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Be The Hero, ltd.'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Relevance to the Theme | #7 | 4.423 | 4.423 |
| Concept | #24 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #30 | 3.531 | 3.531 |
| Immersion | #40 | 3.192 | 3.192 |
| Gameplay | #47 | 3.077 | 3.077 |
| Presentation | #76 | 2.962 | 2.962 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Credits
Programming, Art, and Game design by: Dexter McChesney and Calico.
Writing by: Dexter McChesney
External Credits
sounds from:
https://www.zapsplat.com
https://mixkit.co/
How did you/your team interpret the theme?
We decided to come up with an idea that was more to do with being a support/indirect help to multiple heroes. We wanted the player to have a important part in making a quest succeed or fail, but not actually be present there or be aware of it. Ideas included things like being a hype man for heros, or a hero hiring agency for parties, but we settled on the idea of something similar to a travel or expidition agency that helps heroes get what they need to go on the quest.
How was your/your team's experience in this jam?
I've made a couple games before, but in groups larger then 2, and at a much more relaxed and slow pace, so sitting down for a week to make a game with just one other person was really new for me. I was scared about the art stuff at first, but the time limit made it a lot easier to just be ok with whatever I did first and not worry about the tiny details.
A couple days into the jam, there were concerns about the scope we had taken on, but we managed to fufill almost all of our goals for the game, and I'm really proud of what we did. All in all, I had a great time, and got a lot of practice for not only programming, art, and writing, but what it felt like to have more control over the design of a game since our team was small.
Content Warnings
Some swearing
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Comments
The concept here's great. I love all the hero and item descriptions (especially the Celeste reference and gun.), The art itself is also pretty neat, and I love the mechanic of just buying hero equipment.
That being said, my only real issue is that the hints for the correct equipment can be a little too obtuse. Some were obvious even in lategame like the really cool guy, but stuff like the character described as Robin Hood not needing a bow, even a quad one? Timmy Kingson not being okay with all three swords despite asking for a really big one?
I'd also clean up the UI a little more, since it blocks the lower row of items and shows the left button when you can't go any further left, but that' a lot more minor.
Other than that, though, the game's pretty good. I'd love to see this polished and expanded on.
thanks so much for playing the game! I'm glad you caught the celeste reference. i was running out of time and i felt the strawberry didn't look close enough, so thats nice to hear. yknow, it didn't occur to me as describing using robing hood would have implications, so thats on me not doing enough proofreading. my thoughts about the kingson was that you were kinda supposed to be like. well hes a kid so.. maybe no swords, but i think maybe i could have made it more obvious he wasn't necissarily to be listened to exactly, and more of a make a better judgement. thanks for all the feedback! i do hope to clean up the ui as well too eventually.
Ah, now I get it. Yeah, a lot of the character bios are fairly confusing, agreed. I think I saw the "special requests" field as being more of a "you 100% need this or you will lose" thing thanks to the first hero, too, so that's something you should also consider.
Great idea, great descriptions, I also like the art. It should have music and a font other than the default could have been used.
Music is definitely a next step for us, we couldn't get it working with the scene system we had at the moment, but I think in the future we'll do things differently to make them work! The font is something we didn't really think of either, so we'll keep that in mind for next time as well!
Glad you liked it!
-Calico
Nice concept, clear UI, good art, and the heroes and items descriptions are amusing :p
If I have to nitpick, I would prefer the "remove from cart" button to have a different color than the "add to cart" button so we can distinguish them easier, but that was a minor issue and doesn't stop me from enjoying the game.
Well done!
thanks so much for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed the visuals; I hadn't worked on the art side of a game before. It may be small, but i do think the button thing you mention is a good idea. thanks so much for the feedback!
very nice concept, the game is fun and the art is good
thanks so much! i'm glad you liked it -Dexter
Really enjoyed this one. The concept is really good and I had to laugh sometimes. The art looks quite good and the SFX were on point. I really wish there was some in game music though. Well done guys!
I'm glad it got some chuckles out of you! Thank you so much; and I do agree on the music. the way we implemented it made it hard to try to include music because of time limitations, but its definitely on the top of my list if we work on it more. Thanks so much! - Dexter
Nice concept! Really enjoyed the carefully crafted descriptions, very funny!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the descriptions! - dexter
Some of the descriptions were pretty funny! This was fun. The Go On Quest sword is a bit in the way of the mysterious amulet for some reason.
