SPELLDOWN! by pixelpotions

[raw]
made by pixelpotions for LD35 (JAM)
Use the mouse to draw the magical glyphs to beat your opponent.
Become the magical champion of the realm!

Art: @_Gabrielfer
Code: @Sparrowspell

Powered by Flashpunk

//20-04-2016 Fixed all of the bugs that were crashing the game and reuploaded it.
//24-04-2016 Added ZIP file containing an SWF for people recording or streaming.
///////////////// Also added an AIR file for anybody wanting that.

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.52 290
Fun(Jam) 3.22 467
Graphics(Jam) 4.49 37
Humor(Jam) 3.12 240
Innovation(Jam) 3.43 262
Mood(Jam) 3.39 315
Theme(Jam) 3.26 616

Feedback

Roland M
20. Apr 2016 · 00:29 UTC
Well done guy. =]
Sean
20. Apr 2016 · 01:03 UTC
The artwork in this is great! I especially liked the variety of transformations for the defeated opponents.

My main criticism is that it's pretty repetitive, though that's kind of inherent to the gameplay mechanic. Maybe it'd be better if the player's spell glyph was randomized each time?
morrilet
20. Apr 2016 · 01:10 UTC
Pulled out a drawing tablet and went to town. This game was really unique. Loved it.
flyingumbrella
20. Apr 2016 · 01:56 UTC
The art is great, just awesome!
I pulled out my drawing tablet too to defeat my enemies. Very cool and unique game.
celia14
20. Apr 2016 · 02:29 UTC
Great concept! I found it a bit repetitive in its current form, but I can see how it could evolve into a more complex and really cool game. The art is great - really classic and fun.
Eshford
20. Apr 2016 · 03:11 UTC
Freaking amazing!
APantaloni
20. Apr 2016 · 08:52 UTC
Nice dueling game. I like the pressure your opponent puts on you and the artwork is nice. I'd love to see this developed further!
DSSiege11
20. Apr 2016 · 11:17 UTC
Beautiful game! I should try playing this on my Surface Pro with the pen ;)
aamatniekss
20. Apr 2016 · 11:38 UTC
Really cool! The art is gorgeous! You guys did a great job! :)
tentacode
20. Apr 2016 · 12:45 UTC
Awesome graphics and cool gameplay :)
Trasevol_Dog
20. Apr 2016 · 13:02 UTC
Two words: eye candy.
I just wish the gameplay was a bit richer... Great entry nonetheless!!
MdotEdot
20. Apr 2016 · 13:09 UTC
Great Entry!
Long time ago I had this idea but your execution is spot on!
would like to have a mobile game like this!
Tselmek
20. Apr 2016 · 15:13 UTC
The graphics are outstanding and the main mechanic pretty well done although it is repetitive very fast, maybe different shapes each time we complete one might help a bit.
machine_screen
20. Apr 2016 · 15:25 UTC
Top notch graphics but gameplay gets old quite quickly. Felt like the shapes should change once you'd successfully drawn them to increase variety.
markusfisch
20. Apr 2016 · 16:01 UTC
Really like the graphics and the idea of drawing magic glyphs. Also good humor! Liked it!
jordgubben
20. Apr 2016 · 17:28 UTC
Nice work. Neat idea and colorful presentation.

I first tried this with my laptop touchpad, it did not go to well. Then I connected my drawing tablet and I DOMINATED THE ENTIRE REALM! All hail Lord Wacom!

