kr0meel 2023-05-01 18:23
Hey guys, don't forget to add a link to your game!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD53 → MagiCat
By flokami, Butterflan and Artatruc
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 555 | 3.60 | 49 | |
| Fun | 842 | 3.14 | 50 | |
| Innovation | 251 | 3.75 | 50 | |
| Theme | 1036 | 3.28 | 50 | |
| Graphics | 64 | 4.54 | 53 | |
| Humor | 447 | 3.33 | 48 | |
| Mood | 98 | 4.19 | 51 |
Hey guys, don't forget to add a link to your game!
What ^ K0meel said :)
I see a game about cats. I immediately click because cats. Where are my cats?!
@kr0meel @jasonsumm1 thx the game's link has been added!
@aviv-levy Cats have been released ;) !
Love the art style
This game oozes with style, confusing to get the hang of at first but really fun once you figure it out. The text can be a bit wordy.
This art style is everything! And cats?? I'm in love!
I love the art so much!
I really like how the game looks, the drawing style and music is fitting to medieval theme. But it was unplayable for me because for the most of the time the keys didn't work and I kept forgetting the ingredients names and the clues for the recipe. It would be good it there was a restart button, because at first I failed to get the combination right and the timer went out. After that the keys just stopped working and it was frustrating because I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or if it was a bug. It was quite disappointing experience because I would have liked to finish the game :)
The art is this is so great. I love the bizarre medieval drawings, and the paper style really brings to mind the sort of theatre vibe that the curtains seem to suggest.
My initial reaction to this game was confusion; I think an easier / simpler first "level" would make this a lot easier to understand. The first (and seemingly only?) guy says so many things that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to memorise everything, and I eventually ended up just tossing random ingredients into the pot, which seemed to work? (Unless I somehow accidentally got all of them right?) I also couldn't throw in the "A" button ingredient, which was either a bug, or something I didn't understand.
The rune phase was interesting -- once I figured out how it worked. The time limit on it really reduced my ability to learn what to do with trial and error; as before, a simpler, non-time version to start with might have been good. E.g. a level where you make something for another magic practitioner? Making the runes under a time limit was quite satisfying though, so I liked how that was implemented.
Anyway, a very unique game, both in gameplay and art style. Well done!
I really love the medieval theme and I loved this game) The art is awesome!!! And I loved the splash screen at the beginning) Everything is so pretty! But yeah, there's a problem with the controls not working at some point and it would have been nice to sign the ingredient names.If you fix it, that would be great!
Oh this was beautiful! The art really caught my eye, it was fabulous. I also really liked the concept of the game. One difficulty though was that the ingredients are not easy to remember and you always have a choice between all of them so I would forget what they were and then just go a bit random. Maybe it'd have been easier to gradually ease into it by starting with a few and building up so you have the time to really remember what they were?
Also I never understood the second part of the game with the rune, although I think it's super cool to have added another type of gameplay into the game.
Overall really impressed, and the sound is also great!
I really enjoyed the cohesive theme this game has! The story cutscene at the start was well done and helped to draw me into the game. The music is very fitting and the drawings are so quirky but all fit the theme perfectly. The medieval feeling is strong!
It would be nice if we could tell what the ingredients are in game instead of through the how to play images on the game page.
There was a little bit of information overload at the start of the game, it felt like there was a lot going on. Maybe introducing the mechanics one at a time on a smaller scale would work, but I understand that the time crunch probably had your focus elsewhere.
I think the concept is really cute and unique too. Awesome job :smiley_cat:
This is interesting. It is really too complex right from the beginning though. Maybe starting with a smaller pool of ingredients and adding to it over time would help. Also the input for the "A" ingredients was mapped to the "Q" key.
@nani @jaco-van-hemert @mary-orlova @adele-illustration @kleich @shiiro-10psi Thanks everyone for the critics and the overwhelming returns ! We've updated the game to fix the game breaking bug of controls not working after a while, also as the A button that was not mapped to the good one ! We've also added ingredients names in game to make the things much simple, and added more time for the potion (so more time for the magic !) to make things a bit easier. So if you struggled to finish the game, give it a new try to at least get the ending !
cool idea, cool graphism, too difficult for me :)
Very interesting game! I love how cohesive it felt, with the music and art-style. I also liked the dialogue and the opening cut-scene.
The issue for me is that I found it just a bit overwhelming. I'm unsure why I needed to create a potion *and do magic* at the same time. I think I did my recipe correctly, but that wasn't the point? I needed to do magic to complete the level?
I tried for a while to make the magic correctly, but the instructions were unclear.
Great atmosphere with calm medieval music and beautiful art. Font is a bit hard to read but I understand the choice. Great intro. Also CATS yes please.
