Poly: Endless Runner Based On s c i e n c e ✨

Games
1

My wife is a PhD student researching roly-polys in the desert, so she had an idea to make a game about a roly poly digging and escaping a scorpion. Naturally, I had to build it! She drew and bug and the scorpion, and ensured every feature in the game is (kinda) scientifically accurate...

  • You are a roly poly bug (or, Izopod), who digs and runs away from the scary scorpion.
  • :crank: to dig
  • On the way you eat food you find.
  • At some point - you gotta :poop:! Press :a:&:b: rapidly - fast before the scorpion comes!
  • The more you turn and dig sharp turns the slower the scorpion goes, so avoid straight lines...
  • The top shows your score, how full your stomach is, and how close the scorpion is...
  • Your score is a combination of how deep you dig and how much food you ate - it's up to you to decide what you care about more! (I didn't write a high score table yet)

Random science facts:

  • Roly polys are.... dumb. That's why the movement is kinda wonky...
  • They do find food in the ground (although not only I think)
  • Their :poop: actually looks like tiny bricks (seriously)
  • Desert scorpions' main food is... the roly poly

This is an early alpha, but would love to hear any feedback about the game so far :slight_smile:

poly

Download:
[May 6, 2022] v0.1 Poly.pdx.zip (106.1 KB)

Code is here: GitHub - avielg/playdate-poly

6 Likes
2

It looks like your pdxinfo needs some additional info for it to run on device: giving error bundleid is missing from pdxinfo

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oops! Should be fixed now I edited the link :slight_smile:

4

For some reason, whenever I try to sideload this it thinks it's the same pdx as Poly's Rumble Demo. Since the demo is 1.0 and your endless runner is marked at 0.1 it just sits there thinking that it's an old version of a different app. I've tried renaming the pdx file and recompiling the zip file, but to no avail.

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If you load it manually in data(usb) mode it will load properly but yeah I was having the same problem with it when sideloading via playdate site

1 Like
6

Okay, good to know I'll give that a try

Edit: That worked like a charm! Thanks!
This little game is terrifying :joy:

7

Kind of hilarious that it conflicts with the other Poly game :joy: I’ll try to compare the two pdx files and see where it comes from!

And yes the game can get terrifying that’s the role polys life every day! :sweat_smile: I’m thinking of calling it Poly Dread :laughing: