LudumData

A Key Sacrifice by CalLavicka

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

You have discovered an old arcade-style game on your grandpa's old computer. You are determined to get a high score, but the keyboard is very old with not much life left in it. You must sacrifice the keys to get a higher score, and will need to remap new keys for moving and shooting. How high of a score can you get before you either die or have no more keys to use?

screenshot.png

Controls: WASD to move and arrow keys to shoot (initially). Spacebar to use a bomb.

Written in Java using libGDX (https://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/)

Note: some of the standalone executables are untested. If they don't work, just download and run the jar file (or play online).

Bugfixes: - Fixed a bug in the web version where the speed was too high on some computers

Source code https://github.com/CalLavicka/key-sacrifice
macOS https://github.com/CalLavicka/key-sacrifice/releases/tag/v1.0-mac
Windows https://github.com/CalLavicka/key-sacrifice/releases/tag/v1.0-windows
Linux https://github.com/CalLavicka/key-sacrifice/releases/tag/v1.0-linux
Other (platform) https://github.com/CalLavicka/key-sacrifice/releases/tag/v1.0-jar
HTML5 (web) https://callavicka.itch.io/a-key-sacrifice
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/a-key-sacrifice

Ratings

Overall 118th 3.694⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 168th 3.468⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 20th 4.048⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Theme 58th 4.097⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 332th 3.048⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Audio 335th 2.597⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 320th 2.414⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Mood 378th 2.75⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 29🗨️

Feedback

Abeyance
03. Dec 2018 · 03:28 UTC
Using the power up felt super awesome! The key-remapping gets reaaaally hard to manage really fast. Overall, pretty fun. I'd say the second best out of the 8 or so I've played.
🎤 CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 03:34 UTC
@abeyance Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 04:27 UTC
Thats theming by game mechanics remaping keys is sacrifice that you feel quickly.
🎤 CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 04:41 UTC
@xesenix Yeah. It gets very hard once you lose the original 8 keys.
xesenix
03. Dec 2018 · 04:44 UTC
@callavicka the worst part was when I started losing keys from a new part of the keyboard and couldn't move anywhere else where the relation between keys would be similar
Matthew Roelle
03. Dec 2018 · 04:46 UTC
I love this idea! This got very hard very quickly, but it is definitely the most unique take on the theme that I've encountered so far. Great job!
sky-coding
03. Dec 2018 · 05:15 UTC
This is really fun! It gets really difficult really quick!
benbusby
03. Dec 2018 · 05:17 UTC
This was great, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I would've liked some sort of feedback on enemy ship health or something so that it felt a bit more rewarding to shoot them -- as it was I never knew how close I was to breaking up a cluster of enemy ships so I would usually just give up on them. Some more frequent power ups or something would help offset the mental gymnastics of remapping my keys so frequently too. Really enjoyed it though, great job!
🎤 CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 05:25 UTC
@matthew-roelle Thanks! I was definitely trying for a unique take on it, glad it went well!

@sky-coding Yeah, it definitely gets really hard and requires good planning about which keys go where. Glad you enjoyed!

@benbusby Thanks for the feedback! I would definitely like to expand with powerups, more variety of enemies/weapons, and an actual end goal. For health I could maybe tint enemies as you damage then? In any case, thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed!
SomewhatInfinite
03. Dec 2018 · 06:25 UTC
One of my top games I have played so far, good job. Never seen someone sacrifice keys in that way before, really unique. Would be cool to see additional enemy types.
Anyonebacon
03. Dec 2018 · 06:26 UTC
Pretty difficult, but I loved the concept of it! Super nice use of the theme. Great work!
🎤 CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 07:09 UTC
@somewhatinfinite @anyonebacon Thanks, your feedback is really encouraging! I definitely agree about the enemies, more would be nice.
SlizzBen
03. Dec 2018 · 08:07 UTC
It's was painful, thanks! :) I like it
DigitalLimestone
03. Dec 2018 · 08:17 UTC
This is an awesome idea, and it was excecuted really well.
Nice Job.
hungryghost
03. Dec 2018 · 17:45 UTC
Yeah, that's just nasty, making the player change the keys every minute! Like the vector display type graphics, well done on the clever idea!
🎤 CalLavicka
03. Dec 2018 · 19:13 UTC
@slizzben Glad you enjoyed! It certainly kicks my ass, my highest score is around 35000.

