Hive Mind (2024)
An RTS-lite where you play as a colony of ants, rapidly switching between searching for food and fighting off hungry beetles.
Project Info
Team Size: 1
Project Length: 48 hours
(Post-Jam Version: 2 weeks)
Just 48 hours
I created Hive Mind for Ludum Dare 56, a game jam that challenged me to create a complete project from scratch in just 2 days. The process was intense, but a strong focus on organization and planning ahead allowed me to stay relatively stress-free and complete all the features I had planned. I drafted a detailed schedule to help me keep moving, and prioritized breaks, meals, and sleep not only as essential for my wellbeing but as opportunities to step away from the project and see it from a different perspective. As I narrowed down my idea, I added more specific list items to the schedule and created a Trello board with every feature I might want to implement, sorted by priority.
I didn't stop there though: after the 48 hours ended, I played and reviewed dozens of other games to boost Hive Mind's visibility, had conversations with many other designers who left comments on my game, and proactively solicited feedback on the most desired features I had missed. I received a resounded call for better pathfinding and more ways to control the ants, so in the 2 weeks that followed I taught myself A* pathfinding, implemented a much more dynamic drag-to-select system, drastically improved game balance and pacing, and made it much easier to tell which ants you were controlling. My previously-established Trello board proved crucial for sorting through the feedback and aligning it with my own goals, allowing me to effectively work with a large group of playtesters and rapidly iterate on a single idea.