Fun adventure game. The graphics are really cute. The map is a bit too empty, but the mechanics are fun.

Its a good idea. The intro text was epic ("keep it alive!"). But i think, it was a bad decision to need the child of light being moved like the other items. So i needed to take one item, move a few meters, drop it and then get the other items and the light of course to the same place. An axe left in the darkness would never be found again, i guess and that would destroy your game.

The game is a bit hard because you can't bring the light and the axe with you at the same time but I understand it's part of the mechanics. Anyway, it's quite fun to play, well done!

Quite enjoyable! Well done!

Not bad! There were some long stretches of just switching back and forth between items at the start, but once enemies started appearing it quickly ramped up to a very stressful experience. I thin the slow part at the start was a bit too slow, and the ramp-up happened altogether too suddenly, but this reminds me alot of Crystal Chronicles, and I love me son Crystal Chronicles. Good job!

Feeding the light source is satisfying. Love programmer art! Never saw any enemies for some reason while running around. Probably me. Wanted to attach the light to my head somehow so I didn't have to constantly drop and pickup the axe.

@cryptomnesic Thanks for the comment! The enemies only start spawning once you fetch the orbs in the corners of the world

My child wasn't hungry :( I included it in my Ludum Dare 46 compilation video series, if you want to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/eHokHalkfT0

@jupiter-hadley I think that was because you were dropping the item instead of using it, but that's on me for not making better tutorialization in the game :/ Thanks for playing!

The game has potential try to add a better explanation of how enemies spawn and make it so you did not need empty hands to hold a orb.

Cool idea, maybe the fact that you have to switch between items slows the pace a little bit, and the level design could have other landmarks. Awesome idea!

Fun adventure game! Great graphics and story! Satisfying when i put the fourth orb.

What a fun little game!

* I can't say I got far cause at first I was just feeding the flame and not getting the orbs but that's a fault on my part. I think it's mostly because of the thought, like other games that uses games, thinking the fire slowly dies. Considering the enemies, I am glad that is not the case.
* The difficulty actually only starts once the enemies spawn in. Otherwise, you're just a lost chicken looking for orbs at first.
* Knowing the difficulty later on, I think the ability to hold two things will be extremely helpful especially later on with 4 orbs. (To balance it out, you can interact with two items held)
* I didn't know you can use the sticks as barriers! That's handy but not obvious until you got defeated the first time.
* At the same time, you can easily lose your axe.. which makes the game impossible to complete, especially if the flames are now and you are carrying something that is not the axe or the child.
* I was not expecting to move the child and thought I was only constrained to the map at first. More tedious than intended maybe?
* With the limited visibility, more landmarks are always nice!
* As for usability Z and Space don't feel too well. WASD + Mouse Buttons can work better or Arrows + ZX (XC to consider QWERTZ keyboards) will work just as well too.

This game holds potential and it's a very neat entry. This is extremely good as your first entry! Congratulations and I hope to see you do compo again in the future!

Great idea! It took me a while to understand the goal of the game, but then I had fun. It starts slows, but then it escalates and become really challenging.
Good job!

I thought it was really repetitive and a bit tedious because of the inability to hold multiple items resulting in me dragging the axe and orbs in separate little trips, but it certainly did build some suspense once the enemies started coming. Very good first entry! Shame about the lack of time for music though haha.

Liked it a lot, found the fog of war a bit scary lol

graphics are cute, running back and forth between the items is a bit tedious

Love the graphics style and the lighting mechanic. Really nice stuff :)

Well done! The only frustrating thing is not being able to hold the axe and the light at the same time. Cycling between the two is tedious.

pretty fun, very reminscent of Don't starve, the gameplay is kind of fun but the cycling between objects to move around gts a bit annoying, the more orbs you find the more annoying it gets too, found all 4 but couldn't quite get them together before i got overwhelmed. The art style is charming in a programmer art kind of a way, might recommend that you use a smooth gradient for the light area though because the tiled effect is somehow kind of jarring when you move it around. some ominous background music or ambience would have been really nice though as i kind of feel this style of game lends itself well to focusing on atmosphere. really missed being able to craft a torch or something though. good job......geez only just realised too late now seeing the screenshots i was meant to put the orbs on the columns. darn

Cute game with interesting gameplay. Not too hard but not so user-friendly to keep switching between the objects you carry all the time. The programming part seems to be quite polished.

