Deepest Sword

this game is tremendous!
an original idea, and great mechanics.
my favorite so far.

Gorgeous looking game and very cool and original mechanics!

It was really fun to play !

This is a great game! Looks great and the mechanic was a lot of fun. Well, I should clarify, the mechanic was extremely frustrating! But that makes it fun! I think that this game has a pretty steep learning curve. I played for 10 minutes and wasn't able to get past a length of 4.

Maybe just for the jam you could give people the ability to skip a section from the teleporter? Just so that way if someone like me gets stuck and can't beat a section they have a way to progress through the game anyway?

One of the best so far. The sword mechanics is perfect.

Nearly perfect jam game here, congrats! I just couldn't quit until I won, took 25:30. Amazing work!

One of the best entries I have played this far. Good job!

Really really creative! I'm amazed how polished this is.
Only problem I have is that the screen shake is very dizzying

Crazy what some people can do with so little time! Very well done game, feels so polished! Good job

Managed to finish in 17 mins, but ten of them were on the last level. The game is awesome and I had lots of fun, but the way you had to abuse the mechanics in the final level was sometimes frustrating. Overall super awesome game!

This is so good. I love this idea so much

so fun! Animations and level designs are great!

This is so polished, it's amazing. You get my first 5 star overall review.

Very nice graphics, super polished, and great gameplay! 5/5 stars overall!

Really good and original idea!

The mechanic, the graphics, audio, everything is perfect

What an absolute blast to play, took me 26 minutes to get to the end.
I guess the innuendos were inevitable with this theme and the concept of a large sword lol.
The movement is really nicely made, awesome

Really cool take on the theme the art of the game is very pleasing and the music is catchy it's really good !

Wow! Awesome game!!!! Cool concept, nice graphics, definitely 5 stars!

I love the whole feel of this game! Really well done.

Had to rip myself away from this game! Super fun and easy to learn and hard to master! Game looks gorgeous and the player foley work is super cute and fun!

Great game and concept! Had to stop due to frustration, but I was really close...Only thing I'd recommend is that the background music was quiet compared to the rest of the audio, but great job overall!

ADORABLE! The Sexy Hiking style climbing with the sword is a GREAT mechanic idea and it was expertly implemented! The sprites to go with it were a true delight! A jam game that tells a story THIS polished is so rare, this is one to cherish. Literally the first jam game I've added to my itch.io collection to play again later!!

It's so lovely! I enjoyed it, 5/5

I gave up after 40 minutes. 10/10

41:48 was my time. The innuendos was hilarious and the puzzles were easy at first and progressively got harder which made for great pacing. It was slightly difficult to get my sword in the dragon as I kept misjudging where the hole was. Patience is definitely the key to winning this game.

The art, music and overall presentation was fantastic! All in all this was an amazing game so a big thank you to you all for making it!

Such good graphical style, great job Rose Peng! Reminded me of Getting Over It; this is a really awesome reimagining. I would love to see what you all come up with for additional puzzles/weapons!

Great mood and graphics, the dragon had a wonderfully sassy mouth.

Felt like the gameplay was pretty frustrating though. Maybe ease up the difficulty or give some powerups?

Really liked the art and the idea, well done =D

Super cute. I liked how the length of the blade made some tasks easier or harder when you returned to them. Great premise, excellent art, straightforward and fun - wonderful job overall!

Frustratingly good level design! 10/10

I don't think youre supposed to create a finished and polished and ready-for-release game for a jam! Absolutely outstanding work. One of my favorites on here.

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL

Amazing game, shame I got stuck and had no idea how to proceed.

I really liked this! Parts of the level being harder with a longer sword is a really cool mechanic.

amazing mechanics

soo cute and clever!!

only took me 40 minutes to beat! x_x very satisfying gameplay. just like 'getting over it'! great music/art(especially the endscreen, i didnt even know i lost my cat!)

I love the art, the innovation, and the amazing amount of content. The game is frustrating just like "getting over it", but I feel like that's intentional. The polish is beautiful too

super creative! a bit frustrating at times but definitely worth it

Fantastic work! So good. Favorite part was the whole 'situation' between dragon and knight. Shifting the colors between sections did a lot for making me feel like I was progressing. Great art and palette.

I thought the sword mechanic was a ton of fun, but didn't enjoy the level design at the end. I ended up being stuck in a place I couldn't move in level 4 and gave up after using R to reset. I really wanted to keep going to see more dialog! While the mechanics helped the story, in the end there was a bit of mismatch between the HEAVY masochistic difficulty and FLUFFY kookiness. Might be better for one to give.

Really a great game, though I was in pain by the end. The camera moving at every wiggle started giving me a headache. Would have been nice if there was a bigger zone where it wasn't moving. The look-ahead also contributed to the nausea because I was constantly going back and forth.

Awesome entry, gotta say I love the innuendo going on. The difficulty in the end section was a DRASTIC increase from the rest of the game, but it was super satisfying to finally overcome. Took me a bit to find the intended route so it might have been good to signal that a bit better on the very last section. Again great work

Amazing visuals and music with intressting gameplay and fun puzzles tho it got a pretty hard in some scenarios, but overall it was great. Had really fun playing it.

I loved your game, with its challenging gameplay and light humor it is a hit in my book!

Nifty game! I love the mechanic!

I agree with everyone, this game looks beautiful, music is great, too bad that I'm stuck at 5 level, I wanted to see the defeat of the dragon with the Deepest sword

Great looking game and great atmosphere. I enjoyed playing it, put couldn't make it past level 3 before rage quitting :D But that should say that the gameplay or controls were bad. Justthat I'm probably not that person who enjoys trying to master a though challenge

This game's art and sense of humor are gonna break the jam ratings this year. It went for it. There were a couple puzzles where I felt like I was off barely and the physics required too much finesse. This game's team should be proud of how effective they all were in making an excellent and unique spin on the theme this year. I'll be remembering this submission in jam's to come.

