Blood X Thirsty Game Design Document

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About

Blood x Thirsty is a high-stress bartending sim game where you serve drinks to weird and dangerous monsters or suffer their wrath for making them wait too long.

Improve your brew
with interesting and strange ingredients to keep the monsters at bay and grab as much of their cash as you can. Then make shadowy deals in the back alley of the bar to improve your characters abilities.


Controls

You can rebind the controls in the settings menu. However the default controls are below:

Movement
WASD / Left Analogue - Move

Serve Drinks
Up Arrow / Sony △ - Grab a drink from the cauldron
Down Arrow / Sony □ - Place a drink in the highlighted area

Defend Yourself

- Keyboard Controls -

Left Arrow - Attack left
Right Arrow  - Attack Right
Attack in direction facing - X / Sony ○

Gameplay Stages

Brewing
Add items to your brew to improve how quickly the customers finish their drink and how much they tip. Hover over each item in the list to read more about their effects.

Balance the ingredients wisely to extort the most from your customers. Make your drink too weak though and you may suffer greatly.

DoT means "Drunkenness over Time" the higher this value the faster customers will finish their drinks and leave.

Serving Customers
Quickly grab drinks from the cauldron behind the bar and place them in-front of your impatient customers. Some creatures of the underworld are far less patient that others. If their anger meter fills up they will jump the bar and attack you. Defend yourself!

Choosing Perks
After each night a mysterious and shadowed figured offers you boons to help increase your physical prowess in your bartending duties. What choices will you make?



Updated 16 days ago
StatusPrototype
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars
(14 total ratings)
AuthorsGamePond, Ecks, Alainfigue, swAAn
GenreSurvival, Simulation
Made withGodot, Aseprite
Tagsalchemy, bartender, Furry, Horror, Monsters, Pixel Art, Roguelike, Shadows, Vampire
Average sessionAbout a half-hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse, Xbox controller, Playstation controller

Download

Download
0.1.3.zip 24 MB
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0.1.2.3.zip 26 MB
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0.1.2.2.zip 26 MB
Download
0.1.2.zip 26 MB
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Game Design Document
External

Development log

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 50 · Next page · Last page
(+1)

(Comment made as of version 0.1.1) Finally got to night 13! This game is so fun! I keep going back to it--which feels rare for a game jam game, so I think y'all have really put together something great! There's a ton of strategic depth to this game, and even after multiple plays I'm still adapting to get to later rounds. I also love the visuals and music, it all fits together really nicely to make a great vibe. 

Here's some other feedback for your continued work on the game (please update this game more, it's great!):

  • The screen shake at the last call isn't too bad at first, but if you get to later rounds where you are in the "last call" for a long time it gets annoying to look at. I went into settings to see if I could turn it off after I started to dislike it. If it didn't last for the entirety of the "last call" I think I wouldn't try to turn it off though.
  • I'm not sure if this is just because I'm still learning and haven't found the use for the other ingredients, but I've mostly landed on just getting the ingredients that apply to all customer types. Maybe this is holding me back, but every time I consider it, it just feels like applying to all types is a better deal. The brains ones never really feel worth it because the zombies don't really pay much of a tip anyway. And then in most of the other cases, for the difference in dollars it's only slightly more impactful for the vampires and/or werewolves, so it feels like just ensuring it always applies to all customers feels more right to me. Don't get me wrong--this isn't necessarily a bad thing (it's excellent for strategy games to have a discoverable metagame, and it can even lead to fun challenges where you only use certain kinds of ingredients that aren't as good if you want). Like, it can be very fun to have ingredients that are just better than other ones because figuring that out is fun. I'm just not sure if that's what you're going for, so I figured I'd mention it.
  • The first time I played, I got a bit confused when I placed different kinds of drinks. I thought maybe some kind of system of matching drinks to monster types was going to go on. Didn't realize that doesn't matter until after I continued playing. The different kinds of drinks work well visually, just was initially a bit confused as the player is all. 

Overall, excellent job! Thanks for making this, I keep coming back to this game :)

(+1)

Thanks for leaving a comment! I'm glad you're enjoying the game!!

Adding an option to disable the screen shake is not something I'd considered, but now that you've mentioned it, I will definitely be including that in a later update.

As for ingredient choices, you've pretty much stumbled upon the ideal strategy for the current patch. Rebalancing the ingredient prices and effects is at the top of the docket. Ideally, we want to create an experience that different strategies can be viable for different runs.

Thanks for playing, and stay tuned for more updates!

- SwAAn

(+1)

We are so ready to be hellish bartenders 😈😈

(Congrats on that fun little game again, awesome job, and thanks for your time taken reviewing all the games !)

