This was a very visually polished game, and it was for the most part, enjoyable to play. I also really like all the different boss designs, it makes each boss really unique and different from each other. The first boss is designed pretty well from a gameplay standpoint, and the second boss is really good as well. But the third boss is a bit confusing on how to attack it, because all the other bosses up to this point had specific times where they would be vulnerable where they would let the player attack them. It took me a really long time to figure out you have to attack the head when it goes down, because I thought you were supposed to do something with the electrified state to attack it. (I didn't realize the thing where you have to attack the red dots on the enemies yet) I think the electrified state should be reworked or removed, as it's pretty confusing at first. It took me a while of testing it, and trying to trigger the electrified state to hit it in the air, or hit it's lightning bolts back at it, but it just didn't work. I eventually accidentally attacked it's head while trying something else, but it was just not as fun as the game had been up to this point. The fourth boss was actually really fun, but I think it's purple ball ability is the only hard attack it has, the other attacks are really easy to dodge or cheese. The final fight is honestly really good, the music is good, and I like how you can attack the knives to make them disappear. The combined attacks are hard to dodge, but never unfair. His teleport thing is a bit annoying, but manageable. My final complaint with this is the fact that if you die to one of the boulders, you have to restart the entire final boss fight. I barely finished the fight, and the boulders caught me by surprise and I realized that I had to do the entire fight over again, which was really annoying. All in all, good game, I would definitely buy a commercial version of this, but it just needs a couple balancing tweaks and maybe communicate to the player at the start of the game through text to attack the red dots on the bosses? So yeah, that's it, great job.
you did a really good job on this one. do you plan on continuing to work on it?
it would be great to turn in to a linear castlevania style (cv 1/3, not open metroidvania style) and have a "boss rush mode" that nods back to it's origins as a jam game.
This was a very fun game! I definitely liked the polish given to the art and movement. Everything felt great when I moved around and performed attacks. However, I had some difficulty with the flying boss, and it felt more like a waiting game than anything else. The third boss was also beaten rather quickly by spamming certain attacks (I can't remember because I beat the game a few weeks ago). I do see that this is a work in progress though, so I'm looking forward to any updates!
hello, when i open the game, it says "successfully updated icons for the following executable files: win32/hex blade.exe win64/hex blade.exe" can you please help me fix this? thank you.
I suppose you are using the itch launcher, go to the folder in wihch the files were downloaded, go into either win32 or win64 and launch “Hex Blade.exe” (the same happened to me)
Even though the art is impressive and the whole game has a nice arcade vibe. I just found the flying boss with the tentacles as more of an annoying encounter than something enjoyable. Especially as he was just sticking up in the air all of the time shooting lightning bolts and I had no way of reaching him than dodging these extremely easy to dodge lightning bolts and waiting for him to come down. It's definitely a boss fight I would be fixed on going through if I was interested in figuring out what's going to happen next- but overall it was just frustrating enough to make me stop playing. Also, I hated how the Jump button was on the Z button instead of the up button.
This version of the game was made quickly for a gamejam, I'm working on a balance for the bosses, including a ground attack for this flying enemy. There will also be stages between bosses, just like in a normal game. As for Inputs, I'll make a few more options for those who don't like to use Z,X. Thanks for liking the arts and for the feedback.
the final boss was WAY too hard for like half an hour i struggled against this litteral CHEESE WHEEL because of the greatsword, maybe reduce the ammount of times it can be used in a fight to like 3?
Just released my playthrough of this game! Super cool, really enjoyed it. There are some small things I would change - i.e. sfx of the sword attacks - but overall really solid. It would be really cool to see this fleshed out as a full game.
Fun little game! Looks and plays nice, though a little on the easy side.
Interesting gimmick with the hex blade (I haven't seen it before), but not very fun nor implemented well. This is a hack and slash game where the central mechanic is to punish you for hacking and slashing... huh? That's not fun. On top of that, the vulnerability window of most bosses (with the slight exception of the centipede) is so short you're in no danger of draining your curse bar even if you attack nonstop. So what's the point? You've taken very standard boss patterns with alternating periods of vulnerable/invulnerable, but those patterns are completely at odds with your central mechanic.
