FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD55 → Totem Breakout

Totem Breakout

By denilseven

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2513.8737
Fun3093.7538
Innovation3703.5938
Theme7153.5038
Graphics4433.9138
Humor6692.8832
Mood4413.7236

Comments

brucezoom 2024-04-16 00:49

A very interesting game! The AOE range could be a little larger, otherwise it is really risky to do melee combat. The same for the [Space] attack. In fact, I didn't use the melee attack at all.

denilseven 2024-04-16 01:37

@brucezoom Thanks for the feedback! I used the submission hour to buff the AOE and melee ranges a little bit.

hollowbeargames 2024-04-16 18:34

I found this very enjoyable to play, there is definetely a special joy in correctly timing the head landing on the enemies. The music was reall nice and the artwork is simple but very nicely directed. I found the game balance to be pretty spot on, and I was constantly needing to be on the move which was great. I honestly could have played this for much longer. Only thing is that I wish I could choose the heads attack mode, rather than it being random, as I feel this would introduce more tactical choices in the heat of battle. Great job!

unchain 2024-04-16 18:35

The idea is good. I am kind of confused with when it jumps and when it fires. But I just love this kind of pixel art! Great work!

wujood 2024-04-16 18:39

Super awesome artwork and very polished combat! Very great entry! :grin:

matthiasbroske 2024-04-16 18:42

Cool game! The vibes are neat and I like that there's an intro/cutscene to set the stage. Only gripe is that I wish I could reposition the totem when it's in fireball mode. I'd often accidentally position it in a rough spot while using it to stomp on enemies, and then there'd be no way to position myself in such a way that the fireballs would be shooting in a useful direction, hah

sodaro 2024-04-16 18:43

I also struggled with the melee attack since the spear enemies were so hard to avoid, so I mostly just ran around trying to use the totem move asap in order to get the ranged fire again :sweat_smile: The art was very charming and the totem mechanic interesting, good job :smiley:

dywanix 2024-04-16 18:45

Very interesting idea. Gameplay was enjoyable but sometimes I get annoyed with totem movement

liam-squires 2024-04-16 18:46

Very solid. Combat was neat. Took a second to get used to it, but the totem stomp attack was sweet. It made close combat make more sense when you could call the totem in for backup. Presentation was on point, love the art and font.

blaise-ebuth 2024-04-16 21:32

My first game was pretty frustrating, because I didn't see that the next attack type was indicated, so it was totally random... ^^'

Once this mechanic understood it's a good game. The totem's attack are very interesting, although it is not simple to aim correctly with the fireballs...

It was fun, good job!

schadocalex 2024-04-16 22:10

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Nice little game. Didn't understand the F was not random at first. Also ended using melee only for archers or to finish a soldier but else was using mostly the rock and try to not being touched by arrows. Hitboxes could have been better I guess and the range of the melee attack increased. Also we can walk through the big rock it's a bit weird. Will come back to make a better score I think.

denilseven 2024-04-17 00:51

Thank you all for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

And agreed, the spell being completely random gets frustrating at times. I could've added something like an individual cooldown for each spell or show what spell is coming next (like in Tetris) and I should've buffed the melee more, but I'm glad y'all found the gameplay enjoyable in some way.

and @schadocalex you played really well. I think that the max is 85 points, after that the waves end and you get to the win screen. I didn't had time to add proper hitboxes and fix the sprites overlapping in weird ways though.

firebelley 2024-04-18 21:04

Very cool concept, I had a lot of fun with this one!

cananaman 2024-04-19 02:14

This is a creative concept, I genuinely couldn't come up with any reason to rate lower than 5 stars in any category If anything I hope that you extend it to unlock some more moves for the moyai in the post jam Wonderful work! I love the rotation animation for it as it stomps...

euler-moises 2024-04-19 02:41

Fala Mano!

Eu geralmente sou péssimo nesse tipo de jogo. E não é que eu consegui chegar no final?

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Ficou dá hora! No começo eu fiquei um pouco puto porque não conseguia matar aqueles malditos caras da lança sem tomar dano. Foi aí que percebi que eu conseguia jogar o Ídolo neles. Daí pra frente foi só choro e ranger de dentes. :D

Parabéns!

denilseven 2024-04-19 04:08

@cananaman Tysm! I'm very excited to work on a post jam version (in the background at least). It might not be such a big of an update as I was planning (because of school and stuff) but I'll follow the feedback I received from the comments here and the streams, and make this more fun and well-rounded.

@euler-moises GG mano!!! You're the first person I see completing the game, congrats! :confetti_ball: Hope you had fun playing it :D

mrgaberson 2024-04-19 10:06

Really love the idea of fighting with your summon!

stevie257 2024-04-19 21:23

Interesting game! I like the art despite its simplicity, and the background arts are nice. It was kind of difficult to figure out what to do and how to fight at first, it would have been nice to have at least a small tutorial showing or explaining the controls a little better, but it could also just be a skill issue on my part. Other than that a nice entry overall!

pabloabraham 2024-04-19 22:55

Loving the vibes, it's like a mash-up of classic action with some cool strategy twists. Keeping that totem safe while hordes of baddies come at you is real nail-biting stuff. Congrats!

ategon 2024-04-21 12:52

Thanks for submitting your game to the stream! If you wanted to watch it again in the future heres the vod of the stream (with a chapter for your game)

https://youtu.be/c9SO3tlrBa0

And I'm the host for the ludum dare score chasers tournament this Ludum Dare. Wanted to ask if youre fine if I put some gameplay of the game in an intermission video. Last year for reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM_eIvjBmIQ

denilseven 2024-04-21 15:30

@stevie257 Thanks! That initial difficulty isn't a skill issue, almost everyone I saw playing had trouble with the controls/attacks at first. I'll put an explanation for them in the description.

