Celestial Summoner by mollusk

[raw]
made by mollusk for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

*See continued progress on itch.io! https://unbrandedgames.itch.io/celestial-summoner *

Summon minions on the celestial plane to defeat the onslaught of incoming monsters!

Screenshot 2024-04-15 at 11.39.51 AM.png

Collect mana crystals to get new powers to summon new minions!

Screenshot 2024-04-15 at 11.38.07 AM.png

How to Play

Your quest is to defeat the waves of celestial enemies and collect all the mana crystals they leave behind! If enemies reach you, you will lose health. When your health reaches 0, it's game over.

  • Move
    • Left Stick (Xbox controller)
    • w/a/s/d
  • Summon powers instantly with
    • X (Xbox controller)
    • Left Mouse click
  • Summon more powerful minions by channelling
    • Hold A (Xbox controller)
    • Hold Right Click

Choose a new ability on power up!

  • When enough crystals have been collected, you get a power up and the option to choose a new ability
    • Select with movement controls
    • Confirm selection with
    • Start (xbox controller)
    • Enter Key

Windows Getting Started

  • Download zip from this page
  • Unzip the file downloaded
  • navigate into the folder and run ld55.exe

Tools

  • Unity/C#
  • Aseprite
  • sfxr (https://sfxr.me/)
  • Korg Electribe

Known issues

  • (HTML5) UI elements dont always scale correctly in some browsers
  • (HTML5) GamePad does not work properly in all browsers

Ratings

Overall 440th 3.7⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 254th 3.814⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 921th 2.986⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 425th 3.871⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 633th 3.671⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Audio 437th 3.471⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Humor 485th 3.206⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Mood 562th 3.571⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Given 45🗳️ 55🗨️

Feedback

jan5366x
15. Apr 2024 · 21:55 UTC
If the rats touch you at the start ... there is a proper feedback missing if this is good or bad .. I was confused at the beginning but after this it made fun and worked good
LocksmithArmy
15. Apr 2024 · 22:35 UTC
Takes a second, but once you get it its fun. good work :)
Fataljg
15. Apr 2024 · 22:42 UTC
I don't know how you can loose but I really love the rat art !
phost.dll
15. Apr 2024 · 23:03 UTC
I use to hate spiders, until I meet this xD I loved the music btw, super catchy.
LDJam user 261538
16. Apr 2024 · 03:34 UTC
fun neon colors and I like the bgm. What are those rats doing in space? Haha but yeah this was fun :) I was able to walk off screen though, and enemies chased me down there.
breadstick
16. Apr 2024 · 05:17 UTC
A great little survivors-like! I really enjoyed the glow/bloom effect; it made me think of the way an old CRT screen would light up next to brighter pixels. It was an enjoyable loop of trying out different ability/summon combos, though I think I found an unbeatable pair in witch+fireball. I stood in the center of a cloud of spidery, exploding death until it was clear I would literally never die.

Still, breaking systems is most of the fun of survivorslike games. Nicely done!
crushedsummers
16. Apr 2024 · 07:15 UTC
I really felt like a summoner who got powerful overtime. The fire powerup is insanely OP but fun at the same time
LDJam user 390834
16. Apr 2024 · 08:05 UTC
I love the art combination! Well done
Brandsma
16. Apr 2024 · 11:01 UTC
Fun to play for a bit. Is missing a bit of a challenge and could do with a good balancing. fireball and witch upgrade make you invincible. Fun game though!
LDJam user 337598
16. Apr 2024 · 11:08 UTC
Now I will take a nap

![Capture.PNG](///raw/eb6/25/z/6392e.png)
crylica
16. Apr 2024 · 11:58 UTC
Fun entry to the survivors-like genre :) It's a bit hard to tell which power up you have selected, it would be nice if it was more clear like the selected icon had a white outline? The game is a bit easy but it means you get to see all the upgrades and summons so thats nice. The game would feel more responsive if there was an animation for getting hit + some screenshake. Great job overall though, the bloom effects are really nice.
UmU Dev
16. Apr 2024 · 13:31 UTC
Enjoyed my time with the game, for some reason the witches didn't spawn when I picked them which is a bit of a shame.
Good job!
Pierre CILLUFFO
16. Apr 2024 · 15:46 UTC
Simple and effective even if the audio lacks polish
LDJam user 99418
16. Apr 2024 · 16:42 UTC
Playing on keyboard with movement bound to WASD and select bound to ENTER was really arrgavating, because I'd have to leave the move keys or the mouse to click enter. If rebound to SPACE I think the UX would be much better. Over all fun tho!
🎤 mollusk
16. Apr 2024 · 19:16 UTC
@jan5366x @LocksmithArmy @Fataljg @phost-dll @amberfall92 @breadstick @crushedsummers @simontzky @brandsma @aznoqmous @crylica @umu-dev @pierre-cilluffo @kallico

Thanks to everyone who played and Rated, and especially thanks to those above who commented with feedback!
I'll be making changes based on some of the great feedback you left.

