Game Play Explanation:

Your itch page doesn't show anything yet ;)

I'm getting a 404 at that itch.io link.

Link not working

Also getting a link not working error. Also, I knew I recognized the art! Love that guys tutorial videos!

Link doesn't work

It works now. I had not published on itch.io, it was still in draft.

Sorry

Played it, really liked the vibe and the way the art style hung together with the sound, so I think you made some good choices there with what you used. I did explore the whole map but never found the grave, and at one point the sorcerer did pull me out of the map zone :)

I will keep this pumpkin with me until later then.

The sorceress really doesn't want me to get her. :P

Found the grave and began the battle, but between the hordes and one of her attacks, I was unable to survive. Felt like way too much of a difficulty spike, but perhaps only because I couldn't see what was hitting me for 200 damage every couple of seconds.

+ I managed to find the site but it was pretty hard to spot having the same sprite as the background. I hacked it away before the skeletons got me, but they weren't exactly a threat.
+ There were some random explosions happening around the character and I could not understand why
+ The apple trees didn't have collision unlike non appled trees. Also could change the hearts into apples to make a bit more sense, why random hearths lying on the forest floor.
+ I don't know what the sorceress was doing when she appeared, I suppose stunning the character so the skeletons can get to him, but it shouldn't remove the background, it felt weird
+ Didn't like how 2 attacks left skeletons with like 1% hp, it would be better if they had like 30% remaining

Thank you all for your comments, it is greatly appreciated

Cool game , for some reason i would like to control the player with mouse clicks as if it was classic strategy game with black map around you.

I will look at the mouse clicks, like Diablo IV

Nice game and I like the surroundings and music. While I was playing I didn't really knew what to do, and was hit a lot by random explosions. Also I think the attack should have a bit more impact, It was easier to just run away than to attack the skeletons.

Thanks for the input, I will add more juice to the skellies. The explosions were underground mines placed by the Sorceress. They are pretty easy to shutoff

I have to admit that I also did not figure out how to shut off the underground mines, but enjoyed the game nonetheless :)
It would potentially be helpful to get some pointers on how to do certain things. Is it possible to interact with the signs for example? I tried a lot of different keys but none of them worked.

Great game was a bit hard to understand but after i understand how it worked it was fun to play!

Those are both great ideas, the signs and shutting off the mines. I could do the mine shutting off with maybe a dialogue window with some buttons in it maybe, of find a chest that has an orb that you carry to keep the mines from going off.

Thanks for playing my game, it is greatly appreciated

Like the graphics and how the map was put together. I was also confused by the explosions.

The graphics were cute. I wanted the sword to be a bit more responsive.

I didnt understand the constant explosions that bombarded me. I ran around picking health alot and therefore had no time to fight the enemies or look for things to pick up. I like the cozy world though.

I don't know why I did the bombs. from all the comments they really kind of 'bombed'. I was trying to keep the health down so you had to pick up the hearts. Also, the more you fight the skellies and kill them the faster the sword is. I should have probably mentioned that

That was bizzare :D Didnt get why I was exploding every step, also what was my goal, what can I do and what exactly magic lady did to me multiple times hahah. Nice bg music tho! Very calm:)

Was unfortunately unable to play due to the menu buttons not working

@valyn-tyler Sorry to hear that. Which version of windows, and do you have anything unusual when it comes to your configuration? I'd like you to be able to play the game

I like the vibe but some things don't work like the menu buttons but I really like the graphs !

@shooting-star Thank you for your input. Which menu were you talking about?

It's sad, that time up before you finish, but i think it looks promising!
Good luck to finish this (or create something new).

I didn't understand anything. Why was I exploding all the time? Why do I need to collect hp? Why should I want full hp? Why add so many numbers if we don't even see a quantitative characteristic of health? I mean, I didn't see a goal and end in the game as such). Well, it's not clear where the delivery theme is). But ok).

@paulsams Greetings brother. So, because of your comment I will update the game play explanation. Thank you for your guidance, I really appreciate it.

very cool game . it will be nice if there were arrows guiding the direction. overall good job.

@yoddaa The arrows are a great idea, I also thought about a mini map aw well

There's more to it, than it's made. There's a potential for some big adventure, so I dare you to develop further.

