Kings by nitzanel

made by nitzanel for LD 39 (JAM)

Strategy card game where you rule a kingdom that is slowly becoming less loyal. Control your characters and navigate through events in the realm in order to gain back the loyalty of the people and survive the downfall. In this game, characters are everything - they will hide their true identity and desires, they will betray you and they will affect everything. How far can you go without loosing control over the realm?

Downloads to Windows, Linux and Mac versions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e9y01sewxr7hfhn/AADR-T_NSj61JG4kcG2ghD1ia?dl=0 Source Code: https://github.com/nitzanel/Kings

Credits: Nitzan Elbaz, Noah Gorny, Omri Yeshaya and Itamar Kasirer.

Update 1: We have made some bug fixes! Proper to last minute fixes, we've just added some try-catch blocks in a few strategic location to stop the game from not working under certain conditions. The old version can be found on github with the source code in a previous commit. Of course no content was added, and only game breaking bugs were fixed.

Update 2: Bug fixes. There were some game-breaking bugs that we somehow missed until today. The fixes were simple and quick, and now the game actually works (it worked before, but some things made it not go to the next turn while it really should). We also improved the explanation a bit (literally added 2 sentences) to explain the things that we found people not understanding the most. Just like before, no content was added and no tweaking was made to any of the systems - the game plays, looks, and sounds just the same. The only thing different is that now it will not break in some specific occasions. Again, the source code is available in github with all the previous versions of the game.

Windows	https://www.dropbox.com/s/5v55dfxudjno38o/Kings%20Windows.zip?dl=0
macOS	https://www.dropbox.com/s/cdk99coeckats21/Kings%20Mac.zip?dl=0
Linux	https://www.dropbox.com/s/am6sgnzoqcslw6e/Kings%20Linux.zip?dl=0
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/kings

Ratings

Overall	551^th	3.159⭐	46🧑‍⚖️
Fun	604^th	2.86⭐	45🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	215^th	3.429⭐	44🧑‍⚖️
Theme	473^th	3.419⭐	45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	754^th	2.364⭐	46🧑‍⚖️
Humor	366^th	2.538⭐	41🧑‍⚖️
Mood	571^th	2.907⭐	45🧑‍⚖️
Given		74🗳️	34🗨️

Feedback

🎤 nitzanel

30. Jul 2017 · 00:32 UTC

kings

Harrelix

01. Aug 2017 · 10:57 UTC

Overall, this is a great game. Although the cards act a bit strange..

Baski

01. Aug 2017 · 11:20 UTC

Not that bad but need some polishing, and fixing :)

Rapter

01. Aug 2017 · 18:13 UTC

Good Idea , but need some bug fixing :)

ctjet99

01. Aug 2017 · 18:25 UTC

Was confused on how the turn system worked, and I broke one of the dialog boxes. It's very intricate though! Props to you on that.

ctjet99

01. Aug 2017 · 18:25 UTC

Was confused on how the turn system worked, and I broke one of the dialog boxes. It's very intricate though! Props to you on that.

TheFlyingKeyboard

01. Aug 2017 · 18:54 UTC

Really nice graphics and idea, but cards changes their size in a very funny way. It definitellt needs some polishing.

xaedes

04. Aug 2017 · 18:33 UTC

Yay that was a fun game!

If not for the bugs I would have loved to continue playing a few hours.
Sometimes a character info dialog will always reappear and won't let others dialogs open.
I also had a bug when executing revolting characters they won't be executed and their card stays, can't be removed/replaced and can't be killed with action card either. I couldn't even advance to the next turn anymore.

Anyway very great game; please fix the bugs so I can play longer =)
Sound was good chosen.
The character portraits where funny.
The event system filled the game world with life.
Your interpretation of "power" (in running out of power) was innovative!

All in all great work!

LERPish

04. Aug 2017 · 20:10 UTC

Really good and fun game work on this i would buy if it were a full game

tweedle

04. Aug 2017 · 21:37 UTC

great take on the theme! it seems you may have reached a bit too far for a jam build - some play testing and polish on a few core concepts would have helped this out a lot in my opinion. some of the tool tips and card dragging mechanics bugged out every now and again. but again, great idea!

wilthord

04. Aug 2017 · 22:12 UTC

is a good idea for a game, you should keep working on it, because es not clear how works the card system

Emery

04. Aug 2017 · 22:16 UTC

I had a good time playing this, but there is some stuff you could work on, as stated in the previous comments.s it was a good idea, good job.

Battle Buddy

04. Aug 2017 · 22:23 UTC

This is really something that you could expand further into a much more complete game. I love the whole concept of! I had to stop playing because my hand was filled with Kill cards that wouldn't let me end the turn. I ended having my cities income levels roll over to the negatives every other turn, so that was an interesting surprise.

Remondo

04. Aug 2017 · 22:53 UTC

A bit complicated but really good, it's impressive how much you detailed the cities and their population. Good job!

WhatIsLove

04. Aug 2017 · 23:24 UTC

Guys thanks for all the support! We plan to clear some disturbing bugs and update if possible and we will definitly keep working in order to make this a complete and full game!

earthexe

05. Aug 2017 · 02:14 UTC

I have the feeling that, if I played this game more, I would have a better understanding of how exactly it worked, and I would be having a lot more fun. But as it stands, its confusing and feels a little directionless. I had an inventory full of "kill" cards and couldn't figure out how to discard any, and then the game decided to stop passing turns.

This game looks like it would be fun to play in theory, but I just wasn't making any progress for it to feel worthwhile.

