Space Ants X by AlexClay

[raw]
made by AlexClay for Ludum Dare 56 (JAM)

Fry enemies in this cathartic action game!

Controls:
- Use WASD / Arrow keys to Move.
- Use mouse to aim and Left mouse click to fire flamethrower.
- Press P or Esc to pause.

Notes:
- Performance is better on Chrome than Firefox.
- Performance is better with fullscreen disabled.
- This game is a sequel to Space Ants which I made 3 years ago!

Full credits + Source code:
https://github.com/AlexisDrain/Space-Ants-X

Ratings

Overall 376th 3.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 319th 3.658⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 911th 2.763⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 628th 3.579⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 743th 3.316⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 381th 3.344⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Mood 418th 3.658⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 43🗳️ 2🗨️

Feedback

multiplexor
07. Oct 2024 · 09:43 UTC
All Hail our new Ant overlords!

Although some ants were hurt in it, i liked a lot the story! The tale of the underdog ant infestation fighting against it's natural enemy, the space flamethrower janitor, touched me deeply, specially with such sweet ending where the ants end up winning, taking control of the ship and landing it safely on earth... right? right?

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That aside, game was great, the ambience and music reminded me a bit of FTL, and i loved the sprinkles of humour in the ship console text. The controls worked well, and even dying wasn't too much of a hassle given the quick respawn in the same level.

I did find it a bit hard to see the ant acid projectiles and dodge them tho with all the fire going on, and the sounds from the ants dying felt a bit loud (specially with how many there were). But aside from those nitpicks it was great to play it!

Keep up the great work! <3
RascarCapackDev
07. Oct 2024 · 18:35 UTC
Great music choice, love the mood. Am I Helen Ripley getting rid of an ant infestation ?
🎤 AlexClay
07. Oct 2024 · 20:17 UTC
@multiplexor Yeah, FTL's mood was one of the inspirations! In fact, the ship's top-floor layout is loosely based on the first ship in FTL.
The sound of the ants dying is loud because the flamethrower sound is also very loud :/ It's too late to fix now. Oh well.
wheelsx
08. Oct 2024 · 06:07 UTC
That music was great. I kept expecting a big boss battle behind the closed emergency exit, but the change in pace in the last level sort of made up for it. I noticed the pushback the flamethrower causes, great attention to detail. For what it's worth, I played fullscreen in Firefox and didn't have any performance issues.
ekun
09. Oct 2024 · 05:53 UTC
The enormously powerful flame thrower (that thankfully our entrepid hero is seemingly immune to the heat from) feels like a very appropriate response to an ant infestation. They must be purged!

Fun little game. I'm really glad when I died I could respawn in the same room without any fuss, I think I would've had a much different time otherwise.
holzez
09. Oct 2024 · 16:21 UTC
The flamethrower is really satisfying!
Jiri_One
09. Oct 2024 · 17:42 UTC
Quick satisfying game :)
TheSmellofOxygen
09. Oct 2024 · 19:48 UTC
Relaxing. Smooth visuals and nice soundscape and music, but perhaps a little too relaxed for my taste. I wanted more fail states. There was very little pressure.
Linky439
10. Oct 2024 · 12:40 UTC
Nice little game! The gigantic flamethrower made it a bit hard to see where I was, but overall it was a nice time!
The fact you didn't have to restart the whole day upon dying is nice, appreciated touch.

My only "complain" would be the sound effects, especially the ants dying as it felt more like picking up a coin or selecting a menu options that getting a kill ^^ Otherwise, congrats!
bacalear
12. Oct 2024 · 10:28 UTC
Liked it very much! Great idea too.
Andriana Mantidfly
13. Oct 2024 · 04:07 UTC
I liked it, but it was too much with fire effects, sometimes you just can't see anything
Axodo
16. Oct 2024 · 15:28 UTC
Very nice game, especially considering it was only made by one person!

Fun and easy to learn mecanics. I like the twist at the end.
My two small complaints are that sometimes it really feels like you burned an ant, yet somehow it still lives, and that the walls stoping you when goinf diagonaly are sometimes a bit frustrating, they feel sticky.

Besides these minor things, the game is great. Good job!
quadtree
20. Oct 2024 · 07:22 UTC
Pretty fun game. Getting blown up in the armory when I flame-blasted the rockets was a nice touch. I liked the fact that there were frequent checkpoints, too. If there's one thing I'd add, it'd be some kind of health bar. Often I was wondering how many more hits I could take. Nice job!
Conor Wilson
21. Oct 2024 · 13:12 UTC
Not only does the plot of this remind me of a particular Simpsons episode, but there was a direct Simpsons reference in the ship AI's dialogue as well. I see dev is a person of culture too ;)

Loved this one. Fun quick action adventure in space that was genuinely quite challenging at times. Great job :)
LDJam user 243193
22. Oct 2024 · 09:42 UTC
Nice short shoter game. I like how the game doesn't end with stronger ants but instead with different rule.