Life-A-Live 

by Berry B

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

Nice music selection, the title screen has a very melancholy tone with simple but cute menu artwork.

The combat system was interesting and odd. Mechanically it's a simple input memorization test. Much like Simon Says.

I'm not exactly sure what is happening in the combat but it seems like you're healing them instead of damaging them which is pretty neat.

I like the use of blur and perspective given on some of the images for example the giant sunflower with the sparkles coming off of it after the first battle.

I was using the controller until I was unable to, then I had to switch to the keyboard when the combat system memorization mechanics requires I input specific numbers.

A good suggestion would be to tie all of that to buttons on the controller in future versions(or games). That way someone who wants to use a controller to play is able to.

The combat system itself isn't really that engaging as I don't find memorization puzzles to be that fun personally, but I do appreciate the amount of artwork and sequencing that went into all of these battles.

The music from stage 1-3 felt sinister and fits better with the combat scene. However, the melancholy emotional piano piece, while is pretty and feel-provoking doesn't quite fit to me for the battle scene. I was left a little confused with a lack of any real context. It made it hard to get a idea of what was going on. I suppose the intentions are to let the user write their own story, which is not a bad approach, but it can be hit or miss.

I guess it's a story about friends saving each other? I really didn't understand the story, but I felt like you took me on a ride, and that was pretty cool.

I like the attempt at telling a story with no words. Inevitably while some people may imagine a wonderful story from the artwork that you've provided them, some will not. This is a very challenging method of story writing and I applaud your efforts.

There were a couple of areas that felt incomplete like the extra buttons in battle that did nothing for example.

Congratulations on making it to round three in the IGMC 2022 and well done. Keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing your future projects.

-Drifty

My thoughts while playing the game.

+ = I liked it

- = I didn't like it

* = Neutral/suggestion

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+ Beautiful title screen. I love how the background is animated and the options are arranged nicely.

+ Lovely art, as always

+ No text; the story is told entirely in pictures. Fascinating.

+ The battles are even a simple "Simon Says" game. Creative!

+ You don't kill enemies; you transform them into "good" creatures. Cool!

+ Huh, so the battle commands can be literally any combination of keys on the keyboard, whether they're directions, numbers, etc.
 + Later discovered it's limited to just arrows and 1-4, which makes it manageable

+ No on-map movement and no text makes this a very VISUAL novel. I still think it's cool.

+ In fact, no on-map movement means the plot keeps moving instead of having to figure out where to go and potentially getting stuck or confused.

- This looks like a stage select screen, but pressing a number key doesn't seem to do anything, and pressing the arrows didn't seem to do anything either. How do I navigate it?
 + At least you did add menu tooltips that indicate how to open the menu so I can save the game and adjust audio options if I wanted.

+ I noticed that the battle backgrounds scroll. That's pretty cool. Especially since they aren't too distracting. I guess they make up for the fact that the battlers are static; it adds motion that would otherwise be missing.
 + Also, they're not TOO busy, so they don't distract from the action that I'm trying to see and pay attention to.

* I see 2 icons at the bottom center of the battle UI; what do they mean?

+ Oh NOW I can choose a different stage with the number keys

* The game is so linear and I can't tell what the advantage of doing the stages in a different order would be, so I don't see the point in having the stage select.

- The last boss seems to be hard for the wrong reasons

• Much longer than the other enemies, requiring I remember for a short time a random sequences of arrows and numbers
• Getting even 1 wrong character means I take damage; nothing mitigates it
• There's no decision making involved or strategy, making the process kinda monotonous, especially when retrying
• There's no way to replay the prompt, so if I wasn't paying attention then I get to just eat damage
•  There appears to be a revive mechanic if I lose, but it gets thrown at me suddenly so it took me off guard and I failed

+ Cool little epilogue at the end

+ I haven't remarked much on it, but the music fits the mood of the game well

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Summary

This is a simple game with some creative mechanical concepts and beautiful art. The final battle served to highlight the problems with the system, but overall I think this is an impressive entry. Nice job, Berry!

