Space Wizard Rendezvous

This game was entered in ShuffleComp and inspired by Charlemagne by the Blossoms.

It's a fun game with both strong character building and strong world building. There is a magic system sketched out, even coming with a separate 'spellbook', and multiple modes to play in.

The game itself is small, easily consumable and not enough to show off a greater system or world, but it works as a whole, paced especially well through the use of chunks of the song lyrics. This allows you to get a feel for how far you are in the game, something that is missing from so many IF games.

The worldbuilding is a mix of spacecraft and sorcery, with heartbroken people running a heist together to stop some tears of gold. Pretty fun!

This short entry combines my favourite things: wizards, space, and crime(-ish). Following Castillo and Daffodil through their little adventure (though it seems like you might be playing as Daffodil), with the goal of removing a curse casted by Daffodil's ex, you must participate in a little heist to gather enough gold.

As with every heist, things go wrong and flight must happen to save your behind. Being a wizard, you can cast some spells to thwart the guards and escape! Choose the wrong ones and... : /
I didn't have that issue, picking all the good ones from the get go, and finding the sweetest ending!

As for the spellcasting mechanic, the game provides you with different level of difficulty: a description of the spell, only the emojis representing the spell, or both - with the middle option being the hardcore one. A spellcasing book explaining each spell is also available for download.
And the mechanic is very charming, especially with the emoji chosen to represent the spell itself. I would be so down playing an extended version (maybe even with the same characters) with even more spells and shenanigans!

Being part of the ShuffleComp, the entry was based on the song [**Charlemagne by Blossoms**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLeThsTGTKM), whose vibes were very much anchored in the game (with the break up/hurt vibe, the magic from the video). The entry also included lyrics of the song between scenes, forewarning the next snippet.

It was very sweet and charming, with the right amount of tension at the right spot.

A very fun space romp. The story's punchy, flows well, doesn't waste words, gets to the main plot fast and resolves it just as fast. Fifteen or so minutes of fun.

Big fan of the spellbook - it has a nicely put together cover, too - and the symbol guessing minigame. Had a lot of fun casting spells you were not supposed to cast to get all the death endings. Hey, what if I cast this huge explosion spell inside a sealed space station? What could go wrong? The bad ending with Daffodil as a (Spoiler - click to show)weeping ball of flesh floating through cold space, eternally, sticks with me. The true ending is very sweet, though. Heartwarming stuff.

The characters are lightly sketched out, but the worldbuilding details are quite interesting. Besides the rad symbol system for spellcasting, there's the implication that the spaceside people are communists/anarchists (? - forgive me if I'm wrong, this kind of thing is not my forte) who "[provide] for each other according to need, not wealth". Sign me up. It's also pretty cool that both main characters use neopronouns. I'd read more stories set in this world.