{"id":2073,"edition":11,"categories":3,"features":0,"size":13301,"name":"Merlin vs Alfonso","authors":[{"name":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721}],"description":"

Alfonso X was King of Castile during the 13th century. Also known as Alfonso the wise, he encouraged learning and had a particular interest in a game called “Ajedrez”, which was a medieval precursor to chess.

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In this game you play as Merlin, the fictional wizard who’s popularity peaked while Alfonso X reigned. You are invited to Alfonso’s castle to learn about the game of “Ajedrez”.

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As you are a wizard, you have the ability to manipulate objects using telekinesis. Anything that is gold or yellow colored can be moved by clicking on the object and dragging in a direction it is free to move in. Additionally, Merlin can be controlled by clicking on land he can reach, and he will walk the fastest path.

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Alfonso X commissioned the “Libro de los juegos”, which included detailed instructions on many games, including “Ajedrez”. The rules for the enemies movements are taken from this text (the peon moves slightly differently than described since there is no “side” to the board).

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The music was created using the brilliant ZzFXM: https://github.com/keithclark/ZzFXM , which uses the MIT License: https://github.com/keithclark/ZzFXM/blob/master/LICENSE , which is based on KilledByAPixel’s ZzFX: https://github.com/KilledByAPixel/ZzFX , which also uses the MIT license: https://github.com/KilledByAPixel/ZzFX/blob/master/LICENSE

\n","source":"merlinvsalfonso/merlingame","stars":47,"comments":[{"at":347262015,"author":"Jure Triglav","login":"jure","gh":238667,"url":"https://juretriglav.si","twitter":"juretriglav","text":"

I love this game! The graphics are so crisp and vibrant, done in a refreshing style, and the gameplay is incredibly engaging. My only wish is that there would be a lot more levels.

\n","games":["1257 Samalas"]},{"at":347283843,"author":"Ben Fox","login":"BenjaminWFox","gh":9467046,"twitter":"benjaminwfox","text":"

Awesome style, and great execution. Really well “tutorialed” as far as helping people understand how the pieces work. I had some difficulty on Mobile initially as it wasn’t clear which orientation I should use, and in Portrait mode the click-to-move was super weird, and later the game started slowing down. Worked flawlessly on Desktop.

\n","games":["Khan - Westward Conquest"]},{"at":348868254,"re":347283843,"author":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721,"text":"

Thank you for your generous reply. I thought alot about the order of challenges, apologies for the experience on mobile but Im happy it worked on desktop

\n"},{"at":347288338,"author":"Rob Louie","login":"roblouie","gh":5448110,"url":"roblouie.com","twitter":"rob_louie","text":"

Amazing graphics and very unique gameplay.

\n","games":["Upyri"]},{"at":347342651,"author":"Lakshman","login":"LakshmanKishore","gh":61258323,"url":"lakshman.vercel.app","twitter":"Lakshman007bff","text":"

I really enjoyed while playing.\nThere should have been a mute button to mute the song.\nWhen we make a mistake, for the reply the load time is more.

\n","games":["Alquerque"]},{"at":347402454,"author":"Almar Suarez","login":"wololoa","gh":10622012,"twitter":"repunkgame","text":"

The music is nice but becomes a bit repetitive. The graphics are amazing! I missed the same style for the instructions, though.

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I liked the environmental manipulation but found the later puzzles confusing and unfair - I understand that the pieces don’t move exactly like modern chess, but I found the instructions and implementation didn’t match - I spent some time checking on which cells I was dying trying to understand why, but didn’t fully got it. Perhaps sticking to regular chess moves would be more clear.

\n","games":["Feast Night"]},{"at":348868689,"re":347402454,"author":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721,"text":"

thansk for the reply and kind words, and Im sorry for your experience. I think it is partially because the instructions are not isometric like in the game, which could cause some confusion. I did want to make it just normal chess, but chess hadn’t been invented in the 13th century 😉

\n"},{"at":347511796,"author":"Jack Le Hamster","login":"jacklehamster","gh":5171849,"url":"https://dobuki.net","twitter":"jacklehamster","text":"

Very good entry. I particularly like the graphic style.

\n","games":["The Terror of Mongolia"]},{"at":347522694,"author":"xem","login":"xem","gh":1225909,"text":"

love the graphics, ideas, level design and music. congrats

\n","games":["Castle 🏰 Escape (2023)"]},{"at":347765350,"author":"ch!k0","login":"Chiko4Samples","gh":34527406,"text":"

i love the concept of the game and how it was puzzling to move around.\nit was a very good refresher/brain exercise! the graphics and the sounds were amazing too!

