Game about attacking villagers while they try to run away during the turn-based combat.
You pick 3 actions out of 6 semi-random options to do each turn and can also see the options that the enemy has.
Use wasd or arrow keys to move around the map and mouse or 1-6 and space in battles.
Swallowing enemies heals you a tiny bit and eating them in your cave after you've "cooked" them for 1 battle heals bit more, both adjusted by difficulty.
Post-compo adds new enemies, improves battle UI and some other things.
Wow, I'm really impressed with the battle system you developed. It's really robust considering how much time you had to make it. At first it's a bit overwhelming, but once you get into it it's really deep. Well done!
Now obviously, the graphics and audio aren't quite at that level, however, they are serviceable.
The game has some pretty weird behaviours: lots of NaNs, you can make moves while the success music plays, etc. The biggest problem I think is that there is no way to heal, and the game is pretty difficult because of this. Enemy counters will drop you really quickly, which doesn't really fit with the theme: they countered my spit acid and did 10 dmg? Why did my spit acid only do 10 dmg and them countering it did the same amount? Throwing a rock sometimes does 15!
All in all though, I really like the battle system. Congrats on the entry.
Overall, I like the idea of the game, but it lacks refinement in design. The battles seem really random, and most of the time you're just chasing after the human. Graphics aren't much to speak of, but the rest of the game works. There's also barely any feedback, which makes the game a little confusing.
If it was a little more refined, this could have been really good!
It was pretty fun at first, but combat takes way too long. I feel like each combat should be over in a few rounds. It took me about 10 rounds to finish one combat.
You heal by eating in your cave but it's not very well explained and hmm I think I might have made a scripting error somewhere if a rock can do 15 damage but it's also possible that the fact that message log doesn't mention everything can be confusing. I really should remake most of the turn resolving logic since it makes it hard to make sure it explains all of the actions properly.
I think I fixed the NaN's during submission hour so do tell if they still appear.
Really liked the combat system. While there are lots of little details that could be ironed out (as other comments have mentioned), I think it's a great product for 48 hours. I was left confused about some ability descriptions (especially the support-y yellow abilities, many of which seemed to have similar effects), but again, it's a great idea.
In terms of implementation: how are abilities for the player and enemy chosen? Is it totally random? The enemies seemed to have a lot of defensive skills, which makes playing against them difficult. Also, while I'm guessing there's some secret, super-good strategy, combat usually left my health bar drained, and it doesn't seem like there's a way to replenish it. Maybe once you eat a defeated enemy it could heal you some? Just a thought.
I'd like to see this game with even more RPG-type elements. Also, I LOVE the title!
The battle system was fun but some explanation of what each of the options meant would have been nice. Also, replacing the bars with numbers would have been useful, yes I'm doing five damage but how much is that? Combat also took far too long.
The battle system was very comprehensive, I liked how you had to queue up multiple moves before making your attack, made for some interesting strategies.
One small point I haven't seen mentioned in the comments below, at first I found the health bar very confusing. I kept glancing at it and wondering why I wasn't doing any damage. Turns out this was because the entire health bar shrinks and there is no indication as to how much health the enemy had at the start of the fight. Having a second bar that lies behind the red health bar and remains constant would be a useful reference for when you want to check how much damage you've done.
In the middle of redoing end turn logic so that message log can easily just tell you what happened in a good order and so that I can make some of the identical actions do different things without having to spend ton of time on it.
HThomson: Good point about health bar, made a post-compo version already just so I can add that(and reduce health of enemies).
Halleflux: Did it stop in the battle screen or did it switch to black one? Latter I could probably prevent from happening easily.
Interesting! It is hard to know what the enemy will do, but if you are able to do that, I can see this being like a crazy chess/RPG experience. This would be super awesome with more development.
Finally got end turn logic remake working! It's much more readable now. Also added 2 new enemies. Next I'll probably remake the healing/cave mechanic and add leveling up to it. After that I'll see if I can make enemies more intelligent(there are only 120 options each turn so shouldn't be too hard).
The idea of choosing your actions and seeing then being played out is an interesting take on turn based combat and has a lot potential, but it seems that there is no way to determine in advance the actions taht the enemy is likely to take wich coupled with the fact that most of their effects are dependent on luck makes the combat feel a bit random, and this can frustrate some players.
J
Jani Nykänen4 Sep 2015, 11:50
The visual style is a bit poor, but the game idea is wonderful.
Surprisingly fun and with a nice battle system. I love the mechanic of having to balance fighting with chasing and not dying. Could have used some kind of numerical representation of health, since it was pretty difficult to tell what kind of damage I was actually doing or how much numbers like "10" matter. Would also have been nice to have some kind of heal ability, since defending was mostly about serious chance, being not only a chance the enemy would even attack, but also at which point in the sequence it is.
Comments27
Now obviously, the graphics and audio aren't quite at that level, however, they are serviceable.
The game has some pretty weird behaviours: lots of NaNs, you can make moves while the success music plays, etc. The biggest problem I think is that there is no way to heal, and the game is pretty difficult because of this. Enemy counters will drop you really quickly, which doesn't really fit with the theme: they countered my spit acid and did 10 dmg? Why did my spit acid only do 10 dmg and them countering it did the same amount? Throwing a rock sometimes does 15!
All in all though, I really like the battle system. Congrats on the entry.
If it was a little more refined, this could have been really good!
Pros:
-Really complex for a 48h game
-Fits the theme
Cons:
-Some screens seem a little unorganized
-Some bugs
-Really hard
I think I fixed the NaN's during submission hour so do tell if they still appear.
Really liked the combat system. While there are lots of little details that could be ironed out (as other comments have mentioned), I think it's a great product for 48 hours. I was left confused about some ability descriptions (especially the support-y yellow abilities, many of which seemed to have similar effects), but again, it's a great idea.
In terms of implementation: how are abilities for the player and enemy chosen? Is it totally random? The enemies seemed to have a lot of defensive skills, which makes playing against them difficult. Also, while I'm guessing there's some secret, super-good strategy, combat usually left my health bar drained, and it doesn't seem like there's a way to replenish it. Maybe once you eat a defeated enemy it could heal you some? Just a thought.
I'd like to see this game with even more RPG-type elements. Also, I LOVE the title!
And more RPG type elements are planned, mainly some sort of leveling up and changing your abilities.
One small point I haven't seen mentioned in the comments below, at first I found the health bar very confusing. I kept glancing at it and wondering why I wasn't doing any damage. Turns out this was because the entire health bar shrinks and there is no indication as to how much health the enemy had at the start of the fight. Having a second bar that lies behind the red health bar and remains constant would be a useful reference for when you want to check how much damage you've done.
HThomson: Good point about health bar, made a post-compo version already just so I can add that(and reduce health of enemies).
Halleflux: Did it stop in the battle screen or did it switch to black one? Latter I could probably prevent from happening easily.
It is hard to know what the enemy will do, but if you are able to do that, I can see this being like a crazy chess/RPG experience. This would be super awesome with more development.