LudumData

Draconomics by CyberStarLight

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

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How to play

  • You need to collect 1,000,000 gold coins to win. If the dragon rage reaches 100% it's game over.
  • If a mole gives the wrong treasure the dragon gets angry, otherwise you get gold coins.
  • Kill unwanted moles with left-click.
  • You start with a cap on your max treasure size, you have to buy and build mines to increase the cap up to 1,000,000 before you can win!
  • When you kill a mole the other moles panic and walk faster, their panic decays slowly when they are not being killed.

Good luck!

Description

This Dragon has no treasure hoard!

Mole minions are running to bring him some of their treasure, but sometimes they bring him trash! Not to mention this dragon is picky, so he only wants particular treasures.

When the moles bring trash or treasure the dragon doesn't want, left click to fireball them! Dragon only wants what it wants. Whenever bad treasure or trash is given to the Dragon, he will become more and more enraged. If Dragon's rage reaches max level, it's game over!

The goal is to fill up the Dragon's treasure trove. Get 1,000,000 worth of treasure to win the game.

Dragon can build up another mole mine by paying 50,000 gold. Click the build button and place them anywhere on the map using left click. Mole mines increase the rate of treasures brought to the Dragon and also the treasure trove's cap! Dragon can also target and destroy mines.

But be careful. If you fireball too many mole minions, their panic will increase and they will run faster to you, bringing both trash and treasure!

Feel like cheating? Press 'G' to get 10,000 gold instantly!

Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4urBC3i63UU

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Code: @cyberstarlight & @karim1209 Audio: @cephalo Art: @falu

*Check out the music here: Draconomics OST *

Youtube https://cyberstarlight.itch.io/draconomics
Youtube https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zH_n689ktj8q7tVtPq-_-gVqHj_2sXWb
Youtube https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fgm1G4Zj2q12qsGRHPpz0HkgXhAl01Wt
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/draconomics

Ratings

Overall 407th 3.594⭐ 82🧑‍⚖️
Fun 490th 3.361⭐ 81🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 595th 3.13⭐ 79🧑‍⚖️
Theme 699th 3.147⭐ 80🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 177th 4.152⭐ 81🧑‍⚖️
Audio 175th 3.756⭐ 80🧑‍⚖️
Humor 335th 3.178⭐ 78🧑‍⚖️
Mood 571th 3.322⭐ 75🧑‍⚖️
Given 101🗳️ 88🗨️

Feedback

soyrandom
08. Oct 2019 · 01:51 UTC
really fun little game, i loved the art!
BenPeterson
08. Oct 2019 · 02:02 UTC
Wow thats a lot of polish! Interesting concept, took me a while to understand when exactly the dragon wanted a thing. Great art and execution, felt so complete for a game jam game.
Jieyi Na
08. Oct 2019 · 02:16 UTC
Great art! I have a little complaint that the how to play intro is too wordy and I really don't want to read it. Also, the wanted board sometimes didn't get updated in time and I feel that the overall pace is a bit slow. But overall a good game!
Catusfelony
08. Oct 2019 · 02:50 UTC
I lost at 970,000 and then at 980,000.

Despite our complicated relationship, I'd still bring treasure to this dragon and have him pulverise me indiscriminately as he decides he no longer likes my treasure as I'm taking it to him.
GeneralBeans
08. Oct 2019 · 02:58 UTC
Was a lot of fun, maybe some mole variations or maybe even treasure variations that give you more gold than others?
Or what if there was some treasure that was too heavy for one mole to hold, so you have to shoot more moles to stop them from bringing it to you!
Just an idea!
Thanks for the fun, great artwork! I would like to see more from this!
Death_Is_Cold
08. Oct 2019 · 03:02 UTC
Adorable game, lovely art, well executed.
It's good to see you guys doing well.
🎤 CyberStarLight
08. Oct 2019 · 08:46 UTC
@benpeterson Thanks! the thought bubble was supposed to make it more clear, it warns you before a desire changes, the "Give only" box is the current desires

I'll add a shorter simpler explanation for the gameplay @jieyi-na

@catusfelony Ouch XD yeah, it's pretty hard, we didn't have much time at the end to balance the game difficulty as much as we wanted, but it's still fun! thanks for playing

@generalbeans I love your ideas! maybe if we do a post-jam version we will try to add that!