Great game. I really enjoyed so many things about this. This really doesn't feel like a jam game, its just so polished and well done.

Awesome game with great sense of humor!

Incredible game! Captured the theme of the jam in such a creative and original manner. The entire game oozes fun and personality too. Quintessential jam game.

Wonderful graphics, and really clever game mechanics! It has a lot of the little things you would expect from a well-polished and finished game. It's a little too difficult for me, but I enjoy my time with it. Great job!

Interesting concept, but I can't go through third level. How to do that?

Oh my god, I love it. Everything about this was fantastic. The game mechanic was simple but quite versatile in its uses, the visuals were great (I love that the character gets winded from the biggest sword), the audio was solid, the dragon's sass about sword size was already funny and leads to...that end screen. Genuinely made me laugh.

I normally try to give constructive suggestions on improvements with every comment, but I'm honestly at a loss. I would say the only thing I want is for it to be longer, but the dragon might like that too much...

I'm still getting over it.

lol seriously though phenomenal game. The challenge is right in that sweet spot where I feel like it should be easier so I keep trying. It's more difficult than it initially looks, but still so rewarding. This is a super solid submission. Well done!

I should also point out the humor of wielding a sword so big in such tight quarters had me laughing the whole time. It helped me chill out when I got frustrated. Love this game.

Awesome game! I found the sword turning on a trackpad to be confusing, but I eventually got it. Super cool mechanic, though it take quite some time to get used to it. Took me an hour to beat it.

the game is amazing and really fun. The atmosphere is off the chart. But I kept getting stuck on this part and I think I'm going to lose my mind :D

BRUH! This is just brilliant. You don't see a game this polished and fun too often. It feels like a full flashed game and not just a Jam Game. Just amazing.

Also me: I hate this game so much, haha. Make me rage. :D

The game is interesting, nice job!
Although it is too difficult to me ,hahaha.

hehheeh that was really fun!! The sword rotation instead of a jump is cool idea! I've enjoyed playing it. It was like a time machine.. taking me back to my childhood, thanks guys :)

Very cool, both overall style and mechanics. However i could not beat the second level even :/

This game was incredible, the idea, the mechanics, the level design, its all top of the line. Mine-blowingly good. If there was a category for making me having inexplicable feelings for a dragon, you'd get a 5 in that too.

I love everything about this. The gameplay is similar to Getting Over It, but has it's own twist on it. I also really liked the fact that you can skip the previous sections once your sword gets longer. The game is very polished and challenging, and I managed to beat it in 25 minutes. The only thing that I can say something bad about (which is really a nitpick) is that I found a bug that speeds up the player idle animation when you switch windows, although it goes away once you move again. Terrific Job!

О, давно я не играл в сложные платформеры. А тут прям навеяло... Мегаменом, что ли. Разработчики - молодцы, очень цельная, оригинальная игра. Надеюсь только, что вы ее не будете расширять, а то полчаса проходить один уровень мне немного надоело ^_^

Great game, it's amazing to see a truly original idea that is executed so perfectly. Even if a bit frustrating. Also, what a sassy dragon. 10/10 would go deeper

Hands down: I would love this to be a full game!

Why? Easy. This can definitely be a rage game of some sort if this is pushed even further.
In fact, this could be considered a speed game if done right!

Usually I would hand out critiques on what could be done better but this is mostly done very well!

Well, other than this, of course:

This is the only point in the game where you can't really do anything but restart.

Great game ! Very cute graphics and a really well thought gameplay that give a getting over it vibes.

Good game! I love the art and the sound! But at first I didn't realize that you can use the 2 buttons on the mouse to turn the sword in defferent direction.

This game made me suffer. Thanks.

but it's great

Really awesome game, but it's too hard for my smooth brain, so I couldn't finish it.😅

Great game! Just the right amount of success to keep you coming back. I loved that the mechanic changed the puzzles you already completed, kind of like in Hades. Keep developing!

Beautiful game! The graphics, the audio, the mechanics... everything looks and feels polished. While getting deeper and deeper I got some 'Getting Over It' vibes, which is nice (and gave me some flashbacks I thought I successfully repressed but whatever) :)

Solid work, well done!

finished in 29.20! omg that was rage inducing but very clever core mechanic. it's also cool how it makes you approach the levels in different ways every time meaning you get more mileage out of each one. Very coooool

Incredibly well done but very frustrating at times :joy:

Extremely good game, great pixel art and very original gameplay. Frustrating at times, I feel like the sword should slide a little on the ground.

Nevertheless, this is a winner in my book. Congratulations!

What an incredibly fun game! There was one section where the game froze when I tried to reset, but then I started again (because it's so good!) and made it to the end. Very nice; well done!

Really well thought out, really challenging and fun - that feeling when you get it is great - keep up the work

Absolutely brilliant! That's all I can say. 10/10

PS: How much of the double entendre was intentional? :P

PPS: Just over 25 minutes

Great concept, excellent (if oblique) use of theme, and lovely art direction (great use of palette swaps for the different areas!)... unfortunately the experience is completely ruined by the slide-y/physics-y movement. The sword controls (at every level) are very good, it feels wobbly and burdensome without feeling unfair, but the movement is just needlessly annoying. This isn't usual for a keyboard-only platformer, but this is a game especially that would have really benefited from analog joystick controls, or a more tile-based x-positioning for the character.

The problem with it is that there's no sense of accomplishment when you eventually overcome one of the challenges. It's like rolling a 100-sided die until you get a 46. Like, hooray, but I didn't feel like my successful attempts were a result of anything other than doing it over and over again. It also got in the way of really good design choices. For example, early stages are made more difficult with the longer swords (fantastic idea!) but it doesn't really work as-is because the challenge comes from the unpredictability of movement rather than player precision or puzzle-solving.

