Bloodew Valley by sohakes

[raw]
made by sohakes for LD 41 (JAM)

For the Ludum Dare 41, I mixed a farming simulator game (such as Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley) and a survival horror game.

The instructions and credits are inside the game. If you are in a hurrry, you can press C to cheat so you get more gold and life. You can also skip the day cycle with N (and advance to 6PM by pressing it one more time).

I do recommend you read the instructions on the main menu. If you pay attention to the messages when playing a new game, that's also enough. If you do neither, it will probably be confusing (the most confusing thing: if you don't have 2000g by the end of the second day, that you can earn by planting 10 carrots or cheating, you will die).

I hope you like it! Thanks for playing!

Important: Some people think the gun is not working. I think it generally is, but it doesn't shoot projectiles, has no feedback at all except for the message at the bottom of the screen (sometimes though, it bugs and appear another message about not being able to execute an action at night), and it has a cooldown of 3 seconds. The cooldown countdown appears in the bottom of the screen, you can shoot again when it says it is ready. The weapon also has a range, so you can't shoot too far. The best feedback is the message about the cooldown at the bottom of the screen. It could also be that the cursor is bugged. Can happen if you alt tab or in windowed mode, sadly :(. It's a problem with Unity first person controller that I couldn't figure out. You know if the cursor is bugged if the tile positions when tilling the ground doesn't match the green crosshair at the middle of the screen. In that case the best solution is to try full screen or restart the game (it saves when you sleep). Also, cheating is an option to go through it, just press C and the vegetables are considered "dead" if they touch you, but you have infinite life so no problem (and for the grandpa battle, just buy the junimo upgrade and they take care of it for you).

Itch.io page for download: https://kraiom.itch.io/bloodew-valley

Some images (don't know how to hide them for spoilers):

photo2.png

photo3.png

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Ps.: WebGL build has a bugged cursor, sadly, so I won't upload it. I will post the source code soon, I need to discover how to clean up the unused assets before that.

Known bugs:

If you alt+tab, your cursor will be screwed; The menu that appears when you press escape doesn't work.

Ratings

Overall 654th 3.391⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 782th 3.087⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 661th 3.261⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 528th 3.674⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 882th 2.957⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Audio 574th 2.958⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 396th 3.19⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 518th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 22🗨️

Feedback

Apples_mmmmmmmm
24. Apr 2018 · 03:58 UTC
There was a terrible sound every time I tried to run the game. Sounded like a audio source was destructed improperly, but on loop. It went away if I jumped and came back when I landed. The exit button also didn't seem to work. I see the comment about alt-tab-ing, but I hadn't done that.

Tried the windows build btw.
TomekS
24. Apr 2018 · 04:06 UTC
Wow quite a complex system for a short time that gamejam is, farming reminds me of Minecraft. One thing I miss would be possibility to adjust mouse sensitivity, also it lags every now and then. Well done!
ZuhairGhias
24. Apr 2018 · 04:14 UTC
Love the music and art style. Old school vibes <3.
Arun Donti
24. Apr 2018 · 04:22 UTC
This game was really good, I can't put into words how good this game is for a game done in a weekend. The first time playing I definitely planted way too many carrots and got demolished by the demonic carrot ghosts. it was great! The next time Grandma murdered me, it was great! Then I actually got somewhat decent at the mechanics and started rolling in the money, but some speed upgrades, some gun upgrades and everything. I could definitely see myself playing this game a lot more. Your art and animations are so well done. There are some weird things with the game though, you can't exit or return to the main menu without dying, the buttons don't work. I probably wouldn't have figured that bug out for a while if I didn't have to sleep. Sometimes I phased through the ground when opening the door to exit the house and I think the time of day needs a small update. For example at one point it was 0:10 PM. I definitely want to play more of this game and would love if you developed it more. The two main criticisms I have are the theme of the Jam and the game and the feel of the gun. The game is great but I don't think that it combines two themes that are incompatible. I haven't really seen these themes combined before, so it's innovative, but not really incompatible. The gun felt a little weird to use, maybe a visual indicator of using the gun would help, a bigger crosshair would also be better.Thanks for making this game!
🎤 sohakes
24. Apr 2018 · 04:52 UTC
Hey, thanks for the comments and the feedback guys @Apples_mmmmmmmm @TomekS @ZuhairGhias @Arun Donti.

