The Last Guardian by civmaniac
TL;DR: In "The Last Guardian" you are tasked with keeping the last Tree of Life alive. Keep tree watered by manipulating weather, protect it by fighting invading monsters and growing friends. Rain clouds have various effects in this game. The better you take care of your tree, the better it takes care of you. Controls are explained in-game (gamepad recommended). Game takes around 7 minutes to finish, if you prevail ;)
A full game in the works!
Huge thanks to everyone for great feedback and reception! We decided to develop "The Last Guardian" into a full-blown game. It will need a new name before it is done, as the current name is trademarked (who knew?!). You can stay updated about our progress at itch.io https://limboofwonders.itch.io/the-last-guardian-full-game or on our newly-created twitter http://twitter.com/limboofwonders.
In “The Last Guardian”, you will be doing your best to keep the last Tree of Life, well, alive. - Your only tree is all sad and drying up? Sing a song to the clouds! - Overrun by monsters? Smash them with your staff! - Somewhat overwhelmed or lonely? Why not grow some friends! - Hungry and hurt? Just remember what does not fall far from the tree!
Keyboard Controls
(Also explained in-game) - WSAD or ↑↓← → to move - SPACE to attack - Q (hold) to summon nearby clouds to your position. - E to plant a Cactus, pick up an Acorn, pick up an Apple.
Gamepad Controls
(Also explained in-game) - Left Thumbstick to move - X to attack - Y (hold) to summon nearby clouds to your position. - A or B to plant a Cactus, pick up an Acorn or an Apple.
Gamepad is recommended. It's just... more comfortable :smile:.
Tools
Made with Godot 3.2 engine.
Post-Jam version 1.1 released. Please use original version for rating (web is 1.0)!
Post-jam version features: - Harder and easier difficulty levels available (optional) - Normal difficulty is slightly harder now - Illustrated cutscene - Increased movement speed - Tree drops seeds which player needs to plant cacti - Improved attack and stagger animations - Added options and pause menu - Game win condition is more clear now - Better screen transitions - Druid comments when tree is in danger - Support for ultra-wide aspect ratios
Notes
~~MacOS build is reported to be not working for some reason, and we have no means to test it. If this happens to you, you can try our web build.~~ We have a new repacked version for macOS. Check it out!
Credits
This is our second entry. Everything made from scratch by the two of us, except for the music track. Music track is by Jason Shaw and is called "Hoedown". Check Jason out at: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw - @civmaniac: game design, programming and animations. - @fabula-rasa: game design, art, animations and sound effects.
Ratings
| Overall | 571th | 3.774⭐ | 179🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 595th | 3.638⭐ | 180🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 571th | 3.624⭐ | 176🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 426th | 4.045⭐ | 179🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 852th | 3.877⭐ | 181🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 947th | 3.088⭐ | 162🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 972th | 3.517⭐ | 175🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 258🗳️ | 420🗨️ |
lazy vibes! ^^(I don't know why, but I also expirienced this before - it seems to be impossible to build a functioning macOS build on a PC.. :(
Your game looks nice :)
edit: if you're not reliant on realtime GI, might I suggest you make a Webbuild as well? :) Will get you more clicks I think - you know how lazy people are ;)
Sadly I frist have to do a lightbake to make one for our game :3
And yes, we know all about lazy ;)! So we are working on a web build (or rather, my husband is working on it - I am playing the LD games and calling it "promotional activity" ;))!
I hope you'll get to play our game later, we're quite proud of this one :)
I lost first time because I didn't get the idea, but at the second try I got myself enjoying the game!
Great entry, keep up the good work !
