The Mad King's Tournament

Submission for Ludum Dare 41

First post-LD Update is here, containing the much-asked for fullscreen mode and multiresolution support, and also fixing a bug with food spawning that should make it much easier to find food now!

Hear ye, hear ye!

The Illustrious King Cathusalah of Aristinia, Heir to the Throne of Illisneth, Ruler of the Western Peoples, Prince of the Parchirrans, Father of Many Nations, Sailor of the Great Oceans, Conqueror of the White Mountains, Devourer of the Legendary Lord Briscutt’s Two Pound Steak Challenge, Rider of Fierce Stallions, Writer of Beautiful Poems, and Possessor of Amazing Hair, wishes to remindeth his subjects–meaning, needless to say, thou–that he is of very sound mind and not, as some whispereth, mad.

On an unrelated note, the King hath also declared a great tournament to be held in three weeks’ time! 100 of the King’s subjects shalt be forced chosen honored with the opportunity to participate in this tournament, with the prize being unimaginable wealth and power fit for a king! (A lesser king, of course; even the bravest man alive wouldst never dare insult The Illustrious King Cathusalah of Aristinia, Heir to the Throne of Illisneth, Ruler of the Western Peoples, Prince of the Parchirrans, Father of Many Nations, Sailor of the Great Oceans, Conqueror of the White Mountains, Devourer of the Legendary Lord Briscutt’s Two Pound Steak Challenge, Rider of Fierce Stallions, Writer of Beautiful Poems, and Possessor of Amazing Hair by being wealthier than he!)

This tournament will be particularly special, as it will take the form of a combination of game genres once thought to be incompatible! Namely, a text-based adventure and a battle royale! For those forced chosen honored to participate, the following instructions are given:

• To moveth around, thou shalt type “move “, followed by a cardinal direction. For example, “move north”
• To findeth useful items and food, thou shalt exploreth the area by typing “explore”. If one should findeth, say, a crossbow, one shalt pick it up by typing “take crossbow”.
• Thou shalt remembereth to equipeth any weapons thou find! However, thou shalt note that armor is equipped automatically upon picking up.
• Thou art encouraged to attacketh thy fellow contestants in the King’s Arena! To attacketh a Male Dwarf, for example, thou shalt type “attack male dwarf”
• Thou shalt remember to eat and drink to prevent dying of starvation or thirst!
• When typing commands that take a target, thou shalt always remember to typeth the target, as failing to do so might cause the instant destruction of the King’s Arena, killing all inside. The King’s Army of Royal Software Engineers promiseth to fixeth the issue by the next iteration of the tournament.

Thus sayeth The Illustrious King Cathusalah of Aristinia, Heir to the Throne of Illisneth, Ruler of the Western Peoples, Prince of the Parchirrans, Father of Many Nations, Sailor of the Great Oceans, Conqueror of the White Mountains, Devourer of the Legendary Lord Briscutt’s Two Pound Steak Challenge, Rider of Fierce Stallions, Writer of Beautiful Poems, and Possessor of Amazing Hair.

Hello, everyone!

This is my submission for Ludum Dare 41: my first LD, but definitely not my last! The theme was “combine two unlikely genres”, so I combined “text-based adventure” with “battle royale”. It’s not 100% complete, but it’s very much playable if you forgive the incomplete AI and occasional bug. I’m very happy with how the project has turned out so far, so I plan to keep developing it to make it into a more finished game and give it a wider release. Please let me know what you think of it, good or bad! Please report bugs either by commenting or by emailing zaneddennis@gmail.com.

When I say the AI is incomplete, I mean the NPCs can't pick up items or attack you back, so they're not much of a threat at the moment; more complete AI is the #1 thing on my priority list for continuing development.

It only has support for 1600x900 resolution at the moment, but fixing that is also a high priority. If your screen is too small, everything should work fine; the only thing you can't see is half of the 3 buttons at the bottom right. 2 of them are empty placeholders, and the last one on the right quits to desktop.

If anyone has trouble reading my faux-Old English above, let me know and I'll water it down. I might've gone a bit overboard.

A game by Zane Dennis.

Music by Spencer Sosnowski