Gladiator Monsters by BenBurgh

[raw]
made by BenBurgh for LD 40 (JAM)

You are the penultimate gladiator, Jack "Guns for Hands" Killer. You get paid to kill monsters. However, your insatiable bloodlust, as well as your contract, require that you spend as much money as you can to help supply your enemies, because they can't possibly beat you without your help. How long can you last before your greed gets the better of you?!

Originally meant for the Compo, but didn't finish in time and I used illegal audio. I did make the song and art myself though!

Twitter: burghvr

Let me know if you beat my highscore on hard! 10 rounds, 2308 gold!

screenshot0.png

Ratings

Overall 734th 3.272⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Fun 573th 3.315⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 207th 3.644⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 325th 3.733⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 994th 2.544⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Humor 346th 3.393⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 61🗳️ 47🗨️

Feedback

Prostone
04. Dec 2017 · 19:42 UTC
*Wait What* and I got totally wrecked, while thinking I will be the boss. Like the mechanic and that it actually forces you to choose upgrades if you have money, so the strategy completely changes when you play for the second time and know what to do. Adding the bestiary is a nice touch!
BloooBird
04. Dec 2017 · 22:06 UTC
Thought this game was going to be easy, got as much gold as i could, saw the plot twist too late, rip.
Really nice game, keep up the good work
Bart Huylebroeck
04. Dec 2017 · 23:13 UTC
Wonderful mechanic, it makes you really think about how to play. It was fun choosing the upgrades and finding out what they did, even if they weren't to my benefit. I felt the controls were not precise enough for a really engaging fight. Your colliders seemed a bit small: some gold I ran over, I didn't pick up. Not that I'm complaining :)
Matthew Roelle
04. Dec 2017 · 23:40 UTC
I definitely laughed out loud after proudly selecting my upgrades for the first time. Really good job, I think there may be a bug though in selecting weapons, as I tried a couple times to pick the rifle/shotgun and they both seemed to do the same thing. Other than that, good job :)
🎤 BenBurgh
04. Dec 2017 · 23:45 UTC
@matthew-roelle Could you elaborate on rifle/shotgun? The shotgun shoots a burst of shots with more spread, and the rifle shoots several single shots faster. It works fine for me.
Chong Lee
04. Dec 2017 · 23:54 UTC
This was really fresh and funny! you got me with that first upgrade! Gameplay was fun and the upgrades made me think! Good job! ;)
WiseClock
05. Dec 2017 · 02:16 UTC
That graphics option though...
zellenskiy
05. Dec 2017 · 03:14 UTC
hmmmm I actually saw smth like this , but it is really good!!! GL in rates)))
piscythe
05. Dec 2017 · 03:38 UTC
![Ludum Dare 40 12_4_2017 7_31_32 PM.png](///raw/168/z/d2ce.png)

I did manage to beat your highscore on hard, and I'm sure a more dedicated effort could blow that score out of the water. The player's range felt awkwardly short at first, but I got used to it eventually. Still, I found the shotgun awkward to use and quickly settled on the rifle as my weapon of choice. The core mechanic is excellent and the range of available upgrades allows for a lot of different strategies. The strength of this mechanic is enough to overpower the relatively unimpressive core gameplay. Bonus points for the graphics option and the quit button.
TechnoNugget
05. Dec 2017 · 08:06 UTC
It was a funny game and a fun concept but the gameplay was poor. It didn't seem like I was doing any damage when I hit them. and it seemed too hard to hit them with the short range. my high score was only 380

My favorite part of this game was going into the options and turning the graphics off and then getting all confused and having to alt-f4 out of there. That gave me a good laugh

the concept was great, you could have a pretty good game if there was some visual feedback from hitting the enemies or knockback or something.
Royoyo
05. Dec 2017 · 11:36 UTC
Really good theme interpretation! Love the fact that gold stays on floor, so you can't just avoid picking it.
tthe
05. Dec 2017 · 11:56 UTC
11 rounds is my max, great concept. Had fun playing it :)
mochakingup
05. Dec 2017 · 13:33 UTC
oh man, that was a good twist when you spend the gold, I think it suits the theme really well! Can't get past round 5, lol. Really wish the enemies have some sort of health bar though. Great job!

