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Cirque des Animaux's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #2 | 4.556 | 4.556 |
| Gameplay | #3 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Presentation | #3 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.148 | 4.148 |
| Creativity | #5 | 4.222 | 4.222 |
| Story | #5 | 4.111 | 4.111 |
| Horror | #6 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you choose to implement the Theme: Theatre of the Grotesque?
[MILD SPOILERS] This game is about a circus run by magical creatures that need to feed off of humans’ energy to survive. Thus, the goal of this monstrous circus troupe is to scare the audience through their performance, and they do this in many grotesque ways, including murder.
Did you implement any of the optional Bonus Challenges, and if so, which ones?
Animal Masks - As this is the Circus of the Animals, both the audience and the troupe members are required to wear an animal mask. The masks play a deeper significance to the magic of the circus, as well...
Body Horror - There are several instances of gruesome things being done to human bodies in the circus, such as [SPOILERS] being severed in half and then stitched back together.
Did you create your game in RPG Maker?
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Comments
This one was an enjoyable ride!
I really liked the style of the graphics and their consistency, and that every asset was seemingly made from scratch! I also liked the implementation of a combat system (as simple as it was), and I loved how you took the time to include several endings!
In terms of gameplay, I have to say it really didn't to much for me, since all the fights were easy to the point I could just spam enter/z and attack whoever and still win. The guard option, both for the player and the enemies was probably the most useless mechanic in the game, you would basically waste a turn just to get hit regardless.
The puzzles were also very easy since everything took place in basically the same room.
In terms of story, everything was good! But the huge jump between the beginning (from the garden) to the circus entrance takes away some points for the story because it clearly omits a lot of information and context before the circus.
Something I feel needs polishing are the dialogues for Kat, where it seems like the game is telling more than showing, or feels like is more lengthy than necessary.
In terms of horror, I honestly did not think it was scary at all, even with the gore bits, instead It felt more dramatic/romantic than that, but that's alright because the story was still enjoyable.
I think I encountered a bug during one of the routes (the one where you're killing enemies to please Ari) where you have to find the nail for the fortune teller.
If you pick up the plushie after killing all 9 enemies, the game locks out and can't interact with the fortune teller. But if you pick up the plushie before killing all enemies, then the fortune teller does react and you can proceed.
Also, in the very beginning, while Ari is killing the audience member, the narrator makes a mistake and says the full name of Ari, (ariel) when the player is still not supposed to know it.
Needs a little polishing in some aspects but overall, a good game!
This one was an enjoyable ride!
I really liked the style of the graphics and their consistency, and that every asset was seemingly made from scratch! I also liked the implementation of a combat system (as simple as it was), and I loved how you took the time to include several endings!
In terms of gameplay, I have to say it really didn't to much for me, since all the fights were easy to the point I could just spam enter/z and attack whoever and still win. The guard option, both for the player and the enemies was probably the most useless mechanic in the game, you would basically waste a turn just to get hit regardless.
The puzzles were also very easy since everything took place in basically the same room.
In terms of story, everything was good! But the huge jump between the beginning (from the garden) to the circus entrance takes away some points for the story because it clearly omits a lot of information and context before the circus.
Something I feel needs polishing are the dialogues for Kat, where it seems like the game is telling more than showing, or feels like is more lengthy than necessary.
In terms of horror, I honestly did not think it was scary at all, even with the gore bits, instead It felt more dramatic/romantic than that, but that's alright because the story was still enjoyable.
I think I encountered a bug during one of the routes (the one where you're killing enemies to please Ari) where you have to find the nail for the fortune teller.
If you pick up the plushie after killing all 9 enemies, the game locks out and can't interact with the fortune teller. But if you pick up the plushie before killing all enemies, then the fortune teller does react and you can proceed.
Also, in the very beginning, while Ari is killing the audience member, the narrator makes a mistake and says the full name of Ari, (ariel) when the player is still not supposed to know it.
Needs a little polishing in some aspects but overall, a good game!
This was a fun bit, it was bold of you to try to flesh out a unique battle system in such a short time, I like the idea of the point system during battles, I think it's a cooler way to go about mana, if you make using guard worth while I think it be pretty good!
The story could feel a bit verbose in some moments, it could be a bit shorter in some places like in the beginning of the final encounter, or maybe just sliced a bit more through out the game, but the contents of the story itself were good, I was able to grasp what the characters were all about and what they were trying to achieve. ALSO cool there were two endings, went for them both.
Visually your game is super concise, I love the color pallette you went with, gives the game a sort of vintage storybook vibe, I dig it. The character portraits also looked super cool, especially the in battle ones holy. The soundtrack was also very solid overall, especially the one on the final encounter, very climatic.
