the links doesnt work

@cleverdumb had to reupload because of some issues with the itch build, should be working now.

ah ok

The itch.io link doesn't work, and the embedded version on this page doesn't display correctly.
The Itch.io link says "404 error" and when I look at your itch page, I don't see the game listed.

I tried the embedded game, but not all the buttons seem to work. R to restart doesn't work, for instance.
Seems like fun! I hope you get it sorted so I can come back and give it a proper try!

@the-lame-brain thanks for the comments! That shows why sleep is important - I've now made the itch page public :) so others can see it too and removed the embedded game on this page because its a bit borked.

Re the keys like reset not working, I've tested the itch build in Chrome, Opera and Firefox on Windows and can't replicate. It may be an issue with the LD website, but I'm not sure!

I wish the archer was a bit more different from the warrior. But besides that i really liked the idea of this game. "SPOILER WARNING LEVEL 2" level 2 introduces the diagnal placement really smartly very nice idea.

Neat concept you have here! I really like the storytelling and the different sprites for humans vs undead! I have to admit I got a little stuck on the second level because it was not clear to me that I could move diagonally, it would have been nice if the areas I could place in would have been highlighted all the time and not just on hover.

@hoeleboele good point they are a bit hard to distinguish. I also wanted to add different "side effects" when summoning different creatures but its hard in only a weekend :grin:

@domenixius thanks for the feedback - I experimented with different highlighting but it got a bit messy visually... It probably would have to add some more hints and/or added something in a tutorial level.

Well done! Didn't understand what you received when you do a match.

Awesome puzzle game! Mechanic is fun and story was hilarious! My only gripe is that swordsmen and bowmen are very similar, but overall, nice game! Well done!

Itch.io embed worked for me.
Maybe I'm dumb but I think level 2 was the hardest of them all - maybe I missed something? But I found myself having to snake precisely around so I collected the right three, then the guy in the middle, then the dogs at the bottom. Very satisfying when I worked it out though :) The rest of the levels felt like a victory lap.
I get the impression these levels were very carefully designed, so excellent work there.

Very cool idea, and executed pretty well too!
I got stuck on level 2 for a while until I understood the rules, but when I did I appreciated how clever the idea is. Great job!

Cool game, got stuck on level 5 though!

You found the perfect name for this game.

It's subtle, but I really like that you can move in 8 directions, while the matching only works vertically and horizontally. How many times did I clear 3 tiles when trying to get to red ones? Nice design. It's simple, but it added some nice complexity to the gameplay.

Level 2 should probably have been a later level. It was the most challenging next to level 5. The puzzles hit the sweet spot for jam games. I used the "r" key a lot, but I managed to get through them all.

The music is adorable. I don't think it fits the game though, since it's pretty cheerful.

Loved the text accompanying each level. Pretty funny. It really adds a lot to the experience. A little smile while I'm scratching my head on the puzzles.

Pedantic note: The tutorial reads "see bottom right" when the available souls are on the left :P

The Itch page wont start, and with all the positive comments here I really would like to try.

I love that the music is kinda like clacking skeletons.

Very tight puzzle, great job on the level design too!

Level 2 is the one I spent the longest at, because I assumed surely I couldn't place things diagonally.

Stuck on level 5, but it's a nice little puzzle game. Good job!

Love the art & the concept! Quite challenging as well :)

@pincushion fantastic feedback, thanks!

@pe7e hmmmm, strange. What browser are you on? Are there any errors in the developer console?

@wilsk tried again, now it loaded. Chrome. Maybe I wasn't patient enough but it didn't take long this time. Anyway, really fun puzzle game. Great job!

@pe7e ah great :sweat_smile:. Yeah a loading screen would probably have been a good idea

Hi! this one was tough, im not really good with puzzles but music was good to let me think.

I kinda like the little subtle sound that you have there in the background and the minimal UI.

the assets for all of them are also quite cool, having s and rmb as options for changing summoned creatures is good.

I am so bad in puzzles, I think I am already minutes stuck on level 2

Thanks @sirjupitron and @velvetlobster for playing and the feedback! A few people have mentioned they found level 2 hard - the secret is (SPOILER I GUESS) that you can place pieces on diagonals. A future improvement would definitely be to introduce this in a tutorial level.

The level design is top-notch! It's clear you put a lot of thought into the puzzles. 😉

As previous comments have said the level 2 difficulty ramped up little too fast. One tutorial level with diagonals would have helped here. Other that little more clearer silhouettes on swordman and bowman would have helped on level 2.

Did you design your puzzles from complete solution backwards or from starting point to solution?

Really interesting puzzle game, but has a pretty steep learning curve. Also as someone who immediately figured out diagonal placements, I still agree level 2 was by far the hardest. In my case it was actually difficult because I didn't understand how the harvesting worked (since it gives you more units, but only gives you the red units)

Still, would love to see more of this! Very fun mechanics, even if they were a bit confusing at first

@josion thanks!

@dinoraz and @denvil thanks for the feedback - definitely fair. Funnily enough I made level 2 first, so I think by the time it was ready for submission I was just doing it without thinking how hard it might be.

The levels were made progressively in sort a trial and error way. I'd layout a pattern of obstacles and red creatures I liked the look of, tried to make starting positions that matched the story, then either add / remove available summons or the ones on the grid at the start until I was happy.

I did sort of set it up for procedural generation - the level stores a random seed that is used for any RNG - but it never even got close to being in scope. One of the planned features was to have random side effects when you capture pieces (sorta random, because every time you played the level it would use the same random seed), but I wasn't happy with my implementation of this and it fell out of scope also.

AS others mentioned this is a hard game but so rewarding when it clicks and you figure it out! The graphics are simple but clear and work really well for this type of game. Awesome job for making this in one day!

I won! I made it through, the Pleasant Valley villagers stood no chance (and deserved it, of course).

There was a nice breakthrough moment for me in level 2 when I got it and it all clicked, I enjoy that moment in puzzle games tremendously, and I liked that I also had that here. The art style with the cathode ray-esque graphics looks really neat as well, I think it lends itself well to this sort of puzzle game. All in all very good puzzle game, great job on that!

Very interesting game mechanic! Once I got the hang of it I was having a lot of fun, but I think there needs to be a bit more of a tutorial to teach the player how to play the game. I wouldn't have figured out that I could place skeletons diagonally if I didn't read the comments, so I think that's one area for improvement

@captaindreamcast thanks for the feedback!

@niterich thanks - this is probably a good lesson to leave some time for others to playtest before submitting :grinning:

Well crafted puzzles. I realize this is probably part of the difficulty but man, my kingdom for an undo.

Hey @ultrarat interesting, I hadn't really thought about an undo! The way the game is written it could potentially be quite trivial to do (the game state is stored as a series of events, so in theory I could easily just pop the top event and "reset" the render like I do at the start of a level).