I'm really happy you played that much @arun-donti, it means a lot to me. I also felt the same way about the theme. But I thought: if the genres are initially incompatible, but you blended them well, did you fail the theme? But I understand what you said.

About the time, I'm not used to seeing time in AM/PM form to be honest haha (I live in a place with 24h system). I thought it was supposed to be 00:10, but I guess it's 12:00, and then 01:00.

The gun certainly needs more feedback to the player. I think that I've played so much that it ends up feeling natural to me, but certainly not for others.

Again, thanks for the lovely comment, it made me really happy!
TiagoDvl
24. Apr 2018 · 21:59 UTC
Well, first things first: You should be absolutelly proud of your work and effort that has been put on several hours to produce this game. Well done!
- Initial gameplay conditions and indications were too fast even though they're simple it was not nice to read it in a hurry.
- Used colors, visual indications, sounds were all amazing. We could see how much you aimed for good readability and understanding the concepts of your game that were all WELL pointed out since minute 1.
- Well, yes, the story is not remotelly deep but I got the feeling that it could be so much more explored. Feels a nice WIP or MVP project.
- Navigations on windowed mode were not good at all :(
- I couldn't use my gun. Not sure if I did something wrong though so I coudn't reach grandpa.

My first farm (yes i died at the first night lol):
![6391e92f-7fb6-4b8b-ae9c-ebd8c92f113d.jpg](///raw/ccd/61/z/13b98.jpg)
stderr
25. Apr 2018 · 04:48 UTC
Got the horrible buzzing noise constantly until I muted my machine. :( Couldn't figure out how to fire my gun so I died immediately at night.
GertJohnny
25. Apr 2018 · 05:02 UTC
I really like the concept. It's a tad rough around the edges, with a few bugs, but not bad considering the scope of the game.
🎤 sohakes
25. Apr 2018 · 05:07 UTC
@stderr I'm not sure about the buzzing noise. I tried the Windows and Linux build and it seems fine. When developing there was a bug where it tried to make a lot of steps sounds and it sounded bad, maybe that was it, sorry.

About the gun, considering the gun is selected (painted red in the upper right corner - it gets selected auto in the start of the fight) and the cursor is not bugged (if the middle of the screen with the little green crosshair matches exactly the location of each square in the grid, it's probably working. If the square placement is not in the middle of the screen, then it's bugged :( ), then the gun is probably working fine. Since there is absolutely no feedback about it firing, and there is a cooldown of 3 seconds, you probably didn't realize it was working. Many people had the same problem, and it was always the lack of feedback (but it was working as intended).
🎤 sohakes
25. Apr 2018 · 05:15 UTC
Thanks @GertJohnny!

Also, forgot to say thanks to @TiagoDvl. Awesome feedback!
Cole and Jordan Studios
25. Apr 2018 · 05:18 UTC
I love the combination of themes! Ended up growing too much early on and didn't have any reason to grow anything the last 2 days xD Accidentally forgot to harvest crops one day and died when I went to bed and respawned way outside the map. Also the text at the beginning went by a little fast but I could still read most of it. Pretty fun game overall!
🎤 sohakes
25. Apr 2018 · 05:23 UTC
Thanks @Cole-and-Jordan-Studios! Glad you liked it! You forgot to harvest the crops, died because you didn't have money, and then respawned outside of the map? That's a funny behavior haha. Many people figured out how to go out of the map, didn't happen at all with me, I guess I just tested the expected paths haha.

Thanks for playing!
Axe
25. Apr 2018 · 07:51 UTC
I had a bunch of bugs like audio glitches and being spawned outside the map, also getting complete wrecked because I didn't know how the plants spawned was a bit derp.

otherwise i see this as having a really good potential as a crossover between something like sanctum and harvest moon. great work!
Dovakla
25. Apr 2018 · 16:51 UTC
Yeah, the main idea is a lot like my game, but the execution is still pretty different! I like how you can create your own farming plots. I originally intended to put tilling in mine but I ran out of time. I also like that it requires you to have enough money every day so that you're forced to take a risk, especially at the beginning. I did reach a point where I didn't need to plant any more crops, though.

Well done!


