Arkham Madness by Vertigon

[raw]
made by Vertigon for LD34 (COMPO)
UPDATE: I managed to get Unity to spit out a WebGL build, so Chrome users will be less unhappy.

THE SETUP:
YOU are a cultist dedicated to bringing the old ones back into the world. Control your dark minions to move along leylines throughout the Seattle metro area. Each move will cast a ritual at a given node, and if you return to a ritual site, you will GROW its effect, drawing ever-greater magical energies.

When you completely surround a city with corrupting rituals, an elder god will be summoned, with a strength relative to the strongest adjacent ritual. The greater the strength of the summon, the larger percentage of the population will be taken, adding to a higher score, so take the time to build your energies before completing a circle.

Beware however! A meddling group of Investigators are casting their own protective magic that will undo what you have wrought. They are dangerous, and will kill one of your members every time you happen to cross paths.

Complete the corruption of all the cities and the Great One will be pleased. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

THE DETAILS:
I was kicking around this mechanic in my head but it took a lot of rework to make a mechanic that felt well. That said, there's a lot of feedback as to how powerful your rituals are and how many cities remain that I didn't have time for. Also, the enemy is pretty uninteresting to compete with... it's definitely something I would have enhanced if I could.

I set up all the infrastructure to create more cities, but unfortunately didn't have time to set them all up. I feel that there is a twisted appeal to wreaking havoc on your hometown or a familiar place.

Created using Unity 5.3. The Web version uses Unity's WebGL, which loads a little slow on Chrome. The Windows version is a simple standalone ZIP.

Ratings

Coolness 37% 1817
Overall 3.25 463
Audio 2.78 416
Fun 3.21 441
Graphics 3.08 480
Humor 2.96 220
Innovation 3.38 342
Mood 3.50 161
Theme 3.25 805

Feedback

nihilaleph
14. Dec 2015 路 04:51 UTC
Pro:
+ Liked the backgammon-ish mechanics
+ Interesting usage of theme xp
+ Nice graphics
Con:
- Lack of instruction, I knew what I had to do, but I didn't understand what was going on really
- AI doesn't seem very smart
Obs:
o Maybe a way to kill adventurers?
o Didn't see the point of the adventurers pentagrams...

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Great job!
Jod
14. Dec 2015 路 14:23 UTC
Loved the setting, Ia Ia Ia Cthulhu F'thagn!

The gameplay worked, nothing was bugged. Animation was smooth, lovely little glowy pentagrams and elder signs.

I was missing an end state. At one point I was sure I had all the cities eaten by Cthulhu's glorious tentacles, but the game kept going. I would've loved to see a message from Cthulhu that he was proud. :)
馃帳 Vertigon
14. Dec 2015 路 17:06 UTC
What, no end state? I frantically got one in during hour 46, but it should be there! Let me check. :-/
馃帳 Vertigon
14. Dec 2015 路 17:19 UTC
Well, I tried both the Web and the standalone and the win state is there, it should work properly. There are a few cities that are in pretty small areas so you might have missed one. City feedback and a countdown to the completion state are two bits of feedback that I wish I had time for.
madjackmcmad
14. Dec 2015 路 19:38 UTC
Clever idea! Took me a second to realize that you could stack up the soul count by revisiting junctions. Worth playing a second time to top high score.
DustyStylus
15. Dec 2015 路 16:34 UTC
Very cool concept! Love me some Lovecraftian gaming. Didn't take too long to get the hang of it. Would be good to have adventurers lose members when they pass into fully controlled sections from monsters.
Reggianito
15. Dec 2015 路 17:03 UTC
Ia! Ia!
After figuring it out, it was a short but sweet game.
goffmog
15. Dec 2015 路 18:41 UTC
Nice use of the theme and nice to see an "Arkham" game actually related to Arkham and not Batman :) The AI was pretty easy to deal with, would be interesting/harder if maybe your cultists were split up into multiple small teams - an option to play as the investigators would also add replayability. Overall, very fun to play :)
Monochrome Bears
16. Dec 2015 路 16:11 UTC
So unholy! Much fhtagn! Wow!
renegadeninjanl
16. Dec 2015 路 16:25 UTC
I liked the gameplay mechanic. I wasn't sure on how to win the game. I controlled every node except for one, but then the investigators moved onto my position and killed me. Would be nice for me to do the same back to the investigators. But overall, the game was enjoyable. Nice work.
AzureAspect
16. Dec 2015 路 16:25 UTC
Looks like the roles were reversed from the arkham horror boardgame, time to summon the ancients!
The game has lot of potential, especially if theres lot of players involved.
Nice animations and mood :)
Drtizzle
16. Dec 2015 路 16:26 UTC
Very cool! The sound and sprites are pretty nice. The downside is that the AI is not too clever
Well done!
scriptorum
16. Dec 2015 路 16:39 UTC
I like what you've done with the game play. The art and fx were nice and clean, and I loved the heartbeat.

I was about to say the background map was against the compo rules because you didn't make it, however the more I think about it, the more I think Google Maps classifies as a "content generator." So never mind. :)
publicidadeba
16. Dec 2015 路 21:12 UTC
I always wanted to feel like I belonged in a satanic cult. Thank you.
ddoomus
18. Dec 2015 路 04:33 UTC
Nice game. AI was a bit lacking.
Gyfis
18. Dec 2015 路 21:10 UTC
Oh this is really great. I love the graphics. Moreover, there's a non-trivial AI. Really nice job. Gonna play it again soon.