@digitallimestone Thanks. Appreciate the kind words.

@hungryghost Thanks! I didn't have a ton of time for graphics so I thought the vector graphics would be easy enough way to replicate an arcady feel - glad it worked!
timeshapers
03. Dec 2018 · 19:33 UTC
Pretty amazing how lost I felt just after a few remaps. Well done.
mrnyarlathotep
03. Dec 2018 · 20:12 UTC
Very clever take on the theme; its all good fun up until the point it really isn't, heh.
Kaish
04. Dec 2018 · 02:20 UTC
Congratulations, good job!
My fingers gave a knot xD
philippkick
04. Dec 2018 · 04:23 UTC
so funny to play!
played it with a friend, he controlled the ship and my part was the shooting

respect mate :)
SpixBird
04. Dec 2018 · 04:25 UTC
I really really liked that mechanic, but seriously, you can't actually play this alone. ;) but its addicting
DoubleBlackStudios
04. Dec 2018 · 04:31 UTC
Wow. very innovate and a new idea
🎤 CalLavicka
04. Dec 2018 · 06:04 UTC
@timeshapers @mrnyarlathotep @kaish @doubleblackstudios Thanks for the feedback! It may be a bit too hard, could tone down the difficulty.

@philippkick @spixbird Hmm haven't thought about multiplayer, giving me an idea for a co-op version of this idea.
erebus
04. Dec 2018 · 07:59 UTC
Cool concept. I liked the art and basic idea. Thanks for bringing it by the stream!
timeshapers
04. Dec 2018 · 08:06 UTC
The difficulty is spot on for a compo entry. You want players to experience the full range of the game quickly, otherwise they might get bored and leave. We're all trying to play 20-40 games, offering the full experience in 5 minutes is great.

I do have a suggestion:
Each time you take damage, reassign a key. When you run out of keys to reassign, you die.
🎤 CalLavicka
04. Dec 2018 · 09:17 UTC
@timeshapers Yeah good point. I was mainly thinking though for an updated release with more content. Also that was my original idea but I felt what I ended up with more closely matches the sacrifice theme, as the very act of moving sacrifices your key's life (although I think both work just fine).
Pukami
04. Dec 2018 · 10:30 UTC
"A Key Sacrifice" Great concept with a fitting name for it! It was a lot of fun, but got quite difficult really quickly for me.
rexpeppers
04. Dec 2018 · 20:23 UTC
Impressive! Great idea and execution.
cowa
04. Dec 2018 · 21:15 UTC
(I did not read the description before playing)

At first I was like "ok it's a space shooter".
And then a message for remapping a key... that was surprising.

Very interesting idea to match the theme. But it's very painful! :sweat_smile:

Congrats :)
PurpledArtFrog
06. Dec 2018 · 17:17 UTC
@callavicka Won't play on mine in WEbGL
Jimbly
06. Dec 2018 · 22:05 UTC
That was fun! Got really difficult, really fast. My final score was 7100.
🎤 CalLavicka
06. Dec 2018 · 22:28 UTC
@crosenlund79 Any errors I can debug? Did you try playing the jar / standalone executable version?
Nick Rafalski
07. Dec 2018 · 02:19 UTC
haha this was wild. I didn't think it would be very fun but it turned out to be quite enjoyable in a sadistic way. Great concept!
🎤 CalLavicka
08. Dec 2018 · 04:25 UTC
@nick-rafalski Thanks! Glad you enjoyed.
Suchista
09. Dec 2018 · 11:06 UTC
Very clever and original idea :) The gameplay is annoying but in a good way!