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A jam submission

Shapes n' FallsView game page

Get to the end of the level, and collect all the green shapes on the way back!
Submitted by Shlomito — 15 hours, 5 minutes before the deadline
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Shapes n' Falls's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Theme/Limitation#543.9093.909
Fun/Design#953.5453.545
Overall#1303.3093.309
Technical Implementation#1523.0913.091
Music/Sound#1732.9092.909
Graphics/Animation#1793.0913.091

Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game utilize the limitation and theme?
You have to go to one side of the map and back, and collect all green hexagons on the way back.

What was your team size?

Solo

You worked alone

Which of the following content in your game is NOT 100% newly made for the jam?

Music/Sound

Affirm you have followed ALL jam rules. (Select all below or your entry will be disqualified.)

We have credited all assets used in the game including our own name(s) or team name(s)

All original game code and original assets were made during the jam period

The game does not include NSFW or hateful content

The game works on the web or as a Windows 10 download

We have answered all submission questions honestly and completely

If your game includes any of the optional challenges, select them below:

Hidden Secrets

Feature secret items rooms or features in the game

If you did any of the optional challenges, explain how they were used:
I hid an easter egg, the clues are in the description. It does not affect the general gameplay.

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Comments

Submitted

Very nice and clean game, I didn't need the tutorial as it felt very intuitive, I really like the answer to the theme but, to me it the difficulty was way too high, we accelerate too fast (in my opinion) and we don't even have time to see obstacles sometimes it feels more like you have to remember everything, but good job on the technical implementation and answer to the theme!

Submitted

Super fun game! but could you add music in the game? there was music in the main menu but none in the levels, other than that it was good.

Submitted

Cool game! I liked that the game introduces you to mechanics bit by bit, so  you're never overwhelmed. (Though I didn't first understand the start and return symbols in the "tutorial" scene)

Loved the controls too. Nice physics.

BTW could you please my game too? thx!

Submitted

Cool game! I liked that the game introduces you to mechanics bit by bit, so  you're never overwhelmed. (Though I didn't first understand the start and return symbols in the "tutorial" scene)

Loved the controls too. Nice physics.

BTW could you please my game too? thx!

Developer(+1)

Yeah the tutorial isn't very useful, isn't it? I was almost going to put a "kinda" in the "got it" button.

And I've rated yours!

Submitted(+1)

That button would have been very funny! xD

Submitted(+1)

Honestly this feels like an amazing jam game with a small handful of stumblings on the way to the finish line. The idea is simple yet does a good job with the given theme. Falling then having the gravity reverse to fall backwards with things changing on the fall back provides more interesting gameplay than not having the things change at all. The graphics are simple but are visually distinct because of it allowing for easier readability. Finally the levels feel pretty fair as you are shown them when they are less dangerous before changing to something more dangerous. The screenwrap is also a nice touch.

But then you have the weird camera when the shape spins, and the weird momentum when that happens. The confusing tutorial screen that only makes sense after you have a single run of the first level that mainly comes to understanding due to the simplicity of the mechanics. The shape being difficult to get up when you need to "climb" a cube to progress. And then only the menu having music. 

This feels really suited to be a phone game, with swiping left and right to move and the more vertical design of phone screens allowing to see a longer distance ahead. Overall nice game, but there are a couple of things you can do to really improve upon it that can be rather simple to implement.

Developer

Thanks!

I definetly want to fix a bit the camera, maybe making it follow the player more slowly, and a bit offset to be able to see more of what's in front of you. I was almost going to put a "kinda" on the "Got it" button on the tutorial, because I knew people wouldn't really understand until they played it, I might just ditch the whole tutorial out and instead just make tutorial levels (even if the 1st is enough). I don't quite know with that momentum thing where the shape goes flying up and spining, but I'll see what I can do. And I'd really like to make it for mobile.

As for the music, you could try and solve the easter egg ;) (clues in the description)

Submitted(+1)

whaat  the game actually save your last level???! very cool goodjob 

Developer

Thanks! I was actually really exited to finally be able to do that. It was surprisingly simple, too.

