Tiny Kingdom Builder by RenD

[raw]
made by RenD for LD 42 (JAM)

Tiny Kingdom Builder is a small puzzle/scoring-based game. It mixes mechanics from the boardgame Kingdomino, Tetris and Puyo-Puyo!

It was made in 72 hours for the #LD42 #LDJAM

test_tkb2.gif

The objective is to try to make the bigger kingdoms in order to collect gems and score more points. But you don’t have much room, and with the timer running and those bloody rocks getting in your way, you’ll need all your skills to beat the highscore.


Controls

Play it with your mouse​:

LMB: Click and drag to drop a piece of land on the board

RMB: Rotate the piece of land


Credits

Game Design/Code/Art/Music/Sounds: RenD (https://twitter.com/rend1720)

Ratings

Overall 12th 4.331⭐ 73🧑‍⚖️
Fun 12th 4.221⭐ 72🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 103th 3.829⭐ 72🧑‍⚖️
Theme 65th 4.193⭐ 72🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 37th 4.493⭐ 73🧑‍⚖️
Audio 23th 4.21⭐ 71🧑‍⚖️
Mood 43th 4.106⭐ 68🧑‍⚖️
Given 72🗳️ 71🗨️

Feedback

Skyc
16. Aug 2018 · 07:44 UTC
Hey. The itch.io page can't be accessed. I really like the visual, can't want to play it.
Tattomoosa
16. Aug 2018 · 07:50 UTC
Same issue as Skyc - looks really cool please @ me when you fix the link.
undefinist
16. Aug 2018 · 08:06 UTC
I had a ton of fun on this one. Very polished! Awesome job. I'm not sure how I got the gamejolt page (did you change the link to itch.io after?) Wish there was a timeless mode.
NOTBADGUN
16. Aug 2018 · 08:13 UTC
Yeap! The itch.io page can’t be accessed!
🎤 RenD
16. Aug 2018 · 08:46 UTC
@skyc
@tattomoosa
@notbadgun
Oops my bad, it was originally on Gamejolt but then I saw that the itch page had some integrated Ludum features so I switched to it but I forgot to make the page public :( It should be good now, sorry for the inconvenience!
Skyc
16. Aug 2018 · 09:08 UTC
The game is excellent, and everything fits well together. This is the kind of game I really want to make. This game made me into the flow. Did you intend to make the game lean toward more twitchy or strategic?

![high.png](///raw/47c/31/z/19f8e.png)
🎤 RenD
16. Aug 2018 · 09:40 UTC
@skyc
Thank's! My first idea was to go with a more strategic approach. But on my first iteration, I had an infinite/endurance type of gameplay (a la Tetris) and it was feeling a bit boring after some time. So I decided to go with the time mechanic, but trying not to emphasize to much on it. In the end, I guess it's a kind of risk/reward situation that if you put more thoughts into placing a piece, you'll get more point but will also loose more time.
🎤 RenD
16. Aug 2018 · 09:45 UTC
@undefinist Thank's for the comment! In the beginning there was an infinite mode but I found it a bit too boring so I went for a time attack version. But I guess lots of players also enjoy a less rushed approach, I could have put the two options indeed :)
undefinist
16. Aug 2018 · 10:05 UTC
@rend Yeah, that makes sense. Personally, I love puzzle games, but I usually like time to think haha. Only managed to get till 3.1k after like 3 or 4 tries. As for infinite mode, I think for infinite mode to work, you need some sort of difficulty ramping.
isaque-picao-sanches
16. Aug 2018 · 10:50 UTC
loved it
KnithGuris
16. Aug 2018 · 10:50 UTC
I reminds me of a board game called King Domino. I love the game play. :laughing:
Timbals
16. Aug 2018 · 10:55 UTC
Very well put together game. A lot of small little details that feel good.
Zlabya
16. Aug 2018 · 10:58 UTC
it well polished. however, I didn't understand the logic to put the blocks together.
karmafarm
16. Aug 2018 · 11:00 UTC
Wow. Really, really good. mechanics were simple, but had depth. The level of polish and sense of completeness was absolutely outstanding and especially impressive considering it's a solo effort. Played like a charm and could have spent a lot of time getting obsessed with this one. One of the best LD42 entries I've played so far. Good work =)
TontonPizza
16. Aug 2018 · 11:02 UTC
Good game here, not boring at all. it has good mechanics and you understand easily how it works. 3600+ points
rakart
16. Aug 2018 · 11:17 UTC
That was a really nice twist on kingdomino as a digital game. It doesn't feels like simply an adapatation but an enhancement on the original game, eveyrthing fits together so perfectly, the mechanics works really well and the design is really great. I loved the timing mechanic even if it quicky becomes rough.

