I am your Dead by Akelliona

[raw]
made by Akelliona for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Epidemic. There are not enough meds for people. Young Doctor tired to lose his patients and he decided to seek for Black Magic to raise them from the dead. It’s not that simple. Now the Undeads live in a Limbo and they are bend to its will. That’s why it’s really hard to bring Undeads on the surface. Young Doctor need a huge source of energy. Luckily the energy could be found in Limbo…!

Help: Lead your Undead from a Limbo to the Portal, till you run out of Mana!

Unless you control your Undead quickly, it starts to act insane, doing what it wants. Such actions don’t cost Mana, but they are unpredictable. Think quick and control your Undead with Mana points! FUC7pODrkpo.jpg

Each order costs 2 Mana points. Move by mouse double click to your goal. Build the whole path (not for one cell only) to save enough mana. E = Loot

There are enemies. DESTROY them with the WARRIOR Undead. = SPACE button

There are fake traps. There are fake chests. FIND them with the MAGE Undead. = SPACE button

If your Mana is over, you lose.

In this game switching between classes is provided and necessary for successful walkthrough. Please try both mage and warrior. MAGE can’t fight, while defeating enemies is the only way to reach next level.

screen3.pngscreen2.png

Ratings

Overall 2179th 3.009⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Fun 2382th 2.548⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1339th 3.231⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2282th 2.933⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1029th 3.759⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1202th 3.067⭐ 54🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1762th 2.33⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1831th 3.01⭐ 52🧑‍⚖️
Given 55🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

JAsonsumm1
21. Apr 2020 · 08:57 UTC
Looks nice and I like the idea, but it was quite confusing
singleshoe
21. Apr 2020 · 09:00 UTC
Found it a bit confusing too, but I think I kinda got the hang of it after a while. I like the idea of having to use different characters and swapping between them.
shikamaru
21. Apr 2020 · 09:00 UTC
All graphics are too cute. Good job.
BenjaminTausen
21. Apr 2020 · 09:08 UTC
The idea behind this game is interesting, with all the lore and backstory. The sound design is cool. But this game can seem very confusing, especially the movement mechanic. So i think the main game loop could use a bit of polish. Keep it up :smile: :thumbsup:
Britt
21. Apr 2020 · 09:24 UTC
It took a couple tries to pick up but I got it in the end. One thing that was a bit frustrating was that when I moved onto an energy it didn't count immediately and I'd die. Nice idea for mechanics and story :)
FlorianDuf
21. Apr 2020 · 09:26 UTC
Good job !
I have the same opinion as @benjamintausen and @jasonsumm1.

The game is interesting but confusing.
I like graphism, ambiance and sound design. And the concept is original.
Mooshi
21. Apr 2020 · 09:37 UTC
Thanks for comments! We had a difficult idea for concept and spent a lot of time to cut mechanics for ludum. Then try to count balance correctly. That's why in different places it's confusing :D

For us it is first ludum. Ran out of time :smile:
RiccaStudio
21. Apr 2020 · 11:56 UTC
Geaphics are good, except from the circles and stars (movement), they are a little blurry/pixellated. I quite like puzzle games. So just keep programming and get faster!
karreg
21. Apr 2020 · 18:45 UTC
Graphics are pretty, but I couldn't understand the rules and mecanics.
I found that I can move my zombie, but the cost is too high, and the random movement are quite frustrating. I stoped at the second level I confess..
Mooshi
21. Apr 2020 · 18:50 UTC
@karreg Thanks for playing! You need to build the whole path and do not move just one cell than cost will be okay. Maybe its confusing a bit. We will update the rules!
Pierre CILLUFFO
21. Apr 2020 · 19:00 UTC
I like the graphics but I don't understand everything.
Mooshi
21. Apr 2020 · 19:03 UTC
@pierre-cilluffo
![1e32c541c06e4fde4f8302724f31ea80.jpg](///raw/d25/d2/z/31dc2.jpg)
Lukas
21. Apr 2020 · 19:12 UTC
First of all, great job. The sprites are adorable. However,I felt that the movement system is a bit confusing to be honest and could probably use some explanation. And I guess it is feature that the characters move on their own if you wait to long? I felt that it added to my confusion, especially since movement required mana as well. But I think the game shows some potential and would look stunning with a few more animations added to e.g. the character movements.
Mooshi
21. Apr 2020 · 19:21 UTC
@lukas thank you for playing and your comment! We haven't enough time to add tutorial and narrative (it was there lol :D). It should help.

