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Of course, different games for different people. I value narrative a lot and Celeste somehow is one of those rare few games where every single thing matters. Each level brings something new, each level you’re climbing more, each little cutscene adds to the story and character building, each mechanic by itself ties to the narrative and hero’s journey. It’s one of a kind. It’s a game for story lovers, for people who love the art, for casual gamers who have never beat a platformer before (I’m a living example), but also for people who have been playing games for ages and of course for speedrunners. It is a full game. It’s hard to make a game appeal to these many demographics at once.

This is a jam game. It can’t do the same, not by a very long shot.

But these things I mentioned were where I think the game fell short. It had cutscenes between levels, but they didn’t add much to it as the game progressed. Sometimes making it smaller would make it feel more ‘complete’, or even better if it had a good conscious effort to tie the story between start and end with meaningful mid-scenes, that can make a whole lot of difference in a game.

I’m not entirely sure what you meant about this bit:

sure there could be slight tweaks such as the player not being the same color as the ground, but i feel like those two could still be noticeable, even with people with accessibility.

I didn’t think the character’s color was any trouble. It had good contrast against the background. I also complimented on stream that you took care to use patterns, and not just colors, to distinguish slime from water and from lava. That’s a visual accessibility consideration for colorblind people. I didn’t think the problem in terms of accessibility was in the visuals, but on the dexterity bit and also the design of the launch. I spent the whole game thinking that the longest the launch line would be, the further I’d go. Turns out it was about angle; but it was also not so easy to angle it right while moving, which is why I think it would be great to think about settings such as the ones in An Unplayable Game for inspiration and reference if you’re interested in improving the game.

I also don’t really know why you think I didn’t try to enjoy the game, but I don’t know what else I can say. I guess I could give it another chance, but the feeling that the narrative would just keep being the same doesn’t spark me joy and enthusiasm. I love Celeste and I can enjoy a good challenge. I also like that this game is forgiving. But in the end I’m not sure about the mechanic of right click and jump. And I also have to feel excited enough to want to push through to the end of each level, you know? And just pure challenge didn’t do it for me, in this game. Nor in most games.

You do have a good point about this being for speedrunners though, because it has that ticking clock. That is interesting and a fun detail I hadn’t considered. About targeting to a very specific demographic and doing it well for that demographic, even if some others don’t get the same attention because, well, it’s a jam game made in a week. Which I understand.