LudumData

Words With Foes: Quest for the Lexinomicon by MattWoelk

[raw]
made by MattWoelk for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

WWF<em>banner</em>transparent.png

Fight monsters, get loot, and defeat the biggest bosses around!

Type scrabble-approved words in order to defeat monsters and gain their letters. But watch out! They'll attack you back, making you lose those precious letters.

Keep your tray full, in this endless typing expedition into the depths!

NOTES: - You can attack with any single letter, so you can dump useless letters for the cost of getting hit. - You progress to tougher bosses as you collect letters. - Once you defeat the final bosses and the credits, you can play endlessly. - ESC key quits the game instantly.

For a SPECIAL CHALLENGE, see how many tiles you can have in your deck when you reach the end of the credits.

WWF<em>screen1.jpg WWF</em>screen3_RDescription.jpg

CREDITS:

Writing - @hyperscope

Sound - @julianbeutel

Code - @KaiClavier

Art - @graebor

Code - @MattWoelk

Youtube https://mattwoelk.itch.io/words-with-foes
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/words-with-foes-quest-for-the-lexinomicon

Ratings

Overall 5th 4.425⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Fun 16th 4.254⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 68th 4.05⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Theme 201th 3.825⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 58th 4.385⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Audio 42th 4.125⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Humor 51th 4⭐ 61🧑‍⚖️
Mood 48th 4.167⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Given 61🗳️ 74🗨️

Feedback

Catusfelony
08. Oct 2019 · 00:45 UTC
That was totally witty and awesome! I loved the descriptions for every new enemy and letter, fighting words with words is great fun.

The music and atmosphere here is something else!! Very pleasant all around.
hyperscope
08. Oct 2019 · 01:50 UTC
Making this game was my favorite game jam experience ever!
Catusfelony
09. Oct 2019 · 00:08 UTC
You folks should probably rate other games, so your game will get prioritized and other people will find it to play and rate, it'd suck for it to go unnoticed. :(
hyperscope
09. Oct 2019 · 01:35 UTC
@catusfelony Just starting actually!
karlipoppins
09. Oct 2019 · 03:18 UTC
Just saw your game being streamed and I had to try it. Wow, the level of polish is just so amazing... The screen transitions, the graphics, the animtations, FX, and music are just all-around outstanding! I loved the gameplay and am a huge fan of word games! The only drawback I could see is that I couldn't reach any ending and was just playing for like 30 mins without seeing any end in sight...

Otherwise such an awesome entry, great job!!
hyperscope
09. Oct 2019 · 03:39 UTC
@karlipoppins Oooo which stream did you find it on? Glad to hear you enjoyed our game, we had a really fun time making it! This build does not have a "hard" ending, once you get the monster "credits" screen it switches to an endless mode. Maybe we could make it more clear that you've reached "the end."
<3
Sarah
09. Oct 2019 · 08:32 UTC
This game is soooo fun! Really well done (: its super polished, and reallly really fun. The art and sounds are nice, and I like the speaking and the writing is cute :)

The only thing that was a bit annoying was unlocking a whole word of letters at once, it was kinda long, but each letter had its own explanation, so it would be harder to condense it I imagine.

But overall, great game and good job!
GreenDinoGames
09. Oct 2019 · 22:10 UTC
The game looks very good and I like that you took your time to provide a description for each enemy.
I would love to have a undo button or a button to re-roll your letters, while paying a little fee with the letters on your stack, because it happened to me that I had only T's and B's left, so I couldn't proceed, after already collecting 30 letters. Overall it's a great game and fun to play! Well done!
🎤 MattWoelk
09. Oct 2019 · 22:54 UTC
@greendinogames The closest thing we have now is the ability to dump any letter (which will then do only 1 damage) in order to get attacked and cycle out some of your tiles. Getting stuck with only consonants is a rough time though! Gotta hold on to those vowels. ;)
Thanks for playing the game, and for leaving a comment!
DeinVenteD
10. Oct 2019 · 00:55 UTC
Great Job! This game is really amazing. Incredible idea to add yourselves as endgame bosses :D O only wish you had more letters at your disposal, for assembling longer words.
Nisovin
10. Oct 2019 · 00:59 UTC
Fantastic game. I love word games like this, and this felt very polished and fun. I'm not sure if I missed it, but a keybind to reshuffle your letters would be nice, since it's common in a lot of games like this. Helps to find words you might have missed. Also, I hit Esc hoping to see a menu, and closed the game instead :(
Michael Feldman
10. Oct 2019 · 01:19 UTC
This is great! Could be released and sold today imo. Yes some of the rooms are a little repetitive so what. They are fantastic! The subtle wobble of the lantern. The way the tiles shimmer as you advance from room to room. The subtle animations of each tile. I think this is really cool and professionally executed. Thanks for sharing. Now if I could have that hour of my time back that'd be great ;)
Bodaciouslycrazy
10. Oct 2019 · 02:03 UTC
Such a fantastic idea, and perfectly executed! Sometimes, having good execution is better than a complex idea.

