Apex Elysium by Bogden

[raw]
made by Bogden for Ludum Dare 56 (COMPO)

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Consume. Avoid. Dash. Survive.

Controls: Mouse to move. Click or Spacebar to dash.

Tip: Dashing is very useful.


### High Scores

Post a screenshot if you want to get on the high score list!

🥇 359 - @garys

🥈 331 - @Bogden

🥉 242 - @clare-chan1738

226 - @pomo

204 - @budster16

195 - @jammygunns

168 - @A-priori

146 - My husband

83 - @codeman1010


Ratings

Overall 116th 3.659⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 68th 3.795⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 205th 3.182⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 288th 2.909⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 163th 3.548⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Audio 34th 3.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 131th 3.5⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Given 5🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

Void4
06. Oct 2024 · 23:27 UTC
Very slick and polished, nicely done!
WubbaDuck
07. Oct 2024 · 01:02 UTC
Nice! I want to keep playing this just for the music! Well done. This is a fun use of boids.
RefraX295
07. Oct 2024 · 10:33 UTC
This is the first game I've seen that uses boids as part of the main gameplay mechanic and you've pulled it off nicely. Great work!
Jake Pearce
07. Oct 2024 · 10:38 UTC
Game is really fun and visually pops, and music is great. Did have some issues when playing on a low-res monitor (window was larger than the screen with no way to make it smaller) but overall very good.
Nazariglez
07. Oct 2024 · 11:39 UTC
Nice music, the game looks great too, gj!
Flipsy
07. Oct 2024 · 12:56 UTC
Great job, very hypnotic and engrossing. Music works perfectly with the flow of the game. Very polished entry. Well done!
tolja
07. Oct 2024 · 17:28 UTC
Very nice!
Sviborg
07. Oct 2024 · 18:06 UTC
Great game! I really liked the mechanics - original and exciting! The graphics and music create a hypnotic atmosphere, you want to play again and again. The game looks polished and smooth, everything is harmonious. Great job for Ludum Dare! 👏
WeirdBitGames
08. Oct 2024 · 00:20 UTC
Incredibly music and such fluid gameplay. Once I realised I was supposed to eat all of the little white "sheeps", it was so much fun chasing them around!
superzoom
08. Oct 2024 · 00:36 UTC
I loved it! Its a fun game, and the music makes it even more exciting. Great job!
A Priori
08. Oct 2024 · 03:13 UTC
Really polished and stylish game! Only thing I would change is making the red enemies a different shape to set their silhouettes apart from the white ones - maybe a square or a pentagon? Great submission, and very cool to see someone else taking inspiration from Boids in their game!

![apexelysium.PNG](///raw/5d6/16/z/67b5c.png)
Human Writes Code
08. Oct 2024 · 07:42 UTC
Nice one. I really like the difficulty scaling. The controls are simple to understand but difficult to master. I do feel like it would have been better if the dash went past your cursor rather than stopping at the cursor if it was too close - but I also understand that would have been hard to get right from a gamefeel perspective. Overall, great job!
Codeman1010
08. Oct 2024 · 08:17 UTC
![image_2024-10-08_021747752.png](///raw/425/b2/z/67c6f.png)
Arthurds
09. Oct 2024 · 00:05 UTC
![Screenshot 2024-10-08 210458.png](///raw/3de/c2/z/68220.png)
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 00:47 UTC
Seemed simple enough, until I started trying to beat the high score and found it was really a challenge to avoid the red ships... Best I could get was 211. May come back to it though!
Really rather fun to play. Excellent soundtrack too.

![apex.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68233.jpg)
JammyGunns
09. Oct 2024 · 10:03 UTC
I was interested to see how you used the boids you've been showing off during the jam and you did a great job with them.

Provided a good challenge which grew in difficulty at a good rate, I found I was genuinely improving with each go as opposed to just getting lucky.

Had to stop my attempts to top the leader board to get some sleep but may get around to trying again later. Here's my current PB:
![Apex Elysium PB.png](///raw/050/53/z/683df.png)
🎤 Bogden
09. Oct 2024 · 18:23 UTC
@pomo @garys @jammygunns Glad y'all are finding it engaging enough to go for the gold! Let the high score chase begin!