> And I guess it is feature that the characters move on their own if you wait to long?

You are right! We wanted to present a concept that you control stupid units that have quite low attention and couldn't focus on thing too long.
RAFFE
21. Apr 2020 · 19:25 UTC
The game could've used a tutorial, was a bit confusing to start with and I didn't really manage to figure out how it worked. I would've loved to have completed the game since I love all kinds of magical/medieval thingies, and even the mage only lit my interest. So if you want to, you can do some explaining and I would gladly complete the whole game, since it seems really interesting.

The character sprites were funky and good looking, and so were the enemies. The background tile texture could've possibly used some upgrading, but it's obviously fine, as in the end of the days its a game jam :) But anyways it's a nice entry, hope to see you guys continue the game-making!
Mooshi
21. Apr 2020 · 19:45 UTC
@raffe Hello! Thank you so much for such a detailed feedback! In this game switching between classes is provided and necessary for successful walkthrough. Our team has already affirmed the mistake: we will add a “switch class” button.
Please try both mage and warrior.
MAGE can’t fight, while defeating enemies is the only way to reach next level.
Now an imbalance takes place: it’s possible to reach finish by WARRIOR, but impossible by MAGE. We keep working on that! If you have any other questions, please ask
ATTX
21. Apr 2020 · 21:59 UTC
After a few rounds of dying, I figured out ways in each level to minimize orders to make sure I didnt waste mana. Liked the art and ambient music. I liked the puzzliness of it. Mechanics need a little refinement. Overall, it was still entertaining! Good job!
Mooshi
22. Apr 2020 · 06:26 UTC
@attx Thank you for playing!
Cybernetic
22. Apr 2020 · 21:21 UTC
Exotic gameplay, I see red buttons and click them all before understand what I was doing. I replayed and had some smiles playing it. Just need an intro to learn how to play. :monkey: :robot:
Lenny Rudeberg
23. Apr 2020 · 06:32 UTC
I really love the artwork in this game, unfortunately I struggled to workout how to play the game properly
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 07:18 UTC
@cybernetic thank you!
Echo Team
23. Apr 2020 · 07:32 UTC
Couldn't get very far, but I love the idea of controlling an unpredictable AI.
Marco Le Van
23. Apr 2020 · 07:39 UTC
Interesting mechanics altough not so clear, but the sound part and the artwork is really good, Good job!
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 07:39 UTC
@echo-team we wanted to make it more complex, but... As usual the concept was huge but there was no time :D
LucasP8
23. Apr 2020 · 07:52 UTC
I loved the mechanics, I think it is really good, but I was a bit confused the first time, seems like mana consumes itself really fast. I really loved the art too. Good job!
Elendow
23. Apr 2020 · 08:03 UTC
At first I was trying to move the undead using the arrow keys. The visuals are cool, the gameplay has potential with a bit of polish.
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 08:16 UTC
@lucasp8 thanks for playing!
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 08:17 UTC
@marco-le-van we will polish this ^^
thank you for playing!
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 08:17 UTC
@elendow thanks for comment!
sndr
23. Apr 2020 · 08:19 UTC
The art style is really good, it has this polished feel to it.

The controls are a little bit confusing, and might have needed a bit of explanation for players to be able to follow along, maybe a tutorial with very little failure chance so that players can also get the small kick that they are doing it correctly before continuing. I do understand that there's little time in game jams and we usually leave tutorials out of it (I include myself in that group), so maybe tweaking difficulty curve could've made up for the lack of a tutorial? :thinking:

In terms of gameplay, swapping the heroes to solve the puzzles is an interesting mechanic that could be quite fruitful. This means that there will be some thinking required by the player, which crashes with the fact that the characters very quickly start to act insane. I do like this insanity thing as a mechanic, but it could maybe be nerfed a little bit to allow extra thinking time (specially on early levels, when the player is understanding the rules of the world).

