Tomb of the Mummy RL by Eldar

[raw]
made by Eldar for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

Update: Hey folks, since there was some excitement around the visuals and mechanics of the game, and it was pretty easy to win, I decided to add a Hard mode. You can play both versions from itch.io page, or download the exact version made during the jam, if you'd like to rate it. However, at this point I already have enough ratings in each category, so I'd rather you just enjoy the post-jam version :)

Having died millenia ago, all you wanted was to rest for eternity in your cozy tomb. But nah, every few centuries these pesky adventurers must invade your private space and try to snatch some artifacts. Over and over and over. You could almost call it... a loop? Guess you gotta wake up and dispatch of them.

Screen Shot 2020-10-04 at 2.46.38 PM.png

Ratings

Overall 213th 3.582⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Fun 191th 3.557⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 370th 3.158⭐ 62🧑‍⚖️
Theme 540th 2.852⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 274th 3.516⭐ 63🧑‍⚖️
Humor 248th 2.755⭐ 53🧑‍⚖️
Mood 264th 3.267⭐ 60🧑‍⚖️
Given 35🗳️ 93🗨️

Feedback

noahw
05. Oct 2020 · 06:02 UTC
Loved the concept and the ASCII aesthetics! Would be nice if it gave more feedback about what happens on each turn--maybe graphically highlighting changed stats or something similar
ZwodahS
05. Oct 2020 · 06:05 UTC
Nice ! a roguelike.

Would love to see some animations when casting the spells :D
May try for a higher score later.
🎤 Eldar
05. Oct 2020 · 06:17 UTC
@noahw That's very fair; I ran out of time :( I was thinking of either an action log, animations, or at least splatters of blood on the floor where mummy kills enemies.

@zwodahs Fully agreed, that would make it more fun and comprehensible :) You mentioned "higher" score, which brings me to the question - I don't see anyone's scores on http://www.heroicage.info/tomb-of-the-mummy besides mine, does it mean that results submission doesn't work after all? :( (if you have time and could bring up developer tools, it would show requests under Network; I wonder if the request to heroicage.info gets rejected for one reason or another)
JustusPan
05. Oct 2020 · 06:27 UTC
Simple and concise rogue game. The extermination magic is exciting. It's super useful in the last level, absord the attention of raider and gather them together, and boooom! It's surprising that this cute and complete rogue game could be made within 48h. Good job!
tjm
05. Oct 2020 · 17:31 UTC
Solid design! First few levels are very easy, but it seems to turn into a pure resource management roguelike, which is interesting and something I feel like you don't see very often.

The wind spell feels like poor value to me early on, considering you're giving up one of your two casts of exterminate to get it, but maybe it's more vital later on for crowd control?

High score upload didn't work for me either; network panel says "(failed) net::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID".
🎤 Eldar
06. Oct 2020 · 03:44 UTC
@justuspan Thank you!

@tjm The idea behind the wind was more of an escape mechanism, like if they come from all corridors into your room, you could blind them and hide in the corner. In practice, at least on the current levels, it seems unnecessary - I think it would either take larger crowds, or perhaps ranged enemies to make it useful.

Ah, the dreaded certificate error :| Thanks for the report - I believe I fixed it, seeing some results come in :)
mikelovesrobots
06. Oct 2020 · 06:37 UTC
I'm a fan of classic roguelikes. Nice work!
Loig
06. Oct 2020 · 10:10 UTC
A nice and well polished games. Nice work to achieve this in such a short amount of time.
arzi
06. Oct 2020 · 16:38 UTC
Wow, a proper roguelike! Props for that! I also like that there's a leaderboard.
freeworld
06. Oct 2020 · 20:23 UTC
Feels polished, is challenging and I'm really impressed that you even put together a leaderboard!

The level generation feels very diverse, the runs felt different.

Explanations and gameplay were clear pretty quickly, altough I do have to say I'm not used to the graphics and my eyes started to hurt after the 3rd run xD I think it was a super fitting choice here though, so props for that!

