Moonbound by Alchemic
MoonBound is a game about the solid rock that cryptocurrency markets are built on. MoonBound is also a game about how that rock shakes around and occasionally explodes.
Your hero is stuck in a world in which stats are represented by various cryptocurrencies that need to be invested in at the right time. When a stat's crypto market is high, it's effect is stronger, but it's also much more expensive.
Beware, enemies also have their stats invested in crypto and sudden market swings can bring danger! Different enemies decide to invest in different markets, so a small goblin can become incredibly fast, while a cyber goblin can become incredibly strong.
Enemies that have invested in a market that is doing very well are represented with sparkles, they are more dangerous but can drop more money as their portfolio is worth more!
Controls:
- WASD / arrow keys to move
- Space / left click to attack
- Tab to check the markets
Credits:
- @Alchemic - Code, Artwork, Design
- @WiredOverload - Code, Artwork, Design
- @Gizmolo - Music, Artwork
Ratings
| Overall | 1171th | 3.184⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1301th | 2.842⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 107th | 4⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 153th | 4.184⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1116th | 3.158⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 665th | 3.263⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 391th | 3.5⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 1215th | 2.921⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 28🗳️ | 16🗨️ |
Definitely an interesting concept!
Perhaps you could use an API and track actual crypto markets
Well done!
* You hardly can get fair fight with starting stats / money.
* Enemies drop very little loot.
* It's way easier to spend few minutes in market manipulation to get decent stats / money, than fighting enemies. First thing to do once spawned in game.
* Once you get decent stats, fighting + healing becomes trivial. Both because you have fighter stats and because you can just stop to trade market to make more money.
* IMHO, market change is too fast, once I notice and start buying, the prices rise very quickly and then drop very fast. So it looks like I am more or less clicking there randomly.
To address these I think there are a few simple solutions:
1. Make `enemy drop value` part of market, but don't give a way to manipulate that. (At least for now)
2. Make game turn based. So you have more agency over market buy/sell choices.
- Limit number of buys / sell per turn. Stops abusing market.
- Values like speed and attack speed could be better appreciated.
- You don't need to stress and fight / check market at the same time.
3. Discourage hanging out in same room for longer time (say, 100 turns or less, if there are no enemies in the room) by spawning more regular or invincible in the room.
Also it was quite annoying to find out I cannot efficiently step back and fight at the same time, as moving away from the enemy would turn me away from him and attacks are always in the direction I am facing.
The game is actually pretty simple once you understand when to buy the stats. You start off grinding in the cave for some money and slowly buy into the crypto market. I had the most devilish grin once I remembered that you can sell those same buffs and gain massive stacks! By the end of the game, I was killing all of those goblins on screen within a matter of seconds.
I'm pretty amazed with how much you were able to get done within just 3 days for this game: The sounds are pretty clean, you managed to make 3 different levels, and you got the whole system working like the actual cryptocurrency market (always crashing lol).
I was playing the linux build for this review and what a splendid time I had. I hope you continue with this idea post-jam!
To the moon!
The game could proably have been more polished if you focus on the main aspect of the game.
I don't feel there is a morale to the game ? Like destroying your environment ? But congratulations for the work ! This is an interesting game !
The only problem I thought was the fact that at the beginning of the game it is quite difficult to defeat an opponent with receiving a minimum of damage.
Perhaps it would be more convenient if the direction of attack would be selected with the mouse. This would allow the hero to move during the battle
Otherwise, the whole gameplay is reduced to trading characteristics
That said, spending the time to build up all the stats and the money is unquestionably the best strategy, as the combat is not really doable otherwise. I do think that making it possible to attack a different direction from your movement would be a major improvement, as it's hardly possible to do much combat without upgrades when you can only attack in the direction of your movement.
It was kind of a neat experience, though--I failed over and over until I sat down and just used the market for a bit, and then I just crushed everything in my path. It's an unusual way to play a game, and that tradeoff between sitting down and doing the tedious work versus just trying to wing it is interesting.
Also, having the prices dip to 0 and below, though maybe accurate for actual crypto (Is it? Idk), it breaks the game. I got to a point where I just started clicking as fast as I can on volatile market events and whenever the price hit zero, I would end up getting free stats, and if the price went negative I would actually make money buying stats. Doing this always resulted in increased stats, they never dropped. So there was really no incentive for me to explore except to flex on the monster in each room because my stats were through the roof.
Ultimately, really cool concept, but buggy execution, needs some additional explaination for us non-crypto peeps, and needs some balance considerations
The game would benefit from some more clear direction on what the player should be doing. Also, can I just stand there and trade forever? Maybe some kind of cap to stop me from just eternally trading. I also felt that the combat was a bit difficult.
Great job though, fun concept.
Market makers are professionals who provide liquidity by quoting bid-ask asset prices throughout the day. They make their money by profiting from the spread between bid and ask prices.