Arcana Express by Joe Cowman

[raw]
made by Joe Cowman for Ludum Dare 53 (COMPO)

ld53_cover.png

You are a magical supplies merchant and have an urgent delivery in the nearby town. But you're not the only one who received the call--you'll have to race against other wizards who have their own ambitions.

Luckily, you know a variety of spells to help you get ahead of the competition. Just don't burn through all your supplies!

Play it Here!

How to Play

Use the Arrow Keys to run.

Select a Spell by pressing its corresponding Number Key.

To cast a spell, add the required materials by pressing the keys on display and then press Space.

ld53_demo1.png

Tips

Using a spell costs certain materials. If you run out of a material, you can't use it in other spells or sell it at the market!

Your final score is based on how many of the materials that were ordered you deliver to the market. And if you don't get there first, you don't get any points!


Find the patch changelog on Github.

Ratings

Overall 296th 3.192⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 279th 3.09⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 99th 3.692⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 317th 3.397⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 377th 2.551⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 148th 3.145⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Mood 326th 2.769⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 64🗨️

Feedback

Firespike33
01. May 2023 · 06:05 UTC
Hilarious idea for a game. Not bad.
Rustywolf
01. May 2023 · 06:11 UTC
Thematically, the idea of a bunch of wizards sprinting out to be the first to collect some flowers is great. I like the magicka-esque casting of having to type as well, I wish that system was used more. Nice work!
candlesan
01. May 2023 · 06:12 UTC
Very tricky game. Delivering before the other merchant opponents was very challenging. Trying to use arrow keys while also casting spells was very hard but I managed a few. The burst of speed was very useful.
khaotom
01. May 2023 · 06:22 UTC
Great concept! I think the spellcasting control work great on keyboard and feels good. I didn't read the instructions but got the hang of it after a few minutes of experimenting. It's a really fun little contest.
chlu
01. May 2023 · 06:35 UTC
After the first (failed) round I got the hang of it. Nice concept with the skill usage.
josemwarrior
01. May 2023 · 07:37 UTC
Very very good idea. I would have preferred the choice of casting the spell to be less complicated, as well as not to bump into the rocks while I'm trying to decide how to manage the resources, but very clever use of the theme.
LDJam user 299352
01. May 2023 · 09:23 UTC
Looks like fun and plays like fun. It's fun.
Kreshi
01. May 2023 · 09:27 UTC
The controls were a bit weird to get used to but all in all the game was nice.
dprings7
02. May 2023 · 01:09 UTC
Great idea for a game. Enjoyed when one of the other wizards almost immediately shot me, which left me out for blood. Rest assured I beat them all and made that delivery :smile:

Awesome work!
Jaxah
02. May 2023 · 14:36 UTC
A neat game with some unique spell methods in a sprint race. Nice!
acarc
02. May 2023 · 21:03 UTC
I've never wanted to be a wizard courier before - but now I do. Great game :)!
LDJam user 277876
03. May 2023 · 03:30 UTC
Really great job incorporating risk-reward in terms of the resource management affecting the scoring!
GinLuy
03. May 2023 · 06:48 UTC
I like this game. Really cool!
LDJam user 43351
03. May 2023 · 06:50 UTC
Really cool idea! I got very into it!!! The AI was suprisingly good too. The controls were easy to understand, and what each spell does. Great game! Well done! [7265641cd7a1d6f64899cba25db3045a.png](///raw/759/a/z/5af44.png)
dougggggg
03. May 2023 · 06:58 UTC
Fun game! The mechanics were really interesting--I liked the tradeoff between delivered ingredients and spell-casting, and casting spells by entering combos was fun (reminded me of Magicka). It was pretty hard--when I did win, I felt like it was because the AI just decided to turn around :). If you want to work on it more, I think the tradeoff would be interesting to explore further--are there disadvantages other than score to using resources the villagers want? Nice game overall, and a good interpretation of the theme!
clemall
03. May 2023 · 12:38 UTC
I like the idea and the risk of casting a spell with your left hand while moving with your right hand is genius.
It is a bit hard to keep track of what is coming toward you, the spell you have to cast and your amount of ressources but after couple of run you get used to it :laughing:
Really cool concept, good job :thumbsup:
LDJam user 178793
03. May 2023 · 17:11 UTC
Really neat spellcasting mechanic! Impressive AI and a fun submission. Nice!
hmrpf
04. May 2023 · 15:07 UTC
Pretty fun to play. Casting spells is hard, but I'm sure this is intended. Finished first but that was challeging, some audio could really add to the scene. Good job !
arya-s
04. May 2023 · 15:54 UTC
Neat little game! The casting system was interesting. I liked thta you could decide not to waste materials and wate for others to blow through rocks and then overtake them with a sprint.

Good job, congrats on submitting!
ToC
04. May 2023 · 16:09 UTC
I liked the concept, it reminded me a bit of Magicka. I wish I could cast the spell from memory, without having to press 1, 2 or 3 first. Beating it felt pretty satisfying, so good job on the difficulty!
StrangerYann
04. May 2023 · 17:21 UTC
that's pretty original --- I finished 1st and got a score of 1300 on my 4th attempt I think it was --- clearly you gotta juggle between powers 1 & 2 to finish 1st and to break boulders --- it's challenging but fresh --- I'd maybe try to start using keys on a keyboard that are in a cluster, to try to polish the UX --- might be the most original mechanic I've played so far --- good job :-) :sparkles:
Hakro
05. May 2023 · 11:33 UTC
I really liked the spells idea. It's quite hard to get it right in the first few tries because you're focusing on many things; But the concept is solid.
Graphics are simple and nice as well
Great entry !
PurpledArtFrog
05. May 2023 · 18:12 UTC
Nice and simple concept - good choice for something like a short game jam :smile: took me little while to figure out that you could blow up stones with a fireball.... :wink: .... but I got a level with 4 right next to each other... well .... fire away ...

Good job :thumbsup_tone1:
MAT4DOR
05. May 2023 · 21:45 UTC
I use a split keyboard without dedicated arrows so this was a nightmare for me with casting the spells, still managed to sneak in one win. Really cool idea.
StudioZyyt
06. May 2023 · 11:29 UTC
Pretty fun game, the controls were a bit clunky, but I assume that was by design.
Martta
06. May 2023 · 12:26 UTC
Very innovative spell casting mechanic! With little bit more polish this could be a great game!
Cinterre
06. May 2023 · 22:28 UTC
Cool concept. Would be interesting to see how it could be further developed, with more spells, different courses etc. Nice job!
LDJam user 280624
08. May 2023 · 14:35 UTC
I like the idea. Great job!
ThomasLebel
08. May 2023 · 17:24 UTC
I loved the mix between magicka's spell casting and speedrunner !
I read in an other comments about casting from memory, and that would be a really cool feature !
Great job :)
neonlare
10. May 2023 · 21:32 UTC
Took a little time to get used to, but the game eventually got underway and I basically became a speed-fiend with the speedup spell to clear the race. Dig the concept, definitely looks like something that'd be a good spring-board for a more developed concept later down the line. Love the work!
SleepyStudios
13. May 2023 · 19:44 UTC
Really difficult game but it works. The AI is actually pretty interesting to watch haha.
Pizzasgood
18. May 2023 · 21:39 UTC
This was hard but fun. I like the typing based spells, but I'd have enjoyed it more if all the letters were on the left side of the keyboard.