![BOMBRA](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE3MDk0MzM1LnBuZw==/original/6P3Gi4.png)
BOMBRA
GDD: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-bo67eDjSdv20woqNEBCMAIv8yfI6NOrNlJBEugj8g/...
Welcome to my first game jam game BOMBRA for the 2024 Pirate Software game jam!
You play as Tobias the alchemist who is working away in his alchemy tower as his research partner Julian is out gathering ingredients.
But something dark is approaching...
Gather ingredients to make potions, poisons and bombs to fight a giant shadow monster!
This short rpgmaker game includes:
- 30 different ingredients to be collected
- 24 potions to be brewed
- 17 poisons to be concocted
- 23 bombs to be assembled
- 1 giant shadow monster to be overcome
- A normal and true ending
- Roguelite mechanics - Death isn't the end. Grow your alchemy skills until you can defeat the shadow!
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Controls:
Keyboard
Move - Arrow Keys
Run - Hold Shift
Accept/Interact - Z
Cancel/Menu - X
Controller (xbox)
Move - Left Stick
Run - Hold X
Accept/Interact - A
Cancel - B
Menu - Y
Touch
One finger - move/run/accept
Two fingers - cancel/menu
Mouse
Left click - move/run/accept
Right click - cancel/menu
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If you've enjoyed the game or felt any particular way about it please leave a comment and rating!
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Status | In development |
Platforms | HTML5 |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 total ratings) |
Author | Arluc Games |
Genre | Role Playing |
Made with | RPG Maker |
Tags | 2D, alchemy, bombs, Crafting, Game Jam, potions, Roguelite, RPG Maker, Shadows |
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Another Small Update!43 days ago
- NEW Update!44 days ago
- BOMBRA is out!45 days ago
Comments
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Honestly, this is sick as all fuck. I love practically every part of this game, so I'll go into a bit of detail on that and then give some suggestions.
The little anecdotes are adorable (I'm a sucker for little characterization stuff like that) and the systems have a huge amount of depth. It was amazing to take the time to learn (and break) all the systems.
For my main suggestion, I think this game is most fun (at least for people like me who like to pursue mastery) in a sort of specific specific way: Play through the game once, going crazy on the resets and getting ridiculous stats. After that first playthrough, go through the game again trying to reach the end in as few resets as possible. This makes figuring out what's important and prioritizing super important and gives purpose to all the cool puzzle mechanics involved! It would also be kind of like solitaire in that there's RNG involved which adds a lot of variety and a sense of slight powerlessness when pursuing a new best time so to speak. I think trying to speedrun the game in this sense adds a lot of depth, including discouraging things like not mindlessly maxing all stats without knowing what they do and things like that.
Thanks for playing and for your kind words and feedback!
I was hoping someone would mention the little notes haha it wasn't added til the end of the jam and I felt good about adding a bit more depth to the characters with it.
My plan if I had had the time was to add some randomization to the ingredient placement to change things up. I also want to add either a few different shadow forms and you face a different one each time or adding more phases to the fight.
So cool that you see speedrunning potential in the game! I actually keep that kind of thing in the back of my mind as I make my games. In my own playthroughs I think I got it down to maybe 4 or 5 resets. I should add a counter to the game!
Really glad you enjoyed the game :D
Woot Woot!
Speedrunning kind of solves this since the point is to win ASAP, but it feels like there's no good reason to spend bombs before you're "ready" (as in have huge stats and a bunch of bombs and know you can beat the boss) so it would also be neat to have rewards for a partial success like defeating a specific limb or something to make it worth spending bombs even if you can't actually win the fight
I had thought about something like the partial reward thing and I've only just realised how I could implement it. I'm thinking perhaps that you receive Elder Flowers as the reward which could be an ingredient that bypasses other ingredient requirements. It would also be another clue to the true nature of the shadow.
Really good ideas! When I make the DX version of the game I'll pop you in the credits :D
That's a great idea! Thanks for the credits mention!
the shadow boss is funny but i think there are too many combinations to try, I believe 3 is the golden number for choices, this has like 30x30 or something
For the jam I was thinking, "Quantity means I did a lot of work in a short period of time!" But I understand now that a more refined, streamlined experience is more impressive within the time limit and makes it more accessible to players.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!
So I need to preface this by saying I really don't like RPG maker games they are all cookie cutter copy and paste jobs in my opinion. I'm glad I was wrong about that with this one.