@death-is-cold Hi, thanks, your game looks really interesting, I want to try it later. good luck!
oskardevelopment
08. Oct 2019 · 16:01 UTC
Cool game, love the sound, graphics and mood! Got very stuck in the game and even if I hadn't plan to play for long I still played the whole way to victory! Thanks for making the game!
Fredbernardo
08. Oct 2019 · 17:10 UTC
Nice game! However I feel that it could have more enemies coming to give things to you. The game seems to take too much time to finish.
digitaldude555
08. Oct 2019 · 17:58 UTC
Amazing art, I really like the dragon and gems. Like others have said it's very polished, feels very complete. I couldnt finish it though.
Siarhei Pilat
08. Oct 2019 · 17:59 UTC
Loved the game, kept me playing long enough! Love the art, music and sounds. Almost no complaints!
Grangerer
08. Oct 2019 · 18:00 UTC
Nice game. Really liked the game, hooked enough to finish it. The 'better save than sorry' playstyle of burning moles if you are not sure if they have the correct treasure is fun.
GraphicEdit
08. Oct 2019 · 18:01 UTC
Nice game
Iluvatar
08. Oct 2019 · 18:17 UTC
I like the idea, and boy, do I love the art! Music is nice and it is fitting, nothing over the top. The only thing I would change is the difficulty and maybe the different "enemies coming" so it doesn't feel so same. But I understand that the time pressure is very limiting and also I feel like this game was supposed to be a full arcade-like which then it is a good entry.
di3goalmeida
08. Oct 2019 · 18:18 UTC
Really cool game! I lust loved the grafics, and the music/sounds. Amazing!
Brandon Anderson
08. Oct 2019 · 18:20 UTC
I love the pixel art! so cuteeee and the game was a lot of fun. Very interesting concept.
🎤 CyberStarLight
08. Oct 2019 · 18:21 UTC
@fredbernardo I agree about the time it takes, mines should probably cost less and treasures give more gold to shorten the game length.

@grangerer you're a bit evil XD I like that
blotosaur
08. Oct 2019 · 19:40 UTC
Sometimes the money would get stuck on a certain value then I'd have to spend it on mines to get it working again (maybe it has something to do with the G key). Other than that, great game! Art and music were at a professional level, imo.
🎤 CyberStarLight
08. Oct 2019 · 19:46 UTC
@blotosaur that's part of the gameplay, the red line on the right is the cap on your max treasure,
You have to build mines to increase the cap and move towards a full hoard to win.
Skyeward
09. Oct 2019 · 00:39 UTC
I liked seeing the dragon's innermost thoughts on the right there, fun!
jordanvang
09. Oct 2019 · 00:40 UTC
I love the music so much! What program did you use for it, do you mind asking?
zoarfy
09. Oct 2019 · 00:44 UTC
Love the art and general aesthetic - really cute and funny moles. I would have loved the ability to fire my fire anywhere on the map though!
GuitarBro
09. Oct 2019 · 00:46 UTC
Excellent art style. Main menu UI went off the screen for me, but otherwise worked fine. The mechanic of getting gems faster (but also more garbage faster) from the mines is pretty clever. Nice job!
cephalo
09. Oct 2019 · 00:51 UTC
@jordanvang I'm glad you liked it! I use Logic Pro to make all my music and sounds :D
Zymphe
09. Oct 2019 · 00:52 UTC
The menu had issues not being in fullscreen, but the game itself is great. A good difficulty curve, and a cool concept! I liked it a lot.
Silas Reinagel
09. Oct 2019 · 01:08 UTC
Very nice game! The changing whims of the dragon for what he accepts provided more of a challenge than I expected.

Sounds and music are spot on!

The title is fantastic. This is the perfect game jam game!
Unlockingcube
09. Oct 2019 · 01:12 UTC
Loved your 2d art. It did become quite difficult near the end. Music was quite nice as well.
morrilet
09. Oct 2019 · 01:16 UTC
This was a cute entry. It sort of reminds me of the old flash games we used to have. I like that mines increase the spawn rate in addition to increasing the gold cap, but I had a hard time getting past 100,000 gold. Speeding up the moles when one of them dies was a good call, but because moles coming out of the mines start with that speed buff applied it creates a sort of positive feedback loop that becomes very difficult to manage. I hit a wall at about 80,000 gold where I just couldn't keep up.

