Dark Villagers by AwiX
Welcome to our project page. In this game you are going to run a village, where followers of evil cult live. They are peaceful people, who usually develop their village, pray for dark forces and glorify Satan.
But when peasants attack the village, sectarians have no choise but to offer each other's lives for sacrifice on a sacred altar for summoning the grim hellspawn up for help.
The game's economy offers several main resources: gold (recruit nomads), food (necessary for hiring new sectarians), wood (building material) and bricks (also building material). Dark Church, which is available from the beginning, lets gathering some gold during exact time (you can see income as green numbers from time to time).
But your main resource is people. Nevertheless, you must sacrifise them to defence of your village. Therefore, you can turn travellers into your faith at village's reception. For this, click on any nomad, then if you have enough resources, it turns in red robe and starts to believe in... whatever...
In the beginning of game session you have 5 sectarians, Dark Church and an altar. Besides, there are building fields on a playing area. By selecting a field you can chose a building, which you want to set up: hut, windmill, sawmill and quarry. Huts generates gold, windmills produce food, sawmills give you wood, quarry generates bricks. If task's icon in building menu is grey, it means you do not have enough resources for building.
After setting up a building you can appoint there up to 5 sectarians. Running processes from inside increases building's effectivity. Sectarians could be forced to go back outside, for this, select a building and click on sectarians' images in a pop-up interface.
Peasants from a neighbour village will come soon. They will attack sectarians and destroy their houses one by one. Therefore, for defence you must appeal to the altar. You can order sectarians to go there, then you sacrifice their lives. The more blood is spilled, the stronger creature is summoned. Notice, different kinds of demons conquer different kinds of christians with different level of success.
With every wave of attack your enemies have better chances to win: the amount of their warriors increases, also knights and even inquisitors replace peasants.
Here's the game twitter in case of updates — https://twitter.com/DarkVillagers
Here's gameplay video. https://youtu.be/vGe6gjNfMhI
| HTML5 (web) | https://praleks.itch.io/dark-villagers |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/dark-villagers |
Ratings
| Overall | 351th | 3.614⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 402th | 3.398⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 419th | 3.272⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 162th | 4.022⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 192th | 4.11⭐ | 165🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 290th | 3.462⭐ | 159🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 584th | 2.707⭐ | 149🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 212th | 3.71⭐ | 164🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 170🗳️ | 133🗨️ |
looks like I won. nice entry!
Good one
Nice addictive game but a mini tutorial would be useful on the beginning ;D. And I think a separating the cultists from the recruits will be a good idea because it is a little hard to choose them :D.
All is here and it's such a pleasure to organize these poor little cultists !
Nice job guys !
Despite that, the game is fantastic overall.
Moreover the UI is so small I couldn't know wich building I could build and what was it purpose...
Awesome graphics !

Be brave ! I know it's such a mess to balance RTS ! :)
And anyway, this game is just on the top !
The last wave for me! I guess I should invest more time into it :thinking:

5/5:crown: - WELL DONE! :thumbsup:
The hardest part is to have a good start, then you only have to summon/sacrifice cultists to win. Maybe add an option to destroy/upgrade buildings ? That would be sick ! Also, adding a few stats to each monster would be great to know what they are doing.
Had a good time anyway, congrats ! :)

I like how you made the blood from sacrificial altar overflow to the right of the screen. And how this blood scares out peasants and they don't come bother me anymore (it happened around wave 52 for me).

Great entry! Congratulations!
good job!!
My only gripe is that there is no tutorial and you didn't get many sound effects in place. But it was really fun. Has great looking pixel art, I love the use of theme and it has a good amount of strategic depth.
So sad, that you have undone it.
Good job.
We're working on:
- New animations
- Tutorial
- User friendly GUI
- Balance fix
Stay tuned!
Fits theme perfectly.
I was struggling in the beginning to understand how to play but then i saw the video and things became much easier. Who reads the manuals anyway :)
Few problems I've had with the game - balance is very rough at the start, after a while clicking on each individual cultist/recruit starts to annoy
Overall - good game. I think it may have good future if you choose to develop it after jam.
This game is quite challenging. After several tried I made it to Wave 13.
Congratulations and looking forward to your next jam game!
- New animations for Swordsman;
- New animations for Monk;
- New animations for Knight;
- New animations for Flesh golem;
- New animations for Lord of Darkness;
- New animations for Furious peasant;
- Economy balance fix;
- Creatures stats balance fix;
- Wave composition and timing fix;
- Bug fix.
Go ahead for new records!
@Budark
Thank you for your review
@mortus
Thank you for your review. Unfortunately, a tutorial takes too much time. We simply didn’t have enough time to implement it. As a result we revised population, we even had to add gold coins as resource.
