Ludum Dare #37compo

Spell Bear

by torcado194

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.71

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.86

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★2.40

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.45

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.82

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.17

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.89

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.16

Coolness★★★★★★★★★★58%

Spell Bear!

You are practicing magic when suddenly, oh no! Everything goes wrong! Now the whole room is out to get you!

Use your awesome wizardry skills to stay alive and get cash money!

Upgrade your skills to become undefeatable!

CONTROLS:

Movement: WASD or ARROW KEYS

Attack: Hold LEFT MOUSE BUTTON

Aim: Move MOUSE

Note: Both web links have a bigger resolution if you're into that.

IF YOU ARE GETTING LAG FROM FLASH:

Try the HTML5 version. Thanks!

----------------------------------------

WHEW! That was a fun Ludum Dare! I am pretty dang proud of the result, even though I didn't get to implement all the ideas I had. Maybe I'll revisit this game another time (though I always say that)

Good luck to all the other participants! And thanks a lot Mike for trying as hard as you could to get the new site up and running in time for the jam. We all love you <3

Genres: action

Tools: Stencyl

Comments51

ceosol12 Dec 2016, 04:31

Really nice entry. Simple mechanics with an elaborate upgrade system and enemy AI.

aeveis12 Dec 2016, 04:49

Very nice, had fun. My browser (chrome windows 8 64bit) started lagging a bit when there were a lot of particles, but wasn't too bad. Nice enemy variation!

torcadoauthor12 Dec 2016, 05:31

Thanks to both of you!

If anyone else is experiencing lag, please try the HTML5 version I just uploaded. Thanks!

infinitycore12 Dec 2016, 06:30

nice, fun game, music is a bit repetitive, when you don't have any upgrades, the enemies have WAY too much health, but by the end it seems to balance nicely

sepharoth21312 Dec 2016, 07:14

Simple concept, good execution. This is a quintessential Ludum Dare entry.

TacoTruckGames12 Dec 2016, 07:39

This game is so awesome! I played it until the end and kept playing until I had all the upgrades!

torcadoauthor12 Dec 2016, 07:43

@sepharoth213 dang what a comment. I really appreciate it!

@TacoTruckGames Glad you liked it!

tinyworlds12 Dec 2016, 23:47

Nice little game, love how it turned out! The bear is just so adorable :D

SolarFloss13 Dec 2016, 01:33

Very fun and simple!

Kris with a K13 Dec 2016, 03:13

I beat it one level after upgrading my magic laser to triple beam. Glad I was able to use it in all it's splendor.

xclementx13 Dec 2016, 13:37

Really simple but reaaaaally adictive, i like the upgrading thing!

Uliana Galich13 Dec 2016, 19:26

Really cool game mechanics and it's a somewhat challenging game, which is a good thing! Also, it's fun.

gironC14 Dec 2016, 00:40

cool art, i like the concept, simple but funny, nice entry!

dunin14 Dec 2016, 00:57

not innovant but well executed and very fun.

Khaoz_Fang14 Dec 2016, 01:39

Simple but nice game!

Sean14 Dec 2016, 17:19

Nice entry! The laser beam felt like it was going to be way overpowered, but you did a really good job of balancing its power with the lack of mobility + accuracy that comes with it.

The amount of content was just about perfect as well; it ended only a level or two after I'd gotten a triple laser and started to feel like the rest of the upgrades weren't going to matter anymore.

It's a bit simple overall, but also fairly polished and hard to find much to criticize. Well done!

Tipyx14 Dec 2016, 19:17

That magicat is so cute :3 !

VeryBadBunny15 Dec 2016, 01:26

Phone calls hurt...like real life. =( A game of "terror" made in the game maker! Congratulations on the expensive work, I did mine over there too ... and I know how hard it can be to do it.

Protrance15 Dec 2016, 01:28

Really fun and addictive game. Nice graphics and I enjoyed the upgrade system. Good job!

ambocclusion15 Dec 2016, 01:59

what a fun little bear! audio is boring tho. real fun. is that a cat?????

awesomerex15 Dec 2016, 02:00

I liked this game. Where is the bear? I only see a kitty cat.

TheFudster15 Dec 2016, 02:01

Awesome progression and really well executed.

shnitzhell15 Dec 2016, 02:02

great game! stats are my favorite mechanics in game. it's simple and also makes you think what you want to spend your money into. very cool !

afinkyu_Pheaky15 Dec 2016, 02:05

Decent entry, like the upgrades, audio is nice, but I think the visuals is where this game shines. Good work.

Alex15 Dec 2016, 02:17

Really nice game. Everything fits together perfectly. The only thing bad thing I saw is just that it got too easy after a while, and it became pointless to keep playing once all the upgrades were unlocked. Of course, that's to be expected from a 48 hour game.

Awesome job!

Potato Dog15 Dec 2016, 23:36

Cool game! I like how forgiving it is when you die, made it very addictive aha, simple but very fun!

Infin816 Dec 2016, 14:15

Great job, early game was sorta tough but sorts out after nabbing some stats!

