Inner Workings

Awesome job! I loved the main character art and the chicken art so much! Lots of style and it was pretty difficult. Keep it up!

Great work! I wish the summoning was smoother, or at least a way to try to run out the enemies, but I went until the end and restarted the robot!

Nice game! Summoning chicken stuck on the ground is an interesting idea.

@accordaquo thanks for playing! It was a tough one to put together so I hope you enjoyed.

@comigor Yeah.... I was super pressed for time. I was tempted to make enemies aggro from much further, but be slower than you, but I didn't want people to run past them all straight to the goal. But I feel like if I had more time I could have struck a better balance. Thanks for playing!

@brucezoom Thanks for playing! Chickens I think are the most logical mechanical summon. :laughing:

cluck > chicken > clock

Chicken sprite is high art. It's like a Monet

Beautiful sprite work. I did get stuck in between pixels and vibrate back and forth sometimes, was a bit unpleasant. I didn't like summoning health\mana as a mechanic, just felt like busywork.

The statusbar thingy didn't show for me in browser but the concept was fun

I like the game even though I feel like I have very little mana.

@coolasjake :chicken: :clock:

@poboy Indeed. We were a bit concerned that maybe the average LD player wouldn't have a sophisticated enough palette to appreciate the chicken sprite. I'm glad to be proven wrong!

@nathmate Glad you liked the spritework! The getting stuck should be fixed, had a weird error on my part. The summoning health/mana I agree is kind of busywork. Especially when you're out of combat, and can just spam health summons. It was meant to be more of a combat-only thing, but ran out of time to really get those mechanics in a non-busywork place. It lets you get through the level though no matter how it has gone, so I kept it in so people could progress. Definitely too slow there, though! Thanks for playing!

@popertots this should be fixed if you wanted to give it another try. Thanks for the feedback!

@baluj Yeahhh, definitely the health/mana systems could have used a bit of work. Thanks for playing!

nice amount of gameplay, would be good if you could spawn things directly on yourself, I often found myself taking damage because I tried to spawn something on me while I was being attacked.

The art is amazing, love the chicken! Game is a lot of fun! I can see it evolve and become a lot more, well done!

Nice idea, I really liked the ending. Got a bit repetitive as it was possible to just replenish oneself with free mana and life before moving on. So not exciting in that sense.

Very nice work, I liked that you can summon resources that are themselves needed for the summon. The tutorial is great by the way!

@blackcat508 Definitely! Throughout development I kept having to move things off that layer so it wouldn't stop you from being able to click.... and somehow completely missed it for the player :( Thanks for playing!

@letssnack :chicken: Thanks for the kind words!

@troggzor56 Yeah, I wanted for people to be able to beat the game, and getting stuck with no health/mana but having a bunch of enemies still left could easily happen without. So I added that mechanic. Ideally it would be a faster process, so it doesn't take so much time, but I was working until the very end just trying to get the game out. Definitely a spot that needs improvement! Thanks for the feedback.

@goddoesplaydice Thanks! We've had issues with tutorials being really lackluster (or not existent) for our submissions in the past, so getting a tutorial in game was one of the first things I did once the systems were in place, before building real levels. I'm glad someone appreciated it! :sweat_smile: Thanks for playing!

The music track is a bit short. Got a bit repetitive after a while lol. Cool game though, I liked the cutscene at the end. I think the potions could be reworked. Maybe just have the player slowly regain mana over time. Also the clock tower seemed confusing, maybe it was unfinished, idk. It didn't seem to aim. The puzzle at the end was neat, I think more puzzle mechanics throughout would be cool if this ended up being something you developed further, but just the one makes sense for a jam.

Interesting concept! Was a little weird that you could infinitely summon your own blue stuff and I wish you could walk and summon at the same time. Interesting summoning concept, and lovely art and overall story. Overall good job!

