Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD38 → Small Kingdoms
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 410 | 2.96 | 27 | |
| Fun | 411 | 2.76 | 27 | |
| Innovation | 426 | 2.64 | 27 | |
| Theme | 386 | 3.04 | 27 | |
| Graphics | 163 | 3.72 | 27 | |
| Audio | 321 | 2.66 | 26 | |
| Humor | 310 | 2.36 | 21 | |
| Mood | 366 | 2.83 | 26 |
Simple yet appealing graphics. The sound effects are a nice touch and the gameplay is easy to understand. The human-vs-human option is a smart addition, and the couple bugs I've seen don't really interfere with gameplay. I would love to see a smarter AI and to hear some background music :wink:
nice looknig game. It's a fast strategic thing that I would play with an other human (unfortunatly, AI is too easy...) to see all the possibilities (is there different strategies, or is it a permanent statu quo?...)
Nice entry. Maybe some random objects on the fields could shuffle the gameplay.
Really simple and clever idea, and really easy to learn. The art style is simple but looks nice. I'd love to see what would happen if I played it with some other people, as the AI is not very clever :P .
This might be my favorite until now. I am not saying it was challenging but there are a lot of opportunities to extend it in different variations. Congratulations for your entry.
I read the post mortem, I wouldn't feel too bad, aside from the lack of challenge against AI theres a lot of stuff that is well done, it looks and feels good. Made me wonder how it would play on a larger grid, possibly where both players have multiple pieces. Congrats on pushing through and finishing something playable in the end anyway.
Nice clean graphics, interesting mechanics. Could be a simple but clever turn based game with a smarter AI.
So clean and simple, though easy. The game was really refreshing and the sound was pretty good as well. Gameplay against the computer is hilariously easy though, and the end screen could use some work (I always get this weird flash for one frame) but the game is really nice to play.
Thanks everyone for the feed back! I completely agree about the AI. You can add "coding a well balanced AI opponent in 4 hours" to my list of Ludum Dare bad ideas :wink:
@homineludens - random objects on the field was actually the next item on my "nice-to-have" list.
@joyfired - you have no idea how infuriating that "flash" was/is to me. I did look into it briefly, but because it was a non-game-breaking glitch, it ended up way down on my priorities list (it took everything in my power not to waste 2+ hours trying to fix it)
I win!
I think I need to play against a human opponent, but this is great work for 48 hours! It's really great to see a strategy game in the mix. The challenge of doing a game like this must be balancing!
Keep up the good work.
Very clean menus and nice art. I played it a few different ways against the AI. I also played against myself and I think the first player will always win. I think you have a solid foundation for the game and it might be worth spending some more time on and throwing it out on mobile. If for nothing but experience with AI.
Nice little strategy game. Experienced some bugs, but it was overall really smooth experience. (I tried to attack but nothing happened? or maybe it was just me doing something wrong) I like the gameplay, but I think it would need a bit more depth to be more interesting in the long run. Too bad you are not planning to work on this, I think it has a lot of potential. :)
Nice presentation, but the gameplay is too simple. I'm not sure how a better AI would even function based on these rules. The rules, man! What is going on with the rules!
What does strength do? A lower strength hero beats a higher strength hero most of the time, but not always. Is there a hidden die roll? Why does the attacking hero *sometimes* beat the defender and conquer the enemy hex, while at other times the defender is simply pushed back and the hex stays untouched? What does the number on the hex do? A hero can *sometimes* conquer a hex with a big number in one swell swoop. (Observations based on the :man: vs :man: mode)
It is really hard to play a game when the rules are so obscure. An explanation would suffice, if these are not bugs, that is.
I'm with @huvaakoodia on this. I found my self really confused by the game, even though it appears to be so very simple. However the visuals are very good looking and the gameplay felt fluid.
cheers~
Cool entry! The gameplay is easy to learn. The art is simple but nice^^ I was missing a lack of strategy but this could be easy solved with a few more abilities. Have you thought about an android/ios port of this? I think with a bit more time this could be an amazing title :grin:
Good job!
