DOWN THE DEEPGROTTO

A frantic, turnless, and world-less RPG made in 48 hours.
It consists entirely of 16 battles broken up by dialogue.

Released: December 2018
Developed: December 2018
Team: Joseph Henry Stadolnik IV
Tools: PICO-8
Programming Language: Lua

My Role: Solo Developer
I made the entirety of this game by myself.
My achievements on this project included:

• Designing a turnless RPG battle system around a party of three player characters:
  • Each player and enemy skill has a cooldown that must end before they can act again.
  • The combat is designed around the player having to make split-second decisions to prioritize how to survive and defeat their foes:
    • Each enemy is weak to a certain character's attack.
    • Enemies can create shields that must be broken by a certain character's attack.
    • All characters have an ability to heal the other two party members.
    • Each character has a unique special ability with different effects.
  • The dialogue sections between battles give the player periods to rest and experience a difference in kind.
• Creating 16 enemy designs with different attributes, abilities, and sprites.
• Drawing all visual assets using PICO-8's editor.

About:
This game was made in 48 hours for the WPI B-Term 2018 Game Jam. The jam theme to use three name generators and make a game inspired by the results. I got the following:

• Werewolf Name: Rogue Hound
• Skier/Snowboarder Name: Powderhound Snowscombe
• Leprechaun Name: Clover McWoozy

I decided to turn these into the three protagonists of this game, informing their designs, personalities, and abilities.

Other Notes:
I ran out of time to implement a proper tutorial or make any audio for this game during the time for the jam. The game could also use a rebalancing pass.

Links:
PICO-8 Forum Post