LudumData

The greatest sacrifice by xesenix

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

thumb01.png

Important

There is a compact mode toggle button that hides all descriptions use it after getting to know what is what.

Premise

You are the leader of a small village in this very hostile world you need to decide if you will pay tribute to the gods or stand on your own against plagues that visit this world every year.

Manage your villagers assign them to work so they can gather resources for sacrifices or village development. Or leave them idle so they can multiply and sacrifice them to permanently weaken creatures disturbing this world.

ludumdare<em>43</em>03.png

Technicalities

I was testing my dynamic soundtrack library in this entry multiple actions in short distance (15sek) in time will play an action version of the soundtrack while slow handling each step calm version.

Unfortunately didn't have enough time to finish images so I have only placeholders

Tools

  • FLStudio and some paid VSTs from Kontakt 5 and Massive, Reaktor 6 (Razor), Absynth and Ample Guitars
  • Typescript + React + InverseJS + Phaser - my own little framework with some additional libraries
  • PS CS5 - just a little bit for thumb and background
  • editor MVCode
  • yeoman for project scaffold generation

ludumdare<em>43</em>05.png

Final note

I was mainly aiming at balancing gameplay so that each possible decision has its use in that process I may have not balanced sacrificing resources correctly but who knows maybe you guys wind better way to finish the game with the use of it.

Source code https://github.com/Xesenix/ludumdare-43
HTML5 (web) http://ld43.xesenix.pl/
Other (document) https://soundcloud.com/xesenix/the-greatest-sacrifice
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/the-greatest-sacrifice

Ratings

Overall 265th 3.383⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 250th 3.267⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 193th 3.328⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 173th 3.707⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 380th 2.793⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 68th 3.679⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 283th 2.611⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 252th 3.125⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

Dimak
02. Dec 2018 · 23:25 UTC
Interesting game :)
shulgaboy
03. Dec 2018 · 01:19 UTC
The game can find it's audience but it is very complex. The biggest problem I had is that the interface is too large so I would have to constantly scroll up and down. Overall it is a good idea for the game but it could be much better with proper visualization.
🎤 xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 01:51 UTC
@shulgaboy yep there is a compact mode button in top menu that hides all descriptions that are needed only for new players :)
kbf123
03. Dec 2018 · 03:16 UTC
Neat idea! It certainly did feel complex at first, but I think it works.

Probably a crap score, but I survived 14 years.

Loved the music!
🎤 xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 03:20 UTC
@kbf123 in my playthrough it took about 120 years to get the final victory button unlocked but nice start at some point you need to balance workers versus idle population and sacrifice them for damage reduction
arkinrev
03. Dec 2018 · 03:48 UTC
I was really surprised to see how this game was executed, which was enjoyable. The interface was very large at first until I found compact. My first play was rough trying to figure out the interactions. I also liked the music and the cleanliness of the interface. Nice job!
CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 04:02 UTC
Nice game. It does start to get repetitive as you get to the higher years. More choices as you get more villagers besides workers/guards, and maybe some other enemy attacks that require specific defenses would be better, and would encourage use of the immunity sacrifice to protect against a hard attack. Overall, pretty fun. I like the music.
🎤 xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 04:19 UTC
@callavicka I've planned to have more variety in enemies but balancing this one took me most time so maybe in some after ludumdare version there will be more variety :)
foxor
03. Dec 2018 · 04:20 UTC
Victory in year 89. I love idle games, so this is great for me. My only complaints are:
- The optimal solution requires you to maintain exactly one guard at all times, which creates a strange story.
- The simulation is very sensitive to what happen in the first year, so you have very little room for error right when you start playing the game.
🎤 xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 04:32 UTC
@foxor that one guard storytelling in my case was everybody else die and only 1 survived but that may vary between tactics second point kind of by design sacrifices are cheaper if you take them earlier.
And congratulation I should make leaderboard with best times, unfortunately, didn't have time for connecting to some service that handles that.
RMiranda
03. Dec 2018 · 04:50 UTC
I liked both the idea and the interface, though I had some trouble understanding when the decisions will apply. It took me quite a long time to understand that sacrifice is retroactive. Although, I did enjoy the game, good job!
Sargonius
03. Dec 2018 · 07:09 UTC
Very cool! The interface is way too large. I'll be playing again!
oxrock
03. Dec 2018 · 14:14 UTC
Took me a play though to figure out what I was doing, but did better on second attempt at least. Condensing the information to a single screen would be nice.
LadyMistLeaf
04. Dec 2018 · 02:09 UTC
I agree that condensing the screen and having a more visual interface would be nice, but I still lost a solid half-hour to trying to get further in the game. Great little game!
incobalt
04. Dec 2018 · 03:13 UTC
This seemed brutally hard, or else I was missing something with the way the game worked out. The growth of the attacks seemed too aggressive to me, and I could do nothing but fail after a certain point. Walls seemed to have little impact by the time I could afford them, and the weakness sacrifice seemed far too expensive to take any time I considered it. Even still, it's a good game and I'm sure there's a thread of success in a strategy somewhere!
GerardB
04. Dec 2018 · 03:20 UTC
This is great stuff! At first was a bit confusing though and had to do tons of scrolling. Then I discovered the compact mode which helped.

If I had to wish for something it would be for some sort of tutorial/walkthrough. But yeah, time in jams is really limited.

Overall really good job, I enjoyed it :D
🎤 xesenix
04. Dec 2018 · 03:20 UTC
@incobalt its called "The greatest sacrifice" because of that hard sacrifice in the beginning where you need loos your population to have chance later on :)
Secretmapper
04. Dec 2018 · 03:49 UTC
Fun game! It's like a turn based incremental game. It would have been great if the UI elements was all in one screen - I was scrolling a lot even in compact mode. The soundtrack was great and badass :D
Marc Grabow
04. Dec 2018 · 09:39 UTC
Awesome soundtrack, well done! And a lot of depth in gameplay for 48h, I'm impressed!
Marc Grabow
04. Dec 2018 · 09:40 UTC
Awesome soundtrack, well done! And a lot of depth in gameplay for 48h, I'm impressed!
Marc Grabow
04. Dec 2018 · 09:40 UTC
Awesome soundtrack, well done! And a lot of depth in gameplay for 48h, I'm impressed!
Marc Grabow
04. Dec 2018 · 09:40 UTC
Awesome soundtrack, well done! And a lot of depth in gameplay for 48h, I'm impressed!
🎤 xesenix
04. Dec 2018 · 11:08 UTC
@secretmapper I will try to rework the UI even more if even compact mode is too large (im suffering from too big screen :P) thanks for playing
Andrea
04. Dec 2018 · 15:46 UTC
Nice game!
Removing the text at the top would be a good start :p
I like the complexity of it, and the fact that it takes a while to get it!
Well done!
Blodyavenger
05. Dec 2018 · 00:38 UTC
Pretty neat & innovative management game! It would need some additional introductory since there's a lot of trial & error to get the village running.

But other than that, really nice visual for the kind of game and the music works really well too! Well done :wink:
dunin
05. Dec 2018 · 16:05 UTC
Interesting management game, but I think it needs some balance. It finish as a clicker game...
🎤 xesenix
06. Dec 2018 · 17:01 UTC
@dunin it has balance that requires thinking instead of just clicking :P