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As Above, So Below's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artistic Style | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Cleverness | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Theme | #233 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Playability | #258 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
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.
- The game is very smooth with great guidance and interesting story! Take on the theme definitely sands out for other games. Just few tips there could be just some introduction in to fighting with easier enemies before the boss fight or there could be some balancing on the boss mechanics. Overall great game. I am looking forward to more content.
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!
As Above, So Below is atop-down, 2D exploration, adventure game set in a dreamworld of the unconscious mind. With heavy emphasis on story and introspection you will play as Carly Young as she enters a world rich in alchemical symbolism and philosophy.
Extra Notes
Although the game play will be easy for casual players to grasp, the more complex themes, ideas, and alchemical symbolism won’t be fully appreciated to anyone unfamiliar with the craft. Still, the game should still be enjoyable and easy to complete for all players.
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Comments
A very interesting and introspective little adventure.
The art kinda threw me off a few times. I didn't really understand why some of the characters were in colour and there rest were black and white. Same with the objects and environment. Everything felt a little mashed together and off style? If that makes sense. Like a bunch of different artists mashing together their stuff. Especially the heart sprite.
To be clear the art looked good overall and as a pixel artist I can appreciate the work that goes into it. It just felt a little off.
The narrative was interesting although very short it got to the point really quickly. I was reminded quite heavily by some scenes in Celeste and other titles that feature introspective characters with physical embodiment of their darker selves (shadows).
The audio was fine but some different music or SFX would have been nice, especially during the closing fight.
I liked the shadow mirroring my movement that was a really nice touch, however I could just spam attacks to wipe out their attacks without taking any damage so it was pretty easy to beat.
Overall it was an interesting experience It would be interesting to see how the concept would evolve given more development time.
Thank you for your review! The characters/items/environments that were colored correlate to symbolism in alchemical practices. The end boss fight being in full color was meant to visually represent the player entering a higher plane or dimension than the world they were in to confront their "shadow self."
As far as why certain animals were colored a certain way: unicorns in alchemy are associated with Mercury, Silver, the Moon, and the feminine. The stag is associated with Sulfur, Gold, the sun, and the masculine. In alchemical philosophy, there is a practice of "the marriage of the unicorn and the stag"/ the merger of opposites to reach either enlightened meant or becoming a balanced "whole" person.
I will agree though, that with the limited time, we weren't able to implement a stronger story narrative and dialog to convey these aspects to the player.
Although this was a love letter, filled with little nods to people that are familiar with alchemy, I knew going into it that it would be confusing for players that weren't. That said, I'll look over the script again, and see if there's a way to restructure it to be more understandable to players unfamiliar with alchemy and Carl Jung's philosophy.
Again, thank you for your feed back. It will help make our game that much better.
Really cool! I love the graphics and atmosphere :)
Fun and immersive! I enjoyed exploring the world and the story. Nicely done :)
I loved your story; you set it up well explaining how the world works, and had a bit of a nice twist at the end. I love the use of colour throughout, and the art generally was really pretty and well done considering the time constraints. I would like to see a little more from this game, I think it has a lot of potential for something bigger. The sounds were also really fitting as ambiance, although I think actual music would do wonders to make the final scenes even more emotional.
I don’t know if it’s intentional, but some of the enemies swords are much faster than others; I noticed it was more prominent when I was further away from the enemy, so I’m wondering if the vector to get the direction of the player gets normalized? It’s only a small thing because I think the game was really good, but little things like that add a lot of polish to the game. I’d also like more use of breaking pots, seeing as you added them in, although I’m sure if you expand on the game in the future you’ll find a way to add them in.
As I made a game with similar ideas, I like the way you’ve chosen to interpret the theme, and I think you did it really well, so nicely done :)
Hey, I worked on all of the programming for this game. Thank you so much for your comment.
The enemy attack was something I was playing around with. I did try to normalize the enemy attack, however it became a bit unfair, with the player being unable to avoid it.
It is definitely something I would like to come back to and improve, such as an indicator for when the enemy will attack.
I agree, something like that would be good. A little more time and polish and I think this could turn into a really cool short game.
The reversed movement of my shadow while fighting him was super cool! Havent really seen that done like that ever before, it's always in puzzle-situations, but it worked well here. Made the fight pretty unique and interesting!
Well, really nice style, the contrast between the "Normal" and the "Inner" world is amazing. Music is realy on point, and the story is well defined for now.
Looking to see what you do with this ! GG