LudumData

Witch Reactor by alpacalypse

[raw]
made by alpacalypse for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Post-release changelog:
-Fixed a breaking bug where the game would not properly restart on second run, and somewhat reduced required energy thresholds.
-Updated the splash image to ruthlessly sell the game on the witch angle.
-Expanded the How To Play

46f62.png

Welcome to the magitechnical installation for Witch Activation by Interdimensional Flux (Unstable), which is definitely not just a metal box suspended by a dubious cable over a gaping, seeping wound in the very fabric of reality. Summon witches by channeling the entirely fathomable energies of the eldritch rift through the Witch Reactor. Ensure you have enough shielding to descend into the depths, and enough power to summon new witches to keep ahead of disaster or else you may explode or summon something that isn't quite a witch.

How To Play

The goal of the game is to accumulate enough Energy to summon witches within the time limit. Your energy generation rate is your Power, which is generated by the witches you already have, positioned on the Magic Circle. Witches on the outside of the circle convert T-flux to power. Witches on the inside convert Y-flux. Witches placed exactly on the circle instead strengthen your Shield, which allows you to go deeper (where there is more flux, and so more power) without overloading the reactor.

Elevator Buttons - Click these to lower or raise the reactor.
Rightclick witches to look at their card.
Click/Drag witches to move them from the list to the magic circle positions or back to the list.

ATK increases power, from witches placed beside the main ring. Get this higher so you can summon witches! DEF increases shielding, from witches placed on the main ring. Get this higher so you can go deeper!

The very central node is for the leader of your coven, who can benefit both power and shielding.

There are additional mechanics and hazards that you will discover. Be alert as you descend into the depths!

Credits

Alpacalypse
Programming

Ruruie
Programming
Writing
Sprites
Music

Engine/Apps
Godot (engine)
Paint.NET (sprite/art)
Piskelapp (sprite)
Beepbox (music)

Character portraits and miscellaneous art AI generated via Artbreeder:
https://www.artbreeder.com/ruruie

Sound effects from Soniss GDC Audio Bundles:
2015/RDGSFX008 - The Metal Shelf/Metal Moans 04
2015/SoundMorph - Bloody Nightmare/Bloody Nightmare - Horror Impacts - Robotic Scream
2015/Kpow Sounds - UI SOUNDPACKS/UISoundPack8Scrollv2
2016/The Sound Pack Tree - The BIG Pack/0481 - cable car ride
2016/SoundMorph - TENSION/Tension - warbley burning tone 1
2018/c2caudio – Sci Fi Audio Samples/Explosion Warped
2020/Federico Soler Fernandez - Effective Trailer Risers/Riser 027
2020/PMSFX - Point and Shoot FUJI Cam/PMPOSFUJIMKH8040_6 Camera, lesen cap on off, click

Link https://alpacanumerals.github.io/LD49/
Link https://github.com/alpacanumerals/LD49
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/witch-reactor

Ratings

Overall 1289th 3.057⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1361th 2.75⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 378th 3.651⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Theme 703th 3.593⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 994th 3.33⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Audio 607th 3.349⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 895th 2.702⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 705th 3.466⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Given 100🗳️ 65🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 258516
05. Oct 2021 · 00:53 UTC
Two bad ends in a row, and a good jump scary...I'm still try to understand who the game work, I gonna come back later (I saved the game in my notes) and play again.
Evileptic
05. Oct 2021 · 05:12 UTC
Cool gameplay, really cool idea! :smiley:
Guilherme Alt
05. Oct 2021 · 05:17 UTC
That bad ending jumpscare really got me. I confess I got a litte confused on how the game works. But I guess the idea is trying and trying until you get there. Nice music and graphics tho, gives a really nice vibe :)
GreenXenith
05. Oct 2021 · 05:31 UTC
Creepy vibe, and neat concept. It would probably take me another hour to figure out what exactly is happening, there are a lot of numbers and little explanation as to what they do. Also the tutorial didn't seem to work after the first playthrough?
peterfiftyfour
05. Oct 2021 · 06:14 UTC
Pretty cool concept! I wish I understood more about how to play. It seems no matter what I do I can't win the timed encounter?
ruruie
05. Oct 2021 · 06:44 UTC
There does appear to be a bug cropping up on subsequent runs, possibly having to due with the game over screen. As a workaround, please reload the tab for multiple runs X(.
🎤 alpacalypse
05. Oct 2021 · 07:42 UTC
We've pushed an emergency patch to fix the game not restarting properly, and reduce energy thresholds that were set too aggressively.

Make sure you hard refresh if you're returning to the game, I had a lot of trouble with getting old cached versions when testing!
Tomssuli
05. Oct 2021 · 12:34 UTC
Nice game! I played it last night and it was bugged and I guessed it didn't work as intended, but it was interesting so I gave it another try today and now it actually worked :)

I liked the mood and gameplay where you had to balance the withces and rise up to change shielders and go back down for the power. The attack/defense stats were not very intuitive, but I guess defense helped shield and attack helped channeling?

Anyway, fun and different game than anything I've played :)
Spike Studio
06. Oct 2021 · 01:34 UTC
Great audio, and the atmosphere is very well made. Nice entry!
Lenan
06. Oct 2021 · 01:51 UTC
A nice concept. Didn't really get how to play the game though, read the wall of text at the start and understood nothing, might be good to introduce elements little by little.
The graphics looked nice and the summons looked cute.
The sound was nice for the mood, using some more SFX would be good.
Overall a pretty cool concept.
OllieOA
06. Oct 2021 · 11:51 UTC
Much like the others, unfortunately I just didn't really understand the game, and it was just a bit too much to play in a gamejam with literally 2,000 entries! Sorry! Unfortuantely, fun and accessibility are kings here!
DzejPi
06. Oct 2021 · 13:32 UTC
Super original take on the theme! Great mood, audio and atmosphere. But I am afraid I am a little bit too smooth brained to understand it fully and be sure I am playing properly. I would suggest adding some sort of tutorial which takes player by hand, would improve the accessibility of the game. But great entry nonethless!
ruruie
06. Oct 2021 · 14:04 UTC
Well it does appear we have a theme here in terms of feedback. We _are_ taking notes!
LDJam user 264719
06. Oct 2021 · 21:21 UTC
So hard, but the art is great. I liked it.
amkingTRP
07. Oct 2021 · 13:32 UTC
Thought I was beginning the get the hang of it, but I got too greedy and lowered it too far and it exploded..
It's a very interesting concept; could have done with a lot more hand-holding to begin with, but the jam is probably too short to come up with the sort of tutorial this needs.
AndideBob
07. Oct 2021 · 14:47 UTC
This is a weird game :D It feels like there is a lot going on, but it is very overwhelming at first glance. I saw this on a stream first before playing it myself and it didn't help much. I know which stats are good for which positions, but a tutorial would have figuring this out so much easier. Also having weird names for certain stats only makes the whole thing more complex. All in all I do see some potential here, but you have to do some work on making things clearer, especially if your game is basically just UI. Either way, this is still quite impressive!
JUSTCAMH
07. Oct 2021 · 15:11 UTC
Hey guys, thanks for submitting the game to stream! T'was a good time, here's the vod if you'd like to rewatch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1169813985
ToSMaster
07. Oct 2021 · 19:15 UTC
A fun game and lots of potential. I like the art and overall vibe of the graphics!
3mpty
09. Oct 2021 · 04:41 UTC
Very strange but interesting concept. I only figured out halfway through playing that the portraits were artificially generated which gave me a good laugh.

Overall the gameplay is... interesting. I found it a bit slow, 60 seconds is a long time between events happening. I think a shorter timer but with a pause button could be better, so the player can choose the pace rather than waiting for 60 seconds.

I got a chuckle out of the premise, it's fun to imagine witches playing gacha with the souls of the damned. This is my canon explanation for how witches reproduce now on. The lose state is also great.
lellalombardi
10. Oct 2021 · 18:26 UTC
Didn't get what i was supposed to be doing at all - still liked the experience, though, love them unpolisht - retro-esque rough gamejamy games! Good Fun
bbaf
10. Oct 2021 · 19:56 UTC
Nice atmosphere and mood, but unfortunately didn't get the rules in a full scope.
I would suggest to add some example images / tutorial later for faster onboarding for new players.
Roka Josh
14. Oct 2021 · 15:31 UTC
Like others I initially struggled to grasp the rules, but I stuck it out and after 4 deaths I was eventually able to win a run. I like the concept a lot, however if the game were to be improved or developed anymore I would definitely suggest making it more clear as to what the different values are contributing to, especially the radiation which I didn't even know if it was doing anything while playing. Overall though, intersting and well made entry. Good job!
chingle
17. Oct 2021 · 08:46 UTC
I like the vibe and atmosphere because it fits well with the Halloween season and the bad ending is a nice touch. I was confused with the rules and if this game is to be improved, I would suggest adding a visual effect that correspond to the stat change when placing a witch on a circle. Overall, I enjoyed this game!
Cr1stal
17. Oct 2021 · 19:38 UTC
Beautiful textures, good idea.
kurrik
18. Oct 2021 · 00:00 UTC
Pretty interesting idea with good promise. I think I would have been helped by more feedback as I was moving witches around though - hard to tell what was working and what wasn't. Great atmosphere and humor!
Chairshot Games
19. Oct 2021 · 01:24 UTC
Cool game! I like the atmosphere a lot and the gameplay is innovative. My main suggestion is to give the player more of an idea of what the stats beyond shield and energy do. Also UI wise I would label the on/off switches to say if they raise or lower. I really liked the use of audio feedback, and the audio in general. Good job!
lilkrit
20. Oct 2021 · 03:27 UTC
The game is very deep for a jam game. But also interesting :)
Emaigualmc2_art
20. Oct 2021 · 19:11 UTC
Good idea! I found so much information and numbers a bit tedious, I think that making that part more interactive and summarized the game would be much more fun, at least from my point of view. Good music and art chosen, good job!
Pandore
21. Oct 2021 · 11:02 UTC
Cool entry ! I was kind of overwhelmed by the amount of information to keep track of and to be honest I didn't fully grasp what each jauge impact on the game. Anyway I managed to win :3
I have to say taht you've made a really smart use of art breeder, I thinks it can be a really powerfull tool and noone should be shy or afraid to use it. I'm glad to finaly see someone put it to use in a game~

Nice job ;)
Alchemic
21. Oct 2021 · 19:21 UTC
Really cool concept, just a bit slow maybe? There's not a lot to do while waiting for the next summon. The random spikes help but they are not frequent enough and are easy to deal with.

Overall really liked this concept, and the AI-generated art is surprisingly fitting! The music is nice too.