Hive Alive! by Remco
NOTE I have fixed some game-breaking bugs with this game (the title-text wouldn't appear and game-overs weren't registered).
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Warning: Some sound effects may be a bit harsh for those with headphones on.
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I didn't have time to add a tutorial (or barely anything beyond the game...), and it's a turn based strategy, so this might be a long text. Sorry! :sweat_smile:
The goal is to keep the patch of flowers, and the bees alive for as many turns as possible.
Bunnies
- ... eat flowers.
- ... will move 1 spot every turn.
- ... prefer to move to a flower (and eat it), but otherwise move randomly.
- ... start with 2 hp. (This can be seen if the blue cursor/indicator is over them in the lower right corner.)
- ... can be stung by a bee, and will loose a hp. Also, this'll kill the bee. (So, need to be stung twice to be removed from play.)
- ... will spawn every 11 turns, in one of the holes.
Flowers
- ... get eaten by bunnies.
- ... need to be there in both kinds, otherwise it's game over.
- ... will 'split' (reproduce) into one pink and one white one, if brought pollen of the other color. (The original flower will then dissappear.)
- ... the player can choose the location of the pink flower when split, the white one will spawn on the opposite side of the selected hex. (Unless there isn't an empty flower pot there!) That is, the cursor/indicator will turn pink for the placement of the pink flower, and there'll be a corresponding white indicator on the opposite hex if the white one can be placed.
Bees
- ... can pick up pollen from a flower. (This is the white or pink colored diamond icon in the lower right corner, if the cursor is on a bee.)
- ... can only pick up one type of pollen at a time. (The other type will be erased.)
- ... will 'split' (reproduce) a flower when carrying pollen from the opposite color instead of taking pollen.
- ... each can move once per turn. This uses up nectar. If a bee can't move any more that turn, the arrow in the lower right will turn into a stop-sign.
- ... start with 5 nectar. (See the lower right corner if the cursor is on a bee.)
- ... die when out of nectar.
- ... can fully refill nextar at a hive (or not lose one the turn they gather pollen, but not when splitting a flower).
- ... will spawn every 9 turns, at one of the hives.
- ... can attack a bunny for 1 hp, but will then die.
Indicators
- ... are blue and floaty to indicate that they are the hex the cursor is now on.
- ... are green when when they indicate that something can be selected.
- ... are red when they indicate that a bee can attack a bunny.
- ... are pink when a bee can visit a flower of that color or when splitting a flower, indicate where the pink offspring flower is going to be.
- ... (the same goes for white...)
- ... are blue (and not floaty) when a bee can go to a hive to refill nectar.
How many turns can you last?
| Youtube | https://remco.itch.io/hive-alive |
| Youtube | https://remco.itch.io/hive-alive |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/hive-alive |
Ratings
| Overall | 751th | 3.19⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 879th | 2.776⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 351th | 3.5⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 763th | 3.379⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 595th | 3.339⭐ | 33🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 654th | 2.759⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 663th | 3.04⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 32🗨️ |
It was a fun lil tactics game.
Overall great job though, love the concept ;)
Interesting tactics game, my only complaint really is a bit too hard to see and the loud screechy sound scared me cause my volume was high :D
The game is very challenging and i applaud the complexity of the rules.
Some sort of video tutorial would be nice if you continue developing it further
Quite fancy that you have a raytraced game going on! Interesting look through that too. Perhaps would have like a 'increase resolution' option, just to see how far it can be pushed.
All in all a bit of a jumble, but there a lots of interesting things going on tech and strategy wise. :)
@chloeofarroyo I always _promise_ myself that this time, this is the one where I'll put in a playable tutorial. It never really happened so far. For the splitting i'd say: It would maybe have been better for the board to be a bit larger so that it does happen less often. I'm not _entirely_ sure I'd take a disadvantage like that _completely_ out of the game though, given the chance.
@liam It was a bit of a conundrum... a better angle would've shown the graphics even less (and vice versa).
@maindric Funny thing is, I mostly set out to keep things simple. Only afterwards do I see bits that I could've cut (like the nectar system ... in practice, refilling at a beehive every so often doesn't really add _that_ much, given the difficulty and the fact that this is a jam game).
@barrier Sorry! The program I use to make the SFX is always a bit too loud with the harsh sounds. I normally reduce their volume on export, but I forgot this time!
@lereveur Good, that's what I was going for! As for the tech, it's unknown how far I can push this, but I'm going to try at least one more time.
@notnullnotvoid Originally, I planned to zoom to any interesting things (bee stings, bee collects pollen), that'd give it a bit more of a dynamic look. Maybe I should've just picked a dynamic genre and try to fit it with the theme next time, instead of the other way around. As you probably noticed, the resolution was already a lot lower than in the screenshots produced by the engine (turns out multiple objects _do_ slow it down significantly, even touch every model has a bounding sphere now). I have some ideas on how to push further, but I can't guarantee anything.