Yeah, couldnt understand what I can do till I found the grave. But wasnt sure why something is shooting me or what. The lady seemed to help according to the SFX but what it did is not clear.

The scene was set nicely and the sprites worked very well. I love how the character very naturally hides behind the crone of the trees when walking upwards.

Gotta introduce the player to the base mechanics somehow.. Keep it going!


I aspire to be like you! never stop learning and making things I love!

@ardorugus I appreciate the thought. Thank you very much. I will continue my journey

@whywhy I really appreciate your constructive critique and all your good words. Thank you.

Cool game, has a solid setting to it. The eerie music fits well. Now, I didn't read the explanation to see how the game teaches its players. And I almost got a heart attack when the series of mines went off! They were pretty loud, so I would lower the volume on them. Some beeping light from their position could also act a warning. The Sorceress spawn sound sounded very fairy-like, making me believe she was my friend who came to help me.

I would also give even more margin to the text in the first scene, so the eye wouldn't have to wander across the whole screen for each line.

Good work!

@coderaurus Thank you for taking the time to play my game. I am adding some stuff in and I am going to make it more of a quest thing. There will still be fighting but there will be quests that have to be completed.

Thanks again for all the help, you were not alone with the mines, they are pretty loud.

Ein Godot bro! Da musste ich das Spiel testen!

The game looks pretty and I like the smooth movement, but I walked around the whole location and tried pressing all the buttons I have on the keyboard and nothing prompted my character to attack the enemies or interact with the gravesite that I found. The mine system also could be a little more clear, but I don't think it's a problem to have a mechanic where you constantly lose health and have to replenish it. Overall the idea seems great, I hope you expand on it!

@kanity Thanks for playing the game, I really appreciate it. I am going to update the documentation to reflect attack and movement.

Thank you so much for your critique

Interesting mechanic. But for this mechanic, I felt that I am just avoiding everything and collecting hearts? But I didn't quite get why I my collecting heart (excluding I am losing hp). What those monsters could do with me? I run much faster than them so they are always out of screen. Good luck.

Before I read the instructions, I also didn't see the point in attacking skellys and just ran around picking up hearts. After I read them though I really liked the "level up" mechanic and did slay them as they appeared.

I think the game has way too many mines and hearts, but that's arguable. The main issue with the mines currently, is that you give the player no control over them, so it feels unfair. If there was a subtle indicator on the ground that a mine is there, the player can start to pay attention and avoid them by going around or maybe disarm them.

A minor detail that I would correct : when you are holding Move up/down, and then start pressing left/right, the player changes direction. But when holding down left/right, it does nothing to press up/down until you release the previous input. I think it should! It makes it more smooth and enjoyable to move when your most recent keypress is taken into account.

I really liked the boss fight, felt challenging and satisfying to have slayed the skellys to get to this point.

While there are adjustments to be made, you did a great job and incorporated a lot. Keep it up!

My biggest question would be : Why the hell so many mines, invisible mines xD (well I guess in real life mines should be invisible but still...)

It was fun to play, I didn't read all the feedback you got so maybe I will say something that has already been said.
One thing that was disturbing is the large amount of life the player has. It is difficult to really grasp how much damage the player can take before dying.
I think a mechanic that could have provided you with the same "progression" effect whilst being easier to mentally managed would have been an Armor effect. You start full life with, say, 100 life points, and instead of gaining life when killing skellies, you gain armour making them and the sorceress do less damage to the player. You still need to prepare yourself for the final boss in order to survive, and the healing system would have felt more meaningful.
At least that is how I would have done it, but that might not be what you where aiming for.

anyway great job :)

@kler Thank you so much for you input, it is greatly appreciated. When I first made the game I had a hidden path that when run into would immediately kill you. You would then start over and try to figure out the path from your deaths. In addition I laid bread crumbs behind you so that you could see the pattern of your path. The goal of the game at that point was to just get to the grave without dying. When I changed the entire game I left the mince out of nostalgia.

Thanks for the input on the controls, I will take a look at that and see what I can do.

@tomtomgome Thank you for downloading and playing my game, I really appreciate it.

