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A jam submission

King of Deadlands (Early Demo Update 1.5)View game page

Mix of falling block puzzle, strategy and roguelite genres set in a fantasy world.

Submitted by Przemyslaw Jelonek (@KingOfDeadlands) — 16 hours, 18 minutes before the deadline

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King of Deadlands (Early Demo Update 1.5)'s itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Controls / UI	#10	4.357	4.357
Art / Graphics	#11	4.500	4.500
Sound/Music	#23	4.071	4.071
Overall Fun	#27	3.929	3.929

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

GrayBardGamingSubmitted335 days ago(+1)

OVERALL FUN:

1. I had a great time playing your game. I'm not a huge fan of puzzles, but you made Tetris fun for me. I love how you tied in combat to solving these puzzles... plus the annoying (but in a good way) spells the enemy would cast. Blackout was a pain, but I loved it LOL

ART/GRAPHICS:

1. This is the best part. Unique artwork, nice tile animations, and maps are decorated nicely. There's never too much going on. They look great!

2. Character artwork, portraits, and sprites look fantastic.

3. Item and card artwork is nicely done!

CONTROLS/UI:

1. Great tutorial. Easy to follow and understand.

2. Controls during exploration and puzzles were fluid.

3. I Love the UI for box maps and puzzle battles!

SOUND/MUSIC:

1. Great music and sound effects during puzzles and exploration. Well done.

2. There were never moments when the audio felt too high/low. It was well-balanced.

Submitted

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper335 days ago(+1)

Ah, thank you for taking the time to play and leave this comment, it really means a lot to me!

I'm really glad you enjoyed the game! What makes me especially happy is the fact that you liked the art so much, this is what I have the most experience in. However, I will definitely improve it a lot - most of it was done roughly, in order to build a demo faster.

By the way, I also want to thank you for something else! I followed your advice and joined the Indie Questing Discord server. It's a really nice community with lots of familiar faces, it was a great decision. :)

GrayBardGamingSubmitted335 days ago(+1)

Glad to have you on the server. Say hi next time you're on. What's your name on there?

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper335 days ago

Same as here and on Twitter. I was active on the welcome-mat channel for a while when I joined, we must have missed each other. :)

Dercetech336 days ago(+1)

Really looks like a classic made in the lat 90s, good artwork that both reminds HoMM1-3 but with with the author's very own style.

The Tetris battle approach is very unexpected and actually a lot of fun!

Will definitely have to play this more. Thanks for this very refreshing game!

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper336 days ago

Thank you very much, nothing makes me happier than knowing that people enjoy my work! You're breathtaking! :)

SerotoninaSubmitted342 days ago(+1)

A great and refreshing take on the Might and Magic genre.

Art Direction: I like the overall style, it's coherent and with a lot of personality. Everything is quite readable and nice to look at. My only issue is the combo effect during battles which can be a bit distracting.

Controls/UI: UI is clear and there's a lot of information in the compendium that is great to read but can also be a bit overwhelming at the start. Controls are responsive and perfect for this kind of game, I'd love to have the possibility to use the UP arrow (together with Q and E) to rotate a block.

Game Loop: game loop is the usual M&M, the player explores a map, gather resources/artifact, capture points of interest and fight enemies... With a twist: the combat is TETRIS! I love the concept and the execution is great, the skills are fun to use and most enemies can mess you up in different ways (rotating a block at the last second, making a part of it disappear, destroying a part of a placed line, etc.).

Audio: music can get a bit repetitive, but overall the sound design works.

I was a sucker for M&M's games when I was a kid, so this game brought back a lot of memories, but what really sold me was the Tetris-styled combat: it's really fun and opens to a lot of strategies!

Great job!

Submitted

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper341 days ago

Thank you, I'm really glad you enjoyed this game! :).

Yeah, the combo effect graphic is an ugly placeholder, it will be changed eventually.

Hmm, I'm curious... Do you mean to rotate it by 180 degrees with the UP arrow? If so, I think it's a very interesting idea and I will definitely consider adding it to the final version of KoD!

hythrain344 days ago

I am going through all submissions to make all developers aware of an important Google form I've made.

I'm joining the IQ folks to help organize smaller events in between the main FQ event in order to help prevent us from getting too many games in main events. Right now, I have a planned structure for these events but I would like to hear from everyone who was in this event in order to tune things better. The survey is a bit long, but it covers as much as I could think of. If you can take the time to do the survey by June 1st, I would immensely appreciate it!

You can find the form here: https://forms.gle/P9LPYwERhJtpZzteA

hythrain348 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Hello from tonight's stream.

The artwork and UI look fantastic. I love the visual design of this game.

However, I may be in a minority that has no idea what's going on.

