It's very impressive that you were able to write such a rich and well-developed story in just 2 days. The idea of a fractured world sundered by magic is fascinating, especially with how stark the difference between the two sides is and how those marked with the scars are treated. The way the families have to separate if a child is born from a different half of the world is an interesting albeit tragic consequence. The mission to get the mushrooms that also gives us more exposition is a natural way to introduce it.
Looking forward to the completed version! ^^
Play game
Dual Realms's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Storytelling | #38 | 3.583 | 3.583 |
| Gameplay | #53 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #58 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Theme interpretation | #76 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
Your choices never really felt too meaningful, but your prose is good and the storytelling felt like it might belong in a novel. It did suffer a bit for the lack of formatting though.
Submitted
Origin ClauseThanks for the compliment and I understand your comment. The first part of the game is more interactive than the second half. The truth is that I still haven't been able to implement 70% of what I wanted to do with the game. I developed it completely on my own, and the time caught up with me lol. I prioritized the narrative part, but if you liked the story, trust me and try it again a few days after the jam ends when I've expanded the game.
The world building is so deep here. As others have said, great depth of magic. I wish sometimes it'd let me use the spell you didn't want me to use, even if the result isn't great. But overall a lot of this is working really well. Some of the descriptions really sing, too. Great job!
Submitted
Red Noiri loved the spell-mechanic and the fantasy setting! however, perhaps focusing on a smaller section of the story and a more limited number of characters would have helped to flesh out both the storytelling and the game mechanics, and produce an overall stronger and more impactful result. there are ingredients here for something really interesting, but the limitations of a 72h game jam can be felt (understandably). regarding the game mechanics, for example, during the travel section you had directions to choose from but choosing a wrong one just said it's the wrong one - this doesn't really add anything to the experience and feels unnecessary. in your response to the other comment you said you'd want to continue to develop this further, and i definitely see how more time would benefit this. i wish you the best with that <|:)
Submitted
THE PITThank you so much for playing, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! There are sections in the game, like the 'maze' you mentioned, that are designed as mini-games to add some variety to the gameplay. In this particular one, the penalty for mistakes can't go much beyond what it is now due to development time constraints, but once you understand the small mechanic, the real challenge for the player is trying to navigate it with as few errors as possible. That said, this and other parts are on the to-do list for once the Jam is over—to tweak them and establish harsher penalties for mistakes—but for now, I think they work for their purpose given the limited time lol. Thanks a lot for your feedback!
I loved this game! I'm a moth to the fantasy genre in general. You're writing is immersive and enjoyable. I was very impressed with the worldbuilding you achieved and I was attached to both characters by the end. Also the gameplay was very fun. I was not expecting the time consequence when taking too long to choose a spell but I really enjoyed the limitation! I think the only thing that lost me a bit was the amount of mages introduced near the end. Think in a longer format I wouldn't have minded but I felt a little overwhelmed trying to remember which mage was on what side and their purpose. They all served a similar purpose for the story progression and in that case I think it would've been easier to follow along with less characters to focus on in that moment. I don't want to spoil for anyone who hasn't played but the way Maelor was used I think worked really well. Having a character on Kael's side to mirror that could have been an interesting contrast. However that's just my interpretation. The cover art is very beautiful too!
Submitted
Ashes ShadowThank you so much for playing and for your kind words! It makes me really happy to know you enjoyed the story, the characters, and the gameplay.
It’s true that several new characters appear near the end. In the original idea, that part was meant to be developed through more scenes and even a few additional chapters, but due to the time limitations of the jam I had to condense everything. Even so, I tried to keep the essence of what I wanted to tell.
My intention is to continue expanding the project, give more depth to those moments, and bring the early-game mechanics into the final section as well, with more routes and possible endings.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support! I hope more people can enjoy it too.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.