LudumData

Scrab the Scrabbler by schadocalex

[raw]
made by schadocalex for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

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🎮 How to play:

  • Collect fishes
  • Make words with them
  • Score big points
  • Dive deeper

🙏 External assets:

The palette is mostly https://lospec.com/palette-list/cormorant14

Sounds : - Waves ambience sound : https://pixabay.com/fr/sound-effects/ocean-waves-250310/ - Breath : - https://pixabay.com/fr/sound-effects/big-bubbles-on-water-73461/ - « Le bruit d'un plongeur respirant en nageant dans la mer ou l'océan en profondeur » : https://sounddino.com/fr/search/?s=plongeur+respire - Shot : - « Balancer une matraque en bambou à l'entraînement » : https://sounddino.com/fr/effects/baton/ - https://lasonotheque.org/bouchon-de-champagne-s0211.html - Click on letters : « Short deaf click of the zoom key » : https://sounddino.com/fr/search/?s=récif - Score : https://pixabay.com/fr/sound-effects/cash-register-purchase-87313/

Post-jam fixes:

  • Added French dictionary (ask for others!)
  • Fixed some bonuses & maluses bugs & values
  • Displayed inputs in-game
  • Added a button to restart the run
  • Fixed a level with too many crabs
  • Added the die reason
  • Lower boss score a bit. A second time on 4/10

👨‍👨‍👦 Credits

  • @TobaccoLeopard
  • @Erilhir
  • @shadocalex
  • @Kerdelos
  • @Tyrannas
Link https://github.com/get-shwifty/LD57
Link https://kerdelos.itch.io/scrab-the-scrabbler
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scrab-the-scrabbler

Ratings

Overall 105th 4.022⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Fun 124th 3.878⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 32th 4.222⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 308th 3.886⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 225th 4.089⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 372th 3.372⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 331th 3.071⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 384th 3.648⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 51🗨️

Feedback

maneesh
08. Apr 2025 · 02:18 UTC
Love the vibes of the game. Cute art style. I am going to be playing it a lot more
Pilarius
08. Apr 2025 · 15:17 UTC
Great Game! Feels like a nice mixture of scrabble, balatro and dave the diver. Balancing the search for more letters and thus points while having a time limit is fun. I like the interactive main menu which kind of works like a tutorial and the atmosphere of the game.
One usability suggestion: When writing a word could you grey out the used letters and remove them only when submitting it? Having a word in mind and constantly reshuffling letters and searching for them while typing is a bit annoying. Overall great entry!
buckmeister
08. Apr 2025 · 21:34 UTC
I like the idea, very novel! There are some improvements to UI which would be very helpful - marking letters and not shuffling them, as well as adding a simple tutorial level with a single short word to teach the mechanics. Overall pretty nice game!
nojoule
08. Apr 2025 · 21:38 UTC
Went all in on all crab build, didn't get enough crabs one round lol
RaineShadow
08. Apr 2025 · 21:40 UTC
Really different and interesting kind of game. Really enjoyed it once I figured out how to make the words.
Tori
08. Apr 2025 · 21:51 UTC
Heyyyy les françaissss ♥

Bon meilleur jeu, parce qu'on joue un renard. Mais vraiment j'aime tout, le concept est vraiment cool, c'est bien équilibré, le gamejuice est quand même vachement satisfaisant pour un jeu de jam, fin c'est hyper clean comme entrée et c'est bien fun, bravo a toute l'équipe
Hurp
08. Apr 2025 · 21:53 UTC
Cool concept, had fun playing! Wassnt quite able to reach the objective for the boss level, maybe if I knew bigger words. Good job! :D
OrdiNeu
08. Apr 2025 · 23:33 UTC
Incredibly fun! My only complaint is that it wasn't really clear that the red spots were going to be negative-only spots... I woulda avoided them had I known. Beat the game though, very fun!
bartholomheow
08. Apr 2025 · 23:33 UTC
Really cool example of mixing things to get a new thing! I really like the art and music too.
JamesGames1000
08. Apr 2025 · 23:45 UTC
This was such a cool idea and a great game well done. This is truly one of a kind.
Xeridian
09. Apr 2025 · 00:17 UTC
Loved the game!! The colors and the game mechanics were amazing and had a lot of fun!

