Gameplay felt kinda clunky and I didn't particularly care for how the character moved but was a very interesting idea which I liked a lot
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Pipelurker's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Is the graphics 1 bit? | #1 | 5.000 | 5.000 |
| Art | #15 | 4.421 | 4.421 |
| Overall | #16 | 4.228 | 4.228 |
| Theme | #21 | 4.421 | 4.421 |
| Music | #21 | 3.947 | 3.947 |
| Originality | #52 | 4.105 | 4.105 |
| Gameplay | #101 | 3.474 | 3.474 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
What worked:
Sound design is really good. It's all balanced appropriately and adds to the game greatly. All the background things are fun and add a lot to the world the game takes place in. I sometimes would just watch the guards patrol so I could see what was there. The shortcuts are great and encourage the player to move just a bit further into the game after each death.
What didn't:
Light going through (and especially above) platforms, especially when avoiding guards. You have a significant health pool which is appreciated and mitigates this issue, but I'd take less health if I had more of a chance to avoid light entirely.
Good and Bad:
The player's movement feels clunky and sluggish, at first. After a few deaths (and reminding myself what genre this game is), the movement finally clicked for me. Since the guards are moving so fluidly, I at first thought of the game as a fluid kind of stealth game where the player runs and jumps around freely. Then I thought that it might work better as grid-based movement, before realizing that it already was grid-based. At this point, the disconnect resolved and I realized that I was a turn-based stealth character, facing real-time enemies. I really like this conceptually, plus it adds onto the lore of the game on the differences between the lurkers and the surface dwellers. The problem I have with it is how it's presented. It would serve the game well if you could figure out a way to present this idea to the player, so you don't enter the gameplay portion with a false idea of what you can and should do I think. Maybe some story, or some visual example? I don't know. I do think this disconnect is where the complaints about movement are coming from though.
Bugs:
Didn't see any.
Great job!
Submitted
Quest For Balance (Jam Ver.)Thanks a lot for the super detailed comment !
I'm glad you could pinpoint everything I tried with the gameplay and environment, it really means a lot. As you can guess, the issues with light and the barebone tutorial are due to time constraints (as expected during a jam of course).
Thanks again for taking the time to play the game, have a great one
Wonderful experience. Love the Oddworld inspiration.
Sound design in general was a standout, especially those sticky sounding footsteps.
Smart placement of shortcuts to keep the momentum going was greatly appreciated too.
Loved it.
Submitted
Catastrophe at SeaThe art and animations are really good and the pick on the theme is nice aswell! The only thing I would criticize is that the movement feels a little slow and is not always and directly reacting to the players input.
Submitted
The Moment Of Deathreally nice, it reminded me of my youth when i played abe's odyssey. I enjoyed it very much
Submitted
Portal mageGreat lighting, sound and art! You really did a great job on this one!
Submitted
Labyrinth of EclipseGreat work on the game!
I love the Title Screen.
The ambient sounds, visual story telling (the loneliness and eating some food alone in his room) and polished feeling with small touches/ animations.
The controls require a little getting used to, but once you do, it works within the game's design + layout.
Speaking of the game's layout, I like that you unlock shortcuts and can speed through certain parts of the game upon restarting as you unlock them.
Nice little nod to the Dark Soul's "Praise The Sun". :D
I like the Lurker's character, with him saying little comments throughout the game's progression and the occasional laugh + comment after evading an enemy.
Submitted
Bleek (1 Bit Jam)Thanks a lot !
I hate to act like dark souls invented shortcuts but it was definitely a huge inspiration for the layout of the entire level haha, glad you got that, it has been a huge influence.
I'm glad the game was able to convey some personnality for the lurker, I love to think of him as a mentally drained but still mischievous type of guy.
I really liked your previous winner, Dive Tactics (Elie).
I dig the originality in this one and the hints at a back story in the game. The mechanics feel a bit stiff to me (but perhaps so is the Lurker) and I did have difficulty understanding that I had collected a relic at the end and needed to return... somehow I missed actually picking an object up because I thought the re was an exit there with the frames and arrows pointing to it. The countdown helped me try other things, and eventually make it back to the beginning.
I would be very interested in a bit of an expanding of the story, refining the controls, and seeing where your very good beginning of level design could go. Sound and art always consistently nice! Great work!
If you ever would like to collaborate, I'm an artist, level designer, writer and director passionate about producing unique and high quality work.
Thanks a lot for the long comment and the kind word !
I'm a big fan of these kind of cumbersome movesets as they force a rigorous execution of the level from the player but I can see how it can be a pain to a lot of people, this one is a lot more demanding than dive tactics's.
I don't think I'll work too much more on this one as I'm already off to another project but if we meet again in another jam it would be a pleasure to collaborate with you, of course.
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