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A jam submission

A Long Way BackView game page

An afterlife platformer where newly-dead Walter has to navigate challenges in order to reach “the Other Side”
Submitted by shawcat — 2 minutes, 25 seconds before the deadline
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A Long Way Back's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#63.8753.875
Art Style#74.3134.313
Overall#83.7753.775
Creativity#94.0634.063
Gameplay#163.1883.188
Fits the Theme#203.4383.438

Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Amazing and touching art with the story! The game is laggy a bit, I couldn't throw a ball towards the character,  LEGO lava - so great idea, wedding ring to disappear - fantastic! Thank you very much for this game!

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

The ending of the level with Walter's wife actually made me tear up a bit. This game hit really close to home with the feels. 

The art style was very nice although the level design itself felt rough and moving objects felt very unfair at times. Collisions were kind of janky, especially with trampolines. I can get over all of the jank (even if I wanted to pull my hair out at times) with the storytelling in this and putting a kind of "reversal" on the theme was absolutely genius. Definitely going to play the updated version when I can.

quick edit: not sure if this was fixed in the updated version but I think if the grapple mechanic wasn't done it shouldn't have been accessible at all - it is very easy to break the game and clip out of bounds since it is still there.

Developer

Glad you enjoyed the game! The updated version did remove the grapple, it was meant to not be available at all in the original as well, but managed to be overlooked as we were all rushing on the last day.  Thank you for playing!

(+1)

This story was very touching and emotional. Really loved the music! This game is great :)

Developer

Thanks for playing!

Submitted

Really beautiful and emotional game. I love the art style and the concept. There is a lot of polish and attention to details - I love when you go through different ages the instrument of the soundtrack changes. I didn't know what to do with 'w' key thingy, but I didn't need it. I also didn't manage to destroy any mirrors except the first, am I meant to? The only feedback I'd have is probably speed up the intro slightly, or let players skip through the dialogue. Maybe some more checkpoints after the harder parts? But generally, a really impressive game, and a touching story. Great job!

Submitted(+2)

A really touching game that I thoroughly enjoyed. The concept of going backwards through your life is really interesting, and complimented by the music that gets less and less complex. The last jump in Level 16 is unfair though. When I died I couldn't tell if I was even close, and only figured that out by using the lanyard to clip through the floor. More checkpoints would have really blended well with the chill atmosphere, as having to go through dialogue multiple times can really degrade there meaning. You probably couldn't have simply removed the lanyard because it was built into the story, but being able to clip through walls adds a lot of unintended depth that I really liked.


Also I though for a second in the white place that Walter meant, there is nothing to the left but that's just me being stupid :P


Keep making games you are amazing at it!

Developer

Thank you for the compliments! And yes, we definitely should've added more checkpoints. Playing it every day for a week made it seem a lot easier to me than it actually is. Thanks for playing!

Submitted

Interesting game, I got confused with the ring because I can't know if I have used it or not, and some hitboxes were a bit... wide.

I loved the soundtrack, the ambience and the little dialogues. Good job !

Submitted(+1)

An emotional game. Controlls are good. Got some issue with the first octogonal plateforme but very nice. How and i have not understand what is the purpose of W key.

Developer

The W key was for the grappling hook which we had to remove on the last day. Thank you for playing!

Submitted

You are welcome. Small tips, if you remove a feature remoe also the tutorial and the UI. Or your player will spend too many minutes on the first obstacles lol.
If you got a bit of time i would apreciate to get your feedback on my proposal. : https://itch.io/jam/kindred-community-jam-6/rate/989211

(+2)

This was very cute! I genuinely enjoyed the narrative of this story~ I believe that this game does a good job at telling a story with few words. There were a few scenes that hurt my emotional little heart :<.
The platforming is rather challenging and has given me a grudge with a table. But, overall amazing game! I look forward to seeing more from this developer :)

Submitted(+2)

I really love the artstyle and the soundtrack is awesome. There are a few glitches where you can get stuck in walls when you use the wedding ring and the difficulty was really high. A few more checkpoints would have definitly helped. The story was also pretty good.

Developer

Noted about the checkpoints! Thank you for playing!

Submitted
Deleted 341 days ago
Developer

Ahhh yes we were supposed to remove that. Thank you for playing, glad you still enjoyed it!

(+1)

Art style is super cute and wasn't expecting a soundtrack too. I suck at platformers but I feel like I have to finish the game now to figure out what happens with the story. See everyone in an hour.

Developer

Thank you! Maybe we spent too much time on the soundtrack but at least it came out nice!

(+1)

Art style is so cute and the story is really nice

Gameplay is challenging and fun!