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Lichborne's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #600 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Cleverness | #755 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Playability | #804 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Artistic Style | #893 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
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.
- To speak on the themes first, I felt like shadows were presented as part of the controls, where you have to switch between realms at times, though I wanted to see more of how this would affect the player. As for alchemy, when it came to taking on enemies, using them as a way to power yourself felt like transformation in a way, so this stood out to me a bit. Speaking on the playability, or more so the controls; while there were directions that made it easier to follow, I did feel that the number of controls the player had at their disposal was almost too many to keep track of. My mind went to thinking WASD and space (space twice to replace shift maybe?) for movement, e/h/i inventory/health/other or extra and r for realm (because cool concept). This is not to say or tell you what to do, this was just my brain as I played. And during my time playing, to speak on the artistic approach last, I found how you created the environment and world, the enemies and the player character to be very well done. I was almost thrown off by the big boss too (very detailed and sick animation). I do wish there were sound effects and/or music to accompany all of this, but I'll make sure to check this out again in the future. Keep up the good work!
- I think the game has a good direction but could do with more polish and consistency over content. The mechanics shown were interesting and the character sprites and especially loading concept art look amazing. I like that there's an in game tutorial. It'd be great to get some music to go with the game and more detailed background art to define the environment. Overall it was fun to play - well done!
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!
Roguelike 2d platformer
You play as an incomplete lich who is looking to get the 3 ingredients required to make the potion to become a complete lich. You want revenge, and have mastered alchemy, by harnessing your own, or enemies life force.
You can cast various spells which will drain your life force, and melee attack to siphon enemies life force.
Shadows mechanic: Realm shift. You shift between the shadow realm and the regular world in order to find secrets and continue on with the game
Alchemy: You craft various spells with the possible combinations to make them stronger, but also require more life force
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Comments
:D
Very nice environment design
:(
The visual clarity of game play elements is lacking, it was hard to tell which plants were hazards and which weren't. Same thing with boss, I had no idea what was damaging me.
Great pixel art! Some audio would go a long way. I don't know if I'm just bad, but I prefer to only use the melee attack since the spells just drain all my health
Also it would be nice if you could control the menus with the keyboard or the attacks with the mouse, it's a little annoying having to change your hand position so much.
With that said, love how the platforming feels, the art and the concept, hope you keep working on it!
Game feels a bit small on itch.io
Cool and beautiful game! The pixel art is gorgeous! Loved it, wish I could do something even close to that. The combat is a bit lacky but I guess that's intentional given then spell was the main focus. Feels like there is much potential to be made into a full game too! I also found the secret stash with all those sub-spells, which gives me a bit of a surprise.
The only issue I had was that sometimes the game lags a bit, and I felt a bit anxious when that happens, be it during platform and combat.
Overall nicely done!
I LOVE THIS!
The vibe of this game is super dope. The art is really nice, platforming feels accurate and punishing, just the way I like it.
My biggest complaint would probably be remedied in a non-demo version, but more checkpoints, or at least auto-equipping the spells and such so that the player doesn't have to return to the inventory each time they die in a game that's difficult. I found I was re-equipping fireball pretty often. Maybe I need to get gud though.
Definitely a cool vibe, the pixel art and animations are great. The poison enemies were a bit difficult to spot but I could jump over them no problem when I knew they were there. Controls wise, It's a bit awkward to have both hands on the keyboard, but have to take one hand off to use the mouse for the inventory, I think it could be better if the inventory controls were mapped to keyboard instead personally. Has lots of potential though, would be great to see it when its a bit more polished!
Well made, gorgeous art and good mechanics overall, well thought out! I had some trouble equipping spells, I think I accidentally deleted the first two spells and it was very easy to die in the beginning. I really like the realms mechanics and the enemies.
Well done! You should be proud, looking forward to when you add sound effects and music!
Glad you liked it!
Yeah, in hindsight the trash bin slot doesn't really look like a trash bin slot.
Wanted to make an animated tutorial to show some things, but ran out of time and honestly, don't know where I would've started with that
Looks amazing. Switching realms was a neat surprise too.
Is boss encounter supposed to be different based on realm, btw?
Initially the boss was supposed to have light and dark attacks, which you had to dodge in the respective realm, unfortunately due to time constraints and other things, it was scrapped
The pixel art is rather well done, and the realm shift for the shadow theme is nice for puzzle interactions.
The movement is a bit clunky in combination with the animations, like attacking and moving at the same time.
I'd also say that life force and health are very close together in regards to concept and color on the screen. Maybe if they were different colors they'd be easier to distinguish.
Oh also, what shrub/bush/mushroom is an "enemy" and what isnt is not very clear.
It is playable which is good, and the style is there, so keep at it and it could become something really cool :D
Wow fun game. Really liked the pixel art!!
Visually an absolute feast. I was so excited to get into an action platformer that looked this good but the punishing nature and some interesting choices kinda dampened my spirits I gotta say.
The jumping feels good. The sprinting and jumping doesn't. That combined with a pretty insane keyboard layout make progression in this fairly gruelling. I'm not sure why we need to get sent back to the start on any fall, learn from something like Celeste while taking some health to give punishment.
Obviously this is a game jam game and to get this visual style and a good basis for your platforming controls is a heck of an achievement in two weeks. This has so much potential to be a really cool released game with a better control scheme, fairer level design and the addition of sound.
Loved the vibe, super props to your artist and you all should keep working on this, I'm looking forward to what it could be.
Okay as a pixel artist I have to say... this game is absolutely gorgeous. I could learn a thing or 20 from this artist.
It felt like if Blasphemous and Hollow Knight had a baby it would be Lichborn. The game is obviously very unfinished and has no music and is missing a ton of animations and assets but damn I can basically picture the finished game in my mind and it...is...beautiful.
I hope this game progresses and develops more because it is 100% my vibes and I would love to see more from it.
Good stuff! really like the animation and concept :D
I think the platforming and overall punishing vibe could use some tweaks, and maybe some UI quality of life. There’s definitely something here with the realm swapping!
-Alex