The Sealed Power by GameDevTraum

made by GameDevTraum for Ludum Dare 58 (JAM)

This game is a quick fantasy adventure about an explorer who goes into a mysterious, enchanted castle. In this world, most people believe the castle is cursed because anyone who enters never comes back. You play as one of these rare adventurers—someone exploring the castle not for fame, but to learn more about its secrets. During your journey, you find out that the wizard inside isn't evil, but a protector of a hidden, powerful force.

The Enchanted Castle shimmered in the mist, embodiment of lost dreams and better times.

Villagers whispered of adventurers who entered its gates and never returned, their fates carved in stone.

They called it cursed — a place where ambition met its end.

But you came seeking truth, not gold.

You want answers, not renown.

Its magic sings to you, wary yet kind, and its beauty traps you like dewfall before dawn.

Step inside the mist. Face the unknown. The Sealed Power awaits you.

Share your favorite card and what it means to you in the comments below. We look forward to hearing your stories!

WebGL - Windows - Linux	https://gamedevtraum.com/en/games-and-apps/the-sealed-power-ludum-dare-58/
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/58/the-sealed-power

Ratings

Overall	706^th	2.947⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Fun	693^th	2.737⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	643^th	2.763⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Theme	654^th	3.132⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	366^th	3.737⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Audio	402^th	3.105⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Mood	666^th	3⭐	21🧑‍⚖️
Given		13🗳️	17🗨️

Feedback

TeaRei

Oct 07th · 13:23 UTC

I like the visual style

Adhvik

Oct 07th · 13:52 UTC

Amazing graphics

vivid-hallucination

Oct 07th · 13:58 UTC

Enjoyed wandering the maze. It was visually cohesive and I love all the psychedelic and wizardly illustrations on the paintings. I collected them all. I don't think I was ever able to have more than one in my inventory though, so scrolling the mouse wheel to select one before using it wasn't intuitive.

EricNS

Oct 07th · 13:59 UTC

It's a nice experience, it's got a nice ambience and sound design, i just feel like it's lacking replayability, but overall pretty polished

Ntimi

Oct 07th · 14:05 UTC

I could proceed very far into the game - it didn't let me place my second card (the one with the fireball moving from one hand to another), so I got stuck early on.
Props for integrating the idea of collectible card into a different format than a card game. Did you draw the card art yourself? If so - nice, they really feel like classic collectible card fronts.
The game mechanics felt a bit bare, though - it was basically a standard unity walker with cards as keys.
Thanks for the entry, though!

Maxime BOYAVAL

Oct 07th · 14:10 UTC

Very good game and ambiance.

Some minor glitches. I cliped through the map but it was compensated by warping me to the spawn.
Also, when i got a card while my hands were empty I needed to use the mouse wheel first to be able to use the card.
Which led to confusion the first time and I almost thought that the game was unfinishable because of a bug.

The theme accordance is a little lacking in my opinion. We picked up one card at a time, at leat I did and it did not seem like I could have had more, unless I am mistaken. For me, the collector theme need to have some kind of collection, which means, multiple objects at the same time, at the very least.

Overall a sympathic game, it made me think of a small scale metroid vania.

OrdiNeu

Oct 09th · 17:19 UTC

I wouldn't have gotten through it without the comment by @maxime-boyaval -- had no idea we needed to mouse wheel before using any of the cards. I agree that the theme & gameplay was lacking, but it was pretty alright otherwise

Eugenik

Oct 09th · 21:31 UTC

Really nice looking game and fun to play!.

Rogaven

Oct 10th · 20:08 UTC

I like the cards artstyle

swaiky

Oct 11th · 00:41 UTC

This game is so cool! 😎 The design is super fun, and the graphics are really nice! 🎮✨

b0guslaw

Oct 11th · 11:23 UTC

Very polished but a bit lacking experience. Visually, it is absolutely incredible for the amount of time you got. I can't even begin to think how quickly you must have produced those wizard drawings. On the other hand, I found the gameplay to be not super engaging. I found myself running back and forth a lot, trying to find where the card I just found belongs.

What I really liked was the smoothness of moving around and the sprint button, which LOTS of games are lacking. Purely from a usability standpoint, it adds so much polish and niceness to the game!

Overall, still well done and you got a cool game on your hands!

InfernalWolf08

Oct 11th · 18:05 UTC

I love everything about this game. The graphics are polished, the game loop is fun, and the mood is clear. Overall, really good job!

Flying Dog Fish

Oct 11th · 18:57 UTC

Why must I use my mouse wheel to select the only one card I have in my hand? And why doesn't the game tell you that? I thought the game was broken. Anyway, I was able to finish the game after reading about that in one of the comments. You probably meant to make it so a player could have more than one card, but didn't design the level in that way in the end. So it's ok to require mousewheel to use a card, but the game should tell the player that in the instruction.

The game itself looks good and the cards look amazing. Movement and looking and running around is smooth, but I did fall out of the map once, fortunately I was transported back to the start. The music is makes for a nice atmosphere, but some more sounds like footstep or random noises would make it even better.

dasMaichen

Oct 12th · 17:21 UTC

Very good entry!
I love the atmosphere, so mystic!