LOWREZJAM 2021

Hosted by JackOatley, Gurpreet Singh Matharoo · #lowrezjam

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A jam submission

Gravity GodView game page

Challenge the God of Gravity in this Rhythm-Based Platformer!

Submitted by Pedroleum — 3 hours, 39 minutes before the deadline

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Gravity God's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Gameplay	#8	4.353	4.353
Audio	#8	4.353	4.353
Overall	#13	4.368	4.368
Authenticity (use of resolution restriction)	#44	4.706	4.706
Visuals	#66	4.059	4.059

Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you work in a team?
Nope.

Was the resolution a challenge?
The resolution posed a challenge in camera movement, when working at such a small scale, it caused a lot of jittering. It was also hard to implement any text or HUD at that scale with the engine I'm using. However, I think the tiny scale helped with the level design, as each tile of the level had to be purposeful.

What did you learn?
I entered the jam, with the need to create a rhythm game, which manifested a few weeks ago when I was playing a Rhythm Heaven game. It's extremely satisfying to time your moves to actions in that game, and while this game isn't exactly a rhythm game, I still had to implement mechanics similar to a rhythm game. If I were to make a proper rhythm game in the future, this project would definitely help me.

Comments

abhimonkSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Wow, I beat it. I died 98 times but I beat it. I absolutely loved this, and I have a lot to say about this game because I loved it so much.

I think the cycles can be a little unforgiving. It seems like the enemy movement is intentionally desynced from the beat, which makes sense at first but results in a lot of waiting around for my gravity change to line up with the enemy's movement (the boss at the end was the toughest instance of this). One potential solution for this is to make the enemies move on a multiple of the beat (i.e player gravity changes every beat, and the enemy moves every 2 beats or 4 beats or 1/2 beat).

Another small frustration I ran into was the fact that there were many rooms where you'd be falling very fast and need to react to oncoming spikes. There was one particularly cruel room where you'd fall upwards into spikes right next to the checkpoint, and you'd have to basically know beforehand where the spikes were so you could fall and move instantly.

Now onto the things I loved: Basically everything else! The first time the beat switched to make the gravity go left/right instead of up/down I had the biggest smile on my face. The music was fantastic and every additional mechanic felt so fresh and fun (I did not expect the shooting mechanic at the end!). I've developed beat-syncing in games before and it's deceptively hard, so you did an excellent job given the constraints. I really appreciated the ability to control the latency whenever the music did get desynced.

In general I had a massive grin on my face the entire time while playing this. There were definitely painful moments of me shouting 'NO!' into my computer as I fell into a spike right next to a checkpoint, but those made my victory even sweeter. I also loved the celeste-style coins that would follow you till you hit safe ground.

Awesome game, this might be one of my favorites of the jam!

Submitted

TRYH4RD

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PedroleumDeveloper2 years ago(+1)

Thanks so much for such detailed and measured feedback! I know the part you're talking about with the spikes, and that's completely my bad, I added it at the very end of the jam as additional challenge and didn't really playtest it, but looking back at it, it is stupidly unfair. I feel like syncing enemies to the music would definitely add more of a flow and emphasis to the music, so I would absolutely take that into account if I were to iterate on the game, however the time restraints stopped me from implementing this. I'm really glad you enjoyed the game though, and you're feedback is more helpful than you can imagine! Celeste definitely was an inspiration, as well as VVVVV. Gonna try out your game now! (and for the record, I died about the same amount as you, so well done!)

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Grey MagicSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Interesting take on a musical platformer, I was only able to play up until the beat sped up, then it was impossible to descend.

Submitted

Gauntlet of Doom

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DilacriusSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

You game is incredible! In the beggining, i thinked it will be only a simple plataform game, but after the music begin, its change completly and its realy fun. Unfortuly i can´t finish the game because i bug then when you go up in the sky. I stuck in the wall and go back, and can´t go high again.

Submitted

Fireball League

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enevisSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Best game music I've heard so far. The gravity switching on it's own is a clever mechanic but it was well telegraphed. Some of those rooms are mean though.

Submitted

Time Cops

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StickmanSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

I love the smooth flipping of gravity and syncing with the music, it really helps the player know when the gravity is gonna flip, the game felt smooth, polished and precise. The art as very good for the limitations and the loved the color pallet. Definitely my favorite game I've played so far!

Submitted

Slammer Split

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mtk4000Submitted2 years ago(+1)

The gravity switching mechanic is effective (and challenging) and I really like how it's synced with the music. The level design is good too--the timing challenges get harder and require more precision. Very nice work.

Submitted

Void Prospect

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Ted BendixsonSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Easily one of the best entries in the jam! You very clearly focused on one game mechanic, and you explored it in some interesting and unexpected ways.

I especially love the area where you expect to fall all the way down to the checkpoint, but gravity switches before you can do that, and you have to notice that there are little nooks and crannies to hide in while the gravity switches so you can make it all the way to bottom.

To have an insight like that requires a special kind of perceptiveness about the systems in your game, and it is a rare quality in game designers.

That's not to mention all of the other things we would normally expect like solid crisp controls, catchy music, great art, all of it fit to a theme.

If this doesn't win, it should at least be top ten.

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Bigdwarf43Submitted2 years ago(+1)

That was a really cool mechanic! And the music was really great too! Great job.

Submitted

Elostirian

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