The Thief Stealer Robberies by jwolf

made by jwolf for LD27 (COMPO)

An Evil Wizard has cast a spell on you that will cause you to explode in just 10 seconds! He'll postpone your doom if you work for him to steal the research of his rival wizards.

Beware, for the abode of a wizard contains many traps, but also plenty of gold that you could pilfer on the side...

Controls: Arrow keys. Use the spacebar to get past some of the menu screens. Would have liked to have implemented mouse / touch input in time, but...

Hints: there are about 3-4 paths to get to the main treasure (in time), although I won't spoil how to get through some of the...obstacles...

Notes: there are a ton of things that I would have liked to have added, in particular random map generation, limited sight, touch input (for mobile), more traps, and so on. I'm a bit too slow to get all that done for a compo, however.

Technical Notes: if you would like to compile from source, you'll need to stick a bunch (five) of gdx-...-.jar files into /libs/. I'm not sure if that really needs to be in the source file (adds 5-6 mb), but you can find the library jar files in the Cross-Platform Jar download. Or grab them from libGDX's nightly files or whatever they're called.

Tools Used: Java, libGDX (lwjgl) for code, MS Paint (!) and GIMP for images, and bfxr and Audacity for sound.

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UPDATE:

I wasn't satisfied with the version that I made for the competition, so I kept developing it and have linked a Post-Compo version that's substantially closer to what I had originally intended to make. It's a bit glitchy and generates unwinnable maps on the rare occasion, but I'd still like some feedback on it, if anyone is willing to spend the extra time.

Please try and judge the original compo version first, naturally. It took me something like half a week to develop the random map generator (first attempt at one), which I obviously wouldn't have been able to do in time.

Windows	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76008988/ThiefStealers.exe
Cross-platform JAR	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76008988/ThiefStealers.jar
POST-COMPO Windows	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76008988/ThiefStealers-post-compo.exe
POST-COMPO JAR	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76008988/ThiefStealers-post-compo.jar
Source	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76008988/thiefStealers-source.zip
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=11073

Ratings

Coolness	87%	2
Overall	2.57	987

Audio	2.18	749
Fun	2.31	1007
Graphics	2.29	908
Humor	2.51	417
Innovation	2.49	895
Mood	2.41	809
Theme	2.98	726

Feedback

isharacomix

26. Aug 2013 · 03:16 UTC

This is maddening, but quite hilarious. It's great that you're able to give such a simple game so much character! The ominous buzzing sound is still in my head. :)

shubshub

26. Aug 2013 · 05:32 UTC

I Couldn't figure out much to do Only was able to get 1 Treasure chest was Pretty boring :( Sorry

Diogo Muller

26. Aug 2013 · 18:09 UTC

Great idea, but it's kinda hard. Sometimes I explode on the first door, well before 10 seconds playing.

🎤 jwolf

26. Aug 2013 · 22:35 UTC

Thank you for the feedback!

Maybe I should add a few more hints. Please ignore these if you'd rather experiment with the game, first:

- contrary to how it may seem, it is possible to get through all of the rooms to the goal, and all but maybe one in time. The 10-second time limit is really tight, though.

- all of the doors are open-able...just don't be in too much of a rush. That's not a bug. ;) I'm kind of wondering if I should have swapped the front and back doors...which might have made the game a bit too difficult, mind you.

- if the end goal is too easy / simplistic, try getting as many of the coins as you can. Except...

- two of the coins will result in certain death, and one other probably won't leave you enough time to get to the goal

🎤 jwolf

26. Aug 2013 · 22:45 UTC

Hint/clarification:

- nope, you can indeed get to the goal through all of the rooms, if you know how. Just had to double-check...

fdevant

26. Aug 2013 · 23:28 UTC

I got lost a lot and it was hard to understand that the reason for dying in front of the doors were the traps... I guess some feedback differentiating dying from traps and from time-up would be nice.

TaleLore

27. Aug 2013 · 07:39 UTC

Pretty hard.

Darien

27. Aug 2013 · 07:44 UTC

I didn't understand why sometimes I could open a door, and sometimes I would explode when I touched it.

Shugor

27. Aug 2013 · 07:46 UTC

Wow this game was really difficult. I was considering giving up until i saw the hints in the comments, and then it was a bit easier. Nevertheless, it was still a fun game~ Nice work

Tifu

27. Aug 2013 · 13:55 UTC

The game should probably be clearer about why you died, after some trial and error it seems you have to be patient with the doors, but it would be better if, when a door kills you, it would say "you died because you tried to pick the lock too fast... something something... magic security protocols" - or whatever it is exactly that is supposed to be killing you in that situation :P

🎤 jwolf

28. Aug 2013 · 01:28 UTC

Some things I skipped out on due to being short of time (eg: a more explanatory end-game screen) and trying to prioritize other features.

