Meta

OK this is a prototype so I will give feedback keeping this it mind, but you should indicate it in your game description as we did in our game, explaining what is working and what is not to setup players’ expectations.

I thought that 1GB was huge for a jam game, even for an Unreal game. Apparently, this is because it’s a debug build. I can see debug files (unless that’s just build log), debug warnings and debug shape cast.

Or maybe it’s the models and textures. After all, the proto enemy doesn’t need that detailed humanoid model, a very low LOD / polygonal character would have been enough. I don’t know what a raw Unreal 3rd person template build’s size is so I’m not sure.

Players are less likely to finish a 1 GB download if they see no screenshots or videos showing that it’s worth the content, and also it takes time on your side to upload more, so be careful about this. Also naming the project zip, folder and executable (in Unreal settings) can help when players are downloading a bunch of projects from the same jam with generic names and can’t remember which one is which.

EDIT: I could confirm it’s the debug build, there is a Metroidvania.pdb that takes 279 MB so that’s also that you could save.

The assets however are all cooked in Metroidvania-Windows.ucas (573.5 MB)so I can’t inspect it further. Apparently Unreal doesn’t cook unused assets but in case it happens, there are ways to exclude from folders from cooking: https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/should-i-delete-unused-assets-before-packaging-the-game/1681997

Gameplay

There is a lot of lag on jump and a little lag on shoot (a little on shoot is OK if it’s part of the animation as in our game, it depends how tight the action is - but on core movement it is critical to keep it to the minimum). Lack of air control means you must press left/right before the jump and cannot adjust mid-air, making it hard to land on platforms.

I suppose the demo is about beating the two proto enemies, so I can’t comment more on that.

I was stuck in the floor below so I assume it was meant to be a deadzone.

Anyway, the first jams tend to be like this, don’t give up and remember the key points that cost nothing (proper release build with meta data, balancing gameplay parameters to make the game easy to handle) and then you can improve your releases little by little when you get more experience and get faster with coding and integration!

The character is cute and the music is okay, but I had a really hard time getting anywhere past the starting room. It feels like any jump requires you to back away because of how long it takes to actually jump (and how little air control you seem to have), and tiny steps that look like your character should climb them automatically feel like insurmountable obstacles. By trying to climb the platforms to the right instead of going left, I managed to jump outside the playable area and get trapped below the level. The reflections (or whatever's going on with the floor and wall textures) feel like they only draw attention to how basic the level design is, rather than making it look better.

Overall, an interesting demo but very rough around the edges.

Opening this game induced me with fear the moment i started hearing my PC fans starting moving at high speed.

The option button at the start of the menu is not real.

the game starts with a long text introduction on a single image, which i personally found too long for what it was trying to say, the words also kept jumping to the next row so that made it a little hard to read.

when the game starts properly, you start being hit on the back with what it seems like an enemy, an honestly baffling choice to be attacked before you even moved yet. the enemies drop healing items, maybe? Could not tell you if they are healing items, because you can’t actually pick them up. everything but moving left and right has a weird delay on it’s action, because the animations have a lot of windup, that didn’t really felt great, specially on a platformer where you have to see the character prepare for a second to do a normal jump. a jump that does not let you control mid air, so you will be stuck on the first screen of the game for a while, trying to get through a simple platform. I don’t know if i beat the game or not, but honestly i don’t think i will touch it again even if i didn’t.