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Cart #dollarone_thelichruin-0 | 2019-01-17 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
8

For years, the wise Magelords ruled Harberia in peace.
But now, everything is in danger.
The evil lich lord Afgorkon has taken up residence
in the old ruin on the island of Funeris.
A young magelord (you!) sets off on a journey to
challenge the lich and banish it from Harberia.

The Lich Ruin is a turn-based, real-time strategy game where you must challenge Magelords and other creatures to win spells and other rewards, in order to build up an arsenal powerful enough to take on the lich lord Afgorkon and restore peace to Harberia!

In these challenges, there are three lanes. You can spawn creatures from your spells in these lanes (using the arrow keys), but each spell costs a certain number of crystals. You gain one crystal each turn (every 2 seconds), and there are also two crystal towers that will yield an additional crystal to whoever controls it for 5 turns.

You can toggle unit info by using the left arrow, and Z (or C or N) and X (or V or M) to select which spell to cast next. In the overworld, use the arrows to move and Z and X for interaction,

Good luck, young Magelord!


This cart is by far my largest PICO-8 undertaking so far. The spritesheet is filled up to the brink, the entire map space is used, and all the sound and music patterns have also been used! A lot of time was spent on optimising the code to get as much content as possible into the game.

There are over 30 different challengers to take on, more than 15 different spells to find, and atleast 5 different upgrades that you can use to customise your spells.

The game was originally made for the 4th Alakajam, although that was just the core challenge gameplay. Since then the overworld and all the interactions and upgrades have been added. Enjoy!

P#60916 2019-01-17 02:28 ( Edited 2019-01-17 02:43)

This seems great, just can't get past the first battle. Also is there a way to save it?
P.S. Having Turn-Based and RTS in the same tag seems a bit of a whats-the-word.
Contradiction, that's it!

P#60921 2019-01-17 13:10

hehe yes, that was a bit tongue-in-cheek :p

it's turn based but the turns time out, so... real time?

anyway, saving was a feature I wanted to add, but there was too much state and too little remaining space to add it, unfortunately.

which battle are you struggling with? you should be able to spam enough goblins to defeat the ogre (or the panther) without too much tactical planning

P#60924 2019-01-17 14:47

ack can't win. i beat the first guy, the guy near the rocks, and this demon dog thing, but everything else kills me. almost beat archer guy.

I just think that the fact it doesn't pause to fight like most rpg games makes it harder. If I try to switch my spells I end up dead, and if I keep using the same spell I end up dead.

P#60939 2019-01-17 20:46 ( Edited 2019-01-17 20:47)

it is quite hard in the beginning, as you only have a few spells. After the ogre it is suggested that you use the panther against the goblin warrior/archer - try that!

P#60944 2019-01-17 23:00

Thanks. Apparently I am not a good button spammer.

P#60946 2019-01-18 00:24

Very cool, The Lich Ruin got a review over at Indie Games + !

P#61067 2019-01-21 15:01

This is awesome but in hard difficulty, please don't make us lose a heart when we do a friendly battle.

I tried this at the end (because wasn't sure before) and i lost my 4/4 heart, so I just restarted after that (and no save is annoying)

P#61098 2019-01-22 16:09
1

Hard mode is hard :) I see the point of not losing a heart if it's a battle you've already won though.

P#61099 2019-01-22 16:18 ( Edited 2019-01-22 16:18)

yes, else why would the NPC tell me about a friendly rematch? that's evil

P#61100 2019-01-22 16:38

btw, if you control a tower for 2 turns, then lose it, when you control it again, it has 2 turns or it has been reset?

P#61101 2019-01-22 16:59

it resets. It gives a crystal when it "blinks" (changes colour to a lighter one and beeps), which is on the 5th turn.

P#61102 2019-01-22 17:06

I killed like 5 magelords but the game is too long without any save sadly :'(

P#61116 2019-01-22 21:39

ok, too long lol I went even further but I gave shield to the orc (lvl 1 guy) and then I couldn't make it past that, it was a mistake

I thought shield would protect from all ranged attacks but in fact it's just an extra heart protecting once from fire

P#61136 2019-01-23 17:33

It'll protect from one hit, whether that is 1dmg or 5...

P#61139 2019-01-23 19:54

Ok, knowing that I made the big armored guy a top contender (it costs me 7 gold to summon him) and he wrecked everybody.

I didn't do 3-4 fights and didn't get 2 rewards because it was risky and long (hard mode)

I beat the last boss with 4 hearts (4/4) after one defeat. I guess there is no secret so I didn't finish the other fights

Very good game tho, I remember I told you on the other game "not enough content for this game" ^^

P#61192 2019-01-24 22:13
1

wow, you beat it in hard mode? good work!

P#61194 2019-01-24 22:37

Yes, however one of the small issue with gameplay was the amount of choice to switch to with Z/X. (Too much choice which makes last second decisions very hard, hence why other people have a hard time imo :D)

And the last boss was hard because the crystal towers were near him (but that was a nice twist).

Anyway, one of my favorite on pico and I spent like 3-5 hours on it, for free!

P#61208 2019-01-25 19:08 ( Edited 2019-01-25 19:09)

Saw that you posted it on armor games (by hazard lol) and it got a nice success!

P#63002 2019-03-24 19:17

24,340 plays is fantastic!

Rating: 3.8/10 ... is less great

P#63010 2019-03-25 00:21

probably because it's not easy and not much explanation? dunno

P#63022 2019-03-25 16:00

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