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I don't have a lot to say. I just love this game. The graphics/art style are beautiful. The writing is awesome and funny. The gameplay is simple but super tight and fun, sometimes gameplay doesn't need to be complex and this absolutely nails the run and gun fun. It's a bummer there wasn't time to finish, but that just shows how awesome it is that it was still one of my favs. Well done ^__^

**Patched**

- Normal mode added. When you loose all of your HP you return to the mission select screen

- Pressing start skips intro cutscense

-  Extras menu now has song selection and the option to practice bosses

- Fixed typos

- Faster screen fades so no cheap damage taken at the start of battles

I used to use RPG maker... How do you manage to make it your own style so well!! I'd never have guessed that this was made in RPG maker, you must be a total wizard at it. It's an awesome game with very cool mechanics. It totally builds upon what you did last year but absolutely takes it to the next level. Amazing work. So awesome. 

This definitely had one of the coolest art styles of the game jam. It looks so awesome. I just love the sprites and animation so much. Amazing work. Well done on your entry!

This has total MGS Ground Zeros vibes. Super atmospheric. It's extremely cool that you went from 2D last year to 3D this year. I'm very jealous of those skills . Very cool entry.

On another note, the Game Jam is lucky to have you. There aren't many people who have made the effort you have to go through and comment on all of the games. It such a nice thing to do. It makes the game jam worth it when people are leaving you feedback, so thank you.  You are awesome.

I'm so jealous of your skills. Everything is so slick. I was super proud of my menus and then I saw yours and they look awesome!. The pixel art is beautiful and the 3D world is awesome and just cool to explores. I love this game. Contrats on the entry. It's next level. 

So first time I played this I completed it by luck! But after watching Kyle play it and seeing chat explain it to him it all made senses. It's a very cool idea to make a game based on a riddle. It get my mind going with ideas. Also the intro is sick. The images in GB style, it's like something from a dream. Well done on your entry.

P.S. Also, it's super kind of you to comment on so many games. You're always so nice and fine the best in everyone's work. I don't think anyone else has put in as much effort as you have in terms of feedback. The Jam is lucky to have you here!

This is such a cool idea. Star Fox with time travel. This might inspire me for the future! Well done on your entry :)

Hah! That's such a nice thing to say. I'm super impressed with the difference between your entry last year and this year! Hope you do well quiet men :)

I love the art style in this. The shooting is super satisfying because of the push back and the sound effects. Also very funny. Also extremely cool box art! 

I'm jealous of anyone who can make 3D games. Especially ones where you can explore. Super cool mechanic. I'd love to see a full world with this mechanic for exploration. Super sick entry. Well done! Also definitely the cutest DSD in the Jam ^_^

This is great writing.  "grind time baby" I find the start very funny that you can go back to Aldus to make your own love. I didn't think many people would choose Damien, so I find it super interesting to see others interpretations of him. Congrats on your entry! It's a very fun read!

The idea behind this is just so cool. Racing and having the breaks between for the story and adventure style gameplay is very cool. Also, racing in general is awesome. Drifting is satisfying. 

I think this has the coolest intro in the Game Jam. It's cool you thought about each book. I've spent so long thinking about the characters that I was super interested on your take of what happened in the books. Super cute graphics. Really cool entry. Well done ^_^

You're way too kind! Thank you :) it was your game last year that inspired me to make this! :D

I'm jealous of your 3D capabilities! I've not played it myself yet, but I'm going to download a bunch on Saturday so I can judge before the closing date. Thanks again for being so nice!

Thank you! I really appreciate everyone willing to play (or even watch kyle play) my game. I know its a bit dark but I'm super proud of the ending  so that means a lot. Thanks for your kind words!

Thank you so much! Unhinged is the perfect word to describe what I was aiming for. Thanks for the kind words about my writing, it means a lot. 

Thank you! The last boss is probably the part I'm most proud of. Thanks so much for playing! It means a lot! I'm going to settle in tomorrow and play a bunch for myself. 

haha! Thank you so much. That was my aim! When I was fighting the last boss in my head you are the boss. Thank you so much for playing :) that's awesome.

Hey people. I have a question about this rule.

It says in the rules: "You must not retcon the wildly unpopular twist. There are No Giant Robots in the Steel Love universe."

