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Ravel Game Jam

Hosted by Delirium, Jenkinkins, Jon Keevy

177

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A jam submission

BoundView game page

A slow narrative platformer about getting weaker

Submitted by Jaco van Hemert — 2 hours, 45 minutes before the deadline

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Bound's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Overall	#1	3.950	3.950
Audio	#1	4.533	4.533
Writing	#2	3.933	3.933
Mechanics	#4	3.200	3.200
Visuals	#5	4.133	4.133

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

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

A very impressive feat for a solo jam! Art was characterful and creepy, voice acting was a nice surprise and very well executed, some great bits of writing, strong use of the theme, and the game feel was quite solid considering how much else you were tackling on your own. Well done! Making the character so slow moving was an interesting choice. It certainly worked from a narrative perspective but made for a trying platforming experience. Since the jump got me around a lot faster, I landed up just jumping everywhere, which felt very counter to the game's gloomy vibe. I ultimately landed up sinking into the primordial darkness. I'm guessing this is the bad ending, but I liked how it felt, and appreciated that you gave me an ending, even though I didn't have the resilience to keep going through the dungeon. Congrats on pulling all this off on your own!

Best Solo Game
I worked solo.

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Comments

Bardybum78 days ago(+1)

Wow I really dig the vibe of this game, and considering you did all this yourself? Damn good job.

It was funny to learn that my attempts at finding the Saint was wholly futile when I saw you clarify in another comment that there was no "good end" haha. I had retried so many times determined to survive.

I really like how even though dying makes the game harder, the story still progresses and the environment/characters also change in some manner, so even though there's no point in trying to "win" the game there's still incentive to move forward for narrative value.

The ladder mechanics were a bit janky which lead to breaking my ankles frequently, but otherwise the controls we alright. I appreciated the character limp but I ended up spamming jump to get to places faster.

DeliriumHost78 days ago(+1)

Damn! What an incredible game. The fact that you made everything yourself is soooo impressive.

The flavour of the walk cycle becoming slower, the character art evolving, other characters becoing increasingly desperate, the voice acting, and the Dark Souls / Dead Cells story telling all comes together to make a great jam game.

SwandySubmitted80 days ago(+1)

I am not sure if there is an ending or no but I must say I had fun with the movement and all the other zombies you chatted with
I also like the fact that the movement decrease and jump distance decrease the more you die and I also that it doesn't just reload the scene but also kept your progress after the deaths
I really wish that there was an ending or more possible to reach an ending because I really would like to know how the blacksmith made it
But well done

Submitted

All Strings Attached

Jaco van HemertDeveloper79 days ago

If you saw the credits, you got to the ending. There are some parts you can get to that you might not have gotten to, but the only way to actually finish the game is to interact with the "Give up" prompt. There's no other ending.

I wanted to play with the idea of a hopeless situation that just gets more hopeless over time and instills that feeling in the player, so having there be a "good" ending kind of played against that. I considered having a "good" ending where you can reach the Saint if you do everything really well (i.e. you know which things to avoid and which things to pull, and know how to avoid damage), but I decided that I'd rather double down on the tone/theme I built this around (and even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have had time to implement it!).

Thanks for playing!

PokeChrisSubmitted81 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Seems like ladders were the true villain of this game. Really enjoyed it the story and voice acting really hooked me in and made me want to play more but also the infection is such a good mechanic because it makes you want to give up.

Submitted

Ben CrooksSubmitted81 days ago(+1)

THIS WAS SO GOOD <3
WELL DONE!

Narrative tied into the death thing like you were talking about really well.
The ladders were the only real issue for me. I died on them more than anything which just made me frustrated.

Really good game feel and art, and tied together WITH VOICE?! I havent seen many game jams with so much voice acting.

Slowing down scaled really well and I really felt sluggish and the mood was reflected well.
I was waiting for some redemption, some way to come back from the pit of despair. RIP

Submitted

De Wet StraussSubmitted81 days ago(+1)

Love the art and atmosphere you created. Yeah some sticky bits on ladder, but not a game breaker. Keep up the good work!

Submitted

J Squared StudioSubmitted82 days ago(+1)

Really loved the thought that went in to the voice acting, really keeps the player intrigued! And the music was fitting! Love the darker dungeon type art style!
Felt like the movement mechanics were maybe a bit janky - with the movement feeling slow, and the jumping at times not being as refined, so got stuck on a few of the platforms

Submitted

Weaving Whiskers

Milo WildcatSubmitted82 days ago(+1)

So creepy! Love the tone that you get with the art/music combo. The constantly depleting abilities of the character is an interesting mechanic but a good mirror for the increasing infestation. A tightening noose around the neck?

Submitted

Sushi Art82 days ago(+1)

I really loved the art for this one. You captured the movement extremely well for the undead. My only issue is the ladders are a bit janky and I would get stuck on top of them. I ended up dying multiple times because I jumped off a ladder trying to get on the platform

Aligned GamesSubmitted82 days ago(+1)

Good game, I liked it, but was also a bit frustrated.
The theme and overall feel are great though, good use of lighting and colors to portray a dark, bleak world.
Audio was great too!
Just didn't enjoy the controls too much.

Submitted

Winter's Wake - Survive Together

Jaco van HemertDeveloper82 days ago

I think there was a bit of a risk (and maybe an inevitability) in using unfairness and difficulty in an attempt to generate a feeling of hopelessness, since it can so easily become frustration. It seems like I should probably have put a bit more time into fine-tuning the controls so that the unfairness feels like it's the world that's unfair, as opposed to the game being unable to understand what the player wants. Maybe that would have helped?

Thanks for playing!

Aligned GamesSubmitted82 days ago

Im also not someone that normally plays platformers so my opinion is not too valuable here...

Wesley_H88Submitted82 days ago(+1)

Very well executed. I liked how the sections that seemed overly easy before became challenging as you progressed.

Submitted

Grandy the wise: A tale of Knittining

Bracken HallSubmitted82 days ago(+1)

Really love the tone, concept and execution of this idea. The narrative works excellently to counteract the progressively more challenging gameplay. I ran through a few times (but never managed to finish), because I was curious about how things would develop - shows a good narrative hook!
The controls need a bit of tweaking, though (I died to ladders way too many times). While I really like the progressive powerlessness, I think you're a little underpowered right from the beginning. I liked that feeling on my first play, but then I realised just how difficult it was to make it through even at max power, and so I feel like I never really get a chance to become 'good' at the game.
Aside from the controls and mechanical design, I think everything else is really truly impressive. Your characters are so good, both in terms of art and voice. Loved your nods to Disco Elysium.
Overall really good, and nice use of theme!

Submitted

Jaco van HemertDeveloper82 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

During the development of this, I wondered a lot about the viability of the direction I chose. Part of the controls issue is for sure a bit of unintentional jank, but I was also less worried about fixing any issues, since it added to the unfair feeling I wanted to create.

So yeah, I think the feeling that you're too underpowered even at full power is exactly what I wanted (but it is possible to get to the end* of the level even after 1 death, I think, but definitely with no deaths). Ideally, I don't want people to feel that they're getting "good" at the game. But potentially that's a problem in and of itself. I appreciate the detailed perspective and recounting of your experience. I'm curious to see how many people will feel the same as you (I suspect it'll be a pretty big majority).

Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback!

* It's worth noting that the "end" of the level is a jump you can't make that just kills you immediately. There's no "winning" this game; you can only finish it by giving up.