Here are my thoughts about this game too, as I also played it for judging during the finals.

Overall it is an interesting idea, and the game plays like a battle arena type game.  I did find the party a tad odd and I didn't really care for one of the characters in the end in our party. I think it was probably a time limit thing though as you had to make it a one hour game which doesn't really give you a lot of time to get to know them well.

I do feel one battle was a little cheap due to the enemy stun locking you often. I didn't write down which battle it was sadly in my notes. I do wish there was a revive item or a better HP restoring system though as I felt healing was a little limited. Granted heal to full before every battle (well except for one which I will not post due to spoilers) does affect that but a backup way to revive at least would help just in case bad RNG messed up a battle.

I do hope though you expand on this idea at some point. And congrats on getting to the finals of the IGMC!

I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 10

Excellent work. I loved the depth and design of the characters (most of them, at least) and felt this could easily become a full game on its own with a far deeper story and interactions between the characters. I do feel a few characters were pretty 2D or flat and didn't have enough to really give me anything to wonder about or wish I knew more about like some others. But I feel in a full game that could easily be explored. Great stuff.

Hey there Melon Kid, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. You made some excellent choices for artstyle and story, making this game stand out even against other battle-heavy contestants. Each character is unique but still reminded me of the character tropes they were inspired by.

The battles were a lot of fun and had me planning moves ahead to get that needed MP. For the most part, however, I stuck to the same strategy and I wish the battles pushed me more to experiment each time. The opponents all looked different, but in general defeating them was the same: hit them as hard as possible. I wish some of them forced you to mix up your moves more often, but I'm sure the contest deadline made you cut some combat ideas.

Overall, good job making a battle rush game that's inviting even to people who normally avoid battle-focused games! With a bit more time and polish this could be an unforgettable experience.

Finally got around to playing this myself. I had already seen a sizable chunk of the game via stream (from the nun battle onwards), and already had a very good impression of what I saw, but there are some good jokes in the first half (and, you know, setup and story stuff, which some people consider important), so playing through it in its entirety was a good time investment. 

Having now engaged with the actual gameplay part of the game I can say that the battles are really fun! Some really interesting synergy between the three character's skills.  The Marr/Z combination is especially effective, since Z has a lot of HP and Marr can force her to facetank attacks (and he absolutely would do that, the little asshat), which in turn lets her take advantage of a skill that grows more powerful the less HP she has remaining... Though the best use of her turn is usually Rush, which does insane amounts of damage. 

Overall an excellent little game. Very charming graphics, both the sprite artwork and the face portraits. The characters, protagonists and opponents alike are bursting with personality in spite of the story's quick pace, which is a credit to the writing. A couple lines of dialogue was all it took to make me invested and intrigued about what their fictional universe was like, and what sort of villainous or tragic death brought them to this place.

I will definitely keep an eye open for any upcoming games by Melon Kid and friends!

To Be Continued

by Melon Kid

Hey there Melon Kid, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round three of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

I liked the title screen music. It's a pleasant waltz and it sets an inviting tone.

Interesting setting and character design. It's like a mish-mash of several different anime and cartoons came together to fight in a last man standing battle arena showdown that takes place in purgatory.

The writing is funny and the game doesn't take itself too serious but isn't a complete joke either. Nice job skirting that line.

The battle music doesn't loop very well and it starts and stops abruptly in at least one of the battles.

Great action sequencing, battle sequencing, use of animations and sound effects. The combat is very fun and interesting.

You've created a fun-tastic experience and I applaud you! This is one of my favorite entries of the entire competition. 

Congratulations on making it to round three of the 2022 IGMC, I look forward to seeing what you work on next.

-Drifty

I loved this game! Every character is unique and different from the others, and their portraits are awesome! After all, I wanted more time with the characters: the main cast was incredibly charming!
The "after death characters" situation is also interesting, it's a nice ground to see all different types of character interact with each other! Specifically, I really appreciated that dialogues were always interesting, and the jokes about their different genres and clichés are incredible!
Maybe only the ending seemed a bit rushed, but I understand a month for making a game is not much.

The battle system was nice, it's simple but it can lead to different strategy to play. Some battles were similar to others, but I really appreciated the "feel" of lots of them!

The maps and sprites/battlesprites graphics sadly won't hold up to the other parts of the game, they doesn't fit well with the portraits, which are amazing!
This game really deserves some adjustments to that compartment, but even like that it doesn't influence the complete experience, which as I said it was incredible.

I'll end with a personal hope: this concept is really cool just to be used for a short game. I'm hoping in the future it may become a full-fledged game, or even it may go with "seasons" of different characters. XD

A tourney in the afterlife where the prize is your life? This reminded me of another entry in IGMC called Rivals Beyond made by my brother. o:

This game was a very charming battle arena thingie, where characters have tons of personality.

