Catch the Worm by Sprotex

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

Play here https://sprotex.itch.io/catch-the-worm

In each and every life, some rain must fall... Once upon a time, there lived a feathered fellow named Robyn, who parented a few youngsters in its nest. As time went by, the juveniles dined everything one could swallow, and demanded more. The only digestable nourishment was kept under the watchful eyes of Crows. Those black feathered, red eyed and rather cunning beasts are more than willing to defend their turf by any means necessary. Join Robyn on this adventure to save its offsprings from starvation by standing up face to face to its nemeses.

Controls

  • WASD/Arrow keys to move
  • Space bar to toggle flight
  • E to feed little birds
  • H to heal self
  • mouse buttons to fight crows and peck worms

scr1.png

scr2.png

Ratings

Overall 1702th 3.283⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1835th 3.022⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1187th 3.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 679th 3.913⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1167th 3.674⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 555th 3.63⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1464th 2.625⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1423th 3.286⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

woiteee
21. Apr 2020 · 08:46 UTC
I like the graphics and the technical component, they're quite high quality. Just the gameplay is a bit tedious and unchallenging
🎤 Sprotex
21. Apr 2020 · 09:09 UTC
@woiteee Yes, you are right about the gameplay. Sadly, it was dependant on features that have been delayed until most time was up. :slight_frown:
HanyzPAPU
21. Apr 2020 · 12:01 UTC
I like the old-schooly graphics. The controls also feel nice and the music is magnificent.
-banzi
21. Apr 2020 · 12:56 UTC
Took me a while to get used to the controls - it was especially challenging with just a touchpad :D. I also made a worm fly up in the air somehow.

I think the overall mood/atmosphere of the game and music are awesome.
🎤 Sprotex
22. Apr 2020 · 09:07 UTC
@hanyzpapu Thanks for the kind words!

@banzi Touchpad players should get twice the score! :laughing: Thanks!
PonyPen
22. Apr 2020 · 12:26 UTC
Okay this is incredibly hard to play on a laptop with a touch pad :') lol
But I like the graphics and idea/concept behind the game.
I think you could add birds singing in th background for a nice touch.x
JJacobs
22. Apr 2020 · 12:26 UTC
I like the retro looking graphics, but I wish the flight was a bit more realistic.
Juice Lizard
22. Apr 2020 · 12:36 UTC
Nice but it looks a bit scary. It could be better if the shadows could be more colored and not gray and dark.
Ducky
22. Apr 2020 · 13:14 UTC
Confusing for me but had a laugh! Good job on the game!
Jay Berlin
22. Apr 2020 · 14:22 UTC
Great concept, and lots of fun to play. There were a couple bugs I found with the crow getting stuck in the sky, the camera controller can be tough to control when looking straight down, and some of the controls could be more responsive but the bones of this game are really great. You could definitely expand on this to include more enemies and more levels and turn this into a really neat game. Thanks for making it, and I really hope you keep working on it.
Matootsy
22. Apr 2020 · 15:06 UTC
The environment is big, and it's a nice concept, very much according to the theme. But the control is very difficult. the direction of the vision is moving very quickly, bit rough. (There's a bug of infinite soundloop at the game over). I like the music.
Matootsy
22. Apr 2020 · 15:06 UTC
The environment is big, and it's a nice concept, very much according to the theme. But the control is very difficult. the direction of the vision is moving very quickly, bit rough. (There's a bug of infinite soundloop at the game over). I like the music.
🎤 Sprotex
23. Apr 2020 · 18:37 UTC
@jay-berlin The bugs are there because we were running out of time and didn't playtest our game (I'm sad to admit it, but we hardly playtested it at all :frowning2:). More enemies would've spiced the game up, definitely, great idea! Our first ideas revolved only around crows as enemies. The worms were also supposed to be a bit smarter, but we didn't get to implement that.

@matootsy Controls were supposed to have sensitivity slider, I'll push more on next jams to have that by default. Also sound bugs weren't tested properly because of our time schedule.
SlimBun
28. Apr 2020 · 07:27 UTC
Great game. Great concept. I really liked it. I didn't really get how to play it tho, even after I played the tutorial.
🎤 Sprotex
28. Apr 2020 · 10:48 UTC
@slimbun I'm sorry to hear that the tutorial didn't help. :slight_frown: Perhaps the last screen went away too quickly? I'll introduce the mechanics better next time.
Duke
28. Apr 2020 · 11:21 UTC
Cool and fresh concept. I really enjoyed it. The graphical assets were a bit rough, but that's excusable. I still worked out pretty well. The flying was fun and colleting worms and feeding your children fit the theme very well. The music was very chill-out and hat a nice catchy tune. The only issue I have is the missing game play variation. The first minute of the game the same as the last, so I quit after having like 11 or 12 little bird babies. Collecting worms didn't work anymore at some point but I had enough to keep going for another couple of minutes.

