Loyalty by Erik Tate

[raw]
made by Erik Tate for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

*NOTE: You can bark again to to make the necromancer stop. We didn't call this out in the game and it's a bit confusing :sweat_smile: *

This is the story of a blind Necromancer and his faithful undead companion, Henry. The pair embark on a quest to find the Pillar of Sight in order to restore that which has been lost. However, there is always more to lose...loyaltyscreen.png

Ratings

Overall 408th 3.721⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 660th 3.371⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 284th 3.714⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 843th 3.329⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 362th 4⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Humor 206th 3.727⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Mood 517th 3.621⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 49🗨️

Feedback

Unbreakable
16. Apr 2024 · 14:31 UTC
You move using awd and use j to sommon the Necromancer. Not sure how you complete the game
imwonderr
16. Apr 2024 · 17:56 UTC
Congrats on the game! Loved the Necromancer's lines.
zarukara
16. Apr 2024 · 23:39 UTC
Great graphics and smooth controls.
brunoklipel
16. Apr 2024 · 23:49 UTC
Nice job! An original idea and a very good art.
Diego Escalante
17. Apr 2024 · 00:13 UTC
Looks stunning and sounds great! Although there can be a few frustrating bits where you can softlock yourself and must restart, the game plays really well and can be very fun! The Necromancer's quips was a great touch. Nice work!
Baluj
17. Apr 2024 · 00:57 UTC
I like the game and nice art, it was too short for me. And I accidentally locked the dog up.
![encerrado.png](///raw/397/d5/z/63ef9.png)
🎤 Erik Tate
17. Apr 2024 · 01:09 UTC
@unbreakable @imwonderr @zarukara @brunoklipel @diego-escalante Thank you for playing and for the kind words! This is our second game jam and we were pretty happy with the progress we were able to make :smile:

@baluj I just realized I left a really old build on the github.io page :sweat_smile: I replaced that link with the itch.io page which has latest build of the game. Thanks for giving it a play though!
Baluj
17. Apr 2024 · 01:24 UTC
@erik-tate That's a big improvement in many ways. I feel like I like it more. And now I hate arrows.
LDJam user 374168
17. Apr 2024 · 04:56 UTC
Really cool concept, I like how the skeleton dog is summoning the wizard in a neat reversed idea. The controls felt kind of unintuitive, and I think a more explicit tutorial would've been helpful; for example, I didn't realize that barking again would get the wizard to stop, so I was stuck on one of the earlier levels. Also I didn't understand why some objects had physics attached to them (i.e. the boxes. It was weird when I noticed it had momentum from pushing them)

The art is excellent and the music isn't too bad; really liked the presentation of this game. Great job!
LDJam user 355692
17. Apr 2024 · 04:59 UTC
Great game, love the vibes of classic games with art and music. Though I had some issues with my screen resolution (I think). I'm on a retina mac, so I have two resolutions, one which is probably below the normal 1080p, and one which is like 2.5k. So part of the screen is game screen is invisible because of this.
Here's a screenshot of what I mean:
![Screenshot 2024-04-16 at 21.58.37.png](///raw/c6d/65/z/63faa.png)

I can play for quite a bit with part of the screen obscured, though :)
OhFiddleDiddle
17. Apr 2024 · 05:00 UTC
Excellent work! An interesting twist on the classic puzzle platformer. It made me realising how patient seeing-eye dogs are, because I was yelling at the old man from level 2 onwards haha.

I didn't realise how the stretch worked at first (I kept tapping it, and being confused when nothing really happened). So maybe say L (Hold) or something like that instead.

Overall, great entry, keep up the amazing work. :)
Unbreakable
17. Apr 2024 · 06:00 UTC
@erik-tate I will try again with the latest build when i get home today :D!
ffffchai
17. Apr 2024 · 08:13 UTC
The design of having a partner summon his mage is very humorous. I love to watch the small talk. The level design is also very well done and it's easy to control. Nice work!
kuggenhoffen
17. Apr 2024 · 11:37 UTC
Great idea and game looks and sounds good. It felt a bit too easy to get softlocked on some levels, especially if you got the necromancer on top of you or pushed a box to the edge. Also it took me way to long to realize you could also stop the necromancer by barking... (Me trying to finish the 3rd level without realiznig it :laughing:) Also on some levels (the fifth one with the box behind the door top right) the collision felt weird as there was lots of room to get on top of the box but I just couldn't fit.

