The Flock and the Flood by vgel

[raw]
made by vgel for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

The Flock and the Flood

PLAY: https://vgel.itch.io/the-flock-and-the-flood

An interminable rain falls, and the waters are rising. Protect and grow your flock of sheep as long as you can - until the temple their efforts built is all that remains above the tides.

​Instructions:​

  • Click to place or move your sheep, click and drag to move the camera, scroll to zoom.
  • The flood rises every 10 seconds. Don't let your sheep drown!
  • Sheep eat grass, darker grass is better. When the grass bar fills, a new sheep is born.
  • The temple on the peak grows with every ten sheep in your flock.​​​

Title screen Ingame screenshot Ingame screenshot

Ratings

Overall 227th 3.865⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 466th 3.519⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 52th 4.135⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 123th 4.192⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 362th 3.923⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Audio 256th 3.692⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 44th 4.288⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 297189
03. Oct 2022 · 14:51 UTC
Love the concept, and everything feels smooth. A second mechanic would keep the game more interesting, maybe the ability to push the rain back somehow?
Nash
03. Oct 2022 · 15:00 UTC
I really liked the athmosphere in this game! Something about the combination of art style, rain and music is just very calming. It is also pleasing to watch your flock grow.

Something I found a bit confusing were the controls. They were pretty standard top down mouse controls but it was quite annoying that all actions also place a rally flag for sheep. So even if I rotate and zoom the view, the flag gets placed and sheep move somewhere I did not intend them to move. I would only allow placing the flag with left or right click and dedicate other mouse buttons to camera controls.

But overall, a simple but solid (and relaxing!) jam game! Good work!
LDJam user 302987
03. Oct 2022 · 15:03 UTC
The aesthetics here are great, extremely simple but very relaxing to play. I wish the rain sound effect was a bit louder as it adds a lot of atmosphere.
Alex de la Cour
03. Oct 2022 · 22:58 UTC
Devastated! I had 60 sheep and got greedy trying to eat a dark green patch by the water, the rain came in and I lost more than half. A fun game, though! Quite calming, especially with the music.
galaxybat
03. Oct 2022 · 23:18 UTC
Everything felt like it belonged together and felt relaxing, I got to 60 sheep. I think it would be nice if right click only moved the camera and didn't make the sheep move.
Riphitter
03. Oct 2022 · 23:21 UTC
Had a lot of fun with this . rising sea levels was a cool mechanic . Sad to see the heard go. good music!
LDJam user 219121
03. Oct 2022 · 23:23 UTC
Very vibey! Super duper technically impressive, at first the graphics didn't seem very good but I started to like them later on, nice job!
MrBamboo
03. Oct 2022 · 23:41 UTC
I was soo sad to lose all my sheeps 😥
amarokczukay
04. Oct 2022 · 01:32 UTC
absolutely beautiful, everything runs smoothly, it's great to play and to look at
the only issue i found is when i move the camera while my mouse is on the land, it makes the camera AND the sheep move
beardywombat
04. Oct 2022 · 01:53 UTC
A very soothing game, nice and intuitive.
nardandas
04. Oct 2022 · 06:18 UTC
Best I got was just a touch more than 60 sheet. I really enjoyed leading them around the island, though the lack of smart pathfinding got in the way a bit. I also found myself wanting to "split the flock" quite often, for no real reason I suspect. The little pixel sheepies against the low poly terrain were really cute too! Good job!
TermiGht
04. Oct 2022 · 07:03 UTC
Very good concept! I loved playing the it. The game has a great atmosphere.
Coye
04. Oct 2022 · 07:14 UTC
the best game concept I really get in the jam!
ubershmekel
04. Oct 2022 · 07:28 UTC
What a calm and soothing little island. It's so pretty. I got 45 sheep on first try, 61 on second try, 62, then peaked at 77. I wish the last 3 cycles weren't just me watching my sheep die without anything I could do. I wish I could have gotten more parts of the temple built but I didn't figure out the strategy I guess. Thank you for the game!
m0dsat
04. Oct 2022 · 07:31 UTC
I enjoyed the game. The general atmosphere is great and gameplay felt smooth. I liked just watching the sheep find paths to their destinations. Game length felt perfect and the challenge on point. Thanks for the game!
Gorr
04. Oct 2022 · 08:05 UTC
I really love this game. Cool idea. Low poly art, calming music and rain sounds are great!
thegamearchitect
04. Oct 2022 · 11:01 UTC
Very good game here. Cool graphics and sounds, very easy and intuitive gameplay, all with the mouse and one click. Fun to play and cool map generation. Well done!
WhenYouCantFindAFriend
05. Oct 2022 · 21:31 UTC
Wow! I loved this! Creative take on the theme. This game is strangely relaxing and terrifying at the same time. It reminds me of coastal communities that are threatened by rising sea levels and climate change(like Tangier island in the USA). Love the art, music and mood as well. Congratulations!
ryusui
06. Oct 2022 · 02:04 UTC
Lovely, chill game. My only gripe is that the "lame duck" period arrives long before the actual end - there's no patches of grass on the peak, so when the flood reaches that point, there really isn't much you can do other than wait for death! ^_^;

Might I recommend one control tweak, by the way? There should be an option to move the camera with WASD as well as the mouse.
adjo
20. Oct 2022 · 20:38 UTC
I like the animation when the water level rises. Really great idea