LudumData

Element Crush by vfqd

[raw]
made by vfqd for LD 41 (COMPO)

Screenshot1.png

Play in browser post-compo: https://vfqd.itch.io/elementcrush and original build (for ratings): https://vfqd.itch.io/element-crush-original-build

Element Crush is being made into a full game!

Follow me on twitter - https://twitter.com/vfqd_

And join our discord - https://discord.gg/GpE5K3s

How to play:

  • Left click to select an element, left click again on an adjacent element to swap
  • Right click to deselect an element
  • ESC to return to menu
  • Get 3 of the same element in a row to combine into a tower
  • Get 3 of the same tower in a row to combine into a stronger tower
  • Fire -> Flame Tower; Water -> Water Tower; Forest -> Wood Tower; Mountain -> Stone Wall; Mine -> Gold
  • Combining more than 3 will result also in gold
  • Click on towers to see where they can attack
  • Enemies will spawn at the red arrows
  • Click the gold arrows to clear a row (costs 15 gold)
  • Click the buy HP button to buy a life (costs 10 gold)

About:

Element Crush is a mashup of a match-3 game and a tower defense. There is a 6x6 board where one must make towers to prevent enemies from getting through. The match-3 elements make it tricky to maintain towers in the correct places, making each move important.

HTML5 (web) https://vfqd.itch.io/elementcrush
HTML5 (web) https://vfqd.itch.io/element-crush-original-build
Source code https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DlsRGep6ES4pPunKvUvFIV1dgdTRXFHy
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/element-crush

Ratings

Overall 3th 4.333⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 4th 4.333⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 16th 4.292⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 15th 4.396⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 20th 4.354⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 177th 3.318⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Humor 468th 2.25⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 111th 3.542⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 10🗨️

Feedback

Damien Remars
23. Apr 2018 · 15:13 UTC
:heart: I played 5 or 6x!
p-r
25. Apr 2018 · 00:15 UTC
stunning
Persijn
25. Apr 2018 · 20:31 UTC
For players: You can upgrade to level 3. Only done it twice.

I think this is the best game a have played this ludumdare so far. :star2: :stars:
Now i have no idea why you have scaled the difficulty so strangely.
After the 3 or 4 wave there are just to many enemies on the screen you have to delete them with gold arrow. :sob:
The water tower damage is just too low, even at tier 3 it does little damage to enemies.
On the 4 wave there is a sound bug? The volume gets really high as the wave spawns?
And if you read this dev please keep working on this and post it on sites where people can find it.
This game can really become a really good brower game.
:fox:
🎤 vfqd
26. Apr 2018 · 08:53 UTC
@Persijn Thank you so much for your kind words.

As for your feedback, I think I agree with you on all the counts. In retrospect I would have made the walls and the water towers both stronger (shoot faster and more health respectively). Also the enemy scaling could have been done better, it's the kind of thing that would have come out with more playtesting, just ran out of time. I'll certainly think about working on it more, if there's enough interest I'll do a post-compo version with some simple bugfixes but I might come back to it more properly at a later stage.

Thanks again for taking the time to give such awesome feedback :star2:
Jiri Hysek
29. Apr 2018 · 11:37 UTC
Wow, this is cool. Concept, visuals, audio.. Oh and replayability, really great entry, one of my favourite.
Pavel Smejkal
30. Apr 2018 · 14:22 UTC
I played a game with the same theme mashup already but this one was far better. I also really liked graphics style. It reminded me of Heroes III. Fine work!
Jimbly
30. Apr 2018 · 14:35 UTC
Final score 563 =). I made a level 3 water tower in my second game, hoping its range would get bigger, but it did not, and it was not strong enough to get any farther than I did in my first game. This was a great entry, I really enjoyed it! I think maybe the number of swaps should increase as levels go farther, as things get awfully difficult and that would help offset it a bit.

From reading other people's comments, I had absolutely no idea the gold arrows would clear enemies! I thought it was to clear rows of your board that were getting ugly, that could be clarified. Maybe I need to play it one more time, knowing that...
Jimbly
30. Apr 2018 · 14:47 UTC
Got 900 or so points on my third game, one level farther, but difficulty scaled way too quick there. It would have been nice for getting bonus gold for combos where I do one swap to clear multiple things. Also, matching 4 towers always seemed like a giant waste.
GastricSparrow
30. Apr 2018 · 14:48 UTC
Wow. WOW. This is a truly innovative combination and game. All elements work together to help the experience and not just for the sake of being there. Sound fx was the weakest link, but it didn't matter cause everything else is great. I would have been impressed that a team could put this together in 3 days. Then I realised this was a COMPO game. I'm speechless. This is a home run.
aaron9
30. Apr 2018 · 15:48 UTC
This is one of the few games that I played through multiple times, I really enjoy it! Great visuals, great idea and works really well with the theme. My only gripes are the difficulty scaling (as others have mentioned) and the fact that the golden arrows aren't explained (I had no idea they were even a thing until I read the comments). Overall a fantastic game :)
Pixelome
30. Apr 2018 · 16:04 UTC
Very cool concept :) The biggest problem for me was the steep learning curve, some in game hints would be appreciated. I thought I was stuck until I figured out that every swap doesn't have to be a combo. I really like the graphics, reminds me of my grandmas cross stitching :smile:
yscik
30. Apr 2018 · 16:12 UTC
This is a great game!
aaron9
30. Apr 2018 · 16:58 UTC
I found a bug on the PC version - after you reach around 350 points (not sure what wave number that is) the swap counter resets and enemies won't spawn. Each time this happens the game becomes a little more laggy until it eventually crashes.
madjackmcmad
01. May 2018 · 03:30 UTC
A+ game of the jam so far. BRILLIANT idea for 48 hours, wowowowow. So happy to have found this. I got 1130 or so points so I am pretty much the best in the whole world.
madjackmcmad
01. May 2018 · 23:13 UTC
I am still playing this <3