I think a better implementation of this idea would be if bosses took fewer hits to kill, but missed attacks would hurt you. I'd also make bosses more difficult to hit. This changes the dynamics to playing very defensively/evasively, trying to get in close to sneak single hits here and there.
The escape sequence was fun and unexpected too, though a bit too short to be worthwhile. It was over before it began!
Thanks for the feedback. As it was made for a GameJam just by me, I had to use quick and simple solutions for game mechanics, boss attacks and the like.
The curse of the sword is only there because GameJam's theme was "self-destruct". I intend to do a big update where I will rethink and better organize the game elements. I appreciate the tips. :)
Nice game, the pixel art is beautiful, and I loved the retro style, The combat heavily reminds some good retro games, and I had a lot of fun fighting the bosses.
A few problems that really annoyed me:
the rolling ability (this might have a bit of personal taste), which sometimes when I was trying to dodge an attack, and if I pressed the jump key before crouching, the player just jumped into the enemy attack, making me die in a very dumb way ):
the lack of anticipation in some of the final boss attacks. Like, I’ve found myself dying twice, just needing to hit the swordmaster once to finish the game. Where, when I jumped to attack him, a floating knife spawned out of nowhere, literally 1 pixel by my side hitting me, just to out of nowhere, ‘again’ a giant sword spawns right below me, and to make it even worse the freaking sword started chasing me… I had some hard times dealing with that giant floating sword thing.
That’s it, the final boss is very fun, and I can’t complain about the attack variety in some of the bosses, especially because of the time constraint. All I can say is that you did a great job!
Alias é bem legal achar mais devs Brasileiros talentosos, boa sorte com seus proximos projetos (:
Obrigado pelo feedback, vou responder em PT-BR mesmo, okay? haha
A questão da antecipação dos ataques é algo que estou trabalhando para um futuro update, na verdade quero polir uma série de coisas que não deu tempo de fazer durante a GameJam e ainda não tive tempo de implementar. Como pretendo fazer um jogo completo com fases e afins, testar as mecânicas nesta formato ajuda muito.
Great game! I have to point out some glitches though, Boss 4 frequently gets stuck in the air & while this isn't usually a problem one of the two times I experienced this it made me lose automatically after a while, secondly when you die on Boss 5 & retry Alastor faces away from the blademaster when the dialogue starts for no discernable reason.
Good game. Boss 3 and Blademaster I didn't worry about attacking because there's no time to attack several times in a row (or at least I didn't figure out how). Could you put the sum of the bosses' time at the end? It can be an incentive for speedrunners. Congratulations! This is my video playing your game.
Here's a critic if you want it, I hope its not too long.
This is a great fun little game so far. The gameplay is simple and easy to learn, and the art is well made. But I do have a few nitpicks. I'm sure others have brought it up, but the controls are kind of wonky. Id recommend something like this:
MOVE/CROUCH/JUMP: W,A,S,D or arrow keys
ATTACK: mouse 1
PAUSE: esc or enter
I also have a few nitpicks on the bosses and gameplay, nothing that ruins the experience just little things. The first boss could use a little more variety in attacks instead of just the 2, or at least making one of them more interesting. I was thinking, maybe instead of just a stomp attack, he could jump to the other end of the room and his landing causes the shockwave. I have no complaints about the 3 summoned bosses. And for the last boss, the only issue I had was with the knives. I like the idea of having a pestering attack that makes it harder to deal with the other attack, but the knives are too hard to dodge to be a pestering attack, as well sometimes id be mid jump and a knife would form in front of me or on top of me with no warning, giving me no chance to dodge. maybe there should be some sort of effect showing where a knife is going to spawn, or when the knives spawn in, they should have a fixed direction instead of locking onto you, but spawn in more often, as well as doing less damage. And my final complaint is on the sword's curse, once again I like the idea, but the bosses usually only gave long enough openings for 1 or 2 attacks, kind of rendering that mechanic pointless, maybe the curse bar could fill up quicker or it could reset slower.
Thanks for your feedback! A lot of the game was set up in a hurry due to gamejam timing, and I haven't done an update to fix these things yet. Thank you very much for the tips, these are things I'm writing down for a future update and for a definitive version that will have phases beyond the bosses.
