The Grassland Kings by Mathstr0fficial

[raw]
made by Mathstr0fficial for LD 43 (COMPO)

The Grassland Kings is a top-down bullet hell style boss rush where you sacrifice some of your precious field of view every time you make an attack. Use the arrow keys to move, and WASD to attack in the four directions. Alternatively, you can use a controller with D-pad to move and ABXY to attack in four directions.

kings.jpg

Ratings

Overall 479th 2.573⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Fun 465th 2.476⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 435th 2.59⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 344th 3.188⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 466th 2.325⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 366th 2.282⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 441th 2.462⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

EmCannon
03. Dec 2018 · 23:42 UTC
Nice job!
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
04. Dec 2018 · 14:12 UTC
@emcannon The builds are online!
themarioga
04. Dec 2018 · 15:52 UTC
It gave me an https protocol error with google chrome, but replacing https with http works fine.

The game itself is interesting, but hard as hell hahahaha. In my opinion you lose your field of view so fast, also it would be nice to have a way to regain it.

Anyway, good job! I liked it.
Hagge
04. Dec 2018 · 15:58 UTC
Heres a working link: its http in stead of https: http://benjaminfalkenberg.com/grasslandkings/
Norfma
04. Dec 2018 · 16:20 UTC
Is this winnable ? God damn, I've just tried like 20 times in a row and I just can't do it! x)

It's pretty good though, maybe the difficulty (the difference in hp pool or the light drain) is a bit too high.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
04. Dec 2018 · 16:22 UTC
@themarioga Thanks! I agree with the difficulty, but there is a way to regain FoV, though it's pretty hidden. Every time you kill one of the babies, there's a 20% chance that they will give you back some of your FoV. I may decide to make it more obvious after the fact, but I have to leave it for now.

@hagge Appreciate it, I'll fix it now.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
04. Dec 2018 · 16:24 UTC
@norfma It's definitely winnable (though easier with a gamepad), though I've barely done it. I spent nearly 2 hours of playtesting just to make sure I could beat it, but I didn't have time to lower the difficulty. It's also a largely RNG-based game, which adds to some of the unfairness. Look for some better balancing post-LD!
dk5000p
04. Dec 2018 · 16:39 UTC
Currently the link does not work and not sure how many people want to go to an unsecure site. I suggest just hosting your game on itch.io or another similar site.
Barrier
04. Dec 2018 · 17:09 UTC
Host the game on itch.io, your link is still broken :O

But I did try it on the link from the comments.
It is super hard! Wish you had some UI to tell health of player and enemy, so I could know if I'm making progress and when I'm going to die.
BlankCanvas
04. Dec 2018 · 18:34 UTC
Simple smol game, the light-effect was nice!
Zombie Virals
04. Dec 2018 · 18:36 UTC
Good job man, very frustrating though, I don't think I can beat it!! Definitely needs some UI and more feedback when getting hit and hitting. Keep at it though, you really did a good job on the lighting and respect to the theme(sacrificing light for attack), that was very creative!! Again, great job!! :D
hugonun
04. Dec 2018 · 19:29 UTC
Great game, but definitely a little hard. It would be great if the vision field wouldn't drop that quick and that it would be centered on the player instead of the feet. I also would like to see how much HP I have left and the enemy.

Theme-wise, it fits perfectly!
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
04. Dec 2018 · 21:21 UTC
@blankcanvas @zombie-virals @hugonun Thanks for the positive feedback! I do agree I need some health indicators, and that the difficulty is pretty high. For post-LD, I plan on creating a more gradual slope of difficulty over a few smaller bosses, designing some health bars, and adding some more bosses along with story!
Steel_Dev
04. Dec 2018 · 22:57 UTC
Great job on this! I enjoyed it. The execution of the theme was great, though I was a little confused as to what I had to do. And the controls were a bit weird. Personally not a fan of Arrow key movement, but that's just me lol. Overall, great job :D
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
05. Dec 2018 · 01:20 UTC
@steel-dev Thanks so much! I definitely need to add a bit more in the way of plot, and I plan on even adding a few more bosses for post-LD. About the arrow keys, do you have a controller to use instead? It was largely play-tested using a controller, so is much more balanced with such. Either way, I really appreciate the positive feedback!
Steel_Dev
05. Dec 2018 · 01:39 UTC
@mathstr0fficial No controller sadly. but you're welcome :D I still liked the game anyways :)
RenegadePunisher
05. Dec 2018 · 14:11 UTC
Good implementation. I like the art work. Maybe change the animation and have the character hold the sword.
Not sure if this is winnable though. I just kept running out of vision and then dying.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
05. Dec 2018 · 14:24 UTC
@renegadepunisher Thanks! I do plan on redoing this game for a post-LD release, with better art and a better difficulty curve. It is definitely possible, I've done it, but that was after many, MANY attempts and with a controller, which may very well make a big difference.
tulipekoni
05. Dec 2018 · 18:38 UTC
Didn't manage to beat the boss ;( A heath bar or some sort for the boss and for the player wouldn't hurt. Nice little entry you got there, good job!
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
05. Dec 2018 · 19:03 UTC
@tulipekoni Thanks! I do plan on redoing this, with more bosses, better balance, and health bars. However, it's not just one boss, there are two, for double the rage-inducement. Most people don't even realize this, but there's a whole AI built for the golem boss (seen on the title screen).
Derek Volker
06. Dec 2018 · 17:37 UTC
I think it only lacked a UI to tell you how close to death you are and how far from beating it you was when you are dead. It wouldnt made me beat the game because i am a terrible player, but would improve it a lot.

