Mr Moneybag by managore

[raw]
made by managore for LD 44 (COMPO)

gameplay.gif

Read This First

a little rogue-like about being a bag of money in a hostile dungeon

collect coins, shoot coins at shopkeepers to buy upgrades, and stay away from reds or shoot coins at them to kill them. you can stand next to shopkeepers to see what they're selling and how many coins it'll cost you. you can even shoot coins at walls to destroy them, but every coin you shoot is one less coin in your bag, so use them sparingly!

reds move after every second step you take, and if you end up next to a red when it's about to move, you lose a coin. if you get hit and have no coins, you're dead, game over!

step on the staircase to go down to the next floor of the dungeon. as you go deeper, enemies get tougher and more common, and shopkeeper prices go up

how many gems can you buy before you die?

also there's no audio, sorry

gameplay.png

Controls

* hold down TAB to see what the numbers mean*

press ARROW KEYS (or WASD) to move
hold down SHIFT (or Z or SPACE) and press ARROW KEYS (or WASD) to shoot
press ALT and ENTER to toggle fullscreen

controller also supported (hold A to shoot, hold the shoulder buttons to see what the numbers mean)

explanation.png

About The Game

made in about 15 hours using Gamemaker Studio 1.4 and Aseprite. the colour palette is the beautiful Master Palette by Fleja. the (very basic) pathfinding script and a few helper scripts were taken from Death of a Lich, but everything else was written from scratch including the dungeon generation (which uses a corridor-and-rectangular-room approach)

I really enjoyed making Mr Moneybag and I hope you enjoy playing it!

BUILD VERSIONS

the Original Build is the one made during the 48 hours, with two bug fixes (listed below). the Updated Build includes slightly faster movement, animated reds and dead-end corridor prevention

BUG FIXES

  • fixed a game-breaking bug where coin damage wasn't being calculated correctly
  • fixed a game-breaking bug where one shopkeeper was improving the wrong stat

Ratings

Given 8๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ 0๐Ÿ—จ๏ธ

Feedback

superpokeunicorn
29. Apr 2019 ยท 06:26 UTC
I thought that this game was pretty cleverly designed. Focusing the game's design around the coin mechanic was a good way to tie everything together. I also like how you could avoid the enemies if you were clever enough as a way of saving money. The coin mechanic really makes you evaluate your priorities. One thing I didn't really understand was the damage upgrade. I upgraded my damage to be 4 per coin, but it still took 2 hits to kill 2hp enemies and 3 hits to kill 3hp enemies. Is that a bug or have I just misunderstood the mechanic? Anyway, that was a bit disappointing, since I spent a lot of coins on damage upgrades that didn't seem to work. That aside, I found this game to be a really cleverly designed experience that I had a lot of fun playing.
๐ŸŽค managore
29. Apr 2019 ยท 08:21 UTC
@superpokeunicorn that is definitely a bug, I'll push a fix for it soon. thanks for letting me know!
benjamin
29. Apr 2019 ยท 11:12 UTC
This is very addictive. Almost everything about this game is great but I will focus on what is not int the comment :D The dead ends ( corridor with no room ) are my #1 reason for dying, I guess a generator with circular paths would make the game more enjoyable. The controller start button reboot the game which was unexpected. And sad. But probably convenient for debugging. If you ever think about working on this game again here's a features suggestion list : implement vision line ( vision seems op ), adding a sense monster carac (+2 step) not affectected by wall ( working like your current vision ). Being able to see asa red number how many total monsters are in the dungeon, would help to feel danger/pressure. It would give some kind of feedback for investing in the teal carac.
๐ŸŽค managore
29. Apr 2019 ยท 11:54 UTC
@benjamin thanks for the detailed comment! I agree with you on pretty much everything (I tried to remove dead ends but quite a few still managed to sneak in there) and I'd like to try and add in some of these features in the future
CarlosPidox
29. Apr 2019 ยท 12:09 UTC
I like this so much! It's pretty clever having everything tied to the coins. I wish it had audio and it would be perfect!
Played until floor 6, spent all my money on a shopkeeper and ran from a red straight into a one way corridor. Whoops.