(Also bonus points for the Ghibli reference :D)
KitsuneQuestDev
20. Apr 2016 · 18:39 UTC
Awesome work guys :D
RafaSKB
20. Apr 2016 · 20:42 UTC
Awesome art and really unique gameplay, congrats!
giordanno92
21. Apr 2016 · 02:34 UTC
Nice game you got there! It's practically impossible with the touchpad, do-able with the mouse and masterful with a tablet XD The art is very well done, although little variation, and wished there was audio, it would've increased a lot the imersion. The idea also brought me back to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for the PC XD Good job, Gabriel and Sparrow! Cheering for your entry!
nextreality
21. Apr 2016 · 03:12 UTC
I liked the graphics for this game, and the gameplay was simple yet addicting, kept trying to beat all those darn wizards!
Yumeito
21. Apr 2016 · 11:57 UTC
Fun game :)
ployer
21. Apr 2016 · 12:12 UTC
gorgeous graphics. interesting concept. wish you could have more shapes to draw. other than that very nice use of the theme
Haighstrom
21. Apr 2016 · 19:06 UTC
God I was bad at this game. But thought it was great. Really simple, but lovely implementation. Marvellous graphics.
AnaGF
21. Apr 2016 · 19:49 UTC
Great game! One to play with tablet. It would work well as a mobile.
theOnlyGoodDrcz
21. Apr 2016 · 22:06 UTC
this is very pretty, and the kitten is so cute :)
🎤 pixelpotions
21. Apr 2016 · 23:07 UTC
Thanks everyone for your kind comments, we hear all of your criticism and suggestions and are coming up with new ways to make the game better!
We are also retroactively reviewing and rating your games if we haven't already done so.
You are all very awesome!
luquio
21. Apr 2016 · 23:15 UTC
amazing game mechanics & pixel!!! think this would be great for mobile device
josemwarrior
21. Apr 2016 · 23:25 UTC
Art is absolutely stunning. There must be a great job in programming. But it has not been fun for me draw over and over again the same figure.
Odyssey
22. Apr 2016 · 00:16 UTC
Nice graphics and great concept!
mikekreein
22. Apr 2016 · 03:56 UTC
Nice graphics, but like others have said, needs some additional glyphs that you have to draw.
Linver
22. Apr 2016 · 06:36 UTC
Nice Art!
First fight: drawing one glyph so much times is boooooring. Yea, I don't have a skill at this level, but you should make this fight faster.
Second fight: good
Other fights: hard and booring after death. May be you should add small glyphs to delete enemy's line (if it so good), or to swap your main glyphs/
LOSTALLOY
22. Apr 2016 · 08:44 UTC
I like this a lot! I accidentally chose one of the most difficult shapes, my trackball was so uncooperative, but I manage to win at the end, mwa ha ha! :D:D:D Sweet sweet pixels!
josefnpat
22. Apr 2016 · 23:33 UTC
This is nice - simple mechanics - but with added pressure. Another mechanic of some sort would be nice, but the graphics make up for it! Nice job!
StrayCat
23. Apr 2016 · 00:34 UTC
Gameplay is a bit boring after the first spells, but the graphics are really nice. Adding any kind of magical sounds would have been relly nice too.

Good job!
Togimaro
23. Apr 2016 · 22:28 UTC
The assets are fantastic!
I love the interpretation of the theme, it's really cool to play even with a touchpad on a laptop!
Good works!
esayitch
24. Apr 2016 · 17:39 UTC
Awesome artwork, makes me kinda sad there was no music to go with it :(

Usage of theme is a bit lacking, there are shapes, and when you win the opponent is shapeshifted, but it doesn't really affect the gameplay at all :(

