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Eidolons Between Realms's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.346 | 4.346 |
| Approachability | #6 | 4.269 | 4.269 |
| Fun | #7 | 4.115 | 4.115 |
| Creativity | #19 | 4.038 | 4.038 |
| Visuals | #24 | 4.154 | 4.154 |
| Audio | #34 | 3.731 | 3.731 |
| Theme | #85 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Great job. Well polished and unique gameplay. The combat is satisfying and makes u feel OP while still being challenged. I love it.
Thanks a lot :D
Impressive game, lots of polish already as is !
I really enjoyed playing through this one, it has quite a challenge but yet still manages to be approachable, i like the way you've introduced your original mechanic through the story, after one classic shooter stage bam you can phase between 2 spots to avoid getting cornered, plus you made some very clever patterns requiring the mechanic.
The only issues i had, was that ocasionally in levels where patterns and enemies really fill the screen it can have a bit of slowdown, and some times during dialogue, the arrow button on the dialogue box would overlap and hide part of the text below. But other than these this is really well made overall.
The artwork looks really nice, and the story and world is really engaging, and the music was epic and fitted the theme quite well.
Well done to your team :)
Thank you ! We did notice a few slowdown issues, but weren’t really sure of how to optimize further, in limited time. We didn’t get the textbox issue, though someone else mentionned it, it might be because of screen format. What resolution do you have ?
No problem, optimization in a jam game is tough cause of the short time ^^
I have 1920x1080 screen resolution.
Well that’s weird, I have the same… I’ll have to look into that
Thanks for reporting though !
Some quality here!
As a touhou fan I really enjoyed this game, also the main mechanic is very creative and the game has good level design!
I have only one complain, the second and final level are way too long, the first level fits a lot better.
Thanks ;) I guess in Touhou the levels outside of the bosses are very short. We thought we could make those parts interesting on their own, but apparently we should focus more on bosses ^^ Good to know
Well done on this. You've brought a lot of things together, a cohesive style (art and music), as well as a story and interesting game mechanic.
Fine not having the swop mechanic in the first level. The length of that level felt better then the following levels though.
I'd suggest shorter levels, with bits of story/breaks in between.
Switch mechanic was a great idea and addition, added a new element to the game to keep an eye on when to switch.
Bullet spray from the player was weird at first, but really suited the game in the end. Though That could also have been managed in power ups instead (something for a future version perhaps).
Jam time only allows so much to be squeezed in :).
Think some of the particles from one of the enemies are being launched at a weird angle , and end up hanging around the map until they slowly disappear. Just something to flag there.
Great job on this, lots of work involved.
Thanks ! If we do expand on this, we’re probably going to make the levels shorter, and more focused on the bosses (those were the most fun to make too) We would also definitely have some kind of upgrade system, though as you said we didn’t have time to cram that into the game during the jam ^^ We focused on adding the parts that pushed the swap mechanic as much as possible.
A nicely put together shmup with a simple, yet engaging movement mechanic!
Some thoughts:
That’s some interesting feedback ! Concerning the player’s bullets, I’d say the damage of the wider cone is too low compared to the straight shots, which means you’re going to do almost nothing if you aren’t aligned with your target. The goal was to encourage precise placement, but that might have been too much ^^ You were also not the only one to suggest the game is too slow, that’s something that should be worked on then, if we expand on this, although I’m still not sure exactly what to do to improve… A scoring system might be nice, but we thought we would focus a bit more on the story aspect, and make the game accessible even to non-shmup-fans. Not saying they wouldn’t enjoy a scoring system, but it might not be the reason they would be interested in playing. Also we are not well-versed in shmups, do scoring systems typically penalise you for keeping shooting all the time ? That’s still an interesting possibility though.
(Also that screen of the credits is too cute XD)
For the game’s “slowness”, I’d say the issue lies in the enemies:
So if these issues were addressed I believe the game would feel faster.