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The art is insane. I can't imagine what it takes to make that happen.
Thanx a lot for the feedback! :)
M e g a v a n i a m a n
-CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BOSSES IN THE GAME-
This was a very visually polished game, and it was for the most part, enjoyable to play. I also really like all the different boss designs, it makes each boss really unique and different from each other. The first boss is designed pretty well from a gameplay standpoint, and the second boss is really good as well. But the third boss is a bit confusing on how to attack it, because all the other bosses up to this point had specific times where they would be vulnerable where they would let the player attack them. It took me a really long time to figure out you have to attack the head when it goes down, because I thought you were supposed to do something with the electrified state to attack it. (I didn't realize the thing where you have to attack the red dots on the enemies yet) I think the electrified state should be reworked or removed, as it's pretty confusing at first. It took me a while of testing it, and trying to trigger the electrified state to hit it in the air, or hit it's lightning bolts back at it, but it just didn't work. I eventually accidentally attacked it's head while trying something else, but it was just not as fun as the game had been up to this point. The fourth boss was actually really fun, but I think it's purple ball ability is the only hard attack it has, the other attacks are really easy to dodge or cheese. The final fight is honestly really good, the music is good, and I like how you can attack the knives to make them disappear. The combined attacks are hard to dodge, but never unfair. His teleport thing is a bit annoying, but manageable. My final complaint with this is the fact that if you die to one of the boulders, you have to restart the entire final boss fight. I barely finished the fight, and the boulders caught me by surprise and I realized that I had to do the entire fight over again, which was really annoying. All in all, good game, I would definitely buy a commercial version of this, but it just needs a couple balancing tweaks and maybe communicate to the player at the start of the game through text to attack the red dots on the bosses? So yeah, that's it, great job.
you did a really good job on this one. do you plan on continuing to work on it?
it would be great to turn in to a linear castlevania style (cv 1/3, not open metroidvania style) and have a "boss rush mode" that nods back to it's origins as a jam game.
good work.
rad
thank!!! :)
I liked the game! Some things to improve on:
I would remove the insta-kill sword, and replace it with a roll or something.
That would make the game more fun. Overall though, I enjoyed the game.
Thanx a lot for the feedback! :)
are you working on the second one or is it already out?
I'm working on a definitive version of the game with stages for each of the bosses.
This was a very fun game! I definitely liked the polish given to the art and movement. Everything felt great when I moved around and performed attacks. However, I had some difficulty with the flying boss, and it felt more like a waiting game than anything else. The third boss was also beaten rather quickly by spamming certain attacks (I can't remember because I beat the game a few weeks ago). I do see that this is a work in progress though, so I'm looking forward to any updates!
Thanks for the feedback! :D
https://r-goulart.itch.io/hexblade omg
hello, when i open the game, it says "successfully updated icons for the following executable files: win32/hex blade.exe
win64/hex blade.exe" can you please help me fix this? thank you.
Strange, I don't know what could be causing this. I'll upload a new version of the files to see if it works. Thanks for reporting the issue.
thank you!
The same is happening to me.
I suppose you are using the itch launcher, go to the folder in wihch the files were downloaded, go into either win32 or win64 and launch “Hex Blade.exe” (the same happened to me)
I agree with what ttrrrt said but also I still understand that this fame is a work in progress but overall its a really good game
Thanx for the feedback :)
hey dev could make controls customizable
I'm still seeing how to do this, but as soon as I get it I'll make it available :)
PLEASE I NEED HELP I CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TOO BEAT THE 3RD BOSS
The weak point of all enemies is the red dot. For the third, you must hit his head when he attacks coming down. Good lucky! ;)
lol so awesome
Thanx! :3
Even though the art is impressive and the whole game has a nice arcade vibe. I just found the flying boss with the tentacles as more of an annoying encounter than something enjoyable. Especially as he was just sticking up in the air all of the time shooting lightning bolts and I had no way of reaching him than dodging these extremely easy to dodge lightning bolts and waiting for him to come down.
It's definitely a boss fight I would be fixed on going through if I was interested in figuring out what's going to happen next- but overall it was just frustrating enough to make me stop playing.
Also, I hated how the Jump button was on the Z button instead of the up button.
