Play the game here!
Conquerors of Metal
Background
In October 2024, I participated in Code Ninjas first ever game jam, which was also my first ever experience doing a game jam.
This game is a 2D top down roguelike, inspired by games like Vampire Survivors. It was made for Code Ninjas 2024 “Robot Rock” Game Jam and Won the 1st place prize for the Unity category. It was made in approximately ~3 weeks.
When I saw the theme “Robot Rock” I immediately knew I wanted to create a roguelike survival game with robots and a rock band, so I created Conquerors of Metal, a game about a rock band of robots, and their crazed robot fans, and I had around 2 months to do it.
Design Philosophy
The goal was to create a survival roguelike in a way that I could accommodate the game to a variety of players with simple to understand mechanics, and a multitude of gameplay styles
Characters
Each character was made with the theme in mind, each of them would be a rock band member which will consist of the singer, guitarist, and drummer. Their unique attack should also correlate with their role and be simple to understand
Screen-o (Screamo pun) is designed to be a television that would be the lead singer of the band, Conquerors of Metal. As the character is a vocalist, I thought it was appropriate to give it a music note attack that is easy to understand. Hence it had spinning music notes rotate around itself which would deal damage on touch.
Me-Ta-Lick (Metallic pun) is designed as a demonic guitarist, as he plays the guitar, I thought of a directional soundwave as his attack with a bit of skill to it. Instead of a moving ability, these soundwaves shoot in 1 direction at a time in a repeating pattern. As the attack can essentially be timed and aimed, it does yield higher damage.
My general philosophy when it came to creating each attack was that it had to be easy to understand and unique. Each attack was made so it felt satisfying to use and due to its simplicity, it could be used flexibly as well. The goal in mind was to communicate clearly enough to the players so that they would understand what it did after seeing it in action once or twice.
Rack-N-Rill (Rock and Roll pun) is designed as a twin drummer, as a drum creates a round soundwave, instead of the directional one Me-Ta-Lick has. This creates a more safe and hard to miss skill, allowing for easier control, it yields lower damage.
Attacks
Shuriken - Directional range attack, low skill ceiling and simple
Lightning - Lightning strike at a nearby location, chance to give fulfilling moments because of RNG
Decoy - Clone of the player that attracts enemies, creates opportunities for players to collect themselves
Oil Spill - Spawns a puddle of oil at a nearby location that slows enemies, creates opportunities to reposition and strategize
Energy Ball - Spawns an energy ball that hurt and pull enemies as it travels across the screen, a double edge attack that can both help the player or potential put the player in a bad spot