A Small Word by droweed 2017-04-25T05:40:51Z
This game's a really good typing game!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → Users → boaromayox
| Year | LD | Theme | Game | Division | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 50 | Delay the inevitable | Closed Circle | extra | ||
| 2018 | 41 | Combine 2 Incompatible Genres | Planter Walker | unfinished |
This game's a really good typing game!
It's an easy, calming game, and the graphics are also great. I like it!
There's so many comments on this page praising this game! Great work on nearly everything! The theme fit well with the gameplay, the gameplay's well-polished, the characters well-designed, and the art style humorous yet adventurous.
My only complaint is that the jump and attack controls are a bit tricky to adjust to.
I hope this game gets a port soon!
@binaryprinciple Thanks for the critiques! If I have time, I'll probably put in your suggestions for the next update!
In contrast to the last game I played, which had a chill vibe to it, and had very good gameplay, this one was tense and challenging in the best way possible! The music added to the tension of the game, making it fit the jam's theme very well, and defying that theme if the player manages to finish all of the puzzles (I only got as far as level 21).
The gameplay is simple to follow, starting off with a simple puzzle with a new feature. Then, it builds up the puzzle's difficulty, taking into account the player's knowledge of the previous puzzles and their features, combining them and making the game reasonably well-balanced, while at the same time, tricky to solve.
Graphics-wise, the game is clean and well-put together, as its minimalist, no-frills look helped fit the gameplay!
I will admit, when I picked it up at first, it was a bit fuzzy to follow, but I would not alter anything, since I can't think of anything to change it without messing up the minimalist look.
Overall, this is one of the best games I've played so far! :thumbsup:
Simple game, the rules were a bit tricky to follow, but the graphics look astounding! Replay value's not high, though.
Not much to say here, but great job! :thumbsup:
It took me three tries to beat this game, and the second time was when I knew what to do, because of all of the overload of information I was given when I spoke to the demon.
Graphics-wise, the pixel art is amazing. However, like I said, I did experience a bit of frustration because I didn't know where the demons were at, and I didn't know where to go or what to do at first. Plus, I couldn't find any petals that would have helped heal the tree. Another difficulty I had was when everytime dialogue was spoken, I sometimes automatically moved. No problem with controls, though.
Difficulties aside, it's still a solid game, and the graphics and atmosphere made up for its flaws.
One of the best entries here! The gameplay is simple yet it's so engaging!
Though, it does feel a bit sad since I keep losing 1 person in my runs on Normal.
It also sticks well with the theme, and at the same time, defies it too, ensuring that delaying the inevitable, when done right, can mean defying it. One little minor critique would be the lag, but that aside, it's a great game!
When I played through this at first, I thought it felt too easy and too simplistic. Then, I got to replaying it again, after seeing a coin past the goalpost. From reading the comments, I jumped through the goalpost, and the prompt told me to not do that! Quite funny.
On my fourth playthrough, after passing the goalpost again, the course changed, which kind of surprised me. Overall, it's a clever setup, where the "inevitable" in this case, is basically winning the game. What's also a bonus is that the physics of the player is also well-done. The replayability in this game's good because of the random courses on the other side of the goalpost.
Props to you for taking up the challenge in making an actual NES game! :thumbsup:
One of the funnier entries I've played so far! The graphics look original (the meshes looked pretty basic, but that's to be expected in a 3D game done in 3 days), though the pixelized background was a bit of an eye-strain the more I got into it. Audio's well-done, especially the sound the crabs made ("ow!") made me let out a bit of a chuckle. The controls are tight, and easy to maneuver (manoeuvre) around, and the gameplay simple, but the crabs kept coming! The cheeky text ending after taking care of 12 crabs (the "you monster" line) was hilarious!
A few additional critiques I have for this game was that the UI for the player's health could be improved a tad bit, and that the title should be called "Attack of the Crabs", but that aside, this game's a great and solid entry!
The pixel art looks amazing, and the controls and gameplay are tight! The m.o. of the mage encompasses the theme well.
