I liked the music, and I gave you 5/5 for being self explanatory. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end for me.
This Game feels like it wasn't play tested.
No controller support for a platformer is certainly a decision.
The pixel art could use work. particularly in the intro, it reminds me of the early Stardew Valley portraits.
Ending an already frustrating level with precise jumps under a low ceiling while being chased, has got to be the worst design decision I've seen in this Jam so far.
Hey Deebo, I'm one of the developers of this game.
You're feedback is valid. This was our first first game jam using tools like Aseprite and Godot; we gained alot of experience from building this game.
We did as much playtesting as could be available for the two weeks (not withstanding we have day jobs and families to take care of) but we could have done better. It's a frustrating game with fun goofy art but it was intended to be at least beatable.
Thanks for the feedback and we'll take it to make a better experience next time.
You know, looking back, I was wrong to only point out the positives with the music. In retrospect the art was cute
it's clear that the artist is talented, and is probably just new to the medium of pixel art in particular.
The grilled cheese was adorable, and all the platforms read properly as platforms.
all that being said, I think I'm going to have to improve my rating of the art style.
If I had to give some advice to the artist, it would be to lower the resolution. high res pixel art requires intense amount of precise shading in order to not look bad. You were fighting an uphill battle with that resolution, not gonna lie.
Thanks for the constructive criticism DeeboAvocado!
You are right that this didn't have much playtesting outside of those of us that worked on the game and a handful of friends. For a game that I was building for production, I would definitely do that more.
I designed the level layout you called the "worst design decision" in this jam. I do genuinely appreciate the honesty.
I have little experience designing levels for platformers, so this was my first real stab at it. I think there are some things that work, but I agree the flow does get a bit congested and could definitely be improved. With that said, I designed it to be frustrating to the point of making you want to rage quit (especially the area you called out). I wanted to build the tension between the chef catching you and navigating through that claustrophobic corridor, while trying to precisely jump over the boiling soup spills. If at the end of the day it left you frustrated, but you still succeeded (although it doesn't sound like you did), then that was my goal. I assure you, it is beatable.
If given more time, I would teach the player through the level design over the course of a few levels, so by the time you reached this level you would be equipped to survive it. It is definitely difficult, and perhaps the unevenness of the level design contributes to that.
Thanks for playing and rating!
Looking back at my review perhaps I was a bit heavy handed with the phrasing regarding that design element in particular.
I did not succeed, I am aware that it is likely beatable, but since failing at the end brought all the way back to the beginning, after a few tries, I had to make the decision of whether it was worth redoing the beginning of the level over and over again just to practice the end to get good enough to beat it. admittedly, the lack of controller support played a part in me making the decision to just cut my losses. If your goal was to make it frustrating enough to make a player rage quit then, you achieved your goal. I don't completely understand why that was your goal. but props on achieving it lol.
Maybe the game is just a genre that isn't for me. And if that's the case, then forget what I said about it being the worst design element, it seems that you were very aware of what you were doing and succeeded in what you set out to do.