Nice game ! I like the fact that can come back alone and die all over again if you don't ask for help :D ! The enemies are also behaving like I would expect, targeting the allies but yourself too. It's a nice balance. Great job, congrats ! :)
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Too many souls in this cavern's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #27 | 4.095 | 4.095 |
| Fun | #35 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
| Overall | #74 | 3.659 | 3.659 |
| Audio | #88 | 3.619 | 3.619 |
| Innovation | #150 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Game Design | #179 | 3.476 | 3.476 |
| Graphics | #279 | 3.476 | 3.476 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does you game fit the theme?
4 different interpretations of the theme are explored in this game through its gameplay and narration:
- ALLIES: You don't have to be alone to face challenges, you have people around you that can help.
- FRIENDLY FIRE: You're not alone (anymore)… so you can't behave as if you were!
- EXPECTATIONS: You expect to be alone in this cavern… but you might not be?
- PRESENCE: to feel not alone in your quest, physical presence is not needed. Letters, messages or just knowing that you're not the only one doing something also work (relates to both the ideas of not being "alone in a fight" and "not being the only one who does something").
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Art and programming all done by me and made from scratch for this game jam.
Music and sounds under Creative Commons License 0 or 4.0 (full credits on the game page, same for the font).
Comments
Thank you! There are a couple of cases where they will target the wizard, including when the number of enemies targetting a knight exceeds a specific number (which happens pretty quickly), when the wizards gets too close to an enemy, etc. That was my first time doing this kind of enemy behavior (not sure how it's called: a swarm manager?), so I'm very glad you appreciated it!
Very cool!
I think it could've used some more visual feedback (screenshake, particles, whatever else there is) and a bit more of those small animations you added for the purple wool monsters. e.g. the lightning would've been 100x times more amazing if it was animated a little bit as well.
Having the character animated to display when the attack is ready is a really good little detail in order to not display any UI! Perhaps you could've added an sfx or visual effect to let the player know even better that the attack is ready again.
I loved that you could go in alone again after losing for people with a big ego^^
Submitted
Leonie's 15th Potato DayThanks for the feedback! Trust me, I would have loved to implement many more effects, visual and sound feedbacks... I just had absolutely no time to do so (worked only for the last 3 days of the jam on my game...). It would definitely make the game look more polished than it is right now, as well as make it more fun to play. I mainly focused on visual and sound feedbacks that would communicate to players what was going on on screen, but had to leave for a later time most of the ones that would make the game "feel better".
And overall adding visual effects is just something that takes me quite a long time and a lot of trials to get right. For example, I actually drew an animation for the lightning attack. I implemented it and it just... didn't look "good/right" for the game, so I scrapped most of it (and obviously didn't have time to revisit it). And as you said, the character animation to indicate that the spell is ready works, but it's not quite good/striking/eye-catching enough as it is (some sound effect would also have been good). Some screenshake when the wizard is hurt, or when a knight dies would also have been good, and honestly I could go on and on on all the things I could add to make the game look/feel better. So yeah, absolutely agree with your points!
Ahah yeah, I was actually surprised at the number of players who chose to go back in alone immediately after losing!
Fun little fantasy action game!
Pros: good game desing, charming art, nice music and sound design, funny ending, I spent a long time trying to beat it without help
Cons: it would be cool to have a bit more variety but I know there's only so much you can do with a week, the game lags a bit when there are a lot of enemies on screen even with my gaming rig, I intentionally killed all of knights before opening the chest and it would have been kinda funny if the game had acknowledged me being a psychopath with a slightly different ending.
Overall fun little experience that I'd absolutely play a full length version of
Submitted
The Corner of Your EyeThanks for all the feedback! Ahah, I totaly get the urge to try to beat all the monsters alone, and really glad you took some time to test out the different options!
Agree with all the cons you listed, and just as you guessed it's mostly a case of not having enough time (or not being skilled enough yet to develop/draw things faster/more efficiently...). I was also very intent on not overscoping. But optimizing the game for better performance and having slightly different endings based on the number of remaining knights were actually the two first things I wanted to do after finishing this version of game.
This game was great! I loved the system for striking lightning and how getting help is useful, but not required. I also thought that the way that having others with you has upsides and downsides was amazing game design! I thought that the art style was great, the quality of music is something I wish I had in my game, and the game had a humorous and satisfying ending!
Submitted
ShroudoomThank you for all the feedback! Very happy to see that you appreciated the lightning spell. I thought it would be fun to have a spell that required a bit more player involvement than normal, and it also made it harder to avoid hitting the knights... so players would have to change a bit their playstyle when not alone. That was one of the ways for me to make players feel the trade-off that comes with working in a team/not being alone anymore, but without having too harsh drawbacks either. For the music I must say I only chose and implemented it, didn't compose it (if you're interested, you can find many more free soundtracks on incompetech.com).
I really like the story and the game atmosphere. The gameplay is super simple and is okay fun. Overall a funny little jam game.
Submitted
The King Must Not FallI LOVE how this game fits the theme in many ways. Good job!
Submitted
The Curious Night of Jacob PriceReally fun to play game, especially game plot:D Music is really accurate with the plot:)
Submitted
Friends in the DarkI had a really fun time! Thanks for putting in effort for the narration, it really made the game fun even though it's short! I like the idea of giving the player options to choose their play style. The music and sound effects fit the narration well. Artwork is solid. Overall just a really fun game! And yes I did have a good laugh. :)
Submitted
eclipcicleThank you for your feedback, and really glad you had fun! The theme made me want to "explore" different situations and feelings related to "not being alone", hence the narration. But at the same time, I wanted players to feel like they played an active role in the(ir) story, hence the different options/ways to play (even if it's obviously at a very small scale). I was hoping players would have as much fun guiding this little wizard in his quest as I had designing his trials, really happy it seems to be the case!
That was a pretty solid game! The controls are good, the storytelling is really nice, the first "fake death" is awesome, and the ending twist closes perfectly the story ^^. The art is pleasant and the musics are fitting, so the whole atmosphere is amazing.
The gameplay was a bit simple and it was a bit hard to aim with the lightning spell (sorry knight#3 ^^'), and, after doing the game a second time, I nearly killed every mob without the help of the kights, but still was unconcsious xD.
Overall a great game, congratulations =)
Submitted
NotAlone Inc.Thank you for all the feedback! Super glad you enjoyed the game!
Gameplay is a bit simple I agree, mostly because I knew I wouldn't have time to make more since I also wanted to have some story. I also didn't want to make something too complex since the game is pretty short (risk of player not understanding mechanics, tutorial too long etc.).
The aiming being a bit hard with the lightning spell is kind of by design, since I wanted the player to feel like they had a very powerful spell… but also very destructive and dangerous to their allies! Though of course a bit more fine-tuning wouldn't hurt.
Ahah otherwise you found the flaw in my game: this first death is inevitable because it would kind of break the flow of the game otherwise… but I wished I had time to make an alternate ending in case you won the first time (actually also wanted different endings based on the number of surviving knights…). I also wanted to put in enemies that would be almost impossible to kill if the knights weren't there to tank them, but sadly didn't have enough time… I don't think this flaw is very noticeable on the first playthrough though, probably more once you've learnt how to fight!
Thanks! And yes don't worry for the whole "rating and comment" thing, for me it's definitely part of the fun of a game jam. Previous jams I took part in left only 1 week to write and comment, so it's nice to see that we get an extra week to do that! I also rated and left a comment on your game, good job!
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