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A jam submission

Of The EssenceView game page

GameDev.tv Community Game Jam 2020 - Theme: Time
Submitted by Pat Tompkins — 6 hours, 58 minutes before the deadline
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Of The Essence's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Visuals#304.0004.000
Mood#323.8403.840
Overall#343.7103.710
Gameplay#483.5203.520
Audio#513.4803.480

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

Engine

Unity

Source
https://github.com/Rompkins/OfTheEssence

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Comments

(+1)

Congratulations on your submission! The game reminded of me of the title, Minit. While I found the game to be difficult at the start, it thankfully got easier as I acquired the first power up. Nice job in placing health and time pick ups in visible, but challenging areas to reach. Furthermore, it was good to show pick ups that were no way reachable until the right tool was available; it was clear that more powers would be acquired along the way, similar to other 2D platforming games like Metroid. I would recommend granting the player another heart or two at the start of the scene, just so it's not so difficult for the player to reach the first end of the scene. Amazing job!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback! I agree on the difficulty being a little too intense at the beginning but I'm glad you stuck with it anyway and got to see more of the game! I'm a huge fan of Metroidvania games and had a blast trying to make a small version of my own. Thanks again for playing, so glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

Loved the music, artsyle, atmosphere, intro, etc. Couldn't finish it YET, but I'll hahaha! 

One tip, the trigger needs a bit of tweak. It was too easy to get hit which makes it a little frustrating.

Otherwise, amazing work! Keep up o/

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback and for sticking with it! I totally agree that the player's hitbox is a little large and needs some tweaking, the most common complaint about the game is how hard it is and I'll definitely keep this in mind for future jams. Thanks again for giving it a try and CONGRATS on being the #1 game this jam! I agree with everyone else, Like Them is incredible, really great job!!!

Submitted

Hope we keep getting better :D

Thank you so much man! I can't even say how cool all this experience has been! Really appreciate the kind words and glad you had fun with it \o/

Submitted(+1)

Edit: Okay, finally finished it :D It was wonderful, LOVE the intro and end scenes as well, hilarious. And aww, you thanked me at the end! This was the only game I have 5 stars to for everything, kudos for the amazing work.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks so much for sticking it out and for all the extremely kind words! I’m so glad you got to see the ending, I’m probably the most proud of that out of anything in the game haha! So glad you enjoyed it, Sorry not sorry for keeping you from your work :-)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

ARGH! I can't pass the scene with the evil bird and the skeleton- where you're supposed to jump and the skeleton is waiting for you. Tell me how to pass! :D It's brilliant, everything you put fits so well together and the gameplay is awesome, well done. I just can't tell how I'm supposed to get the giant hearts way too up in the air and I'm bummed about that :D (okay, got the power up now!) My only suggestion is- put save spots because it is quiet hard. If we started from a certain screen, it would make it easier.

Developer(+1)

Haha sorry it's so hard, that's the feedback I heard the most about the game so far but I wanted the player to really feel like they were getting more powerful as they progressed! As far as the skeleton, try jumping just in front of him so he can't reach you, or just attack right as you land so he is stunned and you can attack him again! Let me know how else I can help! Thanks for playing and for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Finally finished the game haha, I couldn't work because of you! Left a new comment accordingly :D

Submitted(+1)

Brilliant! The game felt too hardcore in the very beginning and i almost dropped it, but now im just happy i did not. Love the ending scene :D

Developer

Thank you! I agree it might be a little too tough at the beginning but I wanted the player to really feel like they were getting stronger as they progressed. I'm so glad you stuck it out, I was really proud of the ending haha! Thanks for playing!

Submitted

That feeling of getting stronger works perfectly!

Submitted(+1)

WOW one of the best games of the jam or maybe the best. There are a few small issues, but they don't make the game bad.

  1. There is some flickering between tiles, but I know, in Unity it's super hard to avoid.
  2. You should make some indication that you need a power up to jump higher, because, when I saw, there is a hearth and I can't jump high enough, I thought the game is broken and wanted to leave. You can make some text like "You need a power up to reach this" or something
  3. Very rarely, there was some flickering between paralax background(but thats super rare)

If you can try our game. It's in the same gendre

Developer

Wow! That really means a lot, thank you! I also notice the flickering and tried a bunch of tricks to fix the tilemap and get rid of that but nothing seemed to work. That's one of the bugs that really... bugs me (sorry couldn't help it). Great suggestion on a little tip for the player about that first heart too, I could see how that might be confusing. Thanks for the feedback and for giving it a try!

Submitted(+1)

game looks great :) more sounds for things like picking up stuff and hitting enemies would be good though. 
what part of creating this platformer took you the longest time, would you say?

Developer

Thank you! I hope to update soon with more sounds and bug fixes to make the game feel a little more alive. As far as what took the longest, I would have to say figuring out the melee combat and animations by far. It took me a while just to get the code working well when hitting enemies and then even longer for animations for play properly (and they still don't look as good as I would like them to). I had a hard time figuring out how to cancel and delay the different animations when enemies and the final boss were getting hit and just ran out of time when trying to learn how. Thanks for the question!

