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Arcane Larceny's itch.io pageJudge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Volume controls with slider for the WIN!!! GG on that in the opening menu! Thank you! The opening pop up narration box to introduce the player to the mechanics of the game and the lore is a huge win. Helps to hook the player into the world and game. It was difficult to understand how to progress the narration. I didn't know when to click the stick to progress things vs when to hit space bar to progress the narration. Would help if that were more clear, or just consistent. Like, player reads the dialogue box, hits space to make it go away and then do what is being explained. I also had trouble seeing where the character, the stick, was. Lol. It blended in and I clicked around a bit trying to find it at first. Perhaps highlighting it with a white or yellow border would help in that first introduction level. The sound effects were all very good. I liked the old school feel of them and they helped make the hitting of the stick feel impactful. One thing I'd advise is making the audible countdown start at 10. It was a bit loud and felt a bit too long. The music is really good. It feels hype in a fun way and it matches the game's vibe really well. I love the shop. Very well designed. Clear and easy to see what things are when you hover over. It was easy to see how much I had to spend and how much each item cost. Really good job on this! The world was very well designed and laid out. Each level felt new and different even though items were repeated in them. The theme interpretation of your character being a stick and it being used like a destructive pinball was wild and just plain fun. I could see you adding different color schemes for different levels with different music changes as well. You did a good job with your game design document. This game was well put together and was quite fun! I hope you are proud of what you achieved and I hope you continue to work on the game. Thank you for your submission. GG!
Link to your Game Design Doc on Google Drive.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ClG5_0fjdraSLTF_vePOiXxlEt9Ww8YHLaPhJvGPw0I/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!
You are Stickolas, a stick that a wizard is sending into people's homes to break their stuff and steal their munny. Fling yourself around and bounce off walls to destroy items and get munny. Spend that munny with the wizard to upgrade your destructive power. How will it all end. Jail? Freedom? Love!?!?
Please explain how your game fits the theme:
You play as an animated stick being used by a dubious wizard as a weapon of grand larceny
Is there anything you'd like the judges to pay particular attention to?
The general game feel and satisfaction. Shop prices and munny earned are not fully balanced
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Comments
Really satisfying to break everything. Graphics were good. Music was good. Shop was fine. I really like this game. Only thing was I wished the level end screen popped up a bit faster.
asmr stick break, thanks for the review!
Good job! A fun game with a simple yet enjoyable game loop. Also love the art style and the music. I also admire that every part of the game seems polished, which is no small feat for a 2 week game jam.
thanks so much for the review!
Super well done. The work you put behind just making flinging your weapon around feel satisfying makes it already adicting just by itself. Everything else is just the cherry on top. I especially appreciated the writting.
Super polished entry, only critism I can think of is I would've liked having more control over the camera for larger room.
I agree, it’s actually a bit better than it was before final build. Thanks for playing!
This has a fun loop. There are a few upgrades that confuse me a bit. You can keep buying the strength potion even after you 1 shot everything. Love the polish added to the menus and sound design.
I had noticed that in play testing myself but there were a few last minute things we were trying to fix and that one was low on the list so it made itself in if I am recalling correctly
This is really fun! The upgrades feel nice, everything looks cool, it's amazing that you made this in two weeks!
thank you for the review the teams official unofficial name is team sleep deprivation lolol
Really fun idea! keeping the gameplay part shot at the start and buying mana to gain more play time is a really good design in my opinion, lets a new player experience the gameplay loop fast first time.
My only critic would be that the ending was a little abrupt, i think i played 3 levels and then stickolas grew legs and thats it XD.
As a suggestion i would try some really subtle screen shake, and maybe a "combo bar" mechanic that depletes with time, that would encourage the most competitive players.
Anyway, gameplay is solid and has a lot of potential, congrats!
I think that potion of ending is what does it in lol. If you avoided it that wouldn’t have happened. There are 3 alternate endings two cannon one secret!
Haha great game, played for longer than I meant to! The smashing SFX and sliding around is satisfying and the iterative upgrade system had be playing 'just one more round' to see how much more crazy amounts of money I could earn. Very fun!
I've had to think of some constructive criticism I think more than once the camera kind of got in my way, either limiting my ability to aim if Stickolas was too close to the edge of the screen or sometimes it was awkwardly placed making it impossible to see parts of the map next to Stickolas. Maybe allowing it to move slightly with the users cursor would help alleviate some of that?
Overall super fun game and I'd love to see more complex levels and mechanics developed for it, lots of potential!
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad you enjoyed it~ :3
Great game idea, fun to play! Loved the shop's aesthetic. Only gripe is that it felt unnatural to click and drag in the direction I wanted the staff to go, I kept dragging the opposite way thinking it would slingshot the wand in the direction opposite where I would drag my mouse. I think that comes from playing other games where you launch something you would drag it in the opposite direction then let go. That could just be me though.
Thank you so much for playing and glad you had fun! i think with the controlls it could be more personal preference thanks for your feedback tho~ :3
I was surprised at how addicting this game is! I like the concept and I love the mechanics. His little (big) legs at the end were funny and cute too. Fun game!
than you so much for playing glad you enjoyed it!
Well done! One thing I have to mention is that this kind of "upgrade" game there is always some final goal to reach. Burrito bison has to take revenge, penguin from learn to fly needs to crash iceberg. If there is some final goal it would be more fun to try to reach it, now it's just little bit repetitive. For example it could be having 4 levers in some levels which you can't pull all at once until you get upgraded, and the boss appears, and then player will be motivated to get to that part to see what happens.
first of all, thank you so much for the feedback! i really appreciate it~ There are actually 3 diffrent endings! one ending that happens if you play through all of the levels, one secret ending that has something to do with one special potions, and another one optained through the most expensive potion in the shop! thanks again for playing :3
I really like the concept, the only thing I really want to comment on is the "mana as time" thing. It feels off gameplay wise but works. The art and music are great, loved it. Sound effects fit in very well. The gameplay was fun though. I love destruction games.
Thanky for playing and for the feedback! :3
Had a smashing good time flinging myself around the place! I took to upgrading my mana and smash power quickly, followed by increasing my money gain and speed.
Some issues or things i noted were:
SERIOUSLY FUN GAME THOUGH <3 i think the concept is really unique and funny, and i need to replay it and see if i can get faster 👀
Oo yes a few of these we did know about a few others were what I’d like to believe were oversights thank you for such a detailed review!
Love being a lil stick guy and getting munny for breaking stuff
it’s a simple life, thanks for playing !
Great ideas here! The upgrade system is a nice touch and all the visuals are great. Nice art! Really good job!
Thank you for the review!
Great visuals and feel when smashing into things. Nice game!
Thank you!