Plepletier

05. Aug 2017 · 03:02 UTC

great idea. Its have some bugs but i got play! Good Job and i hope you continue the dev of this one.

fledgeling93

05. Aug 2017 · 10:50 UTC

There's a lot of content here, oh boy. Sometimes it doesn't react accordingly to current situation - my spymaster would always yell about the general being a traitor, never minding that he was dead like 5 turns ago. On the 10th turn (approximately) the game froze on me, but that's a minor problem. It's a fun game, it really is, and it created some memorable interactions, just as needed from the games of this genre. The music was great too. Cool entry!

Poffle

05. Aug 2017 · 12:10 UTC

Very interesting idea if a little confusing. Half the time I couldn't get the cards to go into the boxes which was ruining my enjoyment of the game. I'd like to play a post jam version with a bit more polish, I think it could turn into a really addictive card game. Nice work

klianc09

05. Aug 2017 · 13:03 UTC

It's really hard to see or understand the effect of different actions. It was really hard to find all necessary information in the many menus. And I wasn't really sure what to do with most information. And the army value was always on zero. I really tried to play it to the end, but I encountered a gamebreaking bug, where I couldn't progress to the next turn anymore.

This city management type game with spying on individual persons reminded me of the Shrouded Isle, could it have been an inspiration?

gelisam

05. Aug 2017 · 14:52 UTC

Dragging the "increase population" card to a city's action slot didn't work for some reason, and when I pressed "next turn" I saw that unused cards are kept forever so I'd be forever stuck with that broken card, and I gave up. Looks way too complicated anyway. Maybe introduce the different parts of the game one at a time instead of all at once?

David Brož

05. Aug 2017 · 18:27 UTC

Cool game but confusing and buggy. I ended when the game bugged out and I could not dismiss a character window when I imprisoned someone. I really like the idea of this game I would love to see more work put into that, great concept <3.

WhatIsLove

05. Aug 2017 · 19:42 UTC

@klianc09 we were inspired mainly by Crusader King (factions, poeple with different traits and desires) but now after seeing Shrouded Isle for the first time I must say our game looks very similar! thats very cool

🎤 nitzanel

05. Aug 2017 · 20:02 UTC

Update: We have been working hard on bug fixes to make sure the game doesnt crash anymore. we will soon upload it.

martymon

05. Aug 2017 · 21:46 UTC

There was a good concept here but I had difficulty placing cards in the action slot. I wasn't sure if it was because I couldn't place certain cards due to restrictions or if the action selection box wasn't mouse over properly. I was playing it windowed mode if that helps.

omriysh

05. Aug 2017 · 22:05 UTC

@martymon We are now uploading a small update that fixes some bugs and explains this better - there are city action cards and character action cards. There is currently no indication as to which is which (we are not adding one because we consider this adding new content) but you can distinguish them with simple logic. Bribe, for example, is a card that can only be used on characters. Attack City, on the other hand, can only be played on cities. We did a very poor job explaining this concept.

SimplePotential

05. Aug 2017 · 23:36 UTC

I love card games on LD, this was a pretty good one. Definitely some polish would be good as others have said.

prettylucky

06. Aug 2017 · 01:14 UTC

In 25 years I executed 3 generals who planned rebellions against me, lost 3 or 4 newborn sons and my Spy Master ran off somewhere between my random clicking in the last 5 years xD Yeah, I had fun with this even though I didn't really understand how my actions or choices were affecting anything.

Would be nice to get more feedback on what I'm doing and have a larger variety of events.

It was odd that the events shown at the start of a turn don't take place until the follow turn. I also had a minor glitch when I appointed a new general, I couldn't look at him (it kept showing my Coin Master) until I picked up the other councilmen and put them back down.

bveeramani

06. Aug 2017 · 03:23 UTC

Original idea - I can tell that you were very ambitious with what you wanted to accomplish with this game, and despite some gameplay-hindering bugs (one of the character dialog boxes wouldn't go away during my first playthrough), I think that it was well executed. It is somewhat difficult to get a grasp on the game - there are a lot of different numbers/mechanics/etc. to keep track of. The art was well done. The character art brings some personality to the game, and the overall aesthetic lends itself to a 1980's strategy game. Well done!

CurseTats

06. Aug 2017 · 09:54 UTC

Game, Is Good
Graphics, Is ok
Sound Effect, Is Ok

Overall, Liked the game because of the basic, core idea of the game

All the best, I would like to see the game in future

DuzzOnDrums

06. Aug 2017 · 12:37 UTC

The scope of this is impressive! Feels incredibly deep for something created so quickly. I felt like I kinda understood the core concept and what to do, I didn't figure out what armies were for, but loved spying on my guys to try and work out who to imprison, really cool.

Yetman

06. Aug 2017 · 13:19 UTC

I like how you implemented the theme into a game concept. The game was fun although I dislike the card idea since it forces me to pick actions that I don't want to choose. The music choice was brilliant and added a lot of tension to the gameplay. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the art but it was still good enough that it did not ruin the whole experience. Overall, I liked it a lot.

Jacksendary

06. Aug 2017 · 21:18 UTC

Lots of bugs broke the game to the point where it couldn't be play anymore, UI could use a lot of work and an in game tutorial is really needed!

alxm

19. Aug 2017 · 19:17 UTC

Nice interpretation of the theme! Impressive how much content and features you made in such a short time.

Aurel300

20. Aug 2017 · 19:26 UTC

We streamed your game with Danae plays on Twitch. :) Here's a link:

[Danae streams Ludum Dare 39: Day 3, part 1: Kings](https://youtu.be/LN1svjCl2z0?t=1h47m10s)

The rules of the game *seemed* complex (I don't know just how balanced or fair they really are). We didn't have enough time in the stream to actually explore the mechanics deeper. However, the graphics and the UI could really use a lot of work. Maybe a walkthrough tutorial in the beginning, maybe more obvious card slots. Also, as you said, the events get a bit repetitive as the game progresses. I lost my child every second turn!

But still, cool sim game! :)