LudumData

Deep in the Graveyard by AndyKSWong

[raw]
made by AndyKSWong for Ludum Dare 48 (COMPO)

Ludum Dare 48 Compo Entry. A procedurally generated endless roguelite built in less than 24 hours.

ld48p.gif reaper.gif

Intro

You are deep in a zombie infested graveyard. How deep can you go before getting swarmed by monsters? Can you survive from the attacks of the mighty Reaper?

Instructions: - W/A/S/D or arrow key or click to move. Bump into an enemy to kill it - The deeper you go, the more and harder the monsters will be! - Move forward as fast as possible! Harder monsters will spawn more often as time goes by! - Each type of monster has a specific move pattern: - Zombie: moves 1 square horizontally or vertically per turn, takes a turn to turn around - Specter: moves diagonally - Bull: moves horizontally or vertically. Can kill other monsters - Reaper: moves horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Can kill other monsters

Tools

Written in Typescript. three.js for 3D rendering. All 3D models are procedurally generated using three.js. Zughy 32 palette. Sound effects generated by jsfxr. Background music generated by Wolfram Tones. Lobster Two font from Google Fonts.

Link https://github.com/andykswong/ld48
Link https://andykswong.itch.io/ld48
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/deep-in-the-graveyard

Ratings

Overall 319th 3.615⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Fun 273th 3.604⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 298th 3.49⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Theme 706th 3.094⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 267th 3.719⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Audio 329th 3.354⭐ 50🧑‍⚖️
Humor 357th 2.69⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 290th 3.511⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Given 47🗳️ 76🗨️

Feedback

RuslanCH
26. Apr 2021 · 07:44 UTC
Cool game! i like it
Martynas
26. Apr 2021 · 07:48 UTC
Interesting mechanics, I wish I couldn't accidently waste my turn on an obstacle
🎤 AndyKSWong
26. Apr 2021 · 18:02 UTC
Thank you! At first, I thought you meant you wanted to be able to bump into obstacles, because right now you can't. But I just found out that due to how my code is written, you can click on the character to skip a turn! I can see that can be useful for better positioning, and would consider it as a feature now!
Hilvon
26. Apr 2021 · 19:37 UTC
A nice game. Really interesting take on tactical combat.

Took me a couple lives to figure out how Spectres work. ((Never got to any other enemy types past zombies and spectres)).

The game rules are surprisingly fair, and every time I got killed I see the move I should've made to suvive a bit longer. Well done.

The Music is... serviceable.

The models are fine and fitting their function as basically chess pieces.
Steven C
26. Apr 2021 · 21:47 UTC
Really cool idea and very well executed!
super difficult though, my best was 16 :sweat_smile:
🎤 AndyKSWong
26. Apr 2021 · 21:52 UTC
@hilvon @steven-c Glad you like the game! I spent most of my time on zombie and specter mechanics - zombie swarms and specter catching you off guard. I added bulls and reapers at the very last hour, and they only appear after 60m and 120m. I should have made them appear sooner!
Steven C
26. Apr 2021 · 22:01 UTC
@andykswong Wow, 120m! How do you get that far? My best now was 18 or something :sweat_smile:
And I really thought things through :sweat_smile:

Was the enemy-movement concept an original idea, or based on an existing game? (except chess ofcourse)
🎤 AndyKSWong
26. Apr 2021 · 22:55 UTC
@steven-c Yes, it's quite hard! Not counting the times I cheated, I was only able to get to 120m once :sweat_smile: I keep staying behind obstacles to avoid getting instakilled by specters and bulls as they spawn.

This is my original idea. At first, I just copied from chess rules, using pawn movement for zombies, and king movement for player. Somehow I didn't like it, so here's current game mechanics after a few rounds of iterations and playtesting!
hutchings90
26. Apr 2021 · 23:49 UTC
Very good! It took me a second to develop a strategy, but then I figured it out. I still had to avoid making mistakes, though
ScalphaMission
27. Apr 2021 · 03:28 UTC
I like the look of the perspective models
ZwodahS
27. Apr 2021 · 03:55 UTC
Nice ! I played quite a few roguelike and I like the chess mechanic here. It fit quite nicely in it.
I didn't expect that making zombie turn takes a turn can increase the depth so much.

