Barvest: The Iconic Bug Harvest of 2005 by picross
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--> Play in Browser!! <--
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Eat all of the bugs to win in Barvest: The Iconic Bug Harvest of 2005!
How to eat a bug! Simply hold left click and run around it.
Controls :bug:
Mouse & Keyboard
- WASD: Movement
- Mouse: Camera control
- Left click: Shoot web at web-able object
- Space: Jump
- Space while off ground: Double jump
- "R": Reset to most recent checkpoint
- "Escape" or "B": Open book/pause
Controller
- Left Stick: Movement
- Right Stick: Camera
- "B" or Right Trigger: Shoot web at web-able object
- "A": Jump
- "A" while off ground: Double jump
- Start: Open book/pause
- Back: Reset to most recent checkpoint

Barvest: The Iconic Bug Harvest of 2005 is 3D Platformer where you play as a hungry spider on a quest to harvest as many nearby bugs as possible! Navigate across treacherous platforms and dangerous obstacles. Using your iconic web to grapple hanging points and wrap the enemies, you should be able to collect all of the nearby bugs. How quickly can you harvest them all?
The Environment :watermelon:
The Bugs
To harvest the bugs, you need to get in their range, fire a web at them, and then wrap around them once so that they can be consumed! You will run into some of these bugs:
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Web Grapple Points
There are some points hanging in air that you can attach your web to, and then swing around on to reach new platforms! Look for these spots where the icon changes to being web-able and try jumping at them and shooting your web!

Other Level Elements
Cobwebs will speed you up as you walk on them

Puddles will slow you down as you walk on them

Trampolines will launch you in the air when you step on them

Spikes will kill you if you step on them
Software/Hardware Used
- Engine: Unity
- Models/animations: Maya
- Textures: Aseprite
- Music: Logic Pro
- SFX: Dirtywave M8 + Audacity
The Team :hamburger:
- Jaden Goter: Team Lead, Programming
- Tessa Hardin: Art, UI, and Textures
- Erik Skoog: Music, Programming
- Jianfeng Sun: 3D Modelling, Animation
- Camden Obertop: Programming, Level Design!
| Link | https://camdeno.itch.io/barvest |
| Link | https://camdeno.itch.io/barvest |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/barvest-the-iconic-bug-harvest-of-2005 |
Ratings
| Overall | 31th | 4.21⭐ | 64🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 36th | 4.148⭐ | 63🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 156th | 3.702⭐ | 64🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 611th | 3.336⭐ | 63🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 92th | 4.315⭐ | 64🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 108th | 3.836⭐ | 63🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 283th | 3.217⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 136th | 3.933⭐ | 62🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 69🗳️ | 112🗨️ |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpZOlxwvEnw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD9_8wLUPVA
On a side note, I want learn to make games that feel like this one. Would you guys ever share the source code? Thanks!
Few suggestions, could do bit more varied combat and I don't think tied enemy should do damage. I also think you should disable mipmapping to get rid of that blurry pixel garbage few meters away from camera.
I think I know the bug you're talking about, I've been looking into that... truly bizarre. Thanks for stickin thru it anyway :D
I think that if the enemies could fight back, the gameplay and potential would rise to another level.
And yes I 100% agree, I would have added something special if I had time... for now it's bragging rights!
I see I'm not the only one who stumbled upon a certain strategy for traversing!

