Good Boy by thunderklaus

[raw]
made by thunderklaus for Ludum Dare 59 (COMPO)

A small sheepdog game about five whistles and one :dog: good boy.

Play it directly in your browser

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You stand at the gate. The dog works the flock. You don't move, you don't pathfind — you pick one of five commands and trust the dog to read the field. Real shepherds command their dogs over distance with a handful of short whistles: tiny bandwidth, precise meaning. The whistle is the signal.

Controls — four keys, five whistles

| Key | Whistle | Dog | |---|---|---| | ← / A | Come Bye | Orbit CW around flock | | → / D | Away | Orbit CCW around flock | | ↑ / W | Walk Up | Advance on the flock (pressure) | | ↓ / S | Stand | Stop, release pressure | | ↓ / S (while stopped) | That'll Do | Come home to shepherd |

Whistles latch until replaced. HUD pills click too (touch fallback).

One year, four short levels — :cherryblossom: spring, :sunny: summer, :fallenleaf: autumn, :snowflake: winter.

Scottish Borders.

No score, no timer, no Game Over — it ends quietly.


48h Compo entry. Vanilla JS + Canvas. Hand-recorded whistles, barks and bleats plus a couple of Web Audio stingers. No frameworks, no external assets.

Ratings

Overall 27th 4.04⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 46th 3.78⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 6th 4.288⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 41th 4.231⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 45th 3.82⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 82th 3.023⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 63th 3.82⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Given 47🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

leenoi
Apr 20th · 13:46 UTC
Very cute and cozy game, I had a lot of fun playing it!
Jacat
Apr 20th · 14:07 UTC
very cute and brief , good job
Last Angle
Apr 20th · 14:33 UTC
This is so cute! I also like that there is no failing, it makes it a very relaxing game! It's fun to play, and i liked that the dog automaticly locks on to the next group of sheep. I kept turning the dog in the wrong direction though haha.
This is the best use of the theme i've seen so far!
poddub
Apr 21st · 07:33 UTC
at first controls seemed complicated, but then I quickly got the hang of it and it was fun to chase away this furballs 🐑
Rafa Fiedo
Apr 21st · 17:23 UTC
great idea!
I like the art and the signals mechanic.
Great whistling :D
PurpledArtFrog
Apr 22nd · 08:28 UTC
Holy shit this was cute.... Absolutely love the audio :thumbsup_tone1:
Left you a rating ... really high on the audio
PurpledArtFrog
Apr 22nd · 08:28 UTC
Oh ... and REALLY great spin on the theme
dqso
Apr 22nd · 09:37 UTC
Really cute game! It's just too short and feels the same every run — some randomization would make it much more replayable :sheep:
cogcomp
Apr 22nd · 19:55 UTC
That was surprisingly fun and relaxing at the same time. When I first saw the controls I thought I was never going to understand this, but it just clicked and worked almost right from the start. Well done make something really innovative for the compo!
UkuleleFury
Apr 23rd · 05:28 UTC
Aww, I think this is my favorite submission of the jam so far! Such a good boy. Did you record your dog for this?? I really like the mechanic, it works very well, and it's a really great alignment with the theme. So good!
🎤 thunderklaus
Apr 23rd · 07:46 UTC
@ukulelefury

Yes, that's my real dog. We rang the doorbell to get him to bark ;-)

But i don't have a sheep, so those recordings are from all family members. Played at different pitches :-)
Crowelian
Apr 23rd · 15:13 UTC
Really nice!

The game concept is great and haven't played this kind of game before.
Good job!
metalim
Apr 23rd · 21:46 UTC
very nice concept. Dog does get dumb if sheep are spread apart. Was fun to play
brawnyfrogmouth
Apr 25th · 14:10 UTC
Loved the concept and mood, it was a lot of fun! Really liked the SFX too :)
kassanu
Apr 26th · 01:06 UTC
Excellent! Was a lot of fun, clicked right from the start and was fun the whole way through.
nathmate
Apr 27th · 03:01 UTC
Very original idea, and well executed. The whistles got a bit repetitive so a few variant recordings of them would've been nice, like with the barks and baahs. Radial controls and flocking are both interesting things to play with, intuitive but lots of potential for interesting emergent gameplay.
LDJam user 407703
Apr 27th · 14:49 UTC
Really great interpretation of the theme! The gameplay works well, and its honestly amazing that you made all of this from scratch, highest respect!

One thing you could try adding would be a high score for level times, which would greatly increase replay value. A sprint mode could also be fun, where repeating the same whistle command a second time makes the character move faster, allowing experienced players to go for speedruns.

But overall, a truly fantastic game!
Deng
Apr 28th · 12:22 UTC
Fantastic game! It was a real breath of fresh air. Everything from the gameplay mechanics and how well it fits the jam theme, right down to the sound effects and art style, is incredibly fun and interesting. I had an absolute blast and also learned a lot from playing it. Thank you for creating this game!
smilewood
Apr 28th · 13:58 UTC
Very well executed, I had a lot of fun with this one. Chill signaling mechanics and a very obedient good boy. corralling the sheep worked well, and the dog controls were just enough. Fantastic game jam entry, well done!
Grizwhirl
Apr 28th · 16:40 UTC
One of the more original entries I've seen this jam, well done. Lots of places to go with this one, pretty relaxing puzzles.
Ben Morledge-Hampton
Apr 28th · 16:54 UTC
What a clever concept! It took me a moment to get a handle on the controls, but once I had some practice I was surprised at how much control I had with such simple commands. I do wish there was some music in the game, but I know that can be hard to add with the restraints for a compo submission. Great job!
BushFire
Apr 28th · 23:43 UTC
While I don't feel the tie to the theme was that strong, the game makes up for it with an innovating game idea. The graphics are simple, but nice, and fits really well with the cozy vibe. I kinda expected the Winter map to involve a surprise wolf attack or something like that, but because of the dark, but also because it seemed like it was "too easy" for a final level.
Papaver
Apr 30th · 12:10 UTC
Cute, and fun mechanics! I love that there were some small sheep in spring, and all the fun sounds.
The winter level could maybe have been a little bit more challenging.

Great entry! :clap:
quadtree
May 06th · 08:09 UTC
Pretty neat game. I did manage to get sheep stuck a couple times, but the dog was always able to get them out. Nice job!
Meta-link
May 06th · 14:16 UTC
Great game ! It's a really cool interpretation of the theme, and it's fun to play. The level design might be a but frustrating at times, but the graphics and the audio set a great mood.

Good job !
xotraz
May 06th · 18:28 UTC
A reset would be nice, and the dog being blocked at edges was not very immersive, but the game is interesting and well done.