Medieval Messenger

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.94
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.30
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.30
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.80
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.45
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.48

Welcome to Medieval Messenger!


1.01 patch fixes a bug with the mouse clicking through and now shows the number of deliveries made correctly.


A turn-based game intended for LD53 Compo, but ended up as Jam Game ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.

Everything (programming, game design, art, music improvisation, music performance) by manta ray, except sounds (freesound.org) and fonts (dafont.com).

Live the experience of being a medieval messenger, delivering important items between VIPs.

Try to survive (hp shown in red) and keep being trusted (trustworthyness shown in green), if either of those run to 0 you'll die!

How to Play


* You are the blue messenger.
* Click player to move and click again to select destination.

You need energy (shown in green) to move, you can also rest!
Be wary, moving through different terrain, as well as resting (by clicking the Rest button), take different number of turns. Hover with the mouse to check the turn costs on each terrain tile.

* Click castles, churches, shops and inns to interact.
* Press ESC for options
* Scroll camera with arrow keys or moving the mouse to the edges, and re-center it on the player with space bar or middle mouse.

Tips/Questions


Q Where do I need to go?
A Places where there are quests (either new quests or where you need to complete current quests) are marked with an exclamation mark. Scroll with the mouse (or arrow keys) to find them.

Warning, castle/church names vary from run to run (locations do not).

Q How do I know what quests are available and what quests do I currently have active?

A Check the upper left corner of the screen.

Q I don't understand what happened in the turn.

A Not really a question, but ok. Check the turn log at the lower right of the screen. If needed you can use the scroll wheel to scroll the text up and down.

Q How do I attack?

A You can't, you are a messenger! Run away from the baddies and make sure to keep yourself healed.

To survive, run away, cure yourself and be careful which terrain you traverse.

Q How do I get cured?

A Visit a shop and buy a healing potion.

Q I click the destination tile but it doesn't move!

A Make sure you clicked the player first.

Q I click the destination tile but it doesn't move! I clicked the player first.

A Are you sure your turn already ended? Check the messages.

Q I click the destination tile but it doesn't move! I clicked the player first and the turn already ended.

A You probably have no energy. Click the rest button to rest. Warning, this takes 4 turns! If you want to get fully rested without spending turns, visit an inn.

Q How do I gain trust?

A Complete delivery quests.

Q How do I lose trust?

A By rejecting quests. Remember, they are your bosses! Can't say no! There was going to be a turn limit for delivering items, after which you would also get trustworthiness decreased, but that feature didn't make it into the game.

Q How do I win?

A You don't. Or, equivalently, you keep playing until you die. Same as in real life. Try to get as many deliveries as possible.

Technical


Made solo in Gamemaker + Aseprite. Music improvised and played by me on my Roland GP609 digital piano. Fonts from dafont.com, sounds from freesound.org.

Screenshots



Have fun!

Comments2

LDJam user 3376976 May 2023, 10:05
Very cool game, interesting idea. Enemies are unfair though - if you were caught surrounding by desert or mountains - you'll die 100%. That would be nice if they use the same cost of moving as the messenger does.
LDJam user 31404512 May 2023, 20:39
It was a lot of fun to play. I found the soundtrack to be somewhat unnatural and had some difficulty escaping enemies, which made the game challenging. But these are minor issues and didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the game. Overall, it was a lot of fun to play, good job.

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