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Stone Sabbath
Stone Sabbath
By Erik Bria, caladrius, Polite Stories, lelita, Sotaroni, Callum Craig, Core69, Rubiia, Odakine, TheyCallMeJuju, Kitkii and theintruder
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 365 | 3.77 | 47 | |
| Fun | 626 | 3.43 | 47 | |
| Innovation | 751 | 3.25 | 46 | |
| Theme | 866 | 3.51 | 47 | |
| Graphics | 328 | 4.08 | 47 | |
| Audio | 31 | 4.31 | 46 | |
| Humor | 847 | 2.67 | 36 | |
| Mood | 143 | 4.09 | 44 | |
Comments
juulh
2022-04-05 22:28
In a lot of ways this game felt very polished, the music and sfx were really well made, the art style is really original and looked good, the story was sometimes a bit vague but interesting. I liked how you moved between screens in the main menu, and the texts on the main menu buttons were really funny and original, replacing a standard "Quit" button with "I refuse", etc.
I did have a couple issues though, the text in the "Why am I here?" screen was hard to read since it was very pixelated and the respawn campfires didn't seem to work. I also didn't really know what to do sometimes, and after the sudden "The sabbath always comes" screen everything went black and I couldn't play.
Overall I think with some changes to the gameplay I think it could be a really good game, even though I had some issues with the gameplay it was still nice to play and for such a short time period it feels like a pretty polished experience! Good job :)
Thank you @juulh! We're aware of some key bugs that flagged up during post-jam QA today, and we intend to have a patch for them tomorrow evening, thank you so much for your feedback!
juulh
2022-04-05 23:47
@caladrius I'll try playing it again when it's updated!
Hey @juulh! We just completed our first major bugfix pass. Lots of things were broken or just completely not hooked up properly, and it should all be there and cleaned up now! Some minor remaining bugs, but nothing that so totally ruins the game like there was before
linnet5
2022-04-06 23:14
This music is incredible! Is the music available anywhere?
Aesthetics are really charming! That definitely includes the bgm as well. Hitboxes were a little wonky, but my main roadblock was a lack of direction. Exploring was fun enough at first, but there wasn't too much to find (outside of the easter egg behind the church!) so I kinda just got lost and tired after a little while.
6smith
2022-04-06 23:30
wow elden ring lookin different these days
Thank you for the feedback @chris-pugliese. There's an entire second half of the game past the church, down onto a beach, and a boss fight at the end. I suppose the path down behind the church just plain isn't signposted well enough and we'll need to work on that
@linnet5 Our lead musician is uploading the soundtrack to YouTube as we speak!
@linnet5 Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoy it. You can listen to it on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiIVStpylNvVOTHU7XhjAtA
beefsock
2022-04-07 00:00
Really like the style of this and the world is quite large for a jam. I hope your crew continues to make games in the future.
linnet5
2022-04-07 00:02
@erik-bria You seriously did an incredible job on this. Going to forward this score to my teammates.
And to everyone else on the team, good job on the game as well. I didn't get very far sadly but I like the way you implemented the theme for sure!
conroy
2022-04-07 00:10
So first off congrats you submitted a game jam! So first off, I see you guys aimed big... maybe some of you have been playing a little title from FromSoft recently...hmmmmm? haha
The art and the music were awesome, the combat was maybe the weakest part but hey its 3 days, still awesome!
juulh
2022-04-07 00:12
@caladrius Hey! I just played through it again, it was definitely improved a lot! I enjoyed playing it a lot more and it's still a really cool game.