\n","games":["Rock Feud"]},{"at":347782984,"author":"Christoph Schansky","login":"DerBenniBanni","gh":5499976,"text":"

i really like the style and that the gameplay of “monument valley” (i guess thats the inspiration) is altered with the chess-figures.

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very good entry, nothing to complain about.

\n","games":["WitchCup1276"]},{"at":347827529,"author":"Chris Glover","login":"madmaw","gh":1129626,"twitter":"mad_maw","text":"

Clever game and, if I’m not mistaken, use of SVG. Feels and looks really nice

\n","games":["Dragon Simulator"]},{"at":348869165,"re":347827529,"author":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721,"text":"

you are not mistaken, SVGs they are! thank you

\n"},{"at":347926834,"author":"Johan Åhlgren","login":"skanejohan","gh":4025939,"url":"www.johanahlgren.se","text":"

Amazing game! I just wish there were more levels. Great job!

\n","games":["Turrets and Trebuchets"]},{"at":347946760,"author":"Francesco Bedussi","login":"fbedussi","gh":9413715,"url":"http://www.francescobedussi.it","text":"

This is the best game in the jam so far. Very nice graphics, engaging game, nice soundtrack. Very good job.

\n","games":["Guess the letter"]},{"typ":2,"at":348215025,"author":"Matt Hackett","login":"richtaur","gh":24601,"url":"https://valadria.com","twitter":"richtaur","text":"

This is fantastic. Super playable, intuitive controls, clear goals. Even deaths were quick, polished, & informative.

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Great game even without the 13k limit! Amazing job.

\n"},{"at":348572171,"author":"Isaac Benitez","login":"isacben","gh":37629156,"url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/isacben/","text":"

Love the concept. It is pretty cool and pretty entertaining. You can definitely play the game for quite a while.

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The only feedback that I could tell would be if the graphics were more interesting, probably come animations. The wizard feels kind of static.

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I think your game would look so much more interesting with some eye candy.

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Congratulations! Great game!

\n","games":["Wanted"]},{"at":348610845,"author":"Allen Schmidt","login":"cobrajs","gh":297238,"url":"https://cobrajs.itch.io","text":"

This was fantastic! The increase in difficulty between levels was excellent, and all the mechanics felt very polished (everything felt very polished, except for the between level text haha). Very impressed you got all this into 13kb! Well done!!

\n","games":["Pied Pipe Revolution"]},{"at":348820411,"author":"Stiggstogg","login":"Stiggstogg","gh":53380538,"twitter":"Stiggstogg","text":"

Absolutely amazing this game! Looks fantastic, music is good, interacting with the objects feels really great, nice puzzles. I usually try to provide some feedback on things to improve, however I found hardly something. The only thing which comes to my mind is the information on how the enemies capture you. It would be nice if you could show it also in the same art style of the game.\nCongratulations to this game. Definitely one of my favourites!

\n","games":["Cathedral Master Builder"]},{"at":348868795,"re":348820411,"author":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721,"text":"

that is great feedback, thank you, I do think the same style of enemy capture instructions would really add alot.

\n"},{"at":348831909,"author":"Marcin Walczak","login":"wiserim","gh":18725798,"twitter":"wiserim_","text":"

One of the best games this year.

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Love the graphics and chess related puzzles.\nGameplay and art style reminds me of “Monument valley”.

\n","games":["Petty kingdoms"]},{"at":348832923,"author":"John Edvard","login":"johnedvard","gh":656024,"url":"https://reitgames.com","twitter":"ReitGames","text":"

I was blown away with the innovation of this game, I’ve never seen something like it before. The art looks cohesive, and the animations are smooth. Some subtle animations on the chess pieces and the wizard would help make the game feel even more alive.

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I dig the music, it’s catchy. A few sound effects would help elevate the game to the max.

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It’s good that you show the red squares and the hint after we die. It helps me reiterate the rules, and not leave me clueless as to why I died. Really good.

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The controls on desktop are tight, but it was difficult to move the wizard, on my iPhone 12 mini. I was able to complete the two first levels on mobile, but had to give up on level 3. I therefore had to give 4 stars on controls since the game is in the mobile category, otherwise it’s 5.

