KOLENdor by MaxKlimenok

[raw]
made by MaxKlimenok for Ludum Dare 45 (JAM)

The Story:

The world has changed when The Darkness that devoured the sky came.

A very few survived the catastrophe, and those who did are now scattered around the world. Your village was miraculously left untouched but you barely recognize surrounding lands.

To restore what has been lost, you have to start from scratch, reexploring this new unknown world.

Map.jpg

Game rules:

There are 3 main stats in this game: Population, Provision and Morale. If any of these stats falls down to zero - you lose the game.

To gain/lose resources you will have to explore the world surrounding your starting tile. Hovering mouse over the tile will give you some hints on what to expect from it. Clicking on the tile will start correspondent Quest where you'll have to make decisions or you’ll have to defend yourself in Rock Paper Scissors battles.

Provinces marked with ‘gem’ contain crucial plot twists, you need to explore them all to win the game. But beware of the difficult quests here and the price that you’ll have to pay - you'd better be prepared well.

Quest.jpg

Controls:

Map navigation can be done with WASD keys on the keyboard, or with your mouse close to the game screen borders. Anything else is done with left mouse click or with finger touch if playing mobile.

Fight.jpg

About:

It’s a decision-making game with elements of exploration in a fantasy world. To revive the world around, you’ll have to take weighted decisions and search for the answers to uncover of what have happened here.

Game is playable in any browser (no installation needed) and on most android devices.

All assets, sounds and art have been created ‘inhouse’ during the game jam.

Sorry upfront for any errors in the narrative – none of us are English language natives.

We really hope that you’ll enjoy playing our game as much as we enjoyed making it and we are looking forward for your feedback!

Ratings

Overall 168th 3.889⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Fun 403th 3.463⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 290th 3.566⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Theme 506th 3.38⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 200th 4.12⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Audio 168th 3.774⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Humor 512th 2.83⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 101th 4⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Given 59🗳️ 56🗨️

Feedback

BLK Dragon
20. Oct 2019 · 13:01 UTC
That's one unusual twist on the theme!
Interesting mechanic, I don't this kind of games see that much, especially on jams.
Music/sounds are kinda minimalistic, but creates good atmosphere.
Likirus
23. Oct 2019 · 10:10 UTC
very nice game, fitting mood and well polished, and I love civilization so you had me with the hex design ;) Is the combat completely random or is there any strategy to it?
🎤 MaxKlimenok
23. Oct 2019 · 11:40 UTC
@likirus Thanks for playtesting! The decisions which AI makes during the Rock Paper Scissors battle is completly random (as IRL - you cant be sure what opponents choice will be), but overal battle difficulty is adjusted based on your current active "percks" and decisions previously made: either you or the opponent may start the battle with some "win points" already earned. So i.e., if you start with BattleModifier +2, to win the battle you have to win only 3 draws, while opponent has to win all 5 draws.
Wolfrug
23. Oct 2019 · 12:02 UTC
Lovely stuff! Can't believe the tiny amount of ratings you've received :O My one criticism might be that currently it's all a little -too- random chance: I tried to "stock up" on things before e.g. doing the big bad gem ones, but half the time you'd just get negative things from the other hexes as well, so you could never really know. I suppose in time you'd learn which descriptions lead to which events, but that's not exactly something you can know on the first (or nth) playthrough. I did speak to the spirit of one of the developers though, so I can empathize :D Not entirely sure what to do about it, except possibly adding some kind of... "here you can gain population/lose population/morale" etc marker on each hex, letting you avoid risking things if you're at 1 of any of the resources...
🎤 MaxKlimenok
23. Oct 2019 · 12:45 UTC
@wolfrug We thought about it, we even have this functionality coded: ![Hex-with-icons.jpg](///raw/cfb/11/z/29cd2.jpg)


We disabled this feature for several reasons:

1). Things become much more predictable - if you get informed of what your are getting/loosing next tile there is much less fun and thrill of going through.

2). On almost half the tiles you have several resources to get/lose/trade -> which icon(s) to show?

3). This feature works well for example when the map is predesigned and you have to "sacrifice" some resources to get to some distant hexes, but when the map is completely random each time you start a new game...

