Cool concept of elements and run combinations. Not sure how to continue the game as there was not much to do after the initial few. Good job!
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Rune Enchanter: The Loki Paradox's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Story | #143 | 2.927 | 2.927 |
| Music | #162 | 3.366 | 3.366 |
| Sound | #204 | 3.171 | 3.171 |
| Overall | #206 | 3.415 | 3.415 |
| Aesthetics | #223 | 3.512 | 3.512 |
| Theme | #240 | 3.585 | 3.585 |
| Mechanics | #264 | 3.122 | 3.122 |
| Fun | #347 | 2.854 | 2.854 |
Ranked from 41 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game in total?
6
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
ASSETS Pixel Rune Pack by sarpvisuals FONTS Antiquity Print by SciGho Kelmscott by David Nalle, William Morris Chela One by Miguel Hernandez MUSIC/SFX Morgana Rides by Kevin MacLeod Magic Spell Effect by SecureSubset Victory and Defeat Fanfare (from Dragon Crashers - UI Toolkit Sample project) Fanfare.aiff by tobyk Swords Clashing by Sam300Productions
Comments
Thank you for the feedback! We're glad you liked the concept of elements and rune combinations.
You're totally right. Once you figure out the core logic and solve the riddles, there isn't much surpises left. But from another perspective, that doesn't stop hundreds of digital and board games from being loved and replayed a lot, even if each session follows the same basic loop! :D
Thanks for playing and for taking the time to leave a comment!
Interesting way to play a puzzle game.
Everything seems pretty tidy and works as expected.
The only problem I had was the UI scaling to full screen on my laptop, I have a 1920x1200 screen, so at full screen the edges left and right were slightly cut off.
Thanks for the game.
Submitted
CyberDog and the Search for MasterThank you for the feedback and for pointing this out! We are glad you found the game tidy and working smoothly otherwise.
That 1920x1200 resolution issue is a good catch. Since our canvas scaler or panel anchors didn't handle the 16:10 aspect ratio correctly on full screen and clipped the edges.
We will jump into the UI settings and review the layouts settings to support 16:10 screens properly. Thanks for playing and for helping us spot this technical bug! 🔮🛡️
I personally did not find this game fun (but only only because this is not my style of preferred game). However, I did find it very challenging and engrossing~ which in a way I could see why certain types of people would find this fun. The mechanics of this game are deeply involved. What starts out as seemingly complex, becomes simple if you stick with it and don't mind reading a lot of text. If you are a puzzle game player, this is most likely something you will really enjoy. While I don't mind a puzzle game, I would prefer not to have one with a lot of text, so this was just not my kind of game. it demands your attention to decipher text clues to solve puzzles. The text clues however they are generated, are a very clever way to have you think critically in order to decipher the puzzle. The text is very flavorful, especially if you like fantasy genre type settings or games. There is a lot of color association too which helps you to further reason and make connections.
To me, this is a game where I recommend you read the instructions very carefully because jumping and in just trying to figure out everything feels very overwhelming and complicated because it demands so much attention to the details that are within the text. But for you to associate and make the connections needed to play the game to its resolution, guessing would feel impossible (though it's not). I went through and read and was like okay.... now I see...
Given this is a very heavily text based, I would consider the readability of the text colors against the brown UI. It is very hard to read the Blue and Purple against the brown, and even some other colors clash. The White and the Black text are the easiest to read, Yellow for Light and Cyan for Wind are beneath that level of readability. Under that level is the Orange/Red for Fire and Green for Earth. Blue for Water and Purple for Dark seem to the most difficult to read. And if you are committed to the color, consider adding a black stroke to the text element, this may help a lot but keep the commitment to your color association.
The audio is very complimentary and even though there is 1 music track that loops, it doesn't get boring. It feels fitting for the genre and feels fair while thinking and solving the clues. The game is very static (which is not a bad thing). If you were to consider any additions, I would say some audio feedback for click events, maybe even hover sfx. UI animations would make the game feel more lively and interactable. Like when you have the runes selected, consider running particles or animations on those UI elements as they are selected. I personally think it would be neat to animate the fire in the background since your eyes are drawn to it and the blue fire color compliments that overall brown UI and main static game environment.
Overall this is a great project, a lot of thought went into weaving the aesthetics, genre, and theme. Great implementation of puzzle mechanics in a clever and unique way. If you enjoy using your brain for text puzzles, this is definitely a game to not sleep on! ;-]
Submitted
Quebe ConnektWow, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a deep, detailed, and incredibly constructive review! Even though this isn't your preferred genre, your feedback is pure gold for us as developers.