There were a few places where I got stuck even though the principles of levers (which the game reminds you to consider almost as a preemptive complaint avoidance scheme, very clever! :-P) would apply. This is utterly forgivable since it's edge cases and this is a jam game, so that's just playtest feedback, not actual criticism.

Great work for a jam game. I think the high-level of presentation polish invites comparisons to published works, which certainly isn't fair. I think this would be a great game to keep working on for commercial release. I'd love to see it as a puzzler with a bunch of bite-sized sequences like this, with different themes, goals, or items to swing. I wouldn't add much to it, even though you certainly could.

But, the movement needs to be addressed. The market for "Getting-Over-It-likes" is only so large, and this game can't count on meme-aesthetics like that one did. What it has is a greater focus on lateral thinking with it's faux-rogue-like structure. Lean into that and less into the controls being frustrating for their own sake.

(Also, you can totally cheese the second-to last area with both the swords you bring to it).

EDIT: Your stats show you have no karma or given ratings for other games yet. It's early still so I just want to encourage you to do so even though you probably won't need to considering all the attention this is getting already. I don't like when some LD games get a lot of attention and skate by without participating in the system, so I hope you choose to avoid that fate.

That was really interesting, a great mechanic and presentation. Penetrating the dragon was strangely erotic. I also had to learn that i should be satisfied with an average sized sword, i had a lot of trouble handling the 4 incher (or whatever that measurement is). I got really frustrated with the longer one - reminded me a bit of getting over it, which is not something i enjoy, so it won't be held against your game. In that regard, i think the controls find a good balance of being slightly awkward, so that the challenge arises from the execution (like in the bennet foddy game).

Awesome job! I'm sure i'll see this on randomize user :D

PS: i had a little technical problem where the game slowed down heavily and the sped up, throwing me off cliffs. Not sure if it was my browser or systems fault. Oh, and the music was pretty silent.

Very impressive and challenging game. It feels highly polished and the graphics are awesome. :)

Very nice game ! bro

Everything is so polished, great job!

Very lovely! Wish I had more patience for mechnics like these since the presentation and theme are top notch.

A neat idea and awesome design! I could not manage to finish it, after 10mins I just go tired of swinging the heavy sword that everything but not what I want :D This game is a bit more frustrating then enjoyable for me, but I appriciate the quality you made :)

Such a good game! It looks adorable! The music is very fun and fits the game perfectly, love the sound design. The levels are great! Some parts are hard and that makes tha game both difficult and rewarding, it's well balanced. The timer is such a good idea. Love it, great work!

Very strong gameplay, but a little bit too frustrative too me, I confess :D.
The art is pretty cool, and it's a good idea to colorize each zone.

Graphics are awesome, super original idea, nice music.
Really impressive for a jam! Great work!

27 minutes ez

Super cool game!! The art and audio is amazing, the gameplay is so challenging but I enjoyed it a lot, overall fantastic game! Great job!

Overall pretty nice, I like the art style and gameplay was fun.
The controls were pretty unique and took a bit to master. I found using keyboard + mouse controls easier.
The only complaint is that the difficulty shift between level 4 and level 5 was too big in my opinion, another level between those two would feel a little better I think.

Well, if nothing else, the conspect of being able to thrust into the dragon hole definitely kept me playing. But the gameplay, while definitely interesting, is marred by a strange turn of the level design towards the Kaizo Mario-esque. Kinda like Getting Over It but more annoying to control. The interpretation of the theme is fun, but I kinda wish the moment-to-moment gameplay had more to do with it - the "deepest" in "deepest-sword" feels a bit forced.

This game is so cool Wow
However, i think the last stage is a little bit too frustrating, but the rest feel so polished, one of my favourite game so far !

I still can't get past level 4 😭 But I really love this art style, and it feels like a lot of thought was put into the level design. It's such a super clean and polished game. Well done!!

This game has so much goodness in it. Great art style, awesome animations, cute humor with just the right amount of innuendos mixed in. I loved the mechanics, I loved how you let me skip the previous levels with the alternate paths, I loved everything. Till the very last level and its starting edge.
Reach for it my `*`. Whoever decided to put this in, and the rest of you who didnt stop the person - I'm not proud of you.

Anyways, GG WP, nice game. Music is much quieter than sounds for some reason - which is a pity cause I liked it very much.

What an original and hilarious game! The idea of plunging your sword deeper and deeper into the dragon is a very creative (and a bit suggestive) take on the theme. The physics on the sword made for some really clever and tricky obstacles. I love the idea of playing the same levels over and over but with a different sword that changes the way you have to approach the obstacles. I also like how some of the obstacles can be cheesed if you really make use of your sword's physics. I managed to bypass the second to last room both of the times I had to go through it. I beat the game in 16 minutes, which is apparently really fast comparing to some of the other times on this thread, so I guess I was quick on the uptake. Overall, fantastic entry. Amazing work!

Awesome concept! Really enjoy the whole process of it, I was having a bit hard time after level 3 because the sword just keep blocking my way haha. From an auido perspective it's really great you guys implement the feeling from animal crossing for each character, the sounds and the animation work so well together, but really polish game!

I don't remember ever coming to rate a game on LD, considering every category and filling them all with fives. The concept is great and the execution is just about as perfect as you could expect of a jam game. It doesn't fall short on any front: the art is beautiful, the sound design is great (the squeaks!), the stability of the physics no matter what you throw at it, the feeling of weight and friction, the level of challenge, the level design, even the hints and flavor text - all done to the highest degree of polish you could hope for with such a short deadline. I love it all, please keep making games forever

Innovative game! Addictive gameplay! hard but challenging!

Great game! The mechanics were really interesting and fun. Never seen anything like it before. When moving back and forth, it does get a bit jarring with the camera movements though.

