Bruises and Battles
Web version is currently at 2.5.3
You are the manager of this misfit party of adventures who fight waves of monsters threatening the town. Throughout the battles your party will gain morale and you can use that morale to convince them to do various actions. The player can shape the town to their liking by placing buildings where they see best fit.
The theme for GMTK Game Jam - 2020 was "Out of Control". I expanded on a rough idea of an RPG game that you were not in control of the battles. That gave birth to this game where you are a manager of a party of demons who are racing to be the fastest to beat six unique troops of enemies. If you do achieve this, make sure to comment on your Proof of Completion, and I will try to keep the high score in the description.
Features:
- A completely new twist on the RPG genre, by having you act solely as a manager of the party
- Balancing the Health, Energy, and Morale while trying to fight six unique troops
- Full Tutorial in-game
- Manual High Score via the comments
- Classic RPG Maker Menus
There are some custom songs and sound effects thanks to Forrest Z. Shooster; a list can be found below of the use and file song name.
- Title Music - Endurance Battle Tune
- Battle1 Music - Slower Battle
- Battle2 Music - Faster Battle
- Menu Music - Menu
- Shop Music - Shop
- Cursor Sound Effect - Menu Switch
- Cursor Confirm Sound Effect - Menu Select
- Buzzer Sound Effect - Denied
- Damage Appear Sound Effect - Hurt
- Purchase Sound Effect - Shop Buy
- Battle Victory Sound Effect - Victory
- Battle Defeat Sound Effect - Lose
- Town of Nowhere -
Current HighScores (✔ means verified)
- McFood - Time 0:20:55 [Battles - 13] ✔ - Version 1.2.2
- SaplingArcher - Time 0:47:22 [Battles - 23] ✔ - Version 1.2.2
- Gregory Tryee - Time 1:13:55 [Battles - 38] ✔ - Version 1.2.2
FAQs
1. My phone is having issues with double-tap?
A. This is a known issue with some phones, sorry please use a computer or a different phone.
2. How do I get included in the high scores?
A. First, must beat the game and take a screenshot of either the credit scroll or the Proof of Completion dialog box. Second, leave a comment with that image and the name you would like in the high score table.
3. I have a bug/feature request, how do I submit it?
A. You can always reach me at ransomgmtk2020@gmail.com
4. I am stuck in the options menu, how do I get out?
A. B Button, X key or Escape or Numpad 0, Right-clicking or Two fingers tap
5. The view on my phone is so small, how to I rotate it?
A. Rotate your phone and then hit the rotate button, on my phone specifically I have pull up the menu option and then on the right hand side it will show a little symbol that rotate the phone.
More of SirLegna stuff can be found at https://discord.gg/9mJCk7S
Download
Development log
- Changelog of 2.5.2Aug 10, 2020
- Post GMTK release and Postmortem.Jul 27, 2020
Comments
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The idea is cool but not the execution. They have games where you are the manager of a team but you still do stuff during the game. Thats what this is missing. You should have to coach your team during battle and hope they do good not just watch.
Thank you for your comment. The idea was you would manipulate the team outside of the battles, and then inside the battles, you see how good your work was.
Ok, I didn't get too far into that as my guy kept getting into battles and I lost patience. Still cool idea, was just think of a RPG style fighting game but you are the manager of a team or something. Definitely interesting take.
Yeah, that was a very tough balance in making that game. Didn't want the player to have full control over when they fight, but didn't want them to get too bored waiting for the next battle to occur
I think the game has a lot of potential, but not having played a lot of RPG lately I had a really hard time figuring out the controls, even with the tutorial. There's a lot of information going on at the same time in the beginning. I would focus a bit more on the learning curve and entry, rather than complexity at this moment since the game seems to have a lot of features as it is!
Improve the first time user experience a bit and I think you will have a really good prototype! Keep up the great job!
Yeah this latest iteration was focusing on the learning curve. Hopefully we can fine tune it, the issue is due to the lack of control without battles it hard to slow the pace down. If you have any suggest I would love to hear them.