Overall this was well done. The mechanics were interesting and the gameplay was fairly entertaining. Nice work!
Kooshy
09. Oct 2019 · 01:18 UTC
Love how the music gets more intense as the dragon gets angry.
Birdybirdkirby
09. Oct 2019 · 04:04 UTC
Perfect game, just want a high score so I can know how long I prolonged the dragon's inevitable meltdown
Brallex
09. Oct 2019 · 04:14 UTC
Awesome music and artwork, well done!:)
Idontknow
09. Oct 2019 · 04:22 UTC
You brought me gold? I want silver FWOOSH! You brought me silver? I don't want it anymore FWOOSH! An emerald? I don't want it FWOOSH! Another emerald? I'll take it!

That sort of amusement aside, I thought it took a bit too long for the difficulty to ramp up. Maybe I should have built more mines after raising the cap enough...I might try it later since I liked this game.
AdamCYounis
09. Oct 2019 · 04:30 UTC
I thought this game was really beautiful and, while not the most original concept, I liked the theme of the dragon and moles. The sound design was good, and I could see some thought put into upgrades for longer term goals. This said, the game was very slow, and I would really have liked for the skill curve to ramp up a lot sooner. Thanks for the game. I look forward to more games with such beautiful art!
Trifectuh
09. Oct 2019 · 04:52 UTC
Cute game. The dragon sprite especially is super charming. I also very much appreciate the cheat button which I used at the very beginning cause the moles kept giving me worms haha

Very enjoyable :)
Abdul Zakkar
09. Oct 2019 · 05:46 UTC
The look of this game has definitely drawn people in imo :) Interesting that it basically gets to be as challenging as I want it to be! I wish it kept track of how many gems total the dragon accepted. That way I can have a high score to beat! Amazing work overall.
🎤 CyberStarLight
09. Oct 2019 · 06:06 UTC
@abdul-zakkar That is a good idea, the total gems will not go down like the gold coins do when you buy stuff.
Mungo_
09. Oct 2019 · 07:20 UTC
I love this take on tower defense. You have to build towers for the "enemy" in order to win the game. Very well polished.
Zhorky
09. Oct 2019 · 07:27 UTC
I needed a while to get the hang of it. Would have loved to shoot fireballs at will and not only at the little monsters.
Baski
09. Oct 2019 · 08:33 UTC
Interesting little concept here. Good game. Good luck with your entry.
vfqd
09. Oct 2019 · 10:33 UTC
neat! I thought that maybe introducing the bugs earlier would make it easier to understand the you need to destroy some of the moles
Rayne
10. Oct 2019 · 03:10 UTC
Amaaazing art, I really loved everything about this game :)
Amerigo Gazaway
10. Oct 2019 · 06:06 UTC
Great concept and premise. Love the music too, especially how it changes when you hit pause thats a nice touch. Nice work!
Hcursino
10. Oct 2019 · 06:58 UTC
- Good game
- Nice concept, fun game play, good art, and good music. Brilliant work.
- The aiming system is cool, click it and you will hit it, no worries about timing. Made my life a lot easier.
- I liked the idea of the moles coming from the mines you build, it would make the player want to wait as long as possible to build those in order to not make the game harder sooner. However, I didn't feel like there were more moles after building more mines, not sure if this was intentional.
- Hitting one million takes too long. I wouldn't change the goal, but the game could use some combos and different scores to allow greater income.
- It would be a bit more challenging if the rage meter would go up by killing a mole carrying a treasure you want. But this kind of difficulty might not be what you are looking for so its fine.

