Even though I read the instructions I still kept conserving my stamina until quite late in the game. Then when I let loose - Whee! Such power!

Love the face on the final boss. Grats on your first submission.

It's decent for a first jam. The range is a bit short, making the enemies annoying to kill, and I got stuck because of a glitch where I couldn't pick up a key, even after the enemy died. Other than that, a solid game.

Nice first entry!

"How does this fit the theme?"
*spams buttons*

Oh, okay. *zips around the map*

Fun first entry.

That was fun. Took a minute to figure out the deal with the short range. My 's' key sure did get a work out.

A game over message would have been nice, wasn't sure if it was over or I was stuck. I guess I still can't say for sure (I killed the square thing with the arms)...

I really like the sleeping purple guys who occasionally wake up and spit at you.

Great first submission!

Nailed the theme, I love the feeling of living on the edge with low stamina.

The enemy variety is surprisingly good for 48 hours.

My only complaint (and this could be me) is I don't really understand the point of the dodge: it moves you forward, which is usually towards damage, and it seems kinda inconsistent in it's range. I just stopped using it.

Overall, very fun and enjoyable.

Pretty fun little game, and a neat concept to force you to button mash to get long range attacks. By the way @omnipotentindie, in case you didn't use all your stamina, you get a ranged attack when your stamina bar is low enough!

The graphics are the weak point, but the final boss art was fantastic with the overall theme!

I had to zoom out on my browser window to be able to see everything in your game. And there wasn't a full screen button?

Seems like on principle, you have a sound set of game design that's basically how games like zelda and such works. Predictable enemy movements, attacks, progression via unlocking, etc. It's all there.

But the general "feel" of the game isn't there - when you're hit, you don't bounce back, when you hit the enemy, they don't react. There's long stretches of walking. The dodge doesn't really work because you need to press in a direction first for it to mean anything and the enemies and their attacks move much faster than is useful to even think about using dodge.

So I think that you scoped this game up waaaaay too much for a first game - instead of trying to make all of zelda, maybe try to make something smaller first - the first room, with one enemy. See how you can get one room to feel good rather than so many rooms that doesn't.

Edit: Oooookay, I read someone else's comment and figured out you want your fatigue low. The way the mechanic works you basically wanna spam your attack even when there's nothing to hit. I don't see any reason not to be doing that, and thus this "design" isn't really that interesting - there's no risk in just spamming attacks and dashes.

A fun game that fills the theme very well! Great job for a first submission. Collisions felt a little off in places (pickups especially) and it was hard to tell if I was actually hitting anything. That said as soon as I powered up the combat felt much nicer and fluid. Exploring was fun. Graphics were a little weak in places (could see the bar hidden underneath the health and stamina), but these are little irks. Overall a good job!

Really great idea When undestand the mechanics, maybe it can be polished but it's on good way. Need a feedback when you get hit and the boss was a bit easy. If you get an artist or improve your pixels you caan make a good game! congrats for your fist LD, it was mine too :)

Man this is super clever i really like it! great work!

I thought movement was kinda slow and boring until I got to the purple world and lost a bunch of stamina and became godlike. That was pretty awesome actually. Really cool idea, even if the graphics were basic and it needed music.

I understand it wouldn't fit the theme quite as well, but I think there should at least be some drawback to fully depleting your stamina. As it stands, since there is no need to maintain any sort of balance, the best option is simply to button mash your way through any encounter, which doesn't make for the most compelling of experiences.

Still an interesting take on the theme.

Cute graphics!

I second what @tuism said. Very nice to see different enemy variations and so on. Good work on that front, especially for a first jam! I think condensing/distilling things down to concentrate on how things 'feel' should be your target for your next jam.

P.S. was the character sprite walking _backwards_? :upside_down:

This first attempt at Game jam is pretty good, very good concept for the theme. Graphics are nice, dodging is very satisfying. Second level was a little bit difficult to see what was going on.

Also, the pickup is difficult to take the hearts or keys. You need to be in a specific area in order to be able to pick them up.

Otherwise, good game! Good job!

I like the concept and how it played into the theme. Even in reading the instructions (which in hindsight, I clearly did NOT do, heh), it took a bit to grasp the game mechanics. Initially, it looked like the character was moving backwards, then I kind of made out helmet of the character. Congrats on finishing your first jam!

Nice work! I'd have liked a reason to conserve stamina as well to provide an interesting tradeoff, and the ending was a little abrupt/vague, but overall pretty good!

A comment I really appreciated getting on my first jam: careful with the noise level, and it can be nice to provide buttons to turn off and on sound/music if you've got time for it. The first swing was quite loud!