FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD58 → Grand Collector

Grand Collector

By alex-mulkerrin

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall1393.2049
Fun1203.2249
Innovation1712.7949
Theme683.7949
Graphics1233.3449
Audio1372.8348
Humor683.2546
Mood1313.1147

Comments

maytch 2025-10-05 23:01

Cute little game! I like the artwork you managed to fit into the timeframe, and it's straightforwards for new players

benjamin-gare 2025-10-05 23:06

Pretty good. Was able to beat it pretty quick. Great work!

zubspace 2025-10-06 13:25

What a great little game! Love the dialog, which is really charming! It feels a lot like the old Zelda game on the NES without any monsters, which is a good thing, because your game is far more relaxing to play. I was able to finish every task and had a great time. Good job!

GrandCollector.png

madr 2025-10-06 13:29

Cool game! Reminded me of my childhood when I used to play random dos games from random cd's, very nostalgic!

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 14:03

@maytch Thanks! I do like going for retro art as it's easier to do in the timeframe. I'm glad the game was clear to play.

@benjamin-gare Thank you, I felt like a timer would add a bit of challenge to it, I'm interested to see what the average time is and how fast it can be completed.

@zubspace Thanks, I enjoyed doing all the dialog. It's the first game I've done a game with npcs in it. I'm glad you found it relaxing. Good time, I wonder if anyone will get faster than that :)

@madr I'm glad you found it nostalgic as I was aiming for something you'd see on a retro console. Thanks.

emojimaster 2025-10-06 15:42

Great game, I become Grand Collector i 2:55

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 15:51

@emojimaster good time, your collection skills are mighty indeed :)

pincushion 2025-10-06 16:18

I appreciate the simple control scheme. There's no need for a separate button to turn in quests or advance dialogue. I like that the land isn't visible until the player nears it. The boat's a nice touch too.

You did a lot with 16x16 tiles. Looks great. Had fun getting all the things and discovering the land.

6 min 52s. I'll take the "slow deforester" achievement.

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 16:26

@pincushion Thank you, I did want the game to have as simple a control scheme as possible. I did want there to be an element of exploration and finding new tools to open new areas.

Deforestation eh? The king won't like that :P

indigowolf 2025-10-06 17:48

I love the classic movement style. While simple, the game feels very complete and polished. Well done.

mdotedot 2025-10-06 17:49

Well done. I got some old MSX vibes going on. Thank you for making this game!

ehtd 2025-10-06 17:52

simple mechanics, but movement doesn't feel right. Charming graphics

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 17:59

@indigowolf Thanks, I was going for something like a gameboy movement mechanic.

@mdotedot MSX is a new console for me, I'll have to look into it :)

@ehtd I didn't do anything special for getting multiple keypresses for a held down button so that is probably why it feels weird. It would have been better if I had kept track of keys down independently.

vikfx 2025-10-06 18:26

A nice little adventure in the style of Zelda. The adventure is fun and has humor. It’s simple but effective. From a coding perspective, it would have been better to separate the code into different classes and files to make it more manageable. I also think it could use some optimizations, especially in that horrible conditional logic function ;) And there is a little bug with the keypress event. Nevertheless, the game is very well done. Great job!

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 19:13

@vikfx Thank you, I was going for a gameboy, zelda-like kind of game.

Also thank you for taking the time to look at the source code. I always appreciate constructive criticism like that. Yes it was getting to the size where splitting into different files would have made sense. I kind of have classes already due to using prototypes but I can see the reasoning about using the explicit syntax.

If you have any ideas for improving the conditional logic I'm all ears. I knew it looked gnarly when I wrote it but I couldn't think of a better way to implement checking for various conditions.

Again thanks for the helpful feedback! :D

threeli 2025-10-06 19:28

The only real comment I might have would be handling the hold to move in a slightly more graceful way? Polling over time and only allowing movement every few ticks or something. Generally though this game speaks to me, I liked how all the characters had ... character about them and how much you packed into such a small space. Excellent work!

