Words Matter by Alex5041

[raw]
made by Alex5041 for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

First level is kinda badly designed, basically you have to create combination of 2 trees until there are 7 trees.

For other levels it is enough to create a word combination stated at the top only once.

Also, bullets are a drop too, they are not hovering in the air (unless you decreased their speed to zero)

Controls:

Main

WASD to move,

Left mouse button to shoot,

Right mouse button to pick words.

M to mute music, N to mute sounds.

Word manipulation

Spacebar to swap non-sign words (empty cells swap too!).

Right click to delete a word.

Word rules:

There are 3 ways to create a statement: 1. Two same symbols: tree, tree => more trees 2. Sign (+, -) and object: minus, ruler => make smaller 3. Sign and two objects, one of which is modifier (heart, boot and ruler are modifiers): plus, bullet, heart => bullet will pierce targets

From level3, each 10 seconds target changes, from player to enemy. Non neutral statement will affect current target, (more trees is a neutral statement, but more bullets is not)

Notes: 1. If you don't get hit, something might happen 2. Movable trees are not a thing :(

Credits:

  • Programming: Godot 3.3
  • Music: Bosca Ceoil
  • SFX: jsfxr
  • Art: Aseprite and Playscii: modified textmode, characters from CHUNKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4hHmxBjZOo

Ratings

Overall 1177th 2.704⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1162th 2.537⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 676th 3.212⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1143th 2.704⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1001th 2.815⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 678th 2.87⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 731th 2.558⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1077th 2.769⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 54🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 300745
03. Oct 2022 · 13:02 UTC
You need to read the instructions carefully to play the game.
Maybe the game should introduce the gameplay easily without instructions.
eerongal
03. Oct 2022 · 16:34 UTC
Yeah, a little weird to figure out what was going on. That said, i dig the paper cut out style
NoelOskar
03. Oct 2022 · 18:48 UTC
I like the idea, here are few things i recommend you should change/do first of all the text is kinda blurry, i don't have that much expirance in godot, but here's a post i found that might be helpfull https://godotengine.org/qa/54768/font-size-is-changed-by-scaling-but-blurry Second i recommend increasing the bullet and movement speed, so the game is a bit faster, i recommend making bullet fast enough so that you can't catch up to them on foot, I really like the idea of having to combine diffrent elements, the difficulty curve is a bit step, try to avoid enemy spam, i would recommend like a limit to max enemies on screen so that they still spawn quick, just not as many, as the jump between first and second level in difficulty is pretty high

But overall it's a cool game
🎤 Alex5041
03. Oct 2022 · 19:11 UTC
@noeloskar thanks so much for the feedback! That is very useful and I agree with all that you say. However, if I'm right, I cannot change the game after the end of the competition, can I?

Nevertheless, I plan to create a post LD entry with your change ideas and some other ones. Some people noted that bullet as a drop and a flying bullet are undistinguishable.
Flamboozle
03. Oct 2022 · 19:22 UTC
It took me a while to figure out how to play. Introducing new players to a game can be hard but it definitely would help here!
Joey Van Lierop
03. Oct 2022 · 20:25 UTC
A little confusing, but I eventually got the hang of it. I like the music!
Sofy
04. Oct 2022 · 01:19 UTC
I dig the art but it is quite confusing
inresting nonetheless
NoelOskar
04. Oct 2022 · 04:51 UTC
@alex5041 you can update your game, just have to wait till rating period ends, well you can still update it, just host it on itch.io and add a note that this version was updated, and list the changes
Roroto Sic
06. Oct 2022 · 19:16 UTC
a bit confusing, i guess a tutorial will help a lot to understand all concepts. i understand that you run out of time to make one. its not bad.
CodeRaurus
07. Oct 2022 · 07:32 UTC
Kind of confusing game. Words Matter but why am I holding a gun then? Are the tokens words? I'm sure you had a great concept in your hands, but the execution feels to fall short, unfortunately. Some sort of in-game tutorial at the start could help a lot. I watched the video to see what the game actually looks like when you get into it.

Regardless, the presentation is pretty good. Visually it has a unique style and music gives this actiony vibe.

Well done!
KatBoo
07. Oct 2022 · 09:28 UTC
Cute idea. Was a little confused but love the little world that was created.
asfdfdfd
07. Oct 2022 · 17:31 UTC
This mouse is SO cute!
Krasimir Balchev
07. Oct 2022 · 22:44 UTC
The concept is very cool! As everyone else says it's a bit confusing at first even with the instructions in the game page. I am pretty bad at doing this as well, my game also had quite a few complaints like that :)

The biggest thing I didn't understand at first is what the boxes in the bottom did and what the boxes on the top were. The video did help me understand everything in the end tho so good job on making one! Maybe put it more on the top so that people can see it before they try the game to get the hang of how things work.
PenguinMunch
08. Oct 2022 · 03:25 UTC
I love the art and the floating hand holding the game! I'm a bit confused on what I'm supposed to be doing or how, but I can see that a lot of work went into this and the execution on the intended design is impressive!
🎤 Alex5041
08. Oct 2022 · 07:16 UTC
@coderaurus
> Words Matter but why am I holding a gun then?

Yes, that's a solid point. I didn't think about this =\

> Are the tokens words?

That's right, maybe I should've used more consistent naming.

Initially I thought that player will understand the concept from playing, but judging from the comments I was wrong. Next time I'll try to create a more user-friendly game :)
LDJam user 245333
08. Oct 2022 · 16:29 UTC
Man, that concept is so cool! I could easily imagine a rogue-like where each game goes differently depending of the power-up you pick, and how you arrange them!
Unfortunately, there are some caveats that prevent the game to accomplish its potential. It quickly gets too hard, and I think it's because of the speed of the bullets, and the fact that they collapse with each other. It's impossible to aim for an enemy from a distance, because it is likely that they will move before the bullet reach them, and their own bullets will shield them. Then more enemies spawn, creating more bullets that block everything, and it stacks up until it becomes unmanageable. The weapon is only effective on close range. But if there are two enemies far from each other, it's almost a game over, because it takes too much time to walk to the other one, enough to have more enemies to spawn, and then there's nothing that can be done.

I did a lot of trials though because as I said, the core mechanic is cool (once you understand it and you pass the tutorial). Most of the time I died before I could get any upgrade, because the plus sign didn't want to spawn. But there was one game where I think I had three bonuses (bullets number, size, speed), and it felt great!

So in the end I think the game-design is great, but need to be tweaked a little to create a satisfying balance. Congrats for making this entry!
Alex de la Cour
08. Oct 2022 · 20:55 UTC
I really liked the art and I thought the concept and idea was cool, original and interesting! Although I really struggled at the beginning to grasp what I needed to do, perhaps some tutorial level or something at the start would have helped.
Cedric86
19. Oct 2022 · 20:35 UTC
Music graphics and movement are all good but i had trouble figuring out what i had to do at first. Later on when enemies shwed up i didn't stand a chance there were way too many of them. A bit confusing but not bad. Just needs some better indication. Maybe it was just me that is also a posibility. :D
But i had fun playing. Well done.