LudumData

Sacrifice by Sword by Torn

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

Lore

All time and purpose has ended, as you're stuck in an eternal swordfight to the death against the followers of various gods. Your god demands sacrifices in his honor, and promises to bestow you with ever-increasing power the more you sacrifice. But beware, such a promise has been given to all who suffer in this realm. Will you rise above the rest, or will you be destroyed by them? One way or the other, there is no salvation.

Controls

  • WASD or Arrow Keys to move
  • Click to attack in the direction you're moving
  • Space opens and closes the upgrade menu
  • Shift and Ctrl also work in Spectator Mode

Description

Basically, the game is a never-ending team deathmatch. The stakes are constantly escalating, as new people are being poured into the world. Each carries a soul, and the killer of each gets all those souls (even the used ones), meaning the amount of souls ever only goes up. The AI also knows how to purchase upgrades for themselves, so there's a possibility you will eventually face someone much exceeding your own level of strength.
The game is played on a 1km² map, and there are also some unarmed characters serving as easy pray.

Spectator Mode

If you get tired of that, you can go enjoy Spectator Mode, which is the same game, but you can fly around and see how everyone is squabbling. It's a lot of fun, and if you leave it running for long enough, you might just see some characters emerging as superior fighters, and thus the populations of those gods increasing.

Source Code https://drive.google.com/open?id=1REBvl9TCDwGJ8yoKPq9BqN16XFqYMPXr
Windows https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nW4AymWs2h7ksZ5JAffBSO5_HlBsQ2Lx
Linux https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NhAp7LjVqNokzalV_oRZWozabETOFBF6
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/sacrifice-by-sword

Ratings

Overall 331th 3.194⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Fun 285th 3.139⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 251th 3.194⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Theme 399th 2.972⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 384th 2.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 430th 2.5⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 9🗨️

Feedback

DougDevs
04. Dec 2018 · 01:03 UTC
This game was much better than I expected it to be. I actually liked the graphical style of sprites on chunky 3D terrain. The upgrade system was not bad either. Well done- I think this could be expanded into a very fun game.

Feedback:
- I think if you are going to have attack on left click, then the character should attack in the direction the mouse is pointing instead of the direction the character is facing. This might also make it easier to kite enemies.
- Sometimes I walked for a long time and couldn't find any enemies, other times there were too many. I don't know how to remedy this besides adding a map or an arrow indicating where to go to find action.
- I think there should be visual feedback when you are able to swing your sword again.
- Spectator mode was a really good inclusion
- the terrain could use some landmarks, or random decoration like trees, rocks, or grass.
🎤 Torn
04. Dec 2018 · 11:06 UTC
@dougdevs Thank you very much for the feedback.
A minimap and some terrain decorations were planned, but I ran out of time to implement them.
I agree that having to turn around to attack feels kind of tedious, but I felt like it might be too easy otherwise. In hindsight, I think there is some better compromise to be found between the two.
The sword cooldown indicator is a good idea.
Syrapt0r
04. Dec 2018 · 13:10 UTC
I really enjoyed the graphics, combining pixel art with low poly produces a pretty nice artstyle. The shop system was a good addition even though I felt like movement speed or attacking speed were a bit too expensive. Other than that, my feedback is exactly the same as dougdevs, nothing to add there. Surprisingly fun game!
Call_me_Nutty
04. Dec 2018 · 13:58 UTC
This game screams 'cool as hell' to me. I was a bit confused at first (I thought it was all online :/) but when I got into the game it all made sense. I think the actual play mode could do with a bit more work and polish (everything @dougdevs said) but Spectator mode is an awesome mode, flying around and seeing all the battles happen is cool as hell. I also really like the art, most of my criticism were covered by Doug but for a 48 hour compo this has a lot of potential.
GoldRanger
04. Dec 2018 · 17:19 UTC
This is a solid entry, I enjoy the process of being a great warrior. Also the art style is pretty good, it is simple but it looks comfortable and smooth.
two things,
I think you should add collider in the edge of the map so players don't fall down :joy:
Second, you should let players know where the enemies are, I know you are planning on minimap but I think you can just simply apply the inspector mode into it to let players able to rotate and move up the camera to check the situation around them
Overall it's a good entry and I enjoy playing it!
aeveis
05. Dec 2018 · 10:06 UTC
I played until I got killed by a guy bigger than me. Pretty fun! I wish there were more landmarks or so, but the progression is very real. The minimap idea could work really well for seeking out enemies.

