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A jam submission

TetroidvaniaView game page

Puzzle-Metroivania with tetrominoes (~20min)
Submitted by mrBell270 — 16 minutes, 15 seconds before the deadline
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Tetroidvania's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Metroidvania#233.6923.692
Execution#323.3853.385
Enjoyment#323.3083.308
Overall#353.3273.327
Sensory#502.9232.923

Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Engine
Unity

Team/Developer
mrBell270 (solo)

External assets
https://pastebin.com/vRU1naEc

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Comments

Submitted

Super cool idea, I just can't seem to figure out what to do. Its a shame, because I love more "different" games like this in the jam,  but telegraphing and teaching could definitely be done better. Cool concept though!!

Developer

Thanks for your comment!

Submitted

This is a really cool concept that is difficult to understand out of the gate. I'm not sure how to progress after leaving the initial cage thing. With something this unique, I think your average player will need you to start simpler, and very slowly ramp up the complexity. Portal is an excellent example. First room: walk through a portal; you win! Second room: grab a box and put it on a switch; you win! Third room: walk through a portal (at the right time), pickup a box, walk through the portal again (at the right time), put it on a switch; you win! It seems dumb when you look at it laid out like this, but there's a reason Portal is so widely acclaimed. By ramping up complex/unique mechanics over time, you ease the player into understanding the playspace possibilities. Then you can do all sorts of fun crazy stuff as the game goes on and player skill increases.

Also, the areas feel large for how slow the movement speed is on this.

If you choose to keep developing this game, playtest with other people frequently with an eye on usability and puzzle execution. For a game like this, there's no other way to get it right.

Developer (3 edits)

Thank you for your comment.

Portal is one of my favorite games, so thank for reminding me of its wonderful game design.

Unfortunately, my manager told me to cut the corners, because jam games should be vertical slice of gameplay. It was decided: 1. mechanics with minimum viable tutorial; 2. exploring; 3. theme; were more important than voice over or openning cutscene. Also, my sound designer and my artist could do a better work! This would cover up dullness of gameplay, right?

The funny part is I am my owm product manager/game designer/developer/artist/SFXer.

And the only other people in our team are playtesters. They are not game designers, so they solved most if not all of my puzzles instead of dissecting them.

So thanks again for your professional opinion (it is not an often occurence - getting feedback from a real game studio founder)!

Submitted

Happy to share!

lololol "Manager's" call is a good one; scope can kill jam games very easily. There's a cool concept here if you choose to keep exploring. Feel free to poke me if you ever want future feedback on it.

Still working on founding the studio. While I am a professional project manager, have studied/practiced game design with professionals in the industry, and made a bunch of games, I alas do not make money off game development. Yet. Working on it. Here's to chasing the dream, friend!

(+1)

Here's my gameplay and feedback. 

Developer

Wow, thank you so much! Watching someone playing your game is awesome!

All your feedback is valid, I always trying to make user-friendly games, and this one is not, I presume :D

I was dying of shame when you softlocked in first couple of minutes. Thanks for continuing playing!

I will take notes and update several elements to cater to less puzzle-y audience too.

No problem! I actually noticed when checking the audio levels that I missed a room that I had forgot about. It required the T piece to progress. If I had remembered it, I would have progressed more.

Developer

It's okay, I played 20+ games myself this jam, so I know how difficult it can be:)

Submitted(+1)

(I posted this on the game page but then i wasn't sure if it should have gone here instead! so i'm posting it again)

I think i locked myself out of the portal on the top right of the map by pushing the blocks the wrong way. 

I'm really enjoying this! It's a lovely concept and refreshing. I have SAFE PULL and PUSH and I feel quite fondly towards my little blocks. I haven't finished it yet but want to.

I like the map - it's straightforward and descriptive. I like the puzzles so far but i think i softlocked myself on the first screen and had to restart. The graphics work.