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This is one of my favorite games of this year’s game jam. I only wish there were more levels, but this is solid for 1 month and under 13Kb, well done.

\n","games":["Samurai Sam"]},{"at":348863345,"re":348832923,"author":"Grav","login":"merlinvsalfonso","gh":144820721,"text":"

Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful feedback, that is great advice. I’m sorry about your experience on iphone mini, I did test on regular iphone, but not on the mini. Was it in landscape mode? This comment is so good to help me grow as a dev, thank again.

\n"},{"typ":2,"at":348857528,"author":"Taufik Sani","login":"tictacx-gm","gh":106235867,"url":"https://linkedin.com/in/taufiksani","twitter":"gorilatictacx","text":"

The good:\nI wasn’t expecting this level of fidelity for a 13kb game - the graphics, audio, gameplay, and how uncomplicated the controls are for the game.

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The game loop is very straight forward - solve the puzzle and get to next stage.

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What might be helpful is to have an overlay option to remind players of the rules.

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I think you could also implement a timer to encourage players to compete with each other via a speed run - it’ll be popular with the players

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Feedback:

\n"},{"at":348875251,"author":"Mark Vasilkov","login":"mvasilkov","gh":140257,"url":"https://mvasilkov.animuchan.net","twitter":"mvasilkov","text":"

Lovely music, lovely graphics (in SVG, too!)

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I very much enjoy the take on the chess (okay, Shatranj or what’s it called) ruleset as a game mechanic, this has a ton of potential!

\n","games":["Super Castle Game"]},{"at":348901464,"author":"Magnus Lindh","login":"MagnusLindh","gh":26601704,"text":"

Beautiful game. Hard to say anything negative. Everything just works perfectly. Playable even on a touch device!

\n","games":["Gothic Tower"]},{"at":348903809,"author":"Jasper Renow-Clarke","login":"picosonic","gh":26137750,"twitter":"femtosonic","text":"

Wow the game is great.

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Love the dragging gold and chess piece combination, the mechanics work really well.

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You’ve got to plan your routes to the green goal carefully.

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Graphics are really good, and I like the isometric level view.

\n","games":["Princess of Corinium"]},{"typ":2,"at":348916262,"author":"Jedidiah Weller","login":"jedihacks","gh":996175,"url":"www.openforge.io","twitter":"jedihacks","text":"

Wow, just wow! Great work on the graphics and gameplay on this puzzle game - truly enjoyed playing and thought you did a fantastic job. Here’s my feedback and suggestions:

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    \n
  1. Design - You blew it out of the park here! I especially wanted to commend on the first scene where you move the drawbridge - that was well done, and set the stage for the rest.
    2. \n
  2. Design - Great work on the full screen as well! I would suggest adding more cinematic timing in between scenes, such as a 1-2 second delay on a little world/shaking type of effects, but that’s just in addition - as is looks and feels fantastic.
    3. \n
  3. Puzzles - The puzzle piece was really well done
    4. \n
  4. Music - I wasn’t personally a fan of the music - I didn’t feel like it spoke to the castle vibe, so might want to rethink the music choice.
    5. \n
  5. Sound effects - it would be nice to add a sound effect when the platforms are moving.
    6. \n
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That’s it for gameplay feedback, you really knocked it out of the park! My last feedback is for the repository itself

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    \n
  1. Good work on adding license and README; however, they should typically be separate files
    2. \n
  2. Would have been nice to have build instructions at the front
    3. \n
  3. Please make sure to use linting and prettier/stylelint for opensource projects with predefined rules. This makes it easier to maintain standards and accept quality contributions
    4. \n
  4. Folder structure could use a little work; for instance not much point in the vectors folder with just one file.
    5. \n
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Overall, good submission - keep up the good work and hit me up on twitter @jedihacks for any discussion!

\n"}],"results":{"theme":{"rank":18,"min":1.08,"score":3.89,"max":4.38},"innovation":{"rank":3,"min":1.12,"score":4.2,"max":4.43},"gameplay":{"rank":6,"min":1.24,"score":4,"max":4.34},"graphics":{"rank":3,"min":1.21,"score":4.46,"max":4.73},"audio":{"rank":11,"min":1,"score":3.77,"max":4.32},"controls":{"rank":4,"min":1.29,"score":4.06,"max":4.23},"primary":{"rank":2,"min":7.57,"score":24.37,"max":24.7},"label":"Overall"}}