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QuarterBACK's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #44 | 4.043 | 4.043 |
| Overall | #63 | 3.899 | 3.899 |
| Audio | #79 | 3.826 | 3.826 |
| Fun | #86 | 3.870 | 3.870 |
| Game Design | #108 | 3.870 | 3.870 |
| Graphics | #176 | 3.957 | 3.957 |
| Theme | #246 | 3.826 | 3.826 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
In what way does your game fit the theme?
// --- READ DESCRIPTION BEFORE PLAYING PLEASE --- \\
_ Hold LEFT-CLICK slows the game to help you to aim. Just release to shoot.
_ RIGHT-CLICK at the good timing to catch the ball (click when you're near the ball)
_ WASD to Move
_ SPACE to Jump
Each time you knock out an ennemy, game is rewind and a ghost who knows your precedent movements is created.
YOU HAVE ONLY ONE BALL TO SHARE WITH YOUR GHOSTS. Think carefully about how to make a good pass with yourself.
Did you write most of the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
Almost, I wrote the code myself and made all assets from scratch, but I did not make the sound. Music is composed by a friend
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Comments
First, the menu is amazing! You've got audio options and controls! We didn't have the time to include our controls into the game. But the audio options don't seem to work, though.
The graphics are cool and the music is alright. It makes for a nice little puzzle game.
So the controls are very fast, which makes it hard to control your character in these tiny levels. Maybe bigger levels could help as well?
You definitely need to work on a tutorial. When I got to the first level where I had to rewind, it was quite overwhelming. I also only realized later, that you can hold to throw faster. Well, and I never figured out how to jump higher, as some levels look like I need a double jump. I also quit the game on the level with the things that hold your ball, because I didn't figure out how to make the jump. And then I couldn't try again because you don't have a save system.
The levels are also too difficult, but maybe you just need to balance out the difficulty curve. But on the first level where you need to rewind, you've got so little time. It took me 5 minutes to finish it with 0.01 time remaining. Playtesting is quintessential for getting the difficulty of puzzles right.
A good puzzle is all about figuring out the solution. That's when it's interesting. Of course only if you eventually figure out the solution. But when you have the solution, it should be effortlessly to execute it, or at least as effortless as possible. But too often it took me more time trying to execute the solution instead of figuring it out.
And here's something that I REALLY appreciate. A quick retry feature. If you have to repeat the same 10 steps every time to try again a game can get very frustrating, but with the quick reload it's effortlessly to try again. I probably would have finished your game wasn't it for the puzzle that I got stuck on and the non-existent save system.
But once I got past the steep learning curve, it was really fun! Your mechanic is great. It's really fun to play around with it, and that is really good for a game. I can see a lot of potential here.
Overall, I think you have a pretty cool idea and game. It definitely has potential!
I started very late the game jam, so I made the tutorial in a rush haha. In fact, you have a wall jump and when you catch the ball you character do a second jump. In the hook level, you have to throw the ball to the hook, jump and catch it, and for the second hook you have to use wall jump.
I had made the choice to make a challenging platform and puzzle game. When the player start a new level, I wanted him to think "oh my god it's impossible" and when he tries and sees the solution he thinks " I finally can do it". Then he finishes the level with 0.2 time remaining and says "Yeah I did It !". (I don't know if what I'm saying is understandable) Anyway, I totally messed up haha. Thank you very much for your advices about puzzle games and the difficulty. I will definitely add a better tutorial, and I will balance out the difficulty curve. (I tested my game alone and more I played the better I got, now I can finish the game easily and it didn't help me haha).
I'm glad you like the game, despite this big difficulty problem! Your feedback is really helpful !
I'm always glad if I can help!
I'm going to slightly disagree with part of this review.
I was also tempted to say that a puzzle game should be about figuring out the solution, not trying to execute it. I've said the same thing for lots of other people's games, because, well, usually its true. Puzzle games should be: about figuring out the solution (not executing it), they should have one answer (not multiple), should present all the information up front (not revealed as you progress through the puzzle) and in most cases not time-constrained (this sort of comes back into the point on figuring out the solution rather than executing it). This game essentially does none of that :P In general I find the words 'puzzle-platformer' should be treated with suspicion :P
But I feel like this game is a bit different, its not really a puzzle game, therefore those rules don't really apply. It has puzzle elements in terms of figuring out how you're going to get the ball to all the enemies in time and how you will plan out the multiple character's runs, but I think ultimately its a skill based platformer style game, with light puzzle aspects, in the vain of Super Meatboy, rather than a puzzle game.
Like Super Meatboy, it gives you the flexibility to create your own solution rather than presenting a puzzle with a correct answer, it's more freeform than a puzzle game. This is the only entry in the game jam I've played through twice because I wanted to see what other ways I could solve each level; whether I could do them in less throws/less time etc. That's also an indicator it's not a puzzle game, because in a puzzle game once you've beaten a level there is no point in going back, you've done the solution and know how its done.
