Time Trouble

COUNTDOWN 

Description

You are a wizard who has stumbled across a secret ritual that grants you immortality! ...The only problem is that it went wrong so to your new found "immortality" you must constantly feed off of others mortality or you die.

The Grim Reaper isn't happy with this new arrangement so has sent it's minions to take you back with force if required - thankfully you can feed off their mortality too!

An entry to the GMTK Game Jam 2026. Go check out the other submissions!

Controls

Keyboard & Mouse / Controller Support!

• WASD/Left Stick to move
• Mouse/Right Stick to aim
• LMB/RT to melee attack
• RMB/LT to ranged attack
• Q/Up Button to ultimate attack (S Rank+ required)
• Space/Right Button to dash
• E/Right Shoulder to parry
• Tab/Select to open the shop menu
• ESC/P/Start to open the pause menu

Game Mechanics

You have no health, instead your life is tied to an ever-ticking clock that will continue to tick down no matter what! By killing minions you can take their life force and extend the countdown, but death still approaches.

As a wizard you have a repertoire of abilities to defend yourself:

• A wide melee strike that deals moderate damage and knockback
• A small ranged magic bolt that deals low damage
• A large fireball that deals devastating damage in a large AOE
• A humble dash that helps you to reposition and gives a small number of invulnerability frames
• A short range parry that stuns enemies in the vicinity and knocks them back a little

Successful parries, melee, and ranged attacks upgrade your combo, that can be traded in for your ultimate fireball attack at S tier and above.

At any time you can access the shop with TAB/SELECT, where an enterprising little rat is willing to share his wisdom and upgrade your character at the expense of your time - be careful!

Credits

Programming

• Will: Lead Programmer & VFX
• Alice: Lead Game Design & Gameplay Programmer
• Lor: Lead Art Design
• Ryan: Lead Music & SFX Designer

Music & SFX

• Ryan: Created original OSTs and sound effects for the entire game

Art & VFX

• Lor: Created all the final art assets in the game
• Will:  Programmed all visual effects for the game such as particle on-hit and screen shake
• Alice: Drew all the beta art assets because the people who could actually draw thought it was funny

Additional Credits & Thanks

• Lee, Molly & Peter: Moral support!
• MrBoo the cat:  Chief lap sitter and moral support lead!
• Tiggy the cat: Top cutie of the month (18 months in a row)!
• Archie the cat: Cutie patootie
• Loki the cat: Best tripod