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Thanks for playing and leaving a comment! Sorry about that placeholder text, I didn’t finish writing those sections before I submitted for the jam. The next update will have some actual content haha

I survived 9 nights! Could have used more health/attack speed instead of going all for movement but I love being a speedster. :P Yes, the moth won against me too...

This was a fantastic game! Music is great and the art of the bartender is so cool. I would definitely play this if it became a full release. Time to grind to see if I can reach Night 12 :')

I just finished watching your stream VOD! Sorry I couldn’t make it while you were Live.  We seriously appreciate the time you took to play Shadowsand Defense (and highlighting some other Pirate Jam 15 games)! I’m Crow, the Narrative and Design (writing, music, SFX) person in the credits. This is my second Pirate Jam, and my fourth jam ever joined!

It was so surreal hearing my dialogue be voice-acted. The way you and your chat clocked the vibe between Lux & Umbra immediately. “Oh they ARE tragic enemies-to-lovers!” And “I choose Life… with you!” LOLL

To acknowledge this question from your playthrough:

“What’s the origin behind the shadow critters? Did they, like, go to the same magic school… I guess the Tower is where they learned their craft? …And like, Umbra’s come to ‘save’ Lux, AKA, get him to join him in evil, and Lux is like ‘noo, I want to use my powers for good!’”

At the end of Round 5, there is some dialogue between two unknown characters. One is a soldier of the Tower, the other is a high-ranking official of the Tower.

Tower Soldier: Lieutenant General! Have you any orders for us?

Unknown: Shadowsand, torches, and... what are these, pickaxes? What happened here?

Tower Soldier: As of yet unsure, sir. This must be the work of a dozen sorcerers or more; we've never seen so much destruction!

Unknown: ...It is a shame that so much harm must come to nature. 
Unknown: Send a messenger back to the barracks. I will take some scouts and venture out from here.

Tower Soldier: Understood, sir! I shall take my leave!
...
Unknown: Lux... I hope you're not alone. 
Unknown: I hope you are safe.
Unknown: I am coming to take you home.

I don’t want to give away all the answers just yet, but I can provide this. All creatures with spirit are made of a substance called “shadowsand.” It is basically the equivalent of quintessence in alchemy. Lux and Umbra have an unnatural attunement to shadowsand, allowing them to transform and even imbue objects such as trees or rocks with it. They were childhood friends, both sharing this otherworldly ability, but circumstances led them on separate paths. Now, Lux is a misunderstood altruist wanted by the Tower, and Umbra is a jaded old friend who just can’t manage Lux’s idealism.

If we ever add voicelines in a future update, I would be totally up for featuring you in it! Thanks again for the stream and your comments!

Oh I for sure see a tutorial in the future. You are a brave soul for having played it in this state hahah

Thank you so much!! I’m really excited to write more about Lux & Umbra. They’re a mix of some of my favorite tropes!

Woohoo! Thank you! I love the work our artists did. And it’s good to hear stories of Firefox cooperating 😂

Mm, minor war crime omelette…

Thanks for playing! :D

Thanks! I’ll try again!

Honesty sounds nice… let’s try that.
"Look, I'm just going to lay it out: I've noticed you here before, and I would really like to kiss you. So... what do you say?"

ABORT ABORT I REGRET EVERYTHING

thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!! Future builds definitely deserve a tutorial LOL

You're crazy. Fighting enemies is a lot of fun though, and I love the SACRIFICE aspect and unlocking new skills :D

(bonus screenshot)

The music, art, and level design went OFF!! You guys did amazing!! It felt like I was playing a fully published game. The music felt very Undertale and the comedic aspects in this were unexpectedly wonderful. I can't believe I got Corolla'd.

Seriously looking forward to if you guys continue development on this. I had so much fun blasting up into space by holding down with my Explosion potions!

This was pretty interesting to play! I got kinda stuck in the Infernal Wastes and couldn't gather materials from the Crystal Caverns without dying. I restarted a couple times but couldn't figure out the recipes :'D

I think this is a really cool idea for a game, though! I like the idle-lite elements, and crafting things and having them work felt very satisfying.

This was awesome! I kept teleporting in the room with the key and I'm not sure why, maybe I followed the path wrong or something.

Apart from that, I really love the enemy designs and the twist at the end!! I had a lot of fun playing this, especially with such a unique battle mechanic. Feels like I'm playing a rhythm game and Punch-Out at the same time. :P

(take this as a reminder to hydrate)

Your backgrounds WERE awesome :D I think you can do it!

I love the little comments. Jumping around was so much fun. I want to print these screenshots and have them up on my wall for motivation.

What a fun funky track to gather Eggs? to! Thank you for so many checkpoints as well, I am terrible at platformers/sidescrollers and I loved starting right where I left off. 

(I found the secret easter Egg? too, but I won't post a pic of where it is c;)

More Egg? Please!

