Bigmode Game Jam 2025

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A jam submission

Sacred SwordView game page

A short Zelda-like for the Big Mode 2025 Game Jam!

Submitted by It'sJustJ, Vantikay (@vantikay), 2LAZY (@real2lazy_dev), OluMedli, ijsje22 — 10 hours, 1 minute before the deadline

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Sacred Sword's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Fun	#330	2.941	2.941
Presentation	#375	3.000	3.000
Theme	#435	2.794	2.794
Originality	#510	2.706	2.706

Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game represent "Power"?
Our game represents "Power" by letting the player charge up powerful beam attacks! They are on the Quest to find the legendary Sacred Sword, the sword said to have unlimited power.

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Comments

Tower Illusion IISubmitted27 days ago(+1)

I definitely felt the Zelda inspired gameplay. I wish the boss had some health bar or a measure of progress. I think the character is sized too big for the tiles, and I think there needs to be stronger delineation between tiles that are walkable, not walkable, and cavern. I accidentally fell off in the Endurance side because I didn't realize his feet weren't on the ground and he looked like he was still on the ground. I also kept walking into walls because I didn't realize they were walls since they were so similar to the regular floor.

Nice work here!

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper27 days ago (2 edits)

Yeah sorry about that! I think his hitbox is a bit bigger than him. I got a pretty good suggestion today to turn the hitbox into more of a pill shape! That would get rid of the problem. Gonna have to remember that! Thanks for playing!

Chimp PeenSubmitted27 days ago(+1)

Great game! That last boss was a gauntlet, good balance of challenge/length for me. I think the four-directional movement you used was the right way to go, it gives it a good retro feel and adds to the challenge. :) Since I played on keyboard, I wouldn't mind being able to change direction without releasing the previous key, but this is a matter of preference, and wouldn't even be a problem on gamepad, which this sort of game is better suited to anyway.

I love the designs of the characters, the hero in particular gave me Chrono Trigger vibes ❤

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper27 days ago(+1)

Thank you! We really tried to catch the feel of that class Legend of Zelda feel and movement! I'll have to look into the direction changing thing more closely in the future seems like a nice add for PC players!

As for the Characters, the Protag is 100% inspired by Sir Frog. Our artist did some good Frog artwork in the past and I thought that would be perfect. It was his first time making sprites too! Very happy with his work! Thanks for playing!

Lion YawnSubmitted27 days ago(+2)

Fun little dungeon crawler! I did a run with both the broadsword and the greatsword, and both were pretty balanced. The greatsword also had its own one-shot combo for the skeletons, which was cool to figure out! The boss had some really fitting attacks for the movement and mechanics, I just personally thought it was slightly long for two attacks, but that's me being picky. Overall, nice work!

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper27 days ago

Thanks for playing not once, but twice! I think you're the first person to do that besides me, so that's awesome to see!

I feel the swords add some replayability! I personally like using the Rapier because of how fast you can shoot charge shots! If we had more time, we would of made the swords more like classes with different numbers of hearts and charges. I think that would of really spice things up!

As for the Boss, his health is definitely a bit too high and going forward I will make sure to avoid that!

LE Lilith LambsSubmitted27 days ago(+1)

a very fun and bite-sized game! i havent really played any classic zelda games, but im sure this hits all of the same beats as it! i felt like a god weaving in-between the boss's projectiles and also charging my power and such... very well executed game, even if its a bit janky at points! AMAZING WORK!

Submitted

Icefish SoftwareSubmitted27 days ago(+1)

Surprisingly fun for a simple game.

* When holding down a key, you can't press another to move in a different direction. You have to let go of the previous before pressing the new one.

* The melee attack is too slow and you can't move while attacking.

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper27 days ago

Hey, appreciate you streaming the game! It was a fun watch!

- As for movement, we wanted to really get that classic Legend of Zelda vibes. Meaning you can only go in 4 directions, as for the charging ability, we took notes from Hollow Knight's Healing Mechanic. Forcing players to strategize when to charge shots!

- The Great Sword Sacrifices attack Speed for High Damage. Could definitely need even more of a damage boost though.

Thanks for the great feedback and honest review! Wouldn't have it any other way!

Billwood MarblesSubmitted27 days ago(+1)

Well done! Those skeleton guys beat my ass lol This could be a me problem but I kept accidentally running into walls during the red trial. Maybe making them a darker color would make them not blend in as much. Great work!

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper27 days ago

Lol Those guys are out for blood! I think I'll definitely darken stuff next time, people have been having a lot of trouble bumping into stuff. Thanks for the feed back!

PokeNinjaGuySubmitted27 days ago(+2)

I like this game. It's really cute and definitely zelda. The boss was well telegraphed.

Submitted

SodojSubmitted28 days ago(+2)

Nice little game! Not having diagonal movement feels a bit limiting at first, but I soon realized that it added to the challenge of not getting hit by frog's blue balls. I actually really like the methodical ebb and flow between sidestepping the attacks and shooting the charge attacks at enemies or coming closer to hit them if needed. Very well done game!