Does this mean the only thing we cannot retcon is "there are no giant robots in the steel love universe"? For example, do Singuliera and Averagmus/Gigantimus have to stay split up?  (This isn't my plan) But if they were to say, get back together under a deal that Averagmus would wear the giant suit sometimes, would this count as a retcon? 

I have made my final update to the game. There is now two options, "for the story" and "for the challenge". There is also a chapter select. I have also fixed all previous glitches that have been found :) as a whole it feels pretty tight now.  I'm finally happy to leave it in this current state.

Thank you for this!

I have made my final update to the game. There is now two options, "for the story" and "for the challenge". There is also a chapter select. I have also fixed all previous glitches that have been found :) as a whole it feels pretty tight now. 

Thanks for pointing out this glitch for the DSD fight. Turns out I didn't reset Izils HP when you loose so it doesn't restart the fight. I've fixed it now :) Will put up the final version soon. (I've also added a "for the story" mode which make it a little easier.)

You've put a lot of effort into the story and I think it paid off as it was one of the best stories in the jam. Really solid work. I also think the Alexandria sprite is awesome. Cool mechanic, cool story, cool game.

This is such a weird game! And I mean that is a positive way!, I love weird games. The idea of trying to die with as much clout as possible is pretty original. It took me a little while to understand the mechanic but once I did the vibe of the game completely changed. Nice work.

I can't believe the effort you put into these puzzles! They are top notch. You really need to sit and work them out. I think the way you implemented the rules into a text game was also really well done. I don't know why but I really like the vibes it gives off when you reach the end and DSD room is there. It's a cool idea. 

We clearly had the same idea for an after credits scene! :D This is such an impressive project for the timescale. I really like the graphic style and I think you maybe had the most original idea for DSD. Awesome stuff.

It's cool that you manage to put such a clear image in my head from your writing. Nice story, high character investment.

The soundtrack to this is banging! It's really awesome. I'm so jealous, I've tried to get a chiptune sound before but with no success. I completed the game, but couldn't beat DSD! I might go back now that I have played the other games and see if I can beat him. I found the game genuinely fun with some cool level design. 

I have one piece of constructive criticism, that I hope doesn't annoy you! But I think if Scratch killed normal enemies in one hit when he was at full ego, it would make the player feel super powerful and really push you to reach max ego and not want to loose it. I hope you don't mind me saying. I think I have some issues with enemy HP in my game too! I found it hard to get a good balance. 

Overall it's a cool game, it was the first one I played in the Jam and it stuck with me!

I feel your pain for the way Kyle played your game on stream! But his commentary was super funny and made the the whole thing fun to watch. I played it more legit and thought it was really fun. It's nice being really powerful. I tried out all the cards and actually thought the one that slowed enemies down was super strong! The pixel art is super sweet. 

The style is awesome. I found your image of Sexy Carrot very funny. I really like your characterization of Ultra Mint in this. Well done! 

My PC really struggles to run this, which I'm gutted about because after Kyle's stream it was one that I was really looking forward to playing! I still rated it highly, I just love the vibes. My girlfriend absolutely loved Chicken. I also very much appreciated Chicken. 

I really liked this game. I think it's one of the tops in terms of "fun" for me. Art style is also very cute. I love the art for his pirate buddies. 

My favorite thing about this game is the vibes. It's got such a "dream like" feel to it which I'm in love with. Well done, it's fun just to walk around this world and soak in the atmosphere.  

I'm not sure if you wrote the music? But I legit woke up this morning with the overworld theme stuck in my head. The style of this game is just so cool. I don't think many games that aim for a PS1 vibe pull it off as well as you do here. I think sometimes they maybe go to far to the point where it just doesn't look that nice, but yours looks beautiful. You should be proud of the world you've built here.

This is such an amazing submission. The art design is awesome and the card game is fun. My favorite thing is just the world you have built. Very cool.

I absolutely love the style and animation for this game. I'd love to see you continue to work on this, I'd love to see a world with your art style. Awesome job. I really like the monster following you and being your tool for fighting and platforming. It's very cool. I know if I was to try this it would have probably taken me the whole month to just to get that working! 