I played it on livestream and I loved it. It's hard and challenging but not frustrating. The dialogs and puns are super fun and the level design is just perfect.

I don't know what more to say about it, I really loved it.

Cool and original idea, great art & music, that last level is reeeeally hard though.

Great entry, only problem I have with it that it always feels like you are wrestling with the ingame physics, instead of you being actually in control. Especially the later areas with the longest sword feel like the level design isnt complementing the gameplay, but exploiting the physics. Other than that I enjoyed it a lot, and especially some of the earlier levels are very cool when you have to traverse them again with a longer sword and the strategy to use changes.

I love the art and the music is very nice, but despite the idea which is original, I think the game is too frustrating, it feels more like I'm fighting against the game than really playing it (I finished it though, in around 39 minutes).
The dragon reactions were funny too and globally the game is well polished, very impressive for a jam game !

Super fun game! The graphics are impressively polished, the gameplay is fun and unique, your double-implementation of the theme is great! Really well done, nice work!

Amazing, the art and audio is brilliant. The dialogue was really funny and the gameplay was challenging but didn't feel unfair.

Very nice game !

The idea is very innovative, though I think a lot of the level design could have been more lenient. Often I could see what I needed to do, but couldn't get the sword in just the right spot.

My first all-5 game! Incredibly solid, very creative interpretation of the theme and fun puzzles to boot! Bravo!

*Rogue Lite meets Getting over it* :kissing: :ok_hand: Do I need to say more?

I spent like 50 minutes trying to finish this game.
I gave up, but I really enjoyed it.
Sound design is simply gorgeous, and the mechanic is quite original. It remembered me "Getting Over it".
I also really loved the graphics.
Nice work !

Really nice and polished game, reminded me of "getting over it"

Amazing game! Very challenging but still entertaining and satisfying. Loved everything about this one. 😍

Nice game, interesting mechanics)

A simple, but very polished mechanic, I liked very much. Spent more time playing it than I planned. The graphics are top notch and together with the great music they provide a good mood for the game. Would be very interested to see if this could be a co-op game.

Really cute game, but it's too hard for me :joy:

Very cute game and challenging!

Wow, that is an awesome game! Great game mechanic and take on the theme, lovely art and fun vibe. All in all amazing work! :D

Loved the game in general really challenging and fun, couldn't stop playing untill reach the end! Amazing work!

Definitely my best so far. The art is gorgeous, the sound is just right, very original mechanics, the dragon. I loved every bit of it. Oh how much time and how many nerve cells I've spent there

;_; if you press R twice in a row it bugs out. I found out the hard way

ok ok, actual stuff, great game, my god love it, real fun :D fun idea, fun execution. Just all around well done, polish is nice and the game makes me want to play more. perhaps be a bit nicer to your players with the distance, because even after I got the hang of it I still would fall 70% of the time simply because it goes very fast. That aside, It feels great, looks great and is a fun one for the theme. Excelent entry!

Love the pixel graphic. Nice masterpiece.

That was really good. I love pixel art games and everything was pretty fun. Great Job

Super polished game and incredibly fun but also very frustrating-like getting over it vibes haha

The graphics were really charming, the gameplay was innovative and fun and overall it was a decent game. It felt like a polished release, with the way it was structured and the absolute finish that everything had. I spent a lot of time playing it so clearly it was engaging and fun.

I think what I disliked about it was the way the puzzles could be figured out long before the maneuvers were executed. It took a lot of fiddling about to get the sword to do certain things. I understand that it's by design, but I felt it took away from the experience and added a lot of frustration to the game. That wasn't for me.

Apart from that, solid game.

Very nice graphics, love pixel art!

Brilliant game, love the polish and the humor.

definitely a unique take on the theme, it's pretty fun apart from some very frustrating parts of the levels. Really solid entry to the jam!

Perfect.
Self-contained game with nice progression curve. Has a fun narrative to accompany it too! I was playing on track pad so I had a tough time playing it through. Giving key controls (like K/L) for rotating the sword would've gone a long way for me.

Stellar job!

Amazing game! Well done guys! The level design, game design, art... Really loved to play it! :heart: :clap: :clap: :clap:

It says something that literally my only complaint is not being able to increase the volume.

tremendous innovative game - top 10 coming your way!

Really neat game! One of the most polished ones I've seen in this jam. The only thing holding it back is the first section of the last level. It just felt like a frustrating difficulty spike compared to the previous sections. The heavy sword works really well thematically and adds to the charm of the game, but feels clunky in these challenging later sections. In any case, this is such an incredible game to have made in 72 hours, congratulations!!

One of the best! I really liked this nice art. And the game is quite a challenging. Lenght 5... Still trying to kill the dragon.))
Thank you very much!

Day one!

Nice concept and very polished for a jam game! Really liked the "revisiting each level" aspect with old solutions not working anymore and having to find new ones.
The game looks and sounds great ^^
The difficulty curve could use a little work in my opinion, I felt like I had to figure out some of the sword's properties on pretty challenging parts right off the bat. Or sometimes the game would challenge me on a new concept for the first time at the end of a series of 2-3 "jumps", and I'd have to redo the whole series to try again which makes figuring it out take longer than needed.

Very enjoyable game overall :)

Really interesting game !

very funny

Filthy, I love it :laughing: Great art and sense of humour, and original interesting gameplay. Gets quite tough at points, I didn't know lads with big swords had it so hard.

My first 5/5 game for this Jam. :)

I have 1 suggestion, maybe after each stage we should fight a new enemy/dragon with a deep and deeper opening than the last one. :D

Good Job

Wow this is professional level stuff. Great gameplay, art and sound, really well executed.

Great idea! The game mechanic is original. Well done!

I really enjoyed the game! It's fun and creative and also really really cute!

One of the best entries!

Just as infuriating as it was fun :)

Well done! You guys all did an amazing job on this game! The music and graphics fit nicely and were stellar, level design was on point and meshed well with the concept, and every was tied together neatly with a story and a ton of amazing polish.

