B: Shepherds

So the idea is that two players (the shepherds) are tied together by a rope and have to work as a team to herd as many sheep as they can into the pens within 99 seconds. The blue player uses the arrow keys to move and the red player uses the wasd keys. Here is a link to the webplayer: http://bit.ly/SDyhlg
The game is way more fun with two players, but the single player is still kinda fun, if nothing else it serves as a pretty good tool for those keen on becoming more ambidextrous.

Comments

  • Oh this is awesome! How did you make the rope? Do you perhaps have a tutorial for me? I've been trying to work on a rope and also a flexible rod, but I gave up. I'm a final year engineering student, so you'd think I'd have the mathematical background to do it, yet I don't apparently :/

    Anyway, I suck at it playing by myself. My brain doesn't do multi-tasking. However, I imagine it would be much easier with 2 players somehow. Perhaps you should try complicating the controls a bit. Have you thought of implementing steering behaviour? So W/S is forward and backward, and A/D is for rotation. That ought to be a little more confusing. Unless confusion isn't what you are aiming at :D

    I think this is a good prototype to stick with. It's pretty unique and there ought to be lots to do with it from here on.
  • Thanks for the thumbs up! I'm actually trying to make the controls a bit easier. It’s not really much easier in multiplayer… but it is a lot funnier.

    The rope is super simple but super dodgy. It’s a bunch of rigidbody cubes connected to each other with some hinge joints, but because of Unity joints being kind of bouncy/ stretchy it is a mission to make it behave in a semi stable way. The bendy rod would probably be easier to achieve using an inflated interactive cloth object.
    Thanks for the feedback!
  • Ha! Haha! Check out this game I made with a few friends at a game jam once. Was a rough jam it was :/
  • That game is rough! But pretty funny when two people play it, mainly because of the out of controlness.
  • It might just be me but I find moving the rope incredibly slow. I struggle to get any sheep corralled in the time
  • It's usually not too slow, as long as the players work together well enough, is it possible that you were playing single player and not using both shepherds together?
  • edited
    Fun! Very interesting, have you ever played Noby Noby Boy? Reminds me of your dual-control scheme. It was a very sandbox game with basically NO objectives :)

  • @Tuism that game look Sooooo amazing! I love their visual stile and ropelike effect, however I prefer goal/ challenge orientated games.
    Still that game looks real kick ass, thanks for bringing it up, I'm going to go see if I can't find some more gameplay of it !
  • I want to add more stuff!
    To be more specific:
    *Different sheep types like fast, strong and super aware.
    *Trap spikes that kill sheep when they are dragged over them.
    *Coffee plant that makes sheep that eats from it hyper.
    * A lure like a carrot that the payer can collect in the net to attract sheep.
    The problem is that this comp is about simplicity, so it probably won’t be good in terms of the competition, but it sure would make the game way more fun.
    Any ideas?
  • Well, are you going for "winning the comp" or "a cool game"?

    Also, do you not think fulfilling "a cool game" is what this comp is about? :)

    I think what I would do is rather than adding a bunch of new features, play within the confines of what you have now and design the crap out of them. That means tweaking the way they move/interact with the world, how the sheep work - do they have sheep flock mentality? Do they only move randomly? What would make your net and shepard dogs' movement easier for players? What would make exactly what you have now better - without *more features*.

    Refine the core first, and you'll fulfil both "winning on simplicity" and "a cool game" :)
  • @Tuism Well said, and yes, perfecting the core mechanic will make it a far more enjoyable game. However the reason I wanted to add more stuff is because the game becomes kind of stale within a few seconds since there is no progression or build-up of excitement and tension.
    Getting the basic sheep to behave more sheepishly is a good point; I’ll try something simple, like neural networks, for the sheep AI and see if I can’t spice up the game without adding more stuff.

    Thanks.
  • I wouldn't feel too bad about multiple sheep types. :) The premise is strong.
  • Nice. I managed 30 sheep on my own :D Will try playing with a partner next ^_^
  • @Aequitas Not bad, my record for a solo run is 58, but usually I also get around 30.
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