// —
As for the need for a scoring system, they add depth beyond “just shooting and dodging” and beyond just playing safe/turtling the whole game, add longevity/replay value, and adds a gauge of player skill to a shmup beyond “how many lives did I end the game with / did I beat it without continuing?”. A scoring system often incentivizes players to play in a certain way, such as asking them to take risks by having decidedly “active” playstyles like chaining kills together, collect items before they drop off the screen, or killing enemies with special weapons. This especially is the case if the player can earn extra lives by scoring, encouraging them to play by the game’s rules to that can be rewarded.
Certain shmups have incentives for letting off the trigger (not necessarily for scoring reasons), such as charging up bombs, gathering items, or delaying kills to set up for chaining consecutive kills for a combo if the game asks for that kind of behavior (which would be a scoring reason).
Amazing! At first I was thinking of it as somewhat of a modern take on retro Touhou games but I think calling it just a clone of a different game wouldn't be fair, it feels unique and in a very good way. I love the main mechanic and how it is used, it didn't feel like just another gimmick to make avoiding patterns easier, it felt like the patterns were made for this mechanic in mind and that is honestly not an easy thing to get right. It was hard to get used to but it felt fair... except for this one specific pattern where you have to dodge two djinns AND other patterns, my mind couldn't fully comprehend that and it felt like a big difficulty spike, so I'm thankful for the forgiving checkpoints. So the gameplay is really fun, I think the sound design was good, the visuals are well done, the game looks good while also not being overwhelming. If I were to complain about something it's that the default controls on the keyboard are a bit odd, it wasn't terrible I just wish there was a way to change the controls to the way I'm used to play. There was also the issue of the button to continue the dialog covering part of it and some of it going outside the box so I had to add some words in my head from context. Lastly, weird complaint I know but... I wish the font was different? I don't want to nitpick, it's just that it was the one thing that just didn't fit with the artstyle for me and it was this mild annoyance every time I noticed it. With that out of the way, this is the best game I've played so far in this jam, keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
We indeed used Touhou as our main source of inspiration (it’s actually the only bullet hell we’d both played before this jam I believe), and this gave us the idea of the new mechanic.
I think you’re right about the double djinn & the other enemies together, they might be too hard. I’m pretty sure I struggled on this too, but we didn’t have enough time to polish the levels as much as we wanted at the end of the jam.
About the keyboard bindings, we had some early feedback from our testers (some were Touhou players, others not) before the end of the jam and they were not satisfied with it either but had different opinions on the best key bindings (we hesitated until the very end of the jam between mapping “slow” to shift or k, or even mapping everything on one hand with slow on shift and warp on e). If would be interesting to have your opinion on this matter, as we couldn’t reach a satisfying answer! We have never implemented an in-game controls remapping system, and though we’d have loved to do it here, we had higher priorities and sadly never found the time to do so :(
We didn’t notice the dialog button overlapping the text below, nice catch!
I also agree about the font, we didn’t want to use a pixel art font for the dialogs as it would negatively impact readability but we could have chosen something more fitting!
I cannot praise this game enough. Let me go over all the things I love about it:
The art, if a little simplistic, does its job well enough.
The main mechanic is genius, changing up the game without totally alienating the player. When was first introduced, I was like "oh boy, another useless movement ability" but it turned out to be necessary and very fun to use. That brings my to my next point:
The enemy bullet patterns are well-designed and varied, and most importantly they force you to use the swap mechanic in interesting and creative ways.
The story is kind of basic, but it helps the game stand out more and the gameplay feel more important compared to some games.
The final boss is everything a Final Boss should strive to be. It forces you to use everything you've learned. It changes things up, but not enough to make it feel like a completely different game. It was hard, but very fair. I died three times when the boss had just a sliver of health yet, which made me want to keep trying. It also means the boss was perfectly balanced.
Overall this is an amazing game and probably my favorite of this jam. I would love to see this expanded upon in the future.