34:44... this has been the most frustrating half an hour this year. Congrats :D

This is so much gold that the dragon would like to site on it

This expression exemplifies exactly what I am feeling right now!
Delicious!
Delicious!
Delicious!
This art is wonderful! Congratulations to the artist!
The music is fantastic! Congratulations to Sound Designer!
The physics of the game is perfect!
Congratulations to the developer!
But I want to say to the creator of this game: Your idea is Fantastic! Your interpretation of the theme was phenomenal!
This game is on my list of "Best games of all LD".
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Congratulations!

I'm in love with "Deepest Sword"!

Great entry. Quite interesting spin :P on the theme, reminds me of Getting over it, but I think this game feels more fair and less ridiculous.

Also cool soundtrack and charming sprites!

Loved this game. The whole family was sitting in front of the computer, cheering and proposing solutions. It's really well balanced, not too easy, not too difficult. There were good challenges, but never frustrating or unfair. I shared this game with my friends.

It took me a few runs to notice the dragon was enjoying it. Oh god... this is great!

The game is great. I felt like some parts of the puzzle were extremely hard to pull out compared to others, but otherwise this is a great polished game. It's quite amazing that it's done in 72h. Well done.

The game is awesome and I like how it fits with the theme. Being honest, I quit after 20 minutes of playing. Had a hard time with the first 2 levels, the third one was impossible for me, I tried and tried and tried but just couldn't figure my way out. Great job!

Damn. Best game so far for me. I haven't tested so many yet, but I think this is hard to top. This game just has everything, from a simple but engaging story, awesome graphics, music and sound and of course an innovative and genius game mechanic that is implement almost flawlessly. (Not perfect for me because sometimes I have to start the swing a second time to make it up, although I'm pivoting around the exact same spot. I guess the physics engine is doing some fun stuff there).

The level design is also brilliant with using the same levels over and over again but with the longer sword, which each time is making the previously hard section easier. And it creates additional playtime with reduced design effort. Making the last sword golden is a nice touch to indicate the final level, which by the way was fucking brutal on my first playthrough. Level 1-4 were a breeze, but level 5 tool 13 minutes to finish, resulting in a 21:01. Sub 20 would have been nice, but that's saved for another playthrough. YES, I will come back to this game and give it another try. :crossed_swords:

Btw. I see which game you took as a reference and I'm happy to see other developers also getting inspired by the great Bennett Foddy. Your game is more inspired by Getting Over It, while we choose to follow the QWOP route. Normally, I don't ask others to play my game, but I would really love to see your feedback on it. 😉

Wow!! This is my favourite game in the game jam so far. Super unique concept and amazingly executed. I loved how the level design was reused with longer sword which forced different strategies to be used. Great job!!!

The game made me use a lot of big words. But it was fun as well.

31:57... I loved the pixel art! Gameplay-wise is very innovative, but got pretty frustrating at times.

35 minutes I try to get to the dragon with the sword size 4 :laughing: so hard.
I'll try again later, I need to calm down.

Otherwise excellent work the sound woaw I write this message with the music in the background!! i love it.
The visuals are crazy too really nice and clean.
The game design is very well thought ( I tried to cheat several times to pass more simply, what a mistake! ).

A great team from A to Z, keep working together! Thank you and I hope to finish the game!

24 Minutes well spent!
Really enjoyed my time here. Using the sword rotation is such an interesting puzzle mechanic, thanks for creating this! :)

This is probably my favorite submission this jam, everything about it is super innovative and pretty. I'm also just a sucker for good pixel art.

This entry is really impressive! Not only did you make a really thought out and fun game, but it also fits the theme in a unique and amusing way, and the graphics are amazing too!

This mechanic is clearly inspired by Getting Over It, but the growing of the sword and the almost puzzle-like levels really adds something to it, to the point where it doesn't feel like the same game at all. It's also quite challenging and frustrating but in a good way, as you don't lose too much progress when you fail.
Pretty crazy that this was done in 72h!

Really good job, I had a great time playing your game! 5✰

A lovely game :)

Really really loved this! Equally frustrating and enjoying! Amazing job!

The concept is amazing, I will definitly get back to it someday :) I can feel Getting Over It vibes, mixed up with Shovel Knight haha

Wow whats going on. So many great games this time. I know you already have enough comments, but here's my opinion:
I found the control idea genious and very innovative although frustrating at times. But the game was visualy pleasing, very polishedand also had great humor. I think the rotating sword movement overshadowes the theme a little bit. Overall great game and really fun and easy to play, but at some points to difficult for my skills. Loved it, keep it up. I'd like to see more stuff like that from you!

truly an incredible feat in 3 days, you and your team should be so proud

Is this a euphemism?

Incredible work but wowie was it tricky on that last level in a way that none of the other sections were.

now THAT's a nice mechanic! i spent SO MUCH TIME trying the last sword gosh!
nice game!!!!!

Fuck you. Fuck you from the DEEPEST of my heart. This game is a fucking drug. Fucking well done. I spent the most enraging 30 minutes of my entire life and I can angrily say that that was worth it. Nice job

I got stuck on what I assume to be the last part of the game and totally reminds me of Getting Over It. It's a pretty good game and if I wasn't concerned I was going to play it all day I'd definitely play it for longer. :)

wow
best game I've played yet.... amazing in all aspects :D

Managed to hold on to the end, was frustrating yet fun. Really innovative and such a cool use of the theme!

Great job, I spent 21 minutes playing and got so annoyed at the last level (in a good way). I feel like I mastered the mechanics, which were way deeper than I expected at the beginning. Great art, music, innovative gameplay. Overall fantastic entry

20 minutes and its done :3
Really cute and relaxing game, GJ!

Art is superb.
Very clever design. The sword feel, the heaviness. It's just right.