This version of the game was made quickly for a gamejam, I'm working on a balance for the bosses, including a ground attack for this flying enemy. There will also be stages between bosses, just like in a normal game. As for Inputs, I'll make a few more options for those who don't like to use Z,X. Thanks for liking the arts and for the feedback.
Love this game!! The art is amazing, and I had a great time playing it
Thanx for the feedback. I glad you liked! :)
how do you even attack the purple mewtwo squid creature on the 3rd level
You need to hit the head. All enemies are vulnerable on the red point.
the final boss was WAY too hard for like half an hour i struggled against this litteral CHEESE WHEEL because of the greatsword, maybe reduce the ammount of times it can be used in a fight to like 3?
When downloaded, this pixel-art game was somehow using 80% of my cpu at all times.
The game was running so slowly I was able to dodge boss attacks much easier, is this how it feels to have the sharingan?
Well, the slow-down seems to have given you some kind of super power.
very good, i loved the game, congratulations to the devs
Thanx for the feedback! :)
All fights were like boss fights. Impressive retro style.
Thanx for the feedback! :)
Just released my playthrough of this game! Super cool, really enjoyed it. There are some small things I would change - i.e. sfx of the sword attacks - but overall really solid. It would be really cool to see this fleshed out as a full game.
Anyways, here's the video:
Thanx for the vídeo and the feedback! I'm working in a full game. ;)
Bonito
obrigado! :)
I liked the concept of the game, very interesting, it will have a DEMO mobile version of the Game?
I'm glad you liked it. I don't have a mobile version of the game yet, but it's an interesting idea to do.
I understand, I think too.
Please make and release a mobile version of this game soon
RESPECT
Fun little game! Looks and plays nice, though a little on the easy side.
Interesting gimmick with the hex blade (I haven't seen it before), but not very fun nor implemented well. This is a hack and slash game where the central mechanic is to punish you for hacking and slashing... huh? That's not fun. On top of that, the vulnerability window of most bosses (with the slight exception of the centipede) is so short you're in no danger of draining your curse bar even if you attack nonstop. So what's the point? You've taken very standard boss patterns with alternating periods of vulnerable/invulnerable, but those patterns are completely at odds with your central mechanic.
I think a better implementation of this idea would be if bosses took fewer hits to kill, but missed attacks would hurt you. I'd also make bosses more difficult to hit. This changes the dynamics to playing very defensively/evasively, trying to get in close to sneak single hits here and there.
The escape sequence was fun and unexpected too, though a bit too short to be worthwhile. It was over before it began!
Thanks for the feedback. As it was made for a GameJam just by me, I had to use quick and simple solutions for game mechanics, boss attacks and the like.
The curse of the sword is only there because GameJam's theme was "self-destruct". I intend to do a big update where I will rethink and better organize the game elements. I appreciate the tips. :)
I love this!!! Absolutely love this.
Thanx a lot! :)
Thank you! I will test new bosses before the definitive version with stages. :)
I DID IT
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
SCREW THE GIANT SWORDS
SCREW THE TIME LIMIT
the sky knives and lil knives are manageable
great game
would like a bit more health tho
yes
screw the giant swords
i died after the boss
to rocks?
also my condolences
to rocks?
also my condolences
yes
oof
Nice game, the pixel art is beautiful, and I loved the retro style, The combat heavily reminds some good retro games, and I had a lot of fun fighting the bosses.
A few problems that really annoyed me:
the rolling ability (this might have a bit of personal taste), which sometimes when I was trying to dodge an attack, and if I pressed the jump key before crouching, the player just jumped into the enemy attack, making me die in a very dumb way ):
the lack of anticipation in some of the final boss attacks. Like, I’ve found myself dying twice, just needing to hit the swordmaster once to finish the game. Where, when I jumped to attack him, a floating knife spawned out of nowhere, literally 1 pixel by my side hitting me, just to out of nowhere, ‘again’ a giant sword spawns right below me, and to make it even worse the freaking sword started chasing me… I had some hard times dealing with that giant floating sword thing.
That’s it, the final boss is very fun, and I can’t complain about the attack variety in some of the bosses, especially because of the time constraint. All I can say is that you did a great job!
