Necroban by Auroriax

[raw]
made by Auroriax for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

You are a necromancer, visiting a graveyard to recruit new skeletons for your undead army. However, you're too lazy to do all the work yourself. Revive half of the skeletons in each level, then push them to the remaining graves to do the work for you!

Screenshot_3.png

Made in Puzzlescript (by Stephen Lavelle, expanded version by Dario Zubovic). Thanks to Marcos Donnantuoni for the Puzzlescript AutoSolver. Thanks to Unidrax for playtesting.

Ratings

Overall 518th 3.8⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 407th 3.75⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 774th 3.5⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2198th 3.025⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1860th 3.1⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1396th 2.763⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1402th 2.675⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1393th 3.3⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 56🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

Le Slo
21. Apr 2020 · 14:04 UTC
Hey! Nice puzzlescript game, a bit confusing at first, but after learning how to play there are some cool expansions to the mechanics (specially level 6) that are very fun. Unfortunately, after level 9 levels are easier than I expected (than the previous ones). Also the Epilogue surprised me, but in the end there wasn't no challenge there, so from a puzzle perspective that was a disappointment, although for the narrative side was a very nice addition. Great work on having a single map with all the levels. Great job!
Koolruz
21. Apr 2020 · 17:27 UTC
Interesting aesthetics, and a neat puzzle mechanic - I like the twist that you're able to choose which graves become the pieces that you're pushing around, and which graves are the goalposts. :)

I got stuck on the Dead End level - I couldn't figure out why you would sometimes drag a skeleton, but other times you could walk away from it without dragging it. I'd be happy to come back and give the game another try though, because I want to see where you go with the mechanics!

Edit: I went back and played a bit longer, and I figured out the mechanic now - I am just dense, and didn't realize that you would only drag the skeletons when moving directly away from them. 😅
ZEZEL
21. Apr 2020 · 17:56 UTC
That's a very cool game, nice work. I was a bit lost at first but once you understood that's a pleasant game and fun to play. And the simple graphism are very cool as well :grin:
MrLeePerry
21. Apr 2020 · 18:57 UTC
Took me a moment to get the rules, but was really neat once I sorted that all out. Nice work!!! Congrats!
oscarglo
22. Apr 2020 · 16:19 UTC
Nice game! Makes me wanna check out puzzlescript. The mechanics are simple, but the levels are very challenging.
🎤 Auroriax
23. Apr 2020 · 19:07 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback so far, everyone!
stevenjmiller
24. Apr 2020 · 09:57 UTC
Absolutely wonderful game, the epilogue was a nice touch. The only issue I encountered was a strange solution/bug in Dead End (in case it matters, this was from the level select after finishing the game) which I have attached below.
![necroban.gif](///raw/39/z/32f61.gif)
SSStormy
24. Apr 2020 · 16:39 UTC
Pretty fun puzzler :). I'm not a fan of the amount of skeletons you have to deal with in the later levels (which is why I skipped 11 and 9), but all the other levels were fun to solve!

I had a minor issue at the beginning visually understanding what I was supposed to do to enter into a puzzle.
SoMall_dumpling
26. Apr 2020 · 04:48 UTC
Level 11 is so hard! I thought for 20 minutes and didn't figure it out.
RIBOUT Horace
26. Apr 2020 · 14:32 UTC
I finally beat it ! Ok, I have to say that your game is for now my favorite from this LD ! Love all the detail and all the level (still have a grudge against the level 9 for keeping me this long on it, but so glad I beat it !) Really awesome !!
Euler Moises
28. Apr 2020 · 17:43 UTC
Everything in the game is very simple, except Gameplay. A very well designed puzzle. It gave me a level design class. Thank you! I haven't reached the end yet, because there are 3 levels to go, but I will. You can be sure!

Congratulations!
Loig
01. May 2020 · 12:42 UTC
Nice puzzle game. It took me quite some time to understand the mechanics, but after that I very enjoyed the puzzles!
JUSTCAMH
01. May 2020 · 14:07 UTC
Huh, puzzle games this smart make me feel really dumb. I'm stuck on level 3, and I'd swear that I've tried every possible combination, but I guess not. This is a seriously cool game tho, I'm impressed that you're able to make such a tricky level in such a small and limited space. It's a super slick mechanic with some really crazy possibilities. One thing tho, I like going into LD games blind, and that meant I had no idea what to do. I figured out movement and skeletons very easily, but I had didn't understand the skeleton mechanic at all. There could possibly be some better in game tutorialisation, maybe a hint at the start or a level to let you play around with it. Overall it's a really cool puzzle, congrats! :heart:
🎤 Auroriax
03. May 2020 · 12:57 UTC
I've just fixed the bug that was reported by @stevenjmiller and uploaded v2! Thanks for all your kind words, everyone! I agree with a lot of the feedback that's been reported here, and might make an expanded version of the game when I have time.
Notan Lemon
06. May 2020 · 03:58 UTC
This is nice! I like the grave pushing mechanic. It made later levels really challenging. Great job!