I honestly did not want to play this game as reasoned above but I gave it a fair shot anyways and I'm really glad I did. I was immediately hit by FOMO upon knowing I had to pick a bunch of ingredients and reach a ton of text and recipes and then somehow succeed.
Suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised by the gameplay loop. The fact that I could take my time and collect a bunch of ingreidents every round and focus on increasing stats for speed and harvesting was such a good idea and I'm super glad it was there so I could build up a proper arsenal of bombs.
The problem is by the time I actually felt ready to fight the boss it died after 1 bomb throw hahahaha. I didn't even think I had risen my stats that much it was maybe.. 5-6 loops or so before I properly went for it?
Still it was a really good gameplay loop I just wish there was more ways to figure out what worked/didn't work without feeling like I was wasting all my resources by testing stuff on the boss. In the end I basically dumb brained my way through it by just getting as much as I could and making myself insanely strong by accident.
Oh well, still had a lot of fun with it!
Thanks for playing and for your great feedback!
Yeah it definitely is just Big Stats = win game at the moment. I tried implementing elemental weaknesses and resistances to the boss for a bit of strategy and variation in builds but didn't have the time to fully playtest it.
The ultimate goal for the jam at least was to see really big damage numbers and just wipe the boss out!
Just glad to hear you really engaged with the game and it made sense to you 😁
Even tho I don't play that many RPGs I did had my fun with it even tho I found it really challenging. In my opinion there were to many options so I got overwhelmed (but lets call it a skill issue). The replayability was great and I really liked the visual attacks from the shadow. Beautiful music art and complex mechanics.
Nice gameloop, I didn't think I could take a biggest L in my life after beeing slapped big big shadow, but I was wrong , becouse big shadow slapped me again and again LUL.
It is fun to try and have the best stats and bombs to figth the boss, keep it up ! GG
This scratched an rpg itch for me, really enjoyed it! Would have like a better interface for collecting/retaining recipes, turned the game into a bit of memory challenge. Wound up just doing screen grabs and pasting into a word document. Felt like a bit of a puzzle game, I didn't mind the learning curve too much. Great concept-really liked this one!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback 😁
UI and ease of access to recipe info are definitely what I want to improve when the jam is over. I did want it to have a light puzzle feel with the time mechanic and placement of ingredients.
Really glad you enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed playing this! I love the quirky aesthetic and the idea is a good one. It did have a pretty steep learning curve right out of the gate. Personally most of my trouble just came from there being so many option to start with and the fight is super unforgiving if you pick the wrong things. That's not necessarily a bad thing as there are people who really like that type of gameplay, but it is something to be aware of. The gameplay is really solid though and the controls felt super intuitive. Nice job!
Thanks for your feedback and for playing!
You're definitely not expected to know everything right off the bat and if I had more time, would have liked to make a more gradual introduction to everything.
I do want it to be challenging but again with more time would have liked to come up with ways that give more direction rather than having to completely figure it all out on your own.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
I think there's a bit too much information thrown at the player at first, but I like the idea of the replayability built into the game. Good job, keep making games!
Thank you for playing and for your feedback! It's funny because in the initial build people said there wasn't enough information... so I overcorrected a bit haha. I could have tweaked that with maybe a prompt at the start or something.
I'll definitely keep making them, it's so much fun!
Pretty fun, although I don't know if I could see myself replaying it as much as I would need to, to beat it. I'd definitely like to be able to used WASD controls, or remap the controls to my preferences. But all things considered good job.
Thank you for playing and for your feedback!
Any idea what might incentivize you to keep replaying?
I will look into something for rebinding keys.
Thanks again :)
I would like to have a bit more to the game before fighting the "final boss". Some easier enemies that teach me how to play, and what I should be doing before fighting the big boss would help me a lot.
Your resources are limited so having to use them on other enemies before the boss wouldn't be ideal.
Perhaps a little combat tutorial at the start? To help explain basic combat and go through weaknesses etc.
Thanks for the extra feedback!
bro the game is fantastic and well made but my stupid ass couldnt beat it, not your fault tho
Thank you for playing! And thanks for the feedback. What would you say made it difficult for you to beat it?
it was just me being dumb, the game its self explanatory
haha ok no worries
good game I guess but kind of wild to pick up random flowers and stuff when I have zero clue what they are used for or what potions even exist or what they do.
Thanks for playing and for your feedback!
The idea was that you would learn about things as you go rather than having all information available at once. You can't figure everything out on your first run.
Do you think a recipe book type item would help?
I just didn't want you constantly referring to something and instead get a feel for it over time.
Does that make sense?