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Aku's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Most Compelling Narrative | #1 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Best Use of the (optional) Theme | #1 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Most Innovative Narrative | #3 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Most Compelling Character | #3 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Best Use of Ludic Elements (Game Mechanics) To Deliver Story | #3 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #3 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
One small detail I really loved: Ao says the "dogs" of Venkalth are coming, and then when they appear they're a bunch of floating hairy eyeballs. I don't know if there's a term for this, but I really love it in fantasy stories when characters use mundane terms to refer to fantastical things. I find it way more compelling than making up a new name, or using recognisable fantasy monsters. The word "dog" suddenly takes on a strange new meaning, and the image of the eyeball also takes on a strange new meaning, as my mind is trying to connect the two things.
Ayy. I'm glad you like it. It's easier on me as well. Because of the length of the project it's not possible for me to really think of a lot of meaningful names, especially since the plot is a somewhat iterative process of me accessing how much work I could do with the time left. There also wasn't enough time for the player to start getting used to / associate names with a particular meaning. So I kept the list of names minimal (Vekalth for instance was $mountain_god internally).
This is a solid little platformer that does a good job of making its gameplay and story feel related! Having the mysterious elements occur while you're running from place to place doing your errands was a smart move to make said mystery that much more mysterious. I also like how those journeys between events give you time to think about what's going on. It's simple, and there's admittedly still a teeny bit of a disconnect, but it's effective and still works overall! It also helped me feel like I was getting better at playing it as I continued to ponder the mystery at hand. :P
I enjoy the pixel art in this one, as well. You make some pretty good color choices here, and those particle effects paid off, even if they could be a little distracting at times.
I have but one small nitpick: at the initial murder scene, I feel like the effect would have been helped if the blood was actually visible. At the perspective and scale, this might have been a little difficult to pull off, but having some of the ground around the body being colored red - or maybe even some red on the body - would have done wonders for the moment.
As it stands though, you did a bang up job!
Thanks for the detailed response.
I agree with your assessment here. The lack of blood was laziness in my part, but then again I finished the game without time to spare (due to unexpected change of plans). I initially wanted to build a second scene where there are visible blood instead. Telling the player outright that the blood leads to the right was neither natural nor subtle
I can understand that; time is a fickle mistress! I certainly had more ambitious visual ideas for my game that didn't go through due to time - I could have assessed how much time I actually had a little better.
Aaanyways, I'm glad to have been able to give a detailed response here!