Alias é bem legal achar mais devs Brasileiros talentosos, boa sorte com seus proximos projetos (:
Obrigado pelo feedback, vou responder em PT-BR mesmo, okay? haha
A questão da antecipação dos ataques é algo que estou trabalhando para um futuro update, na verdade quero polir uma série de coisas que não deu tempo de fazer durante a GameJam e ainda não tive tempo de implementar. Como pretendo fazer um jogo completo com fases e afins, testar as mecânicas nesta formato ajuda muito.
Obrigado pelo apoio! :)
im so close to killing the boss
but then it starts spamming big sword ;n;
Great game! I have to point out some glitches though, Boss 4 frequently gets stuck in the air & while this isn't usually a problem one of the two times I experienced this it made me lose automatically after a while, secondly when you die on Boss 5 & retry Alastor faces away from the blademaster when the dialogue starts for no discernable reason.
Thanks for the feedback, I plan to fix these details in a future update, thanks for reporting :
wery nice and biutifull game !!!
Thanx for the feedback! :)
Can u plis add it to Mac
I will arrange this. :)
thanks :D
WAIT TIME CAN RUN OUT FOR LAST BOSS?
COME ONNNNN I WAS LIKE 5 HITS FROM kILLIINGGGG HIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMs
fidjkfgfh
uUGHHHHHH
well idc anymore, i SAY I BEAT IT BUT TIME LIMIT KILLED ME
OR BUG IDK CUZ I DIDNT GET HIT BY ANYTHING AND I YET AGAIN HAD LIKE 3 or 4 HITS LEFT IN ME
fun game
was in last boss, 3-4 hits before i died
suddenly i got killed, not by the giant knife, or small knives, or the sky knives, idk why, game over didnt appear, and boss kept artacking
im gonna reset
Good game. Boss 3 and Blademaster I didn't worry about attacking because there's no time to attack several times in a row (or at least I didn't figure out how). Could you put the sum of the bosses' time at the end? It can be an incentive for speedrunners. Congratulations!
This is my video playing your game.
Thank you very much for the video and feedback! I'll put a sum of times in an update later on.
Really good game, I like the difficulty curve.
Thanx for the feedback! :)
Here's a critic if you want it, I hope its not too long.
This is a great fun little game so far. The gameplay is simple and easy to learn, and the art is well made. But I do have a few nitpicks. I'm sure others have brought it up, but the controls are kind of wonky. Id recommend something like this:
MOVE/CROUCH/JUMP: W,A,S,D or arrow keys
ATTACK: mouse 1
PAUSE: esc or enter
I also have a few nitpicks on the bosses and gameplay, nothing that ruins the experience just little things. The first boss could use a little more variety in attacks instead of just the 2, or at least making one of them more interesting. I was thinking, maybe instead of just a stomp attack, he could jump to the other end of the room and his landing causes the shockwave. I have no complaints about the 3 summoned bosses. And for the last boss, the only issue I had was with the knives. I like the idea of having a pestering attack that makes it harder to deal with the other attack, but the knives are too hard to dodge to be a pestering attack, as well sometimes id be mid jump and a knife would form in front of me or on top of me with no warning, giving me no chance to dodge. maybe there should be some sort of effect showing where a knife is going to spawn, or when the knives spawn in, they should have a fixed direction instead of locking onto you, but spawn in more often, as well as doing less damage. And my final complaint is on the sword's curse, once again I like the idea, but the bosses usually only gave long enough openings for 1 or 2 attacks, kind of rendering that mechanic pointless, maybe the curse bar could fill up quicker or it could reset slower.
Thanks for your feedback! A lot of the game was set up in a hurry due to gamejam timing, and I haven't done an update to fix these things yet. Thank you very much for the tips, these are things I'm writing down for a future update and for a definitive version that will have phases beyond the bosses.
parry ability might be cool
Excellent suggestion, thanks! :)
Seems fun, I didn't get too far because using keyboard B settings in Brave browser it keeps opening bookmark tab -_-
might consider switching attack and jump to more neutral keys like L & K or something. Looks good besides that!
Yes, I will change the keys on keyboard B to avoid these problems. Thanks for the sugestion! :)