Wizard Pest Control Services Inc

Made for the rives.io Jam #2 .

Here at Wizard Pest Control Services Inc we take pest control seriously. You know the story: a wizard gets a familiar and thinks "wouldn't it be cool to have another one". The familiars, well, get familiar and before you know it there are swarms of baby creatures. It's a story we hear all too often. These unbound creatures turn evil, leading to more unbound creatures and you suddenly realize: YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.

Despair not, for we at Wizard Pest Control Services Inc are experts in magical pest removal. Choose from one of our 6 pest control experts and we'll have your problem solved before you can say "why couldn't I have just sticked to having one". Our experts are on top of their continuing professional development and constantly upgrade their skills through magical gems that inexplicably spawn from dying creatures (and by the way, any gold coins we find our ours too - it's in our standard terms and conditions).

Don't delay. Call Wizard Pest Control Services Inc today. Wizard Pest Control Services Inc is an equal opportunities employer*

* as long as you're a wizard.

[Ring....ring. Ring ring]

Hello.

What's that RIVES HQ? You have a secret magical lair where you meet and plan mysterious magical things whilst playing retro games and that bunker has somehow become infested?

No, that's a myth. You can't have as many familiars as you like as long as you don't feed them after midnight. We're not sure why so many people think that.

Of course, you called the right company. We'll be there shortly.

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CONTROLS:

Use a game controller directions and A button or the arrow keys and z on your keyboard. Diagonal movement is possible (e.g. on keyboard hold down up and left arrows to go up to the left)

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JAM NOTES:

The game runs in an onchain virtual fantasy console called RIVES. I wanted to make the game maximally compatible with features such as leaderboards. There is, therefore, an overall score for the game but the game also exports the number of gems collected, coins collected, kills, survival time, what character was played, and what spells were used. I think this type of game fits well with this feature of rives and should allow the game to be played with the idea of different challenges, expanding upon just surviving.

RIVES, as a fantasy console, comes with certain restrictions. Also the game jam requirements, for example cartridge size and colors, are restrictions. I chose this type of game for the technical challenge of seeing if it can be done with the restrictions. In particular a < 256KB cartridge on a 128Mhz virtual console means that this really shouldn't be possible, and of course it needs to be sure not to run out of CPU quota.

The game has 11 spells and 33 possible upgrade choices. I think that provides enough to make an interesting and enjoyable play experience. This sort of game benefits from as many as possible but time is always a factor in game jam games - perhaps I will add more in the future. But I'm also happy with where it is.

Many thanks to Forgotten Runes, who allowed jam participants to use some of their sprites.