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Ten Second Samurai

By davvblack

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Coolness190610

Comments

mclogenog 2013-08-27 20:18

I've tried giving this a go twice, but I'm too confused by the controls and the interface. Maybe it would be clearer if the wide variety of block and attack types were introduced more gradually, so that it started out more like rock paper scissors, and then became as complex as its current form over time? The predictive gameplay seems like an interesting idea with a lot of potential, turning something reflexive into a pure strategy game and lowering the required skill for entry, but right now it's just too confusing.

whiteravens 2013-08-28 06:11

I really have no idea what is going on, and how to play it, sorry :(

nathanhoffer 2013-08-30 03:41

Also sorry.. confused. Looks good, but unsure.

acro 2013-09-01 01:33

The stylised graphics look kinda cool, but... the overall design doesn't work as it is. Well done for trying something bold and different, I really mean that. If I may offer some observations - the problem I had is that there's no clear correlation between the keys I press and what's happening on screen. The "camera" moves to follow the lurching motions between the two combatants, but this constant motion means I don't know when I've done something by hitting a key, or whether it would have happened anyway. This is more of a problem than it might be, because I can't tell which combatant I'm meant to be, so I have no sense of what I'm actually controlling. I can guess one of the red bars is my health (I think it was the top one?) and a blue bar is my stamina (top right?). I'm still not sure about that, but the blue stamina bar seemed to have the most immediate change when I pressed a key. Perhaps a different colour association could make the player more prominent and underline his HP and stamina bars). The red/blue kendo stances at the top and bottom didn't seem to correlate to key/direct events either.

metatheos 2013-09-07 22:25

I think I had little trouble following this because I had made something similar myself once. The one thing I feel this game really lacks is a grid (though you probably have intended hitting an intended spot as part of the skill). Other than that its really fun to try your take on the concept, since due to how rare games like this are, they are bound to have significant differences. With some tweaking I can imagine this becoming a really great game.

For everyone struggling with the game I'll try to explain the fundamentals in my words. There is a timeline at the top and at the bottom. You have four actions: [attack or defend] x [high or low], these correspond to the four rows on your keyboard the game uses. The leftmost key in the row places the action at the left end of the timeline, the rightmost at the right end. Actions move to the left and are executed when they hit the left end (queuing further to the right is cheaper on the stamina-bar).