LudumData

Long Live the King by Pennycook

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

Screenshot from Long Live the King

I originally envisioned having a few more levels, and puzzles involving additional chess pieces. But I got distracted, and ended up spending a fair bit of time polishing the controls (and adding support for controllers :face_palm:).

I've added a Linux build (and controller support) because I'm very interested to hear how well this runs on a Steam Deck. If anybody ends up testing on one, please let me know if there are any issues. Thanks!

Controls

  • Mouse / D-Pad: Select tile, menu option
  • Left Click / Space / Enter / Xbox A / PS X: Confirm selection, advance text
  • Escape / Xbox B, PS Circle: Back

Known Bugs

  • None :grin:

Bug Fixes

  • None

Tools

  • Godot
  • Aseprite

Attribution

This information is also in the in-game credits, but I’d like to draw extra attention to:

  • Art by Jason Perry (http://timefantasy.net/)
  • Music by Eric Matyas (http://soundimage.org/)
Link https://pennycook.itch.io/long-live-the-king
Link https://pennycook.itch.io/long-live-the-king
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/long-live-the-king

Ratings

Overall 972th 3.306⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1238th 2.778⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 548th 3.458⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Theme 125th 4.208⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 187th 3.889⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Mood 787th 3.403⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

Lawrence
04. Apr 2022 · 16:12 UTC
Story is what makes this game. :smile:
Very cool, good job!
LDJam user 202408
04. Apr 2022 · 23:27 UTC
I could tell it was made with godot by the default color of the background lol, this is actually a really good game. the art style is just amazing despite not having many things to look at, I spent a fair amount of time trying to outsmart you.. yes YOU DEVELOPER!! but I couldn't.. is it beatable ?? I wish I was more of a math person so I would know but I tried everything I could, and it seems unbeatable.. but IS IT ????. anyway awesome game, I'm surprised that it's fun even though it only has one level (I think)
Porcus_Pie
04. Apr 2022 · 23:31 UTC
This was a really interesting concept! It's presented really cleanly, the art is really nice, and as already mentioned the humour and story is what makes this game. I would have loved to see that humour more, maybe with more voice-lines as you play, random events etc. It would have been nice to have some regular taunting by the queen just to add that encouragement to keep playing. Exploring the concept a bit further with more pieces might be a fun future project, I found myself very quickly just doing the same loop over and over without any reward. Overall though this was a fun distraction, with some really enjoyable story!
Bdiaztobarra
04. Apr 2022 · 23:51 UTC
I love chess, and seeing this new way of playing it... it's so wonderful! Congratulations! Well executed, clean and fun! And their conversations are super great!
🎤 Pennycook
05. Apr 2022 · 02:30 UTC
@lawrence, @bdiaztobarra - Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :smile:

@0x-void-x0 - You can only delay the inevitable. :wink:

@porcus-pie - That's a really good idea, thank you! The way things are now, most people won't see the different "endings" -- and I'm fairly certain I locked my best lines behind too many moves. I'll definitely do a post-jam build where she quips as you go; I'm sure that'll improve things significantly, even if I don't get around to adding more pieces.
NeM
05. Apr 2022 · 23:06 UTC
The number of version has not been updated in the lower right corner.

I cant pass the first challenge, and this one is messing up sometimes when we push "B" (Or maybe its because the game doesnt like Alt-Tab ?).

The language used is a bit weird, it looks like a way to make a "old fashion way of speaking" ? Hmmm, okay.
🎤 Pennycook
06. Apr 2022 · 01:41 UTC
@nem - I tried to mimic old English for comedic effect, and I hadn't considered that might make things less accessible to non-English speakers. Thanks for the feedback. I've been meaning to experiment with Godot's translation features for a while -- this might be a good excuse to look into it.
LDJam user 279610
06. Apr 2022 · 02:30 UTC
I love the idea! A assume there is 1 level that cannot be beaten? That was my experience. Technically I created a "draw by repetition" but the queen didn't care! As for the narrative and story, well, I think it's great and you should make more. Keep building, it's wonderful.
EvilSock
06. Apr 2022 · 10:38 UTC
Fun! Fun! Game makes me Feel hopeless.
Nice Art and music! Congratulation whit game!
WetBurritoSupreme
06. Apr 2022 · 18:27 UTC
Great game, nice tunes too! Love the idea, though I may have won? I can't do spoilers so I'll keep it too myself. Awesome game regardless!

![llive.png](///raw/276/43/z/4d283.png)
hatmajaster
09. Apr 2022 · 11:17 UTC
Props for the linux version, a rare sight:P It works, and as simple as this game is there shouldn't be a problem to run this on Steam Deck. You can just boot SteamOS and see for Yourself. Its free to download for anyone, and can boot on any x86/x64 PC.
Anyway, linux, Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2), 60fps. But You really shouldn't expect less even on weaker hardware;)
Aka Black Dog
09. Apr 2022 · 12:45 UTC
the art and controls are great but the game is lacking in content. maybe if you could have a game win state and more levels it would be great
LDJam user 279546
09. Apr 2022 · 13:23 UTC
The queen simply saying "check" killed me. Quite amusing. The idea was really cool and music/art was great. I wish there was a way to win and more levels though. Would have liked to see more.
LDJam user 280755
09. Apr 2022 · 14:37 UTC
Interesting concept and nice little chess piece artwork. Would be cool to see some more involved levels.
coatline
09. Apr 2022 · 15:46 UTC
Wow such a cool concept! As an enjoyer of chess, I love how this relates to the theme! Tis very innovativeth. It is a very overall polished experience and I even sat through the credits. I was very impressed with the overall feel of the game. I wish there was a little more gameplay but I like the art. Music was good too. Thanks for the game!
gord10ahmet
10. Apr 2022 · 20:47 UTC
Haha, nice game! I like chess based games with stories.
🎤 Pennycook
10. Apr 2022 · 21:23 UTC
@wetburritosupreme - Wow! Honestly I didn't expect anybody would play so long :laughing:. All I'll say is that there are a few things you might not have seen... But you've probably seen the good stuff.

@hatmajaster - Thanks for giving the Linux version a go. Downloading SteamOS for testing purposes is a great idea.

@david-york, @aka-black-dog, @jzucc12, @daniel-username, @coatline - Thank you all for the words of encouragement! Knowing that so many people would have kept playing if there were more levels has made me determined to explore this concept more post-jam.
Guy Girmonsky
10. Apr 2022 · 21:39 UTC
Cool game! Narrative and sound made me dive into it pretty deeply.
I think I found a way to keep repeating the same moves until the end of time? I tried to keep looking for cheats, maybe to go around? but I couldn't find anything better than that. I don't know if I missed anything, but anyway the fact that I was so involved with this - means its a good submission!
Pious
10. Apr 2022 · 21:51 UTC
Pretty nice pixel art! Pretty interesting idea, but I basically would be in an infinite loop of moving back and forth up and down. I'm not sure if I should be doing something different. I think it would've been interesting to keep this on a regular chessboard, have the enemy king there too, and just avoid checkmate as long as possible. Give the enemy "player" a "mistake" randomized every now and then. It'll be cool to learn endgames this way too. I like the music. The dialogue and the ui is pretty awesome too.

Good job!
zimny11
10. Apr 2022 · 21:58 UTC
Clearly, Queen is a villain in this story. She does not care about 3 times repetition rule, nor 50 moves without capture or a pawn move rule, which should mean a draw :P Awesome art style and cool dialog!
filgru
10. Apr 2022 · 22:00 UTC
Haha :) Check! Very nice idea for the game. I stuck moving vertically up and down, waiting for the Queen to move forward :) Very funny dialogs! Long Live The King! Congrats!
nsadie
11. Apr 2022 · 18:36 UTC
Very funny and good use of the theme! A game does not always need to feature deep gameplay to make me smile!