Great job :D
🎤 CyberStarLight
10. Oct 2019 · 09:24 UTC
@hcursino adding rage on mistakenly killing the wrong mole might be a great idea!
Serhm
10. Oct 2019 · 12:18 UTC
I LOVE the art for this. The music had me tapping my toe, which is a win in my book! Fun to play and I really enjoyed the concept. +1 for the Pause music. Great game.
Mad Brokli
10. Oct 2019 · 13:55 UTC
The art is awesome on this game, and the music complements the mood perfectly! The pace is maybe a bit slow, maybe speed can be increased as the game progresses. Also as negative feedback on killing the correct moles should be given. Other then that, awesome job, loved playing it :)
HenanBoy
10. Oct 2019 · 15:33 UTC
Solid game! Everything runs smoothly, and is well polished. The art is amazing, and the music really works well with the game. The pace of the game is slow, and to me, the gameplay was a bit dull.
But other then that, I did enjoy playing it. Awesome work!
Space Nomad
10. Oct 2019 · 15:46 UTC
the game is really nice and polished and i loved the art. however it was really slow from time to time. maybe spawn more of these little badgers? (or whatever they are)
🎤 CyberStarLight
10. Oct 2019 · 16:54 UTC
@mad-brokli that's a great idea, maybe some negative sound effect for that will help, definitely something to add in a next version.
kuviman
10. Oct 2019 · 17:52 UTC
Nice game, but a bit too grindy
coachsisyphus
11. Oct 2019 · 00:35 UTC
Time till next expansion pack? My wallet awaits. Excellent experience!
hwaet
11. Oct 2019 · 04:12 UTC
Very cute! I really dig the dragon design. This would make a great tablet game for relaxing on the couch. A couple more maps with some more detail and I think you'd be able to ship this. More audio cues would be nice for when the dragon decides not to want something anymore, but I'm just picking nits. This is great!
cephalo
11. Oct 2019 · 04:36 UTC
@hwaet that’s a really great idea about the audio cues. Thank you!
Gold5Games
11. Oct 2019 · 05:23 UTC
Silly fun, and coincidentally the opposite of my original concept (which I didn't do) to keep running in as a tiny, greedy dwarf to steal loot from the dragon's hoard. Enjoyed the silly music speeding up as I got angrier.
NavrcL
11. Oct 2019 · 06:59 UTC
Really fun. Very nice art and very well made. Good job!
Annie Owl
11. Oct 2019 · 18:40 UTC
Quite an original twist on a tower defense genre, I like it! :slight_smile:
BilalCh213
12. Oct 2019 · 09:51 UTC
Polished game! The art is really good. Definitely a solid entry. I like the increase in music speed when the rage meter is increased. But the gameplay gets flat really quickly for me. I wish there are more variables to play with.
simon.parzer
12. Oct 2019 · 20:09 UTC
Really nice graphics, interesting concept! The balancing is a little bit off unfortunately, it took a long time until it got challenging.
TORT60091
13. Oct 2019 · 20:45 UTC
Really nice game, thank you for experience!
nsadie
14. Oct 2019 · 21:16 UTC
Pretty fun. Would be interesting to know how much resources I wasted or have some kind of score or timer.
ProdigalSon
15. Oct 2019 · 03:13 UTC
Cool. I like easy to understand and quick to get into games and this is definitely one. I totally see this as a mobile game with options to allow me, the player, to speed up the game/slow it down as needed, and maybe have an option to display the desired treasure change near the Dragon as I found it to be a little far away and often missed it only because of the size game in full screen I assume :D On a smaller screen it would be fine :D

Nicely done
Eduardo Yukio
19. Oct 2019 · 21:31 UTC
Things I didn't like:
* I put the game on fullscreen and went to read the instructions, but it didn't fit my monitor's resolution, I couldn't read it properly =(

* When the dragon thinks about a gem, I thought that it immediately meant that he wanted it, so I let a mole bring it to me, which punished me. I think in a fast paced game, if it happened immediately it would be better.

* I took a while to understand that the button that gives me capacity activates a thing that I must build somwehere. It would be a lot better if it had a clear feedback on the screen, like a message saying "BUILD IT! PLACE IT SOMEWHERE!"

Things I liked:
* Extremely challenging and fun gameplay!
* Simple but nice art!
* Very good and fitting music!

One of the best games that I have played on this LD, good job!
Kyle Bowman
19. Oct 2019 · 21:56 UTC
Very cool game. I loved how the music speed increased as the dragon got more angry. Great job!
Lexyvil
20. Oct 2019 · 04:30 UTC
Fun game, but I had to throw in the towel at half a million for how long it took to get there, it would have been better I think to achieve for 500k~
silkworm_sweatshop
23. Oct 2019 · 17:42 UTC
Cool! Bringing treasure to a dragon is a neat framing, nice use of the theme. I feel it needs something more progression-wise beyond just building more mines to keep it from getting old but for a jam it's perfectly fine and I had fun for the few minutes I played. I think with a bit more work and polish this could be a commercial product as a casual mobile game.