Never mind about contacting me - there's a Google Drive link to the bug fixed version on the game page. Check it out if you'd like to see the rest of the game!
Viewing post in Grapple (GMTK Game Jam 2019) jam comments
Wow, thanks for the speedy support (which given what I say next might sound sarcastic, but it really isn't). I don't know if I keep downloading the wrong version, but the bug still seems to be there. I've narrowed it down to being caused by trying to shoot a grapple up while standing on a door. Interestingly, it doesn't happen if you do the same while standing on a checkpoint tree, so I guess the problem is to do with switching rooms while the grapple is initiating.
Hmm... I can't seem to get the bug to reproduce, at least in the way that you described. Where were you when the bug occurred?
Also, it's possible the bug is now fixed, but you downloaded the wrong version - did you download from the Google Drive link on the game page? If not, download that and see if it's still a problem. Thanks!
The new build is now up on the Google Drive link on the game page - try it out if you'd like and tell me if any issues persist - I want to fix as many bugs as possible! Once voting ends I'll add the bug fix as a downloadable file on the game page - but uploading files is disabled for jam games right now, because of voting.
Again, thanks so much for catching this bug!
I haven't found a way to crash the latest build, so it looks like you've got it fixed. Nice. I think you've got a wonderful core here, made all the more impressive by the 48 hour time limit. The aesthetic is incredible and I like the little touches you made - the bouncing antenna, and one foot dangling as you slide the grapple on the ceiling look lovely.
Honestly, platformers (and so most metroidvanias) aren't really my thing, so you might not want to take my mechanical feedback too seriously, but I found a lot of the game (as far as I got - just one coin and one key) quite difficult and so at times frustrating.
I think you managed to come up with a lot of interesting mechanics aind interactions surrounding the grapple (I only just started seeing the breakable blocks, and I'm sure there were going to be some neat interactions with the enemies), but it often felt like I didn't have a space to experiment, since failure would mean going back quite a way to the last checkpoint and having to redo a number of difficult challenges.
You can't please everyone and I get that I'm probably not in your target audience - I don't think I've played anything close to a metroidvania beyond maaaaybe Rogue Legacy. But for a player like me (interested more in the mechanical puzzles than the execution), the game might benefit from you watching a novice playtester and getting feedback on where/how/why they get stuck or frustrated.
Overall, I think you've done a great job and I'm interested to see where you take it. :)
Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to keep this in mind - when you design a challenge and test it it's not quite the same as someone else doing it; I know the levels in this game front to back and so rarely get frustrated playing them. However, I see where you're coming from - other people have said the same thing, and I won't deny I need to maybe get other people to playtest in the future.
Thanks again for all the help!
I've definitely come up against the same problem in some of the stuff I've made, and I guess that's why the common wisdom is that playtesting is very useful. I don't think anyone's expecting extensive playtesting in a 48 hour jam, but I think if you want to take this game further, it'd be a good idea.
Ideas are easy and execution is hard, so here's a worthless idea: it could be neat to make a few more of these single mechanic metroidvanias and package them all together into a single game. So the player picks from "Grapple", "Roll", "Dash", ... on the main menu and then is taken to the separate metroidvania. That way, they could easily go and try something else if they get stuck in one of them.
Interesting idea... although you might also be able to put them all into a single game. Maybe different areas could focus on a certain power-up, using the others for secrets.
I might take this further, might not... I am working on other, bigger things, though - some of them will release soon! But I might come back to this if I ever have the time.