Celestial Summoner by mollusk
*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!

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

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
| Link | https://github.com/zinkem/ld55 |
| itch.io | https://unbrandedgames.itch.io/celestial-summoner |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/celestial-summoner |
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🗨️ |
Still, breaking systems is most of the fun of survivorslike games. Nicely done!

Good job!
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!
Really liked the many different summons, they were pretty unique and had their up and downsides, great job!