FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD55 → Aurora's Ascendance: Orbs of Destiny

Aurora's Ascendance: Orbs of Destiny

By coborax, unbreakable, Cryanite and Trux

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall4043.7246
Fun6083.4246
Innovation2653.7346
Theme8363.3446
Graphics5783.7346
Humor9782.2742
Mood8863.2445

Comments

locksmitharmy 2024-04-15 19:42

Wow this is really good. Im not a big fan of the timing after unleashing the spell, but other than that its fantastic.

osheanoush 2024-04-15 19:44

I really enjoy this game. I like the graphics.

calvin 2024-04-16 15:26

I actually felt like i was casting the spell choosing the orbs i needed. Really cool idea!

merb1000 2024-04-16 15:27

Fun game, good graphics, and great concept! I think the experience could benefit from a bit of mercy when hitting enemies, sometimes it would look like they were in the circle but wouldn't get hit. Increasing the hitbox to slightly larger than the visible circle could help here. Good job!

erukolindo 2024-04-16 15:28

The base concept is pretty enjoyable, but needs a lot of finetuning to work as well as it can. Landing hits on enemies gets annoying at times, especially when they are just barely outside the circle when it triggers. Meanwhile avoiding enemy attacks feels far too easy, to a point where they can easily be ignored.

suksu 2024-04-16 15:28

Beautiful visuals and nice audio. Gameplay is a little bit slow for me but overall everything seems to be good

imwonderr 2024-04-16 15:28

Really enjoyed the magic system, especially the charging/timing. Loved the pollish of the game. Congrats on finishing!

namnam 2024-04-16 15:29

I liked the mechanics, lake juste a bit of polish on the controls. I also liked the fact that the cooldown for your spell to launch force you to anticipate the enemies movement

dotiocat 2024-04-16 15:32

Charming little game! I like the idea. Visually pleasing and nice to play, although I would wish that the different combinations of colors create different effects! At first I was doubtful on having to use both number keys and WASD at the same time but the game was a perfect pace where that wasn't an issue.

kevinkoc12 2024-04-16 15:33

Good game, I liked it, the graphics are good, the only thing to say something would be that the game ends when you win, since they kill me once I win, but I liked it a lot, congratulations!

edudd22 2024-04-16 15:36

Love it, but kinda hard to get the right timing

allenw 2024-04-16 15:37

I enjoyed playing the game! The orb selection mechanic is very cool. The way the orbs follow the player smoothly looks really nice too! I wish the spell cast area could be a little more generous, sometimes I feel like it should've hit the enemy but it didn't.

sodagummy 2024-04-16 15:53

I like that the world feels very big and open and I like the concept of the spell casting! It was a bit hard for me to hit the numbers then rush back to the wasd key while looking at the screen sometimes, but it was quite interesting! Love the visuals and effects!

james-greenleaf 2024-04-16 15:57

Very cool concept. I liked the timing actually - felt like a skill shot from a moba game.

avaclava 2024-04-16 16:10

I really like this concept, especially how you create the spells i find interesting. loved the art and the juicy spell case sound effect.i do wish that when casting a spell some particles came out of it (mby the same color as the type of spell used)

eonarheim 2024-04-16 16:18

Isometric is best-o-metric, loved the level design and aesthetic.

The timing was a little tough to get right, but I did like the spell/damage mechanic.

This has some legs I think, I'd love to see a post jam version! More enemy varieties, more spells, super cool idea.

rokadoka 2024-04-16 16:20

i have a sweet spot for games that make you mix and match when casting spells so i really like that in this game, the visuals and sounds are also very stunning

nytezerak 2024-04-16 16:52

This game is so beautiful! The gameplay is pretty cool, just need some music to be perfect :P

baluj 2024-04-16 16:54

I like the simplicity of the game, but I advise you to make the following changes: - Shorten attack time - The spawn of enemies in the final boss room ends when he dies. - Automatic transition to the main menu after a certain time after finishing the boss.

