Play game
Time Boy's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #275 | 3.179 | 3.179 |
| Overall | #299 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Originality | #308 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Presentation | #350 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
Ranked from 28 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What do you like about your game?
The main game mechanic ended up working better than I expected.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Great game. It is very addicting. I also love how time boy instantly turns into a headstone when he dies. I made it 110m, but will try some more!
Thank you for playing! Funny story behind the headstone, I originally had a whole death animation where he'd roll over and die, but I ran into an issue with Unity's animator that had me stumped, so I opted to just instantiate a headstone sprite instead lol.
omg this part is brutal...
if you wanted to make a rage game, you've successfully done it xd. man is this game hard, but so addicting at the same time! the time mechanic is not only conceptually really fun to play around with, but the mechanic is also executed really nicely here! it acts as a double edge sword to the player where it can help players have more control during tight jumps but also slowing down can mess up with player tempo since the timings are gradually changing (this gets emphasized even further into the mix when muscle memory comes into play), its such a cool idea! though this game can be pretty unforgiving with its hitboxes, i had cases where i would land on top of a block with sideway spikes, but it would register as me hitting the sideways spikes thus leading into a death (which was a bit frustrating). i think giving a bit of leeway in terms of the player hurtbox should be fine and still retain the game difficulty! also small nitpick, i wish Space was the key to try again and not Enter, it makes it easier for players that only play using one hand to start the game again!
the art in this game also looks really nice! gives me a lot of Super Mario Bros. 3 vibes in terms of the colors used and the way it shades the sprites, well done! i really like the design for time boy and its easy for the player to keep track of them while platforming since they are white against a darker colored background! also the music and how it slows down both works functionally well and is cool to listen to since the loop is so simple yet catchy!
overall, i had so much fun with this, took an hour to beat but we eventually got there (the peak is at around 210-220m if anyone is curious)! would love to see a game like this get expanded upon! ggs, great work!
omg wait a minute... i only just saw the link to the version with better collision boxes now... i should have just played that one LMAO
also agree with the comments about the checkpoints. as a standalone game, i personally think its fine to not have checkpoints if thats the experience you're going for, but for a game jam submission it would be nice for players to see everything that the game has to offer!
Thank you for playing and feedback! And congrats on making it to the end! I'm relatively new to game dev so this was definitely a good learning experience with game balance lol.
It's very addicting to play, you really wanna progress, but the spike hitboxes can be a bit frustrating. Maybe it would help a bit to make it a little more forgiving. I like the concept, and the controls feel super solid. I like it!
Like most people are saying, game is very difficult. could have easily been fixed with some checkpoints. I really like the time mechanic though it adds loads of tension to it. Well done!
Hi, really enjoyed your game, very hard but fun. I would make the hitboxes on the spikes a little bit more forgiving. Also some checkpoints would've helped, as dying on the same spot multiple times having to climb again just to retry it can be very frustrating. Apart from that I loved the style and the hard challenge the game had to offer. The main concept/mechanic of the time slowing is really unique in my opinion.
Keep it up and good luck with that! <333
Very hard, but fun!
You've got a really solid concept here, but I think that you've made the game far too hard at the beginning. It's fine to have tough jumps, but it really feels like there's such a massive barrier to getting to see this game.
Looks a fun game, although it is hard... I managed 30m after multiple tries, but I'm sure there's much more to it than that, but I kept dying too much!
Other than that, really well made, the character controls and movement were great and it had a nice retro look to it.
Good Job!
Thank you :)
As everyone else already mentioned here the game is insanely difficult, and while that can be a good thing here it felt a bit unfair as you had to balance the challenging platforming with the slow-mo mechanic. It would've been great if you knew how much more you had to go before the next stop watch or even better a checkpoint so you wouldn't have to start from the very beginning every time. That way players would be more compelled to finish the game.
Other than that the controls are tight, main mechanic engaging and I really liked the music effect, good job
Best run: 108m
I love it, its really cool, and I think the idea has a lot of potential!
You can expand on this by adding different levels, each with a different theme and music.
And improve by adding coyote time and jump buffer to the player, and making the hitboxes a bit easier (mainly the spikes).
I might get back to try and finish this :)
Hey, thank you for playing! I've actually re-released this game on Newgrounds with better collision if you're interested. You're definitely right about splitting the game into levels and adding coyote time and jump buffer, and before I submitted I thought "hmmm I really should've split this into levels or at the very least added checkpoints" but by that point it was too late lol.
best run: 75.5m
neat, well executed idea!
I thought your artwork looked nice, and at the best times the controls were nice and snappy. The music slowing down was a nice touch and very effective at clueing me into the premise the first time I played.
Here's my feedback:
Even though you clearly implemented variable jump heights, I found it pretty hard to do short hops when I wanted to.
At full speed, the game feels much harder than when it starts slowing down. I found myself dying after the very first clock nearly every time because I would just full speed slam into the spikes or waltz right of the edge without jumping
Overall, I liked it. Nice work!
Thank you for playing and the feedback. That's a good score!
Nice game
Thank you!
the character's collision mask should never be larger than the character sprite. Otherwise you die whenever a spike is close to you instead of touching you. Other than that though, it was a cool game with a cool mechanic!
Question! How did you get so high on this game?! Is there anything I can pick to have more time? It feels like one of those designs that is "easy to get, hard to master". I liked the music-time mechanic, as it allowed me to get beyond the initial spikes; but, after that, time was over.
The pixel art makes is very clean for a pixel perfect experience (even if the pixels from the art are in fact several pixels at the viewport). Then you get a smooth experience with a retro style, without losing accuracy due to the lack of in-between pixels during movement.
Verticality goes with the game mechanic and allows you to export to mobile platforms. Right choice, as having made it horizontal would feel like a double miss!
Thank you for playing :)
Couldn't finish the game either, but platformers were never my strong suit. I do think the time slowing down mechanic is very creative and I think there's potential here to expand it further in a bigger release later down the road.
I couldn't finish the game myself since the controls feel too floaty to make the precise jumps, especially with those spiked balls. It feels like when you let go of the jump button, you're still ascending even if I'm just trying to land.
The collision on the hazards also doesn't have to be 100% precise. At that point it feels like I just barely graze a spike and it kills me. it'd be nice if the collision for those were a little smaller to give the player a bit more leeway.
I like the take on the time limit being indicated by how slow things move, but after a certain point everything moves so slow you just cant do anything but sit and wait until the time scale reaches 0. Maybe at that point on you could increase how fast the time slows down so you don't have to wait for so long?
Overall its solid but could use some gameplay adjustments.
thank you playing and the feedback.
As a casual gamer, I have to agree with others about the instant difficulty right in the beginning. That said, there is definitely a Foddian-game fanbase that will certainly enjoy how hard it is! Other than that, love the temporal twist on the theme!
It's a great idea, but the movement just "feels" off. The jump and A/D need to be tuned a lot more. I wish the collision boxes for spikes were slightly smaller. I died a lot just rubbing up on a wall segment with spikes on top, even though I shouldn't have intersected with the spikes.
The gameplay is fun but it's very hard! The difficulty curve felt way too steep and I couldn't get far into the game.
Hey, thank you for playing. I see what you mean with the difficulty curve, I made the cardinal sin of not playtesting the game. Definitely gonna do that next jam lol.
This game is brutal! But it's very addictive. I think it's really well designed around that time mechanic! Great entry :)
Yo thank you :D