Elemental by Aru Nyan
=== Notes ===
- The enemies can be killed, but they take at least a couple of attacks. (Sorry, no HP bars)
- You can die too, though you really have to try to.
- I ran out of time, so enjoy the one full dungeon (+ the tutorial) :)
- Yes, only two of the characters are playable.
=== Description ===
A turn-based dungeon crawler.
There are different elements and realms, with one character per each element.
The dungeon changes in different realms, and so do the obstacles in your path.
Each character uses a different skill when attacking / defending:
STRength / Fire - based on your typing precision.
DEXterity / Air - reflex-based DDR.
=== Controls ===
- Mouse - Movement, interaction
- Letters - the STR battle system
- Arrow keys - the DEX battle system
- The enemies can be killed, but they take at least a couple of attacks. (Sorry, no HP bars)
- You can die too, though you really have to try to.
- I ran out of time, so enjoy the one full dungeon (+ the tutorial) :)
- Yes, only two of the characters are playable.
=== Description ===
A turn-based dungeon crawler.
There are different elements and realms, with one character per each element.
The dungeon changes in different realms, and so do the obstacles in your path.
Each character uses a different skill when attacking / defending:
STRength / Fire - based on your typing precision.
DEXterity / Air - reflex-based DDR.
=== Controls ===
- Mouse - Movement, interaction
- Letters - the STR battle system
- Arrow keys - the DEX battle system
| Web (.html / .swf) | http://ludum.thenet.sk/ld30/elemental.html |
| Source (.zip) | http://ludum.thenet.sk/ld30/elemental_src.zip |
| Timelapse | http://youtu.be/W5w7AvyeMo8 |
| Post-mortem | http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/08/26/elemental-post-mortem-timelapse/ |
| Original URL | https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=1645 |
Ratings
| Coolness | 87% | 2 |
| Overall | 3.58 | 204 |
| Audio | 2.68 | 580 |
| Fun | 3.25 | 376 |
| Graphics | 3.95 | 119 |
| Humor | 2.29 | 573 |
| Innovation | 3.52 | 284 |
| Mood | 3.27 | 320 |
| Theme | 3.29 | 534 |
I think perhaps the inclusion of lots of different minigames as a different way to play combat through different elements, while cool, makes the game feel a little less cohesive and spread a bit thin. Like it's trying to be a lot of things at once and cater to lots of players and the main thing connecting to the theme (the shifting worlds) doesn't seem like it plays massively into this.
A very solid piece of work presentation wise though!
I wasn't expecting a typing battle system (and the words are smart too!), AND the second character uses a different system? Neat!
I wish enemies actually died when you win, but eh, it's nice really!
Yes, I'm aware that the fights get a little tedious, I was worried about this during the development, but it was too late to change it. (@Tanner)
@Ellian the enemies die, after you attack them a couple of times. There are no health bars, which makes it difficult to see, but, in general, the minor guards take two perfect attacks to kill.
The art is fantastic. I really love the world transitions. The typing/strength battle system is challenging but fun. The arrow key/dexterity system was much harder for me. I didn't understand the battle system at first, and I think it's missing some indicator for enemy health, but it was challenging and enjoyable.
Bug: I can't type "zap" in the strength/typing battle system. Quite annoying when you have to wait for it to go off screen before you can type the next word.
Nitpicks:
- I sometimes have to make smaller movements to reset my action bar. It's rather annoying when I'm trying to get to something far off.
- Maybe it's just me, but the arrow key/dexterity battle system feels off. I'm not entirely sure when I'm supposed to press the arrow keys.
You can skip your turn with the hourglass, if you really don't like it.
Gotta say though, the typing way feels much better than the DDR way. (And that's from somebody that played quite a bit of stepmania)
It's also frustrating to not see the health of the enemies.
The DDR clone seemed off. You had to press the keys right before they got to the globes, plus up/down would scroll the page. Typing was great, though!
The game lacks feedback on damages/life, making it very difficult to understand what's going on.