All that being said, yeah, I agree with most other things you said; the first level of having clones is a bit tight time-wise for an introductory level (i did it on my 5th try with 0.5 seconds left, but that's probably still a bit hard for a level teaching a concept) , and it took me a bit of time to realise that the captured balls was used as a double jump (which was a bit of a eureka!/duh! moment for me :P ). A level system would have been great, it did have a quick retry system though...
I almost rage quited the last second to last level because I didn't know you could walljump xD Found it by a fluke and maybe I just missed it in some text. But I loved it! It was a lot of fun and frustrating at the same time ^^
Wow you went to the the last level without wall jumping ? My fault it's not explained! I made the tutorial in a rush (I was running out of time haha) I couldn't explain a lot of things. I'm glad you like it despite the frustration. Thanks !
Really cool idea. Loved the pixel art. Nice bit of juice as well. Great work!
Thank you ! :D
Awesome game. Nice pixel art and an interesting idea. Great level of polish, too. I loved the mechanics of sharing one ball with a ghost. It is implemented pretty well. Also, this game feels incredibly good. I don't have any complains or even suggestions about gameplay, maybe you could slow time even more when aiming and make a bigger collider for a ball when you're catching it, because it travels very fast.
Amazing job!
Thank you for your feedback ! In fact, I try to decide between slow the ball or make a bigger collider (because the collider is already big haha). Anyway, you're right, I'll slow more the aiming time thanks !
Forgot to mention. The walljump in your game works good. Lacks some sliding on the wall, but it feels good. I've played a lot of games (for me, at least, this is a lot :D), and if the game featured the walljump then most likely it felt weird for me for some reason. Not in this case. Just wanted to note this)
About the ball collider when catching. Maybe you should just check the distance between the player and the ball instead of checking the collision? In theory, this will work, you just check the distance and the input. It is not very different from using the collider, but who knows, maybe it would work better)
Thank you ! I will definitely add a wall slide !
Yes I'll check the distance between them. However, I don't like to catch the ball with the RIGHT CLICK. I think add a key just for that isn't necessary. Maybe the player could catch the ball automatically (just by collision) but I think it will be less gratifying and the double jump will be less controllable. I thought about LEFT CLICK (like for the shot) but I'm afraid the player clicks twice by mistake and throw the ball directly after catching it. Or I think about SPACE, because catch the ball is associated with the double jump.
Can you tell me what you think about this ? (or I just keep right click haha)
I think that letting the player catch the ball without pressing any button is great. It would be more comfortable in my opinion, no need to press another button while you're jumping, for example. BTW, that was another thing that I forgit to mention :D No need to over-complicate the control scheme
Thank you, I'm gonna try that in my final game !
First game in the jam that I've played made with Gamemaker Studio 2, real nice. The graphics are cute, controls were smooth and easy to understand, you get a plus for "coyote jumping" 😉
However, I find it dificult to deploy the ghost and work with it. Maybe my reflexes are not high enough, so it might help if there's some kind of slow-mo for setting up the player's catching position. I do get where you're going with this and I find the mechanic interesting, so keep up the good work!
Thank you! i'm glad you noticed the "coyote jump" haha.
Yes you're not the first who mentioned the high difficulty. I've made the choice to make a challenging game, so the player was forced to do the perfect shots (a little bit like a die and retry) to become real good at the game.
But I think the game is not rewarding enough and the difficulty could me more progressive.
This is a really inventive take on the theme! There are quite a lot of games in this jam where the player has to contend with their previous actions but this one plays very differently and adds a fair amount for strategy. There's definitely a lot of room for expansion and this could easily developed into a full game. I had a lot of fun playing this one!
Thank you for your feedback ! Most of the people who gave a feedback tell me to make a full game, so I'll work on it as soon as possible ! I hope to make my first, full and polished game. Your comment is encouraging !
Really enjoyed playing it. You really had to get the timing just right for some of the levels :D Before the clones appeared, I thought that the title was the only thing "fitting" the theme (Nice pun btw). Quater BACK, hilarious
The controls were nice, but something was off about the wall jump. Can't figure out what it is. Maybe it's just me being bad at the game, since no other comments mention this.
haha I have the same feeling for the wall jump, maybe I should add a wall slide. I'll clarify that when I start a definitive version of my game. Thanks for your feedback ! :D
Yeah a wall slide, or maybe if the is stuck on the wall for just a moment so the "window" for the wall jump is bigger
Your game is really polished compared to mine. You really did a good job on polishing and making this game good with the amounts of time allotted to us. This is one of the good games I played in this jam.
Thank you ! But I think your game is as polished as mine !
Wow, amazing game. The controls and gameplay feels super polished. At first I wasn't convinced at all, when the rewind/clone was introduced it was when I started seeing the potential. The level design, the gameplay, the art and sound, etc are excellent. This is a very fun and enjoyable game. At first it seemed very difficult, but when you get used to it is a very satisfying game. Great job! Keep it up.
Thank you ! I hope make a real game with that concept !
An amazing game. Feels polished. Love the Camera wiggling and all the effects. Great work!