Good job on the entry, one of my favorites so far :smile:
juicy_vegetable
29. Apr 2019 ยท 14:06 UTC
This game is fantastic. It still needs some work, but I already enjoy it a lot as is.
Some critique:
-Player seems to move too slow(is there a time delay before each tile movement?), I would speed it up somewhat. If the player wants to move slower they can just tap the movement keys to go one tile at a time, but when I'm holding the keys down, it is a bit irritating how slowly I move.
-Combat was weird sometimes, it would be nice if I could shoot coins at them from a distance of 2 tiles
-Of course add sound & music when you have time.
-The HUD could be more intuitive, so you don't have to use text to show what each thing is. Honestly the only important HUD information that I would be interested in knowing is my health(coins) and my gems.

The graphics are simple in the best way. I like them and I like how the lighting works. Well done with the randomly generated levels. If you make any updates to this game, I want to be notified... the potential here is enormous. Great work Managore!
Le Slo
30. Apr 2019 ยท 09:15 UTC
Very solid system that works great and it is already greatly fun! Couple comments:
-Movement can be a little bit faster.
-I missed some intructions on the game (I downloaded the game and close this page before playing, so I couldn't figure out how to shoot coins).
-Some incentive for going down floors. At the moment the best strategy is to clean up every floor, there could be a risk-reward thing when going down to add more spicyness.
-I think coins some times spawn on top of each other.

Great job!
jharler
30. Apr 2019 ยท 13:37 UTC
Having attempted my own dungeon generator in a LD, you have my respect for doing that and everything else in 15 hours. I think you have a solid mechanic here and it would work as a full game if further developed. Audio would do a lot, of course, but the foundation is solid. My only criticism would be the movement felt a little sluggish. Overall, great design.
fazz
30. Apr 2019 ยท 14:00 UTC
I really enjoyed this. I found it intuitive and I wanted to keep playing. There's already significant depth of play considering its simplicity. I've got some great ideas how it could be developed further, but as you've only put 15 hours into this I'm sure you have lots already. I'd love to see where this goes if you develop it further (please do).

Will you put it on your itch page if you dev it further? And might we see an HTML5 build?
joemanaco
30. Apr 2019 ยท 19:28 UTC
Great design and already quite good balanced. Feels like it has already a lot of depth for a compo entry. :thumbsup:
SecondDimension
30. Apr 2019 ยท 20:03 UTC
The red enemies were surprisingly scary the first time I encountered them :smile: I liked that their hit points were so clear. I really do like it when games give you all of the info. I would probably like a bit more going on to keep me playing for a longer time, but I really enjoyed playing this for 15mins or so
barret
01. May 2019 ยท 01:37 UTC
this game was very lovely. I really appreciated the color coding for things and how you could tab to see information about all the numbers. That alone was really slick and smooth. Because of the color coding it was really easy to understand the game and progress.

I tried to imagine coin sounds while I was playing the game haha. Really cool stuff though.
petitpois
01. May 2019 ยท 05:05 UTC
Awesome entry, really nice simple art style and the game mechanic works wonders.
Adam Elaoud
01. May 2019 ยท 07:07 UTC
This was a joy to play! I found myself constantly having to weigh which upgrades I wanted, or if it was even a good idea to get them because I needed the coins to both protect myself and buy gems! Excellent design! Overall incredible game all across the board.
Fahim Faysal
01. May 2019 ยท 07:44 UTC
Fun and very well designed. The art is very charming thanks to the simple design and effective color palette. I think simple and focused games like this are a very good fit for ludum dare.
yazara
01. May 2019 ยท 09:37 UTC
Once again a really enjoyable game from you! I love the simplicity of this, enemy and icon design, the subtle animations and the mechanic of shooting coins to fight and to buy.

Same as @benjamin I also died because of running into a dead end.

Nice additional features would be a mini map and a more elegant solution for the stat UI.
japes
01. May 2019 ยท 11:03 UTC
Another great entry. Interesting mechanic with a well executed, minimalist interface and stylish design! You are an inspiration sir. Just have to mention that it would be great with sounds! Even some beeps and boops made with sfxr would add a lot to it imo.
๐ŸŽค managore
01. May 2019 ยท 12:55 UTC
@carlospidox I'm going to keep working on it, and one of the first things I plan to add is some (hopefully nice) audio

@juicy-vegetable thanks for the feedback and the kind words! I've increased the movement speed when tapping movement keys in the updated version and I think it feels a lot better already. as for shooting from a distance of two tiles, you can do that already. coins keep travelling in a straight line until they hit a red, a wall or a shopkeeper. I'm going to try and see if there's a way to improve the UI, I have a few ideas for that!