These last two things, the infinite spawn even when the boss is dead and the fact that the scene does not change when the game ends, means that you can die even when you have finished the game.

trux 2024-04-16 16:55

@nytezerak there is in fact background music - its just tuned down as to not deafen you :D

perhaps an audio slider would have been useful though - worth considering for the future!

nytezerak 2024-04-16 16:57

Oh, now i'm listening, @trux! My headset volume was a bit low e.e Nice theme!

velvetlobster 2024-04-16 18:24

the volume is a bit low.

I like the visuals, they kinda take me back to those saturn isometric sonic games in the colors.

the choice for controls make it a bit hard to control for somebody that uses the mouse in the left hand though, I had one hand in the arrows and another going 1,2,3 and click.

I like that you have to be very deliberate, calculating the movement speed of the creatures, but more feedback on the time the magic takes to do its effect.

pugg 2024-04-16 19:45

This was fun! There's something very satisfying about luring the enemies onto your spells as they cast, and the boss encounter was engaging. That splash art looks awesome, too.

thatfirey 2024-04-16 19:56

The timing is hard to get at times, but other than that, honestly an interesting concept! Me very likey!

trux 2024-04-16 19:59

@thatfirey yeah the timing is for sure a bit difficult at times - though we like to think it adds to the game, as otherwise it might have been a cakewalk :D (and if all else fails, the orc's are are pushable so can play all up in their face and force them to be in the position you want :laughing: )

thatfirey 2024-04-16 20:07

@trux Yeah haha that's fair too ^^ Still great job on the game I really like the isometric view style!

shanzhai 2024-04-16 21:24

I almost missed there was background music, a slider or something wouldve been great. Fun fact: I had the same "nah better not deafen the audience"-idea a few jams back and it turned out exactly the same way for me. :D Nowadays I just crank everything up - the player usually has multiple ways to lower the volume at his/her end but very little to boost it.

Aside from the audio, I really liked the art even though the main character felt slightly off somehow, but i cant quite put my finger on it. Maybe a little more perspective; then again, that wouldve required multiple sprites and that costs time, so I totally get why it looks the way it does. Gameplay-wise I like the idea and would definitely look into it if you expand on it.

And I like that the player keeps control after killing the boss - thanks to that choice, I was able to clear the room afterwards, even though those credits slightly got in the way. ;D

Jokes aside: Very polished entry, great work :)

parkuhrmd 2024-04-16 21:43

Thanks for the stream submission! The concept works great, and the boss encounter was a good challenge!

trux 2024-04-16 21:46

@parkuhrmd Thanks for checking it out! always cool to see peoples reactions - live is even better :D

mollusk 2024-04-16 21:47

Cool game, would be nice if there was a better way to ready your spells without having to take your hand off the movement controls. Either mouse movement with right click, or clickable buttons to ready the colored crystals.

kirass 2024-04-16 22:35

Cool game, I liked it!

2024-04-16 22:56

Overall a strong submission. I know others have touched on this but the timing of the spells does take some time to get used to but I was fine with it. It made managing large herds of animals somewhat difficult. My biggest gripe, which is super small, is that holding up and right doesn't move you along the same angle as your isometric angle. It's a very small thing but I noticed it and it just felt wrong. Other than that though I thought it was a very strong submission, great job!

erik-tate 2024-04-17 00:28

The main game mechanic was really cool! It reminded me a bit of playing Magicka back in the day, which I think is a great thing :smile: The delay took a bit to get used to, but I actually liked it towards the end as it created a bit more strategy. The final boss fight was great and the the isometric tileset was super cool and not something I see a ton of. Overall, y'all did a great job :thumbsup:

indiemaniac 2024-04-17 00:45

very short, but fun mechanic, and mostly feels great

in my opinion could have input like Magicka, or a moba game, right click on ground to move, leaving your other hand free for combinations, you could have had way more combos that way too.

would love a bigger circle, and more enemies overall, it feels satisfying killing 5 zombies, with one spell

zombies are a bit non threatening, you can just run away to the last boss and run in circles of the zombies xD