When I made the thing, I figured that the sound effect and the door not opening on the first attempt was enough to suggest to the player that something was wrong. Clearly, that's not enough, and it needs something more.

Thank you, again, for the feedback! It's really helpful.

murilo

28. Aug 2013 · 02:18 UTC

Kind of hard. And having to tap the arrow keys to move was not cool! But nice overall!

jprogman

28. Aug 2013 · 04:27 UTC

A timer would actually be nice so I would know how the heck did I die from. It does get irritating to figure out how I died. Still a decent game with some interesting quirks.

almightyzentaco

28. Aug 2013 · 16:45 UTC

The main character is a perfect example of minimalism in action.

kristof

30. Aug 2013 · 01:16 UTC

Simple, but nice! I like the character customization :-P

Vile Smile

30. Aug 2013 · 18:15 UTC

I couldn't get through the first level, but I think the idea is very cool.

Jupiter_Hadley

31. Aug 2013 · 23:42 UTC

I found this game very hard, but a great idea!! I featured it in my video compilation series of Ludum Dare 27 games, if you would like to check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksgU2Iicu2g

kibertoad

01. Sep 2013 · 21:34 UTC

It was OK. Movement could be more pleasant, though, but difficult made game decently fun.

🎤 jwolf

03. Sep 2013 · 02:46 UTC

I wasn't happy with the game and it didn't feel complete without a random-map generator, so I went and created a more complete version if anyone is willing to give it a go and provide (additional) feedback. I'm thinking of pursuing further development with it, and it would be much appreciated.

Please first try and judge the compo version, however. The post-compo version has substantial new features that I simply would not have been able to complete in time for the competition.

SnoringFrog

03. Sep 2013 · 03:02 UTC

Wow, that was more difficult than expected. Not bad, but some more hints (even if they were just slight visual or audio hints) would have been nice. Wouldn't want to have to sit through a pile of tutorials to learn all the traps, but they seemed oddly picky so I think something would have been useful.

hbocao

05. Sep 2013 · 02:51 UTC

The dying sound was a pain. :( I liked the idea but it was kinda hard to figure it out how to do it.

tryzor

05. Sep 2013 · 12:51 UTC

I couldn't figure out when I explode. Seems sometimes random to me. But interesting idea ;)

foumart

05. Sep 2013 · 13:10 UTC

Hah, I laughted alot with the select your character :D thought the submission version is kind of frustrating (noticed the different color of the gates while looking at the screenshot, not ingame). The quicksands are also odd.. I died alot there.. are there any invisible traps?

GaTechGrad

06. Sep 2013 · 19:45 UTC

Neat little adventure game. I really liked the quicksand effect. I seemed to randomly die at times. Not sure if there was a 10 second time limit or something. If so, it would have been nice to have a countdown timer.

🎤 jwolf

07. Sep 2013 · 22:49 UTC

Yeah...I really need to add more visual cues. There are some audio cues for the doors and the timer, but they're rather subtle and non-obvious.

🎤 jwolf

09. Sep 2013 · 03:51 UTC

None of the traps are invisible, by the way. That's probably just the 10-second timeout, which I'll have to make more obvious/discernible somehow.

NiceAlexanderAS

09. Sep 2013 · 03:52 UTC

Funny game! xD great job, very hard some times!

manofdoom

10. Sep 2013 · 07:59 UTC

Good concept, but really needs more feedback on your actions, particularly cause of death.

Tanser

11. Sep 2013 · 07:30 UTC

Maybe you should have added a timer.. I think I die before the 10 seconds have passed :( And the controls.. it might be better if you could hold a key down and move in that direction, and maybe not to move tile by tile only :) It would be great if there was a cause of death. All in all i like it, nice idea :)

BlackBulletIV

12. Sep 2013 · 10:23 UTC

The traps are a bit unclear/random, and the controls feel very rough (I'd have preferred to hold down the arrow keys). If the movement were smoother and it had more levels I feel it'd be an interesting game.

schnerble

12. Sep 2013 · 23:24 UTC

Quite a nice idea... the post-compo version helped a lot, though, as I'd almost given up on the original thinking it was buggy, because of the dying when opening the doors. I understand now, and maybe the whole slow-down-the-player-a-bit thing could work well - but without a countdown it's really hard not to just plain rush everything. That may be just me being impatient though :)

Sheep

14. Sep 2013 · 09:57 UTC

It was bit of a confusing game. Felt like I needed way more time. The variation in such a small game is pretty cool though, like the mud and the spiderweb.