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Shadow Boxer's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artistic Style | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Cleverness | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Theme | #653 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Playability | #804 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 1 rating. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Had a few hiccups getting it to run in browser but resolved them. Hit boxes were pretty unclear and movement was not responsive. Jumping didn't do anything like what you'd expect, for me at least. Possibly a bug? I'm unsure. Beyond that, the theme was clever. Using shadow puppets as fighters really is clever. I would love for the 'filters' to have a visual effect in some ways. Without that it just feels like a bit of a tacked on way to check that box. Great, clear art style. Just like how you did with the puppets swapping out, maybe the filters could be another selection. Then the combination of fighter/filter produces unique combos. Much more intense than you'd do in a GameJam, for sure, but maybe for the future.
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!
Shadow Boxer is a melee combat game inspired by titles like Street Fighter and the formative experience of hanging out in your friends’ basements as an early-aughts preteen.
Word has spread among the neighborhood kids that if you can sneak out after dark and find your way to the basement of the house at the end of the cul-de-sac, you will gain entrance to a one-of-a-kind show. Our three performers – Maxwell, Glen, and Ellory – set up their flashlights, tape on light filters, and hang the curtains. Knuckles are cracked, fingers are stretched, and wrists are cocked. It’s time for the ultimate shadow puppet throwdown.
Pick your character, pick your power-ups, and brawl!
Extra Notes
Don't mix it up, ya. We're fighting in the shadows.
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Comments
Very innovative concept, loved it! Looks really good, SFX and music top-notch! Right away the start menu was oozing with polish setting the bar high. Excellent work!
And nice to see a fellow Shadow Boxer :D
Dude your game is unhinged I love it. will have to go back and play more properly and leave ya a review! we briefly saw it and played around before we submitted. Thanks for playing our same name game and giving thoughts! :D
-Alex
Amazing Idea, and Brilliant Execution.
Music was a 10/10.
Made it fun to try out all characters to see how their "shadow puppets" worked!
Found that the swan was the best hahah love that dude.
<3 Swan is my fav too (Kirby main over here hehe). Literally got to fulfill a dream with this project, Swardy makes the best music!
Thank you for playing and sharing your thoughts!!
-Alex
Really cool game idea and great execution. Totally polished art and the music is very catchy. I love the nostalgic vibes and the whole premise. Great job, you guys!
Thank you!! <3
I loved the concept of the shadow puppets fighting in this game! I also liked the visuals of your game and the sounds that you made!
Some feedback I would give is that sometimes attacking doesn’t feel like it registers an attack because maybe the range is short. Maybe it is because the opponent blocks and if so, I think it would make the game better to give the player more feedback when they do so it doesn’t feel unfair (even when it is fair after all).
In any case, very good job on the game.
Having more feedback around hits, blocks, etc is definitely something we’d like to add. Thanks for playing and for your suggestions!
-Erica
I'm so impressed with the interpretation of the themes for this game.
Shadow boxing of course the common term for fighting your own shadow/sparring with it to practice boxing but flipped in a way that it's a genuine fighting game with shadow puppets that the characters transform between with their hands? 10/10 concept right there.
The SFX of the people doing all the noises was really funny and I imagined it was the characters who were doing the shadow puppets making them.
I also noticed a really subtle change in music depending on which character you chose, very cool little thing there.
The fighting itself was fine, kinda basic but it was still fun to jump around as shadow creatures in such a fun and light hearted way.
Thanks for taking the time to play and for the kind words. We were particularly excited about the audio so are all happy to hear that you noticed things like the music change on character select.
And there are definitely aspects of the combat that we’d like to improve. Hopefully soon in future versions!
-Erica
Everything is so great! I really had fun! It's so cute to play like a kid again and I loved the music <3
Thank you! Glad you had fun, that’s the most important part.
The concept of this game is so unique, a shadow puppet fighting game. I don't think I've seen anything like it before, and the idea of each character being able to swap between puppets is also really cool. I think a full game would really benefit from some music, and perhaps some more variation in the shadow's attacks!
Thank you for the kind thoughts and playing!!
Oh no! did you not get music?? it’s one of the best parts, Swardy designed it and there are 3 unique songs (1 with 3 variations for each character). Would you mind sharing which browser?
Oh I see that's strange, I'm using Opera GX, I'll try play the game again and I'll see if I have the same result.
I got the music this time, must have been a one-off issue :)
Love OperaGX, I used it all through dev on this game! Hope you enjoyed the music, Swardy crushed it.
The art is amazing. I really like the shadow interpretation. Really creative. I would like to see this polished a little bit more, perhaps combos and opponent performance.
Pros:
Unique and coherent art style, Fun thematic interpretation, Nice twist on traditional 2D fighters, sound work
Cons:
Some attacks are spam-able (perhaps a telegraph frame or two would work), block is unbreakable
Amazing thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! We agree and are excited to keep going on this one :D
-Alex
Very impressive art! Would love to see the gameplay more polished
Us too! Excited to keep working on it on the other side! Thanks for playing and sharing your thoughts <3
-Alex
Holy crap so good, creative theme as well. Only strange thing was the element thing. Otherwise game actually played really well and the art was also insanely good!
Yeah we agree, the elements aspect never felt the strongest, definitely something that needs a rework. Thanks for playing!! Appreciate the kind words :)
-Alex
I don't think the elements really needs a rework, I understand it was to try fit into the jam theme haha, we had to shoehorn shadow in ours as well. Post jam I'd love to see more of the base shadow boxing thing!
hehe yeah that’s kinda what I mean, maybe it doesn’t fit the game exactly :D We plan to!! Definitely a wonderful idea that wants to be explored more.
-Alex
This is amazing. Hilarious graphics and sound. Never seen anything like it. Great job!
Tried running in Chrome browser and it worked!
So, game presentation is really good. I especially like the sound effects.
Gameplay is on the simpler side. I’m not sure elemental effects contribute much, because you spend too much time recovering from being hit that it turns into a game of who can hit first. Especially since you can just hold block for the whole match arter getting some health advantage.
<3 thanks for playing!
Yeah the elements were pulled back quite a bit, it never felt like the strongest mechanic. We have plans to rework in the future. Definitely on the simple side of where we hope to be, our goal is to encourage the use of each shadow puppet to come up with combos. When played intentionally that way its quite a bit more complex! But balancing is the real key here to require and encourage that without being too punishing.
Thanks for your thoughts!!
-Alex
Stuck at this. Am I missing something?
Oh no! I assume the games is the focus or your browser? What browser?
Firefox. Tried with fullscreen and without.
UPD: works in Chrome.
Strange, we tried our best to test in various browsers and systems, curious what the issue was. Glad it worked for you, hope you have fun!
Turns out I attempted to improve something for chrome (Fullscreen pause menu) which didn’t even work in chrome and broke firefox entirely cause the one line of code errors out…. Maybe I don’t keep pushing late into the night?? lol…
-Alex