Small Tale is a minimalist RPG, which aims to tell a story without telling the story. The inspiration for this was a much smaller tale: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." We wanted to try something similar; a game that told a story through implication and imagery, instead of exposition. Theories are welcome in the comments!
This was done for the 72-hour Jam, but we decided to impose the same rules as the Compo (blew the 48-hour deadline, though we lost most of a day due to tech difficulties and prior engagements). The engine was coded entirely during the competition, using Java, LWJGL, and Slick-Util. None of the visual or audio assets were made prior to the Jam either.
Considering that this was our first Ludum Dare, we're pretty happy with how the game came out. Here's hoping you enjoy it too, it was a blast to make!
P.S. If anyone manages to beat Challenge Mode and get a screenshot of their End Screen, our graphics guy will gladly award you a trophy. Because none of us have managed to beat it yet.
Credits: Hitch1k3r - Director, Lead Programmer Naali - Writer, Assistant Programmer Solifuge - Graphics, Music, Boss Design
Special thanks to the small but dedicated Twitch TV audience who kept us company while we worked, and made the jam that much more fun! Another shout-out to a Legit Viking who shall remain nameless, but offered much Historical and Mythological Consultation, and provided vital Scandinavian Fact-Checking Services.
Liked the build up to the dragon fight, wasn't sure whether my choices did anything though.
I almost killed the dragon, but it got me with a fireball :(. It was a little unintuitive to me that I should move away from the dragon to block his attacks, that got me hit more than once.
What a wonderful game. The difficulty of the dragon makes multiple restarts a necessity, but the opportunity to make different choices before the dragon makes that restart a reward in itself. Genius!
Anyone that has been having issues playing the game online, try the new Windows, Linux, or OS X compatible jar file. Hopefully that will fix all porting problems.
Man, that took a while to figure out the optimal path to get all the best items/upgrades. Very cool. Beat the dragon once barehanded, but not on challenge mode. Loved this game.
I wish the UI had been a little easier at first. Also the fading is way too slow. But after a while you get used to it. :-)
p.s. also couldn't run the browser version, had to download the .jar file.
Rosypenguin: Interesting how your choices affect your battle with the dragon; gives a high replayability value since I want to try to find different outcomes. The controls are unintuitive though, I can't get used to pressing S to jump when many other 2D platformers use the up arrow or W. Otherwise, interesting gameplay and solid pixel art work!
I do have to say that the first comment made me play this game. It was AWESOME and I fucked that dragon up.... after he demolished me the first time :P
"A error occured while loading this applet. Please contact support to resolve this issue. This occured while 'Downloading packages'." I'll try the download version later ^^
Awesome way to establish your 'stats' and 'equipment' by giving us the choices up front. Would make more sense in an actual full game, but the concept is very refreshing for a 48 hour game. Great challenge on the boss battle! Nice job!
S
SuperlevelSebastian6 May 2013, 11:21
Same problem like lotusgame with the web version. Will try the download version later.
Controls are a bit odd, but I liked them. Loved that making choices changed what equipment you had to fight the dragon. I worked out a pattern to fight the dragon and when I tried challenge mode found out my pattern no longer applied (since I didn't have a shield)! Nice touch.
M
Martin_Monosys8 May 2013, 21:40
Quite interesting, but I didn't really get it, I'm too stupid. I guess... what a shame! :( I would like to play it longer if I had the time, however...!
The dragon clearly gets more challenging as the fight goes on; this is mainly because the speed at which it can raise or lower itself increases. So what you need is a a way of delaying the dragon for as long as possible while the initial burst of fireballs passes, and then you have to close in on the dragon. What I finally settled on was: stay on the outside edge of the upper platform as the dragon comes out of the lava. Right as he's about to reach your level, jump up into the upper corner of the room, and then fall to the ground; since the dragon won't fire fireballs unless you're standing, this gives a long delay, by which time the initial volley of fireballs should have passed. Start walking towards the dragon on the ground level, and jump to the second level as you're about to run into one of the fireballs shot at you. Then do the same on the second level; you should be close enough to punch the dragon in the face before you land on the top platform, so the dragon won't shoot a fireball at you. Then cross over to the other side of the room while the dragon's up in the air, and repeat.