Thanks for your feedback :D
Amazing, incredible, professional. Just all around polished and great. It feels like a complete game, not a jam game.
Thank you !!!
Excellent submission, one of the best I've played so far. Idea is great, movement was very smooth and responsive and art and sound design is very well made. Overall, the game was super fun to play and felt very polished. Great job!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback !
As other jammers said, the game mechanics need to be better explained. Except this, The game is super cool and is quite challenging. Very good project! ;)
I like it, although I think the explanation on how to catch the ball and different timelines needs a lot more explaining, I kept right-clicking and getting nothing and then there were like 3 versions of me so it was confusing xD
Super cool idea though and I liked the artstyle. The movements felt really clean and speedy which was great!
Other people mentioned my confused explanations and this high difficulty at the beginning.
The easiest way to catch the ball in this level it's to go on the right of the enemy (on the right of the screen) and shoot toward your spawn. After, you wait for your ghost to shoot. You just have to right-click at the good timing when you are near the ball (the ball is very fast it's not easy) to catch it.
Thank you very much for your feedback !
I hope if you try again you will enjoy better because it's the most interesting part.
I actually fricken loved this! I think I possibly just found my new fav game of the jam!
I loved that the movement of the character was quick and snappy and the wall jumping was easy enough.
I loved that the mechanic of throwing/catching the ball had multiple implications; it allowed you to kill enemies, allowed you to jump again, allowed you to become a platform for future iterations, and also required you to plan around where it was going for the multiple iterations. Seriously loved it, brilliant game design.
It was super fun! Sure, it was challenging, but I think a game like this needs to have a decent degree of challenge. Perhaps the hit detection could be slightly more forgiving, but maybe not, maybe its great just as it is (at first i thought it might be abit TOO precisse, but mid-sentence i thought "well i did finish it afterall, which I can't say i've done for all the games i've played in this jam").
Graphics and audio were very nicely polished, had good amounts of juice in it for a game jam game.
Usually I go into depth with what could be improved, but I am actually struggling to find faults with this game. Perhaps allowing the player to scan the level before starting may be a nice touch. Perhaps having a couple of visual markings on the level background to help line up a target (e.g. if there were little blemishes on the wall and i threw the ball at one from a particular spot and the ricochet JUST missed the enemy then I would know to aim slightly higher/lower to that blemish next time). These are pretty minor improvements obviously though, which is a credit to how good I think your game is.
The only thing I noticed which would be a bug is that crossing out the sound/music buttons on the menu didn't seem to actually stop the music.
I can't emphasise enough how much I liked your game, I think this has good potential to be a real game with more levels. Now go review more people's games so they are tempted to play yours, because yours deserves more views/reviews than it has.
Perhaps to make it SLIGHTLY more intuitive you could make it so you can hold down right click to catch the ball rather than having to time the catches. I didn't mind the extra skill element required, but some people may find it hard and prefer to just be able to hold down right click if they know the ball will pass through where they are standing. It took me a couple of goes to realise I couldn't hold it down and that I had to time the catch.
Thanks for your feedback, it is very complete ! I understand better why people have difficulties to catch the ball thanks.
I'm thinking to create a real game with that concept and fix all mistakes that you mentioned ! I try to review more people to get feedback but it takes me time haha.
Thanks for your feedback !
My tutorial is confused and this level is hard. I ran out of time to improve it. But when your ghost throws the ball, if your character is near the ball and you right-click (everywhere, you don't have to click on the ball) he will catch it.
Wow!! This game is surprisingly, very very well polished! I'm surprised why it hasn't been rated so much yet! Here are my 2 cents:
1) Amazing art, sound design and mechanics all flow cohesively really well. As a platformer, the controls are paramount and here - I think you nailed it very well! The jump feels good and just about right. The throwing and catching feels good too! I think you got off an AMAZING start and it's great!
2) Very fun, inventive puzzle game. Having to juggle between timelines and throw pass to your alternate selves is quite brain-busting. I admittedly never managed to finish past a level as it got too hard but that's actually a plus in my book - difficult puzzles are the ones worth solving!
3) Back in terms of art, your art direction is amazing - great spritework from the football to the simple background, I think the game as a whole looks amazing. If you ported this into a mobile game with a much more deeper tileset, it would look just fine!
Your game has a lot of polish added and with a simple mechanic in mind, it looks good! Even the screen transitions in-between, you look like a veteran developer just from this prototype alone! Looking forward to see if you take this much further!
Woaw lot of compliments ! It was unexpected, thanks for your feedback !
Woof that was hard. I don't quite get how to stack timelines properly yet, but I want to learn. The menu and physics were top notch.
I'd love if you could have a look at my game, if you have time.
Thanks ! Yes it's quite difficult, but I played my game so much that it has become too easly for me now.
I am curious to see your game, I will play it next week !
The game mechanics is really good! But the time frame is really too small for the player to catch the ball for some levels. Good concept though!
Thanks a lot ! you're right I should have done a difficulty more gradual.