I would prefer if the movement was a little more responsive and if the puzzles also moved a bit faster (the wall of danger circles on the East screen for example - i kept dying and waiting for the next gap)

This game is really great :D

Developer

Thank ypu for both your comments!

Movement is a big problem, and I plan on rethinking it. I was not sure about graphics, so thanks for your comment.

I should have named the game softlock-idvania for amount of comments about this problems :D Some of them did not even occur to me!

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

Very cool entry, definitely one of the most unique in this jam. I have no complaints about the controls, some rooms just didn't reset the positions of the blocks when holding R, that can probably lead to a hardlock forcing you to restart the entire game. Enjoyed the puzzles and managed to beat the game!

Developer

Room system needs to be rebuild from ground up, I believe. One more reason to create full save-load system too!

Submitted(+1)

I finished the game, very good experience, my feedback

The +

- Original, I like the concept and there are some very good ideas

- Improvements in other forms of awesome tetriominoes

- Good use of the 5 powers, used well to adapt to several situations

- The description of the power on the cubes very effective! (PUSH. SAFE, FIRE, etc.)

- I like FIRE, since the tetriomino looks like a ship, I like it <3

- Good ideas in building puzzles

- Good tutorial area, we understand the mechanics quite easily

- Teleporters are good so you don't have to re-travel

- Reference to old games like pong, space invader, etc. nice

The -

- Heavy, slow and rigid movements + the noise that is present with each of our 'steps'

- Bug: I can pass the laser zone without the cube, with the bar (which creates a soft lock because you can't go back)

- Bug: I died in the Space Invader zone and the death sfx was playing in a loop. When I die, the bug disappears

- Bug: the buffer is automatically activated in each room once the power is unlocked


Are the gifts useful for anything (I got 3)? Is it just me or are there switch noises everywhere xD?!

It's a game that has been very well thought out, and the new abilities are well exploited. One of my favorites of the jam at the moment... NICE <3

Developer

Thanks for thorough review!

Gifts are just collectables. 4 of them make a frame and the last one (from room (2.5) adds a heart. After finishing the game this collectables "remake" boring white square core into famous Cube Companion from Portal series. So, it is like skin customization :D

I am thinking of adding more mechanics to broaden spectrum of pickups and add more inсentives to explore, because nobody wants to loot skins instead of powerups :)

Thanks again, I hope to shock you with updates later!

Submitted(+1)

This is an extremely cool concept. I was blown away when suddenly I was using my tetris piece as the brick breaker paddle. It definitely could use polish but that is to be expected with a Game Jam. Very cool, will definitely play this again later.

Developer (1 edit)

I hope, next time you play, it will be enterprise quality :) Thanks for your comment!

Submitted(+1)

Great Game! This is a brilliant mash of several classic games. Really cool idea, but I encountered a soft lock that prevented me from progressing. Creating an open world puzzle game is a daunting design task. I believe it is done well here but requires some refinement.

Developer

Thank you for your comment!

I will try to refine it in next version. TBH, this one was prototype for idea-testing and so far it is going well. So many of mechanics will be rebuild from ground up.

Submitted(+1)

Really creative idea! I wish I could say I beat it but after crashing on my first playthough, and softlocking on my second (holding R did not work for that room) I can't say I was able to see the end. If you expand or polish up the idea I'd love to see it!

Developer

Thanks! Be sure, I will contact you to be one of beta-testers :D

Submitted(+1)

That was excelent. I really liked how you approached the theme and how you made. Everything is perfect in this one. Good job!

Developer(+1)

Thank you very much! Player enjoyment is one of my main goals while designing a game, so I am satisfied with result now :D

Submitted(+1)

Fun and original game, I like how you combined Tetris concepts with Metroidvania. Great work! :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot! I love creating some wierd stuff. Concept came to me in 10 minutes. I was like "What is ancient and gaming and can be collectable? Tetrominoes!". After that I could not decide if it should be topdown or platformer. I don't know if my choise was right, so after Tetroidvania is realeased you should wait for Tetroid - platformer with tetrominoes' powers :D