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A jam submission

Climbing CatsView game page

A nice game about climbing cats
Submitted by Le_Z — 6 minutes, 44 seconds before the deadline
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Climbing Cats's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Theme#43.7503.750
Graphics#54.0634.063
Audio#93.1883.188
Overall#113.0453.045
Originality#143.4383.438
Fun#272.5632.563
Accessibility#272.3752.375
Controls#421.9381.938

Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Godot Version
4.1.1

Wildcards Used
N/A

Game Description
A nice game about climbing cats

How does your game tie into the theme?
The characters are climbing a mountain

Source(s)
N/A

Discord Username(s)
lezsigma

Participation Level (GWJ Only)
2

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Comments

Submitted

I'm sorry, but I can't consistently use space and up arrow to do the actions needed for playing the game. Looks like a pretty game, so it's sad. It worked a couple of times, but I could not jump and climb the tutorial :(

Submitted

Climbing cats is not a bad idea. The graphics and the audio work well to create an atmosphere. Unfortunately I experienced the same frustrations as other commenters here on the controls not working (space was very hit and miss).

There are a bunch of good lessons out there online that show how to implement  platformer controls with time "windows" for things like jumping  (google "coyote time") and I think it's things like that you need here to make the controls shine

Submitted

Before I go on a rant about the little things I didnt like: This game is awesome! I especially love the little atmospheric storytelling in between, well done!

So my only real problem with the game were in the controls, here are some remarks/suggestions:
* If you stand on an edge and pull someone up, its possible that they get stuck and both characters cant move anymore.
* If your partner has 0 stamina left and you're holding them, then it can happen that you're forced to slowly pull and release the rope until you also have 0 stamina and fall down, a button to purposefully drop would have helped there.
* If you are hold in the air by your partner, it would have really helped the flow of the game if you could swing yourself sideways.
* If you climb a tiny bit too high, you lose grip and fall down even when it still looks like it should be fine, the collision detection could be a bit more lenient there I feel like.

So essentially, the game is so slow that if you fall down and it doesnt feel like its your fault, then it really feels bad. Anything to speed up the downtime after failing or making it feel less unfair that you have to reset would help there.

Also just an idea, would it be fun if you could control both simultaneously, one with WASD and one with the arrows?

Oof, that got out of hand, well anyway, awesome game! My favourite so far!

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot for your feedback ! It means a lot to me !

* For the edge bug yeah, I am aware of this one, I figured out that we can avoid it by letting go the rope a little, and then pull out again, but I know that it's indeed a bug that needs fixing
* You're right, when one of the two climbers are at 0% stamina, it's lost and it's a shame, maybe let go the rope shouldn't cost stamina for the other
* Swinging yourself is a good idea, but my entire game design is based on the idea that you can't, for example you'll have to climb one here and the other there to finally have the swing to get to that place
* Yeah the game lack some player help, for example the jumps are way too pixel perfect and yeah the "grapping area" of a character is not very clear
* I didn't realize the game was this hard, so yeah I was low in checkpoints and that's a shame, I should have added more

I'm not a fan of getting two different set of keys for the two characters (because it's like you have to learn two different set), but I had the idea to make a multiplayer mode which could be great !

Again thanks a lot for your comments, I think I'll make a quick update after the jam to patch some things !

Submitted

I love the pixel art in your game, the music, and the atmosphere. However, I find its difficulty quite challenging for those of us who don't play platformer games much. Anyway, great job! It can't be easy to implement the mechanics of using the rope.

Developer

For the rope mechanics, I assure you it was definitly NOT easy  ! I had to work with sinus and cosinus,  velocity change... Anyway thanks a lot for your comment !

Submitted

Looks great, beautiful art assets.

Unfortunately I couldn't get past the first level with 2 cats, the one where you need to use rope. I couldn't reach higher climbing tiles. Maybe I'm supposed to swing on the rope, but I don't know how. Z/S buttons don't seem to work or don't do what I think they would.

Small UX improvement that would make the controls feel better: Grabbing the wall could also start when holding W, not just in the moment it is pressed (so `Input.is_action_pressed()` instead of `Input.is_action_just_pressed()`). I kept holding W thinking I would grab a wall, but I needed to release it and press again.

Overall a nice idea, fits the theme well. 

Cheers!

Developer

Thanks for your feedbacks ! Yeah it was my idea that each time you have to grab a climbing block, you should press a button with the right timing, it's maybe too fastidious I realize... For the swinging part you should get a climber in a place, get the other at the right of the other and let go, with the swing you can reach another block. That's a shame nobody that people get frustrated before the end of the game because I put a particular attention on the ending with interesting dialogs and visuals.

Submitted

I don't know why, but I have a problem on climbing third ledge, looks like spacebar input is not registered on my device 90% of time.


But game graphic is good 🙂

Developer

Rrrrh I don't  see the problem in my computer, how am i supposed to debug this ? ;( But thank you anyway !

Developer

Is it just that the character don't jump or is it that it dosen't grab the climbing blocks automatically ? Because if it's that it's normal, you have to press the up key every time you want to grab a climbing block

Submitted

I don't know what problem is, but sometimes it doesn't register up input neither. 


video: Climbing cats.mp4

Developer

Thank you for helping me with that ! But yeah I think it's because to grab a block you have to press w or the up arrow, every time you want to climb. It's my fault it wasn't obvious, I should have explained that better

Submitted

Hello Le_Z!

Love what you've done. Such nice atmosphere created by the visuals. The storytelling and the audio accommodating the "voices" is very well done and really fits!

I personally found the controls being the only thing that's really holding the game back in a way! The jump felt a bit short and inputs not super cleanly translated.

However, overall you've created an incredible game. This could definitely become it's own small indie game if you'd continue polishing and expanding.

Developer

Thanks a lot for your support ! Yeah, I know there are many different inputs and I failed to make a good tutorial about it... I should have done more play testing from others... Did you make it to the end ?

Submitted

great looking and atmosphere, impressed! well done

Developer

thanks a lot 😘

Submitted

I could not for the life of me get past the second ledge jump.

Developer

oh no I knew I should have playtest my game with my friend... It's always the problem when you are the only person to test your game you get good at it and don't see the difficulty anymore. Sorry about that 😔