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Finding Harold's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #2 | 3.432 | 3.600 |
| Overall | #4 | 3.337 | 3.500 |
| Graphics | #7 | 3.623 | 3.800 |
| Music | #7 | 2.670 | 2.800 |
| Comedy | #8 | 2.288 | 2.400 |
| Story | #10 | 2.670 | 2.800 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Loved the atmosphere and polish on this one. A little more attention to detail and expanding the systems and this will be really solid!
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Comments
As a technical demo, major issues to look for is the slow pace of combat. It's paced to feel cinematic but this will get old in the first few battles if this is used for a game built around random encounters and grinding.
You can clearly tell that the battle system is built with events as some sort of sprite seem to flash on the top-left corner before fading into the battle. I peeked into the game files and found that's exactly how this game was built. However, this is a system which every unique battle has to be built manually and will cause problems for any project with a scope larger than a jam.
If this jam were to have a technical category, this is realistically a 1 star. This may be a wakeup call to get much deeper into object-oriented programming, this battle system is probably best built as a plugin.
Overall, a 2 star. For every other category, my opinion is pretty similar to what everyone has shared
Thank you for playing!
Seems like it's better to stick to default battle system or premade plugin next time. I wanted to try to make my own battle system but now that it finished, it does not feel worth the effort and less rewarding than expected. Luckily, I tried it on a jam instead a full game.
Graphics: 4 - It was neat to see someone use the front view script! I think the monster designs were fun, and the menu animation and stuff like the block and attack animations were really cool.
Sound: 2 - I have no particular complaints about the music. I do feel there was something off about the sound effect usage, didn't really give a good feeling of weight to the skills or attacks. Just felt a bit off with the frontview script.
Gameplay: 2 - If you ignore the front view script, it's a long and moderately grindy dungeon with no gimmicks, a fight against a slime with a split mechanic that never changes outside of its stats, a fight against THREE slimes, and a missable encounter against a mimic that is even more boring than the slimes. The party building was also basic and basically pigeon holes you into bringing a fighter, sorcerer and healer. It wasn't the worst - it just wasn't interesting.
Story: 2 - Story was not the focus so I'm not going to be harsh. There's not really much here, Harold runs off into a dungeon for an unknown reason and his party hires you to go find him. The dialogue is dry and doesn't really offer much insight into the character's personalities. A serviceable story but one without any color that isn't Marsh's death scene..
Humor: 2 - I legit laughed when Martha ran forward and died from a falling border, leaving nothing but a red stain. Otherwise, this one plays it straight.
Overall: 3 - I really liked the visual flourishes during combat and with the menus. With more time I think this can be developed into something interesting even if I find it very plain right now.
Thank you for playing!
The goal for this technical demo is to make sure everything works first; battle system, pause menu, and minimap. The planned core gameplay loop does not even exist yet. I am also surprised on how many people laughed at Marsha's death.
Three things I liked about this game:
Three things I did not like:
Be sure to always consider what a player can do at any given time, not just what they should do. If they are not supposed to run into the cave alone, make sure to either prevent it or warn them that they are doing something unwise.
Thank you for playing!
Yeah, I only focused on technical stuff in this build. Even the cutscenes are focused on the technical stuff. But I get your point. I may have someone else to make the dialogue and proofread the game.
While we have planned multiple type of enemies, we can only implement the slimes with the remaining jam time. Even the mimic in this build technically just a slime reskin with less attack variant. Making the custom battle system and pause menu took a lot longer than expected.
Dying in the cave alone actually give strategic purpose since you got more money when respawned. Your equipment and item won't be reset and It also refills the chest on the dungeon. Besides, I want the player learns stuff in the game by experiencing it first hand, wise or unwise. It fits more with the themes I had in mind. That being said, I think the warning could work. Thanks for the tip!
This screams Etrian Odyssey hehe. The technical part looks amazing so I hope you use this elsewhere.
The deaths were surprisingly funny, I don't know if that was intended. It's a shame the team could only get one enemy type implemented (and a missable Mimic). I'd at least enjoy some closure with a Harold fight and some final words.
Experience for next time, I guess.
Thank you for playing!
We are no finished with this game. We planned a multiple route and a way to save everyone.
YO! Rating time!
Overall: 3 - This was really neat! The highlight of course is the cool 3D environment, but the dungeon crawling was enjoyable enough as well!
Graphics: 4 - I've played RM games that use this sort of dungeon crawler aesthetic before, but I think the way you made everything first person, down to the combat and even the menu, really brings it a notch above other games using this same approach! I also think the singular slime enemy, while annoying to fight, looks really cool and is well animated.
Story: 2 - There wasn't a ton here, the game did have a story but without really understanding Harold's whole deal, it sorta felt like stuff just happened. It wasn't horrible and I was surprised by the character deaths, but there wasn't a ton to get into here.
Gameplay: 3 - This was a fun little romp! It's just basic dungeon crawling fair, but the row system was nice to mess with and the combat looked really cool. My main criticism is that the main enemy slime guy is really annoying to fight, he seemingly splits in two when killed, and since that's the only enemy in the game it gets old faaaast.
Music: 3 - Not a ton to say here, the music worked for its purposes and it wasn't anything I instantly recognized, so it all works!
Comedy: 2 - Everyone watching me play this laughed at the deaths, especially the second one that occurred with the boulder, but that alone wasn't enough for me to put a high rating in comedy especially when I don't think that was meant to be funny.
Now, my one fatal issue with this though is that it didn't employ the required elements (the Archeologist, wildlife preserve, and dialogue line). I'm not sure how to go about this particular issue, but this is an otherwise nice jam game so for now I'm gonna leave it up, but if the other moderators disagree this entry could be disqualified. Sorry about that!
Thank you for playing!
Yeah, I took too much time making the battle system and pause menu I don't have enough time to make more enemies. The game does have mimic enemy who appear when you interact with one of the chest, but that monster only have basic attack in this build.
There is an Archeologist inside the dungeon. She talks about the place used to be wildlife preserve and has the required dialogue. She also open a shop. You can found her on the map after getting surrounded by slimes, the same map with the mimic chest. Looking back, I should have put her in more noticeable place.
Ah okay! Sorry I missed the required elements, I'll take your word for it that they're there!
Very cool demo of the 3d dungeon crawling system! Ends with an exciting cliffhanger! I did encounter a bug where I would get stuck in a forever loop of fighting an enemy over and over again. The mimic design I love, would be cool to see more enemy variety too!
Thank you for playing!
The forever fighting loop can be stopped by escaping from the fight instead of winning it,
but who want to refuse exp?Jokes aside, the encounter system was rushed. I also plan to overhaul it in the future.