I had 90 tiles after defeating all the bosses!
SirRed
10. Oct 2019 · 02:56 UTC
This is a good twist on a word game. I found myself playing this for a while as I continued to think of different words to try. Great job this is a well made game.
julianbeutel
10. Oct 2019 · 02:57 UTC
Thanks for playing @bodaciouslycrazy! Thanks for sharing your final score! Hope you had fun!
thomas-olsson
10. Oct 2019 · 05:03 UTC
That's a really good game. I played a lot of it. Very refined, well exploited idea.
Joel Davis
10. Oct 2019 · 05:21 UTC
Suuupper good! I love word games and this was fantastic. I managed to get to endless mode, nice touch using the devs as the final bosses. My only suggestions would be to show the enemy's current health remaining, and to have a button to shuffle the tiles in your tray to help think of words. But overall the level of polish and completeness here is amazing. With just a bit more balancing and content I would buy this in a heartbeat.
Rebecca Harrison
10. Oct 2019 · 13:37 UTC
Awesome game guys! I'm so amazed at how well this turned out for such an ambitious jam idea! The graphics, sound and animations are all extremely polished and the gameplay is genuinely fun :)
BitSpaceDann
10. Oct 2019 · 15:27 UTC
Great work guys this is a lot of fun!
Taddl
10. Oct 2019 · 20:14 UTC
What can I say. Good idea, excellent gameplay, fitting music and graphics. Really made me want to keep playing all the way through.
mharring
11. Oct 2019 · 01:48 UTC
Top notch visuals, gameplay, audio - great execution. This doesn't look like a game built in a weekend! Well done!
oxrock
11. Oct 2019 · 18:25 UTC
Really well done for a jam game. Everything looked and sounded good, I didn't run into bugs or feel like anything was clunky at all. And the descriptions did a lot to inject humor into the experience, I really liked it.
jakemchugh1
12. Oct 2019 · 04:21 UTC
Really well done game! Excellent graphics and a clever concept!
neonlare
12. Oct 2019 · 05:16 UTC
very well done for a Jam game, feels like it strays slightly from the concept (I mean, the joke's great at the beginning, you literally start with "nothing") as it's mostly combat crosswords but I'll be damned if it ain't fun. Dig the presentation a whole lot, great stuff.
mahalis
12. Oct 2019 · 16:09 UTC
This is incredible. I love word games and this is a great one - beyond that, though, this is just an outrageously well-polished game. The visuals and animation are top-notch. the writing is clever and snappy, and the gameplay is superb. Y'all should seriously consider releasing this to a broader audience - I think it would do well. Outstanding work.
torcado
12. Oct 2019 · 17:35 UTC
Really great idea! i Loved all the little details, such as the voices saying the letters, the sound when you cross over a chest, the lighting on the UI, and of course all the flavor text for the letters/enemies :smile:
I think it would have been cool to get a hand size upgrade or something similar, there were only so many words i could make with 7 random letters (and sometimes none at all!), and maybe certain words could have different effects, like "fire" or "harm"
but otherwise for a jam game this is great! really nice idea and really well executed :blush:
oh yeah i ended with exactly 100 score
Wolfrug
12. Oct 2019 · 19:34 UTC
57! Well done, loved the little texts in between, and clever mechanics all around - also loved the joke with the "end bosses" ;) Nice!
Rhymar
12. Oct 2019 · 20:10 UTC
defeated the DEVIL with MILK in one hit, this is the only where you can do that^^
nice game and good for learning to spell for all non english players^^

