Streets of the Dead by Neon Orbis

[raw]
made by Neon Orbis for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

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The Story

You have just heard an announcement over the radio that the army will be extracting any survivors that can reach the extraction point located on the over side of the city. So with your trusty bat you head out from your hideout and attempt to make your way across 13 zombie infected blocks, hoping that you get get away from this nightmare.

The Game

​The game is played in a series of turns split into 6 phases.

The phases are:

  • Player move/search
  • City Expansion
  • Zombie, Item and Survivor discovery
  • Zombie move
  • Player attack
  • Zombie attack

Action Points (AP)

Within each turn you have 3 action points (APs) that are used when either moving, searching or attacking zombies. Attacking and Search uses a single AP, but moving will use a single action point when moving to another card of the same suit or value, otherwise 2 APs are used.

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​​Player Move

During this phase, you can move your player character to a neighbouring city block (card) by selecting one of the highlighted cards. Movement is only horizontal and vertical. After you have moved you player, you will enter the City Expansion phase.

​​Player Search

During the move phase, you will have an option to search the area when you start a new turn on a card that is a Royal Card (Jack, Queen, King) or an Ace Card. The Royal Cards represent abandoned shops and contain weapons to assist you on your travels across the city. The Ace cards contain survivors that need rescuing.

On Royal Cards you will notice a box with a number on it, and with Aces, you will notice a survivor lying down with a number to the top right of them. These numbers indicate the the number of Action Points (APs) required to find the item or rescue the hostage. To search, just click the search button when available in the bottom right of the screen. Note, if you choose to search you will not be able to move. Also, you can search up to 3 times within a turn, but if you use all your APs searching, you will not be able to attack zombies this turn.​

City Expansion

This phase requires your player to discover the neighbouring city blocks. This is done by drawing a card from the deck and placing it in one of the 3 empty spaces in the neighbouring column. Repeat this 2 more times until the neighbouring column has a card.

Depending on where you place you card, will determine the number of zombies that will be spawned in the next phase.

Zombie, Item and Survivor discovery​

During this phase, depending on the cards that have been placed in the city along with difference between the new card and its neighbouring card will determine the number of zombies spawned. For items that are discovered, they contain a random weapon and require number of action points listed on the box icon to find/unlock the item. Along with receiving the weapon you will also receive ammo. For survivors, the number in the top right of their character sprite indicates the number of action points required to rescue them. As a bonus for rescuing survivors, you will be rewarded with some health.

Zombie Move

Zombies will always try and hunt you down so each turn zombies move one city block closer to you unless they are in the same city block as you.

Player Attack

During this round you get one attack, and depending on the weapon you have available and selected will determine the number of zombies you can attack during this turn. There are 4 weapon types in the game, Baseball Bat, Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun. You will always have a bat available, but for the other weapons, you will need to find them.

Zombie Attack

If there is a zombie remaining in your city block after you have attacked them, then you will sustain damage. Actually, the number of zombies remaining within your city block (card) will determine how many health points you will lose.

For 1-5 zombies you will lose 1 health point, for 6-10 zombies you will lose 2 health points, for 11-15 you will lose 3 health points and so on. When using a pistol, rifle or shotgun each attack phase will use one ammo round. If you run out of ammo, then that weapon can no longer be used until you find more ammo. Zombie Hordes When a Joker is placed in the city, a Zombie Horde is released.

Game Over

​If you lose all your health points it is game over and you lose the game. Winning the Game ​If you make it all the way across the city and survive a zombie attack you escape the city and win the game.

