LudumData

Orpheus by Ametentia

[raw]
made by Ametentia for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

showcase.png

Relive the ancient fable of Orpheus rescuing his beloved Eurydice from the depths Hades, beat by beat! Delve through layers of Hades battling gorgons, cyclops, hydras and more with your trusty lyre.

showcase.png

The gameplay is akin to 2D roguelike dungeon crawlers with combat being carried out in a call-response minigame. The visuals are styled after old gameboy titles with 8-bit graphics (for the most part) and a restrictive colour palette.

Controls - WASD to move on keyboard. Q to interact. - Analog or D-Pad to move on controller. X or Square to interact. - When in battle, match the notes with the direction on the notes - Pressing Alt+F will toggle the game in and out of fullscreen

Windows may require the VC++ redistributables to be installed. Which can be found here.

As of Version 1.1 the Linux version of this game is now built on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS against SDL 2.0.10. Newer versions of SDL2 will work automatically through their dynamic api system.

Version 1.1: - Fixed issue with bosses not being bosses - Fixed issue with enemies causing double battles one after another - Re-built Linux version on Ubuntu 20.04 for (hopefully) a more stable glibc version (Thanks @raptor851!)

Developers - James Bulman - Matt Threlfall | Twitch - Declan Grant

Artwork - Cameron Thornton | Twitch

Music - Alex Goldsack!

GitHub https://github.com/Ametentia/LD48
Windows https://mega.nz/file/OgRnVIZC#5qGR7JLKX_1ZVveVsUujt0eEoj5ZwdQpLLJCHptcKKg
Linux https://mega.nz/file/W1JAGT7a#3N-Gpao8pn4M22BsTnouPePVqBP34FR6CAEpCnWYJtk
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/orpheus

Ratings

Overall 1217th 3.342⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1714th 2.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 368th 3.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1533th 3.079⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 555th 3.974⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 393th 3.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 678th 2.971⭐ 19🧑‍⚖️
Mood 871th 3.526⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 31🗳️ 12🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 120213
28. Apr 2021 · 15:00 UTC
Just FYI as well, you built against GLIBC_2.33 which isn't marked stable in pretty much any distro yet, even on gentoo I had to manually unmask that package as the latest stable glibc is 2.32. This will probably kill most distros from being able to play the game. Even after verifying I had all the newer versions of libraries you used I still can't launch though, on start it just does this.

Hello, Linux!
[Error][Linux] :: Failed to initialise
Bulmanator
28. Apr 2021 · 18:15 UTC
@raptor851 Thank you for pointing this out. I have re-built the game on an Ubuntu 20.04 LTS VM to provide a (hopefully) more stable glibc and SDL2 version. I have also changed it so audio failing to initialise is no longer a failure case, the game will just be silent.
tsuk13
28. Apr 2021 · 20:02 UTC
I really like the premise of this and the art is cool and very reminiscent of GB days. I had a bit of trouble with the timing as far as telling when my measure starts. I think maybe some bars on the quarter notes that flash or some thing just to help keep the rhythm apparent. That could just be me though. But really amazing work, very cool!
LDJam user 184711
28. Apr 2021 · 20:04 UTC
I really like the graphics overall! Also sounds are nice.
However, I would have needed an easy mode; for me the battles where too hard. I wasn't able to win any battle. :-D Maybe I should "git gud". An easy mode, where you see when you have to press would be great.
Tomtomgome
28. Apr 2021 · 20:06 UTC
I AM SOOOO GLAD To find a good old hand coded game :D I wish we could have done the same, maybe some day...
I weren't able to play with my keyboard for some reason, but I tried with the joystick and it worked ! The game is hardcore though so I didn't even manage to kill one enemy... Or maybe I am missing something :thinking: Anyway, good job :thumbsup: ( Edit : I like... I mean... LOVE puns that write themselves haha)
Fletch
28. Apr 2021 · 20:08 UTC
@tsuk13 Hey thanks for playing! We were going to add a early/late sign so you can adjust your rhythm mid bar but we really came down to the wire getting it out in it's current state :smile: Thank you so much for playing
Copito
28. Apr 2021 · 20:09 UTC
sweet another game written in C++! this is pretty cool but i found the musical battle with the hydra thing too difficult and died
Fletch
28. Apr 2021 · 20:11 UTC
@spyturtle Hey thanks for playing! The enemy encounter code was made to randomly generate the rhythms really late on where we realised we didn't enough time to hand craft them, they can come out *really* hard which is sadly just due to the deadline, with more time I'd have loved to try fine tune it more. Thanks on the graphics we're really really happy with how this LD entry looked!
Fletch
28. Apr 2021 · 20:17 UTC
@tomtomgome We're super happy the thing even runs on other people's pcs! Me and @dec don't really work in c++ at all so it was really interesting and a massive trial by fire :laughing: Sorry on the difficulty I didn't get much time to balance the encounters so they can vary from literally no notes showing up to impossibly hard. Thanks for playing!
Fletch
28. Apr 2021 · 20:20 UTC
@copito I'm glad it ran for you! We had some issues with our builds but it seems like we're working a bit better now! I've said it around in the other comments but it does seem we've landed on the side of being too hard, you're not alone! I haven't actually even beaten it yet...
Deruitda
29. Apr 2021 · 02:11 UTC
Impressive way to build a game. The game itself is very challenging and probably needs a tutorial of some kind, but the tech, art, and music are all awesome!
2bitcrook
29. Apr 2021 · 05:31 UTC
Love the 2bit/Gameboy pixel art as its something very near and dear to my heart and I also love the fact it's a rhythm game.

