LudumData

GRIM REAPER: Harvester of Souls by dkdwrek

[raw]
made by dkdwrek for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

Welcome to the world of the "Grim Reaper: Harvester of Souls."

In this game, you play as the Grim Reaper, tasked with harvesting the souls of the cursed. But be careful, as these cursed souls will do everything in their power to fend you off. They have summoned spiders and bats to attack you. The cursed have a rotting corpse that can still be harmed, but the longer a soul has been cursed, the more their flesh will have decayed, turning them into ghosts that cant be killed. Your goal is to collect as many souls as possible without angering the cursed by avoiding killing anything. Can you master the art of soul harvesting and emerge victorious?

Screenshot0.PNG

[W]

[A][S][D] - Movement

[L-Shift] - Harvest Soul (hold down)

[Space] - Dash

[Left click] - Swipe

[Right click] - Throw

Screenshot2.PNG Screenshot1.PNG

Made with: - Unity - Aseprite - Ableton - Moog Grandmother, Moog Matriarch, Elektron Digitakt

Link https://dkdwrek.itch.io/ld-52-grim-reaper-harvester-of-souls
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/grim-reaper-harvester-of-souls

Ratings

Overall 137th 3.91⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 75th 3.987⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 390th 3.321⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 47th 4.346⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 314th 3.821⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Audio 195th 3.641⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 424th 2.847⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Mood 127th 3.949⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 64🗨️

Feedback

Ladymarengo
09. Jan 2023 · 15:01 UTC
Very cool, interesting realization of harvest
publicidadeba
09. Jan 2023 · 15:04 UTC
Good mood and good visuals. What is the levelling up effect?
LDJam user 49756
09. Jan 2023 · 15:31 UTC
Atmosphere is nice, gameplay is fluid, being able to choose between difficulties is great. Really good!
Aendawyn
09. Jan 2023 · 15:38 UTC
Very nice game, nice leaderboard !
Game is quite fun.
I enjoyed stuck enemies into wall, so they are packed and then, harvest 👍
LDJam user 12890
09. Jan 2023 · 16:52 UTC
Nice polish added to the game, leaderboard, difficulties, UI, etc. Nice hack-n-slash with harvest theme!
🎤 dkdwrek
09. Jan 2023 · 17:48 UTC
@publicidadeba thanks! so when you collect souls you gain player xp, which when you level up will increase your damage and "soul" damage over time. When you kill mobs it increases enemy xp (enemy anger) which when that levels up it increases their health and spawn rates over time.
LDJam user 317480
09. Jan 2023 · 20:33 UTC
Really love the style! It's really fun!
Also quite enjoy the mechanic that you have two ways to kill enemies, but only one will result in EXP.

Something that was a bit annoying is that it seems like you can't hit any enemies with your scythe when they are in melee range with you. I always had to put some distance between us before I could hit them, which felt unintuitive to me.
Natiki
09. Jan 2023 · 21:28 UTC
Super fun to play! A lot of replay value with the leaderboard and different difficulties
The artwork and UI is super clean as well!
zSharpFire
09. Jan 2023 · 23:02 UTC
Amazing game with a ton of replay value, fantastic soundtrack and fun mechanics. The leaderboard sure does push you into pressing that "retry" button, which is a thing a lot of games lack.

I must admit tho, maybe the wall of text at the start of the game isn't really the best thing.
robobarbie
10. Jan 2023 · 02:05 UTC
Ooooo that feels so smooth and the art is so cute. Great execution on the concept!!
Merin Car Trunk Key
10. Jan 2023 · 02:32 UTC
This looks really nice and the sounds are very satisfying. The art is consistent and it gives off a gloomy vibe (a good thing) and then the audio creates a more exciting kind of atmosphere. Good stuff!
Adam Gallina
10. Jan 2023 · 02:42 UTC
I had a lot of fun playing, the two forms of killing enemies really made it seem unique!
Fromage
10. Jan 2023 · 03:09 UTC
I did it! 82 on hard!

I had a lot of fun with this. I wish there were some more options, but what is here is solid! Great job!
animatrix1490
10. Jan 2023 · 03:20 UTC
I had trouble at first figuring out how to play but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Very addicting! I also really dug those analog squonks--really cool SFX and especially music. It was already hype to start with but every time I'd reach the next level it would get even sicker. I could have spent even longer playing if there had been i-frames when I got hit--I was a little disappointed that my health just melted away, but that's probably what the dash is for. Thanks for a cool game! ![Screenshot 2023-01-09 201705.png](///raw/5c6/f/z/55c61.png)
Jeremy Scott Olsen
10. Jan 2023 · 03:25 UTC
Cool! I like the throwing mechanic. I think the little dark vignette around the edge does great things for the mood. Seems like everyone stops or slows when I swing my scythe sometimes. And I didn't see a score on the screen, so it seems like without getting onto the leaderboard I won't know how I did...
TheGhostofTommy
10. Jan 2023 · 03:31 UTC
This game has everything and does everything it promises! Great submission
🎤 dkdwrek
10. Jan 2023 · 03:36 UTC
@fromage wow grats! Thanks for playing. Any suggestions for more options? I'm going to keep working on this over the next few weeks.

@animatrix1490 glad you liked it! Yeah all the sounds were from an analog synth, except for the drums. Also, yeah the idea is to try to avoid getting hit as much as possible with the dash and using the gravestones to block. Very low cooldown on getting hit.

