Blight by bsowers

[raw]
made by bsowers for LD28 (JAM)
The Apocalypse has come and the Four Horsemen are doing their thing.

This is a dungeon crawler/hack 'n slash with randomly generated dungeons and a rapidly escalating difficulty curve.

Made for the "You Only Get One" theme: you only get one touch from Death before you die, you only get one weapon at a time, and you only get one minute per floor before Pestilence harms you.

Supports keyboard (direction keys + Space) & XBox controllers (analog stick + A).

Features 4 different weapons & 5 different enemy types.

Enjoy!

Ratings

Coolness 91% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.38 145
Audio(Jam) 3.38 119
Fun(Jam) 3.19 153
Graphics(Jam) 3.04 319
Humor(Jam) 2.03 358
Innovation(Jam) 2.61 366
Mood(Jam) 3.33 130
Theme(Jam) 2.96 206

Feedback

AmmarAlsharekh
17. Dec 2013 · 00:01 UTC
I liked the large number of enemies and weapons
taocayo
17. Dec 2013 · 00:39 UTC
The last level (I'm assuming 5?) is tough. Liked the feel of the controls. The bow may be a bit overpowered in comparison with the other weapons. Nice AI.
blasmena
17. Dec 2013 · 00:43 UTC
THIS IS VERY GOOD! gameplay is very smooth, sound effects are awesome! very satisfying to kill things. Loved the weapons. Some polished art on top of this code and it would be perfect!
Zekyon
17. Dec 2013 · 00:48 UTC
Funny game, it become very hard when you pass certain number of levels and I really like it. Maybe the implementation of the theme hasn't very innovating but the theme wasn't the panacea precisely.
van noctar
17. Dec 2013 · 03:03 UTC
Like sounds and Zelda ambiance. Funny
JaymeeMak
17. Dec 2013 · 03:36 UTC
The sound of the sword slashing should be tuned to a lower volume - the higher pitch is slightly painful.

The little guy running around is cute.
torcado194
17. Dec 2013 · 03:38 UTC
pretty difficult! but i liked it. i liked the variety of weapons
Ryusui
17. Dec 2013 · 03:42 UTC
Very atmospheric. Are the dungeons purely random?
Sakuyan
17. Dec 2013 · 03:42 UTC
Pretty cool gameplay, I think the game could've been better with constant-fire attacking while holding button down. Otherwise, good work.
Ariake81
17. Dec 2013 · 03:50 UTC
great work on this game, reminded me of that old arcade game Gauntlet, which is a good thing i'd say :)
🎤 bsowers
17. Dec 2013 · 04:18 UTC
You guys that like the SFX are crazy. ;-) I made the sword swing sound by rubbing two butter knives together, and the arrow sound by scratching my table.

@taocayo - There is no last level, actually. Game keeps going until you die.
@JaymeeMak - Fair enough.
@Ryusui - Yes, the dungeons are purely random.

Thanks for playing!
seagaia
17. Dec 2013 · 04:30 UTC
good base for a bigger game i think----!
mystakin
17. Dec 2013 · 05:09 UTC
A fun, addicting game. The enemy variety is what really hooks me, and the fact that death is so powerful adds a degree of tension whenever he's close.
LukuluK
17. Dec 2013 · 12:50 UTC
The mood of this game is really good, controls are pleasant.
GG for the random generation of the levels, and the monsters behaviour !
I would just have liked a less difficult maze challenge.
danbo
17. Dec 2013 · 13:24 UTC
Great work in a short time. Obviously reminds of Spelunky.

At first I thought the dead bodies were somehow where other players snuffed it. That would be cool, though impossible in a procgen dungeon.
doctorscientist
17. Dec 2013 · 20:47 UTC
I really enjoy the atmosphere even though its quite tragic. The fog is neat. I am pretty sure that the sword swing effect is the sound of scissors :D I like how death is always a threat and can't be killed but can be delayed creating a sort of metaphor for going on.
vinull
19. Dec 2013 · 01:21 UTC
Reminded me of Gauntlet - neat little game. The music is very well done!
ashen
19. Dec 2013 · 12:14 UTC
Very smooth feeling movement and fighting. Music adds greatly to a mournful mood. Nice random level generation, well done!
kalth.streil
20. Dec 2013 · 22:18 UTC
Just reached level 5 :)

The mood is incredibly, with both the music and the introduction giving you the creeps. Then the procedural generated levels (or at least random starting positions) add variation to the game, which is something my own lacked.

There are five kinds of enemies and as many weapons (sword, bow, scales, death's scythe... am I missing any? XD) but to be honest, I found most of them frustrating: for example, spamming the bow is awesome, but sadly you can't strafe, so it becomes useless quite fast. The sword doesn't do much damage even though you have to get close. The scythe moves around in a pattern which I found quite unhelpful, and while it's away you lose your only weapon. The scales were my preferred weapon :)

The quantity of enemies is cool, but the game lacks any kind of healing, so it gets rough real quick, and fleeing is sometimes not an option when there's an enemy on the way. So yeah, it's a good game but lacks a bit of QA, which is to be expected of a LD of course :)

Great job!
Snuti
21. Dec 2013 · 00:08 UTC
Nice game, it became very challenging after a few levels, which made it interesting. Loved the attack animation and the atmospheric music really added that extra touch to the game :)
Lacutis
21. Dec 2013 · 22:45 UTC
Liked the variety of weapons and enemies. The random dungeons was nice but it was easy to get cornered by death.
Nice entry and use of the theme.
Anachron
22. Dec 2013 · 16:29 UTC
Spooky! Nice Gauntlet-style game. Started to get pretty hard around level 4-5 but I never stopped believing. Then I died, but had fun doing so, so good work!
somepx
24. Dec 2013 · 09:05 UTC
Very good! I'm a killing machine w/ the bow ;)
A bgm would have set the mood and boost the gameplay experience, however, good job!
Denis Chakarov
26. Dec 2013 · 07:55 UTC
Nice game with wonderful music!
Will Edwards
28. Dec 2013 · 23:07 UTC
A very nice fairly-complete-game-for-LD feeling with great AI and good levels. Lots of small stuff like arrows going through walls and things but nothing detracting from the playability of the thing; something I always seem to overlook in my own entries.
postmodestie
29. Dec 2013 · 12:03 UTC
Very Gauntlety, with nice twists. The atmosphere could be more sinister, as it is the apocalypse and all, as suggested by the music ;)
anvoz
01. Jan 2014 · 16:03 UTC
The game was really well made. I love the graphics style. Really cool set of weapons and monsters.
Jupiter_Hadley
04. Jan 2014 · 15:01 UTC
Simple, cool little dungeon game :) Well done! I included it in part 20 of my Ludum Dare 28 compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) youtu.be/O9M3TIYW4UU