Board to Death by LandoSystems 2024-04-18T07:30:35Z
Fun narrative, solid core. Rock on!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → DenisMarasan
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | Ov | Fu | In | Th | Hu | Mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 55 | Summoning | Vampire Summoners | jam | 846 | 3.33 | 3.29 | 3.06 | 3.51 | 2.98 | 2.80 |
Fun narrative, solid core. Rock on!
I've got not a slightest idea how to play this. The starting screen is beautiful, choosing ingredients is very satifsying, stirring sucks, I think it would be better to change it to LMB - RMB clicking, coz you don't need the keyboard for anything else when playing the game. The in-game tutorial should be more specific.
I really liked the puzzle, but the game lacks a built-in tutorial. Speaking of stone placement, the placement of stones outside the pentagrams seems useless, so why letting the player placing 'em outside the pentagrams?
Here how I see the first stage: You have one pentagram (forward) and one stone. The player can only place this one stone inside the pentagram. The demon moves one square, player wins. Second stage: the player has two stones and two pentagrams (i.e. forward and right). The player places these stones and wins. What I wanna say is that you've got to work on the learning curve in your projects. It's the game that should teach the player to play, not the description.
But overall, very positive!
:eyes:
Great theme and nice feel! Rock on!
Yeah, too challenging. When designing game, keep in mind you're not the target audience. And speaking of game jams, it's better to make an easy game, that's a tutorial.
Don't know how to play it, but I feel I'm good at it!
This game is epic! Arguably the best I've played on LD55! You're legends! Rock on!
I press space when I get a prompt and nothing happens. So I do not progress further, the summoner continues asking me to press space. But before that it was pretty cute, espetially those dashes that cut enemies :)
Narrative, art, sounds and music are awesome! The fighting part isn't that good, but the game definitely stands out! Great job!
From the gameplay pov this game is helluva masterpiece! Maybe, just maybe, the wiz should be able to shoot down enemy projectoles. Or may be not. Speaking of controls it's not a good idea to map shooting (x) between restart buttons (z and c). You better block the shoot button for a sec and then let the player press it to restart. Overall, great job :thumbsup:
In tutorial, some inscriptions are so small, they are unreadable on smaller screens. When trying to click on a hammer at the start the screen scrolls left. That's not what I want or expect from the game. Overall, good job!
I liked the idea of launching the acolytes into the moving pentagrams.
Wow, this one is fun to play! Great job!
All hail the Sloth!
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I believe I'd found a winning strategy :smile: Nevertheless it still could be a good kids game, a rock-paper-scissors type game with mechanics that teach a player the probability theory. Good job!
Speaking of controls, IMHO adding left mouse click on a card in addition to drag-and-drop wouldn't hurt.
RIBBIT! RIBBIT! The idea, visuals, and sound are awesome! The game's so sticky! RIBBIT!
At last, an action game! Great job, rock on!
I clicked on game menu. Nothing. Downloaded the Win client instead of Web. Still nothing.
Space. I had to press space.
I'm just getting dead every time I click or click and hold the LMB. What's the point?
I've got Rose Buzz :smiley: The only thing this game lacks is fire animation. Good job!
Dealing damage feels clunky. As a result sometimes enemies survive and fight back. It seems like in order to deal damage you need to push the enemy. That doesn't seem right to me. Whether the avatar is able to kill several enemies remained a mystery.
You also need to add a visual clue when the ability is wearing off. So that the player could move the avatar away in time.
I think it's a good idea to show the name of the personality under the portrait. Another problem is when you switch back to the personality you've left far behind. To solve the problem you should either spawn the other personality closer, which will subvert the idea, or work harder on level design.
Other than that, a charming game!
I think the only problem with the game are pentagramams. They don't fit together well. You should consider rebuilding the game with hexagons, coz they will fit perfectly. And that will be a helluva puzzle game!
Speaking of controls, the moment my avatar moves instead of just turning in the direction I want is killing me. I think the avatar should turn first and move later. The tutorial and the learning curve are great, btw.
I like the simplicity. The idea of a game where you summon demons to fight emojis is priceless.
That was retro!
All hail difficulty selection!
For some reason I don't see the unit I'm selecting with my arrows. Nevertheless the concept is novel for me and seems interesting enough. Rock on!
PS: special thanks for difficuly level selection, it rules!
