Capture & Trace by LiquidFunk

[raw]
made by LiquidFunk for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Introduction

Hey! This game was made for Ludum Dare 46 by LiquidFunk and Lukas018 using the fantasy console PICO-8!

Capture & Trace

Capture & Trace takes place inside a fictional city in which a disease is spreading. The problem? It is virtually impossible to detect it. That's where you come in. Your job? Capture & Trace citizens. How you ask? It's easy!

Instructions

The game takes place in cycles where the simulation runs. After each cycle, it is yours, the player's, turn. You have two tools to utilize each turn which both cost action points to use. Capturing costs 5 action points. Tracing costs 10 action points.

Capturing

Click capture and then click on a citizen. They will immediately be transported to The Hall where they can be examined.

Tracing

Click trace and then click on a captured citizen inside The Hall. If the citizen is infected a trace line will appear to the citizen that infected the clicked-on citizen. Trace that same captured citizen again and the trace will go one level deeper, tracing who infected the citizen that infected the captured citizen and so on. If no further trace lines appears, great! You found patient zero. Capture them to win!

Winning

Use trace to find patient zero and capture them to win!

Losing

If all of the citizens are infected, you lose.

Ratings

Overall 1772th 3.25⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 970th 3.44⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 580th 3.615⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2077th 3.154⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1784th 3.173⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 774th 3.442⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1378th 3.308⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 17🗳️ 25🗨️

Feedback

Sulo
21. Apr 2020 · 15:02 UTC
Nice idea! It's really hard to win, since the population is in constant flux :)
Abb1x
21. Apr 2020 · 17:54 UTC
Great Idea ! I didn't really understand at start but The Game is fun !
hulien22
21. Apr 2020 · 18:19 UTC
Managed to beat it, but I don't entirely fully understand how I did it.. Cool game though!
Deylinia
21. Apr 2020 · 19:35 UTC
I like the music and even though the graphics are simple I think they work really well!
I think the concept was fun, but it was a little too easy to win and I felt like I won every round? I'm not sure if there was a way to lose.

It is also a little confusing when you load it up even after reading the description I had to play a little bit to understand what was going on.
marccspro
21. Apr 2020 · 19:37 UTC
I love the style of the game in low res like this !
A bit difficult to understand how everything is used at first but great game !
makkurataichou
21. Apr 2020 · 19:44 UTC
This was pretty hard at first but I figured it out eventually! Sometimes it can be confusing to figure out where the trace goes if a few people are really close to each other. I really love the music, SFX, and the art style!! And I also appreciate that the number of AP you get per round increases over time. Not sure how long it would take to get to a lose condition though?
Tomyomy
21. Apr 2020 · 20:09 UTC
A bit confusing at first, but after understanding a bit more it was reasonable enjoyable. I really liked the sound effects and the music was solid, and I really appreciated the minimalism in the art - very nice submission!
Bastienre4
21. Apr 2020 · 20:25 UTC
Love PICO-8 games. Great art. Had difficulties to understand at first, but the game is fun. A bit fast, but fun.
Fractal Flower Girl
21. Apr 2020 · 20:36 UTC
I like the use of simple shapes, but it seemed like it was too easy. I didn't realize at first that yellow lines after tracing meant that the person was healthy and was put back.
Hundred
21. Apr 2020 · 20:41 UTC
wOW! This thing is mega mega mega polished, man.... And the game idea is so original. FINALLY NOT A PLATFORMER (we made a platformer :cry:)
JLV
21. Apr 2020 · 21:18 UTC
The game sure was a ton of fun. Tracking the infected citizens was straightforward and addictive. I really love how you made the most of PICO-8 to propose a great simulation-based entry.

Strenghts :
- Simulation...in PICO-8 !
- Fun premise and gameplay

Possible improvements
- The game is a bit obtuse at first, a quick tutorial would help.

Great job !
jonah
21. Apr 2020 · 21:30 UTC
this is a very smart game! I enjoyed it very much!

nice visual effect when you do a successful trace !

👍 good jobb!

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EDIT:

I just notice there are also cases that needs multiple traces. This makes this game even more impressive and fun!
-banzi
22. Apr 2020 · 07:18 UTC
Aweesome game. It has cool vibes and and the cool audio makes it a great package. I really enjoyed it :)
rand_dev
22. Apr 2020 · 15:50 UTC
An interesting idea with nice execution, the audio really adds to the emergency mood of the ingame situation.
Karas
08. May 2020 · 10:25 UTC
Love this one. Was a bit confused the first game but finally enjoyed it. Nice entry !