Ghouls & Grimoires by Liam
A tower defence game with a singular tower and a wizard with a spell collection as the upgrades. Every time the tower is destroyed by the ghouls, upgrade your spells and then go back in time to try again. Unlock new spells, defeat more waves each time to get to the end and experiment with builds.

- Control the Collector with your mouse, this collects mana dropped from defeated enemies
- Four types of mana exist: Fire, Water, Earth and Air
- When you fill the bar, you will only get the currency (Mana Crystals) of the largest amount, so try to avoid collecting Water mana if you want Fire crystals

- The game saves your progress, you can reload and return later, full refunds are available to adjust purchases when upgraded. You can delete the save file from the Options screen at the start.
The wizard in the tower casts spells automatically
Fireballs always aim at the nearest enemy
- Frostbolts slow the ghouls down
- Rockblasts fire over and hit multiple enemies at once
- Tornados hit every enemy they pass through

The Collector ratio upgrade increases the amount of mana you must pick up before converting to crystals but gives you a better rate: you start out at 5 to 1, level 2 upgrade gives 10 mana drops to 3 crystals.
Known issues: the mana filters don't work, don't buy them. The fireball burn upgrade and rock area upgrades do nothing as well.
Thanks for playing, bit of a rough one this time round, definitely bit off more than I could chew in the time!
| GitHub | https://github.com/hawkstein/ludum-dare-58-collector |
| Link | https://hawkhelm.itch.io/ghouls-and-grimoires |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/ghouls-grimoires |
Ratings
| Overall | 338th | 3.591⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 228th | 3.614⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 522th | 3.045⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 185th | 4⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 594th | 3.114⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 663th | 3.024⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 17🗳️ | 20🗨️ |
It would add so much if there was more sound effects. Imagine whirlwinds for tornado blasts, massive rock smashes, flames searing the face of the earth. Monsters dying in awe of your wizardry.
Overall very nice.
It's easy to understand the basics, but if you asked me what every upgrade that I bought does, I wouldn't be able to tell. 😁 Maybe some descriptions and clarifications would help, there is a lot of empty space in the UI to add them.
Also, a bit more enemy variety would improve the game, I think. Or maybe a day/night cycle with some waves during daytime and some waves during nighttime.
I’m playing the web version, and aside from the start game button on the main screen and the sound when successfully collecting crystals, there’s no other music or sound effects. ...