FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD59 → Defying Fate

Defying Fate

By psevdonim

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall8372.4634
Fun8382.1034
Innovation8332.2534
Theme8132.3134
Graphics7602.5334
Audio5452.5934
Humor5742.3533
Mood8072.5334

Comments

itero-proto 2026-04-21 14:26

I didn't understand anything 😒

lukas-leder 2026-04-21 14:32

I think it would be nice to be able to buy more knights and having to decide which contract to take. Right now i can just take all of the contracts.

kagegona 2026-04-21 14:43

great work for you alone, maybe you should have put a bit more the theme in your game

indiepanda 2026-04-21 21:47

Since the core mechanics are quite simple, I would like some kind of meta game

luckix 2026-04-22 15:10

I love game where you can send dudes to do different missions. With an upgrade system and more depth it can be even better. Cool game!

stratcat66 2026-04-22 18:02

The ending was quite... surprising I think the description really nice to read, but gameplay wise I was just clicking icon after icon and never really had to actively decide. I think that could be a point were the game could be improved

teaminister 2026-04-22 18:04

well, it works, it is simple, the city looks good. but generally i think this mechanic is way to simple and i didn't enjoy it as much as i wanted. But still, great job for the event!

slay-a-stone 2026-04-22 18:14

The potential is there, A bit more depth would have been nice. Currently I don't really have any choices to make

I think the background is made with AI? That makes rating graphics a bit weird.

topling 2026-04-22 18:15

Cool base for something bigger, good job! Ending idea is the best xD

prunus-padis 2026-04-22 18:31

I guess you had mind some more complex mechanic for managing the party? The ending was great was not expecting that. It was super easy to play and i only failed couple of quests. The variety of task descriptions was fun.

jesse-martin 2026-04-22 20:07

This shows promise it is kind of like Merchant

I think a progression system (something to spend the money I am earning on) and stats on the knights would help (like some are better at conflict resolution while others being better at investigation

some of the events lead to a relationship penalty but from the text I couldn't figure out how I could have known that in advance

But I did play it twice

enver-arco 2026-04-22 21:58

Its cute and shows promise. Give the Knights different abilities so they would be well or poorly suited to certain tasks.

joegreen 2026-04-23 11:09

The music and graphics are great. Special respect for the game being intuitive and beatable in just a few minutes.

venomousmouse 2026-04-23 13:19

I see a clear inspiration from the latest game Dispatch. And as was mentioned before, u need to give knights different abilities and make the game a bit harder in terms of gameplay. Make the player to try to realy decide whish task to take, what units to use, etc. But in terms of coding i think its a solid good game.

strong99 2026-04-23 19:04

After playing the first round, I thought, perhaps I should be more thoughtful on which quests I take, but every re-play seems to end the same. Whether I end up negative, zero or positive likes, are there other endings? Would love to replay again if so.

yarcha 2026-04-24 03:03

It's a medieval dispatcher! Interesting idea. Perhaps if we add specializations to knights and classify citizen requests by type (blacksmiths, farmers, carpenters), the game would take on a whole new flavor and become 1000 times more interesting. I loved the idea; it's great that you've done such a great job!

psevdonim 2026-04-24 15:53

@itero-proto It's okay, it happens. The project is very far from its planned stage, and I agree that at this stage, there may be some difficulties with the gameplay experience. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-24 15:56

@lukas-leder You're right, and this was supposed to be in the game, but unfortunately I didn't have time to implement it. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-24 16:04

@kagegona I agree that at the current stage of the project, the game jam theme isn't fully explored in the game, but if I'd had time to finish the original idea, I think it would have been more clearly conveyed. 1. The missions themselves that appear on the map can be interpreted as signals. 2. Throughout the game, some contracts signal an impending "disaster", but right now this is poorly understood and poorly implemented. 3. The current ending of the game, with the appearance of numerous monster signals (the disaster), is also the main event in the game jam theme.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to implement all of this properly, so you may have that impression. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:21

@indiepanda It should have been better in many ways, but I didn't have the resources to do so. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:21

@luckix Yes, you're right, that's how it should have been if I'd been able to achieve everything I wanted. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:24

@stratcat66 I'm glad you noticed the ending; it's a mandatory step I had to show. Unfortunately, most players won't have any trouble clicking through all the missions without thinking about anything, but if I'd managed to implement everything the way I wanted, it definitely wouldn't have been so easy. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:28

@teaminister I agree that the mechanics currently don't evoke too much emotion and are quite mediocre, but if it were implemented properly, I think you might even like it)) Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:37

