Ludum Dare 19
December 17th-20th, 2010
Theme: Discovery
More Info: /ludum-dare-19-has-begun/
Prophecy - PaulSB - Competition Entry
(Backup link: http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1292807713)
Discover the finest warriors from a school of eager youngsters so the Demon Lord might be thwarted, as per the prophecy.
CONTROLS:
UP/DOWN: Navigate menus
Keys 1-3: Used in menus, context instructions appear along bottom of screen.
Basic mechanics:
Each year every participant can be "assessed", revealing their eventual potential in one of the four disciplines, or "trained", equipping them to use one of the four disciplines.
Once trained in two disciplines they are assigned a class and are ready for the end-game, should they be chosen.
View PaulSB's journal. | View all entries by PaulSB
Ratings
| #35 | Innovation | 3.61 |
| #54 | Coolness | 10% |
| #113 | Overall | 2.89 |
| #114 | Humor | 2.20 |
| #124 | Graphics | 2.78 |
| #144 | Theme | 2.88 |
| #161 | Audio | 1.73 |
| #182 | Fun | 2.22 |
| #211 | Community | 1.55 |
Comments
Wow, I really enjoyed this. But my team failed! Time to play it again and win right now.
Too many students to deal with! And really simple UI improvement: why make me flip through the 4 stats? Just have 4 bars on each guy. That drove me crazy. I'm not sure I really understood much of the rules. I think the issue was that I was thinking of "training" to mean improve them, but I guess they did that on their own. Anyway, the thing I really didn't like was dealing with 50 guys at a time. Maybe had it been a simple mouse-driven interface instead of cycling through everybody, though, that would've been fine. It's a very unique prospect to just be trying to pick who will save the world instead of doing it yourself.
But in the end, my guys were rated super high and yet they got stomped! I guess the world is simply doomed.
So out of all the games I've played this LD, this is the only one that kept me interested for hours. I think that says something about this game. Well done!
The main thing i would suggest to improve it, is for it to ask if you are sure before confirming your plans. A few times I accidentally pressed 3 toward the end and had to start all over again. That was frustrating.
***SPOILERS***
I played it many times and couldn't beat it, so I ended up looking at the source code to figure out what I needed in my team to beat it. I just had to beat it.
This is what I needed in my team to win: 5 melee/ranged, 3 defense, 2 magic. From what I saw, I think that is the only combination that will win. Even knowing that, it was a challenge to get the right people at the end.
So, the game is hard, but I actually think it wouldn't have appealed to me as much if it was easier. If I beat it on the first try I wouldn't have liked the game as much.
***END SPOILERS***
I second what Hamumu said, the interface could be improved, but I really like the concept. It kept me engaged for a full play through, and it would be even better with another polish pass.
Love the idea, some improvements on the UI and this could be stellar.
Congrats on completing the LD48!
Aww, thanks kylerhoades, glad you had some fun with it!
I definitely hear the UI suggestions, if I return to it I think ripping out the input stuff and making it mouse-driven and more clear would definitely be the way I'd go.
Also didn't realise it was quite that hard, didn't really have time to balance it. And I obviously didn't want it to be easy!
I enjoyed the game. It's the most different I've played so far. It definitely could have used music to speed things a long. Some customization on the warrior's appearances would have been nice as well although I know that is a very tall order in 48 hours.
The concept was interesting however whether you win or not seems to be down to luck as much as it is to skill, especially with the 5 turn time limit. Also having some sort of animation for an end cutscene would have been nicer than text but that's another nitpick.
Oh yes I forgot to mention. Even if you don't change the interface please allow us to scroll the people by holding down the arrow keys instead of having to press the key all the time over and over. <3
Pretty unique concept.
There's a few tradeoffs in the UI, it took me a bit to figure it out. The UI control is somewhat unwieldy, there sure must be a more comfortable method (something weird, like mouse control). And boy, did my group of five get blown away.
That would add quite a lot to the game: The final confrontation would be shown animated.
Good concept, but scrolling through the list of students takes a long time, as does going through the list of skills they possess.
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Interesting idea, however i think it could have been acheived a better way than constant menus