Really great game! It has a level of polish that is hard to achieve in a Jam. I played yesterday and it was really late so I had to stop playing, but I think I reached the last boss (a mage with a different color).
Pros:
- At first I thought the levels would be randomized, but it seem most of it is fixed, except for the spell scrolls. I think it was a good decision!
- The game is well paced, it gives you enough new stuff to keep you interested but doesn't overwhelm you at any point;
- Very easy to play, with simple controls. It would make a nice cell phone game!
- The game plays exactly how I expected it to from seeing the gif;
- The game doesn't explain it's mechanics too much, which is good, since it makes it fun to try things out and doesn't put boring tutorials in the way;
- The mechanics are simple and unique;
- The music fits the theme;
- Right amount of screenshake;
- Good looking pixel art with a nice pallete;
Cons:
- The music gets repetitive (very short loop);
- The characters aren't unique enough: Goblins, skeletons, etc are very common in a lot of games and this can make it harder to your game to stand out in a flooded market like gaming. Ex.: if I say I like a medieval game, or a modern FPS good luck guessing what game I'm talking about. But if talk about a character made of meat, or a blue hedgehog... You guessed it? This kind of stuff makes word of mouth work more in your favor and marketing the game much easier and more effective;
- The thumbnail for your game is just text, which is less likely to grab people's attention (still nicely drawn, animated and good colors);
- Not really a "Con", but you could fit some kind of story in the game to make the thing more memorable. I like to think of myself as a guy who likes good mechanics over graphics and story, but in the end a lot of my favorite games are favorites partly because of the story. It's just in our DNA. Sitting around the campfire, telling stories. It should not come too much in the way of gameplay though, since it is a short game!
It's my favorite game from this Jam so far! Very, very good!