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A jam submission

SpellblockdView game page

Submitted by redy9567 — 37 minutes, 47 seconds before the deadline
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Spellblockd's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Enjoyment#39562.1213.000
Overall#44992.0542.905
Presentation#45612.0202.857
Creativity#46882.0202.857

Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
The game include randomly acquired abilities, determined by a dice roll.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam

Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam

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Comments

Submitted

Here comes a review, mainly in the form of an on-the-fly playtest! I think it is rather comprehensive. You have eaten some my testing time, as several other games. XD

Review / Comments:

  1. The controls are layout-independent instead of QWERTY-based, thank you! :) Although the arrows work too.
  2. The characters is sweet; I understand you lacked the time to animate him.
  3. In the first scene, it was not obvious to me that you have to click on the giant die; I suggest mentioning it on the game page (and in a comment here if you wish).
  4. The controls feel a bit hard to master; I think the collisions between the player and the ground make it uneasy. It makes guiding the hero incredibly hard, sometimes. Here follows an account of my related mishaps.
Playtest:

Here goes my play of the game, I think this account should be an informative playtest for you and how to tweak the game according to player experience.

First try (for die number 1, I think): I approached the water and quickly drowned.

Second try (not sure of the number, maybe 5?): level design: the second platform was too far to see, I jumped randomly to see where to go and fell to my death when I saw it.

Third try: number 1 again; I try jumping above the water: too short. X)

Fourth try: number 2; ah, it looks like this is the same level as in my second attempt! Jump: succesful, this time. Apparently reached the pink end (with quite some fear of heights!). I think it should be made clearer to the player that the level was cleared, but that is fine.

Then: number 3. I do not see how to pass the tree and the O-K-L keys do nothing, so I go left. I die. X)

Oh, maybe I should have tried clicking for the fireball… ._. Did not think of it.

Number 4: I jump surprisingly high, bump into a small platform, and barely miss the initial platform when falling back, and drown.

Number 5: ah, it turns out I can use one power! (‘Pebble Transform’) I think you should make it clearer to the player which powers he currently has, through some visual indicator in the interface, for example.

Also, I do not know if you can have several powers at once, but if not, then it would be a good idea to bind them all to one single key instead of three (L-O-K).

This transformation into mini-self makes me think of the original Rayman (an excellent game; play it, people). :)

I like how the grey ‘fan’ platform pushes you in the air! :)

Ah, likewise, I got push leftwards by another one; I think you should change the graphics so that we see the orientation of the fans.

By the way, it looks like the character’s inertia never goes back to zero: he is still hovering; it would be better if he stopped at some point.

Understood I had to go left! Although where we have to go is not always clear; I would advise putting some visual indications, such as a sign with a painted arrow.

Reached the end.

Number 3 again: ah, I do have fireballs here! My previous intuition was right. So, it looks like the powers we have depends entirely on which level we are in. Ah, the O key also works, so we can have fireballs with another power; so, my advice on binding all powers to a single ‘power’ key/button depends on what combinations are available.

The ice block killed me!!! <:o I think this should be made clear, or hinted at; for example, by adding a nasty face on the block.

Stroke of luck, I get number 3 immediately after. :)

I would have thought the fireballs would melt the ice block, but they do not. I understand you probably chose ice as the polar opposite of fire, but it can mislead the player into thinking fire is effective against it; nevertheless, I managed to get it by experimenting, and it makes sense to choose the elemental opposite.

I do not know whether this is intended, but if you jump on a tree block, you cannot then jump from there.

Reached the end! :)

Now trying to get the numbers/levels I did not clear. I will only write down when I get an uncleared level, or anything noteworthy.

Weird, getting level 5 without the pebble transform ability; a bug?

Number 4 again: the high jump definitely looks like the special feature for this level. Jumping above a fan.

Wow, the close camera and total lack of visual indications (including the uniform black background) make it almost impossible to navigate amongst platforms!! :S I caught a glimpse of one platform while ascending, but it is then very hard to locate where things are. Went all the way back and survived by miracle! Trying again; made it.

Reached the end! :D It was short; fortunate, since it would have been so hard!

Number 1 again. Now that I understand I have to try powers, I see I have Electric Dash Teleport.

Jumped right between the platforms on the right to my death. XD Could not anticipate.

Number 2: I seem not to have any power. I fall to the right, those controls cause me trouble. XD

Number 2 again, I am lucky.

Fell on the water to the right after some jumps, but survived! Probable bug. Went out, fell on the right. XD

Back to number 2 again.

Reached the end! :D … Oh, seemed familiar, and I realize thanks to my notes I already did! XD Which leads me to another point: you should prevent the player from replaying cleared levels (because I think you can, although in my case, it was after game overs).

So, I have 1 and 6 remaining. It is frustrating to have to retry again and again to get the new levels.

Number 1. Almost got teleported to the left pit testing my power!!

Fell on the right…

Trying again; too short, fell in the water. ._.

All right, I am stopping here: the beginning of level number 1 seems very hard given the controls and limited view, and I never get level number 6, strangely, although a 6 is definitely displayed (either this is unluck, or there is no level 6). I hope this is enough of a playtest to be fruitful for you.

Conclusion:

It is clear to me that the main collision/physics system has to be reworked so that the game be more playable; also, some more indications about the powers and level-related possibilities (including visibility) would help the player better know what he can do. And some sounds would give more life to your game and importantly, give some feedback to the player to exert better control over the character!

I liked the variety of the worlds and several mechanics (burning the trees, the fans…), but I swear the way the character responds to the controls is painful. Change that and the game will benefit immensely!

On the originality side, I think you just added an element of randomness, which was a common interpretation, but this lacks a bit of a twist in my opinion.

I could become the nice adventure of a little sorcerer if you enhance it. :)

Submitted

Cool creative game, the controls are just a bit clunky (movement is not really smooth + you jump way too high) and i think a small tutorial would have been cool