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A jam submission

A Bouncing TaleView game page

Use your poles to bounce through caverns as fast as possible
Submitted by fortythreesam (@samlowercase) — 15 minutes, 21 seconds before the deadline
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A Bouncing Tale's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fun/Design#14.5424.542
Overall#173.9833.983
Theme/Limitation#204.2084.208
Graphics/Animation#423.9583.958
Technical Implementation#453.7503.750
Music/Sound#783.4583.458

Ranked from 24 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?
Collect all coins and return to the door to progress

What was your team size?

Solo

You worked alone

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:

In a Song

The game is as long as a single backing music track

Hidden Secrets

Feature secret items rooms or features in the game

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Comments

Viewing comments 22 to 3 of 22 · Next page · Last page
Submitted

Great concept and implementation! Nice level design too : ) 
Thanks for including a volume option! I turned it down and really enjoyed the music!  

Developer(+1)

thanks for playing and I'm happy you enjoyed it!

Developer

In case anyone looks here in the future I posted a speedrun of the game on twitter here: https://mobile.twitter.com/samlowercase/status/1313151079694073856

Submitted(+1)

Fun Game! I enjoyed playing it! The levels very super hard for me but It was fun trying to figure out how to win the level.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing :) And I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

Nice to try to learn and progress with the game. I found the music (like my own game) a little loud and on a short loop when all concentration is needed for the jump controls. It's good to hear about hotbox tweaks and it was neat to have a really hard mode which definitely lives up to the name!

Developer

Thanks for playing :)

The music is probably the biggest thing I'd change about it but it was made in the last day. Maybe a future release will have something fresh!

Submitted(+1)

Bloody hell this game was difficult!

I boldly went ahead to try this game without going through the tutorial first, safe to say thats a lesson learnt.

After my initial incompetence, and when I learned how to play the game, I must admit - masterpiece.

Such a simple looking game but with so much potential. Would seriously enjoy playing more of this if it was to continue in development.

Great job!

Developer

Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words :)

I'm surprised how many people go straight to the main game skipping the tutorial lmao. 

I hope to continue development on it since I enjoyed working on it so much!

Submitted(+1)

Yea this game is fun. I love games that are difficult by skill alone like this. I only have one gripe. I like how the swing has a lasting effect afterwards, but I think it lags a little too much in the beginning. With that tightened up, it's perfect for me. 


I beat the normal mode but definitely could not get passed the first level of hard mode. That's for another day.

Developer

The swing is intended to come out the instant the button is pressed but I think the way I do it means it's delayed. I need to mess around with that more I think. Thanks for mentioning it!

Hard mode is so difficult lol and there's only the one level. 


Thanks for playing and for leaving feedback :)

Submitted(+1)

SUPER neat concept and I love it! It's a bit difficult to get the timings right but once you start to get into the swing of things it's super fun. I can definitely see this being a bigger game. I also love the 1-bit style! One thing I noticed however was that the area between the player's legs wasn't actually transparent-- I'm not sure if that was on purpose, but I think it's worth saying. Other than that, super good game! If you have the time, I'd appreciate it if you also played my game!

Developer

It was originally intended to be a robe but decided to make them legs in the end lol. Thinking about it now.ot probably makes sense for it to be transparent.


Thanks for playing and for the feedback :)

I'll check your game out when I have time!

Submitted(+1)

I got some serious Hollow Knight pogo vibes from this game lol.

This idea is genius. I love how you incorporated the "There and Back" and "Collectibles" theme into the actual gameplay itself. The gameplay is challenging but super rewarding once you beat each level, and it's highly addictive as well.  I do think the swinging hitboxes should be a little bigger though - maybe have them cover more of the player's body. Other than that though, this is a fantastic game!

Developer

Thank you :) I appreciate all the kind comments!

The hotboxes will definitely be increasing lmao especially for the down swing.


I'm glad you liked it and thanks again for the feedback.

Submitted(+1)

Very cool game! Once I figured it out, I loved it. Tutorial is definitely a must play on this one. Incredibly difficult but the restart is so fast that it doesn't really bother me much. I could see this being a celeste like puzzle platformer and really doing it well!

Developer

Thank you! And I really appreciate the video :) It'll be incredibly useful when refining everything.

Submitted(+1)

Took me a while to understand how to play the game, but once i got it, i thought it was a really nice idea. Something felt off with the controls though and im not 100% sure what it was, could just be that im not used to playing with keyboard only. I also wish if i let go of the jump, it'd start going down almost immediately for more control. The art style looked great, music was alright and the idea was cool, overall really good! Nice work :) Oh and i also appreciate the volume control in the settings.