Don't get me wrong, I get that the battles are playing Tetris. What I don't get is everything outside of Tetris. So I did the tutorial, I know you're supposed to move around and you can collect stuff and recruit soldiers and so on and so on... but why are we doing this? What is it that I'm trying to do as the player overall? It felt like all I was doing was going randomly around to "fight stuff" then I just play Tetris with some five block pieces added in. I didn't pay attention to what was going on in the fights. I just kept playing Tetris until I won.

Did I just miss something obvious?

Beyond this, my own criticism would be that the battle music gets repetitive. Some changes in song would be nice.

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper346 days ago (1 edit)

Hi, thanks for comment.

I watched the recording of your stream, but I didn't exactly get what the problem was. Let me make a few guesses in that case, maybe one of them will be accurate.

1. While watching the stream I felt like you would like this game to have more story, be a bit more linear, maybe that's the problem? In that case I'm sorry, but it was never meant to be a story heavy game (although some more story will be added in the future), it's just a roguelite sandbox, where I wanted to give players basic informations and let them explore the game on their own, learn about it and utilize new toys during subsequent runs. Bits of the story and informations about the goal of a game are provided in the first dialogue - there is a lingering, unknown danger and the hero is the one who must lead people out of those dying lands.

2. If the problem was a confusion about mechanics - I saw that during the stream you mentioned things that were actually explained in the tutorial (player health and consequences of losing a battle, hero and enemy power, creatures utility, etc.). That makes me think that maybe I should find some other way of explaining these things, like highlighting them during the tutorial talk to make it more memorable.

By the way, you should be able to find some answers in the compendium, the button is on the side bar. The goal is described on the first page of it too. However, if the problem was the absence of the story... I'll add an intro cutscene to this demo in the future, but I have a lot of other things to upgrade before I do that.

Please tell me more about the issue, if it was something I commented on or maybe you just didn't like some of the ideas/mechanics (which is perfectly fine). It will help me find a solution.

I know that it's a niche genre combination and requires specific mindset to enjoy it. Additionally, it's not meant to be played from the beginning to the "definitive" end in a single run. I would like to use something like The Binding of Isaac as an example of similar approach - in such games you discover, learn and repeat while slowly mastering the game.

I hope I clarified it a bit for you. I also hope you'll find some more value in it sometime and give it another try with these things in mind. :) If you have more questions, feel free to ask.

hythrain346 days ago

So before I get into this, I should note... I was high during that stream. Since streams are just meant to be fun for me, I usually consume a bit of cannabis to help me out. This doesn't affect my ability to give feedback, but it CAN affect my memory if something isn't explicitly stated.

I'm going to check through the tutorial again when I'm not high to see how it teaches things.

That said, it was a bit of both for me. For now, let me cover in terms of the first guess...

When the game starts, there are a few lines of dialogue to get you started which sets a vague goal but gives no idea of how you achieve that goal. You're just thrown to this big world with no guidance of what you're looking for, both in the immediate and long term. This could be your intent, but for me it makes it hard to enjoy when I don't understand what I'm going after. I'll try and use an example to explain what I mean.

Let's say this was an MMORPG instead of the game you made. Normally, when you start a new character there's a quest to give your initial direction of what to do or where to go. In the early stages of an MMO, it's never going to stay with that as the goal but it gives you SOME idea of what to do until you figure things out. In this example, this would be the equivalent of a quest giver going "You have to save us" and then you're told nothing about who you're saving them from or what you're supposed to do. Who are you fighting? What are you supposed to do for the quest? They won't give more info, and all you can do is stumble around until you accidentally find what you're after.

And it doesn't even need to give a direction to go, so long as it sets a goal. Like, going with the dialogue you offered, I would say this is what should follow in narration.

"The people of your city call out for help. You must find a new place for your people to live, but there are threats everywhere. You must both grow your army and yourself stronger in order to lead your people to whatever this new home may be."

That idea at least tells you "Ok, so start doing random fights. You want to get recruits for your army and grow your own power while you seek a place far away where your people can live in safety." It doesn't specify what this place is nor the direction to go, but it DOES set a starting goal for the player while they figure out how the game works.

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper345 days ago

Oh, I think I understand now.

It was indeed my intention to leave the players to experience the game and gather informations on their own, so they can slowly start to understand the game as they learn more. I, personally, kind of like that way of learning, but of course it's not ideal for everyone.

I'll try to balance it a bit thanks to your feedback by adding some guidance at the beginning, when the game is played for the first time. I think the message will tell the player to wisely choose enemies they want to battle, to learn about new tools and utilize them and to gather enough strength to progress through the portal (you would find it if you follow the path). It should be enough both to give the player at least some directions and not ruin the way I'd like them to experience the game.

Story wise, as I mentioned earlier, I think that infos from the intro cutscene I'll add in the future will suffice, but for now I have to leave it as it is.

