Really cool game - loved the art, though it would have been nice to have some variation in the tilesets. Controls seemed nice and responsive, and the platforming elements were tight and challenging. I think that the difficulty curve might need to be altered though as it very quickly became rage inducing, even before collecting many power ups. Also, in the early game there's not a lot to do apart from run/jump/glide... it would have been nice to attack something!
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WizVania's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Enjoyment | #4 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
Metroidvania | #4 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
Overall | #4 | 3.792 | 3.792 |
Design | #6 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Presentation | #8 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
Godot
Team/Developer
Solo - Dragon1Freak
External assets
The music and a couple code libraries for input handling and sound managing.
Reference info
@Dragon1Freak
Comments
I enjoyed the game until I could proceed no further. I dont usually play the hard games, so lets not talk about that. I am sure there are players who would love these level designs.
One problem with control was that arrow button got me really confused, I would switch arrow button instead of a/d to move mid air. I rage quit there.
I really loved the portal concept, art and music. I also think all the levels that I could complete were well designed. I wish I could get more power ups so I could be more precise in this comment.
All in all this is really good game and I hope you continue with this.
I hear you about the keyboard controls being...pretty bad, lol. I found myself using the mouse a lot while testing but figured not everyone would like using the mouse buttons for the ability swap but I couldn't decide on a good keyboard scheme. I wanted to let the player reassign keys for the jam but cut it early on due to scope creep, but that'll probably be something I add for the post-jam version. I also plan on tweaking the difficulty a bit if not completely redesigning some levels since I wanted it to be hard, not frustratingly hard, but it seems the last few levels ended up being more difficult than I intended. Thank you for your review and feedback!
This was really cool, a bit more a puzzle platformer than a metroidvania, but it did have semi non-linear pathing and navigational upgrades. It was also nice how you could progress through later areas in different ways depending on which powers you already picked up. The quick swap system made for some very challenging rooms.
I must admit, my skills were not up to par to finish, but I enjoyed it conceptually, and had a good time dying like a hundred times. What makes that work is that you included modern considerations like starting over from the room, and having the quick teleport to the last room of an area.
I can tell so much little bits of polish went into much of the experience. The graphics are well done. Minimal and appropriate, without distracting from the gameplay. Your incorporation of the theme is nice too. Overall, great job!
Yeah it's not as much a metroidvania as I wanted it to be, originally the plan was to have the first few rooms have multiple routes for the different abilities you might have at that time, but I spent way too much time on the underlying systems of the game that the level design became the last thing and suffered a bit. I'm glad to hear that dying a lot wasn't terrible, I tried to take inspiration from Celeste and make dying as quick as possible so the player isn't waiting forever every time they die, especially since dying a lot was expected. Thanks for your review!
I really liked the look and feel of this game. The art style was crisp and the music fit the environment really nicely. The environmental lighting was also super slick, really good implementation there. I was also generally pretty pleased with the controls at first, I felt like I had the right amount of control over my character and my jumps/start + stop speed felt natural.
However (time for feedback/suggestions),
1. The controls become pretty complicated after a time. The sprint and float both felt good (although I wish there were an indication that the float is about to end, maybe a brief flash or something), but once I unlocked the Fire ability I found myself doing some mental gymnastics trying to control my character (fire + double jump + release fire + hold jump to float was a lot to process in the very short span of a jump).
2. Related to the controls and how precise a lot of the jumps were, there were times when I wasn't sure if I was meant to progress in a certain direction or come back when I had more abilities. In the beginning on the way to the Sprint upgrade there is a super tight jump between two of the disappearing blocks that sort of made me wonder if I was exploiting the game rather than progressing naturally. (the jump came super early in the game so it felt more difficult to pull off than anything around it which is why I had that doubt).
3. There's a lot of content in this game, a lot of rooms to explore, but I wish it had evolved beyond increasingly difficult spike puzzles. I was generally okay with the lack of enemies cause this clearly was more of a puzzle solving/exploration style game, but in that case it needs a few more hazard types to avoid feeling too repetitive.
Overall I enjoyed the game quite a bit in the early stages but the controls/spikes got the better of me towards the end and I wasn't able to complete it. That being said, it feels like a super strong foundation for something really fun and the presentation itself is top-notch, so I hope you keep at it. Good job!
I really appreciate the in-depth feedback, I was going to respond to each point but in reality, it came down to one big problem: scope creep. When I first came up with the idea for the game, there were puzzles and enemies and multiple obstacles, and NINE different abilities total. (what was I thinking??) I cut three of them early on and liked the idea of two for each element, but the further into the design process, the more I realized that that was still too much, but it was too late to change things completely. There were supposed to be moving obstacles and timed obstacles and other dangers beyond just spikes, but between my scope still being too big and me taking a bit more time off on the jam than I probably should've, things didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped. I'm currently working on tweaks and changes, but ultimately I'm just taking what I've learned here to the next project. Again, seriously appreciate the detailed feedback, thanks for your review!
bro, very good, I liked the platforms disappear and then come back. congratulations man
Solid controls and i like the overall presentation, the lighting really adds to the atmosphere.
Some issues i had were :
the glide feels a bit strange to have it time limited, this makes it really hard to use in some sections where you have to use it to break your fall and be pixel perfect to avoid spikes.
The disolving plaforms feel like they do so way too quickly, it's managable to get used to it but still it feels quick :o
Other than these, it's quite nice, i like the music tracks, and the teleporter mechanic is also a good quality of life feature to help with the backtracking.
