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Forgotten Soulsword's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- The story in the intro of the game was done so well! I enjoyed the comic scene nature of it and how they each slowly revealed. The pacing was very well done. GG! The in game control explanations were done very well! I loved the pop up showing how to make a save point. Brilliant move on that! I really wanted some music or some kind of ambiance as I played. The sound design on the sound effects was really stellar. I hope you do keep working on this game! It is a very good platformer with a unique twist. I got the Jump King vibes for sure and I enjoy that game even though I'm not very good at it. Having the ability to do a checkpoint was a brilliant idea. It felt like my time was being respected and acknowledged as a player. GG and thank you for submitting your game to the game jam!
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yI5vbII2eCnvW7yUHvRd93T394TfHVhkk4iK6G8rAfs/edit?usp=sharing
Have you checked that your GDD is publicly accessible ?
Yes
Is your game set to public on itch.io so we can see it?
Yes
Summarise your game!
Story:
You are a soul bound to a sword, having been discarded after being considered useless, you now make a treacherous journey to prove your worth to your creator at the top as the ultimate weapon.
Mechanics:
You are a sword that embeds into the ground. You can charge and release a jump to travel variable distances.
Bouncing from walls gives you vertical momentum based on how much you charged your initial jump (this is because you are a spinning sword so when hitting a wall, you would propel yourself 90 degrees to the normal of the plane)
Once you have collected the bow, you will be able to activate the bow in midair once per jump, this transforms you into a rotating bow, when you release the key for this ability, you will be launched in the direction the bow faces at that point.
Controls:
Press and hold "UP" to charge your jump
Release "UP" to launch yourself
Release "UP" while holding down "LEFT" or "RIGHT" to launch yourself in those directions
Press and hold both "LEFT" and "RIGHT" keys for 3 seconds to create a checkpoint
Press "DOWN" to teleport to last checkpoint placed
Once you've collected the bow:
Press and hold "UP" while in mid-air to activate the bow
Release "UP" after bow is activated, to launch yourself in the direction you face at that point
Press "UP" again after arrow hits a wall to revert to sword form
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
You play the character of a soulsword, hence you ARE the weapon literally, the mechanics revolve around this idea, changing interactions with the environment accordingly, and even your movement is based on this fact (as you are stuck where you land).
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
If you get frustrated please do use the checkpoint system by holding down "left" and "right" buttons at the same time for 3 seconds and then pressing the "down" button whenever you want to teleport to that checkpoint.
And an extra debug feature of a noclip/flight toggle exists in the game should you want to move around freely at any point (this is done by pressing the "P" button to toggle it, and then pressing arrow keys or wasd to move)
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Comments
Very fun game and great pixel art! It is very challenging to master the physics which is welcome! Thank you for putting the user determined check points because that has saaaaved meee. Great job on the visual language on the levels. I could easily tell what was a place the sword wouldn't land etc etc.
Thank you so much for playing! :] Glad to hear the checkpoints were a welcome addition xD definitely saved this project's playability for the jam*
Appreciate you taking the time to give feedback x]!
VERY clever use of theme. Reminds me of Getting Over It in its own unique way. Love the style, love the sound effects. Well done!
Thanks a bunch amigo! (＾▽＾)
Glad ya loved it x]!
I tried my best :]!
I loved this entry. I'm trash at jump king style games, but this was cool. Love the art style and the SFX. Took me like 5 minutes to get off the ground in that first section. HAHA, so just to let you know I was pretty bad. The checkpoint system was a life saver once I finally got off the ground and saved me some frustration.
I think with more time and practice I could master this one. Would probably add WASD as a control system as well. My keyboard doesn't have arrow keys, so I have to hold a modifier to use systems like this or use another computer.
Good job!
Ah, about that, I added WASD controls too just incase :') apologies for not mentioning*
Glad to hear you enjoyed it though amigo! :] I can tell you I was pretty bad when I made this too xD*
Another win for the checkpoint system! x]
Thanks a bunch :)!
shame on more for not even trying! XD
Nah nah, no shame here* ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ
Ya did yer best that's all that matters!
Getting over it and Jump king! Nice game you've made there! Loved it! I will confess and say I am sucker with these games but are never a good player of such, so the checkpoint system is a very nice addition to the game. Not sure if the game is build with this in mind or not, but the game still feels very difficult to complete (especially the last bit where you get back to the wizard).
I like every bit of the game, but for a bit of critique I'd say the controls needs a bit tuning, where I let go of left/right a bit early, and thus make the sword jump upwards instead. It doesn't harm the game in anyway, but such minor thing frustrates the player in a bad way. The game is hard enough already! Also, some background music / ambience would also be nice, just to make the game not so empty at times.
Anyway, you did a really good job! Congrats!
Eyyy! Yep and yep :]! Glad ta hear it!
Honestly, the game was built prior to the checkpoint mechanic xD, so I'd say not really. (Yes, it was just THAT hard)
Ah yes, I was asked to add a bit of coyote time to the jumps so will do amigo! Will give the ambience/music side things a go after the jam finishes! x]
Thank you so much for playing buddo and the feedback is really appreciated! Will be sure to take it onboard! <3 ໒(⊙ᴗ⊙)७✎▤
As it was already pointed out, the checkpoint system was an genius decision, (wish i had thought of that one for mine, will probably steal it as an accessibility option as well in the future).
Gameplay wise, is simple, challenging and well executed (a perfect example of the genre). The art style is nice and clean. Nothing to critic really :) Congrats on making such a well rounded game!
Lol, steal away!! More than happy to have inspired the idea ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃ !
