nonigirl 2022-04-04 22:21
I was looking forward to this game because i saw nice screenshots :) And indeed the game and graphics are really nice!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → Settlers & Prophecies
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 106 | 4.06 | 68 | |
| Fun | 158 | 3.91 | 68 | |
| Innovation | 768 | 3.23 | 68 | |
| Theme | 1192 | 3.09 | 68 | |
| Graphics | 262 | 4.17 | 69 | |
| Audio | 286 | 3.75 | 67 | |
| Humor | 846 | 2.67 | 58 | |
| Mood | 365 | 3.79 | 68 |
I was looking forward to this game because i saw nice screenshots :) And indeed the game and graphics are really nice!
Wow, making somehow an Age of Empires in a Game Jam is crazy, but you all managed to do it! It's amazing and congratulations for the artwork! It's so beautiful!! About the game design: at first it was a little difficult for me to understand that the cost was golden and I was a little frustrated because I didn't understand that I needed to stablish the paths first. But then it was quite easy to go on. Once again, good job!!
Thanks @nonigirl and @bdiaztobarra !
Indeed, roads are the most important thing in this game... but in the endgame, it really cost a lot of money, so you have to plan carefully! Thanks for trying our games!
Amazing game. Top one I've played so far from this jam
I liked the overall mood of the game especially the sound. Really hard working project
I gave this three tries: on the first try I ran out of time (but I was doing really well), the second and third time I went bankrupt and I didn't really understand why. The mechanics and the way they interact could use some explanation, although I know all too well that for a jam those things often end up being pretty opaque. That said, the game looks and sounds very nice. I feel the synth-like music doesn't really fit the visual style/historical setting, but it sets a nice mood anyway. This is indeed a peaceful city builder, as advertised, and if it weren't for the time limit and stress caused by a negative income this would be relaxing as well.
Overall a great entry! Congratulations on finishing your game!
@larsdu & @satacat Thanks you! We're glad you've enjoyed our game!
@sigill Yeah, the economy could use some more explanation ingame.
The basic points are that there should be little to no unemployement, vacant jobs, boars and rats, because that create unhappiness.
Inhabitants, markets and harbours give money every month. Roads, guard towers and pretty much everything cost a little money every month (but make people happy). If people are happy, you have some bonus, if they are unhappy, you have some malus. So the thing is to keep adding more houses when the city grows, so you can have more money and people can tend to the different jobs (fiels, towers, rodent control guilds, etc.). And roads cost A LOT in the end-game.
(I agree that the music does not really fit the mood overall mood.)
Thanks for testing our game, and have a nice day!
I had the game already bookmarked in my browser, because of your screenshots / posts during the ludum dare. I really, really love the graphic style! The game itself is very fun, I needed a bit to fully understand how all the different buildings worked, but once that was figured out, the game was a lot of fun!
Completely loved the music, it really set the tone for the game. Only thing I could say is that it was hard to tell that boars and rodents where there unless you were looking at the bottom left. Maybe a sound effect or a visual prompt might help that. Over all, an interesting take on the theme!
The feel of this game was very good, it was nice to play! I over expanded and died my first time, but I really enjoyed it!
I absolutely love the art style!! This game looks great!
Amazing game. Wonderful. The sound, the graphics. Really very good.
@jkniest Thanks! And yeah, understanding how to balance your playthrough could be easier with some kind of tutorial at the beginning. I'm glad you've enjoyed it!
@azara Yeah, at the beginning we planned to add some alert pop-up, but we changed our mind. Maybe we should'nt have? With more event in the games, that could be cool. I'm happy you loved the music, it does not really fit the setting of the game, but I enjoyed recording it. (always nice to take some times away from the computer, during a jam)
@tim-sims You have to be careful, a lot of buildings (and roads!) coast money every month! Glad you enjoyed it.
@martenscedric & @colineobordello Thanks a lot, we put a lot of effort in assets and audio. I'm not 100% convinced by everything (the icon for the well is quite ugly for example), but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
very cool game, music is great!
I struggled with the mechanics and couldn't quite figure out how to play this game correctly, but it looked really pretty and I got the sense that this team was on a good course with this game
Visuals are really nice, needs a more coherent building tree though
@nosleepjf I'm sorry about it! The game could use some kind of an help/tutorial screen, I agree.