You really got a talent for non-verbal emotional storytelling. I really don't know how you do it. I enjoyed the gameplay and the length. I do kind of crave a Berry-difficulty 8 bit memory challenge, but for the jam I really think it was perfect. 

One thing I noticed was that if I thought I knew the pattern and pressed the buttons very quickly, there would be a slight delay in registering. It only messed me up one time, but if it were possible, instant feedback with no delay would have felt good to me.

Had a lot of fun with this one and I really like that heart guy. He's like my favorite character this jam. Would like to see more of him.

Very impressive game made by Berry!  All the art in here is very beautifully well done and the fact that you got all of it done in such a short time is impressive!  Despite there being no words, I understood the story and it's very good and engaging all the way through!  The music played a big part in it being so emotional so well done on that end!  The gameplay is really simple as well with it being just simon says however, I felt as if there were stakes which made it really interesting especially for the final stage.  Once again despite the wordlessness, I perfectly understood what to do!  I liked as you get further in each level you start to rejuvinate the enemy more and more!  If I were to make one small nitpick though, I didn't really know how to activate my powerups (if those are what the icons were supposed to be, then if they're not then I'm wrong).  Overall though, I liked this game a whole, whole lot!  You should be proud of yourself Berry!

As always Berry... you never cease to impress me! The spider game from touch the stars jam was the first time I had seen your work.  Just like you showed me something I didn't think was possible in the engine at that time, you've done it again. 

This is a solid entry. You should be proud. :D

Absolutely beautiful game -- I can only imagine how much time all of this took to draw! -- with fantastic narrative elements. You tell a full, and emotional, story. Very well-done entry~

Congratulations for making this game! I can’t wait to see more of you in the future! Liked the balance of story with wonderful images and interactive gameplay not so hard but not so easy. I’ll surely take inspiration from this in my game dev journey! :)

beautiful, the game is extremely simple, still I simply LOVED the music and the aestetics

Beautiful work! I recorded first impressions playing if you want more comments: https://youtu.be/nan4TdbjLNY?t=1936

Really great game, love the aesthetic, the story, everything. This unique concept battle mechanic is very fun. This game is beautiful, I'am glad to playing this game. Simply perfect <3

That's a very sweet game! I always appreciate when someone tries to do something different with the tool and you nailed it. Love the way you tell the story with only pictures and I really like the final part of the boss fight, I didn't expect that! :D

Nice Simon-esque rhythm game style battle engine.  Great screen transitions and direction to the art and cutscenes. It's very cohesive as a whole, and I was impressed by the narrative story telling without any text. I can tell you put a lot of time and thought into the art and how it was framed in sequence and on-screen.

Loved the custom art. You used the show pictures really well to tell a story without dialogue. The combat is simple and works well - nice contrast of turning everything dark and glooming into happy hearts and flowers. My only  very minor critique is to tone down the flashing screen effects... maybe my eyes are too spoilt by using everything in dark mode XD.

Well done! Loved this entry!

I see you also submitted to this IGMC after the Harold Jam. I tried but couldn't come up with any good ideas. If this returns next year I am going to try to get a game in.

Anyway, this game was short and sweet. You did an excellent job incorporating the theme of the jam. It was delivered in such a way no words were needed. It reminded me why I started to take a liking to your games.

The only critique I could give is the heads of the humanoid characters are a little too big. (They would be roughly 7 1/2 to 8 heads tall if they are adults or teenagers.)  Other than that you hit it out of the park with this one and I hope you rank high for this game.

Lovely, cute and heartwarming story, told without dialogue. Battle system is interesting and fun, but only gets tricky at the very end (and then my old eyes could barely keep up lol). Custom graphics do a great job of conveying everything. Great job!

I super enjoyed this entry and it really shows Berry's mastery with emotional stories without the need for words 😍 The battle system is a unique memory input butto  system and is actually quite engaging. The arts and sprites are still as pretty. Overall, this game left me feeling joy so great job Berry! ❤️👍