(+1)

A very cool looking and sounding but stressful game :D I never got further then 7 or 8 but i had fun :D

The game has a nice luck factor to it, but gives a lot of options for strategies. I liked trying to fill all the places at the end the fastest and that worked out nice for some time. Now that i think about it the brewing has a lot of stragegies that i didnt try. I kinda didnt like that it got shorten to ,,dot,, ,atleast in the explaination. I like it when the game is clear about explaining effects, especially when it introduces them like when buying ingredients here. But the Dot effect feels like a nice way to counter the rising amount of customer waiting. Maybe i try it again sometime and then i buy ingredients better :D

When i did get attacked it felt kinda unbalanced. I couldnt avoid them attacking me, because i had to stand close to them to attack and because i got attacked by one i got fast attacked by 3 because i couldnt get them drinks. It could be a skill issue on my side, but maybe the rise in difficulty happens a bit to fast on night 7. Or on some nights like night 5 the player could get 2 power ups instead of always one?

But i like that every night i got to improve speed or attack or health. I kinda wondered where i buyed the ingredients from or who i got these power ups from. The story aspect felt missing in the game. Or why is the bartender even serving drinks to such unfriendly customers?! :D

Uh one last thing. I feel like a idle animation is missing. The game has such a funky beat and the bartender seems like a cool guy. At the end of the nights i made my own idle animation while walking towards the counter. It feels fitting that he moves his head a bit, like hes moving it to the music :D

The game is very fun. Its normally not my kind of game genre, but i enjoyed it and felt an addicting charm to it. I definitely wanna atleast beat 8 nights at some point >:D

I survived 9 nights! Could have used more health/attack speed instead of going all for movement but I love being a speedster. :P Yes, the moth won against me too...

This was a fantastic game! Music is great and the art of the bartender is so cool. I would definitely play this if it became a full release. Time to grind to see if I can reach Night 12 :')

Interesting game, I only played once but I had fun. I'll likely play more later.

I reached night 10 but I got beat up in 2 hits by a big moth hahaha

At first I build the most speed I could to reach the other side of the bar and serve the drinks, thinking that only would appear enough customer to fill the bar but I was wrong, I saw that when everything is full, the customers get angry so eventually 3 customers wanted to fight me and the moth won.

I really liked the DoT meaning in this game, it fits so well and makes me laugh. The way you can do your drink is interesting since you can focus on the DoT or invest in the extra money you get per drink, and you get a new option per night, so it’s fun to think what to add.

The only problem I had with the game is that sometimes hovering over the ingredient didn't display the message until I moved the mouse in exact spots at times, but overall I liked what I played!

Was just chillin serving people until at night 7 there was literally not enough seats for everyone so I had to beat the customers to death but it seems like my hitbox and hurtbox overlap so there doesn't seem to be a good way to avoid damage

The game is great! I am curious if the bonuses from the different upgrades stack additively or multiplicatively

Loved the game, very cool concept, i couldn't make it very far lol. Having new ingredients to serve every night and adding them to the pot is a really cool mechanic!

I got past night 5. I find that it's totally fine to get through a night without a patron attacking unless the bar is full up. I love the vibe of this

I had a weird bug, when I lost the first game and started over I couldn't place drinks until I reloaded the page.
Other than that it's a fun game.

(+1)

Ohh, I had a lot of fun with this one! Played it for quite a while, only made it to night 11 though (props to Faulko for the highscore, you absolute mad man 😳). I love how the time it takes running along the bar becomes a resource you have to manage. Super cool pixel art, love all the little details you put in, and great music & sound design, too!

I realized way too far into the game that there is a bonus for a clean bar. Changed my playstyle a bit for sure, at least towards the end of every night. Maybe mention that in the How To Play? Or is it something you want the player to discover?

Overall really fun and polished feeling game, good job! 👏

(+1)

I love this game!
It is a really cool idea being able to put the drinks before the customers arrived, I loved how it added an extra layer of planning.
The different drink sprites was also an awesome touch to it.
The last call effect is so ~juicy~

At first I was confused "Hey, the game is offering these attack/health upgrades, but where's the combat in the game?", but on night ~7 it clicked ahaha

The game gets really challenging (lost at night 10), but in a really nice pace.

Overall, really enjoyed playing it!

the base of the game is fun but would be cool if you could chose which one to serve(different drinks for each guy) , and buy armor or ways to fight but very good for the time it was made

What a fun game \o/, the music is awesome, love the art, and the game itself is super fun and challenging. I started off having an issue with putting drinks down, but all was needed was a window refresh ( ᵕ — ᴗ — )

(+2)

How dare you make a game this fun! Honestly, this is an incredibly finished product! I'm absolutely blown away!

I made it to night 9 before I decided to stop. I know that Night 12 is insane, and I'll try to reach it one day, but today is not that day. I'll break down my review piece by piece.

