LudumData

Critter Club by someone

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

Find some critters and use them in battles.
Can you be the very best? Like no one ever was?

Interactions use the left mouse button.
WASD or Arrows to move, SHIFT to crouch.
Hold SPACE or right mouse button to open your inventory.

I recommend playing the downloaded version as the web build has issues with input.

Edit: Some fixes to the web version. I fixed the issue with missing assets and fixed the tone mapping.
I also tried to handle the mouse grabbing better, its still not great though. I probably need to use a software cursor instead. At least it is somewhat functional.
Also SHIFT key now crouches since CTRL+W closes the tab. Oops.

This is the elemental type advantage chart. I was going to stick it on a wall in game but didn't manage it before the deadline. Mural.png Also creature rank stars and relative positioning all make a difference in the battles. Critical hit chance is at 5%.

There is now a post jam version, see links section below.
- Fixed mouse input issues with the web build - Inventory no longer clips though the level geometry - Improvements to the level - Minor bug fixes - Added some music

Made using my personal c++ game engine.
Software used: Blender, Gimp.

I considered submitting to the compo as the gameplay was done, but decided as I was going to spend Monday on it anyway you would be better off with a version with animations and better creatures.

Link https://sam.draknek.org/files/ld56-critterclub.zip
Link https://sam.draknek.org/files/ld56-critterclub.zip
Post Jam Version https://sam.draknek.org/projects/critterclub
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/critter-club

Ratings

Overall 946th 3.047⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Fun 941th 2.837⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 562th 3.279⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Theme 580th 3.64⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 919th 2.779⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 779th 2.571⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 996th 2.733⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Given 49🗳️ 68🗨️

Feedback

Tasostagtal
08. Oct 2024 · 11:12 UTC
Cool concept kinda works. There are a few bugs (I can see my cursor all the time in the middle of the screen, cant see inventory while crouching, game window weird size and I cant change it) but overall great job, making your own game engine must have been difficult
Zhuub
09. Oct 2024 · 00:11 UTC
An unfortunate key combination kept closing my window (crouching and walking forwards, I think?), but the very tiny creatures were nicely animated! I enjoyed the easter egg hunt!
Mayple
09. Oct 2024 · 00:12 UTC
Good use of theme, I think it could use a bit of QOL features and in some cases lock the camera to use the mouse properly.
barryrichter
09. Oct 2024 · 01:17 UTC
Yeah I had the same window closing issue lol but the game was super fun. The issue is that for chrome the combinations CTRL + W closes the window. The other builds still work and it was a super cool came. It is crazy that you did this in your own engine!
f1tzy
09. Oct 2024 · 19:45 UTC
Wow this is really kind of a cool concept. I was able to break the play table some how, put the first person critter battling on an interactive table is really a good idea. This was really ambitious and I love the ideas. Just need to work on user interface and controls a little more.
slay a stone
09. Oct 2024 · 19:46 UTC
Cool that you made your own engine!

The battle was fun, catching the critters was a but frustrating (especially because you have to focus that you dont accidently press ctrl-w).

The downloaded version doesn't work for me and a friend of mine! [broken.jpg](///raw/38a/3/z/68582.jpg)
Petr Vejchoda
09. Oct 2024 · 20:01 UTC
I would probably kind of liked the actual game. Maybe the picking up of the tiny creature would make sense, if I had a ability to check oponents deck first, so that I would try to prepare for each one separately. Now it just feels like a filler. I kinda like it but it just doesn't play well. Lock camera when cursor is free, or make cursor locked and use middle of camera for picking stuff. I recomend the latter, since then you can use controller to use as input. Good luck with the game and the engine. Cheers.
juju
09. Oct 2024 · 20:39 UTC
Very cool concept, but I found moving around the game and interacting with stuff quite hard. It's a great idea though, you should keep working on it!
🎤 someone
09. Oct 2024 · 20:52 UTC
@slay-a-stone Thanks for the bug report, I changed the compositor to get the web build working then didn't test it in windows. It should be fixed now. Fun fact - if you 'painted' the whole screen with that dot you could see, it would reveal the game.
Jesse Martin
10. Oct 2024 · 01:53 UTC
The last guy is hard, Fun pokemon spin
Corrochano
10. Oct 2024 · 22:00 UTC
The tiny creatures (specially the walking animations) are very very good.
Love the Pokémon-concept game, find and cath the creatures was so funny (I hunted one of each type jeje).
Really impressive that you use your own engine O,o