Well done :)
YES, a noob-bridge! Nice.
I got sceptical when reading precision platformer, but man the controls are very good. Not problem with falling off blocks, missing jumps or decelerating down pits etc. Very good job with the controls.
Music was nice and fit the game well.
I only found two spells, sadly, because I stink at playing platformers, and the level with spikes all around and disappearing platforms at the bottom was too hard for me :)
Really enjoyed it up until then though, great job!
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the controls, the character controller was probably the one thing I spent the most time on so it's nice to see that work paying off lol. Difficulty is definitely something I'll be looking at with the post jam version as that seems to be pretty common feedback, and while I wanted it to be hard I probably should've had someone playtest it to make sure it wasn't TOO hard. I definitely appreciate your feedback, thanks again for the kind words!
I think I spent most of the time with getting the character feel good in my game. You spend so much time with the protagonist, so if it feels bad, you suffer from it all game long, hehe. Also I like adding small particle effects and stuff to give geed feedback on the controls.
I also have a bridge where you must dash :-)
My game was probably on the too ez side of the scale though.
Nice game, cool visuals, especially the lighting effect. And the abilities someone gains as they explore are really nice. The dash especially made moving around a lot better for me. ^^
Maybe you might want to tone down the amount of spikes at the section where you'll need to dash a lot. And add a bit more safe spots where players can get some rest for a brief moment before continuing.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this. Keep it up! :)
Thank you! I appreciate the feedback about mouse and keyboard controls, while it's doable a controller is definitely much easier to play with and I didn't really catch that until well into the jam. The difficulty of the last two areas has been a regular critique too, so the post jam version will probably have those toned down or at least tweaked a bit. I appreciate your review!
Wheeeew. If I didn't have a controller ready, I wouldn't have fully appreciated how intensely infuriating this game is. Job well done. I really enjoyed this one. It really flows well together. My only complaint is that the disappearing bricks disappear too quickly.
Yeah, one of the main things I've learned from this jam is that having others playtest levels, especially in a game like this, is important to help balance out the difficulty. The disappearing bricks would be an example of why lol, I had tinkered with them a lot to get a timing that wasn't too long but wasn't so quick you'd have no time to react, but that's easy to do when you designed the levels and know what to expect. Thank you for the review, I definitely appreciate the feedback!
Great job on this everything is really polished and feels amazing, the controls are tight and the result is fantastic! The last two areas are very hard, as has already been said. the the core gameplay is very addictive and satisfying. Good Job on completing and submitting!
My main goal was to have something that felt good to play so I'm glad to hear it! I definitely get the difficulty of the last two areas being very hard, if not too hard. The hope was to have those last two areas be very challenging, but it's easy to beat a difficult level when you designed it, so I really should've had someone playtest them if I had the time. I appreciate your feedback and thanks again for the kind words!
The Music, I've got them in my Library too. Really Chilling and Relaxing Choice.
The Game itself looks polished and well designed.
Its definitely a MetroidVania but the Focus is heavy on Precocious Platforming.
From this Section on the Way is extremely Difficult and the Punishment if you die is Huge, maybe a Waypoint on half way would be awesome at this point. (Or an Option for Easy Mode with an Waypoint)
It also has the potential of "Rage Game" especial when the Wall Jump comes into Play. The Wall Jump feels not well implemented besides the other Mechanics which are really cool.
I love the work with your 2D Lightning.
The Game is amazing, good work, keep it up!
Appreciate it! The original idea was more of a puzzle platformer with even more abilities, but I cut the scope pretty early and it turned into "Celeste but also metroidvania" pretty quick. I agree the last two zones are very difficult, I used the process of "if the dev can beat it easily the difficulty is ok", but that doesn't always work out as expected so I appreciate the feedback! One thing I need to get better at is having people playtest things, even during a game jam. Could you give more detail on what you didn't like about the wall jumping mechanic? It's definitely not perfect, but I'm curious what about it felt worse than the other mechanics. Thanks again for the review!
Yassss another Godot fellow!!
I really loved this submission, very polished, I loved the music and how it fades to another according to the area you're at, I managed to do a similar system and the final result is very pretty, congrats.
The "checkpoint" portals are so creative, very nice touch.
I wish it had a little faster walk though, it's too slow, maybe default speed could be the sprint speed, then the sprint power could be a "dash" ability (but this implies changing a lot of level design).
I managed to get sprint, double jump and glide (but then got stuck). Looking forward to finishing the game!
Love Godot, favorite engine by far. Thanks! Similar to the timing of the crumbling platforms I mentioned in a different reply, the walk speed was something I tweaked a lot before settling in on the final level design, so like you said unfortunately that'd required some reworks. I appreciate any comments and critique though, and it's definitely something I'll take note of. Thanks again!
Your game is definitely the one I've enjoyed the most so far, it feels really good to play, and the mechanichs are quite simple to use and understand, and ma ke good use of the Metroidvania aspect of the jam.
If I had to say something negative, the thing I disliked the most is how fast the platforms dissapear, but other than this rather personal opinion, the game's a great base for a Metroidvania tittle.
Thank you, that really means a lot! I could say the same about your entry, everything felt nice and smooth and the design was simple enough that everything was pretty straightforward outside of figuring out what the elements do. The platform timing is definitely something I tinkered with a lot, but I also didn't have anyone else try it out so I might have just been used to it, I'll definitely keep that in mind!
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