Arcane Echoes by Krassenstein
Controller Recommended!
Embark on a mesmerizing journey through the enigmatic realm of "Arcane Echoes." As the Pixel Wanderer, a mysterious figure with the power to wield pixelated magic, you navigate a shrinking arena filled with spectral adversaries. Engage in swift and precise ranged combat, conjuring pixel projectiles to overcome the ever-encroaching challenges.
Backstory: In the digital tapestry of Bitonia, the Pixel Wanderer is drawn into the arcane echoes—an otherworldly dimension where the pixels themselves resonate with ancient magic. As the arena steadily contracts, the Pixel Wanderer must harness the power of arcane echoes to fend off spectral foes and survive the paradoxical challenges that unfold.
Controls: Movement: WASD or Left Stick | Fire: Arrows or Right Stick | Pause: Escape or Start
Features: - Engaging Pixel Art Style: Immerse yourself in the captivating visuals of classic pixel art, creating a nostalgic and enchanting atmosphere. - Minimalist Design, Maximum Fun: Experience streamlined gameplay with a character that glides effortlessly, focusing on precise ranged attacks without unnecessary animations. - Arcane Abilities: Unleash Pixel Barrages and summon Pixel Shields as you navigate the mysterious realm, adapting to the relentless pace of the shrinking arena.
Made in 72 Hours for Ludum Dare 54 Jam: "Arcane Echoes" was crafted within the time constraints of Ludum Dare 54 Jam, showcasing the creativity and dedication of the development team over the course of 72 hours. Dive into this pixelated adventure, where every shot resonates with the arcane echoes of a magical realm.
Test Your Skills Today! Discover the magic within the pixels and test your skills in "Arcane Echoes." Engage in swift combat, adapt to the shrinking arena, and uncover the mysteries hidden within the arcane echoes. How far can you navigate this mesmerizing pixelated realm? Play now and embrace the paradoxical journey!
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| Windows | https://krassenstein.itch.io/arcaneechoes |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/arcane-echoes |
Ratings
| Overall | 812th | 3.291⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 739th | 3.209⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 874th | 2.965⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 509th | 3.721⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 862th | 3.023⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 404th | 3.476⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 739th | 2.541⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 838th | 3.167⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 34🗳️ | 65🗨️ |
The projectiles also felt a little clunky being offset from the player when shooting up or down, when the enemies move towards your center. This led to a few moments of standing directly under an enemy but my shots missing to the side.
I would have liked to see a little more variety with the upgrades, maybe splash damage, chain lightning, etc. Overall though, this is a great game concept, good execution, and excellent audio.
Also could have been cool to see some enemy or weapon variation, but I do like the enemy designs
@darkwolf We patched this as gamebreaking bugs stink. Thanks for playing!
@aidanbacon We have 2 rare traits for more screenshake and knockback when you fire. Maybe you can find them. I'm not the best artist, so I'm happy I made 2 decent characters lol.
@paul-thick I'll look into this, I thought it was fixed, thanks for playing!
@lastuck Thank you!
@nirlandec Hey thanks! The arena ends up getting SO TINY. :)
@final-turn Thank you!
The core game loop was really nice: kill ghosts, buy upgrades, slowly get the arena smaller and smaller until you eventually die. Tying the size of the arena to character improvements was really interesting, especially since they also went the other way --- you can grow the arena, at a cost.
A little bit of feedback on some particular mechanics:
- I think it's rarely fun to have "bullet speed" as an upgrade. It usually makes very little gameplay difference (the enemies are walking toward you, they're going to hit the bullets anyway), but it makes the projectile *feel* a lot worse when it's slow. I usually like to start the bullet speed fast and leave room for more interesting upgrades like the ricochet, firing speed, etc.
- This one isn't a hard-and-fast rule, but making it so you can only fire in the direction you're moving can make combat unsatisfying. You generally want to shoot toward enemies, but move away from them.
Of course, this is all very subjective. You know your game better than anyone.
The audio work is great! The sound effects are punchy and the music was really pleasant. The character designs are nice and I liked a lot of the little graphics details like the on-hit effects and "turn around" animations.
Nice work for 72 hours!
Well done! Take a candy! :candy:
I played with the gamepad, and I did feel like I had better control; however, I think the shooting direction should not have been tied to the movement input. This means that you really have to be walking toward the enemies to shoot them, and since they are also moving toward you, you end up shooting once or twice and then running away to gain distance. Eventually, I feel like I'm just kiting enemies around! The controls could be improved with the mouse pointer or with the right joystick.
Great job for a solo dev!
Rest of the game was fine, never encountered a single bug, and had great polish.
Pretty decent overall!
Also upgrade balance feels strange. They already have a debuf which is decrease of area, why do they also decrease some of your stats? Moreover you pay gold for them.
In my opinion, 1: ad a delay when the shop open, because when you mash the space button to shoot you the buy the first thing directly.
2: the game seems to hard, either the enemies at the beginning need less life or the upgrade need to be cheaper (because they all have benefit and drowback)
3: (in the futur) add more weapons and enemies
But the concept is great, really well done
The coin progression was a bit unbalanced because it was about Round 5 and I was not able to afford any of the available upgrades. Also, the fact that the arena size was a part of the bargain made me not wish to buy any upgrades either because it felt that I was buying something that would hurt my progression.
In general, the idea is very cool!
The idea of space getting reduced as you chose your upgrades was interesting - a bit of a doubled edge blade. Just felt like you were forced to do it else you'd not upgrade. Did some of the powerups reduce the size by different amounts? maybe that woulda made player choices feel even more interesting.
Nice concept, feels like you got a core for something like vampire survivors too if you ever wanted to explore that.
I'm glad you can strafe shoot. i didn't know about the first time and it ruined it or for me but one i found you could use the arrows it made it way better :)
Anyway I got to the 10th wave before dying. The game felt a bit unfair with the difficulty scaling faster than one could get upgrades to fight it. With the way the level clears between waves leaving the gold behind, I felt like I was fighting in wave N to get gold during wave N+1 to *maybe* get upgrades for wave N+2.