Congrats to all who participated the 1st Alakajam!

So I got a lot of feedbacks concerning the super difficult and unfriendly mechanics of WuXing Rush. The gameplay rating of the game is not good as well. Therefore I took like a week to re-design the whole mechanics, trying to make the game easy to learn but still challenging, and worked out a few new mechanics for testing.

In the GIF above you can see I repainted the main character and his animations. It now takes only one element (or essence as I prefer) as the 'core essence' for certain potion. There are up to 2 enhancers can be used for a single potion, in order to activate additional enhancements. Different essences work differently as enhancers with each core essence, and some essences are exclusive from others. In general, it becomes easier to decide what essence to choose, and you don't have to choose 3 ingredients before tossing a potion.

Another improvement inspired by @HuvaaKoodia is that the tree bridge now finds its own growing path. So the timing of using a tree bridge potion becomes less essential. I'm also considering to make the tree bridge more flexible (like not only to climb but also to cross water area) and more useful (like you can regenerate HP by walking on it). I'm glad there are just so many possibilities.

Hopefully someone interests in this developing game and I'll post updates whenever there is noticeable progress. ;)
Cheers!

I really appreciate everyone who gave me feedbacks or just played my game. I hope you had fun. In these days I've got many suggestions or improved thoughts from you or my friends outside Alakajam. Some of them are quite brilliant and inspring. So I just started to make a post-jam version, polishing the game more and hopfully it will go public one day.

Some improvements that will be included:
1) The re-designed levels, DEFINITELY.
2) A less complex compounding system, where each ingredient/element has its own purpose, and contributes to the outcome respectively.
3) An indicator for what will show up at the viewport's edge in next seconds, giving player more time to prepare.
4) Repaint for more pleasing experience, and for being able to differentiate elements and enemies visually in an easy way.

If you're interest in my game, please follow me on twitter @WizcasChen. Any advice or critisim would be very helpful. Cheers!

Well, I'm still lack of one vote for ranking… It would be great if anyone can help me out []~(￣▽￣)~

As some of you good jammers known, I made my game too hard. So I wondered how many times it will take to clear the only level. I gave it a try, and recorded my playings in video at https://youtu.be/xbtgiIxMxgg

I would love to get your feedbacks on my game WuXing Rush. I'll make a post-jam version and any advice would be super helpful. Any idea on difficulty adjustment, mechanics design, art style, level improvement, or even pure complains are welcomed. Thank you guys in advance!

And you can play it here: https://alakajam.com/1st-alakajam/71/wuxing-rush

So the main character of my game is an Alchemist Chen from the east, who follows the Tao path. Chen fights in battle with Wu Xing (means Five Elements) which can be converted into various kinds of potions, providing offensive force or protection. Here's the concept art. Not quite good but I did my best ;)

After about 12 hours hard working, I finally got the gameplay part done. Here is a demostration. I got no time for graphics and grabbed some random pictures in my computer…so just ignore them ;)

The key of my game is to use the right compound at the right time. Next I'm gonna do some concept art design and finish the resources making. Keep going everybody!

After one-hour's thinking, I've finally got my idea about the theme Alchemy! So it's basically a 2D parkour game, which obstacles and enemies are elimiated with potions - you may have known already: potions need to be produced with your mastered alchemy skils

So here's my gameplay design, if you are interested:

Thanks to the resources list by Alakajam for lettimg me know about Piskel! It's so lite and lovely that I can focus all my thoughts on making pixel arts. And its animation support - you have to give it a try if you haven't yet. And its exporting function makes it so easy for preparing game sprites.

I think I'll probably make a 2D pixel-style game in this jam. It's just nice and easy for me. For anyone who haven't viewed the resources list, just don't miss it in your preparation.

OK. I just want to show my quick work here, actually. It's my cat Nino (but I keep calling her Puppy)
⬇️

Hi everyone! My name is Wizcas. I'm from China, which means I'll have to wait until 3 am on Sep 23 for this jam starts ;) I participated LD38 as my first jam, and became a super fan of such events. So I'm here, trying to make something pleasing.

I found Alakajam accidentally, but decided to do this in no time. This site gives me a bunch of surprises - its logo, style, friendly guides of tools choosing, and a whole lot of other things which totally caught my interest. And, it will be the FIRST event in Alakajam's history. Exciting!

I'm not sure yet that I'm gonna to make a 3D game or a 2D game. It depends on the theme, I guess. I'll pray the final decision not to be a Sci-Fi thing… I really don't have much thoughts on such.

Let's do it ;)

// P.S.: I'm going to the Blizzard Video Game Live concert this Sunday evening. Time conflicts, but that's something I can't miss!