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Last Writes's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artwork | #250 | 4.416 | 4.416 |
| Narrative | #350 | 3.792 | 3.792 |
| Audio | #459 | 3.792 | 3.792 |
| Creativity | #603 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Enjoyment | #1088 | 3.675 | 3.675 |
Ranked from 77 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?
You draw loops with a magical quill to banish enemies.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Font: https://fontesk.com/lt-crow-typeface/
All other assets were made by our team during the jam.
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Hauser Games
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Comments
Love the different enemy variations and combinations, still a challenge to master the controls but I enjoyed the game anyway! Well done!
Thank you! The controls definitely have a bit of a learning curve, but glad you figured them out and had fun! We spent so long iterating to try to find the balance of fresh and interesting while not being too obtuse.
I think you'll manage it takes some tweaking but once you find the sweet spot, it'll be worth it 100%
For sure! We’ll probably try to revisit after the jam. We want to keep the high skill ceiling, but try to make some of the interactions a bit more intuitive. Our main goal was to make the mouse and the player movement both be equally important to influencing the quill motion, in order to keep the gameplay dynamic and force the player to really think about positioning.
Visually stunning and delightfully atmospheric! The quill-loop mechanic feels fresh and engaging! just that quirky control takes a moment to master, but then it clicks and becomes really satisfying.
Thanks so much! Yeah, we know the mechanic has a bit of a learning curve but we are glad to hear it is satisfying once you get it, which was definitely what we were going for!
Super cool art style, loved it! Congrats on the great game 👏
Thank you!
Very well made, once I got the hang of the controls it felt great to fling myself and the pen to complete the loops. Great work!
Thank you! Glad you liked the quill-flinging!
Your drawing game is better than my drawing game, but I'm glad we both share in the brotherhood of bug circling.
I both hate and love you for this achievement. Excellent game.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I went and checked your game out and had a great time!
A very strange control scheme, but one that I found quite fun for most enemies minus the fast moving little bacteria guys. It's one of those games where once you find the most optimal way to play, it still continues to be fun because of the bullet hell type design, the impactful game feel, and the consistent variety in enemy behavior and combinations. I also found the narrative pretty interesting, although I do think the game should have started with just a small taste of the gameplay and THEN the first bit of narrative, just to give the player an idea of what they'd be looking forward to. Great work!
Oh, yeah, the fast moving blob enemies are tough. We kind of intended for them to force the player to draw a loop ahead of them and close it right as they get there. Glad you found the game to continue to grab you!
That’s a really good suggestion about including a taste of gameplay before the narrative. What we’d probably have done if we’d had time (or will do if we revisit) is have a short tutorial level that introduces the mechanics, possibly with a tiny bit of story woven in, and then go to the narrative section that is currently at the beginning.
Thanks for playing!
nice soundtrack and artwork. the controls is a bit.. unique ;)
Yeah, the controls definitely have a bit of a learning curve. We wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion, in order to keep the gameplay dynamic and force the player to really think about positioning.
Copying from another comment I made earlier, you basically have 4 main options. Roughly from easiest to hardest they are:
There are some GIFs on the upload page which demonstrate some of these techniques.
Thanks for playing!
ahh did not realize about clicking increasing range. maybe controller works better for me.
Unfortunately we ran out of time for controller support. But yeah, I recommend approach #2 from my list above, as the most intuitive way to close loops. Basically throwing your quill at the tail of your ink line to close the loop you are dragging out. Approach #4 can lead to some really dynamic gameplay but is tough to pull off.
wow, this is a very novel control scheme if I have seen one. It takes some time to get used to how the momentum of the quill can be used. your menu, settings, and dialogue interfaces also show a lot of polish. and the music rocks :)
add some points and a highscore and this game is good to go.
Thanks so much! Yeah, we wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion, so there’s a bit of a learning curve. We iterated a lot, but would have iterated even more if we’d had more time. You can pull off some pretty cool maneuvers with practice, but it could definitely be a bit more intuitive.
We would have added an endless mode with a highscore table if we’d had more time, so definitely agree on that suggestion!
I love how the main menu has parallax, and has camera shake when you looped an insect, shows a lot of effort put into the polishing. The art is pretty good too.
Thank you, glad you liked it!
Cool artsytle and music. Well done!
Thanks!
One of the coolest takes I've seen! Can't believe you even had time add lore and explanation in the beginning. Beautiful art and great gameplay; 10/10 :D
Thank you so much!
Really cool game! Took a bit of getting used to control-wise, but once I did it was a blast! Very satisfying to get a bunch of enemies in a single loop. I wish there was a bit more to it, or perhaps and endless mode, but overall top stuff!
Yeah, the controls definitely have a learning curve. We wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion, and after a bunch of iteration this is what we were happiest with, although some more post-jam iteration might be in our future :)
An endless mode is a definitely something we’d like to add, along with additional levels. We had some other biomes planned, each with a boss at the end, but we ran out of time to implement them.
Thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed it!
The art is straight up beautiful, and I enjoyed the narrative a lot. Fantastic work!
Thank you!
Very well made! I really liked the idea and also that you could give the quill a bit more range by clicking, definitely made the gameplay more dynamic. Lots of really nice polish when it comes to the art an UI. And you blended the theme and the narrative really well together as well, awesome work!
Thank you! Yeah, we wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion, so having it follow you but be influenced by the mouse, and then have the ability to fling it was what we liked the most, after lots of iteration.
Great visuals, great audio, great narrative at the beginning! Beautiful game
Thanks!
This game was awesome. I loved the art style and sound design. The fact that you managed to have a story as well within the time limit is just insane to me. Well done!
Thank you so much!
This was awesome. I've played a few other of the loop the targets to capture/beat them, but I really like the use here where the quill is a mix of following the player or can be thrown out. Really a pleasure to play.
Thanks so much! Yeah, we wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion. Glad you enjoyed it!
A treat for the eyes and ears! Visually stunning, and the music is simply beautiful.
The implementation of the drawing ink mechanic—chef’s kiss. It’s clean and satisfying.
Definitely a unique take on the “loop around” mechanic (and I’ve seen quite a few entries this jam 😄). I just wish I had a bit more control over the feather. Sometimes it flies way off, and other times it barely moves from the player. I understand it’s based on how long the button is held, but it also feels like physics or maybe even FPS might be affecting it?
Still, it’s incredibly fun to draw loops around enemies.
Beautiful and very solid entry with a fresh and creative twist on the looping mechanic.
Thank you so much! We are also pleased with how it all came together, so that’s great to hear!
Just to clarify, it’s not how long the button is held. The mechanic is basically that holding down the button reduces/delays the force pulling the quill back to the player. The throw itself is based on a combination of the momentum of the player and the speed of the quill. Try moving the mouse through or around the spell circle and then clicking and holding when you get to the direction you want to throw the quill. The GIFs on the entry page’s gallery demonstrate some of the techniques. It definitely takes some practice and we might try to iterate on the mechanic some more to make it a bit more intuitive after the jam is over.
Loved the art and music, sat with the title music running in the background for longer than I would like to admit! And really enjoyed the little story section with Dad.
Really interesting twist to the drawing loops around things mechanic, having it stick pretty close to the player with the throw really makes you have to think about your movement, nice work!
Thank you for the kind words! Our team members who worked on the music and the story will be thrilled to hear that!
And yes, that was very much the goal! We wanted the mouse and the player movement to both be equally important to influencing the quill motion.
Neat gameplay, and stylish too. Great game, good job!
Thank you!