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked the descriptions. We noticed that issue, and maybe we should have fixed it, but I personally found it kind of funny; the mysterious pendant was a reference to an item from the original dark souls that was completely useless and just there as a joke and so when it was difficult to select, it felt kind of fitting. we definitely want to work on making the shop menu a bit more easy to use, so thanks for the feedback! - dexter
I like it! Enjoyed trying a bunch of different items for the characters. There's some good jokes in here too!
Not much to say but well done!
We actually tried to balance it around having different combinations work. We thought that it might be a more subtle element and didn't know if people would notice it, and so it's great to hear that you tried a few before moving on to the next level!
Thanks for playing!
-Calico
cool concept and interesting description.
nice game.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
-Calico
Really cool ! The concept is very interesting ! In fact, I also had the idea to make a game about being a shop keeper that helps the hero! I see some risk of rain 2 inspirations as for the items and might've spotted a hollow knight reference ! One thing I have to say is that I felt overwhelmed by the text, but I liked the buying items part :)
Thanks! Dexter actually recommended me your game because of how well you pulled off the concept (so I'm taking a few notes from your game for next time :P). You're spot on about the risk of rain style items, and even I missed the hollow knight reference first time around!
Thanks for checking us out!
-Calico
That's really cool! If their is one thing that you should note from my game is that you should not add a stress element that is annoying to your game. I made a battery that you need to charge by clicking stuff, and the rate at which it went down felt too unfair for the players, making them stop playing... Good job for the game again :)
pretty cool! I suck at it but it was a funny timewaster haha
thanks so much nillin!!! <3 -dexter
It was difficult to explain in the instructions, it definitely wasn't just you who had trouble!
Thanks for playing!
-Calico
Really enjoyed it, the characters and the dialog were super funny! Even though the art was a bit rough, it felt good to look at. Like, even though these characters are so different to each other and the items in the shop, the art tied it all together nicely. Navigating around was clean as well, everything is pretty clear on the UI side. Being able to move the papers was a nice touch, I think you should have totally used it as a mechanic in the game!
I honestly see a lot of potential in the game! If you wanna make a sequel or something in the future, I got some ideas. Have multiple customers come to the shop at once, I think that would be so cool! Forms would like, slide in from the top and you drag the form of the customer you want to serve to a section. And like a time thing, so the shop gets busier on certain days and times. Regular customers appear but want different things.
Overall though i had fun and that's the main thing, thanks!
omg thanks for all the great feedback! i think thats a fantastic idea. I'm considering working it on more in the future, and that sounds like something id def love to implement. thanks for the the idea and i'm glad you enjoyed it!
-dexter
A bit complicated for me :D. But I understand what you did and liked the idea. I don't know if you left artstyle like that; it looks weird and really fun anyway. Good job
We'll definitely try make some clearer instructions for next time, I'm glad you got what were were going for at least! Thanks for checking our game out!
-Calico
Nice approach on management game. I like that it's not stats but about heroes themselves. Game really forces you to think and connect description to items.
UI looks weird at first but then I started to like it's charm.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! it was really fun and kinda challenging to try to translate stats into something like descriptions and text. the way the game actually works is a bunch of stats that are just hidden to the player! i'm glad you enjoyed it. thanks so much for the feedback!
Fun game. It is very satisfying when you get the right items for the right people. The gameplay could have a bit more depth, but I got a lot of fun out of reading all the descriptions for things. Good game!
Thanks so much! i'm glad you liked the descriptions, and very happy that finding the right combos was satisfying
I loved all of the descriptions and characters in the game. The game play is very straight forward, click and go! I'm assuming there is some kind of statistics on each item that helps determine if the quest is a success. I really enjoyed reading all of the item descriptions XD.
We weren't sure whether people were actually going to read the descriptions on the items, so I'm really glad you liked them! Your guess about the statistics is absolutely correct and I'm sure Dexter (other developer) is going to be proud when he sees your comment :P
Thanks for playing!
-Calico
This is an interesting concept. I enjoy playing it. Good job!
thanks so much!
It's very complicated for me. But I think I still understand it very well. I like the art style. Some music would really make the game better. The game isn't very appealing though... not much "Game feel". The concept is very creative and original though! If you would update this game I am sure it would be well received!
Hey, thanks for playing our game!
It being complicated was one of our worries, so I'm really glad you managed to to figure it out! I definitely agree with you about the music and sound effects, and the "game feel" is definitely something we'll be thinking about in the future. Thank you for the feedback!
-Calico