I would love it if you could check out my submission as well :)
Thanks a lot for your detailed and kind feedback! We’re so glad you appreciated our game that much!! And sorry for the late reply, we’re gonna check out your game right now ^^’
i don't have words to say, just really nice game, :)
Well just thanks then ;)
Wow! Underrated entry! I loved the sound and the music. The player's controls felt great and the hitbox felt just about right. I LOVED that you could hold shift to slow. I didn't notice in the first level that there was no hit sound, but in the second level, I could tell if I was doing any damage to the ghost that sections off the map. A hit sound would have been great. Overall, great entry.
Thanks ! Yeah you’re probably right about the hit sounds. Actually we don’t even have particles when enemies are hit ^^ Those ghost that you talk about do take damage, they are killable, but they just have a lot of health (so you can’t cheese the pattern)
I can only say this game is amazing! I have a really hard time multitasking, so this game was a true challenge since you have to take care of different things at the same time. The visuals and the music are amazing, and the story was engaging. Great job! I enjoyed it a lot!
Thanks :) Yeah I think this is the weakest aspect of our swap mechanic : it’s hard to pickup, which is especially tough in a jam game. (Btw the music is not from us lol but thanks anyway XD)
Whoa, this is a design masterpiece in my eyes, from a game jam perspective. I enjoyed the story, the gameplay, everything seemed to click, and I kept playing until the very end. There were a lot of enemies, a bunch of interesting mechanics, and the game is pretty polished.
Great entry, this is hands down one of my favorites.
Thanks a lot ! We really didn’t think people would enjoy the story as much, but everyone seems to point out they liked it specifically XD
Wow! Absolutely a fantastic entry. The story was great, sprites were great, and the mechanic of switching places with the spirit was superb, and used in nice and creative ways. The patterns had nice variety, and there was even some new patterns I hadn't seen before. I managed to clear all of the stages with one death in total, so the difficulty felt fair. The variety of enemies was good, and the personality of the bosses came out well with their attacks and styles. Boss fight were also good in lenght, they didn't drag out for too long. The mechanics were also introduced with good pacing. I'd improve the game by coming up with some nice spell upgrades, maybe you could learn some attacks from the defeated bosses? Overall, a super high quality game made in such a short time!
We'd greatly appreciate if you checked out our submission as well! :)
Thanks ;) Learning attacks from defeated bosses is a neat idea ! Maybe we could differentiate between the two brothers, and only one of them could use each of those attacks ? Well idk, who knows what could have been done given more time ^^ (btw you game is rad too :3 )
Sounds like an idea that would be worth trying out! We followed you just in case you decide to continue developing the game, so we'll stay updated! We'll be definitely up for playtesting if you choose to do so. :)
And thanks!
I love this game! It's slower than Touhou but a lot of fun nonetheless! The switching mechanic adds a lot of fun to the gameplay especially when you get to the gatekeeper. Really nice story, beautiful graphics, great game!
Thank you :D Due to our main mechanic, we couldn’t really use very tight patterns with tiny gaps between bullets. I guess that’s what makes you fell it’s slower. So our game is kinda more on the strategic side when Touhou is more on the action side maybe ? XD
Honestly, I think it's good just the way it is. I saw someone struggling to play it already, Touhou would be overkill. You balanced the difficulty really nicely.
Great game!
Lots of bullets, which is awesome. Plenty of challenging-but-fair patterns to dodge here. The difficulty felt just right.
The story is surprisingly charming and works really well.
Although the sprites look simplistic at first glance, the overall effect when everything's in motion looks great. Visual consistency is really important, and this game achieves that quite well. Also the cherry blossom bullets are a delight--more thematic bullets in games, please!
The swap mechanic is a really good twist, simple but effective. My only gripe is when a swap is needed while lots of volleys are also present on both sides of the screen, since you have to watch both characters at once and positioning options were just a little more limiting than I liked. I got better at it with practice, but I still felt like I ended up in "no-win" situations (swapping is the only way to avoid damage, but swapping isn't safe) a couple times. OTOH, the djinni with alternating waves felt really cool, and the final boss was awesome overall.
