LudumData

Judgement Day: The Board Game by hhsaez

[raw]
made by hhsaez for LD 41 (JAM)

Overview

A shooter-based board game with active-turns battles using cards.

Story

You wake up in a base on Mars, only to realize the place has been overrun by demons. Fight your way out and uncover the truth behind this nightmare.

Screenshots

Screen Shot 2018-04-25 at 10.47.11 AM.png Screen Shot 2018-04-25 at 10.32.45 AM.png Screen Shot 2018-04-25 at 10.30.31 AM.png Screen Shot 2018-04-25 at 10.30.20 AM.png

How to Play

  • Click on the MOVE button to walk around the board
  • Each room will trigger an encounter, which could end up in combat
  • Combat is executed using active-turns. Each card has a cost in action points.
  • Action points regenerate over time

Notes

Although the main mechanics and story are working, there are no menus and the game restarts automatically after the ending. All graphics are place holders and there are no sounds either.

Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions or improvements for the gameplay.

I made the game by myself and I originally intended to release it for the compo, but I underestimated the complexity of what I was trying to accomplish and the gameplay alone took a lot of more time than expected. I did manage to complete a playable version for the Jam, though, which is a huge victory. I learned a lot along the way and I'm going to be back for LD42.

Thanks for playing!

macOS https://hhsaez.itch.io/judgement-day-the-board-game
Windows https://hhsaez.itch.io/judgement-day-the-board-game
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/judgement-day-the-board-game

Ratings

Overall 762th 3.297⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Fun 843th 3⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 961th 2.875⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Theme 818th 3.274⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 785th 2.532⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 517th 3.371⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 46🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Rapter
24. Apr 2018 · 20:45 UTC
man you make good game , 5/5!!!
pickledbrain
24. Apr 2018 · 20:54 UTC
The action/board game idea is well done. One big thing I wished I could do is choose which direction to explore the base. You did a good job with the writing. I think a tick, or sound, or visual cue would be great to know that the numbers on the cards are changing. I like the the little board game token movement. I smelled the flowers :D The font/text is a little mangled on my comp, making it a bit hard to read. Adding a specific sound for each card would be awesome, a shot for the pistol, a grunt for the punch ect. Good work. The writing kept me goin
Serious07
24. Apr 2018 · 21:36 UTC
Interesting game well done. All what worries me is small text, it's hard to read.
JLV
25. Apr 2018 · 00:22 UTC
I love narrative game, and yours had me on the edge on my seat ! The writing definitely kept me going forward.. The gameplay was well-executed, I don't know if this was intentional but I really enjoyed the feeling of "trying to grab whatever was near your hands to stop the demon before he hurts you". You even made the game somewhat accessible, so great job ! My only remarks would be regarding the font and the lack of sound, but that might be more related to the time limit than to design choices.
let-off-studios
25. Apr 2018 · 00:25 UTC
Made me feel like I was playing text-based BBS games from back in the day. The comments regarding the writing are spot-on: despite the lack of graphics, I felt drawn in to the story and wanted to keep playing. I immediately felt at home with the role of a Space Marine or some kind of futuristic soldier, blowing away aliens on a moon base (or wherever). Very Doom-like vibe created with the writing.

I'm not sure how it happened, but after playing for a bit the screen went dark and all I could read was the red text. I quit after that point and will restart to see if I can make it all the way through.
Arch
25. Apr 2018 · 00:57 UTC
Good job! I always intend to put some decent writing in my games but it never works out for me. I'm glad you found the time to liven up your game with some good writing. I did experience a crash though while using a laser gun against the cyber demon in the data center.
Bongard22
25. Apr 2018 · 01:09 UTC
I would love graphical indicators of health and action points as well as some more choice! This seems like a custom built engine which if true is very impressive.
🎤 hhsaez
25. Apr 2018 · 01:11 UTC
Thanks for all the comments!

About the story, at some point during the development I knew I would't be able to complete the game and I had to choose between adding some graphics and audio, with just enough text to justify each encounter, or going all-in on the story. The latter seemed to me to be the right call. I'm glad you're linking it.

