Spyder by MartianMangka

[raw]
made by MartianMangka for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

In this game, you will control a spider, trying to collect the trace matters the enemy spiders left behind, without getting discovered though.

Ratings

Overall 613th 3.194⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 655th 2.861⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 27th 4.111⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 568th 3.361⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 568th 3.222⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 574th 2.5⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Mood 677th 2.941⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Given 21🗳️ 6🗨️

Feedback

MrBamboo
Oct 07th · 05:08 UTC
Interesting concept to explore. Probably could be pushed more! GG
AbsolushZero
Oct 07th · 09:26 UTC
You got an interesting idea but the ennemies are really hard to dodge (I just could go to the 2nd level but the ennemy have too much range and often finds you before you find it). Good job!
🎤 MartianMangka
Oct 07th · 09:42 UTC
@absolushzero Yeah, level 2 requires some luck. The distance metric is very problematic, very hard for player to anticipate the outcome. I gave up on redesigning in the end. Currently I am considering change into a real time interaction, so it can be more intuitive. Thanks for trying!
BorisFromMurmansk
Oct 07th · 09:54 UTC
The second spider has too large a radius, it is difficult to spy him, sometimes it can come from out of sight and immediately catch you.
AldenWitt
Oct 09th · 23:01 UTC
It's an interesting idea - I think in execution it feels like there's a lot of blind luck involved. Not really sure what the strategy is. That said, I think with some tweaking/balancing it could come together into something fun. I like the close-up spider graphic in the corner - looks like a rad dude.
🎤 MartianMangka
Oct 10th · 08:57 UTC
@aldenwitt Thanks for the advice. It just took me too much time to implement the basics and I also failed to figure out a reasonable distance metric(I think real-time movement might be more intuitive). The enemies are supposed to have different behaviors and stats. Currently they only move randomly, so it feels like you play with pure luck. I might redesign and expand it in the future.
Archaeognathus
Oct 11th · 13:22 UTC
Really cool idea (maybe a bit bias as a fan of spiders). Yeah, its currently a bit random, but there is potential. I think the vibration sense is a very interesting feature.
Daniel123
Oct 11th · 13:25 UTC
I really hope there would be some sound effect for this game. It would help make the game to the next level.
ryusui
Oct 12th · 01:02 UTC
This is a *fascinating* idea but also the player's tiny sight radius is crippling. The spider on the second level sees further than you do so it *will* sneak up on you and spot you and you will never see it coming because its sight radius extends beyond both your tactile range *and* your visual range. It would also be helpful to know which way the enemy spiders are going to move next: it's impossible to safely shadow them because you can never tell whether they're going to move towards or away from you.

I think the turn-based system works, but the player just has too little information to work from in order to fulfill the given objectives without getting caught (real-time would not fix the aforementioned issue where the spider with the giant sight range can spot you before you even know it's coming!)
gwhyang
Oct 12th · 12:44 UTC
This idea is pretty original! And what we're collecting adds the density of the game. We're taking risk or be more consevartive? That's question
🎤 MartianMangka
Oct 14th · 03:29 UTC
@archaeognathus Thanks, I was thinking about intelligence collection at first , and the word spi(y)der suddenly came LOL. Actually the gameplay design didn't fully use the traits of spider (sorry for you spider lovers). I might redesign the gameplay in the future. I watched some interesting videos on spider's behavior this week and got some inspirations. I hope I can make the game fun to play and reflecting the uniqueness of the spider genre.
🎤 MartianMangka
Oct 14th · 03:31 UTC
@daniel123 Sorry for skipping the sound part :(
🎤 MartianMangka
Oct 14th · 03:51 UTC
@ryusui Thanks, really appreciate your careful thoughts. Level 2 is just far from finished(not just level 2 actually). The blue guy's vision is actually smaller than you. The stats(vision and sense range) is added after the first level. And you can actually know enemy's next move by the direction it's heading (hint needed mb). However, even with larger vision and prediction of enemy's next move, the level still doesn't work because of the weird distance metric. I didn't find a good way to implement grid on the web. With the current grid system, you can hardly predict whether you are going to get discovered next step even you already know enemy's next move. That's why I think real time movement might be better, that we can get around the grid. Though I still want to make it turn based, more puzzle-ish. Maybe one day I can get an elegant grid system after some deep research.
ryusui
Oct 14th · 04:31 UTC
@martianmangka For whatever it's worth, I really did like the general spirit of "you can detect when an enemy is on the same ring/arm of the web as you"; it did feel like a nice "spider-y" gameplay mechanic.
Kapricorn Media
Oct 15th · 03:46 UTC
Very unique idea, I liked it! It was quite hard to play though, I think the enemy AI is pretty ruthless especially in the first level and for a very original idea like this. There's clearly some potential to learn these mechanics and navigate the webs and deal with enemies more easily.
Myezko
Oct 20th · 08:46 UTC
i dont get it :(
sangheli
Oct 21st · 10:26 UTC
interesting game concept
ChuChuGeralt
Oct 21st · 13:17 UTC
Really nice concept (and nice pun)! As others have already mentioned, the core idea of the game is great but could be heavily improved upon.

For example, the randomness of the enemy's movement was quite difficult to work with (as you already mentioned yourself). By switching to a more "predictable" movement pattern, you could lean even further into the "spy" category. Normal people usually have a predictable day if you observe them long enough—this mechanic would perfectly match that theme and add a layer of strategy!