dumbdumb 2020-10-05 06:20
i really like the concept of this simple game . good job !
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD47 → Goblin Alchemist
By james-dunlap, Anthony Dunlap, Cameron Dunlap and Oliver Richmeier
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 784 | 3.50 | 37 | |
| Fun | 1059 | 3.11 | 37 | |
| Innovation | 908 | 3.24 | 37 | |
| Theme | 1305 | 3.02 | 37 | |
| Graphics | 1115 | 3.20 | 38 | |
| Audio | 737 | 3.21 | 34 | |
| Mood | 1037 | 3.17 | 37 |
i really like the concept of this simple game . good job !
I got lost and died after the blue arrow potion effect ran out, but I still had fun making hiccup sounds from one of the potions and getting destroyed by a wraith.
I love the art, the game is also very fun.
For the Web version not working you might have the same issue we had where you need to go to Edit > Project Settings > Player > Publishing Settings (Dropdown) > Compression Format to disabled to get the web version to work. For the game I like the idea of making random potions and seeing what they do. I just wish there was more ways to interact with the game than just crafting and drinking potions. The music was also nice and I felt that it matched the tone really well with all the creapy sounds.
the idea of concept is so cool!
I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing at first beyond making random potions so when I saw "Detect Undead" my thought process was along the lines "Let's go check out that cause I don't know what my goal is" cause I hadn't seen them yet and promptly died as a result.
I enjoy making potions, but I kind of don't like the night because I can't see a thing. At least for me, darkness tends to just annoy me more then be any form of interesting.
@Wolfier I see your problem. We had noticed that the ghoul tends to hide itself from the player towards the start and it's pretty easy to get far without knowing its out there. Better than the problem we had before, where its first position was always the center and you had no choice but to deal with it from the start, but a problem nonetheless. A smaller map size may have lent itself better to the threat at play and probably made the gameplay changes at night a bit more noticeable as a result.
Kind of reminds me a bit of the Skyrim potion crafting mechanic. Interesting concept, but I wish it was explained a bit more on what the actual goal was. I made potions for a bit, but then it got kind of repetitive... and I think I probably stopped before seeing some of the other mechanics. It was also really difficult to know exactly what a potion did, since there was no information after drinking it, and the effects weren't always obvious (although some were).
oH I LOVED IT Though i kept eating the ingredients by mistake I like the abilities u get from potions.. this game has potential man
Never more have I felt like a skyrim khajit, downing potion after potion without thought. Just crafting a full inventory and drinking it all at once, it's just so fun.
Web version did not load but the desktop version (Linux in my case) worked fine. Fun game with nice graphics. To begin with the explanations on how to do the basic things were good but I lack feedback on what the potions do after drinking them. Also I never understood the goal.
Uncaught ReferenceError: unityFramework is not defined at HTMLScriptElement.n.onload
:(
This is a really cool crafting system! This might be a little out of scope for what you were going for with this game, but I could definitely imagine an alchemy game structured like Factorio. Where the player must craft potions and build more complex alchemical structures, while fighting off waves of enemies. Really nice work!
Really cool day and night simulation and crafting concepts. I really enjoyed this!
Very simple game but a great concept. I can see a full metal alchemist reference here hehe :)
Web version doesn't load for some reason.
I've always loved alchemy! This was really cool, great work!
Web version doesn't load for me (Ubuntu + Firefox 81).
Nice game primarly about crafting, and solving conflict (fighting undead) in a different way. Inventory & Crafting system works well, though I would have liked to be told the effect of a potion when you consume it (the first time), like the tutorial did partly.
Nice experience, it's a clean game, crafting system is fun and understandable, however, a feedback on the effect would have been great after having drank a potion ! Ideally, we should test it but since dying stops the game, we don't feel secure enough to test the effects widely, the players stays in his loop to craft and drink first ^^ Good idea anyway and good job :)
I loved it! It's a solid, contained experience, and I'm a sucker for secrets and mysteries.
I would have liked to have more of an incentive to venture outside, since I quickly understood I needed a couple of safety potions for excursions and could then mostly experiment in my loop. My suggestion would be to have rarer ingredients farther away from the loop, or even some necessary ingredients that only spawn in the ghoul's vicinity.