Well done. ^_^
Thanks a lot ! :D Glad you enjoyed the game. I agree with you on the “no-win situations” point. Part of me wants to say that the player should try to anticipate in order to avoid those situations, but honestly yeah it’s just flaws in the design ^^’ It was easier than expected to design patterns that go well with the swap mechanic, but it’s way harder to make sure there’s always a clear safe option to swap to, especially since some bullets are targetted at the player. Thanks for sharing this point though !
Yeah, you're right that you definitely can avoid everything with correct motion planning. I never felt that I got hit when it wasn't earned in the bigger picture, it's just that moment of knowing I've painted myself into a corner and I just have to watch my character get hit that was frustrating. I hope that does not seem too nitpicky; it just happens to be something I'm thinking about a lot lately in game design.
Btw, I've played a lot more games now this jam and yours is still one of my favorite, if not my favorite overall so far. Really well done!
Beautiful graphics, crispy gameplay, and the ghost part is incredibly fun.
Thanks! :)
the game is beautiful, and addicting, its music is a nice loop, but it could have more things
Thanks ! Yeah it’s beatable pretty quickly, but you know how it is in gamejams ^^
I love this game. The "specters/witches" in the second stage kill me all the time, I can't avoid your bullets, but I'm dumb, haha ><
Great game, congratulations.
Thanks for the nice feedback! We’re glad you appreciate our game :)
About the ghosts/specters/whatever, they are made to force you to warp your character on the ghost of your brother (press J or RB/R1 if you’re using a controller to do it), maybe you missed the tip showing up at the beginning of the stage. It’s not easy to handle but you should be able to get it right after a few tries I think ;)
Oh my fault, I missed that explanation ><. Good mechanics, really interesting, I moved to phase 3 now, thanks. nice game, cheers.
No problem haha, our bad for not making it clearer! Nice to know you managed to get to the third (and last) level :) And thanks again for the kind feedback!
I like how the story is weaved into the gameplay with being able to switch places with your brother. honestly the story bits were my favorite parts
100/5
Thanks man ! We weren’t sure about including a story at first, since it would take time and it’s a gameplay-heavy genre, but if people liked it I’d say it was a good call ;)
This is my favourite game for this jam so far even though I haven't even finished it and tried so many others. It left a really good impression since it is easy to understand creative and challenging at the same time. The learning curve felt perfect. Well done!
Thanks :D We were a bit worried about the difficulty, since it’s harder than what a typical jam game should be, but at the same time we expected mostly shmup players to play our game… Relieved that you thought it was fine !
This is probably my favorite game on this jam as of yet. The ghost switching mechanic was super creative and fun, the bosses never felt too hard, and I managed to beat the whole game! The visuals were simple, and effective, especially in the backgrounds! The audio was fitting and great, the only reason it wasn't a five is because the sounds were from preexisting packs.
I experienced some major controller drift while playing, so I switched to keyboard and it went away, so I'm going to chock that up to my controller. The character portraits were really similar, and it's obvious that they were all based on one portrait, so some more variety would be welcome. The ending felt a little more sudden, maybe some graphical cutscene would be nice to complement the dialogue?
Overall this is a fantastic entry, very approachable, very fun, good looking, and sounds great, you all did a fantastic job!
Thanks a lot man :D And congrats for beating the game ! To be precise, we got the music from free asset packs, but the SFX are hand mande (except the laser). Did you ever get that drift before ? We didn’t notice anything similar while testing. About the portraits and the ending, you’re definitely right, but that’s how game jams go ^^
I'm not sure about the drift, I had dropped my controller before playing by accident (butterfingers I know XD) so that's part of it, I played hollow knight afterwards though and nothing seemed amiss, so I'm not sure. The sfx were great btw, and I guessed that the music was from an asset pack, but I would have liked to have seen some original music (I'm no composer, so I totally understand!) And about the portraits, I also totally get it, game jams do be like that! Again thanks for the feedback, and sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner!