Ludum Dare #55compo

Life As A Lich

by vortexb

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.05

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.59

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.14

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.73

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.60

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.13

Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.95

LEVEL 3 AND 4 ARE NOT BEATABLE TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE. PLEASE PLAY THE FIXED VERSION ON MY ITCH IF YOU ENJOY THE GAME :D

Heya!

I got a short, and hopefully fun little puzzle game for you all. Summon skeletons and reanimate the dead to activate arcane sigils and ascend!

Try to figure out the mechanics and solve puzzles

Controls

wasd - move

mousescroll - camera

space + click - summon

z - undo

r- reset

Unfortunately, as I ran out of time there is no sound.

Additionally, levels 3-6 have not been playtested in the engine! So if they are not beatable feel free to skip in the menu (unpause if it doesn't work).

I'll finish adding sounds and a bit of polish more when I get the time and there is also a version on my itch found at https://vortexb.itch.io/.

Thanks for playing any feedback is appreciated, no matter how harsh you can't hurt my feelings >:)

Also technically one mesh was made by a friend after he playtested and hated my cube for a crate. Feel free to deduct graphics

#### Update
The itch.io version has some fixes that make the game more playable but submitted after the compo time. Feel free to play that version if you like the game :)

Tags: #short, #top-down

Genres: puzzle

Comments30

josang156715 Apr 2024, 10:53

Good game, but how can I change the level when I get the skeleton on the symbol?

LDJam user 29849615 Apr 2024, 13:17

Really cool idea and nicely put together. I felt my brain expanding as I learnt the proper combinations. Great job!

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 21:14

@matt-ravenhall Thanks for playing! Glad you could figure it out

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 21:15

@josang1567 The player has to go to the pentagram to finish the level. I wasn't able to add vfx to make this more obvious in time :(. Thanks for playing

Owtuvammo15 Apr 2024, 22:27

I like the art and what I think the general idea is, but I'm really not clear what I am supposed to be doing.

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 22:56

@owtuvammo Darn I was worried players wouldn't get what to do. I'm sorry it wasnt clear enough. I hopped that the simple controls would let players experiment with what they can do to solve puzzles. If you're willing to give it another chance, the goal is to put the piles of bones on the spinning sigils then stand on the pentagram. Skeletons fall into piles of bones when they hit a wall. Thanks for trying regardless

Frib15 Apr 2024, 23:18

Fun little puzzler! Had to read the comments to learn that a skeleton corpse has to lie on the magic tile; I thought at first that you had to time its movement while it was still alive. I really like the puzzle elements you've included! However, the controls felt very sluggish and the visual clarity is also lacking a little; it's very dark and the camera is quite far away, making it hard to see what you're doing sometimes. I think speeding up the movement would help a lot. But other than that, solid game!

Owtuvammo15 Apr 2024, 23:22

@vortexb aha! Yes, that makes sense now. I was able to get through a few levels. These are some tough puzzles! Thanks for clarifying though. I'm glad I got to dig into it a bit more now.

niterich15 Apr 2024, 23:26

I thought your graphics and atmosphere were top notch, but I was super confused by the gameplay. Even with the in-game instructions I didn't realize I had to make the skeleton collapse on the spinning sigil to move forward - I had to read that in the comment section. And even then, I'm not sure if I'm doing it right? I thought I should be going on to the next level in my screenshot, but I'm stuck and I'm not sure why

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 23:33

@frib Thanks for playing! I didn't want to directly communicate much to the player and wanted the level design and player discovery be a big part. Sorry about the controls, I did do a quick fix that made it better for the version on itch. I also agree the camera is a bit too far. Wish I did more play testing to get this things right but that how jams go

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 23:35

@owtuvammo Glad you were able to enjoy! I play a lot of puzzle games so my balancing is probably very skewed. Thanks for playing

VortexBauthor15 Apr 2024, 23:38

@niterich Yea it looks like you did the level exactly right and that should be a win. I guess it might be a bug? The version on my itch fixed a couple of obvious bugs for checking the win conditions. If you move on and off of the pentagram it might work in this version. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing

Moonblast16 Apr 2024, 06:25

The graphics and camera movement are very cool, the gameplay was initially a bit confusing but eventually understood it and felt very challenging

out1oud16 Apr 2024, 06:31

I really like this atmostheric views and environment. I tried really hard to figure out the rules, but couldn't make it all the way through :(
Hope to see an updated version on itch in the future! Cool project.

LDJam user 38567116 Apr 2024, 06:37

Great submission!
I was quite lost at first, but once I eventually realized how things worked I was hooked.
Found it very hard to pull myself away from the game.