Oh, and I need to mention that the ambience and the sounds work together very well too! It creates this feel of puzzle-tension that can have quite a lot of potential. Good entry, and good job guys!
Mooshi
23. Apr 2020 · 08:42 UTC
@sndr awww, you are so sweet! Thank you for so detailed comment! Yeah, the one huge problem in our game is tutorial part >< We are grateful to the people who took the time to figure out the control.


The concept was that player should use different characters to explore the levels. And his stupid undeads are constantly lose attention and get out of control. For example, there was an idea that zombies are always distracted by something shiny, if you think for a long time. That would make random a little more predictable. Plus there was also the idea that by committing random actions, the dead can die. And we wanted to add to game a narrative, where the narrator swears at the undead for their random actions. Adding all this, the game would have become much clearer.

Thank you very much for the game, we will try to improve the build!
Carlix
23. Apr 2020 · 08:46 UTC
Since the image for the Warrior showed E for LOOT and SPACE for DESTROY, and there were no enemies but two mana icons in the map, I pressed E in order to pick up that mana.

Then a "LOOT" word appeared, but then "DOWN" appeared and he did whatever he wanted even if that LOOT order used some of my mana.

When I clicked the mana in the map, and this route showed:
![undead.PNG](///raw/7be/d2/z/32b19.png)

But the undead will do whatever he wants instead of that route, so then what's the point on drawing the route? It feels like I have to wait for minutes and minutes until he randomly gets to the end.
I feel like I'm missing something, can you please spoonfeed me on how to play this game?

Several minutes later he got the mana but still didn't walk to the door:
![undead2.PNG](///raw/7be/d2/z/32b1b.png)
Alva Aura
23. Apr 2020 · 10:14 UTC
@carlix Hi there! Sorry for that, we haven’t figure out that kind of problems with moving... We should have had a “mouse double click to move” somewhere in tutorial.

Look, there is two types of orders to your Undead: MOVING and ACTIONS.
Move by mouse double click. It goes as 1 order.
You don’t have to press E to loot manaballs. The Undead picks them automatically by stepping on them. But next levels have CHESTS, and you have to walk to them and press E to LOOT. The same for enemies: press SPACE when the enemy is on the nearby cell.
Looting is also taken as 1 order. Destroying is also 1 order.

Every order takes 2 manapoints! On the first level you can only double click the Portal. It will go as 1 order, you will both pick mana and finish level only by 2 manapoints. That’s the point (:

Words appearing are only representing what your charachter is already doing. They aren’t hints or like that, it’s just information. We needed that for test runs, and then decided to let it be.

P.S. We are from Russia, I only learn to speak english, and “spoonfeed” is my favorite word since now :DD
Carlix
23. Apr 2020 · 10:36 UTC
I feel stupid for not realizing I was meant to double click :dizzy_face:

Yay, I manage to beat it. I found out that it was best playing each level with the mage to find out which ones were false traps and decide the best route, then playing it all with the warrior to beat the game.

I saw that after you die you can change to the other character, but it would be useful if you could change it when you wanted.
In my first run I manage to beat the game ignoring chests, and for the second time I looted them to check what was inside, and I lost because too many actions.

It was a cool game of optimizing actions, I can see it working great as a phone game.
And yeah "spoonfeeding" is a hilarious word, hahaha.

Thanks for your game and sorry for getting confused with the controls.
Alva Aura
24. Apr 2020 · 15:57 UTC
@carlix thank you for playing and feedback!! We definetely will add “swap hero”-button, that’s the very first thing we realized after getting very first players.
Emmatw
24. Apr 2020 · 20:16 UTC
Very nice looking game! The mechanics were interesting and took a few tries to get the hang of, some in-game instructions or perhaps a tiny tutorial level would have been helpful, but overall a really good game. Well done!
ForgeronStudio
24. Apr 2020 · 20:19 UTC
Good job on the graphics and the concept! It was cool how the randomness added a time element to an otherwise turn-based game.

