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The Tale of Darius Knightsbane's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #1 | 4.467 | 4.467 |
| Metroidvania | #2 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #2 | 3.900 | 3.900 |
| Design | #3 | 3.733 | 3.733 |
| Enjoyment | #6 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
Godot
Team/Developer
Solo developer
External assets
Music and SFX are external
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Comments
Nice game
I enjoy the visuals, i especially like the mix you made of pixel art with some more Hd looking effects like the water reflections and fog.
The story is cool as well and i like the humorous tone you went for, like with that wizard teleporting that door switch inside your cell cause he can't be bothered pressing it himself to free you :p
However i feel there are a few issues, while the controls feel nice jumping can have its problems i'd suspect due to the level design, mostly in areas with a low ceiling where you bonk your head up and can't make the jump.
Combat lacks a bit of feedback when you hit enemies other than the armor clang sound so at first i wasn't sure if it did anything or if they parried and took no damage, plus the fact that they have collision with the player can sometimes lead to wacky stuff likke riding on top of the ogre enemies, though i gotta say that despite that the 3hit combo and roll feel satisfying to use and are well implemented.
The game has got quite some qualities despite the few setbacks i mentioned, and i really like how you put the persistence of the map to quite some extremes, like the enemies being able to follow you through screens and same for projectiles, impressive :o
You put a lot of effort and it shows, especially for solo work, and you've got a solid base here if you wish to develop it further post jam.
Well done :)
Wow one of my favorite games so far, really like the sense of exploration, the different area and enemies are great and how you uncover more by gaining abilities. The pixel art style is really really nice.
The begining is a little bit long on text but thats just me and i think a little bit more feedback when hitting enemies and being hit would feel nicer but other than that great work.
Wow! Thanks very much! I totally agree with you about the combat - I just ran out of time in the jam (who knew 4 weeks would go so fast!?) and prioritised the game loop over the finishing touches... I'll be releasing a post-jam update though I think as there are a number of bugs I need to fix and improvements I want to make!
Great game, great short story, love the sprites, really interesting boss battle, that would be great that animation for wall slide complete characters behaviour, overall great entry. you could add some visual feedback to know that you hit the enemy. particles could add extra juice, I really like it.
Is there Fire and Water stones??
Totally agree - the player is missing a jump animation too! Also, you might notice the boss is a little static... just ran out of time and I find pixel art and animations just take so long to get looking ok... I'll hopefully be able to sort them in the post-jam update. Thanks for playing!
...oh, and no there are only the 2 stones at the moment - wanted to add fire (more attack variations) and water (heal) but again, just ran out of time :)
really nice, I thought the dialog and cut scenes would get annoying, but they were kept to just the right amount really nice artwork! No way I would have beaten the boss, without his health bar not going down after death! Really liked this one,
Great entry
Thanks very much! Thanks for playing! Yeah not sure how best to handle enemies and the boss battle... at the moment you can basically just grind him down with no consequence... I might have to change that, but will have to balance it out somehow because otherwise he'll be impossible!
Awesome game! Graphics are super nice, and dialogs are fun and keep you engaged.
Its amazing how much you manage to do and everything by yourself.
Player controller was nice, but could use some polish. Sometimes i couldnt double jump. Is it posible that you can only double jump while falling? but not in the rising part of the first jump?
The world design was cool, i felt the exploring characteristic of metroidvanias. Although, sometimes i went to some places i could only get out by dying. Is not much of a problem because dying just takes you to a checkpoint. But i dont like to die haha.
I found some bugs i think, like being able to go over a ceiling in one part in the moountain. But nothing too serious.
Congratulations for this great entry!
