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A jam submission

The Kassel ParadoxView game page

Fight through the streets of Kassel in World War 2 and a dystopian Cyberpunk future in this time-travelling PSX FPS
Submitted by Boecharts (@LucaBoechat), just the dani (@justthedani) — 39 minutes, 29 seconds before the deadline
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The Kassel Paradox's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun#104.0004.000
90's#194.2384.238
Overall#223.9403.940
Graphics#254.1904.190
Sound#463.3333.333

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

I don't know, I was kinda disappointed by this; although this wasn't bad I'd actually say it was really good! I believe I got disappointed because the premise was interesting but badly executed, we had guns from the past and from the future but other than the railgun, they all felt the same. This game also really needs indicators, I still don't know if you can take damage or not.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! Sorry you got disappointed. Could you go into more detail of what you think was badly executed? Would love some more feedback. When it comes to the guns, they do need a bit more balancing, but I'm not sure why you think that they all feel the same... There's the Railgun and the Rocket Launcher that play very differently, and when it comes to other guns like the MP40 and Laser Rifle, they are meant to be similar, but play different roles: guns from the future deal more damage to enemies from the past, and vice-versa. So even though the two automatic weapons feel similar, they each have their specific purpose, and are meant to be parallels of each other. They're really the only two that I can see being comparable, since the M1 Garand is a basic workhorse starter weapon and the shotgun is, well, a shotgun. When it comes to damage indicators, I agree, we need those, and we'll definitely have them on future versions!

Submitted (1 edit)

There isn't much difference between the past and the future other than the textures, models and guns (and even then, some guns are just parallels to their respective time). About the guns, well; they didn't feel different at least to me, I didn't get why would I use weapon A if weapon B acted and played basically the same with it's only difference being the time period; the guns had the potential to have much unique abilities, for example the shotgun could be used for manoeuvring around the map with it giving you a big knockback which you could use to your advantage by aiming downwards to propel you upwards, or at least have more future weapons have more unique abilities. About the rocket launcher, I completely forgot about it since I didn't use it a lot, my bad. Also, I was rather harsh when saying I was disappointed, I just expected more.

Developer(+2)

I mean, to be honest, there isn't much else we can do to differentiate the past and the future other than textures and models... Because of the seamless time travel mechanic, we can't have different level geometry, because otherwise the player would easily get stuck when time travelling - there are already a few instances where this happens, actually. We had plans to have an additional enemy type for the future that had to be cut due to time constraints, but other than that, I can't really see how else we could have differentiated these timelines on a jam build. 

When it comes to the weapons, I still don't really get what you mean... All the weapons play differently except for two, the two automatic ones, and still, their only difference isn't just "being from a different time period", they have different proficiencies against different enemy types. The reason why you would choose between weapon A or B is the enemy you're currently fighting. The MP40 is twice as better against future enemies, and the Laser Rifle is twice as better against past enemies, to encourage weapon switching while also having a fast-firing stagger weapon for both situations. It's kinda like Doom, you can play through the whole thing with just one weapon and it will feel samey, because that's not the optimal way of fighting.

M1 Garand is your safety net and you'd only ever use it when you're out of ammo, MP40 and Laser Rifle are the auto stagger weapons, the shotgun is devastating at point blank range (especially against future enemies) and has less spread when aiming down sights, the rocket launcher is a AOE weapon with blast damage, and the railgun is a guaranteed one-hit kill to all enemies except the strongest one, with infinite penetration.

Also, you can shotgun jump with the shotgun! We don't explain that because it's a fun mechanic to discover (and you can also pretty easily boundary break with it), but it's there. The Railgun also has this effect, but its knockback works on any direction, so you can even use it to cheese the platform puzzle.

Submitted

Yea, that's understandable. I'll replay the game, I'm starting to feel like I didn't experience it to it's fullest and missed a bunch of things.

Submitted(+1)

Super cool, one of the best submissions I've played! Congrats on making this.
Only thing I found a bit confusing/ finicky was the jump mechanics, I think there probably needs to bit of coyote time when you jump from one box to another.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! Yeah, the jump needs a bit of work. The small jumping puzzle was incorporated late into development so we didn't have much time to tweak it properly, but we'll improve on it for later versions! Glad you had fun!

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed playing your game, one of the best expiriences in this JAM. The time travel, many weapons.. Il be watching you and waiting for more content!

Developer

Thank you so much! Glad you had fun

Submitted(+1)

the time traveling idea is such a cool idea. would have loved to see more puzzles similar to the fire puzzle.

Developer(+1)

Thank you! We'll definitely expand on those on future iterations

Submitted(+1)

That was awesome guys! I was already sold when I was playing in ww2, then when I saw that you could time travel my mind was blown. Such a cool concept. keep up the good work!

Developer(+1)

Haha, I love these comments where people are surprised by the time travel! Would have loved to see your reaction! Thank you so much for playing, glad you had fun!

Submitted(+1)

Haha I didn't even read the description I just saw the cover art and was like "this looks like duke nukem a lil bit, I'm jumping right into it" haha

(+1)

Lots of great weapon variety and the difficulty was perfect for someone like me who sucks at fps games lol. I managed to clear it and both worlds looked great! 

Developer

Thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

It was quite nice. I understand we don't have time to make elaborate AI but it would be nicer if enemies re-positioned to shoot players in cover, forcing  them to time-travel.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! AI was definitely undercooked, and there's a lot we can explore there on future versions

Submitted(+1)

Just finished playing this game and I love the time travel mechanic. I really hope you guys can make a longer version, I'd play the hell out of that. 

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much! Give us a follow, who knows what might come next...

Submitted(+1)

Wow! Awesome game! I didn’t pay too much attention to the screenshots so I was really surprised when I found the glasses :)

Developer

Thank you! The comments where people are surprised by the time travel are definitely my favourites, haha! I would love to keep it a secret and have more surprise moments like this, but since our game is entirely built around this mechanic, the surprise factor is unfortunately not possible. at least on our end. Would have loved to have seen your reaction!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Really enjoyed this game. Nice job. The one piece of feedback I would give is that it would have been nice to have a charge indicator on the rail gun. It was kinda difficult to judge if I had held the fire button for long enough.

Developer

Thank you for taking the time to play our game! The Railgun definitely is the most undercooked portion of our game. It was supposed to have an entire animation with VFX while it was charging, but we didn't have enough time to finish it. It was almost cut, but we figured it was worth including it even if it was a little broken - that's the main reason why it's the last weapon introduced, and so late in the build.

Submitted(+1)

That makes sense. I'm glad you still included it since it was fun to use in spite of it being undercooked.

Submitted(+1)

Really cool game, the time travel added an interesting twist to a classic game style. I really like how the game teaches you the mechanics and then slowly increases difficulty.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing, and I'm glad you liked how the level was designed! The lack of tutorials / gradual teaching was a main complaint on our previous games, so I took that to hard and tried my best to incorporate that on the level design in a way that felt natural

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I really enjoyed this game! It had a neat concept as well as a good execution. I loved that the platforming had another dimension to it: Hopping on boxes and through time! 

I enjoyed that the guns had recoil as well as the variety of arms you offered. The only thing I could suggest is adding a screen effect to show that you're taking damage. Great work on this game!

Developer

Thank you so much for playing! Glad you had fun! We're definitely adding that effect and many others in the future!

Submitted(+1)

Dude this is amazing! ^^ I agree with what you've talked about in other comments as far as this being a modern game, but as a 90s throwback I think its actually 100% spot on. So yeah if carried on I agree with those changes, but for this Jam its perfect as is imo :)

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted (2 edits) (+2)

8\10
very well, mechanics from legacy of Kain, but rocketjumps carry me right to Dust 2 ,the sounds of weapons are so- so , but the TACTICAL going behind the enemy 's back in another time from Titanfall 2 still deliver a pleasure

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

AMAZING CONCEPT! Being able to travel into the future & past by the click of a button is a great idea. I think its executed very well here. Titanfall inspiration?

The graphics are stellar and they're very authentic to the era. I like the inclusion of many different types of guns too.

The movement generally felt decent but the jump was very floaty. The gunplay was a little lacking too unfortunalty. Shooting didn't feel very impactful, and I would've liked to see the enemies move around a little more. I think instead of the enemies firing hitscan weapons, I kinda wish they fired projectiles. I think it would've been more satisfying to dodge out of the way of gunfire that way.

Even with my criticisms, I still think you guys did a superb job. I would love to see this developed into a full game. Seriously good work!!!

Developer(+2)

Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback! I actually fully agree with your criticisms, and on future versions we'll definitely work on those issues. Most of these were due to the lack of time - the enemy movement, particularly, is such a shame! We already have an entire patrol system set up for them, but just didn't have the time to set them up individually. We're really happy with the experience though!

And yes, big Titanfall stans here, hahah!

Submitted(+1)

Controls feel good. Aiming is a little hard with the strong recoil but still manageable. The enemies are bullet sponges that takes multiple shots to the head. When I got the glasses nothing happened besides switching worlds and I have nowhere to go. Also, the enemy does not react when you are far and you can shoot them and they just stand still. I had fun playing though, thanks!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! There are definitely some issues with enemies that we did not have enough time to fix. They are only bullet-spongy, though, if you're not using the correct weapons against them. Weapons from the future can quickly kill enemies from the past, and weapons from the past quickly kill enemies from the future. This is to encourage weapon switching and ammo management.

When it comes to the glasses, I'm not sure I follow... The glasses give you the ability to time travel, and you need to keep switching timelines to move forward. Some barriers only exist in the past, and some barriers only exist in the future, so you can get around them by time warping while moving forward.  The level is pretty linear and doesn't require any backtracking, so if you ever decide to try it again, just move forward and think with time travel!