Developer

Thanks for playing :) 

The finer jump controls is definitely something I need to.play around with thinking about it now. I'll keep it in mind going forward :)

Submitted(+1)

At first I didn't understand I was trying to collect the coins and get back to the same door (kept end up in box with a <3 in it and had to restart). Once I realized what was going on I had a BLAST. As someone who loves hard platformers like Meat Boy this hit the right notes. 
The hitboxes for squares and coins was super unforgiving, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Some will love it others will hate it. I was able to complete normal mode, but had to give up on stage 1 hard mode haha. Could maybe add a button to zoom out and see the whole stage to know what you're up against, but that all depends how much you want to player to discover on their own. Overall well done, thoroughly enjoyed playing this one. 

Developer

I'm glad you liked it :) 

The hotboxes can be finicky to be fair. I think the down swing could be wider alright and it's definitely something I need to experiment with more. Hard mode only has one level tbf and I've only beat it once lmao. Zooming out should definitely be an option but I had mostly small levels at first and hadn't thought of it.(Mainly because when making it I was able to see the whole level haha)


Anyway, thanks for playing and for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Really loved your implementation of the theme! Had alot of fun playing it.

Developer

Thank you and thanks for playing :)

Submitted(+1)

This game was hands down one of my favorite platforming submissions. This game had hard shovel knight vibes. Though it took a lot of time to pass some levels I got pretty far. Art was simple yet fitting and the music (while a little repetitive) fit the atmosphere well. good submission!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

The music and sounds are the part that I'd change the most tbh but I was running low on time. 

I'm happy you enjoyed it :)

Submitted(+1)

Super fun little game, but also super unforgiving (which the quick restarts did alleviate some).

The pushing yourself was a cool mechanic, but with the quick response time required I found myself slipping trying to find the right button to press. As Sephta mentioned maybe using the mouse would make it a little easier.

With a little polish and tweaking I could see myself playing a bunch of this.

Developer(+1)

I do think more control options would help people. A shallower learning curve would be help this as well imo.


Thank you for the kind words and thanks for playing!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Wow super funa nd nice art.  I definitely think the tutorial should be mandatory tho.  on the first level, you can fall to the bottom without dying if you hug the cliff.  So I did that and didn't get what the point was and almost quit right there.  Really glad I played the tutorial though because it was super fun!

One thing I would change tho is to be able to hold down the pole buttons, particularly in the down direction.  It makes less sense for the left/right directions, tho. 

Developer

Good points on the tutorial and being able to hold the direction.

I'm happy you had fun and thanks for playing :)

Submitted(+1)

I made the mistake of playing this game early in the morning haha. This was an extremely aggravating, but fun hardcore-platformer of sorts. I wasn't really a fan of the huge increase in gravity when falling but the main mechanics of bouncing off those little blocks is executed really well. You could genuinely turn this idea into a full game if you wanted. Something I would consider changing if you do would be to have the direction the staff comes out be associated with the direction the mouse is relative to the player character. i.e. if I click bellow my character the staff comes out the bottom etc etc. This is likely just a me thing but I found it hard to focus on the tight platforming when my mind had to go the extra mile to think about which direction I needed to press to bounce in the direction I wanted. Overall fantastic game, and thanks for taking the time to look at mine :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and for all the kind words!

I'll play around with the gravity I think. It was an early stage decision that I kinda forgot about but thinking about it now it might solve some other issues with timing and deeper jumps. I'll definitely be adding more controls schemes and mouse controls are definitely not a bod shout. 


Thanks again for playing and especially for the feedback :)

Submitted(+1)

Really fun and simple game. Though it is still nice and challenging. I loved the art style and music. Great job!

 It would mean a lot if you could check out my Jam submission if you get the chance. Thanks!

Developer

Thank you :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I'll check out you're game as soon as I can

Submitted(+1)

This was really fun and HARD hahaha

Full 5 Stars 

The theme is present in a really interesting way.

Good job!

I'd love to get your feedback of my game :D

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and I'm happy you liked it :)

I'm away from my computer for the day but I'll check your game out when I have time.

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game, especially the art style. The movement mechanic was extremely fun and satisfying. I do think that an adjustment of the hitboxes of the little things you bounce off to make them more lenient would make the game a lot more fun and allow you to create more complex levels while still being a moderate difficulty. I also think the camera could use some work, maybe making it stop at the bottom of the level so that it doesn't scroll all the way down when you die. The level design could also be improved, there are some blind jumps where its hard to tell where you need to aim yourself and that combined with the smallish hitboxes make some of the levels frustrating rather than fun. I also think that this concept might be better without the There and Back theme since linear levels might fit the mechanic better. If you're planning on continuing the development of this, which you should, you might want to give it a thought. I'd love to see more stuff that the hammer thing interacts with. Thanks for the game! And good luck! :D

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback!

I agree on the hotboxes as it can be finicky at times. Not having the camera scroll is a great idea actually, I'd never thought of that. On the level design maybe having a way to look ahead might improve this? Or some way to give an overview of the level somehow.


I am excited to try more longest level and come up with more concepts.


Thanks for playing and I'm happy you enjoyed it :)

Submitted(+1)

I loved this! It took me a good while to finish, but I got to the end and felt like I achieved something!


Really cool design, great job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Viewing comments 22 to 3 of 22 · Next page · Last page