Edit: just beat the game fully and it was a blast thanks^^
DjindeGames
12. Oct 2019 · 20:28 UTC
Definetely one of the best entry that I have played until now, and one of the very few that kept me playing until I reached the end which took me almost an hour ! Everything is great about this game. Loved the tribute to the team at the end of the game. Only thing I could say is that I think it's not really theme friendly (Can this even be said ???), but anyway, regarding the overall quality of your work this point was easily forgotten :)
Tygrak
12. Oct 2019 · 23:11 UTC
Wow, very well polished, very fun, good length, can't really say anything bad about this game. This team really did a stellar job 6.9/6.9420 from me. Beat the game with 83 letters left, I fully expect to see this game in the top 10 :).
Gatlink
12. Oct 2019 · 23:50 UTC
It is a really neat idea, that is also well executed! Good job!
Pedroso
13. Oct 2019 · 03:05 UTC
I beat the game with 22 left. This game is awesome!! Every aspect of the game fits so well with one another. Much fun. Also I loved the humor in the descriptions.
MiltonNH25
13. Oct 2019 · 07:45 UTC
Very good job with the game. It was a blast to play especially at the end when it becomes more difficult and tense. I finished with 35 pieces. I enjoyed the writing but the pacing of it could be improved since there is a lot to read in the first few rooms that slows the game down. Overall very solid entry.
PIXAMENTORY
13. Oct 2019 · 09:15 UTC
"Impressive game, Very cool concepts. I left wishing that there is more.
Had a lot of fun "
Adam Saudagar
13. Oct 2019 · 09:45 UTC
Amazing concept had alot of fun even though my vocablory sucks... just one issue, playing aimlessly isnt that rewarding, maybe u could add a progress meter showing where the boss is. So that the player get excited as they get near.

Really Good Job Guys!!! Keep it up!
Gnappuraz
13. Oct 2019 · 09:58 UTC
Great game, first entry I played so long, more than 30 mins! The game is just great and real fun, just a tad too long for me, after more than 30 mins I was still missing a letter to finish the game and I had to quit. Is definitely one of the best games I've seen in this LD.
ahistyap
13. Oct 2019 · 11:43 UTC
Man this game is amazing! Did not expect those little witty descriptions, but very welcomed! The mechanics is great too. Had a lot of fun playing this game! Great job!
asfdfdfd
13. Oct 2019 · 19:31 UTC
Super job. Really candidate for top10 of ld45. With more content i could easily imagine this game on Steam. I also admire your graphics.
MinamiK
14. Oct 2019 · 17:43 UTC
Good work~I love your idea and especially the description of each word and letter.
Sean S. LeBlanc
15. Oct 2019 · 02:14 UTC
Dang, this is incredible!! clever game design, beautiful graphics, great audio, funny writing, even just the typing interaction feels amazing! I've played a few entries so far that have excelled in a couple areas, but this is top-notch in nearly every way.
darefus
16. Oct 2019 · 15:15 UTC
had lots of fun wit dis! wish it had a timer or something to make it feel a little more dangerous because i kinda felt like i couldnt lose.
SheldonZS
19. Oct 2019 · 02:09 UTC
Nicely done! I came here from feedback you left on my team's game, looks like we both decided to run with a word game starting with NOTHING, and both using scrabble scores. It would have been nice to include a health bar for the enemies, but not all RPG/dungeon crawlers use such a mechanic. The music was reminiscent of Celeste, especially in the earlier levels. A way to rearrange the letters in your hand would be nice as well. Very entertaining game, I like the way you incorporated your entire team into the game
celia14
19. Oct 2019 · 21:43 UTC
This is really fun! It was fun to think of words and to progress through the game. I just wish that I could see the enemy's current health - like maybe there's some strategy to keeping your high-scoring letters for the next enemy if this one's almost dead? Another enhancement would be shuffling the letters in your hand.

Anyway, the game is super impressive - very high level of polish. The little blurbs about the letters and enemies were really fun. By the way, my final score was 85 - I got a couple no-vowel hands that dragged me down, but my best moment was when I instakilled one of the devs with "ZOWIE"! :grin:
DDRKirbyISQ
26. Oct 2019 · 00:56 UTC
130!

![screenshot_20191025_175343.png](///raw/b57/z/29d80.png)

Great job, great concept, great execution. This was really fun to play! I do wish that there was an option to amp up the difficulty a bit, as well as some way to mix up the distribution of letters a bit more (lots of As, E, and Ls). I thought at first that this was going to be a timed battle type thing, but I'm pretty glad it wasn't.

Thumbs up!
UnidayStudio
27. Oct 2019 · 12:04 UTC
That's a very solid concept. I first saw your game on a Randomized User LD45 gameplay and then I wanted to play. Good that I finally found your entry here.