Aside from that, pretty cool, challenging game! Good luck!
glaze_96
25. Apr 2016 · 16:42 UTC
Great graphics and really awesome mechanic! It was hard but at least I had a fun time getting wrecked!
Gord10
25. Apr 2016 · 17:35 UTC
Very nice graphics!
arhpositive
25. Apr 2016 · 20:36 UTC
Nice graphics, gameplay is shallow but the game is nice for what it is. :) It can be improved and extended with many other ideas.
mike.cullingham
26. Apr 2016 · 14:14 UTC
Fantastic graphics. I should've pulled out my stylus and touch screen, but it worked pretty well with the mouse. Would love to see variety in the shapes you trace, and clearer feedback on how much you got/missed for a particular trace, but for a Jam game this is a wonderful entry.
RttStudio
26. Apr 2016 · 15:57 UTC
First, Ty for the comment you did on my game :)
Your game is pretty good guys :) really fun, I'd like to see some sort of rpg that use this as a combat system ! :)
Sabina Lis
28. Apr 2016 · 02:27 UTC
Played every character, i'm sad i couldn't go further than two rounds because the graphics are so awesome, agree with randomizing spells :)
NvrSkipGameDay
28. Apr 2016 · 03:52 UTC
This is a cool idea - and it's really fun to draw the shapes. I agree that having randomized spell shapes for the player would be awesome, but I like the base game you've got here as well. Thanks for posting.
Aaranos
28. Apr 2016 · 18:02 UTC
Excellent pixel art. I found the difficulty a little extreme after two wins. The third opponent is just way too fast. Still fun.
Ellian
28. Apr 2016 · 18:56 UTC
Awesome work, guys!
It's surprisingly HARD to play with a laptop's touchpad ahahah. I wish it wasn't so slow, but it's really well made in such a short time. Kudos! :)
Big Cow
28. Apr 2016 · 21:07 UTC
Really nice art and animation, simple and fun gameplay, nice use of theme. I tried 'breaking' the drawing system only to find that it was very well-coded and robust! If you're planning on expanding the game, I'd consider giving the characters more than one shape to draw.
DeltaF1
28. Apr 2016 · 23:54 UTC
Really beautiful, and tricky to master. As others have suggested, randomizing the glyph each time could make it less repetitive. I think it would be a really good multiplayer game on mobile.
Rock Eaters
29. Apr 2016 · 00:01 UTC
Well done, nice graphics and fun game !
torcado
29. Apr 2016 · 18:33 UTC
very nice pixel art! i wish the game were more engaging though.
SantiHisteria
29. Apr 2016 · 19:06 UTC
Funny mini-game!! I would like to play it in my iphone!! Sometimes is a bit repetitive, but iy's ok.
LevieDAudio
01. May 2016 · 11:01 UTC
The graphics are soooo good! The game mechanic is very cute, and has a good balance between 'Should I go faster and rougher' or 'Should I go slower and more precise?'

Pretty fun! :D Well done, guys! ❤
leo_p_mahon
02. May 2016 · 18:01 UTC
Amazing art work. Really hard with a mouse! Had to learn to balance getting the shape perfect and doing it quickly. Would like to see where this goes next :)
jk5000
02. May 2016 · 20:28 UTC
Super idea, and super game. Well done.
Alphish
02. May 2016 · 22:28 UTC
It seems like it could be an interesting entry if some more variety was added into it. The most obvious idea that comes to my mind (and I'm not the only one, it seems) is having the glyphs randomised each time, so that the player needs to react accordingly (each wizard could have own set of glyphs). If that was implemented, I think the gameplay would work rather well.

I rather liked the artwork and animation in this game, though what I'd prefer is having one animation for each winning/losing wizard pair. So that, say, brown wizard would be polymorphing opponent, while the red wizard would zap them instead. Right now it seems each time you win, you get the same result depending on the level, and each time you lose, you get the same critter depending on your wizard; instead having spells for each winning/losing wizard pair could better establish wizards' "personality", in a way.

Pretty solid and complete entry, overall. A bit of pity there's no lich battle, though I guess I'd prefer playing that in a more various setting (and I wouldn't really want to have the lich spam spellpieces even more than the 3rd level wizard currently does).
Tooichi
03. May 2016 · 12:02 UTC
Loved the art and the concept, really well done.
commanderstitch
04. May 2016 · 03:56 UTC
nice drawing and mechanics. Older idea, but you did it and that counts for something. That vader head was superb. Needs sounds, i just made them up in my mind to make it exciting. i wanted to be able to draw super fast. xD
medidog
04. May 2016 · 05:58 UTC
Really unique graphics and sense of achievement! Really nice symbols too, it was fun to draw them for me. But, I still agree with most of the comments here, that to make shapes vary each time so the game does not feel repetitive over time.
fin_nolimit
05. May 2016 · 01:34 UTC
Very cool use of the theme!!! I was missing the music and sound effects of course but the game was super cool. I was turned into a cat at the beginning because i had no idea what was going on lol but then I quickly recovered! Loved it!
Chaoslab
05. May 2016 · 01:43 UTC
Gorgeous! Pixels! Om nom nom nom! One of my favorites so far! Thanks you.
lanestp
05. May 2016 · 01:56 UTC
Nice game and a nicely put together package. It's a little impossible to play on a touchpad but that isn't your fault. All together a very polished and well done game!
QuexD
05. May 2016 · 02:14 UTC
Love the game, shame there is no music. Even with no audio great game loved it.
MatMortatti
05. May 2016 · 02:31 UTC
Hello! Cool game :)

Interesting mechanic, and the art style is really nice.

