FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD46 → Heal Shield Peel

Heal Shield Peel

By gamecarpenter

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2.7711
Fun2.5511
Innovation2.4411
Theme3.1111

Comments

moonblaststudios 2020-04-23 23:25

Hey! from what i saw only W was doing anything in the game , it would have been nice to see why the other keys I was doing weren't doing anything like an error message of sorts saying : "You cant perform this because: "Insert Error Here", it made it very hard to know what i was doing so I ended up just spamming W whenever I could to try to keep the bar up, I like what you were going or though.

albionbrown 2020-04-23 23:29

Couldn't really understand what was going on for this one. @gamecarpenter could you supply more detailed instructions here, with what the bars mean please? Would happily come back to rate :)

gamecarpenter 2020-04-24 01:35

Yeah, I can see how this could be confusing. I wanted the first few levels to be tutorialized (hence the staggered skill access), but I didn't get around to it. I can see that some feedback for why you can't use a skill would have helped. I normally would have done that with a sound effect, but I was trying to stay focused on mechanics for this jam.

The red health bar across the top represents the enemy team. The small squares in it represent the number of enemies. The health bars along the bottom represent your allies. The white line under them, represent the ally which is selected.

After you use an ability, you can't use it again for a period of time. The squares along the bottom represent these 'cooldowns' and when you can use you the abilities again.

Q applies a health regeneration buff on the ally that you have currently selected. They will start gaining health over time. It is associated with the green square on the bottom. When the square is green, you can use the ability. You can use this in every level.

W applies a shield to the ally that you currently have selected. It is associated with the blue square on the bottom. When the square is blue, you can use the ability. You can't use this ability until the second level.

E applies a 'peel' for the selected ally. In the context of the game, this means that the selected ally will take damage at a slower rate. Allies get into danger over time and start taking more damage. It is associated with the purple square on the bottom. When the square is purple, you can use the ability again. You can't use this ability until the third level.

R activates your 'ultimate' it acts as a panic button. It applies all three of the above effects to _all_ allies. It has a very long cooldown - you won't be able to use it again for some time. It is represented by the red square on the bottom. When it is red, you can use the ability. You cannot use this ability until the fourth level.

gamecarpenter 2020-04-24 01:35

(Edit, double post.)

revetoon 2020-04-25 12:13

Hi, at first I was really confused with your game but after reading your post I understood what I had to do. The game is basically about managing "health bars" which is a nice concept but, with the lack of context, it makes it hard to get involved in it. The game becomes cool when you have more than 1 unit tho because you really have to manage your abilities and their cooldowns, I really liked that part ! :)

boboman 2020-04-26 17:24

i WIN, ! final results 5 out of 6. :(

I liked this I thought it was fun simple implementation of cooldown management and target prioritization. The first level is too long, spent the whole time spamming Q wondering if the other keys were broken.. When I pressed a number that didn't correspond with a party member the current party member was deselected, so nobody was selected, that was a bit frustrating several times. Would be cool to get some feedback sounds and maybe some 'fight animations' for when people are taking certain damage "quit standing in fire!". A and D might also cycle left and right through the party list. Art was lacking but still drove the point home, I liked all the bar scaling, cooldown rects growing, and the green easing into red gradient. Good work!

amdmaster 2020-04-26 17:47

It indeed is a nice concept a little bit of art would make it a lot better and a great experience to the player.

sexganon 2020-04-26 18:00

Pretty fun game! I would definitely decrease the round times on the first 2 levels though. Cut it to almost a third of what it currently is. Also i'd move the switch of health bars to the num pad since having to use the numbers above the WASD keys is a little awkward.