That said, this game is quite complex, which definitely sets a kind of barrier for a new player. Only by learning and memorizing new mechanics and content we can make a meaningful progress. It can cause a confusion and frustration, but I am careful not to make it a "tutorial festival" too.

I will try to make it more player friendly eventually, for example by using special animations in tutorial and by using popup windows when some of mechanics are encountered for the first time. I predict this game to be in development for about a year or more, so it will change a lot for sure.

Thanks for providing more details, it's the first time someone brought that issue to my attention, so it definitely helped :).

Amorlea (of Tawaci Media)348 days ago(+1)

The user interface is INCREDIBLE. I would not change a thing on your UI. I feel like a lot of tetris fans would adore this game. We feel like it is a really amazing game as is and there is nothing in particular that needs revisions.

VOD Highlight:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1819996786

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper346 days ago(+1)

Hello there!

Thank you very much for those kind words. I'm glad you like the UI, it's really nice to hear.

Wow, I didn't know you streamed it, it's awesome. Sorry that my game led to a ragequit right after the tutorial, haha! Still, it was very fun to watch. :)

Amorlea (of Tawaci Media)344 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Yeah, we had 3 of us trying games and your game got the hothead (raging is her style). I want to try it myself soon.

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper343 days ago(+1)

I hope you'll have fun. :)

GameGushGamer350 days ago(+1)

King of Deadlands https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1821178810

Very in-depth game! A lot was said in the VOD but ultimately the game is fleshed out and working very well. Just needs a few minor tutorials or seamless popup tips during gameplay to help players understand all of your features over time. More explanation on BUILD MODE. King of Deadlands adds a fresh spin on an RPG with Tetris-style combat so this was really different and enjoyable.

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper350 days ago

Introducing additional tutorial systems during the game is a really good idea, I'll put it on my list.

Thanks to you, I learned a lot about how systems implemented in KoD can be interpreted by new players :)

Sol ClovserJam Host350 days ago(+1)

I really enjoyed the style and the fights! Wasn't expecting the fights to be the way they are haha.

And tutorial and hints were perfect. Didn't feel stuck at any point. Which most of the time, cannot be said for similar other games. Great job

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper350 days ago(+1)

Thank you for such a positive comment. The fact that you enjoyed King of Deadlands already makes me feel fulfilled as a game developer, although I still have a long way to go :).

Sol ClovserJam Host350 days ago(+1)

Aww, man. You are very kind. Much love

JoacoNSubmitted352 days ago(+1)

It's a pretty interesting game, though a little too complex for me, it seems like it has great potential for roguelike fans

Submitted

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper351 days ago

It's a bit complex for sure :). Anyway, thanks for checking out my game!

Stasis Booth GamesSubmitted355 days ago(+1)

I cannot rate this highly enough. I decided to try a bunch of the jam games when I had some free time.

This just absorbed the past hour and I want more. Will definitely be coming back to it tonight.

Love the style of everything, the overworld exploration mechanics and because I went into it blind... finding that it's a tetris based battle system just blew my mind.

Only bits of feedback I really noted was there are some sounds that play too often and get a little grating (I think it's the wind sound effect in the tutorial?) and a few little typos here and there. Nothing game breaking.

Excellent job on this!

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper355 days ago

Thank you for your kind words, I'm really glad you're having fun with King of Deadlands!

These are "flavor" sounds that start to play when the object is visited. They repeat for a while, apparently for a bit too long (like the wind sound that you noticed - it came from the Magic Tablet).

English is not my first language, but typos will definitely be corrected someday :) .

Thanks for comment once again!

ServelatSubmitted356 days ago(+1)

Hey, glad to see you here! I could've missed the event if it weren't for your tweet! :D

This version of the game is quite addicting! I like all the improvements you made!

Tutorial is great, gives a nice kick-start into the game. It does not explain everything, but it gives enough to start playing and making informed choices
One time I ended on the map full of rocks and less than 10 trees. Having some way of trading resources could be cool, to play around situations like that
I've played several times before, and only now do I finally understand that Quarry and Lumber mill do not give you resources, only gold
Overall progression through the map felt much smoother this time, giving enough low-level and mid-level fodder to fight with. I do agree with @cryy22 here: if you don't progress through the 10..20 power gap quickly, you can get stuck there. Maybe I just got lucky this time around, but last time I played I remember it being an issue.
After power level 20 enemy abilities become quite annoying. There is a lot of them, and there were situations where I could not place a single block without being affected by something. The problem is not the difficulty (in fact, I think it's quire reasonable), but the fact that the constant flow of abilities slows down the game and starts to annoy you
Given how much monsters spam the abilities, I would actually like to use abilities more often myself. Cooldowns feel quite long
Got absolutely obliterated by a fortune teller. She made me forget abilities two times in a row (which is quite rough), and was cursing me with negative consequences so violently her crystall ball finally broke in the end lol. What a story, though!
Started actively using combos this time around, and it's fun! It's an alternative strategy for tetris gameplay - focusing on hitting a line with each figure quicky rather then carefully placing everything. Would like to see more reforms/artifacts/skills that emphasize on the combo mechanic to make it more achievable and effective

That being said, I spent several hours playing late into the night. You're building a cool game, I can't wait to see what you'll improve next!

