Battle Signals: Echoes of the Very Big Horn by evgenii-petrov

[raw]
made by evgenii-petrov for Ludum Dare 59 (JAM)

Small tactical fantasy battle simulator about patience, timing, and patient timing.

As a respected general, your army stands in an awkward standoff, waiting for your command. Position your troops, reconsider your life choices, and, if there's still time, give the signal.


Use mouse or touch to play.
Click a troop button on the left, then click on the battlefield to deploy it.


Made solo in 72 hours for Ludum Dare 59

Video Project 11 (1).gifs1.pngs2.pngs3.png

Ratings

Overall 382th 3.615⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 428th 3.365⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 491th 3.288⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 668th 3.173⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 351th 3.889⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 172th 3.568⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Mood 501th 3.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 16🗨️

Feedback

Lizz
Apr 21st · 01:08 UTC
First game I played! 'When I feel ready, give the signal'- But they are already coming for me :laughing: I like the style of art, the colours fit well together. Giving the signal to fight, defend and being too late to give the signal gave it a fun twist. Strategy could become more important if there was a cost to place the guys and not just press as many as you can of all whenever you can. The sound was nice and clear, befitting the game itself.
Human Writes Code
Apr 21st · 10:33 UTC
Great game! Really cool art style it reminds me of the card game Munchkin. I have to admit, I took me a while before I realized that you weren't supposed to drag the units onto the field, you had to click then click. Once I got my head around that, I didn't die (as much). Really good job and a cool take on the theme.
VerttiXPertti
Apr 21st · 10:34 UTC
Interesting system with the spawning troops and deciding when to have them fight, never seen similar. Cute graphics and chill gameplay, I liked this!
Jadener
Apr 21st · 10:35 UTC
A pretty fun twist that seemed like it just handwaved the theme at first but it actually worked pretty well as an important mechanic. Also loved the art style and unit variety ^^
alexhonor
Apr 21st · 10:41 UTC
Art and style are cool but it took quite some time for me to understand the gameplay. Agree with the one of the comments above, might suggest adding some tutorial in the beginning of the game on how to play it. But overall - super fun
MicleFirst
Apr 21st · 11:32 UTC
Good job.
As mentioned above, there are issues with understanding how to deploy troops, and I agree with that. I didn’t expect it to be a reaction-speed game rather than a strategy one. Still, the visuals really smooth things out and improve the overall impression
LDJam user 423838
Apr 21st · 13:46 UTC
love the art style and how the colors work together, the mechanic of choosing when to signal your units to fight is a really unique twist and super fun
Eugenik
Apr 21st · 14:04 UTC
I really liked the atmosphere of the whole standoff—it gives the experience a unique sense of building tension. The careful consideration of when and how to deploy your troops makes the final signal feel genuinely impactful. Great job bringing this unique tactical moment to life!
Nozomu57
Apr 21st · 17:49 UTC
Not enough! Was very fun and then it ended...
Loved all the silly animations and general aestetic! Also the need to decide tactics on the fly works very good.
wdebowicz
Apr 21st · 21:04 UTC
I found rush attacks quite effective! nice idea and cute art.
filgreen3
Apr 22nd · 09:39 UTC
Nice! Great idea. Remind me of flash games where you have to send troops to lines to attack/counter enemy moves. I would assume drag‑and‑drop movement, but I still figured it out. Also maybe it would be worth making battles a little easier to allow players to learn the mechanics a bit before giving challenges. Great art, btw, looks very nice!
zidan-banan
Apr 23rd · 13:30 UTC
I've played through it a few times, but I don't really understand how to do it, to be honest.

At first, they just kept piling on me while I was watching. Then I started defending (I didn't notice much of a difference between defending and countering), and much later, I noticed you can attack. But it's not entirely clear when it's best to do that. Is there a timer specifically?

So, I somehow came to the conclusion that you just need to spam like crazy, and you can do it either through attack or defense, the main thing is to be quick. And you can basically use the starting guys + a knight.

Also, sometimes the click doesn't seem to go across the board, or it just seems that way. I think the drag drop would be more visual here.

Overall, the game has a fun vibe and nice graphics with funny characters.
The Big Lost
Apr 23rd · 14:32 UTC
Wacky hybrid between strategy (troop selection) and dexterity (frantically placing them so you can attack 😅). Like other commenters, I found attacking first was always preferable though.

The presentation is excellent! I loved the sprinkled-in humor and the charming illustrations. Some animations would’ve been nice, but for a one-man submission, I'm impressed by what you have accomplished here.
Custodi
Apr 24th · 00:01 UTC
Last fight is so intense, had to click all over the field to win)
FakeTrap
Apr 24th · 04:56 UTC
The game's art style is fun. But the gameplay is a bit confusing. Basically, you just have to deploy all your units as quickly as possible, and there's no real challenge to that. There are some elements of squad building, but it doesn't have much impact on the battle. Still, the game is enjoyable.
GARYglhf
Apr 27th · 12:15 UTC
Классная игра, вначале не смог разобраться, думал нужно кликать на иконки или переносить, потом пару партий проиграл потому что думал что ни сами начнут сражаться. Немного посидел разобрался и стало повеселей.
BorodaOlen
Apr 29th · 20:14 UTC
Получилось хорошо, приятная рисовка, когда понимаешь что нужно поставить как можно больше юнитов, становится легко побеждать)
LDJam user 377546
May 07th · 14:52 UTC
* I feel like the hitbox on the placed soldiers is a bit big, because I felt like I clicked on an empty space but nothing happened a couple of times.
* There could be more feedback if I click on a soldier icon that is not ready yet, same for when I successfully select one.
* Would love some keyboard shortcuts.
* The placing of units with cooldowns at the start feels novel, so big points for innovation there 👍 I feel like a lot could be done with that, especially in a multiplayer context, where two players get an amount of time to build their setup.



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