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Blood Countess (Jam)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #10 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Visuals | #12 | 3.571 | 3.571 |
| Audio | #28 | 2.714 | 2.714 |
| Theme | #45 | 2.286 | 2.286 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Notes from gameplay:
- Nice music, but very short and no loop?
- Cute pixel art
- LOTS of background infodump text in a font that's not easy on the eyes
- Intro text switches between present and past tense at random.
- Intro animation with screen shake is effective
- Score is different font from rest of the game
- Info page feels kinda messy, could use with nicer layout and maybe outlines around blocks of text to visually separate it
- "Heal yourself quickly" - how do I do that? Is that the same as the ritual results?
- Gameplay is very swarmy.
- Character doesn't always turn in most recently walked direction, so it's hard to see where I'm aiming
- Casting ritual makes character face the player, even if she's still aiming in a different direction for projectile
- Game over screen is beautiful pixel art. Music here is nice
- Definitely some balance needed, after you kill enough enemies you can just spam space/control over and over without any effort needed
- After around 150k points, the countess' animation breaks and she doesn't show animation for movement/ritual, just becomes a static sprite
- What does the cross do?
- Are there any more levels?
Overall, I think this is a solid prototype for future development. The art design is strong and consistent and there's an intriguing story core here which could be lengthened into an overall dark narrative about revenge. The mechanics need balancing but there's a fun core loop of kill/revive which adds some complexity. There's a lot of decent stuff here to expand on for future development!
Thank a LOT for the thorough review, I'm really happy you enjoyed it enough to care to write all that. Let me try to adress those.
We were awfully aware of all those limitations when we released this version. There's definitely lots of things we still need to finish before the game reaches Beta. We've released further updates but, unfortunately, I can't upload it here yet because the game is being rated on jams, so I've made a second page for that. Check it out!
I've released an update that enables you to shoot while you move and adds new controls. Now you can also shoot with your mouse or your gamepad's right stick, which makes it so much nicer.
Thank you so much for taking interest in our work, we hope to reach Beta before the year is over. So stick around, I hope you'll like it!
The animation breaking could be due to units on the screen versus anything to do with score. I basically just sat in one place, rotating which direction I faced, while spamming both ritual and projectile, so I had a ton of enemies and ghost allies. I'd move a little bit every now and then, but I didn't have to dodge or anything because the ritual was healing me fine, so tons of units were collecting on screen. After a point, the ritual animation stopped happening and movement became just floating versus the animation triggering.
Re the intro, you could try something like telling the backstory during a tutorial, so the player is learning the lore while they learn the commands and get their first (easy) experience with the mechanics.
Notes from gameplay:
- Nice music, but very short and no loop?
- Cute pixel art
- LOTS of background infodump text in a font that's not easy on the eyes
- Intro text switches between present and past tense at random.
- Intro animation with screen shake is effective
- Score is different font from rest of the game
- Info page feels kinda messy, could use with nicer layout and maybe outlines around blocks of text to visually separate it
- "Heal yourself quickly" - how do I do that? Is that the same as the ritual results?
- Gameplay is very swarmy.
- Character doesn't always turn in most recently walked direction, so it's hard to see where I'm aiming
- Casting ritual makes character face the player, even if she's still aiming in a different direction for projectile
- Game over screen is beautiful pixel art. Music here is nice
- Definitely some balance needed, after you kill enough enemies you can just spam space/control over and over without any effort needed
- After around 150k points, the countess' animation breaks and she doesn't show animation for movement/ritual, just becomes a static sprite
- What does the cross do?
- Are there any more levels?
Overall, I think this is a solid prototype for future development. The art design is strong and consistent and there's an intriguing story core here which could be lengthened into an overall dark narrative about revenge. The mechanics need balancing but there's a fun core loop of kill/revive which adds some complexity. There's a lot of decent stuff here to expand on for future development!
Really liked the art and music, the gameplay is really addictive which is nice. The attacking mechanic is a bit rusty, as you have to turn around to attack and by then the enemies can hurt you. But besides that its a solid game!
Hey! I've release an update that enables you to shoot while you move and adds new controls. Now you can also shoot with your mouse or your gamepad's right stick.
But unfortunately, I can't upload it here yet because the game is being rated on jams, so I've made a second page for that. Check it out!
The art and music is really well done. As far as the game, it's pretty basic but is executed well enough. Would've loved to see some more depth (upgrades and other rouge-like elements). The music doesn't loop which is odd.
Hey there! I'm glad you like it, there's still much to come in future updates!
Nice Game! I really like the introduction & artwork in general. The game could use some balancing in terms of movement speed & damage applied.
The resurrecting mechanic is very good, but it would be interesting to also be able to react to enemies while running from them, as you can only attack if you stop running. Nice game.
Thank you, it means a lot!! I also have a great time with that mechanic haha I'm still trying to get over 1 million score.
I've released a new version where the controls have been greatly improved, but unfortunately I can't upload it here as to not interfere with the jams. So I've uploaded it on a separate page, check it out! :
That new version is very good. Fixed what was missing.
I'm glad you liked it! There's still much to come.