Serpent's Souls

lazinix 2018-12-02 21:46

This game is amazing! If it had a save function, I would play this even after the jam is over. I wish I could play more, but I want to get onto rating other games.

I think the method of unit-based actions for each tile is a very interesting approach, and the building tile system is both easy to use and fun to manage. The rebellion system also serves well as a secondary goal for the player, and the limited number of actions per turn makes the game feel almost like chess; the player has to plan and carefully consider their moves before doing anything, which I think really makes the gameplay satisfying and interesting.

If you update the game at any point, especially if it's to add a save system, please let me know!

2018-12-02 23:02

Very interesting thanks for game :)

feilkin 2018-12-02 23:27

I like the look and feel of it, but it is a bit hard. I didn't read the instructions, everyone kept getting sick, then they rebelled :(

bart-huylebroeck 2018-12-02 23:54

Very intriguing game. I don't quite understand it all, but I was curious enough to continue playing. The cost and actions are all pretty complicated. I built 3 homes, a healing tent and a training hut but now my population seems to get sick quicker than I can heal them. I wish I could choose who to sacrifice so I can kill one of the sick people instead of losing a healthy person to the sacrifice :smile:

impbox 2018-12-03 01:17

@bart-huylebroeck yes, that's a good point, I should allow you to sacrifice sick people and maybe rebels, and also make the sickness spreading a bit less crazy. Thanks for the feedback!

impbox 2018-12-03 01:18

@lazinix thanks very much! I'd love to keep expanding it and I'll definitely add a save function =)

impbox 2018-12-03 01:22

@feilkin it definitely requires reading the instructions unfortunately, it's rather complicated. I'll try to make a tutorial system to guide you through the first few turns or something.

chris-covert 2018-12-03 05:01

Cool game. Always fun to see a strategy game like this.

connorthompson 2018-12-03 09:35

Cool game, graphics where really cool. I think a little bit more handholding / tutorial integrated into the game would make this much easier for people to pick up and get involved with but great work!

fnissalot 2018-12-03 20:29

Very cool and a lot of interesting ideas but it gets quite tedious. Might be due to me not being into this kind of strategy game.

chao 2018-12-04 11:33

It's nice to see such a complex and deep experience, very ambitious for the time period. The mechanics were all really cool, though I feel there might have been some balancing issues. After I'd figured out what I was doing I pretty much never had any rebels or sickness. Maybe some kind of random event system would be nice, otherwise it's too easy to figure out a plan and stick to it unchangingly. At that point it becomes less about strategy and more about carrying out repetitive actions.

Once again though, the fact that you even got all these mechanics in in only 48 hours is amazing. Great job.

impbox 2018-12-04 11:37

@chao thanks for the feedback! I actually had the same thoughts about a random event system (I'm adding that now), a "Destiny" deck of cards are drawn each turn (they maybe have random events or random demands from the Serpent God that you must fulfil) that you can use a Seer to peer at and rearrange or discard.

christina-antoinette-neofotistou 2018-12-06 16:59

Very deep! @impbox , have you by any chance read Keith Burgun's articles/ books? I see so much coherent game design on your part all the time, it would make sense. Or you're just a talent, that works too. In any case, top marks, and thank you so much for spotting my publishing mistake

impbox 2018-12-08 09:09

@christina-antoinette-neofotistou thanks very much! <3 I hadn't heard of Keith Burgun before, but I looked up their stuff and it's very interesting and helpful! I feel like this game is currently quite broken, but has potential to be really good. A lot of the game design I borrowed from a very underrated board game called "Time Barons" by Jon Perry and Derek Yu which is beautifully elegant, some of which comes through in my game, although I messed it up a lot. I highly recommend checking it out.

christina-antoinette-neofotistou 2018-12-08 09:12

@impbox I'm totally checking that game out. I don't know if you messed it up, you know how ludum dare forces you to do everything at once. I too think it's a little unbalanced but the core is very very sound

hitchh1k3r 2018-12-09 04:55

I used 111 souls to summon my serpent god!

:thumbsup: I really liked the pacing of learning in this game (I wish there had been more game so I could have learned a bit more about armies, after beating it the first time I started a second game to experiment with moving people around the map).

:point_right: This game reminded me a bit of [Royals](https://ashervo.itch.io/royals), but of course had a different way of managing followers.

:star:Overall excellent job, I really enjoyed playing this!

2018-12-20 14:19

Complex game! I included it in my compilation video series of games from the Ludum Dare, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/a-epgKaAyrI