Note that this feedback is based on the build(s) available at the end of the jam.
Short, but sweet!
The Lord of Sands stands out as one of the more polished submissions this year, and presents an experience that is well paced and feels whole.
I have a lot of love for the game's minimalist style. The articulated "cute" demon is wonderfully animated. Parallaxing clouds and screenshake are executed well and give a great sense of scale. There's a high bar set here, but it's one that makes the player's tank feel out of place, with its flat sprite popping out against the perspective implied by the rest of the game's visuals.
The two firing modes are a nice attempt at interpreting the theme, but I can't help but feel that this would be much stronger if the default small shot had some tactical value that wasn't dramatically outweighed by the power of the super shot. I'd be interested to see how the game would play out if the hand smacking phases were accompanied by waves of small mobs or homing projectiles that the player needed to use the rapid fire small shot to take down.
The audio has a retro feel to it, established by the opening rumble as the demon emerges. The player and enemy hit sound effects almost feel like drum samples, and there's a fun kind of rhythm that emerges from the bullet patterns when taking damage while firing back. Music is notably absent, and might add a lot to the game's atmosphere, but I think that The Lord of Sands stands up well enough without it.
The Lord of Sands is one of my favourite submissions this year.
Thanks for submitting and best of luck with the project if you decide to continue work on it :D
I'd also like to do a short interview with you for an article I'm writing on the 2018 Linux Game Jam. Shoot me an email via cheese@cheesetalks.net and I'll send you through some questions!