I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 10

Another excellent game from Nowis. I'm kind of hard pressed to find any faults with this game. The story and dialog were great and entertaining, and the gameplay was spot on. The ONLY real complaint I have is how short and on the rails it felt. You just went to 1 screen, boss, shortcut, next screen, boss, etc. It didn't really leave a lot of room for exploration. Still, the two endings and the dialog more than made up for that shortcoming.

RE:Calibur 

by Nowis-337

Hey there Nowis, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Really great Title and intro scene.

The story is very tropey, but it's a time tested plot line that works over and over.

The sound can be a little sharp or piercing at times. I wouldn't say abrasive, but it's a thin line. For example with the last bar of the town music holding that high note, while also hearing the SFX of saving the game. I played with studio headphones on and not everyone will have enough clarity to find issue with this.

The action combat system is really good and I especially love the inclusion of a strafing system. Good thinking there.

I like the idea of teasing the player with an item that cost 999. You know that some players will have to get it. :)

I like the colorful sprites and tilesets. Some of them are are so darn cute. Especially the little shark heads. 

The bosses felt a little too easy, but that's probably better than too hard. Especially for a game jam entry.

I got the Hero in Training ending first. I am a fan of multiple endings.

What a spectacular little Zelda-like adventure RPG. I really enjoyed this entry, your game jam entries never disappoint, Nowis. Bravo.

Thanks for submitting a project for the IGMC 2022 and I always look forward to your next works. 

-Drifty

I got assigned this game in round 3 of the IGMC. First, congrats on getting to round 3! Here are my thoughts on the game. 

This game was really well done! It was nice and short, and I liked the option to go back and see the other ending too. And the battles were not too difficult either. 

I really have no suggestions to offer for improvement for this one. Well done!

This was a charming little game! I particularly enjoyed the little pixel prolog and epilogs images. 

It turned out to be a fairly simple romp, which I suppose should be expected, considering the time. If this was made custom in a  month, it's already very impressive. I just wish there was more and fleshed out with exploration like the Zelda it clearly is inspired by.

My one big nitpick with the game was the music: I didn't like it, but that might be just me.

I liked both endings, they both had their very cute moments. Congrats on the game! 

This was truly a delight to play. While not *quite* as crazy as last year's Buffet Knight, I still had a lot of fun rampaging through the various stages. I am also impressed with how you managed to make ABS reasonably fun in RM. Having 2 endings that are fairly easy to obtain is just the cherry on top. 

Well done, Nowis!

I absolutely love this game! The idea of leveling up the sword, rather than the player was a fun twist on a classic mechanic.

The only downside was I died to the Dragon once, just to see what the death sequence was like, and after that, I couldn't call my menu any more. :(  But, just gave me an excuse to keep playing through, since I couldn't save.

Thanks so much for submitting your game and sharing this with us! Good luck with the rest of IGMC! :D

Awesome game, very fun and the ending was hilarious and perfect (I've only gotten one of the endings so far). Only complaint is that the fighting is kind of easy and dull for awhile since it's generally easier to just spam attack than to charge up the sword and it didn't feel like charging the sword really made that big of a difference (until the end). But that was a minor complaint. Loved the inclusion of pixel-Harold and I laughed for a good minute when I charged up the final sword near him. XD This is definitely top-tier for this game jam.

At this point I don't need to tell you how good your scoping of jam games is. You got a solid story, two endings, and a fun gameplay loop in, all in a short enough time that it was just concentrated fun. My biggest complaint is the feel of combat. The halting attacks felt clumsy compared to a Zelda game, even if it is super impressive that you could pull that off in RM. 

Very nice game. The only downside is the short duration. For all the rest it's fun and never frustrating.

Good to see another Zelda-alike in this competition! I had a lot of fun with this game. The controls originally took a bit of time to get used to, and me and my friends guessed the twist right out from the getgo, but it was a genuinely fun romp.

I suppose the biggest thing I'd like to see from this game is "more". Ultimately, the action just consisted of a screen of enemies, then a boss, then a screen of enemies, then a boss, and repeat. The actual combat itself didn't get too difficult, I would've appreciated a little more teeth to the fights that I could just mash attack on while getting hit, and I would've appreciated a couple alternate paths depending on whether or not I upgraded a lot or went out from the getgo.
The special upgrade gave us all a laugh once we managed to A: Figure out how to get it, and B: See it in action. Amazing. Almost worth the price of admission alone.

Bonus points for not having any major defining bugs in your game--you thoroughly tested all of these systems and made sure everything worked! I struggled a lot with that in my own entry, ahah.

Good luck in the contest, and well done on your game!

Hey there Nowis-337, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. Playing as a young hero-to-be is a lot of fun, and while I saw the twist coming it was still well done and solution to defeat the demon lord in ending 1 was perfect. The art worked perfectly with the silly story and combat, and it was great to see the newest sword addition after absorbing enemies. Combat felt a bit rough in certain parts (dodging attacks wasn't the easiest thing), but that's a minor nitpick compared to the fun I had.

After seeing the special item in the item shop I knew that would lead to a second ending, so I saved that until after I got ending 1. And it did not disappoint! The only issue I had with it is that I wish it sucked in everything, including houses, just because that would have been hilarious.

Overall, great job on your game! You obviously had a plan and made the game you wanted without letting things spiral out of control. 

Great game, reminded me of the good ol Legend of Zelda. Since it reminds me of LoZ, knowing the chicken already scares me. 

But then I got the ultra expensive thingy, what got through my mind was "YES, I CAN DEFEAT THE CHICKEN!", and I wanna see inside the castle.

The game's fun. No bugs are found. Nicely done! 

You did a great job, kudos! Gameplay side I had a lot of fun: everything works perfectly, from attacks to special moves. I loved when I was able to assimilate everything that was around! XD If I can nitpick it's that the story is quite classic (despite the ending plot twist but I did see that coming), however this doesn't affect my vote. Amazing entry!

This was really slick. 

Everything's nice and intuative. SFX and visuals are all working together with great cohesion and it's just an all-around lovely design. Well written with good humour, too :) 

This was cute! I love the old school game charm.

Fantastic, loved every minute. The combat was more challenging than in Buffet Knight, I died a couple of times and those chickens can put up a hell of a fight. I couldn't figure out how to get the other ending, I got the evil one of course.

Well done.

- Theme is used in the overall story.
- The art is solid.
- Progression was designed well through the game, 1 map, 1 boss, next set of maps after that.

- Controls are clunky, but that is RMs fault, not the dev.

This is a solid little loop. RE:Ralibur could be improved upon much by porting it to PGM as long as it stays close to scope it's in now. It would improve the controls and the Zelda like feel it has.

Again excellent entry! :)

Absolutely fantastic!

The combat is super fluid and engaging. I loved how the sword is what leveled up and the visual changes to it! Fun storyline and great level design. :D

Both endings are brilliant. Great humour!

This is by far my favorite entry. I really liked how you handled the whole abs in RM, that is not an easy thing to pull off and you did it so well!

I really liked this entry! I played it it in browser so maybe it was just because of that but I did have some slight lag but it didn't affect the overall experience too much.

1: The art style is adorable as always. Everything blends super well!

2: I really like this action RPG style mechanics.

3: I think you did a really cool mechanic with the sword absorbing different enemy essences and using their power. I loved that about this!

Overall, I think this is a strong contender!