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The Shadow and the Alchemist's Gate's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #600 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Cleverness | #678 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Artistic Style | #893 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Playability | #1432 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- Immediately, the music is cool and atmospheric - well done for that! While the artistic style is ambitious,Tell incorporating the shadows theme well, it is rather prohibitive and getting the hang of it is quite tough. It is tricky to know what do going in blind - I understood as soon as I saw "Air" that the task was to collect the "elements" but again, the lighting at the beginning makes getting started a bit of a headache. That being said I really like the idea that you are going for, and I'm sure that with enough time and perseverance I could make a little more headway. Good GDD, I read it after because I try to go in blind, like a regular player would. Maybe that's why getting started was a bit tricky.
- A beautiful, artistic world. Unfortunately, the text was quite difficult to read being on the floor as it is. I was also allowed to jump off the map after reading "Leap of Faith". Apparently I had too much faith :D Regardless, a fun, clever game. Needs a bit more hand-holding at the start to get the player to understand what is going on around him.
Did you include your Game Design Document as a Google Drive link?
yes?
Seriously... did you include your Game Design Document?
yes!
Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
yes
Tell us about your game!
Controls:
- WASD for movement
- Left Clic k to pick things up
- reticule turns to O if something is intractable
- Don't fall down... please the 'down' is very broken
Mechanics:
Everything is a matter of perspective, so keep an eye out!
You will obtain keys that will help you unlock Prima Materia.
Story:
We did a lot of research in the beginning trying to figure out how alchemy and shadows intercept.
We came across Jung's concept of alchemy and psychology and also how alchemists not only sought the philosopher's stone but an internal transformation.
That kind of led us to this abomination where we tried to illustrate what the process of not having knowledge to having knowledge looked like.
Alchemy and shadows and pushing and pulling on those shadows.
Extra Notes
Special thanks to my cat Chi who meowed for food at 5 AM, woke me up and made me get back on my PC after a night of the game not building and all of us giving up. I managed to resolve the issue, get a build, and here we are!
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Comments
What a surreal landscape! I couldn't quite find a way to progress, but you've definitely elicited a vibe here!
The art style here is a trip, really cool feeling. Definitely a mystery while exploring. I'm not sure why but when I found the elements my click command wasn't doing anything, that's too bad because I wanted to see more.