Great work, I enjoyed it ^^

Tough but really fun game ! Great job ! :smiley:

What a great game! Very well made, perfectly difficult and looks great for speed running! My favorite so far

We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed by the attention Deepest Sword is getting and want to thank everyone for taking the time to play our game! Will definitely be going through everyone’s comments throughout the week, and doing our part in playing and rating your games too.

It's an amazing game. The look, the attention to detail in level design, the fact that the same levels play differently because of the sword.. and all just in 3 days?! I would definitely buy it, pls make more

Feels like the child of Shovel Knight and Getting Over It. Lovely. :D

This game is incredible. Very creative!

This game is fantastic. Well done!

Amazing game ! I got stuck on the last level, but I had the chance that a friend showed me the end

Wonderful stuff, just managed to beat it in under 30 minutes. I really have no critiques, its bang on the theme and the execution is perfection

This game is beyond increbile! The mechanic is amazing.. I could actually see it being used in a full-game.
-- Humor is on point and art is beautiful. Lovely

This game is just insane, nearly perfect execution across the board. Some of the golden sections were very challenging which made it even better, and stabbing the dragon was an unusually satisfying experience.

Well done and amazing art, I'm getting stuck in many places (literally), but I'll definitely come back to play it again

Amazing game! Top one I've played in this jam so far. Keep up the amazing work!

What a game wow !! df a winner

The difficulty ramp for this game is very steep. Too steep IMO, but I loved every minute of it! The game mechanic is great and unique and the game was so enticing that I stuck with it until I beat the dragon (25:56). This is a fantastic game idea, and it should be made into a full game

Its amazing game!! :heart:

Very creative and unique! The mechanics and cute graphics are perfection

I spent 2 hours, my soul, and every last bit of sanity to beat the game. In the end, there was no catharsis. Did I beat the game, or did the game beat me? I scream into the abyss, for I know not. This game is too good to not give full scores, good job at twisting my sanity and breaking my spirit.

I was SO frustrated and still having a good time. Very clever! The art was great, the little squeak the knight does is very funny. Well done!!!

Nice game you all have going here. Solid graphics and feels overall pretty polished. Loving the char animations and general idea of the game. It is pretty frustrating to try and beat though XD.

What an absolute gem, and a great idea! Reminds me of those puzzles where you gotta fit a bead with a rope through a hoop, you know? Plays really well, great innovation, great music, and the humor is :ok_hand:

Amazing! The pixel art is really good and the way the level design evolves to pose more challenges is amazing. However, the last stage can be a bit too hard.

what a banger holy sheeeeeet

Probably my favorite entry so far! Awesome mechanics. Very hard, but good

It took me over twenty minutes but this was a really cool mechanic. It remined me a lot of Getting Over It. I really appreciate how satisfying you made the "stabbing" feel

I think you guys got enough compliments so I wont repeat anything :D but one critique: the camera changes to fast from left to right and right to left when pressing a - d. There should be some threshhold or smoothment so if u want to wiggle little bit to get the sword right, you dont get motion sick :D

but either way, u guys deserved all stars

-chef kiss- That's a spicy game.

Awesome entry, a bit too hard for my aging brain, but flawless design and art. Also, the camera gave me a bit of motion sickness, which never happens for me in 2D games.

*chef's kiss*

I couldn't figure out one of the puzzles, but I really love what I played of it! The sword mechanic is amazing, and I love how you run through the old levels with the larger swords.

wow! fantastic entry!

Really great concept. Tangential use of the theme but the execution is awesome.

Beautiful game!

super fun, cute, frustrating. great mechanics. mean but wants you to succeed. lovely game

Art and Mechanics went hand in hand in this one. Best art so far. I wished the level design was bit more forgiving. Awesome Entry!!

Great level design and very intersting mechanics! Love the art and knight's cute face :)

Wonderful game! The mechanics around the sword are unique and fully realized. I loved, LOVED how going back through the same challenges with a different sword made them feel fresh again. Amazing work!

Also, SO HARD. But worth the effort to beat.

Great game! Very unique and well executed mechanic. It became a little frustrating at times when I couldn't reach a platform but I wanted to push on anyways. The pixel art, sound and music fit together very well. Nicely done!

I love this music and pixel art

Wow, this is a really fun game. I see myself playing it over and over again. Amazing work

I enjoyed this game so much I felt the need to play it again to see how fast I could do it after the first time (27m). I managed to get it down to 8:42. Let's get some speedruns going!

Love this game! Awesome job!

wow, i am blown away by this game. one of the best i have played so far. I only got about half way but i will be playing again to finish it. thanks so much for making this, exceptional.

Incredible game! I got stuck for a long time on the "reach for it" section, it took me a long time to figure out how to climb up there but I stuck with it because I just had to see the rest of this brilliant game. I loved the subtle way you tutorialized each new thing you could do with each new sword, and the jump that required playing with the pivot point were amazing. The humor was spot on, and the visuals and music were great as well. I'd have liked some more audio/visual feedback on the sword itself, maybe making it scrape and throw up sparks as you drag around the massive length.

frustratingly qwoplike. 10/10 but would not play again

So crazy and awesome how polished this game was, I'll admit there were some parts where I got frustrated (why must you taunt me with the "Reach for it" text) but that made it that much more satisfying to finally save my kitty.

This is a great game. It has great art, music, mechanics, atmosphere, and anything else. The game is pretty hard though.

Very amazing idea, I thought it was just going deeper and deeper in the cave until I realised that youre plunging your sword deeper into the dragon as well! That really got me! Well done!

Loved it. Difficulty is high, but man does it fit the theme. Ya'll watch Rick and Morty too eh?

Rad game! Great graphics. Had a lot of fun with this one. Real funny.

