Pseudopseudopodia, or amoeba walking simulator by TheLastSlowpoke

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

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Not really a game, more like a demo.

I had so much fun experimenting with procedural animation and graphics, I just couldn't "waste time" to design some gameplay. I have a larger gamedev project in progress and taking a break from that to speedrun gamedev experience is yeah... Suffice to say, this somehow became a sandbox, one of the purest at that.

It may run slow on slower computers, I was adding features instead of optimizing (unless it run slow for me ^^). O(amoeba_size^2) went hard.

Ratings

Overall 738th 3.357⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Fun 959th 2.786⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 73th 4.018⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Theme 134th 4.179⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 347th 3.964⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 829th 2.426⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 823th 3.179⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 20🗳️ 30🗨️

Feedback

irwatts
23. Oct 2024 · 20:22 UTC
This is a neat experiment! I enjoyed watching the amoebas move and the inclusion bits are cool
DzejPi
23. Oct 2024 · 20:26 UTC
Love these kinds of experiments. I would really love to read a little bit about how procedural animations and graphics here work, because it looks really good. Movements feel great and natural too. I was able to eat the other amoeba, so, I won in this race of survival! Cool demo and a proof of concept, I think you could do something interesting with this. :)
🎤 TheLastSlowpoke
23. Oct 2024 · 20:44 UTC
@dzejpi Thanks! If I remember to do so, I'm going to write you something about how I did it. Right now though, I have a list of games to play, because I would like to climb to those 20 ratings received and actually show my amoebas to someone (busy night ahead of me). I kind of neglected that in the last weeks because of irl priorities ;/ Anyway, my solution to these amoebas is no rocket science and I'm actually new to creating procedural stuff like this. There is a ton of room to improve and I learned a lot. It's also a bowl of spaghetti code because, of course, I was in a hurry xd
DzejPi
23. Oct 2024 · 21:08 UTC
@thelastslowpoke wouldn't be a proper LD without spaghetti. Life can definitely get in the way, so, understandable, and good luck, you can do it!
Yaen
23. Oct 2024 · 21:54 UTC
I like this toy a lot, not only does it look really great, it's also a wonderfully pure interpretation of the theme. Also quite innovative to control a fluid amoeba creature. You never know which parts are going to move so there are interesting shapes that happen as you click around. Pretty cool demo!!
Jonathan Ray Pollard
23. Oct 2024 · 23:47 UTC
Neat little tech demo! The movement for the amoebas are cool, nice tech there especially.
GameDevTraum
24. Oct 2024 · 01:21 UTC
wow visually looks pretty amazing, I wonder how you did it, could be a procedural mesh?
Very interesting prototype
Qab
24. Oct 2024 · 03:47 UTC
Really cool and interesting! It did take a long while to load but I really enjoyed your game!
Samuel Hollywood-Summers
24. Oct 2024 · 07:55 UTC
This is a great little prototype. I think some audio would help round out the experience a lot, but as you mention, this is more of a tech demo. Although the amoeba doesn't, this prototype could have legs if you wanted to pursue it further. Thanks for sharing.
LDJam user 395647
24. Oct 2024 · 09:11 UTC
I ate the other amoeba
johnbrynte
24. Oct 2024 · 11:34 UTC
So fluid and cool to play with! Even if the demo had no goal it still gives some play time similar to other "real" games in the Jam. So great that you posted this! :star2:
jellyfishhunter
24. Oct 2024 · 15:17 UTC
This is a cool demo to play around with! Even though I was unable to envelop the other amoeba and eat it. Instead the level just reset itself.
🎤 TheLastSlowpoke
24. Oct 2024 · 16:20 UTC
@jellyfishhunter The game resets when you eat it, that's the intended behaviour (I think I said it in the itch description). So you did it! I know that it's a confusing behavior of the game, but it is more or less an easter egg and afterthought. I haven't made a sophisticated detection of who eats who and if whole, and there is also no appropriate response for that.
Vodzik
24. Oct 2024 · 17:07 UTC
Nice. With some gameplay elements on top of this it could be fun. Like eating smaller cells, and after collecting enough mass you can reproduce.
Big Cyckos
24. Oct 2024 · 18:36 UTC
IT'S CALLED A RIGHTEOUS ACTION GAME,
IT KEEPS YOU IN SUSPENSE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING,
EMOTIONS UNTIL THE VERY END
gg wp
~Socio
Andriana Mantidfly
24. Oct 2024 · 18:48 UTC
An interesting game, but it seems to me that this is even too tiny a creature, lol
lloydlobo
25. Oct 2024 · 01:42 UTC
I enjoyed that the other amoeba is not actively seeking to eat the player. Wish one could explore more in this game of amoebas. Loved the consistency and mechanics.
Yanato
25. Oct 2024 · 10:45 UTC
I really like this feeling of realistic physics. It would be cool to do something like the first stage of SPORE with this approach, but I would like to see the leveling up then :>
LDJam user 168929
25. Oct 2024 · 15:58 UTC
Cool tech demo, love this sort of stuff
jcbeaureg
25. Oct 2024 · 19:12 UTC
Very cool demo, the movement of the amoeba is mesmerizing! Also managed to eat the other amoeba which was a fun challenege in itself!
jellyfishhunter
25. Oct 2024 · 23:08 UTC
@thelastslowpoke Very cool that eating them is featured! I was just following my single braincell instincts :grin: