The king is dead, long live the king! by goudcode

[raw]
made by goudcode for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

A game about keeping the king alive for as long as possible.

Supply the king with food and water while killing enemies to make sure the king survives as long as possible! Once the king has died you can purchase upgrades with gold you recovered from the killed enemies.

Controls:

WASD / Arrows / Controller --- Movement

F / Left Mouse / Controller button 0 --- Interact & Attack

G / Right Mouse / Controller button 1 --- Drop interactable

Version 1.1

Reduced the cost of all upgrades.

Gold gained from enemies is now based on the king's current age.

GameScreenshot.png

Ratings

Overall 188th 3.952⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Fun 164th 3.905⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 470th 3.524⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Theme 304th 3.976⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Humor 563th 3.132⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 608th 3.55⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 5143
04. Apr 2022 · 22:55 UTC
Game is really great. Mechanics are working as well. Graphics and sound are minimalistic, but nice too. Good job!

I see one problem - balance. After third king death I started to feel bored, because I can't buy upgrades. I got ~150 gold per run, but upgrades don't give much power to grow my income. I think orcs must drop gold depends on kings age.
OrdiNeu
04. Apr 2022 · 23:00 UTC
Love games with metaprogression elements! The idea is short but sweet. Well done!
adangtran
04. Apr 2022 · 23:02 UTC
Art is nice and I like the aspect of upgrading on new turns. Movement is buttery. It wasn't really intuitive on how to get food since it looked like tools from the bookshelf, took me a couple games of running around to figure it out. Good job!
cactusdan
04. Apr 2022 · 23:03 UTC
This game was super fun. I liked that there were multiple valid ways to control the game (I found arrow keys + f/g worked best for me.) Fits the theme really well, especially with the upgrades letting you delay the inevitable even further.
Pennycook
04. Apr 2022 · 23:09 UTC
The core game loop here is very satisfying, and I had a lot of fun playing this. Great job!

I wish that there was a way to interrupt progress of cooking/filling the bucket, though, as I felt completely helpless as the goblins ran past me. :smile: I'm not sure how much that would impact the balance, but having the progress bars restart at 0 every time you interrupt them might fix that.

The only other suggestion I have is to consider using some pixel fonts. There are some really nice ones out there, and the default Sans Serif font really stands out against the rest of the visuals.
JamPaktGames
04. Apr 2022 · 23:10 UTC
The game was fun for a while, but then just started to feel like a chore, and not in the way it literally is XD. I enjoyed the idea, the balancing act of all the different meters was a good way to keep the player from doing the same thing repeatedly.
joties
04. Apr 2022 · 23:13 UTC
Absolutely amazing game.
The gameplay art and audio all fit together so nicely.
I really like the simplistic mechanics, its very fun.
I do agree with @kurakurture about the balancing thingy also, I'm not really a fan of the water eventually running out.
I guess it does make the death of the king more "Inevitable" but I don't think a hard cap was necessary.
Other than those 2 little thingies, this is just an fantastic gamejam game.
Delightfullymad
04. Apr 2022 · 23:13 UTC
Fun game, inspired by Quill18 per chance? Great job!
LDJam user 273557
04. Apr 2022 · 23:14 UTC
Really fun! The upgrades really add a lot of replayability and I love the art. I think the only thing I noticed that felt off was how expensive all the upgrades were
thoroughlystumped
04. Apr 2022 · 23:25 UTC
I really loved it! The art was cute and I found the balance of the health statuses engaging. However, I believe when the king's thirst and hunger hit zero he stayed alive until the health bar hit zero
Roberto Romao
04. Apr 2022 · 23:32 UTC
Great graphics and good idea :).

the only suggest I have is maybe make the map small or the initial gameplay a little bit faster!

Good job :D
Woetnie
04. Apr 2022 · 23:48 UTC
Thanks you all for the feedback, I've uploaded a new version which reduces the cost of all upgrades and increases the amount of gold dropped based on the king's current age.
LilianC
06. Apr 2022 · 16:04 UTC
Pretty fun and challenging to try and manage everything at once, really keeps you busy
Aethona
07. Apr 2022 · 04:03 UTC
I'm really impressed with this game! the art is really good and it's a unique implementation of the theme.
Huntrt
07. Apr 2022 · 15:55 UTC
This was pretty impressed, at first i though this was just an micro management but it get way more in depth with the upgrade system.
Carbon6
07. Apr 2022 · 20:38 UTC
A bit hard to understand, but fun when you get the hang of it.
🎤 goudcode
09. Apr 2022 · 12:05 UTC
Thanks for playing and providing feedback :smile:
Arend Hintze
09. Apr 2022 · 12:36 UTC
pretty well made, solid concept, and cute graphics, and I really enjoyed it!
Cheers Arend
gamescodedogs
12. Apr 2022 · 18:11 UTC
Pretty funny idea! I wa trying to save the king as best I could :smile:. I would like to be able to change the item in my hand with left mouse click, it would be easier.
Thanks for this funny game!
Liam
12. Apr 2022 · 19:54 UTC
Really loved it! (Maybe biased, I built a much worse version of this game a few LD's back called Feed Me!) Very much enjoyed the progression of the gold and buffs to abilities. Movement was ace and I felt it was v clear what objects/tools you had / what your goals were.
LDJam user 279546
12. Apr 2022 · 20:30 UTC
It took me a minute to figure out how to cook and get water. Once I had it the game was neat though. Good submission. Only bug I found was that the game doesn't actually pause when you press pause.
zimny11
12. Apr 2022 · 20:38 UTC
Awesome game! Super well polished! Pixel art is beautiful. The in-game mechanics are fun and the music is super nice! 97 years, not a bad age to die. Great job with the game.
Trizalio
21. Apr 2022 · 20:02 UTC
Nice idea and art, feels polished
From second try made it till 91 =)
evgeney24
31. May 2022 · 12:22 UTC
A bit hard to understand.