The idea of going around knocking out enemies I think could work(it's a good way to make the player use the battle system), but I think you could introduce a exploration element to the mix, maybe instead of using the random encounter with steps you could actually walk around looking for enemies visible on the map.
Some technical things you might want to change is maybe change the doors to be on player touch instead of action button. Your implementation avoids accidental map changes, but it kinda confused me for a bit in the beginning cuz I wasn't understanding why I wasn't passing through a door. There is also a bug on the locked up animal person things, where if a random encounter triggers the game will just breakdown.
Overall, I liked this a lot, you did great!
I'm gona talk a couple spoilers, just a small headsup.
First of, the visuals of the game are beautiful, I liked the red sephia look almost monochrome but not quite. The troupe's sprites and masks were charming and I really loved the character designs, especially the audience. I don't know if you all plan to go back to add more to the game once the Jam is done, I personally would have loved to see more of the scary performances with either sprites or illustrations, or even more detailed text, cause the cutting in half cutscene was so good! I was lowkey sad there was not more of that, maybe even seeing Ari sewing back Tulip.
I was only a bit confused at the end because it felt cut short, with no ending screen or something similar, just sent back to the title screen. I am also not sure if one ending is supposed to be "Good" and one "Bad" (personally I liked more the ending Kat joins the circus, Ari speech was very convincing lol).
Aside that the combat felt a lil bit odd, at times it would be very easy to just spam slash, and others I would get my butt kicked in 2 turns. Ari fight was also odd but I don't know if it was intentional or not, first time he never attacked me, only did force fields so I assumed maybe if I didn't attack either, that would led to a different result. Then second time I fought him he almost defeated me in a couple of turns, so I am not sure if that was on purpose or accident.
Overall I liked it, only downside is I wished there was more, I was stating to like this circus and wanting to see more of them :D (also poor Tulip, she did not deserve that).
thank you sm for this comment ! i also wish we were able to add more / make the game longer, but unfortunately we ran out of time, such is the nature of game jams as im sure you know ^_^'
as for the endings, i wanted to leave it purposely ambiguous, i dont rly see either one as the ultimate "good" or "bad" ending. i think its up to the player and their own moral compass / personal interpretation. i personally also prefer the circus ending, but i know my teammates preferred the other one haha
This creation is monster. A truly exquisite, beautiful monster...
First off let me say that I was completely absorbed from the start. The situation of the protagonist resonated very strongly with me (I am also a Prince XP) and the plight of his seemingly oppressive life under the crushing boot of authoritarianism really struck a deep chord with me.
I also dig the subtle references to identity and perception of self. It can be a highly divisive topic in today's ever increasing 'big brother' society and it was handled with great care and guile here.
Visually and audially the game is sumptuous; like I was given a rich box of chocolates at the theatre for real. The character designs and on map animations were a joy to behold and someone obviously put a lot of heart and care into making them.
The highlight of the game for me was the antagonist. What makes a great antagonist for me is when they go above and beyond the singular dimension. Making the protagonist doubt themselves; making you as the player empathize or at least sympathize with them is what makes them truly memorable. I think this may be my favourite villain out of any indie game I've ever played.
The combat was difficult, yet for me, satisfying. Please take this compliment with a little pinch of salt however because this is my singular preference. I think for more casual players the combat may perhaps be a smidge on the difficult and thus, frustrating side.
For example, if you enter a fight with three enemies and are surprise attacked or miss your first attack, then you are pretty much cooked. What I did was to save after each and every successful fight (which I encourage others to do) and use the sword for balance. The club I found too slow to be effective and the knife too weak. Sword is best for balance.
I did like how your health was recharged after each fight but that does mean to make it balanced, each and every enemy troop must have the capability (and hell they do) to wipe you out each battle. That means no healing in the fights. As I said, I was locked in because I prefer brutal/unforgiving fights (as evident in my own entry) but for anyone reading just be aware that the game does like to hand you your ass on a semi-frequent basis.
Overall a truly impressive spectacle and a thought provoking experience; one that will stay with me for a very long time. I'll hold my hands up and say I don't usually play game jam entries all the way through to conclusion but I was totally gripped by this one. One could say it clutched at my heart strings tight and I danced like a puppet along to it's merriness true.
To avoid spoilers, I'll post this, just so you devs know the decision I made at the end. Excellent job on this one, something to be well proud of come day's end.
PS: Review comes from download version rather than the browser version.
ahhh thank you so much for this amazing comment !! im so glad you enjoyed the game :DDD and thank you for the great feedback about combat balance too !
also the ending you got was my favorite one personally hehe... i love the antagonist too