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Sudden Darkness: Samurai’s Ascension's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Game Design | #347 | 3.325 | 3.325 |
| Fun | #367 | 3.275 | 3.275 |
| Audio | #432 | 3.125 | 3.125 |
| Overall | #560 | 3.013 | 3.013 |
| Graphics | #596 | 3.125 | 3.125 |
| Innovation | #607 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
| Theme | #901 | 2.425 | 2.425 |
Ranked from 40 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
I believe my game fits the theme "Calm before the storm", because it is about a samurai who is undergoing training on a regular day, when suddenly his city's power shuts down because of an evil scientist using all the electricity to power up his army of killer robots. I implemented the theme in a metaphorical sense where everything was normal, until it suddenly went downhill.
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Everything was made by me except for the sound effects.
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Comments
Very nice first project. I believe you can continue to make some really cool stuff in the future! I liked the movement quite a lot, and the overall atmosphere with the music was very well done. Some feedback I could give would be definitely to make the slash more impactful. You can do this by making the smear way more pronounced and having more recovery frames rather than having a lot of start up, as in game it did feel quite awkward and heavy (slash should be earlier basically lmao). Apart from that, I think a background, however basic would've been a nice addition instead of navy blue throughout. I also wish I could hit the bullets with my sword haha. Would've made the blue guys a lot less of a pain to deal with. Overall, very nice and well done! Was pretty fun :D
Thanks for the comment and your feedback! I also felt at first that the slash took too long to wind up, but I never had the idea of shortening it and adding recovery frames after, which definitely would have felt more like the way I originally wanted it to. I did want to have a proper background, but I still don't have enough experience in art and programming to put in the same amount of work in the 2 areas, meaning I had to put more effort into coding to actually get the game done. When I originally planned out my game, I was actually thinking of making a block/parry mechanic for the bullets! However, I had to shorten my scope in order to finish the game in a week. Thanks again for playing, your feedback is really beneficial!
The music was really good and set the ambience very well. I really didn't like the controls being on ZXC, but thats my preference. I made it past the second jump and through most of the game until the last level where the blue guy was being funny. Overall, pretty solid game and especially since it's your first.
Happy to hear you liked the music! Thanks for the feedback. I implemented arrow keys and WASD controls with general key bindings of platformers, but of course not everyone is comfortable with using them. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
Hack and Slash Ninja action
1. The movement feels good, I like the jump plus dash, it was tricky to get used to at first but after i mastered it, it was fun. I played with WASD + JKL. I played the game always wanting the K to be the Jump and the J to be the attack because the the key proximity to dash. Maybe I'm the only one.
2. I liked slashing the enemy green dudes, but the blue guys gave me some trouble, I couldnt get passed one of the blue guys who kept me pinned down with shots. The green dudes also stay around even after dead which blocks my path
3. Music is banging
4. The main character sprite work is good and he has good animation and movement
Glad you liked the movement! I wouldn't say you are alone with the key bindings, as it is VERY common for people to have different controls for platforming games. If I'm being honest, I actually use a different set of key bindings when I play platformers, and just changed them to the ones used here when exporting because they are considered to be more regular.
The green robots were kind of just there to give players the satisfaction of killing them. This is mainly because I couldn't perfect their AI so they are not as threatening. I think you're referring to the level with the 2 ramps, which requires you be standing near the top of the first ramp, and then run and dash once a bullet goes behind you so you can make it to the downwards ramp before the blue robot shoots again. I tended to use more blue robots to make the game feel challenging, so I understand if that was causing you trouble. Thanks for your feedback on the death timer. I also think it might be nicer to make the death animation a little shorter so you don't feel like you have to wait to get past some areas.
Glad you liked the music and the sprite work!
Would love to be able to dash through the blue man bullets, would be very fun!
That idea never even crossed my mind! I will definitely try to implement that as a feature on a future project.
Level design is really good, but there's a part in the tutorial that essentially softlocks you since you aren't able to dash over the walls. i would also make the mininum jump height higher. i feel like it's way too low atm and you can't get over many things without holding space. Aside from that, the art style is pretty good and the game was fun. Great job!
Hey, thanks for the feedback! I had an oversight when making the intro. There is a feature (not intentional) where if you are holding the jump key as you dash upwards, you go higher than when dashing upwards without holding the jump key. I just updated my game description to let people know how to overcome the movement flaws, so I'm hoping it will be less problematic now. I'm glad you liked the level design!
I was not able to jump and pass the second structure at the beginning. Overall the game looks and feels good. Nice work!
thank you, and also my bad on not making it more clear. There is variable jump height in the game, so holding the jump key sends you higher than lightly tapping it. To get over the second jump, you need to hold jump until you’ve reached the max jump height, then dash upwards to reach the top. I hope that helps!
Thank you, I will try that
I'm having similar troubles as others. I'm not able to jump high enough to get over the second jump at the start. Pressing up and dash and jump repeatedly almost gets me there, but I'm unable to make it work.
Sorry, I should have tried to make the mechanics more clear. There is variable jump height in the game, so holding the jump key sends you higher than lightly tapping it. To get over the second jump, you need to hold jump until you’ve reached the max jump height, then dash upwards to reach the top. It’s a communication error on my end but I hope that helps!
Retro vibes, loved it !
I'm clearly missing something because the character's jump can't make it over the second pillar at the very start. Based on some comments there's a way to jump higher but after 10 minutes of experimenting with the controls I couldn't figure out what the input is supposed to be.
Hee-ho. Cool vibe, nice look. Hard to control character (I have big problem with large jump)
Thank you for your input! I will definitely try working on the dash to make the movement feel more fluid.
The jumping, dashing and attacking felt very clean and smooth, I liked the graphics and had fun playing!
Love the enemies and the levels, going up and down stairs while dashing bullets is real funny! I think it really would feel completed if at the top of the tower the scientist was a boss to fight but apart from that good job:)
Thank you! I did want to make the last room a boss fight, but I don't know anything about making a boss and there was not enough time to learn how to haha. Glad you liked the game!
I found the movement challenging, but art is super cool and the slashing seemed very fun. I liked the animations. Nice work!
Edit: I figured out the dashing/movement. After that I really enjoyed it and definitely got hooked on a few levels. The music is awesome too.
Movement's a bit clunky, aside from that it was a neat game. Challenging in a good way, and felt like an old game I'de play on an arcade machine.
cool art, interesting gameplay, loved getting to the mad scientist and cutting him down
Really lovely game. I love the art style.
Love the retro art style and music, though some level can have a tight timing, the overall game design is still almost immaculate
Thank you! I wanted to make some levels more on the difficult side, but I tried my best to keep the game jam friendly.
Pretty cool for a first time
I think theoretically you can beat this game pacifist
you just need the 2 green robots on the 4th floor moves to the left...
And congrats on your first jam! you've done somethig really cool here!!
I hope you get enough rest!
great submission!
I knew the rest of the game could be played pacifist, but I never considered that both of those robots on level 4 could move to the left enough to let you pacifist that level too. Although the chances of that happening are really low haha. And thank you so much! I will definitely be resting more now that the game jam is finished.
charming game. the gameplay is fun and suprisingly difficult.
If this is actually your first game jam, this is really impressive! You did much better than me lmao
Pretty good game just some minor bugs here and there but overall good job I love the retro style too