This was AMAZING.
The graphics, the gameplay, the dragon, the dialogue. I loved every part of it.
I don't usually give out full star reviews cause that means it's peak performance and I won't ever be able to rate anything higher, but this deserves it. 11/10 would play again.

Great game, very frustrating. The videos made it look far easier than it was. I liked the music and art, and the concept is hilarious.

Wow that was an intensely frustrating 40 mins.
LETS DO IT AGAIN.

The mechanic is great, I love being my own worst enemy on a mission to really _stick it_ to that dragon.

Speaking of, she is full of life and sass, just like all of the characters. The mechanic alone would definitely not have been enough, but its surrounded by such a fun world and such gorgeous animation that it all meshes together perfectly.

Really incredible work.

Such a smart game. Really just has that one central mechanic that everything revolves around and builds off of.

Very fun and cute, I'm looking forward to playing more!

10/10 game crashed tho lmao

The machanics are just great. Good job.

I WANT TO HUG THE DRAGON

34.27 wow. Reminded me heavily on "Getting over it" - almost equally frustrating, nice rage game.

The artstyle slapped so much!

a bit frustrating at places, but good concept.

This has got to be my favourite entry i've played so far!

For a jam game this is amazing! Not the most innovative, but a great deal of fun. Thanks for making the game!

Its ... perfect. 11 / 10 . Absolute Unit

What a wonderful game, I love the mechanics and the pixel art.

You are so talented guys. Well done.

Aargh, the controls!

OKAY I came back to comment, that I just realised, that the dragon's name LONG, also refers to the sword getting longer everytime you respawn, AND LONG or 龙 in Chinese means DRAGON, just another reason why this game is brilliant.

So much fun on every level!

Such a fun game. Amazing mechanics, the weight feels just right.
The levels are great and how they're reused but play much differently due the having a different swords and mechanics for it.
its a polished game already.

My favorite take on the theme so far. This game is hilarious. Everything is amazing. The level design is really stellar here and I love that you can take different paths based on the sword length.

Really stellar jam entry! You could straight up publish this on Steam as-is. This is really great.

Really enjoyed it, I just found the final part to be way too difficult in a kind of annoying way

This game is absolutely kind and funny !
The main idea is just super super clever and cool !
One of the best of this year !

Amazing idea! This is the best game of this LD! Thank you for fun!

Excellent!
Definitely one of the top games of this LD for sure ^^

Also... pretty dragon :eyes:

Amazing job, well done! :dragon_face: :crossed_swords:

- Amazing pixel art
- Clever, well-utilized game mechanic
- Good difficulty curve
- Great take on the theme

- Super polished experience... :v:

It's actually pretty hard to say anything bad about this game, brilliant work!

What a fun game! Honestly the humour was perfect, the graphics were really nice and it was such a cool idea! A very good amount of rage (Except for that last level, I hate it xD )

Good work! I found the graphics, sound, mood and overall aesthetic really charming and the take on the theme is fun as well (both in the sense of going deeper into the cave, but also driving the sword deeper into the dragon). So great work on that!

The main mechanic was also rather interesting and innovative in its design. However, this is also where I find my main issue. It is always hard to balance wacky physics based antics with controls that feel fun and responsive. And although you have gotten quite close, given the time frame, it's not 100% there yet. I found myself often feeling at the mercy of the game's physics with my character having an unnecessary amount of slipperiness to them, resulting in the feeling of kinda just getting knocked around uncontrollably. The reason why I think this is an issue is because the main mechanic has a lot of potential to be something really fun. Imagine a game about timing your sword swings just right so that you get more and more momentum by using your environment. As it is currently though, it feels more like awkwardly trying to wiggle your way around a cave that is not designed much with the mechanics in mind. Maybe that sort of slow paced experience is your intention, or maybe there was just way too little time to iterate on levels, but either way, to me personally it doesn't feel as fun as it could be. Perhaps with more pixel perfect movement, more momentum gain from the sword and level design made to facilitate that momentum, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Overall, though, I think that you have accomplished everything one could dream for with a Ludum Dare entry: polished, complete, technically well-executed and despite having flaws: really showing potential to take this idea and make something truly great out of it. Good work!

Amazing game! The take of them theme is sooo good, usually it doesn't affect the gamepay much, only the setting, but in this case it does and in a very creative, funny way. The only little detail that took away .5 in fun is that some parts are a bit tight, I like when the level design is a little bit more forgiving.

Love the sword mechanic. Cute sounsd, good track, funny writing. Love it all.

Cool graphics and gameplay. I would really like it if the sword was easier to handle.

played 25mins, and stuck in the longest sword level. Really good job!

I'm getting "getting over it" vibes

Wow! It's amazing. I added it to my collection

I came out of this an angrier person than when I went in.
Well done haha :)

Very cool mechanic! Some string "getting over it" flashbacks xD

Hard mod for me: F00ing, F00k!
But game great, idea too, mechanical so hard! I love it! Keep doing that game!

I don't think I've ever seen such a frustrating and amazing game in the Ludum Dare. Really great job!
I even managed to get a really good time in my first try. If it had an online leaderboard it would be perfect!

Never was I more motivated to defeat a size-shaming dragon. Great aesthetic, simple but engaging gameplay.

This is delightful! Super clever mechanic which I am… not at all good at. I got as far as the "A slow fall slips less" hint and got stuck there. Gorgeous illustrations—the palettes really pop—and cute sound too. Amazing work.

Great graphics and very creative use of the 'getting over it mechanic'. I might not be the biggest fan of innuendo humor but this might just be my favourite game in the jam regardless. Congrats!

nice but lewd

Great game design, cute art. Deserves the attention.

This is easily my pic to win this thing. Great job I hope you all decided to finish a release a full version. The wit and art and everything is top-notch!

A genuinely brilliant and hilarious physics game. I love how the weight of the weapon affects your movement.

Brilliant pixel art!

This game is awesome .. what an idea .. I love it .. you can even put it on steam as it is!

