Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

Wrath of KanaeruView game page

Rise or Drown
Submitted by soulofkazak — 6 days, 12 hours before the deadline
Add to collection

Play game

Wrath of Kanaeru's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameplay#44.1324.132
Innovation#74.2374.237
Overall#93.9743.974
References / Humor#153.9213.921
Theme#173.8423.842
Ambience#223.7373.737

Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Viewing comments 31 to 21 of 31 · Next page · Last page
Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

The concept was really cool, I really liked the idea of using the random Tetris-like blocks to climb up, and there were a lot of cool ideas in the upgrades and bossses to keep things fresh. The sprites and writing were also quite charming.

Note that I completely forgot about the rotate ability so maybe some of my complaints might not have that in mind, though again that is also something probably worth reminding people of. I would have loved to finish the game, but unfortunately have other games I need to play and I got stuck on Fauna’s boss which felt way too punishing for me. It’s already enough that the elephants fling you around, but destroying the blocks as well made some moments impossible to continue from which felt more unfair than challenging at times. I also thought Suisei was really annoying for that same reason but the comets were less frustrating to go around than the elephants.

I also wish it was easier to see what was up ahead like some kind of low-scale diagram of a bit above you, sometimes it’s just not possible to escape a situation where you climb up underneath a platform and that didn’t feel great.

I was only able to buy a single upgrade and no blocks, I did skip what I thought were only one or two coins and still never could upgrade my initial set, which did drag down the game a bit for me. Maybe it was me playing bad but I think very slightly cheaper prices would have been nice.

Great work though, I’d like to come back to this game later!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! Yeah the upgrading mechanics were kinda poorly thought-out. I have some ideas of how to overhaul the shops to make the difficulty curve less rng heavy. A minimap of the entire screen is a cool idea, thanks for the suggestion! Yeah the elephants are op as heck too, that's for sure. You got Fauna Sweeped! I was thinking of making them fly in a straight line on easy mode so they're not as unpredictable or something. Cutting their cooldowns and adding more non-destructible platforms to fall unto might also work. All in all, thanks for the feedback <3

Submitted(+1)

I forgot about the difficulty settings when I got stuck, I did think about retrying again on Easy but I have a lot more games to try still, but again if you plan to work on it later then I’ll wait for that before another playthrough.

Submitted(+1)

thats a good fun twist on a platformer. Lovely art and writing as well. Good job.

The only issue I encountered is sometimes the block cant be selected, so I have to click it twice or more. Not sure if its a visual glitch or just me being impatient.

I'll try again for the no death playthrough.

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Not sure what might be causing the selection thing, might be a delay on cooldown visuals or something. Let me know how the no death playthrough goes if you can :D

Submitted(+1)

oh you little beep.

I got baited.

Submitted(+1)

Love this game. Got me panicking in a good way. The writing really makes the whole package. Bravo!

Developer

Huge thanks <3

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I  liked this game a lot! I thought it had a nice gameplay loop and expands on it well.

The boss mechanics kept things interesting and engaging. I think it is interesting how it becomes a genuinely different challenge with each boss. 

I played this game pre and post patch and I think you really made some good changes in between patches. Pre-patch was BRUTALLY difficult. But Post patch seemed a lot more balanced.

I do think that the scaling for the blocks, where blocks with more tiles have a higher cooldown is pretty extreme. I usually ended up picking the short cooldown blocks because they seemed like better value. You often would not need the extra tiles of the larger blocks and the smaller blocks were more flexible anyways. Also, since the upgrade system always reduces blocks by 1sec, the shorter cooldown blocks are better with upgrades. 

That being said, I still enjoyed the upgrade system a lot. It really tied together well with the coin gathering. It's a nice bit of game design to tie the systems of your game together so well. The gameplay is actually quite cohesive in general. I think the plot premise ties with the gameplay so well the game in general actually feels like a very cohesive and neatly wound package. There is something wonderful about just how much the plot and gameplay just "make sense". Of course this is how Kobo would attack people.

Minor nitpick, when playing on harder difficulties and dying a lot (or pre-patch), I found myself wishing I could skip the Boss's intro cutscenes.

I think the game also puts emphasis on the correct things that really contribute to this gameplay. I think it's shocking how quickly I just adapted to the notion that Calli is just one frame of animation and didn't really mind. My mind was more interested in the hazards and environment anyways. As an animator... it really gives me a minor existential crisis. 

Oh, and also good song choice.

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you! I am very glad you liked the gameplay and how it is woven together with the plot! I tried to do it justice since I also enjoy when things "make sense" in other games just like you described.

Thanks for explaining in detail the problem with the block cooldown balance, I feel like I am finally seeing a fresh perspective! If I have time to push updates in the future the first thing on the list is blocks balancing and the shop upgrades. Speeding up boss cutscenes is something I did not think about but definitely should have!

As it comes to the art, there is actually no animations anywhere in the game lmao. They are all single frames that I just move around. Glad it didn't take away from the experience for you too much but if I had Ame's watch I would definitely go back to before the jam and ask around for an actual artist to help me out. Cool animations (and prettier art in general) is always a positive when it comes to enjoying a game. So no need to get existential :D

The music is by Jens Vide! They upload a lot of free to use sounds here on itch. Was waiting for an opportunity to use some of their shin megami tensei inspired music. And here felt like it was fitting for the atmosphere :D

Submitted(+1)

That was a fun twist on gameplay than I was expecting, overall very nice and fun

Developer

Thank you <3

Submitted(+1)

Totally wasn't ready for this gameplay loop to come out of left field, but it was pretty enjoyable!


I only played on normal, and died once (I think), but it was already pretty tough to manage the boss stages and sometimes the beginning of the levels - which is to say I couldn't imagine trying to go through on hard mode, props to any players who tried to take that one on.


Controls felt like they took a little bit to get used to, but after the second stage I got a pretty good grip on it. Around that time I also go blocks that were more useful and didn't require me to rotate them, which I think really helped the gameplay pace - I found myself needing to stop to rotate blocks in the first 2 levels that made things much more tense than the end game, but the cooldown upgrades might have helped with that as well.


I do like those shop mechanics though, that make the coins worthwhile and directly impact the moment to moment decision making when trying to ascend.


Good job on the art, picking the characters to include in the game, and props for incorporating difficulty options, which I normally feel like are left on the sidelines for more jams. Good work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! 

Submitted(+1)

What an interesting concept for the gameplay!!!

The "boss stages" were a little too chaotic, I think they don't suit the core gameplay too much (there is too much going on, and I played it on easy!!!), but all in all.... SUPERB JOB!!!

The gameplay was really interesting and even though I only got one upgrade it really did make a difference (I was supposed to have enough money to buy Kronii's update but... couldn't?).

I really, really liked the concept and both art and music were spot on!

Thanks for such beautiful wrath ^__^

Developer(+1)

Thank you <3

Jam Judge(+1)

Charming pixel art style and cute storyline and dialogues.

I was not expecting a builder climber game with a time limit. Really cool game!

The miniboss fights were very intense, especially the last one! That little guy kept pushing me out of the platforms and into my death. Grrrr!

Some improvement suggestions:

- Show the controls in the game. A small text on the side of the screen reminding of the "rotate" function would help. I went through the whole game without rotating a single piece. XD

- The introduction chat with Shiori is short but a skip button would be welcome for those who have already cleared the game once and want to retry.

- I completely forgot about the block deleting function until I got boxed in and had to try to free myself. I thought the function would delete the whole block set and not just one block at a time. Maybe having a level require the player to use it as "tutorial" would help!

- The control layout caused me to press wrong buttons a lot, since you have to move your hand from 1234 down to WASD and back without taking your eyes off the screen. I wonder if there's a better control scheme that could avoid it.

Great game!

Developer

Thank you for playing and for the suggestions! I think maybe having Q/E to cycle through blocks could work. Someone suggested the mouse wheel to do it like in minecraft. Never occurred to me to add destructible blocks as a hazard to go through until someone came up with it in the comments down there somewhere. I'm glad you liked the game nonetheless <3

Submitted(+1)

The game is fun and easy to understand. I like how you can place blocks on yourself but the collision won't activate until Calli jumps away. It made building really easy.

Developer

Thank you <3

Submitted(+1)

Nice game! I love how u use the block as something innovative in the game, Great work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

great gameplay loop! it immediately sucks you in and makes you want to try and get better! the only slightly annoying part was trying to select blocks while platforming at the same time. Maybe being able to use mouse scroll to select the block would be a good option?

very fun game!

Developer

Thank you <3

Viewing comments 31 to 21 of 31 · Next page · Last page