Harvest Soon by Rob6566
Alucard was a simple mushroom farmer until one day he made a fateful decision that will change his life forever.
Game includes: - Over 22 types of encounter! (ok, it's 23) - High Scores! - Kittens! - An arcane feature known as "complex mode".
Play the jam edition here (for reviewing): * https://rob6566.itch.io/harvest-soon-ludum-dare-52 *
Post Jam edition
POST Jam edition is now available: * https://rob6566.itch.io/harvest-soon-post-jam-edition *
See changes in this edition at the bottom of this post
High Scores
The title screen shows high scores from all players. To support this, the game asks you for a display name at the start (apologies - this currently has to be entered every time you restart the game).
Controls
- Mouse - click to traverse tiles.
- WASD - use these to override the camera. This can be needed if you want to visit a tile that's off screen.
Complex mode
I decided that the game was a bit too easy, and implemented a new scoring feature at the last minute. It's not well tested, and lacks polish.
You can toggle this feature on and off on the title screen.
Here's what it does: - All cards now have a traditional playing card value (eg: 2 :spades:) in the top right. - In addition to normal scoring, getting straights, flushes and sets (the same number repeatedly) gives you extra points. This is shown in the bottom right. You score for one of these when the run is broken (eg: you get a card that doesn't match the suit of your flush). - All other functionality is identical.
Tools used
- Engine: Unity
- Graphics: Aseprite
- Audio: (none)
Post jam edition release notes
POST Jam edition: * https://rob6566.itch.io/harvest-soon-post-jam-edition *
UX / Quality of life
- Music, sound (all third party - credits below) and volume toggles
- Animations for gaining/losing sanity/blood/score
- Lethal actions are now highlighted red
- Splash screen cleanup
- Mouse scroll to zoom in/out, Mouse-right and drag to move camera
- Each snarky comment is only shown once
- Game quick restarts instead of kicking you to the title screen and forcing you to re-enter name
Fixes
- Pending poker hands paid out when you win/lose
- You now lose on reaching 0 blood (previously less than 0)
Balance
- Removed "complex mode" toggle. It's now part of the core game (and the primary way to score points)
- Blood distance movement cost now based on distance squared (previously just distance) (to make jumping around the map prohibitively expensive)
- Reduced map size from (17x17) to (11x11) (to make this more of a constraint on high scores)
- Score decrease per move now increments every 10 moves (previously 35) (to encourage quicker wins)
- Balanced Flushes/Straights/Set scoring to more closely reflect probabilities (mostly increasing scores for sets)
- 100 points awarded for winning
- Different set of high scores from jam edition
Scoring
- 100 points at start of game
- 100 points for winning
- Cards with points: 20-30 points each
- Straights (3 cards - 20 points, 4 - 40, 5 - 55, 6 - 75, 7 - 100, 8 - 125)
- Flushes (3 cards - 20 points, 4 - 35, 5 - 50, 6 - 75, 7 - 90, 8 - 110)
- Sets (2 cards - 30 points, 3 - 60, 4 - 100, 5 - 170, 6 - 290, 7 - 480, 8 - 750)
- Moving (-1 per action, decremented by 1 every 10 actions)
Audio sources
- Ultimate SFX Bundle - HD Remaster (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/sound-fx/ultimate-sound-fx-bundle-151756)
- Ultimate Game Music Collection (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/music/orchestral/ultimate-game-music-collection-37351)
| Link | https://github.com/Rob6566/Ludum-Dare-52 |
| Link | https://rob6566.itch.io/harvest-soon-ludum-dare-52 |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/harvest-soon |
Ratings
| Overall | 197th | 3.354⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 116th | 3.583⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 149th | 3.375⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 251th | 3.25⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 319th | 2.604⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 80th | 3.348⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 222th | 3.087⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 16🗳️ | 25🗨️ |
Just needed some more effects to make it pop out more, like ofc sound, some visual cues to the player actions like small shakes or particles etc
Good concept!
It wasn't too difficult, but it was still really fun to try and get a better score
Simple mechanics that fits well together, I'd defo see it extended in more complex cards that affect nearby cases and interact with each other.
I also like the little custom dialogues for most of the cards. Adds to the atmosphere.
Overall, it really wanna make you aim for the high score!
