itch.io

I really enjoyed the game. Thinking a few steps ahead and trying to keep track of which moves were safer than others was a lot of fun.

However, you might want to implement a mechanic by which hens can move diagonally or only spawn on the diagonal. There are ways to manipulate the board so that the player can never be caught (as long as they don't let any new eggs hatch). 

To illustrate this: suppose there were only one hen on the board and it was right next to you:

[ ][ ]
[P][H]
P = Player   H = Hen

No matter how many times you moved however you like, that hen could never land on the same square as you. (If you colored the board with a checkerboard pattern, when the player is on black, the hen is on red and vice versa.) Conversely, if there is a hen on a diagonal to the player:

[ ][H] 
[P][ ]
P = Player   H = Hen

that hen could land on the same square as the player. Let's call these "safe" and "dangerous" hens, respectively.

Now, because of the way new hens spawn, a safe hen will always spawn a dangerous hen, and a dangerous hen will always spawn a safe hen. This is because the new hen appears in one of the four cardinal directions to the egg whence it hatched:

[ ][X][ ]
[X][O][X]
[ ][X][ ]
H = Old Hen/Egg Position   
X = possible spawn location

Combined with the fact that, if the player has collected a helmet, they can kill hens they collide with, the player can cull all the dangerous hens, leaving only safe hens. (I found that a good number of safe hens to keep around is 3)

The method I used for getting to 3 safe hens:

1. collect a helmet so that you can start to cull dangerous hens as soon as safe hens start to spawn
2. Let the 2 dangerous hens you start with spawn a safe hen
3. Cull one dangerous hen (you should have 1 safe and 1 dangerous hen at this point)
4. Follow the safe hen around and prevent it from spawning a dangerous hen. Get another helmet.
5. Let the dangerous hen spawn another 2 safe hens.
6. Cull the remaining dangerous hen. You are left with 3 safe hens and as many eggs as you care to eat.

All of which is to say, I liked your game enough to do math to it and write it all up. I love the mechanics and the aesthetics and it shows some real work. I know I wrote a lot and that this may seem like criticism, but please don't take it as being negative. I really did enjoy the game.

Cheers!