@themixedmaster Thanks for all the feedback! Definitely agree with it. The clock tower has a bug where it thinks the wrong target is the closest, and will mostly pick the wrong target if multiple are in range. :( an easy fix but something I missed. I also wanted to do the mana over time, but felt sitting around and waiting for your mana to replenish would be worse than you being able to summon extra mana, since at least you're doing something while waiting. But with the way I implemented it, definitely neither seems like they would have hit the mark. It does need a rework to be fun for sure! Thanks for playing.

@sodagummy Yeah, many people have issues with summoning mana. I think it needs an adjustment for sure! I like the idea of having to stand still to cast, much like Diablo games... although I think it would have ended up being more fun if you were faster than the enemies you encounter, not slower. Thanks for playing!

Hey! I like your art and amazing chickens! And it was very unexpected to see a giant robot at the end!
Actually I complete all levels just rushing them, and I'd like to see the cooldown progress bar, but it's minor things.
Good job! Thank you for your game!

That's a cool concept of a game, I really enjoyed it. I wish there was a bit more to the gameplay, and the monsters sometimes just ignored you and your summons. both moving and placing summons with the mouse felt awkward at times, I wish I could move with WASD while placing stuff with the mouse. MY favorite thing about the game is definitely the graphics. The sprites are just so cute! Overall I liked the game and managed to finish it. Kudos on making a game with both a tutorial and an ending cinematic ! That is rare!

@meranolean Thanks for the kind words! I wanted to make it so you couldn't get permanently stunlocked, so I put a cooldown on it. Apparently though you can just run through the whole thing after! Oh well. Definitely a visual indicator for cooldowns would be a huge help. Thanks for playing.

@linus-lindberg Yeah, the pathing and level building took quite awhile, so couldn't make the gameplay too complex, unfortunately. I don't know the reason for enemies ignoring you. I'm guessing they incorrectly think there's always a wall in the way. The whole reason for making this game (programming wise) was because I wanted to make my own "intelligent" pathing system. So click to move was something I really wanted to do. Just like Diablo games! It would have been sooooooo much easier if I did WASD to move :sweat_smile: Thanks for the kind words on the art, that's all @jackofcups! Also after many Ludum Dares in a row, tutorials and endings are high priority! Now if only I could make enough time to add sounds effects to that list :laughing: Thanks for the feedback!

I really enjoyed the ending zoom-out and start animation! The chickens were a little bit of a weird tone clash for me, but I did find their sprite and animation charming. In general the animation was good. As far as the art went, a slightly lower contrast/busy background would have been nicer.

This was a fun playthrough. I really liked the pixel art. Great environment and a decent walking animation are hard to pull off in a weekend! The blatant Diablo interface was at least familiar and easy to understand, I liked how it centered the abilities no matter how many there were. It was lovely to look at but the music was repetitive and didn't seem to quite fit the vibe. Maybe something more rhythmic to fit the clock theme.

Gameplay wise, I was into it; there was a good balance of spamming abilities and being more strategic, but I do sort of wish the mana capacity was higher so that you didn't need to weave in so many mana orbs mid fight; I'd prefer to drop a few after a battle and then be ready to unload several spells in a row. I noted that the orbs can spawn out of bounds, but since their spammable it's not a huge deal.

To be honest, there where quite a few little details (like your ground tiles) that reminded me of my breakout game KITE (on steam) the top down perspective is a favorite :hearts:
kite_play_UI_3.png

@labcatgames Yeah when it's a jam I just do 4 frame walking animations - if the sprite wasn't moving relative to the background, it would be unclear if she was walking forwards or backwards! Love your art, thanks for the compliment.

Great game, enjoy it.

Visuals:
Pretty UI, and very practical too, easy to understand. Maybe BGs are bit too gray to *my* taste but they offset colourful character and her summons well. I liked her animations, especially when she sighs! :D Very cute. And chicken is funny ^^ So, really good summon design :)

Music:
I liked the tune at first, but it gets repetitive soon, so I turned it down >_