The art was rough and made for the game, but I will always prefer that over using pretty tiles made for general use. Rough with personal touches always appeals to me. The character face art was extremely well done and the most impressive assets made for this.

The gameplay was not ever too challenging and just let you play with the mechanics. I enjoyed this aspect. I was really amused by characters having difficult personalities determining how they fought at first. And the character's movesets were all inspired off their personalities. It really showed.

I found it funny how each character was a trope, very aware that they were a trope, and kind of bitter about it. It almost delves into a territory where I find it makes too much of a science out of writing, but I still thought it was all funny and clever.

I kind of wish the game had a little more complete ending. It was too cliffhanger-y for my taste. The actual story behind it was good, but it makes the game feel more of a demo than a complete thing, which the game DID feel complete to me before that. It's a minor gripe.

The UI was pretty rough and sometimes off centered... but I have suffered from this in previous IGMCs and feel your pain. A month to make a game is very little haha.

I would also advise against using mouse for exclusive stuff (it was just flavor text in this case) unless there is good reason. I played on my TV with controller haha.

Overall, it was a well done battle arena full of whacky tropes who are aware that they are tropes. It does the afterlife story in a way you are amused, not depressed. I had a good time. I wish you all the best of luck!

First of all, I start by saying that I find the title brilliant! I really like the idea and the gameplay behind, above all I love that some character traits are defined by their skills. On an aesthetic level, I guess it was fun to conceive all these different character designs and I think it's also a big selling point for this entry. Overall you did an amazing job, kudos! :)

The art is absolutely the selling point for this game! The maps and HUD are kept simple so that the face graphics of the characters can shine. The contrast between the super detailed face images and the almost flat-feeling battlers / sprites was a little jarring, but considering how long art takes, I imagine that was likely a jam time constraint thing more than anything.

The narrative is well-contained within this experience, even despite the name being "To Be Continued" (and after playing, the title's link to the story -- and the theme of the IGMC -- is obvious). The humor and the super meta nature of the story are not for me, personally, and because of that, I had a hard time engaging with it, but it was competently written, and I can see why others who prefer this type of thing would really love it. 

I will say that the hardest thing for me to grapple with was differentiating between the characters, outside of Neli. To me, they all came off as too similar in personality, always antagonizing each other and just generally being one big cranky conglomerate. If it was just one character with that sort of personality, I think it would have a better overall effect and allow each of the characters to shine through and find a unique personality outside of the general snarkiness that blends them all together.

The battles were well balanced, and I liked the animations / action sequencing within the battles! I also enjoyed the different battle music that was used throughout. Since so much of the game is spent in the battles, having unique themes was a really good idea to keep the battles from all blending together.

Congrats to you and your team for putting out a well-packaged, completed experience and good luck with IGMC! :)

Such a unique concept executed so well. The writing is great, the art style is beautiful and the gameplay is fun. I was able to connect with the main cast in such a short amount of time. The gameplay was just challenging enough to stay fresh but not so challenging that it was too hard to play. Overall a great experience. 

Had high expectations going in and you guys really delivered! I just love how distinct all the fights feel, it really feels like fighting people from other worlds.

I love the battle system and the animate battler!The artwork is beautiful!

Heyho Melon! You were at the stream but I’m leaving this here for posterity.

• +Overall great!
• +The hook on the story and setting was well done.
• +It does a good job characterizing the main cast.
• +Marr does a good job being a shitheel XD You initially (by powers of protagonistship) are on his side, but quickly learn he sucks.
• +The in-comabt interactions were great, and such a rare thing to see.
• +The fights were balanced overall and the skillset had just enough complexity not to be boring, but not hard either.
• +The art, especially faces, was good, though some felt a bit rough, probably from time constraints.
• +Music (custom) was fitting and I never felt like it was out of place.
• +The ending was very sweet and I'm glad it did not go in a more grimdark direction.
• +I would love a longer game in this concept and learning more about the characters and where they come from, the theme is very appealing.
• -The art on some of the faces is a bit too dark, some lighter contrast points would help a lot, especially in the darker portraits.
• -The polish on the UI was not very good, which is understandable, but a better UI and presentation of combat hud would be great.

 Great job within the time you had, 5 stars!

This was lovely. I love the concept and the characters! Both personality and design. Wonderful work telling a contained story. I would love to learn more about the characters and to have seen a bit more character development out of Marr, but Neli and Z make up for it. Good work!

I really like this concept, it was very fun to play and the music is really amazing!

Great dialogue and really cute/funny characters. I'm not usually into battle-centric games but this was fun and not brutal lol. Got real emotional at one point, kudos to the writer~

I love it! The artwork is beautiful, the story was amazingly written and the music felt so nostalgic! 

A really good looking battle arena game with a solid and well written story. One of my favorites I've played so far for sure.