@le-slo you're absolutely right about movement being too slow! and if I keep working on it I hope to incorporate the instructions and controls into the game itself so people can't miss it. as for going down floors, I hope that the enemies constantly spawning makes levels more and more dangerous to stay in, but it might need more tweaking

@jharler I appreciate the feedback. the dungeon generation was tough to get working, but it was really satisfying in the end, hope yours was too!

@fazz I'm always happy to hear people's ideas, but you're right, I have a long list of improvements and additions I'm excited to try out eventually. I'm going to put it on itch shortly, though I can't seem to get the html5 version working so it might remain download only

@joemanaco thanks!

@seconddimension glad you liked it, I'm hoping to keep working on it and making it more and more strategic

@barret hopefully you won't have to imagine the coin sounds for too much longer! thanks for the kind words

@petitpois, @adam-elaoud , @fahim-faysal thank you!

@yazara I fixed the dungeon generation in the updated build so that dead ends should be impossible, I realized how much it sucks to end up stuck in that position. going to look into improving the UI in a more fully fleshed out version of the game

@japes thanks! I think I'm going to crack open jfxr soon
Neowedge
01. May 2019 ยท 15:26 UTC
Great roguelike ;).
MateusBoga
01. May 2019 ยท 16:29 UTC
Awesome game concept and executed perfectly! Bravo!
Drauthius
01. May 2019 ยท 18:31 UTC
Pretty fun and cute, with some interesting mechanics and choices. It hurt my soul that this is without sound though...
NandoN
01. May 2019 ยท 21:37 UTC
Your jam entries always turn out to be my faves, and you've done it again.
Ithildin
02. May 2019 ยท 00:29 UTC
This is one of the best entries I've played so far!

I loved how the core mechanic ties everything together, and it also fits the theme like a glove.

Visuals, user interface and controls are clean and clear, and the overall experience feels really smooth. The shopkeepers' shapes hinting at what they offered and having the enemy HP be a part of their graphic were details I appreciated.

Exploration works well in general, but sometimes I missed a minimap. Besides this, eventually levels became somewhat repetitive, but considering those 15 hours of work the amount of content is more than enough, especially given how polished it all feels in general.

Amazing work as usual!
Black Potion
02. May 2019 ยท 12:27 UTC
Love this rogue like. Like usual in fact, I'm a big fan of your work. Perfectly fit the theme and addictive. Wish the gem could upgrade stuff too ^^
Pixel-boy
02. May 2019 ยท 14:42 UTC
Lovely game, cute art, addictive gameplay, nice work !
maskinmask
02. May 2019 ยท 16:02 UTC
so coooool~played for hours..
AVAVT
02. May 2019 ยท 17:19 UTC
Nice game again, but I dont' quite like how the game is not intuitive comparing to, like, Path of the Rabit or Roguelight: you can just jump right into those game and play, but not with this game.

I had to switch back and forth from the game twice: one was when I actively look for explanation of the numbers, and the second time was when I "finished" with the game, about to comment that I noticed the part that say you can... destroy the wall!?!

Mind = Blown. Had to play the game again, ugh!

What I love about the game is the constant evaluation of cost vs benefit while play, in every action in the game.

What I hate the most is there's no indication of "what's now" - number of reds spawned (maybe not that important), remaining coins on this floor (pretty important), how many turn until next red (could be useful).

And I still don't understand the meaning of gem. What are they for, after all? Maybe I just never managed to get enough gem to trigger their event or effect (best I got was 5 probably).

- If they have no special effect, they're serving the same purpose as "floor level" imo.
- If they do have their "special meaning", maybe you could have an earlier indication of that "maybe just a message?" so the player could have a desire to gain more.
josefnpat
03. May 2019 ยท 03:37 UTC
This was cleanly designed and addictive!

I wish I knew what my max coins were at some points Great job!
๐ŸŽค managore
03. May 2019 ยท 05:21 UTC
@neowedge @mateusboga @drauthius @nandon @black-potion @pixel-boy @maskinmask thanks for all the lovely words! :)

@avavt you're right about it not being as intuitive, and that's something I'm going to focus on in future updates. for now I have to hope people read through the block of text first, but I know that sucks when there's a game to play! as for gems, they're meant to serve as your score. I thought floor level might not be a good measure of success because that encourages people to jump down as soon as they found the staircase, and I didn't want that. thanks for all the feedback!