Dying was also slightly frustrating as your discoveries aren't persistent (but the other hand, aren't randomized either and stay the same between games).
Other than that little constructive criticism, I can't complain! This is the game I've spent the most time on by far, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Nice job, I liked the fact that there were instructions helping along so I know what I needed to do. Nice little crafting system. Something about the movement control is confusing to me...I think I expect to use W to go forward in the direction the player is facing, rather than always moving up the screen. Might just be me though.
Favourite so far. Good exploration tug. It pleads for some inventory management tools, but for the jam its just fine fcorse
@maxwell3000 Thanks for the tip. That was indeed the problem!
As a person who is not typically easily scared I am surprised, somewhat pleasantly, at the absolute terror I felt when I saw the undead run towards me for the first time. Amazing game!
2020-10-10 06H-43M-17S.png
**Well, I played this for a lot longer than I am willing to admit.** A great chunk of that time was me being dead-set on trying to get all of the three essences that, I assume, when combined would allow me to defeat the undead. Unfortunately, in both playthroughs I had gotten up to two of the essences, I ended up getting caught by the undead, and unfortunately, there's more games to be played. :bow:
2020-10-10 07H-01M-39S.png
Talking about the actual game, and speaking of the undead, I guess I didn't fully finish reading the description first-time. **When I saw it the first time in game, I got real spooked.** :ghost: From that moment on, the mood pretty much settled in, and I was always on my toes to make sure I didn't get caught my the thing, and trying my best to mix potions that would help me be faster and aid exploration. The night helped add some extra atmosphere, though I think some light emanating from the circle and the player would have helped make things a bit more readable.
**The crafting system was really in-depth and I liked experimenting combining the different items to see what I would get.** However, when there was only one or two combinations missing for an ingredient, it became a process of trial-and-error to know what I still hadn't used and what I hadn't used. Some sort of hint system suggesting which Y ingredients you hadn't combined with X yet on the crafting menu would have helped, as well as someway to track recipes that require combining multiple items (as was the case of the essences).
The graphics presentation of the game was really nice, and I really liked how visually descriptive the items were. Since I made more than one playthrough, I realized that the map was procedurally generated, and sometimes some items I required to make the missing potions/items were not at all close to the circle and I had to travel long distance to find what was missing. Even with the compass potion, I think some more variety of birds-eye view decorations would have helped a bit more with long-distance orientation, as it was frequent for me to end up getting lost anyway.
Other than, also though the music was pretty nice, and it fit both day/night variations respectively, and the distortion when the undead was close to you only helped contribute more for the mood. Any other criticisms have mostly been mentioned above, such as better potion feedback.
Thanks for the game, and I hope one of the future comments can properly celebrate having defeated the undead! If I get the chance, I will revisit after the jam. Cheers! :whale:
@jorgegamedev Thanks for playing and thanks for the detailed feedback!
I love what you did with the theme, the "game play loop" idea is pretty funny. I can see a lot of potential with the idea too and given more time you couldve gone a whole lot of directions with it. As it stands its still great and unnerving having a demon chase you around and i am VERY impressed with the amount of combinations youve been able to implement in such a short time
This was a really fun, trial-and-error take on crafting. The number of useless/debilitating potions I got from crafting felt really authentic to the experience of trying to cobble something together. For the same reason, I thought seeing a potion in action and trying to figure out what it did added to the experience. I wish I hadn't had to test by trial and error that inventory pauses the game - knowing that made it much easier to react to the ghoul when it appeared, as I could safely pause and chug a haste or freeze to fend it off. This may have been a quirk of my crafting style, but I was constantly flooded with Detect Undead when I really wanted Compass - I ended up trying to use the enemy-facing compass to navigate. Later in the game, inventory space became the biggest problem. I was forced to be really mindful of which ingredients to keep. I failed my first run, but on my second attempt I was able to assemble the banishment potion. I was worried it was going to be some kind of attack and I'd have craft a second one and Lure the ghoul in, but nope. Good work!
Cool concept. I enjoyed experimenting with different combinations, but found it difficult to remember what they were.