> the rats touch you at the start … there is a proper feedback missing - @jan5366x

> The game would feel more responsive if there was an animation for getting hit + some screenshake. - @crylica

I totally agree and the next feature I'll implement is feedback for getting hit. Screen shake is a great suggestion I can't believe I didn't already include it!

> I found an unbeatable pair in witch+fireball - @breadstick

> The fire powerup is insanely OP - @crushedsummers

> fireball and witch upgrade make you invincible. - @brandsma

Glad everyone had fun with the fireball! Definitely agree the weapons need some balancing!

Right now I think the fireball is so powerful its the only viable weapon when you get far enough (like around 50k mana or so). A future version will have more viable weapons later on and better balance!

> I was able to walk off screen - @amberfall92

Always intended to fix this, but didn't get to it before submission time, thanks for your feedback!

> movement bound to WASD and select bound to ENTER was really arrgavating - @kallico

Totally valid, a future version will allow you to click on the selection instead of hitting 'enter', I think this would be better for keyboard/mouse players.

--

This is the list of changes I think need to be made for a future version.

1. It feels like the enemies don't increase in numbers fast enough at the beginning, and then when the numbers ramp up (around the time the bats start spawning), the increase is rapid... If you have the right weapons (e.g. fireball and witch) these masses are pretty easy to handle, if you don't you may die instantly. I think a smoother increase in enemy numbers would help the mid game feel a little more interesting.

2. The game feels a little zoomed in, A larger gameplay field would probably feel less cramped.

3. More spells and minions! The current set is fine for the time given to development but I envisioned lots of different kinds of weapons. And they should probably be balanced after a fireball nerf.

4. More enemies! The current list of enemies provides about 5 minutes of discovering new enemies. I think there should be dozens more enemy types that take a longer time playing to discover.

5. More visual indicators-- like a bar that shows channeling progress, some icons showing your current weapons, and a health bar instead of just a number in the top right

I had a great time making this game for Ludum Dare 55 and I'm really glad people are having fun with it!

Thanks again for the feedback!
Kirass
16. Apr 2024 · 22:58 UTC
I like this game! You guys are great!
Ismael Rodriguez
17. Apr 2024 · 01:19 UTC
Pure Solid Fun. Like another mentioned, the power up Hud was unclear and needs an arrow or an outline. It also seemed like some power ups didn't register. I wish the guns stacked instead of replacing each other. I had some OP skulls, but lost them because I picked some bug things. Great job overall!
Gorr
17. Apr 2024 · 06:28 UTC
Oh, good job. I like this art soo much. Music is great too. But I think viewport is a little broken. Half of the game I was playing without interface, because I can see it in fullscreen only. Firstly I thought that there is absolutely no ui
Nubels
17. Apr 2024 · 08:12 UTC
I really like the visuals and the audio! Well done.
Poutine Studio
18. Apr 2024 · 00:16 UTC
Good Job! I feel like I was a bit too easy. I wasn't able to see my health due to the screen size but I felt like I took many hits and didn't die so maybe enhance the difficulty. Other wise it's a great game!
Storeyware
18. Apr 2024 · 06:31 UTC
I like this game. It definitely has some tricks to it and could use some polish, but the art and music are great, and the gameplay loop is fun. I was trying to do an all spider build but I'm not sure if picking spiders every time boosts their abilities or if I'm just reselecting the spider power. Great work!
nikiprotiv
19. Apr 2024 · 21:23 UTC
The game has a wide variety of summonable minions, I especially liked the fireballs, and many people like them. I went off the screen, I still didn’t have enough statistics to understand whether everything was good or bad for me, but you have already noted that you will improve these points. So thanks for the game, it's very addictive!
BoroBoro
20. Apr 2024 · 19:32 UTC
Thought the game was easy at first... boy was I wrong :D
Really liked the many different summons, they were pretty unique and had their up and downsides, great job!
Saryah
21. Apr 2024 · 01:37 UTC
Really fun and solid entry. I'd like to see the font for the title and UI match the pixel graphics a bit more. Also as probably is already pointed out the power up selection screen needs a little tweaking to be a more obvious to the power up you're selecting and what button it applies to.
cheesepencil
23. Apr 2024 · 13:57 UTC
I think I had a bit over 300 when I died... All the sprites were wonderful, it got a little chaotic towards the end but it's kinda fun and I very much appreciate the gamepad support. I love that!
sKiiTTZz
03. May 2024 · 15:42 UTC
This game is pretty kool. Great work!!