Play game
Switch's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #4 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Mechanics | #81 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Fun | #86 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
| Aesthetics | #87 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Sound | #138 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Music | #225 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Story | #475 | 2.000 | 2.000 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game total?
1
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
- "Free Pixel Font Thaleah" by Tiny Worlds - "Free Casual Game SFX Pack" by Dustyroom - "Water Splash Pack" by Rocklynn Productions. Recycled parts of the animation sprites and some menu code.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
The title screen/level was excellent. Letting the player play right from the start and also get familiar with the controls before going into an actual level. I love the mechanic and level design, especially the waterfall part. I also don't associate a dead plant with bounciness. And the water sound effect sounded like I was getting shot at. The chill music fit the game's feel really well. The art style looks good.
Overall, great job on the game.
Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.
Thank you. I have a tendency of creating a menu for the title screen, so I wanted to try something different for the title. I like the idea and usage of antepieces in video games, so I wanted to try designing the levels with the intention of teaching the mechanics in mind. I have found it difficult, especially when I had to change player traits such as speed and jump power.
The dead plant was supposed to be thorns/brambles. The inspiration for their behaviour came from old cartoons: a character comically jumps upwards when they land on a cactus or a pointy object. In hindsight, it might have been better to introduce it as an "obstacle" first, and then let the player deduce its use of propelling them upwards.
The water sound effect was the "moving through submerged water" in the water splash pack. I thought I lowered it to a more manageable level, but perhaps the volume is still at too high or that I misjudged the appropriateness of the sound effect itself.
Thanks for the comment on the music. For both songs, I was trying to aim for something that fits trekking through a desert and being near an oasis.
Way cool! I love that switching worlds on the main menu shows the credits. In general, I think your initial presentation of the game is excellent. I also really like the mechanics and level design in general! My only two critiques would be: I don't look at a dead plant and think "I can probably bounce on that," and I'm really not so sure about that water sound effect you used.
But I like the look and feel of it a lot. Nice music you made, too! Super impressive overall!
Thanks for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.
The dead plant was originally going to be an oasis-specific object (waters geysers). However, as the oasis side had tree-platforms, I felt that I needed a helper object/obstacle on the desert side to keep the balance between the two. The dead plant was supposed to be bramble or a thorny plant that causes an upward movement due to being pricked by the thorns like in old cartoons (think Looney Tunes when a character is poked). Admittedly, my art work and the lack of player sprite change doesn't convey this aspect well. It's also why the final level guides you to a deadend where there's nothing to try out except the plant.
The water sound effect was taken from an asset pack. I had initially only wanted an effect for the initial entering of the water, but the tilemap collider that was used for the water was constantly triggering the effect as the player moved through it. Because of that, I ended up selecting the "moved through water" effect instead of "entering water" effect. In hindsight, I should have programmed in the option to set what "type" of water the player is entering and select the appropriate sound effect based on that setting.
Thanks for the comment about the music. It was fun learning how to use boombox.co, and making the function to switch over the tracks at the same timestamp when the player switches dimensions.
Oh, I totally understood the flavor was "cartoon pricked by thorns jump" once I actually stepped into it. Thing is, I just avoided the dead plant for
a little longer than I care to admit, feeling uncertain of what to do. To introduce its mechanic, I'd consider having an immediate "dead end" at the start of the level, where it's just like a little cliff in front of you with that plant, so it's obvious.But take that with a grain of salt. I'm not very good at platformers.
I know you didn't make the water sound effect; it just sounds a bit like some sort of sci-fi warp zoom to me, though I do think it could help to have it trigger less.
The music track changing as you switch dimensions is very cool! I'll confess I didn't really notice, but I just went back to check to see what you mean. I think something you could consider there would be changing the "vibe" and instrumentation of the track between worlds (and maybe soften or adjust the world-changing sound?) but again, take it all with a grain of salt.
Still very nice work!
wow, cool game :) good job. graphics are nice, sound effects aswell :) liked that part, where you had to switch dimensions while jumping :) well done.
would be nice, if you would check out and rate my game and give me some feedback :)
Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.
I'm glad that you like mid-jump switch. A lot of my game can be done by simply switching and then progressing onwards, so I wanted to include more instances having to quickly switch. Sadly, this was the only one I had time to think of. Amusingly, adding that one little section forced me to me rethink my control layout as it was somewhat awkward for quick switches (originally, switching was on E or U, with jumping on W and I).
I've played and rated your game, and left some feedback as well.
cool game, i like it
Thanks for taking the time to play my game and leaving a comment.
That's great to hear that you like it :)
Brilliant game, amigo! I've rated it for you. I'd love if you could play and rate my game.
Thank you for taking the time to play my game and to leave a comment.
I've played and rated your game, and left a comment in turn as well.
Nice! I really like the two different dimensions and swapping in different moments, especially with the waterfall and springy plants! Congrats on submitting just in time :D
Thanks for taking the time to play my game and leaving a comment.
I wanted to make sure there was some form of hinderance and progression when switching between the dimensions and that there was some duality between them. The springy plants were supposed to be thorns or bramble plants that cause a cartoonish jump reaction when touched. I should've included a type of "shocked-jump" animation to convey this better. But it's great to know that they were used for their intended purposes.
I struggled to come up with an idea I was initially enthusiastic about, so it was a slow development process. I did eventually arrive at this interpretation. There was going to be other zones following this idea of "opposites", but I decided to commit to the desert and oasis theme due to time - Creating and using my desert tilemap helped me save a great deal of time in designing the levels!
Cool Concept! However I seem to get stuck into the ground when switching dimensions. Also I got forced out of the map in the second level when switching dimension and then getting pulled down by the watefall
Thanks for taking the time to play my game and leaving a comment.
I tried to reduce the scenarios where you could switch dimensions and end up stuck in terrain. However, as the ability to switch is at the player's discretion, I decided to just add a restart level option in case things went south, and tried to design short levels so that progress can be easily regained.
The issue with the waterfall is most likely related to the way I implemented the flowing currents. Being in the water continuously applies a force to the player, so the waterfall is most likely accelerating the player collider straight into the ground.
Cool Concept! However I seem to get stuck into the ground when switching dimensions. Also I got forced out of the map in the second level when switching dimension and then getting pulled down by the watefall