The Art: Incredible! The little avatar versions of all the monsters that you have to serve is such a nice touch, and the bar itself looks amazing! I love the different drink designs, helps mix things up. 

The music: The satisfying sound effects really make this game. From the coin clink to the sounds of drinking, it's superb.

The Gameplay: This is where this game really shines. If I had to say it reminds me of anything, I would say it reminds me of the shops sections of Dave the Diver. That same sense of panic and trying to make as much money as possible as in that game. At first, I tried to just serve the customers as they sat down. But then I realized they go for drinks you've set up already, and that changed my game plan dramatically! I started each round setting up a full row of drinks, which gave me the leeway to go back and refill for when people got up and angry customers who had waited a while sat down.

Having the cauldron at one side of the bar only also adds in the strategy. It means that you can get customers at the cauldron end easier, so you can start prioritizing ones towards the far end, since it takes more time to get there (I levelled up speed as much as I could at the start). An empty bar bonus is also really nice, although I think there should be a mechanic for getting rid of drinks put down as a misclick. A couple of times I fat fingered on my controller (Controller support works great btw) and put a drink down by mistake at the very end.

I do think there is room for improvement. You could add mechanics to extend the patience of customers waiting for seats, add more seats as you upgrade the restaurant, maybe have customers take calls, which will temporarily stop their DoT clock. This has a ton of room for growth, which is always great to see.


Definitely gonna follow this game in the future, see how it develops!

(+1)

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out!! We love all of the feedback we've been receiving, and I can't tell you how happy I am that you enjoyed our game. Drop a follow and we'll make sure to keep you posted with any updates in the future!

(+1)

So much fun!! I love the idea!

(+1)

loving it, i wish you could upgrade the bar, more seating, more pots, and AI waiter, but this is great

Neat little game.

It seemed unfair that even though I had all drinks set up almost all the time the later nights brought in guests that couldn't get to a drink and would get angry waiting. Perhaps I'm missing something with how the drink brewing work.

Either way the core gameplay worked without any bugs which is very impressive in a 2-week game jam. The art is nice and easy to look at and the music is enjoyable.

Good job!

(+1)

Awesome little game! I like it a lot. Very high quality, very fun to play.

The control scheme was complicated to read about but made a lot of sense once I actually got into playing. It was good to play.

The only bit of constructive criticism I would give is that I found your tooltips occasionally did not display over the ingredients. I spent maybe half a minute trying to figure out what Silver did.

(+1)

Fun looking game, well made!

As an AZERTY user really appreciate the bind-able keys!, just why is WASD not included? 🧐

Did a whole UX/UI analysis of both the game & it's page over in Discord chat. <3

Keep me updated if this gets further development! 

I am a QWERTZ user and I tend to switch my layout to QWERTY when I'm playing because it's so much easier to just win+space than reconfigure buttons if that's even an option. The buttons don't read correctly this way, but who's reading the keyboard when gaming anyway? Of course I have to remember to switch it back to have mz buttons act as thez read.

Didn't know what to do in the first night so I just fought them off and it worked lol. 
then just started filling the bar lol

Had a good time :) I must say, not really sure what the in between brewing thing did for me tbh.

THANK GOSH FOR LAST CALL! Love the game, addicting, love the music, love everything! sometimes i go to cauldron and if i move away to fast it doesn't pick up the potions, idk if that's just me though xD got to night 9! Also I hate Mothman so much /cry

(+1)

I hate this job, customers try to bite my hand every time i try to serve, death is coming for my butt and doesn't even tip, at least music rocks

Very fun game overall, and with great aesthetic too!

Survived 8 Nights max, tried some strat, but my best take is movement speed.

Music is a total Banger ! Super fun game, GG !

(+1)

Zombies, Vampires, Mummies -oh my! This one had me saying "okay fine one more round" each time it was last call. The last call animation was pretty satisfying too, realizing the rush was over and there was a moment to soak in the chaos across the counter. Good music, good art, good job~

(1 edit) (+1)

Got to night 9, really solid game, tried lots of strategies, but the moths are too much! Overall great experience!

Was hooked right away, but I didn't got the controls right at the beginning, a small reminder (like a sprite of a key/button over the cauldron for example) would've been a nice touch. 

Overall the core loop is working as intended, even if that's a tad repetitive at some point. I would've love to see a bit more stronger variety in the upgrades or some kind of more clear end goal, maybe some more situations where you have directly agressive enemies to prepare you to the inevitable overload. 

The art is really cool and cute, I love the dark tavern/bar setup and the overall mood is really cool and somewhat cosy, even if that's stressful af when customers piles up. 

Bravo to you, congrats on completing the jam with a finished and successful game ! 

