This week’s game was a tough one to make – not the coding itself, but finding a design that felt worthy of such a groovy title. I had three or four different ideas, most of which I rejected due to either the scope of the design being too grand for a weekly game, or not having enough “gamefulness” to the idea. In the end, I went with a fairly impressionistic take on the title, a casual-ish game about flowers. Also I wrote the background music in iambic pentameter, so maybe that counts for something. Go play.
This game’s title was provided by Ben Lehman.
Game 25: More lovely and more temperate,
Huh. It’s cute, I like it. Something that confuses me a little though, sometimes I get 0 points after I’ve collected a bunch. What makes me not able to collect points? Is it time? or because the cursor stops moving for a moment? Best score so far is 172, but I know I can probably get better with a mouse instead of a laptop touch pad.
It’s not made entirely clear (after some testing, I took a deliberately minimal approach to the HUD), but there’s a constantly-decreasing combo multiplier in effect; the score when the trail is released is the product of the number of flowers collected and the combo multiplier. If you move too slowly or wait too long, you’ll get fewer or no points. The size of the glow around the head of the trail is indicative of the current scoring value.
My best score is somewhere around 237, I think.
247. There’s a subtlety that helps with eking out those last few points: there’s a way to predict what color the next flower will be, so you’ll know whether to end your chain immediately or wait for one last one to show up.
This is really fun! Thanks.
It’s not super-shakespearean, but it does convey a nice feeling of a happy summer day in the park.
I think that’s good enough.
I’m not nearly as good as you guys: My top score is 60. Will keep trying though. I like the way that you don’t totally control the motion of the spark.
Neat game, Nathan. I didn’t notice the spark’s glow until you mentioned it. That definitely adds another much needed dimension to the game.
I wish there was a bit more depth to it. Levels, for instance, would be a cool addition where with each one, you’re trying to achieve a higher and higher score. That might go against the chillz atmosphere of the game, but not terribly, I don’t think.
Nice work!
Didn’t see this until today. Fun, but I kept losing the cursor in the background.
Interesting motion mechanic and once again a great overall flow and casual design.