Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

Zelf (DEMO)View game page

A standard and short metrovania demo (more on the way?)
Submitted by Kerflumpterbumpter Studios (@mcsnarkleyt) — 4 hours, 22 minutes before the deadline
Add to collection

Play game

Zelf (DEMO)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Presentation#94.2504.250
Metroidvania#263.5833.583
Overall#263.3753.375
Enjoyment#392.9172.917
Design#492.7502.750

Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Engine
Game Maker Studio 2

Team/Developer
Mcsnarkle

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Submitted(+1)

the music and graphics were great, i feel like this has a lot of potential

the controls felt good to. would suggest adding 'coyote time' (can jump a little bit after walking off a platform)

the animations for the enemies are really good.  i did feel that this game tends to have quite a bit of down time due to reloading. bats are 3hp and  the level design is littered with them so you keep having to reload and wait which slows things down a lot. trying to aim at enemies that are bellow you  also slows things down: it feels a bit annoying trying to duck and see if you can get a hit them trying again either ducking or standing because the ground doesn't line up.  the mushroom enemies hiding and bats flying into walls also cause downtime. 

liked how there were multiple paths. it was a bit confusing that you needed to go to the statue to get the powerup. would suggest having a way of recovering hp as you go or save points since this game can require quite a bit of time before reaching something and making progress.  thought the insta-death spikes might be needlessly harsh considering.  a pretty neat mechanic i liked was the crystals to restore lighting as it can incentivise moving forward. 

overall this game seems very promising, nice work!

Submitted(+1)

Based on screenshots game looks promising! Unfortunately there is no linux version and I can't check it :<

Submitted(+1)

I really love the presentation. The sprites look good, it is atmospheric and it is all just nice to look at while playing. Definitely the strongest point of the game. Also the level design felt quite good, with the central hub and paths branching out of it. At first I was annoyed that there seems to be very limited number of save points, but in the end the items save after death, so dying started to sometimes feel like a shortcut to the middle. 

There are a couple of issues though, for example I wasn't really sure what the powerups/items did. It felt like most of them spawned new enemies, and didn't give me much? It may really just be me not understanding what is happening, but it felt quite confusing. Also the game sometimes felt very punishing with spikes killing you in one hit, as well as enemies dealing a lot of damage. And when speaking about enemies, I didn't find a good way to deal with them, so they would always slow down the gameplay for me, especially the mushrooms, which I would need to shoot twice for them to die. It felt weird and broke the pacing a bit. 

Overall it feels like a good entry, that could very easily turn into a great game! It could just use a bit of balancing and UX additions.

Submitted(+1)

The art and sounds are incredible. The way the slime wraps around the platforms is so sick. And the mushrooms wiggle when you pass by. So cool!! A little more information would be nice since there is a weird disconnect between the prologue tower exposition and then playing in a cave. The tower makes me want to climb upwards. Overall though really nice game!

Great job :D

Submitted(+1)

The graphics, music and sfx are great! Controls also feel good. I got a little lost in the world, so a map would have been nice. Also struggled a little bit with understanding how to play, a little more information would have been nice :)

Submitted(+1)

The presentation is top-notch. Great animation on the main character and enemies. Lovely environments. Catchy music. 

The environment was rather too large to traverse without any kind of in-game map. (Unless of course there was a map and I missed it... it always helps to post the controls on the game page!)

There were also some long vertical drops which felt slightly unfair, at least the first time around, because you don't know whether or not you are dropping to your death.

Submitted(+1)

Things I Like:

  • graphics
  • in game tutoral
  • good music for a jam

Things I Would Change:

  • remove long cool-down off weapon
  • some sort of indicator when ground pound is available
  • health drops

Broken Stuff:

  • clipped into walls a few times
Submitted

Love the pixel art and the animations. Everything feels fluid and responsive. It's clearly a metroidvania and it feel natural to play. Top notch work!

Submitted

Love the pixel art and the animations. Everything feels fluid and responsive. It's clearly a metroidvania and it feel natural to play. Top notch work!

Submitted(+1)

Really nice aesthetic and the controls feel good. I was really impressed by the introduction cutscene and the interesting behaviour of the enemies. (Especially the bats).

As far as negatives, I did find the difficulty to be a bit much. I possibly missed some upgrades that would make things easier, but at some point I was just running past enemies because I knew I would die in two hits. I stopped playing when I got to the purple (I think key shaped) item, and fell in a spike pit before I could grab it due to the darkness. That felt quite unfair.

Despite that, I think this is an excellent effort for a month long prototype. With the difficultly smoothed out, this could be a really cool game if you continue it. (And I hope you do!) 

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! I don't plan on making any drastic changes yet, as there's a good chance I'll gut and rework the entire thing, but for now I'll look into adding lighting on the spikes, messing with the darkness of the, well, darkness, and maybe removing a few bats. Thanks for playing!