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A jam submission

Leaping AnywayView game page

A short story-driven puzzle game with slight horror elements.
Submitted by LukasWho — 1 hour, 19 minutes before the deadline
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Leaping Anyway's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Concept#34.1004.100
Overall#133.5873.587
Enjoyment#223.3003.300
Presentation#233.5503.550
Use of the Limitation#263.4003.400

Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Team members
Just me

Software used
Monkey2, Piskel, MuseScore, Cakewalk

Cookies eaten
Didn't have any at home :(

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Comments

Submitted

Very cool mechanic and presentation!

Submitted

Amazing game. I love the story. I would be very happy if you would play my game.

Submitted(+1)

Big fan of puzzle games here and I liked this one a lot. The levels got quite hard really quick but were solvable. It’s a nice idea with the eyes in combination with movable blocks and see-through walls.

The controls were a bit hard sometimes since a slight bump against a box can cause you to restart the whole level. Additionally, your position inside a certain field is important for being seen, or not.

Overall a really good submission! Thank you for making it.

Developer(+1)

Thanks you for playing it! I absolutely agree, the current movement system is pretty janky and if I would design the game from scratch, I would definitely go for a completely grid-based system instead. It mostly stems from the fact that the game couldn't really decide what it wanted to be for a long time, and turning it into a tough puzzle game was sort of a last-minute panic decision, as designing tough puzzles is what I have most experience with and was the only thing I could reasonably see myself pulling off in the remaining amount of time. I'm very glad you still enjoyed it, though! Really makes me want to put some time into it after the jam to try and turn it into a more cohesive experience.

Submitted(+1)

Not a big fan of puzzle games, but this one captured me. I got stuck in the level after the three boxes in a row, but it was enjoyable ride, albeit a hard one. The minimalistic sound design and visuals did a great job creating an oppressing mood. The text bits are a bit hidden, more often than not I was too focused on the levels that I didn't even notice them and had to actively remind myself to look for them.

Developer

Thank you for playing, I'm glad the atmosphere managed to keep you around long enough to get to that point! Yeah, that room. It's just bad. The solution doesn't even feel particularily clever. I already suspected it might be a bit weak when I submitted the game, but it's helpful to hear those suspicious were justified.

I also noticed I sometimes missed the texts when playing on itch, but I had hoped that it was maybe because I had already read them so often. I think I really didn't do myself a favour designing the page to blend in so much with the game. You're definitely right, it would be nice if they stood out a bit more.

Submitted(+1)

This is an interesting Sokoban variant.

It would have been more fair to visualize the area of influence of each eyeball.

I agree that it should be a turn based system. It is much fairer to have a clear idea of how much you can withstand against an eyeball. It would also eliminate the need for precision manipulation.

About the level design. The puzzles in each level are all interesting, but they all have a level of difficulty that requires application. How about adding a level where the player can learn about a certain element or technique?

For example, in the second stage, as soon as the box appears, the player needs to work on its application problem (solving two eyeballs with one box). Subsequent stages are also application problems of Sokoban techniques and core mechanics, which are quite difficult for players who are not familiar with Sokoban techniques. This is because the player has to solve two or more new contradictions in a single puzzle.

Overall, I really like this game.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! Vision cones are a great idea and something I'd definitely want to implement in a possible post-jam version.

You make some good points about the level design. I think one of my problems is that most of my level design experience comes from making custom puzzles for already tough puzzle games and making PuzzleScript games, where in both cases I can expect the target audience to be relatively familiar with Sokoban mechanics and patterns. Even then, I often tend to make the difficulty curve a bit too steep for most people's liking. So feedback like this is very valuable to me for trying to learn how to design a more accessible puzzle game.

Submitted

The game looks good and I like the idea, but it was a bit too difficult for me.

Developer

Fair! I'm personally quite a big fan of tough puzzle games, so I tend to overshoot the difficulty whenever I design puzzles myself. And while I think it's fine that not every game is for everyone, I do think this time I messed up the difficulty curve particularily badly, since the game also requires a decent amount of execution, which is always a dangerous thing in puzzle games. I appreciate you giving it a try, anyway!

Submitted

Really interesting game. You've done great job with turning simple block pushing game to something more unique. The puzzles were interestingly difficult, but  unfortunately that was also the reason I had to quit playing. I did not solve the room with 3 blocks were placed in front of a row of eyes. I only got one block out and it didn't seem to be enough to get past the rest of the level. The atmosphere was also well build and I liked the texts that were shown at the start of each level. 

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I definitely have a tendency to make puzzles a tad too hard, and this game also having a relatively large execution component doesn't help with that. I originally intended to add add a level select screen with all levels unlocked from the get-go, but I ran out of time. In hindsight, I should have probably spent ten minutes implementing a "skip level"-feature, but I didn't think of it in time.

Submitted

Really cool concept, I thought it was quite unique. As you said, some additional polish would make this even better, and I can definitely see ways to expand upon the levels. Nice job!

Submitted (1 edit)

Neat game, the tension created was amazing! I really like the concept and the aesthetics. Wasn't a big fan of the level design.

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! I agree, level design is definitely an area that would have profited from a little more care. Are there any particular levels or aspects you particularily disliked?

Submitted

I don't recall which level it was but it had two eyes and two movable blocks with a bunch of see-through walls in the bottom right. I don't think I figured that one out and it felt kind of frustrating.

Developer

Oh yeah, that room. Not exactly my proudest moment in puzzle design. Fair!

Submitted

Heu... this is really unusual. Constant knocking in the background, the effect when the eye looks at you create a slight sense of danger, just what you need for this game. Visually, it looks very good, as well as gameplay.

Submitted(+1)

Well done! :D

I like the concept and I think the mechanics are interesting. I found the first level a bit to difficult and I almost quit because I couldn't get passed it, so maybe this level could have been made a bit easier to introduce the player to the game.

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! I knew when I submitted the game that some levels were bordering on unfair, but ngl, I didn't expect the first one to be a major hurdle. Are there any specific parts you were stuck on or did you just feel like the learning curve was generally too steep?

Submitted

I think on the first level it felt as if I had to make perfect movements in order to not die, so increasing the time the player have before dying on the first level could probably fix this. 

Developer

Okay, good to know. I don't think I can increase the time before dying as it would mess with later levels and I'm not a fan of having those times vary between different levels, but maybe I can make some of the paths a little shorter. I'll look into it post-jam.

Submitted

Quite challenging - but that's a good thing IMO. I really like the concept, and the way you tell a story that runs alongside the gameplay is clever. The mechanics sort of remind me of something you'd see in Super Meat Boy. Nice graphics and sound. Good job!

Submitted

this was surprisingly hard! I had a really great time and it made me have to use my brain, which is really appreciated. great job!

Submitted

Very clever and interesting idea!

Submitted

The eyeballs do a good job of creating tension in this simple puzzle game.