Nice job!
erikkire
09. Dec 2018 · 21:07 UTC
Fun idea. Would like to play more but the controls have to be improved. I would like to attack much faster and to have some more variation in the combat. Also, some sound would be great.
🎤 Torn
09. Dec 2018 · 21:27 UTC
@erikkire What improvements would you recommend for the controls? What do you feel is most wrong with them?
I agree it's more fun to attack really fast, but I figured I would set the attack speed low at first so you couldn't just mindlessly hold down attack. Spend some points into attack speed, and the situation should quickly improve.

Sadly even for such simple sprites, the animations took way too much time for me, so I scrapped the idea of having fancy attacks or more enemy types.
erikkire
09. Dec 2018 · 22:02 UTC
A way to parry attacks for example, or using your mouse cursor to make different attack moves by "drawing" simple shapes. Also, maybe adding different weapons.
Megalink
09. Dec 2018 · 22:15 UTC
This is pretty cool! I like the stickmen art style and the shop concept. Some more visual feedback during combat, e.g. screenshake, freezing, or enemies flashing red on attack could really improve the game feel. Overall this is a neat game, good work! :)
candlesan
09. Dec 2018 · 22:39 UTC
This is pretty cool! I'd love to see a web build on this on a new site you make called "sacrific.io" or something :) I farmed AIs for a looong time to get some upgrades and unfortunately I dont' think I came across another human, but I still had fun!
bentglasstube
09. Dec 2018 · 22:58 UTC
I really liked the stickman pixel art (especially how he changed for all different angles). The Highlander-esque mechanic of stealing people's power was also pretty great. Early on the game felt a bit too slow as I wandered around looking for anyone to fight, but eventually the pacing was good and I was able to find groups of people to battle. The attack speed upgrade didn't seem to do enough good, and it was hard to know when your attack was ready again. Overall this was a really enjoyable game, great work.
Anyonebacon
10. Dec 2018 · 00:28 UTC
Good idea and the pixel art was cool. I liked it.
commanderstitch
10. Dec 2018 · 00:52 UTC
i liked it. the skill points really made it for me. the only negative was the wandering around forever. No knowledge of recharge, but heh fun! would make a really fun multiplayer game.
Geckoo1337
10. Dec 2018 · 06:43 UTC
Nice gameplay with a minimalist aesthetic. Stickman is always cool :)
Hempuli
12. Dec 2018 · 01:07 UTC
Very interesting! The concept was fairly brutal for my tastes, but any kind of autonomous AI shenanigans interest me so playing this was neat. I liked how I could see massive fights in the horizon, and it would've been good to be able to rotate the camera to better find where opponents are. The fighting was simplistic but the aforementioned grouping behaviour made it much more interesting. I think the enemies possibly favour getting more HP too much, though, because it was easy to become an unbeatable monster. Also the ability to see in some way your power level relative to an enemy would be sweet. Still, nice!
zgragselus
12. Dec 2018 · 01:12 UTC
Stickman approach on 3D terrain is quite nice artistically! Game was quite good, I kind of liked it.

Good job!
NickNameless
12. Dec 2018 · 09:45 UTC
Really neat concept! I sacrificed around 1100 souls before alt-tabbing to read that the gameplay is essentially endless, haha.

The idea seems to revolve around the same systemic loop of battle royale games, however, what I enjoy about this concept is that, due to the use of choice-based stat growth, player strength is more theoretically dependent on player skill rather than map rng (e.g. finding a powerful weapon). The combat isn't much at the moment, and the ai tends to mindlessly conglomerate into "fight trains" (haha) but nonetheless the idea is interesting and fun for a small experience!

The spectator mode is fascinating, and gives the sense of watching over little ants go about their business, haha. All in all, great idea with solid execution that could definitely grow in some interesting ways!