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Your desert is under attack! Take control of the sentient Cactus that defends these sands, save the day against the horrible beasties using weapons you plant yourself and watch grow from seedlings.

Juggle your seeds, ammo and water as you fight off the hoards of bugs and beasties out to get you!

Controls

<ARROWS> to move - <RMB> to suck - <LMB> to blow
<R.CNTRL> to swap canister - <R.SHIFT> to empty your canister
Menu: <SPACE / ENTER> to select

High-Score

The highest score this jam was Hokori! with 12600, congratulations! image

The Post-Jam Update

Thank you so much to everyone who's enjoyed Cactus Capers! One of the main improvements people had asked for when playing was improved controls, you'll all be relieved to know that's been implimented in the post-jam update, check it out here: (Download for free HERE)

Screenshots
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  • xEVANZx
    Lv. 2

    yay ur game very goooooood!!! it was fun to play it and see what tipe of bullets gives each seed the aiming needs some work, maybe make the player move with keys but look & aim at mouse direction, that way u do not have to worry about direction to shoot... it was a little messy but easy to fix

    Deep coma!
    Submitted

    Deep coma!

  • Tero Hannula
    Patron

    I do wish the game had better controls, it could have been great otherwise. Combination of Arrows and mouse would have been fine with me, but then you also have to use Shift and Ctrl, that was bad choice for my taste (finger positions are awkward, which may be uncomfortable). Other thing was that you can't aim behind you, this in other hand makes that player can't escape at same time as shooting. But it is more of nuisance in overall game experience, as you have to move direction of enemies to be able to shoot, which isn't desirable when cornered and enemies are next to you. Also it affects other things, like just collecting/watering. About collecting things, it felt hard to collect things which are near you, maybe collision area wasn't large enough to get them moving, things further away are hit by 'triangle' and therefore start move towards player, which also keeps them on that area. Things near player are harder to hit with that triangle. Also when you are next to wall, projectiles could hit wall even you were not shooting towards it (I think because player collision area is the feet, which allow character to be visually next to wall, but this causes bullets to be created "inside" wall collision area as gun is there). This can annoy player and feel unfair, especially because of nature of gameplay: projectiles are scarce.

    Game was nicely done otherwise and I could have spent more time with. My score was 3050.

    • Tydecon Games
      Patron
      Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

      3yrs ago

      Thank you so much for your feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed playing, controls aside. I think this time around the controls were my biggest mistake and I have addressed all the issues you've raised there in the post-jam update, you can turn and shoot 360° and you can use WASD keys and alternate switching controls so this has all been repaired. I'm so used to making games around controls that I prefer but my way of playing is usually far different to how most people would play and that has been a huge detriment to me this time around, I will definitely be more mindful of this in future games I make. I hope it didn't get in the way too much of you enjoying the game though and once again, I'm glad that, these issues aside, you'd enjoyed it :)

      • Tero Hannula
        Patron

        Yeah, it is common problem to create game for self and how developer itself likes to play the game. And of course developer grows to control/playing scheme as they make and play-test the game, but for new players there is no same kind learning period. Developer instead gets used to game as it is being made and can become blind to flaws or what average player would prefer ^^"

        • Tydecon Games
          Patron
          Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

          3yrs ago

          Very true! And with just a two-day time limit, customising controls for other people becomes the last thing on your mind because in your mind, it's working fine as it is haha! It's something I'm going to be much more mindful of next time :)

  • tfg
    Lv. 8

    This game is insanely fun and polished. Only thing I would have liked were the better controls - I'm okay with arrow keys to move, but it's weird that you would use the mouse to shoot, but you can only shoot when you are facing a certain direction? I feel like something like WASD to move and arrow keys to shoot in 4 directions would make more sense, if you don't want the player to shoot in all directions at a standstill. Other than that, great job

    • Tydecon Games
      Patron
      Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

      3yrs ago

      Thank you so much for your feedback - I've fixed the controls for the post-jam update so that you can shoot in any direction regardless of where you're facing and use the WASD keys for movement as well which should make it much more usable :) I'm glad you enjoyed playing the game :)

  • Reaktori
    Lv. 17

    I like the use of theme here, growing different plants for projectiles. Art is colorful and fun, the menu is nice and intuitive, and there's a good amount of juiciness to things. Plants bend while being sucked, screen shakes (maybe a bit too much) while shooting, and there's a satisfying knockback when hitting enemies (though they go crazy when you get the machinegun :D). Overall it feels like there's a lot of polish in the visual department.