Hempuli16 Dec 2016, 20:58

Very nice! I like that you're not killing monsters but are instead just fighting off some moving furniture. The upgrades feel very meaningful (except for speed, maybe?) and I like that the game has a definite ending. Ended up maxing all the upgrade options. Having a post-compo version with a boss fight at the end would be cool!

fullmontis17 Dec 2016, 11:55

The gameplay is fun and the upgrade system is a great way to keep playing. Unfortunately I found a couple of bugs that made the gameplay a little frustrating. For example, when moving, sometimes the keys got stuck and I kept going in that direction. Also, if I double click on the continue button, I can skip one or more waves. (I'm using the HTML5 version, if that helps).

torcadoauthor17 Dec 2016, 19:56

Yes, keys getting stuck is an html5 issue. Virtually all html5 games have this issue (unless they do some hacky workaround). Since the game is run inside a frame, if your mouse clicks outside of the frame when you are holding down a key, it doesn't ever trigger the release for that key. You have to regain focus and click and release the key again to stop it. My only advice is to just try not to click outside the screen (or use the flash one)

As for the second glitch, I'm surprised you found it frustrating! I found that glitch in the last couple hours of dev and purposefully left it in because I thought it was fun. Once you have all the upgrades the game becomes pretty trivial, but you can spam-click the continue button to go to like level 100 to see how far you can get.

bentglasstube18 Dec 2016, 00:14

Really fun shooter. The upgrade pace seemed really well balanced and the graphics and audio were terrific. I only wish that it were longer.

MrTroy18 Dec 2016, 01:52

I definitely like this one, I stuck it through until level 15. I wanted to make sure I got all of the upgrades.

ObsessiveNotion18 Dec 2016, 02:06

I came here to shoot at overpowered furniture, was not dissapointed.

Review on game.

* Could skip waves by tapping the next wave button

* Lazer is shit

* Loved the screen size for ludumdare page

* Lamps are OP

PowerSpark18 Dec 2016, 07:26

Awesome idea and art :D it was fun... I wish enemies had less health starting off.

kidando18 Dec 2016, 07:27

WAVE 20 YEAH!! I didn't care that I won. I cared about all the upgrades. Solid entry!!!!!

DalesDiscountTires18 Dec 2016, 08:45

The laser has weird control/feel and you can use it for free just by clicking plus next to it. The knockback that happens when you use it happens even if its on cooldown and you try to use it. My keys got stuck on the HTML version as well. Besides those issues i really enjoyed it. I played until the end and got all the upgrades. I wish you added more than 2 weapons! This was really fun man. Good job.

cjke.777718 Dec 2016, 09:21

Nice art, really think the background on the web version is neat - ties it altogether

torcadoauthor18 Dec 2016, 11:20

@DalesDiscountTires yeah, if anything i'd like to make the laser feel nicer. there was some weird issue with the knockback effect. also yeah me too! if you check out the timelapse you may notice i had plans for at least one other weapon. if i ever revisit this i'll definitely add more in!

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone! I really appreciate it :D

Insality18 Dec 2016, 11:52

amazing, addictive, great entry

the graphics, style, gamedesign are perfect.

brilliant job was done! do it better!

neontropics18 Dec 2016, 12:28

Fun game! The weapon is a bit too weak to be satisfying in the beginning, otherwise good design on enemies and patterns.

WarmLemon18 Dec 2016, 13:47

nice one!

pixelpotions18 Dec 2016, 14:07

Well rounded entry! I didn't like the decreased mobility (constant knockback) with the beam though, it didn't feel like an upgrade. Was fun being a wizard, good job! :)

seano18 Dec 2016, 15:02

Fun to play, looks nice too. It was well executed.

eddynardo18 Dec 2016, 17:28

Great!!! nice graphics, nice sounds,fun to play and really polished. Just excellent entry, played it all the way to the end, and kept playing a little more :)

roaringcatgames21 Dec 2016, 01:33

This is a really fun entry. At first I thought it was too difficult, but the allowing of retrying the waves and keeping some money is enough to keep you from completely giving up. I played through the end. The laser beams seem less powerful than you want them to be since the cooldown leaves you defenseless. Great entry.

ShuddaHaddaLottaFun21 Dec 2016, 18:08

well done Torcado. I think it has a good ramp up with difficulty offset by increasing your skills. I believe there were occasions where i was losing 2 health at once (i think i was shot and ran into an object at the same time). maybe start the invincibility frames a little sooner? i dunno. anyway great job!

torcadoauthor22 Dec 2016, 03:54

Thanks for the comments!

@ShuddaHaddaLottaFun there definitely should not have been any instance where you could take 2 damage at once. Even if the function call for taking damage was done twice on the same line it would take health only once

The laser beams from lamps deal 2 damage, so they would take 2 hearts if you don't have the defense upgrade.

Or perhaps you thought losing a whole heart meant taking 2 hits. That is true only after you upgrade your defense.

ato22 Dec 2016, 21:36

I had fun playing this game. I wanted to see what's next, so it sucked me in. I see that you are long time LD participant. It shows in this game, you know what you're doing, and you're doing it good :).

fishbrain1 Jan 2017, 07:53

cute!

Franklin's Ghost2 Jan 2017, 06:52

Fun entry, liked that you could upgrade your character and that even after you finished all the waves you could still keeping playing with your boosted character. Nice to see how powerful you became :)