@teto @zerohbeat @zesix @keyo @ponypen @fougereble I feel really elated by your appreciation of the graphics! Thank you! It is so great to hear :smile:
Also loved the storymode and also that you thoretically would be able to skip it (for replaying purposes etc)
The artstyle is really cute :) the whole thing has a "don't starve" vibe, which I really enjoyed.
the controls were pretty smooth but a bit too much to remember at first, (but I'm also super bad at that ^^) so if you keep working on this game maybe sort of subtle show them all the time, or create a tutorial to gradually introduce the player to all those functions or maybe make a tiny button icon appear as soon as there are certain actions to be done? :) like when there's a plant the option to water etc.
All in all a sweet and cute game, amazing what you 2 ppl managed to accomplish in 72 hours <3
@nablaz Thank you for your feedback!
Good job! :D
The art style is clean and nice and the mechanics interact well with each other. Though I feel like the attack move is useless as it's more efficient to summon cacti and let them fight instead.
The music is cool but too repetitive considering the length of one playthrough.
The midgame was a little boring with few enemy to fight but then it spiked before the end which wasn't an issue because I prepared with tons of summoning beforehand but could be an issue for someone who summoned less and spend his time fihgting
Overall, excellent work !
Aside from that i liked the looks and the audio the gameplay is unique (if a bit repetitive).
I'm still a bit conflicted about the number of clouds. Assuming its a barren land as the lore has it there shouldn't be that many of them - but then gameplay would be too hard so you had to hit a balance there
And thank you for your feedback! It definitely will help us improve our projects in the future :)
One of my favorites this far :smile:
:purple_heart: :dart: :frog:
Also, I am very glad you enjoyed the game!
And we did indeed decide that polishing existing content is more important than adding more. We developed a workflow of "alrighty, this works well now, let's add the next thing" - rinse and repeat until we ran out of time.
I'm wondering about the performance issues you've encountered. Could you tell me, on which platform build did you play and if it's a web build, which browser did you use?
Maybe you should give more feedback to the player when hitting/getting hit, because the sound effects are low compared to the music, so when you hit/get hit it doesn't feel that impacting ;)
This game was satisfying to play. Nice graphics and animations! I liked the story line. I guess some kind of cactus seeds would be cool, if you would like to make this game "bigger" in the future. Also, the music stutters when changing scenes. Besides that, nice submission!
Thanks for feedback!
Maybe a little too easy since you can just stand in a puddle while constantly luring clouds to spawn masses of cacti. But still a fun little game.
Loved the art and sounds, as well as the gameplay. You guys did a great job with this! keep up the good work!!
Cant wait to see the next ludum dare entry from you!
I let the music play while i was drinking some tea ^^
Think about it for a future release :) The game itself is enjoyable, good job!
@sofy35 and @alexey-kuzovkov, I'm glad you liked our entry! Thank you for your feedback!
It's tough, but I can see the path to improving my success rate. The tree looks perfectly whimsical. Great premise. I would shorten the intro by 25%.
Maybe consolidate the text or cut out the fat? or speed up some of the less-important frames of text?
Addictive indeed. I even interrupted myself writing comments to play it again. HA!!
The sfx being louder in the mix would raise the stakes a bit, I think. Might be nice to have some looming drones to make it a bit more scary/eerie from time to time...maybe as the tree wilts?
1. What a different mix of concepts and possibilities. I always liked the "save the tree" or "the trees can save" motif, but this one goes in a different direction, adding the sorcery like creatures.
1. Are the character animations 2D skeletons?
Overall I liked playing the game a lot, but wanted more since I was able to finish it fast; Maybe in the post jam version you can have more levels with different waves of enemies, more difficuly etc, and harder to grow cactus maybe
Good job for a game jam game :muscle: I liked the sounds, and art and the mood too, it was fun playing it
(I saw one cactus glitching near the tree for some reason, dont know why xD)
Here's a screenshot of my gameplay :p :)
Overall, it was fun and relaxing to play - the music probably helped to create that mood. Great entry!
Greato Jobu ! :smile:
Really well done!
Sometimes I game over but don't know why. I think a more visible indication of when the tree is dying would help with that.