    Soundwise the game is lacking a bit. Most of the sounds fit the game well, but for example the player getting hurt makes an explosion sound of a sort, which is kinda weird. Also, I would have liked some kind of damage feedback sound when hitting enemies. Although there are some minor shortcomings here, it's still a very good job for a jam game!

    For me, the game was fun to play. The best part was finding new seeds, encountering new enemies and trying to figure out the best weapons and tactics. The overall gameplay was somewhat slow paced though, and in my opinion, could have been a lot faster. The flamethrower was obviosly the best weapon, but it was rare enough that I had to run all around the map to find enough seeds, which was good design.

    My worst enemy in the game was the controls. I got used to switching slots and dumping stuff after a while, but having to use arrow keys to flip the character (great animation btw) to shoot left and right was ultimately my doom.

    Despite some criticism here, I think it's overall a great jam game and I thoroughly enjoyed playing! Thanks for making the game!

    • Tydecon Games
      Patron
      Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

      3yrs ago

      Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I did try a new visual this time around that seemed to work quite well :)

      I tend to try and put more enphysis on the graphics, polish and gameplay over the sound as I do struggle with the sound design and I did base the controls around how I'm used to them which is clearly not the most popular option haha! So I've updated the controls for the post-jam which will make it more far accessible!

      The pacing is difficult to pin down as there are people like yourself scoring over 8,000 then there are people scoring less than 1,000 at best so it's a balancing act that, time permitting, might have been improved with a difficulty select or something along those lines.

      Thank you for your kind comments as well and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the game - well done on the high-score as well! :)

  • Saboo
    Lv. 1

    I really like the overall style and look of the game. Very unusual concept and don't think I've seen one like this before. I found the controls to be good after a bit of getting used to. Sound is great. Nice work!

  • TibiSoft
    Lv. 4

    The game concept is interesting, the gui and gameplay is well polished and looks complete (apart form the control which was mentioned in other feedbacks) considering max 48h development time. I could achieve 850points only after few ronds :), but will try it later for sure! Looking forward to further updates!

  • GoblinBoy
    Patron

    The gameplay look was really unique I loved the idea. The only thing that didn't keep me playing longer was that I found the controls a bit unintuative. I would have much rather been able to play with WASD and spin the sight around 360 instead of it flipping with the facing direction. Overal one of my favorites of the jam great job!

    • Tydecon Games
      Patron
      Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for playing, I'm glad you've enjoyed it. I get what you mean about the controls, I'm used to playing with the arrows and based the gameplay around that but I've included the WASD controls as an option in the post jam update :)

  • Ternox
    Patron

    So far the best game I've ever played in this jam!

    All it was nice, but the need to unfold the main character to shoot in the right direction is a little tiresome. It would be logical for the hero to turn himself if I lead the cursor behind his back.

    Sounds are great!

    Got the Slime Rancher vibes~

    • Tydecon Games
      Patron
      Tydecon Games Developer of Cactus Capers

      3yrs ago

      Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! That's a really good idea to make the controls a bit easier as well, I think I'll have to give that a go for the post jam update :)

  • Chris
    Patron

    The game is well rounded, solid art, gameplay, sound and it feels like a complete package. Gamepad support would be a nice addition.

So this time around, I learned two things that are probably equally as important as each other. Firstly, always consider how other people would play. It doesn't take much time to add alternate control methods and FAR more people prefer WASD keys than arrows. When I make a game, I make the controls around the way I think is best for me, but clearly I'm in the minority to prefer arrow controls and I have to remember that next time around. Secondly, go easy on the caffine. A dozen cups of coffee a day makes it difficult to sleep and the caffine jitters are not comfortable! Other than that, I enjoyed making this one and look forward to the next!

Result 10th
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