I entertain my stream viewers with it while waiting for longass Switch builds. Please make more of this game!
Schu
02. May 2018 · 03:09 UTC
This is fantastic. The idea is great, everything works, and it's very intuitive. One of the only games that has made me play through multiple times. I would love to see this made into a full game!
🎤 vfqd
02. May 2018 · 15:44 UTC
Thanks everyone for your support and feedback :stars: and a big thank you to @madjackmcmad for the donation :grin: . I'm currently working on a post-compo version of the game using your guys awesome feedback. I'll definitely incorporate the bugfix into the new version @aaron9.
madjackmcmad
02. May 2018 · 20:09 UTC
@vfqd your game is stalling Tangledeep development, why would you do this to us
Hisfantor
02. May 2018 · 21:59 UTC
I really like the idea, it changes the point of calculation to the connect 3, but also the randomness, was very fun to play. I'd like to swap two from any position for 10 gold or something

![1525298189_2356_02052018_392x262.png](///raw/d0b/1/z/1497f.png)
Biterkid
03. May 2018 · 03:13 UTC
I came here because I wanted to beat @madjackmcmad but I can't... overflowing foom in his veins.
Great game, I suggest a mobile version.
Jiri Hysek
03. May 2018 · 08:08 UTC
One does not simply survive that last wave..

![screenshot.png](///raw/221/c/z/149a0.png)
madjackmcmad
03. May 2018 · 15:47 UTC
get rekt nerds

![ecrush_1735.png](///raw/7d6/z/149c9.png)
🎤 vfqd
04. May 2018 · 15:43 UTC
Hi all, I've just posted a post-compo build with some neat new features and some bugfixes, you can find the whole changelog here: https://vfqd.itch.io/elementcrush/devlog/33013/element-crush-post-compo The main page (https://vfqd.itch.io/elementcrush) will play this new build while the original build has been moved to https://vfqd.itch.io/element-crush-original-build. Give it a whirl! Tell me what you think :grin:
TwinGhosts
06. May 2018 · 14:05 UTC
Awesome game, it felt really solid :) I played both the GameJam version and the post and I really dig this game. The artstyle is nice, it plays well and fluid, nice feedback. Cool idea to use a gridlike overlay, unique aesthethic!

Lovely
PuddleOfWater
06. May 2018 · 14:59 UTC
Very interesting genre combination. :) And nice lighting from the fire. The match-3 part made it harder to place fire towers evenly. But it was a nice obstacle to overcome. :)
irwatts
06. May 2018 · 15:58 UTC
Awesome combination of genres! I went in completely blind and was able to figure out almost all of the mechanics just by trying different things out. The messaging for the tower attack range was a little confusing at first, most likely due to the coloring, which I would have expected to have some red, but I figured it out. Good readable graphics, good sounds, intuitive UI, and fun to play!
![elementCrushScore2.png](///raw/f16/1/z/14adc.png)
Deborah-Soude
08. May 2018 · 06:33 UTC
Woow ! So cool !! Graphics are cool ! GOOG JOB !
simonhutchinson
08. May 2018 · 17:52 UTC
Wow! I LOVE THIS! Brilliant combination. I think this is the most successful combination of genres that I've played so far.

Really addictive too. Great work.
TerraCottaFrog
08. May 2018 · 23:35 UTC
![high score.png](///raw/32/z/14b94.png)

Love this game!
oneseedfruit
15. May 2018 · 13:43 UTC
This is an awesome awesome awesome game!! Pretty fun!! Looks great too! Music is pretty nice too!! Wow!!
t-mw
19. May 2018 · 21:20 UTC
Well-deserved ratings - I've played this a lot over the past couple of days!

![](///raw/bc0/6/z/14ee6.png)
🎤 vfqd
19. May 2018 · 21:53 UTC
Thank you :smile: @t-mw @oneseedfruit come join our discord https://discord.gg/GpE5K3s