Bloodslinger by ryusui

[raw]
made by ryusui for LD 44 (JAM)

Out in the Wyld West, where dragons roam the plains, there's a new breed of cowboy. Wielding wands instead of guns, they imbue poker chips with the power of their very souls and wager them on life-or-death duels. Outlaws by trade, and gamblers by nature, these living legends are called...Bloodslingers.

Choose your play from the three cards you're dealt: beat your opponent's Defense with your Attack and his Attack with your Defense, or play a high card to Luck if you're confident in your aim. How many rival Bloodslingers can you take down before you're cashed out?

Gamepad and keyboard supported. Arrow keys/D-Pad/analog stick to move, Z/A to select.

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UPDATE: Fixed player/enemy death flags not resetting properly.

Ratings

Given 27🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

DAVidus
01. May 2019 · 11:57 UTC
A good game! I had a good time playing it and i really like the art! But it would be so much easier to play and I think it would get a better rating and more people would play it if you could play the game directly in the browser.
Heartclaw
01. May 2019 · 22:09 UTC
I quite liked the game. It's funny and fun. Didn't quite get the point of "Luck" investments, but I may be guessing the idea of that. I love the graphics/sounds/idea. It all combines into a rather unique (imho) take on the western duels. And the visuals/audio made me giggle a little bit in a good way :D
Heartclaw
01. May 2019 · 22:09 UTC
I quite liked the game. It's funny and fun. Didn't quite get the point of "Luck" investments, but I may be guessing the idea of that. I love the graphics/sounds/idea. It all combines into a rather unique (imho) take on the western duels. And the visuals/audio made me giggle a little bit in a good way :D
Absent
01. May 2019 · 22:14 UTC
It's a neat game! Despite being luck based it held my attention for a good bit. Well done.
🎤 ryusui
01. May 2019 · 22:15 UTC
If the player and the opponent win their respective attack plays, then Luck becomes the tiebreaker.
-banzi
01. May 2019 · 22:24 UTC
I can't help myself to think that everything is completly random and my choices do not have any meaning. Good job!
Aleph Null Productions
01. May 2019 · 23:45 UTC
A great core idea, there are several good ways to build off of this. It would be interesting to explore this as the combat system for a larger game. Way to be dead on with the theme! :D
kmazzio
01. May 2019 · 23:49 UTC
Really fun game! I played it for longer than I would like to admit. There is something about this game that made me want to just keep playing. I like that there is a nice mix of statistical strategy and rng, kinda like blackjack or online poker. Overall, extremely fun :)
🎤 ryusui
01. May 2019 · 23:59 UTC
@aleph-null-productions The game was supposed to be a lot more complete than what I ended up publishing: for one thing, a fixed number of opponents with unique strategies, and shop sequences between rounds. I have to admit, what stalled me was deciding on the actual effects of the luck mechanic! That said, I'm really happy I was able to get the gunfight sequences looking so good - took me a couple hours right before the deadline to get them implemented!
Xahell
02. May 2019 · 00:22 UTC
The luck mechanic is really punishing!

I wonder what are the probablities behind, is strong/strong/weak better or worse than weak/strong/strong, I wonder :thinking:

Anyway, that's enough to keep me playing :p
🎤 ryusui
02. May 2019 · 00:34 UTC
@xahell It breaks ties in the event both the player and the AI win their respective attack plays. Like, if you play a 9 to attack against your opponent's 8 in defense, and he plays a 10 to attack against your 5 in defense, then whoever has the highest luck play wins the exchange - unless both luck plays are equal, in which case it's a draw just like if both failed to beat their opponent's defense. XD
BabyKing
02. May 2019 · 02:35 UTC
This was a lot of fun to play around in! I'm a sucker for a card based video game, those Poker Night at the Inventory ones are a hoot. There is some real potential here, thank you for making this and sharing it!!
mdWade
02. May 2019 · 02:37 UTC
Cowboys and cards? Hell yeah!

The game would really benefit from some music I think.
The little animation they do when they fire is awesome, and I love it.
Ransom
02. May 2019 · 02:38 UTC
Neat little game. I like the low-rez pixel art aesthetic.

I think there's a typo in your description: "his Defense with your Attack and his Defense with your Attack". I think you got one of those reversed. It could also be helpful to describe that aces are high.

I'm not sure if luck is working properly. I tied with an opponent when my luck card was greater than his, but he beat me when his luck was greater than mine.

Sometimes the RNG wasn't in my favour at all. I had several rounds where all of the opponent's cards were greater than mine; I don't think it was possible to win.

Aleph is right though; this could be expanded upon. Good job.
SundanceKid
02. May 2019 · 03:14 UTC
Fun little game, I always like these simple card games. The art is simple and nice, I wish it had music too. Well done :)
🎤 ryusui
02. May 2019 · 03:44 UTC
@ransom Jeez, I honestly didn't notice I messed up like that. Thanks!

There's always the option to redraw: if you don't like your hand, you can spend your chips to discard it and draw three new cards. Each mulligan is more expensive than the last, and you can do it up to three times (mainly because I didn't want to handle the hypothetical case where you manage to draw through the entire deck XD)
slotha
02. May 2019 · 20:23 UTC
Very nice Game, I didn't read much of the description so i didn't really know what i was doing, but it was still fun anyway! great job!
MaggardJosh
03. May 2019 · 02:40 UTC
Cool game, I would love to play this with against an actual human. It felt pretty random playing against a computer. Great work!
Exevalon
03. May 2019 · 04:42 UTC
Cool to see another game use a card mechanic as it's main feature. Game is interesting to play and it's always neat when the player has to guess what cards will be best to play, and if none then redraw. I like the chips component as your life. Wished there was some music in the background as that would really add to the game's mood, but with what you have, you've got a nice, playable game here. Would be cool to see where this game can go in future iterations! 4.0 overall!
Cubicode
03. May 2019 · 08:52 UTC
Nice game. I like the style and the mechanics and since I never was able to defend the opponent, I will play it again for sure.
BustosMan
03. May 2019 · 09:04 UTC
I like how this is similar to playing poker. I think this game would probably be better if it had a random boss battle event. This game actually reminds me a lot of that ninja card game from club penguin.
Adam Elaoud
03. May 2019 · 23:34 UTC
I'm so glad I found this game! I'm really glad I played it - it's a really cool use of the theme! I really wish it had some music though, that would've taken the game to the next level. Overall though, I had a blast, well done!
gward2489
04. May 2019 · 02:37 UTC
Really dug this art and also liked the gameplay mechanic. Luck was crucial and I picked up quick on how to try to put together a winning hand. Would be cool to see this game expanded and with some music/polish
josefnpat
04. May 2019 · 02:48 UTC
This is simplistic yet fun - perhaps more levels with more bad guys would have rounded out the game. Really nice job - all that's missing is some fun western music!

Great job!
Kimily
05. May 2019 · 04:30 UTC
Great entry into the Ludum Dare! I love the gunfighting scene, very satisfying and visually it showed who won instead of only relying on text to say who won. The UI was very clear and I was never confused about what I could click on. After first I didn't get that I can to pick my cards in order of attack, defense, and luck. I just thought I drew such-and-such for attack, such-and-such for defend, such-andsuch for luck, then had to pick if I wanted to attack, defend, or use my luck for that round. XD Idk why, but then I figured it out afterwards. The only real feedback I have other than that is the lack of more strategies in gameplay. All I did was reroll if my numbers were low and put the highest numbers up as possible XD