LudumData

Scythe of Souls by xaviarrob123

[raw]
made by xaviarrob123 for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

Scythe of Souls is an action combat minigame where you harvest souls from the spooky Spectres to upgrade your character! There is no end to the game and only the one small 'zone'. Upon acquiring 100 souls spawn rates increase!

coverimage.png

Background This game was made by me and mezzbeans (my wife) over the weekend with use of some free music / sound effects. It's a total of about 9 hours of actual work over the 3 days. This was my first game jam and first game made using godot. I did this to finally make a game, and to learn a bit more about Godot's workflow, and godot 4 in general. This project was made with Godot 4 Beta 10

Things I liked about this project - Double dash feels super nice, I would love to add more less-simple abilities like this. - I learned a lot about making a game in a short amount of time, and about Godot 4

Things I wish I had time for the project - Making the upgrades more modular, the idea was to make this a bit like upgrades in hades but time didn't allow for that. - More time to do up / down movement. Controls are probably what I like least about what I made. - Time to fix enemies spawning outside of the map, and launching off when outside the navigation area.

Things I would have done different next time - Not spend time on a not-needed save system (I did this for personal learning though which has it's merit, but for game jam purposes it wasn't needed) - Put more time into sound effects / music / particles. Lack of feedback was another issue with the game. - Spend more time of the game jam to work on it, 9 hours total was definitely not enough time to come out with something super polished.

Controls - WASD - Space to attack & dash - Click the music icon to toggle music - Tab - Buys an upgrade with your souls - Num 1 - Save Game - Num 9 - Reset Game

Upgrades - 15 Souls - Speed - 25 Souls - Health - 50 Souls - Damage - 100 Souls - Scythe radius - 125 Souls - Damage (1 hit spectres) - 150 Souls - Regeneration - upgrades to 5 health instead of 2 - 250 Souls - Double Dash - Get two charges for dashing

Credits - Heroic Demise Soundtrack - matthewpablo - https://opengameart.org/content/heroic-demise-updated-version - Melee Sound - remaxim - https://opengameart.org/content/3-melee-sounds - Spectre Enemy - 7SoulDesign - http://7soul1.deviantart.com/ - Programming - xaviarrob123 - Art - mezzbeans

Link https://ribchop.itch.io/scythe-of-souls
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/scythe-of-souls

Ratings

Overall 773th 2.72⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Fun 754th 2.524⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 796th 2.293⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Theme 382th 3.756⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 478th 3.45⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 402th 3.015⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Humor 637th 2.154⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Mood 723th 2.788⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Given 31🗳️ 68🗨️

Feedback

LDJam user 0
09. Jan 2023 · 19:57 UTC
Using the scythe was very difficult and didn't seem to do anything half the time. I thought it was a cool interpretation of the theme but there wasn't really much motivation to go for the upgrades.
Likirus
09. Jan 2023 · 20:07 UTC
Nice little game :) Some sort of feedback (visual or audible) when a ghost is hit would be nice, it's not always clear whether a hit actually connected or not.
Oh, and there is a gap in the trees ;) I was kinda tempted to keep going and look for secrets :D ![Screenshot_20230109_210606.png](///raw/3e7/3/z/5558a.png)
🎤 xaviarrob123
09. Jan 2023 · 20:07 UTC
thanks for the comment! Yeah due to the time restrictions I wasn't able to get art for up / down movement. If I had the time I would have made the scythe circle around the player rather than teleporting depending on the direction you were looking and added in more mobs to make the upgrades more worthwhile!
🎤 xaviarrob123
09. Jan 2023 · 20:20 UTC
@likirus Thanks for the feedback! I was planning to add a sound hit effect but just ran out of time, will get the tree holes fixed up appreciate you playing!
Knatterton
09. Jan 2023 · 21:44 UTC
I also ended up on the carpark. :)

I like the art style of the little ghouls. Sometimes it felt likethey were fleeing from me which was funny. Not sure if intentional. Nice game.

