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Where the Sands Whisper Madness's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Overall fun and playability | #45 | 3.211 | 3.211 |
Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme incorporation
I went with the theme "Cosmic Horror" the game's art, story, and atmosphere where heavily influenced by the theme.
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Comments
I wouldn't place this in the top 5, but maybe in the top 10 somewhere
very good/5
Not a bad game, but I struggle a bit with the very prominent energy cloud, it takes a lot of sight and doesn't match the visual style of the game. Further, I'm not totally happy with the movement. Nevertheless, the game is fun and that is the most important thing.
I completed the game.
The game was fun. It looks good, especially the boss parts, and sounds good too. It controls very well and the combat part is fun, I really like that the enemies don't shoot only in straight line as they can't move. I like the open structure with 4 parts you can do in any order, the overall difficulty is appropriate and the boss fight is a satisfying conclusion to the game.
This is a cool entry, thanks for sharing.
Nice graphics - particularly the opening and backgrounds.
I wasn't a fan of the AI text narration.
A pity the arrow key couldn't be used too.
I found the combat the most annoying as you didn't get time to work out what to do, what to click before the monster had moved and alrady hit you.
But a nice job :)
Great work on the enemy placement.
I enjoyed the cover based combat.
And the last Boss was pretty great too.
Thank you, I really appreciate the gameplay video, its so helpful!
Super cool art, I love your style! Game seems quite polished, although too short :)
I’m not a fan of camera movement when moving, felt a bit strange, unnatural. Stationary enemies were super easy to defeat and were not posing any real challenge. Even when there were 2-3 of them in a row were just a matter of dodging all attacks at once and that’s it.
But other than that it’s a cool and enjoyable game with super great art :)
Nicely done! This was solid all-around!
One thing that I did notice right away, it felt very fast-paced, the effects were good, and the controls were good enough. However, having the projectile held in the center of the screen and obstructing the point of view where the eyes naturally want to come to rest in this kind of game was awkward. I would definitely recommend dropping the hands to the corners or the bottom third of the screen to make them and then particle effect less intrusive, I believe the whole thing would feel better.
Other than that, there really isn't much to offer constructive criticism on within a game jam timeframe. You did an excellent job of reusing code, assets, and mechanics to make a boss that felt different enough. I am also sure you know that everything could have used more polish and a little more depth, which is sort of expected within this kind of time constraint. Great submission, keep up the good work!
Cool aesthetic here, love the hands and the magic particle thing (Though it's a touch to big, takes up a lot of the screen). Gameplay is fun, dodging projectiles and blasting eyeballs mechanically feels satisfying.
Boss battle was well done I think, apart from not actually being able to shoot the eye after killing the hearts, the fact that you setup a multi-phase boss battle is pretty rad for a jam game. The art on that guy was sick too.
I really appreciate the effort you put into your itch page as well, it looks fantastic, and the fact that this is your first game is very impressive.
Well done on a great entry!
Sick tats. I like how sharp everything looks. I personally loved the 2d and 3d mixed together. I would have liked an ambient soundtrack or something. But this is my composer bias speaking. Only wish there was a bit more. Wanted to shoot at the eye in the center, but as I went around shooting the other parts and doing the math, I realized that wasn't going to happen. Very good otherwise! I experienced 0 bugs.
I really like the graphics, the creepy temple with octo-baddies and whispers. The little plumes of dust on the ground was a nice touch. The combat and movement are simple enough, but still had to dodge around things and pay attention to the enemy placement or you get attack from all sides! So it added a sense of danger around each corner. I especially loved the 'bullet hell' style boss (I did something similar in my entry, you should check it out) at the end.
Not too much to complain about and after reading this is your first game and first jam, I'm impressed! Great job!
Simple mechanics but they get you!
I really liked the cartoon aesthetic mixed with the 3D.