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Sorcerer Vs. Swordsman's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #520 | 3.819 | 3.819 |
| Fun | #627 | 3.514 | 3.514 |
| Overall | #652 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
| Presentation | #1101 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 72 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?
You must connect blocks in game to either apply debuffs to your enemy or buffs to yourself. You can sever those connections and remove the buffs/debuffs with your sword. Hence, the dynamic of the game changes depending on which connections are active.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
No
We used pre-existing art
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
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Comments
Unique Game with an surprisingly deep combat for a jam and a super tight movement system.
Hi SuperSalteGames!
Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. I was quite pleased with how the combat system was executed as well!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
good, so *** good
Hi Makarov Inc.!
Thank you for your comment! Really appreciate the enthusiasm, good luck in the rest of the jam!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Pretty nice concept, and fun excecution, very satisfying to land hits! I did find picking up "links" was somewhat finicky, and as other have said the powerups were slightly underwhelming. Overall, good job!
Hi Diatere!
Thanks for the feedback! Yes I am fortunate that the community has suggested several ways to improve the linking mechanic. When we bring this game into production we will be sure to improve the feel of that mechanic. And of course, balance will be paramount!
Thanks again!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
It's a fun game, definitely has some potential. Like other reviews said, powerups did feel a little lackluster. Adding something like invincibility or even double jump. Movement felt nice and wall jump added a bit more flexibility to your moves. I do feel like it would be fun playing this game against a friend.
Nice job altogether!
Hi Cviki!
Oh double jump is an excellent suggestion! I love this pro-sumer relationship, its giving me excellent ideas for how to improve the game. And we are definitely going to implement multiplayer competitive play as one of the first improvements to the game. Thank you for the feedback!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Fun game! I feel like this would be a lot of fun to play head-to-head against another player with some tweaking and balancing. I think the buffs/debuffs could have been more powerful. Makes me think of what other kinds of powerups you could include: one that makes your jumps heavier/lighter or even lets you fly around, maybe one that gives you a larger attack hitbox or maybe one that makes you completely invulnerable. Great job with this!
Hi SzechuanSteve!
Those are all excellent ideas and I will be revisiting this post when designing the larger game. I can't wait to make and implement the head-to-head gameplay!
Those are some awesome ideas for powerups. I did think of invulnerability but ended up scrapping it, ironically for what I perceived to be balance issues. I love the jumps heavier/lighter idea, and flying is excellent too! I am very grateful for your suggestions. Thank you so much for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Hey, this was fun! I didn't really find myself using the buffs and debuffs all that much, I honestly just found myself parkouring off walls to hit the sorcerer in the air. Then, when he got close to the ground, I hit 75% of his health all at once and won.
The movement and act of attacking was fun. But, the buffs and debuffs were rendered kind of pointless if you just decided to spam your melee attack on the sorcerer. Overall, it was really fun and I enjoyed it, just wish the buffs and debuffs were incentivised a bit more or were more meaningful. I haven't seen any other fighting games in the jam like this, so kudos for that! I'm not entirely clear on how it fits within the theme, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Good job!
Hi beanc16!
I am glad you enjoyed it and found it unique. I have gotten a ton of feedback that the blocks don't help all that much in fighting the sorcerer. Balancing will be a huge focus going forward.
As for how it fits the theme, "joining together" your block and buff blocks, or your opponents block to debuff blocks, changes the dynamics of the fight. It would have been more obvious if the blocks were essential to winning. My bad there.
Thanks for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
This is one of the most fleshed-out games I've played.
The gameplay feels solid and well-made. The idea is absolutely genius IMO. The art is really good for a 48-hour game jam. There's really nothing I can complain about too much.
Absolutely stunning job. Well done
Hi mvn!
Thank you so much for the kind words! We did not make the game art ourselves however - There is a plug for both pixel artists on the game's page. You should check out their work, they are amazing!
Glad you enjoyed the mechanics though. Thanks for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
I loved it! The system was a fun take on the genres. I also loved the ways I could stick to walls and slide around. The music was also amazing!
Hi Darthbeeblebrox!
Thank you for the feedback! I am glad you enjoyed playing. The wall sliding mechanic is one of my favorites too! It makes you feel like a ninja. Glad you liked the music as well - I will let our sound engineer know you were a fan!
Thanks again for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Exactly what I was thinking, it was like a magical ninja game but quite unique!
I quite liked the gameplay. The movement felt responsive and the buff/debuff game mechanics are pretty original and fun to play around with. It was a bit unusual that in order to interact, I had to stand close and click on top of the block I wanted to interact with. Also, the visuals left something to be desired. Regardless, neat game, there's some potential here!
Hi LordOfLemon!
Thank you so much for playing and for your feedback! Someone else mentioned that activating the blocks was unintuitive as well. I think in the final cut I will want the player to be able to use a gamepad, so I will definitely need to do something about that mechanic. I appreciate your comments!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
The concept is great. I like the buff and debuff can be connected as we want. I like that you can still jump when on the wall. However, I think that the control is a little bit confusing as you need to move your mouse over to the block even if you are already near it. It's my personal preference tho, but you should consider add option to change the jump to [W]. Anyway, good luck on future update. Good job!
Hi oathmilks!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback! In future iterations I will definitely let the player rebind controls. The command pattern is something I need practice with!
I do want to point out that W serves a function currently - you can do an upward attack by holding W and clicking. It makes placement of your wire-cutting strikes a little easier. If that mechanic didn't exist, I totally would have just bound the jump to both buttons!