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-06 19:36

@threeli Yeah polling over time would be the better way to do it. I guess I was thinking the way key events naturally fire once and then constant fire over time would be useful. An easy fix for the post compo version :)

Thank you for enjoying the character writing as it was a new thing for me to do. I usually make procedural things so to have a fixed world was a new experience too. Part of me wants to make it so you get a new map each time you play... Thanks for the feedback!

threeli 2025-10-06 19:49

I followed you on itch so if you do keep working on it I'll check in and see the progress. I completely understand the desire to use proc-gen but sometimes hand built is the way to go. Overall I'd just like to see more! Cool stuff

rhewid 2025-10-06 20:24

Cute short game. Was fun to explore it, good that you can walk over tiles and it checks your inventory, instead of pressing a button. 3.png

tim-eriksen 2025-10-06 21:35

Cute little game! I like the graphics, and actually sailing the boat was a nice touch :)

pres2300 2025-10-06 23:57

I really enjoyed this! The graphics and dialog were well done! I think some overworld music would go a long way to add to the atmosphere, but overall good work!

vikfx 2025-10-07 00:28

you should put each logic in objet callback (castle, woodcutter...) and use an array for flags instead of booleans. Search for machine state to understand how it works. By the way you don't need to look at hasAxe and put axe in inventory. Useless double logic. Use inventory.indexOf(axe) >= 0 instead

jose-bonilla 2025-10-07 03:40

Nice little game, I finished it in 3 min 24 seconds. Loved your art. It's so simple yet fun to play. Loved when you move with the ship :) Good work

noodlestorm 2025-10-07 07:04

Really cute, i finished it in 10 min. it will be better if i can walk with long-press

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-07 12:06

@threeli Thanks for the follow :D I'll definitely think about more things to add in terms of collectibles and new maps.

@rhewid I'm glad you enjoyed it. Not having another button to interact was a nice coincidence in terms of not getting around to adding extra input methods. I can see you were an avid collector going off of that full inventory.

@tim-eriksen Thank you. The boat was something of a last minute addition which I'm pleased at getting working the way I wanted. If only I had given the map more water to explore.

@pres2300 Thank you, I'm glad people are liking the dialog as I hadn't done any before. Some music would have been nice but a bit beyond my abilities. Someday I'll go back to working out how to play more complex melodies using pure JavaScript.

@vikfx Ah right an array would be good if you populated it as flags are set. I'll have a look for machine state, thanks. Perhaps I should have called the flag hasBeenGivenAxe but you're right at the moment it is a duplicate. Thanks again for this feedback :)

@jose-bonilla Thank you very much! I was going for a simple artstyle and ease of use. I can see myself adding lots of other vehicles to use.

@noodlestorm Yes having the ability to hold down the walk keys would be a good edition, especially if I make a larger map, thanks.

hoeleboele 2025-10-07 13:10

Oh yes i became the grand collector in 3 min which is good :p but nice quick game you made good base to go with i hope :)

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-07 13:16

@hoeleboele yep a quick game that everyone can beat :) I've been iterating on the same structure of a game engine for quite some time so it was nice to add new elements to it this time. I still have lots to learn though.

tommeh 2025-10-07 14:51

Wow that was short but sweet. Managed to beat the game in under 3 minutes! The whole game was super satisfying (maybe due to the SFX). I wish the game was longer because I really enjoyed what was there. Also it is pretty easy to accidentally skip dialogue when you hold a directional key and the player flyes over the objective. Nevertheless, amazing job!

nekowei 2025-10-07 15:39

I really enjoyed exploring the map, and the chain of quests feels classic and fun. The art style is charming and has a lovely old-fashioned vibe. Well done!

thejackimonster 2025-10-07 16:12

Really nice game! Controls are simple and instructions are easy to follow - so very intuitive gameplay! I enjoyed the artwork and I think the sounds fit very well.

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-07 16:25

@tommeh Yep it's not a long experience but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've started working on changes to a post compo version and yes making you not skip dialog is something I'm working on.

@nekowei Thanks :) I was going for a nostalgic feeling and it was the first time I experimented with quest chains.

@thejackimonster I'm glad you found it intuitive as I didn't want to make an entry too complicated to understand. I do like bips and beeps. Thanks!

arkicade 2025-10-07 18:04

Love the aesthetic and themeing of the game as someone who's into older JRPGs! I found it very humorous that they would keep delegating the task to someone else but I guess that's how fetch quests work. I also liked the addition of the ship movement at the end as it made the gaps of water make more sense. I also appreciated how it wasn't too difficult and the controls/what to do next was very intuitive.

robert18 2025-10-07 20:10

Nice game i like the pixel art finished it in just under 5 mins after making sure i collect every log in the game

baluj 2025-10-08 11:29

I found it enjoyable. Very good game!

liquid 2025-10-08 14:14

Lovely game! I really enjoy the simplicity of both the graphics and the controls.

