You are the GM by GAFBlizzard

[raw]
made by GAFBlizzard for LD33 (COMPO)
September 16, 2015 update: I am working on a full game based on this idea and (at least primarily) option A. Thanks to all who voted!




Get all your adventurers to reach level 4 and fight the monster. There is a way to lose. There are two ways to win.

It took me hours to think of something I wanted to try with this theme. If I had more time, I wanted to at minimum add personalities to the adventurers. One might ragequit if they saw spiders, another might ragequit if a healing potion gets used, another might get bored if a slime is used at a high level, and so forth. The idea was to make a sort of puzzle out of managing a troublesome group of players, possibly with amusing voiceovers. I didn't get to voiceovers either.

*** IF YOU READ THIS DESCRIPTION, PLEASE SHARE YOUR OPINION IN A COMMENT: ***
There is obviously not much in the game right now. If I were to make a full-featured game using the GM and adventurers idea, would that be a game you would be interested in? If so, please include one of the following two options in a comment:

* Option A, GM versus computer adventurers.
Focus on managing adventurers with different personalities / character builds.

* Option B, GM versus human players.
Focus on making obnoxious surprises for other players in multiplayer, maybe taking turns as the GM.
(The downside of multiplayer is finding other people online to play with, of course)

Ratings

Coolness 74% 3
Overall 3.43 241
Audio 2.93 374
Fun 3.34 256
Graphics 3.17 425
Humor 3.60 109
Innovation 4.07 28
Mood 3.24 293
Theme 3.78 213

Feedback

fatattack82
24. Aug 2015 · 01:34 UTC
This is by far the funniest idea i found while browsing through submissions. I'd go with Option A since B is sorta just making an online DnD program
sythe2o0
24. Aug 2015 · 02:06 UTC
Pretty cool idea. Maybe would have liked a bit more content, but hey, that might be a reason to push the idea into a bigger timeframe than 2 days.
OccamsRazor
24. Aug 2015 · 02:11 UTC
This was an awesome concept for a game, and very well presented. Took me a little while to figure out what I was doing, but I got there.

Great ending :P
rogual
24. Aug 2015 · 02:22 UTC
Ha ha! I liked this, played it to the end.

It's a really fun idea. I mean, it's LD, so it's very small as it is, but you can see there's a lot of things you could add to a game like this. I'd like it if players could keep their items and use them later, for instance. And there seemed to be no penalty for just throwing a massive healing party when the players got low on health.

But I found the simple rules didn't really matter as I found myself making up little scenarios on each turn. Like, the party enters a blobcave, or the party enters the spiders' treasury. Three players get spiders, one gets the treasure!

Really nice work man.
AlariSilver
24. Aug 2015 · 02:41 UTC
My first reaction is Option B, because hey, more online D&D is not a bad thing! But I'm going to have to say that Option A is a better choice mainly because of online trolls who wreck the game for everyone else.
dollarone
24. Aug 2015 · 02:45 UTC
Nice! As a former DM this hit the spot:) Good interpretation of the theme!
9.ar7k
24. Aug 2015 · 05:14 UTC
interesting concept.
Evergreen Games
24. Aug 2015 · 05:52 UTC
Would love to see this as a full game. i would go with both options.
guoboism
24. Aug 2015 · 06:25 UTC
Nice. Potentials
namrog84
24. Aug 2015 · 07:33 UTC
I really liked this, pretty great and new. I haven't personally seen this done before. A little more information would be great. (e.g. are my players happy/sad/angry) Lots of potential here to expand
MagnusFurcifer
24. Aug 2015 · 07:51 UTC
I'd also like to see this fleshed out as it's a very interesting concept!.

Also my vote would be for option B :)
Crowbeak
24. Aug 2015 · 08:51 UTC
This is cute. It would definitely be neater with a player management aspect to it. I therefore vote option A.
qkerguelen
24. Aug 2015 · 15:06 UTC
Very fun entry! I didn't expected the end, and the RNG was quite fun (it took me about 2 minutes for the green player to beat his first monster...) Well done!
SojaBird
24. Aug 2015 · 15:16 UTC
Hahaha omg this is so simple yet so fun :p
I fought the monster at level 4 and got killed by 100 rolls xD

Also don't try defeating the bat when you are level 1 :p lol


Great idea, fun sound and graphics.
Cool stuff!

Would be need to have the selection remain to make it work a bit faster.

Overall pretty nice!
UncleChris
24. Aug 2015 · 15:45 UTC
I LOVE this, as a DM myself, so surprised that idea of monster never made me think that way - AWESOME. LOVED this game and very well made "combat" system. This has some great potential.
Nate
24. Aug 2015 · 16:59 UTC
This is a very neat idea. I would suggest you go with option A. Option B would be fun, but there is already a game like that being made called Sword Coast Legends.
Parappa
24. Aug 2015 · 17:01 UTC
It is like Knights of Pen and Paper lite. Nice work!
stahlmanDesign
24. Aug 2015 · 17:19 UTC
Really cool. Game seems polished given the constraints. Great idea. Fun. Sound is cool too, especially dice rolling.
Kaadmy
24. Aug 2015 · 17:49 UTC
Seems nice, but needs flash to run.
imdigitaljim
24. Aug 2015 · 19:27 UTC
I'd be a terrible DM! Really cool game though
HellBlazer
25. Aug 2015 · 02:55 UTC
Hah, nice ending and very original idea.

Could definitely be interesting if developed further. I think both options you outline have potential, though for my personal taste I'm more interested in option A.
terop
25. Aug 2015 · 05:30 UTC
catchy music. not sure if i would play this too long though...
pixzleone
25. Aug 2015 · 06:02 UTC
that was nice :)
music and sounds really fit in
graphics were nice
Good job :)
Will Edwards
25. Aug 2015 · 06:07 UTC
I admit that, whilst I get the concept, I'm not familiar enough with the DnD type of rules to know what any of the abbreviations or anything mean. I mostly just clicked about.

Although you are the DM, you are really developing the players, choosing to nurture, nourish or hurt them. A developed game could have AI players but with an attempt at character richness and a feeling of dialog between DM and players as you 'develop' them?
Crefossus
25. Aug 2015 · 09:23 UTC
Consistent style and font, calming music, and slick juicy animations. it sorta feels like a pokemon/rpg type game where you are leveling up your party. It lacks a concrete consistent challenge other than figuring out the system and lose/win conditions - but I guess you know it. (Figuring out how it works was actually pretty fun though due to your polish)

I think it has potential to be something fresh in the simulation style game, so "A" - plus with other humans means you need to have a big playerbase or friends. I think just dropping the DM as a monster would help the game - focusing on the goal being making the game fun for your party members.
Nikteddy92
25. Aug 2015 · 09:36 UTC
Yes, I'm a dm and I confirm that.. I'M THE MONSTER!
Btw nice idea! Simple gameplay and enjoyable!
Well done!
flatgub
25. Aug 2015 · 10:06 UTC
Awesome idea, I had a while where i wasn't quite sure what to do, but i really enjoyed it once i figured it out! Also I choose option A!
fullmontis
25. Aug 2015 · 12:15 UTC
Cool little game, I love it. I think though it needs some balance cause it is rather easy to exploit the mechanics, even if there is a joke ending. I laughed out loud at the ending.
MrNyarlathotep
25. Aug 2015 · 12:49 UTC
Maybe you could merge Option A with Option B?
Have something like drop in / out multiplayer, and whichever 'archetype' slot you fill limits the actions you can take?
I liked it!
andyman404
25. Aug 2015 · 18:18 UTC
Fun game. Hahaha. Build up the players' confidence and make them think they're all that, and then squash them. :) I vote option A.
uvwar
25. Aug 2015 · 18:55 UTC
I had no idea what I was doing for a long time, then I realized the players were leveling up!
JoseArias
25. Aug 2015 · 19:57 UTC
Very original! And the end is great haha
mantis
25. Aug 2015 · 21:38 UTC
Sweet game!
Tijn
26. Aug 2015 · 06:02 UTC
Haha, I laughed so hard when I reached the end. Well, one of the endings I suppose. I levelled the party up until they were all level 4 and then threw in the monster. Had a good laugh :) Well done!
🎤 GAFBlizzard
26. Aug 2015 · 08:25 UTC
Dropbox seems to be having issues right now but I'll post again if the site starts working.
🎤 GAFBlizzard
26. Aug 2015 · 08:30 UTC
That was fast, it's working again!
khahem
26. Aug 2015 · 08:40 UTC
This is a very cool idea, I agree that personalities would be a great addition, angry unlucky people and things like this,
but we can already feel the bigger idea here. An extended version would be cool.

As for the question, Option A feels more original and compelling to me, more puzzley.
Option B seems hard to manage, being obnoxious to other people and still having everyone enjoy the game seems difficult.
Zccc
26. Aug 2015 · 16:52 UTC
Great idea! I couldn't get to a second ending tough!
Zccc
26. Aug 2015 · 21:28 UTC
Well, since you replied to me in my post I'll continue here :P How the hell do you beat a monster with 100hp?? They can only evolve to level 4, and whatever I do after that doesn't seem to change more.
🎤 GAFBlizzard
26. Aug 2015 · 21:34 UTC
@Zccc, replied on your page -- the players can't beat the monster, but if they're all alive, one ending explains why this is. It's just a silly joke. :P I'll probably remove that aspect if I develop the concept further.
demogorgon
26. Aug 2015 · 21:51 UTC
I like it a lot. Kinda used to the game being the DM, and you getting screwed over than getting to screw over a bunch of adventurers, or perhaps just leveling them up, so the inversion is quite fun.
rnlf
26. Aug 2015 · 22:08 UTC
As already mentioned on IRC, I think you can make something nice out of this prototype. If it had the features you had planned, it would be an awesome game. I'm giving you some extra Overall points for the potential.

As for your question, why not both?
Geckoo1337
27. Aug 2015 · 04:57 UTC
Awesome concept for a game, and very well presented. Well done ++
zuurr
27. Aug 2015 · 06:01 UTC
i like this game, and think the idea is strong. more variation in player actions would have been helpful as would more endings. barring that, having a mood stat of each player to manage would be cool too.

since you asked me in irc i'll go into detail.

i think a fun stat management game could be made out of this style. it would be interesting since you'd have to manage both in game stats and out of game stats. this may lead to too many stats but if you paced it well it would not be overwhelming. if you did this with personalities it might be neat too, especially if they could be procedurally generated.

and opt. a is pretty clearly better imo. people who play dnd online already use tabletop sim and it doesnt sound like youd be able to offer anything significantly better (but i could be wrong?).

and 5 stars on theme because a monster who sends his fellow monsters to their doom is especially monstrous.
Razoric
27. Aug 2015 · 15:26 UTC
This was fantastic. One of my favorite submissions so far. Give me a full game of this!
DuzDuz
27. Aug 2015 · 20:36 UTC
cool concept, I would prefer Option A & B!
richardjs
28. Aug 2015 · 02:04 UTC
Great idea for the theme. The graphics were a little hard to interpret at first, but I like the style and once I got used to them they worked fine. I was upset/confused after fighting the monster, but then the ending happened and I felt better.
DAT.NOT.MY.GAME!
29. Aug 2015 · 10:19 UTC
Very nice concept!
Arche-san
29. Aug 2015 · 12:38 UTC
Nice concept!
I vote for option A.
Dizzyman572
29. Aug 2015 · 16:07 UTC
Haha, loved the concept as it reminds me of my rpg days. :D
Biruts
01. Sep 2015 · 16:43 UTC
Very nice project guys, i really love it, please check our game too and if you liked it give us a vote. Look for Road to hell and enjoy.
🎤 GAFBlizzard
15. Sep 2015 · 01:07 UTC
Thanks to everyone who rated! I'm super happy since this is probably the best I've ever done in a Ludum Dare, and I'm working on a full game now. :)