Although was a little confused at the start as to what i had to do when i saw the map. Clicked on all the nodes and then realized we gotta start with the fishes on top. And they're even pulsing, so its my bad, I was on a tiny screen and missed it.
mr_mesmer
09. Apr 2025 · 00:44 UTC
Wow, one of the best game I played in jam. Good game design. Add Russian dictionary, please.
Andreadbx
09. Apr 2025 · 01:24 UTC
Wtf, a ROGUELIKE SCRABBLE GAME??!??! this is genius, one of the best game-concepts i've seen in a jam!
Rose
09. Apr 2025 · 02:08 UTC
Really impressive entry! There's a lot of potential in the roguelike Scrabble combo. For me the time limit and fishing mechanic detracted from being able to fully enjoy the puzzle/roguelike aspect - I kept missing and then having to wait for the arrow to land on the other side of the map. But I do appreciate the fresh mechanic of collecting letters and the tie to the jam theme!
ThomasTournoys
09. Apr 2025 · 02:29 UTC
Really nice game, I love to see the Balatro inspiration, the last level is a bit challenging, I died a lot and one time it crashed on me, but it's a really fun concept, love to see more of it
rack47
09. Apr 2025 · 03:29 UTC
This is a cool, unique idea! The graphics are charming, the music is fitting, and the gameplay is fun. It's somewhat difficult because I kept running out of consonants.
KeithSwanger
09. Apr 2025 · 03:31 UTC
Very interesting combination of mechanics and very nice art! The fish seem to stop spawning after a certain point, I ran out of air before I could make any more words, and my debuffs made the fish I got impossible to score with. I suppose that's the nature of roguelikes, though! I enjoyed my time, nice job.
LDJam user 245740
09. Apr 2025 · 04:44 UTC
Man, I wish I were good enough at words for the last level, it was quite the jump in points! But a fun idea and the diver was so cute. I didn't run into any errors and it played smoothly as well.
LyaMgtt
09. Apr 2025 · 13:34 UTC
Really fun word game and art is great, well done !
Playrea
09. Apr 2025 · 15:52 UTC
Great submission. Nice choice to combine these mechanics! Graphic and audio is very cute. Most of all I love to see how the camera follow the arrow haha :)
Kerdelos
09. Apr 2025 · 16:35 UTC
Thanks everyone for the nice words :)

@andreadbx & @rose If you liked the Scrabble/Balatro combo (and wished you could play the game without stressing over the oxygen), I'd advise you to look into Wordatro, it was one of our inspiration for this game !
Yanzhi
09. Apr 2025 · 17:07 UTC
amazing game with so much potential, enjoyed playing it a lot! the only issue i had was that i couldnt see what i aimed at (skill issue on my end maybe), but preferably i would want to be able to pan around to see where the letters were
5huNo.3
09. Apr 2025 · 20:19 UTC
Such a charming and unique game! Loved the art and the gameplay. The pastell colours sure made the game feel more relaxing to play.

There were mulitple times I struggled to get enough points to proceed to the next level. because there were no fishes left to capture. Wish there was a way to restart just the level and not the whole game. Maybe it would have given me more of a chance to try different words than I've used previously, to get enough points. If the case is that the letters appears randomly in each level/map. Nevertheless, this is really great work for a jam. Well done!
moonlightbomber
10. Apr 2025 · 00:16 UTC
A nice game, but I wish there are respawning creatures, because searching for them, especially in the final stage, is a pain in the rear.
Monogatari
10. Apr 2025 · 01:54 UTC
The idea of a rogue lite - scrabble is really nice and works well, i had a fun time finding the good fishes to do better words, also the upgrade system is fun and offer inventive upgrades (or tough downgrades sometimes hahaha). Music fits perfectly and the sound design is pleasant. Oh and the arts are so cute !!
braktheman
10. Apr 2025 · 16:26 UTC
A lot of games with the "roguelite deckbuilder" feel to them out there but you all found an interesting and unique take on it. Really enjoy word games and wish more people would take a chance on making them.

I think some small tweaks could be done here or there and it would take me a few runs to really start putting to memory what the builds are fully capable of, but I think this is a fantastic start! Just works and feels good and is cohesive as an entire game.

Great job team! Please keep making stuff like this!
Shirac
10. Apr 2025 · 16:27 UTC
The idea is very original and playing the game was fun. Thank you!
Scott R Howell
10. Apr 2025 · 18:57 UTC
Really nice work! An odd mash up of themes to be sure but I enjoyed it and got stuck right in, the graphics are cute, the music and sound are sweet, and the concept is wholely novel!
betovf
12. Apr 2025 · 08:52 UTC
Nice entry! Quite fun and polished. A leaderboard would have been great :smile: This is my final score:

![Photos_TKdHYWSsOo.png](///raw/79f/33/z/6c0c7.png)

Good job, guys!
Mireyu
12. Apr 2025 · 12:02 UTC
The game is very fun to play. I like the concept combination of wordatro with the additional time aspect and alignment ot the gamejam theme.
Fractal
12. Apr 2025 · 17:01 UTC
Very nice and original concept! I didn’t manage to finish because the game froze somehow, though.
Borabee
15. Apr 2025 · 18:32 UTC
Pretty cool genre mix you got here! The letters on top of sea animals are adorable!! The bonuses and onuses are clever and well though out. The only thing that bugged me a bit was having to worry about the oxygen running out, cause I think in these types of word games and also card games where you have to calculate your options based on how many points you will get, it's nice to be able to take your time and think of a strategy. I don't think the time pressure is a good addition to this experience.
abcdef65g
22. Apr 2025 · 03:36 UTC
Cool scrabble game, very genre-defying! Some of the skills could use balancing, and I think it would be good if getting a skill related to a sea animal increased the odds of finding them in the next areas. The final area could have used some extra letters too, I couldn't reach the objective even with the lowered score, haha.

I enjoyed the base gameplay loop, and the addition of both EN and FR dictionaries! Great work!