{"author_link":"\/author\/wir\/","author_name":"Wir","author_uid":"33937","comments":[{"author_name":"BubuIIC","author_uid":"11335","time":"Dec 15, 2015 @ 11:34pm","epoch":1450222140,"text":"Hi!\r\rYou graphics look very cool, they remind me somewhat of starcraft's zerg. Sadly the game does not seem to start. I use linux_x86_64. I stays at "Launching... (this will take a moment)""},{"author_name":"Polith Games","author_uid":"54513","time":"Dec 17, 2015 @ 3:17pm","epoch":1450365120,"text":"Cool graphics"},{"author_name":"Mr MadCat","author_uid":"47470","time":"Dec 18, 2015 @ 12:48pm","epoch":1450442580,"text":"Sadly the game doesn't support my screen resolution. This seems to mess up the text in the tutorial level. I could only read the first half of the sentences. The rest was blocked by the minimap.\rSo I couldn't really understand how to pay the game.\rYou might want to add an explanation in your game description.\rThe graphics are really cool though."},{"author_name":"Manu & Wan","author_uid":"9172","time":"Dec 18, 2015 @ 1:11pm","epoch":1450443960,"text":"I had a hard time at first figuring out how to make the game works: I launched the tutorial, but there was no unit I was able to move around, just the queen.\r\rAfter retrying a couple times a group of creatures eventually popped and started moving around. I thought they would attack my queen, but I eventually realized I could select them! I managed to complete the level by moving them around to kill all the mobs I could find :)\r\rI then switched to another map, and tried to kill again some mobs with my units, but I gotta admit I still had no idea what was the difference between each unit or how the building system works, or how resource managements works. Too bad because it seems like intricate systems have been made. But you know the saying: "if it's not documented it doesn't exist".\r\rYou should probably try to make a few friends of yours try the game without any more explaining than what you gave us, you'll quickly realize how the gameplay is less obvious when seed from the outside :P\r\rCode-wise, the amount of work is really impressive though. Minimaps, fog of war, pathfinding, UI, tile-based maps for terrain AND hex-based maps for buildings, all withing 3 days? Wow. Really, wow.\r\rAnd the art style is nice too, in a retro way. Overall it feels a bit like old games such as Starcraft and Diablo. Best played on a 800x600 resolution ;)"},{"author_name":"Hot Box Games","author_uid":"39707","time":"Dec 19, 2015 @ 12:42am","epoch":1450485420,"text":"I had the same issues with resolution as the previous guys. Graphics are alright though."},{"author_name":"Wir","author_uid":"33937","time":"Dec 20, 2015 @ 9:55pm","epoch":1450648200,"text":"Thanks for the comments, we added an explanation via pictures"},{"author_name":"synthetic-entropy","author_uid":"66333","time":"Dec 27, 2015 @ 9:56pm","epoch":1451253060,"text":"Why is there a time limit? Just when I had figured out the controls, I lost randomly, and I realized the time limit was to blame. There's not nearly enough time in the recommended level to figure out what's going on, or play with what seems like a plethora of systems."},{"author_name":"ChiPassGames","author_uid":"64535","time":"Dec 28, 2015 @ 4:51am","epoch":1451277960,"text":"I was not able to see all of the instructions, and could not figure out what to do."},{"author_name":"Wir","author_uid":"33937","time":"Dec 28, 2015 @ 12:29pm","epoch":1451305440,"text":"@chipassgames\rWe know that, thats why we added the explanations here in the screenshots.\r\r@synthetic-entropy \rWell, the time limit was implemented with the background, that the hivemind has no need of swarm, that takes that long to evolve :D\rI´ll try to encourage the rest of my team to talk it through and make new maps."},{"author_name":"Piscythe","author_uid":"29376","time":"Dec 28, 2015 @ 1:50pm","epoch":1451310300,"text":"I think this one might've been a little ambitious - you have some really nice concepts implemented here, but the whole thing feels half-baked. I certainly didn't feel like a swarm with the sharp time limit and relatively slow teching, and was disappointed to find that the recommended map basically ignored the teching and instead just had the player run around killing stuff. The RTS implementation is a start, but I found myself wishing for pathfinding, tooltips, and attack-move. Not very many people get anywhere near this far into an RTS engine during LD, and there's a good reason for that. I certainly wouldn't advise you to abandon this, though - another 3-4 days and you can have something really cool."},{"author_name":"Piscythe","author_uid":"29376","time":"Dec 28, 2015 @ 3:36pm","epoch":1451316660,"text":"@Your comment on my game.