Thanks for playing! Yeah I deliberately made the double-jump only work when falling, but having played other entries now I'm thinking that might have been a mistake... I love the way that your game uses checkpoints and has more consequence on death - I might have to "borrow" that concept for my post-jam update :D
Good spot with the ceiling bug - I had thought that I'd managed to remove all of those, but that one must have slipped through... I'm curious about which parts you had to die to get out of though... I can think of 2 areas that force you to do that, which I think I can change a bit... There's a forest room that has a locked door to the caverns, and a mountain room with a drop down the right side that you can't get back up again without the wall jump. Are there any more?
i think those two are the áreas yeah.
Really fun game! A few exploits here and there which I put in my other comment, but overall, great game! Good job! (Also, Go Godot!)
Thanks very much for playing, and for the testing feedback! I'll be releasing a post-jam update I'm sure, so hopefully will be able to fix those things in that! (Godot FTW!)
Hi fellow Godoter! Congrats for this submission, very cool game.
I loved the initial dialog and whole dialog system (tho I would like a way to fasten the text being displayed). Nice sfx and music too. I personaly dont like combat systems that stop me from moving, but this is a matter of taste I think.
Overall pretty fun, has lots of room for improvement, but very cool already.
Thanks very much! You should check out Dialogue Manager by Nathan Hoad - it's a really good godot addon! I also use his Input Helper to detect whether the player is using keyboard or controller so I can display the correct prompt icon.
Ooooh, "SILENCE", such awesome effect on the emphasized words!
This is a really beautiful game that suffers a little from unpolished platforming elements. It's too easy to miss jumps, and often jumps are very hard. Sometimes you have to bang your head when jumping as well, making it more frustrating to jump as well.
The dialogs are nice, but maybe a bit intrusive at times. I couldn't find the key... Any clues?
It's up high in the forest - the guard tells you that he lost it when he threw it at some birds... in fairness I never actually created the bird enemy that was going to exist solely in the forest area, so you're forgiven for not finding it :D
It's also worth mentioning that you need both the Earth and Water stone skills to reach it!
I tried to make the platforming a little difficult in areas that would allow for additional hearts or stamina, but not too taxing for the "main route" so that it wouldn't be too frustrating. I might have to tweak a couple of areas though as I agree that bumping your head is annoying!
In some places wher you bump the head I think you could add space without affecting anything else. I'll give it alother shot later!
I think you're probably right, to be fair! 😁
...also, once you have both of the aforementioned skills, platforming becomes WAY easier ;)
The art is pretty well made, however, I think some sort of particle when an enemy is struck would be a good way to add juice. The combat sort of lacks that and because death is largely inconsequential even for the boss I tanked hits rather than dodge most of the time. But the game feels complete and polished. It very much feels like a Metroidvania and the dialogue and cutscenes are nicely made.
Thanks very much! Yes I totally agree, combat is lacking... I also originally intended to reset each room on death, but I guess got used to how it worked! I'll revisit that for the post jam update, and probably reduce the hp of the enemies to rebalance the difficulty.
I love the art in this game! really well done - had a few issues with the jump not triggering a double jump sometimes but the platforming was pretty nice!
Combat wise it was pretty fun, the big guys caused some weird issues with them following me to the spawn etc and being more of a road block, Wizards were also attacking me from off the screen :D
Level design was very well done, I didn't go down to the sewers and instaed ran far right and went all the way back around and was like AHA! really well done.
Sounds were ok, Music didnt really go well with the vibe of the game (especially at the start).
Boss fight was ok - if you die it should reset or you can (like me) just grind it out. I also think I missed an ability, I got (in this order) sword, wall jump, double jump and key.
Could see art of this caliber in a full paid game - great job on getting all of this done!
Wow! Thanks very much for playing and for the detailed feedback! Yeah there are only those 3 upgrades in game at the moment - I had planned for 2 more, but struggled (ironically) with getting all the art done! I deliberately made it so that you couldn't get the double jump after the wall jump, but you can technically skip the sword 🤷🏼♂️ This is only my second attempt at pixel art, so it takes me rather long to do... I'm planning on looking into the bugs for a post-jam update, so will definitely take this on board.
For a second "attempt" your game is gorgeous!