Sacred Guard by larsspawn
This is a 2D Platformer and Tower Defense game, the goal is to survive and protect the crystal in the center of the map from enemies. Currently there are 10 waves, if you managed to survive, congrats you completed the level.




| Youtube | https://larsspawn.itch.io/sacred-guard |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/sacred-guard |
Ratings
| Overall | 2065th | 3.083⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 2006th | 2.917⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 2182th | 2.729⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1830th | 3.354⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1315th | 3.563⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 1114th | 3.146⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1757th | 2.341⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1899th | 2.958⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 39🗨️ |
Well done!
Here is a list of bugs that I have encountered:
1)you can place turrets in walls
2)you can place turrets on each other
3)you can place turrets on right side of previous turret (even if it was impossible to place turret there before)
4)it is possible to select grayed out positions in shop - there is a zoom out but nothing more
5)at the end the only way to exit is ALT+F4 (on congratulations screen) ;)

First of all, I liked the soundtrack (literally stuck in my head for an hour after playing) and the visuals. It looks good and feels good but it isn't without flaws.
I think you could easily add more visual feedback. Here is a few things that you could add to improve it:
- Health bar on top (or around, or anywhere else...) on the enemies.
- A written level (or different kind of indication [maybe change of sprite??]) over the towers so we know what level each are after upgrading them.
Also, I will not list the bugs because other people did but it wasn't too bad for me. Try also balancing the overall gameplay (maybe amount of currency earn after each kill can increase depending on the wave??) and of course, limit a maximum amount of turrets :smile:
Otherwise, it was a fun mini-game. I had fun playing it and hope you had fun making it!
One last thing: for this kind of mini-game (that doesn't require too much performance), try exporting it to WebGL (HTML 5) so there isn't any download necessary. It is always faster and I know many people tends to avoid downloading every game. :smiley:
I love the pixel art.
Nice job.
- I didn't know that my little character can die too - until it died for the first time...
- it was extremely easy to win (I haven't done anything after the first few waves)
- I don't know what was the point of two non-purchasable slots (apart from the zooming out bug)
- I couldn't close UI many times
- in the menu the buttons had "Button" text in the background
- stupid tower trying to shoot though th floors were annoying
- the little effects added much to the generally good graphics (excluding the weird little flying enemies)
- there wasn't any clue what an upgrade does, how good is it
- enemies navigation was buggy (they clumped up beneath the middle floor
Estou na tela de início, gostando da música até o momento.
Notei que há algo escrito atrás de cada botão do menu (talvez "botão" em algum idioma).
Continuarei jogando, em seguida darei meu feedback completo. ^^
I finally got some time to play your game.
I'm at the start screen, enjoying the song so far.
I noticed that there is something written behind each menu button (perhaps "button" in some language).
I will keep playing, then I will give my full feedback. ^^

PS: Talvez tenha sido apenas por conta da resolução da minha tela. Mas se achar oportuno e ainda não tiver notado (ou se não for proposital).
Please ignore my alignment mania a little.
PS: Maybe it was just because of my screen resolution. But if you think it's appropriate and you haven't noticed (or if it's not on purpose).

