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A jam submission

A Key(s) PathView game page

Use your movement keys as platforms to progress
Submitted by Geegaz (@geegaz_) — 6 minutes, 24 seconds before the deadline
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A Key(s) Path's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Top Marks#1n/an/a
Overall#64.4504.450
Originality#174.4584.458
Fun#174.2824.282
Presentation#204.5654.565

Ranked from 131 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
You build your path out of controls, and can run out of controls if not careful !

Did your team create the art for this game during the 48 hour time slot?

Yes

We created all art during the game jam

Did your team create the audio for this game during the 48 hour time slot?

No

We used pre-existing audio

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Comments

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 90 · Previous page · First page

best game so far

Submitted

Very beautiful and creative concept. Coll art and level design. It has all the chances to became a full game.

Nice job!

Submitted

A very original and fun game!

Submitted(+1)

Really amazing game! enjoyed it all the way :)

Submitted

Wooaaaah, this has so much potench' ! This feels really polished ! Amazing work !

Haha, love the idea, would be funny to see this combined with games like Mamma Mia somehow. Would be great to see more levels :)

Submitted

Simple, but very creative idea. Neat art. Level design could be far better though

Developer

Sorry about the level design, I had to make it fast near the end of the Jam… I saw people struggling with the jumps, is that what happened ? Still thanks for playing and taking the time to review the game ^^

Submitted(+2)

Damn, this game has just so much potential! You definetly should've focused more on level design and just completely cut off (for example) the fireballs. Fireballs aren't a bad mechanic, I just feel like they took too much valuable time from you

I quickly discovered, that you can infinitely tower up using 2 arrow keys and I was kind of disappointed that the game never actually used it. (You can't even break the game that way, as the levels are very closed)

I got stuck at the downwards fireball cannon segment for a while, and after I've finally managed to beat it, the game just ended.

I'm not saying the current thing is bad, it just could've been so much better!

I had a good time with this game, but I really hope there was more into it :(

Submitted

To add on to this, I really enjoyed the game's core mechanic (it's like super mario maker assist blocks but you have a limited supply and they also affect your controls), but I also struggled a lot with the challenges presented. I didn't see too many comments about this so I'm not sure if most people didn't have similar issues or they didn't do the final segment. Here's some thoughts about my experience with the game and some suggestions for improvement:

Based on the segment that introduced places where you can't place blocks, I assume you wanted to teach the player about putting a block down while jumping since when I went back to play a second pass through the game I spent a while trying to figure out if it was possible to do that segment without that knowledge and it seemed impossible. One thing I tried was to stand on the edge of the left block then put a right block next to it and remove the left block, but it looks like your collision boxes have rounded corners and I just ended up sliding off of them. Also, I assume the intended solution for the final segment is to have the space bar be level with the upper ground and put the left key to cover the downward fireball cannon and then just walk straight through, since you had the width of that area be precisely the width of the space bar. Please let me know if these were wrong assumptions since I'm curious if I missed something obvious!

Suggestions on mechanics based off of that:
- Add two types of leeway for placing blocks. One type should be if you place a block so that the player partially clips into the top half of it, you still allow the block to be placed and automatically pop the player up. The second type of leeway should be if your block partially clips into existing tiles by say 2 pixels, then it should automatically push it out into open space if it exists. Especially when playing the last segment, it felt too tight to place the space bar and it felt like I had gotten the core idea down and that the execution requirements were unfairly precise.

- When the player drags a block out to place, slow time down by a factor of 0.3 to 0.5. Advanced techniques like gaining infinite height with just the arrow keys is really cool but the player's jump isn't floaty enough and actually executing it ends up being fairly frustrating. The leeway described above would also help.

- I assume either the button blocks have rounded corners in their collision box or the player is a capsule collider and that's why you slide off on the corners. I think the intent was probably to allow you leeway when jumping onto the blocks so you can get up the corners more easily, but since they're not very wide, it's easy to accidentally slide off too. If the blocks are the ones with rounded corners, you could probably add an extra line collider at the top that does one-way collision so that you can still get the effect where players slide up and over the corners but not slide down them.