edit: Oh, and I try the options which only says "Graphics?" When I clicked No, the screen turned to white and I couldn't do anything.
yishalee
06. Dec 2017 · 05:55 UTC
I makes jaw_droped and laugh. When the first time I selected my upgrades and point Yes, the nightmare beginns....... What good humor it brings. I like it. Besides it's also challenging too. BTW, I even can't quit....I guess I need to unlock an upgrade called quit.
🎤 BenBurgh
06. Dec 2017 · 14:08 UTC
@yishalee You can quit with Alt+F4! Hope you aren't trapped forever...
BlakeMcDeezy
07. Dec 2017 · 21:00 UTC
Haha, that twist caught me totally off guard! Nicely done!
MarioBarone
08. Dec 2017 · 05:48 UTC
really clever apporach to the them, i love the execution. goow work
Megalink
08. Dec 2017 · 08:16 UTC
Awesome game! The concept was pretty clever and funny. I also liked some of the sound effects. Some more feedback for when you hit an enemy would be great. Good work! :)
HuvaaKoodia
10. Dec 2017 · 18:55 UTC
A thoroughly odd top down shooter. The options menu and quit button set up the tongue-in-cheek mood, yet even the mechanics are strange. I like breaking the norms, so bonus points for that.

Not that I'm exactly sold on the main mechanic. You see, in most entries of this genre the opposition gets tougher each wave automatically and you get better each wave by selecting upgrades. Here you have a mixture of the two, which is less work for you as a developer, but also more boring for me as a player. I get to play the whole thing though with nothing but the starting peashooter. Not very exciting.

If Jack “Guns for Hands” Killer, *what a name*, had a variety of abilities and weapons right from the get go, this would not be an issue. Alternatively you could force the player to choose one upgrade for Jack and one upgrade for the enemies each wave. I will repeat the notion for emphasis, the starter kit is *dreadfully boring!*

There are some very interesting ideas when it comes to the enemies. The mimes are nasty and the predictors quite neat. I think I'll have to give it to the doppelgängers though. What a bunch of ripoffs! The leprechauns are too similar to the predictors, in my opinion.

Shooting money doesn't really work as there is no way to see if an enemy is about to die. Shooting the coin right after it drops happens way too often. The graphics are sub-par, and the 5 second music loop would have driven me mad had I not muted everything. Lastly there is a dire lack of polish and juiciness, i.e. everything works, but it doesn't feel great to play.

In conclusion: cool ideas, bad execution.

Overall: *Average (3.0)*
Fun: *Bad (2.0)*
Innovation: *Great (4.5)*
Theme: *Above average (3.5)*
Graphics: *Bad (2.0)*
Humor: *Good (4.0)*
Tommy
11. Dec 2017 · 22:23 UTC
Cool nice little game! Pixel graphics are ok, even if the "effects" (like the attacks) are kinda poor.
CaylebLucas
12. Dec 2017 · 12:15 UTC
Really nice game, Sound effects were cool :)
Swagdorf
13. Dec 2017 · 01:45 UTC
Really cool idea! I especially loved mashing the free money button just to see what awful mess I could put myself in to :P With some more time put into the art and sound, I could see this being really fun to play! Apart from that, still a neat game, but with improved colliders on the money and some feedback for successful hits on enemies, it'd be even cooler, congrats!
pvtroswold
16. Dec 2017 · 18:52 UTC
You big troll, you. Haha, after I 'got it,' this was actually kind of hilarious (and frustrating). Choosing your own punishment is certainly unique, good job! I had to of course quit the game by turning off the graphics, first.
falak
18. Dec 2017 · 18:43 UTC
Good game!