Knights of the Round Torus by madjackmcmad

[raw]
made by madjackmcmad for Ludum Dare 47 (JAM)

Meteor launching team building arcade action! Clear the roads and defend the citizens of a magical torus for as long as you can.

ld47<em>crazy</em>gameplay_itch.gif

  • Time meteor launches for maximum impact and high scoring chains.
  • Deal with ten different enemy types that fly, bounce, teleport, and use magic
  • Travel to peaceful towns, noble keeps and desert temples, all in a convenient loop.
  • Spend gold to hire allies and upgrade guards.
  • Let your allies head off to adventure! Pick them up on the next loop and they'll grow in power.
  • Dynamic music that changes with party size and danger level.
  • Clicktastic single button gameplay. That's not the theme but OK!
  • Dunk on your potato friends with real live Leaderboards, powered by Dreamlo

ld47<em>gameplay</em>01.png

DocJekyll and I decided to team up this time around, though we only had 48 hours to do the work. We are submitting this to the Jam but used the Compo time constraints, please take note of our courage and valor.

The idea was riffing off of Missile Command, an arcade classic. Enemies approach, you fire shots with a travel time and a lasting damage zone, trying to scoop up as many targets as you can in one hit. Things get hectic before too long, with your team filling up with pirates, archers, and axemens, all trying to clear out an array of ever more mobile and clever enemies.

Letting enemies pass you will eventually bring you defeat. Waves are trips between towns, and if you begin a wave having let too many enemies pass you in the wave prior, you are in a sudden death mode where only a handful of misses can end the game. If you make it through, some of the pressure is off, so keep at it.

Sometimes your hired allies will ask to leave the party and go on a quest. If you manage to make it through a whole loop and return to where you left them, they'll rejoin you with vastly improved power. Or, you could just sacrifice one of them at the blood altar in case you're doing really poorly and need to take some heat off.

Every note of music was from Doc's laboratory. He actually wrote ten layered tracks that blend in and out as the party size changes, towns are visited, and the danger level increases.

Some of the art is derived from Oryx's excellent Tiny Fantasy set. Very little was used as-is: we animated, modified, and built all new content out of the base. However, Oryx's work was absolutely a springboard for us and so we've recused ourselves from the Graphics category.

ld47<em>gameplay</em>02.pngld47<em>gameplay</em>04.png

Ratings

Overall 293th 3.9⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 208th 3.9⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 390th 3.7⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 829th 3.6⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 130th 4.025⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 477th 3.125⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 855th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 7🗳️ 8🗨️

Feedback

LetterAfterZ
05. Oct 2020 · 12:59 UTC
The artwork and music are pretty sweet. I think you have a really fun primary loop here.

Took me a while to get the hang of the frogs, the mechanic of trying to get direct hits is great fun. and i loved building up the squad of little dudes, so I did feel a lil guilty sacrficing them for faster fireballs!
mvasko2
05. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
I really liked the graphics and music, they all blended together smoothly and created a nice retro vibe. I'm also impressed by the amount of content, there were a lot of monsters and they were all nicely done.

It was too difficult for my taste though. There was total chaos on my screen at all times, and some of the monsters were way too fast to even notice. That got me a bit frustrated and I quit quickly.

Overall, it's not my cup of tea gameplay-wise, but it's very impressive content-wise. Also, the "Totally worth it" button on ally sacrifice made me crack a big smile.
Fiquem
05. Oct 2020 · 13:16 UTC
This is an insanely well polished game for 48 hours! Really fun!! :D (And hard D:)

I refuse to ever sacrifice my little dudes.
🎤 madjackmcmad
05. Oct 2020 · 17:40 UTC
@mvasko2 I'm glad you got some smiles and enjoyed kicking it for a little even though it's not your cup of tea. That's one of my favorite parts of LD, playing stuff I normally wouldn't and having fun with things outside my usual wheel house.

@fiquem Thank you! I'm with you on not sacrificing them -- it's a viable gameplay choice, but as I was coding the spray of gibs I felt immediate guilt.

@letterafterz Thank you very much. Doc worked really hard on the music and I think it's killer. Everything just flows.

@all-y'all: It *is* a touch difficult isn't it. Technically I still have a few hours to tone it down, hmmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔🤔
JimMakesGames
05. Oct 2020 · 20:45 UTC
This is incredible work and tons of fun. The pixel art is gorgeous, the music is sweet, the gameplay is top notch. I salute your incredibleness!
Jimbly
06. Oct 2020 · 01:19 UTC
Nice job! I like the art, and it's satisfying to get chains of kills with meteors. I was often frustrated by clicking and nothing happening, presumably because I couldn't launch a fireball, so a little more feedback there would have been really nice, maybe the cursor changing when it's ready and/or a failure sound and error effect when trying to launch one and you can't.

After I failed once and restarted, I encountered a guy I couldn't afford, but when I clicked "purchase", he seemed to join me anyway. Not sure if that was a bug, or if someone else just joined.

