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Dull Reality & Colorful Dreams's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme - How well does it incorporate the theme? | #6 | 4.477 | 4.477 |
| Overall | #42 | 3.541 | 3.541 |
| Audio - Does the game have nice sfx and music? | #66 | 3.409 | 3.409 |
| Completeness - Is it an unfinished tech-demo, prototype or a complete game? | #72 | 3.477 | 3.477 |
| Graphics - Is the game aesthetically pleasing? | #92 | 3.523 | 3.523 |
| Gameplay - How fun is it to play? | #116 | 2.818 | 2.818 |
Ranked from 44 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
The graphics were excellent with a unique style that fit well the theme, the audio was a nice touch, and the abilities of the characters made the gameplay very interesting.
Now while I have to say I liked the surprise when we quit the dreamworld and understand better where the game is leading us in matter of story, I have to confess I didn't managed to complete the game despite having tried different party, also trying hard to understand the map...
The fights are too harsh, as all enemies seem to teleport and we don't deal as much damages as they do... and sometimes the dungeon is vicious in the sense there are holes in which we can fall and die if not enough health, electric floors or tile pushing us backward without anything to warn us.
I even ended up soft-locked by reaching a place by crossing a tile of water with the pirate in dreamworld, but ended up back to reality without ration and no way to leave the place, having to restart the game.
I've made three full retries and never managed to beat the game. I guess the difficulty is a bit too hard to me.
But still : no grudge since the experience was good overall, I still did enjoyed it and it deserves to be tried! Maybe if there's an update after the jam, I would give it a fourth try in which I would maybe beat the game this time! haha
I am very sorry you got stuck with the pirate, I tried to limit the possiblity as much as possible in particular by making sure you would consume rations only on empty tiles, I knew there were still some places it could happen and hoped it would not.
I am also sorry you really took the time and still did not reach the end.
If you started to fall into holes and such you probably were already not that far away from the end, there's one stairs down in the south eastern part of the third floor (the location indicated on the map) which leads to a way where you need a ration and another one in the north eastern part which technically does not require one yet the message to solve there is a bit harder to solve than the others (it's not super crooked either, if you think of something and try with the first word you should manage to solve it).
So yes, thank you very much for taking the time to play and sorry it did not fully pay off.
I like I lot this game, this is a great application of the theme, great job!!
Thanks, I'm glad you like it.
The only thing that prevents me from going further is losing a sense of direction. The map could be a little more informative with some landmarks. The combat was quite unique but also somewhat confusing. Clowns just teleport half the combat grid.
If I understand the map, maybe I would have a chance...
If you are planning to update your game so that it is easier to locate where we are on the map, I will definitely check back!
Thanks for giving the game a try, and thanks for your feedback.
Don't worry, the game is definitely hard to navigate,
The maps are directed with the north on top, and when walking you can see which direction you're facing among the information on the bottom left of the screen. From the maps the top left one is the one of the floor where you're starting the game, the water is blue, the road is brown, the ice is not depleted (the trees of the dreamscape are not either). The arrows indicate the position of two stairs you can use to enter the dungeon, although' if you're in the real world you might need to look for an illusionary wall to enter (there are two more in the water you can access in the dream world only if you own the pirate).
The further maps are very empty, only indicating some stairs and some small parts so that at some points you can potentially know where you are.
The game can probably scale to something bigger so it's possible that we continue to work on it, and I can totally see one character helping with the map, indicating your coordinates and position and the location of all the stairs or something like that.
Enemies teleport near your characters because I did not want to take the time to try and make them find and follow a path during the jam.
Oooh, something like Wayward Compass from Hollow Knight? I’m down.
I liked the different characters to choose from.Navigating was very hard, got lost very quick. Map didn't help much.
Graphics and music are great, great submission
Thanks for playing the game.
A unique entry, nicely done.
The character selection is varied, each with distinct abilities not only in combat but during exploration, allowing for tackling the dungeon in different ways (neat!). Not to mention, they're very flavourful given the premise of the game. Speaking of, the premise is very cool, and implements the theme well. The visuals are fitting too.
The game was super challenging! Maybe less so for old school/experienced dungeon crawlers, but I was terribly lost most of the time, and I found the enemies very deadly. I was able to beat the game, but probably not the right way – only through grinding the random wolf encounters and save scumming was I able to get strong enough to brute force my way through the dungeon. And the lion's ability was vital while I tried to find my way around.
I'm glad there's a happy ending after the initial gut punch upon leaving the dream world for the first time. Looks like our games' ending messages are kinda similar ;)
Yes, after such rough travels you need some light-hearted feelings.