At last I can vote for Humor! :laughing:
I was trying to build a similar game on my first game jam, but didn't make it on time. I'm very pleased to see how this concept works. Good job!
The concept and execution are brilliant! Great job!
"Yes" on the right? Ten points to Gryffindor for innovation! Great tutorial, btw!
I don't like puzzles, but this one is 6 out of 5 to me.
When I was playing this game I felt like:
\- I'm the master of the D.U.C.K! Remember this \*\*\* face! Whenever you see ducks, you'll see this \*\*\* face!
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The game should tell the player they can jump twice right from the start, but not after they read it in the desctiption and managed their firs jump.
Hey, nice game!
Both core mechanics and raising an Evil Eye as a pet are amazing!
> but I would have reduced the cooldown on the LMB attack to be basically 0 and nerfed itβs damage to compensate. The feeling of doing constant DPS in these kinds of games really adds to the juciness.
Maybe you're right, but I want to add a point.
The selection of LMB ability cooldown wasn't easy. I tried reducing it, but the less it was, the more it needed to change from "on mouse down" to "on mouse hold". Coz otherwise the player is forced to spam-click the LMB, which doesn't feel right to me.
The problem is that playing with LMB pressed down continuously didn't feel right either. IMHO there's something that you should continuously spam-click or hold down, it should be at least automatic. Like all the attacks in Vampire Survivors. Why? Because it's not a choice anymore, just an muscle activity. And I personally like choices.
So I ended up with melee auto-attack and a LMB attack with a rather long cooldown. So that the player could press LMB periodically.
Instead I tuned cooldowns in such a way that you can activate TNT, summon enemies, use LMB to fight your way from enemies if you get surrounded, and then use LMB again while TNT is still on cooldown. Then, after TNT is ready, repeat this tactic over and over again. That is using the LMB ability for defense (to break out of encirclement after summoning enemies for the sake of higher score) and attack (to get more score points).
Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it :thumbsup:
@netguy204 good point, btw.
@thelastslowpoke that's exactly how it is supposed to be played :thumbsup: Great job cracking the optimal strategy!
@digital-bacon yeah, my bad! Fixed now!
No in-game tutorial. It is the game that should explain the player how to play it, not a desctiption below. Jumped over the book and walked beyond the screen to the right. When returned back got stuck in a book. Reloaded. Got to the book, opened the portal. Couldn't get to the portal because of the book. Jumped ovber the book and over the portal, returned back, got stuck in the book.
Overall unplayable mouse control, no tutorial. Checked the book. Looked at the pentagram. Now what?
I liked the concept of artifacts you need to find and place on the altars to complete the stage. It's awesome. I was planning to introduce the similar mechanic to my game, but abandoned the idea due to time limitations. Overall, nice work!
Good game! Though why in some games my avatar swings, and in some - shoots, remained a mystery to me.
That's the most annoying enemies and the most useless minions I've seen so far. Though visuals, sound & music, and a pentagram used for killing rodents were great.
@catnap minions don't do any noticable damage, the enemy continues chasing the player. The hero feels powerless. And doesn't feel right, unless you're making a horror game. Power fantasy now!
The game really needs more clarity. Both in terms of game rules and visual clues. I tried it several times and still couldn't figure out what I do wrong and why I can't get the power I want. Some pedestals give power, some just don't.
Visually the game is great, though you should sort objects by Y coord, so they overlap each other correctly.
Speaking of level design, consider getting rid of those colliders on stones, it hampers the avatar movement. The collider on the avatar should cover only its legs.
The attack / defend buttons should be more accessible, not in some corner.
And you should really add more activities, the game lacks gameplay.
Though the squares are too small and the game seems unplayable at first, with more squares is't not as bad. The gameplay is interesting, catching those squares using a tail of green squares as a net is satisfying.
Everything is so great in this game except for one thing and that is tank controls. IMHO it's not how a game vehicle, particularly a tank, should be controlled. It should be more like a wheeled car but with the ability to spin in place. See Tanki Online as a reference. Or any other major tank game, e.g. World of Tanks or War Thunder. Sadly enough, current controls make me suffer. Other than that, a great game! Rock on!
I think it's awesome! Thow I didn't like how the learning curve is designed. The first few stages should be a tutorial for dummies like me. Right now they're kinda hardcore. I had to restart the first stage several times to complete. Except for that it's great! Cats rule!