It's really a nice amount of mechanics you packed into this. Several kinds of enemies, clouds that water the tree, puddles and call down lightning (although I never used that on purpose since they move so slowly), puddles that grow cacti, cacti that fight for you, acorns to collect and apples to restore health for when you fight yourself - that's quite a lot of systems. And while the fighting itself is a bit weak it in my opinion, everything works well together and that makes more than up for it.
Add to that the pleasent art style and the nice theme of the game. Great job, you two!
Would have loved to unlock some more powers over time or have some other more direct way of fighting of the hordes.
Fighting mechanic is indeed a bit tacked on. Maybe with further development we would either get rid of it completely (and give more nature spells instead) or develop it into something actually worth while. But for the moment, you are an old druid. So you can smash stuff with your staff in a pinch, but it's not recommended, you may break a hip :wink:
If there was to be a post-LD version, it would be really neat if you could grow more than one kind of plant, and different plant types grew in different conditions, incentivizing map exploration. By no means is this a complaint though, the amount of content in this for an LD game is great.
Thanks for the game!
Introduction looks amazing and the whole game is nicely polished. Nice idea to have minions to fight along with you :)
Cheers!
I was alive... T.T My tree was not under attack and the rain was falling over it.
1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Achei interessante ter de cuidar da árvore enquanto hordas e mais hordas de criaturas vinham combater minhas tropas. Hahahahahah.
Joguei algumas partidas até aprender a "plantar um cacto". Eu notei de primeira que a poça aumentava com a chuva e que depois diminuía com o tempo, mas demorou até eu sacar que precisava interagir com a poça para iniciar o crescimento de um cacto.
As diferentes inteligências dos diferentes inimigos também chamaram minha atenção e me deixaram curioso. Eu pretendo tentar mais uma vez (ver se foi um bug ou se realmente deu sinal de derrota mesmo estando "bem").
Aprender a jogar foi de boa, com o passar do tempo fui acumulando práticas e adaptando contra novas unidades e quantidades de inimigos.
Especialmente bater com o cajado, que tem o passo correto para ser funcional em algumas unidades inimigas.
A sequência de explicações ajudou um pouco a aprender, mas muito longa, creio que uma aproximação mais visual, ou um tutorial em jogo poderiam ajudar com isso (teria que ser testado).
O fluxo de jogo pareceu difícil a priori, mas depois fui entendendo melhor a escalada de desafio e (agora) consigo enxergar como mais balanceado do que parecia inicialmente.
2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
A arte gráfica ficou bacana para o tempo de Ludum Dare. Com maior tempo seria possível polir a arte.
O áudio está confortável, não tenho certeza, mas senti que não tem perfeita sincronia em termos de looping.
Os efeitos sonoros foram suficientes e ficaram bons para o tempo de game jam.
A narrativa é interessante, daria para repartir em diferentes estágios/desafios (caso o interesse da equipe seja a continuidade do projeto).
3 - Cultura:
O jogo me faz lembrar personagens de mitos religiosos, além de jogos de "defenda a base", além da narrativa (ao menos inicial) de Legend of Mana e de Legend of Legaia.
Creio que seria possível partir desses nichos e avançar sobre outros envolvendo cuidado com plantas e outros mais combativos.
Assim seria possível tanto identificar público, quanto fazer do jogo (em caso de continuidade e polimento) uma peça que viria a agregar todo esse conjunto.
4 - Monetização:
Creio que caberia ao jogo quebra em diversos estágios. Com maior apelo narrativo (mundo, personagem e roteiro geral). Além de permitir o desenvolvimento de diferentes projetos de nível.
Dessa forma (e levando em consideração os nichos culturais e de consumo), creio que o jogo poderia vender em stores como itch.io ou mesmo Steam.
1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
I found it interesting to have to look after the tree while hordes and more hordes of creatures came to fight my troops. Hahahahahah.