Difficulty felt about right, if it was any easier I'd probably still be playing and my mouse arm would be hurting...
🎤 madjackmcmad
06. Oct 2020 · 15:25 UTC
@jimbly what you mean you didn't see the tiny shaking boxes on your wizards head, all the way on the other side of the screen from where you were looking? GOSH, players these days.

:) You are completely right. I wanted to get the cancel sound in but was very tired and ran out of time. I'll get it in later after judging, I think this game is neat and want to kick it around some more.
LurkinMcClerkin
06. Oct 2020 · 18:25 UTC
The game is very fun to play, I could see myself sinking hours into this. The gameplay loop was satisfying and arcadey enough to be addicting. Some of the units didn't pop out enough for me so I missed a lot of enemies just because I didn't see them but the art was well done. I would like to see something like this further expanded upon.
Vanea
06. Oct 2020 · 19:13 UTC
game has simple mechanics that are difficult to master, and I'm really into that. the dynamic soundtrack was really neat to listen to as well; its probably implemented better here than in my game o:
FabDynamic
07. Oct 2020 · 03:16 UTC
This is so cool, I immediately saw the missile command inspiration but with this really cool story and setting surrounding it. I actually love games which put classic gameplay mechanics in new surroundings and contexts. I like all the cool action stuff going on on screen all the time.
Kolkav
08. Oct 2020 · 06:33 UTC
Sometimes I wonder why do Wizards in fantasy settings don't have a PTSD problem considering how many people they can obliterate just like that... On the other hand, they probably can heal their mental wounds...I guess. Anyway, launching meteors is always fun! The old-timey vibe goes very well hand to hand with the gameplay and UI you designed.
givit-game-studios
09. Oct 2020 · 10:01 UTC
What a fun little game. I would suggest to imrprove on the UI a bit. Especially when I need to buy stuff to progress. I love the simple gameplay mechanics and the player feedback. The audio is awsome aswell.
Annie Owl
09. Oct 2020 · 18:36 UTC
That was fun, but I just couldn't get used to the meteorite timings and kept missing a lot of the shots :slight_frown:
koemeterion
10. Oct 2020 · 10:22 UTC
Fun but challenging game. Hitting flying enemies was difficult because it was hard to see where I have to click to hit them. I had the same issue like @jimbly that I got an allie without even paying for him (and I didnt click on pursache). Starting my second run I had an random shadow floating on the map. It didnt do anything, so I thought some god was watching me. Nice little detail. Right?

When you're out of meteors it felt unsatisfing. (obviously) I wished for some upgrades to raise those numbers a bit so I can shot more often. The more enemies appear I want to click more but here comes the master-the-mechanics into place. But I'm not good with this so all I want is firing more meteors on this lovley planet.

To make it short: Great music, great art and a gameplay loop that is addictive but could be even more addictive if I could fire more stuff out of my wand (or from the sky).
meskaline
12. Oct 2020 · 14:53 UTC
I love the art style. A good game and surprisingly complex with awesome audio. GJ
clemonades
13. Oct 2020 · 14:01 UTC
Wow, I love the art and ammount of juice you guys added to everything, great job!
JHax
15. Oct 2020 · 22:42 UTC
Just managed to squeeze into the top 10 :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Really great game, pixel art is gorgeous! Did find it a bit tricky to hit the birds, couldn't figure out how to get them without the helpers.

![Torus.PNG](///raw/53b/c2/z/3a30f.png)
🎤 madjackmcmad
19. Oct 2020 · 18:24 UTC
@jhax I could have done better with their shadows -- the birds are hit if you can do an airstrike, if the meteor you launch hits them in the air on the way down. Same goes for all jumping critters but the birds are never on the ground.

@clemonades Thank youuuu!

@meskaline Thank you! DocJekyll really crushed it didn't he?
Nodli
20. Oct 2020 · 11:34 UTC
Really nice entry !
Harksa
21. Oct 2020 · 11:27 UTC
This game is pretty hard, but it is fun ! I really enjoyed the music and the fact it went quiet inside towns, really well done. Also that leaderboard, that really a nice touch here !

Go job !
vfqd
26. Oct 2020 · 21:04 UTC
Enjoyed the gameplay a lot - found it really challenging but pretty engaging. I feel like this could be turned into a wonderful arcadey score attack with more juice and effects.

I loved the homage to the old games of this style with the character moving across the screen at the end of a round before each village.

If I had one area I'd love to see improvement, it would be to have more mercenaries to hire (who by the way, have great names). It just feels really bad to leave a town with a bunch of cash and nothing to spend it on.

Another idea is perhaps to be able to strategically design the formation of you team of peeps - there's a lot of potential here. I like the idea a lot of a kind of shmup tower defense.

Anyway, this is a great entry with lots of enemy variety and flavour. Wonderful job!