In short, you have to balance things that gives you money (people, markets, harbours) and things that cost money (roads, towers, parks, etc.). And you can't build anything if there's no road nearby. When people are happy, that give you bonuses, and when they are unhappy, it gives you maluses. Unenmployement and vacant jobs make people unhappy, as well as boars and rats. That's the most important things to know!
Whoa, that's a fairly interesting and addictive game!
Liked the style and a bit of a weird but atmospheric music. Some extra hints on what the rodents and boars do would help out a bit ;)
The game looks really amazing and after 2 tries I managed to beat the game :)
Unbenannt.PNG
Very impressive game! There's a lot of work here and it comes together really well. The graphics are great. I found the basic mechanics intuitive, and was doing pretty well at first. I'd agree that there could be a bit more communication about how happiness etc. works. I went bankrupt, I think because I built more roads than I needed, and this felt a bit sudden. Great work though!
I enjoyed the play, the music and art put you in the mood. I liked to spend some time playing up to the temple but I didn't see coming the bankruptcy :) I would've loved to see small characters moving on the road <3 Thanks for the game and well done!
magnifique! merci!
this is a really impressive game for a jam! well done! <3
(hurray for godot! :slight_smile:)
I LOVE this type of games, spent almost two hours playing it <3 one of my favorites.
Thanks @firellon I'm glad you liked it! And we agree about some more in-game hints.
@stefan-laimer Congratulations! Hope you enjoyed it!
@angelicad Roads are definitively the money sink of this game, but they are needed!
@nidel Things can go bad pretty quickly indeed! We thought about adding some animations on the map, but the truth is that we didn't had any time left for it.
@subvertissement Thanks! (and hurray for godot indeed, this engine is really awesome)
@kaleria woooah 2 hours! You've played it more than I did. It makes me happy. :D
I haven't been able to beat this game yet, but it's pretty addicting. Those blasted roads keep putting me into debt! A detailed description of how each variable works (rats, boars, happiness, etc.) and a more analytical description of each of the buildings (how much gold does this provide? How many people does this bring in over time?) would do this game a lot of justice and I wouldn't be so lost with what to do. Great start! ...bonus points for Godot :)
Beautiful game. Is the map... graph paper?
Wonderful game, I'm super impressed that you managed to make all of this during the jam. if I wasn't following your blogposts I almost wouldn't believe it! :laughing:
@duckwings I'm going to add some kind of "manual" on the itch.io page, it may help people understanding how the game works.
@nick-hayashi Everything has been drawn on mypaint, and there's a little frame around each tile that's added at runtime for helping with readability.
@simex I was so exhausted at the end of the jam that I almost not believe it myself. :D This was an intense project, and we are super happy to have finished it before the deadline.
Great game!
Quite the impressive effort! Wish there was a little more feedback when trying to place the harbor, had a lot of trouble figuring out how to legally place it. Enjoyed everything else though!
I really liked the music and sounds, and in general everything is pleasant and chilly
A simpler alternative to Banished or Kingdoms and Castles. Love these sort of games, and the mood of this one was fantastic!
You did a really good job of simplifying the formula to fit it into a jam, too.
Turns out rushing the Monument of the Sun and bankrupting your settlement isn't the strategy that I'd hope it'd be. :stuck_out_tongue:
Great job! It'd be cool to see a post-jam version that keeps the simplicity but adds *just* a little more functionality. :slight_smile:
Thanks @ankea I'm happy you enjoyed it
@mtbvibe yeah, placing the harbor is'nt as easy as it should be (actually, it's an issue on several city builder, but I'm pretty sure we could have made it easier).
@tvorojok Ooooh, I'm glad you enjoyed the music, I really had fun recording it.
@skruffye It's been quite hard to simplify the formula, but not too much. And to keep things balanced. The game could definitively be enhanced, but I'm not sure we'll work on it. We'll see in the future! Glad to see that you enjoyed the game!
Astounding! This is by far the best game on this jam that I've played! It's a really solid city builder by itself, but adding in the fact that it was made in three days for a game jam? It's really amazing what your team was able to pull off. If I had to critique anything, I would probably ask that you explain more to the player, as they kind of have to start a throwaway game to figure it out, and also putting an indicator that half of the harbor has to be under the water would be nice. But besides all of that it's a really amazing game!
