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GLADIUS's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #2 | 3.458 | 3.458 |
| Overall | #2 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Storyline | #3 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Experience | #5 | 2.917 | 2.917 |
| Innovation | #17 | 2.625 | 2.625 |
Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- Gameplay was good in terms of controls and camera which i have reflected with a high rating for experience. The thing letting the experience down is the lack of variety and the 1 hit kill mechanics. The theme is hit good what better rivalry than gladiators, i think the mystery companion is a bit of an afterthought and perhaps could have done a bit more thus adding to innovation theme and game experience all at once. Story was as expected here and nothign noteworthy so keeping innovation and story as middle marks.
- Simple game with a good implementation of the theme. More depth with different attacks and upgrades could help the game feel more fresh with more replayability opportunity.
Tell us about your game!
In Ancient Rome, a man named Marcus has been punished for a crime that he didn't commit, and he must now compete as a gladiator to earn his freedom. Fight to survive in this simple 2D action game, with the help of the golden eagle companion that watches over you
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Comments
Hey JosephGallear !
How are you? It's Ilias again. I have some new questions for you.
What do you think about game jams in general, and this game jam in particular? What do you think could have been better, and do you have any suggestions?
What were your favorite video games?
Where do you think the strength of video games resides? What do you believe a video game should have to be a successful video game?
If you would like, you can tell me a little bit more about yourself and your background, if you have any information you would like to share.
Thank you in advance,
Ilias.
____________________
To Rate My Game : A Little Thing Made Out Of Clay .
https://itch.io/jam/biga-jam-v2/rate/2402991
Great game, I've enjoyed my time slashing through enemies! I think it would be cool to see the bird have more mechanics added. Something along the lines of swooping in from time to time killing an enemy on screen. Other than that, I enjoyed the backstory and artwork. Good fun!
thanks! yeah, i originally wanted the eagle to have more abilities, it's something i might add in the future!
Fun game! The Eagles are a good strategy. The game is arena style like me, I like it.
thanks! ill be sure to try out your game as well!
Great game, was a bit hard but had a lot of fun in the end, killing people with the eagle was funny!
thanks! im glad you enjoyed the eagle, i was quite happy with how it turned out!
Even though the companion setup is simple, I haven't seen a similar setup in the jam yet (I have rated 26 games as of writing this) Felt like the companion was inspired by AC games even though slightly different use cases haha. I almost only wanted to use my companion to kill the enemies but found that they are slightly tiny bit 'faster' than me so i can't outrun them and hit them with my companion LOL
Congratulations on the submission!
thanks! i originally wanted the eagle to have more uses likes pinging enemies or bringing you their weapons, but i just didn't have time. i actually like the way it turned out though so i might even keep it that way, maybe with a more interesting movement pattern
Yeah I was about to type that as well, that the companion can have attack 'patterns' & such but I realised you probably had that in my mind but its a game jam game so had to leave it out due to time constraints
Fun game. I found it difficult at first but after some attempts I figured it out and had a lot of fun!
thanks!
Nice simple game, enjoyed the overall feel of the game, think a choice of weapons with different damage for each would have been a nice touch :)
thanks! yeah i considered adding different weapons, although with different hitboxes and attack rates (damage would depend on if i added health or not). the enemies actually do have three different weapons which work in that way, i just didn't have time to get them to drop them for the player to use
Oh right I thought the different weapons were just cosmetic, I think different damage would make it more clear, but I do like the fast time to kill makes it more realistic
Quite simple, but really very fun game. Companion helps a lot.
Maybe you can add some sort of upgrades?
thanks! yeah id like to add upgrades; something that helps you to improve across each playthrough
My best until now is:
61321nice! im glad you kept playing and managed to improve each time!
Very fun and simple gameplay! Very clever use of the companion too!
I think the game is a little too punishing though. Maybe letting the player get hit a couple more times before losing would help? I think that would also add to the feel of the story; the gladiator that got hit, but kept fighting until he could no more.
Nice job! My best was 16 kills.
thanks! yeah i thought about having lives, but i wanted it to be an equal fight between the player and the enemies, and i wanted it to be fast paced. maybe the spawn rate of the enemies prevented that though
if i had more time i would still 100% consider adding lives or some kind of blocking / parrying to make it less punishing
Honestly didn't think the pace was bad at all. The way I played it, the game gets tense when the enemy approaches because I am kiting them trying to time my attack to be in between theirs. I get the kill and the tension goes down a little while the next spawn happens. Then they start to spawn two by two and the tension goes up higher, because now I have to think more of my positioning. In my opinion, the pacing is very good.
Blocking or parrying could be very cool too! Like, right click to block, and the enemy gets "stunned" for just enough time to approach and get the kill.
Got a new record while checking the pacing.
yeah, i like the pacing for a first playthrough and i think it builds the right atmosphere. its just that if you want to replay and improve your score, you have to play through the easy section every time. i guess the fact that you can die very easily still keeps it tense from the start though
great score! i think it's the best ive seen so far!
Hey JosephGallear!
How are you? My name is Ilias.
I played your game, and I have some feedbacks, thoughts, and questions.
Was the AI generated for the pawns spawns difficult to achieve using Unity?
I'm interested in creating a similar system using Unreal Engine.
What tools did you uses to create your graphics
Thanks!
hi, could you let me know what specifically you wanted to know about the enemy AI / spawns? is it the spawn locations, amount of enemies etc.? or the way the enemies behave?
i created all of the pixel art in Affinity Photo 2; it's quite similar to Photoshop but cheaper and has a perpetual license. the artwork for the story section was generated using Stable Diffusion
simple game overall, nice!
thank you!
Nice little game, seems fairly easy at first but the timing is crucial and death comes faster than you think! Totally nailed the theme aswell, well done
thanks so much!
The game didn't spare me) My record is 8
im sure that would have made you one of the more successful gladiators in those times!
My high score is currently 22, leave a comment if you can beat it! (I'm sure someone can get much higher)
Leaderboard
Redoxeide: 29
JosephGallear: 22
Rogerup: 21
Maye: 16
vadym123: 8
.
I liked this entry overall. The bare music and sound effects were very good.
The game was both very easy with the eagle and unforgiving at the same time. I had several cases where I bumped into an enemy ( or close by ) and it was game over. Because difficulty ramps up very slow, I just gave it 5 tries or so.
Also, regarding the theme, I was sad to not be able to compare my score with others.
My score was: 16 ( yeah, i suck )
thanks, i was happy with how the sound design turned out, i wanted it to be more immersive and not like just background music
yeah, i think i just needed more time to have other people test the game, i wasn't sure if having the difficulty ramp up fast would be overwhelming for new players. but maybe in this case they'd be happy just to lose and try again
i took the theme more literally at first; making the game about gladiators for the idea of "rivalry", but i agree it would be nice to have rivalry between players as well. hopefully people can just post their scores here, like you have, to be able to compare