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Space Elevator Maintenance Guy's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Speedrunner's Choice | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| Gameplay | #6 | 3.625 | 3.625 |
| Overall | #6 | 3.625 | 3.625 |
| Sound | #7 | 3.583 | 3.583 |
| Theme | #10 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Aesthetics | #17 | 3.542 | 3.542 |
Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
recharge time too high :/
Great Game! It was really frustrating sometimes using the grappler because of the cooldown, and sometimes it just wouldn't work?
but aside from that the music is quite relaxing, the pixel art is pretty detailed and cute, and the addition of dialogue made it pretty fun!
Thank you! Can you elaborate on when the grappling hook didnāt work? Iām aware of a rare case where it looks weird when youāre falling because the grapple point is calculated instantly with raycasting while the animation takes time, so sometimes it looks like the hook is moving through platforms when your velocity is close to/at the limit.
If youāve encountered any other bugs I would love to know so I can fix them!
it's like the grappling gets stuck, I'll try to record gameplay tmrw.
It looks like i can't replicated the bug, maybe it's fixed or maybe I'm just imagining things, but yeah congrats on winning speedrunners choice!
I loved the polish on some places, like the grappling rotating towards the mouse and the little graffiti every so often. Would have loved a little more on the gameplay side tho, like refreshing your hook's cooldown on the floor or starting it upon launching it, and signaling the drones position when off screen (Especially this, it was pretty frustrating having to calculate the horizontal position of some of them). Overall though it was a pretty good experience, I really enjoyed it for a good while!
Thank you! I loved your game as well; when I saw the two modes of grappling I immediately went ādamn, why didnāt I think of that?ā.
Agreed 100% on the cooldown refreshing when you land. Originally the cooldown actually did start upon launching exactly like you said, but I found that I could just latch onto a wall, wait for the cooldown to end, then launch myself upward again to infinitely climb walls, so the cooldown was changed to start only when you release the grappling hook.
As for the drone thing, thatās a really good idea! I did also find it frustrating while playing but I didnāt do anything about it as I thought it added another layer of challenge, but I can totally see how it would be more annoying than fun. Will definitely look into this.
Again, thanks for your feedback and Iām glad you enjoyed the game!
Completely phenomenal! I love how the grappling hook always drags you upward no matter what so you can send yourself flying. The graffiti is funny & it was nice to find a game that wasn't too hard for me to beat lol. The sound design & pretty background were very calming and made falling to the bottom actually enjoyable. The only issue is how long it takes to reload the grappling hook, not a problem for me cuz I'm slow, but it might make speedrunner's speedruns more boring. Maybe it could reload as soon as you land on a floor? But overall absolutely amazing
Thank you, glad you enjoyed the game! Yeah Iāve received a TON of negative feedback over the grappling hookās cooldown and Iām kicking myself over not making it reset immediately once you land. It wouldāve literally been one extra line of code but it just never occured to me to do that since I was so used to how the game controls already. Guess this shows the importance of having someone other than the developer playtest the game :P
This was the first game from this game jam that I decided to sit down, properly work through, and completely finish. The movement is fun once you get the hang of it, and the graphics / sounds don't detract from the experience at all.
I think the graffiti on the walls was a nice touch because it helped me figure out where I was in terms of progress (or lack thereof) and remembering the pattern of the map.
I enjoyed the game and do not regret sticking with it till the end.
Thank you! I remember your name being one of the first to show up on my dashboard :)
Glad you enjoyed the game!
This one is great! Love the music, dialogue is really funny, and the grappling hook feels great.
Only wish is for the cooldown to be a little more forgiving.
Thanks! Yeah as others have mentioned I definitely made a poor decision with the cooldown, will be fixing this after the jam!
This game was absolutely amazing! Although I lost lots of progress multiple times, it wasn't as anger-provoking as I'd expect, as the mechanics were extremely fun to work with. I actually ended up enjoying the timer on the grappling hook, as I thought it made each grappling hook shot feel more meaningful, and you couldn't get away with just shooting out a bunch without losing lots of time. Overall, great game in every category.
Thank you! I don't regret the cooldown timer as the game would be far too easy/exploitable without it, but I definitely should've made the cooldown end immediately once the player lands so players don't have to sit around waiting for the cooldown to end.
Glad you enjoyed the game!
Really enjoyed playing it, wish there was a quick reset button tho.
Thanks! That's actually a pretty good QoL feature, will look into it!
Great game. I really liked the calm music in the background. I would suggest resetting the graple cooldown after landing on a platform.
Thanks! I will be implementing that in the post-jam version :)
The grappling hook idea was great, except that the timer mightāve been too long. the player movement didnāt have to be great but it could have been betterā¦
Thanks! I agree the cooldown is definitely too long and itāll be adjusted in a patch after the jam!
