Collector's Curse by Memel06

[raw]
made by Memel06 for Ludum Dare 58 (COMPO)

intro-min (1).png You are Dr. Alexandria Thorne, the most renowned Egyptologist alive.

Years of desert wind and broken cartouches have led you here: the lost Chamber of Sutekh, whispered only as a warning in half-burnt papyri.

They spoke of the Collector's Curse,a hunger that binds every object you touch to you, until the weight of your treasures becomes the weight of your tomb.

But legends are for the fearful.

You prise the sarcophagus lid…

You don't believe in curses.

The curse believes in you.

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🎮 About The Game

Collector's Curse is a minimalist survival runner where your greatest enemy is your own greed.

Escape through three cursed floors of an ancient Egyptian tomb. Every treasure you touch binds to you permanently, slowing your escape. Collect too much, and the weight will bury you alive.

Can you escape with your treasures intact, or will you become another cautionary tale?

Web + Windows supported (Windows is better since WEB can lag a bit)

Genre

Endless runner / Survival / Roguelite


🕹️ Controls

Movement

  • W/S or ↑/↓ - Move up/down (dodge vertically)

  • A/D or ←/→ - left/right (go slower / faster)

How It Works

You move forward automatically. Items are auto-collected on touch and you cannot drop them until you reach the next floor.


Core Mechanics

The Curse

Every item you touch binds to you permanently and slows you down.

  • 0 items: Full speed

  • 30 items: DEATH - Buried by your burden ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker (1).gif

Victory Condition

Escape all three floors to win!

The final statistics screen shows:

  • Cursed Items Carried: How much treasure you escaped with

  • Final Speed: How fast (or slow) you were moving at the end


🏅 Challenge Yourself

I didn't have time to code achievements, but you can still challenge yourself!

  • Minimalist Run: Escape with fewer than 10 items

  • Hoarder Challenge: Escape with 25+ items

  • Perfect Balance: Finish each floor at exactly 29 items (1 away from death)


Good luck, Dr. Thorne. The tomb awaits.

Ratings

Overall 149th 3.155⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Fun 165th 2.914⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 153th 2.948⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 35th 4⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 154th 3.034⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Audio 18th 3.931⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Humor 98th 2.929⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 101th 3.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 28🗳️ 34🗨️

Feedback

coffeefly
Oct 05th · 20:51 UTC
我通关了!很精美的美术!主题意义也很深刻,触摸物品的句子很符合作品的深意,我很喜欢!
Martynas Dargis
Oct 05th · 21:19 UTC
Cool! Great music, too!
🎤 Memel06
Oct 05th · 21:28 UTC
Thanks @martynas-dargis , my Gibson SG Studio is happy to sing for my jams :)
DrEclair
Oct 05th · 21:31 UTC
Seems fun. really like the sound effects and the main saundtreck, it's lit!
bereg
Oct 05th · 22:24 UTC
The music rocks! It’s a really intriguing concept with lots of room to grow. Using the player’s greed as a narrative device sounds like a brilliant idea. Great game!
StaticRose
Oct 06th · 08:06 UTC
Agree on the music! Very good and really brings the feel of the game together. I also like the funny text pop ups a lot! Feels very cohesive.
osh.studio
Oct 06th · 08:10 UTC
Well done for making this in 48 hours for compo! I like the idea that they look like powerups / treasure but collecting them is actually not what you should do. I made it passed floor 2 but then it took me to the start, not sure if there was more floors.
plastus
Oct 06th · 10:31 UTC
The Music is FIRE :fire: :fire: :fire: We're getting out of the Tomb with this one :speaking_head:

But besides that: Great game!

I guess if I were to criticize anything it would be that you die immediately when you slow down to much :(

Maybe you could make it so that a complete slowdown is not possible? Would be less frustrating at least.

I really liked the vibe. I think all the themes worked really well together. The treasure to collect, the tomb, the atmosphere in general!

Keep up the good work! Great entry.
Nash
Oct 06th · 11:14 UTC
The music totally blew me away! It’s an awesome soundtrack for a jam game!

I especially loved how everything comes together. The game is simple, but the art style, sounds, and the overall vibe just vibe perfectly.

This is a really solid Compo entry!
Benjamin Gare
Oct 06th · 13:35 UTC
Great music. Art looks good. I noticed that the textures seems to gap a little on web.

Good work.
lazycoffeepanda
Oct 06th · 15:07 UTC
The music is amazing!
mdotedot
Oct 06th · 16:32 UTC
Good Game! Love it. But collecting was not really what was needed : You crushed !!! :D .. But you nailed all the other aspects of the entry! Well done
IndigoWolf
Oct 06th · 21:22 UTC
Simple but well made game. Felt polished, in particular that banger of a soundtrack!

I definitely misunderstood the goal originally though and collected as many items as possible XD
amirblum
Oct 06th · 21:46 UTC
Cute twist on the endless runner concept! Not sure why you called it a rogulite since there is nothing to upgrade. Would be cool if you could use the treasures to buy stuff so there is a risk reward of needing to pick them up but not wanting to be overly cursed. Good work!
debugman18
Oct 07th · 02:30 UTC
The weight mechanic is a fun take on the infinite runner.
coatline
Oct 07th · 03:56 UTC
Shoot! If you made that music in 48 hours, boy am I impressed! It's insane! The gameplay is alright. Not much depth. I do like the sense of mystery that I still get though; it's amplified by the messages that pop up when you collect items. Great job!
🎤 Memel06
Oct 07th · 07:18 UTC
Thank you @coatline. I actually managed to wrap the game up pretty fast and used all my spare time for the music since it's the jam part I enjoy the most :)
MorePixels
Oct 07th · 08:44 UTC
Fun game! I like the mechanic where the more collectables you get, the more they start to seem like obstacles! The gameplay is quite dynamic like that!
Would be fun if perhaps certain artifacts weighed more or less than others, or perhaps have different effects?
Very fun!
Yoav Kagan
Oct 07th · 16:55 UTC
very cool take on the theme! loved the art and music, great job!
cogcomp
Oct 07th · 20:54 UTC
Nice take and easy to grasp. I think the collision detection was a bit unfair, it could've been a bit more forgiving. Also it would've been cool to be able "slide" inbetween objects somehow as well.
designernap
Oct 07th · 20:55 UTC
Great entry and to echo the above comments, the music is fantastic on this!
Baluj
Oct 08th · 12:10 UTC
I liked the art and the sound. I found it enjoyable.
HolySparks
Oct 10th · 16:39 UTC
You made a fun twist with a handful of simple classic mechanics and it worked very well!
dasMaichen
Oct 12th · 20:06 UTC
Hahaha, in my first try, I collected the treasures and was cursed :D. I like the music a lot :)