Overall, great job, very impressive for a first compo entry!

Nice idea. I got the third orb but the item juggling was a little bit too stresfull for me :) Graphics are not the best but they communicate what they should. Good work!

So I had an interesting range of feelings about this game. Overall, I think it is a great compo game.

My thoughts while playing:
1. Initially - Was pretty put off by the tedium of having to run a bit, drop the flame, go back and get the axe and keep leap frogging. I also didnt like the fact that the axe and logs had colliders - got slightly stuck a few times between axe and logs (although generally picking something up freed you).

2. Once I grabbed the first orb and enemies came I actually liked the juggling of flame and orb.

3. When running around I was a bit put off about no orientation mechanisms (map, landmark etc) as I lost the axe at least once.

4. Once I got a few orbs I worked out the general layout and the lack of orientation support really didnt matter.

5. By the time I picked up the third orb I had one placed and one close to the middle. This is the stage it got a bit tedious as it became a matter of kiting the enemy horde far enough away I could loop back and do a quick juggle to make progress.

6. Despite that... I wanted to finish it so stuck with it till the end.

7. Got worried I had messed something up as I put the flame back on the altar but the enemies came all the way up to him.


So summary:

Firstly I would say make the ending more impactful! The player deserves it!

I am not sure on collision with the axe etc. It felt bad when I got stuck (especially during a quick refuel with enemies coming) but it also had the side (unintended?) benefit of me being able to harvest in the dark - drop the axe at the base of a tree, move the light as far away as possible this was during initial exploration) then run back through the darkness until your movement is blocked then pick up and start swinging.

The enemy eyes in the darkness was perfect. Great for mood and allowed you to manage time better as well (as you can see them coming).

The horde of enemies at the end lagged a bit (webplayer) but also more enemies didnt really serve much more of a purpose after you group them all up. A bit more random movement (eg. if player is out of range some will wander) might help with unpredictability

I quite liked the art, enemies seemed a bit off but the rest had quite a nice little aesthetic going.

Feeding the fire effect was very satisfying.



Nice work eh. I am not sure how far that mechanic could be stretched (ie in a longer game) but it makes for a great little game here. The basic idea could be expanded with some additional mechanics (eg. enemy types, ways to deal with enemies, leaving embers for points of interest etc possibly) to extend the gameplay and possibly even be put up as a cheap short game for sale.

This character looks like that Nu char in Crono Trigger
really cute


I just miss some sound effects like a random animal sound in the background

I managed to beat the game. I'd say the item juggling mechanic is the most innovative aspect of the game.

Hey there - I think this is a solid compo game.

You say that the game is "on the harder side" and "a challenge". Quite frankly I think that the game is more tedious than it is challenging. While having the player juggle between items is a nice and unique mechanic to have, making them haul the axe as an individual item to juggle is a step too far. I think my enjoyment of the game would've improved immensely if I simply had to drop the light in order to use the axe - it certainly would've at least made those first few minutes without enemies a lot more bearable. I also think there should've been some sort of navigation to help point me towards the orb and towards "home base", especially with such a large world consisting of such a repetitive terrain.

The game became much more entertaining towards the end when enemies started really pouring in. The graphic style looked nice and was consistent, and the enemy eyes lighting up in the darkness was a great touch (especially for gameplay's sake). It's a shame that there was no background music, it could've done wonders for the mood.

I also actually enjoyed the ending, I thought it was sufficiently satisfying. I was expecting a basic "congratz you win" screen just because of all the other jam games I've played thus far but was pleasantly surprised.

When Im running WEB version game freezes at the start (I see explaination screen but then when i see first game screen it freezes)

@jacksgamessucks Hmm I haven't heard of anyone else running into that issue.. What browser are you playing on? Maybe you can try running the downloadable version as well?

Fun little game. Just like the others I felt it a bit hard to only carry one item at a time. Had to move child of light and the axe a few inches alternatively.

I love the funny ArtStyle :3