Congratulations on your entry, it's a really solid game !
SkyreX
16. Aug 2018 · 13:13 UTC
Brilliant work guy! I enjoyed playing it a lot. Clean design, nice gfx, and the most important fantastic idea. The only one small minus is that sometimes when I had a lack of space, game was still going and I had to wait for something to happen. But anyways great job and good luck! Rate: 5.0
whoisninja
16. Aug 2018 · 15:40 UTC
I love the pixel perfect graphics. Music and sfx jived well with the domino like mechanic. Learning curve is not steep and among the games I've played in LD42, so far this is the most balanced imo. Not too hard but not a give away either. Reading the instructions is a little intimidating as it's pretty long but man, I have to give it to you, I love this game. I'm giving it a perfect score of 5/7. Good job!
mrjorts
16. Aug 2018 · 15:42 UTC
Great idea and execution. It feels like a very fully realized game with a lot of polish, and it's a great synthesis of its inspirations. The only trouble I had was with some of the end of move detection logic. Sometimes a turn won't end because you can still swap your held piece, even if that held piece can't be placed either, and once I absentmindedly swapped in a piece that couldn't be placed and it didn't detect I was out of moves or let me swap it back, so I had to let the timer run out. Just a minor bug, though, in a very impressive entry.
Raccoon_JS
16. Aug 2018 · 18:30 UTC
I really liked it. It is so addicting.
Tattomoosa
16. Aug 2018 · 20:52 UTC
This is awesome! Everything has a ton of juice. It took me a playthrough or 2 to figure out what was going on, but once I got the hang of it it got really fun. Have never played Kingdominos so maybe it would have made more sense if I was familiar with that. Great graphics, great sound, great gamefeel. Game mechanics feel good and fit together really cohesively. And that juice! Good job!
nathanhoad
17. Aug 2018 · 09:37 UTC
Having recently been given Kingdomino I found this game really easy to pick up and get going. Well done - 5/5 for everything :)

It also got my wife's attention. She just came over saying "Whatever that is, it sounds cute and I want to play."
CrispyPin
17. Aug 2018 · 09:39 UTC
It's great!
Squidcor
17. Aug 2018 · 10:22 UTC
This is plays very well and is so incredibly polished. Very well done!
ParkerDuncan
17. Aug 2018 · 10:37 UTC
Bit Laggy on Safari but still really fun! I got 3000!
Jiri_One
17. Aug 2018 · 10:44 UTC
Very fun and addicting game! some improvements could be made, but one of my favorites so far! my highscore was 2770
Maakep
17. Aug 2018 · 10:47 UTC
After a couple of playthroughs 1380 is my final highscore!

Just wow, amazing polish. Good take on the theme, great music, fun gameplay, excellent graphics. Very impressed with your work, this game gets my highest score so far.

Some nitpicky feedback: I went through the tutorial, but as impatient gamers we want easily digested infromaton and the tutorial got very texty. The "Controls"-pages were a perfect amount of text.

Things need to be intuitivt, for example the "Hold" functionality could perhaps be better worded as "Save", that barely needs explaination? Initially I thought it was a hold (down the button) kind of instruction. And I skipped the scoring texts, but I appreciate them being there. So, basically, it's not you, it's me. But a lot of people are like me, or worse, unfortunately.

I'm going to go back to playing a couple more games now, just because this was an excellent game. Perfect mobile game, if you want to port it to that. I'd consider downloading it.

Also, any chances of getting the source code for some of those polished UI interactions? Buttons, pop-upping window? :grin: Looks and feels great! Well done!

EDIT: 1520! :tada:
🎤 RenD
17. Aug 2018 · 11:40 UTC
@zlabya you just have to make one tile coincide when you put them. Green next to green, yellow next to yellow... And the center piece (the stone one) count for any type of tile so you can always put a piece next to it. Hope it helps :)
sidewalksleeper
17. Aug 2018 · 11:41 UTC
These graphics, man!

The bouncy animations make it SO enjoyable. Great polish and attention to details, makes me wish I was as dedicated as you when developing games.
🎤 RenD
17. Aug 2018 · 11:43 UTC
@skyrex @mrjorts It may be a bug indeed... The game also takes in account the piece you currently hold, or the next piece in line if you don't hold any, when it checks if you can still place a piece. And sometimes you have to hold a piece to see the solution. But maybe it's a bug also :sweat_smile:
🎤 RenD
17. Aug 2018 · 11:44 UTC
@nathanhoad I got the same kind of validation process at home: if my girlfriend looks over my shoulder and wants to play the game I'm making, then that's a go :smile:
🎤 RenD
17. Aug 2018 · 11:45 UTC
@parkerduncan sorry for that, I don't have much control on that as I just hit the webgl button on Unity, but I'll investigate and see if I can come with some improvements. Thank's for reporting!
Swen
17. Aug 2018 · 11:47 UTC
The animations, mood, nice graphics, gameplay are all very polished.
This was my score in the end c:
![tinykingdomscore.png](///raw/f75/c/z/1a1af.png)