Thanks for the game !
🎤 AndyKSWong
27. Apr 2021 · 05:31 UTC
@hutchings90 @scalphamission Thank you for playing my game! Good to hear that you like it.

@zwodahs Thank you! I haven't played many roguelikes, but I love board games. I'm very satisfied by the zombie mechanics as well.
Phlip45
27. Apr 2021 · 05:41 UTC
I really like the chess aspect of this. It reminds of another old roguelike that pretty much has you leveling up as different chess pieces and all the enemies are chess pieces as well. I think with a little tutorial when each enemy shows up and a couple power ups this would be a great mobile game. Great job!
hungryroy
27. Apr 2021 · 05:42 UTC
Nice and straightforward tactical battle thingy! I couldn't get very far though, I always get surrounded! Nice and appropriate BGM
Parsafari
27. Apr 2021 · 05:59 UTC
Very interesting mechanic! I love the art style! shadows would make the game better tho. Good job!
Steve Johnstone
27. Apr 2021 · 08:09 UTC
Ah, I think I'm a bit too dumb for this game. I'm struggling to get past the specters, and even the zombies kill me most of the time. The music is ok but I wish there was some way to disable it after a while. I like the minimalist style and it's a nice concept using chess moves. Also great that this was made in three.js! Kudos!
Lorwon
27. Apr 2021 · 08:17 UTC
I love the game mechanics ! The arts are good too :). It's a really good game good job
DoomMustard
27. Apr 2021 · 08:18 UTC
I like how simple the game is and easy to wrap my head around, I could see grinding out to see who could get the best score
fargred
27. Apr 2021 · 08:24 UTC
Very cool concept! Reminds me a bit of Crypt of the Necrodancer. Its definitely not easy, but I felt compelled to try again and again. The graphics also fit this nicely!
xmatos
27. Apr 2021 · 08:31 UTC
Got to 31, I'll try again later.
Feels nice and fair.
Good job, good luck!
iovorobiev
27. Apr 2021 · 09:03 UTC
The game looks polished and the visuals are beatiful. Great job adding different enemy types, it is getting more and more challenging over time.

The controls are intuitive, so almost no tutorial is needed for the game, which is an advantage of course.

I think the fact we go up right in the isometric space didn't create a feeling of going deep into the graveyard, rather I felt like I am escaping it for some reason. I think rotating the direction would benefit the theme more: so if the player goes down and right it would feel like the player goes deeper and deeper into something.

I love the game, think it is worth to continue working on it and bring it on mobile!
LDJam user 236545
27. Apr 2021 · 14:44 UTC
Pretty fun entry! I think a way to telegraph the enemy's movement patterns would have been helpful. I died to the spectres several times because they were just teleporting around the screen, and I didn't know where they'd end up next.

I met a bull at ~68 m and died.

The art was clean and effective, and I love how the gameplay is so intuitive that you can just jump in and start playing. Good work!
Pizzasgood
27. Apr 2021 · 16:46 UTC
This is pretty good. After... a lot of attempts, I even made it to the reaper spawn zone and killed one of them. I'm pretty sure I cheated though. I found that if I make an attack and then immediately move to either side, I can do both actions in one turn. That was super useful for dealing with pairs of opposite-color specters teaming up against me -- I could kill the one directly in front of me who was threatening my sides, then jump to the side to dodge the attack from the one who'd been diagonal to me. It's a pretty satisfying maneuver, so if you turn this into a full game I'd recommend making that technique an official ability that you can unlock as you level up.
LDJam user 240168
27. Apr 2021 · 18:28 UTC
A very cool game! Would be nice to have the terrain filled with more detail, and maybe highlight available moves for the player. Loved the tactical aspect, simple but really fun, great job!
🎤 AndyKSWong
27. Apr 2021 · 19:38 UTC
Thank you everyone for playing my game :slight_smile: Really glad that some of you were able to meet the bulls and reapers!