@ironhandmd Thank you for playing, I'm glad you appreciated it!
@la-bread Wow, what a compliment! We're considering expanding it, but we'll wait for our review scores heheheh
@chompdev Glad you appreciated all the details :D Our artists are fantastic
@mcbombadev LOL we found that strat while playtesting and deliberately left it in... it was just too fun! Glad you enjoyed it
@qqruzkin I noticed that too! Glad we could fill a niche :D Thanks for the kind words
Controls felt very responsive! The swinging mechanics felt pretty good as well. I had a bit of trouble near the end when I had to chain multiple swings together with double jumps while avoiding floating spike walls. But it was fun getting better at the mechanics. And while I was not up to the challenge, I like how you intentionally left in the ridiculous traversal mechanics that I saw in other people's comments. That sort of stuff is always cool if you're the kind of person that can pull it off. One thing I would suggest is putting a shadow directly beneath the player, so you can tell when he's over a platform.
Fantastic game! I will always remember the grace of that spider as he floats through the air while calm classical guitar music plays in the background.
The only things I found as to be improved is how you are supposed to eat a bug. I always die instead of eating it even when captured.
Also, while sound design is chill but I would have enjoyed something more in line with the "cave" theme. Here it reminded me more of green hills type of vibe.
Great game overall, congrats
Nonetheless, this game is a favourite of mine so far!
Edit: Some of the quirks might be amplified by/because of the web version I would assume.
### Things I liked
1. Retro style graphics - very cool, definitely enhanced the feel of the game
2. Music - the background music was excellent, it had a playful feel that paired well with the visual style of the game
3. Audio - the sound effects were just *chef's kiss*. The *chomp* when a bug gets eaten is my favorite, next to the jump sound
4. Animations - inverse kinematics on a spider? Insanity!
5. Game play - the mechanics were all very well synced with the game's theme. The jumping spider jumps very high, shoots a web, and swings from swing points! Not to mention that this is a huge number of mechanics to fit into a game jam game, they all felt pretty polished and complete.
### Things I noticed
1. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but sometimes I'd start wrapping up a bug and I'd get teleported back to the last flag I captured?
2. I couldn't climb up some of the inclines on the platforms, so I had to jump over them, which was a little weird
3. The spider has a hard time climbing up walls ;)
I would certainly pay for this game. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for playing, and for the feedback! Hope you enjoyed despite its quirks :D
Thanks for all the compliments and feedback!
Thanks for sticking with the game besides its downfalls! :D
The webbing sequence is definitely a little quirky and we could probably workshop it a bit more to be less confusing. We'll probably adjust the camera too.
As for the inclines, yeah... I added a cutoff for them where you would lose your control on them instead of applying more friction, but I should have raised the angle of cutoff for some of them. Or we should have not had those slopes in the first place lol
As for the walls... we did think about that! Decided that it would change the game too much. I feel like a game where you could climb on literally every surface would be really cool though... maybe another jam!
We appreciate all the kind words! Thanks for playing
The only this that wasn't joyful for me is the camera zoom. She is too close to the spider and it is hard to see thins around me. It would be neat to have customizable distance.
I really wanted to finish this, and made it quite a ways, but having the bugs you're catching "hurt" you so that you start over from the last checkpoint, while challenging, became a little frustrating farther into the game.
All in all though, this was still fun! Playing an actual spider was really cool and you all did a good job on the leg animations, as well as the physics of how all the parts of the spider moved when flying or falling.
Spider is so cute.
Great work!!!

I love the animation of the spider, I love the spider.
I cannot see the "harvest" theme.
I had several times glitches: after falling down (cool animation) and reappearing, the spider automatically ran and I could not do anything. One time the game froze and my browser crashed.
But overall cool game!!!
I appreciate the kind words and suggestions! I agree, some more camera controls would be wise.
@infecsean Thanks for playing! Definitely, we could probably tutorialize the "webbing" mechanic more
@boxedmeatrevolution Thanks for the compliments and feedback! That's interesting, we added the little kick at the end of grapples to try to be helpful, but maybe it just makes it more confusing... I'll do some playtesting!
@seagoingmanatee Really appreciate all the kind words, thanks for playing!
@pyspher9 Yeah the "webbing" sequence could definitely use a little work, even I get frustrated by it sometimes... Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it
@jj-cruikshanks LOL I didn't know about that one, that's amazing.... potential new speedrun strat? :eyes:
@amarokczukay thank you so much for playing!!
@hitchh1k3r Hahaha good point with the FOV, spiders should definitely be able to see more! Better camera controls should be in a post-jam update
@itzemii Thank you for playing! Those are some strange bugs, and I'm not talking about creepy crawly ones... What browser were you playing in?

@rosypenguin Thank you so much! Oh wow that's a new one, I'll look into it... very strange. Thanks for the report!
Speedran it and got this time!