Squirrelativity

2023 Jan 14

Happy new year!

A bit late posting about this here, but I did make a new game for Ludum Dare again!

There was a sort of secret Ludum Dare in January this year between the two regular ones. I don't know if they intend to make a habit of this or if it's just a one-off thing. But regardless, the theme for this one was 'harvest.' Not quite as seasonally appropriate as it would've been when it was a contender for the theme in September/October, but... sure, whatever floats your boat!

Anyway, my game is called 'Squirrelativity' and you can play it here!

I'm quite proud of the graphics in this one. I was saying to friends that I think this is the first game I've made where I legitimately feel proud of how the graphics came out, haha. Plus, I think the mechanic is cool! And the puzzles work well! And the diagonal grid is very aesthetic.

One thing I definitely could've done better is the difficulty curve — it sounds like level 5 is a bit of a massive spike in difficulty for a lot of people, which, oops. Also, the mechanic where branches can't point 'backwards' is confusing. I didn't really explain it very well in the tutorial, so a lot of people have been confused by that. (Basically, branches from the bottom tree can only point up while branches from the top tree can only point down.)

But overall I think it's a pretty solid entry, I'm happy with it. Definitely the best game I've done for Ludum Dare thus far. And it seems to be getting the best response I've gotten yet as well, which is heartening.

If it does particularly well, I might consider expanding it into a post-jam version, because there is definitely more to explore with this ruleset.

I'd also like to make it work on phones.

Maybe I will submit a more complete version to Coolmath Games, like I did with Chthonic Brilliance... Actually, wait, I don't know if I ever posted about it here, but a while back I did get Chthonic Brilliance published to Coolmath Games, which brought my inner sixth-grader an inordinate amount of joy.

Anyway, that's all for now! Talk to you later :)

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