During gameplay I would love to have the hints for what I should be cooking on the screen somewhere so I can refer it all the time, not just waiting for the dialog (great example is mobile game “Good Pizza, Great Pizza”). The rune part is not completely ready, right? I didn’t have a reason to use it. Also “stir with your mouse” was confusing. Do I need to click? Just move around? Hover?
Solving some controls/user experience issues will bring this beautiful game to the next level!
i see cat-i play. I admire the atmosphere and coherency with art style&music. Unfortunatlly I had some problems with controls, to be precise 'A' button didnt work. I didnt get the 'stri with the mouse' at first but it worked finally. Even with problems mentioned above it vas pleasant experience.
I really like it! Art style is awesome! Cats are awesome! Hard to understand what should i do on “stir with your mouse”. How to play didn't work :( The game would be much better if the wishes of the client were written out on a sheet separately. Great job, respect to team!
Hey @artatruc, @butterflan and @flokami what a beautiful game you guys made in such a short timespan!
I really like the art and the aesthetic of the game, the audio is beautiful and the whole game just gives the feeling of being in a medieval time in a tavern or a small shop!
Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete even a single order because the controls were so complicated, I get how the ingredients work but not the magic...
The "How To Play" Button doesn't really do anything in the game either.
A very beautiful game and with a bit of work it can definitely make it self into a proper steam release! I've played a similar game art and game mechanic wise game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1210320/Potion_Craft_Alchemist_Simulator/
Overall well done and keep up the amazing work!
-Tim
Wow, the game looks so good and the catmosphere is insane! The controls not so much.
Overall awesome work.
loved the style
This looks great and I loved the music. The idea behind it is really cool too, though I did struggle to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do. I do love how interactive the potion brewing is, most games it's just select ingredients, press a button and you've got a potion so this being more involved feels like there's a lot of potential for some really cool ideas. Enjoyed the writing too, and fit very well with the aesthetics. Also, cats so it's an instant winner!
Quite the different experience from most LD games, really enjoyed it and the story of it. I am glad that pressed "How to Play" though otherwise I would have had no clue, perhaps that should be required or asked when player clicks the play "Are you sure" haha. The aesthetics are just marvelous, I love the art.. it's just such a magical style and the color palette is splendid. The music also fits so well! Great work overall!
Absolutely wonderful and adorable art, but the game itself was too complex for me to figure out. Excellent atmosphere though!
The art style is absolutely wonderful. It sets such a great medieval play vibe. I found the game kind of complex and hard to understand but I really liked the concept. I think with better tutorialization and an easier starting point you have something really special here. Great job!
What an aesthetic! Despite having complex mechanics, the game took the time to explain them well enough that I quickly understood what to do. The background conversation was cute, I laughed when the cat furiously jiggled while I was fiddling with magic. Overall a really polished experience!
I have to echo what was previously said, the mood was on point. The art, story and music all really tied together. It took me a little bit to figure out the controls, but I am a terrible reader so that could be on me XD.
Great job!
The art and story was very nice. The gameplay was in the beginning a bit confusing but i manage. except the Runes... still havent figured that out.
Joining many people here in saying that the Art and Audio were fantastic! This game has a unique flair and it ties in everything together. But like others i couldn't finish any potion. I'm not sure i got the ingredients part correctly and the magic i couldn't figure out. Also the stirring felt unresponsive at times and i'm still not sure how to stir best? But a solid concept that can be refined with a simpler gameplay imo! Best of luck and good job!
Beautiful art but the how to play button doesn't work witch makes it very difficult to know what you are doing. Especially because you can't make magic for long. I also don't really get the objective but i somehow beet it. Nice game and very talented artist.
the art was incredible but the complexity of the design made the game quite difficult to play. We couldn't get past the first potion because we think we weren't able to figure out what the "non toxic ingredient" was (or because we kept failing at the rune creation, we aren't very sure). There are too many moving pieces at once and feels very fiddly, which is a shame because the idea has a lot of potential and depth. It's cool entry nonetheless, so thank you for making it
This is high art, and also cats, instantly in love. From the gamedesign perspective - maybe having the Magic and Alchemy phases linked somehow instead of forcing me to switch over by time would work better. I've also tried to make alchemy games in the past and making them accessible enough and interesting is no easy feat. Thanks for the entry!
This is a wonderful and adorable game with a unique style and mood! I fell in love with it right away!
What a charming art style! The gameplay can be a little too complicated right out of the gate, but that's something that can easily be solved later by adding in tutorial levels so there's no confusion about the mechanics. Finally filling the magic bar felt awesome though. Amazing work, great entry!
Incredible game. Agreed with the rest that the runes mechanic was difficult to get working, but I think the rest of the game is just phenomenal. Also echo the sentiment that starting with simple tutorials in-game would make the mechanics process easier to understand! Keep going on this, please.
I admire the developer's resourcefulness in creating visually pleasing graphics that capture the essence of the game's world
I really like the artistic style of your game! But this game is a bit difficult for me, but I still love it!