@koemeterion
Thanks for playing. Yes, we consider implementation of training levels in the beginning of the game in a post-ludum version
@Oxygenium
As in the real life! 😄Thank you for great advice, we have done so. Changes are already available for testing.
@spidamoo
Thanks. Yes, we know, tutorials are our weak point.
@meskaline
Thanks a lot. We added animations, which we couldn’t do in the beginning because of the lack of time. The game has changed for the better, you can give it a second chance.
@ragtagradical
Yes, this game mechanic wasn’t very good. We made some changes, and we hope that you would love it now.
@katamary
We wanted a player to feel every life he’s taking :D To be serious, it was important to make players remember about this jam’s topic
@Nicrodk
Thank you. To vary gameplay we want to add some randomization in a post-ludum version
@Fahrenheit459
Thanks. We ourselves love games with micro-control of small units
@Pilchard
Thanks for your detailed comment. It is really nice to see that somebody likes our work so much that they came up with ideas, which we would love to implement. Unfortunately, we simply have no time left to propagate our cult to neighbour villages. Maybe we will add this mechanic to a final release.
Thanks. We are very pleased to read such reviews. We are still in process of mastering this game. We really want to complete it to its final release.
@Naboki
Thanks for review. Yes, our illustrator is currently working on different versions of UI
@Raveroth
That’s all? Haha, we all have done titanic work. What a pity that there’s only artist’s work is so easy to estimate at true worth. Anyway, thank you for your review.
@catbutt
Thanks, pal
@eFrag
Despite the fact that we were creating this game for a jam, reading your comment we just want to write: “This game was created for people like you!” Thanks a lot for your review.
@Nekonyo
Thank you. We have a balance specialist. Therefore, we sent all your complaints to him. If he doesn’t cope, he won’t have his share of cookies. Sacrifices must be made!
@Carbonara
Thank you. We are working on a detailed tutorial and intuitive UI, a post-ludum version must be more intelligible
@PowerAnze
We will improve the dynamics of game’s difficulty growth in a post-ludum version of the game. Thank you for your opinion.
@minelsaygisever
Thank you very much
@Dorukh
Haha. It’s a very pleasant comparison, thank you
@MyAlias
It’s very nice to see reviews which pay compliments not only to our graphics. Thank you very much for your opinion
@WegPast
Thanks. Wait for post-ludum version. Lots of things will be more usable and simpler
Thanks for recommendation. We are already working on this.
@arkiruthis
Thank you very much. Yes. The main members of a team had been working for 14 hours a day all 3 days of Ludum. It is very nice to see, that this work is valuable for you
@ori_
Thanks. We are very pleased that you like music
@Kszaku
Thank you. We added all missing animations. Now you can enjoy pixels at its full potential
@Anna-Karpova
Nice comment 😄 Thank you
@vivien-fargette
Thanks. Yes, to enjoy this game a player should sacrifice time :D
@vlad-ilisan
Thank you for your review
@sickybricky
Thanks a lot. We are really glad to read reviews like this. Come to visit us more, we are preparing a post-ludum version
@Fahrenheit459
Haha, it seems that we have to add a crusade in our game specially for you
@radow
Yes, we have ideas about upgrades for demons. Everything will be in a post-ludum version. Stay tuned 😉
@Fede
Thanks. We were worried that this is a too banal idea to play with topic. At least we tried to make a game interesting and captivative
@kothead
Simple? Many people complain that nothing makes sense :D Thanks for your review
@designernap
Thanks a lot. Keep in touch, once this jam-project will be a finished game
Haha, yes, we went too far with a genre choice. Everybody in a team now wants to make a platformer for the next Ludum
@Blodyavenger
Thank you for your time. This is really motivating to receive appreciation in exchange for our effort
@lucien-catonnet
Of course. Thank you for your review
@Linheha
Of course. Thanks for your review
@Rolly
Of course. Thank you for your opinion
@Beardmage
Thanks. Yes, we are thinking over core-gameplay, when a player can meet challenges during the whole game. Although, to be honest, this is a very demanding task
@net3ton
Thanks. Yes, we were trying to create RTS, but there was a lack of time. As a result, we had to improvise with a genre
@pantoufle
Thank you. Haha, yes, we will sacrifice the guilty one on a sacrificial altar!