I played a few games until I learned to "plant a cactus". I noticed at first that the puddle increased with rain and then decreased with time, but it took me a while to figure out that I needed to interact with the puddle to start growing a cactus.
The different intelligences of the different enemies also caught my attention and made me curious. I intend to try it again (see if it was a bug or if it really showed signs of defeat even though it was "fine").
Learning to play was good, as time went on accumulating practices and adapting against new units and quantities of enemies.
Especially hit with the staff, which has the correct step to be functional in some enemy units.
The sequence of explanations helped a little to learn, but very long, I believe that a more visual approach, or a tutorial in game could help with that (it would have to be tested).
The game flow seemed difficult a priori, but then I started to understand the challenge climb better and (now) I can see it as more balanced than it initially seemed.
2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
Graphic art was cool for Ludum Dare's time. With more time it would be possible to polish the art.
The audio is comfortable, I'm not sure, but I felt that it doesn't have perfect sync in terms of looping.
The sound effects were sufficient and were good for the game jam time.
The narrative is interesting, it could be shared in different stages / challenges (if the team is interested in the continuity of the project).
3 - Culture:
The game reminds me of characters from religious myths, as well as games of "defend the base", in addition to the (at least initial) narrative of Legend of Mana and Legend of Legaia.
I believe it would be possible to start from these niches and move on to others involving care with plants and others that are more combative.
Thus it would be possible to both identify the public and make the game (in case of continuity and polishing) a piece that would add this whole set.
4 - Monetization:
I think it would be up to the game to break down at various stages. With greater narrative appeal (world, character and general script). In addition to allowing the development of different level projects.
Thus (and taking into account the cultural and consumer niches), I believe that the game could sell in stores like itch.io or even Steam.
Other than that, well done!!
Direct combat isn't so great but works alright with everything else. I wish there was an indicative of tree's HP besides the your own.
Awesome work overall ^-^
The lack of UI indicator for tree health was actually intentional. We didn't want to show tree HP as some abstract value, instead we opted to change its visuals when it goes from happy-and-wet to dry-and-dead. I still think that tree health indicator probably is an overkill in this case, but the visual representation could certainly be improved. And thanks to feedback, I realized that we could certainly use some cues like a sound effect to announce change in tree state. Maybe if the tree gets dangerously close to dying, druid could show a speech bubble with a graphic of dying tree, thus notifying player of his worry and approaching defeat.
Thank you, everybody, for your invaluable feedback and appreciation! You rock!
Thanks to you, we decided to develop "The Last Guardian" into a **full-blown game**. It will need a new name before it is done, as the current name is trademarked (who knew :wink: ?!). If you are interested, you can stay updated about our progress at itch.io https://limboofwonders.itch.io/the-last-guardian-full-game or on our newly-created twitter http://twitter.com/limboofwonders.
And now, with only 5 days left on LD46, we want to focus on getting as much valuable community feedback as possible. So, back to playing/rating and talking about games. See you there :smile:
https://youtu.be/inyLpQLUFXQ
I liked the game a lot the only negative i mentioned was that I would have liked slightly faster movement speed.
I played with a gamepad!
I quite enjoyed the summoning of the clouds (and how the clouds turn darker), and I liked that it looks as if the cacti are doing the same, with their arms up all the time. :smile: :cactus:
During playing I didn't really have an indication of how far I was in the game. When I won after a a couple of tries, the end came as a surprise.
Also, I really like the animations of the cacti!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/614615339
(Also thanks for playing ours)
I really loved the Idea. It's nice that you don't have direct controlls to defend the tree.
It was a bit to easy and I only needed one Water pool...
But overall, a very nice game :)
The art is great, very pleasant, the song is relaxing and the simplistic gameplay keeps your engaged. Nice job man, I really liked the I played to the end :D
Thank you, everyone, for your feedback and suggestions! We've released a 1.1 post-jam version of the game. Please mind, that you should still use version 1.0 for rating, if you haven't already! If you liked our entry you can check our post-jam version on our itch.io. Web build is still 1.0 for the sake of rating, so you need to download native build. Main changes are: gardening cacti requires seeds now, optional harder difficulty level available, increased player movement speed, cutscene got illustrations and more. You can see full list in the description. At least I think it is full, since I was compiling it late last night ;) Thank you for playing our game!