@jeremy-scott-olsen yeah, everything stops for a brief moment when you hit it. The score is only obtained from harvesting souls (by holding left-shift until the blue bar goes all the way down on certain enemy types) - the soul count is displayed at the top of the screen.
Fromage
10. Jan 2023 · 03:43 UTC
Sure! I'd love to see either level up bonuses you can choose from, like more health, different weapon mods, faster soul sucking, that sort of thing (just stronger or even side upgrades like a bigger sycthe that moves slower) that just pops up when you level or like a store you can spend souls at?
🎤 dkdwrek
10. Jan 2023 · 04:02 UTC
@fromage thanks for the input! We were thinking of something similar to Vampire Survivors where you can choose from one of X number of things each level up. Makes the leaderboard thing a bit more difficult if you add RNG like that I feel, though.

The soul sucking actually does increase speed when you level up, just not by too much. Since you were playing on hard, you probably didn't get to notice it as much, as the enemies "soul health" was also increasing since you basically have to kill the bats and spiders to survive.
miraculousMelon
10. Jan 2023 · 04:10 UTC
Excellent game! Good art, satisfying mechanics. One annoying thing is when the spiders get right up close to you so they do damage, but you can't swing at them because they're too close. But brilliant game otherwise. High score 149!
Rincs
10. Jan 2023 · 04:59 UTC
This was really fun, I can see myself playing longer and longer. Love the premise, I hope you can add key binding options.

Awesome!!

![reaper_harvester of souls_HS.PNG](///raw/ccf/64/z/55cb6.png)
Aurailus
10. Jan 2023 · 06:23 UTC
A really fun and enjoyable take on the theme. The controls felt fluid, and I really liked the online scoreboard, I played a couple times just to get my initials on there. (AJC if you want to contest me!) I liked the art and the music, and the gameplay was interesting, with how you have to take different actions depending on the type of enemy that approaches you. The lighting stood out to me a little bit, given that it was a pixel art game, but it had very realistic shading. I think a bit of undersampling & posterization of the shadows would go a long way to adding to the atmosphere. Great job, guys!
bartalomew
10. Jan 2023 · 10:28 UTC
the music itself makes every minute worth! very nice game, my only complain is that I was fighting againts health bars as I couldn't see the foes in the shadows. very well polished and great interpretation of the theme, great entry!
Enad96
10. Jan 2023 · 14:43 UTC
You nailed it, it even has the leader board. How does it feel to be one of the Ludum Dare giga chads?
Papaya
10. Jan 2023 · 17:31 UTC
Overall a complete package of good gameplay, music, sfx, and graphics! It even has a leader board for some player interaction, which is nice! I am PAP btw. For some feedback, I wish there are more enemy variety. and sometimes the enemies got stuck behind walls. Still, a solid entry!
Tomtomgome
10. Jan 2023 · 19:51 UTC
Very enjoyable experience, it works well, it's engaging, it's hard but not that's part of the fun, I'am bad at those games but that's also part of the fun. All in all very good game
ChanJohann
10. Jan 2023 · 21:39 UTC
Fun idea, not hard concept to understand and then it's engaging till the death (pun intended). Wish there was more concept for sound as music and SFX are getting very repetetive and lacks a bit in the long run. Love the ranking in the end!
🎤 dkdwrek
10. Jan 2023 · 22:00 UTC
@bartalomew thanks for the compliment! yeah they do kinda blend in to the background a bit, needs some overall color updates / sprite definition

@enad96 thanks :sunglasses:

@papaya thanks! yeah wanted to add a few more soul only, and health only types or a boss to mix it up, but ran out of time

@tomtomgome thanks, glad you enjoyed playing!

@chanjohann thanks! yeah the sounds effects were all made on one synth and the melody on one other in like 1hr - have a whole page of notes on ideas for different sound effects and voices that didn't make it in
digitaldude555
10. Jan 2023 · 22:00 UTC
Got seventh, decent game, like how the theme was used to make a unique mechanic. Agree with people saying the leaderboard pushes you to replay the game. Good art, and good music though I would have had a different harm sound when enemies hit you, over all pretty good.
Flaterectomy
10. Jan 2023 · 22:38 UTC
A great game, especially appreciated the balance of enemies requiring either killing or soul sucking, which kept me thinking tactically throughout!

The art is great, though some more visual effects on enemy death would've added the necessary game juice. The music was just hype enough to get the blood flowing without standing out too much.

All in all, an impressive entry! Nice work!
Adamwigs
10. Jan 2023 · 23:18 UTC
I enjoyed the game a lot! Played enough to move up the leader board. It was an enjoyable loop and loved the music. A few times I died because I didn't notice the enemy was "close enough" to hurt me, so maybe tweaking the collision a bit would be nice, but overall, great job :D!
Zach Hsu
11. Jan 2023 · 00:24 UTC
Fun game, nice art style and combat!
Nikolaj
11. Jan 2023 · 02:16 UTC
Fun game, i love the soul harvesting look/feel, although they seem like zombies.. do they have souls? Either way good job!
🎤 dkdwrek
11. Jan 2023 · 05:13 UTC
@nikolaj haha yes these are souls of the cursed, so zombified but still pure enough to harvest for some points
tanis
12. Jan 2023 · 21:47 UTC
Nice game. The enemies sometimes get stuck behind the tombstones, it would have been nice if they knew how to walk around them. Most of the time you can just get into a corner near the tombstones and just let most of the enemies get stuck there while you collect the souls and kill those that are coming from other directions.
I didn't really find a use for throwing the scythe.

The art is really nice, I love the main character look.

Overall well done
Fabian Denter
12. Jan 2023 · 22:44 UTC
Great one, fast paced and diverse mechanics and enemy types. I didn't get anywhere near the leaderboard ranks, but I still had fun! Well done!
arron-fowler
20. Jan 2023 · 09:14 UTC
It was a bit confusing at first but once I got it I really liked the game loop. It created an interesting tension. The art and music was great too. Over all I really liked this one. Kudos