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Growth Circles's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #39 | 4.074 | 4.074 |
| Mechanics | #72 | 3.790 | 3.790 |
| Story | #77 | 3.506 | 3.506 |
| Music | #83 | 3.765 | 3.765 |
| Aesthetics | #136 | 3.926 | 3.926 |
| Theme | #156 | 3.654 | 3.654 |
| Sound | #208 | 3.123 | 3.123 |
Ranked from 81 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game total?
1
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
Yes! Music: https://opengameart.org/content/long-away-home-8bit https://opengameart.org/content/boss-battle-3-8-bit-re-upload https://opengameart.org/content/8-bit-battle-theme-famitracker https://opengameart.org/content/victory https://opengameart.org/content/game-over-bad-chest-sfx Sounds: https://freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/59992/ EnvironmentArt: https://szadiart.itch.io/rogue-fantasy-catacombs
Link to your source?
https://github.com/LammerD/DeathIsOnlyTheBeginning/tree/main
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Comments
Love the game idea and the mechanics. Sword controls are bit to hard, I wish there was a way to see a damage impact of different weapons since starting sword and last sword that I got felt the same despite dealing different damage. Music and overall sound effects were great, pixel art amazing. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for giving it a shot! The sword controlls did turn out quite wonky I struggled with the implementation a bit °^^ The swords actually don't increase in damage directly they are more of a range upgrade + projectile in the last form °^^ But different sounds for the swords is definitely something I want to add and maybe some form of knockback or so.
Oh, you got a great boss fight. Maybe some minimaps could be better, but nice animations, sounds and map overall.
Thank you! I debated adding a mini map but I wanted to have one like in the binding of isaac so you don't see your real time location but only the room layout of the rooms you have been in. And I definitely did not have time to implement that :D
well done! Creating a fun Jam game, with story and unique game mechanic.
The circles made for a great way to change up your own rewards, and an added layer of complexity.
Personly I struggled with the sword fighting element :), though that may just be me being rubbish :P.
Well done! Great work!
Thank you! I'm glad you had fun! Oh no no that the sword fighting is a little janky is totally fair and was something I struggled with quite a bit °^^
Loved this, finished it twice. And my kids played it too, they also loved it!
Wow that is great to hear! Thank you very much! If I may ask how difficult was it for you and your children? Balancing is a heck of a task °^^
I died one, kids never, we had fun merging those circles to what we think was better loot. I started getting good after the sword that shoots projectiles.
Fun
Very enjoyable. The mechanic felt unique and I didn't have any issues jumping in and playing.
Aesthetics
Great. The pixel art sprites are all very well done. I was impressed there was a working lighting system. I would have liked the growth circles to have sprites as well, and a pixel art font would have been nice, but otherwise it looks great. The boss fight was especially cool.
Music
The music was alright. It could be better. The mood was right, but it felt outdated.
Sound
Great sounds. No complaints. 10/10
Mechanics
The growth circle mechanic is cool, and I like how you can choose between making a bunch of small circles, or a few big ones to change your end room rewards. The rewards didn't really feel impactful though, outside of increased max hp.
Movement felt great. It did feel a little linear though. Maybe some acceleration and deceleration? Or perhaps a dodge roll? Something to break up the movement.
I didn't like the anchored turrets. I wanted the option to kite all enemies into one big circle, and the turrets didn't let me.
Story
I liked the premise. What really did it for me though, was when you bet the game, it lets you become the son of the boss you just beat. That was a stroke of genius. I would love to see an entire game about that mechanic by itself.
Theme
This fit the death is only the beginning in two ways, the first was with growth circles, and the second was with the generational story. Both are unique and have a lot of potential.
The art and sounds also fit very well into the setting.
I do want to mention something else: The boss fight was fantastic. Those take forever to build, so I just wanted to praise you for adding one that felt satisfying.
Wow thank you very much for playing and you thorough feedback! Very much appreciated!
The lighting was a very late addition as I did not even know such a thing was possible with pixel art but it actually works quite easily thanks to unity! Yes the growth circles definitely need some visual work but to be honest I did not find a way to make scaleable pixel art look good... But I will try a few things out and see if anything looks good! Font will also be added I just did not have the time as I had to choose if I wanted to implement the generation mechanic or add more smaller things like more sounds and a font.
The reward tuning also needs some love especially a pickup sound for some more juice!
I also thought about a dodge roll might look into that !
Yeah the anchored turrets are a design choice I don't know if I'm quite happy with in the end. My Idea was that you had to move the small ones to the stationary ones so it becomes a little bit more tactical of when you kill them. I will most likely add a few more enemy types which will be mobile!
I'm so so glad that you got the generational part my fear was that people would beat the boss and be like all right that way nice but not catch on to that they get respawned as a blue player °^^ So thank you very much for noticing!!
Ohhh I'm super glad you enjoyed the boss fight it was really fun to create but super hard to balance! I definitely want to work more on bosses in the future they are just such a cool mechanic!
Again thank you very much for playing my game and taking your time for such extensive feedback!
Nice game. I found the sward controls pretty hard. But with the music, it has a nice retro feel.
Thank you! Yeah those were a pain to implement and they still did not quite turn out like I wanted it too... °^^
Congrats on completing the jam! I really liked your growth mechanic and the upgrades. I thought the boss fight was well done, you did a good job of telegraphing attacks and providing some interesting variety. I'd love to see rooms with more enemies too!