The obstacles, though challenging, didn't feel like they could be impossible to finish, or frustrating at all, up until the fifth part of the cave, at least. Plus, the music added that encouragement, without being dull or heavy-handed. It's, in a sense, an addictive game.
Overall, this one's one of the better games I've played so far in this jam!
Pretty good game!
I managed to keep the garden alive for 3 minutes before everything withered away because of all of the (literal, not game) bugs!
One critique I have is that the upgrade window for the day needs to be a bigger, I couldn't read most of what was being said. Aside from that, the gameplay's great and simple! I will admit, I was confused at first, but I caught on quite quickly.
The pixel art's very representative of a Game Boy-esque look, and it fits well with the gameplay! The gameplay reminded me of those rhythm games such as *Crypt of the Necrodancer*, but taking out the rhythm and adding in a turn-based feel. The controls were easy to pick up! The music's brilliant, capturing the tension on the high seas, but I felt, though, it looked too out of place with the pixel art.
In all, this game is another great entry!
The pixel art in this game, is so well-detailed and brilliantly top-notch, especially the detail put into the tree and its fruits! The atmosphere is so calming as well, another positive. I could probably play this music when I feel like sleeping.
I was almost about to feel like this game was going to be limited in terms of upgrades the player was going to get and it almost did feel repetitive, aside from the few harvest robberies. But when the third broker came in, and I hired a guard to defend the tree, that woke me up real quick, as a siege was about to happen, and I ended up losing, getting the bad ending.
In all, this is one of the better games I've played so far in this jam! Amazing work! :thumbsup:
I don't have a lot to critique, other than that the controls need to be a bit more tighter. They're comfortable, but the response from button to fire is pretty slow, and navigating is a bit confusing at times. It took me up to the third try to actually get the hang of moving the ship around.
The graphics are decent, and the music's pretty great, having a calm but serious e-piano tune carry the game. But the one strong quality this game has is its deadpan humor, especially with the implied awareness from Control of the inevitability of the planet's fate. Good job! :thumbsup:
I downloaded the Mac app, and I had trouble running it, then I downloaded the app meant for the Linux version and it worked!
The graphics, especially with the added 3D twist that the cube *is* the dungeon, is amazing. I wish there were more rooms to visit, or at least, when all the enemies are gone, a victory screen could be called. One of the biggest highlights I can name also is the catchy chiptune music, especially when it's in sync to the clock-score counting down. I felt myself tapping in sync to it.
**ETA:** I wish that tune could be posted on YouTube so that I could listen to it a bit more.
One drawback is that I got a bit confused at first on the control scheme (WASD to move, and arrows to shoot), but I adjusted quickly to it.
Anyway, this game's one of the better ones I've played so far! :thumbsup:
Another great game, the pixel art in this one is superb!
I'll admit, I eventually got a bit bored after the 20-minute mark to the point where I let the island fall after hitting 30 minutes since I already maxed out the upgrades. It adheres to the theme well, but it feels like there's no way of actually defying the theme. But it's still a great game! The music and the sound are also good!
Excellent gameplay! Good, innovative use of using the keyboard instead of a set of controls to command your troops into keeping the ship well-manned. I do wish the commands were shorter, or at least, a bit easier to handle, but I'm guessing that's part of the challenge.
Good job! :thumbsup:
Pretty good game! As someone who isn't too familiar with Wordle, but is familiar with its precedents (the games it took inspiration from) such as [Lingo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_%28American_game_show%29), and [Mastermind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_%28board_game%29), and with Minecraft's recipes, this is a good take on this genre.
A few critiques I have is that one, you should have more rounds starting with a 2x2 grid, and going up to the 3x3 version, or at least, have a mode where the player can select one version or the other. The other is to have more chances instead of three of them.
Other than that, like I said before, it's a pretty good take on the genre.
One best quality here is the voice acting is well-polished! Another is that the controls can also be mapped to any key, though attacking is pretty slow (unless that was on purpose, since longswords are pretty heavy irl). The pixel art's okay, since it's simply a literal top-down view.
Good work!
For the gameplay it's simple: the grab-and-throw idea, though not original, did make me somehow feel satisfied. Even though it wasn't intentional to make this a relaxing game at all, that feeling of lowering DLAY's health bar to zero conveyed that satisfaction. Audio's fine, especially the sheep bleating, and the Inevitable's evil laugh (MWAHAHAHA!). Graphics are also okay, and as I said before, everything in the game is easy and simple to understand. One particular I did like is the UI, font and icons are clear and readable.
For one critique, I feel like you could have done more with the background to make the game look more immersive. Plus, I don't know if this could count as a critique, but as many others have said in this section, it does feel easy.
Good job! :thumbsup:
The driving mechanic is quite a tricky thing to get used to, but the graphics style (reminiscent of old SuperFX chip 3D games and classic GTA) and the theme make up for it. One thing I noticed is the immersion into this game by that blurb of legalese by those corporations in the beginning. It says simply, it blames the consumer for anything wrong that happens to their delivery, which made me chuckle a bit because it sounds like something big companies would put in their contracts. The ticker adds a little bit of humor by mentioning those familiar, sinister deeds of those corporations as well.
Overall, it's a solid game.
The pixel art on this game is simplistic and well-drawn! The gameplay is really easy to follow! Each of the plants have their own unique abilities, though I wish they could have been spelled out a bit more in detail. This leads me to my next critique regarding the UI: the font face is easy to read, but when getting out a random plant, the font gets sandwiched together. The explanations on each of the plants' mechanics could have also been better explained, namely the pumpkin.
Aside from those hiccups, the graphics on this entry is well-polished! Great job! :thumbsup:
This is one of the better games of this jam so far!
I haven't heard of Team Bugulon until this jam, so I was blown away by the meticulous care and detail of the gameplay, the graphics, the audio (especially the audio and pixel art), the level design, and the UI and structure of *Somnokid*, especially within 72 hours, which is quite the feat! This game I wouldn't hesitate to replay again if I had the time, but I ended up stopping at the second level.
From what I just played, the tutorial levels were well-planned, and started off simple. That is, until the player character lost their ability to fly and the ghosts came out! This part was quite tricky, but the challenging parts, I can say, was one of the aspects that made the game shine!
As for how the theme fit into the game, the flying mechanic was the feature that one had to keep before the inevitable, the ghosts, entered. No critiques, or nitpicks, I have for this entry for now, but it is a gem!
Congratulations to the team for another brilliant entry! :thumbsup:
This is one of the better entries for this jam!
To start off, the controls are well-mapped and intuitive. The animation (and the moving camera) is fluid, and the pixel art is well-drawn! The music fit the mood of the look that the game is going after, and the sound effects are well-polished. Though I usually would criticize the audio for being too polished than the graphics, I'll let this slide since it's really well-done. The UI and the hand-drawn, pixellated font faces also add to the immersive experience.
As for the gameplay, using one's own life as their ammo is quite the innovative approach, since this sort of feature I usually see in RPGs, but tailoring it to a near-roguelike shooter is what makes it on the innovative side, making this also a survival game. The randomized powerups at the end of a level are also a plus.
One critique I have is that I could not get past the second level since the player character retains the life over from the first level. Maybe have it so that the player's life can be partially restored depending on difficulty and on how quickly one takes care of the enemies in the room.
Overall, a pretty great game! Congratulations! :thumbsup:
The pixel art of the sidescroller's simple, and brilliant! It meshes well with the gameplay, and the controls of this game are tight and intuitive! UI's also simple, and presents the status of the player well. Audio I have no criticisms with, though it's an almost catchy beat! The heat wave shader in the 4th screen is also a plus, capturing the desert heat well. In addition, the game conveyed the jam's theme solidly by using a slime transformation as "the inevitable" the player is trying to delay (if he reaches the temple, probably to defy, which is an extra point from me on the theme category).
A few critiques I have are that there should be a countdown timer, or at least, a warning, for when the player is turned into a slime to show how much time the player character has left before dissolving. Another is that I got stuck in between the platforms a couple of times, could that be a bug of sorts?
Critiques aside, this is one of the best games of this jam so far! Congratulations! :thumbsup:
**ETA:** I downloaded the Mac executable for this game, and for some reason, it's not working. Is there any additional software I need to download before playing it on my Mac?
Do a flip!
If this game had a humor rating, I'd give it a four and a half stars for that random flip option.
Anyway, this is one of the more fun games I've played so far. The gameplay mechanics are simple, and the controls really intuitive (though for non-mouse users, it may be not be so). Even though the rocket hell came, and I managed only to hold out for barely a month in-game time, it still left a feeling of nearly defying the inevitable since the rockets were so easy to hit.
Still one of the better games I've played because of its simple controls, and the random humor helped spice it up.
One of the best games I've played so far! At first, I was expecting something slow-paced because the Web player didn't run the game immediately, but when it started up, and the music started playing, I was blown away!
The fast-paced bullet hell gameplay and the graphics were the highlights of this game, especially the player character's design (cute!), and the font that was used, along with the fast and short level transitions. The music complements the fast-paced nature of the gameplay, and it's a catchy beat.
When I first started playing, I thought I had to hold down the left mouse button to charge the spell, but I just had to press it, which was still a tricky juggling act, especially with enemies approaching quickly, or those pig heads with their fireballs. But the controls didn't hamper the overall gameplay in the slightest. What I also didn't notice, though, was the spell I chose (the laser) doesn't run into walls. However, it's slow to charge.
As for how this game fits into the theme, it doesn't matter, as the other elements strongly made up for it.
In all, this game has high marks from me! Great job! :thumbsup:
First thing I'd like to mention is the pixel art is gorgeous!
Another thing I like about this game is that you don't need to press a button to attack, kind of like a long-range version of a bump system, except you don't get hit if you face the enemies head-on. One of the perks of being undead, hee. :sweat_smile:
Anyway, the gameplay is simple and nice, and the music fit the atmosphere of the environment well.
I can say that this game is one of the better entries I've seen in this jam so far! Props to whoever recommended this find!
The 1990s aesthetic in this game is what I found interesting, right down to the nitty-gritty details of an old Windows OS. Though I didn't get very far since I didn't know where else to go, I'm tempted to replay this again to see if I can find something different this time.
Making a game out of finding secrets, in a 90s server computer no less, is pretty unconventional, but it's really done well here, since the game itself is one big puzzle. I wish I could say more about this, but I think many others have also articulated the points I wanted to address. In all, this game should be expanded a bit more, because it's that interesting! Good job! :thumbsup:
I tried playing your game on WebGL, but it doesn't seem to load.
One of the best games I've played so far!
The gameplay is fun and easy (and I could probably play this a game irl with someone), and is good for testing your memory. The music's also top-notch, it's super chill, and it fits the atmosphere of the game proper. A few critiques are that there should be more calm music for this game, and have it an option to change tunes, as well as include the suits from the ace to 9 to make it more trickier (unless that's already happened, and I haven't made it that far ahead).
Another solid plus is that the dealer himself is a well-made character. He's a bit witty, not as patient as he looks, and he's good at misdirection, also reminding the player of the theme of this jam in that they're delaying the inevitable ("The House Always Wins", indeed). Usually, I would nitpick at the fact that this game doesn't defy the theme, but the theme suits this game very well (has anyone beaten the house at blackjack?). The look of the game is also another stellar home-run. Everything shown is so clear and soft, no jarring contrasts to take it away.
To sum up, great game, a simple marvel! :thumbsup:
The high-quality and polish of this game was ubiquitous! It's not just in the game proper, but in the presentation. The artwork done on the itch.io page, along with the submissions to other game jams felt like the team was showing off their pride and joy! Amazing how they could make a game this polished-looking within a given amount of time!
To the game itself, the voice acting (if the people on the team who did this jam were actual VAs, then this probably was an advantage) is smooth and world-class (to steal a phrase I've been hearing), the remarks on the statements of the humans on their actions, and the narration (how can one gain three days of their life by participating in a Ludum Dare?) are quite darkly funny. Though I'll admit, one of them I noticed was a bit distasteful, namely the vaccination reference. **Cut that out. No politics.**
The art design is high-quality and fit the game's macabre humorous tone pretty well. The whole vibe of the game reminded me a bit of the micromanagement described in *The Screwtape Letters*. The theme is also well-integrated here, with a twist: the player is literally a footsoldier of the absolute inevitable itself, so in a way, it's less the player delaying the inevitable than the NPCs they're tasked to deal with doing that, or not.
Gameplay-wise, it starts off pretty easy, and the rise in difficulty wasn't sudden. It hit the happy medium.
Now for the critiques: The controls, though easy to understand in the description, when I did play the game the first few times, I had no clue what to do. Though the narration told the player how to get started, a tutorial might have been a bit helpful. One instance where I had trouble was when someone died, and I couldn't figure out where to drag the scythe, and I couldn't pull out the dongle. I dragged the scythe to the dongle, which did nothing. After a third go, I realized I had to drag the scythe to the clock itself. Maybe you could highlight the clock when the scythe is hovering over it. Another was in the beginning, where I was pressing the control to add and take life, and nothing happened. I learned by replaying it that I had to drag the dongle to a selected clock before taking (or lengthening) lifespans.
Critiques aside, this was one of the better games I've played! Terrfic work to the team! :thumbsup:
Great gameplay concept! The controls are a bit tricky, but it's still one of the most original ideas so far, especially when physics comes into play. If I'm not careful and I click the line too far off the ball's trajectory, I end up losing control!
**ETA:** One thing I forgot to add is that you could maybe do tutorials on how the ball moves relative to the distance of the line.
Good game! :thumbsup:
This is going to sound repetitive, since I've already said this of other games, but this is one of the best games I've played in this jam so far!
The pixel art and animation are well-done to a fine detail, especially the animation! The music is no slouch either, the harmonica is the main star of these pieces. Too bad I couldn't get past the second area, so I had no chance to listen to the last track. I'm glad, though, that you guys put a download to the OST of this game! The graphics, as I've said before are great, and the 2.5-D style and warm palettes were integrated in the best way possible.
The theme for the jam also fits in well with the game, since the worm (a world-eater, no less) itself represents the symbol of the inevitable. The old man's witty barbs were insulting than humorous, imo, though (I died a few times, and you come to laugh when I'm resurrected?). That's why it was a bit tricky to decide whether to grade the humor section lower or not, but I decided to give it a four, since someone might find it funny.
My critiques, though, are that the controls aren't so tight when using the shield, since I couldn't tell whether the shield was already up or not, and I ended up misjudging the timing of my defense against the world-eater. The world-eater's attacks were also a bit hard to telegraph, since in the first level, I couldn't tell whether he was going to fire his laser straight at me, or do a sweeping laser, and I made the mistake of pulling the shield out more often than not.
In all, the animation, pixel art, and music are wonderful, and make up for the other qualities that I critiqued above. Great work! :thumbsup:
Hoo boy! How should I start this review?
The gameplay is a simple, typical endless runner game. Nothing out of the ordinary.
(spoilers below, decipher them with [rot13](https://www.rot13.com))
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Naq V jnf evtug. Jura gur (snxr) JroTY reebe cbccrq hc, juvpu V xarj jnf snxr, ohg V qvqa'g xabj jurer gb tb arkg, fb V gbbx gur nqivpr sebz gur pbzzragf frpgvba urer, naq erfgnegrq vg. Ubjrire, V qvq guvf n srj gvzrf, naq V raqrq hc trggvat n ovg sehfgengrq fvapr vg gbbx zr onpx gb gur ortvaavat. Vg jnfa'g hagvy V cynlrq guvf tnzr guebhtu n aba-cevingr jvaqbj, naq erserfurq vg qvq gur fgbel pbagvahr. V pna fnl, gung gubhtu V jnfa'g noyr gb qrsl gur varivgnoyr, gur varivgnoyr (Gur Perngbe) pnzr qbja naq fubjrq zr naq Ovg jul vg jnf pnyyrq gur varivgnoyr. Sbe gung, guvf tnzr trgf svir fgnef ba gurzr, naq sbhe naq n unys ba zbbq, fvapr Gur Perngbe uvzfrys, cyhf gur tyvgpul Cebsrffbe, ner dhvgr gur greebef.
(end of spoilers)
Mechanics, like I said earlier, are simple. I do like the humor inserted into this game, especially the different dialogue that plays if one skips the long intro. The music sounded a bit out of place for an upcoming apocalypse, but it sounds so serene when listening to it alone. Personality-wise, Bit's a pretty well-rounded character.
A few critiques I have is that the speaking sounds need to be a bit louder for Bit and the Professor, and that the dialogue speed needs to be a bit faster. But, other than that, simple, nice gameplay, and good music! Great job! :thumbsup:
This one's a good, decent game. I admit, though, I was taken aback, (even after looking at the tutorial, which should have been called instructions) when I got started, since all of the enemies kept firing at once the moment the game started, and I didn't know what to do at that point. After a few playthroughs, I adjusted quickly. One weapon I did like in this game was the machine gun (because of the rapid fire), and the bazooka (because of the wide range). Graphics and audio are simple, and fit the look you were intending. Plus, gameplay's easy to pick up, despite the overload on the first playthrough.
In all, a solid entry! Keep on improving it!
**ETA:** A few suggestions I would make to improve this game would be to add health bars to the enemies, and change the font and position of the HP text on the bottom-right.
The graphics look so detailed, and the gameplay is simple enough to pick up. For my first playthrough, I got pretty lucky, and did not follow the owl, and went everywhere. I got lucky and found pollen, but I ended up running into those angry clouds the description warned about. For the second playthrough, I did get lost, even when I followed the owl, but I arrived to where the pollen was at. I made it too late, though. For playthrough number three, I managed to keep the hive alive for 5 years, then I ran into this bug because I clicked on the "end hibernation" button too quickly:
Screen Shot 2022-04-11 at 8.05.41 PM.png
Another little tidbit that added a nice touch to the game were the little trivia about bees in-between hibernation seasons if the player managed to succeed.
It's a nice game, though, it felt something's missing to make it memorable for me. Good job, anyway! :thumbsup:
The animation for the player character is one of the most fluid (and a bit cute) I've seen so far! The audio (both music and sound) is also top-notch! I was wondering if you could make an OST downloadable? That's how brilliant the music is. Story-wise, I liked how it meshed really well with the gameplay, and I chuckled a bit at the situational humor here.
A few critiques I have of this game are that it's too short, and that the term "delaying the inevitable" didn't need to be said clearly. Poor Dave, though... :pensive:
In all, this one's a massively strong contender! Congratulations! :thumbsup:
From reading the comments, the controls are a concern here. Thank goodness those issues were fixed.
With that being said, the gameplay is pretty simple, easy to pick up, though I did have one bump, namely at the first level, when I was trying to jump over the spike pit using the fireballs. From there, the obstacles got more challenging, especially when my muscle memory is starting to adjust in jumping on the left, but the lava made it before I did!
The graphics are a highlight, with the wonderful pixel art, especially with the character design of the dragon, the fireball gauge, and the lava contrasting well with all of the brown, warm palettes of the environment. The music's pretty solid, though unmemorable.
The potential of 2D in Unity is underrated, and this game brought out the best of what it can do.
Overall, this game's challenging, but a good one! :thumbsup:
In the first playthrough, I had a hard time trying to find everything because everything was all black until I got to the final level in front of the house. I couldn't figure out how to rate this game until I read some of the comments, and noticed others also had a similar problem of the graphics not showing up. Note I'm using a Mac with Firefox browser to playthrough this.
I played it through the second time using a different browser (Brave), and everything worked! The Limbo-esque art style's done brilliantly here and the concepts (gameplay-wise and storywise) are executed in a clever way.
Most of my frustrations occurred mostly on my first playthrough since everything was black, and the only things I could see were the player, and the NPCs until the final level, where everything was made visible. I did get stuck in two places: under the bridge, where the "PUSH" hint didn't show up where I interacted with the letter, and on the second-to-last level countless times to the point of near-frustration. I had to turn up the brightness in order to actually see the statues I had to push in order to proceed.
Another complaint gameplay-wise is that the delay of keeping the player's eyes open was too short, and at times, quite frustrating. One case is when I have to type "SLAY" and try to stay awake, where I end up mistyping the word since I couldn't see what I was fighting. For some reason, though, I'm a bit mixed on changing this mechanic. It integrates with the story well since I can understand the feeling of trying to stay awake for as long as possible, as I've been in that position myself sometimes. The player's probably using all of his strength to stay awake to get to the end, where he can rest forever, which fits well with the jam's theme.
Aside from that, my second playthrough's a bit better since the game's now completely visible. One aspect to mention, though, are the transitions in the audio section are a bit buggy, in that the music breaks into a jarring loop during transitions. My suggestion would be to fade out the music when the player gets to an end of the section.
The highlights, such as the keyboard-based gameplay, story, and art style, though, make this a strong contender! Great job to the team! :thumbsup:
**P.S.** I tried to use cheats to get into the house, but it didn't work. It didn't matter, though, since I realized I was already where the player wanted to be.
In the first playthrough, I had a hard time trying to find everything because everything was all black until I got to the final level in front of the house. I couldn't figure out how to rate this game until I read some of the comments, and noticed others also had a similar problem of the graphics not showing up. Note I'm using a Mac with Firefox browser to playthrough this.
I played it through the second time using a different browser (Brave), and everything worked! The Limbo-esque art style's done brilliantly here and the concepts (gameplay-wise and storywise) are executed in a clever way.
Most of my frustrations occurred mostly on my first playthrough since everything was black, and the only things I could see were the player, and the NPCs until the final level, where everything was made visible. I did get stuck in two places: under the bridge, where the "PUSH" hint didn't show up where I interacted with the letter, and on the second-to-last level countless times to the point of near-frustration. I had to turn up the brightness in order to actually see the statues I had to push in order to proceed.
Another complaint gameplay-wise is that the delay of keeping the player's eyes open was too short, and at times, quite frustrating. One case is when I have to type "SLAY" and try to stay awake. For some reason, though, I'm a bit mixed on changing this mechanic. For one thing, it seems to integrate with the story well since I can understand the feeling of trying to stay awake for as long as possible, as I've been in that position myself sometimes. The player's probably using all of his strength to stay awake to get to the end, where he can rest forever, which fits well with the jam's theme.
Aside from that, my second playthrough's a bit better since the game's now completely visible. One aspect to mention, though, are the transitions in the audio section are a bit buggy, in that the music breaks into a jarring loop during transitions. My suggestion would be to fade out the music when the player gets to an end of the section.
The highlights, such as the keyboard-based gameplay, story, and art style, though, make this a strong contender! Great job to the team! :thumbsup:
The pixel art in this game is super top-notch! One critique I have is that I still had a bit of trouble with the input mapping, but the gameplay itself is tight. The difficulty could be adjusted though, maybe perhaps give some anticipation on whether the wizards will attack you, or maybe keep that, and have an easy mode for that feature. Audio-wise, everything in the game fits well.
Overall, it's a solid work! Great job! :thumbsup:
I wanted to add in more text-based stuff, and make use of those houses and villages I made. But I scrapped those since I was running low on time, and I just realized that I could make something text-based from Phaser on the last day of the jam.
As for using Phaser on TS, it was a pretty good experience, but it got a bit overwhelming for me at times, since I used up most of the jam focusing on the assets for the game. Compared to the last jams I took part in, though, it was **way** more easier.
The character design and look of the game's very good!