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A jam submission

RETURNView game page

RETURN TO A TIME BEFORE | Made in 15 days for a jam about time
Submitted by luwaidev (@luwaidev), MAX CAMPBELL, Raphael Kwok — 1 hour, 8 minutes before the deadline
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Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Visuals#34.4174.417
Overall#83.7833.783
Technicality#113.6253.625
Gameplay#143.6673.667
Audio#193.5423.542
Creativity#203.6673.667

Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme

Yes

This game follows the theme "Escaping fate".

Message from the creator(s):
The story revolves around the main character helping humanity escape their fate.

Original Art

Yes

Created the vast majority of the art during the jam.

Original Audio

Yes

Created the vast majority of the audio during the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

Like the game, the art and the atmosphere.

Found a couple of bug, like being able to climb straight wall with repetitive wall jumping and moving unmovable rock by repeatedly running into it. But nothing that broke the experience for me.

One thing I didn't like was not being able to see spikes before jumping in a hole. It felt unfair to the player, might want to consider this in your level design.

But even with all this, good game!!!

Submitted

Nice and atmospheric platformer but it was a bit too difficult for me.  Not sure anyone mentioned it already, but you can actually circumvent most cave areas by just continually wall jumping up the same wall until you reach the roof ;) (but if that hadn't been possible I would have given up much earlier)

Graphics, music and atmosphere are quite good :)

Submitted

Loved the style ! I needed some time to understand how to use the time power but I liked it once I figured it out. Really nice submission :)

Developer

Thanks for playing my game!

Submitted

This was a great game. I really like the graphics and the color palette. The music is a little repetitive but fitting and sets the mood perfectly.  It took me a while to figure out that the time shift was not to help you undo your mistakes but to manipulate the environment. I thought that was very creative and I'm sure with more time there could have been additional ways to implement that idea. Some parts are maddeningly difficult and I gave up eventually. Also I think I figured out a way to cheat... but I won't spoil it for other players.. :) Nice work on this game!

Developer

Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted

Great game, nice detail on wait a bit when the player has jumped a lot. PD: i think i bugged the game jumping on the left when you start.

Developer

Thank you!

(+1)

This game is sooooooo good. I definitely recommend it. PLEASE try it out cuz you will not regret it. Top 10! Played this over League and Valorant. :)

Submitted

Great concept! Looks simple, but I really like the idea that changing time changes the world and allow us to progress all along. Charming art and mysterious atmosphere. I also enjoyed the strange song/ambiance looping.

Some things I'd recommend to enhance gameplay & controls:

  • Add a coyote jump - because I failed lots of jump just which became sort of frustrating in a few cases (especially when I died and had to restart);
  • Enhance the camera - because I died at the first spikes area. I thought there were a platform or something below so I intentionally felt but died (and had to restart) - and I think camera couldn't necessarily follow the player when you jump so you still see below where platforms are;
  • Maybe a bit more checkpoints for noobs like me :P

Just some rough ideas, ofc.
Good job for the entry!

Submitted

Really good game! Controls are smooth, even if it's hard to control the player in the air (for example to do a small jump), but it has nice animations and a high sense of gravity.

The environment can be extended in a bigger story because it's an actual theme. Good job!

Developer

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

Very nice presentation! I feel like the difference between the 2 timelines could be more drastic, so its more obvious that we are moving through a huge time gap, similar to the smoke clouds in the distance at the start. Most of the timeline swaps boil down to just switching when there is something blocking your path, being able to affect the future yourself by making changes would be a nice addition! 

The movement felt very stiff, especially for a precision style platformer at times. I feel like having more air control would make a big difference, since I often found myself not going where I intended to go when jumping. 

Nearly every spot with spikes were always off screen, maybe have a way to look below yourself, or adjust the level designs for the spikes to be seen. Especially when dying takes you back a huge distance, and checkpoints are scarce. 

Visuals and audio were great! Animations were also smooth.

Nice job!

Developer

Thanks! I really appreciate all the feedback!

Submitted

Man, this game is hard! The one jump where you have to slide down the wall first over the pit of spikes is especially brutal. The checkpoints aren't very forgiving either haha. Having locked jump arcs was pretty difficult to get used to at first, but I suppose it was fine after getting used to it. The visuals were beautiful, of course. My only complaint with them is that your foreground elements (like trees) have the same color palette and visual style as the background which makes it difficult to tell which things I can interact with and what's in the background. Also, there's no immediately obvious way to tell which timeline you're currently in. There were also a few leaps of faith where you cannot see what you're going to land on before you jump. Having the ability to look down would probably help. All that aside, it's a fantastic game and you've done a wonderful job! Thanks for making it!

Developer

Thanks for all the feedback! I did notice that it was quite hard to distinguish the player from the background colors but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to change it :(

Submitted

This game was a lot of fun. The controls were so nice, really like the wall jumps.

The only thing is I wish that dying didn't pull you back soooo far, there were a few times where it took a  while to get back to the point of death.

But for a game in made in two weeks, it looks really nice, and I can't get over how nice those controls felt.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much! I think one of the weak parts of the game definitely was some of my level design and I'm definitely going to try to fix them after the jam is done. Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

At first, you can use wall jump on the left wall and fall off an endless cliff.

Developer

That sounds concerning, thanks for bringing this to my attention!