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Dragon Boss
Dragon Boss
By zanzlanz
View on Wayback Machine
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Coolness | 3 | 66 | | |
| Theme | 86 | 3.86 | | |
| Fun | 148 | 3.31 | | |
| Overall | 233 | 3.24 | | |
| Mood | 236 | 3.03 | | |
| Innovation | 260 | 3.09 | | |
| Audio | 288 | 2.64 | | |
| Humor | 295 | 2.73 | | |
| Graphics | 365 | 2.95 | | |
Comments
ix
2012-12-17 05:17
Felt a bit slow (completion-time-wise) -- I feel like I'd already done everything in the first thirty seconds, but I had to grind to get to level 10.
Fire doesn't seem powerful until ~5-6, and it's a bit weird because the sprite sizes seem to change. Stamina just slows down the game awkwardly. Controls are very twitchy. It didn't feel like being a dragon.
The art style is consistent, which I like, and the sound is not distracting and provides a reasonable counterpoint to the gameplay.
yogr
2012-12-17 22:24
Was pretty fun. Being a dragon is always a blast. The stamina meter made it more challenging I guess but I think people would love to have unlimited stamina and just go around wrecking havoc and getting stronger!
aeveis
2012-12-17 22:34
Had fun destroying everything! I had to hit the top of the builds in order to destroy them with fire? that was a bit confusing but overall pretty fun.
I must say, this game was a blast to play. It was quick paced and action packed; I didn't get bored playing once, even after I won. The graphics are nice, as is the music, and they both fit the arcade-y vibe that the game gave off. If you want to make a larger game with this, you certainly have a good base, and I hope to see more if you do. The only thing that got annoying is the stamina, it runs out too quickly in my opinion.
It's a cool second entry, it's great that you had the time to add a lot of effects and mobs !
zanzlanz
2012-12-18 11:12
Hey commenters! Thanks for playing and rating! I'm SO happy that I didn't get any complaints about lag yet; my last Ludum Dare was a wreck in that perspective.
Ix: I agree that it is kind of slow. I felt that no one would replay the game anyway (since I haven't added anything to come back for, such as achievements), so I just made it a bit longer. I'll have to fix that soon :)
Yogr: Thanks for getting the point! The game's more about the fact that you're the boss, and you can do whatever you want!
Aeveis: I was thinking about that while I was play-testing, but didn't act upon it. That'll be something to change. Thanks!
Gravity Games: I'm glad you enjoyed it! The stamina can be a bit annoying, I agree. It's something I can tweak to make it more fair :)
Edocentrique: My slogan for making games is that you can never have too many particles. ;D
dr_soda
2012-12-18 14:58
It was a bit hard to control the dragon for some reason. I think it's because I wanted there to be a separate jump button besides "up". The picking up and dropping mechanic was hard to wrap my head around for some reason as well, and I found myself just wanting to blow fire all over the place... 'cause fire is cool! And this dragon's fire is awesome!
I think if you dropped the stamina, or at least made it drain less quickly, or recover more quickly the game might feel a bit tighter.
sev_inf
2012-12-18 21:25
Good game, but Shift key for shooting is not good idea. Windows keeps asking whether or not a have sticky keys.
zanzlanz
2012-12-18 21:46
I should have made it X, and pick up Z or something. Don't tap on shift to use fire, as a quick-fix. Thanks ;D
illugion
2012-12-19 22:43
This was really fun ! I like it ! I was biting lots of people just to spit them again XD
shugor
2012-12-19 23:01
This was a really fun game! It's not really too hard once you realize you can get easy health from buildings, though, so some variety to the villagers might be nice (maybe stronger weapons, or different angles). I think I heard some background music, but it was kind of quiet. Once I beat the game, it was fun to run around with infinite health XP
All in all, nice job~
I felt like a multitasking villain badass when I figured out how to use the spacebar properly.
Would've been cool to implement a divebomb with the down arrow, and some physics adjustments.
I couldn't really figure out how to use flame properly. Just spray it in new areas and some things burn, then default to picking up and dropping.
At some point I glitched into a house I think, and then flew upward pretty quickly. I think it was a special glitchy house (it looked normal though -- it was 2 tiles tall and I could "land" on the bottom tile of it).
Well done.
zanzlanz
2012-12-20 20:31
illugion: Thanks! I was thinking about adding some sort of way to just eat people, but I don't know exactly how it can be properly implemented... I have to think about it.