Really well made! Not only is it a great aesthetic, it's also a really solid game. Great entry!
Cound't play this because my hardware does not supports GLES3
@gdesecrate sorry to hear that. I'll try to compile it for gles2 this evening, I'll ping you so you can try. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Cool game
I enjoyed the hand-drawn graphics, they are well made and makes the game very appealing. I also love the sound mix, a techno/modern mixture with classical/historical instruments, it's a great feature that also gives depth.
I love this game ! How to use the harbour ?
Thanks @pashaloban
@p-r I'm glad you enjoyed the music, I was not sure that is was fitting with the graphic style, but a lot of people think that it is ok, so I guess it is!
@ghatazorg It's not really clear in the game, i'm sorry about it. It the two bottom lines of the harbout should be in the water. Just like on this picture:
harbour.png
Took me a couple of tries to figure out everything, but in the end I did managed to build a completely balanced town with a healthy economy and maxed out happiness! It's a really nice town builder and quite an accomplishment for Ludum Dare! The mood is peaceful and I enjoyed playing it. It would be nice to have a bit more information on the costs over time, especially the roads really got me on the first tries since it wasn't super obvious and I didn't read the text carefully. Maybe have an icon on the building that have a cost over time? Also, it would be nice to be able to start new roads from building, now I think it's possible to accidentally dead end yourself.
(ok after writing this I realised I completely forgot about the goal! I got everything else except the 500 inhabitants. Oh, well...)
Nice little city builder, I liked the hand drawn water coloury art style, it fits pretty well for the genre like looking at some olde time map or something. The music/ambience works nicely too to help with the atmosphere. I found it quite tricky to balance the elements especially with the gold, if people start leaving suddenly your costs turn negative and its difficult to turn it around. I was really missing the standard feature in city builders of like a council or whatever which tells you Whats going wrong or what you have not enough of. Also I wasn't sure if for the rodent and boar control etc. if their placement was important or just the numbers. Also could have done with a screen to give me a breakdown of what is costing what overall. So basically I was just missing all the other features of a typical city builder, so if you could have squeezed a couple of years of development features into those 3 days it would have been nice :) . Overall great effort though, trying to make a cohesive city builder in a jam is a tall order, so I would say you did pretty well. Fun.
Amazing game! I like it in almost all aspects (only thing that came a bit short was the theme). I love the art style, the music and the gameplay is challenging (especially if you first have to figure out how things work). Some suggestions for minor improvements:
-make placing buildings a left click event only, my mouse wheel accidentally messed up my city plan once
-I respect your choice of making the building placement permanent, but you should at least make an undo button then to revert your last building if it was an accident (in the heat I missplaced some buildings by one tile several times)
-a pause button would be nice for this kind of game
We also did our entry with godot and noticed the sound issue in some browsers. If you find the cause/ a way to fix it, please let me know :)
This was a really engaging little city builder! Very strong atmosphere, unique music, and I love the watercolour vibes of the artwork. Took me around five attempts to win but I felt like I had to keep trying. Gameplay was incredibly intuitive, too. Really nice! settlers_and_prophecies.png
Wow. What an amazing game! I had some serious fun with this one. I didn't do as well as some of the screen shots I've seen here, but I didn't do too badly! Fantastic entry :raised_hand:
@arzi I agree more informations about costs and income could be useful. The game could definitively be improved with more informations for the players. You can dead-end yourself (i did it myself a couple of time), but constructing near roads is part of the balance of the game, since roads are the thing that cost the most money over time. I guess we could add something to let the player create a new road if they stucked themselves or something like that. Thanks for your feedback, it helps to know what are the issue other player than us see in our game!
@automatonvx Yeah, we thought about adding some kind of popups/warning to tell the player things like *"there's a lot of rats in the town, it makes its inhabitants unhappy, you sohould do this or that"*. The truth is we did'nt have time. As you said, a couple of years could have help! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
@raxah Ooooh, we definitively should have make the building on the left click only. We did'nt even thing about that. That's a pretty annoying thing indeed. An undo button would indeed be a nice addition. We thought about a pause button and a fast forward button, but we did'nt have enough time to implement it. But we agree it could be nice. For the sound, I've tried different project settings, but I did not find a solution. I hope godot 4 will solve this annoying issue.
