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Mycolania's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Metroidvania | #12 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #20 | 3.733 | 3.733 |
| Sensory | #21 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Execution | #21 | 3.733 | 3.733 |
| Enjoyment | #27 | 3.533 | 3.533 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
Pico-8
Team/Developer
Frogamaker
External assets
music :--9 songs in pico-8 --by robby duguay --www.robbyduguay.com
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Comments
Here is my feedback of the game :
The cons :
The pros :
Anyway, this is a solid entry in this jam and i think you can really be proud of what you achieved, keep up the good work !!
This is a consistent prototype!
I know the art is pretty simple, but you used a lot of game design concepts and the game is working properly.
Congrats buddy.
I loved the amount of lore you were able to include in this! You were able to turn a few pixels into an epic saga, very nice! There's something about the simplicity of the pico-8 style next to a deep story that actually makes this really engaging, great job! I loved wearing that little crown around :P
Cute game, good job with an engine that limited. Graphics are obviously very simple but nice to look at. A very lore-heavy game as most of the rooms didn't have much challenge. Most of the game was just finding buttons and pieces of lore, wished that there would have been at least some enemies. That would have required the inclusion of checkpoints as well as it's rough to be sent back to the very beginning when killed. Nothing wrong with the controls, the wall jump was so simple and easy to use that those sections weren't much of a challenge either haha.
Great call to make this in Pico-8. It forces you to keep scope small so you have a higher chance of delivering a quality product.
Your level design is some of the best I've seen in this jam (I do not say this lightly as I've played roughly half the Mac-compatible games submitted so far; plus, I'm a perpetual student of level design and it's an easy thing to get wrong). Yours is laid out in a clean, well-composed way and I can see you put thought into your choices. You're difficulty curve is measured and intentional. You introduce challenges one at a time, giving the player time to understand how they work before mixing things up. You're using the Pico-8 frame-size limitations to tease exploration. Your lock-and-key progression is solid, often introducing the lock before I get the solution. Good choice to use narrative as a reward for exploration between power ups; this frees you from having to introduce more complexity through other kinds of gamist pickups. Nice mix of verticality keeping the level shapes fresh. Solid level metrics keep the space from ever feeling cramped and jumps feel good. Using houses and other unique sprites aid in mental mapping to keep players from getting lost. You've got this large enough to allow for exploration, but small enough that when combined with the previous point keep it navigable without constantly referring to the map (until mid-game). The biggest downfall is navigation during the mid-game. After the map really opens up in the second area, I did get stuck and was unsure how to progress. When you have this many tiny rooms and a map that doesn't give detail, it's difficult to remember where potential leads are for progressing.
Transitioning upwards with the wall jump is hard because you'll instantly teleport up out of the level, then fall right back down with no time to react. It's disorienting. Take a look at how Celeste tackles this problem. Platform edges immediately after transitioning into a new screen are also harsh; you can possibly solve this by disabling input for a brief moment after transition to give the player's brain enough time to process.
I sincerely hope you're proud of of your work. There's good stuff here.
Thank you so much! This really made my day, I appreciate you taking the time to type that out!
Here's the recording of my playtime and feedback.
Thanks so much for recording that! I might change some things like adding respawn points, health points, and making the map make more sense. Thanks again!
No problem!
Very cute game, the aesthetic is nice and the movement is good although some coyote time would be an improvement. I couldn't figure out how to finish the game but i got to the crown and then hit some switches or something. I think the level design was a bit harsh since you have very little time to react between screen transitions and you can end up falling a long way but overall it was a good submission :)
One of the best pico-8 games I've played out there. Its kind of hard to compete when using such a limited software, but this is a pretty good game, even if you don't take the software into consideration! Is getting the crown the end of the game or am I missing something?
Thank you so much! The crown is a collectable, spoilers for the end so only keep reading if you don't care Around the map in the castle side there's buttons, you have to click every button then go back to the original area where you'll eventually find a path to a flower, --you pick up that flower then return to the first town in the castle area and keep going right, eventually you'll find a machine -there and by putting the flower into it (just walk into it) you win!
--Less spoiler version
Find every button (like the one at the first town in the castle) and then explore the whole map to find a flower, then find the machine and put the flower in it (walk into it) to win!
Hope that helps!
great game, loved the simple art and music, all upgrades felt great. though I didnt use the teleport much. had a lot of fun with the wall jump! also really liked your spin on the map, using just colored blocks and being able to track where you are was really nice!
two notes -
1. Sometimes the transitions between 'scenes' is too quick. I would jump see the next scenes, and wouldnt have time to see what is on the other side, or would get killed by spikes because my momentum would carry me into the scene before I could react. Idk if there is a way to fix that but it was something I ran into a few times.
2. would love to have some checkpoints or saves or something so the spawn isnt the exact same place each time.
I don't think ill change anything post jam, but thank you for the feedback! I really just needed to put more time into level design to fix that since each screen size is quite small. Also originally I wanted the lack of checkpoints to be a feature, but I realized too late that it was sort of just annoying. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello,
This is a really charming game. I liked its simplicity, the level design, the music, the art direction. I got to get used to the Wall Jump. I got to acquire the Crown; how do I pass through those waterfalls?
Nice entry, congratulations!
Cheers
PS: don't hesitate to try our game :)
Glad you enjoyed it! if you explore around more you will find buttons that stop them. When you get into that first town, for example, there is a button. Also I'll definitely try yours out!
Cute little mushroom game :D
It was a bit hard to find my way around the first time and the using keyboards the controls didn't feel that intuitive, but otherwise than that its really polished and fun,
Yeah I totally get that! unfortunately the game engine i use is very limited, so those controls are the only buttons I really have, glad you liked it!
Nice mushroom theme. The pixel art is adorable. Well done! :)
Very relaxing and pleasant game. Liked the plot and nice music at background. The character is adorable. Good job!
Thank you!
Cool concept, got stuck after the first power-up (not too much time to learn hitbox and mechanics), looking to test it better after the time finish.
Love the art and it's implementation, one issue can be the font used for the various text that are little bit complicated to understand on the first read
I'm going to go in and make the wall jump more intuitive, its much more simple than it seems you just need to not hold down arrow keys, but of course it doesn't say that so I am going to change it. Also, I feel you on the font but unfortunately the game engine I use doesn't have any other options. Definitely give it another play when the jam is rating, im gonna change a bunch!