Hey there MissingSeven and CrawlingChaox, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. The top-down presentation with limited colors was a brilliant move, both making your game stand out and making it easier to choose what skill to use in battle to deal the most damage to foes! I did wish that the question marks were a bit more distinct when it came to what was an item and what would move the story along, but that's a minor nitpick.

Gaining new skills thanks to equipment was a cool idea and complimented the time mechanics well, but I feel like there was a ton going on for a contest with a time limit. I wanted to take my time and explore different combinations, but since I could only play for an hour I had to keep rushing to see more of the game before time was up.

I accidentally started the golem fight right away (I ran up instead of down, whoops), so I had to brute-force my way to victory. I'm glad you did make that fight winnable even if the player didn't properly weaken it, but having a moment where the golem appears on the map before the player can move again would've stopped me from totally missing the intended way to do things. Possibly because I spent so long on that fight, I didn't actually finish the game in an hour so I have no idea how things end. It felt like there was a ton of story and dungeon to explore left after that, so it's a shame that I missed out on it.

Overall, I can see why you placed first in the People's Choice, this is a well-polished game! You clearly had a vision when you started this game and you succeeded, so good job!

Great presentation, lovely characters, but the combat design needs a lot of work. I played on Challenging difficulty, yet I never felt like I was truly in any danger; not even the final boss was all that hard. The ending was also kind of a letdown.

I also encountered several odd bugs. For one, after the first bonfire scene the game simply didn't fade the screen back in; I had to reload an earlier save and redo that scene for it to go through. Second, both times I tried using an Ariadne's Thread, I got warped out of bounds instead of to a bonfire.

Ouroboros is an incredible game from start to finish, it's astonishing as a game like this can be made in a month!

The art is really peculiar, but this style really works!
The characters also are all full of personality, everyone is lovable, even in the young/old form!

Talking about forms and the core concept: I feel this game has taken the theme of the contest in a really unique way, and a super-congratulation for having the theme in the gameplay!
Talking of it, it's really fresh seeing how a short game ("""short""". XD) like this can have such a interesting customization of character builds, and che constant change on the battlefield really keeps you on your toes!

I can see the clear inspiration from Etrian Odyssey (No, I'm joking. I know there isn't: don't worry. XD)

I'll happily wait for your next game, whatever it'll be! :D

The production of Ouroboros is nothing short of fantastic. Heavily inspired by DND, and I'm fairly sure I see a lot of Etrian Odyssey in this (one of my favorite game series ever).

The game is mostly pleasant to play. I absolutely love love loved the Battle Speed options and I got to turbo the animations as much as I wanted.

The grid map as the actual in game map was a very fun touch. I liked how the enemies were done, either moving when you move or automatically moving whether you move or not. It reminded me fondly of dodging FOEs in Etrian Odyssey.

The game, however, is way too wordy in my opinion. I do not remotely mind dialogue heavy games. I got the point of it. I think it could have been paced a bit better. I would have just been let to explore and learn the mechanics at first, but felt I kept being stopped for a lot of description paragraphs.

For an hour time limit, I think this game may have pushed far too many mechanics into it. It feels like a jammed suitcase. It has a very deep set of mechanics that would be great for a 50 hour RPG, but for a short one I felt overwhelmed and like I was playing wrong. In the end, I didn't even need the majority of the stuff it built, such as crafting weapons and returning to get all treasures I was not able to get.

The game ends, very abruptly. It feels more like a demo of a proof of concept rather than a complete game. Which I totally get. A deep RPG in an hour is almost impossible. And IGMC forces very strict time limits in developing/and playtime.

Story wise, it also had way too many concepts in too small a space. I felt like developments were thrown at me, but didn't have weight because none were particularly built on. I did not have an emotional connection to any character, but I did enjoy how they looked/and the aging mechanic. I just felt it didn't mean that much in the end and would have done much better in a slower paced, much longer game.

I loved so many of the concepts of this and would absolutely love to see this fleshed out.

The biggest flaw to me was the Golem boss fight. It was a good idea, but it needed a lot more flexibility to fail. It turned into a vague trial and error thing for me. I even left and tried to find solutions. I would suggest if doing something this easy to fail based off timing/movement, to not give a game over.

I would have personally cut much of the mechanics and dialogue, and just let the player explore/battle. The game itself could have used a couple more boss fights/maps and less dialogue/mechanics so there is more room in the time limit to allow this. When I reached the last boss I was rather surprised, even though I was already past the hour mark (on fastest battle option)

The ending being a promise for more adventure also makes it feel more like a tech demo than a full experience.