The games art style was amazing!
Could use some sound design and a bit more clarity but overall good work!

Ben Albert16 Apr 2024, 14:18

Great game! Reminds me of a 3d Baba Is You kinda feel. Puzzles were solid and art was really great!

VortexBauthor16 Apr 2024, 16:09

@moonblast @out1oud Thanks for playing! I wanted to make a challenging puzzler but it still feels bad seeing it as a turn off for people

@meepster Glad you liked it, I really wish I had enough time for sound :(

@ben-albert Baba is you is a huge inspiration. The biggest one for this game though was probably magicube. Big recommendation

sirJupitron16 Apr 2024, 16:32

Hi! beautiful art style, nice mechanics and level of polish, I wonder how do you make a 3d game with this visuals in a weekend. Thank you!

VortexBauthor16 Apr 2024, 17:28

@sirjupitron Hey thanks for the feedback! Although the game's camera is 3D, most of the assests are either sprites or really basic meshes so it really doesnt take long. Unity does all the really heavy lifting for 3D engine features like rendering. The games logic is practically only all on the X and Z planes.

Imbajoe16 Apr 2024, 20:30

I came up with same solution @niterich posted and thought that'd be it, so I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. Good job on the directional camera controls adjusting to the camera angle, that was a nice touch

VortexBauthor16 Apr 2024, 21:10

@imbajoe Yea that is the solution to level 1 so I'm sorry it didn't work for you. You also have to move around or wait until the sigil activates and then walk onto the pentagram. Thanks for playing!

Pincushion16 Apr 2024, 23:47

The lich was hard to see. It really blends in with the ground. Otherwise, really nice moody look. The 2d stuff and their animation really work.

I agree with others, the movement feels a little sluggish.

I appreciated that I needed to discover the mechanics myself. It took a bit, but it paid off when I figured it out. Then I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to disprove that level 3 on ldjam.com isn't beatable. I agree. It's not beatable (or is it?). Point is. It gets ya hooked. Fun game. Good job.

Wheffle17 Apr 2024, 05:01

Took me a little bit to figure out what I was supposed to do, and which circle the skeleton is supposed to go on haha. After I got the hang of it the puzzles were good! I can tell a lot of effort was put into some of the visuals too, I think that paid off. A little rough around the edges, but it's a good entry!

VortexBauthor17 Apr 2024, 05:08

@pincushion Nice! Really happy you enjoyed. Great feedback, I agree and tried to fix some of those issues in the itch verison. I love puzzle games for their sense of discovery and I'm happy you were able to experience something similar. Thanks for playing :D

VortexBauthor17 Apr 2024, 05:22

@wheffle Thanks for playing and the feedback! I'm happy with the entry and glad it was enjoyed!

seurimas17 Apr 2024, 18:01

You should stick with introducing one element at a time for puzzles. Having to figure out how skeletons work, what to do with the skeletons, and that you and your skeleton can both move boxes in certain ways all in the first puzzle is a big obstacle. Besides that, you game looks quite pretty and runs well!

josemwarrior17 Apr 2024, 21:08

I've been like many other folks here

VortexBauthor17 Apr 2024, 21:56

@seurimas Thanks for playing! I understand that level 1 is asking alot of the player, I wish I could have smoothed out the learning curve more. Something that more time and playtesting would have helped. I'm happy you enjoyed it

@josemwarrior Sadly I didn't include a solid tutorial level so part of this puzzle game is figuring out the mechanics. If you're willing to give it another shot, try putting the skeleton on the other sigil on the ground when its a pile of bones :D

henk19 Apr 2024, 23:22

I liked the visuals, and the puzzles had me stumped for several
minutes (I played the fixed version of the game you linked), good job.

I was a little frustrated by the controls, though. If I tap a
movement key three times, I expect the character to move three squares,
but instead it seems if I tap a key while the lich is moving, the input
is ignored. My next instinct was to hold down movement keys for
continuous motion, but that also didn't work. The puzzles were good
enough to keep me playing in spite of that, though, so I think what
you have here is super neat.

Like others, I also missed that the skeleton needed to be collapsed on
the sigil for it to work. It's obvious now, but for me, the "Ascend"
graphic appeared to be depicting a normal skeleton and not a pile of bones.

VortexBauthor20 Apr 2024, 05:29

@henk Thanks for playing! Great feedback too. I'm happy the puzzles were enjoyed. Making the mechanics and art took up too much time and I skimped on QOL and polish. Glad you liked it :D

Other games by @vortexb

Death and Taxes

LD50