Ivana, Igor, and the Dragon

Cool game world and nice idea!

WARNING SPOILERS: I really like this graphical style particulary the trees, it gives the game a very other wordly feel. I got stuck in the end, I got past the fire and winged serpant and then hit a dead end, not sure if that's as intended and I just needed the right spell or if it's a bug. I went back and searched the castle and spoke to the residents to know avail, I ended up out of mana and stuck if front of the castle behind the knight.

A fun little quirky adventure.

@Flipsy thanks for playing and for the feedback. It's not a bug — to give you some hints, don't worry about the fires until the last part of the game. You need to collect enough mana (there are many mushrooms in the East) before you enter the castle. Once inside, reflect on the beautiful but sinister courtier and her relationship to Prince Igor. Then, the appropriate spell should come to mind. When Prince Igor is on your side, you can tackle the dragon.

Great, thanks @heyheyhey that makes sense. I'll give it another shot.

I enjoyed it. The perspective was a bit confusing at times, but maybe that's a part of the charm. There was a place where mushrooms are spawned infinitely, but again that might be intentional. The ending is nice too.

Fun little adventure! I especially liked the cutout art style with the simple yet effective animations. Thanks for creating it :)
My 2 cents (SPOILERS):

• Some things felt like trial and error. For example, Ghost walk and invisibility are thematically very similar. But why can't I Ghost Walk through the Knight? I probably would have included only one of them, to make it more clear which one to use.
• The Graveyard giving you the power of a water spirit seemed just a bit random. I think a flavortext on a gravestone being like "Here lie the remains of water mage XYZ" (Badly worded but you get the idea :D) would have been nice because then you could have guessed the outcome of talking to the dead here
• The theme unfortunately seemed like an afterthought. You could have switched the mushrooms for mana flasks and nothing would have changed. I would even go as far as to say you would have needed an explanation WHY the mushrooms give you mana.
• Decades of playing Mario games trained people to walk right first :D If someone falls into that trap (like I did) they will probably get to a fire and use up all their mana trying to figure out which spell helps. I think a visual indicator of sorts in the starting area would have been nice to really hammer down the idea that you can go in both directions.

Again, thanks for creating your game and I hope that feedback is useful to you! :)

Interesting game, I liked the puzzle element of needing to figure out which spell to use to progress the situation. I think visually the game could have used some more polish though, sometimes it was difficult to figure out where I was.

This game has a great artistic vision, but I rapidly lost interest after getting stuck. It felt like an old Sierra game where I just had to have known to go right first and collect something I'd need later on. Still, the vibe is great!

This was something different. I quickly got the hang of it and started enjoying myself. The art is a little unpolished but endearing nevertheless. The game could have used a background music track and sound effects for the spells. Changing of a scene was confusing at times (like going into the castle and then walking out) but it wasn't too distracting. I managed to beat the game.

Interesting game, however I have a few criticisms. Several times, I kept asking "What?" because I really didn't know where to go or what some of the spells are for. For example, it took a long while before I was able to get in the castle. I thought the movement was only sideways so I was shocked when I got teleported in front of the castle's gate after randomly pressing Space pass the guard. Also, the Ghost Walk and Disenchant spell are confusing at first. It also took a long while before I understood their purpose. For the good part: I think the style of the game is amazing for different reasons. I finished the game nearly 12am and I'm honestly creeped out by the graphics and music. The witch creeped me out the most. I think this style is best suited for the horror genre.

This game definitely has an interesting art style. I like the character drawing. At first I didn't quite get that the shrooms where to collect and I also couldn't make it passed the fire (shame). The one obvious thing from the spellbook - lavitate - didn't quite do the trick. A little sad because I wanted to explore more of the game world.

This was a super charming entry! The storybook art was endearing, I loved how clever the spells choices were. I found myself pretty immersed in this little game! The ending was better than I could have imagined!

Very charming! I really enjoyed this game. It was really fun trying to figure everything out. I wish the art was more polished, for example I didn't realise the cliff ended on the left at the start, I thought that was just a bug. 😅 If it had some cliff like edges it would be clearer.

In any case, I really enjoyed the story and mechanics. The end was just… amazing. Next time, can you include voice over? I want a narrated experience. 🥰

This made me really want to make a game like this!

@Cuddl3s thanks, that feedback is very helpful. You are right about Ghost Walk and Invisibility. But I noticed only in hindsight. Ghost Walk is meant for inanimate objects, but I neglected to mention that.

As for the theme, I implemented that with the fungi forest (the black trees in the background) and the mushrooms. But I see what you mean — Prince Igor could have been placed in a giant mushroom instead of a castle. But sadly that's another idea that came to me in hindsight.

I wasn't aware of the Mario games — old timers like me played the Atari 2600. The walking-right mindset is something I'll try to keep in mind in the future.

@treslapin, I was thinking of voice overs, I just ran out of time. Good idea though.

Thanks for the encouraging words — I'm happy to see you enjoyed the game.

Heya!
I also played your game on my stream an I had similar issues, as some of the others wrote before.
Like, Ghost Walk ans Invisibility is not the same?! or after the stone serpant, I got stuck.
Other then that, I really liked the art style and the music, which came up, when you collect mushrooms. Ah, maybe, a nice particle effect or something like that, would be neat. Especially when you use Levitation. As I didnt notice in the beginning I was already using spells.. And got confused at how spellcasting works.
Here is the link with the time stamp where your game starts: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1418525711?t=0h32m25s :)

Heya @xXBloodyOrange! Thank you — I am honored to see someone play my game. I enjoyed watching your video. You have a beautiful voice.

You are right, there are some confusing aspects to the game, like Ghost Walk vs. Invisibility, as you mentioned. The trick is to press space when you are on the road near the guard — this will take you to the castle, where Prince Igor is. That too could have been more clear. Anyway, glad you enjoyed it.

P.S. I think the term you were looking for is stop motion, a style of animation that goes back many years.

Ah, so nice to see another one of these unique games of yours! You are really making progress – there are no more weird glitches, and the story is more consistent. Most importantly, the puzzles are clear and I had no trouble figuring them out. I think the graphics are better too, dark and moody, yet easy to understand.

Thank you for watching the stream and the compliment!
Stop motion was indeed the word i was looking for! Thank you!
Now that I know, I think I play it again, to see prince Igor! :D

Nice to see you progress with the games. This was fun to play through :D

@thomastc thank you for the encouraging words — your feedback is always welcome. Slowly but surely I try to improve. You have revived my idea to make a post-jam version of the game. Hopefully I'll see it through.