Also, the embedded version of the game crashed when I caught a monster, so I switched to the downloaded version.

Congrats for the game!
Prismapunch
11. Oct 2024 · 03:03 UTC
Very cool idea, the monster battling is fun and looks great, not sure if it needed to be first person, but I like the inventory and going to go find more creatures. Creature design was cool, everything else needed more time. Good work nonetheless!
Nazariglez
11. Oct 2024 · 09:27 UTC
Building your own engine is always a challenge, and you pulled it off nicely! The critter animations are fantastic, and I really enjoyed the battle system concept. The elemental advantage chart adds a lot of potential strategy to the gameplay. Excited to see how you expand on this. Gj!
Douuggggg
11. Oct 2024 · 09:38 UTC
I think you tied the game to the theme quite literally, and the idea is strong!

I think there could've been more work done to make the 'feel' of the game a bit better; a bit more time spent on how it feels to pick up and order creatures around. Some audio would've been nice as well, and perhaps more clear customisation on the 'trainers' you battle - with their only distinguishing characteristics being hair colour, I wasn't sure which ones I had battled before already.

But well done for a jam game, this feels like the start of a good Pokemon clone!
RamboBeans
13. Oct 2024 · 12:46 UTC
Cool concept! Combat was pretty simple but fun, playing a creature fighting game like this on the hexagon grid has potential for a lot of cool abilities per creature, but for the short amount of time we had its very well done. The only thing that would have made it better is some player feedback like sfx playing on a hit, sounds when yopu pick stuff up etc.

Overall great entry!
Renier
15. Oct 2024 · 15:47 UTC
Fun concept! well done!
Skleembof
15. Oct 2024 · 17:57 UTC
Very ambitious entry for LD. I like how it isn't just a straight Pokemon clone but a genuine effort to do things differently. The implementation is a bit on the janky side but it all works and it made me want to experiment more with the mechanics. I wish there were more tiny creatures and they weren't just crawling around on the ground though.

Oh and I loved the idea of having a little arena where battles take place rather than just doing it on the ground. It's not exactly the same but it kind of reminded me of Custom Robo for Gamecube. Different opponents could have their own arenas with different layouts,terrains, hazards, etc.
Stames
19. Oct 2024 · 10:35 UTC
I would love to see you building on this idea. Currently the controls are a bit difficult but if the game was a bit more polished it would be a nice new style of Pokemon like game.
Literato Games
20. Oct 2024 · 23:44 UTC
Excellent Remembers the oldschool 90's games
Roka Josh
22. Oct 2024 · 20:37 UTC
Feels very ambitious and generally well executed considering the time frame. Excellent work, would love to see this be developed further.
Steffo
23. Oct 2024 · 23:54 UTC
Accidentaly pressed Ctrl+W too many times to start playing again, I'm skipping rating this, sorry :sob:
JustMars
24. Oct 2024 · 19:07 UTC
Had a hard time figuring out how to collect the critters into the inventory due to cursor locking issue with the above web version, but after playing the post jam version I got how it worked and was able to make progress. Cool concept nicely inline with the theme. Graphics-wise the critters and their animations were the highlight, otherwise a bit plain but considering you worked solo and used your own engine the game looked fine. The board game part of the gameplay was functional, but a bit basic. Liked how the UI was sort of integrated into the game world, a bit like VR games in that sense. Solid work overall for a solo entry, good job.