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Farmer Karma's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #45 | 3.981 | 3.981 |
| Graphics | #65 | 4.160 | 4.160 |
| Overall | #117 | 3.653 | 3.653 |
| Game Design | #152 | 3.670 | 3.670 |
| Theme | #228 | 3.642 | 3.642 |
| Fun | #359 | 3.349 | 3.349 |
| Audio | #458 | 3.113 | 3.113 |
Ranked from 106 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
In what way does your game fit the theme?
I'd say it's pretty chaotic
Did you write all the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes except the music
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Comments
very simple yet interesting idea! i think it captures the theme of chaos perfectly! Also i love the artstyle and the colors! the simplicity of this game is just perfect! good job!
Thank you so much for playing! I’m really glad to hear you liked the artstyle and colours.
Did you have any suggestions?
Looks great, but gameplay is really slow. Also for some reason my locusts dissapeared even when there's no chicken nearby.
Hello, thank you so much for playing! It sounds like you’ve had a rough experience! I apologise for that.
I completely agree that the gameplay starts out way too slow, that’s something I really need to address. The reason for this is because once you get going, gameplay is way too fast. Once you have a small swarm, it’s too easy to completely destroy everything instantly. I’m not sure how the best way to nerf this is, so I just went with a slow start. I know it needs improving, I’m just not sure how.
As for locusts disappearing, that is very strange. Is it possible it’s a layering issue and they’re going underneath the ground layer of a tile (e.g. exposed dirt of a crop).
Or were they disappearing out in the white open?
Thanks again so much for the critical feedback, it really helps. Do you have any other suggestions?
No need for apologise, it's just a gamejam!
If dissapearing locusts was a layering issue they would've returned when away from crops, they didn't.
About suggestions: I think exaggerating can help make the game more interesting. Increasing eating speed and amount of locusts spawning after fully eaten crop will fix slow start, and making bigger crops with large groups of chickens further on map will force player to avoid them until swarm is big enough to eat everything and run away. This is the way I see it.
Oh, actually it’s possible the locusts disappearing was to do with starvation! Each locust has a limited number of jumps before it dies. Eating replenishes this but there wasn’t very good AI so it was way too easy for them to miss out on the feast despite being in the middle of it!
Thanks for pointing out that this looks like a bug, I will need to address it somehow to make it clearer or change it entirely.
And yeah, I definitely need to speed up the start, it’s just way too slow. Large groups of chickens is a fantastic idea, you’d have to be very large to survive in a cage with them!
Great visuals, the design as well feels pretty awesome, nicely done
Thank you for playing, I’m really glad to hear you liked the visuals and the design.
Do you have any suggestions?
In just 10 hours? Impressive. I absolutely loved this game in every way, however I would speed up the gameplay a bit
Thank you so much for playing! I’m so glad to hear you loved this game in every way! I completely agree that the starting game is too slow.
The reason for this is once you’ve got a small swarm it just becomes so easy to destroy everything. I’m not sure how the best way to fix that is so I just went with slowing down the start. But I think it’s damaging the experience and needs changing.
Do you have any suggestions? About this or the game as a whole!
Great visuals and audio and nice idea! I wish the screen was bigger.
Thank you for playing! I’m glad you liked the visuals, audio and idea! I agree that the screen could do with being bigger, this is something that would be addressed in a future version for sure.
Other than that, do you have any suggestions?
I think the game loop is a little weak. It felt like a visual experience, but not a challenging game. If your aim was to make a visual experience, then well done. But if it was to build a challenging game, then you should focus on the game design a little more imo.
My aim is to make a visual experience and a fun game, not necessarily challenging but definitely engaging enough that you want to put some effort in.
I agree the game loop needs some work, do you have any pointers on what could make it better?
Thanks for your feedback by the way, it really helps me improve!
Very pleasant game :) I'm impressed how much you managed to do in just 10h. I'm a fan of graphic style you have used, and I'm hoping to see more polished version with bigger map to play. Good Job! :)
Thank you so much for playing! I’m glad to hear you liked the graphics style.