All that said, your game feels great, and the game mechanic feels very good. We need some more levels.

missingpixel 2024-04-17 01:03

Fun game! If I were to improve it, I would add in some way to cancel a spell. Sometimes I would pick the wrong color and would waste my attack. Otherwise, Great entry!

fenix131113 2024-04-17 08:09

Very interesting and funny game. I love this idea. Pretty good job

meranolean 2024-04-18 20:04

Hey! That's really good game! I like you idea of simultenuasly choosing the right combination of colors (or spirits) and position predicting! That's cool! I expected there will be a lot of banch of enemies and I have to find the best combination to get rid of them as quick as possible. I mean cast colors as AOE rather than kill all of them one-by-one.

I hope my feedback will be helpful for you! Thank you for your game!

goldenmagnus 2024-04-19 02:45

I liked the color to damage mechanic

sami822 2024-04-20 18:23

Nice game, it's interesting mechanic to play with, I believe you could it improve it further and make some cool other mechanics!

k-toll 2024-04-22 17:46

I really enjoyed the whole package, and there's so much more to explore.

I liked the idea of color charges, and when I beat the boss I still wanted to continue the adventure.

The soundtrack is good even if it can't be rated, perhaps a little weak, especially the music.

Thank you for creating this great game!

andriybyelikov 2024-04-23 17:47

Not being able to move the character and prepare the spells due to WASD and 123 being so close plus needing another hand on the mouse makes the control scheme for this game very cluttered, uncomfortable and immersion-breaking. The graphics could be better. For some reason I couldn't hear any sound, neither music nor sound effects, neither on ldjam.com nor on itch.io. Otherwise, the game was fun to play. Good job team!

tucan 2024-04-26 16:25

I love the isometric art style, it feels really nostalgic! This is a really solid entry! I liked that you are able to complete an incomplete sequence! The thumbnail is very eye-catching too, good idea! There is also room for improvement, these are a couple of suggestions for an even better experience: -add more music tracks, it is a short loop and it gets repetitive after a short while. -The movement felt a tiny bit off so it took me a bit to get used to it. Great job! I really enjoyed your entry! Have a great jam!

ryrumeli 2024-05-01 03:30

The idea is pretty great, I love the idea of mixing magic and how 3 colors can be used effectively. It is a very elegant mechanic. The isometric view is one you don't see enough even among indies these days! Glad you could manage to make what felt like a vertical slice of a more developed product.

Also the art for the banner is great, honestly something I would see in a finished product.

I feel that due to every attack in the game having a set up time, both in selecting colors, and from the moment the spell is, let's say, summoned, that makes the gameplay a bit slower than I would have expected.

Also another complain would be regarding the fact WASD and the numbers require the same hand, I get the idea of keeping them close due to the fact one hand will invariably be in the mouse at all times. It is an issue that FPS games also struggle with, but I would argue moving while picking colors is more important here than moving and changing weapons at the same time in an FPS game, or selecting skills in a MOBA. If enemies didn't also give a comfortable time for dodging, it would have been an issue. Even if they didn't, maybe right mouse button as a dodge or shield would have helped the design anyway.

Honestly if you have the desire of developing this further, I would personally suggest maybe taking inspiration on MOBAs and Diablo-likes, instead of the set up time for spells I would make them faster, allow right mouse button for dodge, mouse position for aim, either keep aims like right now or fixate the area for spells in front of the character and mouse defining a position, or even a mix of both in different skills. I would also suggest maybe ZXC for spells instead of 123, or at least redundant with 123, because it doesn't require moving one's wrist while taking fingers off the WASD keys, which speeds up and lowers strain on hand for keys, since that is your basic attack through and through. Maybe the colored system isn't used on all attacks, but in key attacks and skills or barrier breaks.

Anyway just rambling at this point, whenever an entry inspired me to think things like that it just means it was pretty inspiring! Great job!