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Sword Man's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #39 | 3.294 | 3.294 |
| Gameplay | #51 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #54 | 3.074 | 3.074 |
| Graphics | #58 | 2.882 | 2.882 |
| NES Feel | #59 | 3.118 | 3.118 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Bangin' tunes and slashin' swords. Truly a game that rewards patience, careful planning and spacing of attacks. Once I got the hang of swordplay the game was a pleasant stroll through the dungeon. Level 4 when?
Sword Man is challenging game where sometimes you get hurt from attacking. This game is challenging and I died a lot of times getting to the final LVL. Most of the Deaths felt fair but some didnt. I would have liked to see some more variety's in the level, like introducing a new mechanic or expanding on an old one. But overall a solid game.
I like that the attacks are more effective on some enemies than others, took me a minute but I managed to get through level 2!
I opened the game and said that this game is ugly, and in the end I killed the dragon and thought the game was too good, the mechanics of the bosses I liked a lot, the problem is that some attacks make you take damage along with it because it walks when attacking.
Thanks for sticking around to the end! the art doesn't make a great first impression in some cases. I've received the attack animations and movement feedback a few times, i think the dash starts too soon and often too long, so even succesful attacks result in too much follow through, something to work on next time!
Yeah, I beat the game on hard, it was intense!
The game looks clunky at very first and the non-boss enemies are basically the same between levels but in the end I had a lot of fun playing. In fact it controls pretty well and I enjoyed using the two attacks depending on the enemies ahead, you really need to make full use of both here, like using the slash at the right moment when a flying enemy comes while you're stabbing from behind a boss who's moving as that's the easiest moment to damage it. Doing that while also dodging the traps is fun and the boss fights are actually different and all very cool. The soundtrack is catchy and despite the character looking beyond weird many enemies like the bats, dragons and Ice Cream boss actually look quite nice, the dragon flames too.
Great to hear, thanks for playing and providing feedback. Art is a weak point, i struggled the most with player animations (there are a few frames where his body is backwards, elbow is bent up and the head is facing camera lol). Glad you enjoyed the sound I enjoyed putting them together.
Video playthrough on hard for anyone interested :)
I gave hard mode a try and BOY WAS IT HARD!! It's clear you wanted to push players to their limits.
However, the difficulty curve felt a bit harsh, especially with the first skeleton boss and the frequent slime droplets and bats. It might help to allow players to cancel or change direction during a charge, as lunging into a bat without the ability to adjust felt pretty frustrating. I think if I could have canceled a few lunges or at least changed direction, I might be able to beat it.
Despite the tough gameplay, I did find some fun moments, especially once I figured out some strategies like lunging behind the boss while he went across the screen.
Here were my attempts at the first level, that's as far as I got :
Thanks very much for playing and posting your playthrough it's very good to see the pain points for my own knowledge! The boss health is quite high on hard perhaps that could be scaled down a little bit as it is already challenging to survive. I've just made a video playthrough of the full game on hard
Yooo that's so cool seeing a sword master at work. Nice playing! Seeing the parry in action is pretty cool it seemed to really be needed for the dragon fight
Hey, thanks for the easy mode. I must say, I miss the giant boss of the first alpha. And the levels feel like a re-skin of the first one.
However, I found usefull the different attacks for different situations and that made the combat feel more dynamic. And I liked seeing those numbers show up, try boosting em a little bit, they are pleasant to see when you do something good.
Cool entry! Keep improving , and have fun.
Thanks for playing! I did reduce the size of the first boss (i was supposed to replace it but didnt have time lol) and the levels absolutely are re-skins. Making the attacks and associated effects/text more satisfying will be the priority for the next game!
Sword Man is a very cool game concept and has some lovely art and level design. I like the idea of attacking with the sword to kill various enemies, for example, the skeletons, the ice cream, the dragons, and even the boss fights towards the end of the 3 levels. I love the implementation of the player not being able to play the later levels until they complete the corresponding level that unlocks the next level. I found a couple problems with the game, though. Firstly, the attacking animations as well as the getting hit character animations feel very clunky. Secondly, I can jump through the platform instead of on the platform. And finally, I can't do a lunge attack for some reason.
the concept is cool, but the characters have clunky animations and once the sword-man is committed to an attack, he can't stop. I couldn't get past the first level in spite of dying dozens of times. The difficulty could do well to start out low, and then ramp it's way up as the game progresses. The biggest criticism I have is that the screen is filled with very fast projectiles from the start and the sword-man gets hit faster than he can react if he's close to the ceiling. The game could easily be a 5/5 with enough hard work. But as is I'm giving it a 2/5 while it's definitely playable. It starts out too difficult and the sword-man feels clunky.
Thanks for the feedback, you might consider the "easy" mode accessible from the main screen which would reduce the frequency of projectiles and make the enemies easier to kill, hard is intended to be hard.
The attacks are definitely clunky and something to work on, cancelling the attack during the motion is also something that should be implemented.