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A jam submission

MexPloreView game page

Mech exploration tech demo
Submitted by johnjoemcbob (@johnjoemcbob) — 7 hours, 59 minutes before the deadline
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Play tech demo

MexPlore's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#84.2424.242
Overall#153.8483.848
Visuals#164.2734.273
Fun Factor#193.4853.485
Audio (Does not apply for Physical Games)#253.4243.424

Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video Game

Was your game made solo or in a team?
Solo

Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
Kenney Assets, Some audio by @DrMelon

Did you use choose from one of the optional secondary themes?
Build It, Then Use It - Water

Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
No

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Comments

Viewing comments 25 to 6 of 25 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

Feels like the start to something beautiful. Ambitious with a wide scope. 

Developer

Thank you!! Ambitious is the right word haha

(+1)

Beautiful graphics, nice sound, and a clever concept. The movement of the mechs was also really well done. Very impressive work!

Developer

Thank you so much!

Submitted(+1)

I liked the exploration aspect so much. My favorite part was with the mechs that unfolded into bridges. Also, the helicopter felt so smooth to just fly around in.

Developer

Thank you! :)

Submitted(+1)

Really loved having the chance to play around with each of the mechs! The aesthetic was also absolutely on point. I had a few issues, though. First off, the restart button didn't seem to actually restart the level, but rather only you and the mech that you started with. This was a big issue in the boat section, because they didn't respond well to player input, and the starting boat got away from me - when I tried to reset, the heli and my starting mech warped back to the start, but the boat was gone. I also found that the goal of each level seemed to just be "get to the end" regardless of what mech you were using, or even if you had no mech whatsoever. This means that you could skip entire levels just by flying to the goal. Anyway, it might sound like I had a lot of issues, but I really didn't haha this was a really enjoyable experience. I think it could be something really cool if you wanted to put more time into it. Good job!

Developer

Thanks for the kind words!! I definitely understand what you're saying, those boats went in during my last few hours before submission lol. One of the problems with the reset is considering multiplayer, but I probably should have focused more on a single user's experience. The level goals were definitely a lack of time thing too haha, the heli-cockpits were meant to be more constrained and the mechs were designed to consume fuel originally too!

Submitted(+1)

So cool!!!!! I'd call this more than a tech demo, you made so many zones and unique mech mechanics!!! My favorite one is the orb one at the end, it felt VERY good to control

Developer

Thank you so much! :D

Submitted(+1)

I have very little idea what is going on and I am 100% cool with that

Developer

Hahahaha thanks!

Host(+1)

Beautiful world, beautiful visuals, beautiful sounds. I can see myself revising MexPlore for years to come!

Developer

Thank you Luke! <3

I had so much fun with this jam so well done again :D

Submitted(+1)

The art, the sounds, the gameplay, THE FEET!

This game is 600% mech. Yes please let's go on a mech adventure today!


(secret scroll wheel zoom cam is great to get lovely photos}

Developer

Thank you tom!!! <3

The zooming wasn't supposed to be secret lol I forgot another control instruction :D

Submitted(+2)

I love the idea of connecting the head to various robots.

I like the behavior of the quadrupedal robot and enjoyed moving it.

I am amazed at the amount of work that went into making so many robots in such a short time at JAM.

Well done!

Developer

Thank you so much :D

Submitted(+2)

I love the docking mechanic, a nice way to add variations to gameplay. And also an incentive to explore and find more mech :p 
At first, I was a bit confused with the hoppy mech because I thought I could just hold the spacebar, but I got used to it pretty quick~

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Pretty cool tech demo, it's a really unique concept so props for that. And the helicopter/piloting is implemented pretty well. I think the visuals are quite nice, with the cel shading and outlines. Would love to see it explored further in some more challenging puzzle-y settings.

Developer

Thanks! I'm quite happy with the body swapping stuff. I definitely wanted it to be more challenging puzzle co-op stuff but way overscoped for a two week jam haha :D

Submitted(+2)

Flying the helicopter around is pretty fun, and I like the almost steamy industrial and hydraulic design of the mechs, especially when they exhaust while doing actions.

Developer(+1)

Thanks :) The aesthetics were a big focus so I'm glad you enjoyed them!!

Submitted(+1)

This was really cool tech demo. I liked the concept of using multiple mechs of different designs to complete a goal. All of the mechs unique design and looked nice. My favorite is the boat mech because of its ability to ferry other mechs, it was a bit wonky to control and the camera isn't in the best viewing position. I wasn't able to play multiplayer with another person but I can imagine getting controlling a boat and having them get on top as we  take a voyage across the see.

This game seems like it would be a great cooperative puzzle game.

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Co-op puzzler was definitely the original design, with each player having different traversal tools and helping each other out a lot so I'm glad that still came through :)

Submitted(+1)

I really like the creative designs of the mecha. I enjoyed flying the helicopter and using the jumpy mecha and high-speed boat (before I ran it aground). Controls were a little awkward and there were some bugs that made progressing difficult, like falling through the floor or losing the navigation waypoint. However, I loved the art style and concept, would be interesting to see a large exploratory/puzzle/physics game.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the kind words!

Submitted (3 edits) (+1)

i have to say, i got though i got stuck below the floor and at first it was hilarious 

(UPDATE:  i realized a bit after that the helli wasn't displaying - when i enter the second map after i reached the first green circle)

at the time, i thought: (unintentional funny "bugs"/glitches are really important for a game! change my mind)

but then it wasn't just a cute lil bug... i'd click R and it would reset... i was actually stuck the helli was just not appearing :/

so i pressed Refresh on the browser page to give the game a try :)

(btw... i got scared and bothered everytime... with how loud that intro thing was :/ )


oh, i didn't know i was suppost to land on the mechs heads... 

whoops, i guess i unintentionally ignored all of those in the first maps cause i was expecting some ui or indication in the how to play or something...


also, i tryed to see what would happen if i landed in the water... nothing happend btw...

but i did got stuck in the water: i enter it with some other mech, and tryed to left with the helli... but couldn't


(sorry, that was long, but i was writing it as i was playing so i wouldn't forget it)

(i said all of this neutrally, don't worry)

i had a great time :))) good job! :))

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you were able to progress in the end

I added some further instructions about landing on the mech heads :)

Submitted(+1)

For a tech demo, this was really neat! The mechs were neat to operate, and everything animated pretty well. It was simple, but very pleasant!

If anyone wants to make this a bit more interesting, I recommend trying to get either a 1 or 2 legged mech to the final level of the game, it makes you have to use all of the tools the game gives you.

I had a lovely time playing this, and I hope what you made here goes somewhere someday!

Developer

Thanks so much for the kind words! That challenge is definitely in the spirit of the original design, I like it :)

I'm looking forward to playing yours too! Just slowly making my way through these many awesome games :D

Submitted(+1)

I was initially very, very confused, and keyboard controls in the browser were causing combination-input issues. However, after downloading the executable, I eventually got things more or less figured out. 


The swapping bodies thing was neat, but the mechs in general were averse to getting themselves in potentially unworkable situations. For example, I couldn't get any mech to fall off a platform onto a bridge unless the bridge was just right. There were several situations where I got sick of trying to line things up and just piloted the helicopter to the next green circle.


The presence of the helicopter, with its ability to basically skip any map, felt like a missed opportunity to force the player engage more with the mechs. That being said, there were some mechs I'm not sure if I figured out, such as the ones that are tied to the ground, and the boats in particular controlled in such a way that I was never sure if I actually had full control. Additionally, I wouldn't have enjoyed being forced to interact with the boats on that large map.


I guess I'm saying I see the potential for more of a puzzle game inside of what is now a big, mostly empty sandbox. For a jam project it's great!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the kind words!

It was definitely the case of overscoping for a two week jam lol, I actually only started implementing the boat in the last few hours before submitting! So that definitely didn't have as much iteration as the others.

The goal was definitely to have the helicopters limited in range from their latest mech & even to have the mechs require fuel too but I spread myself a bit thin and focused on the movement systems/aesthetic/multiplayer a lot more than planned.

Submitted(+1)

I liked the idea of trying to find a body for the helicopter, however beyond that I struggled to figure out what to do. Reaching the green circle did something but I'm not sure what exactly. Maybe just add some more detail to the game page to let people know the aim and how to play.

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! Sorry about the lack of instruction, it was just a lack of time thing :) I was hoping to have a storyline + tutorial in game.

I've updated the game page now and will paste the relevant info here;


"Can be played alone or with up to 4 friends online multiplayer

Explore each zone to discover any mechs which will help you traverse the area.

Reach the green circles to progress to the next zone

There are 5 zones; Bunker, City, Wasteland, Ocean, & Sandbox

It ended up being more of a tech demo due to time constraints but please enjoy!"


There are also some more "spoilery" details on the game page about which mech is in which zone and what you are supposed to do where

Developer

I've just uploaded an updated version which fixes your issues :)

Submitted(+1)

I really like  the idea of swapping robot bodies, that was neat.

Developer(+1)

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

Really beautiful style and an approachable but cool concept. There are a few problems I ran into though: The fact that ctrl can decouple the copter from the mechs didn't seem to be telegraphed through any of the menus so I had to figure it out through experimentation, the Reset button can have some unpredictable results ending in me teleporting under the map as the boat, and the initial mechs with one leg have a seemingly odd time moving forward. However, I played the browser version of the game, so that may simply come from the lack of stability that comes with that. Otherwise, really great concept!

Developer

Thank you! Sorry about the missing control instructions, I've added those to the itch page now :)

Developer

I've just uploaded an updated version which fixes your issues :)

Viewing comments 25 to 6 of 25 · Next page · Last page