Amazing entry, keep up the great work! One of my favorites!
🎤 RenD
17. Aug 2018 · 11:48 UTC
@maakep Thank's for all the feedback! About the 'Hold' button, it's a direct reference to the newer Tetris games that have this mechanic. I used the same word thinking that it would appeal to existing Tetris players, but maybe it could be improved indeed.
As for all the small animations, I'm under Unity and I just use some tweening asset. I use LeanTween and DoTween is also great. And both have a free version so go ahead, it really adds the juice :smiley:
0nironauta
17. Aug 2018 · 11:50 UTC
I think this is the best game I've played so far. Looks like a ended game. Game system is perfect, graphics are cute, music and fx fits... Congratulations!

![Captura3.PNG](///raw/e43/41/z/1a1b0.png)
MiracL
17. Aug 2018 · 11:54 UTC
Lovely little game (too hard for me). There are a lot of details and polish (animation, transition and sfx).
The game was acting weird when I right clicked on the board whithout holding tile, I don't know if it is on purpose or if it is a bug. Great entry !

(You sound familiar)
pomb
17. Aug 2018 · 21:24 UTC
Cool man neat entry! It leans heavily from Kingdomino but with the added joker, and a slight tweak with continuous play after filling the board. I'm a sucker for tile laying and tried my hand at making one myself for the compo. I think there's something really interesting in this play space. I also appreciate that you had different multi cell tiles of differing configurations, something I didn't manage to do in the 48hrs. I loved the juice of the tile placement how the tiles push away from the placement point, really makes the core fun. Would love to see how you can add/change something else to make a it a little 'more different'.
🎤 RenD
18. Aug 2018 · 16:57 UTC
@sidewalksleeper Thank's for the comment! You know, the more you focus on polishing when doing games, the more it will come naturally. And you'll be so efficient that it will not even feel like a burden or an extra task :)
🎤 RenD
18. Aug 2018 · 16:57 UTC
@swen Thank's for the comment, and congrats on the score :wink:
🎤 RenD
18. Aug 2018 · 17:00 UTC
@pomb You know, I spend the whole saturday adding mechanics: the main mode was an endless mode in the beginning and the gems were meant to buy "items" in a shop (random 3 possible items to buy): joker tiles, changing the color of some tiles, earthquake, gaining more vision to look ahead the pieces... But then I realized the game wasn't any more fun, so I spend the sunday taking it all out :sweat_smile:
Papaver
18. Aug 2018 · 19:09 UTC
Cool game! It was fun to play. It looks quite a bit like Kingdomino, but it is nice that are different shapes, and that you keep playing with tiles that are left. The rocks are annoying but are also a nice extra game element. You did a great job with the tutorial, music and all the juicing. My highscore: 3220.
Ithildin
18. Aug 2018 · 19:33 UTC
I love this entry! Pleasant aesthetics and a core gameplay that's simple yet extremely addictive and well executed. Feedback was clear, even if I did have to check the tutorial to see what were the exact conditions for the map "flush" after my first game, and everything in generall is really polished, with cute small details such as the clouds on the main screen.

While it has a strategic component and a timer, the overall experience is quite relaxed, I quickly got into the zone playing.

![ld42-tkb.PNG](///raw/7c1/z/1a367.png)

You've done an amazing job, congrats!
Akuirako
18. Aug 2018 · 20:24 UTC
My favorite game for the moment. I had a lot of fun playing it (highest score ~4500), and so did my mom. Although she was quite angry because she couldn't see what was her score at the end of the game since she didn't have the time to take a look at it while she was playing. Good job !
Greyo
19. Aug 2018 · 15:49 UTC
Amazing! One of the best for me!
Wevel
19. Aug 2018 · 20:57 UTC
Really nice game, I like all the little animations on things (like the clouds). Very good polish for a Ludum Dare game, well done.
Devastus
19. Aug 2018 · 21:11 UTC
Really polished and well thought out gameplay, amazing work! Nice colorful graphics, lively animations and fitting audio - I personally feel it accomplishes what it set out to do extremely well. One of the high notes of this Jam for sure.
johnnwfs
20. Aug 2018 · 02:05 UTC
Even without really understanding how tiles matched beyond whole lines, I found this fun -loved the mood, the graphics and the smoothness of the game play. Great, Great job and my highest overall rating for a game yet. Feels so close to a full game and I'd pick it up as a casual game on a regular basis, I think.
Sublustris
20. Aug 2018 · 11:40 UTC
Great GFX! Very solid looking pixel style!
agar3s
20. Aug 2018 · 23:12 UTC
What an engaging game... I spent a lot of time playing it!
Simple but pleasure mechanic, the game is easy to play and hard to master. Want to see more from you.

