Decimus Maximus by mihaivdev

made by mihaivdev for LD36 (COMPO)

The time has come to prove yourself in the Grand Arena.
Decimate your opponents and be the last man standing!

Controls:
- WASD to move
- Left Click to shoot (if using the catapult)
- mouse to rotate camera

Gameplay:
Decimus Maximus is an arena vehicle combat game. Ram into your opponents with your deadly spikes, the battering ram or launch heavy iron balls at them with the catapult.
Last man standing wins.

While my initial plan with this was to make it multiplayer, I decided that it's not the best idea to learn how to make networked games in the 48hrs so I've added some really simple and dumb AI.
There's some simple networking code in the source left over from initial tests if anyone wants to play/learn from it.

The game was done with UE4 blueprints and Blender.

Hope you like it. Enjoy.

Mihaivdev

Windows	https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_u6XSJX7w8rd09wSFpyYnMxTWs
Source (UE4)	https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_u6XSJX7w8rSi1jNXo3SHk3Snc
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-36/?action=preview&uid=34175

Feedback

hermetic

29. Aug 2016 · 02:53 UTC

Nice models. Good stylistic vehicle arena combat. I could see this being fun. Your tower has no weaponry and your catapult missile doesn't do damage.

steph88

30. Aug 2016 · 06:22 UTC

Hi, nice game and congratulations ! We're realizing a video with several games of the Ludum Dare #36. We made the same thing at the previous jam.

Can you add your game on indiexpo.net ? (it's free)
So we can include also your game in the video ;)
p.s. write #LDJAM in the game's description.

🎤 mihaivdev

30. Aug 2016 · 12:44 UTC

@hermetic Thanks for the feedback. The tower has a battering ram at the front (a bit small and unnoticeable i guess) and the catapult ball should damage but it seems that there's a bug :/ That's what happens when you try to add new features close to deadline...

gonutz

31. Aug 2016 · 21:15 UTC

Unfortunately I cannot play your 64 bit executable on my 32 bit system.

SuperMsp10

31. Aug 2016 · 21:31 UTC

Could not run "Out of Memory"

fabsy

31. Aug 2016 · 21:39 UTC

I drifted with a catapult and did a 360 with the siege tower. That part was fun but the AI seems to want to get only me.

austintradr

31. Aug 2016 · 21:44 UTC

Good concept, I like the idea of a gladiator arena battle but with the ancient weapons. Unfortunately I don't believe it was not executed as well as it could have been. The controls were not intuitive and felt very uncomfortable and unsatisfying. Since movement is part of the combat, it needs to feel fluent and reliable. The catapult actually does nothing and cannot be aimed other than direction so it would actually be better to not have it. There was also no apparent way to exit the game, at least during gameplay. I'd love to see a game like this work, keep at it!

MewSoul

31. Aug 2016 · 21:47 UTC

The idea original and it feels like there could be something nice to do there! :)

Actually to me it seems like the catapult ball was doing some damages, maybe that's the fact we don't really notice when the damages are done that made feel it doesn't do damages, so I guess some particles or animation would help for that.

And as you wanted it a multiplayer game, maybe you could have gone for a local multiplayer, even a 1v1 only is nice. That could be the kind of game to have several modes, like one that could be a bit like Rocket League, where you would have only catapults and have to shoot the projectiles at some precise places to get points.

Lonely Vertex

31. Aug 2016 · 21:48 UTC

Arena fighting with catapults? Cool idea! Very nice visuals but the controls. The controls were weirds, Drifting all over arena and AI targeting mostly me. But overall good concepts and very nice visuals.

ninja00283

31. Aug 2016 · 22:10 UTC

At the start it waf intresting.
Then i tried to hit some enemys and faild...a lot...
Then i hit a enemy and nothing happens...
the game at this point was disappointing.
then i started ramming things,
and then is saw the potential.
So remove the shooting and make it ramming game.
and of course add some sound...

🎤 mihaivdev

31. Aug 2016 · 22:46 UTC

Thanks for all the feedback peeps! Your comments are really motivating! The plan is to make it online multiplayer (host your own server style) with both ramming and shooting, and maybe some kind of customization for the vehicles, like mix and match weapons so you can create the ultimate siege vehicle! Oh and actual damage! Like parts falling off, I really want to add that.

The shooting has a bug and doesn't deal damage unfortunately. I'd fix it but I'm worried it might be seen as a new feature and don't want to break the rules so I'll do it for the post compo version which I'll start working on soon.

Gipzo

01. Sep 2016 · 18:10 UTC

Couldn't hit anything with my catapult shop. Then ramped a bunch of other catapults head on and got turned upside down. Had to stare at the joists of the catapult for a minute... Now I can say for sure that your wood texture lacks a deapth map.

WERT Studio

01. Sep 2016 · 21:30 UTC

Looks pretty need is a bit slow and the catapult is hard to control but its still very good and the driving part works well

Megatonks

02. Sep 2016 · 08:13 UTC

Ballistics didn't do damage I don't think? also one of my high-speed rams sent me flying into the air. I came down fine but the camera became permanently dislodged and had to restart. Surprisingly fun. Lots of vehicle ramming and flinging things around. simple but effective. Good job !

Casevse

08. Sep 2016 · 08:54 UTC

Hilarious idea! The AI needs to be improved, the catapults are near each other, they need more reaction to that situation. And of course add sound. Good work!

ReyHax

14. Sep 2016 · 01:57 UTC

I can't seem to damage my opponents with the catapult. I also noticed that when a new ball is added to the catapult, it does not fit properly on the catapult and clips through it. Whenever my vehicle turns over, I can't do anything about it. I think this was an amazing idea to incorporate the theme but the current state of the game feels like it didn't do it justice.

🎤 mihaivdev

17. Sep 2016 · 11:02 UTC

@Casevse: Thanks for the feedback! Glad you like the idea! The plan was to make it multiplayer but as I realised time wouldn't allow for that I've just added some rough AI. I'm now slowly working on transitioning to multiplayer and maybe will add some better AI to have bots.

@ReyHax: Thanks for your comments! I am aware of the problems you mentioned but unfortunately I didn't have enough time to fix them so hopefully will get there post jam :). Glad you like the idea though!

chocobyte

18. Sep 2016 · 09:14 UTC

This has great potential :) I hope you keep working on it