Brief Play Description:
The aim of the game is basically to first create, and then destroy life. You use both of your thumbs to create and place life (animals) on the flat earth in the given time, and the more life you create, the more points you get. Once you're happy with your pile of life, you change to the annihilation mode by tapping the red buttons on the bottom of the screen, and then try to destroy all life, otherwise you lose all your points.
Check out our gameplay video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi01X45JXJ0
Here's how the game works:
- The game is played with the phone held horizontally
- Tap the screen to begin the game / click the screen in the Windows version
CREATE!
- Your aim is to create and place as many animals on the flat earth as you can.
Controls:
In WP7-version:
- Place both of your thumbs on the edges of the screen (not on the red buttons). You use them for creating and controlling the animals.
- When you place your thumbs on the screen, an animal is created. To place the animal, keep your thumbs on the screen and move the animal in the wanted direction. NOTE that when you lift your thumbs from the screen, the animal falls straight down.
In Windows-version:
- Use the left mouse button to create the animals, and the mouse scroll to rotate them.
- Place down as many animals as you can in the given time. The yellow bar on the top of the screen shows you how much time you have left. Remember to leave enough time for destroying the animals!
HINT: you want to pile the animals in to tall, slim stacks in stead of big piles, otherwise the annihilation phase gets harder.
- Once you're happy with your animal piles, it's time to move on to the annihilation phase
- To start the annihilation phase, tap the red buttons (WP7) or click one of them (Windows). NOTE that in WP7-version they work better if you first place your thumb on the other one, and then tap the other (while still holding your other thumb down).
ANNIHILATE!
- In this phase, your goal is to destroy all life on the flat earth by hurdling thunder balls at the animal pile.
- Swipe your thumbs (WP7) or your mouse cursor (Windows) from the edges of the screen to fire the thunder balls. The green bar at the top of the screen shows the strength of the thunder ball, so when you need the ball to have more power, let the green bar fill up.
- Destroy all life before you run out of time, otherwise you lose the game!
Bug fixes and updates
We're working hard to make our game even better, and lots of bug fixes and updates are on their way. We will add a short tutorial, change some of the graphical elements, and tweak the UI. Some of the reported bugs have been fixed and more will be done as soon as possible. Keep your eyes peeled!
NOTE: all the changes will only be implemented to the Windows-version for now, but later on also to the original WP7-version.
Lots of stuff done!
So, some of the promised bug fixes and updates have been done. A new version of the game is ready for download lots of bug fixes done and tutorial and intro added. The animals are a bit smaller now, allowing you to stack more of them, and the music bug has been fixed. More to come soon!
Nice concept
I liked your game idea, but as seems to be the case with most physics based ggj games, the physics tend to be a bit off. I'm sure that's something you'll fix if you continue development though.
I liked the graphics on the animals, but the background and well, pretty much everything else could've used more color. The animals were colorful and funny-looking, why is everything else a dull brown?
BTW, could you flip the game 90 degrees? I feel the space is wasted at the sides, but I really could've used more space to make my tower taller. When it reached the top I had to choose whether to spawn my next animal to the left or to the right. With the tower in between I could no longer change sides once the animal had spawned. Should you inform the player what kind of animal is about to spawn? Maybe after you place an animal, the game could tell you what animal is next?
Did you try putting creation and annihilation on different timebars? I understand with how it is now the player must balance risk and profit, but I think it could be better to have them on different timebars.
I did encounter some bugs btw. The first 2 times I played the screen turned purple when I started annihilation, and when I lost and restarted creation the platform wasnt there and the animals fell off the screen :P Also when my tower was taller than the game area, moving from creation to annihilation caused the top animal to jump and collapse most of my tower.
Revised review
Oh, now I get it!
+ Nice looking game!
+ Set up is nice
+ Gameplay became pretty fun, once you get the idea
- Controls were too sensitive at times
- Help menu / screen?
Thank you!
Thanks shAkiS, for both your review and your feedback!
We did notice the controls still being a bit too sensitive and the UI needing some work, but ran out of time during the jam (surprise!). We are continuing the game development still, and will hopefully have a more polished version up quite soon.
More stuffs!
A gameplay video is now available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi01X45JXJ0
Also, here's a blog entry by me for everyone interested in hearing more about the jam and the development process of our game:
http://kenkyuushajin.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/omniludens/
Enjoy!
So... How does this work?
How do you play this? We did figure out that you need two fingers to put the animals in place, but then it gets a bit cryptic...
+ Nice looking game!
+ Set up is nice
- Gameplay works how? <- MAJOR FACTOR IN SCORE!
- Help menu / screen?
How to play
Hey shAkiS,
Sorry about that, sleep deprivation took it's toll and I forgot to post the instructions here.
You can now find the instructions here on the game's page, but I'll give you the short version of it:
First you create life, then you destroy it. To create life, place your thumbs on the sides of the screen and move them around to move the animal where you want it to be. When you lift your thumbs, the animal falls. Remember to keep an eye on the yellow bar, for it tells you how much time you have left! Place as many animals on the flat earth as you can in the given time, for the more animals you have there, the more points you get.
Once you're happy with the animal pile, tap the red buttons to move to the annihilation phase (at the moment it works better if you first place your thumb on the other one, and then the other). In this phase, your aim is to hit all the animals off of the flat earth by throwing thunder balls at them. Swipe your fingers from the edges of the screen to throw the thunder balls, and remember to keep an eye on the time bar. The green bar tells you how strong your lightning balls are, so if you need more strength, let it fill up. Destroy all life before you run out of time, otherwise you'll lose all your points!
Hope you enjoy our little god game!
The story of the omniludens creator god
In the beginning the omnipotent god felt like creating stuff. He was not quite sure what kind of stuff he felt like creating, but he was sure this stuff would be quite astounding.
After pondering for mere aeons, he decided to create random creatures.
The omnipotent god was fairly delighted by these creations of his, and gratifyingly observed their evolvement from amoebas to beings of more complicated cell structures.
Another set of aeons passed, and the omnipotent god started to get slightly bored. To get rid of this unpleasant feeling, he decided to see if piling up the creatures he had created might provide him with the amusement he was craving for.
He found this line of action to be indeed agreeably regal. To prolong the enjoyment this brought to him, he created more and more creatures to create bigger and bigger piles, and for a while he was content.
Howbeit, in less than one aeon the omnipotent god was again jaded.
With some tiny meteors and such, he decided to destroy quite the shit out of the creatures he had created, trying to aim for a speed quite unmatched by anyone.
Albeit he was obviously competing only with himself, as any real omnipotent gentleman god should.