FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD38 → Near kingdoms

Near kingdoms

By hadik

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1973.4854
Fun1233.5954
Innovation4432.5853
Theme4322.8653
Graphics2933.1754
Audio3582.3651
Humor3832.0647
Mood3612.8551

Comments

dvdking 2017-05-01 10:04

Pretty cool. Wish there was some upgrade system. It would allow to make really interesting choices

jackyjjc 2017-05-01 10:08

It is a pretty cool strategy game. Usually the side scrolling strategy game only let you build armies and this one is interesting in the sense that the player need to balance between developing the economy and army. The pixel graphics is pretty nice and the animation is simple but effective. There are basic sound effects that makes the game feels much better.

I know it is very hard to balance strategy games especially when you only have 2 days, but i feel like the higher level units are a bit useless because they are expensive and can be only used once, if you happen to deploy it when there is not many enemies, it is not that useful and if you control the map well using swordsman you usually don't need higher level units. So the game becomes just producing between lumberjack and swordsman. I feel like the unit shouldn't be of only use once but I'm not sure if it would break the game's feel and balance if you would have made that change.

Anyways, overall I think it is a great game, more unit type and more maps would be great as future extension. Well done!

sagarpatel25700 2017-05-01 10:10

- Gameplay is good - Pixelartwork i really like that - if you had some background music then it would be awesome - you can play my game here https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/legends-of-block

wtoa 2017-05-01 10:11

I love these types of games! I finished it on Easy! :) Here are a couple of suggestions you can take or not take:

- I think if you had a count of the total number of units I created at the end, it would be cool to see. - I think swordsman movement speed should either be increased or decreased so that they are not the same as a regular villager guy.

Fantastic work though, really enjoyed playing your game!

demyhallar 2017-05-01 10:20

Nice game. I a bit worry about this forest :smile:

cerno-b 2017-05-01 10:55

Nice game, I managed to finish in on Normal difficulty after I found out that just spamming woodchucks and horses while not worrying too much about my own castle works fairly well.

There is a minor bug where the "insufficient money" message pops up after you buy something that reduces to your funds to a very low amount, I would guess the "money available" check might be below the spending code at the moment.

thesand 2017-05-01 12:19

Fun little game :D I rly enjoyed it! I playd it on easy and normal and stormed the shit out of the enemy castle ^^ Thoo it would've been nice if there could've been some castle uppgrade off some sort.

max-amaden 2017-05-01 13:12

Great little game, really quite addictive! I remember playing a flash game that's a lot like this.

Anyway, keep up the good work! :D

those-30-ninjas 2017-05-01 13:35

Either those trees grow really fast or those people walk really slow ;) nice game. Check out ours if you get a chance https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/down-the-rabbit-hole

aviv871 2017-05-01 13:40

Nice game! castle uppgrade could be very nice for future development.

Great and fun LD game. I left you a rating. Good luck!

swiftillusion 2017-05-01 13:59

I enjoys these kinds of games. This was neat for a bit with charming art but the gameplay lacked meaningful impact/strategy to me.

|+ Balancing resource gathering with troop deployment adds a nice extra layer of gameplay. |+ The pixel art animations including the flags are super charming. |+ Having just what you need to send out a rider at the same time as the opponent creates fun moments.

|- There's no sense of growth throughout the battle. Resources always felt scarce and you couldn't even attempt on easy to get to the 100 coin items as the enemy would have killed your gatherers before then (or at least I felt it couldn't be achieved).

? I think even a small change like gatherers being a bit more expensive but permanent, and having a unit cap (so you couldn't flood the arena with gatherers) could have really helped add momentum to the gameplay. Without that the gameplay regrettably quickly felt unengaging/repetitive. Still nothing felt wrong so great work on your second entry and goodluck with your next one :).

nilead 2017-05-01 14:43

I used to play games like this a lot in web games sites when I was little. I'm fond of those memories.

mrnyarlathotep 2017-05-01 14:46

Very fun and polished compo entry - I'd echo some of the above comments about balance issues, but given the time constraints really can't complain too much!

oxrock 2017-05-01 14:56

Wow, i kind of agree with everything @swiftillusion is saying here, he's offering some good insight. I just kind of felt that the game was unrewarding and I felt a bit underpowered I guess. I think it'd be nice maybe if the troops didn't die attacking the enemy castle if they weren't actually attacked back, that way the investment in attacking troops didn't feel like such a waste.

I'd like to say that the graphics were cute for a compo though, any kind of background music would have been welcome.

thedoodleguy 2017-05-01 14:59

Awesome game, very addicting. I beat it, but only just, was loads of fun :-)

coderdozer 2017-05-01 15:21

That was pretty cool. Maybe if you decide to expand, some archers or trebuchet's would be an interesting addition. Nice job!

sapoi 2017-05-01 16:27

Great game!

sheepking 2017-05-01 16:45

This game is a good start. I like the pixel art graphics.

