Dread Knowledge by subcreation

[raw]
made by subcreation for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Keep your wits about you as your party scales the peak of Insanity. But don't shield yourself too safely from the horrors, or you may find yourself unprepared for the summit... We had a lot of fun making this game, and we hope you have fun, too! screen<em>1.pngscreen</em>2.png

Ratings

Overall 767th 3.512⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 975th 3.214⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 726th 3.321⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1055th 3.19⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1112th 2.3⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Mood 637th 3.512⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 46🗳️ 65🗨️

Feedback

LeYamez
05. Oct 2021 · 01:34 UTC
I like the 3D models they looked good! Felt the UI could be worked on a bit though.. was a fun experience overall!
Jake Levine
05. Oct 2021 · 01:43 UTC
Really fun once I got the hang of it. The choices of who to assign each action in the night was interesting to think through. I just wish there was a second Meditation option!
baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 01:45 UTC
An interesting take on the life-esque board game genre with a good amount of player agency. Possibly I didn't understand the system well enough, but I didn't feel like I had any chance of winning though.
tinykidtoo
05. Oct 2021 · 01:47 UTC
Its pretty hard to make it to the end, I was close. Pretty cool art. I like the lava flow and the colors you choose.
Salohcin894
05. Oct 2021 · 01:47 UTC
Pretty harrowing run. I managed to get only Winter to the end, with one health and one sanity.
Kartik Kini
05. Oct 2021 · 01:49 UTC
An ambitious kind of game to go for, and its got potential. The biggest issue was a general lack of clarity in communicating the core mechanics (which is obviously very hard to do in a short period of time). The overall game "board" was very cool and impressively constructed.
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 01:49 UTC
@baconharemthug Thanks for your feedback! My inspiration was Candyland, so calling it Life-esque is a big compliment :laughing:
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 01:54 UTC
@Salohcin894 That's awesome! I'm pretty jazzed just that it runs, the fact you beat it in such style is really cool.
Skleembof
05. Oct 2021 · 01:57 UTC
I think this game needs a whole other level of gameplay because right now it feels like you're being punished for not doing anything. You have no control over the dice roll, no control over the damage or insanity hits you take, and the only thing you can do is choose to heal 2 people per night. Placing a guard seems pointless since you don't really lose anything from doing it. You just decide whether you want one guy to take damage, or everyone to take damage.

You have a good foundation for a game here though. The basic elements are in place to turn this into some unique rpg/adventure game. Like maybe each square could offer the player the chance to perform an action like explore, hunt, pillage, etc. Activities that can reward or hurt you based on certain factors. Like the enemies you encounter while exploring are represented by pieces on the board.

You guys did a great job putting this together in 48 hours, and I think with just a few more days, you could turn this into an interesting concept.

Oh and I should mention that when I opened the game on my ultrawide monitor, the advance and info buttons on the bottom were cut off, so I was sitting around pressing all the keys on my keyboard trying to figure out how to play.
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 01:58 UTC
@kartik-kini It was a lot for us to chew on, I definitely lost a lot of sleep, but I'm glad you thought it was cool!
MorePixels
05. Oct 2021 · 02:02 UTC
This was really fun! Would be cool to see it expanded more! Wish there was a bit more in the middle of the game as I started to get a little bored. But overall I really enjoyed it!
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 02:28 UTC
@morepixels Thank you! There were definitely some features cut from the middlegame, but I'm glad you liked it!
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 02:37 UTC
@skleembof Thank you for this solid feedback! I'm sorry the game had trouble on your monitor, but I'm glad you liked the concept. There's definitely room for growth, and I like your suggestions!
nymnymn
05. Oct 2021 · 04:26 UTC
Skleembof pretty much nailed what I was going to say on the head. It's an interesting concept and I enjoyed it.

"A quiet night..."
Kassout
05. Oct 2021 · 05:47 UTC
Really impressive entry! For a 72h work and regarding our own work, I won't have the mood to comments on 3D models quality or so. @MorePixels emphasis what I would just criticize a bit. At some point I asked myself where the end was because I had the feeling of being a bit bored, looking for the end. Still, as everyone said, it's a really cool foundation for a bigger game you got here!
Megastrons
05. Oct 2021 · 18:53 UTC
I found the game very fun and original, 3D board games have a charm, but I didn't really understand the proposal with the theme.
Heremeus
05. Oct 2021 · 19:58 UTC
I actually quite enjoyed the game. Looking at the other comments, I might have been really lucky. I made it to the end with all characters close to maximum hp and minimum sanity (the last two nights were quiet). I missed all but two chests though, so didn't feel overly lucky.

