Hector the Apothecary by Daxic

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

Terrible plague is spreading in the village of Hazelwike, villagers either ran or are slowly withering away.

Fortunately, there is a hero! Hector, the Apothecary, who is just a step away from finding the cure! Help him harvest herbs, fend off enemies and save Hazelwike!

How to play: Equip your mighty hero Hector with items from shop and embark on adventure. Explore the forest, level up your character and dont forgot to collect all nescessary herbs to save the world!

Note: When you level up there are small buttons next to the stats, you need to click one of the buttons to add selected attribute and you can continue in playing the game

Controls: Mouse

cards.gif

combat.gif

dialog.gif

Ratings

Overall 51th 4.115⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Fun 108th 3.904⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 239th 3.558⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 77th 4.25⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 25th 4.556⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 342th 3.06⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 94th 4.038⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Given 40🗳️ 21🗨️

Feedback

Knatterton
09. Jan 2023 · 19:33 UTC
Looks and sounds absolutely amazing! Well done!
LDJam user 141701
09. Jan 2023 · 19:47 UTC
Very nice job! Very polished for a jam game. The humor was spot on, the gameplay loop was good, and I enjoyed the graphics.

One question though; are my items supposed to be lost (other than herbs/gold) when I retreat? I found myself needing to buy the same sword again and again!
🎤 Daxic
09. Jan 2023 · 19:53 UTC
@SirLich Thank you! After each journey you are supposed to lost all your items, its little bit hardcore! Only gold, herbs and character stats persist.
KlinsmannHengles
09. Jan 2023 · 20:14 UTC
Amazing game! the art is wonderfull and it is a really cool game.
GomoStudios Jam
09. Jan 2023 · 20:18 UTC
What a game! The art is great and the number of mechanics is crazy. Shame it doesn't last for hours, but that is the nature of a jam! Great job, congrats -Mike
SciDev
09. Jan 2023 · 20:41 UTC
This game is god tier, especially the music and art (outstanding color pallete, really captures the grim, creepy vibe).

Amazing work and good luck in judging!
dod108
09. Jan 2023 · 22:49 UTC
Well done. Good mechanics, well executed, nice graphics. My only issue is that in my opinion the cure meter filled too quickly, it would probably be better to keep it longer, without any need of adding more content. And (but this is minor issue) at first I didn't get what "alch" does, I eventually figured out that it fills cure meter, but "cure" would be more obvious. Anyway, nice game.
morgie
10. Jan 2023 · 03:46 UTC
The graphics on this game are absolutely lovely! The color palette, shading, and character design were all super cool. I love the way you all incorporated the theme and I loved the story and characters.

I think my only critique would be that the game is almost too easy. I was very easily able to get to the cure just by retreating instead of fighting/opening the mystery cubes. It would be cool if it was harder to get items or if there was some kind of incentive to stay out gathering longer.

I still played through 4 or 5 times because I wanted to see everything that was put into the game because it's so visually appealing/interesting. Overall, great job and great game!
Kongo
10. Jan 2023 · 09:57 UTC
Gorgeous graphics and atmosphere!

Like @morgie said it was to easy, but still great for a game jam!

Game with a lot of potential :smiley:
Efilheim
10. Jan 2023 · 16:01 UTC
Good work on that game !
The color palette is really nice, the art stunning, the music awesome and the Loop Hero inspiration suits well with the concept of going out and harvesting !
One of my favourite game in this jam so far !
Kostas Nik
10. Jan 2023 · 19:24 UTC
Stunning art, animations and the 8bit music suits the game very much! It's so polished it feels like a released game.
Devilsmile
10. Jan 2023 · 20:43 UTC
Nice game! You made loophero?
🎤 Daxic
10. Jan 2023 · 20:47 UTC
@devilsmile Thank you! No we are not authors of the Loop Hero but we were inspired by style and some mechanics from the Loop Hero.
Pete Valeo
10. Jan 2023 · 20:59 UTC
Impressive game! In true Ludum Dare form, I am not 100% sure what the goal is, or what many of the elements do in the actual game, but the mechanics around them are all very solid. Strong vibe, excellent visual and sonic identity, really complete-feeling experience. I've never worked with Unity before - how much of what's there e.g. modals, interaction events etc. come from Unity tooling, and how much did you have to write yourself? All of my (admittedly limited) experience making games has been in LibGDX - curious to learn about the process with other engines/toolsets
Yubs
10. Jan 2023 · 21:11 UTC
Really cool game! I like the buying and then having to explore sorta based on what you bought, makes each day of exploring a little different. Had a day I went all in on extra harvest stuff and got to collect all the cards, and another I just fought everything I could find. Really enjoyed it!
🎤 Daxic
10. Jan 2023 · 21:19 UTC
@pete-valeo Thank you, we had thoughts about moving our game into bigger game but we will see.

