Really interesting game. I included it in my Toy Box Jam 3 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :)
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Journey Through Deathsbog's itch.io pageComments
Nice work repaletting the sprites, I didn’t recognize Capt Neato at first! I love the big sword swing, but didn’t get the hang of it the timing of it against the quick enemies. I enjoyed the platforming puzzle of avoiding fall damage, but the enemies were too relentless to make it far. (I swear some of my in-air sword slams to ground don’t make contact when they should.)
Regardless, pretty impressive!
Phew, this game is hard. Maybe add difficulty setting for those with weaker reflexes? But the controls feel solid and the sparks/blood effect when beating monsters is very satisfying.
I'd like to add an easier mode, but there's not enough room in the cartridge. Pico-8's limits are kinda harsh. Both the token limit and the compressed size limit make it hard to add or fix anything further.
I'm also not sure what the best way to make it easier would be. I really don't like just making the enemy hp lower or the damage lower, but everything else is as in favor of the player as I can make it without making the game's pace different. (ie. the dodge roll gives invincibility all the way through rather than just in the middle like most games of this sort do)
I like the atmosphere here a lot, and the slow souls-like combat is a cool idea in pico8. I only made it to the first boss, and he knocked me flat. I also only got to him by avoiding combat and running away from everyone - the bats are really very hard to beat without taking a hit.
Maybe add a reward for fighting? A small health drop would at least encourage you to engage with enemies - right now they come so hard and fast and there is no reason to engage.
Nicely done. I enjoy slow, deliberate platformers in pico8.
Thanks for playing. I'm glad you liked it.
I wouldn't be opposed to upgrades, but unfortunately the combination of precise mechanics and varieties in the enemies too up too many tokens. I also had a lot of trouble fitting the map in without going over the compression limit. That said, I did think about the possible reasons to fight or not fight when doing the map design. There's spots where I was tried to make it unreasonable to do the platforming challenges without clearing out the enemies first, but also spots where I tried to make it unreasonable to fight every enemy specifically because I wanted the player to be thinking of running past enemies as a legitimate strategy. I think I just wasn't very successful at encouraging fighting in the first section (out of four). Part of that is because it's easier to force a fight when the player is going up rather than down.
If you play again at all, here's a tip that might help: the bats and other melee enemies still have cooldowns on their attacks, so if you dodge through them first then attack you'll be less likely to get hit.
Although I love the mechanics and the level design, the controls are fluid, this game unfortunately keeps reminding me that I freaking suck at platformers.
Nevertheless, it plays great, unlike me!
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