I dont know if is because of the title, but the graphics and mechanics reminded me of Journey of the Prairie King, a minigame from Stardew Valley. Did you based something in your game from that damned thing?

Other than that, it was a nice entry with an interesting twist.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
06. Dec 2018 · 20:07 UTC
@derek-volker Thanks for that! The game was largely inspired by Journey of the Prairie King, at least mechanics-wise, I've logged WAY too many hours in that thing. Nice to see someone finally made the connection!
lilou_cormic
06. Dec 2018 · 23:49 UTC
I would have liked to have some kind of health bar to know how far I was to beat the boss. I like the pixel art. Nice work.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
07. Dec 2018 · 14:03 UTC
@lilou-cormic Thanks! Health bars are coming, just you wait. :wink:
Sargonius
07. Dec 2018 · 14:28 UTC
Whoa, it's really hard. Failed at first boss after ten+ tries.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
07. Dec 2018 · 15:10 UTC
@sargonius I told you balancing was an issue, haha. I can barely beat my own game, so that's a huge red flag, but I didn't have time to fix it.
Dizzy
07. Dec 2018 · 15:31 UTC
Great Work! I really enjoy the idea of sacrifice my field of view haha, its pretty interesting.
chrismcmath
07. Dec 2018 · 16:01 UTC
Sometimes my fov would shrink and I wouldn't know why, but link that to taking damage (I think) is a wonderful idea. I especially like that the protagonist is blonde, not that I'm biased or anything.
Player 2
07. Dec 2018 · 16:11 UTC
Through my playing of the game i didn't even beat the first enemy, as the amount of projectiles were too high for me to avoid, and the angles at such random amounts made getting close enough to swing without being hit almost impossible.

Also, i would like to see the health bars added as this would give more of an indication of progress, as well as
maybe a projectile weapon (A bow would fit with the theme). As well as adding more to the game the bow would also make the game easier overall as you don't have the risk of accidentally running into the enemy.

Overall through the game was well made, and bug free.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
07. Dec 2018 · 16:17 UTC
@dizzy Thanks!

@chrismcmath The FoV loss actually correlates to you attacking, but thanks for the support!

@player-2 Thanks for the support! I do plan on making a post-LD version with better balance, so look forward to that!
aurel
07. Dec 2018 · 17:14 UTC
Took me a while to understand that the vision gets lower when I attack, not when I take damage. I suppose that's my fault for not reading the instructions well enough. Oops.

I suppose some form of health bar would have been nice as I could never really tell what was going on and when I was getting close to defeating the boss.
ursagames
11. Dec 2018 · 06:43 UTC
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on the sixth day of Ludum Dare streams. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://goo.gl/N2rkr8
Matank
12. Dec 2018 · 00:10 UTC
Had fun playing the game, though as other said, I've found too hard. I gave up on actually beating the thing after around 20 attempts :)
I loved the nostalgic pixelated characters!
SubtlyDramatic
12. Dec 2018 · 17:11 UTC
I like the direction you went with the sacrifice theme! It was a really cool way to make an innovative and fun to play game!
Keppu
13. Dec 2018 · 16:46 UTC
I found this game to be too hard. Mechanics fits the theme very well as you make big sacrifice with each attack draining your vision. However it doesn't really make the game fun, but rather makes it unplayable. Instead of making vision loss permanent, could it be temporary after each hit? It could make the game more fun.
digitaldude555
14. Dec 2018 · 13:42 UTC
Its an interesting take on the theme I think it can work but I dont like the execution, getting hit playing blind isnt very fun at all no matter how many times I hit the guy he wouldn't die. I would suggest make the light dimming more gradual and have a way to make it brighter like sacrifice health for it for example, also have a boss health bar so you can see how far you are to beating him. Good job.
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
14. Dec 2018 · 14:59 UTC
@aurel Thanks for the support! I totally agree with a health bar, it's coming soon (alongside some less impossible boss battles.)