Submitted(+1)

the game looks really appealing and the starting scene is really cool, but its a bit buggy and needs more sound effects to make it feel more alive. but great jam game overall :D

Developer

Thanks for playing and for the feedback! I agree there are still a bunch of bugs and definitely some sound effects that I missed out on but I might have an update coming out soon that will address some of these issues. Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

Hello,
Check my reviews in the video below
Let's connect Discord - nerdPoint#4763 .
Also check out my game.
Thank You,

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and putting so much time into that review, it really means a lot! I'll definitely check yours out here shortly!

Submitted

Let's connect on discord - nerdPoint#4763

Submitted(+1)

As other people below have already mentioned, the game is really appealing and interesting. Personally, I would prefer if you added more sounds for different actions to make the game come alive even more. Also, perhaps it's a problem of WebGL, but the game was really laggy every time after the respawn.  It took for 10-20 seconds to return to normal smooth animation. 

But overall, the game is cool, good job with it!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing, sorry for the lag! I'm assuming it's something on my end because I still don't know very much about performance optimization but I'll do some research and try to fix that up for future games. And I agree that there should be more sound effects, for basically everything in the game and that was one of the last things I was updating and just ran out of time. I may have an update coming here soon just give me a follow so you know when it's out. Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

I really loved this game. Thank you for making it. The aesthetic, control responsiveness, and mood were all on point, and I like the humor of it too.

Developer

Thank you for playing it, I really appreciate the kind words!

Submitted(+1)

Hey really cool game here! I like the character animations (as everyone else was saying). I think the range/hitbox from where you can hit the enemies are a little tight, it was a bit difficult to fight the enemies or gauge where to stand. Still though, pretty cool game thanks for making it :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! I agree with the hitbox being too tight, I learned a lot about melee combat this jam but couldn't get that to feel right without the hitbox being too large and the player being able to hit enemies when the sword didn't look like it was actually making contact. Thanks for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Nice game. I like the character animations. It would be nice to have some checkpoints and sometimes when I died the enemies could still hit me and the sound for taking damage played. I had a lot of fun and the starting dialogue was entertaining. Good job!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback and for checking out the game! I agree with you and lots of others that some checkpoints could be useful and the sound effects definitely need some work as well. Thanks again!

(+1)

Nice work! Really liked the atmosphere, and the controls were super responsive and intuitive. 

Developer

Thanks for playing and for the kind words, it means a lot!

Submitted(+1)

Great game. The gameplay is fun the visuals are great as well :-)

I just wish there would be checkpoints, which when you die you can choose which checkpoint to start at :-) You could deduct the time based on the checkpoint you choose to start at to compensate.

Example if I have picked up 200 seconds worth of time, then when you have reached a checkpoint and die after. The player would maybe choose to start from that checkpoint, and you would deduct the seconds it took to get from the very start to the chosen checkpoint ( you can have the time it took saved somewhere ).

That way players wouldn't have to fight their way to get to the place they were at when they died. You would still have 200 seconds worth of time if you  decide to spawn at the start spot again though, even after having chosen the checkpoint earlier. So the time would only get deducted temporarily (if that's the right word), based on the checkpoint you choose :-)

I hope I explained it well enough :-)

Developer

Thanks for playing and for the feedback. You definitely explained your idea very well and I like the concept a lot! I may just have to implement something like this if/when I make some updates. I'm a little burned out after an intense 30 days on this one but I'm hoping to revisit it here soon. Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

Hello! Your aesthetics and music get along really well with your game :) but for such an unforgiving game, it really needs some bonfires hahaha. Great job :)

Cheers!

Developer

Thank you, I agree it can be a little tough, but it just makes the ending even more rewarding when you get there! Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

This is a very good platformer. The visuals are top notch and the gameplay is very fun. My only complaint is how punishing it is to die. I think the only thing needed to fix that is maybe not have the spikes insta death and instead make them deal damage and/or deduct time and then throw you back to the previous place the player was standing.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback and I totally agree that the game can be a little too difficult at parts, I just wanted the player to really feel like they were getting more powerful the more they progressed, but you’re right that those spikes can be unforgiving no matter how many hearts or how much time you have! I like both of your suggestions and will definitely consider changing that mechanic in future updates. Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

The look of this game is awesome and the feel is good as well.  Really liked the time feature, that everytime you got one, you started with more time to spare, good mechanic and fun to play, good job! :) 

Developer

Thanks for playing and the kind words! I had originally planned on not making the power ups permanent so the player had to re-earn everything each run and eventually learn how to do the whole game in one go but realized that was too punishing for an already tough game. Glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the look and feel of the game. As mentioned considered adding some type of flag that indicates whether or not the player has been killed, so that the skeleton will stop attacking when the player has died. The pixel art graphics are great and I could see more mechanics being added to the game to make it even better.

Developer

Thanks for the feedback and for giving it an honest try! I agree with the skeleton animation and I’ll get that fixed up for next update. I need to take a break from the game after focusing on it so hard for the last 30 days but I do plan on making updates and adding features in the future!

Submitted(+1)

When you die, the enemy skeletons still attack you one more time and you take take as well(there's damage feedback)https://prnt.sc/srofil. Animation and ark work is really good. 

Developer

Thanks for playing and the feedback! I agree I still have A LOT to learn about animations and making them play nicely when multiple actions are going on. Thanks again!