@ategon Absolutely! I'm fine with my game being in the intermission video. Also, thanks for uploading the vod, it's super handy :smile:

gabrimer 2024-04-26 23:48

Lovely battle game you got going on! I can totally see this expanded upon and having more enemies and attacks as well. Good stuff!

lonelygamedev 2024-04-27 03:24

got a score of 85. Quite a fun game. I will say I find it funny how in your game the archers had the most telegraph pattern while the spear have no telegraph. While my game is the opposite. with the archers having no telegraph. while the melee enemies have alot(hopefully this doesn't sound as some sort of advertising. We just chat in a stream. so i knew you already play it so i'd thought i'd joke at the funny thought for a bit)

One thing I felt like is that there's no consequence to just spamming the abilities of the statue that it kinda just makes the melee null. I Honestly never used it and just position myself to use the abilities. But tbh it make the game more unique and fun. Really entertaining gathering crowds. planning and positioning yourself for a lovely blow without having doing anything yourself

On the stream I mention it reminded me of flash games. But it also as alot of similarities to old point and click games like king's quest. So that's quite cool. the entire game as a lovely light blue/grey color scheme. it looks and sounds surprising good. One criticism is that I do feel like the enemies do need a bit more of a kick to them sense they sorta felt a bit placeholderish. some experimenting with a white flash when hit. blood. knockback/stuns. changing hit box sizes. would have gone a long way making the combat very juicy and impactful

denilseven 2024-04-27 13:07

@lonelygamedev Yeah! It's interesting how we had different takes on the archers - the archers on my game are so clumsy, but in yours, they're a menace! :laughing:

As for the spell spamming, I was designing the fighting mechanics more around the statue rather than the player, which made the melee pretty weak and the abilities a little buffed as a consequence.. Although I like how having the statue as the primary source of damage makes the combat feel unique. In a post-jam version I'll add some new skills and balance it out to make both casting and melee viable in a way

I like it when my games get compared to flash games and such, cuz those types of games were a big part of my *gamer career* and I love to bring some of that back with my own creations. Also, I'm glad that you liked the colors. I was inspired by a photo I took during the jam, it had a nice dark blue sky with white clouds going about! The bright yellows and warm colors just came along way to complement the palette. Btw, the colors in your game are pretty good as well, they're bold and simple enough so that it doesn't get in the way of the combat With that said, I totally get what you're saying about the enemies in general, it lacks some impact and *"OOMPF"* as it is right now

stanov 2024-04-27 20:51

You saw me playing it live :)

The graphics are nice, the gameplay is interesting.

The spearmen were just impossible to defeat :D Also the fire spell shooting at the opposite direction was a nice touch - can be played without mouse and aiming, nice.

Maybe adding a sound effect when the spearman hits and also some visual clue to can tell when they are about to attack.

Some progress - waves - would be nice imho.

Thank you for stopping by!

debone 2024-04-27 21:09

Thanks for your submission!

All I managed to pull was 22. I figured out that the statue is the way but I didn't grow the ability to manage the enemies and hit them proper before they hit me.

I was a bit disappointed the fire was not directly opposite to me. I was standing too close to the statue probably and the vector was too sensitive and not where I thought it would be. Also I struggled with the placement of the melee power.

denilseven 2024-04-27 21:48

@stanov Thanks for the feedback! It was a enjoyable stream to hang out with.

@debone Yea the center point of the statue is a bit odd compared to what you'd expect, but you don't need to be near it to use the fire spell. Anyways, I'll try making it look more natural and easy to understand in the post-jam version with some visual clues as well. Thx for trying out my game!

sozey 2024-04-28 19:23

Great job on your entry! It's a very stylish game, and the concept it's built upon is lovely, as others have said you have a very solid base here if you want to continue building upon it.

empyreans 2024-05-02 17:51

I really liked the art and animations. Throwing big moai around was cool :sunglasses:

Melee combat is tough so I mostly relied on the rock fall)

Also there was a moment when two archers spawned, but didn't cross the barricade. So nothing changed in the game for some reason until you kill them. Not sure if that's the intended behavior :thinking:

brave_OZNWWlHf23.png

denilseven 2024-05-02 21:26

@empyreans Oh the movement of these archers is pretty weird as it is right now. I coded them to move near fellow barbarians, but sometimes they end up following each other outside the map! But no enemies spawning before you defeated the archers was an intended behaviour, as they spawn in waves, and a new wave only spawns after all enemies are defeated.. it's just that I didn't put any indication of this wave system in the game xD

I'm glad you liked it though :sunglasses:

jerem-watts 2024-05-03 19:55

You broken into my heart with this~✨ But seriously. Well done.

https://youtu.be/ZnJSItpH2bY

denilseven 2024-05-03 20:21

@jerem-watts I'm glad that you enjoyed it :smiley: Also, thanks for playing it live and even making separate videos for each game, it was so cool to see you playing. Cheers!!