I'd like to see more units in a post-Compo version, as it felt a bit empty with only three of them. You could even go further with the strategic dimension, adding different sorts of gatherers (miners, farmers, ...).

Anyway I really enjoyed it and it made me a bit nostalgic because it reminded me of a game I loved when I was younger, [Age of War](http://www.jeu.fr/jeu/age-of-war).

la-mecanique-du-plastique 2017-05-01 18:39

Nice game ! Pretty complete and clean. Those kind of games can be addictive and yours is very efficient. You did a great work with the graphic part also ! Rated <3

sneakydeagle 2017-05-01 19:11

This is quite addictive :D

christian-koch 2017-05-01 19:16

First things first: I had to play on easy to win a round... But besides that I really liked the artstyle. The sounds were good a some kind of backgroundmusic would have made it perfect. The fact that trees seem to spawn at random makes me feel like I could easily get the disadvantage, but maybe that was on purpose. I really like this game. I am somehow really attached to those soulless peasants... I mean to my highly trained workers... Yeah, thats what I meant...

geckoo1337 2017-05-01 19:57

Addictive. Really well done. Each opponent has its own behavior and we must use them with skill. I like it. Thank you ++

unidaystudio 2017-05-01 21:40

Great strategy game! But I spent a very long time trying to discover what I have to do and what happens if I spawn each kind of character. Maybe a tutorial before the game should be great. I've finished the game on Easy... You should change the OMG to "Chuck Norris"! haha. Great game!

adrisj7 2017-05-02 00:42

This needs a tutorial, and I'm curious as to whether it's ever feasible to buy the item that cost 100 gold/currency units (A castle repair it looks like!)

Other than those minor details, you've got a fantastic game! It actually requires using strategic thinking to beat, and I found myself trying to think of optimal strategies (ex. send in a horse and a bunch of "wood choppers" behind it to collect wood while the horse guards and charges) to beat. I like that you included other kinds of units to the game, and didn't just use "attack" units.

I feel like this could be expanded into a really fun flash or even a mobile game! (Really, I recommend you try going mobile on this!)

peachtreeoath 2017-05-02 03:58

Nice twist on this genre, it can really go places. I would maybe suggest some longer term purchases, or maybe have lumberjacks not consume on return, to not feel like you are constantly struggling with your economy.

simple-blue 2017-05-02 04:36

Good job on making this game. It's a classic and I really the game I had similar to this on my phone. Some leveling of the classes could help, but overall nice. You have a good concept that you can really build from! Keep up the good work!

theclinthennesy 2017-05-02 06:53

Tried the game out! :D

I've played quite a bunch of games like this- so it wasn't something completely unfamiliar. :D

Still a fun game in the end. Would have really been fun with some sort of progression to add to expand on the game play.

Also- yes. For people who have not tried this type of game in the past would definitely need some sort of tutorial. It's not too complicated- but even simple stuff like "What I have to do" would really help first timers. :)

cosmic-adventure-squad 2017-05-02 07:12

Liked the simple mechanics and different unit types. It was hard to figure out a good strategy. Sometimes it seemed like the enemy horse riders would just wreck all my units including the horse riders I sent out.

joyfired 2017-05-02 07:14

Brought me a lot of nostalgia (I used to play a lot of games of this genre) ;)

Overall pretty good, and as other people have mentioned some sort of upgrade system would be appreciated, and perhaps a larger implementation of economy endgame than just the lumberjacks. After a while the gameplay gets repetitive, though still challenging.

madmaw 2017-05-02 07:16

I really liked this! Who would have thought that there was so much strategy to such a simple concept?

bgw 2017-05-02 07:18

I played through it multiple times!

elsiana-eaves 2017-05-02 07:20

Nice! I loved it actually. Simple art, but clear gameplay and mechanics that worked in almost seamless fashion. Some extra mechanics could be added to increase the fun and gameplay, but being able to increase the difficultly does add a smidgen of replay-ability. Nice job. If you haven't already, check out my game! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/slovenly-shopper

mhgamework 2017-05-02 07:25

Simple yet fun, played it twice!

stoogebag 2017-05-02 07:32

Hey, this is fun. The balance between resource gathering and battle is really neat. A few notes

- At first it wasn't obvious what was going on, in particular how much gold I'm getting automatically etc. - The health of units is hidden, which is fine, but its not clear exactly how it works. I spent a long time thinking that the horseman would beat the infantry every time, but that doesn't seem to be the case - Would be great to see some progression, maybe powerups like catapults that attack the castle directly, or drop bombs - The sound is not finished - There is an issue with the buttons sometimes registering twice: eg when i choose a unit it will deploy, and then display 'not enough gold' as though I'd tried to buy a 2nd unit. Check your button code/mousedown events I suppose

Overall really good! Great look and deep concept GOOD JOB

If you have time, try my entry https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/a-couple-of-questions-volume-ii-small-business-small-world

rongo-matane 2017-05-02 07:39

I liked it! It is interesting to find out what works. It seemed like a rider is worth 2 swords, also costing twice this. A rock/paper/scissor principle could bring more depth. I nearly finished the game on normal difficulty, but ended it beforehand because it was quite long and i dominated the enemy :D

I think i'd enjoy it more if it was a bit shorter, or more progression/struggle over the time. The game very clearly told me what to do, this was very nice!

Overall, a really nice and finished LD game.

mathijsvissers 2017-05-02 07:45

Neat little game. Good idea to not just include fighting units but also a gatherer dude. Nice balance. Pixel art looks good, it works. Could have used a background music track and perhaps some more useful or special units, but it's a nicely made game in such a tight time crunch. Good job!

fedor 2017-05-02 07:55

Nice game!! It's so addictive. I spend so much playing. The idea of getting new units every time they come back to castle makes game different from the others tower defense games. I like your pixel art and animations, horse animation is great!! You could add some other types of units or some castle upgrades. Maybe add one point attack for lumberjacks and two for warriors, same for health points. I found out that my units are blocking each other and I can't protect my units correctly. Well done!!

dick-claus 2017-05-02 07:56

Nice game. Really like it.

The pixel graphics were nice and polished.

I didn't understand how battle works?

Sometimes enemy horse win my horse and two swordsmen.

It would be great to add some health bars for warriors.

richard-weug 2017-05-02 08:10

Nice game! Was pretty well worked out, AI felt pretty strong (or was it just random?). Didn't seem to find any time to use the last upgrade cause the AI kept attacking me with horses and stuff. Great job, love the fact that you made this game in the compo.

thomsonteguh 2017-05-02 08:14

This is a great mini management game (it would probably sell pretty well on mobile!). The graphics are nice, though it feels it could use some kind of music in the background to up the mood of the game.

One major addition would be to perhaps implement multiplayer as I could see this being fun against real players.

Great work!

saiodin 2017-05-02 08:26

Funny little game. I like the balancing betweeen chopping wood and attacking. I wish I could click a worker to change his direction so that he can reach a tree that just grew behind him, but that would probably disrupt the balance. I think a catapult could maybe be an additional unit that shoots from afar (not too far), that will need some protection from your other units while it charges its shot for high damage. I thought the sounds were a bit harsh and some music would be nice.

spacesparkle 2017-05-02 08:26

I find this game really intriguing, mostly because of combination of fighting and resource management. The randomness might have been a bit too "random", I think that more trees spawning near the center of the screen would help the balance. Graphics were pleasant, sounds enjoyable, I wish there was some music in the background.

simon-rahnasto 2017-05-02 08:30

Going into this I thought that I knew exactly what this game was going to be like, as a kid I used to play many similar games on sites like miniclip. But you have managed to create a game with a much deeper strategical possibilities. The resource gathering aspect makes it feel a lot more like an RTS than a clicker game. You have to constantly be gathering wood while making sure that you have troops that are walking in front and protecting the workers. I played mainly on Hard difficulty (because I am not a filthy casual ;D ) and it am glad to say that it took multiple rounds of getting my ass whopped before things started to work out.

I encountered no bugs and the game overall feels like a very solid entry, the graphics were coherent and pleasing to look at and most importantly they were easy to read and understand what everything did.

This game would be fantastic on the mobile, I would download it in a heartbeat, so please continue the development and let me know if you release it for the app store! :)

epicsoft 2017-05-02 08:32

The idea is similar to mine, graphics are quite good, sound effects are ok and the gameplay was fine

knightowl 2017-05-02 09:15

Simple and playable. Not sure I like the seemingly random attacks, as it takes away from the strategy a bit. Losing 2 horses, a sword and a field full of cutters to a single horse... *sigh*

wolar 2017-05-06 13:33

Very nice! I loved the graphics, the gameplay and all of that in one person, 15 hours. Those SFX were kinda annoying and I missed the music. I would also love some cooldown visualisation on the buttons as I was clicking the units and they sometimes didn't spawn, because I have probably clicked them second ago. Anyway good job!

anubhav-kashyap 2017-05-19 16:58

Really liked the game. I enjoy playing these types of games, and your's was no exception. Very well made for a game jam! :thumbsup: