Very cool looking game, you did great with the minimalist color palette. Good use of the theme too, great work!
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Pooka Needs Souls's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art | #7 | 4.111 | 4.111 |
| Fun | #8 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Audio | #14 | 3.519 | 3.519 |
| Overall | #19 | 3.570 | 3.570 |
| Theme | #36 | 3.556 | 3.556 |
| Originality | #50 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did your team create most/all of the graphics yourselves?
Yes
Did your team create most of/all the audio yourselves?
No
How did you incorporate the theme "COMBINATION"?
You combine souls of the same colour and size.
Comments
I know you were in the stream, but this was a great entry and for documentation purposes the link to where I reviewed your game is below!
Submitted
Melding LuminosityThe world is plunged into darkness and I couldn't be happier! :)
Submitted
Blend Defend (Jam)The minimalist art style is really cool, especially the soul vfx. The level design and core mechanics work really well, though I'm not a fan of how slowly you accelerate.
Great work, really enjoyed this one!
Submitted
The AlchemistNice sound and art style. Hitboxes don't forgive a mistakes))
Submitted
Fantasy Climber. Wanna Yam ExtensionLove it I had fun playing it. I like the concept of the mixing souls would have loved for it to have an impact on the game. In the end the only thing it does is changing colors. Other than that the level design is great. I feel so bad to had to kill those pour little buddies protecting there souls :D . Timing of the fireballs is hard but not too punitive. Same for the spikes. Great game!
Submitted
It takes both of usVery nice pixel art and sound :) Gameplay was interesting and the different traps were challenging but well balanced.
A couple of suggestions:
- There's no need to come back after picking a soul. You can just suicide and go back. Maybe you could punish the player by dropping the soul.
- Create a distinct background for the walkable area and outside of the map boundaries.
- The hitbox of the feet and the spikes was sometimes a bit unpredictable, I'd try to tweak that.
Submitted
Calculate me homeThank you for playing and the kind words.
Killing Doug is a sure way to speed run the game. It is coded that you dropped the soul when the player dies but I wanted the jam game to be forgiving so it's commented out till a post jam update happens.
I agree with the background stuff, it was in my backlog to keep the environment simple but add little touches like you mentioned, just ran out of time.
I'll have a look at the spikes hitbox, might be more of a Doug thing rather than a spike thing, Doug has a forgiving hit area which is good but then it can give an odd feeling to when you do get hit vs don't get hit. Something to tweak for sure.
The overall aesthetic you presented came together so well. Even though the art was very minimal, it was very consistent and looked very polished. I got near the end but unfortunately ran into a bug where I picked up a green orb next to a purple orb and the purple orb disappeared. Outside of that, this was a really well made experience!
Submitted
Throw Down The GauntletGreat art style and narrative! I found it brutally hard though, I think perhaps it needs to be easier like say... Dark Souls ;) Those moving things just splattered me all over the pavement. But a very nice use of 'combination' when I survived long enough to see it!
Submitted
Shape InvadersWhat I liked
- Loved the minimalist approach. It definitely gave the game a polish feel and look.
- Music and audio effects fit the game visually. I didn't feel like the music clashed with the mood established.
- I think the minimalist approach really helped make the theme incorporation simple, obvious
- I like the short story and humor
- You clearly thought about the obstacle puzzles. I died many times on a few sections and managed to shout a profanity without thinking. It can be frustrating in a good way.
Suggestions / Questions / Things I noticed
- I can't decide if the razor gears were too fast or if it was more of a movement issue. I felt like there was some sliding by the character. I could be wrong, but I wonder if sudden moving/stopping might be more balanced? If not, I think the gears would just need to move slightly slower. Either way, something felt just slightly off.
Overall, I really liked the game and couldn't find many things to give advice on or criticize. Congrats on a fun game!
Submitted
Shred QuestThanks for all the super kind words. I really appreciate it.
I actually thought I made everything too easy, but I heard from a few people that they had to really time some of the saw rooms, which I suppose isn't bad. One player was just hugging the walls, so they were moving diagonally rather than in a straight line, which caused them to slow down as they were pushing against a wall.
Think you are probably right though, a few tweaks to make it a bit tighter. Something for the post jam update.
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