Play For The Queen
FOR THE QUEEN's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #294 | 4.098 | 4.098 |
| Narrative | #475 | 3.804 | 3.804 |
| Artwork | #537 | 4.235 | 4.235 |
| Audio | #607 | 3.725 | 3.725 |
| Creativity | #1045 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Ranked from 51 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
I used the countdown theme through the combat system. During every fight, the player must act at the right moment by pressing attack / block or special ability when the indicator reaches the correct point on the circle. The countdown creates constant pressure and makes every decision important. Reaching zero is not the end the fight restarts harder, giving the player another chance to improve.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Art : Craftpix (characters, enemies, locations, book UI, Font)
Code, design, writing, SFX: Me =)
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Juk Games by Alistanov M
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Comments
This game is really fun! I could see myself spending quite a bit more time on the endless mode. You've got great pixel art and animation, a well implemented story, and excellent music! I feel like both characters are pretty well balanced even if the samurai felt overpowered at first.
My one biggest criticism is that the notes that appear at 1 and 2 o'clock on the circle feel nearly impossible to react to when a new circle starts. At first I thought the marker from the previous circle was previewing the next, and when that changed color I didn't have time to react to it. This is where the majority of my damage came from. I'd say if you can get a preview of the next cycle appear after the indicator passes 6 o'clock it'll help a lot.
Amazing job!
I think the game would really benefit from a tighter soundtrack that matched the beats we hit as the player if you decide to put more time into this and make a full release on steam. Otherwise game is super creative and fun.
Really fun game. I don't have any feedback that hasn't been mentioned. I beat the game by using the knight and just reflecting damage. I picked up reaction time, reflect, healing, and in the last 3 chapters I just ignored green beats. I avoided the flurry upgrade to have as many blue circles as possible.
Really cool game, art style, mechanics and gameplay in general. I love it and I think it's one of the best this year! Nice and interesting work, well done! :D
What an incredible entry.
Great story (with a very cool "twist" at the end) and super fun gameplay. It felt a bit too easy for me at times and I think it might be due to those upgrades being really strong (which is great and I'd much prefer overpowered +60% to something instead of +5% that I won't ever even notice).
The artwork is a bit inconsistent, but that's because it was sourced from different places (which I totally understand - it was better to focus on story, gameplay and audio, because it all paid in the end).
Fantastic job!
Awesome game not to mention it works really well on mobile! The later levels is really hard but that is fun as hell. After a few tries I was able to beat the final boss.
One thing I would note is that it would be better if there is a way to preview the next cycle. For now if I was unable to finish off the enemy in one cycle it's pretty much guaranteed that I would fumble the next few inputs because there is just not enough time to react. And a countdown before starting the turn would be nice too although not that much of a problem in my gameplay.
Nonetheless a very well polished and enjoyable experience. Would totally love to play a post-jam version!
This has been such a blast to play that I have to force myself to stop playing so I can focus on other stuff. It is really just a magnificent game all round. Really well polished - The art style is absolutely fantastic, the sound design is lovely, and the narrative is great as well. So all in all a great game.
There are some gameplay nitpicks that I had...
Firstly I believe the jump from region to region is a bit to harsh, especially in the Abyss section - that I found to be the hardest.
The other thing is that Combat is maybe a bit too fast later on and even earlier at times, I have no clue how much health the enemy even has up until I actually end up killing it. Which isn't too big a complaint but that is something which could be improved.
The wait at the start is nice but as a previous comment said, the loops after the first one are continuous so really difficult to get them right later in the game. I think a delay in each round might be something but I guess there could be better Alt solutions to that issue.
One nitpick I did have, which tbh I really should not considering this is a jam game, is that Defend doesn't feel as responsive, but I think that's just me being too harsh tbh.
Apart from that, the special is a bit weird as well, the heal one isn't worth much since you get the 20% and that is just much better and doesn't break the game Rhythm either. So that could be worked on as well.
Lastly I had a thing that I wanted to ask, Do the upgrades stack?
And I shall be returning to this game quite soon. And if ever this goes beyond just a jam entry I will be looking forward to it. Well done on an amazing entry.
P.S. The boss fight room takes a bit to load in for some reason.
Yoooo, it's awesome! I really liked combination of art, design, dialogues and audio. Gameplay feels amazing, you polished it really nice. Also how does this genre calls?
I think u should probably work around with buttons and radial circle with bits, because now it doesn't fit with art and style.
Brooo, it's really nice job, idk how to say more. If it was only prototype for pre-boss phase, what should it be as a full game <3
I will be glad if you play my game too!
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
1. rhythm-based action roguelike
2. I agree that the buttons and radial interface don’t fully match the rest of the game’s art style yet. In future versions, I’ll redesign them, make the prompts clearer, add control customization, and include an option to display the buttons directly on the orbs.
3. This jam version is only an early prototype of the idea. I’m already working on expanding the locations and battles for the full Steam version, so I hope you’ll give the final release a try too! <3
Lots of fun. Very beautiful art and music.
Smooth gameplay.
My only issue is the punishing escalation combined with having to restart from the beginning every time - I know, I know, it's a roguelike.
More specific things then:
1) as someone already commented, I also got confused between the keys sometimes;
2) I really do not like how close the first orb can spawn when the circle resets - I would like a larger minimum buffer zone to give me time to see what I'm actually supposed to do (either that, or have the circle smoothly filling with orbs constantly);
3) I was not expecting a boss fight based on the narrative, so I got surprise shanked on the only run I managed to make it to the queen;
4) the speeds changing dramatically, combined with extra orbs, in each realm seems unfair because you just got used to the rhythm of the previous realm, and now you have no idea how fast the thing is about to move - you have to practice enough in each realm to get used to the speed, but you can only do that by restarting over and over and over...