- The main menu UI is now much more readable - Combat was changed well, last time I was mostly trying to avoid any combat by hiding behind trees since it was pretty hard and didn't really have a reward/reason for it, it definitely felt a lot better now - The animations on praying to the moon shrine indicating the time change was also really nice, made it a lot clearer on what it does - The ending cutscene replacing the standard fail one was also really nice - I got a lot further into the game this time, last time I only got to the boss fight by walking around the fences at the second moon shrine (there was a fence blocking it but you could still move around it) - The gate in the beginning wasn't open from the start anymore - The campfire spawnpoints work well
Some issues I still had: - The WebGL game resolution was really low, the Windows download was fine - Walking around the fence at the second moon shrine is now fixed, but instead you get stuck there and I had to restart - The combat is definitely better, but it was a bit easy sometimes because you can kill the easier enemies before their attack animation kicks in - It was a bit unclear what the timeframe was, how long I had until the sabbath would come - Turning time back with the moon shrines didn't seem to affect how long I had - It was also sometimes a bit unclear where I had to go, it took me a while to find the church/market area - The ending UI was also too pixelated to read - The text that appears after defeating the boss was under the boss' healthbar, so I couldn't read what it said - Windows download was called "SoneSabbath" instead of "StoneSabbath"
Some of these are really small isues and aren't that important, it was still really fun to play! I didn't end up finding out how to win but either way it was still very well made, thanks for making it! :)
Thanks so much for the detailed feedback @juulh, this is incredibly useful and I've forwarded this over to my team - can't tell you how much I appreciate this!
juulh
2022-04-07 00:26
@caladrius No problem! It was really fun to play so thank you for the game :D
wow! i tried playing it on a laptop with only a trackpad, so obviously that didn't help me! but i loved what you've managed during this jam! the music is great, and the whole word is immersive and beautiful! and the story adds that little something that most jam games seem to lack. impressive! <3
*in the end, after a long and dedicated battle, cormoran was too strong for my clonky trackpad..!* :laughing:
Great game. I loved the music and the retro art style fit very well. I think it would be nice if the enemies de-aggroed as you ran away from them though, rather than chasing you across the map.
very cool, the aesthetic is top notch
@linnet5 Thank you so much! It was not easy I'll tell you that much. Btw, the boss music track is now also up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd06jgZblAA
Neat experience! The scenery and general setting is crazy well designed. Had fun exploring the vast environment. The game also looks incredible, very unique style. Music also really makes that atmosphere.
Dude you made a 3D action game in 3 days, this is awesome! Could definitely use some effects to show a successful hit but this is seriously super impressive. Great work.
A really ambitious work for a jam project. The music gives a really good mood. The graphic feels a little bit rough but still nicely done. The UI is a kind of hard to read. Can't wait to see it develop more.
revetoon
2022-04-07 18:06
Cool game, the music is a real banger :) I like the retro vibes, I think it fits very well a game jam. I did not go too far into the game because I died and my last checkpoint was far away, maybe having more unique encounters and less "empty" spaces could work better. I still liked the varied environment (and the pic of the dude behind the church ^^)
reronin
2022-04-07 19:03
CAMPFIRE LIT
Really nice music! There was a lot to explore, although there little incentive for killing enemies, since you can easily uitrun them anyway.
Also cool boss fight!
ankea
2022-04-07 19:15
Really odd experience! like a lot. Road to weird village cult. Love the graphics and the aesthetics. Did not like the sound design so much. Maybe some reverb on the voice acting, It kind of broke the bubble of illusion. Still nice work!
The game looks and sounds great (it better considering there were 13 people working on it lol) Because of that, my rating will be a bit harsher.
The game has a lot but I think because you had so many people I would have liked to have seen more polish. Little details like telegraphing animations for the enemies, better feedback so I know when I've hit them, etc. Aside from stuff like that, the game is great! Can't wait to see more
Really well-crafted game! The music is fantastic, the sound effects are lovely (especially all the vocal aahs and wooshes haha), and the art and animation are lovely too. I like that the enemies' attacks are all well-telegraphed. The world design is excellent, and the placement of enemies throughout to signpost the way forward is done well too.
One bug to report though: when I defeated the giant boss, its healthbar covered up the text popup underneath, so I couldn't read what my character was thinking/the instructions properly.
Thank you everybody for your incredible feedback! We dropped it all on a Trello where we could to ensure we'd cover all ground, and we've just published an update with bugfixes, balance adjustments, and a slight change to the town layout so people end up far less lost. There's likely some more annoying bugs we're not aware of, but I think the game is in the best possible place it could be right now. Thank you once again for taking the time to let us know where the pain points were!