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
A mecânica de lutar para defender a própria base, enquanto ao mesmo tempo se constroem torres de defesa foi muito interessante. Só não foi mais divertida, porque carece muito em balanceamento (vencer foi muito fácil, apesar de ter sido dolorosamente demorado).
Atirar mirando com o mouse foi interessante, gostaria que (ao menos no momento que eu virasse para o outro lado, minha arma continuasse mirando na mesma direção de antes, facilitando virar para os dois lados enquanto eu atiro (assim, ao usar o mouse, voltaria a mirar pelo mouse)).
Seria interessante se alguns monstros pudessem deixar cair algo para recuperar a vida do personagem do jogador (PdJ).
Consegui entender para que servem os upgrades para as torres de defesa (com exceção de uma vez, que tenho a impressão de ter deletado uma torre sem querer (talvez seja interessante devolver parte do dinheiro ao deletar uma torre, ou pedir confirmação para essa ação)).
Seria interessante se o personagem pudesse andar mais pelo estágio (foi ruim ser atacado por cima e não ter como ir lá confrontar os inimigos pessoalmente).
Creio que ficaria mais balanceado se as máquinas danificassem um pouco ao atirar, ou se precisasse comprar recarga, isso faria o personagem andar mais (teria que testar na prática para ver se funcionaria mesmo).
Em suma, foi algo tranquilo aprender a jogar, creio que nesta parte não exista algo a reclamar.
Sobre o fluxo de jogo, como já mencionei, foi mais entediante que difícil (com exceção do comecinho, onde os inimigos deram algum trabalho). Creio que o ideal seja colocar novos desafios (fora do tempo do evento, caso exista interesse em continuidade para o projeto).
2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Gostei muito dos gráficos, especialmente do efeito de sangue (vou tentar aprender a fazer algo assim, hahahah).
Gostei dos efeitos sonoros e a trilha vestiu bem.
Como já falei nas imagens anteriormente colocadas, seria bom alinhar (centralizar) melhor as coisas no menu.
Gostei muito do menu, então minhas sugestões são para polimento, porque para tempo de Ludum Dare ficou muito bom/massa (ao meu ver).
A narrativa foi simples, não há muito o que dizer.
3 - Cultura:
O jogo é plataforma, tiro, defensor de torre e outras coisas mais.
Caso ele seja polido, creio que tenha de tudo para se tornar uma boa peça desses gêneros (agradando vários nichos ao mesmo tempo).
4 - Monetização:
Creio que, caso ele seja bem polido e a equipe queira continuar o projeto, talvez migrando para algo com maior apelo narrativo, poderia vender para Steam ou itch.io.
1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
The mechanics of fighting to defend the base itself, while at the same time building defense towers were very interesting. It just wasn't fun anymore, because it lacks balance (winning was very easy, despite being painfully slow).
Shooting aiming with the mouse was interesting, I wish that (at least the moment I turned the other way, my gun would continue to aim in the same direction as before, making it easier to turn both ways while I shoot (so when using the mouse would aim for the mouse again)).
It would be interesting if some monsters could drop something to recover the life of the player's character (PC).
I was able to understand what the upgrades for the defense towers are for (except for one time, that I have the impression of accidentally deleting a tower (it may be interesting to return part of the money when deleting a tower, or to ask for confirmation for this action) ).
It would be interesting if the character could walk more through the stage (it was bad to be attacked from above and not be able to go there to confront the enemies personally).
I think it would be more balanced if the machines damaged a little when shooting, or if I needed to buy a refill, that would make the character walk more (I would have to test it in practice to see if it would really work).
In short, it was a peaceful thing to learn to play, I believe that in this part there is nothing to complain about.
Regarding the game flow, as I mentioned, it was more tedious than difficult (with the exception of the beginning, where the enemies did some work). I believe that the ideal is to pose new challenges (outside the time of the event, if there is an interest in continuity for the project).
2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
I really liked the graphics, especially the blood effect (I'll try to learn how to do something like that, hahahah).
I liked the sound effects and the track wore well.
As I already said in the images previously placed, it would be good to align (center) things better in the menu.
I really liked the menu, so my suggestions are for polishing, because for Ludum Dare's time it was very good/nice (in my view).
The narrative was simple, there is not much to say.
3 - Culture:
The game is platform, shooting, tower defender and other things.
If it is polished, I think it has everything to become a good piece of these genres (pleasing several niches at the same time).
4 - Monetization:
I believe that, if he is well polished and the team wants to continue the project, perhaps migrating to something with greater narrative appeal, he could sell it to Steam or itch.io.
Some criticism though:
The point at which my bullets were heading were always a little off from my cursor and that bugged me quite a lot!
The movement feels a little slow, the guy takes a moment until he is at full movement speed, more snappier movement would have felt a lot better!
Most UI elements are not pixel-style and they look like they don't fit the game!