@huvaakoodia & @elzach - thanks for the feedback. There are dice rolls in the background! It's funny how I take the rules for granted because they are obvious to me since I programmed them :confounded:
Here is a ~~quick~~ rundown of how they work: * attack value is the combined total of all controlled tiles * the attack value determines how many dice are rolled, the highest two rolls are used * the tile "control" (number on flag) determines how many defense die are used, again only top 2 are used * if an opposing hero is occupying the tile you are attacking, +1 is added to the roll (it's actually the opponents level added to the dice roll, but because I never finished the leveling up system, it's always 1) * if the attack roll is greater than the def roll, then -1 to the tile control * if an opposing hero is occupying the tile, -1 to his life and the opponent is "bounced" back (unless his life drops below 1, which he is then killed - waiting to spawn at their base) * if the tile control drops below 1, then the attacking hero "takes" the tile * if the attack roll is more than 2 times the defense roll - critical hit! This deals 2 damage to both the tile and opponent hero if applicable. If this takes the tile then you start with a tile control of 2 instead of 1. * if the attack roll is less than the def roll, then -1 to the attacking hero * if the attack roll and the def roll are the same, nothing happens - this was a by-product of not knowing exactly how to handle this and it unfortunately stayed blank (this may appear as a bug when it happens, but is just incomplete design)
Hmmm. It wouldn't let me upload an image in my previous comment, nor this one. If you look at the first gif in the below link, you can see that I actually showed the dice rolls in my earlier build. I wanted to display some sort of number exchange during combat (not necessarily the dice), but didn't finish before the end.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/small-kingdoms-1/quick-update-before-bed
I liked this game, made me think of Risk and other similar board games. I think the dice rolls would help give a better understanding about the game. I did have trouble understanding if I had a good chance of wining an attack, even when I had 60+ attack and the orc had 10ish he still seemed to hit me roughly the same amount as I hit him.
Something like this would make a fantastic mobile game, the controls are simple enough but the randomness of the world changes enough I think to keep it interesting.
I'd love to see more if you continue to develop it.
Simple but fun gameplay. While that is outside the scope for a COMPO entry I suppose, I do think this could well be adapted for more than 2 players (on a suitably larger map, of course) and maybe with special fields to add more depth to the gameplay.
Was fun to play anyhow. (If you do add more muchness in a post-compo version, do contact me~)
I love the basic premise of having a very small-scale strategy game. Then taking that idea and turning it into a working game in two days is an intimidating task. So first of all, I think you did a very good job pulling it off. From the start, it feels inviting to play and has a lot of charm.
Unfortunately the AI is really weak (as you mentioned yourself), I wasn't even able to lose on purpose. I think writing a good AI is not easy, especially on such a limited time budget, but if I had any major complaint, it would be this.
Some more specific things I noticed:
- I played the game twice to the end and afterwards it gets stuck in a weird bug that allows you to use the level up button on the menu screen but not start the game again. - When the Orc has his turn, you see its level up button, which I found a bit confusing as I thought it was my own. I think it would be better to hide that button on the opponent's turn
Overall I think it's a solid game that could have been really special with some little additional polish, especially the AI.
As you said, AI was stupid. :D Anyway, I still enjoyed the graphics and mood. There is only so much strategy you can do on such a small world but the + box game is some depth! It feels like you learned a lot from this game so be happy :D
Cool little concept. I was actually "lucky" enough to spawn with no way to get to the enemy on my first play (there was a big ravine), so I was really confused :D
Good use of the theme! A fast game that can be player vs IA (really stupid as you said XD) or another player is a great entry for a jam. Well done!
it's a nice, simple game. I liked the graphics.
At one moment me and AI were both dead and waiting for respawn, I was clicking all over the place and I really thought the game froze (until i saw the very little icon in down right corner). So maybe you could make it clearer what can be done in such situations.