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A jam submission

Escape the simulationView game page

Platformer / Endless runner
Submitted by Hrober — 9 hours, 56 minutes before the deadline
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Escape the simulation's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Graphics#3353.6313.631
Game Design#4383.2863.286
Audio#4633.0953.095
Overall#4763.1693.169
Fun#5403.0603.060
Theme#5713.0363.036
Innovation#5902.9052.905

Ranked from 84 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does you game fit the theme?
You are trapped in a simulation. Your task is to run back to the real world. Watch over where you go! The road isn't straightforward!

During your runs, you will have to watch over the glitches and try not to fail to infinite void below the surface. You will also acquire new skills, which will help you to discover new ways to get the best time possible!

Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
All the code, shaders, UI, arts are made by us. Audio and font is outsourced.

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Comments

Viewing comments 61 to 42 of 61 · Next page · Last page
Submitted

Really cool visuals and really nice gameplay. You should consider making it for mobile devices. Congrats on the submission 🎉

Submitted(+1)

Neat game, sounds, music and graphics go well together.

The game is pretty difficult though, longest run was 40 secs cause I often got trapped by dead ends. Maybe make it a bit faster paced would improve the experience as I felt the move delay was breaking the flow, so to speak.

Has potential though, keep it up!

Please give us a visit too!
https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1420192

Developer

Thanks for the review. I'm going to upload an update in a few minutes. It will resolve a lot of issues with balance and dead ends. Though, the game is a bit slower, especially at the beginning.

Developer

I've rated your game already.

Submitted

Nice game ! The graphics look good and the audio is great.

Submitted(+1)

Definitely a very different take on endless runner, which I was definitely not expecting, especially from the visual on the screen I've gotta say.  Though it's an interesting take compared to the usual. 

The mechanics do add a lot of difficulty though to be sure, mainly the false floors etc. combined with the tile based movement added a lot of complexity I was not expecting.  It was interesting, though personally I'm into the biggest fan of tile based movement in a setup like this.  Since it forces you to commit to a platform even if you've realized that it was the wrong one.  

Which makes sense, but is pretty punishing in a game with so many platforms that look alright, or so many dead ends showing up.  It adds a lot of times where you're just like "Oh, I'm dead" and just attempting to live a few seconds longer, which can get quite annoying at some points.  Plus with the high speed the game is demanding and genre of endless runner, it feels a little over punishing to have that happen constantly.


One last note I would say is that it's not entirely clear what all the obstacles actually are in the world, at least to me, there were quite a few that I had no idea what they were whether they would kill me, whether they let me through etc. etc.  So there were quite a few situations where I was just guessing on whether I could pass something, or I had to check on a previous run to know what it was.  

For example the purple 'spike:" wall, or at least, looks like spikes, doesn't let you past, but doesn't kill you, which was what I was assuming would happen.  Then there's the.. red "hourglass" (?).  Not quite sure what's happening with that, but it seemed to be a wall, along with the other other colors of it.  etc.  So II would say that maybe having distinct colors for different things and clearer outlines along with that would help convey what each think was etc.


Overall though, a relatively unique take on the endless runner formula in my opinion and a pretty difficult game in my experience which can be interesting to see, although I didn't quite find a lot of other content due to said difficult unfortunately.m  I'll be seeing what I can do maybe later on to check that out.

Developer

Thanks for playing the game and writing such extensive feedback.

I agree with every point you make, and I'm working on an update. It will include better player progression and a total rebalance of the gameplay. I'm planning to release it right after the voting ends. If you want to play more, I recommend waiting a few days. Maybe follow my account If you want to get a message.

I've also rated your game.

Submitted(+1)

I'll be interested to see how that update goes, thanks for the rating though appreciated.  I'm just having fun checking out and writing paragraphs for all the games I can before the voting ends.

Submitted

I am dying, all the time. Still, the idea is great and i like it very much. I like the audio and the surprises, like choosing not to wait this time and go fast and what happens? I bump into a place where i have no chance to get out, and in other ocassions, going slow does kill you. So what to do??? :-) I like this :)

Submitted

Promising concept that could turn into something greater with improved movement control and easier cues.

Submitted

This is super cool. Love that tune!

Submitted

Very nice game
i like the soundtrack and the art is looking great.
challenging gameplay
great work!