Submitted

TunaheadSubmitted28 days ago(+2)

Nice little Game. It feels weird not being able to walk diagonally, when the Enemies are able to. The Hitboxes are also weird. I think it would help to make them smaller. In the blue Room i fell down because I needed to walk a bit more down to not collide with a wall...but then I fell down because my feet touched slightly the void.
Other than that really good job :)

Submitted

BartticusSubmitted29 days ago(+2)

Fun little game! I had fun doing circles around the boss to dodge his attacks

Submitted

Throwing Things at the Light Switch Simulator

JeY kSubmitted29 days ago(+2)

Ooh I enjoyed this! As a sword bitch i immediately had to click

Submitted

Wyvern Sphere Omega - Vegetable's Power Woes

UDRSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

Short and sweet but fun, I really liked the sword charge attack

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago

Thanks for playing! I was really happy with how the sword charge turned out!

estainerSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

A fun adventure! I liked the boss’ animation and reaction when they got hit. As has been said the sprites for the collision tiles could stand out a little more and the collider on the player could benefit from adjustments too

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago

Thanks for playing! The tiles are definitely something people have been having trouble with. This was my first time actually making tiles so this is great feedback! Going forward I think I'll make floor tiles darker and collide-able stuff easier to spot!

As for the collisions, the collider is definitely a little rough when you go to the second blue room. I think that's because the character's size doesn't match the hitbox! Thanks for the info!

maxlaurenceSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

Short and sweet zelda-like game. I love the character designs and the boss toad's evil laugh. My only gripes about the game were knowing where my hitboxes were, and knowing which floor tiles were walkable. That wasn't always clear to me. But overall, this was a really enjoyable experience :)

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago

Thanks for playing! I'll work on making it easier for players to spot what tiles are what next time around!

werignacSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

I like the design of the main character and the brown toad. The details on their heads are a nice touch. The way that the final boss interacts with damage types fits the Zelda-like genre. Well done!

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago(+1)

Thank you, my team's artist did a great job, it was his first time doing sprite work!

As for me, I wanted the Boss to reflect the dungeon itself. The central idea of it is the Red was more physical combat focused and the Blue was focused on using your beam attacks! I wish we had more time to convey that theming more! Thanks for playing!

lildyllSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

Cool game! Definitely has a classic dungeon crawler vibe to it. I like the idea of the two different paths. Nice work!

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks for playing! We really tried to hone in on those Classic Legend of Zelda vibes. Originally there was supposed to be 4 trial paths with secret rooms hidden (you'd get heart pieces and potions), but sadly we had to sacrifice content for gameplay.
We weren't even sure if we could do the Boss till the last day and a half. In the end it worked out and I learned a lot!

KingsWillSubmitted30 days ago(+1)

The tiles were a bit confusing at times and it was hard to tell what was floor and what was wall. Overall a nice little game based on the age-old Zelda formula :)

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper29 days ago (2 edits) (+1)

Hey thanks for playing and I'm glad you liked it! I'd love to know what made the tiles confusing. A couple people said that and I wanna figure out it for next time!

KingsWillSubmitted27 days ago

Just for some ideas, not sure what works best for you:

Highlight the wall tiles with another color, e.g. in the room on the left, all tiles are in a brown-red tone, maybe make the walls gray-ish
Add a drop shadows to indicate that these tiles are higher than the others, something like this

In the end it has to work for you and also be consistent with the art-style you prefer :)

It'sJustJDeveloper26 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

I'm not sure what I like better, the fact that you gave pretty good advice or that you back after playing the 3 days ago and giving that advice.

I think the shadows 100% would be a lot more helpful as well as the color! I really wanted the Trial themes the same color to convey their themes, but after seeing your post I totally should of made those blocks that color. It really pops! Or at least have a shared dark purple between both trials. Would of saved me some time too!

Next time I'll definitely add a little more color variety not just for looks, but to help the player know what's what. Thank you for taking the time to make that great example!

KuaikuachuSubmitted30 days ago(+1)

Neat game, went very smooth, very polised (with the exception of the unfortunate UI name clicking, and the final boss HP)

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper30 days ago

Yep, those are the two biggest things we'd change if we had the time! Lessons going forward, really appreciate the feedback!

KuaikuachuSubmitted30 days ago(+1)

stay strong (muscle emoji)

Ded-ReflectionSubmitted31 days ago(+1)

Small zeldalike adventure. For a long time I couldn't figure out how to choose a starting sword, it's not obvious that you need to click on the name of the sword, and not on the card. Final boss too hard for me, but i like it, cool game for jam

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper30 days ago(+1)

I'm glad you liked it! Sorry about the sword selection issue! The menu UI was one of the last things we added in, sadly we didn't have enough time to change that! Thanks for playing!

KuaikuachuSubmitted30 days ago(+1)

oh my god you really do need to click the name, thanks

RipeMangoezSubmitted31 days ago(+1)

Short, but sweet game. I have no complaints, aside from the tileset being a bit hard to read at times, and maybe the final boss is a twinge too tanky. But overall I had a lot of fun with this one, just the right amount of playtime.

Submitted

It'sJustJDeveloper30 days ago (2 edits)

Hey, thanks for playing! It's really cool that you played our game, I really liked your guys' submission!

As for the tileset, what made them hard to read? Was it their brightness? I'd like to know for next time.

As for the Boss's health, yeah it is pretty high. I think its about 144 hearts, I wanted to get adjusted to about 100, but that might be too high as well. Definitely something to keep in mind for the future!

Thanks again for playing and your game's got my vote for the Grand Prize!