Hi there, I had a couple of people asking if there was a way to listen to the soundtrack for my game. I wrote and recorded these songs myself and I'm pretty pleased with them. I'm probably going to reuse the "Trial of Izil" in Dawn of Dawn because it might be the best song I've ever written! I record my songs just using a mini synth, an acoustic guitar and an 8 track. I've uploaded it to YouTube. You can listen here:

Making the game.

For anyone who is interested I thought I'd talk a little about the making of the game. Here are some random bullet points:

• "In Greek mythology, a little owl traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology." This is where the name for the game and Izil's power came from. 
• "Using her gift of strategic inspiration, she implanted the idea of the Trojan horse into the mind of Ulysses, who then directed the creation of the famous gift. Virgil called it “Minerva’s gift of death.”"  This mythology is what inspired Izil's special move and is why I decided to name his Dad Ulysses.  
• The name of their ship "The Ra" is a reference Egyptian god of the sun. This was actually a mistake at first, I meant to name the ship after Horus, the god of the sky (who has an owl head) but I ended up liking the name "The Ra" so I left it as it was.
• So basically I just googled "owl Mythology" >_<
• I always planned for the Dad to die at the end. It is why Izil trips in the very first scene. I wanted to come up with a strong reason for him having a "low ego" for Bruised Ego's. From the start I had the final scene planned out in my head, I wasn't sure if my animation skills would be up to job of pulling it off, but it turned out pretty close to how I imagined. 
• I wanted to have a visual change in Izil by the end of the game, which is why he doesn't use the knife/sword he has in the concept art. Instead at the end he is holding his fathers broken sword, which in my interpretation would go on to be his weapon for Bruised Egos. Obviously he gets his "uncool" bandanna from his dad at the end. Just me trying to give the bandana some sentimental value.
• My original idea was to for the game to be more of a tower defense game, where Izil would build turrets and other defenses to protect The Ra. However I realised  that if I wanted to focus on story I'd need to make the gameplay more simple (especially as it took me the full first week to draw, animate and program just Izil. 
• I don't often get to watch Kyles streams live, I usually watch the VODs on YouTube, even then I don't have the time to watch full videos. So this was the first time I had heard of Dark Schippie Dues. I'm not sure if there is previous lore for him. I saw some people in chat saying that my version of him was a drastic lore shift! I just wanted to go a bit crazy with it. I figured the phase 1 fight would be generic in terms of using the concept art. I didn't even give him arms, which is why he only kicks. So I wanted to go over the top in phase 2 and 3. Fun fact, his weird body and arms are hidden under his top in phase 1. In some animations you can see the gloopy drips under his top.

What's Next from me.

I'm going to fix the glitches in the game. I'm going to make a chapter select. I'm going to make an easy mode for the final level. 

After that I'm really trying to convince myself to leave it at that. I'm way too tempted to make a mode called "Dark Schippie Trials" where you fight the other characters from Bruised Ego's in the Court of Dark Schippie Dues. Just because I love the characters chat and Kyle designed, I'd love to bring them all to life in some way. I'd love a shot at animating them. However, I think the amount of people who would actually play this would be pretty small for the time investment. I should really get stuck back into Dawn of Don. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, I'm currently working on an Easy Allies fan game called Dawn of Don. I only have Brandon's, Brad's and Damiani's biomes to finish. So I really want to push to the end of that. If anyone is interested I'll post the trailer below. Unfortunately for me, I learned a lot about animating during this game jam, so I want to go back and make Don's (and enemies) animations smoother and more "cool" looking. I've also already added more detail to the levels so my current version already looks better than this trailer. But it's here for anyone interested.

Finally thank you to all the kind and awesome messages about Minerva's Lost. I put my heart and soul into it and this community's reaction to it has made the whole thing worth it. So thanks again. You are awesome.

(Sorry if this is a bit of a self indulgent post. I don't get to talk to many people about my stuff other than my long suffering fiancée!) 

Thanks for the feedback! I'll look into those glitches. I knew about the shooting one >.< you can actually shoot in every cut scene but I'll be able to fix it. I'm going to add a chapter select as well. I'll probably tweak the last level a bit too! I hope you enjoyed it despite its problems! Thanks for playing :)