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The Soulstealer's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- The game plays well in the browser and the GDD is well written and a great base for the games development. The theme interpretation is well implemented and the combat feels interesting and compelling. The idea of possessing different enemies to get different abilities is smart and has a lot of potential. The concept is simple to understand. After dying a few times to the basic skeletons try to add some stronger enemies as well which the player can possess as well to get further into the game. the collision system with the enemies works well, an animation for the enemies when they attack would be a great addition. The asset usage and the music is well chosen and fits to the theme of the game.
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MmQ7lANgJpZo6CaNuUy6XOiPUWEGYvfgSC5sKkZWYMA/edit?usp=sharing
Have you checked that your GDD is publicly accessible ?
Yes, people on discord confirmed
Is your game set to public on itch.io so we can see it?
Yes
Summarise your game!
AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, A SENTIENT WEAPON KNOWN AS THE SOULSTEALER WAS RELEASED FROM THE STONE BY AN UNSUSPECTING SKELETON. NOW IT'S TIME TO UNLEASH THE CARNAGE.
COLLECT SOULS TO GAIN PERMANENT WEAPON UPGRADES.
CHANGE YOUR WIELDER ON EVENT OF THEIR UNTIMELY DEMISE AND TRY OUT THEIR UNIQUE SKILLS.
WILL THIS ALLERGIC TO FLOWERS SWORD GAIN ENOUGH POWER TO DESTROY ANOTHER CURSED WEAPON - SO POWERFUL THAT IT OPERATES WITHOUT A LIVING HOST, OR WILL IT PERISH FOREVER
A survivor-like game in isometric view, where the death of your wielder isn't the end, it's just the beginning.
When your wielder dies you get picked up by a random enemy in area (priority given to enemies within 500 units / 5m)
Each wielder (except the base skeleton) comes with an unique ability that should help you in one way or another.
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
You are literally a weapon.
Compelling creatures around you to wield you (like from that one trilogy I like).
You take control of them and use them to gain souls - that give you permanent upgrades.
If your wielder dies, you get picked up by someone else to do more carnage.
(because you are a weapon and not some mere mortal, and the only thing that can destroy you is another cursed weapon)
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
Don't be affraid to die a lot so you can experience different wielder abilities.
While it may increase the game time, it will never reduce your strength.
Expected run time is around 25-35 minutes.
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Comments
I was drawn to this by the art I saw in the screenshots. It looks absolutely beautiful! I love the old school diablo 2 look. I'm interested in how you created the sprites. Are they pure pixel art or like 3d models scaled down and scanned into 2d art?
The gameplay feels really good! At first I thought maybe the character hurtbox needed to be scaled down slightly so you can maneuver through little gaps among the enemies, since that's a classic mechanic of the genre, but then I realized you're meant to die often, so I think it's totally fine.
I think the game probably needs a lose condition to increase the stakes. Maybe you should have some number of lives before you die? (Although that might not make since since you're the sword, not the dudes) Or maybe as you kill enemies you power up the sword's necromancy powers. If you die while you don't have enough charge, you can't control a new enemy and you lose. So dying once is fine, but dying twice in quick succession would be a loss. I dunno, something like that maybe.
Awesome work! This one was super cool. Well done and grats on completing the jam!
Thanks for playing! Glad you liked it!
Those aren’t sprites, those are 3D models.
The scene gets pixelated using a render target and animations are stylized using an engine modification I added where they only update every 4 frames (and with the game locked at 48 it looks like 12fps pixel art animation)
There is a lose condition! Once final boss spawns any death is permanent death.
Shouldn’t happen often since player can get as strong as they wish but I did see it happen xD
The base Idea is just like in our game but the game is soo different. Really cool to see and a good game! I really like the weapon pickup animation part!
Cool game! I went straight in and didn't read about any guide - so I was wondering why I kept respawning without losing any of my upgrades - then I realized... You are the weapon 😂 and after playing for a bit, I started to get different units picking me up - and also got an upgrade where you no longer get picked up by the basic skeletons. I wish the upgrades could have been given to me faster - I tried grinding for a bit but even then, the experience rate was slowing down a lot. But, I thought the animations and all the neat little abilities you added were great. A great twist on the genre though, I liked that about this game. Well done!!
Thanks for playing! I am glad you enjoyed it!
There are 2 systems in place that help with the EXP grind.
Summoners - if you don’t kill them they just keep spawning you more and more mobs to get experience from
Exp Value changes - skeletons give 1exp, goblins 5, humans / dwarf give 10
I adjusted the exp “function” for the average play time of ~25-30 minutes (if one doesn’t die on purpose), so this game does indeed take longer then most
When it comes to the “premium selection” upgrade there is a cheeky little thing. If you die on purpose while only basic skeletons are present - you get a goblin for free!!!
Additional hidden mechanic is that everyone gets a “charge” of premium selection after the first armoured skeleton is spawned to get “the feel of mechanics”
Really nice implementation! I'd suggest speeding up the upgrades, in a game jam there's not many people that will stick with it for long. Gotta show people what you got quickly. I'd probably start with 1-shotting the enemies and then make them have more health overtime. You did a great job overall though Congrats!
Thanks for playing!
True, if I wanted to make a game that would get “the best reaction from judges” that might be the case. But I rather focus on showing how the finished game would look, as close as possible, and not make a “speed up version” just to score more points.
Could that cost me a potential top 10? Maybe? Other games are plenty good so I am not sure I would get there even with the speed up upgrades xD
It's not really just for the judges. Look at Vampire Survivors, you 1-shot the first bats. or Halls of Torment, you 2-shot the first skeletons. There's a good reason they do it. Your game takes 5-shots for the first enemy.
There are many reasons why I don’t do it like Vampire Survivors.
I don’t spawn as many enemies as vampire survivors, so I have to make them “stick” for a bit longer.
When the wilder dies you possess character of a nearby enemy, if they were too squishy player would just constantly die.
Due to the nature of the “loop” if I made the enemies “die on one hit” from the start, when the loop rests player wouldn’t get any sense of progression compared to the previous one + they would likely get bored
I played for about an hour, and killed the earth hammer guy several times. I like all the unique sword abilities, and I find it interesting how there is no actual death mechanic, but as a negative side to that, you can just sit in one place and afk until you level up. I wonder if a lose condition could be a timer
Thanks for playing! Earth guy ISN’T the final boss, and only the final boss can “kill” you :p
I see no problem with player doing nothing and afk-farming, if that’s how they want to beat the game, why not, all that matters is they have fun
I love that this game is both addicting & chill. I don't have much experience with survival style games but usually they tend to punish on death which is logical. Its awesome that in your game once you die you still can continue the game and how you implemented it (both visual & idea wise) is great. The art is another thing to talk about - it has unique style fits with everything so well. I think you did a really awesome job on the art & design part. Special kudos for making nice progress bar at the top that is both visible and no intrusive, love it. Its usually one of my complaints for games that some elements take too much attention but in your case you managed to keep it clean & simple which is perfect. Another complaint that I usually have in similar games is how the upgrades appear. Sometimes they just immediately pop up, you accidentally click something and then continue. You handled this case perfectly - You have a quick yet smooth transition and you are not allowing player to make a mistake. Instead, you require explicit input (1, 2, 3).
Overall I think you did a really great job on the game and even in this stage it can be enjoyed more than some of the "full release games". I can give much praise for different elements but hope you get the main point :)
P.S. There was one minor bug - Enemy spawned inside the crystal but it was able to get out of it.
Hi! Thanks for playing, I am glad you enjoyed it.
I knew of this bug but decided to ignore it for the time being as it wouldn't affect the main boss due to the teleport mechanic he has xD
For 14 days of gamedev this game is nearly perfect, good job!!! <3
Thanks a lot for the kind words! I did the best I could and I am really glad you enjoyed the final product (or at least a prototype of it xD)
Between the unique upgrades, multitude of enemies with not just enemy movesets, but unique abilities for the player, there is a crazy amount of content here. And it’s really polished on top of that! The artstyle is really neat (reminds me a lot of Runescape), and the upgrade descriptions were pretty fun to read.
The lack of any real fail-state and a defined end point does hurt the replay value, but I think the fact that the worst thing I can say about the game is that it ends, says a lot.
Thanks a lot for the kind words! Very happy you liked it ^^
What if I told you there is a fail state, you just didn’t get to it?
After ~9 minutes from the last death a final boss spawns.
If you kill him, you win, if you don’t - game over.
Can’t possess another cursed weapon after all :p
I reallyyyyyyyy like the general vibes/aesthetics/theme of this game! I think my favourite of the jam so far. I also really enjoyed testing all the different abilities and trying to use them to kill specific enemies (especially these annoying summoners). My biggest pain point was lack of a clear goal, from the comments it seems like after X amount of waves you win the game? This wasn't obvious to me, and I would like some sort of visible indicators that I am making progress. Also, I think the game would be just this tiny bit better if there were more gems (worth less). But overall I really liked it, good job!
I am really glad you enjoyed the game! Thanks a lot for the kind words ^^
When it comes to more EXP gems the answer is simple, don’t kill the pesky summoners, they are a great source of EXP gems :p
There is a final Boss that spawns after ~9 minutes since last death (the timer gets shorter if you kill every enemy before the next wave would naturally spawn) If you beat him, you win, if you don’t - game over.
Was thinking about the progress indicators. Initially decided against them cause I thought players might get frustrated seeing them reset with the wielder’s death, which is something I wanted to avoid at all cost. But seems like giving more explanation to the player beforehand would be a good idea
Awesome survivor like twist. I didn't read anything and didn't realize when I died I would just get reincarnated. I like the vibes of the game. Was always getting killed when the summoner guy would show up. Nice job!
Thanks for playing! Glad you liked it!
For better dealing with summoners I recommend “Zephyr’s Cut”. It’s designed to go approximately around the area where they move and with correct movement you can kill them in around 12s with lvl 1 upgrade
Mjornir Jr. is great to quickly get rid of foes summoned by the skeleton mage so if you get it you can just treat the summoner like source of EXP
Movement speed is also great since it allows you to dodge the summoned minions and go straight for the summoner.
If you get possessed by the armored skeleton and don’t have enough upgrades to deal with the summoner I would just ignore them. Knockback and bigger range should keep you save from the summons for a while
If you manage to get through that, there are 2 mobs with abilities that are great for dealing with summoners quickly.
Cool vampire survivors-like game. The art direction is very unique and impressive for a 2 week jam. Good work!
Thanks! A lot of things can be faked with couple lines changed in engine code and some shader magic :D
This concept in a survivor like is very interesting, its looks like it has a lot of potentiel and i would love to see it expanded. the music was good and the old school art was really nice.
Great work!
Thanks a ton for the kind words! Have seen a lot of people really enjoy the game so I may consider making it into something more.
Can take no credit for the music thou. That one is just from free itch assets (link in game description) xD