Castle of no escape by BSOD
Castle of no return, Beta version 7
This game was made for Ludum Dare 31 Jam. Game development was rushed and I can't sincerely say it was finished, but it's a solid 90% of what I meant to implement. Gameplay-wise being a clone/spin-off thing of a really old "text adventure games", I think it does a good job in reimagining those forgotten little pearls of game design.
~Xitilon.HD408
THE GAME
Explore the mysterious castle full of monsters and secrets in a quest to collect all the treasures (that will also protect you from the curses on your way). The game won't let you exit the castle, no matter how you try. Neither will it notify you of any winning conditions - there aren't any, in contrast to the many ways of losing it (just like a small decent Rogue-like game).
CONTROLS
Press Enter to start the game
Press 1, 2 or 3 to select a hero
Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity at the hero selection screen are the maximal values which that hero can get. Strength is both for life and attack power, intelligence is both for mana and spell power. Dexterity affects your attack accuracy. Hero can lose when either of those parameters is below zero!
ON THE MAP
Arrow keys to walk around
F to use a flare
Z or Enter to perform action (attack, open chest, read book, buy potions, use the stairs, gaze into an orb)
X to cast spells
1, 2 or 3 to select a potion to buy or a spell to use
ARTEFACTS AND CURSES
Opal VS Blindness - you forget the map and don't see any new rooms
Pearl VS Forgetfulness - you don't remember where were you going
Ruby VS Lethargy - monsters get the first turn to attack
Diamond VS Weakness - your minimal attack power drop to 1 instead of your strength value
Emerald VS Bad luck - ...actually, this isn't implemented!
Blue Fire VS Bookstuck - book sticks to your hands and you can't attack anyone in this state
SPELLS
Web prevents the monster from attacking and lasts 1-3 turns. Costs 1 point on intelligence.
Fireball is obvious enough. Costs 2 points on intelligence.
IQ instantly kills your opponent if it's intelligence is less than yours. Otherwise, you lose. This spell doesn't spend anything.
PROGRAMS USED
Game Maker 8.1 Standard
sfxr/bfxr
FamiTracker
FL Studio 10
MS Paint
Notepad (obviously, for Readme.txt)
CREDITS
Xitilon.HD408 - game design/adaptation, programming, sound generation
BSOD - graphics, music, sound design, testing
Inspired by Leygref's Castle etc.
09.12.2014
This game was made for Ludum Dare 31 Jam. Game development was rushed and I can't sincerely say it was finished, but it's a solid 90% of what I meant to implement. Gameplay-wise being a clone/spin-off thing of a really old "text adventure games", I think it does a good job in reimagining those forgotten little pearls of game design.
~Xitilon.HD408
THE GAME
Explore the mysterious castle full of monsters and secrets in a quest to collect all the treasures (that will also protect you from the curses on your way). The game won't let you exit the castle, no matter how you try. Neither will it notify you of any winning conditions - there aren't any, in contrast to the many ways of losing it (just like a small decent Rogue-like game).
CONTROLS
Press Enter to start the game
Press 1, 2 or 3 to select a hero
Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity at the hero selection screen are the maximal values which that hero can get. Strength is both for life and attack power, intelligence is both for mana and spell power. Dexterity affects your attack accuracy. Hero can lose when either of those parameters is below zero!
ON THE MAP
Arrow keys to walk around
F to use a flare
Z or Enter to perform action (attack, open chest, read book, buy potions, use the stairs, gaze into an orb)
X to cast spells
1, 2 or 3 to select a potion to buy or a spell to use
ARTEFACTS AND CURSES
Opal VS Blindness - you forget the map and don't see any new rooms
Pearl VS Forgetfulness - you don't remember where were you going
Ruby VS Lethargy - monsters get the first turn to attack
Diamond VS Weakness - your minimal attack power drop to 1 instead of your strength value
Emerald VS Bad luck - ...actually, this isn't implemented!
Blue Fire VS Bookstuck - book sticks to your hands and you can't attack anyone in this state
SPELLS
Web prevents the monster from attacking and lasts 1-3 turns. Costs 1 point on intelligence.
Fireball is obvious enough. Costs 2 points on intelligence.
IQ instantly kills your opponent if it's intelligence is less than yours. Otherwise, you lose. This spell doesn't spend anything.
PROGRAMS USED
Game Maker 8.1 Standard
sfxr/bfxr
FamiTracker
FL Studio 10
MS Paint
Notepad (obviously, for Readme.txt)
CREDITS
Xitilon.HD408 - game design/adaptation, programming, sound generation
BSOD - graphics, music, sound design, testing
Inspired by Leygref's Castle etc.
09.12.2014
| Windows | http://rghost.ru/59502017 |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=47350 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 59% | 3 |
| Overall(Jam) | 3.42 | 315 |
| Audio(Jam) | 3.30 | 266 |
| Fun(Jam) | 3.41 | 232 |
| Graphics(Jam) | 3.31 | 487 |
| Humor(Jam) | 2.65 | 460 |
| Innovation(Jam) | 2.87 | 611 |
| Mood(Jam) | 3.48 | 208 |
| Theme(Jam) | 3.48 | 572 |
The way the UI for current floor was arranged top-to-bottom was also confusing, since up-stairs moved me down in the UI, rather than up, and down-stairs vice versa. The fact that a down stair on floor 1 went to floor 8 was surprising also (I should have paid attention to the game's title). Between that, the random teleports to arbitrary floors, and the frequency of difficult monsters even on the early floors, I had a hard time staying alive. Most of my deaths felt random, not due to my own mistakes.
Edit: Ah, now I see that STR is essentially HP, and INT is like MP. Rather curious how one gets weaker as one gets damaged, and gets dumber as one uses magic. Finally managed to clean out the entire castle; was pretty easy, but only after getting lucky enough to find better equipment as a warrior.