Traction Bugs by TimBeaudet

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

20241007<em>screenshot</em>002.png image.png

You are a colony of ants that wants to go racing, so they all got Formula 1 cars and created a racetrack. Don't let them crash!

How to play

Use arrow keys to drive.

Known Performance Issues

If the game (tractionbugs) is running slowly, or not at all you can try potato100 first to see if that helps, and finally potato50 for not quite the same experiences. If possible use tractionbugs.exe instead of the potato PC helpers.

Ratings

Overall 383th 3.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 159th 3.875⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 60th 4.05⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 123th 4.2⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 670th 3.475⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 276th 3.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 197th 3.667⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 512th 3.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 11🗨️

Feedback

gamesplusjames
08. Oct 2024 · 10:22 UTC
This was really fun! Such a cool idea and could definitely see it being expanded on into something bigger! Great work :)
JustinSix
08. Oct 2024 · 12:54 UTC
Fun and polished little game. Lots of different tracks.
Chocolat-Endive
08. Oct 2024 · 17:04 UTC
Controlling a swarm of minicar? Ok, I admit, this is fun! I would have love to have some kind of highscore at the end of the game.

The only minor issue I see is that the "health" bar is on the top of the screen, and it hides the incoming road.
Shlolo
08. Oct 2024 · 17:07 UTC
Hey great job! That was super fun. I gotto say this is probably one of the most unique games I have played in this jam so far. Also, I love the charming graphics. Especially that ant head finish xd
briskcz
08. Oct 2024 · 18:46 UTC
Nice innovative idea for a driving game, its a shame that the "health" bar is blocking the view of the road ahead.
codeserk
08. Oct 2024 · 21:31 UTC
super fun idea! I was a bit confused at first but afterwards is quite satisfying! :D

I normally don't like racing games that much, but controlling a swarm of bugs is something else :)

good job!!
🎤 TimBeaudet
08. Oct 2024 · 23:40 UTC
Yea the healthbar really gets annoying, and in hind-sight was probably not necessary since the size of the colony already shows the health!
daflamingpotato
10. Oct 2024 · 20:39 UTC
Nice job, it was fun watching the stream!
MithosKuu
11. Oct 2024 · 00:44 UTC
Not bad, you should consider uploading a thumbnail, it makes people more likely to click on your grame
Wendel Scardua
11. Oct 2024 · 21:38 UTC
As a meta-commentary, I got confused for a bit because the title screen shown here is not in the actual game.

Now, I'm not surprised it's a racing game, but I'd never expected to pilot hundreds of ant-driven cars all at once :) It was fun to try to aim for a flawless run as fast as possible, I just wish there was something tracking the best times (and whether they were flawless). Also, it was cool that the credits were a track on itself.
allov
12. Oct 2024 · 14:42 UTC
Thanks for the suggestions. I added a new screenshot and a cover image! Cheers
Stracker
12. Oct 2024 · 17:53 UTC
Ooooh nice concept, had fun racing around with the swarm of cars !
Controls feel a bit weird, but I can't quite nail down why, and it doesn't run as well as i'd like, but fun entry regardless !
Slava Besckaravainii
12. Oct 2024 · 18:14 UTC
Excellent game, it was fun to manage a colony of ants, worrying about everyone)) The controls are very simple and intuitive, which allowed us to focus on completing the game. Great job
TheMiSta92
12. Oct 2024 · 18:54 UTC
What a nice concept that is! I can see this going many directions: survival racing game where you keep going to next level with what survived, more speed focused with the mechanic that the more bus are still alive the swarm can go faster, need to sacrifice some bugs for shortcuts which increases the risk of not making it, etc.
If I have one point that throws me off is the "invisible swarm queen" which is controlled by the player and that the other bugs try to go to. Perhaps having a visible "main character" or dynamically adjusting it (because I managed to get ahead of my bugs and then it's hard to control) could potentially improve this, but I also get the point of not having it.
I really enjoyed playing this and it's a very solid entry. Well done!
Tomssuli
12. Oct 2024 · 19:44 UTC
Fun idea! It was nice to try levels couple of times to learn the best driving lines. I think the camera angle made it a little hard to see the road ahead, but I thought this was very innovative game. Everything worked as expected, I didn't notice bugs other than ants.

Game felt polished. Music set the mood for racing :)
daria-toni
12. Oct 2024 · 19:45 UTC
I don't know why, but the game doesn't work for me at all. The music turns on, I see the start and a lot of cars, time ticks, but nothing moves. I tried to run different files, but it's all the same... but it could as well be my computer, it's been weird lately.
allov
13. Oct 2024 · 00:59 UTC
@daria-toni Sad to hear :( I added a note to use arrow keys to move, I don't know if that could be your issue? Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is maybe that your keyboard layout may not be compatible. Hope it helps!
allov
13. Oct 2024 · 00:59 UTC
double message, can't delete :(
Lunaria Rava
13. Oct 2024 · 13:33 UTC
Quite a fun game, controlling this swarm of bugs is way more difficult than you'd imagine!

Had some fun trying to complete the courses with as few as possible bugs surviving, :laughing:. It's just too much fun watching them slam into walls.
Jahwffrey
15. Oct 2024 · 03:31 UTC
What an awesome little idea and a great execution! It's fast and colorful and I really enjoyed it. Thanks!
Axodo
15. Oct 2024 · 13:38 UTC
Well I'd love to the play the game, but for some reason, I get a black screen after the logo shows up. I still hear the sound, but it's hard to play without seing anything =/
(I also tried the potatoes)
LLlarsO
15. Oct 2024 · 14:26 UTC
Cool little game! Had fun playing it till the end. :)

The audio feedback was good, when I lost my little cars.

It happened to me, that I lost some cars when I already reached the finish line and I couldn't do anything about that. I would suggest to change that.

The controls felt alright and the difficulty was nicely implemented. It got harder, but not unfair. The visuals were clear and I like that you put the "credit screen" as an additional track into the game. :)
🎤 TimBeaudet
15. Oct 2024 · 17:27 UTC
@axodo If you don't mind, what do you have for a system? OS, Graphics Card, etc? It may be an issue in my custom engine that hasn't been discovered yet.
Axodo
16. Oct 2024 · 14:15 UTC
@timbeaudet I hope that helps!
(Sorry, it's in french)
![Sans titre.png](///raw/28b/f5/z/68e50.png)
🎤 TimBeaudet
16. Oct 2024 · 18:39 UTC
Huh. I was expecting something AMD related; RTX 3060 is basically the same card I have (3070); If you open this directory there might be a log that helps. May also be able to play with some of the settings. `C:\Users\<USERNAME_HERE>\AppData\Local\TyreBytes\LudumDare56\`

I would try changing some of these values vs whatever is setup by default, the ao/bloom are somewhat new and suspect in my engine.

```"show_ao":false,
"show_bloom":false,
"show_particles":false,
"show_reflections":false,
"show_shadows":true,
"single_pass_shadows":true,
"super_sampling":0,
```

Thanks for digging and trying, I appreciate the help.
Sasa_2010
19. Oct 2024 · 09:34 UTC
Wow! The game is so wonderful! Keep making games!