@hekateras I'm super impressed by your city, it's super organized and well planned. i'm glad you enjoyed the game!
@oddsocks Glad you've enjoyed it. Thanks!
Great game! I played it for way too long (XD)! Fantastic job with the idea, execution, graphics, audio, gameplay, etc.! Unfortunately, I found out wayyyyy to late that you could bridge over the water (:P)! I ended up making my entire town on the left side and then starting work on a seperate town on the other side! XD
@sephowepho Hahaha, sorry for your spare time! That's unfortunate for the bridge, I was sure that it was quite obvious for people to extend the road over water to see if it works... but I guess it is not! I really hope it has'nt bothered you too much. That's always a good lesson for me: don't assume too much things about what is obvious or not in a game.
This is one of my favorite games so far. A good city builder, a lot of depth. Really great effort. I know what you mean about people finding or not finding things obvious such as building a road over water. That's why we give feedback! :)
Fantastic job with the game! I love the unique art style. Some clarification on that: rodents, boars as well as shrine and well do, would be nice addition. Besides that, it was so much fun to play!
And this is my "mess" that won the game ;)
Bez tytułu.png
Really charming game! great mood really chill and I love the aesthetic ^^
I tried a couple of times. Really engaging!! I feel like I want to give it another go, sometimes it was not 100% clear to me when I can build a harbour etc, as the amount of people would make the system go crazy. Nice one! Thank you :)
This is such a great game! I've come back to it a few times now and it continues to impress! The art and music are stellar, and the strategy is so much deeper than I anticipated. Excellent entry!!
the graphic is amazing the way it is, I don't know how but it gives me the perfect vibe! Cheers Arend
The game can use a little more info for the player, but overall it's a pretty fun city building game :) However, i don't really see how it relates to the theme tho
@david-york Glad to hear that you've enjoyed the game!
@zimny11 Your mess seems pretty organised! Congratulations for beating the game!
@bramreth We've tried to have an original and calm mood, I'm happy that you have liked it.
@nate954 Oooh, it's nice to know that there is some kind of replayability in our game. Thank you! I was not sure about the music, because I though it did not really fit with the graphics, but it seems like a lot of people enjoy it, so I guess it's ok! And yeah, there is a little strategy involved for the player.
@arend-hintze Ooooh thank you!
@theblitz Informations for the player is THE issue in this game, I agree. The theme is indeed not predominant, but it's there (a little), it can be seen in the objectives and in the ending. But it's really not the main strenght of our game. Glad you enjoyed the game!
It was awesome! I love the mood the music set, and the visual help a lot, but with the constant feeling of making equilibrium between gain and lost ; it really push me in a flow state that I enjoy from start to end! I tried multiple time, but never succeed (I loose because of the gold requirement, unfortunately).
A really cool entry! Thank you!
Ran through it a few times and had fun doing so. I definitely agree that placing the harbor was confusing (I actually was never able to do it). Building on only one side of the road was also a bit confusing. I'm not sure it makes sense to have the fields only work where there is road, but I get that you have to set up the mechanic somehow. As a suggestion, you may want to include what the cost of things like the Rodent Control will be, since the initial cost is all that is listed. Likewise, knowing what the taxes on the Inn and Market will bring in would be helpful.
Graphics were great. Music was cool, but I did experience the stuttering you mention. Overall it's a solid experience and I hope you continue to develop on it. In terms of a building sim it's pretty incredible that you put all this together in such a short time! Congrats and thanks for playing/commenting on Apocawiz!
This is a great city builder, and although the theme is not very prominent, it shines through in the interactions of the mechanics.
Chill and fun gameplay, I liked the sketch/watercolour style art in combination with the music it really built an engaging mood. Would like to see this expanded further with some more functionality outside of the jam, great job!
Nice game ! The town I made doesn't make any sense in terms of building placement, but it worked, haha. A few things are a bit confusing at first, but it's just that we need some time to gather all the info. I also had a hard time to build my first harbor. Overall, I think there's a nice balance between all the parameters (inhabitants, work, hygiene, etc)
This is a wonderfull game, a realtime economy sim / city builder, like once I did (from Void) but your game is more finished. I like the style, I've critized the layout of this one before jam, and would stay with, that the Resources and Infos should not have been scattered ... but this is actually nitpicking