Ratings

Overall 854th 3.417⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1089th 2.979⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 118th 3.938⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Theme 867th 3.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1156th 2.854⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 766th 3.021⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1012th 2.357⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 933th 3.261⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 27🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Francisco Poluyan
05. Apr 2022 · 17:49 UTC
Nice!
Arthur Mairs
05. Apr 2022 · 17:51 UTC
Plays like a board game, which i really liked, it was quite fun and an impressive use of systems working together, especially in the 72 hours!
XOREAXEAX
05. Apr 2022 · 17:59 UTC
Got some Pen&Paper vibes from the game. I like that it could be played with real cards as well!
Jonrei
05. Apr 2022 · 17:59 UTC
We both made zombie card games :D Nice!
Kaljal
05. Apr 2022 · 18:03 UTC
Well besides audio this one has niche idea
Seppskit
05. Apr 2022 · 18:36 UTC
in the rules you could have used a different color for the text for more contrast. Maybe you can even implement this in the table top simulator.
Nice done!
ThorPalsson
05. Apr 2022 · 19:02 UTC
Fun game great concept, Zombie card games rule!
Anchry
05. Apr 2022 · 19:03 UTC
Zombies and cards, great combo!
Anuradha
09. Apr 2022 · 10:54 UTC
Pretty good concept. I found it hard to understand what to do initially but eventually I got the hang of it and it turned out to be quite fun. Definitely impressive how much you managed to put together in 3 days!
BearDing8
10. Apr 2022 · 19:39 UTC
I really liked the concept and had fun playing this game. Unfortunately I couldn't finish it due to the same bug I faced where I could not perform any action. :(
frozenfire92
10. Apr 2022 · 20:45 UTC
This was a really fun game! I think you could continue and develop this into a full game :smile: I lasted about 30 turns. Overall a good entry, keep on making games \o/
zSharpFire
11. Apr 2022 · 17:49 UTC
A really fun game that keeps you glued to the screen for quite a lot of time! Good Job!

Small bug i found: after 17 turns i just couldn't act at all and was forced to restart.
🎤 Neon Orbis
11. Apr 2022 · 19:06 UTC
@bearding8, @zsharpfire thank you for notifying me about the bug and I am glad you both enjoyed the game. I will look into the freeze bug and should hopefully have a patch out soon.
🎤 Neon Orbis
11. Apr 2022 · 19:11 UTC
Thanks everyone for playing my game, and for all the positive and constructive feedback. I am so happy that you all enjoyed the game, I will be updating the game in the near future to add what I originally planned, implementing the great suggestions and general polishing.
ardorugus
13. Apr 2022 · 04:15 UTC
Dunno, this is actually very unique, lots of mind there, however had some hard times with cards and items/sirvivors. Yet another zombie game, maybe, but really different from the lots.
LDJam user 279546
13. Apr 2022 · 17:04 UTC
I like the idea but it was quite buggy. There were times where I was not allowed to search spaces with items and I was able to only place 1 card at a time at the end and just walk to the finish without spawning zombies. It also felt oddly restricting to only allow 1 attack at a time as well as not being allowed to move and search on the same turn. The idea is cool, but I think the execution needs a bit of work. Good job on what you have though!
Proxy-Games
14. Apr 2022 · 08:57 UTC
Interesting concept. Applying a sort of card game like this to a zombie apocalypse is not an idea I've really seen before, and it does a good job at making something as repetitive and overused as zombies more refreshing. Unfortunately, I had a hard time really understanding all the mechanics at play here-this game would've benefited more than others in the jam from a tutorial due to the rules in actions, turns, and combat. The graphics and audio are both functional, enhancing the mood and making sure gameplay is understandable. The UI layout in this game is generally good, which is especially important considering how much UI is used in this game. Overall, while this game needs more polish, it's a decent entry, and it is always refreshing to see weird and experimental ideas within a game jam. Nice work!
bentglasstube
19. Apr 2022 · 23:48 UTC
This was a fun game with a pretty interesting concept. The phases seemed to move a little too slowly which was frustrating. At some point I didn't place the city expansion cards at the right time and I wasn't able to play them at all so I couldn't progress.
Korio
12. Apr 2023 · 05:30 UTC
Your card game looks very atmospheric)) But like any card game, there is little room for analysis.