Purpose: Unknown

by frogman
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.53
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.34
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.16
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.58
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.24
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.79
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.21
Purpose: Unknown is a turn-based RPG set in a futuristic world, where humans fight robots for their survival. You are a robot that wakes up with no memory, abilities or purpose, and need to figure out everything on your own.
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Exploration

In exploration mode, you need to navigate a maze of trees using the arrow keys. You can find hidden messages by both sides, explaining the story and helping you figure out your purpose. You can also fight both robots and humans by touching them.
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Combat

In combat mode, you need to defeat your enemy before they defeat you. You start the game with no attacks, but early on you get a special scanner that allows you to scan enemy attacks and copy them. Use this ability to get a variety of attacks, and eventually defeat one of the final bosses.
34.png

Useful information

If you're stuck or unsure how things work, use this section for additional information:
- Energy and health recharge after each battle.
- You need energy to attack. Use "Wait" to get 5 energy.
- Attacks deal 'attack power + your power - enemy defense' damage.
- If you run or lose, you will return to the starting position. You will keep your level and attacks, but not ones scanned in the battle you just lost/ran from.
- After failing to defeat an enemy, that enemy will display its name above its head in exploration mode. Use this information to avoid fighting the same enemy over and over again.

```

Changelog:

1.0.2:
-Reduced the difficulty (some enemies are now weaker)
-Fixed another name

1.0.1:
-Removed placeholder cube graphics
-Fixed player discharge animation
-Fixed some typos and names

1.0.0:
-Initial version
```

screenshot

Comments21

RilleP7 Oct 2019, 10:22
Really nice use of the theme and I like how derpy the characters looked :)
Griz
Griz7 Oct 2019, 10:43
It's a great game for your first entry.

Camera could be moved a little further away to make the player know where he is and where to go around the level, but there are lots of weapons, battle animations and you've even added leveling.

Well done, and welcome to the Ludum Dare community :).
coachsisyphus
coachsisyphus7 Oct 2019, 10:55
Is it weird that I love it? Because I love it.
WashingMachinae7 Oct 2019, 11:04
Looks very polished for a first entry! Good job! A bit tedious, but I liked the theme :)
Lumos
Lumos7 Oct 2019, 11:11
Holy shit, this is the best game I've played so far. What's this? A _narrative?!_ HELL YEAH!

It's rather like Dark Souls; navigating Lordran is less confusing than this interconnected maze, and having your position reset when you run for a fight is a very clever allusion to the bonfires of the Souls series. The MIDI soundtrack takes me back 20-odd years, and is much better than the sorry excuses for audio that some people _(i.e. yours truly)_ rely on. The spin on the theme is also nothing short of ingenious.

On my mission to rip the tin cans a new one, after discovering Prof. Ihrenglass's (a name itself laced with subtly hidden meaning, as I'm sure you all can see) secret message pleading with me to save humanity, I accidentally encountered the final boss and tore it to bits with its own mega-laser. Good job, me, and great job, Frogman, for creating this fantastic entry!
Baturinsky
Baturinsky7 Oct 2019, 11:41
Nice (though not very original - learning from enemies were known at least since Final Fantasy 5) idea, but things are happening too slow to be fun for me.
Apace7 Oct 2019, 11:45
This is nice. It's very refreshing that you did not decide to focus on either gameplay or narrative, but instead managed to put in both - some fun gameplay along with a story. Thanks for that!
someoneman
someoneman7 Oct 2019, 15:40
Needs more weak enemies. I won 3 or 4 battles and every single other enemy was way overleveled for me. I don't know if I missed something.
randomnine7 Oct 2019, 16:54
Impressive! You've done a lot with 3D art here, the stealing mechanic is cute, and I like the story snippets and music you've added to round the game out. The whole thing comes together well. I found the world map tough to navigate - I couldn't remember where I'd been - but I ran into an end boss eventually, so it all worked out.

I love the weapon animations on the robot. A cute bit of polish that's really important for the concept.
Kirbloid
Kirbloid7 Oct 2019, 16:59
Pretty ambitious for a compo entry, and the 3d looks pretty cool for it. Exploring and battling was really engaging, and the style of the world was fun to poke around in.
lizelive
lizelive8 Oct 2019, 04:11
your normals on the robots could use a bit of work. if you add a bevel modifier it would look quite a bit nicer.
but i love this game.
Odeyalko8 Oct 2019, 13:11
cool game, though beyond 4 opponents did not pass. It remains to polish and in production!
Ventz8 Oct 2019, 17:15
Sweet game mechanics but I feel the music doesn't suit the game.
Lombax
Lombax8 Oct 2019, 20:12
nice game. didnt complete it, but it did feel like i understood how the game worked. gj. :dog:
Frogman
Frogmanauthor13 Oct 2019, 10:02
Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! I really appreciate it!

As for the difficulty, after reading your comments and replaying the game, I realized that there really weren't enough weak enemies as @someoneman and @odeyalko said. I uploaded a fixed version, where some enemies are slightly weaker. The game should be more balanced now.
theyellowgreninja13 Oct 2019, 18:18
This is really fun! I got stuck once the only enemies left were the ones with the zapper guns, but it was fun right up until that point, and I'm pretty sure there was some way to get past I just didn't find. Really fun, great music, nice visuals, all in all a great game!
PIXAMENTORY
PIXAMENTORY14 Oct 2019, 16:53
“Impressive game, Very cool concepts. I left wishing that there is more. Had a lot of fun “
asfdfdfd14 Oct 2019, 18:10
It's incredible that you was able to create such big game in such short amount of time. Also I've missed minimap.
hyperscope14 Oct 2019, 22:10
First thing I noticed was the camera was a bit too zoomed in show off that nice environment art! Seems pretty ambitious for a COMPO entry although you obviously finished the game. I think we the idea scoped down you would be able to put more time/energy towards polish on the smaller details.

Overall really great work for only 48hrs!
hiroboto
hiroboto20 Oct 2019, 16:33
Hard to believe this is a compo game,,, incredible workload

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