.72 113
Graphics 3.52 267
Humor 3.08 188
Innovation 3.94 71
Mood 3.11 376
Theme 4.13 133

Feedback

Oppai_pika
14. Dec 2015 · 03:18 UTC
Good and fun gameplay. Still better than plantes vs zombie xD
candlesan
14. Dec 2015 · 03:33 UTC
Pretty fun! Control scheme was neat to use. Would have been easier to understand if plant reached out and missed rather than not reaching at all when there's no valid target but I figured it out eventually. Missing a jump can be very punishing, forgiveness on those jumps is low.
graceavery
14. Dec 2015 · 04:41 UTC
Fun! Nice use of the theme, cute graphics and neat controls. I agree that there needs to be some tweaking of the controls and difficulty, but overall great! 'v'
jerry111zhang
14. Dec 2015 · 07:04 UTC
Fun game! Hopping on ground was painful but but swing part is great.
TaoPhoenix
14. Dec 2015 · 07:08 UTC
The question of difficulty is tricky here. The first several levels were like a tutorial with little risk. Then I got in real trouble with one of the ones with the spikes and gave up because it's just getting late. But really cute graphics indeed!
justinooncx
14. Dec 2015 · 09:44 UTC
Really fun game to play, not to mention quite forgiving! Just glad that missing your aim doesn't launch your flower, that would mean I'd have to play a LOT more...
🎤 Gins
14. Dec 2015 · 10:14 UTC
@candlesan: thank you, I made it this way on purpose, so you wouldn't lose your grip on the hooks just because you missed your aim while you're already swinging.

@jerry111zhang: thank you, the hopping is frustrating on purpose, so that you would always choose swinging over it. I should have placed more hooks into the levels though, so you actually do get this choice more often^^

@TaoPhoenix: thank you, I didn't have the time or the testers to thoroughly test the difficulty curve, but I will keep this in mind if I decide to work more on this game.

@justinooncx: thank you, it's nice to see that you appreciate the design decisions that make the game more forgiving.

Overall, I find it interesting that some players seem to find the game too punishing and others quite forgiving. I would be really curious to watch both kinds of players play to see what I can change about the design to fix this.
zaniarm
14. Dec 2015 · 12:57 UTC
Nice and simple graphics. Love it.
jamaster96
14. Dec 2015 · 16:22 UTC
Confusing!!!
freddyw9
14. Dec 2015 · 16:23 UTC
Really good, the plant animations are fantastic.
5you
14. Dec 2015 · 16:39 UTC
Great idea! I didn't think much of it at first glans but it's really fun to play!

Check out Digicross, playable in solo/multi/coop :
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=46758
Crashmore Studios
14. Dec 2015 · 16:42 UTC
Solid game overall! Really good concept for a jam, it feels like it gave you time to concentrate on some nice details, like the plant catching up to the vase when moving.

A little nitpicks: Moving around (at least by clicking) could get a little frustrating, especially if you lose a lot, as the level progression can be slow. Checkpoints might be a good idea?

Ultimately, I really enjoyed it! You can give yourself a pat on the back!
aamatniekss
14. Dec 2015 · 16:54 UTC
Nice, very interesting use of the controls theme! I just wished the hopping was a bit faster
pinion
14. Dec 2015 · 18:26 UTC
Really liked graphics and the hopping, the last level took me ages but it was worth for my freedom.
David Cookie
16. Dec 2015 · 16:28 UTC
I'll give it 5 stars because the theme is perfectly respected and the game is really fun. Just too bad there's no sound or music! It could have been a blast!!
🎤 Gins
16. Dec 2015 · 18:59 UTC
@jamaster96: what do you find confusing? Maybe I can help.

@Crashmore Studios: thank you, I already addressed the frustrating parts of hopping earlier, as for the pat on the back, I will follow that advice ;)

@everyone else: thank you, the positive feedback is much appreciated!
kuhnerdm
16. Dec 2015 · 20:32 UTC
I really liked this. The only thing I could think of is that it may make it a bit more bearable to play over time if the hop "stride" were increased a bit. That, and some fun music :)
paruthidotexe
17. Dec 2015 · 05:02 UTC
One of the best game here.. first dont know we can hop on the floor so it was very difficult and then it starts very interesting to play..
Art and controls are very nice.I like how it grows and catches the spot and swings..
Instead of automatic swing how about a control to swing.
You can release this for mobile device with more levels
🎤 Gins
17. Dec 2015 · 11:40 UTC
@kuhnerdm: thank you, yes the hop stride is really tedious. If I had the option to use more buttons, at least I might make it so that there is a dedicated shooting button, so you don't need to tap the directions to hop, but just hold it down.

@paruthidotexe: thanks! glad you figured out how it works, I hoped that the two-sentence tutorial is enough, but for a more refined version, I'd have to make all this more clear. I should probably add more detail about the controls into the description.
As for the controls: I was considering how the game would benefit from more flexible controls when swinging, but I couldn't come up with anything that works with only two buttons. Perhaps with using the mouse too, but I wanted to limit myself to really only two buttons, and nothing else.
As for the mobile suggestion: this is indeed something I'm considering, since the control scheme already works on mobile devices really well! Depending on the free time I have, I might actually further develop this and put it on the android store (and perhaps iPhones if I find someone who can compile it for me).
ajopart
17. Dec 2015 · 13:09 UTC
Greta concept. Hoping distance could have been increased a bit, but well done
logon13
17. Dec 2015 · 14:20 UTC
I love the way the plant hops along
Ghen
17. Dec 2015 · 16:48 UTC
solid game!, love the idea, the control a little bit tedious, but its ok, i like the graphic as well
overall great game :)
Evannex
18. Dec 2015 · 05:48 UTC
Great entry, I made it through a few levels, but I fell on one and pressed r hoping to restart the level rather than having to hop all the way back to the start. But pressing R reset me at the first level... So I stopped playing for now ^_^

Not to challenging, not too easy. The restart thing frustrated me though. Overall a great entry, so Job well done!
🎤 Gins
18. Dec 2015 · 08:32 UTC
@Evannex: does R really restart the whole game? Sorry, it's supposed to only reset a level. My bad, will fix.
HuvaaKoodia
24. Dec 2015 · 00:22 UTC
Checkpoints would be a good addition with such slow movement speed and uncontrollable swinging. I got to the level with spike balls and elevators and didn't feel like replaying after dying right before the end.

Graphically well polished, the physics are also sleek. Overall a good job.