I agree completely it needs a bigger map, or even some kind of endless mode with randomly generated maps!
Did you have any other suggestions?
Cute game, a bit slow and repetitive though. You could do well with more variety and more speed in my opinion. Especially since you submitted 6 days 23h before the deadline, so you had time to improve.
I really liked the simple graphics and graphic effects
Thank you so much for playing, I’m glad you liked the simple graphics!
I completely agree the game starts way too slow, the reason for this unfortunate decision is because once you’ve got a swarm going, it is so easy to just destroy everything and I didn’t want it to be too easy. But perhaps I should have just left it easy!
Could you elaborate on what kind of variety you’d like to see? Do you mean more types of buildings and food?
That could certainly help. I was also thinking maybe more difficult enemies, possibly even poison spread by the farmers or by plane even. Something to increase the flow of the game and keep the player engaged even after reaching swarm-level
My personal opinion of course, my thoughts are not law nor they should be XD
Omg pesticides of course! What a brilliant idea! Maybe you have to test the crops first with one locust to see if he dies (or doesn’t reproduce)!
Although I wonder how that could be implemented without it being tedious.
I agree there need to be more enemies and hazards though, can you think of anything else?
very fun game, also kind of reminds me of those mobile game ads.
Thank you so much for playing! I’m really glad to hear you found it very fun. Which mobile ads does it remind you of? Is there something similar out there?
Also, did you have any suggestions?
fun and cute calming game! although I think that some nice jumping sfx, or some +1 sound effects, or some eating sfx would be nice, but the art is nice and simple and is super satisfying once your work army grows larger and larger. Nice job!
Thank you so much for playing! I’m really glad to hear you found it super satisfying! That is what I was aiming for!
I agree it is in desperate need of more sound effects, it was next on the todo list but I ran out of time, but it’s something that will definitely be addressed in a future update!
Other than adding some sound, did you have any other suggestions?
Really cool game. Nice submission!
Thanks for playing! I’m glad you found it cool! Did you have any suggestions?
I do have some if you would like to hear it. Right off the bat the window is pretty small. At first glance I was very confused as to what was going on because I didn't read the instructions immediately. This one is personal preference but I thought the movement of the little locusts was pretty slow. It felt like I was 90% moving around 10% actually doing things.
I would love to hear all your suggestions! I want to know how I can improve in every way.
Firstly definitely need to make the game scale better, I agree the window is way too small. This was just a rushed jam thing.
Ingame instructions are a must too, honestly I’m surprised people are even reading the bio at all, most jams, people generally don’t.
Finally, I agree there’s too much time spent not having fun. I wonder if it would better if the swarm could enter a flying mode that uses more energy but allows you to move around a lot quicker. It’s the eating that’s fun and there isn’t enough!
It’s also inspired me to perhaps change the health system from individual to group (e.g. the locusts have collective health and when it gets too low, they start dying, rather than each locust needing its own food or it will die).
This has been really helpful and just reading your comment I’ve come up with so many ideas. Do you have any other feedback?
Simple, but fun to play. It starts nice and slow, and becomes way more chaotic when you start building up a swarm. Also, the art style is really nice.
Hello, thanks for playing! I’m really glad to hear you found the art style nice!
The progression speed of the game has been a little controversial! Did you find the start speed too slow or was it just right?
And also did you have any suggestions?
The start felt too slow, but it makes you feel the exponential growth of the swarm, so I don't think you should change it. Dont really have any suggestions tho.
Ok thanks for clarifying!
There is a cheat to spawn more locusts (space) but I think it just crashes it on HTML5.
And ok no worries! Thanks for the feedback, it’s been very helpful! Would you be interested in testing future versions / projects?
Thank you so much for playing! I’m so glad you enjoyed watching your army of locusts slowly grow from nothing! You’re right, it’s definitely more of an army.
Do you have any suggestions?