The fighting against the other birds was a nice touch, but seemed a bit pointless. There were enough worms for everybody :)

In conclusion, I really like your entry. Fun little bird simulator with some issues on long term motivation :)
🎤 Sprotex
29. Apr 2020 · 07:13 UTC
@duke Thank you for your kind words! The crows were supposed to spawn more frequently, then the fighting would make more sense. Unfortunately, even though the mechanic of fighting other birds was in our heads since the beginning, the animations (which I wanted to have before starting implementing the attack) came a bit late, so I had very little time to implement and optimize for fun. :cry:

Also, there weren't supposed to be enough worms for everybody. :laughing:
Osel13
29. Apr 2020 · 10:05 UTC
@duke Thank you for your cooperation in pinpointing our weaknesses, it is one of the most effective ways to improve! The graphical assets are rough on purpouse, because I chose very simple and quick method of texturing, so i wanted it to corespond. Which kinda does, except the mismatching tiles, there i screwed up...
Vex
30. Apr 2020 · 14:26 UTC
Very stylish. It crashed after a few minutes for me, but otherwise I really enjoyed the zen-like approach of floating through the air and landing next to worms to pick them up.

Very nice, great job in the short time frame
Pretzol
30. Apr 2020 · 14:31 UTC
Cool game! It's pretty easy, but the concept was well executed. Also the models look pretty nice! (especially the worm, lol) Although, I have to admit that some of the controls got a little weird. I thought maybe right mouse could be both to get worms and feed the little birds instead of E, but that's just me.

It's impressive that you were able to implement a tutorial too! Good work!
MrsTari
30. Apr 2020 · 14:53 UTC
really amazing graphic. some of the groundtiles seems to not be right placed. but so far an amzing work. this game would be nice on a arcade machine :smile:
Kate90
30. Apr 2020 · 15:39 UTC
Hi, great graphic, Audio is fine too. Gameplay is pretty difficult. When I saw controls and how many things is to be done i knew I need to practice, but i wasnt able to pick up a single warm. Also mouse movement was very sensitive. Good luck with game!
🎤 Sprotex
01. May 2020 · 09:58 UTC
@vex Thanks for the kind words! :smile: Can you tell me when and how the crash happened, so we can focus on that? Thank you for playing!
🎤 Sprotex
01. May 2020 · 10:00 UTC
@pretzol There was supposed to be an emphasis on the other mechanic, which was to fight crows, but we ran out of time. :slight_frown: We will put control scheme to our planning phase, thank you for your feedback! :smile:
🎤 Sprotex
01. May 2020 · 10:02 UTC
@mrstari Thanks for the kind words! :smile: The tiles are placed procedurally, even though it always gets the same pattern. We didn't communicate the details of this generation well. The tiles don't have correct outer rims, so that's why they don't align properly.

Also, arcade machine sounds really well! :joystick:
🎤 Sprotex
01. May 2020 · 10:04 UTC
@kate90 Thanks for playing! The mouse sensitivity will be something we will focus on in future jams. :mouse_three_button: The worm picking mechanic was a little wonky, I admit. The colliders move and I wasn't able to code it quickly enough to test it.
flynn
07. May 2020 · 22:47 UTC
Besides the gameplay everybody already talked about. Maybe you can reduce the number of button players have to press. Maybe a generic interact button in different situation will make the player a bit easier to learn. I always give props for people doing 3d in a game jam. Good job guys!
🎤 Sprotex
09. May 2020 · 16:03 UTC
@flynn I've given it some thought, but I concluded that it was too difficult. Thinking about it now makes me realize that it's the same difficulty as the implementation I chose. :sweat_smile:
Gunturtle
09. May 2020 · 17:47 UTC
Cool base gameplay, but could've used more variety. Really liked the visuals and music though!
Airola
09. May 2020 · 18:12 UTC
The gameplay works well, had no issues with controls. I've read these comments and see there wasn't enough time to finish and test the game so that's why there's not that big of a challenge as there are a lot of worms and the crow doesn't pose much danger. The music loops a bit awkwardly and when I fought the crow the fighting sounds didn't stop after I won but just continued to go in a loop, and the same thing happened with the feeding sound too.

I could see this game being an adventure game if you continue to work on it. Larger world with houses and all and you should fly far to find food and come back to the little birds to feed them.
🎤 Sprotex
14. May 2020 · 09:58 UTC
@gunturtle I totally agree with everything you say. :laughing:
🎤 Sprotex
14. May 2020 · 10:03 UTC
@airola That awkward looping was unfortunate. I didn't catch that in the few moments I've had to playtest the game.

The adventure game thing would require much more time dedication, which I don't possess at the moment. From what I can see, many people say that the concept is solid. Probabily next time it will be even a better game. :thumbsup: