LudumData

[HTML5] The Struggle by Vilmantas

[raw]
made by Vilmantas for Ludum Dare 51 (COMPO)

# Preface

Second game-jam where I was working solo. The theme was quite bad and I failed to come up with even a single idea that would be fitting.

I did my best to create a solid game and have fun though. Only a small part matches the theme, but I still opted to get rated, cuz why not. :shrug:

LDJAM-51 Cover.png

Description

You are trapped on an island and the only way to escape is to save up 100$ and pay off the guard (Dmitri) to you a boat. You are forced to do manual labor - mine rocks - as a way of pleasing your supervisors. You will be 'fired' if the machine that crushes the rocks stays idle for too long and doesn't do enough work.

Simply working for a low wage is not smart or efficient, thank God Dmitri is here to assist you by taking those precious gems that you mined off your hands and pawn them for a split profit. Unfortunately for you the crushing machine also loves these gems and requires a lot of work to crush them thus increasing the activity meter greatly if they were deposited to it.

Depositing gems is a risky business, Dmitri won't like the fact that you are destroying his profits.

Game Instructions

You Win if you manage to earn 100$.

You Lose if the Activity meter is completely empty.

You receive 4$ every 10 seconds (Did I mention I love this theme?).

Activity meter is always decreasing. The only ways to fill it back up is to deposit rocks or gems for the Crusher to crush.

Get ores and gems from mining rocks.

! Click on the gem icons to deposit them when near the belt.

Watch out for Dmitri. If he's awake, he won't allow you to deposit the gems and will take the gem you're trying to deposit, plus some extra cash for the hassle.

Dmitri will pawn gems for you and share some of the profits made.

Rock respawns in another spot after it is mined.

Controls

  • Press (or HOLD) LEFT MOUSE button to MOVE the PLAYER

  • Press SPACE when near a BOULDER to MINE it.

  • WALK OVER a GEM or ROCK to LOOT it.

  • Press P to PAUSE the game.

depositing-min (1).gifmining-min.gifdepositing<em>gems.gifdmitri</em>assault-min.gif

Tools used

Game engine: Unity 2021.2

Code was developed using JetBrains Rider.

3d models and textures were made using Blender 3.0.1

Link https://github.com/vilmantas/ldjam-51
Link https://vilmantas.itch.io/ldjam51-the-struggle
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/the-struggle

Ratings

Overall 406th 3.017⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 373th 2.929⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 291th 3.172⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 477th 2.241⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 319th 3.19⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 263th 2.481⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 408th 2.577⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 8🗳️ 15🗨️

Feedback

mimusangel
03. Oct 2022 · 16:31 UTC
Eeeh, I didn't understand anything...
🎤 Vilmantas
03. Oct 2022 · 16:34 UTC
>Eeeh, I didn’t understand anything…

@mimusangel Which parts are confusing? Does the description mislead you somehow?
AnxiousGameDev
03. Oct 2022 · 16:35 UTC
Hey, it's a very solid technical implementation - the animations, the rocks, the clouds, the crusher are all good. But I think the core mechanic - collecting rocks - isn't that fun. And the crusher is very demanding so I found you can lose quite quickly. I think the player would need more choices to make, perhaps to use the rocks for something. Overall great job making something
wrac4242
03. Oct 2022 · 16:35 UTC
feels like a good game, i like the point and click movement, only complaint is sometimes the clouds can be too in the way, but otherwise you done really well
LDJam user 280624
03. Oct 2022 · 16:45 UTC
Like for Dmitri!
maxr00
03. Oct 2022 · 16:49 UTC
Nice entry! It was pretty tough trying to keep the crusher active, so I like that I had to decide to use the gems, but Dmitri not sleeping in time ended my run a couple of times lol
🎤 Vilmantas
03. Oct 2022 · 16:50 UTC
>Nice entry! It was pretty tough trying to keep the crusher active, so I like that I had to decide to use the gems, but Dmitri not sleeping in time ended my run a couple of times lol

@maxr00 Thanks for playing! I'm glad you got to experience that particular feature :sweat_smile:.

I hope understanding the gameplay wasn't difficult. :bow:
LDJam user 305669
03. Oct 2022 · 21:42 UTC
I did not understand how to use gems… but if I had took the time to read your description I would have understood :sweat_smile:.

I like the idea. But selling all the gems gives so much money that I am not sure crushing them is worth it :sweat_smile:. Maybe I had a good run where the rocks where close to Dmitry and the machine?
LDJam user 161618
04. Oct 2022 · 06:11 UTC
I enjoyed it. Almost felt like I was playing Old School Rune Scape at the Motherlode mine. Theme this time was indeed a bit challenging. Congrats on finishing on time solo!
Momo_Hunter
04. Oct 2022 · 11:46 UTC
I had a bug where a new stone would spawn every time I mined a specific stone (the one directly above Dmitri), but otherwise solid entry
BlackLambert
04. Oct 2022 · 11:49 UTC
This is a solid entry. The connection to the theme is ok but could be more integrated into the gameplay. Also the style is pretty basic and I was missing some music.
MrMaico
04. Oct 2022 · 11:51 UTC
Space didn't work for me in the first try. Had to refresh the page.
I liked that the selling was only open every 10 seconds. I'm not sure what I can do with the money or what the end goal is in the game.

Overall it is a playable game with a unique art style and a very unique take on the theme.
🎤 Vilmantas
04. Oct 2022 · 12:42 UTC
>I enjoyed it. Almost felt like I was playing Old School Rune Scape at the Motherlode mine. Theme this time was indeed a bit challenging. Congrats on finishing on time solo!

@zykino I'll make sure to add the golem pet as an expansion point. :wink:
Eugenik
04. Oct 2022 · 14:22 UTC
Thank you for the nurishment :scream_cat:.
Puhan
04. Oct 2022 · 15:37 UTC
All mechanics were pretty solid, it would be better if the rock mines in the game also have gems on them like in the main menu so maybe the gameplay of prioritizing mining the ones with more gems.
Haotian Chen
04. Oct 2022 · 15:52 UTC
game is quite hard actually, fun though. i think you can make a more clear deposit and pawn area, it takes me forever to dunk those gems to dimiri lol.
LightTerraDog
04. Oct 2022 · 19:00 UTC
I liked it, very peaceful actually
🎤 Vilmantas
05. Oct 2022 · 09:00 UTC
>i think you can make a more clear deposit and pawn area, it takes me forever to dunk those gems to dimiri lol.

@haotian-chen Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate that you tried out the game. :v:
🎤 Vilmantas
05. Oct 2022 · 09:01 UTC
>it would be better if the rock mines in the game also have gems on them like in the main menu so maybe the gameplay of prioritizing mining the ones with more gems.

@puhan That's an interesting point, thank you and thanks for the feedback. :bow: Main menu was done afterwards and I didn't think of editing the existing rocks tbh, but that would make sense. :)
LDJam user 278827
05. Oct 2022 · 09:54 UTC
Runescape mining has never been so fulfilling
fun time management game, dmitri was a watchful and vengeful man
Div00
05. Oct 2022 · 16:22 UTC
This is amazing! innovative concept and fun gameplay. I've enjoyed it so much.

I don't know if this was an issue from my side but I wished if there was a music, sound effects, and audio cues for when Dimitry is sleeping. This game would've been in another level with the sound.

Another one that I feel the deposit area is not well defined, it's challenging to find a good spot, and annoying when you are right there with the time almost zero but can't deposit.

Other than that, it's a very fun game :100:
Rahtainka
05. Oct 2022 · 16:25 UTC
Was a little bit hard to find out that Dmitri needs to sleep that you can drop the gems into the crusher to get more energy. And I don't really get what the game has to do with the theme. But graphics and gameplay is nice.
Martin183
05. Oct 2022 · 20:05 UTC
Cool game, sound would have been nice. Holding down the mouse was a bit tiresome when playing on laptop witout mouse.

Also funny that the game shows local currency.

![Skärmavbild 2022-10-05 kl. 21.57.45.png](///raw/f96/d2/z/52675.png)