Also the ending shot was beautiful.
Dyoni
26. Apr 2018 · 03:02 UTC
Hey. I found the game interesting. Sure it is pretty simple and I find it repetitive. Running from the veggie ghosts is easy, you just have to move backwards while you fire your weapon. The boss gave me chills! He is sure scary. The game seems to be based on Minecraft or something. It wasn't easy to identify the 2 incompatible genres for me. Congrats for the work though! :)
Yahialds
26. Apr 2018 · 12:03 UTC
This game look incredibly big for a jam, you should be proud. I want to play it more and more, one of the few games I will save for when I have more time!
Jupiter_Hadley
26. Apr 2018 · 13:19 UTC
Interesting concept! I included it in my Ludum Dare 41 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFQFxHlU6Y
🎤 sohakes
26. Apr 2018 · 18:05 UTC
Hey @Axe, thanks for playing! Yeah, I couldn't figure out this audio glitches yet, really strange but many people seem to have it. I know though what could cause the spawn out of the map thing haha. Thank you again!

I'm glad you liked this @Dovakla! Really happy you finished my game haha. And the ending was meant to be kind heartwarming, but kind of B movie so-bad-it's-funny way haha. Happy you've seen it! I think not many people reached the end because of the bugs, so I get really happy when someone does. And yeah, the approach of our games were different, but some of the ideas are very very similar, such as the evil crops spawning, it's kind of funny that we thought of the same things. I've seen some other games with some similar themes too (such as https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/harvest-doom or https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/the-farm (which is ridiculously polished - but they seem to have a indie studio)), but they have no evil crops haha.

Thanks @Dyoni! When making it, I thought it were gonna look lame. I was impressed when I pressed play and because of the random spawn location, he got behind me and I was genuinely scared for a moment haha. I was kind of happy with the result, glad you felt the same! And the two genres are farming simulator (such as harvest moon and stardew valley) and a generic survival horror. Didn't think about minecraft, but I can see how you come to think that based on the blocky models.

Hey @Yahialds, I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of sad because of all the bugs but I'm somewhat proud too. Before starting the jam I didn't expect it to get so big, but I kinda of got carried away and it came out decent, against my intuition (I thought I was gonna fail at most things I would try to do). I think I should aim lower next time though, so I can polish it more and do more playtesting... the game breaking bugs are really sad because most people don't give it a second chance (and I understand that! there are so many games!). But I also love when people really play it despite of the bugs, so thank you very much, it means a lot you liked it.

@Jupiter-Hadley you are doing awesome work with these videos! It's kind of sad you had the cursor bug. That's what made the tiles go to random places, that's what made it difficult to shoot, and that's what made it hard for you to find the door haha. The cursor wasn't locked in the middle of the screen. I will try to solve that, no one that has this bug can play. I'm happy you played it though, I'm watching all your videos (actually just saw until the third one, but I will see the others), hope to see some "Best of Ludum Dare 41" from you too.
Dovakla
26. Apr 2018 · 19:36 UTC
@sohakes as far as I could tell everything worked perfectly. I didn't notice any bugs.
cristiano.m.garcia
06. May 2018 · 20:44 UTC
Good job! Cool game!

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape
automatonvx
07. May 2018 · 11:59 UTC
Seems like a pretty ambitious game for 72 hours. The farming was sort of fun, but the night time attack, (at least for what i saw) not so much as due to the way the enemies move, it comes down to run backwards in circles while waiting for your gun to cooldown (also i felt the controls a little awkward trying to hold left shift while using arrows and aiming. Also somehow it seems like my gun was getting unselected, or at least the tile select was appearing all the time). Also had the fall through the floor bug coming out of the house on a restart. The art and sound was nice in a kind of simple style. Anyway good job for 72 hours, just a few rough edges that could use smoothing out
🎤 sohakes
08. May 2018 · 04:50 UTC
Thanks @automatonvx! Yeah, the shooting part was really tacked together. The gun probably doesn't deselect, but the transparent tiling "feature" is activated permanently, even if you are not with a tool that does anything with the tiles (actually, only the case with the gun). I didn't think about it until now, maybe that's part of the reason people were so confused about the gun not working, and it is really easy to stop that transparent tile from showing.

Glad you thought the music was nice, I never did anything like this before. Coming for you that's really good since your game had great music! I will try to understand reaper with that sound pack for the next one. Maybe I can do something nicer next time, who knows? Thanks again.