@Arch about that crash, some of my friends are getting random crashes as well. I'm working on trying to identify them and hopefully I'll be able to come up with a fix later.

Thanks again everyone!
hestercombe
25. Apr 2018 · 03:17 UTC
Great game!

I enjoyed playing it. I wish the abilities were in the same spot each time. I found myself clicking the same position and not getting the ability I wanted. Maybe if you can't use an ability have it grayed out or something. Also the AP system is great.
theamazingb
25. Apr 2018 · 03:22 UTC
The font can be a bit hard to read. I think in the botanics room there is a spelling error. It looks like it says "the p ants around you are full of life..." Sure you meant plants lol. It would have been cool to have a dice mechanic or mayybe a coin flip, heads one space, tails two. Something like that. Otherwise neat game. Play ours here https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/infinite-typer
🎤 hhsaez
25. Apr 2018 · 12:22 UTC
@theamazingb actually, the roll mechanic for board movement is already implemented. My original idea require a lot more spaces and each of the zones in the map were supposed to contain more rooms and more encounters. Due to time constraints, I couldn't implement more rooms and the roll mechanic didn't make sense anymore. I'll check the spelling error.

Thanks for the comments!
🎤 hhsaez
25. Apr 2018 · 14:17 UTC
Hi everyone! I just uploaded a new build with bigger texts and some fixes
Thanks for playing!
🎤 hhsaez
25. Apr 2018 · 14:20 UTC
@Arch check out the latest build if you have the time. I fixed several crashes and it's much more stable

@theamazingb I improved text readability in the latest build

Thanks!
Eitrius
25. Apr 2018 · 14:33 UTC
Great game with great writing! Maybe you could add some choices to either which room you went into or having options to do different things in certain rooms.
AfroAnt
25. Apr 2018 · 15:51 UTC
It's DOOM, the board game! Great story. Love the idea. I felt real progression in finding items and becoming more powerful as the game went on. Adding some music for ambience and different sound effects for the cards would go a long way!

If you decide to continue developing this game, I could see it turning into something really fun. It would be cool if you could decide where to go, or have a decision of what card to take in each room to add to your deck.

Congrats on finishing!
DrSkort
26. Apr 2018 · 14:22 UTC
Nice game ^^ it was really fun to play :)
Yahialds
26. Apr 2018 · 14:46 UTC
Great idea, with some graphics this would be and almost full game. Nice mix to fit the theme, and btw, you write pretty nicely, had fun reading the "lore" and thinking about your setting.
RilleP
26. Apr 2018 · 15:11 UTC
No need for graphics with this good writing! The fighting was okay but not great, but the story made up for it. And it was nice with some fighting breaks from the reading.
MaxKlimenok
26. Apr 2018 · 15:13 UTC
Man! What a great narrative!

Was fighting through your game holding my breath.
Great balance! Finished your game with 1hp left.

My advice - just find a decent 2D artist to draw you an UI, background/enviroments, pics of monsters and space marines... add some creepy sounds, some non linear plot or ability to choose which room to enter - and you'll have a cool space visual novel with board/card game elements.

Thank you for the fun I had.
🎤 hhsaez
26. Apr 2018 · 15:23 UTC
Thanks for playing and the great feedback!
Korath
26. Apr 2018 · 18:55 UTC
Hard to judge (for me at least). The narrative part itself is quite good. But it lacks a bit on gemeplay. I didn't found any strategic decision i have to make just using whats there until things die. i didnt even figured out if theres some limits on med kits? i always had one. because of the 1v1 character of battles. the weapons are not that different, lower ones just means klicking more because cards are instantly replaced. The system would need a lot more work to get a challenging and fun system.
samboyer276
26. Apr 2018 · 19:16 UTC
Hey this was quite a nice game :) I liked how well you used a farily limiting genre to tell the story through text. Ultimately a couple of sprites or a bit more graphical polish would have been nice, but by no means necessary to make a good game. Great job!