Anyways great game, good job!
helinatan
17. Apr 2024 · 13:44 UTC
i love it! all the game parts.
great job.
Unbreakable
17. Apr 2024 · 14:11 UTC
Really glad i came back to this! It actually made sense this time :smile:! Cool art and interesting mechanics. It became way easier when i realized you could make the blind necromancer stop again by pressing j again :laughing:
Cshep99
17. Apr 2024 · 19:11 UTC
that was fun! i got myself locked in a little cage at one point!
Burns
18. Apr 2024 · 01:32 UTC
enjoyed this a lot
Quinnster
18. Apr 2024 · 01:37 UTC
Nice graphics and fun puzzles! Took me a minute to figure out what the point of the game was, but once I did it was fun!
IRoRoI
18. Apr 2024 · 10:27 UTC
5 dogs out of 5
RaimondoSenpai
18. Apr 2024 · 12:38 UTC
Nice idea, the graphic is not too bad probably some more polishing would've been nice but for a jam is what it is. the mechanis and theme are well centered. the game is fun to play, also nice sounds love the idea and execution
K-toll
18. Apr 2024 · 23:05 UTC
The design is good and the protagonists well done. The interaction between the two is well-balanced, with each path requiring a bit of thought before succeeding, and the difficulty increasing in a well-balanced way.
Well done!
FootLettuce
19. Apr 2024 · 13:08 UTC
I played this five days back, and revisited today. Had to learn the hard way that the bark could also be used to stop the necromancer in his tracks. I'm super glad that you've included that now up by the title! Excellent game with a great look, smooth movement system, and simple but brilliant mechanics. The stretching using the dog's spine as a bridge is total genius. Incredible work!


![Stretch.png](///raw/5cd/44/z/64722.png)
silkworm_sweatshop
20. Apr 2024 · 20:37 UTC
That was great! The switching of the roles to have the dog summon the mage was a nice touch! Really polished graphics and sound and some nice puzzles too.
Rolly
21. Apr 2024 · 13:38 UTC
Really cool puzzle game concept!

I didn't reach the end, I unfortunately got too frustrated with the level where an arrow shoots a box. In my opinion, a puzzle game like that shouldn't rely that much on physics, because it can create too many frustrating issues (moving a box against a wall, getting the summoner on top of the dog, sometimes getting a box in the ground when it's pushed by a door, dog not moving with a platform when barking, etc.) It makes it all very dynamic, but at the same time, having to restart a level not because of the logic but because of "bad luck"/wrong timing is not a nice feeling.

That being said, I loved the concept, it's very innovative, the level design is awesome, the visuals and audio are gorgeous. With a little more polish on the game mechanics, this would have definitely been this LD's 5 star for me!

Great work!
EmilAlix
24. Apr 2024 · 00:16 UTC
A lovely old-school game ! Love the sound and graphics !
Cody Raethke
25. Apr 2024 · 04:14 UTC
This was pretty cool. I liked the overall graphics, and expecially the dog sprite and animations. The sound effects were nice too. I couldn't beat the 3rd (?) level, I kept pushing the boxes in places where I was one pixel away from getting them out. It would be nice if the dog collider was slightly smaller to be a bit more forgiving. The controls also felt a big clunky at times; I felt like I should be able to stretch and bark at the same time, or stretch and end up on the other end.
ErikU
03. May 2024 · 00:35 UTC
Lovely art, bopping music, and fun choice on the Banjo-Kazooie-like dialogue (though maybe a bit repetitive from the random, albeit funny, one liners). In general I liked it quite a bit, but I think the gameplay could have used some tuning. The arrows were a bit too frequent so as to be annoying. The boxes were too prone to soft locking you out of the level, forcing a full reset which is a bit too harsh. Would have loved to finish but couldn't "summon" the patience after a few resets. Overall well done team.