Horsey Bash is out now!

Horsey Bash is a game developed solo in 30 (out of 48) hours for the Ludum Dare 49 competitive game jam! All the art, code, and music were created in that two-day window, although I sourced sound effects from freesound.org.

(The game can stutter a bit in-browser, which I think is a Godot thing? It's stable if you download the executable, though.)

I've got some closing thoughts on the experience to share, partially about the game itself and partially abuot the jam.

This was the first time I ever submitted a Ludum Dare entry, even though I used to participate all the time years back! I never submitted anything, assuming anything I worked on wouldn't be any good compared to anyone else, and while I overcame that for Scrabdackle last year (the first time I ever released anything publically in >10 years of hobby dev), LD49 was the first time everything aligned for me to rush out a game quickly! It was a great experience, that I will hopefully be able to do again! I closed it feeling excited and invigorated, and honestly it was just a blast to work on (even though my heart aches for all the other things I wanted to do).

The theme was "Unstable," which I mechanically interpreted as the charge direction that is randomized each turn, and which I thematically interpreted with Horsey's wild energy, the fast-paced turns and general gameplay chaos, and the L-shaped ability and timer pairing that makes it hard to plan or move consistently in smart ways.

So, since the source code is publically available now (see download links on the main game page), I'll just list my own thoughts of what else Horsey Bash needs, and if anyone ever feels like adopting the project, reworking it, etc - you're welcome to do with these thoughts as you will! I'm not planning on updating the game further myself, though.

Ignoring basic bugfixes, tuning, and non-gameplay-affecting polish, here's the type of features and functionality I think the game should have as a pass:

• Enemy types should have some QOL and variety changes:
  • All enemies except Chikkens should be able to break fences. (They originally were, I just disabled it back when all enemies in the game acted on their turn, instead of only the ones close to you).
  • Any enemy that can move multiple times should still only be able to attack once. Attacking should end its turn.
  • A wider variety of movement patterns! Some enemies should be able to hop in L-shapes like you, or only charge in one direction for 3 tiles no matter.
• There should be a 'water' tile that is an instant game over, and some other kind of tileset that is neither traversable or destroyable.
• There should be a 'spring' that bounces you in the same L shape you just bounced in, including a random variant that just picks any direction except the one you just arrived from.
• This might be too weird, but there should be ice tiles where anything trying to move to an ice tile moves one extra tile forwards. If you're jumping, this would be in the 'main' direction you jumped from, upon landing.
• There should be conveyors that move everything on them in a visually-clear direction in between each turn!
• There should be a wider variety of in-game pickups you can find, or which are dropped by dead enemies:
  • Hearts! This is an obvious one.
  • Timer/action refills to extend a turn
  • Dash direction control for the turn
  • A tile that randomizes your dash direction when you land on it (even mid-dash!)
• Taking damage needs to be clearer; having a heart particle emit from anything taking damage to explode off the character
• Enemies should be able to hurt each other (as with breaking fences, they originally were)
• The combo system should be more complex (and clearer to understand); you should also be penalized for failing to bash anything enough times in a row.
• In a perfect world? Every game should feature a new, procedurally-generated map. (Otherwise, the maps should just be substantially expanded!

Anyhow, that's it from me! Thanks for playing, and hope you enjoyed! You're also always welcome to pop by the Scrabdackle discord server to discuss, or just hang out :)