Now, I really like the armor idea. That is much better than the way I did it. Easier to program too. Hopefully I will get some time to adjust the mechanics of the game.

Thanks again for playing!

I think you overscoped and the game is lacking polish. You should have went for something smaller. But I really like that you spent the time to search for nice sprites and music and implemented all basic features. Also some sort of tutorial would have been very helpful. Those mines and wizards were very confusing! But it was still solid entry as you managed to make a playable game with graphics and sounds, it is actually quite impressive when you think about it outside of Ludum Dare community.

Hey @martta, thanks for the input. you are exactly right, I WAAAAY over scoped this game. Next time, single screen, something simple, with good music, sound, and graphics.

The mines and the skellies have been a problem since time immemorial. This is what happens when the game changes three times during development and you don't get rid of anything.

Thanks again for the input, it is always appreciated!

I really like the "beginning of a new adventure" aspect of the game. The graphics and music were well chosen.
As mentioned in the other reviews, the bombs are a bit annoying but after a few tries you get used to them.

I found a few bugs:
-If you move to the side. If you then press "attack" and release the movement key, the movement continues.
-The game continues to run in the background on the game over screen (I hear the fairy appear)

Small suggestion: visual and/or audio feedback should be added when the player hits an opponent/gains or loses health points

I think you ran out of time. But once all the bugs are fixed, and the feedback suggestions are taken into account, the game will be really good! :D

Thank you @gurtek I appreciate any and all input. I didn't know about the movement lock, and my menu system could use some work just like you suggested.

I am glad you enjoyed your playing the game. Thank you so much for your help

We first thought that hearts are exploding for some reason :D
Nice simple game for 2-3 minutes!

@sylf Yeah, there are so many explosions it kind of looks like that. Thanks for playing!!

From my experience playing the game, I found that the gameplay felt a bit unintentional and the objective was somewhat confusing. At first, I was a bit perplexed as I seemed to be getting hit by explosions left and right, which made me think the game might have been bugged. However, after taking a step back and reading more about what was going on, I eventually figured out what was happening.

One thing that could be improved in the game is making the mines more easily identifiable, either through a visual or auditory cue, so that players can avoid them more easily. As it stands, it feels like the game is punishing players for exploring, which can be a bit frustrating. I was able to beat it and the defeating of enemies to level the attack was intriguing.

Overall though, I think with a few tweaks here and there, the game has a lot of potential!

@dongle The mines are a bit of a problem for many of the players. If I update this version of the game I really like the idea of a visual warning in order to avoid them.

When you said "As it stands, it feels like the game is punishing players for exploring, which can be a bit frustrating", it triggered something my wife said. That a game is supposed to be fun, not frustrating.

Thanks for all of your input and help, and thank you for playing my game.

I totally owned this one log with a life meter. Take that LOG! =P

Good game!

Nice entry.

I enjoyed rushing around. Trying to hit-and-run skeletons. Getting completely stunned by sorceress and blowing myself up on mines! Now to the notes I have:

The mines were a big problem - it just felt like a cheat against player. Invisible thing that just hits you almost all the time your run around - attempting to get hearts so you won't die. Or just attempting to get away from randomly appearing sorceress to not die to her spell.

Hearts collision box is smaller than heart itself (you can walk around it without picking it up).

Whenever sorceress appeared and hit me, I got stunned, no background was visible (everything just green) and skeletons hitting me. My input didn't work at all for 10 - 15 seconds. So getting hit by sorceress equaled death. Seemed a bit like a bug to me (might be Godot thing).

It starts in fullscreen mode and is bugged (game played only on about half of my screen). As previous - it seemed like a bug to me (might be Godot thing).

Overall - I liked the entry. Good job!

Cool entry with a lot going on! Looks nice for sure, so good job putting the assets together even if you didn't draw them.

I like this one but I also felt like it had some rough edges. The potential here was higher than what it accomplished. If it's okay I want to drop a list of issues I encountered... I hope this is helpful feedback and not hurtful. If I thought it was just a bad entry I would not put in the effort, believe me.

1. Colliders are too small. This makes the graphics "lie" to me. I can walk over a heart but not pick it up. I can phase through a tree. Most problematic of all, I can swing my sword and watch is slash through a skellie but actually it secretly didn't connect. I think bigger colliders for good things (get heart, hit enemy) would improve the game feel. Typically, colliders feel best imo when they err on the side of cheating very slightly in favor of the player.