![Screenshot 2023-01-09 224428.png](///raw/769/d4/z/55a31.png)
VaizAragorn
09. Jan 2023 · 22:04 UTC
Controls kinda lacked some juice in them but other than that, the art and all the upgrade stuff was really nice. Keep up the good work!
🎤 xaviarrob123
09. Jan 2023 · 22:22 UTC
@vaizaragorn Thanks for the feedback!
Ben Toosey
09. Jan 2023 · 23:03 UTC
The visuals all worked for me. I really like the idea of combining a dash and attack in the same button, it's a fun mechanic I might explore in the future myself. I didn't really understand what I could use my souls on because TAB didn't work for me, but I enjoyed in nonetheless. Good job :)
🎤 xaviarrob123
09. Jan 2023 · 23:17 UTC
@ben-toosey That's odd tab wouldn't work - are you using a standard US keyboard? That's the only thing I could think maybe would cause conflicts. Appreciate the review / play!
Ben Toosey
09. Jan 2023 · 23:35 UTC
@xaviarrob123 UK, but the TAB isn't different between UK and US keyboards, strange!
🎤 xaviarrob123
09. Jan 2023 · 23:39 UTC
@ben-toosey Was this in the web player on itch? I wonder if tab is changing controls, if so I may need to change which key that's on!
Ben Toosey
09. Jan 2023 · 23:45 UTC
@xaviarrob123 It was on itch, yeah. Might be worth experimenting with!
Someday Not Today
09. Jan 2023 · 23:50 UTC
Atmosphere sound! But i don't have numpad, so it was quite difficult to play
But idea is pretty nice, good job!
moonlightbomber
09. Jan 2023 · 23:59 UTC
The scythe's hitbox could be improved a bit more.
Fluburbio
10. Jan 2023 · 00:01 UTC
The controls are a bit stiff and the attack doesn't seem to trigger every time, but this is a cool concept and I like the ability to upgrade your character. The art is great too, good job!
🎤 xaviarrob123
10. Jan 2023 · 00:28 UTC
@moonlightbomber Thanks for the feedback! I agree the scythe hitbox could be better, I think part of that would be improving it's visual animation as well as it doesn't really 'swing' exactly where you can hit currently
🎤 xaviarrob123
10. Jan 2023 · 00:31 UTC
@fluburbio Thanks for the feedback! The attack is one of the things I wish I had more time to spend on. My hope was to get the scythe swinging where the hitbox was but I ended up opting for just rotating it due to time. Thanks for playing!
🎤 xaviarrob123
10. Jan 2023 · 00:31 UTC
@someday-not-today Thank you for the feedback!
john333
10. Jan 2023 · 00:43 UTC
Personally I disliked godot but you seem to put it to a good use, its a nice little game, especially for the time you specified! I would suggest tho to put some sort of a feedback when you hit the gost, a simple sound effect would be enough and would make a big difference!
HFSEvans
10. Jan 2023 · 01:03 UTC
Sop there's a lot of these scythe soul harvesting games, but I think this does a lot right to stand out visually. The hits are a bit finicky though. You have to be in a really specific position
Vipaka
10. Jan 2023 · 01:17 UTC
Firefox gave me a Godot error, and Chrome wouldn't move (tried number keys and WASD), so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to play the actual game. The graphics were very cute and the animated pixels were definitely impressive!
LDJam user 312238
10. Jan 2023 · 02:08 UTC
How cool the game is!I like it!!!
The pixel art is very attractive.Overfall a perfect game!
daitli
10. Jan 2023 · 02:12 UTC
Very cute graphics I really had fun while playing it. I found the hitboxes weren't so accurate or maybe they were- too accurate. I found myself missing often as I miscalculated my attacks. Thanks for sharing I had fun with it :)
Uraffululz
10. Jan 2023 · 02:26 UTC
Great game for such little time. The art and music were especially great.
chompdev
10. Jan 2023 · 03:01 UTC
Cool art, music, and Harvest idea! The dashing scythe attack is pretty cool, and I like how you can only get a successful hit if you dash at the correct distance, rather than just being able to stand next to them and attack. The ghost AI seems random/sneaky enough to be a good challenge, and I really appreciated having the on-screen controls. You guys did a great job!
Roberto Romao
10. Jan 2023 · 03:26 UTC
I was only able to slay the ghosts dashing but not attacking, maybe changing the input would fix the issue. Other than that good entry :)
pazzi
10. Jan 2023 · 05:53 UTC
Congratulations on your first gamejam! It's always nice to see a fellow godot user! The art is charming, and the use of the dash in conjunction with the attack makes for satisfying kills if you line it up right.
All in all, an awesome entry!
nyxkn
10. Jan 2023 · 11:40 UTC
Of course still a bit of a rough prototype, but good work for making something! Art is cute enough and to make this into a game you only need animations, better purpose, and some polish.
Phillip Scott
10. Jan 2023 · 12:45 UTC
nice job for such a small time - I would have cut the costs by a ton and spawned more ghosts, would have made it more frantic and allowed more people to see your upgrades
LDJam user 238142
10. Jan 2023 · 13:40 UTC
Good job given such a limited time frame! The art is cute, and the gameplay simple/effective enough. I do wish you'd opted out of the audio rating category since you didn't make the music or sounds yourselves.
LDJam user 12890
10. Jan 2023 · 18:01 UTC
Good game entry. I particularly liked the art, big fan of pixel work and yours is good. :)

It feels like the hit detection for the player is a bit off. When a ghost is grabbing on to me I don't lose health unless I try to move. Also, it doesn't seem to take damage when I run into the ghost from different directions, and does for others.
JamesBoink
10. Jan 2023 · 19:11 UTC
Well you said yourself that 9 hours isn't enough to polish properly so im just gonna say - respects for going at it solo ;0 !
Alchemic
12. Jan 2023 · 06:57 UTC
Hey, this is pretty good for 9 hours of work! I'd love to see what you could do with more time.
I really liked the artwork, the main character is super cute.

As an aside: I feel like you should've opted out of the audio category, since the music wasn't created during the jam.

I recorded my gameplay, you can watch it here (0:50):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihro-C1lbJM
JUMPirate
12. Jan 2023 · 09:04 UTC
The overall gameplay is ordinary, the attack range of the sickle feels a little bit strange. Dash seems not very useful. I think the main problem is the content is not too much right now. Since the time to make the game is too short, I hope to see the game become better in future.
🎤 xaviarrob123
13. Jan 2023 · 07:03 UTC
I just wanted to re-iterate I appreciate all of everyone's feedback. I was a bit hesitant this being my first game jam, but now I'm going to do everyone one of these I can! I've decided to continue work on the game and have posted a quick update to the future of the combat. I look forward to releasing a more polished demo for everyone in the near future!

You can checkout my update post about this (and a video of the new scythe) here https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/scythe-of-souls/scythe-of-souls-update-1-post-jam-scythe-changes
Harmofish
13. Jan 2023 · 07:43 UTC
Excellent work. I enjoy upgrading the system a lot. It would be preferable if some prompts were provided. The use of the space bar in sprint and attack will frequently result in conflicts.
sevenzik
13. Jan 2023 · 19:51 UTC
Nice small work, but there is no unique content)

Although, great first try!
dimesto52
24. Jan 2023 · 11:38 UTC
nice graphics too bad there is so little response in the blows given to the ghost and that we recent so little the rise in power