Such a simple idea yet it’s so fun to play, I wish there were more levels because it’s super satisfying to watch them consume and multiply, please turn this into a fully fleshed out game, I’d buy it!
Thank you so much for playing! I’m so glad to hear you had such a positive experience playing and found it super satisfying!
In a future update, I definitely would add more levels, and a level editor would definitely go a long way so everyone can design levels too!
I’d love to flesh this out into a full game, I had a lot of fun working on it.
Other than more levels, do you have any suggestions? Perhaps which areas you’d like to see fleshed out?
I personally don't think it fits the theme exactly. It does get a bit chaotic, so, fair enough.
It is surprisingly fun.
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you were surprised by the fun you had, that's always a good sign. Out of curiosity, why don't you think it fits the theme? How could it fit the theme better?
And do you have any suggestions?
That's a really good game. I loved the art style. The only thing I can tell you is you could make controls and gameplay more dynamic. I mean ducks could run more and locust could stay together a little closer. So we could run more with more predictable moves. But I really liked the game.
Thanks for playing, I'm so glad to hear you loved the art style. I agree completely that the chickens don't have a great AI, I noticed last second also that they can clip through vertical fences which is annoying, but I literally added their ai in the last hour! So that's definitely something that has a long way to be improved!
Could you elaborate more on how you would suggest changing the controls to be more dynamic? Are you thinking it would be better if you could change the radius of the swarm? Currently it's automatic, the more locusts there are, the bigger the area they flock too.
Also is there anything else? Thanks again!
I see. I know it's hard to balance. But (this is my personal idea) if you could narrow the radius it would felt a little more you control them. But this could make this game another game. If could make this game more diversive this style is also fun. But right now it feels out of control (maybe you try to do that). Don't get me wrong this is amazing work. I just feel like you could make this better but I don't know how :)
Narrowing the radius sounds like a great idea, is the issue that it’s too hard to pin point a specific food and they keep missing it? Because I found that during testing but was hoping it would be just me.
I agree it is a little bit out of control, and unfortunately that was not the intention. I’ll definitely need to work on making it easier to play!
Thanks for this feedback, it has been very helpful. Would you be interested in testing future versions / projects?
Yes, of course I can test . Just add me on discord jigsaw#8511
Very cool idea, saw the ducks too late :D
Thanks for playing! What happened with the ducks?
Also did you have any suggestions?
The ducks ate my insects, if i saw it right ^^
Fullscreen did not work for me and maybe some option to zoom would be nice. But really good job!
Ah yes, they’re very fond of insects unfortunately!
And yeah I agree there should be some way to make the screen bigger! Was the window too small on your screen?
Yes it was ^^
Sorry, completely missed this reply!
I’ll definitely be addressing the window size in a future version, it was only the time pressure that meant it was so small.
Would you be interested in testing future versions/projects?
This game is amazing. I love the art and the gameplay. Good game, good job!
Thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear you loved the art and gameplay. Did you have any suggestions?
no, i like it in this stage
Ok well that’s great then! Thanks for letting me know!
amazing game, it looks beautifull even when its very simplistic and the gameplay is very satisfying good job!
Thanks for playing! I'm so glad to hear you found it satisfying to play, that was the aim. Did you have any suggestions?
this is pretty lit \:)
Thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear you found it lit! Did you have any suggestions?
i think that the movement speed is a bit slow and also the chickens dont seem to have to big of a patrolling area :).
hope this helps :)
I agree completely that the game pace is way too slow, it was originally quite fast but I decided to nerf it last second because it was too easy, but I really should have left it!
As for the chickens, it’s interesting you say that they don’t patrol enough. They actually have complete free will, they move around entirely randomly.
I personally found them to be too OP when I tested it after submitting the deadline, but I guess you didn’t have any issues with them then?
Wow, excellent game
Thanks for playing! Did you have any suggestions?
in my opinion, movement speed is a bit slow
I agree completely, this has generally been the strongest feedback. During testing I was using cheats so I didn’t notice it but now I see.
Thanks for the feedback!