THE RAT - Adventures in a limited space by Magalix

[raw]
made by Magalix for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

"We are a group of brothers and sisters trying to make a little game with our respective qualities: coding, drawing and sound design. This is our first little game together. Have fun with the little mouse who seeks to expand his domain thanks to the power of le fromage. :cheese:

"crounchcrounchcrounchgnokgnokcrounchcrounch" :rat:

"squiksquik" :mouse:

🎨Illustration : https://www.instagram.com/instamalt_

screen1.png screen2.png screen4.png screen5.png

Ratings

Overall 1047th 2.904⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1070th 2.585⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1070th 2.491⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Theme 997th 2.906⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 678th 3.417⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Audio 544th 3.17⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Humor 588th 2.84⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Mood 986th 2.802⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Given 53🗳️ 84🗨️

Feedback

Sean Esopenko
02. Oct 2023 · 21:40 UTC
I like the eating sound
Markus Sihler
02. Oct 2023 · 21:45 UTC
Good sound and art design but the gameplay feels lacking. What is the purpose of the cat and trap if it is always in the same position and does not move? Same for the owls(?) in the walls, they are invisible before running into them which feels unfair to the player.
🎤 Magalix
03. Oct 2023 · 06:39 UTC
Thanks for your feedbacks !

@markus-sihler You are right, the cat was supposed to be fully animated and tracking the rat, and the traps to pop randomly like the cheeses, but we lacked time to implement everything :sweat_smile:

There was also an animated snake and the owls were supposed to have a more complex behaviour, popping from the holes in the top wall
Ampo
03. Oct 2023 · 10:16 UTC
Good job on the game !

A rat who loves cheese just like me !
Really liked the sprites (rat, cat, owl, cheese, rat trap and the image of the title screen).
Too bad you could not finish all the game in time.
Cute project.
MrPig
03. Oct 2023 · 10:17 UTC
A quick game to catch up. Some issues with hitboxes and aiming the 'bite' but still fun :)
Yorsh
03. Oct 2023 · 12:34 UTC
Congrats on your first entry! The illustrations are nice. The hitboxes of walls seems a bit bugged.
cawfee_art
03. Oct 2023 · 12:35 UTC
Love the art and sounds! It was nice to play even in it's unfinished state :3
LDJam user 377500
03. Oct 2023 · 14:53 UTC
this game makes me laugh so much bruh. i love the eating sound and the illustration.
vlad-r
03. Oct 2023 · 14:55 UTC
I liked the music!
TerminalGoat
03. Oct 2023 · 15:06 UTC
This is a quite pretty well-polished game! Funny sfx, cute menu music and art style, the gameplay concept itself is pretty neat. There are a bit collision issues but overall this is a great entry for the jam you got there!
🎤 Magalix
03. Oct 2023 · 15:30 UTC
Thanks everybody for all your feedbacks !! We didn't expect so much
zanagi
03. Oct 2023 · 15:39 UTC
Had a bit of trouble trying to get the rat to eat wall tiles that were above them but still it was a nice little game.
Congrats on the submission!
ShidyGames
03. Oct 2023 · 15:44 UTC
The little rat IS DEAD haha. Interesting concept, pretty cool! Was super hard to eat the tile right on top of you tho, which is a bit annoying. Regardless, cool game!
treenut
03. Oct 2023 · 17:42 UTC
interesting concept and design. I find the Game over screen and sound amusing. I hope you get to finish next time. Keep it up :)
kenevil1
03. Oct 2023 · 18:46 UTC
Really like the art style, good gameplay concept as well. Great job!
John Gabriel
03. Oct 2023 · 20:18 UTC
Nice concept, but it's a bit finicky to control the rat when moving into holes or aiming at a block of dirt.
Depression
03. Oct 2023 · 21:05 UTC
WHERE IS WALLS I EATED IT XDDDDDDDDDDDD CROUNCHCROUNCHCROUNCHGNOKGNOKCROUNCHCROUNCH
![Безымянный.png](///raw/cb6/e4/z/5f69a.png)
Aviv Levy
03. Oct 2023 · 21:21 UTC
While it's obvious that you did not manage to finish the game in time, it's cool that you stuck with it and published it any way, I admire that. I can see where this was supposed to go. The art is cute :)