I ended up writing an essay :p but I really enjoyed the game's idea and actually implemented a prototype similar to it (except you can just drag one block around and it doesn't affect the player's controls) somewhat recently. Hopefully I didn't totally misinterpret stuff in your game and that this was helpful!

Developer(+1)

Hello, thanks for your comment ! THAT is quality feedback right here :D Here’s what I have to say about your different points:

  • Right after the jam, I reworked the block placement mechanic to make it snap to the world grid. This way, it becomes easier for the player to place the blocks in the right place, and reduces the uncertainity in the level design. A win-win ! And there already is a small leeway, as the collider to detect valid placement is a bit smaller than the physical collider, which means your player will automatically be placed on top of the block if it overlaps. But I can make it a bit smaller on the top so it’s more forgiving.
  • The time factor has been suggested multiple times, and I thought of it - just didn’t take the time to actually implement it (and it’s only 2 lines of code !). I agreee it would make the game way more enjoyable, not only for advanced techniques but also fast sections.
  • The player collider is a capsule. WELP, that’s a problem due to fixing bad level design with bad feature (it’s already changed in the post-jam version, by the way).

Thank you a lot for this comment, you basically broke down every problem of the game and that’s great input for me ! And yes, the intent in that section WAS to teach the player to place a block while jumping, but I guess it was a bit too violent.

Cheers !

Submitted

Original and fun game!

Submitted

Really cool idea to have physical buttons that can be used as platforms. I do think that kinda limits what the game can do. You can only jump or move horizontally. Using jump input as a block really limits your capabilities. 

Lovely art and SFX. Your game is so much more polished than mine that it makes me jealous.

Suggestions:

1. Right click on buttons to bring them back.

2. Slow down time while placing blocks for finicky areas,

3. Have duplicate buttons in the world. Ex: two jump buttons in the world. Place one. Jump over it and so on.

4. Maybe have the jump button act as a trampoline when the player is on it. The right and left buttons could automatically move player as well. This is actually how I planned my game to be. Then it took a different turn.

Good job. It's always eye opening to see someone else do a different take with the same idea.

Developer

Thanks for the comment and suggestions ! There might be some ajustements (suggestion 2. was in the plans and 1. already is in the game) but the core mechanic will not change.

Submitted(+1)

Great idea I am really impressed with this submission. Would be keen to see this fleshed out more!

Submitted

very creative 

Submitted

The most literal interpretation of the theme - spot on!! This looks and plays beautifully. :-)

Submitted(+1)

Excellent game! The idea of physically using your control pieces to build onto the level is a great idea and I loved how you implemented it.

Submitted(+1)

That's very cool! I love the idea and execution is done very well!

One thing, idk if it's intended, but I love how you can jump on one button, jump again and pick it up and place it under yourself again. Like prop jumping in hl2. Great fun and infinite height. Awesome game! Well done!

Submitted(+1)

A solid 5 stars. Incredible job team!

Submitted

rad idea! one of my favourite games in the jam. I got caught out once where after I died and re spawned I couldn't get my blocks back, is there a button to recall blocks? 

I really hope you continue to develop this!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Yes, you can click on the empty slots in the bar to retrieve the controls, but it might be a bit unclear. Thanks for the feedback !

Submitted(+1)

really cool idea to use the platforms as controls, can make it almost like a puzzle as you figure out which controls to let go as you try to cross the level, could be a really cool small game if expanded on post-jam

Developer

Yeah, I was disappointed to not have the time to make a bigger level… so this is definitely continuing post-jam ^^

Submitted(+1)

Just saw on Discord we both added a "S" to the jams theme and I really like the whole idea, as well the art and gameplay <3
Hope you folks had much fun creating this. Cheers

Submitted

Absolutely perfect imo. Original idea, executed well, good graphics, good sound effects, decent music, all around fun to play. Nice job!

Submitted(+1)

Really nice job, super original, excellent art and great music.

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