The minimalistic animations work great with the 3D models. Felt a bit like Gothic I/II atmosphere.
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 19:59 UTC
@megastrons We liked the Lovecraft-style idea that your party has to become unstable by the end of the game without wiping. Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
🎤 subcreation
05. Oct 2021 · 20:04 UTC
@heremeus Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you found it enjoyable!
Glen Chang
06. Oct 2021 · 07:49 UTC
I'm not sure if the build I played is bugged. I couldn't move at all. I could only press shift to zoom out, but no other button would move or do anything to the characters.
Sethios
06. Oct 2021 · 08:52 UTC
Quite an enjoyable experience! I like how the characters have different names and appearances each playthrough, and the game had me strategizing
RustBaron
06. Oct 2021 · 11:12 UTC
Excellent game! The mechanic of managing health with sanity grew on me over time and it was fun watching the interactions between the party. 3D graphics are quite good, particularly appreciate the party models and their unique states for different sanity levels. Only negatives would be the rougher looking UI, lack of music, and slightly repetitive gameplay loop, but overall great job!
🎤 subcreation
06. Oct 2021 · 20:40 UTC
@glen-chang Glen, thank you for letting me know! Since there was a game-breaking aspect ratio bug (game only works in 16:9), I have updated the game to improve this issue (I understand this to be within the jam rules). Let me know if the new build works for you, or if your issue was unrelated, as I would like to make sure people have a chance to play!
Vishwah
07. Oct 2021 · 05:16 UTC
I don't understand a thing nice game though
1tater_no_tots
07. Oct 2021 · 05:27 UTC
Interesting concept, reminded me of the board game "Haunting of the House on the Hill" with the sanity system. It would have been nice to have an actual number system for the health/sanity. I went through my first run unscathed, so I failed due to estimating the sanity bar/total sanity number wrong.
Kobrasadetin
07. Oct 2021 · 11:01 UTC
Great work! The game is well balanced, the idea is good and the overall mood fits with the theme of the game and the jam.

I think adding some simple texts to the UI would have been a nice improvement, for example under meditate "+1 sanity", under heal "+1 health -1 sanity". It can be easy to forget to add details like these when in a hurry (and in a polished version of the game they could be tooltips, if you decide to continue development after the jam).
Kiwi663
07. Oct 2021 · 15:27 UTC
Very nice art and animations.
🎤 subcreation
07. Oct 2021 · 15:33 UTC
@1tater-no-tots @kobrasadetin Thank you for your feedback! I agree that number displays and tooltips would be helpful, but we didn't quite have time to implement them.
NinjaCatz
07. Oct 2021 · 17:12 UTC
An interesting game, it reminded me a lot of "For the King", which I played a lot at one time!
Dandala88
08. Oct 2021 · 01:00 UTC
Cool idea combining a board game type mechanic with RPG elements. About halfway through the map I was thinking that there were some definite balance issues and that there was no way I was making it to the end. But I did end up making it there with two left and what I thought was enough sanity. Apparently it wasn't cause it gave me the defeat ending but oh well. I liked the graphics but they must have been premade since you opted out which I appreciate. If this was fleshed out just a tad more I could see playing it for hours. Nice job!
handserge
09. Oct 2021 · 15:08 UTC
Yay I won! This is nice and clever representation of the theme, supported by an interesting gameplay. That's a thumb up from me :)
Jeff Kerman
11. Oct 2021 · 20:21 UTC
The character models in this game are so pretty. The gameplay got a bit repetitive so I wonder if there are ways to increase the complexity of the decisions the player has to make. Overall very good game.
Annie Owl
12. Oct 2021 · 19:36 UTC
Interesting game! Managing my team's health and sanity was fun, but I wish there was a "Team Sanity" meter - it would have been easier to estimate your team's status that way.
Frankey333
13. Oct 2021 · 21:05 UTC
Great atmosphere. I finally reached the end with full party after 4 attempts, AND then I noticed the win condition (ofc i had sanity at ~4) :D
DGSpitzer
19. Oct 2021 · 07:20 UTC
Fantastic fun game! The gameplay is super innovative and addicted, I reached the fortress at the first try (however my average sanity is too low to win) The randomize of characters is super cool as well! Love it!