@falak
So who was the first? Thanks a lot. This is a very nice comment. Seriously, share your favorite projects. Sometimes it is really challenging to find a great game
@kromeboy
Thanks
@NinjaCatz
Haha, thanks. We wish we could feel the same
@dob
Yes, there are bags. We will definitely fix them. Thank you for your comment
@Icehottet
Thank you
Thanks. You are not the only one who faced difficulties. It seems we need to implement a tutorial
@skynix
Thanks pal
@VikTris
Thanks. Yes, there is a problem. We will fix it
@banjoduarte
Thanks. Yes, health bars are the priority #1
@Sargonius
Thanks. You can try again, we have made some minor changes in combat mechanics
@Beelzeboss
Thanks. We are really glad to see reviews like this
@Novella
Yes, unfortunately, the game appeared to be a bit more challenging than we expected
@falak
Thanks. Yes, sure, we will look at your project
@f4kethis
We are 100% finishing this game. Thanks for review
@hechi
Thanks. It is so nice to impress someone
@MrLeePerry
Thanks. We all love to controle little units
@vlad-dae
We are definitely are finishing this. Post-ludum version will be a great game
@great-bobleny
Adding difficulty settings is a great idea! Thanks, we noted it down
@Mohrro
Thanks, we are pleased
Thank you. Yes we decided not to bother with this
@cassio-eduardo
Yes, in a post-ludum version there will be intuitive UI for sure
@cloud-huai
Wow. Thanks. Stay tuned
@dusho
Thanks. It’s nice
@Pieter
Thanks. Yes, the tutorial. Everybody is asking for a tutorial. It seems we have no choice :D
@royur
Was this hard? Oooh, yes! We had been working for 12-16 hours every day during a jam. Thank you for your opinion
@ShenDev
Thanks. You’ll see much more
@verysoftwares
Yes, we are remaking the interface. Sorry, we were limited in time
@gaming-night
Thanks. Yes, the animations turned out to be great
@Iluvatar
Thanks a lot. It would be really cool to get into top-100
@jevgeni-orehhov
Nobody reads manuals, but everybody asks to create it 😄So, of course, we will. It’s a pity that we didn’t do it in time
@Cr0wnS
Thanks. Yes, yes, we are working on a tutorial
@vlandemart
Thanks. We are trying to fix the balance. Also we are going to think control out
@Kovakomes
Thank you. Yes, we will fix the problems with overlaps. We will add health-bars as well. Stay in touch
Oh, yes, tasks which are beyond our strength is our weak point. But we believe that we have succeeded. Even if not 100%. Thanks for your review
@GerardB
Thanks. First we’re going to deal with this one
@FireBug
Thanks for playing. We will definitely make the game simple and intelligible
@rhewid
Haha, this is 100% true. We had to eat up our SFX designer, therefore, there is no sound in the game
@naali
Yes, we are thinking about upgrades and additional mechanics
@kloscunha
That’s simple – the less blood, the fewer regrets 😄
@daniel-abeleira
Thanks pal
@wdebowicz
Insane! How did you manage?
@hi-im-greg
Hi Greg. Thank you. This is very nice to get reviews like this
@Rolle
Thanks. Yes, yes, there will be instructions
@team-on
Thanks. Yes, we will make a great effort to create a good game in the end
When I figured I could click on the rock to build structures, I had no idea what the 4 options are, or what they do, so it became more of a trial and error in figuring out what they did instead of building with intention and purposeful decision. Again, tooltips would've helped here, as well as description of what the different resources do when we hover over them as we have 4 resources to manage. I am spending gold but I don't know how to increase the +2 gold gain because I don't know which building or option lets me do that. It also wasn't very obvious initially that the rocks were clickable too as they seemed like part of the background.
The UI icons are also terribly small which not only hurts the readability of the icon, but also makes it harder to click on them. Combine that with the lack of visual feedback of when a button is clicked and it becomes hard to tell when I successfully pressed the button.
After a while, I unfortunately had to move on as I wasn't able to understand how to play the game. I understand that instructions are provided on the game description page, but not many players may be patient enough to read long text descriptions before playing and it is not easy to relate to instructions outside the game. For example, what is a Dark Church, what are sectarians, and nomads? Which ones are those? Which ones am I hiring when I click on the in-game button? The instructions use a lot of vague terminology that I don't get introduced to in the game. A better way to structure the help would be to have a page on the units, then a page on buildings for which you can show an icon of a building, a text to what it's called, and another short text to what it does. For example, *icon of Church* "Chuch, +2 gold/s" I guess? These are just my suggestions.
I had a friend outside of Ludum Dare also try this game and who also mentioned that the game looks like it had the potential to be a top game or at least be really fun but seems wasted by the bad UX. Nevertheless, it's a nice looking game and the dark atmosphere definitely shows in the art.
Your feedback full of smart advices and contains deep analysis of our game. This information is worth its weight in gold.
Thanks a lot.
My only complaint is that the possibility to build the house seems to be a little unintuitive, it took me two games before I realized how could I do it. But that may also be a problem in me. :smiley:
Can you create an easy mode?