@josefnpat thanks! the pink number above your coins is your max coins (you can hold tab to see what that number, and all the other numbers, represent)
damantisshrimp
03. May 2019 ยท 11:12 UTC
I love the graphics on this one: very sharp with a nice palette. I tried the web build (I don't have Windows) but I couldn't use my coins to buy anything. At least I didn't manage to.
๐ŸŽค managore
03. May 2019 ยท 11:30 UTC
@damantisshrimp sorry to hear that. did you try shooting (shift + arrow keys) your coins at the shopkeepers?
damantisshrimp
03. May 2019 ยท 16:41 UTC
@managore ah... you're right :D I thought it was only for killing red numbers. I'll give it another shot then.
DeathBySnail
03. May 2019 ยท 20:20 UTC
Really cool design!
Reality Blind
03. May 2019 ยท 21:17 UTC
Awesome game, I really liked the risk of exploring that increasely grows, and trying to collect "one more coin" despite having 10 reds behind me ๐Ÿ˜

And that's when I was surrounded that I discovered one more strength of your game: there is a way out of this, just think.

TL;DR: You did an excellent job, congrats ๐Ÿ†
caeonosphere
04. May 2019 ยท 08:40 UTC
Very cool! I'm quite partial to this "everything is upgradeable" approach to game design, as evidenced by my own game. Cute, functional graphics, too!
johnnydalvi
04. May 2019 ยท 14:41 UTC
Most addictive game that I've played on the jam so far, congrats.
alexrose
04. May 2019 ยท 14:58 UTC
I don't like roguelikes but I really enjoyed this. Great presentation, pretty addictive, lots of stats to balance and think about. Also very fair. Had a lot of fun despite not liking the genre. Well done.
gil4
04. May 2019 ยท 16:01 UTC
Well done! I rarely enjoy jam roguelikes even though I love the genre overall, they just turn out too shallow in jams, and the genre requires quite a bit of depth to work well imo. Excited to see you nail it, simple yet charming and just deep enough to be enjoyable for a prolonged session. Would love to see it expanded into a full mobile game. You even inspired me to potentially go for a roguelike myself next LD (assuming fitting theme and idea). Thank you for the game and the inspiration. :3
PeachTreeOath
05. May 2019 ยท 02:06 UTC
The king is back!

You always know how to craft very tight systems that work together in unison, and this game is no different. I thought all the stats were pretty compelling so the choices were pretty difficult to make, which imo is the sign of great systems. The most engaging part of the game for me was the stats and just building them up. For a roguelike, I think it's actually pretty rare to make the player want to truly explore the map and not just gun towards the stairs. I think classic RLs were good at that but for some reason a lot of modern ones make me not want to do it. You give the player a lot of incentive to explore so kudos to that and kudos to another excellent game.
caranha
05. May 2019 ยท 05:46 UTC
I loved it. Very tight gameplay, very addictive. The ability to shoot down walls brings something very fun for me.

After playing a while, I found myself very much wanting to see a "level map", in order to remember myself which areas I had not explored yet, or which shopkeepers I left behind. Looking forward to updates in the game!
Franklins Ghost
05. May 2019 ยท 07:42 UTC
Fun and addictive, really enjoyed seeing how far I could get and find other dungeons. The simple art style also worked so well with the theme and concept. Great use of the theme.
red
05. May 2019 ยท 16:07 UTC
Overall a solid entry as always, but the mechanics felt off. Shooting was weird and sometimes didn't shoot when it felt like it should? It was not easy to tell when the enemies would hurt you and when they wouldn't.
recursor
05. May 2019 ยท 18:51 UTC
I love the shopkeepers as they provide a compelling and fun reason to continue trudging through the dungeon to grab coins. I played this far longer than I should have. It is a simple concept with no complexities that remove fun. This is a well-designed entry, and I enjoyed playing it very much
coatline
05. May 2019 ยท 20:03 UTC
The little bob when the player moved kept me amused. The shopkeepers were very fun and sometimes you got a good deal and sometimes not. I like the take on the theme too. Great job!