(+1)

I quite enjoyed the concept here, took me a few tries to figure the game out. Some little bits I didn't quite realise at the start is how you can pick up two drinks at once, what's the condition for the clear bar (it's not having any leftover drinks by the way) and that the brew bonuses from previous rounds are actually permanent (I originally thought they are for the one day only). After I figured this out, things started to get smoother as I started optimising my gameplay more and more.

I feel like the brewing ingredients could use some balancing. For example, for $10 herbs giving higher tips you need to be given $2000 worth of base tips ($2010 total) for it to pay for itself. Also, the species-specific bonuses increasing DoT had a price barely more efficient for its specific species and didn't affect others. So in the end, I kept spending my money on Transylvania GNS, because it would take over 10 levels before the money bonuses would pay for themselves, and most problems didn't come from serving speed but the bar being occupied.

When it comes to the bartending phase, I'd suggest making annoyance bar background different from the drunkedness bar, so it's easier to tell whether someone is increasingly annoyed or increasingly drunk. Also, I noticed that the drunkedness bar is drawn higher than the annoyance bar. I feel it should be the other way round - knowing that the customer is getting more annoyed is more crucial for the player, so it's best if annoyance is what sticks out to the player. An auditory feedback (like an annoyed grunt or growl or something) when a customer is halfway annoyed would also help.

Also, it would be nice if the customer paused their annoyance when they're heading to the next free position (rather than wondering around an waiting for a spot to free up). Otherwise, an unlucky player might end up with a situation where the customer briefly enters annoyed, and then goes to the furthest possible spots so before you have any chance to give them the drink, they're already furious.

There are quite a few of the suggestions, but it's not because the game is bad, but rather because it could be made even better with a few tweaks. The game generally has been enjoyable, the artwork was nice and detailed and the music fit as well. Well done! ^^

(+1)

nicely done! cool set of core mechanics - the clean bar bonus is a nice touch!

very addictive gameplay loop, and the art is really cute!

Cool game! Good graphics, good music, great that people attack you when they don't get their drink, really liked the gameplay! Good work

Interesting game. I like how the clients wait and attack us if we don't take them drink in the time. Good gameplay :)

Fantastic game! I love the concept of a shady bar serving some strange brews. Really polished, especially the ability to rebind the controls. Music, art, and mechanics are all great, and I have to say that the GDD is fantastic as well :P

The artstyle and music are great, and the game feels overall very polished. Enemies did not attack me much, doing something like spawning some enemies that are immediately aggressive (or having more ways to make the enemies aggressive) would give the player more chances to engage with the combat. Great game!

I think you should give it another shot and try beating level 12 and see how you feel about the game then :)

Hello, I tried your game again! The first time I got to night 8, noticed there was no new item in the shop, and for some reason assumed nothing would change from that point onwards. Up until that point everything went smoothly and I never got attacked. This time I kept going and built a more balanced character. I died at night 10, and I can see it gets a lot more hectic. I would have liked the difficulty curve to be a bit steeper, since the game initially lost my attention, and the bartending part felt a bit repetitive the second time I played (especially because it took me about 20 minutes to get to level 10). In general, I think the game is very well made, your team did a great job!

Get's stuck at the loading bar for me. Reloading doesn't help.

Some chrome weirdness: had to use incognito window. There everything works.

(1 edit)

That's weird you're the only one that has reported this so far. Was it just a browser issue/local PC issue? Itch has some issues with Godot embedded games (In Firefox) which is why we recommend a Chromium based browser but you're the first person to report this.

(2 edits) (+1)
  • the music goes insanely hard
  • game's really addictive
  • love the art style
  • SIR CAN YOU PLEASE WAIT FOR A SECOND WE'RE ABSOLUTELY PACKED RIGHT NOW HOLY SH**
  • didn't upgrade my attack stuff until it was too late
  • suggestion: there should be something where customers have a small chance to attack you if they don't like the drink, so that way even if you're playing really well in terms of serving, you still get to defend yourself fairly early on
  • couldn't really tell whether or not my drinks were optimal until it was too late
  • honestly the game would be already incredible without the attack aspect, but you went above and beyond, well done

idk how to do long detailed wall-of-text reviews, so you get a list

great game, easily one of my favorites I've played so far, kudos to you all :D

(+1)

We appreciate the feedback and your response! If we continue working on the game post-jam we'll definitely revisit the core loop and mechanics and see what can be tweaked/improved.

Really glad you enjoyed it! <3

(+1)

Sir I will GET to you when I GET to you

This is really cute! Great job!

(+1)

This is great! I really like the core loop. Turns out vampires actually love garlic?

Love the artstyle

Blood X Thirsty Gameplay

https://youtu.be/RTy5nul9yKI

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