Like others said I think adding a visual marker for when the notes should be played/like in ocarina of time when you first learn a song would make for a more smoother experience.

I'm really intrigued that you went with a roguelike basis because to be honest I could see this as a short JRPG style game too or even like zelda with random battles.

But either way really cool concept, very novel and I hope you consider working more on it after the jam or use the idea for a future release.

Great job on the game and to your team!
theheheo
29. Apr 2021 · 19:24 UTC
Really cool concept! That combat minigame felt really awesome when you managed to time the notes correctly. Really loved the art aswell. The only qritique I can think of right now is that the combat felt really difficult, it felt awesome when I managed to get the correct timing and notes, but it rarely happened for me. But overall a really nice game, felt really polished:D
LDJam user 120213
29. Apr 2021 · 23:26 UTC
I was still running int a crash bug so I did some debugging and found the source, looks like it was treating a warning that my system didn't support joystick haptic feedback as an error, I was able to work around it quickly by changing line 16 in SDL2_Ludum.cpp from
```
u32 init_flags = SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING & ~SDL_INIT_SENSOR;
```
to
```
u32 init_flags = SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING & ~SDL_INIT_SENSOR & ~SDL_INIT_HAPTIC;
```
not a proper fix but it got me working, with SDL2 it's generally better to only initialize the basic required modules in SDL_Init, EVENT and VIDEO normally, and initialize the others later with SDL_InitSubSystem so that not supporting gamepads/haptic feedback/etc isn't an error that completely exits the game as they're optional features.

To leave some actual game feedback, I love the art, love the music, love the idea...I suck at rythm games though and it's pretty unforgiving even as far as they go so I didn't really get far, I had to mash keys and hope to hit enough notes to survive, that's more of a fault on me than the game though. Could have used some indicator of when to hit the notes.
Heiach
30. Apr 2021 · 03:03 UTC
I found the combat part of the game really difficult! It kept registering diagonal inputs on my d-pad as well :(
SleepyStudios
02. May 2021 · 15:57 UTC
The music, sounds and gameplay came together really nicely. The combat mechanic is really cool but like other people have said, I really struggled with knowing when I need to come in with my key presses. Nice work though!
Dobrila
03. May 2021 · 18:00 UTC
loved the concept of the game, the story goes well along with the theme. i think the rhythm was a bit off and it was hard to guess when i should press the keys. all in all a well polished game ! fantastic job !
Yaroslav Kravtsov
03. May 2021 · 18:12 UTC
I'm also in love in the art style and can't beat any enemy. I think, you need to have a learning curve: first battle uses only one button to get the idea and feel the rythm, second button - play with two buttons, third battle - still playing around two buttons, fourth battle - ok, playing on three butoon, and etc.
VixenMink
08. May 2021 · 00:23 UTC
Had some issues running this but I really liked your concept
PlaiceHolder
09. May 2021 · 23:41 UTC
Great work, nice concept, good beats, On all levels it's a jam, my only issue was that the battle system needs a little work, as others have said it's hard to get the timings down, the difficulty of each battle seems to be random, while i get that it's a roguelike, a difficulty curve would be a welcome addition, to ease players into the combat, maybe it ramps up each time you go through a door or something, idk. you can also beat any enemy, even the bosses by spamming the buttons at random, while this did allow me to see more of the game than i otherwise would have, seeing as combat became a breeze, i think you still need to punish the player for such reckless pluckery . Saying that , a couple tweaks and some more level variety , and you've got a solid game here. 8/10
BAURO
17. May 2021 · 10:47 UTC
Great work guys! Really enjoyed the concept but eventually found myself just wandering around until I encountered a demon before ultimately getting pwned. Found the actual fight mechanic very difficult to get to grips with but with a little tweaking it has potential. Some of the actual sequences I was asked to replicate were also incredibly intricate, it might be worth ramping the difficulty up over time played perhaps. A little wiki about the shops and general aim of the game would be a welcome addition for me too but generally enjoyed just wandering around trying to find the boss and exploring all the rooms (maybe a mini-map too? :sweat_smile:)