When I saw the image of this game in the feed I stopped and thought "Wow, I need to play this", and I'm not sorry. I passed it on to all my friends.
I saw that it was a great team that participated, and you are to be congratulated! The construction of the world, the music, the graphics, all very good! I'm going to mention the things that I believe could improve the user experience, but I'll leave my congratulations here!
Main - Sounds
I think that adding sounds whenever I hit an attack would greatly increase the feedback for the player, because as the damage animation doesn't, sometimes it's hard to know if I'm hitting or not, especially in combats against several enemies.
The checkered filter: I don't know, but for me the experience would be better without it, or at least have a way to turn it off.
Pause system: Games where time matters is super important to have a pause system, even more in a game with such a big world to explore.
Secondary: I have a sickle and there's a tiger field, why can't I cut them?! =(
Destroying the barrels and crates would be cool!
I saw in the prints someone fishing and I thought they had a fishing system (I'm addicted to fishing system Ha HA)
Well that's it, congratulations to everyone for the work!
I will definitely research more about this mythology.
If this feedback has positively helped your game, please leave a "<3"
sodoj
2022-04-09 00:52
First of all, thank you for including WebGL build!
This is a very ambitious game, especially for game jam! I had a really good time playing this, took me like 20 minutes to get through it all, but I had some gripes with it, so let me share my thoughts real quick.
The aesthetics are wonderful, I love almost everything about it. Keyword being almost, as I really dislike the checkerboard overlay that is probably there to simulate pixel look of the original PS1. It doesn't work that well in my opinion and it seems like a smudge that makes otherwise fantastic characters and environment look unnecessarily worse.
That being said, exploring the said environments was a lot of fun. I liked the dancing tribe at the start, silly enemies and just general feel that the game delivers. I also genuinely love the music that plays in the background, it's so well done! I'm listening to it in the background as I'm writing this post!
Combat is alright, but I really wish player attack animations were a little shorter, especially for strong attack. In fact, I never used strong attack in combat after I used it initially, it just doesn't feel that right.
With all this in mind, I still had a great time. This game definitely has one of the best atmospheres in this jam and inspiring character design. Well done!
exevirus
2022-04-09 02:37
Wow! I'm not going to write a page, but two things:
1. Nice job music team 2. Nice job animation team 3. Don't use the WebGL version, haha 4. WOW, that's a huge team!!! That's bar far the most impressive thing this jam, i'ts that team size!
manan
2022-04-09 02:58
I found the premise behind this game hilarious. Those damn bards. I also loved the designs of the cat creatures, and the giant things with swords were really cool. The music was also really nice. I felt like the combat mechanic could have been more satisfying, but this is a really impressive project for 3 days. I couldn't figure out how to beat the game. It seemed like I had prayed at all of the altars and I wasn't sure how to get to the mountain.
Absolutely loved the PSX-era graphics. Control, audio, menu system, and tutorial were nice. The animations were really good too! Combat felt a bit arbitrary at times. Excellent "soulsian" references. Overall, excellent work you guys! Also, I'm sure making a game with 11 people was feat in itself. Nicely done!
The game is good and the world is big, I think this has a big potential. But I have some issues with the camera and controls, the camera rotates way too fast and when we attack we can't move or rotate the camera which gives a weird feeling
The visuals and the lore were really transporting, and the Soul-like gameplay made me feel like I knew what was in store for me, despite the novel setting. I would definitely buy a fully fleshed out game in this style.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to hear any of the audio people are talking about, but I'm sure that's the fault of my ancient laptop, so I just left that rating blank.
xparker
2022-04-10 18:18
- "I refuse" :laughing: - Awesome soundtrack, really like it.
a bit too pixelated for my taste, but awesome what you achieved in 72h. very solid entry
At first I thought I wasn't going to enjoy this, mostly due to the limited combat mechanics (which are still impressive for a jam). But, then I ended up playing through a second time, because I wanted to win the boss fight, so... quite compelling! I really like that you can only kite the faster enemies for so long, then you have to stand your ground. I still mostly went the stealth route to save time. I wasn't a big fan of the visual dithering, although I didn't mind the low-res in general. The checkpointing system was well done, in conjunction with a good level design. Large but manageable with tantalizing glimpses of what was to come.
