LudumData

Xeno Tender by _delph

[raw]
made by _delph for Ludum Dare 46 (COMPO)

You are in charge of live cargo on a space hauler. Ideally keep them happy, at least keep them alive.

Xeno Tender is a very simple life sim, where on each journey you have to look after one of three creatures.

space_kitty.png blob.png kassa.png

Get to the end of a tour without any dying and receive a commendation!

Controls

Z to confirm, Arrow keys to navigate options.

Update

Initial feedback has suggested that some things I thought were obvious at 1am are not in fact obvious so...

Tips: * Each creature communicates differently and via different mechanisms! * Kassa is a plant-like creature. * The "everything seems fine" text on taking a nap does not indicate the state of the creature (it's tongue in cheek).

The itch link contains the origin compo version of the game, the delphic link has some simple gameplay and communication improvements.

Youtube https://github.com/delphic/LD46-Keep-It-Alive
Youtube https://delphic.me.uk/xenotender/
Youtube https://delph.itch.io/xenotender
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/xeno-tender

Ratings

Overall 1014th 2.74⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1052th 2.26⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1008th 2.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 732th 3.44⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 580th 3.36⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 543th 2.7⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 958th 2.46⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

AdamWatters
20. Apr 2020 · 19:18 UTC
I like the graphics in the game. They remind me somewhat of the gameboy. As for the gameplay I foound it a bit hard to figure out what to do, but other than that it's far from a bad game, well done.
Sen Kappa
20. Apr 2020 · 19:43 UTC
Wonderful aesthetic game about taking care of different space pets with different interactions!

I especially like the slime... he wibbled and wobbled all the day long.

It's a bit confusing what the pet wants at first, however. The different indicators can mean both food and play at the same time while the only clearly defined interaction is napping.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed both the artwork and concept of this game!
Liam
21. Apr 2020 · 16:26 UTC
Love the look and the controls/UI. Very nice. Concept was cool and bang on theme. I think if the indicators were a bit clearer then speeding up the game might make it a bit more fun but perhaps others like the relaxed pace and that's personal preference!
23. Apr 2020 · 14:30 UTC
Nice game. Like the graphics. It took a while to understand how to play. Good game, and keep it up!
kiguel182
23. Apr 2020 · 17:16 UTC
Nice job. Loved the graphics and it kept up with the theme.

Unfortunately I don't think there was enough feedback or indicators to understand well the game. Nice game otherwise.
marbles
25. Apr 2020 · 10:20 UTC
Didn't really know what to do so I just kept on playing napping and feeding. I like the graphics and the gameboy colors.
Suchista
25. Apr 2020 · 22:30 UTC
This was a very interesitng take on a tamagotchi, it felt quite surreal, haha. I didn't mamage to save Kassa, since I got pretty confused, but I get that it was probably supposed to be like that. A nice challenge. Also the graphics is good, especially for a cat!
Black Flag
29. Apr 2020 · 10:55 UTC
Really like the graphics, as well as the take on the genre! Overall, this fit the theme very well!
polegar
29. Apr 2020 · 11:13 UTC
Really original idea that fits the theme perfectly. The retro feeling graphics are nice and I like the fact that you developped your game engine from scratch in JS.
Since it's clearer what to do with the cat than with the other creatures, maybe you should have put the cat automaticly on the first level as a "tutorial". The game misses audio which yould have added a better feedback to the player and improve the overall experience. Anyway great idea and good game !
Juice Lizard
29. Apr 2020 · 11:17 UTC
I like the cat design and Game Boy graphics. But I don't know what to do in this game. It is not very fun.
🎤 _delph
29. Apr 2020 · 12:06 UTC
@polegar I think you're right about starting with the cat it's definitely on my post jam update list. Thanks for the feedback!
🎤 _delph
29. Apr 2020 · 12:13 UTC
@kiguel182 and @juice-lizard firstly thanks for playing and leaving feedback. I'm sorry you found the game unclear and if that impacted your enjoyment.

It is deliberately being obtuse in a lot of cases - the goal being to figure out how the minimal information you are given represents the creature's states, the fact kassa has some red herrings and its reactions are delayed (as it's a plant-like creature) rather than immediate, definitely makes it the hard mode creature.

That said, I'll make sure to update the game so you start with the cat, as they are hopefully much more straight forward to learn, and maybe try to drop in some hints after failures, I did want to be sure that it was possible to fail though!
cheesepencil
30. Apr 2020 · 00:32 UTC
Very difficult, but cute and humorous. The lo-fi graphics are great and it fits the theme. I regret that I was unable to keep it alive. It could definitely benefit from some sound effects, even simple beeps and boops!

Great entry for compo, tho!
DiegoCTorguet
01. May 2020 · 12:23 UTC
Once I realized I had to wait instead of throwing it food continuously my pets stopped dying, yay!
Mr. Fuzzy Boots had a great time, just like me. Lovely mood and retro-art!
Mika la Grand
01. May 2020 · 22:29 UTC
I took too many naps and the creature turned into a rock XD. Perhaps you could add some more feedback; I really didn't know when to perform which action. The game also froze when the time had run out (first creature). I guess this was because I failed, but there was no game over screen.
🎤 _delph
01. May 2020 · 22:38 UTC
@mika-la-grand oh no that doesn't sound intentional! I'll see if I can find why that happened. Sorry you didn't get a kitty to start with, they're much more obvious with their feedback. Thank you for leaving me some!
Robert Li
05. May 2020 · 04:58 UTC
My creature ended up as a solid rock and I was a bit confused if I failed the game already or not cause the game kept going. Would be great to have some sound effects. Great arts tho.
blobo
11. May 2020 · 17:25 UTC
I really enjoyed the graphics. The simple color pallet helps a lot!
DeadBoyGames
11. May 2020 · 19:09 UTC
I really enjoyed the whimsical aspect of it. It kind of reminds me of tamagochi. As @robert-li already mentioned sometimes it was a bit hard to understand if what your'e is good or bad. A simple sound effect for the success or failure would be nice. Best of luck to you on your future endevours!