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A jam submission

Sword of ElderskanView game page

1999 Alpha Build
Submitted by JohnLivingston (@johnwlivingston), FromOlympus — 2 hours, 53 minutes before the deadline
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Sword of Elderskan's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#94.5774.577
Theme#124.3464.346
Fun#443.8083.808
Presentation (graphics, audio)#684.1154.115

Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game represent Mode?
The game revolves entirely around a Debug Mode. Debug modes are often used in game development for developers to quickly modify stats, advance progress in the game, etc. We use this as a core mechanic as the player unlocks abilities and stats to modify within the debug mode menu.

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Comments

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 24 · Previous page · First page
Submitted

This was fantastic, definitely one of my favorites that I've played so far! Loved exploring and experimenting with each new option as they were unlocked, and the story surrounding it was short but enjoyable! The inverted camera controls were a little frustrating, but honestly I think that added to the idea of this being an unfinished game you're playing. Although that said, the game doesn't lock your mouse to the game window which causes problems if you're using more than one monitor, which definitely feels like a bug. Beyond that little issue though, amazing work on this!

Submitted

Pretty damn cool. I like most of what it has to offer and unlocking new things feels neat. Also well polished when it comes to sound and visuals. Just wish the core player movement and camera controls felt better because I was fighting that more so than enemies or puzzles.

Submitted

Great execution. Really enjoyed seeing what every new debug feature had in store. Took me a while to pick up on uses for some of them, but it was satisfying when it clicked.

Submitted

I loved this one. Its really impressive how you built a 3D open metroidvania in 3 weeks. The gameplay concepts are well executed, It felt really good slowly growing more and more overpowered as the game went on. Great work.

Submitted(+1)

This is epic! The animations and art style are outstanding. The combat feels fluid and it's really fun to mess around with the different debug settings. The blurriness irritates my eyes a bit and I had the same issues with inverted mouse x-axis and locking to screen. Besides that this game feels very polished and is super fun to play. Fantastic work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing OzMaister! Appreciate the kind words :) I'm glad you had a good experience with the combat and messing around with the systems. Sorry about the DoF blurriness, I'll add a toggle for that in the debug menu after the jam :)

Submitted(+1)

woah, this game is super underrated at the moment! i cannot believe the absurd amount of care and detail that went into making this game. the shenanigans it allowed me to pull off were incredible, and it also had a really cool story!!! i loved the puzzles in it (i especially loved how you chose to do the “crouch” mechanic - that was hilarious), and the modelling work was impeccable. my only nitpicks are really minor, with the inverted x axis, and the game not actually locking my mouse to the window (meaning i was accidentally clicking things on my second monitor). outstanding job, i hope this gets more attention!

Developer(+1)

Wow thank you axollyon, that's all really kind of you to say. Pulling off weird shenanigans was one of my top priorities with this project so I'm glad it worked out! And really glad you got a kick out of the death "crawl", it's definitely one of my favourite features. Thanks for mentioning the control issues, that'll be my first priorities to fix after the jam finishes. :)

Submitted(+1)

lovely game, however I don't appreciate the inverted x axis. That shit should be illegal. jk

The movement was kinda jank but in a funny way. Especially loved the "death" animation. I got all the upgrades (with the movement speed upgrade being the last one - yes it was painful) and I think I got all the audio logs. 

The intro was really well done and I love that you can visit the real world from inside the game. Idk what lore implications this has tho. 

Overall I would rate it a ... 7/10 I guess

Developer(+1)

Lmao so sorry about the illegal inverted X axis, that'll be my first fix after the jam! Thanks for sticking with it regardless. Glad you liked the death animation "crawl". It was such a last minute addition but it's also one of my favourite features!

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting game. I liked the intentionally unfinished feel especially with the grid based floor material popping up in between the level areas. It was cool to discover each of the debug commands, and the debug menu itself was a nifty feature.

Developer

Thank you Zidsmith! I'm glad the "unfinished" feel came across as intentional. I was worried the game would just look bad haha. Thanks for playing :)

Submitted

You telegraphed it quite well with the back story, so I was immersed in the incomplete game

Submitted(+1)

Really liked the story and the opening cinematic! but the game was unfortunately unplayable for me. Was lagging so much I couldn't even look in the direction I wanted. Overlay said I was getting 4 fps

Developer

So sorry again about that Travis! I'll do what I can to optimize it after the jam! Thank you for giving it a shot regardless! 

Submitted(+1)

Great game, very trippy. Amazing job per usual John Livingston!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much man! Appreciate the kind words :D 

Submitted(+1)

All the settings being locked away and requiring their restoration is probably one of the strongest implementations of the theme I've seen in the jam so far. It's pretty inventive!

Developer

Thank you topoftheyear, that is such a kind thing to say :) Thank you for playing! 

Submitted(+1)

Loved the mood you generated with this one. The controls felt a bit weird at first, especially the inverted X axis, but regardless of that, I really enjoyed the game and the narrative. Congratulations!

Developer(+1)

Thanks Brunoarce! Definitely tried to go for an evocative mood with this so I'm glad you felt that. My apologies for the disgusting inverted X axis, but I appreciate you putting up with it! Will definitely add additional toggle options after the jam. 

Submitted(+1)

Really liked the story telling and the concept of restoring debug mode! The controls (I struggled with the camera and mouse lock) could use some more polishing though.

Developer

Thanks so much for the kind words and feedback. The narrative layer was super last minute and we had a million more ideas but I'm glad it was still coherent was enjoyable! We will definitely address the control issues after the jam :) 

Submitted(+1)

7/10! jk.. . Loved the overall narrative with the audio logs. Loved that you can unlock stuff in a different order like an open world zelda game. The audio and visuals also helped in easily identifying unlocks. Very cool execution of the "debug mode". 

Developer

Thank you for the kind words VRGWorks! You nailed it with the Zelda analogue. After playing 400 hours of Tears of the Kingdom, we were definitely inspired by Zelda open air design.

Submitted(+1)

i loved my time with this one. it's pretty lengthy and fun all the way through, very impressive for a jam. i especially loved all the character poured into this game, it oozes charm. pretty great!

Developer

That's so kind of you to say. Thank you pijinguy! I always try to push for character and charm in my dev so I'm super happy it came came across well!

Submitted(+1)

I transcended the heavens and was able to look at myself from an outside perspective. What a wonderful game, how has this onyly been rated by 5 people?!

 My only real complaint are the controls aren't the greatest, but honestly I would pay for a cleaned up and polished version of this. Well done.

Developer

Thanks again for the kind words and shout out on discord. Glad you had a good time! We will definitely keep working on this after the jam and spend some much needed time on polishing the controls. 

Submitted(+1)

another john livingston gemstone, beautiful.

Developer(+1)

Kiitos my man 

(+1)

The game is sorta slow, but nice execution.

Developer

Appreciate the feedback! Will definitely keep that in mind and try to speed things up in my post jam updates. :) 

Submitted(+1)

I have become bjorn the wielder of the elderskån.
Thank you guys for uploading this sacred gem from the lost disc.
Always a pleasure to play your stuff John & Audrey

Developer

Haha this made my day. Thanks so much for playing :D 

Submitted(+1)

This game was super cool! It took me a little while but I ended up beating it. The theme was nice and the visuals and glitch effects were super cool. Really well done! My only complaint is I found the mouse look controls to be frustrating at first, but I got used to it eventually. Really great work overall id give it... '7/10' ;)

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much man! Appreciate the feedback. I will definitely keep working on it post jam and try to polish the camera system :) 

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 24 · Previous page · First page