Elwik Mage Academy

stratoskakalis 2018-12-04 20:33

Mood, audio, visuals they were all soooo amazing! This game is not was I usually play (I think its considered a visual novel?). But even though I am not familiar with the genre I dont think most visual novels give you handy tools like "history" and "back". Trully lovely art, music and overall atmosphere. I liked the story even though I can't say I got fully immersed... maybe because I was trying to review the game instead of actually trying to enjoy it. Great entry! (also for the love of God rate other people's entries so that yours get suggested more and it gets a rating it's a shame for a game this good to have only a single review).

hex-agendum 2018-12-05 01:24

My first experience with this kind of game, and I really loved the choose-your-own-adventure feel. I found myself caring about the characters and rooting for them. It's a very rich universe you've created, very warm and cozy to inhabit.

qviguier 2018-12-05 01:34

i loved your universe, there is definetly something to it ! on a sidenote, i could'nt get the good ending for the life of me, maybe i missed something. anyway great jam !

mrthee 2018-12-05 06:50

a quaint fun little thing. I might give it another go to check out the other endings :3

popdaddygames 2018-12-05 07:06

This is awesome! That very pixelated style for the people is crazy cool! This is also a very different gameplay type than anything else I've played in these jams- awesome work! :)

flaterectomy 2018-12-05 13:28

This is a very charming game. The soundtrack and art give off a pleasant warmth, so to speak. I was also very glad to see that I could left-click and instantly reveal the text that was scrolling in. That's a feature of these kinds of games I greatly appreciate. And a music volume slider in the options! Glorious! :smile:

I feel like it's a little light on choices initially in relation to the amount of text I am reading. Even some minor choices that only come back later without a real impact on the story (a character remembering something I said or did, for instance).

I also got confused with some of the character's names, I'd have liked it if their names were colored the same as their primary visual color. (Pink hair, pink name, etc.)

As I said, the art is pretty cute. Inconsistent scaling of pixelart is a pet peeve of mine, though, so when I saw wildy different scaling in the background it did trigger me slightly. :laughing: The music is very atmospheric, but the rare occurrences of sound effects was a little startling. There's just a few instances so when they happened they stood out in stark contrast.

Some (minor) bugs I ran into:

* At one point, when training the students in the same area as the archmage, there is the line "A rogue stone nearly cracks ?? in the back of the head." I guess the ?? should've been a character name?

* I introduced myself to the archmage after clicking 'Gaea office', but afterward the option to go there remains and the same exchange just repeats.

I did two playthroughs. I'd like to see all six ending, but I have more games to rate! My first playthrough ended in *Ending 1 of 6 - Honesty Leave.* In my second playthrough I chose Lud's side, so when it said "She didn't deserve Lud's bullying" at the end, it felt like that would not have been my opinion based on my earlier choices. It was *Ending 3 of 6 - tenacity Leave.*

Great work!

querk 2018-12-05 20:08

It looks like a really cool game. I like music and graphics. but unfortunately this is not my type of game and after five minutes I started to get bored, so I'm not able to evaluate and give good feedback.

(thnaks you for played my game in stream)

svdvorak 2018-12-05 20:47

This was surprisingly fun and engaging, usually I find it a bit hard to get into visual novels. Really cool that you had time to get in multiple endings as well.

cassio-eduardo 2018-12-08 05:15

The art is not consistent (characters and background). The story is charming and seems to be pretty big (considering there are multiple endings). I only did 1 playthrough and ended up with the second ending.

The theme of sacrifie was pretty subtle and felt more like a simple choice than a "real" sacrifice. Maybe it needs a more severe impact on the characters.

Visual novels requries so much content and it is a very niche genre, so I think this is a very bold attempt (specially for a jam). I imagine you enjoy writting.

Good job.

howard-duong 2018-12-12 03:10

Although I'm not a big fan of visual novel game, I surprisingly had a lot of fun! The music is great and the story is pretty good. Good job!

justcamh 2018-12-12 13:32

Awesome little visual novel. Although little is definitely not the right way of putting it. There is some considerable depth in here, and I feel like my decisions have meaning. In part, that is due to the multiple endings, but also the detail in the responses. Details as simple as the lie you tell to Atya, that Chiyem picks up on. Brilliant. There are also really deep personalities in here, such as the main teacher 'Cookie'. Loved it. :thumbsup:

ecmjohnson 2018-12-27 19:50

That's a great visual novel you put together very quickly! I especially liked the self awareness (stand out moment is starting at Lythwin and the comment about all the offices appearing to be made from the same template) and could even have enjoyed more of this (everyone playing the game knows that it was made in 72 hours and that could be a fun element to play with in this format).

I did feel that the contrast between the pointillist backgrounds and pixel art characters was a bit harsh. I did like both on their own and it clearly distinguished the characters from the backgrounds so maybe it's just something to get used to.

The sounds and music are great and add a lot to the visual novel format! Overall I really enjoyed my time at Elwik, but I needed to advance my career by moving on to Lythwin.