Maybe, there could be some hints or puzzles to solve to know where the traps are? It feels a bit random currently, and I ended up just memorizing the levels
Mooshi
25. Apr 2020 · 07:23 UTC
@emmatw thank you for playing!
Mooshi
25. Apr 2020 · 07:23 UTC
@forgeronstudio you can check where the traps are with mage ability!
Emperor Eagle
26. Apr 2020 · 10:10 UTC
The game overall was good. Graphics and audio were nice (the moving sound reminds me of the Plants vs Zombies eating sound). We never really considered a story for our game, but games that do add a good mood, like this one! It took a while to understand the double-click and I still don't understand how to get past the hazards in the third level. It was reasonably fun to play, apart from some of my confusion. Overall, good game and yes, you should definitely keep going! It'll be a good game!
Adinimys
26. Apr 2020 · 10:14 UTC
It's a shame that you didn't have more time to polish and balance your game. It's beautiful with a promising concept but sadly in the current state it's a pain to play.

I don't like this random movement mechanic in its current state. There are times where it allows me to spare resources by just waiting for my character to go by itself to the place I want. Sadly it means that I have to wait and this is no fun. You never want a situation where the optimal option is the boring one. The best example for this is your first level. You could win by doing nothing thus sparing 2 mana. But then your players will have to wait a long time at the begging of each level. On the contrary if you order your creature to move near a trap and it then decide to jump inside by itself it's also a big loss of time.
I'm not sure if there is really a way to tweak the mechanic of random movement to make it fun sadly. Maybe you'll have a better idea than me but in the current state I feel like the best would be to cut it and make a simple puzzle game. Or go all in with both characters present at the same time and having the one not controlled move randomly. But then you'll have to make traps less punishing otherwise it would get annoying.

Also in terms of controls. A lot of game have move order on the right click and it's the first thing I tried. It might be good to playtest with other players but I think that switching for right click might be the good call.

All in all it's an interesting concept with beautiful character designs. Well done !
CG_Fred
26. Apr 2020 · 10:24 UTC
Nice graphics and sound but confusing as hell to play. I think that the main mechanic needs re-working as it's currently more confusing than fun.
emre tahtali
26. Apr 2020 · 10:37 UTC
really nice graphics, the gameplay was a bit confusing but i am sure it would be so much better if had more time :D
fatPenguin
26. Apr 2020 · 21:03 UTC
Hi that game looked really sweet and I liked the premise (Puzzle Game that looks like a dungeon crawler) however I was really confused at first, but I understand that gamejam games are never finished ^^
Good job on making this game :) You should work on it to make the most out of it, as others stated this is very promising!
krakadushka
30. Apr 2020 · 11:27 UTC
Классная концепция, я впечатлен! Мне нравится нарратив, который вам удалось создать в рамках темы конкурса, правда, весь сюжет был представлен на странице игры, а хотелось бы, чтобы и в игре были его отголоски)) Что касается геймплея, то некоторые вещи были весьма плохо понятны, как, например, смена персонажа или обыск. Мне кажется, что было бы классно, если бы механики вводились постепенно - это одновременно и обучение, и погружение в игру. Насчет графики могу сказать, что по скриншотам она потрясающая, но эти сжатые маркеры перемещения производят негативное впечатление. Впрочем, не катастрофично и все равно могу сказать, что вы проделали большую работу, молодцы! P.S. Мой проект тоже про некроманта, и мне бы очень хотелось получить фидбек от вас =)
Mooshi
02. May 2020 · 10:11 UTC
@krakadushka спасибо за фидбэк! Мы сейчас полишим билд, чтобы он выглядел приличнее и был похож на рабочий прототип х) Нарратив просто не успели впилить, так как концепт оказался сложноватым, и мы большую часть времени потратили на кор. Поиграем! Спасибо!