I like the layered art style, and your mechanics are fun, too. I always find it a bit difficult to remember all the things I can do in Jam games (since I don't play them very long and move from one game to the next it often gets confusing~) so I didn't do very well here at first, but now that I know how to build my Cactus army, it works a lot better!
The variety of monsters and ways to fight them are quite impressive for a LD game and just make for a fun game in general that keeps the balance between actual fighting and management. Great job!
And of course bonus points for making the game in Godot!
It seemed a bit to easy, it was easy enough to summon a ton of cacti, and it never seemed like I was in any actual danger. Still, its fun to play and it works really well, nicely done! :smiley:
Some improvements could be made in the realm of audio during the gameplay. The song was wonderful at the start, but can overwhelm the rest of the game and its gameplay sounds. The movement felt great, but was a bit slow and heavy. The combat system, while great, could be touched up so it's appears more obvious what you're going to hit. But that's it for improvements really, you've done an amazing job!
The player needed to multitask and tend to the combat, planting, harvesting acorns, and watering the tree in the most unique way, which is great! It is fun to play and is an all round enjoyable experience. It is quite unique and has a great visual style! Spectaucular job and well done! I'm really happy to see an already high-quality game is going to become fully fledged! All the best with finding a name and with the game overall!
After I understood what I was doing, I really enjoyed the mechanics, and managing everything at once. I felt that the clouds were really slow moving though, and that frustrated me, and made me feel _a bit_ like I was playing the game wrong -- "should I have been prioritising attacking enemies in that moment?" for example. It was enjoyable to see the water/rain effect one of the enemies, totally by accident, because of some moments like that. I didn't find a good way to defeat that particular enemy using my player attack though, could you intercept its dashes perhaps?
All-round good entry. I have given your new Twitter a follow. :slight_smile:
Other than that the mood is great and it is cute overall
Well done!
@civmaniac Thanks for your response. I checked v. 1.1.1. to compare. The summoning is still imba, sure, but there is are some tools to fix that. First, in v 1.1.1 you can just tweak cacti seed spawn rate, just it is to be more rare, so you have not to make an army, but to make few allies that will help you. Right now the spawn rate is so high that there is no difference between spawning them and not spawning, if you use this strategy. Second, is nearest puddle placement. It is too close to the tree right now, you can run to tree and back with no time, in addition, you also see the condition of the tree and you react fast. Futhermore, clouds usually go near the tree and water it before they get to the puddle, doing two jobs simultaneously. If it was further there would be some options for decision making: go away to summon a cactus, risking with tree's "hp", or be closer to protect it, but do it without a cactus. I believe that will help balance your game.
Jam Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey7V3fBVIDM
At timecode:
27:15
Post Jam Version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXLQHA-5Z4
At timecode:
2:23:30
The concept is quite nice, however, I found that we can spam easily the cactus, so it decreased a lot the difficulity of the game.
Apart from that, overall good work !
I liked the coherent art style, and really dig your music choice. The controls are well explained and feels nice.
I loved the "raining clouds" mechaninc, but feel like it could work a bit faster.
The cactus might be a bit too strong also?
Thanks for the game!
Really enjoyable and well made game, and as you guys are seemingly planning to continue the development further, I hope you the best of luck with that!
Another thing to note in the current version is that the other trees kind of distracting me at first, because I thought there is something that I can do to them.
Also please add some kind of feedback whenever our Tree is attacked. Minimap might be nice to have but I don't know if it fits your game.
Overall this is a nice entry to the jam~
Tree feedback we already added in post-jam version. Druid now let's you know when the Tree is not doing well.