Life-A-rctic
A downloadable game for Windows
This project was created for the Sleigh the Competition! 2023 Christmas Game Jam.
Warning: May contain themes of self harm/suicide. Those who do not wish to subject to seeing these themes in play, please avoid this entry.
There is a PG-13 censored version that would remove the single blood splatter scene on the introductory scene. Due to creative integrity, the uncensored version will not be adjusted. There are no other changes to gameplay.
Story
A flowerbloom maiden, the love aura knight and the dracokid all venture forth into a snowy region to continue purifying the lands. A dreaded monster appears to ensure the spirit of the Jingle Winters remain in slumber. Your task is to purify them of their hollowed selves and rescue them from the one causing this impurification.
Features:
- A clicker gauntlet where you purify the spirits in order to restore their forms back from their hollowed selves. The clicker rules change with every round and phase. You also have your allies who can shift or change the way the spirits are purified. But be quick, as your health deteriorates with every second you idle. So tap quick and survive against the frozen gauntlet.
- Relatively short game experience within roughly 10-20 minutes.
- Silent storytelling with no dialogue.
- Multiple CGs and arts akin to a visual novel.
Controls:
| Arrow Keys | Navigation/Combination Input |
| Z | Confirm / Interact |
| X | Cancel / Menu |
| Mouse | Click to interact. |
Credits:
Story
- BerryB
Plugins
- Visustella
- Galv
- [N. Giem] (Aka. CT_Bolt)
- Theo
- Caethryl
- SRDude
Graphics
- BerryB
- Gotcha Gotcha Games
- Tktk
Music
- Kenney.nl
- Peritune
- Makai Symphony
- Joel Steudler
- qubodup
- Candlelight (C) Air With Air Rising
- AudioNAUTIX/Jason Shaw
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Life-A-Rctic v.1.1 Hawk Mode Quick PatchDec 21, 2023
- Life-A-Rctic v.1.1 UpdateDec 21, 2023
Comments
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Very interesting concept and there are some mechanics I want to explore more myself. I like the custom art very much. And I will caveat this with the fact that I don't play clicker games. I was confused most of the game and the very opening scene was surprising. I very well may have missed something, but I had no idea how to do the combat. I just clicked randomly. I wasn't sure how the different characters made any difference. But again, I don't play clicker games and I was worried about taking too much time so I probably missed something totally obvious. And so I didn't really experiment that much. But again, very interesting concept and I did like the idea of conveying a story without dialog. When I wasn't confused, I sort of liked the way parts of the story were presented. I definitely saw things here that I wouldn't have thought of on my own so that was cool.
I sincerely apologized for the surprise and the confusion. I guess you can say that the early scene can be a bit of a wild surprise that can take the wind out of your sails, jam scope wise. Considering the theme being to bring joy, not pain.
To be honest, while this entry is a followup to my IGMC entry since some stuff was implied as a silent followup to that, it tries to be its own episodic thing. But some of the history of the knight, the girl and the dragon were lost in translation because I made it with a follow up in mind, which for the purposes of this jam can be quite a turnoff.
I can see that most of the feedback of silent storytelling not working out since a lot of people are confused and unsure of what the story's all about. Kinda makes a point that trying to paint a picture that says a thousand words without words itself can be a challenge.
I also can see that clicker games don't seem to gel that well with audiences, especially in a gauntlet like game. Some may not know, some are confused, others have issues with their hands due to extensive clicking.
That being said, your feedback is invaluable in giving me a conclusion that maybe clicker games aren't exactly worth pursuing further with my future projects (maybe better off as an optional minigame than an actual game). This entry isn't exactly meant to be a winning one for the jam, more so to test how far I can go with controversial game design choices that would polarize audiences.
Thank you for taking your time playing this.
I appreciate the sentiment.
Wow, my hands hurt and my mouse will never be the same! Very good job, the art is amazing! Somehow you told a story without dialogue. I didn't fully understand it, but I think I got the gist of it. I also went into negative HP during a fight. I think your game is very ambitious and I appreciate what you were trying to do here with something completely different than any other jam entry I've played so far, but I have messed up hands, due to severe rheumatoid arthritis, and this was absolute torture for me to play and I felt some of the battles would never end. I love how you changed up the gameplay formula as the game progressed with the boss fights and everything was polished and tight. You really showed your prowess as a game dev on this one. Keep it up Berry, you never disappoint!
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of the game being way too brutal for those with hand disabilities/issues. I will admit my hands are not as badly damaged, and so might not be as affected in terms of gameplay, but this is not the case for everyone. This is somewhat of a shortsightedness on my part for thinking players can play within the scope of my level.
Your feedback has given me one good push to add a difficulty mode to the game. Namely, hawk mode, where the game is much much easier to play and would actually help a lot with gametime.
I presumed you're playing the censored early bird version so its likely the build had bugs. The recent 1.1 patch have rectified that, but I believe that in this case, its a blessing that you were hit with that bug.
I much appreciated your feedback on the matter. Thank you for informing me.
I think difficulty option would be a welcome addition, also lol to 'Hawk Mode'. Yes, I was so thankful when I didn't get a game over when I went into negative HP. Wonderful job again, BerryB.
I appreciated that the bug is a saving grace in those tumultuous times. And the good news is that I was able to quickly implement the Hawk Mode, so its now available to play in all versions except the v.1 version, which retains all bugs and difficulties.
I played the censored version. This game has a LOT of gorgeous art. Wow, I can't believe how much custom art was in this game. I laughed when the main guy character put on his beautiful armor.
Now, in theory this was a very creative idea to have a game without dialogue and combat be completely different from what we are used to in RPG games.
In practice however, what ended up happening was I had a hard time understanding/following the story. And my poor mouse and clicking finger took a beating.
There's also a ?bug? I ran into where if your HP goes negative, the game keeps going (which I appreciate, b/c some fights are difficult).
While I appreciate how different this game is and what it was going for, this game isn't for me. As a Christmas game jam game, the beginning sets a WTF mood instead of a happy Christmas spirit mood.
I appreciate the honest feedback on the matter. I actually figured this would be the response that the game is intended for. I admit that the game's jolly vibes are very much near nonexistent here and that it might impact the creative aspect of the game's overall score. But I tried my best to create the silent scenarios so people can just interpret it however they please. And I wasn't really aiming to win nor to make a jolly tale in the grand scheme of things. That being said, if it didn't convey anything for you then my apologies for the unpleasant experiences you're undergoing playing through this game.
In regards to the HP bug, I feared that would be the case since I was really trying to fix that whole lose condition issue. I don't know if I can rectify it but considering that the bug helped you instead of hindering you, then I won't question the logistics of the blunder for now.
Thank you for playing the game.
As a tester of this game, I truly enjoyed this entry! <3 It was indeed such an experience! I sooo love the gorgeous CG arts, accompanied by an effective story-telling that didn't need dialogues, but sent the message across! The clicker battle system was very fun and I was at the edge of my sit on some part of the boss battles! Story was very emotional as well! <3 This is truly a testament of Berry's talents in conveying a story with gorgeous arts along with a fun battle system! Amazing job!! <3
Thank you very much for your feedback Star. I'm glad I got you "Excited" for the game, as it were.