We had like two and half people working just on the code and putting stuff together in Unity so all the interaction is written and we just used the Unity components to represent images and to help us with the UI management. But Unity has also option to do the visual scripting if you are not into coding, definitely give it a try.
Chum Chum
10. Jan 2023 · 21:22 UTC
This game looks really cool, but after I fought an enemy, the game showed my stats, and then I couldn't do anything. I tried clicking on different buttons but couldn't figure it out. Is there something I'm missing?
EDIT: Thank you for your reply, :laughing: can't believe I missed that.
🎤 Daxic
10. Jan 2023 · 21:23 UTC
@chum-chum There are small plus buttons next to the stats and you need to choose one of them to continue playing.
Chum Chum
10. Jan 2023 · 21:29 UTC
Really cool game! Nice graphics, very cool submission. I had a lot of fun :smiley:
Richard Jedlicka
10. Jan 2023 · 21:48 UTC
Wow, very nice game. The graphics is great. It is fun to play, only thing as others mention the difficulty might be harder and maybe also the creatures could move every turn and attack you, otherwise you can just avoid them.

I don't know if this is a bug or I just dont see some button or what, but I got stuck after leveling up. I can't move anymore, retreat doesn't work.
![Snímek obrazovky 2023-01-10 2239312.png](///raw/31e/8/z/56009.png)

But still it is very good submission, good job guys.
🎤 Daxic
10. Jan 2023 · 21:53 UTC
@richard-jedlicka Thank you for your feedback, its always hard for us to decide the correct difficulty for GameJam game but I hope we are getting better and better.

There are small green plus buttons next to the stats in LEVEL UP panel, so just click on one of the plus buttons and game will continue.
Richard Jedlicka
10. Jan 2023 · 22:03 UTC
@daxic Ah, thanks I didn't realize that, it is not so obvious, maybe mention it in the description. I'm going to try it again.

EDIT: Yeah, now it is even more fun, I was fighting most of the time :D
shimmerscale
11. Jan 2023 · 03:27 UTC
I love the artwork! The game is very intuitive and fun to play. I liked how each move in the forest was like its own minigame. The game was enjoyable and well polished.
LDJam user 221750
11. Jan 2023 · 07:40 UTC
Very good game! It feels really polished, and art style is so nice and moody. My only neat pick is that leveling up UI is a bit unreadable, at first I thought the game bugged and had to restart... And it took me a while to see the '+' buttons near the stats. I was surprised how short it was, but for a jam it's better short than stretched! I could really see it being developed into something more, with resource management and more mechanics... Great job!
LDJam user 221750
11. Jan 2023 · 07:44 UTC
Also big respects for audio level sliders in the menu, so many jam games suffer from being too loud/quiet!
cappa_games
11. Jan 2023 · 20:03 UTC
Great art work, great music, great gameplay...everything was great! It's inspiring to see that such a polished game can be created in just 3 days!
Bowen
12. Jan 2023 · 03:28 UTC
Really cool!!!!!!!
benderson
12. Jan 2023 · 07:17 UTC
Good job boys, I'm really glad I can work with you in same office ! :D
Big Cyckos
13. Jan 2023 · 13:41 UTC
Yoooo soo cool!! Visuals are sweet, writing has got some humourous depth and I really like it. Gameplay is fire, so fresh. Wish it was more challenging, and it definitely has potential for some more mechanics. The game is possible to beat without getting into fights and I think that most people will beat it that way for the first time (at least i did during my first playthrough), maybe add some herbs only obtainable through fighting? Anyway, that's the first game I'm like https://watch.whatevertinfoil.de/watch?v=ioPt1dY6Pyc in overall on this jam, amazing job !!!
cat chef
13. Jan 2023 · 18:54 UTC
Wow, one of the most beautiful games I've played in the jam! You packed a lot of content, and I agree that I wish it was more difficult, but nonetheless an enjoyable experience.

One thing I was confused about was the items, why don't you get to keep them throughout the run? I wish they had more impact on the game, like maybe the eye lets you see thorn cards, or the scythe lets you pick more than 5 cards, etc... just wish there was a bit more strategy there. I think out of all the games I've played, this one makes me feel the most like I want to experience development of the game which speaks a lot to its promise!
🎤 Daxic
13. Jan 2023 · 20:14 UTC
@cat-chef Thank you for your feedback, we are now researching option to extend some ideas from our game into the full game. The scythe and other items are increasing the amount of card that you can harvest, the idea with eye spotting the thorns sounds really good.
IndivisibleParticles
13. Jan 2023 · 22:34 UTC
This game is awesome, I love the art style, music, gameplay, it was also funny. I would like if it was a bit longer, I could stand if the cure bar would fill a little bit slower :D. Are you planning on extending the game after the jam?
🎤 Daxic
13. Jan 2023 · 22:37 UTC
@indivisibleparticles Thank you! Yes we are thinking about making it into the full mobile game with some additional gameplay mechanics.
renrok
14. Jan 2023 · 17:42 UTC
Fun game! The way it's structured reminded me of Loop Hero a little. A bit short though, a agree that the cure meter could be rebalanced to take longer.

Art looks great, but I feel like it was lacking readability - everything is a bit too uniform, both in color and detail.

Encountered a bug in web version that would make the game unresponsive after winning a battle (tried on Firefox and Brave).

Nice job overall!
vidarn
14. Jan 2023 · 20:36 UTC
This was a great entry, I liked it a lot. I would have gladly played more. Wonderful graphics, the colors are just gorgeous! And the music fit perfectly. The mechanics were at a good complexity level while still being quite deep. Great job!