Submitted(+1)

Hey, I did a video review for you :)

Developer(+1)

A video review? Wow that's a first for me, thanks!

I know the game is much harder than I wanted it to be,  I'll try to make it easier, or at least make more easy levels like for tutorials and stuff (better than the vague description and tutorial), probably the best idea. It's the sort of stuff it never crosses my mind when in a jam.

I really like the HUD and the checkpoints idea, I didn't think of that, I'll make sure to try them out. As for the acceleration problem, I'm using Unity's native gravity, just changed the direction, so I don't know what to do about that, I could make it so it doesn't have gravity and I put in a constant velocity, but then you couldn't do those bounces you need in order to get out of those "bowls" in the levels and I don't know if it'd fell natural, but it may be better anyway and I'll try it out.

It's really nice to be able to see someone actually play it, so again, thanks for the video review!

Submitted(+1)

I like the idea, and I did kind of enjoy the first level.... aaaand then lvl 2 started..... failing is just not fun.

So here goes:
-The first level was a good balance of difficult and fun. The second level was not. And in both you essentially have to fail and learn the level by failing over and over again until you know the layout of the level.
-If you miss a collectable, the game keeps going on despite not being able to win beyond that point.
-Slow down the rate that momentum builds. Both going up/down and falling just move way too fast. I'd very often end up flying in to things at a speed that I just didn't have enough time to reasonably react to.
-My personal skill wasn't valued as highly as my knowledge of the level, which I got by wasting my time dying over and over.

All in all,
The issues I have with the game I'm sure would have hammered out with more play testing, and game jams don't really allow for much playtest time. But the game as it is now wastes the players time by forcing them to die repeatedly so they can know the level layout in order to win.

__________________________________________________
Despite all of the negativity though,
I genuinely think the idea for this game is solid and the levels (that I got to play) were well designed.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

I already knew the game was way too hard, but it's good to know exactly why it's hard. I should make more tutorial levels for the mechanics and obstacles, and level 1 should then be like level 4.

I'd really like to slow down the acceleration, but since I'm using the engine's native gravity system I don't know quite how to do it, I'll try to. Slowing down the gravity will make the overall speed slower, but not the acceleration rate, although it might still be a good idea.

I've already got some ideas to not have to memorize all the levels, someone told me to make the camera offset from the player to see more in front of it, and someone else to be able to go back an forth between the start and end if you didn't collect them all, so both things should hopefully help with that.

And I totally agree in that I could've used with more playtesting, I lost a lot of time trying to integrate lighting and ended up ditching it all out because it didn't look good, and in level 3, which apparently most didn't even play, I spent a long time playtesting and nerfing, and probably most just went to memorizing the level, so yeah. It's so much easier to make rage games in game jams...

Anyway, thanks a lot for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Gravity is an acceleration. So it'd be strange if the in game engine gravity was a speed and not the acceleration.

Oh, the camera being offset so we could see more of what we were coming in to would be an excellent idea.

Good luck with it, and good job on your game. :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Great game! The only thing it needs is some cool music :)

Submitted

Thanks. :)

It had a drum beat. lol
(Yeah, music was on my list, but I couldn't make anything I was satisfied with)

Submitted

Nice little game! Follows the theme and focus well, only thing missing is the music

Developer

Thanks! As for the music, I really wanted music on the level as well, but it was already hard to find the one for the menu, and I didn't think it'd suit the game itself. I also wanted to do as much as I could myself, so all the sfx were made in sfxr (on my previous jams I downloaded a lot of them).

But, if you reaally want music in the game, you could try to solve the easter egg I hid, it's probably way harder to solve than I intended, but you can give it a try if you want...

Submitted

Good utilization of the theme good sir

Developer

Thanks! tips hat

Submitted

It felt good to play in a gravity free fall sideways, the idea of there and back it's pretty clever in game, but it was kinda difficult. I died multiple times in order to win, so it makes for a interesting rage game. Nice work :)

Submitted(+1)

Cool game! Everything felt clean, the music was great, but the game was difficult. Maybe tone down the difficulty a bit next jam. Thanks for making this!