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A jam submission

Kisume CarryView game page

Jump, spin web, and carry your friend to new heights.
Submitted by Karob (@krichotomy) — 33 minutes, 41 seconds before the deadline
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Kisume Carry's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Concept#34.2354.360
Gameplay#33.9634.080
Challenge#63.6913.800
Overall#73.6913.800
Story/Writing#133.0693.160
Music#172.9533.040
Visuals#203.3803.480
Use of Theme#292.7202.800

Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Team Members
Karob

Streamable

Yes

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

I wasn't able to beat this because of time multiplied by my walnut puzzle brain, but this feels fairly well rounded and I was really impressed with the web mechanics. If I have any complaints, it's that some of the puzzles are a bit tedious to restart. The story isn't something to overlook either; Yamame and Kisume don't get much love, so they were a neat combination.

(+1)

The puzzles are quite challenging and easy to mess up and get stuck in, sometimes due to weird physics jank with stacked objects, but figuring them out is very gratifying and pulling it off is quite gratifying. I feel like the one crucial lesson which didn't get taught (discovered accidently while mashing buttons to solve a puzzle) was the ability to connect webs to objects above/below Yamame.

The puzzle order could be tinkered with, but overall I enjoyed how they all required unique solutions.

Nice work!

(+1)

Highly frustrating, but quite rewarding at the end, it needs a mastery of the known spider webs physics and the points where they can be placed.

You don't even know which string is gonna be erased with the backward button, or how hight is yamame gonna jump while carring anything, Kisume is heavier than a stone and thats super weird, controlling this with the mouse is also annoying, I know this was created for joystick, but I wonder if it can be adapted for a better keyboard use.

I completed it and it was so satisfying , but there are a lot of physics that make no sense, like bouncy rocks, sprite clipping (while a rock is propelled) and the unability to control exactly where the web can be shot.

Still, I really enjoyed when I understood all of that, the sprites where "ugly" but it also gave that retro feel, I don't like relaxing music in this sort of games, the gameplay screams: "frustration", but the music is like: "relax bro", AND I DONT WANNA (?

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the review.

The back button erases the most recent string. I hope to make that more visible.

Could you give me more detail about Kisume being heavier than stone? That shouldn't be the case.

You don't have to use mouse. See the game page for the different control schemes. I want to add rebindable controls when I update the game.

Submitted(+1)

this shit is pretty rad!!! i got stuck after the first bit after the second checkpoint and don't have time to play the rest right now but i will later

i like grabbing, i like pushing, and i like toolgun welding and then pushing. the first bit after second check point stopped me for the longest time and im pretty sure i did the not-correct thing (pulling kisume under the top row of rocks using physics trickery) but still cool that i can improve such a solution

i autohotkeyed because default controls were killin me though, rebind options woulda been great

Developer

Many of the puzzles have a lot of different ways they can be solved. I hope to release an update eventually that has rebindable controls.

Submitted(+1)

I really liked Alum's Strata Gems so I went in with high expectations, but I won't lie, this game frustrated me a lot. The concept of the mechanics is brilliant, but their behaviour can be pretty janky, which made it harder to understand the solutions, especially when the solutions involved said jank (why does dangling Kisume from a rock place her lower down than dangling her from a beetle??). Combined with having to constantly reset to checkpoints, it made it quite a slog to get through, I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to solve the first puzzle and got really mad every time I had to reset and move all of those rocks out the way. I don't want to be all negative, there were several good puzzles as well, but in the end I had to watch a stream of someone who played the game to figure out the last 2 puzzles.

I feel the more obscure ways to use the string (like how it can pull things off the floor by attaching to something higher up) could have been first used in a basic context before asking the player to apply them in more complicated puzzles. And less jank please, idk why you have to dangle Kisume from a rock in that first puzzle when attaching her to the beetle looks the same but gets you a different result.

Anyway, I hope you found my feedback constructive and not too negative.

Developer

I appreciate the criticism though I'm afraid I don't understand the more specific points. Even in my testing right now, the dangle height doesn't depend on whether she's dangling from a rock or beetle. There shouldn't be a case where you have to attach her to a rock instead of a beetle to get the right height, and I'm not sure which puzzle you're referring to.

Anyway, the physics jank is really a product of writing my own physics system from nothing in a three day jam. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult to do the puzzles. ;^_^ It was supposed to be a lot easier to yoink the stuff off the floor too.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This is the puzzle I mean, the one near the beginning after you move a bunch of rocks out the way.
-When I attach her to the beetle and have it push her off the edge then carry her back left, she gets caught on this bit of the terrain.


-When I attach her to a rock, then have the beetle push her off the edge and then push the rock left, she can go further under that section and I am able to retrieve her from the other side to progress.


Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for the details. The way you solved it isn't even supposed to be possible. Oops. XD There is a much easier way to do this puzzle by going down under Kisume and attaching yourself to her, which I plan to make more obvious. I definitely need to work on making it more clear what might and might not work.

Developer

Oh also, if you liked Alum's Strata Gems, you might also like Flowers for Yuyuko, a pretty chill puzzle game I made for a previous jam.

(+1)

If this game is an original idea, it's brilliant. Even if not, it's still a great game. Definitely one of the my favorite games this jam. The difficulty is very satisfying, and I found myself "accidentally" discovering mechanics before I needed them, during the first real Kisume checkpoint (which is where I was stuck the longest), and it made me feel smart and good about myself when I could put them to good use later. Which is not to say that the game was trivial or easy, just that the difficulty felt fair, since I had all the pieces to solve the puzzle.

Submitted(+1)

I enjoy the concept and mechanics of this quite a bit. I also always enjoy seeing Yamame and Kisume in things

Submitted(+1)

A very nice and fleshed out idea, I'm honestly impressed by how satisfying jumping on the webs is!
The challenges are very well thought out as you first think they're impossible, but there always is a way to beat it.
Controls are very good, seem intuitive and sharp too, a good game overall!

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you like jumping on the webs. The web bridge behavior was the original idea and the reason I wanted to do this. :D

Submitted(+1)

This game has an interesting and versatile mechanic - creating spiderweb. It's truly impressive how many ways there are to use it. The puzzles are very good for a jam game, but because checkpoints are pretty rare, I found myself getting softlocked a few times in a puzzle and losing several minutes of progress every time I had to reset and make it all the way back there. The art and music create this eerie mood which is really nice. The controls and UI feel super solid too, which is not a given in game jams.

Finally, it took me a while to figure out that the song title was 'The Dark Blowhole'. Maybe spell it out more clearly, otherwise you'll probably get a very low rating in in the theme category...

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Yeah I really should have put the theme on the game page. I'll go do that now.

Submitted(+1)

I think this is my favorite game in this jam.

Firstly, the web mechanic is fun to use and has so much potential for experimentation and secondly, the level design is outstanding. It almost feels like a full game already!

The puzzles are hard but really, really well thought out! So many times I thought "this is impossible", until I discovered a way to solve it. I also liked the atmosphere a lot.

As others have said, some features could use more explanation and the interactions between objects can be a bit difficult to predict (which object is heavier etc.). Sometimes I was unsure whether it was my idea or the execution that was wrong.

Also, I could not beat the last puzzle. I thought I had to bring a rock to the geyser (since you are allowed to go back down), and spent a considerable amount of time trying crazy things to make that happen. I should give it another try.

Developer

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think some of the confusion would be less if the physics were a little less wacky. XD It can make it feel like the right way is the wrong way. Maybe the main thing I failed to communicate is that you can web onto things from far above or far below them.

The geyser at the end is optional, and I didn't even mean to leave it there. It's funny how much it can either make things easier or harder.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Really nice and big puzzle, I like that level is coherent/world connected while having reset function. Physics seems to be really good even if in some places it's simplified, which only helps with some parts. 

My only wish is controls to be more sane (since up is not used - breaking web could be up+place) or more control over breaking web - ability to choose which going to be broken and highlight of selected web (highlight could be added even if no selection added, some subtle way to see which web is last and which is next after that). 

Almost thoguht I stuck at last puzzle until acicdentely noticed that I can attach web to Kisume from quite distance and have more launching power, believe that was not showcased at all and was sudden for me.

P.S. Not sure what song is it based on

Developer

I did intend to implement control rebinding, though that would not have supported key combos. That's a great idea to highlight the one that would be broken.

Yeah, the game should have made it more apparent that both up and down attachment have quite a long reach. The last part especially looks like stuck because I forgot to remove the geyser there. XD

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Best game of the jam for me. The core mechanic is really simple and extensible, and you get a lot of really nice puzzle and traversal gameplay out of it. Reminds me of Yoku’s Island Express and also the Mirror Temple levels in Celeste where you have to carry Theo around. Problematizing movement is really cool! Could use some more tutorializing around some of the features like string tension (but the fact that that needs to be tutorialized at all is proof of the mechanic’s potential). Nice minimal aesthetic too.

certified hyper kino poggers

Developer

Thanks ^^

The game was originally going to have "enemies" and hazards, with part of the mechanic being restraining or getting rid of them, but then I decided that there was plenty enough to do without violence haha. The main feature that I wanted that didn't make it into the game was flying bugs that you could attach things to. The "ski lift" beetle puzzle is the closest analogue to that. (The other feature that didn't make the cut was Yamame's arms. Oops.)