Swim Shady by hajpappan

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

Try to survive the harsh reality of being the smallest creature in the very large ocean. Control your school of krill and keep them away from hungry predators and environmental hazards. Remember, there is safety in numbers.

Can you help your krill survive and thrive in the deep blue sea?

ld56.png

Ratings

Overall 685th 3.409⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 665th 3.258⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 690th 3.109⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 456th 3.788⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 903th 2.875⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 914th 2.1⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 906th 3.034⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 42🗨️

Feedback

eerongal
07. Oct 2024 · 22:07 UTC
Interesting little game. It feels a little cheap when enemies spawn in front of you at times, and the controls take some getting used to, but it can be kinda fun zipping around in circles trying to grab those dots. Nice work!
RascarCapackDev
07. Oct 2024 · 22:41 UTC
I really liked the "splitting yourself in two" mechanic! A great idea that made me try to do tricks to grab the points and evade the incoming enemies at the same time, super neat stuff
A graphic's overall could make it really eye-catching while keeping the minimalist style (which i dig)...with better colors and shapes (like snkrx)
Infernaton
08. Oct 2024 · 09:11 UTC
Cool little game! Maybe the floor was too slippery when it comes to change direction. Maybe it can be cool if the predators could attack between them (like in a actual food chain). That way, even if you are at the bottom, you could try to attrack your pursuiver to a bigger one, and maybe try to escape your death.
SvenErik
08. Oct 2024 · 09:58 UTC
Solid game, although some balancing and the spawning were annoying at times, but nothing bad for a jam game, jolly good work!
Plundre
08. Oct 2024 · 10:04 UTC
Interesting and cool game. Challenging controlls, but very fun concept. Spawning of the enemies seemed a bit off. The "split the group" functionality was very cool, and saved me a few times :sweat_smile:
diomont
08. Oct 2024 · 10:23 UTC
Great game! I like how the movement is momentum based, while it can be tricky to get used to at first, it feels really nice when you get a hang of it to dodge enemies, grab food and make turns while keeping your speed up.

Another cool aspect is how having a small swarm also makes it harder to hit, so when you're down to few krill you can dodge more easily and make a comeback.

I really like the split mechanic conceptually, but found it really situational to use as most enemies chase you from behind rather than coming at you from the front.

I was expecting this to an endless game, where you see how long you can survive or how much score you can get before you die, I was surprised to see a "You Win!" message.

The music and visuals are also a vibe.


Finally, playing the game at a higher resolution messes with the vignette effect, and I'm guessing might reveal more of the play area than was intended (going by the size of the effect), which makes the game easier.![Untitled.png](///raw/a8d/26/z/67d50.png)
TentacleDream
08. Oct 2024 · 10:31 UTC
It was very interesting and exciting to play, however this arena is too small for me! In any case, very enticing gameplay.
Noah MAZARD
08. Oct 2024 · 20:25 UTC
Very interesting gameplay !
LDJam user 352652
08. Oct 2024 · 21:00 UTC
> My name is Legion; for we are many,
>
> -the krill, probably

I had fun running those little guys around collecting food and avoiding the unpredictable enemies. Although, as others have pointed out, the level transitions are a little dicey. I must of had half my boys isekai'ed by those damn hexagons. It would probably ease things if the stationary enemies were to fade in at first.

![asfdasfasf.PNG](///raw/c81/65/z/6813f.png)
Deantwotwo
09. Oct 2024 · 17:15 UTC
That was cool! Definitely a missed opportunity to have a hiphop beat in the background with the Swim Shady name :P
Filip Vannfält
09. Oct 2024 · 18:51 UTC
Well done! A pleasant game.

*GAMEPLAY*
I think that the gameplay itself is simple and easy to understand. The different shapes contrast well to the player and makes it easy to see at a glance what is an enemy and what is food. I do wish that the player could be prevented to go out of bounds, because that was a big source of confusion as the gameplay is very dependent on visual feedback.

*ARTSTYLE*
I think that the geometric art style complements the gameplay very well, but it does not relate to the stated theme very much. If given more time, the simple geometric shapes could be molded into fish-like enemies. In general, the sea-like theme is not very necessary for the game itself.

In conclusion, I think the game is well done and the difficulty is nicely balanced!
Koolruz
10. Oct 2024 · 02:45 UTC
I liked the way that you force the player to control their momentum carefully - You can't just mindlessly run around, you need to move intentionally :)

One thing that definitely bit me on my first playthrough was the fact that the large hexagons looked friendly/non-harmful (to me at least) - Because they were a cool blueish purple that echoed the player's cool color palette (unlike the warm colors of the other enemies), I assumed they were some bonus that I ought to try and stay inside of, which was catastrophic for my swarm
Eric.Shaun
10. Oct 2024 · 12:36 UTC
Its a fun idea, I like the slugginesh of the controls actual, makes you use the momentum to plan big turns.
Enemies spawning in front of you or directly "inside" you when changing the level is suboptimal though.
The music was a bit stressfull for my taste, for that rather relaxing gaming experience.
In Level 3 It seems the Krill was not updating the count size accordingly or delayed
I went from 30 to 12 and it didnt change then I went up again but I had only 3 krills.

![Unbenannt.JPG](///raw/82e/c4/z/6870c.jpg)
brainles etertainment
10. Oct 2024 · 19:01 UTC
Minimalism in action. Simple forms and games rule, but in overall the gameplay is chill and joyful. This gives vibes if agar.io or something similar. I think this game great potential as a multiplayer one.
Joshua_Reumann
11. Oct 2024 · 19:48 UTC
Nice game
Planetary
12. Oct 2024 · 18:07 UTC
Even if the movement is a little bit harder to control, the idea of splitting is brilliant! I have fun with it and also the graphics are nice. Overall, you've made a nice game! Good job!
MachWerx
12. Oct 2024 · 19:59 UTC
I made a very similar game! Mine is also a swarm game where you grow by collecting things, try to avoid an enemy, and you can split apart. In my case, it's controlled by mouse cursor position, clicking, and the graphics are very different. But it's interesting to see someone else's take on a similar idea. I liked your music and it was nice to see the whole world in a single screen.
Big Cyckos
13. Oct 2024 · 12:26 UTC
I wonder why aren't there any whirlpools in this game, because this
one has sucked me in ;) Controls are simple, and the
gameplay mechanic is also easy to grasp. I like the dynamic and the
challenge, the choice to enable the player to go to another level
either by waiting a certain amount of time or collecting enough points
was right, because it prevents "feeding on earlier levels, where the
enemies are not difficult. I've encountered some bugs, points spawn in
the purple octagons where it's impossible to grab them, and also
sometimes area detection did not worked right, but it's expected in a
game jam :) Seeing as you've opted out of rating the music I'll just
say that it's alright. The graphics could be better, but they are
simple and do not affect the gameplay negatively. The split mechanic
is nice, although I didn't use it as much in the beginning as I forgot
about it :) but I used it on further playthroughs and had some fun
with it, although i find it tricky to use properly. The game could
certainly be improved by adding more types of enemies or at least
changing their pattern of movement. Thanks for a great game :)
The most I scored was 105330!
enderswype
14. Oct 2024 · 17:34 UTC
it feels like playing agar.io haha
Fork on the Table Studios
24. Oct 2024 · 23:14 UTC
Nice swarm mechanics! Controlling the swarm made it challenging enough but still fun. I especially like the atmosphere with the minimal graphic and music, it leaves the focus on the gameplay itself, in my opinion. Even with this retro arcade stlye it could be a cool mobile game, I think. Thanks and congrats!