I may seem like I'm complaining a lot, but I really enjoyed this. The flaws didn't remotely actually bother me, I've tolerated much worse in other games. I feel the need to point them out as this could be such an instant killer of a game and I think WILL be when you continue this concept. Your art is mind-blowingly good and everything ran so well. I hardly even recognized it was RPG Maker anymore and likely only did because I have so much experience with it.

Keep up the fantastic work. Absolutely great job. 

Super polished, custom and it has a concept (not so obvious)... Super productive as always, cursed Lollo XD

Great so far, I love how it's like an old-school RPG but with an innovative theme! 

Sincerely think this is the best game out of the whole batch. While some things can definitely be polished,  this feels like a really complete game!

The idea behind the gameplay is really cool, very D&D like adventure, a game that I'm approaching recently :)

The graphic is simple, not many colors, but still clear and suits the style of the game. 

The game is a bit longer than what I expected, but I enjoyed playing it, although there are fights in it and it's not among my favorite genres.

I wouldn't change anything in graphic os maps, that i appreciated.

Rebirthing in a different form with a different age is a very interesting idea! Some characters in their baby version really made me roll on the floor xD

Seliqa's baby form is my favorite in every aspect: look, color and character in the story.

Another masterpiece, bravissimo and many compliments!

Ouroboros: A Dungeon Crawling Adventure [IGMC2022]

by MissingSeven (@missing_seven), CrawlingChaox

Hey there MissingSeven and CrawlingChaox, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round one of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

Right off the bat this game grabs my attention with interesting art and music on a well customized title screen.

I appreciate the difficulty selection right at the beginning.

I really like how you've made the tutorial not a boring experience, the combat system has been very customized and I love all the detail that has gone into the presentation.

The writing is well done and the characters feel like real people talking.

I think it was a good idea to simplify the stats by removing some of them from the base game.

I love the D&D style of combat with the theme of casting dice to determine damages. 

I feel like you've started the player off with a generous number of consumables but not an overwhelming about of skills and items.

The art, font and colors that you've used in the menus have a nice contrast and everything is easy to read.

The music and sound effects are perfect for the mood of the game and always feel appropriate. 

While I recognize some default animations, I think you've chosen decent ones. 

I would have loved to see more customization of the animations and particle effects.

I really enjoy the use of color on the (show)pictures when it's added, as most things are black and white. It helps to accentuate the focus of the scene. Good thinking.

The time changing mechanic completely caught me off guard, but in a good way. It put an interesting spin on the adventure.

I like how you've made the map, it's really cool. I think I've seen a map making software with this style before but it's obscure.

It's cool how equipment provides new skills, I've always been a fan of skill-equip systems.

I do find some of the dialog to be a little wordy at times, but the storyline is great and the writing is superb. 

Overall I think that you've crafted a unique experience that feels unlike the typical RPG Maker game. Fantastic job, one of the best entries I've played so far. I look forward to what projects you work on next, keep up the great work!

-Drifty

This is probably one of my favorite artstyles and definitelyt my favorite entry to the jam!!! Really fantastic work absolutely love it! :D

Okay. So I have to say, everyone's been saying that this game's amazing and is a winning contender. I will have to softly take no sides on this. However, I can see why people really love this entry, and I too am pulled into the narrative this game has to offer, which goes to show how effective your game is.

This tells a very western like setting tale where the goal is to find the egg. With three characters that changes their age every few actions or so, you have a recipe where battles won't get easily stale and combat is varied as skills change based on the user's age and equipment.

The DND aspects, while I have little interest in, does help in immersing yourself with the overall setting and feel of your game. This helps to give the game its identity and strongly gives a unique flair other entries tried and failed to convey at times.

The aesthetics and the art style though is a breathtaking stellar visual spectacle, despite it being black and white. You can tell a very professional artist created the works of all these characters and it really shows. I really really like the main characters. They are so unique. A rat, a knight (which after spoilers I actually like even more) and a witch. The trio brings its own personality to the table in its design and writing, and it shows. The very theme of this covers not just resurrection and rejuvenation but also betrayal. And that betrayal is a core theme of this story so far.

Now, if there's one issue I have with the whole thing is that indicators are often a bit too loose. The ? marks are all at spots where keys should be and often I get a bit disoriented with it. Maybe its more so my nitpicks when it comes to identifying certain aspects of your game but its an observation nonetheless.

This game does have a lot of reading to get through, which fits the narrative but some people may not like the extensive reading it has to offer. This is more a preferential style than anything else and is a criticism you can choose to ignore.

Overall, this game definitely excels and its worldbuilding, aesthetic stylized design formulated to suit its style and its narrative is compelling and unique. Would I say I'm in love with it, kinda but not really. The style ain't for me. But do I think this is a well made entry, definitely. And I can see how it rises up the popularity and reception ranks.