Nice work on this entry!
**https://rob6566.itch.io/harvest-soon-post-jam-edition**
## UX / Quality of life
- Music, sound (all third party - credits below) and volume toggles
- Animations for gaining/losing sanity/blood/score
- Lethal actions are now highlighted red
- Splash screen cleanup
- Mouse scroll to zoom in/out, Mouse-right and drag to move camera
- Each snarky comment is only shown once
- Game quick restarts instead of kicking you to the title screen and forcing you to re-enter name
## Fixes
- Pending poker hands paid out when you win/lose
- You now lose on reaching 0 blood (previously less than 0)
## Balance
- Removed "complex mode" toggle. It's now part of the core game (and the primary way to score points)
- Blood distance movement cost now based on distance squared (previously just distance) (to make jumping around the map prohibitively expensive)
- Reduced map size from (17x17=289) to (11x11=121) (to make this more of a constaint on high scores)
- Score decrease per move now increments every 10 moves (previously 35) (to encourage quicker wins)
- Balanced Flushes/Straights/Set scoring to more closely reflect probabilities (mostly increasing scores for sets)
- 100 points awarded for winning
- Different set of high scores from jam edition
## Audio sources
- Ultimate SFX Bundle - HD Remaster (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/sound-fx/ultimate-sound-fx-bundle-151756)
- Ultimate Game Music Collection (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/audio/music/orchestral/ultimate-game-music-collection-37351)
Thank @holysparks - Yeah, I was pushing for time and didn't add much polish. I've just published a post-jam edition (above) with some of this (audio, fading text when you gain resources). I also added a bunch of balance changes - making the travel cost based on distance squared seems to have helped.
Thanks @mihkelroomet! I added the poker stuff at the last minute to make it more interesting/challenging - glad you liked it. I've just released a post-jam version (linked above) that gets rid of the "complex mode" toggle and adds this to the core game (amongst a bunch of other stuff).
@passbykamenrider - yeah, the comments get a bit redundant. I've released a post jam version (above) that only shows them the first time, and adds some audio and resource animations. I haven't tinkered with custom fonts much - I might do that next and work on the UI.
Thanks @passbykamenrider - I just released a new version that's a bit more difficult (it's now a lot more expensive to jump long distances).
Thanks @luhuchiha! Yeah, I didn't get around to making any. I've just released a post-jam version with music and sounds.
Thanks @pengu123! I haven't decided if I'll work on this some more and extend the gameplay. I'd originally planned power ups that give you a a choice between a few character buffs, or gave you a big score buff but a nasty restriction. That'll definitely be on the cards (haha) if I work on this some more.
Thanks @jaywoody - and nice work on the high score!
Thanks @euske - yeah, jumping out to the title screen annoyed me a bit as well. I've just released a post-jam version that jumps you straight into another game (amoungst a bunch of other improvements). I didn't bother doing that in the jam as resetting the game is a one-liner, while jumping into another game meant resetting a lot of variables and destroying a lot of gameobjects.
It plays really well, and is very intuitive to pick up. Nice job putting this together in such a short time!
I really like the idea of cards as tiles in a game map like this.
High score!
I hope you do more for the Jam version, it's already improved so much!
Thanks @corporation! Yeah, I had a big list of improvements I wanted to make after the jam. I have a lot more, but should probably get back to my main project. I'm definitely more of a programmer than an artist, and I also tend to put more weight on mechanics than art (I love Slay the Spire, but I have a friend who won't play it because the art is bad). I would have put a bit more effort into artwork if I had a lot more time, but there's probably more efficient ways for me to have improved the game before that. I do need to tinker with Unity's lighting and particles - they're pretty quick ways to make things look better without being a good artist.
Thanks @ravernt! Yeah, it was on my list, but it was a bit of work (destroying a bunch of game objects and resetting a bunch of variables). I've done this (and a lot of other stuff) in the post-jam edition, linked in the game description.
Thanks @harmadillo! Yeah, I agree that surviving is a bit easy. In the post-jam edition, I change the blood travel cost to [distance squared] and made the "complex mode" stuff part of the game, to reduce the number of options and emphasise getting high scores. It could definitely use a bit more tweaking though - maybe a roguelike (my favourite genre!) series of maps that get progressively harder.