You hit the nail on the head regarding the UI readability. We’ve been wrestling with that brown background vs. element colors issue, and your suggestion about adding a black stroke to the text elements is cool - we will look into implementing that (or some alternative) to save everyone's eyesight! (It is our first game and we didnt realize how different people will read different colors, how different monitors will render it. We tried to make color coding to much popular color schemes use for different elements, but it is not always give that clear text as we wish. For me personally red location text is most unclear, while other texts and colors are smth from "fine" through "good" to "okayish")
Regarding the audio: it's funny you mentioned the hover and click SFX. We actually debated adding them internally! We were worried that constant clicking noises might get annoying or distracting while players are deep in thought trying to deduce the runes. But your feedback proves that we just need to find the right balance - maybe something very soft, organic, and non-intrusive to make the UI feel more responsive without breaking the concentration.
Adding some subtle UI animations and making that blue forge fire flicker in the background are also fantastic ideas to make the environment feel more alive.
Thank you again for your critical thinking, your amazing suggestions, and for not sleeping on our project! This means a lot to our team! 🔮🛡️
Wow, finding all 6 runes correctly is a massive achievement! To be completely honest, you did better than some of us on the dev team during final testing! 😂
Hearing that you played a lot, pushed through the challenge, and felt the game was well-made means the world to us. Thank you so much for outsmarting Loki and for such an incredible boost of motivation! ✨
A lovely puzzle game, once I found out how to play I managed to help some warriors win their fight. :) I enjoyed the easy mechanics, the sound and the art. Great job! :)
Submitted
DeadliveryThank you so much! Reading that you managed to help the warriors win their fights puts a huge smile on our faces! ⚔️
We are thrilled that you enjoyed the mechanics, art, and sound. Making sure that the victory feels rewarding was really important to us. Thanks for playing and for such a lovely comment! ✨
Interesting concept. I enjoyed the art and vibe of the game. I think I'm a little slow at these types of games so I may have missed out on things but good job!
Submitted
Small Town ConnectThank you so much! Don't worry at all, deduction games are meant to be played at a steady, thoughtful pace - you are definitely not slow, Loki is just being a proper trickster! 🧙♂️
We are so happy that you enjoyed the art and the overall vibe of the game. Thanks for playing and for taking the time to leave your feedback! ✨
I love logic deduction puzzles like this, and this is a cool take on it! Once I understood, I found it fun trying to work out what the runes were.
I thiiiink you might reduce some initial confusion if you took that quickstart guide here in the comments and put that at or near the top of your game page description. Just my two cents. I found that much easier to parse than the game's description.
Overall nice work!
Submitted
Vector of AttackTook me a bit to understand how it works - but once I got it had lot's of fun! A good yet challenging puzzle game - GG
Submitted
Seeker of LightThank you so much for the support!
It seems like "takes a bit to understand, but a lot of fun once it clicks" is our ultimate compliment for this jam! 😂 We are so glad you stuck with it and enjoyed the challenge of the puzzle.
We definitely need to fix the onboarding with a proper tutorial in the future, but hearing that you had a blast means the world to us. Thanks for playing! 🔮✨
Thank you so much for the kind words! We are thrilled to hear that the visuals, music, and sounds worked together to create the right atmosphere for you. ✨
It’s incredibly rewarding to know that once the mechanics clicked, you had a lot of fun playing! And yes, the tutorial is our #1 priority for the post-jam version - we definitely want to make that initial steps much smoother for future players.
Thanks for pushing through the confusion and for playing our game! 🛡️🔮
Great job guys I love the story.....And its very challenging in a GREAT WAY!!! I hope no one comes to me for spell casting....they gon die real quit
Submitted
FRIGHTFUL CONNECTIONSThank you so much! Haha, don't worry, even as the developers, we managed to blow up a few heroes during our own playtests!
We are thrilled that you enjoyed the story and found the difficulty challenging in a fun way. Balancing the deduction logic so it feels punishing but fair was a big goal for us. Thanks for playing and for the awesome comment! 🔮🧙♂️
It took me a while to figure out how the game worked. I think a small tutorial would do wonders to ease players into the gameplay. The concept itself is interesting and unique!
Submitted
PatchlingsThank you so much! Hearing that the game gives you that "just one more try" feeling is the absolute best compliment we could ever receive! ❤️
We wanted to make the experimentation process feel magical and rewarding, so we're thrilled you had fun with the combinations. Thanks for playing and for such an awesome boost of motivation! 🧙♂️🔮
This game is really fun and addicting. It difficult to understand when first starting to play but once understood its really fun.
Submitted
Remember to SmileThank you for playing! It seems like "difficult at first, but really fun once it clicks" is the official motto of our game jam run! 😂
We are incredibly happy that you found it addicting. We'll definitely want to smooth out the starting experience with a proper tutorial in the future. Thanks for the support! ✨
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