Cool idea and implementation

Great concept and really well made! Too difficult for me unfortunately (I had to step away after I fell down the hole on level 5)

Amazing idea, had lots of fun playing it! Very well-polished and with a great art, sound and mood. The best game I've played so far in this jam, a masterpiece. Amazing job!

Managing to keep me engaged for a full 30 minutes is really impressive for a LD game. Nice job!

Supercute game, sometimes a bit (too) hard. Amazing what you have done during the jam. Top entry.

Didn't think i'd get size-shamed by a dragon in this jam, I love it! (but I hate it!

The good
---

* There are lots of good things about this game as the 500 comments already suggest. I will try to avoid repeating them, so I won't put much emphasis on them.
* One thing that I really liked is that how with each upgrade the same levels became easier / harder. It was interesting to see how you could take shortcuts with a longer sword, but at the same time some corridors became trickier
* Really interesting sword mechanic. Reminds me of "Getting over it"
* Cute character
* Good music
* Nice art
* Good controls
* Nice game flow
* Nice polish

The bad
---

* Last level can be a bit frustrating, although this is not necessarily bad in case you want to pose the player with a challenge so that they can prove they have mastered the mechanic

Summary
---

This is an excellent game and I loved it. It also feels like a finished game. I am not sure if it could be expanded upon with more levels as the last one was already a bit frustrating to go through, and I think 30 mins for this type of game is excellent (maybe could go up to an hour ?). But this is just my opinion and I cannot think of ways to expand it.

Congrats on the game and keep up the good work!!

Great graphics, sound and mechanics... massively frustrating. Took me 58 minutes and 2 meltdowns to get through. I'm curious how it would be played on a pad where sword movement would be assigned to triggers.

By far the best game I've played this Ludum Dare! Simply amazing!

Great gameplay and art!

RLLY challenging with long sword

Great game!! really fun mechanic. I really like that you implemented a checkpoint system as i got softlocked a few times. the last level was infuriatingly difficult but i managed to finish it in just under 30 minutes. great overall gameplay and feel with very charming art and music to boot!

you know you smashed this. It doesnt feel like a jame game, everything is so tight and frustratingly well designed. The level design is clever and thoughtful, slowly introducing mechanics and understanding of the controls and replaying the level in new ways. The humour was crude but in a delightfully well executed way and everything looked and sounded great. Absolutley nailed it, great job. I loved playing and couldn't stop till I beat it.

Love it!

Awesome game! Took me forever (32 mins) and got extremely frustrated but still had a great time!

Very high quality entry ! It must have taken you forever to get the length of the sword and the level design to mesh together as well as it does. The quality of the graphics and the audio also make this entry feel very polished. Well done !

It was hard :rofl:
Thanks for the game I enjoyed it!

I found it very interesting how the sword would get bigger each time through. The only complaint I really had was the last cave portion felt like you ramped up the difficulty to pad the play time, which reminded me a bit too much of Getting Over It. Other than that, it's a great game.

Well, that was great. I really have nothing to contribute, the last level was really hard but if that's what you were going for then you nailed it.

Easily the best game I've played so far.

I first: "Such a fun and simple game"
I at the end: "Oh my God, now I can climb here and here, but how to get HERE?!"

I really love this game! Wonderful job)

I don't have anything to say about this game that hasn't already been said above, so I'll just leave it at great job, this is the best game so far!

This game is really amazing. The art, the mechanics, the design is all amazing. My favourite part is the level design and how the same levels need different approaches for different sword length

What a great game. Just brilliant. I'm not really a fan of playing masochistic games like getting over it (though watching them is a different story) but the art style and humor in this one puts it over the top. As others have pointed out, how the different sword lengths impact the path through each section is really clever. Great work overall, it'll be a travesty if this doesn't win in at least a category or two.

This game was fantastic to play, gave me plenty of Getting Over It vibes. The pole-vaulting/sword leverage mechanics are very interesting and new. I love the multiple puzzle design with the same levels but you have different solutions based on the length of your sword. The art in this game is amazing and that little kitty is so cute, I love the animation on the knight when they are struggling. That dragon was a lil sus from getting stabbed over and over again.

Fantastically well done! A lot has already been said and all I can say is agreed!

This game is great in every aspect! Beautiful art and music. Great and fun concept and story. Original gameplay. A little too hard for me though and I couldn't finish it yet! But I'll definitly try again soon haha

Really fantastic entry. Solid gameplay, cute graphics, great theme direction. Controls felt a _little_ too finicky at times, but this is some impressive work! 👏👏👏

I love this game. But I hate this game.

Definitely my favorite game of the jam. So well done. I cant give much more input than has already been given. Keep making games!

it took me 83 minutes to finally beat it, but i did and i am happy i did! haha i loved it

Really nice game! Really polished! Good Job!

I must confess, I love the idea and construction, however I couldn't get very far before it being so frustrating xD Still, really great work here!

really nice to place, good polish, and good graphics

Excellent and funny game! Cute graphics and hard challenge!

Amazing game, both challenging and rewarding. Great humor.
Hope this game gets expanded in the future!

Is it in yet? OwO

You really do move in ways you never expected; there's movement strategies that kind of "emerge" out of necessity and frustration (Waggle the sword.) I think even more movement would have been more exciting, but overall it was a nice concept, more of a puzzle than I anticipated.

Very very excellent idea executed with some top-notch polish! My only complaint is that the last level made me want to tear my hair out. :sweat_smile: I can absolutely see this being expanded into a full experience!

insanely frustrating, but insanely fun!!! well done and super high production value. very in awe of how much testing must have been needed to make these levels as *perfectly frustrating* as they were

It's soooo good!! Thank you

i love the concept and art, i think its very innovative and cute, but honestly, playing this game made my joy turn to pure frustration very quickly. couldn't get past the blue level.