2. Combat feedback is non-existent. I cannot tell if I hit the enemy because there is no flash, no animation, no sound, no knockback. I let a big mob build up and then I had this epic battle for like a full minute thinking "wow these guys take a lot of hits" before I realized "Oh wow the last fifty swings of my sword I didn't actually hit any of these guys!" I think combat could feel a LOT more satisfying with bigger colliders and a bit of feedback (and knockback).

3. Random explosions from something I can't see just confused me. I didn't know what was happening until I alt-tabbed back and read the hints. The damage they did was so small that it hardly mattered, yet they had the biggest graphics and sound feedback. I don't feel they fit thematically with the game (skeletons using mines?) and the game would have been better without them.

4. The damage dealt by skellies was pretty low, and while I'm glad a mistake wasn't instant game over, combat was not as exciting as it could be because it didn't matter if I took hits. This led to me just walking up and spam attacking the skellies rather than playing a game of positional combat vs them.

5. Was there actually a pumkin? The game said it was my mission. I searched and searched but never found one. Was that empty area of dirt on the far right with the tree stump the grave? I got there, and I think it started a battle, but I beat back some skellies and hit that lady who freezes time and blanks the screen a few times, but nothing happened. I ended up confused about what to do.

Anyway that list probably sounds rough, but I don't mean to sound like it's a bad entry. I enjoyed spending some time going around and exploring, collecting hearts, and beating up on some skellies. You included a variety of features and a nicely-bounded scope that felt pretty complete, so well done on the entry!

I don´t understand in wich direction I supose to go, I kill some skeletons and the sourcer shows up buy don´t kill me, I think the mechanics are good but need some orientation like a path or something, could be nice more sound effects, good work! also you can go out of screen

@pkenney Your critique is excellent. Many of the things you have mentioned are right on the money. The combat needs a lot of work. I tweaked all that I could before submission, but it just wasn't enough. I tried adding the health bars above the enemies for a little feedback, but it got so confusing when there were a bunch of skellies.

And yes, there was a pumpkin. Originally I had an invisible path that you needed to follow to get to the grave. If you deviated from the path it was instant death. In order to figure out the path I had the game leave little pumpkins behind like bread crumbs. So, I left the path in and just allowed it to damage you and I took the pumpkin bread crumbs out.

Thanks so much for your input. it is greatly appreciated. I learned for my next Ludum Dare to bring the scope down to something much more manageable.

where we are, what we have to do, all is unclear. You need a lil more reflexion for this lil piece of sucking shit.

I like the idea of starting with low health and having to get resources to heal constantly. It's a nice fast paced/stressful mechanics.

That said, the actual implementation needs a good amount of work yet.

Not sure why I kept getting hit while gathering hearts. I think u mentioned that there is the sorceress hitting you, but it felt too much and totally random, sometimes nothing for a minute, sometimes hit after hit until I died.

I can understand that u want the game to be challenging, but, since it is not very finished, I think it would have been better to make it easier so people could at least see what your overall idea was and also getting satisfied because they completed it. I tried twice, but after dying randomly because of the "constantly getting hit randomly", I gave up. I'm not even sure if killing the sorceress near the grave was the aim of the game, I thought I had to deliver something.

The music in the background was fitting, but it stopped playing after a while, I think u needed to setup it to loop!

As for the combat, well it's very basic but confusing, I saw that 1 hit could almost kill the skeletons, but they did not die even after many hits. Not sure what was missing but I guess that there is lots of work to do here too to make it properly working.

I guess u like stats a lot, but I think putting as the first thing in this game page the list of damage may be confusing for the player, and might be something that should be put somewhere else. The description would have been fine with way less specific informations.

Reading it back, it does say something I forgot while playing, that there are mines everywhere. Honestly, not a very good mechanic as it is, since u can't know where they are and it just feels like a bug. Maybe having a way to detect them would make it a bit better, as of now is just unfair and not clear.

That said, even if the game requires more work, overall it works and can be played, and that is something to be proud of when joining a game jam.
Keep doing games and getting better!