Oh wow. Another grappling hook game. How original.
No in all seriousness, I really love the concept but I also really regret the execution. It's super foddian and I love it but the hook's cooldown kills any momentum. I think you should have done away with it entirely.
In some comment you explain that you wanted to avoid chain grapples to climb walls, but that would have been super fun to do, especially if you gain speed every time you grapple correctly. When you go fast enough the little platforms become obstacles rather than helpful checkpoints so you wouldn't need to change much I think. Also you could simply put some kind of clearly identifiable dirt on the walls on which the hook can't stick so one cannot simply rely on the walls.
I couldn't get very far so I don't know if you did this, but tilted slippery platforms would be fun too.
Loved your entry and that they didn't send a drone instead because then they wouldn't have a game XD
Thank you!
The chain jumping while trying to avoid obstacles actually sounds like a really fun idea, although it would be a totally different type of game with a totally different level design. If I make this a full game I would totally have a section like that!
Also I definitely wanted to have jump king style slopes but I just didnāt have the time :(
Firstly I want to say I really enjoyed the little intro sequence, that rare for these type of game jam, adds a nice layer of polish and makes it more memorable.
I really love the feeling and implementation of the grappling hook, probably one of the better grappling hooks I have seen in a while, which why I find it a bit unfortunate that there is a 3 seconds delay between uses.
I get why there must be a delay but perhaps it could be like a jump so once you land on ground again it instant resets. just felt that waiting 3 seconds each time slowed down the flow and 'Momentum' of the game.
The art style is nice and appealing and the atmospheric background sound was lovely.
Also quite hard but fair, and I like that there was some ability to recover once you got higher up.
Well done :)
Thank you! Yeah the cooldown resetting when you land on the ground is definitely going into a patch lol, in hindsight I definitely shouldāve implemented that earlier in development. Oops š¬
Cool game but did not finish it due to frustration (thats the spirit right? ). Wished to have the camera pan down while falling to be able to see some of the platforms. Aanyway good job!
Thank you! Having the camera pan down while falling is an excellent idea, will definitely add it in a post-jam version!
Nice solid game! I'll add a vote to shorten the cooldown, or maybe allow two grapples before the cooldown starts. Good luck with the jam! :) (Are you popcorn on Discord?! I think I recognize your avatar...) Nice to see ya!
Thank you! The multiple grapples idea was something I wanted to explore and could make for some really interesting level design but I discarded the idea early in the jam as it didn't really make sense given how grappling guns work IRL :P
Still, I might explore the concept further if I continue development. Maybe not as a feature inherent to the grappling gun but as a feature similar to the dash reset crystals in Celeste, which could be super interesting!
Also yes I am :)
Really solid game all around! I like the mechanics!
As mentioned the cooldown on the ground could be faster - I also think an argument could be made for a quicker in air cooldown, so the player could combo (however, this might affect the difficulty).
I'm torn between what you have, and the ability to move very quickly. Overall I think it's got a great color scheme, and control feel!
I like the planned feature set!
Thank you!
Iām not a huge fan of how long the cooldown is either, but after some testing I found it to be necessary to prevent the player from just chain grapples to climb walls. The cooldown should definitely be shortened significantly if the player is on the ground though.
Of course, Iām sure thereās a way I could tweak the grappling gunās physics to allow for a shorter non-exploitable cooldown, but that would mean having to make a ton of adjustments to the level design and well, I just didnāt have the time :P
Definitely one of the considerations for a post-jam version though, and again, thanks for the feedback!
Only 16 minutes any% LET'S GOOO
I honestly loved the concept, this was a really solid and FUN entry on the jam. Really simple, really cool grappling mechanic, and a good level to boot. This is an amazing foundation for a game, if you ever with to keep developing it.
The only two things I didn't particularly liked:
- I felt I had to wait too much time on the ground waiting for the grappling hook cooldown. I understand the cooldown existing while you are in air, but on the ground I literally had nothing to do besides waiting, so I'd reset the cooldown when the player is on the ground.
- When I got the orange box, I didn't exactly knew what to do; I thought the game would automatically finish. So I just started falling until the ending game conversation. I actually really enjoyed going all the way back to the beginning, but I'd put something on the screen to indicate the player that now he must go back.
Really enjoyed the game, and hoping you'll keep developing it!
Thanks for the feedback!
I definitely agree on your first point. It was something I planned to do but something personal came up on the last day and I had to submit the game early. Will definitely implement this!
On the second point, the lieutenant mentions that you have to bring the black box back to him to complete the mission, but I feel like it's easily missed especially as it shows up late in the dialogue. I will add a prompt when you pick up the black box to bring it back to the lieutenant as a reminder.
Again, thank you for the feedback and I'm glad you enjoyed the game!