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Aurora Runealis's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Visuals | #51 | 4.195 | 4.195 |
Overall | #56 | 4.012 | 4.012 |
Audio | #69 | 3.707 | 3.707 |
Authenticity (use of resolution restriction) | #84 | 4.585 | 4.585 |
Gameplay | #91 | 3.561 | 3.561 |
Ranked from 41 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
Solo project!
Was the resolution a challenge?
Movement is always a little tricky at such a small scale.
What did you learn?
Keep an eye on the project scope. Keep two eyes on it! Got severely scope-sniped by the first game I started for this jam, so I started this one mid-jam in a fugue state when I finally admitted that I'd have to shelve the other one. Lesson learned: Both eyes on project scope at all times.
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Comments
Fun little game, interesting graphics too! I included it in my LowRezJam compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :)
Well done! I liked this right from the controls screen (where “awsd” is indicated by the offset of the “w” vs the centered arrows). Nice detail of the turning planet as the stars move to the left. You were able to make 64x64 feel spacious.
Very relaxing. I found this game quite engaging, despite the relatively simple gameplay - well done. The visuals also work extremely well, and it's a great use of the resolution restriction, since the game doesn't really need more space than it has.
I like your concept and has a very "chill" vibe to it. I think you limited the work space just enough to make it challenging with out being annoying. Good Job ;)
That was a lovely little piece of zen. Great job on the visuals and sound effects, along with an excellent pick for a background track. It all came together to be very dream-like. The gameplay itself was simple and relaxed. The space to work in was restrictive enough to make me aim for efficiency in my actions, but still had enough wiggle room that it was never tedious or frustrating to shift things around. You also included a master volume slider, which instantly makes your game a 10/10.
Really impressed by this entry. Even the credits made me smile. Grats on keeping your scope in check!
I like your puzzle game concept. Instead of the usual color matching its about arranging shapes.
Lovely atmospheric game. Controls smoothly and it's easy to pick up. It's chill, and I love games that are chill.
I was hoping for something more ambitious or new in terms of gameplay, but this is a rock solid entry.
Nice soothing game, nice visuals, quiet and relaxing ambience music… if anything gameplay is a little bit too slow paced particularly when you need to reorder full columns (too long to take each piece out and bring the new one in) and can be a little bit tedious for too many consecutive rounds but really good entry overall.
It gave me a few minutes of relaxation!
After a long day doing lots of stuff, playing a game, and succeeding by doing almost nothing while getting carried away with the atmosphere was a beautiful experience. The audio is awesome, I put on my headphones which I normally never put to experience the atmosphere better. Visually, everything looks pleasant to the eye, and the depth is created very well.
I believe that the resolution restriction has added more to the game than being just a restriction, everything looks great!
Awesome!
Love the atmosphere, thats exactly the break i needed this morning before some filming!
Great atmosphere! The visuals matched the music and game concept perfectly – It’s really quite striking.
The gameplay needed some work though, I found myself frustrated by the clunky movement and lack of space to park tiles. On my first game, I accidentally got myself trapped by my own blocks with no way to win :-[
Thank you for the kind words, and apologies that you didn't enjoy. The limited space is by design, but there should be more than enough room to ensure that every puzzle is solvable with a little shuffling. I wish I could see just how you'd gotten stuck; I thought that would be impossible given how I did the block handling. Goes to show that no matter how much you double check, things can still go wrong! Regardless, thank you for the feedback.
I liked this game a lot. Audio wasn’t as bad as you described on chrome and the visuals were really pretty. Very polished and loved it.
Am relieved that Chrome treated you well. The audio issues were a last-minute discovery so my plan was to leave a note and hope people could mute and put on some chill music of their own, haha. Thank you and glad you enjoyed!
Yeah and that sounds like one of those bugs you have to go deep into a rabbit hole to fix.
Awesome puzzle game! Neat idea
Thank you!
Love this one. Very beautiful and chill game. The little chimes when you slot a rune into place are top notch. They fit in so well with the music.
I like how the different mirror modes change how you think about the game more than you think they will. You've seen a mirror. You know how mirrors work. Oops you put the rune in the wrong spot again because you got sucked into the process of moving the runes around.
I vote for tiny rune shuffling dude for employee of the month.
Excellent work.
Thank you!
Hey, mirrors are complicated! I mean, mirrors. How do they even work?!
Tiny rune shuffling dude wins employee of the month every month.
Wow! The runes and lighted signs in the sky are beautiful. Still rating 5 stars on visuals even though the character isn't much, but I feel like anything else besides the infamous stick figure would distract from the lights in the sky too much. AMAZING WORK!!!
Thank you so much! I went with a very simple character mostly because there was so much going on visually in the top half of the screen, so a silhouette, I felt, would be enough!
Such a lovely and relaxing puzzle experience! Having no timer or movement counter made the gameplay feel smooth and forgiving, even though some of the puzzles were definitely challenging. Very atmospheric and polished, great job!
Thank you! I waffled back and forth on timers and movement counter all through the development, basically right up until I struck on the chill vibe that I ended up going for. As a compromise for the numbers folks, I added a Stats page to the in-game menu to bring up mode, puzzles solved, and a session timer.
So pretty, very pleasing to look at. A lovely chill puzzle game!
Thank you!
The lighting, colors, and ambiance are all working really well here. It's a great vibe. The matching puzzles fit really nicely with the overall aesthetic, a very contemplative and controlled pace to choose the next move to make.
Thanks for the kind words!
Very pleasing visually and relaxing gameplay. Super satisfying to watch the borealis light up.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed.
Groovy puzzle game, relaxing!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!