Maybe we should show these icons only on tiles where only one resource is gained/lost for sure...
But thanks for the tip! I like the idea of showing tiles "info" when the player is almost dead.
We definitly will give it a try.
Wolfrug
23. Oct 2019 · 13:47 UTC
@maxklimenok Another option would be to make only one of the resources (e.g. Population) be an actual game-ender, and then have a forced event occur if one of the other two drop to zero, where you can sacrifice something to gain one back. So, for example, morale drops to zero -> one population lost to "suicide", but your rousing speech after gives you +1 morale again, and so on. In this system it'd probably be no supplies -> loss of morale. No morale -> loss of population - but you could of course make it work in any direction :) It'd at least give you a better chance of clawing your way back from a "random" death, I think!
Steffy
23. Oct 2019 · 14:18 UTC
I liked the concept of this game. The music was very fitting.
hiroboto
23. Oct 2019 · 14:40 UTC
Very nice and complete game! The UI and overall atmosphere as well as the scripting are very impressive! great job!
Taldius
23. Oct 2019 · 15:38 UTC
Wow, that's a lot of content for a game jam. The game was fun and pretty well balanced. Good job!
dob
23. Oct 2019 · 15:39 UTC
Really cool, and very impressive graphics and storytelling. The combat seemed totally random - I found myself wishing there was something I could do either to affect it or move it along faster. Also, it wasn't clear when I was winning or losing, although I eventually figured that out. Very cool story elements, and I'm impressed you managed two different player skill tracks. Great game!
vlandemart
23. Oct 2019 · 17:52 UTC
Very interesting, addictive game. I've been struggling at the beginning but managed to finish it on 5th (or so) try.

Great art and writing. Can't say I liked rock-paper-scissors (I've just started spamming one option on my 3rd try) but I can't really say which mini-game would fit better.

Overall, very good one. And the game certainly doesn't look like it has been done on kolenka.
kristinamay
23. Oct 2019 · 17:55 UTC
What a cool game! I made it pretty far before dying. I loved the descriptions of the different tiles - it felt like they gave me a hint about which areas I should visit if a certain stat was low. I also liked that it wasn't just blind clicking - I had to actually read the descriptions to figure out which choice was the best one to pick. Really, really awesome.
Dongle
23. Oct 2019 · 19:13 UTC
This was really well done! It kept me entertained for quite a while! I "died" embarrassingly fast at first but the second go around I got really far. The writing was fantastic and each event was intriguing. This was very nicely put together and I would love to see more games like this.
Lumos
23. Oct 2019 · 19:39 UTC
Spectacular game. I wasn't a big fan of the fourth-wall-breaking moments, but the game is fantastic nonetheless. Gotta admit I really enjoyed the writing style, even though the English wasn't quite correct at all times. That actually helps the mood on occasion. I'd also like to see a real combat system. :)

Other than that, this is one of my favourites for this round. Magnificent job, друзья!
Wolfens
24. Oct 2019 · 09:08 UTC
I love the concept, it's simple to understand and to play. I had a very good moment playing this game, well done guys :D
oxysoft
24. Oct 2019 · 15:25 UTC
This kind of game isn't really my cup of tea but I can appreciate all the lore you put in, I was surprised with the amount of lines written for the game. Visually it looks pretty polished too! The addition of a starting class was nice too, made my first and second run different.
Conduit
24. Oct 2019 · 19:56 UTC
Wow! Talk about a rock solid concept, love the hexagonal map, in depth story and multiple paths to choose from (huge tabletop RPG fan over here lol). Absolutely stellar work!
Phoenix Fireflower
24. Oct 2019 · 21:06 UTC
You've menaged to wow me even though I'm usually not a fan of these type of games.

Also, great job on the collaboration. Working together with a team of six making a game in three days certainly isn't easy, but you've menaged to get through it and made a very pilished game. :thumbsup:
crefossus
25. Oct 2019 · 12:02 UTC
Nice art. I like that you can play it quickly. Some sfx had popping.
Nanok
25. Oct 2019 · 12:04 UTC
The game is really nice, menu and ingame are really well done.

I've never seen rock-paper-scisor combat system before so it surprised me. In a good way.

In game sound fit well with the survivalist tone of the game.

As you never know what will happen next you're always a bit on the edge and it makes the game hard. It keeps it entertaining but might sound a bit unfair to some people.

It's not really my type of game, so I don't have really interresting insight for you.

All in all, a really great job ! Congratulations !
simXple
25. Oct 2019 · 16:29 UTC
Nice game, played it without reading the text though, sorry xD Great music! Liked the rock, paper, scissor battels very much.
25. Oct 2019 · 17:29 UTC
Как только зашел в игру мне сразу очень понравилась музыка, прям по теме зашла, после прохождения игры еще раз ее послушал и она очень подходит этой игре, все звуки так же добавляют атмосферы и ничего нет ни к месту. Одно 'Но' со звуками это что они должны плавнее исчезать, иногда они заканчиваются немного резко.

Второе что меня впечатлило это графика, арт особенно в менюшке на высоте, а про UI нет слов, за то время что было дано очень даже по теме. Единственное что не понравилось это AI в конце, текст было сложно читать и поэтому суть не всегда мог уловить что он говорил, но это мое мнение.

Читал все, виден ваш серьезный подход к историям и строения мира, и баланс игры, каждое решение можно предугадать если серьезно подумать, если брать ребенка то ясно что популяция пойдет выше а провизия упадет и тд. Все истории было интересно читать и принимать правильные решения было очень круто. Использование одно из способностей некромантии или общение с животными очень здесь помогло, если я мог общаться с животными и один из аспектов у меня был близко к нолю то я шел в лес и выбирал доп. опцию которая всегда была хорошей. И использовать кализей, торговлю рабами и тд чтобы восстановить один из аспектов пожертвовав другим если вовремя использовать мне очень пригадились после прохождения главных квестов.

Количество текста с хорошим подходом очень поражает, также каждое место имело название и описание. Видел несколько отсылок к нашему нынешнему миру, к разработчикам и этому конкурсу с дедлайнами. Самое клевое было про 3 дороги, это мне напомнило 3-х богатырей которых я смотрел когда маленький был.

Максим, большой респект за генерацию мира рандомно и за систему с ячейками да и в принципе багов и чего экстраординарного не видел.

Настроение отличное после прохождения, игра втянула.

Лично для меня были маленькие минусы. Я прошел игру на 4 раз, а проблема вот в чем. Когда берешь главный квест даже если все на 5 он может взять 3 из одного аспекта, но некоторые обычные Квесты берут по 2 с аспекта без выбора, тоесть можно проиграть игру чисто по неудаче, думая не должно быть квестов без выбора. Или же 6 по каждому аспекту.

Также система боя, это чистая удача хоть и иногда дается преимущество, мне кажется в игре где идет осознанный выбор с пос
eva
25. Oct 2019 · 18:07 UTC
Cool game! Rock paper scissors seems too easy to lose at.
Black Flag
25. Oct 2019 · 21:22 UTC
This game is epic! This felt like a paid for game, and it looked like that from the second that the menu showed up, and the amazing audio and graphics showed up! The gameplay itself was also super addictive, the story line was also really good, due to it's thought provoking nature! The tiled based exploration system was fascinating, and it felt amazing when expanding over mass pieces of land! Overall, this game was epic, and an amazing jam entry! PS I am pretty sure that the map was randomised in which case well done, as that is not easy to do in game jam!
bamberga
25. Oct 2019 · 23:17 UTC
very coo. I felt smart for figuring out what was going on with the rock paper scissors minigame.
UnidayStudio
27. Oct 2019 · 11:41 UTC
Hi! Your GUI is looking fantastic! Have you made it from scratch? Can you tell me a little bit more about your UI's workflow? I like the visuals.
MrsTari
27. Oct 2019 · 13:00 UTC
WOW Amazing job - i'm really in love :heart_eyes:
🎤 MaxKlimenok
27. Oct 2019 · 13:11 UTC
@unidaystudio Yep! Everything have been made from scratch. Perhaps our artist (@sumathbrod) can tell you more... Here is a link to our public workfolder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m6f0A-p2XSOGMwE9HxriSPZYhsl7B2h3?usp=sharing You may find all *.psd files being used under the ART folder to get more insight on how the things have been done. Also you may checkout the Source Code (the link is above).
Palemek
27. Oct 2019 · 21:02 UTC
Hi, thank you for the game. Art is looking cool, the plot and atmosphere are great too! Also, I really loved your sense of humor hidden in the game. The only thing that was a bit frustrating for me was the randomnes of the tiles. I felt, I could lead my people till the end of the story, and than (again) I step on the wrong land..
All in all, I really enjoyed it.
sumathbrod
28. Oct 2019 · 09:28 UTC
@UnidayStudio Thank you for the nice words! I hope my small tutorial will be helpful. Try experimenting with different blending modes, they really make the process faster. ![lerning.png](///raw/7cb/21/z/29e3c.png)
mortus
28. Oct 2019 · 13:05 UTC
Great work overall! Really good first impression, but very high entry threshold. I feel like when player sees a wall of text like this a lot of people want to just skip it. But the game is story driven basically, because the core mechanic is just chosing the option with the result that you can survive, and because of that wall of text might be actually okay (if you don't want to look at text at the beginning, you probably won't play a game with lots of text in it anyway).

I kept reading everything for a while, but at about halfway through just ignored it and clicked through everything except the main quests. I guess it's because this game is really easy to deconstruct to its base mechanics and narrative doesn't seem to affect it a lot, so you can just ignore it for the most part. The same goes for battles - at first I tried to be "strategic" in them, but in the end just clicked buttons randomly and sometimes won.

I really liked the ability to chose a trait in the beginning. I feel like adding more of those and giving them mid play would add a lot of replayability and unique feel to the game. You would feel like you're building your new civilization and suit it for your preferences and needs. Maybe grant 1 new trait after 1 main quest completion, or add special locations for that (of course, they shoud not just give new options in encounters, some may alter battles or provide passive bonuses for exploration etc.).

Our own game had zero instructions for the first two days of voting and still has almost none (that's intentional), so it was a bit strange to see a game with a full three screens of rules and controls explanation, especially for LD. :D