I will definitely try the post-jam version if you make it!
Janet Lin
04. Oct 2023 · 04:32 UTC
Absolutely love the art!! Sort of wishing there was higher stakes involved in the gameplay (the cat moves, the owl moves.. etc). Either way, I see the promise of it being a very charming game!
woona
04. Oct 2023 · 09:29 UTC
It's a very cute game! I wish it was a little bit more dynamic and there was more stuff to do, but I liked it. Good job making the game!
Jupiterintardis
04. Oct 2023 · 11:48 UTC
Lovely game
LDJam user 374261
04. Oct 2023 · 11:54 UTC
Great sounds!
Dan_Nik_SG
04. Oct 2023 · 11:54 UTC
The rat is moving kinda fast i think
FloTheSnitchy
05. Oct 2023 · 01:31 UTC
A little perplexed as to the gameplay but otherwise I love the art and SFX :D very nice. For the amount of time we all had, especially!
bucharlardy
05. Oct 2023 · 08:00 UTC
还是挺可爱的
Tudvari
05. Oct 2023 · 12:44 UTC
Cool game, but it felt a bit too long/grindy. After the first minute, it was just a rinse and repeat to get the cheese, and then eat the wall. The controls felt a bit too punishing while also a bit too dangerous with the slippy floor. :D Anyway, cool idea and has a polished feel, keep it up! :)
LDJam user 259037
06. Oct 2023 · 12:28 UTC
Loved it! Had a lot of fun with this one~✨
https://youtu.be/laDqFmGWlUk
Javid Ladhani
06. Oct 2023 · 18:24 UTC
As an ex-ratowner I approve
Akulove
08. Oct 2023 · 10:42 UTC
This game made me smile a lot. Especially the cat stoically standing and looking at the mouse. Nice art and sounds. It's very cute and funny game!
RicardoBusta
08. Oct 2023 · 13:03 UTC
Cute concept, and I loved the illustrations. The retro-style of the game and it's music brought me back to DOS games time. It was not clear how to make the cat move and the losing conditions.
OldDog
11. Oct 2023 · 08:22 UTC
cute and interesting game,wish for more content
LDJam user 266061
14. Oct 2023 · 16:12 UTC
The introduction gives hype, with this dynamic jingle, and I thought "my main objection would be to have a better font". I took a glance at the screenshots and I first expected a mad chase across a corridor with the mouse having to chew the walls to escape.

Well, instead it's more of a calm game, and I guess its final form would have the predators animated but otherwise everything rather static. The wall eating risks to be repetitive grinding, however. I think a way to make it fun would have been to make it a maze.

And if I dare to say boldly, even remove the corridor part and have everything in the wall, and the cat appearing suddenly like the owls, from holes (for example its paw). Cheese and cheese traps would still be popping, but in the wall (I know, it's not natural, but we can argue that cheese popping like that has never been natural).

Have energy depleting over time instead of being a stock. Have health not being that numerical. Maybe reduce it and have less danger, compensed by other ways to challenge the player: items that make the mouse slower, or moving in the wrong direction.

Someone was bothered by the walls hiding owls, maybe embrace it: the mouse must chew walls but who knows what bad (or good) surprises there would be. Maybe compensating by having a detector (like its smell sense) sensing if there is something, but without certainty of what it is. Kind of like a minesweeper-game.

Well, this was a bunch of ideas, since you ask, even if I don't know if it would be fun.

The graphics are nice. The too-rectangular tiles are surely unintended. Since wall-chewing seems to be the main mechanism, time should have been spent on making different wall sprites (chewed on the left, on the right, and difference in general). And even maybe not depend on a tile system to have the mouse chew freely. Also a general music would be welcome.

(Bonne continuation. May you pursue creating games together.)
LDJam user 206001
19. Oct 2023 · 03:26 UTC
I ate the cheeses and went into the hole. But the cat just stays still, I don't understand its function. Maybe there wasn't time to implement the mechanics and animations of the dying mouse, etc.
🎤 Magalix
20. Oct 2023 · 13:58 UTC
@lincolnsalles Most cats just stay still :grin: But yeah he was supposed to move a little more

@aaln Thank you ! It's the most useful feedback we've received so far