OHH that makes sense, thanks!

I died once before I understood the mechanics, but I beat the normal level!!

Love my cheese wizards. Fun game!

I tried as hard as I could to get my score to 69420, but I was a bit off...

I played this on what I consider "hard mode" with just a keyboard and mouse and it was still a blast. Beat the boss and won the game! I greatly enjoyed the enemy designs and my little wobblin' wizard. The music was a bit scary though.

I really like the visuals and the SFX! I died horribly so many times at the 0/8 level. I love the idea of spawning temporary platforms. Maybe one day I'll resolve my skill issue lol

This was fun to play! I liked wall-jumping especially. Having so many levels to choose from felt nice too because I kept messing up Level 4 haha.

If you add an in-game tutorial in a future update just by copying your YouTube video, I think this would be an amazing game!

This is super cool, I love the sandbox mode!

I couldn't figure out how to get past the AI (clicking everything) but I love the sound effects and music! This is such a crazy set of ideas but it's fun to mess around with.

nice and simple game with great visuals!

Peace at last...

I hope crafting gets fixed! The jumping around and SFX were really fun. I am looking forward to more updates if you decide to continue development!

The sound effects are really fun. I like to go into jam games blind, so it took me a bit to figure out how the potion crafting worked. It was funny to just spam my sword at all the enemies and fail spectacularly at magic-bolting them. I think this could be a cool game if expanded!

Thanks for playing! And yeah I love being lazy and just gathering resources :P

Thank you so much! :D

I love the kaboom.

If this had a good music loop track it would be a lot more fun to play; the repeated sound gets a bit harsh to listen to after a while. In any case I had fun!!

I have no idea how I died to be honest LOL, I found the secret key and then I may have pressed a button or something

In any case it seems like you have a lot of lore for these characters!

It took me a couple of tries because I kept using my flashlight to see around me like a dingus instead of shining it on monsters, but I eventually got to see the end screen!

This is a nice, small game and actually managed to creep me out with the SFX and ambience. Well done!

I liked that it was [E]nter and [E]xit haha. I didn't realize TAB was such a huge aspect of the game, I didn't even realize it was there until I read the controls! Overall I think this could be expanded into something really good.

I successfully crafted a D-Tier Longsword!!

I think you have some great ideas on your hands; the drawing is fun and I like the vibe of just walking around and buying/selling things. It took me a while to figure out how to craft a sword though; I knew what materials to add but didn't realize I had to put them in order them properly. It would also help if there was a button to quickly access recipes in the Manual so I don't have to click through everything.

I would love to see this expanded and would definitely buy this as a fully-realized game!

I am absolute dog at platformers/sidescrollers but this was very fun, I like the music and the visuals. I was boppin out! I wish there was a sound effect for when I used my magic because I would just keep mashing unsure if it was going through or not haha. 

I loved shoving the enemies off into the abyss when doing a Time Stop spell.

I think I can't reach some of the higher platforms or the jumps are too far, but I had fun playing this. c:

The physics are fun! I like clicking in time with the music. Made a bat brain potion LOL

WE LOVE CASTING SPELLS
I didn't realize you could do magic until my second playthrough so I was just running around dodging projectiles LOL

I think this could be a really fun game with SFX, music, and more stuff added later on :D

Yo why is the main menu theme an actual banger. I love that the howls and giggles are mixed in. Visionary.

Figuring out how the "click and hold up or down" mouse minigame worked took me a few tries but I eventually got it! I think that's definitely the hardest part of the game LOL

The match-3 minigame is so smooth and satisfying I would genuinely have played this even without all the narrative elements and amazing art. I like how you don't have to get a match with each move either; you can just move the tiles over however you'd like.

The eye contact mini game was so funny and I really enjoyed it every time it came up. Stardew Valley fishing minigame prepared me for this.

I would love to know more about these two characters!!

Also, my opinion on Kant's Categorical Imperative: Benjamin Constant's "Man with the Axe" argument would like to have a word.

Pictured below: my actual reactions to the final cutscene

Oops, I posted this at like 3am so I just meant soundtrack. Great choice in vibes!

Thanks for giving our game a try and writing such thorough feedback! I'm glad you had fun. Sorry you encountered the weird bug, we'll stomp it out next time :P

Outrageously pretty and fantastic feeling game. I love the speed of the character and the smoothness of clicking the lantern on and off. Timing my jumps felt rewarding, especially after failing this puzzle so much.The OST is beautiful. The colors are striking. All this solo-dev'd in a two-week game jam... Are you a wizard?

Thanks for letting me know and providing screenshots!! The (Put back?) thing is the next annoying part of the code I have to fix :’D But I definitely did NOT notice the double rice thing so thank you again haha

I just joined the Amare Games Festival, so I should be getting out a new major update with fixes for all these issues within the next 2 months or so :D