Good Luck!

Submitted

Crab Raid Tactics

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper356 days ago(+1)

Hi! Happy to see you here too, glad to know my tweet was of use :). Thank you for checking out current version! I'm going to start reviewing games in a few days, I'll try out yours as well (I hope I'll defeat a boss!).

Let me answer to your feedback :)

I actually plan to make the tutorial a little bit more expanded in the future, but it's great to hear that it makes understanding rules easier already. I'd like to leave some things out of it (like Lesser Artifacts), but it definitely needs at least some changes.
Good point! I wanted to tell you that I am aware of this issue - I want to balance it by adding two other types of cottage, each of them built from just one resource, but with more quantity needed to place it than a cottage built from mixed resources.
That is a great feedback, I think I'll add a preview with the description somewhere on the screen when the building is chosen : ). It should clarify the way they work.
I'll definitely take a closer look at the part between 10 and 20 power, I intentionally gave a player some ways to deal with such situations, like potions, guilds etc. , but I'll be sure to check if it needs more balancing :)
That's quite new, didn't think of that! Maybe investing in Technology would be a good idea then? It not only reduces the cooldown if you have enough of it, but also helps with building and keeping the combo. There's another way to do that - Wisdom ability, it gives you 15% (and then 30%) increased spell charging. I want to make sure that player will not be spamming the spells, but maybe it (or enemy abilities system) really needs some rebalancing - I will consider it for sure.
The thing with a Fortune Teller is that it is quite risky, but can give you really nice bonuses (and it's relatively cheap when compared to other places in the town). So it's a place for gamblers... : D. I should make it more clear! And maybe I should clarify that you can still use that place even when the crystal ball breaks :)

Thank you so much for your feedback, it was really helpful :). I'm glad you like where the game is going!

cryy22358 days ago(+2)

hey Przemyslaw! figured i’d leave feedback my feedback on your latest build here!

tried the tutorial and woah, it explained a lot of things that i didn’t understand, so great job! in particular i didn’t realize how many icons were clickable to get more information! i think maybe some kind of effect when hovering over things that are clickable might help make that more obvious to players?
small feedback point on the tutorial, when it’s time to break a mossy rock and escape the area, the arrow looks like it’s pointing at the rock below the one you’re actually supposed to destroy. i figured it out eventually though!
i think it would be great if the tutorial includes some information about building in the future, i think that’s the thing i understand the least about. i’ve read the compendium so i mostly understand what the structures are for, but sometimes it’s just nice to see how the game expects you to use certain things, so you can start from there and then make your own plans.

some non-tutorial stuff:

seeing the area where the new blocks will spawn is a really great idea, that definitely makes it clearer when i’m in trouble!
not quite sure why but as i’ve been learning more about how the game works i’ve been enjoying it more and more! i think unlocking more spells was part of what has made the game extra fun for me. having the right spell for the right situation feels great, when you can blow up some garbage with lightning in order to keep a combo going :) i would like to have more spells sooner! (but we can’t always get what we want!)
i’m not sure if this is a balance or maybe a content thing but i felt like between power 10 and 20 i was kind of running out of things to do on the map, maybe that varies depending on randomness?

thanks as always for making this awesome game, Przemyslaw!

Przemyslaw JelonekDeveloper358 days ago(+2)

Hi there, thank you for awesome feedback as always

Some kind of effect when hovering over clickable icons is a great idea, will definitely implement it in the future (if I don't change this system to tooltips, but I wanted to keep it consistent with a mobile version, at least for now).
Thank you for pointing it out, I just moved this arrow a little bit up and will be uploading this version immediately!

You're right, I actually plan to expand this tutorial at some point to cover more mechanics, but I chose to focus on upgrading graphics for Lesser Artifacts first (they badly need it!).

I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying it even more than before! I wanted to keep spells count relatively low (13 at the moment), but I think I'll add few soon, especially for you :)

Referring to the last issue you pointed out - it is highly possible that it was due to the randomness, but it could also be because I wanted to make the map management feel like a puzzle sometimes, where you have to look for the best option for that specific moment, maybe even one that is seemingly a bit "too hard", to add some difficulty ;). Anyway, I'll make sure to test it more.

Thank you once again! :)