"(ノ・∀・)ノ -( BTW )

We also have an HTML5 entry if you want to play it and rate it."
amkingTRP
21. Aug 2018 · 14:17 UTC
great puzzle game, like a mix between dominoes and tetris. Would work really well as a mobile release.
AdultLink
21. Aug 2018 · 18:28 UTC
Very cool entry, you can really see the professional touch in every aspect; audio, graphics, animations, tweening, gamepaly itself... All over the place!

It seems like the kind of game I would love to play on my phone while commuting :) The relaxing music and appealing pixel-art gets you in a really mellow mood.

Gameplay is quite enticing and keeps you coming back for one more game, honestly that's the best thing you can aim for while making a puzzle game like this one.

The "Hold" button seems to be a bit bitchy sometimes, it gets stuck. Also I see you decided not to allow the player to switch back and forth between "held" blocks, is that intended?

Like other people mentioned, I had to do a double take on the rules regarding the map flush, but it became clear after a couple games (rules are a bit on the "too long" side hehe).

Loved it, amazing job man!
Skyc
22. Aug 2018 · 10:45 UTC
@rend I wanted to learn how to make the juicy part of your game. Can I code a clone of your game? I will post the result and will credit you and link to your game. The purpose is to learn how to make the visual effect.
🎤 RenD
22. Aug 2018 · 13:43 UTC
@skyc Of course, you're more than welcome to do so, especially if it brings you new skills :ok_hand:
wowa
24. Aug 2018 · 09:28 UTC
Wow! This is a very solid and simple (in a good way :D) puzzle game. I tried to find some negative points but actually i love everything about it. Great job, especially for this short amount of time!
g11
24. Aug 2018 · 15:09 UTC
That's amazing! Perfection in every animation and transition! I even spent half a minute in a menu playing with a clouds!
Lex
24. Aug 2018 · 16:53 UTC
Very well polished, you should consider porting to mobile! But I'd make a better (non-text) tutorial for that.
recursor
24. Aug 2018 · 19:26 UTC
This was quite fun and very polished. Nice work.
randomphantom
25. Aug 2018 · 02:19 UTC
So good, very addictive and this could totally could be a mobile game! The layer of polish is also top-notch. Release it on the appstore already!
PeachTreeOath
25. Aug 2018 · 16:22 UTC
First off, when I first loaded the game I was immediately reminded of this theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuBQJ3eeCT8. It may be a bit of a stretch but the structure and notes just reminded of it a lot, and that's a good thing :)

It's rare to see a new type of puzzle game on LD, much less a new AND fun one. I think you did a fantastic job creating something simple but with a high skill ceiling, all the elements of a great game. Even if you didn't polish it up I would've been very impressed, but you slapped a nice, juicy coat of paint on top of it anyways. I think my only criticism for the game is that I would've liked the right clicks to be able to be hit with no downtime in between so I could make faster plays like puzzle games of old. I was still impressed you even implemented left-click + right-click though so I guess I can't complain. Great job.
🎤 RenD
30. Aug 2018 · 19:31 UTC
@peachtreeoath Thank's for the nice and thorough comment! I didn't know the Kirby's tune but I definitely love it, I like this kind of peaceful mood :slight_smile:
Rongo Matane
01. Sep 2018 · 08:21 UTC
Wow, extremely polished and complete entry. I love when you can see how much thought and time also went into the screens that are not the main gameplay screen. The gameplay was very engaging, and after i read the complete tutorial before my second try, i also had a ton of fun. It#s a great challenge, cotrasting the time against putting pieces well. A lot of respect for doing all aspects yourself, also on this very high level of quality. Overall, a fantastic entry, the best i have seen! What's the highest score right now? :D
![6.png](///raw/122/3/z/1a926.png)
Rongo Matane
01. Sep 2018 · 08:30 UTC
I seem to have found an issue with ending the game. Instead of placing the only available piece, i held it, switching with a not placable piece, resulting in this:
![5.png](///raw/122/3/z/1a924.png)

I also had a minor bug when switching tiles during the transition. The tile peviously on hold was then below the current tile and no tile was shown as on hold. Holding again resolves this.
🎤 RenD
01. Sep 2018 · 17:25 UTC
@rongo-matane Thank's a lot for your comment and for picking up the bugs! I've corrected some by simply allowing to infinitely HOLD and swap pieces. I implemented the same HOLD mechanic as in Tetris but I realize it doesnt fit TKB to allow only one HOLD. So now the experience should be smoother. And congrats on the highscore!!! I had reached 5000 something but didn't think 7000 was possible, impressive!!
TLCoC
04. Sep 2018 · 06:25 UTC
Really like the vibe of the game. Beautifully polished with nice art and music. Good job
HellSquirrel
04. Sep 2018 · 14:01 UTC
Cool concept, pretty nice pixel art!