Ludum Dare #55compo

Cauldron Crafters

by cibums

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.09

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.98

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.28

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.70

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.94

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.27

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.28

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.92

Play

Play the game in the browser on itch.io
https://cibum.itch.io/cauldron-crafters

Game Overview

Name: Cauldron Crafters
Version: 1.0.0
Date Released: 2024-04-15
Developed for: Ludum Dare 55
Theme: Summoning

Players step into the shoes of a shop owner who crafts custom monsters for various customer needs. Players summon these monsters by strategically placing items into a cauldron in a specific order, where each ingredient modifies the monster's traits. The correct sequence is essential to meet customer specifications.

Mistakes in the summoning process require starting over. As the shop grows, the player unlocks more items, and customers have new demands, challenging players to refine their strategy and memory skills.

Screenshots

How to Play

Controls:

- Just a mouse

Objective:

- Meet as many customers' needs as possible

Common Instructions:

- Read what the customer wants
- Switch to simplified instructions if needed
- Read what each item does by hovering over them
- Drag and drop items, in the right order, into the cauldron
- Click "Summon" and see if you got it right
- If you failed, you will get the same customer again
- If you succeed you will get a new customer

Features

- Dynamic Summoning System
- Customer Demands
- Demands-Met Checker
- Unlocking Items
- Validation so customers never ask for something impossible
- Dynamic way to add more content fast

Missing (future) Features

- Save/Load game
- See a list of exactly what effects have been invoked on the creature
- More items and customers
- Settings

Technologies Used

- Game Engine: Unity
- Programming Language(s): C#
- Graphics Tools: paint.net
- Sound Tools: Audacity & https://sfxr.me/
- Music Tools: BoscaCeoil

Known Issues

- Sometimes items are unlocked for seemingly no reason. The actual reason is that there are too few customers added to the game, and therefore sometimes the game will have to unlock some items for you, to even give you a customer that asks for something that isn't impossible to give them
- Text in the information popup is outside of the UI if too long

Credits

- Game Design: Lucas Fransson
- Programming: Lucas Fransson
- Artwork: Lucas Fransson
- Sound and Music: Lucas Fransson
- Special Thanks: Lucas Fransson & Lucas Fransson also

Tags: #2d, #effects, #pixel art

Genres: puzzle

Tools: Audacity, Bosca Ceoil, Paint.net, Unity, sfxr

Comments20

LDJam user 7085015 Apr 2024, 03:03

Heyo, I'm not sure if I'm playing it wrong, but I'm stuck on the first stage where I THINK i need to duplicate an item, but it keeps duplicating the banana instead of the boots. :-/ Is there a way to get 2x sturdy without duplicating an item?

Owtuvammo15 Apr 2024, 03:05

Really solid concept and pretty fun to figure out the right order to put things in to optimize the effects.
I'm getting some text scaling that make some of the item effects hard to read, but good otherwise!

maymay15 Apr 2024, 03:07

Really fun concept! I enjoyed learning how to chain items together to create the desired effect. The audio is really cute too. I did run into a case where the game got stuck, I think the items I combined may have created a loop or something. It was on the level where I needed to make a mystical creature, but I don't remember all the items I put in that caused the issue :/

cibumsauthor15 Apr 2024, 03:13

@lexgear To be honest, there could be a glitch with the duplication effect. Tests have been made, but of course there could still be stuff that I've missed.

One thing I want to mention is that the duplication effect is for items that are already in the cauldron, so if you put an item in afterwards, it should not duplicate.

If you're still stuck, try the Golden Apple before the boots, if you have that unlocked. It doubles the effects of items that are put in afterwards :)

And thanks for the review as well

cibumsauthor15 Apr 2024, 03:15

@maymay I have seen that happen before. Unfortunately, I noticed the bug very late because it seems to only break in the webgl build. So I did not have time to fix it.

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm very glad you liked the concept :)

LDJam user 7085015 Apr 2024, 03:26

Ohhh interesting. I DID try that. I put the mirror in before the banana but it still didn't duplicate the boots that went in first.. At least i'm 95% sure.

nickCherns15 Apr 2024, 03:32

I loved the music and mechanics. Mixing and matching items in an attempt to satisfy a customer was a fun challenge and I like the freedom to pick and choose in a desperate hope that I got it right. I did have problems reading the tool tips and after a little bit felt like I was just looking for the keywords to throw in and hope it worked. The music was a fun addition as well!

sirJupitron15 Apr 2024, 03:33

Hi! Really cool game, loved the idea of combining items with properties.

LDJam user 38621115 Apr 2024, 03:54

I apologize to my customer for not providing a HELLA sturdy creature, rather only a regular sturdy one :( oh and also bookmarked the DAW you used for the music. Seems like what I'm looking for so gonna give it a whirl!

Impalpable15 Apr 2024, 10:11

This is so cute, I love it! XD

LDJam user 25117015 Apr 2024, 11:25

Cute little entry! I enjoyed watching my BIG FIERCE MONSTER be just a cute looking slime. The chaining of items to get different effects created a bit of a puzzle element, had me thinking at times! Responsive game/UI. Did you have any plans for more (both positive and negative) side effects on items?

cibumsauthor15 Apr 2024, 12:30

@kepsert
Thank you for the kind words! :)

I had a lot of ideas. I wanted some actions to affect shop items, unlock one item temporarily, and many other things. There actually are some negative actions implemented, but no items that use it. Unfortunately, the time just wasn't enough for that. After the jam and the rating period, I will probably add more content in general to make it feel more complete

RPGWanderer15 Apr 2024, 16:08

All customers were satisfied, no need to apologize :) It was fun and given what you did with your pixel art, it would be even better if the summoned creature changed form, I see event more potential if summoning the creature becomes a puzzle (like if you add some effects that cancel/empowers stuff given a set of conditions, I think that that were you were heading) ! Nice music too (and the voice was cute) !

Conrad Etherton16 Apr 2024, 14:59

Interesting concept and nice little game! Nice art on the items and good background music, it's a bummer that the later content didn't work out, would've liked to see more!

verti30 Apr 2024, 23:26

Nice game! There are a lot of similar games this jam, about guessing summoning ingredients. But displaying precise cause-effect relationships made this way more fun for me and added a layer of strategy that was properly engaging. Good job!

filgru30 Apr 2024, 23:47

Cool idea for the game! I really like the design of the ingredients. It would be nice to see different types of creatures maybe. It's a good concept worth developing. I'd like to see more!! Good job!

TomisGreen1 May 2024, 00:29

Cute game, I like the silly voice