Yea, Use Yanfly battlecore to add a few frames before and after attacks or something so the entire battle isn't just one long smack combo.
i think there is some bugs with going to the menu and i can't move besides that it is ok
You move within the menu or move your character only through the menu?
i couldn't move my character in game i couldn't take them places the other issue was after the first battle i couldn't open the menu
So to move your characters you use the menu -> Use Morale -> Character -> Movement.
Could you open the menu prior to the first battle?
yes I could open it
Strange... What system were you playing on?
i picked Hiyo Nolabe was my number 1 then we had Uli Sakaya in third slot we got Wizry Nama finally but not least we have Keen Gowed are these good names
The starting concept can be nice, but it should be implemented a bit more into the gameplay. You should give more control over the game as, as it is now, the game play itself and it become boring after short time. If the party manager(player) can actually manage the party, like giving them missions to achieve or some sort of guidance it would become a much more enjoyable experience.
Just to verify you had the full experience, did you use morale in the menu?
Yeah, but it didn't really work, as after I gave the instruction to go to the general store multiple times nothing actually happened. It would be nice to set some markers of where they are going after you give those commands, so player can see that the instruction was actually given.
Thank you, up I found that being a common issue after uploading. I got a fix now. Hopefully it will be helpful.
Yo’ Templar here, while the idea of managing the party is fun, sadly there’s really nothing much to do but watch everything unfold, I know it was a take in the GMTK theme, but there’s more that can be done when it comes to managing while still leaving the movement and fighting automatic, for example, gathering materials from enemies and crafting items with it, stats and skill builds, extra characters you can switch in and out of the party (while leaving the main character -hero- in it at all times to make it a sort of pillar you must always work to improve).
Being a kind of manager sounds cool, but giving the game no pause between fights turned my playthroughs into auto-played disasters. By the point any of my party members visited a single location successfully, the game was a series of battle after battle after battle with no possibility of even pausing to pull up the menu between fights (let alone visit another store). It was impossible to manage. Having seperate towns and caves/dungeons make a lot more sense to me, but I'm not the designer.
I felt frustrated that there was no bar to show the morale at all times like there is for health and energy. It was just as important to the player, being it's how players even improve energy levels.
So, it queue fights upon contact with enemies. So, if you are having battle after battle with no break in between that means your party members must be repeatedly close to enemies. You should if no battle are queued able to bring up the menu. If that not the case, please tell me. I thinking I should maybe instead handle the battle differently because it can be overwhelming, however I only ever had maybe 3-4 battles back to back, so it wasn't horrible.
The lack of morale bar in the menu was a design choice, which I get a lot of hate for... plan to add future aspect to provide some benefits. But the idea was the morale is in the battle only so you have a reason to watch the battles. With the morale bar being in the menu, you could easily skip the battle entirely and just catch up on the changes in the menu at the end of every battle.
Good idea for the theme, and the execution works well. I'll write more details on the Jam page.
Updating now, should be up to date within the next 10 minutes or so, have to edit the header and stuff on the image :)
I don't know how to message you or anything. But the latest version out if you want to try to get a high score on it.
https://prnt.sc/tiebss Pretty great game! Not sure what the verification code does, or if i should be posting it here... XD
Yep, you did perfect! I will update the information right away
I hope you enjoyed it!
I did :D Tbh i was mostly glad that the game didn't count the time i was asleep about half-way through the game XD That would have completely destroyed my run.
I also got pretty lucky with my spawns; By the 10th battle i was searching for the final boss. .-.
I guess that is a bug I will have to find. But very nice exploit lol
? Exploit? .-. i thought the spawns were randomized and i got lucky .-.
I was saying the exploit with the time not running in the menu. That is my fault for not checking if time was running in the menu screens.
I fail to see what the game part is in this "video game"
So you can use the Morale points to manage the character energy levels and the Gold to purchase and use items and equipment to better them.
Imagine you are a manager to the party of characters.
I imagine myself playing a better game.
I am sorry you don't like it.
Good presentation though.
Thank you.
Still better than RAID shadow legends idk
Overall a bit too reliant on rng but its a good idea for a game
Cannot disagree for this current version. If I take the concept further after this jam, I hope to tie those rng elements down to internal variables.
Please also rate on https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2020/rate/695677
Thank you, oh, and leave comments I would love to talk to you all about your thoughts!