Submitted(+1)

Really cool game! I really like the soundtrack. Graphics look very elegant and futuristic. It's really hard though. I'm constantly dying which is pretty frustrating. I think that giving the player lives or implementing checkpoint system would make the game a lot more enjoyable. Overall I really like this game. Especially randomly generated levels (if they are randomly generated, I'm not sure). Great job!

If you have a minute please check my game too :)

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for the feedback. Checkpoints wouldn't fit this kind of game at all, they are the exact opposite of what we want to achieve here.

Though, I have to say. We will update the game with a solid rebalance and smoother learning curve.

I've rated your game too.

Submitted

Wow good visual! Fit for speedrunners!

Neat game!

Submitted

Very nice game, I love the art, and I love the possibility for replayability.

You did a nice job with everything,

The SFX gets a bit repetitive, but nothing some random pitch can't fix.

The randomness of the level had you move into blocked spots just because you couldn't see that far ahead, so shifting the viewport ahead slightly would maybe make it easier.

all in all good game,

Great job!

Submitted
Show post...

cool game, audio was great and it was enjoying although i didnt understand the skill thing the 8,9 keys did nothing except moving on, but even without them, it was fun, rated ;) 

would u like to do the same 4 me? it'll be a great help https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1418965

Developer

Thanks for the feedback. Rated

Submitted(+1)

Definitely one of the cooler looking games I've played. All the visuals look really good. The randomness makes it a little too hard at times.

Developer

Yeah, I agree about the difficulty, we are planning to rebalance the game to make it a bit easier.

Submitted(+1)

This was a great game! One of the best entries I've played so far... The graphics were not bad, with the cool moving background that wasn't distracting (well done there), and a cool tile disappearing effect. The player itself could've possibly been more simple (sort of like the cover image) but still not that far off from the environment. The music was a banger, but the payer jumping sound effects were repetitive (I suggest to play a different pitch everytime). In terms of game design, sometimes, I am left on a platform with no where else to go, which is really disappointing, but luckily every game was quick which makes up for it... and the biggest factor that kept me going to play were the skills, well done on that, making the player want to play more to try and find out new skills. However, there should have been a starter skill, so you know what to look for from the start, and some skills were a bit underwhelming like tile durations last 10% longer didn't really feel like anything. The skills UI were good, and the main menu looked great. Overall, great game, good job!

Developer

Thanks for the feedback. About the sounds, the pitch wouldn't work very well here. It's worth noting I had various sounds for the jump, but they were broken in build (in the editor they work just fine). I will look into it and try to understand what's going on.

About the balance - it indeed is a mess. I'm planning to release an update that will address it and many other things so I recommend looking forward!

Submitted

Surprised how much you were able to put in a week! Great retro-style art but some things are a bit unclear like when the tiles will drop and I didn't even notice the projectiles at first and got confused on how I died, but those are just some minor inconveniences. A great game that could be turned into a full release with polish and more depth!

Submitted(+1)

pretty fun game, very polished and addictive but sometimes it feels like death is unavoidable.

Submitted

Cool retro game! I struggled a lot and never unlocked any of the special abilities, and I might just be bad at this but sometimes it felt like there was no path forward, every tile around would either disintegrate or be a decoy and I couldn't change paths because there was none. Well done though!

Deleted post
Developer

Thanks for the detailed feedback, you have made a lot of interesting points. I will address some of them:

  • Bug with alt-tabbing - it has appeared at the last moment. I've tried to debug it now again and for me, it only causes a crash of the application only in the main menu.
  • About 8,9,0. I've heard this one time before, not that it's strange but usually, games use j,k,l instead. Honestly, I think 8,9,0 is better even though never used. I might be biased here, so I will ask others about opinions.
  • And also, about skills and balance in general. It's a mess I want to improve with updates. Most of the imbalance comes from features I've implemented at the last moment, like tiles that disappear immediately.

Thanks for the feedback, It helps to understand what and how it needs to be improved.

Submitted(+1)

The graphics are really outstanding !! This makes the gameplay even better ! Had a good time with it ! Rated ! Rate mine also :)

Developer

Rated

(+1)

Great game!

Viewing comments 61 to 42 of 61 · Next page · Last page