Nature's Will by Troma

[raw]
made by Troma for LD34 (JAM)
Our first Ludum Dare!

OBJECTIVE:
Purify the corrupted tree whilst protecting the oldest tree in the forest. Get water and seeds to expand your forest and build your defenses.

CONTROLS:
X to open plant's menu and to select current choice.
Z for rotation and movement or to swap between plants on the plant's menu


OBS: If you are going full screen, you may have to test out to find an optimum resolution for your screen.

TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS:
-Unity3D
-3DSMax(For all models and animations)
-Photoshop (For all textures)
-Fork, paper, drum, cup, glass, stick (For instrument recording and sampling)
-Audacity (For sound refinement)
-LMMS (To compose music and sfx)

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.85 901
Audio(Jam) 2.74 602
Fun(Jam) 2.33 1024
Graphics(Jam) 3.38 555
Humor(Jam) 2.27 715
Innovation(Jam) 2.76 757
Mood(Jam) 2.73 823
Theme(Jam) 3.35 774

Feedback

utoxin
15. Dec 2015 · 05:07 UTC
Seems to be well made, but the controls are extremely annoying to use, and feel kind of tacked on. I would have enjoyed it much more if you had left the Two Button Control theme off of this game.
Weeping Rupee
15. Dec 2015 · 05:09 UTC
I like the music!
timeshapers
15. Dec 2015 · 05:14 UTC
The game is fun and interesting, a sort of plants vs zombies, but with more dynamic control.
I fear, however, you've forced the two button control onto this game. The game doesn't really benefit from it, and the game design does not seem to have been guided by the theme.
I would have a lot more fun with this game if the controls were easier.
mr. a
15. Dec 2015 · 05:14 UTC
Wish there was a mac build -- it looks neat!
TheMonsterFromTheDeep
15. Dec 2015 · 05:15 UTC
I really like the base concept of this game. It is sort of like a combination tower defense and RPG. However, it is not very fun to play because it is sort of hard to control.

The main two problems are that it is not very intuitive to control the direction or movement of the player, and that is isn't very easy to tell what is selected when planting something.

I think the stopping/starting mechanism of player movement simply doesn't really work because it doesn't give you quick and simple control over the player's movement. The other main problem is that it is difficult to select the direction of movement by rotating.

The only other real problem is that sometimes the camera blocks the view.

In terms of a first entry, this game is actually really awesome. It has full 3D graphics and a map and storyline. The only problem is that I think it doesn't really work with this theme - the theme of two button controls sort of was the root cause of the control issue.

In fact, this game probably would have been pretty easy to control if you had stuck with only the growing theme.

All that being said, I do still like this game simply because the idea is really cool - as I said, a combo tower defense / RPG, which personally I think would be pretty awesome.
LordKawaii
15. Dec 2015 · 05:47 UTC
This game has a lot of depth and seems like it could be really fun but sticking to the two button theme really takes away from it.
SpareWizard
15. Dec 2015 · 05:52 UTC
I found the music to be a little bit annoying and repetitive, but after I lost and restarted, the music was playing twice!

The controls felt like they were limiting the game, but the gameplay was alright. With some polish, this could be a pretty cool game.
gillenew
15. Dec 2015 · 09:54 UTC
very cool, a bit hard to play with these controls :D

there should be a training time to get skill with these buttons, or have a button to move and another to plant (left mouse button moves to the place where you click, and right button opens the buying plants) but overall're fun, and quite liked the idea.
Zeriver
15. Dec 2015 · 17:47 UTC
Creative use of two button controlls, although moving around is tricky to get used to. I like tower defense-ich games where you can move around and take more active role in game. Cool game with nice vibe!
Bobsleigh
15. Dec 2015 · 22:09 UTC
For some reason, I could not build the plant to expand the green area, which means I stayed stuck at the starting area. I felt like the two button control theme was very poorly used, as you had a good idea that required more than two button and then tried to reduce it to an annoying control scheme just to fit the theme.
DrFallos
15. Dec 2015 · 22:55 UTC
It took some times to master the mechanics, but that's not a bad thing) You did a huge amount of work in a short time, congratulations!
StoneMonkeyStudios
16. Dec 2015 · 00:29 UTC
Definitely impressive for the time, but I'll echo that two button controls were a bad idea here.
Galan
16. Dec 2015 · 00:33 UTC
I like the look of this game, but there were a couple of problems, in addition to the controls that other people have mentioned, that bugged me. One was the way that the tree could block your view (which exacerbated the control problems). The other was that there was no time to be eased into the game. There was a wall of information at the beginning, and then you get thrown in without really understanding it. I think perhaps the idea was too big for a jam game.
Alsatian Studio
16. Dec 2015 · 00:42 UTC
Good game. But did you use the standard shader comes with Unity? That's not really great. You might want to try other, they will make your game more beautiful
TheBreakfast
16. Dec 2015 · 03:58 UTC
Neat idea, and very big scope for an LD jam game. The work you did with the graphics was awesome! Having multiple rigged 3d models with unique character is a lot of work!

The balance might be a little off. Once I had made 5 plants, I was pretty much invincible, and I couldn't find a way to expand my grass after that. I couldn't build any more plants, and the enemies all died very quickly.

I like what you did with the theme, but the controls were a little unintuitive.

I think it would have been better to have mouse only controls. Mouse 1 = point where you go. Mouse 2 = open menu. Mouse 1 inside menu = choose selection. Mouse 2 in menu = close menu. With that one touch I think this game would have been awesome! I suggest you continue with the game after the jam, implement better controls, and try to release an updated version!

Also, if you die and try again, the music loops over itself. Just a small glitch, but it actually had a bit of a cool effect on the sound.
DinnerInTheDark
16. Dec 2015 · 19:23 UTC
Moving around with only one button is quite hard. The different kinds of plants to grow are very nice, but there should be a tutorial to get to know them (i forgot what they do by the time the game had started). I enjoyed the graphics and sound design. All in all a good entry.

Congrats on you first jam ;) Cheers!
Niels.Tiercelin
16. Dec 2015 · 19:42 UTC
Pretty neat !
marveus
17. Dec 2015 · 04:06 UTC
I was really impressed by the models and graphics given the time allotted for the jam - and especially for your first jam. The sound was pleasant at first, but as others have stated it got a bit stale over time. Overall, the game has a lot of potential, so great work.

I definitely thought it was a novel use of the theme with the controls, but the way they were implemented was a little wonky. I kept being confused why I couldn't travel beyond the area surrounding the tree, even though the game implies there are objectives to capture and so on. Just seems like a current limitation though.

It was also a bit frustrating when the plants above would block the view. But again, overall, great work.
nunesbarbosa
19. Dec 2015 · 02:53 UTC
Unplayable on full screen.

The controls are bad. You forced one button to make a 4 button movement and failed.

I gave up on 30 seconds of playing on frustration.
vitorlanna
22. Dec 2015 · 02:04 UTC
With different controls, the game could be pretty fun! I liked how you included guaraná. The shader used in the game isn't very nice though. Also, if you continue the game after the jam, it would be nice to unlock new plants one by one, so you can learn to use each one and also to get a better sense of progress / achievement.
gloim
27. Dec 2015 · 07:58 UTC
neat game but I agree, the controls dont really fit. :(