Post by greenworks in Illumin-Mates comments

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Now I see why your game is similar to mine :) Good job in putting all of this together! I sustain most of what B-Deshi Dev wrote below, and I would also add that the second level needs *some* indication as to "headbump" mechanic incoming, otherwise it's very hard for a first time player to figure it out. I know 2 players would come up with solutions faster, just saying *some tutorial* or indicator would help (that's what I forgot to add at the beginning of my first gamejam game, and nobody figured out what to do). Still in the second level, the second (vertical) challenge is also terribly hard to figure out (for me), dunno about the other players.

Otherwise I love the art style, the light/shadow play, and the story fits the game. Good job again, and keep in mind what I said about *minimal* tutorials ;)

RyanVentus4 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

We originally wanted to have some kinda text at the beginning of each level giving a hint on how to complete the puzzle. The idea was created just so we could tell people they could jump off each other in the second level, but when we tested it with some non devs they figured it out without us telling them, so we decided to leave that out. That was an idea that got scrapped due to time.

I'm glad you enjoyed our game!

greenworks4 years ago

Hmm I figured it out too, but after 30+ tries at the same challenge... I know it's hard to get playtesters in such short time. I always post the game to my facebook 24+ hours before the deadline, cause usually only 5-10% of the people who see the post actually test it. That's why I invite all my friends over to test it also. Last day (out of 4) should be dedicated for testing with 10+ people, because you will hear a lot of stuff you never thought about, and when half of them says put a tutorial (for example) then you know it's really needed.

Will give your game another try once I find another person.

Matthew Wojtechko4 years ago(+1)

I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for your feedback!

In the second level, where that headbump mechanic is introduced, the blue player is stuck in a very small space until the players both use that technique. I figured that, at the top of the level, the red player will venture out - but then realize the blue player is stuck behind the blue wall. The red player, free to pass in and out and not seeing any way to help on the outside, will go to the blue player, I figured. In the likely event neither player realizes the headbump mechanic initially, I figured they would inevitably jump on each other in their attempts to hop the blue wall, being that the space is so tiny. From there, the players will excitedly discover this new technique, which is needed (and reinforced) shortly after in that second vertical challenge in the same level.

The two people I had playtest the game said that the headbump mechanic (or any other parts of the game) did not need explained in an additional way. I do feel like that mechanic is more natural to discover with two players, so I'm curious if that would have been a lot easier if you played it with a buddy...

That's awesome you can round up a great number of playtesters! In future jams I'll try to have more - sharing it online is a good idea.

itch.io

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