Clerical Error by PhantomBadger

made by PhantomBadger for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

You play as a cleric trying to keep your dumb party of adventures alive! They're always getting themselves into trouble and being hit by fireballs.

They would never survive without your strategic insight or god-given powers of healing...

Select your party members then use A and D to move them back and forth, click on the icon next to their health to change their behaviour. When hit their health will start to decrease, be sure not to let it fall to zero!

Use your three spells, Heal, Group Heal, and Revive, to keep your party alive whilst they attack the Dragon!

Clerical<em>Error</em>Screenshot_1.png

Controls - Click a Party Member to select them - A and D allow you to move them between neighbouring cells - Click the 'Sword' or 'Shield' icons next to the Health bar to swap between attacking and defending - Your party members constantly attack the dragon whilst in attacking mode - Click one of the three spell buttons and then select a target to use them on - Keep an eye on your Mana Bar!

Tips - Whilst defending, your Units take less damage, don't attack, and can't move through their teammates, use it to buy yourself some time whilst your Mana recharges!

Youtube	https://phantombadger.itch.io/clerical-error
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/clerical-error

Ratings

Given

11🗳️

7🗨️

Feedback

DeathBySnail

21. Apr 2020 · 11:50 UTC

Neat aesthetic, I killed the dragon! Couldn't quite figure out what the different behaviours meant. I think you could lean into the movement a bit more, make the projectiles a tad slower so that they are more dodgable but make them have more of an effect.

🎤 PhantomBadger

21. Apr 2020 · 12:31 UTC

@deathbysnail
Whilst Defending your units:
- Take about half damage
- Don't attack continuously
- Can't move through teammates

It's meant to act as a way to let you buy time when your mana is low, but I agree it isn't telegraphed effectively, I've amended the description of the game to make this clearer for future players :)

We'd like to have put in much more attack variety, including some that would make certain cells impossible to traverse, or cause damage over time, so you'd really have to focus on 'putting out the fires' so to speak. Much more iteration time would help with striking that balance between dodging and health/mana management.

Thanks for your feedback!

Le Slo

21. Apr 2020 · 14:26 UTC

The idea of avoiding the fireballs with different characters is cool, the game plays well, but it is pretty easy? I won twice in a row. I couldn't figure out what the last spell did, and think that the second spell was very powerful once you have more than one party member not maxed. I think that there is potential to the attack patterns, more interactions with the party member (where they different in any way?). Maybe it makes sense to explore this idea further, simple but compelling. Good job!

gamepopper

21. Apr 2020 · 19:00 UTC

There is a lot of multitasking in this game. Trying to make sure one of the party members didn't get hit with fireballs is hard enough, but three?!

I would have liked a title screen or an in-game description of the controls, it took me a while to adjust after being immediately thrown into the game itself.

Torh

22. Apr 2020 · 06:43 UTC

I'm a youtuber, your game is very nice! I want to make a video with the best games of LDJam46. Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOdTsWE7iIk .
Can I find your game also on indiexpo website? The channel is linked with them.

Gallahron

23. Apr 2020 · 19:51 UTC

Nice idea if a bit short. I was kind of confused because I thought that blue fireballs only targeted the blue player but other than that it was really fun

Quarter Up Studios

23. Apr 2020 · 20:04 UTC

Nice, short game with good visuals and on-theme. I found that I could kind of ignore a lot of the mechanics if I just focused on moving the party around and occasionally healing, but it's got potential with some tuning. Appreciate being able to finish in one quick session.

Merpui

23. Apr 2020 · 20:06 UTC

Great game! It's short, but fun to play. And I love the aesthetic, the dragon looks cool and the audio is nice! :)

Brain in a Bowl

23. Apr 2020 · 20:08 UTC

A fun concept with a charming aesthetic. Lots of room for expansion in a later version too, you could add a lot of variety with different spells and attack patterns. Maybe even mix up the party with some wizards and rogues.

bloodyaugust

30. Apr 2020 · 01:46 UTC

Great entry! I feel like your concept and mechanics were well executed, but it defintely felt like it needed more content and juice to really push it over the edge into amazing territory. I think there's also some room for improvement in how the UI communicates with the player: I couldn't really tell when my spells were off cooldown, or if I had actually successfully cast a mass heal. The music was kind of distracting to the experience, but the SFX were nice and fit the aesthetic. I hope you follow on with this project and add more enemies, attacks, and party member types! :heart: