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A jam submission

UmbilicalView game page

A puzzle game for two players connected by an umbilical cord.
Submitted by Inexperienced Developer (@InexpDeveloper) — 14 hours, 3 minutes before the deadline
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Umbilical's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Theme#1253.5713.571
Innovation#2172.9522.952
Overall#2442.9672.967
Art Direction#2702.9052.905
Game Design#2762.8102.810
Fun#3152.5952.595

Ranked from 42 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Viewing comments 27 to 8 of 27 · Next page · Last page
HostSubmitted(+1)

My daughter loved this, we spent quite some time playing it and yelling at one another to "move over a bit". Really well done. Premium art direction.
From time to time we got stick on the walls a bit. but likely an easy post-jam fix. Well done!

Developer

Haha that's great! Yeah, it's definitely good for kids, my kids loved it too. The physics can be a little unpredictable at times, so I'll definitely fix that up. Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Love your interpretation of the theme! The game reminds me of unravel on the switch. The mechanics work well and your game is oodles of fun!

Developer

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to play it!

Submitted(+1)

Excellent take on the theme and really innovative gameplay!

Developer

Thanks so much for taking the time to play it!

Submitted(+1)

Nice game. I like the mechanic. I think jump is too floaty, and perhaps play a bit more on elasticity. I like the 2.5D point of view, and camera was well managed. That's a good work.

Developer

Nice point I definitely think the focus should be on stretching

Submitted(+1)

A fun and quirky entry in to the jam. I definitely think it would be better play with another person but it is still enjoyable on your own. Wasn't expecting such somber music going in but surprisingly it fits quite well with the game. Well done!

Developer

Thanks Lucas, glad you enjoyed it. It's definitely better with two.

Submitted(+1)

I played the windows build and the controls were pretty difficult to grasp, I got stuck at level three cause I couldn't get enough height to get both the blocks over the third blue rectangle, and you couldn't jump off of the smaller blue rectangles either which would have made the platforming easier. I also wasn't sure what the function of the umbilical cord  since it doesn't restrict how far apart the blocks can be and pulling didn't really help with anything either. Is there maybe some physics trick I'm missing? I feel like allowing the player to jump off of the blue rectangles would have solved a lot of the issues I was having. I also feel like increasing the amount of vertical distance a block can move after being pulled by the umbilical cord would have been better for the game.  I gotta say though, having the clock show my time was pretty neat and the art was nice to look at. The idea itself is really good and just needs the physics polish so blocks move in a more definitive way, good work!

Developer

Thanks for playing man! Yeah, the physics are odd, on the last level you have to pull the other player while jumping, but I shouldn't have to say that, it definitely needs to be more intuitive

Submitted(+1)

cool concept and great take on the connected theme! nice submission

Developer

Thanks so much!

Submitted(+1)

The controls were a little bit tricky to handle but it's a cute little puzzle game that fits the theme well =)

Developer

Thanks for playing it!

Submitted(+1)

Nice graphics and music, good approach to the theme. I love the idea that the game can be played by one or two people. Unfortunatelly wacky controls kills the experience, it's so easy to fall out of the game map.

Developer

Thanks for the notes and for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Interesting concept! I did keep flinging myself to mars accidentally when trying to jump, I think the controls are a bit wonky in that aspect though.

Developer

Yeah, I'll update the physics for sure! Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

cool game. little hard to control but still fun

Developer

Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

I'm really impressed with the mechanics and physics of the game however I did find it to be quite fragile. With more time I imagine you could tighten the controls and dial in the physics more and it would be a really solid experience. The objects feel quite light and having no weight or presence in the world.

Having said that the idea and overall implementation is really good and I think it has so much potential if you were to keep working on it. Congrats!

Developer

Thanks for the criticism! I agree with you, I do intend to fix the physics which is the elephant in the room lol

Submitted(+1)

Really interesting game, I've seen quite a few tethered games of this nature but none multiplayer, none 3d, and absolutely none with such a rubber band tether like this one lol!

I have to say while it is a cool game, in practice it just feels like you're constantly fighting with the weird rubber band tether and trying desperately to not fly off the map. I'm not quite sure what could be done to fix this but it's worth looking into.

All in all though a really cool concept and I'd love to see what you do with it in the future!

Great job friend :D

Developer

Yeah, if/when I continue this project, the physics will be the first thing I'm gonna fine tune. I do like the gamey nature of flying away, but it seems to get in the way of the actual game more often than not.

Submitted(+1)

I like how you went 3D on this one.  Unfortunately I couldn't get very far because I couldn't get used to the controls and kept flying off the map.

Developer

Haha just like everyone, obviously the game is the issue. Thanks for trying it out man and letting me know!

Submitted(+1)

So I've seen a couple of these tehtered games in this jam so far - but this is the first 3D one I've seen. I'm going to give you the same feedback I've left on the other ones - I think it would be a lot easier if the controls were screen relative instead of character relative. It seems to me that having WASD control whichever character is on the left and arrows do the right character would work out better. I could be wrong, but 2d or 3d it's hard to keep track of which character is controlled by which side.

You at least do have the UI that shows up above their heads but you start to tune out stuff like that and then have to keep referring back to it when you go to move someone.

Nice art work by the way. 

Developer

Yeah, at the start I was really trying to figure out how to fix that issue, but I think I'm gonna stick with the same type of tracking. It's meant to be a multiplayer/difficult single player (think QWOP).

Thanks for trying it out and thanks for the criticism! 

Submitted(+1)

nice concept and implementation! good job!

Developer

Thank you very much!

Submitted(+1)

Love the art style and animation on the menu. It reminded me of old school 3d animation graphics from the 90s. The music was cool too. The concept was unique. Loved that there were separate controls for each part, which could be a fun co-op dynamic, but also made for a challenging single player experience. 

A few bugs I ran into:

  • Sometimes the left cube wouldn’t jump when I was on top of something, which made the platforming a bit difficult at times.
  • The inertia of objects in motion felt a tad strong, though it was pretty fun to yeet across the screen from using the pull mechanic.
  • I also got stuck on level 3. That final jump to get onto the big box was a bit steep and proved kind of challenging.

Really cool mechanics overall though! With some polish I think this could be top notch for sure!

Developer

Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, it is a little much, but my kids and I were also enjoying flying across the map. For the last levels you can utilize the pulling mechanic and it's not too bad. I definitely intend to focus more time into it!

Submitted(+1)

Feels chunky also got stuck on level 3

Developer(+1)

How do you mean chunky?

Submitted(+1)

they sometimes go flying like they are on meth even that they are close together and sometimes they work completely normally 

Developer

Alright thanks man

Submitted(+1)

The way the theme is incorporated is very creative, I really like the backgrounds i think they look amazing. personally for me the audio needs setting or the theme music needs turning down slightly. a couple other bits of constructive feedback. I think the levels aren't designed particularly well especially the second one with the button as it feels like your not meant to be that far apart and is very difficult to do and sometimes would result in the physics just breaking and sending me flying. I think the mass of the objects needed turning up slightly as they moved to quick and would just fly of the table, even the camera cant keep up and just resulted in me seeing nothing every now and again. One last thing I thought could of been better is the main characters, as they seem to just be colourless cubes? it doesn't seem to fit the aesthetic especially as most of your background assets look amazing. Lastly I thought the theme was incorporated really well and was clear to understand. overall i think the game has a lot of potential and I cant wait to see it developed.

Developer

Thanks man! Means a lot! I'll definitely address the physics as you're not the first to mention it and I need to really look into better level design, thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

I'm happy I could help I hope your able to make effective changes with my feedback! :)

Submitted(+1)

Very creative take on the theme!

I played alone, so I probably missed on part of the fun.

Music overwhelms the other sounds and there's no way to mute it or change the volume.

As others wrote, physics is a bit strange, I also noticed that you can jump on the walls on the first level but can't jump again from there.

Developer

Volume option, will do. Physics fixes, check. The wall thing was a choice to increase difficulty, but I think it may be better with the other fixes! Thanks for checking it out!

Viewing comments 27 to 8 of 27 · Next page · Last page