LudumData

Debts & Dragons by Syphorce

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made by Syphorce for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

Debts & Dragons: Tussau the Collector Comes

DebtsPics.jpeg

Buy. Sell. Profit. Repeat. Oh... and don't forget the dragon.

Updated Map.png

Trade, Talk and Travel

Debts & Dragons is a trading simulator where every choice matters. Play as a merchant newly arrived in a foreign land, who becomes inadvertently indebted to a dangerous and powerful dragon. While the lands may be unfamiliar, commerce remains the same: Buy when supply is high and demand is low; sell when supply is low and demand is high. Profit. Repeat. An easy path to riches. Or not.

Eapram Dialogue.png

Beware the Dragon Tax Collector

Trade goods between several unique towns, each with their own unique economies. Time is not your ally, as the dragon could demand repayment at any time. You must satisfy their desire to build a treasure hoard, lest you become the target of their ire and fire.

Trade Screen in Styx & Stones.png

How to Play

  • The objective of the game is to pay back your debts to a dragon tax collector, and maybe make more besides.
  • Make money by buying resources at towns and selling them for higher prices at other towns.
  • Traveling between towns takes time, so trade efficiently.
  • Talk with NPCs for story, quests and more. Your answers will affect your reputation, which affects prices.
  • There are four endings based on your money and reputation. Can you get the best one?
Link https://indiegameacademy.itch.io/debts-and-dragons
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/debts-dragons

Ratings

Overall 709th 2.939⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 701th 2.697⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 572th 2.938⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 546th 3.406⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 430th 3.578⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Audio 275th 3.469⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 494th 2.742⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 547th 3.306⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 72🗳️ 52🗨️

Feedback

Ulziton
Oct 06th · 23:09 UTC
amazing atmosphere very cool one!
Kagegona
Oct 06th · 23:26 UTC
Looks sooo wide, well done
Gaverion
Oct 06th · 23:39 UTC
Nice atmosphere and idea! The interface had a few issues with overlap. It also seemed like numbers were growing exponentially so I wasn't sure if I was just supposed to buy as much as possible and then run around and sell when it felt like I made enough.
Matthieu Riboulot
Oct 06th · 23:59 UTC
Unfortunately, it is easy to get stuck in the user interface
adrielias
Oct 07th · 01:23 UTC
Pretty cool art!!
I would rather the resources that are unavailable to buy/sell had those buttons off or something like that, for clarity!
TemmyT
Oct 07th · 23:04 UTC
Love the aesthetic, gives some old school mmo vibes. However I got confused easily while playing
tardis2snej
Oct 07th · 23:25 UTC
The art of town merchants is so beautiful!
I love the concept of the game. However I found UI not very user-intuitive (took be waay too long to see the little "map" button in the corner...), prices overlap (especially when they get high).
I'd say the game is about inflation, as the prices went x10 in a few days hahaha
GoogleFrog
Oct 07th · 23:39 UTC
At first the inflation seemed a bit extreme. but I came to like it for how fuzzy and precarious it made the trades feel. I would have liked commas in the large numbers, to help me tell trillions from 10s of trillions. At around 10^10 my money seemed to overflow as the operations on it stopped making sense (and would often display zero). Overall, a nice take on trading.
Kamilah
Oct 08th · 04:56 UTC
Everything got so expensive so quickly haha I was not prepared the first time I played this! Once I tried again, though, it felt more manageable and I was able to understand what I should be doing. This was very fun, a nice story with excellent art style and great worldbuilding potential. Nice job!!
LDJam user 417758
Oct 08th · 07:53 UTC
This is a very creative and compelling concept. The character design is excellent.To elevate it further, I'd focus on the execution. The current color scheme lacks harmony, and the rendering could be refined to improve clarity and detail.”
xwHanq
Oct 08th · 16:04 UTC
I like the idea of ​​this game and the gameplay is very interesting. However, there are some thing that could be improved in terms of UI design.
Eugenik
Oct 09th · 13:58 UTC
Fun game.
LDJam user 372012
Oct 10th · 13:04 UTC
Interestingly enough this is the second entry I play about dragon collectors :D But it's nice to see different mechanics established. For future please make sure to add tutorial not as a separate guidebook, but as an actual interactive sequence! Players experience builds upon that
![photo_2025-10-10_16-00-11.jpg](///raw/c2d/a5/z/6f2fd.jpg)
RedPhoenix2412
Oct 12th · 22:52 UTC
Really cool art style! I wish it would show what price I paid for each item previously. I lost track a little too quickly. But besides that, it's a very well done entry!
Wallted
Oct 12th · 23:05 UTC
Firstly, I am very impressed looking at the size of this team. This is so epic to see a game made by so many people for a jam. Game looks stunningly, exceptionally beautiful, is filled to the brim with fluff, poruing it's atmosphere onto a player, acompanied by fantastic ambient track. Gameplaywise - it was trivial for me. When I played this the second time I could just buy stuff from anyone on the first day, keep it, sell it to anyone on the last day, making absurd profit. When talking with NPCs, same choice dialouges repeats, which technically allows to farm respect points with one NPC on one day. Despite, I still consider this a great piece of work with breathtaking atmosphere.
MrBamboo
Oct 13th · 00:27 UTC
So much efforts in art!! Wow!!
Phoenix Fireflower
Oct 15th · 21:21 UTC
It must have been difficult coordinating such a large team, but you've managed to create an expansive game with gorgeous art to boot. There is, however, a bug in the game where asking about a rumour can soft-lock the game after the first time the dragon asks for gold. Other than that, I had a great time.
LDJam user 221561
Oct 17th · 01:32 UTC
I'm staggered by the size of the team. This can take a very long time to load (took about 10 attempts) and the UI makes some assumptions about screen ratio which means full screen can drop the bottom of the game into inaccessible areas and mess up some UI elements. There's some game breaking bugs when talking about rumours with merchants where everything just stops, and some placeholder variables that appear.
Trading between merchants would be too easy were it not for the constant threat of death-by-inferno, so that was a nice touch :)
Zathnic
Oct 17th · 15:45 UTC
Cool art and nice worldbuilding!
Floryan
Oct 18th · 20:59 UTC
The music and sound design is good overall, but the economy is trivial. became a billionare on a week 2. Would be a nice game if tweaked enough.
daniel
Oct 18th · 22:24 UTC
Beautiful character portraits. Like others have said, just the management and design for a team this size over 72 hours is it's own type of accomplishment. The differences between the towns and their economies was not super obvious to me, but still was easy enough to make money. Overall very impressive game.
Mamboman
Oct 19th · 18:28 UTC
Very nice atmosphere!
ophiene
Oct 22nd · 01:02 UTC
Amazing work! It’s super interesting and has a vert unique way to paraphrase the theme, good job! And welcome to give our game a try! :)
Ciphereo
Oct 24th · 06:31 UTC
I really love dragons. These dragons are so cool. The pictures are so beautiful. I love them so much!