@slay-a-stone I absolutely agree. There's almost no choice right now, and the game could have been deeper, but I simply lacked the time and skills to fully realize my idea. I'm also very pleased that you see the project's potential. Regarding AI graphics, I also agree with your concerns. I'm not a big fan of AI myself, and my plan was to use an AI image for visual reference and then redo it as best I could in Aseprite (I'm not an artist; I draw like a child, if not worse xD). But I didn't have the time, and I couldn't bring myself to abandon the project without a decent background, even if it was AI. I spent a certain amount of time getting an image I was more or less happy with; I didn't just grab the first image I came across. I worked on my own; I don't have a team or artists, so this is what we have. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:43

@topling I'm glad you see the basis for something bigger and also noticed the ending. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:45

@prunus-padis That's right, the party management mechanics needed to be deeper, and not just that, but a lot of other things in this project. Thanks for paying attention to the ending xD Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:55

@jesse-martin Is "Merchant" a game like that? I found a 2015 game with that name on Steam. I'm not familiar with it, but I appreciate the comparison!

Although, to be honest, my main references were the This is Police series and the relatively recent Dispatch, which further popularized this type of gameplay.

That's right, I wanted to implement a mechanic for purchasing knights, but I didn't have time. I also wanted to implement different stats for knights, so that different knights would perform better or worse in different situations, but I simply didn't have time.

Regarding failed missions, right now you really can't predict this, but the idea was that there was a chance to complete missions based on stats, and some missions are basically impossible, even if you send the best of the best, and they're supposed to herald an approaching "disaster". But right now it's very difficult to understand, so it's not surprising you're confused. And also special thanks for playing my game twice xD Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 08:58

@enver-arco Thanks for seeing something promising. Regarding the knights, it's true; they were supposed to have stats, but they didn't get them xD Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 09:00

@joegreen I tried to find something more or less passable in terms of graphics and music, thank you! And also thank you for noticing that the game is quick to complete. Considering I didn't finish the game and it's very far from what I had planned, I deliberately decided to keep it short and show everything as quickly as possible so as not to prolong the dubious experience xD Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 09:05

@venomousmouse I'm really glad you noticed that Dispatch was one of the references for my game, but not the first one xD My primary reference is This is Police, although Dispatch significantly improved the core gameplay. Regarding knights and quests, I wanted to do the same as in the reference games, but I couldn't and didn't have the time. But I really think I've done quite a bit of programming work, even so, thank you for understanding that :) Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 09:17

@strong99 Thank you so much for playing my game more than once; I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, there are no alternate endings in the game, and essentially, no matter what you do now, nothing will change. The current ending should essentially be the ending of the game's first chapter, implying a possible continuation after the game jam, for example. But that wasn't shown because I didn't have time to do it. Thanks for the feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-25 09:20

@yarcha Everything is so, everything is so xD. I'm really glad you liked it. Thanks for the feedback!

jesse-martin 2026-04-25 13:36

@psevdonim yes its on steam there is a mobile (andriod at least) version of merchant though I cant remember if there was a lite version. It has a similar premise you run a shop and send the adventures out to go collect resources to sell might try it for some inspiration if you plan on keeping on with the game

psevdonim 2026-04-25 13:50

@jesse-martin Interesting, I'll have to take a look sometime. Thanks for the info :)

panduplan 2026-04-26 11:47

Very nice game! Cosy visuals, vibey music and sounds.

It could be expanded a bit so yours decisions whether to send knights were more meaningful. Like some quests are fake, more unit types other than knights like ones are good for peaceful tasks, ones are instant, some good in fight, etc.

psevdonim 2026-04-26 13:16

@panduplan I completely agree. Everything you wrote was on my mind, but unfortunately, I didn't implement it. Thank you for your kind words and feedback!

jamesgames1000 2026-04-26 20:21

Played till the end very fun but simple with great music and visuals, good job!

zettelkasten 2026-04-26 20:26

I loved the ending, haha! Also the stories were very cute as well as the illustrations. Good job!

psevdonim 2026-04-26 21:56

@jamesgames1000 Thank you for your kind feedback!

psevdonim 2026-04-26 22:36

@zettelkasten Thank you for your kind feedback!

alpacalypse 2026-04-28 21:49

I didn't expect that ending. One piece of constructive criticism that I haven't seen posted yet is that the graphics aren't integrated stylistically. The knight who crosses the map, the jaunty icons for the bottom bar, and the map itself (genAI or no, I appreciate the nasty fork there) don't quite fit together. Maybe a sprite based on the bottom bar icon for the knight on the map?

psevdonim 2026-04-29 16:00

@alpacalypse The graphics are indeed a bit off, but that's another thing I could have improved if I'd had more time. Thanks for checking out the ending, and thanks for the feedback!

jb-rock 2026-04-30 00:55

I really like the visuals, and the idea. I think it could be expanded further with different types of mercenaries you send to go to different tasks to create some challenge and interest later in the game.

psevdonim 2026-04-30 09:38

@jb-rock I agree. Thanks for the feedback!