Elem3nts is a tower-defense game with unconventional tower defense mechanics.
====If the game is buggy, please do me a favor and describe the bug, especially if it is game-breaking====
Click to place a tower, Right-click a tower to remove it.
Z or X to switch elements which are
Earth - Travels from tower to tower in the order they are created, and back Water - Gravitates from tower to tower also in the same order and back Wind - Towers shoot projectiles at each other tower
Half the time spent on this jam was on graphics. =)
Font files were custom-made by me. I haven't taken the time to release them into the public though.
Known issues: Sound does not work. The annoying adventurer may still get stuck in certain spots. Tower duration formula probably suffers a typo so other stats change tower duration unintentionally
Known balance issues:
Map may possibly too narrow.
Lack of content blah blah blah... Lack of chocolate sprinkles
Really fun, good job on the graphics. Doing a TD was a great idea since you don't need too much assets to have a proper game. The concept is really cool, since it gives the player the aility to always think and play, and not only wait for the waves to get crushed inside your tower range.
Can't tell if it was done or not before but yeah, the rock wind water system is cool.
When tuto is over tho, the tower are still there and doesn't reset for the first game.
Really cool game, but while I was upgrading the tower knockback this error showed up: ___________________________________________ ############################################################################################ FATAL ERROR in action number 1 of Step Event0
for object obj_controller:
DoDiv :: Divide by zero at gml_Object_obj_controller_Step_0 ############################################################################################
Protip on LD: Don't make installers! Some people get discouraged by it and don't play it. I know GameMaker:Studio can export either a single executable or a .zip, check the dropdown box after you type the filename and you'll see the options :)
On to the game itself! The element system was pretty nice, most TDs towers don't interact that way with one another.
Considering you spent most of the time on graphics, I can say you did a great job :) looks pretty good. Maybe next time you can team up with a programmer in case you're doing Jam instead of Compo?
Keep it up! I want to see what you make next.
PD: Release your font! :D PD2: Q is indeed a funny letter
It took several reads of that comment to get that it was meant that I uploaded an installer. I WANT to say I uploaded a single executable .exe, but I downloaded my own link and it turns out that it exported an installer. =(
Bugs n stuff aside, was fun. The graphics reminded me of many a day wasting away in front of the cold light of the jrpg as a tyke. I really liked the wind tower. It was full of wind.
Awesome graphics and lovely gameplay, the only thing is that I find the size of the window a bit uncomfortable as it is too big for my screen and cuts a bit of the interface. Good job!
First of all, amazing graphics. Fairly thorough tutorial. The actual mechanics of the tower building and upgrading is also pretty fun and innovative, I think it could really be used to great effect in a full blown game.
The gameplay itself, of trying to kill the enemies seems...off. They just kind of hop around randomly and ignore towers? I couldn't really figure out how to kill them or much of anything. I just built a bunch of towers and played around with the awesome tower mechanics.
Really great game and fantastic take on traditional tower defense games. Felt very engaging, which is my frustration with standard TD games, they all just feel so unresponsive. The graphics are very comfy and the composition of the level is very appealing.
If I was a fantastic programmer, I would totally go for amazing AI, but that is unfortunately not my forte. I went for something simple and straight-forward :)
I was about to say this reminds me a lot of one bullet...then I realized why ;P You accomplished what you wanted to with the graphics, it looks like, so props on that! For the gameplay I think the concept is good, but it didn't feel like it worked as strongly this time as opposed to one bullet. Something about the balancing, or just general flow of things...You can just boulder the rabbits on the right side of the screen ^^; No sound is =( but it looks great!
Gameplay feels pretty nice and simple, the graphics are adorable, and it's a nice take on tower defense. Audio would be a really nice addition to it and would turn it into an even greater experience.
Don't know if it's just me, but using the wind tower feels a little bit OP for the first 4 types of waves. :3 I place a lot of wind towers in the end of the map and before the places where the bunnies spawn and the waves end quickly. Limiting the tower placement area would be a nice addition to a post-jam version.
The game, overall, is really awesome. :)
J
Jwatt22 Apr 2015, 08:44
The visuals are certainly in the "brag more" department, but there's more to do than just to look at it. The idea is pretty unique, and the tutorial walks you through it concisely.
My main problem here is that it isn't really as balanced or strategic as the mechanics would suggest. Spam happens without micromanagement appearing to clearly control the board situation. I didn't get the impression that you'd planned that much for effective strategies, which is crucial in tower defenses.
Also seemed a bit buggy. Sometimes rocks just don't care that towers were added/deleted, for example. This is definitely a game made by an artist (rather than a game designer or programmer), for better or worse. It's got a lot of potential and effort, but it's not quite there yet in all aspects.
Well @Jwatt, I have no particular plans that my reply would be read, but here's what I thought:
Yes, the game is made as if I was an artist and not so much a designer or a programmer. No surprise there...
As for strategies, it sounds like you're a skilled player as the game is made to be considerate for players who might not know what they are doing. This was designed to allow for grinding to make up for lackluster skills, or if you are gifted in ways I could not foresee, you could theoretically rush through the game with no upgrades. It's a shame I was only able to implement five waves which only allows for more progression.
That was how the current balance of the game fares thus far. One person told me they passed with no upgrades (I didn't get to see how he plays though), while I watch a friend struggle a bit.
Anyways, uploading a 1.3.1 to fix the earth tower bug. I literally needed to watch somebody play to see how bad it was. The particular way I played made that bug trivial.
J
Jwatt22 Apr 2015, 17:34
I do actually check for replies periodically. Probably an exception to the rule, though.
I play a lot of these types of games and perhaps my expectations weren't warranted. This game does have a fairly unique focus, so it's difficult to compare it like that. I never really got the feeling of pressure even with rising difficulty, but if you were targeting this for a more general audience instead of TD fanatics, I can't really complain.
And just to clear it up, the artist comment wasn't meant to be derisive - you made a full game in a weekend, even if you've mostly specialized in one area of gamedev, and that's just more of a reason to appreciate the effort.
Glad to see you're still releasing updates, and seem to be taking feedback into account.
@Jwatt Well, yeah. My circle of friends aren't always the most skilled of players so making a challenging game wouldn't do me much justice. While I am a game developer, I spend more time working on my art fundamentals rather than spending that time on games. Plus, I am also very uninvolved with gaming culture in general despite being primarily a game artist
Awesome job. I really liked the graphics and mood of the game. The gameplay was fun, I liked upgrading my towers using the points gained from destroying rabbits.
Unfortunately the game crashed twice while I was playing and I lost all progress that I had made. ___________________________________________ ############################################################################################ FATAL ERROR in action number 1 of Step Event0
for object obj_bullet:
Unable to find any instance for object index '176774' at gml_Object_obj_bullet_Step_0 ############################################################################################
Other than that it was fun, I really want to revisit this game later and defeat the final boss :D
Awesome pixel art. Didnt find there was much strategy to the gameplay however. It's too bad using another element converts all towers, would make some funny effects if you for exemple tried to maintain a vertical wall with 2 rock towers but then deal damage with some wind turrets in front of it. I feel you limit potential strategies by having only one element (or maybe it was a bug that it converted all on my game?)
The game looks great and the concept it fun to think about and play with, but in practice it's pretty broken. The balancing is almost non-existent as it seems to be too easy up until the Annoying Adventurer when it's nearly impossible. The game does have potential but you need to work on the balancing a lot before it's fun to play.
Can't tell if it was done or not before but yeah, the rock wind water system is cool.
When tuto is over tho, the tower are still there and doesn't reset for the first game.