Introduction:

As I've mentioned in my few blog posts and in my game page, this was my first Ludum Dare. But not only was it my first LD, it was my first time "finishing" a project to a standard that I felt was acceptable. I had previous entered one game jam before this on itch.io (it was a "Square Jam" where all art had to be made using squares) that was a tower defense game. The version submitted to the jam didn't even work after about the third wave and was based fairly heavily on YouTube tutorials.

That's why I was so determined to make and finish something for this jam - and to do it in time to submit it for the Compo. I had looked at the themes about an hour beforehand and wasn't particularly excited about this one. But when it was selected, it took me about all of 30 minutes to decide that I wanted to make a card game, where the cards were limbs/body parts that you could sacrifice to cast spells and such. That much I thought I could accomplish, but everything else was ambitious.

What Worked:

Deck control: Not only did I get the deck to work the way I wanted to, I was able to give it a little flair with a card flip mechanic. Getting it to draw cards turned out to be a slightly bigger hassle but I found a solution that worked about as well as I hoped. I also made it able to possible to "steal" limbs from enemies through the Siphon spell.

What I would change: There were a couple things that I would have liked to add but either ran out of time or didn't get to work. A Hearthstone like randomized selection at the beginning of the round, a bonus card for winning the stage, and potentially more logical balancing (how can you still sacrifice fingers if you've already used the hand cards?) There was also a regeneration card that is in the source code, but never implemented that I would have liked to include but never could decide how to balance.

Spells: I was able to come up with a couple spells that I thought fit the game and were able to use them all to their intended effect.

What I would change: Well - a lot. For starters, there was supposed to be a leveling system that unlocked spells as you went along and made them more powerful. For instance, only the firebolt and shuffle spells would be unlocked at the start, and the more you leveled up the three basic skills, the more you would unlock. This somewhat exists in the code but wasn't working and was scrapped at about 8:30pm. It would have been no fun to play a game with only 2 spells and the other 4 arbitrarily locked. There would also be tiered versions of the existing spells that I would have included. For instance - firebolt level 2 would be stronger, and level 3 would be an AoE spell. Each level costing more essence than the previous.

Enemies & Level Design: I was able to get different types of enemies, for three basic stages that you could replay.

What I would change: Again, this was another area where I simply ran out of time. I never play tested any of the enemies outside of the first stage so I have no idea how fair they are afterwards. I also wanted a slightly longer stage selector. Maybe like six levels that branch out and lead to a final boss, kind of like FTL. I also would have liked to give them attack animations and attack one at a time, not just as a group each turn.

Other: Art and sound are two areas I have little experience. I would have loved to make better sprites and animations but that is just not my strong suit. Also would have liked to make some sort of backgrounds - not just flat colors. Same with music. I was able to use some midi generators that I thought sounded okay but would ideally like to learn how to do some basic composition.

Also, as far as I am aware - there are no unexpected crashes or game breaking bugs. The only bug I know of is sometimes the enemy sprite color change doesn't reset after the end of a turn.

Conclusion:

This was an absolute load of fun, and I would love to do it again next time if I have the time. I actually felt proud of what I was able to come up with in 48 hours, and the general support and feedback I have gotten from the community has been fantastic. I've already reached the 20 feedback mark in all but one category (not humor, but I didn't try to make this funny so that's not a big deal) but would love to have some more. If you have a few minutes, please give it another shot.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/bloodmage-human-sacrifice