Arena of the Mad King
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Will You Survive this Madness?
AotMK is fast-paced bullet-hell boss rush game. Touhou meets Realm of the Mad God.
The Mad King is subjecting the peasants to the horrors of the arena. Will you survive and put an end to his tyranny?
Controls
Basic
All Controls
Play the Bonus Challenge
In the Story screen, click "No one has survived this terrible fate". RotMG players, enjoy 'ultra-miasma' and 'ultra-celestial' =)
AotMK is Still in Early Development!
This game is in VERY EARLY (alpha) development. This is my first ever bullet hell. It is very unpolished and there is lots to come. For now there is one first boss, and one bonus boss.
Twitter
YouTube
Install Instructions
Windows
Unzip the .zip file. Double-click AotMK.exe to play.
Mac
Unzip the .zip file. Double-click AotMK.app to play.
Note: some newer MacOS versions disallow almost all applications not distributed through the App Store, so you may not be able to play it due to permissions issues. In that case, you can get it to work by downloading Arena of the Mad King through the itch desktop app.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- AotMK: v0.3.3.1bFeb 16, 2021
- AotMK: v0.3.3bFeb 13, 2021
- AotMK: v0.3.2bDec 26, 2020
- AotMK: v0.3.0b & Patch v0.3.1bDec 01, 2020
- AotMK: All Assets UsedNov 26, 2020
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
i swear to god my dreams are fulfilled
Not sure if this is still in development, but I have a few comments:
-Graphics are excellent, though the player sprites seem to be much lower quality than the floor and attacks, why is that?
-I've been looking for a game to practice hard RotMG bosses, and this is perfect. I love how on the nose some of the references are (like calling it AofMK) and I love the integration of various difficult phases in Realm.
-Some difficulty settings would be nice; If I turn I-frames off I could practice more effectively
-Which difficulty corresponds with which boss/ phase? Is Madness the correct difficulty to be practicing celestial? Is Hard the correct difficulty to be practicing the spinny phase that I don't know the name of?
Thank you!
Hi, thank you for trying the demo and providing your feedback!
Thanks for the response! To your first point, AotMK is to RotMG what apex legends is to call of duty. The same general mechanics, but more refined and less content (I'm not sure if you've played either of those games). I play RotMG 10+ hours a week and it still took me a minute to realize this was a fangame. This game feels less like a copy of RotMG and more like a RotMG spinoff.
To your last point, I meant practicer as more of a compliment. This game's unique identity makes it feel less like you're practicing realm and more like you are practicing bullet hell in general. Thanks for the response and happy developing!
Post Script: I forget to mention this, on your first point: I was referring to how good the sprites look, not the image quality. The colors just aren't as dynamic as the rest of the game, but still as high quality if not more than most games with 8x8 characters
theres a bug where the of the bosses bullets in invis
Which graphics card do you have on your device? Did you see a warning message about it?
how do i get this on linux
Hi, 1. Click 'Download Now'.
2. Click ‘Just take me to the downloads’.
3. Click the third download button for Linux.
Nice game
Neat game! A full version would be worth!
Thank you so much! I'm continuing to work on the game in my spare time.
xqc played your game!!
I have been truly blessed
i have 1 boss and 1 bonus boss
Make it so that we can change the control.
Ex: Right Click = Ability
Make it so that screen Rotation is faster.
Also Skill Issue
Thanks for playing =) I'll try to work on the game again soon, been super busy!
For now, please try to toggle your screen rotation speed with the letter O key. You should also be able to remap the controls with the dialog that appears when you launch the game.
(I understand, it's a very clunky solution, I'll only be able to change how this works once I redo the input system)
this looks a pretty nice game! i'm just a bit worried, why i start to take damage out of nowhere in the bosses? even in the bonus boss i get hit without touching anything
Ty! Do the enemy bullets render for you? The game needs DirectX11 to properly work. There should be a notice that pops up warning players about this but so far that didn't appear for only one person (and they used Linux, which I know nothing about lol)
Got done with the demo, good stuff! I like the screen spin mechanic, I've been curious what a bullet hell shmup would be like with 'Gyrus' or 'Tempest' spin mechanics. I think you pulled it off quite well. With more arenas/bosses and some light story & I think you'll have quite a fine full game. Looking forward to it if you continue development.
I was pretty satisfied with the challenge, but as stated in some other comments, don't be afraid to bump the difficulty up just a bit for later bosses.
My one real gripe is the mouse - seems kind of unnecessary gameplay wise and not great for use with control pads or arcade sticks (which can offer finer control than keyboard for tight bullet dodging.) Maybe have an limited lock-on feature that encourages players to spin the screen towards the target?
Also, the Linux build runs fine; was able to get through the whole game no problem.
Thank you! If you like, I've just updated the game with a new bonus boss. I plan on having minions that can be aimed down and shot at with the mouse eventually. I like that idea of having a little bit of aim assist if I figure out controller stuff.
So I grew up with both Touhou and RotMG, so naturally I hopped right into this game on Windows, then Arch Linux. I haven't found much difference so far.
The controls feel like Rotmg for the most part. I changed the focus button right click for focus the since it hurt to move focused for extended periods using the default controls.
Difficulty is on par with a Touhou 2nd boss on normal. With the simple patterns, tiny hit box, and generous spacing, I was able to clear it with no damage and mostly minimal movement. Was a little disappointed at the difficulty, but considering it's in alpha stage I'll give it a pass for now. Consider patterns that brings you closer to the boss or at least can't be cheesed by sitting in the corner a la pre-vital-combat RotMG.
The aesthetics (you're working on these rn, right?) are OK if you turn off the FX. The filters make everything fuzzy on 1280x960 and 1400x1050, both windowed and fullscreen. The individual bullets are nice and bright against the dark background. Unfortunately the patterns were nothing of note. Again, alpha stuff. The rune affects while focused and the energy spheres were a decent visual touch while not being too distracting.
I turned off the music after the first few runs. It got old fast.
Overall it's a decent prototype. Good luck on finishing it.
Hey, thank you for playing the game and providing such detailed feedback! The very first boss has been a great prototype to test things out, and since then I was able to add different character abilities and difficulty options (which will need to be tested and balanced, of course).
I've been working on some more interesting bullet patterns for this boss as well as future ones after getting the hang of generating the most basic ones. The gameplay loop has been a much higher priority than graphics, but I promise you won't be disappointed in the next update cycle or two =)
Seems like it could become a nice bullet hell, wish you luck for the development!
Mmm... I'm sorry to say this, but that's not really a fangame, and it's way longer than 3 minutes! The game itself seems pretty good, but it doesn't fit as a submission to the jam...
I wish you luck on its development though. It looks promising!
Hi, thanks for checking out AotMK. It started out as a very small fangame and I never expected it to eventually turn into its own game. I might add it to a "finish your game" sort of event instead