Thank you very much for playing! I am glad you enjoyed it! I will definitely add a few more rooms when I update this game and at least one more enemy type! :D
Sick submission! Had such a blast, well done!
Pros
Cons
Overall a great submission that only lacks sound effects, well done! :)
Hey! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for playing! Yes the sound and the horible font are the two sore thumbs I would have loved to iron out but the time just ran away from me °^^
an epic loop lol , the boss battle is a lot of fun .
an epic loop lol , the boss battle is a lot of fun .
Thank you for playing :D Glad you liked it!
Very cool and a good interpretation of the theme! Congrats!
Thank you!
I enjoyed the Circle Mechanic A LOT. The Boss Fight was very well done and the cool little easter egg after the boss was quirky lol. Some things I would say to improve on are the pickup radius for the hearts and also the range and speed of the swords swings. Overall, Very Fun and Engaging!
Thank you very much for playing! Nice someone got the easter egg I was scared everyone would just skip over it after winning the fight :D Yeah pickup radius needs to be bigger especially when you have high speed it becomes hard to pick them up! Did you get weapon and attack speed upgrades during your run or how would you further improve on them?
I did get all the upgrades on my run, which was awesome! I would further improve them by having them drastically speed up or improve the player, then create levels where there are tons of enemies or the boss fight would have more health. Pretty much creating more chaos and increasing the loot pool drops for the circles.
Good game all around. Lots of fun. Excellent job.
Thank you for playing it! It was a blast seeing someone actually enjoy my work!
Nice game
Thank you!
Nice game, I did also find, as others have mentioned that hit detection needs some extra feedback to the player as it was a bit unresponsive and I couldn't always tell whether I was hitting them or not. The growing circles are a nice mechanic though, good work overall, keep it up!
Yes for sure something that needs more polishing! Thanks for playing :)
Good mechanic using the sword as the mouse position, made it tricky to hit the bad guys. Great to be able to get upgrades too. Great Job!
Thank you for trying the game out!
I love the art, the sound design, level design and weapon level up mechanics!
The reward system is also great. I love the idea of the bigger your growth circle the higher your reward! I had a lot of fun ^w^.
Thank you very much for giving it a try! May you stay safe from evil mushrooms and shadow creatures :D
I was feeling sleepy at work, so I replay your game, and I finally beat the it! Man i wish there were more levels ^w^.
More bosses! But again great job!
Gave it another replay and i just noticed that it's a cycle!
Mind is officially blown :)
Now the duality of the game icon makes a lot sense
I really liked the mechanic of the circles, though there were too many of the heal circles as I didn't see myself really get into that much trouble. The definitely can be expanded upon one thing that comes to mind is some enemies that gain buffs if they are in some circles so you have to pick and choose what to eliminate first and I'm sure you can expand this game much more. Also great boss fight. Hits on enemies lacked response. Other than that amazing idea, keep it up :)
Thank you! Yeah I opted to make the game too easy rather than too hard especially what hp is concerned! I originally had it so that if only one enemy died (ie. you did not kill additional enemies in a spawed circle) that it would give nothing and then if you killed one in it you got hp back. Basically shift everything up by one. But balancing is hella hard... When I update the game I will make it so that if you play for a second round with the blue mushroom that the enemies hit harder and have more hp.
Yes more enemies are definetly something I want to add!
You are giving me so many ideas for improvements. Enemies in growth circles are stronger so you have to trade of if you want to fight them there for better rewards or kill them more easily outside of it. And also it needs an enemy that runs around and basically slowly sucks up the growth circles so that is an enemy that does not attack the player directly but his opportunities at rewards.
Thank you very much for your comment it was really inspiring! °^^
Interestingly I found the complete opposite. I couldn't get past the 3rd room (unless I skipped it and just ran straight north to the 4th and died there instead). I found if I killed the 2 in the first room together I always got the sword upgrade, then if I killed the 2 little ones in the next room on top of the big stationary ones I got some kind of upgrade (walk speed, attack speed, damage) but in the 3rd room, no matter where or how I killed things, I didn't get any drops and then I died.
I also found that given the unique mechanic, too many of the enemies were stationary so you couldn't control where you killed them
Did you ever run east when you get the forking room? There might be some help there :D My idea was that with the stationary enemies you have to think about maneuvering the small ones to them to get the best reward! The sword in the first room is a guaranteed drop in the first room as it gives the most visual feedback instead of random stat increase! Weird it should work if you kill them close enough to each other :think:
My first playthrough I didn't get the sword, I didn't kill them on top of each other and got 2 hearts, which I didn't need at the time. I played 4 times and couldn't get past that 3rd room. I tried again and went to the east side of the room but all I found was locked door. Nothing I killed in that room dropped anything any time I played
Did you kill all the enemies in the room? The rewards only spawn on room completion. That way you can grow the circles for better upgrades!
I always died before I could kill everything
This was super entertaining from start to finish! I love that you clearly telegraph the enemy attacks especially the boss and it's smooth af to play. The art is great, you go lil mushroom fellow!
I'm really glad you liked it! I definetly want to make more bosses they are just a blast to make but a pain to balance :D
nice game mechanics. congrats!
Thank you!