Regardless, overall this is absolutely fantastic.
This game deserves high ratings; and I have added it to my favourites collection because I will want to replay again later (I'll get to the end one day...).
:)
Oh, also, your description says "roguelite", but I think you have a "roguelike".
Roguelites allow some progression between runs to make things slightly easier each time you die.
Roguelikes are the hardoce, "git gud", start-over-from-nothing genre.
Hi! Thank you so much for such a detailed review!
I’ll do my best to incorporate all the feedback I’ve received into the Steam version. I hope you’ll give the final release a try and share your thoughts again!
Played it again on the train (a testament to how damn addictive it is!).
I finally beat it!
:)
Two more pieces of feedback from me:
1) the game experience is much nicer on mobile (probably because I'm using two hands?); but the text boxes obscure the character portraits (I played in-browser on mobile, not in the itch app);
2) it seems like the special action is disabled for the final boss fight; I personally think it is unfair to remove a power like that, that the player has been potentially spending upgrade points on, especially with no warning or foreshadowing that it might happen - I built my strategy on a super glass cannon Samurai who just needed to survive until the mega special death button - and I was sad to see that nerfed at the last second.
I know I seem critical; but please understand that my feedback comes from a place of love!
If I didn't care, I would just write "Cool game, bro" and move on.
XD
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback! You have no idea how much comments like yours help me improve the game, I truly appreciate it.
I genuinely look forward to hearing your thoughts on the full release! Your feedback has been incredibly valuable, and I’d love to know what you think once the release version is out. Thank you again for your support!
More feedback:
1) I just can't stop playing it! It's my go-to now for whenever I have a random few minutes to kill. I just keep it in a permanent tab in my mobile browser. I've gotten good enough to beat the story almost every time (mobile controls + samurai + don't waste point on special); and I can easily say "just one more run". I would suggest allowing key remapping for the PC version. I genuinely think being able to use two hands increased my ability and made it more fun.
2) Having played it on mobile so much, I would like to ask that the buttons be widened, or placed closer to the edges of the screen. I'm extending my thumbs *juuuust* a little bit more than is comfortable to try to reach the middle
This is one of the best ones I’ve played so far! One small thing I would’ve liked is for the music to be linked to the gameplay but I sense the point here wasn’t to make a rhythm game so it’s good for what it is! I loved the different upgrades.
I’ve received similar feedback before, so I’ll try to find a way to make the music fit the rhythm of the combat better. Thank you for the helpful feedback!
Such a delightful and well-rounded entry! The art is incredible, the parry mechanic feels great, and the spinning wheel kept me entertained. Art is very well executed. Well done!
Thanks for the feedback!
This is truly a five star experience Imo and maybe the best game I've played so far. I really love how you mixed the narrative with really fun and addicting gameplay. The character portraits and dialogue are so professionally done that it's rather shocking. But then you also have the really well animated idle sprites, and the cool designs for the characters too. It was genuinely so cool when a dragon showed up and I think the sprites for the knight and samurai especially are awesome. Other little details like the book opening and the background art are the cherry on top
In terms of actual gameplay, it's a very simple mechanic but handled very well. Hitting those perfect parries feels awesome and I like the difference between the knight and samurai mechanically. When I switched class to the samurai and melted a dragon's health in seconds it felt incredible, and it was kind of comical (in a good way) how fast I died when I eventually mistimed some attacks.
I think my only complaint is that it was really tough to remember which keyboard inputs represent each attack. When a new encounter started, half the time I got A and D mixed up which really threw me off. At the bottom of the screen there's a handy reminder of the inputs (which I didn't notice for half my playtime because I was so locked in) but even then, it confused me because the order there is A D S, when on a keyboard the order is of course A S D. If you increased the size / glow of these boxes so they're easier to look at mid combat, and put them in the right order then it would be perfect.
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you enjoyed the game and all the little details! Your feedback about the controls is very helpful. In future versions, you’ll be able to remap the controls, and I’ll also improve the button prompts by making them more visible and arranging them in the correct A–S–D order. I’m also planning an option to display the prompts directly on the orbs. Thanks again for the great feedback!
This is so delightful and well rounded. The art is incredible, the game feel is very nice and satisfying to hit the timings, and the mechanics are nicely implemented and fun to play! My only nitpick is I wish the button (A/S/D) was next to the orb on the wheel instead of at the bottom of the screen, cause I’d often mix them up and press the wrong button. Also good for accessibility for those with color blindness. Otherwise very pretty and fun game with great replayability! Well done!
Thank you! I’m really glad you enjoyed the game! That’s a great suggestion. In future versions, you’ll be able to remap the controls, and I’m also add an option to display the button prompts directly on the orbs. Thanks for the helpful feedback!
Pretty fun! The constant tension of the spinning wheel is very good for creating a gameplay loop that hooks you, and the way you can adjust your characters build is also quite fun. The meshing of pixel art sprites on a non pixel art background / UI was quite pretty also.
Thank you very much! I spent a lot of time to make the whole visual harmonious!
There's so much! Congratz on putting all of this in. I like the gameplay a lot but I'm struggling as soon as I fail one. Might just be me though ahah.
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it
Everything is so perfect about this game!
Thanks!
WOW! THESE GRAPHICS ARE INCREDIBLY COOL! I'm serious! This is so cool, I love how a lot depends on your reactions and leveling up.
Thanks for the feedback !
The art style is excellent, but the level difficulty was a bit too high for me.
Thanks! I will add difficulty levels in the future!
The artstyle and music are a very good match. An it was a fun to play fighting system.
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks!
This is amazing! I haven't been this hooked on a jam game in a long time!
Thanks!