\rCould one of you smack whoever decided that removing pathfinding would be an improvement? I don't like have to surgically extract my units from walls, especially with that timer ticking.\rI really need to start maintaining a list of games I told people I'd come back for the post-compo versions of."},{"author_name":"EternalCastleStudio","author_uid":"64145","time":"Dec 29, 2015 @ 1:51pm","epoch":1451396760,"text":"The game concept is awesome and you must be proud of this jam, with an original game. Maybe it has some flaws (a better tutorial or better control) but the idea is solid. Nice job!"},{"author_name":"gelisam","author_uid":"46246","time":"Jan 1, 2016 @ 6:13pm","epoch":1451671680,"text":"Lots of potential! I would have enjoyed a longer match in which I would have had the opportunity to try different strategies regarding which units and buildings to build, as those systems look like they have some depth to them, but in practice the time limit was so short that the only way to win I could find was to take all the units we get at the beginning and to kill everything without bothering to create new units."},{"author_name":"Jace239","author_uid":"65054","time":"Jan 2, 2016 @ 6:53pm","epoch":1451760480,"text":"I tried playing this but unfortunately it just hangs at the part where it says "Launching (this may take a while)" for me. I waited a few minutes and nothing happened. I'm on Windows 7: Home Premium edition if that helps, and I was trying to play it in 1024x768."},{"author_name":"nihilaleph","author_uid":"49665","time":"Jan 3, 2016 @ 1:48am","epoch":1451785380,"text":"Pro:\r+ Interesting concept, feels like Starcraft's Zergs, has potential\r+ A lot of work done programming RTS\r+ Nice graphics and sounds\rCon:\r- Still feel a bit incomplete, like I can't see the difference of the units, even though I know there is, I guess it's too ambitious for a jam\r- Even with instructions it's hard to play, for example I don't know what is the cost of each building\r- Path finding doesn't seem to be working really well\r\rAwesome job!"}],"images":["ld34\/33937-e322e7361e02c723fe896ce8e2814487.jpg","ld34\/33937-bbf118d7eac0d6a65bacd32b665fefd0.jpg","ld34\/33937-92901c6de7cc9fbf2d25211cbab013d7.jpg","ld34\/33937-b1eff9d58fa109d1f1c5b2b400049853.jpg"],"links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/sh\/ljq0jiisw3g3n1v\/AAC1_YqSd6ZnVdXGoha1MsrJa?dl=0","text":"Java"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"6784","g_author":"33937","g_event":"LD34","g_eventkey":"31","g_subevent":"JAM","g_urlkey":"6816","g_title":"Growth of the Hive","g_status":"UCHK1","g_place":"993","g_commentcount":"15","g_site2_node_id":"0","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":[],"node":null,"orig_images":["http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/33937-shot0-1450146370.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/33937-shot1-1450540658.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/33937-shot2-1450540769.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/511439\/33937-shot3-1450540769.png-eq-900-500.jpg"],"text":"Please play the map called small islands, the rest is kind of unplayable. Instead of playing the tutorial pls look at the screenshots (game explanation there)\r\n\r\nPhewww....that was one close finish.\r\nWe had only 40 seconds to go for finishing our entry.\r\nBut luckily we made it! You can find our game \"Growth of the Hive\" by following the Dropbox-Link. \r\nWe invested a lot of hard work into this, hardly got any sleep, but with the help of energy drinks we made it. \r\nWe coded with Java and used Gimp for the graphics.\r\nEvery graphic is handmade and unique.\r\n\r\nThe game is about a queen, sent out by the Hivemind to conquer a region and collect all the precious DNA there. \r\nProtect the queen from foreign warriors while collecting all the DNA on the map within the time limit to finish the level. \r\nUse slime to build new buildings which will spawn special creatures with unique fighting abilities to survive the foreign attacks. This buildings can be evolved with slime to spawn stronger creatures with new abilities.\r\n\r\nWe strongly recommend to play the tutorial first as it will help you learn about strengths and weaknesses of each fighter of the hive.\r\n\r\nNow have fun with our game.\r\nWe are very much looking forward to hearing from you, any criticism or praise can help us improving ;)\r\n\r\nAbout us:\r\n\r\nWe are 5 students from Germany, 4 working on the assets and maps, 1 coding his ass off.\r\n\r\nEdit: Explanations in form of screenshots\r\n\r\n\r\n","title":"Growth of the Hive"}