You are small, the desert is vast.
Your goal is simple…Stayin’ Alive!

In the dry outskirts of Southern California, sunburnt hills give way to sagebrush flats, the whole desert holding its breath between day and dusk. Red-tailed hawks drift like shadows on the wind, coyotes slip in and out of their dens, their eyes glinting silver in the light.

And then, beneath it all, the endangered Stephens’ kangaroo rat emerges. Small. Swift. Endlessly outmatched. But stubbornly trying to stay alive.

Every rustle might be danger. Every seed might save your life. Can you gather enough to revive your population before the desert claims you?


INSTRUCTIONS:

Use WASD or arrow keys to dart across the shrublands, then interact with E to stuff your cheek-pouches with seeds and haul them back to your den. 

Your mission is simple but urgent: collect food to survive, then breed and increase your population without becoming food yourself.  

Avoid predators. Everything out here is hungry. 

Your den is your sanctuary. Use it to hoard your resources, breed new kangaroo rats, and avoid attacks. But there's only so much time you can spend cooped up...

Your knowledge accumulates over time, so be sure to check out all you’ve learned about the ecosystem!


CREDITS:

All programming and art was done by our team of four. We credit Pixabay for all sound effects, and freepd.com for all music.

StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5, Windows
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(2 total ratings)
AuthorsLWCoding, zemarhtyel, krvstcl, knockdev
GenreSimulation, Strategy, Survival
Made withUnity
TagsAnimals, Cute, nature, Short, Singleplayer, Top-Down

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

(WIN) Stayin' Alive.zip 38 MB

Development log

Comments

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(1 edit) (+1)

I LOVE THIS GAMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! This is so good!!!!! Omg it's literally perfect for me I adore animal-based foraging survival games and jerboas are one of my favourite animal how did you know!!!!!!! 

It's also just really fun I enjoy the two different food types as it provides a sense of strategy in which to go for, I also love the aspect of not harvesting grass for the sake of more food later down the line, it really makes you strategise for the future!!! And the den-making is a really neat way to add another mini-objective (foraging for sticks to make more), new opportunities (setting up camp near bees), and also a neat way to add in fast-travel in a way that doesn't interfere with the setting of the game!! And it costing more sticks because it requires more reinforcing the longer the tunnel is also a really neat way to explain that away!! :D

Also the art is ADORABLE I love it so much!!!!!!! I know the woofs are trying to eat me but godddddd they're so CUTE. RAAAARHHH!!! And the grass is so pretty I jsut love the kinda scribbly papery style everything's done in!!!! 

And the way you incorporated the seasons is also really neat!!!!!! I love the aspect of stockpiling for the winter :D Honestly it kinda reminds me of Dont Starve, I've never played it myself but I've seen playthroughs and I love how they do the bountiful summer and spring and the grueling winter and I see a lot of that spirit in this mechanic here and I think that's freaking awesome cuz it makes it so much more fun!!!!! :DDDDD

I have no idea if you plan on expanding it or not but if you do then a longer version would be SO MUCH FUN!!!!! A full extended version would be a lot of work I imagine- but a smaller way to add more could be like different difficulties with different population goals? So like a hardmode with a way higher goal but the same core gameplay? Again no clue if you're even planning on working on it more, no worries if not I'm mostly just thinking out loud- like this game is already so amazing and I had so much fun playing it!!!!!!!! Ik I already beat it but Ima play it again >:D The map generation gives it decent replayability!! :DDD

EDIT: Also I love the sound design!! The cronch sound effect is so oddly satisfying <3 And also I love how the Rat God kinda looks like he's rapping as he's talking, dropping some sick lines of wisdom on us (and also placing the burden of our entire species on the shoulders of One(1) Rat, which is objectively hilarious)

(+1)

Maybe this is something on my side since I'm using a bluetooth keyboard, butI can't seem to use wasd, the arrows, or e on this game. I've tried typing and it works just fine, and the touchscreen on this is fine too. Very fun idea, can't wait to play it when I figure it out.

(+2)

Hi there! We recommend playing on a laptop or desktop if possible. 😊
Thank you so much for playing our game!