I'm glad you enjoyed and completed the game, thank you, and don't worry it is challenging.
Wow! Great job! The graphics are perfect for what you were going for. The painted textures are whimsical, and the hand-drawn black and white graphics (and the absolute lack of music, excellent choice there) provide a stark contrast between the dream world and reality.
When I started the game, I kept trying to press E to enter the dream world, not realizing I was in it! When my hunger got too much, and I was shunted back into cold reality, my jaw dropped as I realized the implication of what was happening.
Nicely done!
Haha, yes, where you start could be a real world just as well in a different context. Thanks for playing the game, I'm glad you liked it.
I liked the graphical style of the game even though it feels like it could need some refinement, liked the Audio! The game was pretty confusing to me. Certainly very good fit for the Theme category :D
Thanks for the comments and thanks for playing the game.
What a great interpretation of the theme! I loved every second of it. Although it was confusing at first, I did figure it out.
Fantastic entry! Thanks for making it :D
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you appriecated the game.
Good execution of the theme, love the art style!
Thanks!
Great use of the theme, I love the contrast between the two worlds both in music and style!
Thanks!
Very interesting take on the jam theme with nice art, and it looks like the engine (?) was improved over time, and now performs without weird lags. Felt a bit confusing at first (at least at 2 AM), but I know I'm playing a CryptRat game if I'm playing something that feels like getting a game with a refcard, but no manual, and I have to man up and figure things out.
Haha, sadly true, thanks.
Very nice and original. The first screen is a bit hard to take in, but I decided to just wing it. The different styles are very neat and sell the theme a lot. The music was nice and its absence in the dull reality too. Did you had any inspiration about your battle system ? Somehow, maybe because of your drawings, I feel like it remind me of something of my childhood but I can't tell what. I can't even tell if it's a boargame or a videogame eheh.
Thanks. My will to mix first-person exploration with combat on a grid comes from the old Dungeon & Dragon games which did exactly that, the actual presentation of the combat from no game in particular (reusing the portraits instead of full figures came naturally as some time gain, even if I'm almost certain I have played games I liked which did that too).
Hey CryptRat,
That was a pretty nice surprise :) I loved the colors and the combat mechanics, I felt almost at home with titles like Shining Force <3 . Nice and suitable sounds as well.
The game is lovingly complex and has a great charm and cartoonish style between the worlds. Loved the tile animation all over, what a nice touch! I scared in a good way when the map changed to dream world and music stopped, loved it :)
Regarding the maps and initial information, I got overwhelmed at start because of the amount of detail. Had to read a couple of times to get what's going on.
On my 1366x768 laptop I found out that your calligraphy font is getting stretched and some lines are getting missed, which makes it a bit difficult to read. You might want to check that resolution and play with the font a bit :)
Overall, a pretty good entry, I played through it a couple times.
Thanks, I'm gladly you enjoyed it, I will definitely pay more attention to resolution scaling of texts in the future.
Dude.
I loved the children's storybook art of dream land.
I love the pencil drawing of 2 inuits+1 poodle reality.
I loved fighting the creepy clowns.
This was a truly great entry.
All the stars.
Thanks a lot, I'm glad you liked it.
FYI: the itch.io app wouldn't install your game for me: "Cannot read property 'build' of undefined." Thought you should know.
Update: I played it as a raw download, without the itch installer. Seemed to work ok.
I love the concept, but the gameplay was a bit confusing.
Combat was interesting, but I didn't like the controls or the fact that enemies could teleport.
Thanks, the lack of extra mouse control support and enemies teleporting instead of finding paths were definitely compromises I chose to make from the start to be able to make a grid-based combat system during the timespan.
Was a little confusing at first. A wall of text is a hard sell for a tutorial for me. Otherwise it looked great and making a game in java is commendable these days.
Was a little confusing at first. A wall of text is a hard sell for a tutorial for me. Otherwise it looked great and making a game in java is commendable these days.
Thanks and thanks for playing the game.
Loved the combat and the party members with special abilities. The theme incorporation was great, the choice of graphics is nice and whimsical. But I was hopelessly lost and the map didn't help at all. Killed a lot of clowns and flower...things... and scared off animals though!
Thanks and sorry you did not find a way inside the dungeon.
Wow! The graphics were so charming! The dual worlds, also amazing. I dig having an abstracted tactical combat.
Thanks, I'm glad you appreciated the game.
I think this is great game for this Jam)
Thanks (for your other comment too)!