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Alchemist: Inner Shadows's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artistic Style | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Cleverness | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Theme | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| 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.
- Really fun game, with great art and music creating great atmosphere, really like the story! The only thing I would felt wrong, was balancing between fights, it really felt really difficult form the very beginning with no forgiveness. Other then that great submission!
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!
An action game about the equal exchange of your life's energy for another and the choice to do so. You will fight monsters that have been taken over by their inner shadows and can only be seen in the darkness. Remember, just because you can't see them in the light doesn't mean they can't see you.
Controls
Keyboard:
Arrow keys / WASD - Movement
Left Click - Attack
Right Click - Heal
Space - Jump
Various letter keys for minigames
Gamepad:
DPad - Movement
Right shoulder - Attack
Left shoulder - Heal
A Button - Jump
Various face buttons and shoulder buttons for minigames
Extra Notes
Theme Interpretation (Shadows and Alchemy)
'Shadows' - The creatures can only be seen in the shadows, where they look like monsters because their inner shadows have taken them over. They can attack the player in the shadows and in the light.
'Alchemy' - The game uses alchemical symbols/sigils in the minigame to refill the player's healing abilities. There is also an aspect of hidden knowledge and healing used to transform the creatures from the shadows that have consumed them back to their original forms.
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Comments
Great game! The pixel art animations are really spot on! What I found a bit challenging was having to use both a keyboard and a mouse in a platformer game.
Thank you for the feed back! The game can also be played with a controller so we gave options for standard controls with WASD + mouse and gamepad inputs
Incredible game. It was fun to play and made me feel hope, worry, fear and love all at once. I found it's interwoven philosophy to speak deeply to me in a subtle yet impactful way. The gameplay was unique, and the design and music were hauntingly beautiful. The scene is set. Can you help the alchemist through the inner shadows and bring healing to the hurting, without meeting your demise? There's only one way to find out.
Super fun, thank you for making this game. Feel proud of what you've created with this game. It's awesome.
Thank you! I am very proud of this project, it was a lot of fun making it and I'm happy you found so much enjoyment playing it.
Wow. I'm stunned. This game is hauntingly beautiful and hits me right in the feels. I felt a profound sense of melancholy and hope while playing it, which I think is what makes it beautiful. Love the theme and level design, character, animations, and simple controls. The fact you did this in such a short span of time too...you should be SO PROUD.
I am proud of this especially with it being my first game jam (I have been designing games for years just never for a game jam and in such a short amount of time). This was definitely an ambitious project for me to fit in the time frame so I am very proud I got everything done that I planned.
Beautiful game which definitely fits the theme very well!
Small point of improvement: I found the character to feel a bit irresponsive-feeling due to the long cooldown after attacking. I get that this was likely deliberate, but I think it would feel better & accomplish the same thing to then add some charge time, rather than freezing the character after the attack is executed (it doesn't feel great when the animation is basically over, but the character is not responding to your movement input yet).
Some extra player feedback could also always be nice, it was sometimes hard to tell whether I successfully restored a creature or whether I missed / it disappeared (since the restored creature blends with the environment) . Great job though, you should feel proud of what you've made!
Thank you for your feedback. I did have someone else comment on that "freezing" after attacking and healing and it was intentional but I can absolutely reduce that in a future release. I did want to add some extra effects or sounds for the transformation but I just ran out of time.