Solid turnbased gameplay, always choose your fights wisely and you can beat anything.
Is it have procedurally generated floors?
Play game
Eldritch Dungeon's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #11 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Gameplay | #18 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Creativity | #23 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Story | #25 | 3.125 | 3.125 |
| Overall | #25 | 3.083 | 3.083 |
| Horror | #27 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Presentation | #29 | 2.875 | 2.875 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Eldritch Abomination in your game?
Savoir has been affected by the presence of an eldritch abomination causing the layout to shift and strange apparitions to appear.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
Yes, all three.
1. Many monks of Savoir have begun forming cults worshipping some strange deity.
2. Documents provide information on the nature of the maddening. Prior to proceeding to the next floor, all documents must be collected.
3. There is an enemy in my game that will sap Sanity and Health if faced when their eyes are open. Additionally, the game's boss has a similar ability.
Comments
You're correct, it is procedurally generated! The game uses a depth-first search to draw edges between nine nodes, then creates rooms and passageways accordingly. Sometimes cycles are added to the floor map for variety's sake. I took inspiration from the algorithm described here: https://essentialsdocs.fandom.com/wiki/Dungeons
Thank you for playing :)
Can definitely see a solid foundation however like the other comments I found it pretty tricky. I read your tips and had another go and got to floor 3 but was still a little hard.
I feel the biggest points that was frustrating me was missed inputs for movement. A candle would start to hop towards me and I would try to evade to give me a few moments but the movements don't seem to match my inputs.
I like the systems and can see the vision just would like a little more hand holding for the information and more sound and visual cues.
Submitted
Eldritch AbominationHi, thanks for playing the game. I agree that an expanded tutorial would likely be helpful for new players.
However, I'm a little confused by some of your feedback. Could you clarify what you mean by missed inputs?
Also, the game is a turn-based roguelike as opposed to operating in real time, so I'm a little unsure what you're referring to when you say you were trying to buy time by evading, since that does the exact opposite by allowing time to pass and other characters to take their turns. You are able to move at an uninterrupted pace when an enemy isn't on screen for convenience, but every step is still taking a turn.
Anyway, thanks again for playing the game and feedback :)
It was not until I read your reply that I ever interpreted your game as turn based. honestly I was operating on the belief that I was playing a old zelda style slash and cast type game.
I suppose that's why when the candle leaped at me, my brain was reaching towards dodge, slash block strategies and not decide, select and timers.
I been a little behind on my own entry so I've been rushing but I'll finish your game and check out the last boss.
Ah that makes sense, I forgot to include dialogue explaining the turn based element, so I understand how it could be mistaken for real time gameplay. There were tags for roguelike and turn based, but I've now updated the game description to ensure its genre is clearer for new players. Nevertheless, I apologize for the lack of clarity on the subject, I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on the gameplay in light of the turn system (no obligations of course).
Really liking the enemy designs and variety.
Found the difficulty to be a little bit too steep from the offset in my playthroughs. Maybe a more gradual build up to ease into things would have helped since many enemies can kill you in just a few hits, unless shielded.
Still had me coming back for multiple playthroughs though. Would love to play again with a few balance tweaks.
Nice entry overall.
Submitted
SanctuaryI really like the textures and art. (The floor texture looks kinda fleshy - like it's a pile of bodies instead of stone - and the little sprites for the human characters are really cute in a way that contrasts all the monsters)
The gameplay also reminds me of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, except without the Pokemon, but it's expanded to have things like the Spider Enemy acting twice and the tentacles burrowing underground so you can't see them, which is really cool.
Unfortunately, I was only able to get to level 2, which is partially on me not being great with harder games, but there were some really bad spawns (Fake Statue on a Note in a corridor, with the other Note I needed right beside it was probably The Worst) Which, I mean. Obviously that isn't easy to fix in a Game Jam Game(Especially because of the Procedural Generation! due to the time limit, but if you want to expand this game later on, I do believe that would be the first thing to fix.
All in all, pretty good game, if having some frustrating RNG at times.
Submitted
8Thank you for your thoughts! I definitely agree with you about the RNG, I don't think it ever actually reaches the point where it alone will defeat someone playing optimally, but the small dungeon layout and the infrequent occurrence of loops in the layout likely exacerbate the issue.
Mystery Dungeon was a huge inspiration for the game, although I took more cues from the Shiren the Wanderer Mystery Dungeon series where the enemies all have unique effects on gameplay. I recommend the series if you ever want to try a more polished version of this style of gameplay.
If you're willing to give it another try, here are some tips to make it to the end of 5 floor mode:
- Choose the defensive playstyle.
- Use your items and special abilities whenever you are facing a dangerous situation. There is no value in hoarding them.
- Don't attack the white animals (lambs), if you instead remain by their side for ~3 turns you will be fully restored in health and sanity (SP).
- White lambs and black rams can cover documents, so it's important to deal with them.
- Only move toward flocks of eyes if the eyes are currently open. Try to defeat them whenever possible, they provide good exp.
- Try to have the same number of levels as the floor you are proceeding to, before leaving a floor.
- Prevent Gray-White Flames from getting the first hit by waiting for them to come to you.
- Early on Candles, Spiders, and False Statues are the most dangerous enemies in that order, but on later floors only Candles and sometimes False Statues pose a threat.
- Don't be intimidated by the boss, if you avoid facing its floating eyes and dodge its lightning, then you should be able to take down its core.
Anyway, thanks for playing the game! I really appreciate the feedback :)
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