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Get Off My Garden!'s itch.io pageArtistic Statement / Use of Theme
The tree is contered around the growing problem of invasive species which is related to climate change. Invasive species can be controlled with simple methods, but it is important to spot them early on before they destroy the environment. Once established they can be almost impossible to control.
Development Summary
The game is a one person project. Only the cover art was made by someone else.
(optional) Release Plan
The game is not in a state that is releasable. It lacks a clear level structure. The player cannot die, so it can be described as an interactive simulation aimed to understand popluation growth of an invasive species - the box tree moth.
(optional) Further Development Plan
A more engaging game play would be fun. For example a way to fail or succeed.
Topic Tags
invasive species
Sprint Participation
Yes
Game Engine, Platform, Format
Phaser
Generative AI Disclosure
AI was used as a help to write the code.
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Comments
So far what you have is pretty cool and engaging just wish there were more enemies spawned throughout the level and maybe a boss enemy that is not so easy to kill would be dope. Also curious as to why you would need to delete a tree within the game when it says "Unplanting only works for healthy non infested trees". Shouldn't it be for the infested trees?
Thanks for playing! There are definitely things to improve. The simple reason why the player only can unplant healthy trees is that otherwise the game has to keep track of which trees in the inventory that are healthy and which are unhealty. If the player unplants an unhealthy tree and it becomes healthy the game would become too easy. Hope this makes sense.
I am a player who likes to read the instructions, the page description, and watch the trailer before booting up. Safe to say, I was excited to see how your gameplay loop would work. After a couple minutes, I was a little disappointed when there seemed to be no end goal for the player to strive for, beyond a rather large garden in which "tending" (shooting pests) persists. Which felt a little pointless, around level 30. Strategically, why would I ever unplant a tree? I am not sure how I would improve on this, as the mechanics just felt a bit disjointed from the jam's theme for me. Thanks for making!
Thank you! Sorry, the game is not in a releasable state, as I wrote on the description page. The unplanting mechanism is there becuase a player might misplace a tree.
This was pretty cool! I liked the little characters and planting the trees felt good. I kind of wish the enemies put up more of a challenge. Maybe all those trees could have made for more of a maze-like experience eventually, like a hedge maze, with certain key trees the critters wanted more than others. Just riffing on some ideas. Hope you had a good time making this!
Thanks for all the ideas! I agree the enemies are kind of boring. My initial idea was that the pests would be able to kill the dog. However, this does not make much sense from an biological point of view. A hedge maze is a good idea. I might add that later on.
I have no idea what is going on or what the purpose of the planting is or what you are supposed to shoot at. Had to read the description page to find out. There were like 4 critters that I shot down and that was it. It wasn’t really fun tbh. I don’t think the use of AI helped. You should have used some ready-made assets to be honest, would have helped a lot. The music was also way too loud. Also, you might want to think if the whole “pests want to destroy the environment”. This is more of a human centric point of view. By definition a pest is harmful to humans or their concerns, they are an important part of an ecosystem.
Thanks for writing! You are supposed to plant trees in the white area. AI was only used for some code, not for the sound or graphics. Probably you misunderstood the purpose of the game - it is not about destroying pest - but about protecting your garden from pests. Of course this is a human centric point of view, but I don't see a problem in that. Fighting invasive species is a reality for many farmers and gardeners. Yes, a pest could be an important part of an ecosystem somewhere where it is native. By definition invasive species are newly introduced species that cause problems in their new habitat.
Invasive species
The problem is that fighting pests is the cause of many environmental issues, from the use of pesticides (what they are designed for, killing pests/weeds) to introducing other invasive species to fight the original ones. The solution is minimizing introductions of invasive species not eradicating them. It’s like saying to help with the damage done by human made climate change you need to cool your house with an air conditioner. Also for the use of AI, I meant it didn’t help in the gameplay/design part of the game.
Yes, you are correct, a solution to an invasive species might be minimizing the introduction. This is however easier said than done as we often have no idea that a species might become invasive before it appears. Once they are established they will start growing rapidly (that is why they are called invasive species). AI was not used for gameplay and game design, as already mentioned.
I have played through the game, I don;t think there is an ending I played till lvl 50. Good job on finishing your own game!
Try planting in the white area.