Ludum Dare 54 Games

Ludum Dare 54 was last month. The voting is over, and I wanted to share some stuff I liked from it.

* https://koboldskeep.itch.io/back-to-reality – I made this for Ludum Dare 54 with https://www.artstation.com/animatrix1490 and https://www.gallantknightgames.com/ . BACK TO REALITY is a game about scrambling to collect your quantum clones and enough seats for your spaceship while a black hole eats away the space in the level.

* https://ahchoo.itch.io/stretchmancer – Stretchmancer, a fully voice-acted puzzle-platformer where you bend the world around you to escape prison.

* https://aurail.us/ld54/index.html – Less Is Moore by Aurailus, a puzzle game about building phones.

* https://nozomu57.itch.io/feng-shui-struggles – Feng Shui Struggles, a game about moving heavy furniture in cramped rooms.

* https://mediflect.itch.io/roomgun – Roomgun, a game about shooting stuff in tight spaces.

* https://graebor.itch.io/crystalline – Crystalline, a puzzle game about matching gems together that has some interesting depth.

* https://sunbirdstudio.itch.io/prickle – Prickle, a puzzle game about attaching hedgehogs together and rotating them to fit through mazes.

* https://torcado.itch.io/windowkill – Windowkill, a clever use of the Win32 window resizing API.

Not part of Ludum Dare, but this is a neat demo I liked:

* https://store.steampowered.com/app/2179850/Cobalt_Core/ – Cobalt Core is an upcoming sci-fi deckbuilder roguelike where your ship’s position and shape matters as much as the cards you draw. It’s made by Rocket Rat Games, creators of Sunshine Heavy Industries. It’s out November 8th.

Timed Hits Prototype

Recently I’ve been prototyping a timed hits RPG. It has no art, but it demonstrates the intended core mechanics quite well. Click here to play it.

This is a unique subgenre of the JRPG genre, so to help explain it I’ve embedded a video of one of the more refined examples made by Nintendo.

Combat in the game is turn-based and fairly standard for eastern role-playing games, but it has a unique twist. Each attack performed by the player or enemies has a quick-time event associated with it. The player can use well-timed button presses to increase the party’s damage, and also decrease the damage taken from enemy attacks. Continue reading