Tales of the Magic Ball: The Lost Sorcerer

Tales of the Magic Ball: The Lost Sorcerer takes a simple rolling-ball concept and builds an unexpectedly broad fantasy adventure around it. Instead of placing players inside isolated obstacle courses, it sends its magical spherical protagonist across handcrafted environments filled with platforming challenges, puzzles, enemies, and opportunities to experiment with unusual movement mechanics. Developed and published by Wild Monkeygames, the game has the character of a small independent project that prioritizes imaginative ideas over elaborate production values. The adventure begins with a straightforward objective. A magical ball has been separated from the sorcerer to whom it belongs, and maintaining that connection is vital to its existence. Finding the missing sorcerer therefore becomes the motivation for exploring the world. The story remains relatively light and does not constantly interrupt the action with lengthy conversations or cinematic sequences. Instead, it provides enough context to give the journey a purpose while allowing exploration and gameplay to remain at the center of the experience. Controlling the ball is where the game establishes its strongest identity. Mo…

PIRAT

"Tales of the Magic Ball: The Lost Sorcerer" is not an asset flip! Of course my first instinct was to smash the "Asset flip!" button, but as always a bit of research helps. This is a tech demo/showcase from an asset creator (which is why the assets look like asset store stuff, because that's what they are), a set of his own assets lazily dropped onto a basic game template for a physics ball roller. I'm not sure how much of this is just asset showcasing and how much of it was just an attempt to see if it's possible to publish a game for $100 on Steam Direct (yes, it is). What do you do in the game? Badly done rolling ball physics puzzling. This is kind of the inverse of an asset flip, usually we can be quick to point out when people can't make their own game assets, they usually can't do the rest of game development properly either. Here, surprisingly, the developer can make their own assets. Shame about the rest of the job of game development, but I guess this is why the artists aren't the same guys doing the physics engine, netcode, etc etc etc in real development companies. Despite the almost tolerable visuals, the controls and handling are a janky mess, there's not eno…

I am not sure whether this is your first project or not, but in the case that it is, I will not be too harsh with my criticism. I think some mechanics don't make sense to be combined into one. Like the essence mechanic is simultaneously a death timer, cosmetic currency, and power ammunition. If they were separated I think it would be a lot more user friendly. I also think some platforms are more annoying than challenging. Which brings me onto my next point that if this game was instead rebranded into a rage climber like "Chained Together", and with more polish, I think this game could've been quite well received. Hope you don't quit game development altogether, I believe you have some potential. Good luck out there!

You are a ball. A magic spherical glowing red orb. A majestic creation.. so round and flawed.. because you are a magic ball.. a ball of magic.. which does not get on well with water.. I have died many times and gave up. I thought I would be more powerful but alas.. I am sad.. But no in all honesty, this game is ok, I am not keen on the controls or the sensitivity, I like movement to be smooth not feel constrained. I like up means up not inverted. While it is fun, I will not be continuing to play it as it does not grip me. I was looking for a challenge not something I'd become bored of quickly. The music is calming and gentle but I do not recommend it if you want something to get immersed in.

Genuinely wanted to play this type of game again since I was young. Always felt nostalgic and had fun in them and now that I downloaded this I was so hype for it... except I was left incredibly disappointed. The scenery and music are great and from what I saw, the levels seem interesting enough, but the controls and movement in this game straight up make it unplayable (on top of the fact that it has no joystick support other than Xbox I'm assuming because that's the in-game presented image - also tested 3 controllers). Not being able to maneuver the ball mid-air leads to pretty bad gameplay, especially when making big jumps. Nobody likes to struggle when trying to enjoy an adventure game, especially not when 90% of it is platforming with no ability to control the ball properly.