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Entropy of Royalty 2's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Most Compelling Narrative | #3 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Best Use of the (optional) Theme | #3 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Overall | #5 | 3.313 | 3.313 |
| Most Compelling Character | #5 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
| Best Use of Ludonarrative | #6 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 4 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I like the minimalism in terms of both color palette and the things you chose to include to depict the story. I think the plot is quite cohesive, and I appreciate that some things are left for the player to fill in. In my interpretation, the character is hunting down royalties to extract their essence (anything in yellow) and rip them of their status (causing them to become red/inferior). The witness at the end, of course, had to be taken care of.
That is actually... very different from the plot I was portraying, and I actually find that super interesting. I hadn't realized that I'd really left much of anything up for interpretation, so this is an odd relief, in a sense!
This time, it's Entropy.
I wondered about the significance of there being two of that red-and-yellow pendant thing. Did the protagonist need them both for some ritual/to assert their dominance? Actually now I'm thinking that it gave the guild leader some kind of power, and now the protagonist has two of them, therefore twice as much of it. (Or maybe it was just two halves of some extremely valuable item that needed to be put back together.)
I agree that there are a lot of ways to interpret the ending. In any case, it was pretty surprising.
Good work!
That reading of the purpose of the amulet is a very clever way to put it. Admittedly, I didn't really do the best job of clarifying what the meaning of that scene was - I actually worry that the anagnorisis was lost in the process - but it's been interesting to see such a varied series of reactions to the narrative at play here. Thank you for the feedback!
Great illustrations Strood! I love how bendy and expressive they are.
You've been consistently good at planting little details that help the player immerse themselves, like the choice of weapon at the start feels like an objective correlative where I got to express my character's personality in-game, and start to paint a picture of who they are.
I'm juggling multiple different interpretations of that ending. My first thought was "Is this a time loop? Is he killing himself over and over again to steal that item from himself?", then "Did the guild leader turn red from the blood? Did the yellow signify their leader status?". If the player character had somehow turned yellow, that would have felt extra poetic. The overall emotional and thematic beat of the ending works regardless though, it's a classic tale about the cycle of violence.
Also, I did a second playthrough where I made intentionally bad tactical choices to see what would happen, and I still won. Would have been nice to see a fail state there.
That objective correlative comment is super interesting; I hadn't considered the weapon choice acting as determining what kind of character you are... I'm gonna have to experiment with that in a future project, because that is a good idea.
I was strongly considering making the usurper turn yellow in the ending. In the end, I thought the red of the blood coating the ruler and converting him into the usurper would make more sense. That being said, I do like that idea more as I think about it. I'm glad that the ending still landed in the end, though.
As for that ending, your first thought is right on the money for what I was going for: a self-murdering time loop. The yellow signifying status is also fairly accurate.
And in regards to the fail state... I briefly considered it, but I was already kind of drained from making all the images and didn't want to put in the work to add a second ending where the anagnorisis didn't happen.
Thank you for the complements on everything! I'm actually quite happy with how the drawings came out, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who enjoys the bends.