Great execution of a classic with the theme blending in nicely and interesting procedural generation, I had fun!
🎤 Eldar
07. Oct 2020 · 02:24 UTC
@arzi @freeworld To be fair, I already had a web server running for my previous games, so adding a leaderboard wasn't THAT much work :)

@freeworld Do you feel like bigger font, or different font family would have made a difference, or was it the colors, or just ASCII itself?
Eugenik
07. Oct 2020 · 05:03 UTC
There you go! Played and rated! Pretty cool!
ursagames
07. Oct 2020 · 05:08 UTC
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on 10/6. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://tinyurl.com/yy4oycvv
freeworld
07. Oct 2020 · 06:07 UTC
@eldar Nice that you already had a solid foundation for adding the leaderboard :)

Hmm I might have to say it was the contrast of the yellow room on the black background. The thing is I like the color choice because I think it fits the tomb really well so I wouldn't want it changed :D Maybe it would already be better if the walls were a different color than the floor...? That's just a guess though.
tpsy
07. Oct 2020 · 16:37 UTC
The ASCII graphics look really nice. And the theme (the whole tomb thing with the raiders) was well executed.
Great job all around!
JudgeZedd
07. Oct 2020 · 16:52 UTC
Haven't had a nice classic roguelike in a good while, and this is a really excellent and 'pure' one. Well done for 48 hours, definitely.
schraf
07. Oct 2020 · 17:08 UTC
So refreshing to play an ascii RL. Plays really well and I felt the mana and spells seemed like a good addition. Good job.
PerfectSquare
07. Oct 2020 · 17:11 UTC
My favourite part was the vase mechanic, it was really fun jumping out of them and exterminating a bunch of radiers!
Tsunscreen
07. Oct 2020 · 20:01 UTC
I'm a sucker for neat map (tomb) generation, so that was pretty cool!
Neowedge
07. Oct 2020 · 20:09 UTC
Nice rogue like, original ASCII graphics, works good! Congrats!
BOOtak
07. Oct 2020 · 20:59 UTC
Very nice rogue like game! Oh, and random tombs generation too? Neat! Good job implementing all different mechanics (torches, spells, extinguished torch lit from comrades, vases) in 48 hours! Well done!
Tayo
07. Oct 2020 · 21:03 UTC
Hats off to your skill. Nice rogue like ASCII graphics.

The only trouble i had that I did not find any info about reach or effect of the mummies skills. (Maybe I am not used enough to this kind of game.)

But pulling this game of in just 48 is very remarkable.
Wendel Scardua
08. Oct 2020 · 03:45 UTC
Cool roguelike! By coincidence I've resumed playing NetHack recently, it's nice that this uses the same movement keys (don't know if this come for free from the RL engine or not)
squimmy
08. Oct 2020 · 12:37 UTC
How nice to see a classic roguelike!

The idea, the gameplay and the appearance were all solid, but the dialog boxes (introduction, help, etc) didn't match the ascii, monospaced style of the rest of game and broke the immersion slightly for me. It also would have been _much_ nicer if there'd been a way to immediately show the online leaderboards upon submitting my score. It might even have been enough to tempt me to try again for the #1 spot.

Obviously I realise implementing/fixing these things isn't feasible given the 48-hour time limit, but I hope this feedback is of use in future games (or if you ever revisit this one)!
etrealjunior
08. Oct 2020 · 17:37 UTC
Hi all right, I really like this world of programming even though I am not part of it, and I see a great wealth in your project, very well structured, I really liked that I started to follow you on itch and on your youtube channel, the only recommendation I I have to give you is that even though for people who deal with development, some things seem very obvious, for many who are not part, it is not, I believe that in our new reality grandiose projects like this end up being lost, for not having one explanatory video on how to use it, because different from the developers or those who work directly with the language, they will not have the chance to learn, congratulations again for the project, a big hug.
🎤 Eldar
09. Oct 2020 · 05:09 UTC
Thank you everyone for checking out the game and your comments!

@perfectsquare Yeah I get this odd satisfaction from seeing a green vase as well! :D

@tayo It's not well communicated, but you can see the reach in the description of actions in Help Menu (3 for exterminate, 10 for wind).

@wendel-scardua I had to map the keys myself, but to be fair it's pretty straightforward :)

@squimmy It's my first experience with html/css and making a browser game, so with a lot of these menus I was happy I managed to make them work at all :sweat_smile: Are you referring to the text on the menus not matching the text on the right side (quick help, etc.)? They are both meant to be monospace, although I'm not entirely sure what the underlying framework does to the text on-canvas. Or are you referring to the spacing between chars in menus not being the same as on the map itself?
As for leaderboard, that's a very good point, to be honest I didn't think of it at all :face_palm: I will likely be releasing a new version of this game at some point, and incorporate this into it!