@iovorobiev Yes, I plan to at least do a post-jam version of the game! The game actually playable on mobile right now (except maybe the text is a bit small), it feels surprisingly good to me, even though I have never tested it on mobile during the jam!

@pizzasgood Ah, you've found the secret move! I knew there's a timing issue that the player can continue to move during the attack animation, but I didn't fix it. Looks like I should make it an official feature in future :slight_smile:

@andrewkennedy @lisyarus Yes, highlighting available moves for player and enemies was very top on my TODO list. Basically expect for zombie and player, other pieces follow chess rules: specter is bishop, bull is rook and reaper is queen. Unfortunately I started the jam late and didn't have the time to add the highlighting.
alpharock6
27. Apr 2021 · 19:52 UTC
Nice entry! Reminds me a lot of Crypt of the Necrodancer, but that's one of the only turn-based Rouge-likes I've actually played a fair bit of haha.
Scrawach
27. Apr 2021 · 20:43 UTC
This game is very hard for me, i think, ahah :D But if you use cunning and kill all the zombies, and only then move forward, then something turns out. Nice game!
ehtd
28. Apr 2021 · 00:00 UTC
Cool graphics, but would have liked more ways of interacting with the game.
bubbadubc
28. Apr 2021 · 01:19 UTC
I only didn't like the limitation on how fast I could press the button. Otherwise, super fun.
no complaints
John llyod Apolo
28. Apr 2021 · 01:21 UTC
The game is really fun I will play more later :D
Okamit
28. Apr 2021 · 08:55 UTC
Since you already aknowledged that highlighting of moves would be nice, I just want to say keep up the good work!
Very neat game!
deadmanjw
28. Apr 2021 · 11:23 UTC
Great game, I really like strategy games and with a few more enemies and actions this would be a great strategy game that I would definitely play this game more.
LungTakumi
28. Apr 2021 · 13:29 UTC
Interesting idea! It's fun to play. I'm curious that how the 3d models are generated?
vilcans
28. Apr 2021 · 18:22 UTC
This is a game I wanted to play more than once! Good job! I never figured out how the spectres moved. And I only reached the bulls the first time I played, and died immediately, so they could've been better introduced. But otherwise very good mechanics.
sdata
28. Apr 2021 · 18:57 UTC
Great fun! I called it quits after my first bull at 52meters but had a good time learning the mechanics of the enemies before that. I will say there were a few too many zombies to deal with and at times their layout seemed as if I didn't have a change, that and two different spectres on different tiles (light and dark). I really enjoyed the visual look of the lego-like characters too!
Majadroid
29. Apr 2021 · 10:34 UTC
I like the game mechanics. Cool game with nice presentation. Could be a bit easyer at the beginning.
James Kusardi
29. Apr 2021 · 17:11 UTC
really really impressed! i loved the strategizing that came with the simplicity of the game, although it seems like the zombies move randomly which can sometimes screw over the randomizing. i do like how fast-paced it is, and like the whole package
VainCil
29. Apr 2021 · 19:42 UTC
Great idea and mechanics, I love this kind of turn-based game! It would have been really awesome with a slightly more graveyard-ish feel and lighting.
monkeybit29
02. May 2021 · 01:13 UTC
I loved this one! it was sort of like a chess adventure, great job!
DragonsBeardGames
02. May 2021 · 17:04 UTC
Very fun game, I only got to like 30m though, difficulty might spike too early.
🎤 AndyKSWong
03. May 2021 · 04:34 UTC
Thank you everyone. Great to know that most of you find the game challenging, as my intention was to create the harsh roguelike feel with a zombies horde :smiley: But the difficulty can definitely be tuned down at the beginning.

@lungtakumi all models are created in code using primitives only (box/cylinders/cones) to give a chess piece feel. Check out my (poorly written) source code.

@vilcans @sdata agreed the specter/bull/reaper should be tuned a bit. Right now, some luck + staying around obstacles are necessary to survive. I died most from double/triple specters, followed by instant death from bulls/reaper on an open space.

@james-kusardi actually zombies always move deterministically in a way to shorten the distance to you. But when they are blocking each other, then there will be a bit randomness as their movement order is not fixed.