LudumData

Mosquito's feast by Gastoon

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

What am I supposed to do ?

Your purpose is very simple : land on your human victim, and... pump it up until the end of the night, but take care of the hand that could slap you to death.

Be careful not to starve, and not to be too greedy : the size of the abdomen is an indicator of hunger and satiety.

How can I play this game ?

| Control | Action | | ------- | ------- | | Mouse | Fly over the area | | Click | Pick the skin and eat blood |

Why is this game actually existing ?

You won’t believe it, but I first wanted to make a game about taxes, but politically correct and why not metaphoric.
Meanwhile I remembered an old French song from a famous humorist band that comparing politicians to vampires : perfect for my game, but I don’t want to clearly copy the idea.
Let’s think about a creature – not a vampire – that eats blood… Lamprey ? No. Tick ? No way. Leech ? Mmmh why not, but I can do better. Mosquito ? Definitely yes ! The final boss of the human species, It’s perfect !
Thus was born the protagonist of the game : a little mosquito that has for only purpose to pump the blood of a human all over the night.
I realized It could be a good 2000’s absurd Flash game (RIP), so I decided to take this way with cartoon graphisms, and a short gameplay loop.

Is that missing something ?

Absolutely ! As I can’t correctly manage my time, lots of things are missing in my game, principally these ones : - The game over animations : I’ve spent my last day creating them, but after integration the mosquito’s abdomen didn’t want to grow anymore, so I left them behind.
- The sound : Did you really want to hear me make bzzzzzzzizzzzzzz all along the game ?
- The hand : I know… A sphere like characters in Animal Crossing would’ve been more realistic than I did.
- More mosquitos : Especially the tiger mosquito, smaller and more dangerous than the common mosquito.

I can’t keep a promise (especially for myself) but I really would like to finish this short game. You played the V.0.01 and as usual, I’ve plenty ideas for it !

Itch.io https://gaston-games.itch.io/mostquitos-feast
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/mosquitos-feast

Ratings

Overall 713th 2.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 729th 2.579⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 299th 3.395⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 618th 3.237⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 660th 2.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 153th 3.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 723th 2.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 16🗳️ 13🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 280189
Oct 06th · 19:17 UTC
Great idea, I hate mosquitos

![mosquito.png](///raw/d76/44/z/6d982.png)
woona
Oct 07th · 11:43 UTC
Wow this game is based on true events. I love the mosquito animations and the background, but the hand looks a bit unnatural.
🎤 Gastoon
Oct 07th · 16:41 UTC
@woona Thanks ! I spent so much time for the mosquito that I didn't have enough left to finish everything else :laughing:
Spike Owens
Oct 07th · 19:01 UTC
Controls were a bit hard to grasp at first, but once I got the hang of it it was good. Glad that the mosquito movement felt slower, and the blood sack got bigger as I got more full. Would be good to see different hand speeds/ increasing hand speeds till the mosquito eventually gets swatted. :)
Skylone
Oct 07th · 19:15 UTC
A funny interpretation of the jam theme.

What part of the human body does a mosquito drink blood from?![Mosquito.jpg](///raw/52f/56/z/6eba3.jpg)
🎤 Gastoon
Oct 08th · 04:43 UTC
Thanks for feedback !

@spike-owens I understand, maybe a little tutorial misses. The hand actually increases its delay and speed over time.

@skylone It's free to interpretation !
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:24 UTC
HJFAGSUKJHAIEKFHIALK I LIKE IT
its fun to play ty for your efforts <<<333
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:29 UTC
i think i published comment accidenally too much...
IM SO SORRY FOR IT, I THOUGHT IT DIDNT PUBLISHED BCUZ OF MY INTERNET TT ><
Zeynep
Oct 09th · 19:29 UTC
i think i published comments accidenally too much...
IM SO SORRY FOR IT, I THOUGHT IT DIDNT PUBLISHED BCUZ OF MY INTERNET TT ><
stefaink
Oct 09th · 19:33 UTC
I want to be like him
ryusui
Oct 10th · 02:52 UTC
Controls seemed a bit buggy (no pun intended). I could suck blood maybe once or twice and then clicking would stop doing anything. The hand also moves too slowly to really register as a danger, even as the difficulty picks up.

I thought it was clever that there's multiple skin color/hair color variants, though I'm baffled by the hand: why is the palm facing the camera? If it's supposed to be slapping the mosquito, shouldn't the palm be facing downwards?
🎤 Gastoon
Oct 10th · 04:24 UTC
@ryusui Thanks for your comment, it is very helpful !
I can't reproduce what you said, or I didn't understand. Actually the loop is like this :
Landing (auto on collision) > Suck blood (stay pressed) > Fly (release the mouse)
I'd like to change that to be clearer.

I was too ambitious for the hand : I would animate it by multiple sprites, but I have to learn to draw a hand before.
Also the game needs some balancing : the only case of danger is when the mosquito slows down (the last step), but even then it's easy again.
zelew
Oct 10th · 18:05 UTC
so funny, like it!
Kapricorn Media
Oct 10th · 18:43 UTC
The same thing that happened to @ryusui happened to me. The hand made me lol in a good way! I think overall it's a clever idea for a game.
LemonInk
Oct 11th · 01:05 UTC
I played this in an ettempt to find more empathy for the bugs that have been gnawing on me all summer, and while I didn't find that, I did find a satisfying victory LOL
Kvn
Oct 12th · 06:02 UTC
hhhhhhhhh very fun idea. I really like the topic and your incorporation of the theme. I do get the game over page even tho sometimes I didn't collide with the hand yet..? But overall awesome job!
🎤 Gastoon
Oct 12th · 09:55 UTC
Thanks for all feedbacks. Actually it seems to be unclear : the size of the abdomen indicates the level of satiety.

Starving and exploding after eating too much are two ways to die. I couldn't add the game over animations without breaking the main mechanic. :(
LDJam user 243193
Oct 17th · 14:14 UTC
I keep failing on my first tries until I realized that I have to let mosquito to land properly and hold left mouse button to suck blood. It was decent game and I think I've completed the game by sucking enough blood.
D3kryption
Oct 17th · 21:23 UTC
A quirky and amusing jam game where you play as a mosquito feeding on a human while avoiding the hand. Simple but satisfying mechanics, cartoonish visuals, and clever use of hunger and risk make it fun. Some control clarity and balancing issues exist, but it’s charming and memorable.
LesDremlet
Oct 19th · 16:15 UTC
Fun idea! I'd like to feel a bit more threatened by the hand in this game, as it currently moves quite slowly, and I can already predict where it will land based on its shadow.
Yes, there were some minor control issues - sometimes the mosquito would just refuse to drink blood after a while. I thought, maybe you could add more mosquitoes and the ability to maneuver an entire swarm? Sacrificing one mosquito to save the others would be especially cool if the hand changed its trajectory and speed based on an irritation meter :)