Put this one on my to-play list as soon as I saw the progress pics in the Discord during the jam, I absolutely love the artstyle and theming of this one! It took me a few tries to beat, and I have a few thoughts on the gameplay as a whole:
- The gameplay is absolutely frenetic, bordering on unmanageable during the later stages as items come in faster than you can sort them. Probably the most stressed I've felt during a jam game - I respect the vision if that's what you were going for.
- The game counter-intuitively gets a bit easier as it goes on. I let out a sigh of relief when whole item types/icon types get banned by the dragon as it means I don't have to keep track of the previous item/icon combos. Not sure how intentional this one is, but if it's intended to keep the difficulty manageable while increasing the pace and pressure, that's a genius but of design right there.
- Hit registration felt a bit iffy at times - I'd walk into the pile thinking I'd picked something up only to turn around empty-handed. Upon further experimentation, it seems like the kobold only has a pickup hitbox in front of it, when I'd expect one on the sprite as well
- I have mixed feelings on having to go to the dragon to see the (new) rules. This is the kind of thing I'd expect on a pause screen or as an always-visible hint, but having to take time to go and read the new list definitely adds to the frenetic stress of it all. Again, respect the vision if that's what you're going for.
- The difficulty feels just right for this sort of game. It's decently difficult, but it's a quick enough game where having to retry doesn't feel bad at all and lets you get the hang of things.
- I had items stay stuck on the wall of the pit more than once, that hitbox feels like it should've been extended as well.
- The items spawning in feel a bit cluttered, IMO it could've done with a little bit more spacing both vertically and horizontally, so it takes a tiny bit longer before all the new items blend into a big pile of stuff.
- The fire is a genuine jumpscare when you're not expecting it.
Still, this is a really good game overall! It's a very simple premise executed well, and I enjoyed my time with it!