Sacrificial Dungeon by Ty Victorson
Run through a random room and use your abilities to defeat enemies but to progress you need to give one up!
Try to get through as many rooms as you can! To play: [w][a][s][d] to move, [left click] to attack, [1] and [2] to select abilities.
| macOS | https://ty-victorson.itch.io/sacrificial-dungeon |
| Windows | https://ty-victorson.itch.io/the-dungeon |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/sacrificial-dungeon |
Ratings
| Overall | 1024th | 2.429⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 957th | 2.525⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 958th | 2.5⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 910th | 2.725⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 918th | 2.425⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 656th | 1.737⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 848th | 1.95⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 968th | 2.25⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 9🗨️ |
There was also a severe balancing issue, as most of the attacks were absolute garbage, whilst there was also insta-kill. Why would the player choose 'poison' over 'insta-kill'? You need to give the player a reason to use all skills, and generally, other games will try to balance them to equal power. Many well designed weapons will have strengths and weaknesses, forcing you to switch it up. This encourages the player to explore their options, rather than relying on one weapon (insta-kill). I would recommend removing insta-kill and adding special effects; like freeze should slow (maybe it does, but not noticable), attack-down should provide more advantage and some attacks should be ranged (once again, maybe they were, but without feedback, it is hard to tell). Mostly, the problems of the game boil down to not correctly informing the player of their environment and what is going on.
Overall, it is a really nice idea, with some certain potential. The sacrificing of moves felt intuitive, and I liked that the game let you choose which attack to take and leave. Obviously the graphics could have used some work, but the simplistic geometry is perfectly fitting for a game jam environment. Otherwise, the game had some solid bases, and with a few changes, could be fun for quite a while. :thumbsup:
I feel like some more audio and visual feedback would be helpful for combat. I felt like I was just flailing about the entire time with no control of myself.
Keep going!