I sent a message to Solifuge (graphics guy), and he's starting on your trophy's graphic. I don't think we can award it until the competition is over though, (If you haven't submitted a game, I'm not sure we can officially award you :( but we'll defiantly do what we can, it's a very impressive feat).
The three of us were competing to see who could be Challenge Mode first... Solifuge won that, but I'm not sure his technique. I could only get the dragon down to half health, and then I'd get bored and make carless mistakes. Challenge Mode was added probably in the last couple of hours and wasn't properly balanced, but I think the challenge is a pretty good level, and provides a fair challenge for people that really want to beat it. I'd still probably change some things if we did it again.
Great game! My only complaint are the controls. It really confused me at times having two attack buttons, instead of only one that hit toward the direction I'm facing.
@Burnside, I can't officially award you your trophy (I think you need to submit a game before you can get trophies), but that's not good enough for us. For now here's a thing, and if you post a game in the future or the site changes we'll officially award it to you.
In retrospect I think the story is a bit too obscure. There could have been more emphasis on key elements to draw out the imagination of the player.
For programming, I think working on library and helper functions was where my time thrived. I also enjoy working on such things so I think it's a good match (example: class GUIBox).
Comments32
Liked the build up to the dragon fight, wasn't sure whether my choices did anything though.
I almost killed the dragon, but it got me with a fireball :(. It was a little unintuitive to me that I should move away from the dragon to block his attacks, that got me hit more than once.
"An error occured while loading the applet.
Please contact support to resolve this issue.
This occured while 'Downloading packages'"
Anyone that has been having issues playing the game online, try the new Windows, Linux, or OS X compatible jar file. Hopefully that will fix all porting problems.
I wish the UI had been a little easier at first. Also the fading is way too slow. But after a while you get used to it. :-)
p.s. also couldn't run the browser version, had to download the .jar file.
(this is a team account)
http://i.imgur.com/etd0wqb.jpg
The dragon clearly gets more challenging as the fight goes on; this is mainly because the speed at which it can raise or lower itself increases. So what you need is a a way of delaying the dragon for as long as possible while the initial burst of fireballs passes, and then you have to close in on the dragon. What I finally settled on was: stay on the outside edge of the upper platform as the dragon comes out of the lava. Right as he's about to reach your level, jump up into the upper corner of the room, and then fall to the ground; since the dragon won't fire fireballs unless you're standing, this gives a long delay, by which time the initial volley of fireballs should have passed. Start walking towards the dragon on the ground level, and jump to the second level as you're about to run into one of the fireballs shot at you. Then do the same on the second level; you should be close enough to punch the dragon in the face before you land on the top platform, so the dragon won't shoot a fireball at you. Then cross over to the other side of the room while the dragon's up in the air, and repeat.
I sent a message to Solifuge (graphics guy), and he's starting on your trophy's graphic. I don't think we can award it until the competition is over though, (If you haven't submitted a game, I'm not sure we can officially award you :( but we'll defiantly do what we can, it's a very impressive feat).
The three of us were competing to see who could be Challenge Mode first... Solifuge won that, but I'm not sure his technique. I could only get the dragon down to half health, and then I'd get bored and make carless mistakes. Challenge Mode was added probably in the last couple of hours and wasn't properly balanced, but I think the challenge is a pretty good level, and provides a fair challenge for people that really want to beat it. I'd still probably change some things if we did it again.
My only complaint are the controls. It really confused me at times having two attack buttons, instead of only one that hit toward the direction I'm facing.
The music is simply awesome.
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/82034266/LD26/DragonPuncherAward.png
For programming, I think working on library and helper functions was where my time thrived. I also enjoy working on such things so I think it's a good match (example: class GUIBox).