@voidsay Video tutorial is a nice idea actually! Maybe I should do that next time for a jam game as well as I inevitably find myself without a functioning tutorial again!
@joror Slowly introducing the rules would've been ideal... There's a _lot_ of things that I wanted to get done for this one. But given my previous track record with adding a third day (that is, on the third day I get about as much done as in two hours in the other days), I _really_ didn't want to go to the Jam this time. "_All in all a bit of a jumble, but there a lots of interesting things going on tech and strategy wise._" is basically the answer to "what is a remco game"? :-P
@nachocp Thanks, showing of the tech is one of the things I set out to do!
Hope you can use that feedback. And good luck on your last vote to reach 20 :) Keep it up!
Though the flaws and feedback I'll be stating are mostly the same like everyone elses.
* I am glad you addressed about the lack of time and putting the details in the entry and on the itch page. I know most if not all of us will have no time to add a tutorial beforehand.
* I do suggest going simpler next time, cause making a tutorial for these is actually also time consuming.
* I am also glad you gave a note about the sound beforehand. It's actually quite considerate of you.
* Most of the problems lies within the dithering pass you made on the camera. This is the only thing and the sole reason that it topples your entry down by A LOT actually.
* This made everything hard to see. This made even the stats you added last minute unreadable.
* I know you have some fancy tech involved, but this turned out to be a lesson of "too much". I hope you've taken note to that.
* Props for the movement indicators to be very clear and stark.
* Though it's not pointed out, if the game is actually in a very small resolution, you CAN read the details. But then you'd get the conundrum of the game being too small.
* The camera angle, though a bit of a conundrum with how you made it. You struck that good balance. Definitely adjustments are needed, but I'm glad you have taken note of this.
* Even though you stated about the camera controls, they don't help. I was expecting that to circle around, which is the one that's supposed to help with such visibility and detail. I was about to suggest to place it on the entry itself, but I don't see a need to anymore.
I really want to play more of this if not for that darned filter. I did survive at least 15 turns. Really with I could've rated it better but sadly can't. Good work nonetheless.
@lars-erik Boardgame might be a good idea actually, I could 3D-print it.
@oscarglo Well the engine (such as it is) was mostly finished before, as base-code. Most of the work, besides modelling & dealing with the performance issues, was getting javascript to do what I wanted (as I know the language the shaders are in a lot better than webcode).
@quinn-patrick @rustywolf @duke The dithering was mostly an attempt to disguise the current (probably) performance problems :sweat_smile:
@juice-lizard Thanks for the notify. What's your OS/browser/video-card? If it's not compatible with WebGL2 it's supposed to say that. (Also this game is likely to not work well on tablets and mobile is very probably out of the question.)
@fiakaiera Thanks! You don't have to apologize for rating the way you do. Rating honestly and (most of the time) explaining it all in the comments is what makes this event go round after all! I know from experience how hard these super detailed comments can be (which is why I try to keep it a bit simpler these days), so I can appreciate the care given!
The sound has tripped me up before, and also it's about the only thing that can actually physically hurt people (not that that's happened, but still...). I could've done without the dithering myself; it was an attempt to mask the (perceived) performance problems. Maybe I should have gone for interlacing instead. The camera was indeed impossible to get right. The controls where mostly left in because I thought it would be fun for people... I know they're not exactly useful if you're actively trying to do something with them and not used to them (and a pain even if you do).
Edit: I read after the fact that your game engine utilizes ray tracing. What did it bring to your game?
@notnullnotvoid I checked with the interlacing instead of the (not really) dithered look, and it isn't much better t.b.h. I'll just have to put in a bit more work to make this engine shine, in performance, ease of use and capabilities. (Also it's already at 20.5 fps I think... but maybe I could've put it at 15 or 12 so.)
@gronk Probably because both (the way that creation worked for) that video and my game have somewhat similar issues to work around: We both want relatively high fidelity 3D, but something is preventing us from that (the relatively low powered PC's of around 1990 for them, doing any kind of real-time raytracing online for me).
@spacewizardj Almost all of these questions have really boring answers. It's a compo game, I only had days and I'm apparently not very good with time-management. The game is _intended_ to work without camera control, and as far as I know, should be able to be played fine just without it. It was left in as an extra for people who wanted to explore a bit more. Thanks for the comment on the music. The secret is don't try to create good music, create an atmosphere. The raytracing doesn't bring as much to the game as I hoped (I thought I had time left over to do some animations with camera work) but I do think it helps to make the greenhouse feel more alive.