Thanks for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Curious system with (de)buffs. You could change cursor and add animation when you hover it on blocks to make it more obvious. Or just pick a closest block to player and make connection without hovering a mouse to save some time. Pretty clever mechanics!
Hi SurWeaver!
Those are both excellent suggestions! I can't wait to put this game into further production. I think I will definitely choose between those two ideas and put one in. Extremely helpful feedback! Thanks for playing friend!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
I liked the game. I didnt understand the blocks system. But really cool.
Hi Alxito!
I'm sorry it wasn't more obvious! I'm glad you played and found it interesting!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Very interesting concept! The fact that swinging your sword locks you into place made it quite tough, and I'd liked if the sorcerer creates his connections himself, just like the player. Quite fun still :)
Hi Ennea!
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah with the time constraint and my noob AI skills, I figured it would be more achievable to have the Sorcerer sort of randomly connect blocks from afar. It's actually the reason I made him a magic user - to hide the AI's shortcomings through artistic choice!
I think in the future I will make AI smart enough to physically connect and disconnect blocks, I agree it would be a massive improvement. Thanks for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
This is a really polished game! The sprite work and mechanics are amazing! I would definitely love to see this developed into a full game post-jam. Nice work!
Hi UA!
I fully intend to bring this game to post-jam full game. Feel free to follow us here on Itch for updates on that! I'm really glad you played and enjoyed the game!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Wow, this was interesting! But some times felt too easy. It felt that you don't even need the blocks you can just spam and kill the sorcerer. What I would suggest to do is remove the sword from the player, randomize the block spots, and also make a block where when you connect to your block it deals the damage to the enemy and then teleports to different place. Other than that was really interesting and quite fun!
Hi Adonas!
Thanks for the feedback. I will be moving forward with this game and trying to make it into a full one. Your feedback will be invaluable to that process, so thanks for the comments. I do like the idea of randomizing the block spots! However in this demo I wanted to create a feeling of running back and forth to get buffs, so I didn't want to randomize the level design. It's a good suggestion though!
I have gotten a lot of feedback on the balance of the game, and moving forward I will definitely crank up the difficulty and make the blocks more essential to victory.
Thank you so much for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Cool game. The buff/debuff mechanic with connecting blocks is really fun and works really well with the game style. I just feel like the character's jump is a slightly floaty but besides that it is a really cool game.
Hi Junior!
Thanks for the feedback. I definitely want to make this into a full game, so the floaty jump feedback is well received. I will consider changing it around as the game develops! Thanks for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
I like the idea! As randomerz said this would probably be pretty nice as a coop or multiplayer game. I can see a 2v2 working really well for this. The visuals and audio were also pretty slick! I like the proper menu and loading system as well as the tips parts too. Sorcerer AI was competent enough to keep the game engaging.
As for what I would change, Id say not a whole lot. The movement is a little sticky and janky, and it took a little time to get the hang of controls, but once both were done with it was smooth sailing. You were also kinda able to cheese the game by just running up to the sorcerer and spamming attack :p.
Honestly, I can see this going somewhere. With some more work and balance put into it I reckon you got something promising. Best of luck with the jam and I wish you well!
Also managed a no hit, fire damage only run!
Hi Darylsteak!
Impressive! I am glad you found the game interesting/fun enough to try a challenge run! I am really excited to expand this game now that I have gotten so much encouragement from the community. I will let our sound engineer know you appreciate his work! And thanks for the comments on the loading menu and AI. I spent lots of time on making reasonable AI!
Another huge piece of feedback I am getting is the balance of the blocks. In this iteration, clearly, its too easy to avoid using them at all! I would definitely make them more balanced in future iterations. Also character controllers can always use improvement from us tiny indie devs!
I am glad you think this game has potential. I fully intend on expanding it into a full game in the future. If that is something that interests you, feel free to follow us here on Itch. It will take me some time to get a team together but I am confident! Thanks so much for playing and good luck in the rest of the game jam!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
I really liked how the game looked and played out! I think the game would work super well as a multiplayer or local coop type game. There could be so many different strategies between the two aspects. I think it might be interesting to have almost a fencing system or some sort of quicker, best of 3 format!
Hi randomerz!
Thanks so much for playing! That is the second time someone has mentioned couch coop and my mind is racing. I have so many ideas for this game now thanks to the wonderful feedback from the community. I am glad you enjoyed it, thank you so much for playing!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
Connecting blocks to activate different buffs and debuffs is a lot of fun! I liked the platforming systems you had in place, like wall-jumping. I think it would be cool if the buffs/debuffs were a little more essential, I was able to beat the sorcerer without using any. Maybe that's just a challenge mode ;).
If you made a 4-player couch coop fighting game out of this I would pay 20 bucks for it, no question. Nice work!
Hi Jacksonthel!
Wow! Such high praise! Thank you so much! I think I have decided I want to expand this game out quite a bit. Just need to find some time in my schedule. Your kind words are very appreciated! I love the idea of a couch coop game. It could be a lot of fun! Ah, the possibilities! Thanks again. Good luck in the rest of the jam!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream
I like the game a lot, fighting is very satisfying, and who doesnt like a good boss fight?
Hi quaZmoto!
Glad you enjoyed it! After I got the AI to work decently, I thought of a few new moves to give to the Sorcerer. All of a sudden, it felt to me like a boss battle. I am glad that feeling translated to you! Thanks and good luck in the rest of the jam!
Best,
Brandon from TheIndieDream