Cub Valley by BinarySpark
One more story before bedtime...
In a far-away land, magical creatures roam the lands and the woods. Many dangers lurk in the unexplored wilderness after dark. So what happens when one day, four cubs lose their way and are forced to work together to make it back home?
FEATURES
- Gripping story about four creatures getting to know each other
- Deep combat system that encourages strategical play
- Replayability owing to various tactics you can use to defeat your opponents
HOW TO PLAY
- Each turn, you can select up to two of any element. (Each of the four cubs represents one element.)
- All combinations of elements make up moves
- Press ENTER (or gamepad A) to confirm your move
- Press BACKSPACE or ESC (or gamepad B) to remove one queued element
TIPS
These tips are not required to play the game! Give it a try and explore the options!
But if you're stuck:
- Your enemies show one element of their chosen move. Use this information to guess what they're going to do.
- For example, Ice is likely to be a protective move and Steel might indicate a physical attack (but may not be!).
- Be sure to use Counter (Steel + Ice) and Deflect (Tempest + Ice)! They're very strong moves that block damage and return it to sender.
- Counter only blocks physical attacks. Deflect only blocks magical attacks.
- Try repositioning enemies with Nausea (Void + Tempest) to expose other enemies.
- Use Dispel (Steel + Void) to remove buffs from enemies
- Enemies never Deflect, so your magic attacks will always hit.
Nice! Show me!



Timelapse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDY8PRtbQqs
Credits
Mika Molenkamp: Programming & implementation, UI layout
Sam Minh Ly: Game design, balancing, VFX & audio implementation
Jorrit Neslo: Character & environment pixel artist
Sounds created with assistance of BFXR.
Music: OpenGameArt (https://opengameart.org: TalkingCuteChiptune, suez crisis remade, CHIPTUNELoopTheBardsTale, Great boss, nes_02-incomplete
Changelog
The original v1 Jam version is still available on the itch.io page, if you prefer.
- v2: Fixes a softlock that could occur when more than one input device is available. In some cases you couldn't progress past the first combat dialogue.
Downloads and such
| Youtube | https://binaryspark.itch.io/cub-valley |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/cub-valley |
Ratings
| Overall | 448th | 3.84⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 522th | 3.68⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1321th | 3.24⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 2033th | 3.2⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 945th | 3.82⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 889th | 3.36⭐ | 27🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1095th | 2.955⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 763th | 3.646⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 38🗳️ | 46🗨️ |
Thanks everyone for the awesome feedback!
Not a big fan of the artstyle though, but I guess there is a big audience who will appreciate it :P
Very impressive what you guys achieved all in all!
The game is great though ! Really interesting combo mechanics and really good UX ! However I find that the last fight is too hard, I can't figure out how to damage them with only one action per turn (enemies always heal, poison and deal damage in one turn, so I can't both prevent my death and attack them with a single action :/).
Half of the games I've played this jam have been super feature filled and complete, way more than I would have expected from other jams.
It's incredible that you managed to get this done in three days. The element combining mechanic, far from being just a cool gimmick, actually works really well, and the wide array of moves introduces some really strategic decisions to the game.
Amazing work.
The windows loading cursor was weird, but not really a problem.