My top two asks are: (1) a better visual indication of hits/misses. (2) I'll reiterate what someone else said: Let me cut down the wheat with my scythe! :grin:
Overall: Quite an incredible amount of functional content :eyes:, with an engaging premise and nice difficulty level. Congrats! :thumbsup: (Note: it's clear there has been a good amount of refinement post-jam. I recommend having a jam-deadline entry for rating purposes and a separate one for non-trivial improvements)
someone
2022-04-10 20:16
Pretty awesome to see some Cornish lore having grown up in that area. I love the music and the atmosphere. Could have done with more sounds though. The menu was fun, though some parts were tricky to read. The combat was a bit clunky, I didn't find the heavy attack useful at all. Too slow for not much extra damage.
raphiell
2022-04-11 23:38
Dope! Definitely worthy of fanart. The tutorial screen said you turn with a/d, but it's actually strafing. Was the giant the goal, killing him? After that I was teleported to the end but I think there were a few places I had to explore yet. Amazing audio and style, my only complaint is the 'squares' filter over everything, it wasn't too big a deal but I don't think it really adds to the aesthetic.
This is really well done!
One of my my first impressions was "whoa, there's a lot of content in this game", especially by the time I ran over to the tent/marketplace area. Indeed like others, I noticed that kiting was an option, and in a sense that was the real Delay the Inevitable for me.
I have to say, I am terrible at Dark Souls games, so when I was able to down the big guy in the beginning I felt ecstatic. So thanks for the confidence boost :)
Another thing I really liked was the oddly creepy atmosphere. It actually starts with the dancing circle setting up the stage, and then you start seeing the other villagers aggro you later on. I was surprised at that feeling and I think it was a combination of level design, art, and music.
Great job on being able to run such a massive team for LD! I used to do this myself so I understand how much of a nightmare it can be too coordinate all the moving pieces. The gameplay is solid and I didn't notice anything that stuck out sorely.
Holy cow, I'm blown away by the size of the map. What an impressive world to build for three days. The graphics and audio are super charming, overall I'm very impressed.
I liked the inclusion of what I'm assuming are your portraits as easter eggs. I only found two, but one of them even talked back!
I knew nothing about Cornish mythology going in, so I'm glad you included a bestiary too. It's always neat when games have lore in them, so it's a welcome surprise to find in a jam game.
itskdog
2022-04-15 16:12
Nice job with the world building. Some of the animations looked really good, but I think the attack swing could be better. I think the enemies need some kind of drop system or level up system.
damakuno
2022-04-17 07:41
I'm impressed by the scale of the map, and although at times the combat feels a bit janky, overall it's still quite an impressive entry for a game jam! I particularly like the art-style and art direction you went for for the game, as well as the narrative and story aspect of it!
Really good mood, it instantly reminds me of [Ecstatica](https://www.myabandonware.com/game/ecstatica-345). And I love it.
joror
2022-04-17 14:58
Huge world! Liked the music a lot. :smile: Would have loved a bit more diversity in the weaponry/fighting.
Love the aesthetics of the 3D models and animations, the dialogue at the beginning tells me you all must have had a fun time making it. I found the boss fight very satisfying in a sort of microgame kind of way, fun to see a lot of the core principles of these sorts of games distilled down into something small. The shrines letting you delay things naturally prompts exploration which I think works very well.
lovely shaders! but not only shaders all the menus and stuff really fits the ps1 esque style even level design so i believe you nailed that. gameplay was a bit one dimensional (i cant really imagine different ways to play it out.). very polished and good entry! :smile:
@potkirland thank you very much! I watched your stream and your reaction to the Knockers made me and the rest of the team crack up a lot :) They're "old man imps" from Cornish mythology and if you give them food they knock on the mines to warn you of cave ins!
@polite-stories oh im glad you had the chance to. wish could have that interaction in game lol :laughing: