Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• I first tried this without sound, and replaying it with headphones for the review was one of the most pleasant surprises I've had this 7DRL. The cheeky music is great, and it adds so much to the game's aesthetic, turning it from what could've, at worst, been yet another, pretty bland "eat things to grow larger, which lets you eat more things" game, into one of the most charming submissions this year. The unusual, format-twisty part in Ambition of the Jelly Lord is that the player's movement isn't constrained to a grid; instead, the titular slime moves farther the larger it grows. Unfortunately, I don't think the idea works - it removes from the gameplay much of the tactical interest inherent in roguelikes, and makes for a very slow early game on some of the maps. I felt like the turns artificially slowed down what would've worked better as just a real-time "eat things to grow larger" game, which is ultimately what made me lower my "roguelikeness" score - it feels like a non-roguelike with a roguelike mechanic tacked on, and one that doesn't feel like it meshes with the rest of the game at all. Having said that, it still remains a great, incredibly endearing and lovable entry, in no small part due to the music. It gave me a new perspective on how much music can add to a game - great job!
• The game runs, doesn't crash, but very barebone. Controls are awful. While the game is technically turn based, it is way too annoying and slow to play it in turn based fashion. Movement is not aligned with the dungeon. This is very inconvenient. The game is too basic and annoying to be fun. At least as it is. Be a small fish, eat even smaller fish to become bigger to be able to east even bigger fish. Not that this theme is explored very well in roguelikes, but this game, unfortunately, doesn't add anything interesting. Way to simple for a 7drl. I'm afraid it have nothing to do with roguelikes, at least in its current state.
• Ambition of the Jelly Lord is a charming game that could be compared to a turn-based Katamari Damacy. The game is very simple in design and mechanics, but feels complete and polished. The aesthetics are a highlight of the game, with nice music containing hilarious lyrics, an overall look and design that creates a cohesive theme and feel, and simple controls that are easy to use. The game was fun to try but in its current state feels repetitive and slow after several replays. Although turn-based, the game lacks many features that I would consider essential to a traditional roguelike, and in practice the game felt like it wanted to be played in real-time. Overall I really enjoyed this one for its style.