@etrealjunior Sorry, I'm not sure what your are referring to exactly - are you saying that the game should have a video explaining how to play it, or the underlying framework should have a tutorial explaining how to use it, or something else?
etrealjunior
09. Oct 2020 · 05:28 UTC
Sorry I don't speak English, I will try to explain, you should do it as if it were a commercial showing on video what should be done in the game, very quick example = take this, kill that, attack this, I hope my explanation can help, um big hug.
Endurion
09. Oct 2020 · 12:15 UTC
Cool, a rogue like :)

The enemies get pretty tough later on. That requires planning about how to visit the vases. Good stuff!
squimmy
09. Oct 2020 · 12:46 UTC
@eldar Taking a closer look, rather than guessing by gut-feeling, I think the main things that don't tie-in visually are the font in the dialog buttons ("Let's play!") which might be browser-defined and not configurable by you anyway, and the general layout of the dialog boxes (transparency, rounded corners, mouse-activated buttons).

I will freely admit that my hardline stance on visual consistency in roguelikes may be a minority standpoint borne of far too many hours spent playing games like angband and dcss in a terminal.
vrerabek
09. Oct 2020 · 12:54 UTC
Ohh I love some oldschool roguelike! It took me a while to get grip of it but it's really cool. Wish the game had some sounds :(
Quackqack
09. Oct 2020 · 13:10 UTC
Cool roguelike!

I like the leader board feature, will have to try to do that in a future jam, it is great being able to compare scores with others.
udo
09. Oct 2020 · 14:25 UTC
Little to say that hasn't already been said, I really liked the idea, and the vase mechanism felt really good. I liked how you increasingly need to work with the vases in order to survive, and the game does make you feel like a horrible (but flawed) monster. I'll bookmark this and play some more later :slight_smile:
matthewrobo
10. Oct 2020 · 04:18 UTC
I had no idea what the gush of wind did for forever but it is pretty cool
Jimbly
10. Oct 2020 · 15:37 UTC
One thing I didn't realize: I'd get healed/refilled mana between levels (I kept on making sure to be full at the end of a level)! Also, I thought that a gust of wind would make them unable to see me and therefore I could attack them at will, but it seems that is not the case, so (at least on earlier levels?) it's just worse than Exterminating unless you really get stuck in a bad place.

Really enjoyed this, felt like a rogue-like/stealth game at times. I managed to beat it, but not a great high score, might have to try again ^_^. Having a leaderboard is always great =).
🎤 Eldar
13. Oct 2020 · 03:44 UTC
@tjm @judgezedd @squimmy @jimbly @ursagames As some of the people who (I think?) won the game, may I offer you to play the new Hard version, where enemies shoot you on sight :)
Jimbly
13. Oct 2020 · 04:08 UTC
Ooh, fun! The explosion animation is really nice, I didn't realize it was a 7x7 grid, and went through walls, I had assumed it was unobstructed Manhattan distance 3 =).

I got a good score, but spent a while hiding in vases =).
🎤 Eldar
13. Oct 2020 · 04:17 UTC
@jimbly Something tells me that my earnest attempts to make players utilize the wind have failed again :sweat_smile: Thanks for playing!!
Jimbly
13. Oct 2020 · 04:48 UTC
Hahah! I actually kind of forgot about wind and just played "jump out from around the corners" and exterminate. Also, realizing I could exterminate through walls changed the game a bit too =). Since the enemy punches me if I'm close to them, and I can only punch them if I'm close, wind didn't help much since I could just jump out around a corner, it seemed.
JuanSabadoPeron
13. Oct 2020 · 11:56 UTC
Pretty fun ASCII art game. I didn't really use the wind gust a lot in the easy LD version but I haven't played the post-jam version.
Thooom
13. Oct 2020 · 21:12 UTC
Took me a minute to figure out how to play, but after that it was cool. Took me back to the early 90s or whenever. I enjoy when people walk off the beaten path and make something very different :)
Hermitao
13. Oct 2020 · 21:20 UTC
Incredible!! Love ASCII games and roguelikes! Very impressive that you made the game directly in Javascript, really cool. Awesome skill effects!! Thank you for so much for the experience.
squimmy
14. Oct 2020 · 01:42 UTC
@eldar Hard mode is interesting.

Gust of wind is still much weaker than exterminate, but there were a couple of times (mostly in the later levels where the tomb raiders do a lot of damage) that it was better to use gust of wind, just to be safe. It's more of an emergency escape button than something to use regularly, I suppose...

Either way, hard mode is a nice addition to the game!
Hakro
19. Oct 2020 · 18:11 UTC
Loved it. The story is great, and the gameplay is spot on.
Could use a bit of sounds, but everything else is great.
Awesome entry overall.
Cheers
notime4games
26. Oct 2020 · 18:31 UTC
Great stuff! Was super cool when I realized I could see their torches and that they could get snuffed out by the wind spell. (I noticed later this was explained in the help, but I had to change my keyboard layout to English or the ? button didn't work) Tried hard mode quickly and that seemed more fun actually!