FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD55 → The Scared Summoner

The Scared Summoner

By dymino, ArtisticBack and GimbusGruffus0907

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall9583.2226
Fun8183.2026
Innovation10852.7226
Theme4213.8726
Graphics9722.9726
Audio5673.2226
Humor7732.6923
Mood9753.1025

Comments

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-13 14:25

henlo :P

kenguin 2024-04-16 02:08

Very good effort for what looks to be your first time jamming! It was very on theme and the gameplay (though somewhat inspired haha) is nice as a foundation and I can see the potential in this game to be very fun if you had more time to add features. Interesting choice of making wizard immediately die on contact, personally I feel like balance can be a bit better, death is a little too punishing especially given how fast the enemies are and especially since summons are limited by mana and duration. Overall top effort and I hope to see more in the future!

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-16 13:20

Thank you for your kind feedback! artist here, i'll be sure to pass your suggestions on to the main coder :) have a lovely day!

memz 2024-04-17 16:11

The mechanics seem solid (even if light), but the controls feel clunky. Might just be me, but I kept getting hit when I didn't think I should have

atan 2024-04-17 16:15

The game id good but it is also quite hard, and the ubgrading with RMB is litel confuzing.

58804j 2024-04-17 16:17

fun experience to play, great work! I would agree that the character might need a few more health points but he is a weak wizard after-all :) Great job!

porchor 2024-04-17 16:18

Cute little game! I think the summon control should be bind with keyboard tho.

dymino 2024-04-17 16:36

@atan Thanks for the feedback! I have updated the controls in the description so hopefully it will be less confusing.

dymino 2024-04-17 16:39

@porchor Thanks for the feedback! I originally intended to have multiple summons which is why I put the key bind on the [1] key. I probably should have changed the key bind since I didn't get any other summons in :upside_down:.

bastillas 2024-04-19 02:21

the balance of the game its a little tilted in the favour of the goblins and I can only run and can't get the mana drops(also you die in one hit so it's not worth it), if you guys were intentionaly making a frenetic game I think it works but else you have to change the balance even if it's in the favour of the mage and makes the game too easy and slow, still I loved the music and good luck on the jam!

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-19 11:42

@bastillas Thankyyyy! cover + summon artist here! Our coder'll probably see this, but I'm taking down everyone's suggestions just in case :P yeah, i'd say the balancing is quite. uh. Dawgwater. we can totally fix that later down the line :) (oh and i'm glad you like the music. i'll pass the compliments to the Chef.)

yoyoj 2024-04-19 22:02

Cool just the dying in one hit is a bit harsh, art is neat great job !

trevor-lentz 2024-04-20 20:52

That one hit death is brutal, but overall pretty cool. It would have been nice to have more variation on the music loop, either cutting out instruments or adding more melodies throughout. I think slowly increasing the speed of enemies over time, and a few hit points, might give players a better chance to enjoy what you have created.

Well done. :)

dotiocat 2024-04-21 09:54

Good foundation, the art is charming and the music is pretty alright to listen to. Overall a great submission although I do find it a bit harsh that death is so sudden since you die in one hit, and while some previous commenters suggested more health I find that the issue is in the speed at which the summons bullets travel. This means that if you're moving in a direction and your summons trail behind you, if an enemy spawns from said direction the summons will attack it but the bullets would be too slow to save you! Other than that the usual of adding more summons or enemies and all that will make the game even more enjoyable. By the way I think one of the 'mana drop' upgrades has a typo and is giving 20000 mana instead of 2000 :sweat_smile:

platore 2024-04-21 09:58

Nice litle game ! good job to the team ! It's quite hard, especially the goblins speed, but overall it's a satisfying experience ! If i can give you some ideas of improvement, you mind think of reducing the size of the UI buttons, which will give more visibility, and reducing a bit the goblins speed (but it's detail). And maybe having a sound or visual feedback when a button or upgrade is available.

ping78 2024-04-21 21:47

Cool little game. Had fun playing it. Well done.

lukast 2024-04-25 20:02

Fun little game, great for a jam entry.

caominh-le 2024-04-25 23:35

The beginning is a bit tough with the 1hp life, but after that it's pretty fun to spam the fairies. At the max, it becomes impossible to die if you stand still XD. As a ludam dare entry, this was pretty solid. In terms of future improvements, would be cool with different enemies and summons and difficulty progression so the end-game is harder to achieve after the halfway point

romulo-developer 2024-04-26 00:04

The game starts really not that fun. With 1 hp, and a bunch of enemies spam, it really doesn't feel a lot fair to fight against these enemies. But afterwards, you can't die, and it's really amusing spamming fairies and see the enemies try to reach you. I think a little balaning on the game could be really welcome, but ay, what can ya do in 72 hours. Overall, good game!

geckoo1337 2024-04-26 13:52

What beautiful music - this is the part which I prefered. The controls work well as expected. The main aesthetic is clean and efficient. The game system is clever. A good entry for this 55th LudumDare. I guess that you could create something solid according to this first release. Thank you for your review. I wish you the best ++

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-26 14:13

@geckoo1337 Thank you for your review :) i'll pass your compliments about the music to the chef. have a great day!

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-26 14:16

@romulo-developer Thank you! sorry about the balancing issues :( it's a recurring issue that all of our reviews point out, but i'm quite sure we'll fix that up if we keep working on our project. (i had no idea you could go invincible haha, do you know how it happened?)

gimbusgruffus0907 2024-04-26 14:19

@caominh-le thank you for your kind words! Our plan was for there to be a greater summon and enemy variety, but we never got around to it due to time constraints. We do plan on continuing to develop this prototype build some more, though. have a great day!

romulo-developer 2024-04-26 14:37

@gimbusgruffus0907 I think it's a combination of mana regen and general damage output by the fairies.

pedryx 2024-04-26 19:19

At first the game was very hard, but then I found the right strategy and managed to max every stat in 3:30.

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I had fun, thank you! Very nice game!

tod-semple 2024-05-01 05:03

Cool! The controls were a little hard for me. I was pressing wasd and I couldn't stop running, but had to press 1 at the same time. And also right click. That was a bit much.

breadliner 2024-05-01 05:21

I like this a lot! It reminds me of some of the browser games I'd stay up late playing for hours as a kid. Contrary to what some other people here have said, I like that it starts out pretty bare bones. With simple game mechanics like this, it's really rewarding seeing the benefits of the upgrades you're able to make. It also feels very balanced with how the difficulty can still catch up with you despite the difficulty.

One of the first things I thought of was that the gameplay could be really taken up a notch (in fun and uniqueness) if there was sort of a path you had to follow. If there were sort of dense trees or other obstacles and a path that could go left to right, up or down, turns etc, it would add an extra layer that would add intensity. Just an idea!