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-08 15:26

@arkicade Thank you! I did take the theme as an excuse to write lots of fetch quests. I'm glad you found it easy to find out what to do next too, I didn't want to make the main quest too difficult.

@robert18 Thanks, a true grand collector would indeed collect every log in the realm :)

@baluj I'm glad people can enjoy a little game like this, thanks.

@liquid Thank you, simplicity is a good reason for keeping things minimal. At one point everything was just coloured squares but I thought that would be too simple.

artificer 2025-10-08 16:37

Cute and fun. I like the simple style and going around the realm. The layout reminds me of old final fantasy walkin around. The input doesn't really have a click limit so you can run around pretty fast (which I like). Charming dialogue and nice compact story.

IMG_0097.png

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-08 16:42

@artificer Thank you :) It is meant to evoke that kind of old school rpg style. I'm happy someone enjoyed zooming around and you put it to good use to get a time like that!

holysparks 2025-10-08 21:52

I'm a simple man: give me a list, some tasks, nice dialogue and I will go fetching silly items for silly quests, no questions asked :)

Beat it in 2:50, by the way.

jscommander 2025-10-09 13:38

Hey, played your game. I really liked it. The mechanics are simple but interesting. Great work for Ludum dare

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-09 15:11

@holysparks I'm happy you enjoyed your silly quests :) That's a good time there I ought to be keeping track to see who can complete it the fastest.

@jscommander Thank you. It's something a bit new for me in a Ludum Dare to make something without mouse controls.

yvanor 2025-10-11 14:05

That was fun, the storyline was straightforward but it make it satisfying to just run around, collect everything and unlock new zones. Actually we started by looting everything so once we started the quests, we unlocked everything immediately ! Maybe it would have been nice to lock away more ressources, so we had to put more efforts into looking for them instead of stacking them ?

But anyway I loved the writing and the humor, fun game !

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-11 17:35

@yvanor Thanks :) Yeah I guess it is pretty common for players to collect everything they can as soon as possible so blocking more resources would be good.

lectvs 2025-10-11 19:58

Fun little game! I played it a few times and did it in under a minute :smile:

collector.png

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-12 14:26

@lectvs Wow impressive! That's even faster than I can complete it in. Thanks for giving it a spin :D

andriybyelikov 2025-10-12 14:38

Hahaha, when I couldn't return the axe after collecting 5 logs and the trees kept cutting down I thought about the deforestation and it was mentioned at the end. Cool 8-bit RPG looking game, my only complaint would be the lack of 8-bit music and that holding down the directional keys bugs the game, so I had to tap. Good job!

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-12 14:56

@andriybyelikov Thank you, the king does pay attention after all. Yeah the control scheme is a bit too basic and I would love to learn how to make 8-bit music as well.

andriybyelikov 2025-10-12 15:01

@alex-mulkerrin I made a post on making music for LD57, maybe it'll help. Check out my profile feed.

sudocoffee 2025-10-14 02:41

This is a cute adventure game! I enjoyed revealing the map little by little while I explored, and the fog helped to make sure I always knew which huts I'd seen already. The king's comment about deforestation was exactly what was going through my head all game :)

Screenshot_20251013_213311.png

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-14 18:10

@sudocoffee Thanks! The fog makes exploration much more rewarding. Early versions of the game had all the map revealed from the beginning which was much less interesting. Perhaps in a future version I could make it check if you really cut down everything or not.

xpoho 2025-10-17 05:46

изображение_2025-10-17_124526146.png

I dunno why, but your game feels so good even if it's so simple. Just reminded me of some old text quest. Nice ^_^

lunardust 2025-10-20 09:44

well done, simple idea but it worked really well.

alex-mulkerrin 2025-10-20 17:46

@xpoho Thank you, it could have been a text adventure game I guess. Writing the dialog was fun.

@lunardust Thanks, I'm just glad I managed to make something even if it was simple