@human-writes-code I was waffling between fixed dash and completely controlled. I think this is more unique when it comes to games like this but not necessarily better. It does lend itself to an extremely high skill ceiling, which might not be a good thing.
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 21:42 UTC
Update:
![apex2.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/685f5.jpg)

Insane number on the screen at this level, and I got the music track to loop!
🎤 Bogden
09. Oct 2024 · 22:13 UTC
![Screen Shot 2024-10-09 at 3.12.01 PM.png](///raw/f7e/54/z/6860d.png)

@garys @pomo

Congrats! The true high score has been unlocked. Can you beat it? ;)
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 22:31 UTC
Oh come on!!
🎤 Bogden
09. Oct 2024 · 22:35 UTC
@garys I believe in you!
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 22:42 UTC
![apex3.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68613.jpg)
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 22:53 UTC
# YEAH!!!
![apex5.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68619.jpg)
🎤 Bogden
09. Oct 2024 · 23:08 UTC
@garys See?! No problem! My turn!
GaryS
09. Oct 2024 · 23:09 UTC
No problem, he says!
This is definitely the game I've played the most so far... very addictive.
LDJam user 376320
10. Oct 2024 · 00:18 UTC
Very fun and difficult :laughing:
I wonder how you did the cluster logic, very interesting
Overall, a nice entry, congrats!
🎤 Bogden
10. Oct 2024 · 00:29 UTC
@willianfhs It's based around a concept called "boids"! Essentially each entity has a relatively simple set of rules. There's a few forces acting on each one.
1. Try to get close to neighbors
2. Try to stay away from neighbors if they're TOO close
3. Try to align in direction with neighbors

That's the basic logic of boids, with lots and lots of potential for tuning those forces differently that make them behave in very different ways. Then for this game there's 2 additional forces.
4. Try not to get too close to the border
5. Try to stay away from the player (but the red ones don't try as hard as the white)
Judith Hantisse
10. Oct 2024 · 01:36 UTC
Really fun game, with a nice use of flocking behavior! I could really see myself play in on my phone on my commute.
LDJam user 376320
10. Oct 2024 · 02:04 UTC
@bogden thank you for taking some time to explain, you made it very easy to understand :slight_smile: I'll take a look on that later!
BUDSTER16
10. Oct 2024 · 06:23 UTC
![Screenshot 2024-10-10 022153.png](///raw/320/16/z/68699.png)

Fun game! love the arcadey style of it and the movement feels super fluid! I didn't see any indicator of dash cooldown which would be my only criticism.
Clare_Chan1738
10. Oct 2024 · 06:35 UTC
![score.png](///raw/420/16/z/6869d.png)

Really nice graphics and audio! I like the movement, it feels really good to move around and feels effective when you dash! :)
SBzellex
10. Oct 2024 · 06:43 UTC
Simple gameplay with clean graphics and audio. Short and easy to understand is a plus. Great work!
🎤 Bogden
11. Oct 2024 · 20:33 UTC
@budster16 Thanks for playing! The dash indicator is the level of yellow fill on the player. I tried to do it in a more diagetic way, but I guess it wasn't clear enough. Thanks for the feedback!
GaryS
11. Oct 2024 · 23:44 UTC
I can't stop playing this game. 334 is still my best score.
GaryS
14. Oct 2024 · 01:13 UTC
God damn it!!!
![apex6.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68cb2.jpg)
GaryS
14. Oct 2024 · 11:02 UTC
I mean...
Ugh. Never mind... thought I'd topped it.
CrociDB
14. Oct 2024 · 19:49 UTC
I love it! It's so much fun, simple and so efficient. The art style and the sound effects match so well together! Great job!!

[Screenshot 2024-10-14 214613.png](///raw/fc8/2/z/68d2f.png)
CrociDB
14. Oct 2024 · 19:51 UTC
![Screenshot 2024-10-14 214613.png](///raw/fc8/2/z/68d30.png)
Oops
JammyGunns
15. Oct 2024 · 00:59 UTC
Had another couple of goes at a new PB. Struggling to consistently get past 220.

My current PB:

![Apex Elysium PB.png](///raw/050/53/z/68d62.png)

Going to have to try again after a break.
GaryS
17. Oct 2024 · 21:39 UTC
WEHEY!!!

![apex8.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68eed.jpg)
GaryS
17. Oct 2024 · 21:51 UTC
Oh man... I am on _fire!_
![Apex 9.JPG](///raw/6c3/4/z/68ef1.jpg)
🎤 Bogden
23. Oct 2024 · 11:39 UTC
Holy cow @garys you are my hero!!