One problem I found is that the game tends to get a little repetitive. It would be interesting to change shapes during fight. Maybe it would get too difficult?

There is a mobile game that (if you are not familiar with) would surely serve as inspiration for your project if you wish to expand it. It's called Magic Touch, go check it!

Overall, good job! Congratulations for your entry.
Uson Chen
05. May 2016 · 04:04 UTC
Very good pixel art and key frame animation!
The mechanic is good but if there is some changes to the magic curve during the continual drawing would be better, a little bit board now.
legavroche
05. May 2016 · 04:58 UTC
I think this game has the makings of a good multiplayer game. Maybe have a randomized list of drawings that both players must draw?
DDRKirby(ISQ)
05. May 2016 · 07:36 UTC
Nice! Try for some music and sounds next time :)
MalyTimi
05. May 2016 · 07:53 UTC
fresh idea :D
EvanEGibbs
05. May 2016 · 08:17 UTC
The art is great in this! I love the style and the atmosphere it creates. I think this game could be really expanded upon by choosing different kinds of magic spells that you want to cast, maybe some are more complicated to draw but create different effects. Very nice entry! It became a lot easier with my tablet too! Haha. :)
puppetmaster
05. May 2016 · 15:28 UTC
Wow! Really cool artwork and animations. Difficulty is to high for me. Missing the sound. Keep up the good work.
lightsoda
06. May 2016 · 11:01 UTC
The gameplay gimmick seems to work pretty well. But drawing the same shape over and over isn't very fun.

The graphics are well done.
aegypticus
06. May 2016 · 18:14 UTC
I really liked this! The drawing mechanic was really cool... I should try out my drawing tablet on this! Great job.
retakex
07. May 2016 · 03:17 UTC
Really fun to play!
PixlWalkr
07. May 2016 · 09:12 UTC
Great game and nice mechanics, I really like the graphics!
PanicTheFirst
07. May 2016 · 15:25 UTC
Amazing artstyle! Gameplay is nice and would be awesome on a tablet. Good job!
RyanNielson
07. May 2016 · 18:31 UTC
Great game, would love to see it expanded upon into a phone game with friends! :)
radmars
07. May 2016 · 20:10 UTC
Awesome concept! Graphics are really great too. Would be nice if there were more variety in what you had to draw, also some more feedback would be helpful - it wasn't clear how close you actually had to be. Still fun, nice work.
Xanjos
07. May 2016 · 23:25 UTC
Controls were pretty hard using the mouse so I decided to play this on my Surface Pro 3 instead (using the pen and touchscreen) which worked like an absolutely charm. Anyway, it's a pretty awesome concept and I can definitely see this working on mobile/tablet devices but as someone said before, it would be more interesting if the spell glyphs were randomised each time.
Skruffye
08. May 2016 · 18:59 UTC
Been meaning to review this one for a while now, but only just found the time.
Firstly, I love the art and the gameplay concept. The drawing element really reminded me of WarioWare: Touched on the DS (perhaps a platform this kind of game is best suited to) but I did have a lot of trouble getting the shapes right with my mouse. (The margin for error seemed somewhat slim considering that your opponent draws pixel perfect shapes!)
I do have a graphics tablet, so I'll probably take another shot at this later with that, but since that isn't exactly commonplace hardware outside of this particular audience (ie. other developers and artists), I'd probably say that making the game a touch easier to play with a mouse would be a good idea.

Overall though, I enjoyed it. Good job! :)
dollarone
09. May 2016 · 02:16 UTC
Fantastic graphics. Cool idea, and well executed. I think some of the signs were harder, but that's cool.

Would be cool if the glyphs were random for a bigger challenge or something like that.

Nice!
omlette.du.fromage
09. May 2016 · 16:28 UTC
But this game is supper annoying :D need to get a graphic tablet to perform. Interesting idea and pixel graphics. Good luck!