Shugor: Thanks for your review! Buildings do give you a lot of goodies, and I was considering decreasing that. Either that, or increase the amount that other animals produce. The background music is quiet mainly because my last feature was making the game mutable. I'll raise the volume in the post-compo version.
dansludumdare: Thanks for commenting! Yes, I thought of many ways to make it feel more organic, but graphics took me too long already, and I decided to leave it out. I'm actually glad because it keeps it more polished, rather than having extra glitchy features. The glitch you found is actually just a non-generated tile made by the world generator (it's actually NEXT to the house, in an empty tile). I noticed it happen a few times while testing, yet I have NO idea why it occurs. I already fixed it post-compo. Thanks for letting me know anyway ;D
derosa
2012-12-20 20:51
Nice game. At first I wasn't sure how to play and spent the whole time "walking" :D I died pretty quickly...
vilcans
2012-12-20 21:10
This kept me occupied until I finished it. It is pretty funny, but it turns into a bit of a grind towards the end (pick up, fly up, drop, breathe some fire, pick up, fly, ...).
The physics could be improved. Try adding inertia to the dragon's x and y positions. That would feel more like you're a heavy dragon. BTW, have you played the old 8-bit game Thanatos, that was similar to this? Although in that game, the dragon was almost as big as the screen and the humans were tiny. Pretty fun to be a villain.
I'm not that fond of the music. I kept it on while writing this review, and it got pretty annoying.
But all in all, it's a pretty good game, as I kept on playing for a while. The connection to the theme is obvious.
someone
2012-12-20 21:17
Encountered an invisible wall at one point.
The stamina meter was a bit annoying at the start.
zanzlanz
2012-12-20 21:47
DavidErosa: Thanks! I'm planning on adding in-game help with the controls (they'll show up on the screen somewhere).
Martin Vilcans: The pass was mentioned before - it's going to be improved post-compo. Having at least some inertia could be more realistic, I like that idea. :) Press M to mute the game. Thanks for the comment and ideas!
Someone: (I like your username) The broken block has been mentioned in my previous long-reply. Stamina will be tweaked as well. I'd rather not annoy the players like this x)
zanzlanz
2012-12-20 21:49
Woah typo!
*Martin Vilcans: The progression will be improved post-compo.
Wow this villager all have fireproof suit :) I love your game it was really fun to play. I'm a boss dragon now !!
I wish that falling object had an impact damage zone, it would have raise the rampaging level of your game ( which is already pretty high )
First time I see a cat breathing fire :D Haha! It was fun. But the dragon's movement reminded me of Alley Cat, an old CGA game :' ) Well done!
eamon
2012-12-21 16:14
Nice game, fire and destroying stuff seemed a little glitchy for me. Nice attempt though :)
jujule
2012-12-21 17:07
Simple fun. I enjoyed it.
zanzlanz
2012-12-21 21:56
Benjamin: Yeah they don't catch on fire very easily, even when you're flame is all leveled up. Also, what do you mean by impact damage zone?
Luis Anton: Hm, it does look a little similar; I just looked Alley Cat up, haha. xD The funny thing is my live stream joked around that it was a cat with wings -_-
Eamon: Graphics wise, it is glitchy. Speaking in code, it works like a charm. I could be wrong however - there is probably a variable of ways to break the game :)
Jujule: Yay :3
clodial
2012-12-23 01:30
Lmao, I liked burning things to the ground XD
maple
2012-12-26 14:46
>A boss with infinite health, lol.
I wanted to give you a chance and see what having lv10 everything was like, because on lv1 everything felt like crap. I still think, on lv10, people die too slow. I thought a few times "Maybe you can't damage humans?" early on, and then after I realised they were smoking I was like "Wait, what? I've been breathing fire into this one guy's face for 5 seconds and he still hasn't died yet". I think that was the main problem: things getting damaged slowly. Oh, and stamina not recharging fast enough. Other than this, it was an enjoyable experience -- I mean, I played until Boss, and saw the black wall on the other side, so it can't have been too bad.
Want to point out a glitch I saw. Not sure what caused it, but somewhere along the line I came across an invisible block. When standing next to it and jumping, you jumped really high.
Also, I liked the music. Overall, nice entry.
zanzlanz
2012-12-26 15:47
Thanks Maple ;)
The people don't actually have health, unfortunately. They just instantly die after they've been on fire for a random amount of time. This will be improved upon in the full version. I know about the random invisible block and I fixed it too. Too bad I didn't have time to figure it out during the compo!
The pace of the game is slow. I actually cut it in half for the post-compo version (and it feels a lot better).
Thanks for your feedback!
Was fun hissing fire all over everyone.
this is the first game I've played in a long time that made me feel nostalgic for NES games and not because of the graphics. Lots of games borrow from that era in a post-modern or ironic kind of way but with this game it hit me after a few minutes that it was the gameplay doing it; simple, confident and boss.
zanzlanz
2012-12-29 18:43
Jackspinoza: That's really cool! I'm not old enough to have much nostalgia of the NES, but now that you bring it up, I understand what you mean. Thanks for bringing that up! I think this serves as a lesson - something along the lines of 'design games primarily for fun, not for purpose.'
Fire felt reaaally weak, was unfortunate. Graphics were neat enough.