Pixel Wielders

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.11
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.92
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.37
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.02
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.72
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.87
Mood★★★★★★★★★★2.89
Pixel Wielders
==

A dueling wizards game for two players.

Be the last wizard standing.

Controls
==

Both Keyboard and/or Controllers work

Keyboard Player 1
----
* __Movement__ - Arrow Keys adjust cursor position
* __x__ - changes spell
* __z__ - casts spell

Keyboard Player 2
----
* __Movement__ - SEDF (left-up-down-right)
* __a__ -changes spell
* __left-shift__ - casts spell

Your spells from left to right are:
----
* __place boulder__ (p.s. game cannot handle many of them)
* __gravity well__ (attractor)
* __increase temperatue__
* __push__ (in the direction of your opponent)

Comments19

Trifectuh3 Oct 2023, 02:08
Love seeing multiplayer games as Jam entries. Ditto PICO-8 ones. The keyboard controls are a bit twister-like on a a QWERTY keyboard with Z/X right under player 2's movement keys though. That said it's quite satisfying to gravity-attract the opposing player's platform away and watch them plummet to their death while they panic-move the cursor trying to save themselves. Nice entry :)
Chaineddreamer3 Oct 2023, 02:23
This is bold game for a jam. because most people won't be able to try it with another person. One of the coolest games I played so far in LD54. The controls are a bit tricky but maybe that's the point.
zealous-coderauthor3 Oct 2023, 02:24
I hear you on the overlapping keys, I think the best way to play is with two controllers. I actually have not looked how I can change the keyboard layout if I even can in pico-8.

And in case you hadn't figured it out. There are actually two ways to kill your opponent, I wanted to add some more ways to kill them. And also limit your range but ran out of time! you know the story. Thanks for playing!
Gamer Fates
Gamer Fates3 Oct 2023, 03:10
Pretty cool once mastered and if you have someone to play with.
How long did it take you to learn the pico engine?
zealous-coderauthor3 Oct 2023, 12:42
@gamer-fates I picked up pico-8 late last year, its been a lot of fun. I'm still learning it. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Hopefully you found someone you could challenge to a duel!
TrebleColby4 Oct 2023, 00:48
Pretty neat multiplayer game, would've killed on the Atari lol. It took a bit to get used to the controls (probably due to playing 2 people on one keyboard rather than your control scheme) but it was a lot of fun. You nailed the art style as well
LDJam user 243193
LDJam user 2431935 Oct 2023, 07:55
I have to wonder if other spells would be worth the trouble cause with the second spell, I could one shot the other player.
GreenPig5 Oct 2023, 23:31
Took some time to get used to the controls, but then it was great beating my LD54 partner in it. My only critic is who plays games with SEDF? :D
zealous-coderauthor6 Oct 2023, 01:43
@bloodbane You are a master wizard after all. Though honestly yes there were meant to be limitations as the magic for you is very powerful. For me alas I am but a poor magician who cannot do time magic, YET!!

@greenpig Yeah about those controls, its outside mine sadly, those are pico-8s built-ins. If you have pico-8 and play the cart file you can rebind them using the keyconfig command as one option.
cheesepencil
cheesepencil6 Oct 2023, 03:07
lol why are they fighting in hot tubs??? This was great, really cute art, and I didn't fully figure out how damage was calculated. I can see how it would be a frantic nightmare with a second player XD

GG
feor
feor7 Oct 2023, 02:54
Really impressive for a PICO-8 entry, even more so considering it's a compo. I think the balance is not quite there and fights are over a bit too quick, and there are some performance issues but overall this is really great work.
LDJam user 377546
LDJam user 3775467 Oct 2023, 11:50
Nice, as usual with Pico games, I struggle for the first 2 minutes with controls and how the hell I even start the game 😄. Once I got that sorted, I found a creative fighting game. It was a bit hard at first to figure out what to do with the different spells, but dropping rocks and throwing them seemed like a good strat.
zimny11
zimny118 Oct 2023, 20:50
Really cool idea! And quite unique battle mechanics, I like them! Only thing missing is some 8-bits battle music :D Good job with the game!

P.S. It would be cool to be have each spell assign to different key, looping through them is hard to focus on while fighting.
Little Doctor Games
Little Doctor Games9 Oct 2023, 18:17
I love me a good head to head game! And especially impressive that you pulled it off on Pico 8. Had a good time, thanks for bringing it by the stream!
digitaldude555
digitaldude55513 Oct 2023, 15:29
Impressive, had some fun playing it, but once you figure out the strategy with the 2nd spell it loses some depth to it. Maybe have the spells on a cool down should help with that. Fits the theme perfectly, Good job.
Damp_Squib15 Oct 2023, 21:46
Fun mechanics. The controls and the UI are a bit tricky to get at first, but the concept is really interesting. I also think the spells combine very well.
zealous-coderauthor16 Oct 2023, 01:17
@cheesepencil Hey yes that's really effective heat spell. And I'm glad you liked the art.

@feor Thanks I appreciate it. And I totally agree with you on the matches being over too quickly. I've gotten a few suggestions I wanna try out and see if they fit.

@kanagg Awesome, as you could tell it was a frantic dash to add the title screen in there and game over screen. And I hear you on the difficulty in mastering the controls. I think that it became part of the fun. As it kind of plays into the idea of being a good wizard.

@zimny11 Thanks I'm glad it kind of came together as most of the time was spent on playing around with some simulation pieces. As for the spell selection mechanism I have a few ideas and I do hear you on the looping while fighting.

@little-doctor-games So fun to watch you battle on stream really appreciate the two of you doing reviews and having fun with it. And appreciate the feedback and suggestions keep up the good work.

@digitaldude555 Thanks I'm glad you got some fun out of it. Good suggestion, I will play with some kind of ways of extending the battle a bit and trying to get some more tense moments out of it.

@damp-squib Glad you enjoyed it, and I'll admit there is a little bit of something players need to get used to with the controls. And I am super glad you noticed how the spells were meant to be used together.

I really appreciate everyone trying the game, there are a few ideas I was not able to accomplish as per usual that I will hopefully be expanding upon and experimenting with so would appreciate anyone who follows me on itch or the pico-8 bbs to check out any updates and comment on the changes.
LDJam user 206001
LDJam user 20600116 Oct 2023, 18:52
I don't have someone to play with me right now, but I played both controllers alone. I don't think I understand the game that well, but it's incredible to play a game made in pico 8 multiplayer. An interesting experience.

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