Pleased to hear it! Thanks so much for playing! x]
Will say your own game was quite the experience, physics based stuff is not my forte :') *! Keep up the awesome work amigo! <3
Agree with other comments, checkpoint system was the most important one. Besides that the I loved the immersion. Some games require bg music but some are better without it. Your game goes perfect with minimal SFX and the art work just compliments it. You made a really fun and challenging game which is awesome. Special kudos for "tutorial" and the ghost actions (if you can call them like that) that show what is supposed to be done. Awesome work.
( ͡^ ͜ʖ ͡^ ) Glad ta hear it! Seems I reached the goals I self-assigned for this jam! SUCCESS!
You can call em that xD, I pretend its your ancestors teaching you the way. Tutorials are a big feature gamejams miss out on a lot of the time so I wanted to make sure I get it right :]!
Appreciate the feedback bud! And thanks for playing! <3
Adding checkpoints was a great choice, I wish more games would do it.
The wallbounce mechanic was really interesting and the visuals are very polished, though if there's anything white in the background or a platform above the sword the jump bar becomes hard to see - maybe a black outline could help with that.
Thanks! I agree with you there, I've only really seen "Bread and Fred" do it in their game... (ᇂ_ᇂ |||).
Glad to hear you felt it was polished :]! And yh I did observe that issue too! Thanks for letting me know, will be sure to implement that when the jam is over :) !
Thanks for playing amigo! ( ͡^ ͜ʖ ͡^ )
Certainly one of the best in show. no notes, just love.
Uh....(⊙︿⊙ ✿)
Dang....thank you so much! I really don't know how to react to that! I appreciate it! <3
Great spritework, I love the 1-bit style. The foddian gameplay is fun and the checkpoint feature is super thoughtful. Good work!
Thank you for playing! X] It means a lot!
Glad it was helpful*, I was worried no-one would be able to get to the end because its a jam game so I thought that would help :]!
Appreciate it! ٩(◕‿◕)۶
Thank you for making the checkpoint feature. I would not have gotten far without it
No worries buddo, I got you covered (￣个￣)! Hope you had fun! x]
Really nice game here! The art is very good, the limited sounds effects are nice, and the gameplay feels super smooth. And I know you probably wouldn't want to have the manual checkpoints in a full release, but I'm really glad you included that in your jam entry. I think most people would probably give up pretty quickly without that. Awesome job!
Thank you buddo! You seem to be on the same wavelength as me, yep that's right its just for the jam xD, glad to hear it helped! Hope ya enjoyed it! x]
Appreciate the kind words! <3 (＾▽＾)
The art style you have is SO COOL! the mechanics are tight, and the sound effects are solid. I had an awesome time playing, well done! Bending and flinging sword is just so fun! You should check out my game too, its very similar!
Thank you so much! <3 Really appreciate it and I'm glad you enjoyed it! x)
Oooo will be sure to take a look then! :]
Hope it's not too difficult xD*
Great stuff I glitched into the terrain at the end and thought I wouldn't be able to get out but luckily I popped out 😎Cool art and good sound effects. It was a bit quiet but I can't say anything this is the first jam where I made my own music. Great overall though!
Ah that can indeed happen rarely, glad my code for getting you out worked xD!
I did want to add some music but I was worried it would only frustrate the player more :') so I refrained from doing so, will consider it again*
Thank you for playing and the feedback amigo! Appreciate it! :)
it was all good! I thought the game was good either way so no worries c:
Not worried x) , just wanna make it even better! :]
I'll take any feedback I get!
This is a really fun rage game. I love that you added the ability to drop checkpoints because it is insanely hard as you get higher up. Were you able to beat this without checkpoints?? Great work on this!
Indeed XD, I kind of made the obstacles later on based on how easy it was for me, which apparently doesn't work because I've played it so much while playtesting that I'm much better than someone just starting off :'] ....
Lesson learned tho* and yep I have! A friend did too (took roughly 5 hours xD) !
Thanks a bunch for the kind words! <3
This game is amazingly well done, a lot of satisfying and rage educing precision jumps. Absolutely awesome visuals and fx. A lot of potential to develop it further, very strong jump king vibes.
Thanks a lot amigo! x) I certainly think it would be worth developing this too!
Jump king was definitely an inspiration for this game xD!
Love the style and gameplay behind this submission, its very well done and quite polished. I am not much of a fan of rage games, but I can confidently say I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Very well done, I wish you the best of luck in the jam! :)
:) Appreciate it a ton buddo! Glad to hear your enjoyed yourself x)!
Thanks a bunch for the luck, I'll need every little bit I can get :] ! <3
This game is very stylish, the intro is super cute, it had me giggling. It's definitely a rage game but not unreasonably so, I think I might be getting the hang of it just a little!
Eyyyy! Thank you for the kind words amigo! Glad the intro made ya chuckle! x)
I'm sure you've got it in the bag! :]
Thanks for playing bud! <3
Very fun game! I liked the mechanics, and the checkpoint system was much appreciated (probably used a dozen of them throughout the game).
Glad ta hear it! :]
Yh I realized I made the game kinda hard xD so I added the checkpoint mechanic specifically for the jam! Happy to hear ya had fun x] !
I love the cute little eyes on your sword guy! The controls were a little bit of a struggle at first, but I got it pretty quickly! I'd love to try out the bow too, but I'm struggling too hard at the top of the first level 😅Overall a fun challenge and a great style 😊👍
Thanks amigo! :) Glad ya did yer best, did you not use the "checkpoint" mechanic? I wanted to make sure anyone could get the bow :')
Apologies for making it so difficult, but I appreciate the feedback a ton! <3
Great game!!!
Thanks a bunch amigo! :]