@matank I really appreciate it, the art was one of my favorite pieces. Balancing is coming, just you wait!

@subtlydramatic Thanks!

@keppu Everyone's feedback is going to help me make a game that isn't impossible, so thanks for the suggestion!

@digitaldude555 The feedback is greatly appreciated, everyone's suggestions are making a game that should be much more enjoyable!
arron-fowler
15. Dec 2018 · 10:26 UTC
i really liked the theme of it you nailed that. i think that you should of added a health bar so you know if you have won.good job
Firesplash Entertainment
17. Dec 2018 · 17:33 UTC
@mathstr0fficial we will now play your game on our stream if you want to watch https://www.twitch.tv/firesplashtv
Firesplash Entertainment
17. Dec 2018 · 17:44 UTC
I think the game startsn too hard. What about increasing? The idea is quite funny but I think you lose a lot of fun playing as you are always losing in the beginning. Try to add a few levels with different difficulty.
PhilStrahl
18. Dec 2018 · 02:22 UTC
Oh wow, that's a hard game (at least for my aged reflexes) ;) I like the mechanic of losing vision when attacking but there were some instances where I was a bit confused about what's going on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTeUPXVSPps
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
18. Dec 2018 · 15:22 UTC
@philstrahl Thanks for all the feedback! I definitely didn't intend for it to be so damn hard, but that's just how it turned out. I've been working on a redone version for post-LD with some more UI and better balance, though I'm not sure how long it'll take to release. Either way, the feedback will really help shape this into a much more solid game!
JUSTCAMH
19. Dec 2018 · 11:12 UTC
Unfortunately, I didn't really know what I was doing in this game. It was instantly clear that the boss monster was the primary enemy, but I wasn't even sure that my attacks were hurting it. No health bars were displayed on the enemy or for myself, so I didn't really have any feedback as to what was going on. The boss seemed to always flash, so I thought that maybe it was invulnerable? Maybe this was a hit effect gone wrong, but nevertheless, this flashing animation only confused me further. I managed to beat the first boss out of (literally) blind luck. By the end, almost nothing was visible, and I couldn't even see if my sword was actually attacking, since the darkness prevented me from seeing my own hands.

From previous comments, there seems to be a way to increase visibility, but this isn't made major, and could be removed with little difference. I believe that a prime way to improve the difficulty could be simply building upon the vision restoration, as this would allow the player to see what is happening and act accordingly. With the lowest visibility you can't see any projectiles, so death is inevitable. Maybe just boost the 20% chance of restoration to a full 100% chance, but with only minor vision improvements. Or maybe, you could have the player *sacrifice* some other stats to restore the vision to better tie in with the theme? It also felt weird how you couldn't move whilst attacking. It made it impossible to dodge most attacks, particularly since you need to get close enough to melee. For a melee combat system, more maneuverability is needed to be able to avoid incoming attacks.

Overall, the game is quite nice, but I feel too restricted, and don't really have an environment to learn, since the vision drops off so quickly. Improve the difficulty curve, and you have yourself a very solid game! Keep developing! :thumbsup:
🎤 Mathstr0fficial
19. Dec 2018 · 13:22 UTC
@justcamh Thanks for all the feedback! A full-fledged version of this game is in the works, and everyone's feedback is helping to make this the best it can be. More features include: a ranged weapon, more (and easier) bosses, and a *ton* of balancing to make it moderately possible. I really enjoyed your entry, and look forward to much more from you!
21. Dec 2018 · 06:54 UTC
You should totally make a game with those adorable yet deadly ORC BABIES.
MKnooihuisen
22. Dec 2018 · 20:50 UTC
Played this game live on stream at https://twitch.tv/cyberlightgames on episode 6 of Dare To Play. Thanks for submitting! Overall I think you had an interesting concept but the game was rather hard to play since there was no indication of my health or the bosses. I had no way of knowing how well or poorly I was doing and the deaths felt random. That bit of polish would make this game much more enjoyable, but god job with your compo entry.
Omiya Games
29. Dec 2018 · 00:37 UTC
To be honest, I didn't enjoy this game much. It gets very hard, very fast, and combined with rapid reduction in vision, the information available to the player is further reduced, making it easy to make more mistakes. From an experimentation perspective, it's interesting and worth further exploration. From a playability perspective, I found it too frustrating to play.