Crab It Alive! by Naca


Kick out humans and keep the reef alive!
CONTROLS:
WASD/Arrow keys to move
Hold left mouse button to grab
ESC to quit
All art, sound and coding by Carlos Pérez and Nuria Pico.
Engine: Godot 3.2. Graphics: Illustrator. Sound: LMMS, Audacity.
Thanks for playing :]
Release notes
We appreciate feedback regarding performance or possible issues on any platform (we couldn't test as we've liked). Nuria Pico made every single asset present in the game, including the recording of all sound effects using only her voice and random home stuff. Making this game has been so much fun for us. Hope you enjoy it too!
Our current high score is 21, let us know if you beat it!
Post-jam version changelog: * Add toggle fullscreen option. * Fix bug when grabbing trash at the bottom of the screen.
| Youtube | https://naca.itch.io/crab-it-alive |
| Youtube | https://naca.itch.io/crab-it-alive |
| Youtube | https://naca.itch.io/crab-it-alive |
| Youtube | https://github.com/Minimuino/LD46 |
| Youtube | https://naca.itch.io/crab-it-alive |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/crab-it-alive |
Ratings
| Overall | 781th | 3.676⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1194th | 3.333⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 464th | 3.689⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1150th | 3.694⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 500th | 4.12⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 532th | 3.642⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 862th | 3.583⭐ | 56🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 67🗳️ | 91🗨️ |
Simple stuff first. The bottom of the lake is too close to the bottom of the window. This might not be a problem in a fullscreen mode, but that is not an option. Grabbing garbage near the bottom also seems less reliable than elsewhere. The music loop is very short and could use some variation, yet otherwise it fits the crabby theme (for some reason).
The design then. I find it rather demoralizing that there is so little the crafty crab can do to save the fishies. Dozens of them will lose their lives while down at the bottom scouring for suitable trash. As such I'd make the lake slightly less deep (maybe this could even fit a single screen?) and introduce the ships one at a time, meaning there is an opportunity to stockpile trash if quickly taking care of the first ship.
Pinching a fish as a warning should make it change direction. Cutting the fishing lines could also be a possibility with a special move, but then the line falls down into the bottom and can be a hazard there. Catching the trash the humans are throwing overboard and serving it right back is splendid as is.
Yeah, well done. What else can I say.
@mopkoo Actually the goal of the game is to make all the boats leave by returning them the trash they throw to the sea before all the fish are captured. We know that explaining the goal to the player is one of the biggest flaws of the game.
@huvaakoodia Thanks for the feedback! Some of your ideas were already on our roadmap but didn't have time to include them in the final game (fullscreen option, cutting fish lines). The other things you mention are also very interesting and we will consider them for a future version of the game :)
In term of rythm it's a little long to catch all the trash at the bottom of the screen (with a little safe frame problem in full screen) so it s a bit painfull to get one trash (and the ennemis are a bit too fast to dodge). Maybe less space between fish and trash would have been more enjoyable.
Anyway great game with great message =)
Otherwise the sound is cool, the message is cool, the art and the controller is handy !!
Great job guys !!
@ironjeff
> you can’t save all the fish no matter what you do, but maybe it’s part of the message?
I guess it is. Human activity produces irreversible transformations on many ecosystems, however much can be done to stop or partially amend some of these transformations.
@jelch Yes, you can win. Kind of. You can save some of the fish, not all of them though. The goal of the game is to make all the boats leave by returning them the trash they throw to the sea before all the fish are captured.
email:m.shahiri.m@gmail.com
my LudumDare Game:
Social Distancing For Ladybugs
- if the crab could dash to dodge eels
- if it was easier to push multiple pieces of garbage up at a time
After 4 tries I have finally made it... with 2 fish left :)
Only on last try I noticed that there's bunch of trash on the bottom, until then I just stood there waiting for ships to throw something out. Too bad, because going to the bottom and avoiding eels is the most fun part of the game IMO.
I love crab pincers sound. Art looks great and cohesive.
Cheers!
@ryzy27 Thanks for sharing your playthrough notes, it's really valuable for us :) Crab pincers sound was crafted by knocking tongue against palate and recorded with a standard smartphone mic just like every other sound effect in the game, and then tweaked a bit in Audacity :P
Good job overall!
Game theme is nice, I liked it. Overall game brought me a nostalgia when I used to play flash games on my old laptop when I was a kid, thank you.
Quite simplistic game, I'd love to see it with an additional gameplay as the guy above said, I have same thoughts on music, the loop is too short but the sound itself matches the game pretty well so good job. Keep on working, it's a good jam submission! :thumbsup: