Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD40 → Revenge of the Samurai
By kalkatos
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 501 | 3.07 | 22 | |
| Fun | 495 | 2.94 | 21 | |
| Innovation | 495 | 2.83 | 20 | |
| Theme | 663 | 2.20 | 22 | |
| Graphics | 60 | 4.09 | 22 | |
| Mood | 251 | 3.25 | 20 |
Gorgeous looking game - I really love the art style and colour palette. Attacking enemies was tricky though; I found the best strategy was to move into range, wait for them to start attacking, then move back, before attacking them. But I couldn't really get the hang of it. A bit of work on the combat would add a lot, but overall, a really cool game!
I like the style of the character art, and the concept behind the mechanic was solid. I found the click to attack a bit finnicky, as I had a hard time figuring out when I was actually going to attack.
I like the clean, simple art style here, though I really found myself wishing for some kind of soundscape to go with it. My fighting style was to move cautiously into range and then cut my opponent before they had a chance to react. I felt a little bit of a rush going into each engagement, fearing that it might be my downfall, but the passivity of my opponents proved their undoing and I cleared the game in a single attempt. There's certainly potential in the combat system if you wish to develop it further. Good job!
I love the art for your game. I feel like the slashing with mouse click mechanic sometimes felt fast and other times I had delay for no reason and had to move forward and backwards to make them miss. It's not that I minded doing that, it's that nothing was conveyed to me to explain when it was needed. I would have liked some sound or music. Also, if you are going for a serious tone where the main character is supposed to have lost his humanity in killing those people, maybe make the deaths more gruesome? Add blood or do something to make the character seem like they are becoming a monster.
I'm assuming the circles around the player and enemies are range indicators? They didn't seem to be accurate...
Great art! And having the player "lock on" to nearby enemies was a nice touch, made it feel more like dueling! :grin:
This mechanic has a lot of potential. Its like hot line miami with swords. There could be a mechanic to dodge or jump back perhaps, like in zelda.
I like the art! Was a bit confused in the beginning of the game since there's no indication of whether to go up or down, but that's more minor. Liked that there seemed to be some kind of timing element in slashing, but would have liked more feedback in when I couldn't click, like when the door is closing. Sometimes it felt like I would click but nothing would happen, and so I died a couple times that way, but I liked that you respawned in the beginning of the room. Since they are all one hit kills and after getting used to the timing, perhaps it could have been made more interesting if there were different size circles or different shapes of range you had to avoid.
For the UI (the kills), perhaps having it black so you can see it above the map, or have a background on it if you want to keep it the same color.
For the design, I like what you were trying to do, but the narrative of revenge affecting the samurai doesn't really have any effect on the player - could be interesting to think about how the act of killing someone could impact the player experience. And if there is a negative impact, is there another solution that doesn't involve killing anyone? Anyway, keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I will develop the combat a little more. I wanted the player to feel like dueling, like @masamunedragon said. One design decision I had was to only make the samurai swing the sword if he is not moving, so the player must stop moving and THEN click on the enemy within range. That may have been a little confusing.
Nice art style, and I like the sword fighting. I found that if you go up to someone and let them start their attack, then quickly back up, then you can go in for the kill, so I did that a lot, ha. I wish there was some sound but since we're not voting on that it doesn't matter. I really liked the look and feel of this one.
Hey there. The game has some very clever visuals. Minimalistic in approach, then very japanese painting looking. Nothing of excess, and everything looks outstanding. Excellent job for a compo game.
Gameplay wise though, it's somewhat dull. It was easier to just move in short bursts and spam clicking than trying to time anything. Having to stop to attack doesn't feel exactly right, but well, it's what it is. If it works, it works. I just wish it had been a bit more real time, being able to attack while moving.
Still, good job with the compo entry! My [team](https://twitter.com/WhalesAndGames) congratulates you on a well executed job! :whale:
short but sweet - really loved the visuals - nice game
My playthrough:
https://youtu.be/8-DRu0vJaKo
There was no sound/music right? The animation felt a bit iffy when clicking on the enemy, but I was playing the web version though. Art is great. :)
The graphics are so great! I loved that the players attack animation is different from the AIs, so you can tell when they will hit. This made me feel really samurai-like. If I participate next time I will most likely make something similar to this (I thought of similar concept even before I saw you game, honest :))
@miaw Thanks for filming your playthrough. It really gives a lot of insight into usability, UX, conveyance, etc. I wish everyone did that.
Neat-o aesthetic. Very short, though.
Clicking to attack was finnicky. You could click past the enemy because they started advancing toward you, and you wouldn't attack even though you should have.
I think if you had it so you aimed with the mouse and clicked to attack when you were still, it would prevent that. It would also let you have scenarios where multiple enemies were advancing on you and you'd have to try to fend them all off, which I think connects to the theme a little more strongly. As it is right now, the connection to the theme is rather weak because there isn't enough gameplay or story to really reflect it. Of course, if you went back and added more, it could work just fine.
Also, when walking up the hallway to the final room, your character can auto-target an enemy from the final room even though there's an enemy much closer standing before the doorway. It doesn't matter from a practical standpoint as attacking the enemy still works as expected, but it can throw someone off.
Nice art, it's like seeing an animated parchment :) and poetic way to interpret the theme.^^
The audio matched perfectly the void in his heart that caused him pain? :p
I didn't encounter any bug, the controls are smooth.
As for the game, it's a pretty fun base game, a timer or having some enemies moving toward you could add some challenger / feeling of danger, unless you went for a kind of zen feeling, in which case it's well thought. You even thought about checkpoints, that's a good idea. I don't know if it's a bug, but being able to commit suicide is a "fun" and relevant feature/bug (Featug? Bugure? Feabug?).
Anyway, great job!
@ogma It's a bug! Haha! Didn't mean that.