A Desperate Theif
This game is from ldjam.com, which is currently unavailable.
You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive (may not load correctly).
You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive (may not load correctly).
:joystick: Quick Controls guide: :joystick:
Note that you can also play with a controller using the left stick to move and the right trigger to shoot.
The Game
You're a good man in an unfortunate situation. You've been diagnosed with a mysterious illness and the only way to keep yourself alive is the raid experimental laboratories. Unbenounced to you, the facilities are guarded by high tech robots. Will you be able to find the medicine in time? Will you rack up enough cash to be able to compete with the facilities increasing defenses?
:first_place: Win Condition? :first_place:
The "win" condition is completing the second level. This should be pretty easy for most players (i wanted everyone to see all the game has right now), in the future there would procedural generated levels that increase in difficulty. The win condition in the future idea would be completing your personal best amount of levels.
:book: Guide: :book:
The clock in the top left is the number of seconds you have left before you die, find medicine to add more time. When the clock is under 30s you will take more damage from melee attacks and less from bullets.
Your health is on the top of the screen.
Running back down the hallway lets you go to the next level. (The yellow wall at the start)
:bug: Known Bugs :bug:
*As of 2020-04-20 2:03PM EST*
Sometimes the turrets lasers will not fire because the lasers will spawn in touching a wall and immediately get destroyed.
There are collision issues on the left side of the first level, you can fit but since the character is 16x16 and the space is exactly 16x16 its a tight fit.
There was a problem with the transition to the second level, this was due to a UI bug causing a null pointer. I went in and deleted the UI element and then re-added it, the null pointer is gone.
Thanks to everyone who has played so far!!
A couple ideas brought up by people in the comments.
One person brought up the idea of picking either the timer or the health bar not both. I really liked this suggestion, thanks to @logan-perkins. During development I thought about making it so when you reached 0 seconds on the timer you wouldn't immediately die, but instead would be 'one shot' and die to the next bullet or wheel that hit you. This would allow the player to flex their knowledge and skill at the game. I dont think I could completely remove the timer since the timer adds a lot to making tough decisions and trade offs. Its true that good thieving requires patience and planning, and that is exactly why I included the timer. The game is fundamentally against planning or taking it slow, your only option is to dive right in because the longer you wait the harder it will be. I think I might be able to remove the health bar but this is something I'd have to think about more. The idea is that the player can take more damage when they keep the timer up but doing this sacrifices the time and ammo they could've used grabbing money.
A couple people brought up player speed. I spent a bit trying to get a dash mechanic working, but scrapped it for the sake of time. In the future of this game, I do plan to include it. Mechanics that reward skillful players are very much important to me and the dash would be a shinning example of that.
Note that you can also play with a controller using the left stick to move and the right trigger to shoot.
The Game
You're a good man in an unfortunate situation. You've been diagnosed with a mysterious illness and the only way to keep yourself alive is the raid experimental laboratories. Unbenounced to you, the facilities are guarded by high tech robots. Will you be able to find the medicine in time? Will you rack up enough cash to be able to compete with the facilities increasing defenses?
:first_place: Win Condition? :first_place:
The "win" condition is completing the second level. This should be pretty easy for most players (i wanted everyone to see all the game has right now), in the future there would procedural generated levels that increase in difficulty. The win condition in the future idea would be completing your personal best amount of levels.
:book: Guide: :book:
The clock in the top left is the number of seconds you have left before you die, find medicine to add more time. When the clock is under 30s you will take more damage from melee attacks and less from bullets.
Your health is on the top of the screen.
Running back down the hallway lets you go to the next level. (The yellow wall at the start)
:bug: Known Bugs :bug:
*As of 2020-04-20 2:03PM EST*
Sometimes the turrets lasers will not fire because the lasers will spawn in touching a wall and immediately get destroyed.
There are collision issues on the left side of the first level, you can fit but since the character is 16x16 and the space is exactly 16x16 its a tight fit.
There was a problem with the transition to the second level, this was due to a UI bug causing a null pointer. I went in and deleted the UI element and then re-added it, the null pointer is gone.
Thanks to everyone who has played so far!!
A couple ideas brought up by people in the comments.
One person brought up the idea of picking either the timer or the health bar not both. I really liked this suggestion, thanks to @logan-perkins. During development I thought about making it so when you reached 0 seconds on the timer you wouldn't immediately die, but instead would be 'one shot' and die to the next bullet or wheel that hit you. This would allow the player to flex their knowledge and skill at the game. I dont think I could completely remove the timer since the timer adds a lot to making tough decisions and trade offs. Its true that good thieving requires patience and planning, and that is exactly why I included the timer. The game is fundamentally against planning or taking it slow, your only option is to dive right in because the longer you wait the harder it will be. I think I might be able to remove the health bar but this is something I'd have to think about more. The idea is that the player can take more damage when they keep the timer up but doing this sacrifices the time and ammo they could've used grabbing money.
A couple people brought up player speed. I spent a bit trying to get a dash mechanic working, but scrapped it for the sake of time. In the future of this game, I do plan to include it. Mechanics that reward skillful players are very much important to me and the dash would be a shinning example of that.