Gladiatorus

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.46
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.69
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.04
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.27
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.73
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.10

If the game doesn’t work try turning VPN off


In Gladiatorus you play as a gladiator and the spectators have short attention spans so if you don't attack every few seconds you will die. This game fits the theme Delay the inevitable because it is inevitable that the fans will get bored with you.

I was planning on adding a bow enemy but my power went out with 2 hours left so that didn’t happen.

Features:

- Online Multiplayer with up to 3 friends (which is pretty laggy ngl)
- Singleplayer mode against waves of enemies
- 3 different enemy types
- An awesome soundtrack made by Tachy Bunker

Controls:

- Move: Arrows/WASD
- Aim: Mouse
- Shoot: Left Click

Credit:

- Programmer: PepperBoi
- Artist: Jamal Creates
- Composer: Tachy Bunker

Comments26

MaDness
MaDness5 Apr 2022, 08:50
I didn't have a chance to test the game in multiplayer, but the single player is pretty good. I didn't make it that far into the game tho. One thing I would add is more weapon, it does get repetitive after a while.
Izokia
Izokia5 Apr 2022, 08:50
Not sure if it's just me, but the site would not load.
silkmeloni
silkmeloni5 Apr 2022, 09:52
Nice theme,and it's fun to play. It would be better if there were more types of weapons and enemies.
Pepper Boiauthor5 Apr 2022, 15:12
@silkmeloni @madness I agree, and I was adding a bow enemy with 2 hours left in the jam but my power went out so I didn’t get to finish it

@izokia are you using a vpn?
Izokia
Izokia5 Apr 2022, 19:26
@pepper-boi No VPN on me. I just get stuck on an infinite loading screen.
LDJam user 261538
LDJam user 2615385 Apr 2022, 20:49
Nice work! The stabbing felt really nice. That came out sounding weird, but I just mean, it feels responsive and fast and fun XD
LDJam user 279610
LDJam user 2796106 Apr 2022, 01:12
This game is great! I love the telegraphing of attacks, also the "you must attack or you'll get sad and lose" mechanic was excellent. Really good mechanic. No frills, nothing you didn't need, just a great execution of the core game that's really fun. Good job.
Pepper Boiauthor6 Apr 2022, 02:06
@david-york Thanks, the face over the players head was meant to be the fans getting bored
Sofimei
Sofimei6 Apr 2022, 21:47
Nice, simple game! It had the polish it needed to feel complete. I really like the little character designs for the gladiators, good use of re-coloring to imply different stats. The attacking felt clean and responsive. Great work!
VicSparkz6 Apr 2022, 23:24
I like the idea of losing if you don't maintain the interest of the audience. Its a cool way to keep up player aggression. Feels like a mechanic you could expand upon.
LDJam user 2801897 Apr 2022, 11:59
Cool game! Mechanics felt tight, although it felt more like delaying my death than delaying the fans getting bored, since there was nothing in place to stop you from attacking, also the win screen felt out of place given the theme, but the concept is good! One idea could be to have more enemies that run away from you or slow/stun you to make you unable to attack and thus making the fans bored :).

Also the blood particles didn't feel like they were going where they were supposed to. For example there were instances where I stabbed the enemy from the bottom going up and the blood particles went to the right, instead of going upwards.

Overall good job on the game! The most important part was that the stabbing felt fun and responsive and that was what made the game fun to play, the above feedback is just very minor stuff that in my opinion would make the game even better and I hope it doesn't sound too harsh!
Pepper Boiauthor7 Apr 2022, 14:15
@kazuren Thanks for the in depth feedback! My original plan was for the online multiplayer part of game where the other players would be running away but when I realized how laggy the game was I decided to also make the single player mode. At first the enemies ran away from the player at 1hp left but that made it so that the gameplay was boring and after you had all the enemies more you had to run to all the corners of the map and kill them and it was pretty boring. My other idea to fix this was to add ranged enemies, so I started this with about 3 hours left but with 2 hours left my power went out so I wasn’t able to finish it :sob:.

I decided up as an end screen because I knew making it endless wouldn’t be the best time investment so I made the win screen so the player would get a good feeling of winning and I made it so you died on the win screen so I thought it fit well enough.

I am very new with particles and I have no idea what they were doing and so I decided to do other stuff lol.

Thanks again for the feedback!
lpettler
lpettler13 Apr 2022, 19:42
The stabbing mechanic and graphics felt very responsive and fun. Maybe I'm just outing myself as being terrible at this game, but I had a really hard to getting beyond the first handful of levels without boring my fans. Maybe that timer needs to be tweaked...or I need to get better at the game

The graphics were a lot of fun. The use of multiple colors to designate the behavior or enemies was a nice touch and kept the game interesting as it progressed. As mentioned above, I couldn't get all that far so I don't know how deep the enemy rosters went. The blood participles worked perfectly with the satisfaction of the stabbing mechanic.

The sound could use a bit of work: it felt underdeveloped compared to the rest of the gameplay. Overall the game is great!
Noiyy
Noiyy14 Apr 2022, 08:25
Simple & fun, attack felt nice, though enemy death sounded like shot from a sci-fi blaster or something :sweat_smile: I think there could be more attack variations, with player and enemies, maybe even throwing spears? :thinking: Nice entry, though :smile:
spadekHemoglobiny
spadekHemoglobiny17 Apr 2022, 18:49
The fighting system and gameplay felt reeally good and polished. With a score system and more enemy variation it would make quite and engaging game, good job!
Quinn_Patrick17 Apr 2022, 18:54
The game feel and polish here are sublime. Great sensation when landing an attack and getting bounced back, amid showers of blood. What it really needs is some metric of success, like a score, so I have a goal to work toward. Some alternate weapons or weapon upgrades to mix things up would also be really nice. What's here is excellent, though, and the inclusion of online multiplayer is highly impressive.
HerryFabien17 Apr 2022, 18:57
Really nice gameplay ! Adding an hardcore feel by giving one or two life at best would have been nice especially since you can just finish and win the game.
Or make ennemy comming from multiple gate so you are FORCED to take a hit
Pepper Boiauthor17 Apr 2022, 19:03
@lpettler @noiyy @spadekhemoglobiny @quinn-patrick Thanks for the reviews :two_hearts: , I was almost done with a bow for the enemy and the player but my power went out so I wasn't able to finish it. Also for the score system, there is an ending if you get far enough because I wasnt able to make it endless.
Strega
Strega17 Apr 2022, 20:20
Nice arena survival game! The art and animations worked really well. It was easy to read the enemies attacks, but I wish there was a dodge roll or block that gave me a way to counter attacks better. Music and sfx were really good! Great job!
antbrl17 Apr 2022, 20:38
I liked the responsiveness of the controls. Tried singleplayer only though, I could not get multiplayer to work (on a single machine).

It would definitely be interesting to have a goal, know where we are across waves of enemies, how many are left. Also the green elements (lifebar, happy face) are pretty dark, maybe try to make them lighter?

Nice entry, interesting ideas, good job!
Black Flag
Black Flag17 Apr 2022, 21:24
I liked the retro feel including the audio and the diamond transition, I also thought the combat felt polished with the sound effects and the different enemy types! Some ranged combat might have been nice, but I understand its a game jam and what you managed to create felt very polished! Some UI could have been nice like next wave in x amount of seconds, just to make things clearer. Overall, the game looked and played and very well, great entry, and a very fun game!
saintchristopher777
saintchristopher77718 Apr 2022, 00:46
Nice work! Movement and attacks feel great, and the art is good. Definitely in the prototype stage though. More weapons and some type of progression - even scoring of some sort - would be great!

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