A Growing Prince by Sandcrawler

made by Sandcrawler for LD34 (COMPO)

This...game came about more as a challenge for myself in using php. I wanted to create a system that could save the stats of a character is a flat file based system, then add some silly game logic and win parameters.

The goal of A Growing Prince is to grow your prince by both defeating enemies and consuming different food objects. To complete the game go to the castle, and if your level is high enough you will rescue the princess.

In the Ludum Dare compo version you cannot lose/die and it is just a matter of clicking enough times then clicking on the Castle link. I got started on this entry really late, I spent well over 24 hours just thinking up ideas. By the time I got started I only had around 8 working hours to complete the game.

Edit 12/23/15 -
I released the post compo version of A Growing Prince, complete with combat, NPC, a story, and equipment. Basically all the features you would expect.Feel free to try it if you want to see what this entry could have been.

Web (html & php)	http://allaroundgames.net/LD/34/
Post-Compo Version	http://allaroundgames.net/prince/
Source	http://allaroundgames.net/LD/34/source.zip
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-34/?action=preview&uid=3966

Ratings

Coolness	42%	1648
Overall	2.32	949

Fun	2.05	945
Innovation	2.27	886
Theme	2.91	890

Feedback

pluberski

14. Dec 2015 · 16:32 UTC

Yay! Hardcoded HTML! :D Great job!

Drtizzle

15. Dec 2015 · 13:21 UTC

The concept is really nice, but I just ate and attacked everything I found.
I got to level 194 and rescued the princess, without taking damage or dying. But it is always a good thing if you learned from the experience of making this :)

tanjent

15. Dec 2015 · 19:00 UTC

I think this is a perfect example on how to get stuff done with an (untested) technology! It also really helps when you have a deadline, know you will have some players + some direction in the form of a theme. I've been thinking about making a HTML game like the classic BBS adventure games for a long time and this reminds me a lot of that :) One thing I felt was needed was a way to lose? I think that the warning about entering a too hard dungeon could be made into a suggestion and not a barrier, so you might take a risk to either die hard or grow faster.

🎤 Sandcrawler

15. Dec 2015 · 23:39 UTC

Thanks, for the feedback. This isn't so much of a game, rather than a framework for a game. If I had started sooner I could have developed it a bit more, but I wasted the first 24 hours trying to think of ideas using both themes.

It is definitely reminiscent of the old BBS games. I grew up playing a few of those games, mostly the Space Based ones like tdzk, Blacknova Trader, and a few other. Back in 2012 I even started developing one using a mysql database but it quickly became to big and unwieldy.

This was a stab at making a manageable system that was just a lot simpler. I'm considering a post compo version that is expanded on with a lot of expected features. (Movement, health, items, equipment, combat) Could serve as a nice engine for a future LD entry or other game.

tl;dr game is not a game because you can't lose and it might become a game post-compo.

MercuryXGames

16. Dec 2015 · 11:15 UTC

nice game!

Aurel Bílý

18. Dec 2015 · 19:19 UTC

No sense repeating what was already said, it just isn't much of a game. But keep trying :)

GodsBoss

19. Dec 2015 · 05:35 UTC

It's like Diablo, without all the bullshit. Straight leveling. ;-)

narve

20. Dec 2015 · 20:17 UTC

I liked the concept, but I didn't really have to do much. There wasn't a challenge, I couldn't die etc. So I just leveled up and beat the game. But good job! I thought it was a great idea, been awhile since I've seen a simple game like this.

Charzendat

22. Dec 2015 · 21:51 UTC

I would of liked more variation. Having consequences to attacking something when you are not a high enough level and perhaps having attacking things gain you more levels than consuming things. There is no challenge or thought required to play it. If you want to do something similar again I recommend you check out some text adventure games.

🎤 Sandcrawler

23. Dec 2015 · 09:54 UTC

I knew where I wanted to go with the game by the end of the compo. I just ran out of time.

This stated with two ideas, one was to make a text based adventure game, and the other was to make the game so stupidly tedious by putting everything within two buttons worth of menus [just to use the 2nd theme] (ended up scrapping that idea halfway through)

Check out the Post-Compo version. While not a great game it does have all of the features that you would expect from this style of game.

RiOrius

25. Dec 2015 · 04:18 UTC

Good effort, but there's not much here.

CMG

27. Dec 2015 · 22:38 UTC

It seems like a good concept to deliver a basic story with simple leveling mechanics, but right now it's pure mechanics without anything else. Some flavor text would add a lot. Characters/scenes would add even more.