I finally got a chance to participate in the LudumDare game jam again this weekend. Last time was over a year ago. The themes this time were "two button controls" and "growing". In other words, you were free to choose either, or incorporate both into your game.

The theme I went with was "growing". My first plan, which I spent a good 5 hours of Saturday, on, was a Christmas themed game. The player would control two snowballs and try to roll them to follow an outline of a Christmas tree. I couldn't turn it in to a fun game, though, so I decided to pivot.

I started experimenting with some kind of snake idea, but instead of lying flat on the ground, the snake would reach up, and lean back down to touch the ground again. Sort of like a slinky in stairs.

The snake movement worked quite well, and I intentionally made it harder to control the longer the snake gets. It gets longer by eating plants that grow throughout the garden patch. In addition to becoming harder to control, the hunger meter also decreases faster the more you eat, making each session relatively short.

In the end, I think it turned out to be a pretty good idea. The game works, but of course it could have been more polished. Still, I think that's how it should be for a game made in less than two days. I thought about adding ants you'd have to avoid, but the game is hard enough as it is. If I had more time, I'd probably improve the controls a bit to let you contract the snake so that you had the ability to lean down closer to the other end of the snake, but such is life.

You can read what other people have commented, on the LudumDare website.

If you want to play the game, go here.