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A jam submission

Haunted Hedges (LOWREZJAM 22)View game page

tiny spooky maze
Submitted by grevs (@grevsoft) — 6 hours, 38 minutes before the deadline
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Haunted Hedges (LOWREZJAM 22)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Graphics#544.1334.133
Audio#823.7333.733
Overall#1253.7173.717
Authenticity (use of resolution)#1504.4004.400
Gameplay#2372.6002.600

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you work in a team?
I worked alone!

Was the resolution a challenge?
Balancing sprite size vs. density (how many sprites/tiles could fit on one screen). I went with 16x16 tiles so I could fit 4x4 on a screen - this feels a little sadistic for a maze, lol.

Also, trying to make animations fluid at such a small resolution was a challenge. I learned a lot about using color/value to animate without altering the silhouette of the sprite, which allowed me to add more in-betweens.

What did you learn?
Working at this low of a resolution pushed me to say more with less in terms of pixel art, and I'm happy with the style I ended up with. I want to continue working with this tile size but with a larger total screen resolution and see how that feels.

I also started making this game with LÖVE and got fairly far before I decided to switch over to Godot, which is what I usually use, because I realized my progress with LÖVE was going too slow to finish the game on time. It was fun to try different tools, but it did take a pretty big chunk of time out of the last two weeks that I could have spent making the game better. I'm still glad I tried it, and I may use LÖVE again in the future.

This was also the first jam game I've managed to add sound to. I'm still learning how to make music, but the deadline forced me to finish something and just get it in the game, even if it's not great!

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Comments

Submitted

Nice game. i liked the graphics.

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much!

Submitted

Nice game. i liked the graphics.

Submitted

its a nice idea, I was quite annoyed by the ghosts beacuse after i dodge them they dont go back to where they started so they often blocked away paths for me. i did end up completing the maze. i feel like the 3rd key (the one near the gate) should have been somewhere else has it realy didnt do anything being just by the gate. good audio.

Developer

Thanks for your feedback!! :)

Submitted

The art and aesthetic are great! The ghosts felt a bit overpowered to me though, at least with visibility being an issue. The low field of view like this actually works really well for maze games, but with ghosts that can go through walls the resolution becomes a bit of an issue. Would be cool to see more of this game with more polish!

Good work!

Developer

Thanks for playing and for your feedback!! :)

Submitted

Simple and cute. The graphics were great and I really liked the music.

It was maybe a little short, an extra level would have been nice, and maybe another mechanic for some variety would have been nice.

The close up camera and fast enemies did make it seem a little unfair at times but that wasn't a huge issue.

Developer

Thanks so much!! :)

Submitted(+1)

Charming pixel art and a main character with pleasant animations, although the big ghosts can sometimes clip in between several hedges. Incredibly difficult, enemies are very fast and you have little room to dodge, and you often get sandwiched.

Developer

Thanks so much for your feedback!

Submitted

Charming game, i like the ghost desgin but the camera is way too zoom, i wish the character and walls where half the size to see more.

Developer

Thanks for playing! I do agree that the tiles ended up a bit too big for this screen resolution. :)

Submitted

This game was really cool, the art and sound are great. I will say if I had to give criticism it would be the sprites of the player and enemy are slightly too big and take up too much screen size to see whats coming up. But regardless, great design!

Developer

Aw thanks for much!! :)

Submitted

This game looks great! The music is pretty cool too. I enjoyed the maze, but occasionally I got blindsided by a random ghost. The perils of a limited viewport lol. Good job!

Developer

Ahh thanks so much for your feedback! :) I definitely struggled with the limited field of view lol - if I did something like this again I would probably either make my tiles smaller so I could fit more on screen, or play around with the velocity of the monsters so they start out slower and give the player more time to react.

Submitted

That's a very promising first level, I see how it can be a full puzzle game. And visuals and audio are very cool. Good job!

Developer

Awe, thank you so much!! :)

Submitted

Love the visuals.

Developer(+1)

Thank you!! :)

Submitted

This is imo one of the best looking games in the whole jam. The music was also really great. The maze couldve been bigger its too easy to just find the keys and finish the game. 

Developer

Ahh thanks so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! Totally understand with regards to the size of the maze - I was trying not to make it too long/hard given the limited field of view, but I think I went too far the other way. :)