The Hand That Feeds You by TheAmerican

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

LD Keep it Alive 4<em>20</em>2020 9<em>51</em>55 PM.png

       

Welcome to The Hand That Feeds You. The goal of the game is a daunting task: Keep your potted plant alive.

(Watch out. It's moody.)

       

As a responsible plant owner, you are expected to remember these controls.

wasd - Move

Lclick - Destroy Walls

Rclick - Build Walls

F - Water

 

Slightly obvious advice: Increase hydration by watering your plant, and increase the sun level by exposing your plant to the sun.

       

Gameplay

1. If your plant's hydration level or sun level gets too high or too low, the plant will die.

*2. To keep your plant at an optimal, friendly condition, keep it's sun/hydration between the green indicators. *

       

Have fun!

Ratings

Overall 2252th 2.944⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1915th 2.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 886th 3.447⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1109th 3.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 2189th 2.605⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1192th 3.079⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 721th 3.289⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1833th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

1PunnyGuy44
21. Apr 2020 · 16:27 UTC
Amazing work dude! I love the idea and you executed so well. I would love more levels with varying walls and maybe even multiple plants. this has a lot of potential for expansion. It would be nice if there was a barrier cause my first time I had the plant run off into the void XD great job!
Frozen Stick
21. Apr 2020 · 17:11 UTC
I had fun playing this game.The first time that plant got me good lol.Although sometimes my plant would just go to endless abyss which really hurts :( BUt very fun game!
Virtual Turtle Studio
21. Apr 2020 · 20:15 UTC
I had a bit of a hard time understanding the games logic to be honest, but I think with a little explanation it could be really fun. I just didn't know how to get the sunlight in quick enough, he always seemed to get mad. I would also recommend making the UI fixed on the screen, so you always see it. I love the animations, art and music. Good job dude!
NicolasJL9
23. Apr 2020 · 17:07 UTC
Great job with this one! Love the overall game, its not that hard to understand it if you think about them for a sec
🎤 TheAmerican
23. Apr 2020 · 18:19 UTC
@1punnyguy44 Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback! I would love to shove a few more plants in there. It might turn into a frantic plant-management game lol.
I was considering putting barriers, but I decided to see how it went without...apparently I should put some in there XD
🎤 TheAmerican
23. Apr 2020 · 18:23 UTC
@frozen-stick Thanks for the feedback! I realized some barriers would've been a good idea haha. I'm glad you had fun!
vartagh
23. Apr 2020 · 19:08 UTC
it was quite hard to understand the logic about how to play..
Stefan0198
23. Apr 2020 · 19:39 UTC
After I got the hang of the mechanics it was really fun to play :D At the beginning I got a little bit upset, because I thought watering is possible with the button r and not f. Maybe it's just me or the font is suboptimal. But overall very nice game :)
🎤 TheAmerican
23. Apr 2020 · 20:11 UTC
@virtual-turtle-studio Thanks for playing! I appreciate all of the feedback :) Hopefully, I can polish it a bit and make it more user-friendly.
🎤 TheAmerican
23. Apr 2020 · 20:13 UTC
@vartagh Yeah, sorry about that. I prioritized getting the core game working over making a tutorial, so there's a lot going on when you first start playing.
🎤 TheAmerican
23. Apr 2020 · 20:15 UTC
@stefan0198 Thanks! Yeah, a fun fact about that font is that it's actually my handwriting XD So, it's not the neatest, and it needs to be a lot thicker. I just threw it in there because I didn't have time to find a better font haha. I realized how hard it is to read afterwards...
SAVVU
26. Apr 2020 · 08:27 UTC
Great idea and there is definitely more rooms for even more levels and ideas! Overall a nice entry that I enjoyed playing!
Joror
26. Apr 2020 · 11:00 UTC
Interesting mechanics - I could not figure out how to increase the sun bar until I read the comments here.
Using the Unity 2d shadowcasting is a fun mechanic!
The font was a bit hard to read, and the custom mouse pointer was a bit hard to read on a grey background. I would recommend also posting that text here in the game description.

The plant becoming a fire spraying plant way a pretty fun surprise. I had to chase it around a bit outside of the level, and the GUI was attached to the level so I could not see my stat. :smile:
emre tahtali
26. Apr 2020 · 12:00 UTC
dude i love the idea of flower turning into a monster when you lose :D
🎤 TheAmerican
28. Apr 2020 · 16:07 UTC
@savvu
@emre-tahtali
Thanks for the feedback!
🎤 TheAmerican
28. Apr 2020 · 16:08 UTC
@joror

Yeah I have a lot of that stuff on my todo :smile: Good idea to post the text in the game description.

Thanks for playing, and thanks for the great feedback!
HuvaaKoodia
29. Apr 2020 · 18:07 UTC
*Sensibly kept my plant alive?
A mad sunflower flailing its burning leaf limbs around is very far from sensible!*

It is a neat concept. Continually tearing down and rebuilding the walls to keep a psycho plant content could result in rather interesting scenarious, depending on the level layout and, for instance, some furniture which is most flammable.

Currently the controls are the biggest hurdle between the concept and compelling content. It is really difficult to aim any of the actions because they all use a different logic. Water can be thrown right or left, walls can be destroyed in all directions (yet there is no animation for left) and building walls just builds them in seemingly random directions.

Rudimentary, but functional. Polish the controls next time and keep at it.
🎤 TheAmerican
29. Apr 2020 · 19:32 UTC
@huvaakoodia

Thanks for playing, and for the great feedback!
Yeah I hadn't tried to do controls like this before, so it was kinda stitched together, as you noticed.

I like the idea of the plant being able to light stuff on fire. That would be a neat addition.

btw, nice profile pic.

Thanks again!
Euforia Games
30. Apr 2020 · 16:47 UTC
Hey! Awesome game! Rated well? (Btw i am 20th guy who rated lmao)
🎤 TheAmerican
01. May 2020 · 00:04 UTC
@euforia-games Thanks!
TeamJS
02. May 2020 · 10:35 UTC
Interesting concept, I found it hard to get my head around how to win at first. I think it would have been better if the UI was always on the screen. Overall the controls worked well, and I liked the choice of music. Good Job! - S