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Thanks! I would like to make a second Aereven game this year, we will see how that goes.

And no, my engine isn't publicly available. I don't plan to open it to others, mostly for two reasons:
1) I don't have the time to properly document it or help users
2) It's made for me first and foremost, to support my way of working and conform to my strengths. Opening it up to others would mean changing it to also support their use-cases and workflows, which would defeat the purpose

Basically, it works for me because it isn't general-purpose like Unity/Unreal/Godot. Even a specialized engine like RPG Maker requires a ton of effort to make it suitable for a large userbase (and RPG Maker absolutely excels at this, they've been doing it for 30 years now). Trying to turn my engine into that would be a job in an of itself, and I would prefer to dedicate the time to make new games instead :)

But that's why I write those postmortem, so other people can learn and build their own engines that are similarly suited to them!

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful feedback, it's always welcome and very useful to me!

Your feeling of the game is certainly valid, and I think a big part of it comes from the setting I chose, even more than the scope or timeframe. A sense of place is very important to me and I've built this world to make sense, which imposes hard constraints. A deserted submarine station just couldn't get as weird as my previous games. I still tried to have as many cool details as possible, as you're right it's something I value highly, but it was almost exclusively left to the codex entries and a few secret areas. Even when expending the jam version later I felt a bit restricted by that setting, both in term of space and narrative.

I'm a bit sad you felt the aliens come "out of nowhere", considering all the foreshadowing I tried to add, but again it's almost exclusively in the codex and I can totally imagine players not thinking too hard about it at this point of the game. That's something I tried to reinforce with the few dialogs I added in 1.0.3. A way to encourage players to stop and read back the entries they've collected to try to piece the twist together before it actually happens on screen.

Other than that, I did nerf the health drops from the lights and other props in recent versions. It was a way to make the Whisky Flasks more useful. But in the end I'm fine with players being able to farm health if they want. I don't really enjoy the trend of Metroidvanias embracing Dark Souls' difficulty (I love those games but they have a different focus) so I'm aiming for something closer to Metroid or Zelda, where health is relatively easy to come by.

I'm not sure how I could address your feeling that many of the abilities are just differently colored guns as it only accounts for two upgrades, both optional. The game still have dashing, sliding, double jumping, diving, a grappling hook, homing missiles, waterfall climbing and heat resistance. They should feel relatively memorable and it's a problem if they don't. I feel like they're all used extensively, so if you have more feedback on that front, I would like to hear it :)

About the jam itself, I talk about it in my postmortem but the short of it is that I'm not really interested in game jams as pure design exercises. I wanted to see if I could make a fully-fledged Dreamnoid game in a month and change. It was more of a one-off 'production' exercise and I've no plan to join more jams in the future.

My next game will probably be a sequel to both The Lightkeeper and The Trespasser and I will definitely keep your feedback in mind while I make it ;)

The post-jam updates (1.0.1 and 1.0.2) addressed most of the issues I was aware of, so if you see more I'm absolutely interested in that extended feedback!

For the aiming, can I ask which version you played? Aiming up was introduced 2 days ago in version 1.0.2. Did you have that during your playthrough? My hope was that aiming-up + the Spreadshot upgrade would cover most of the space.

I'm still hesitant to add diagonal aiming, either only when you're moving (instead of keeping straight up) or with an extra button press. It would complicate the controls (especially on a keyboard) and require a lot of extra animations, so I'm on the fence. Full-freedom cursor-aiming is something I'm pretty sure I won't do, though. It would require either 3D or procedural animations and force players to stop while they're aiming.

I dedicated the last week of the jam to polish. Other than that, I used my usual game engine which provides most generic menus. It's also not my first Metroidvania by any stretch. I plan to publish a detailed postmortem in January, if you're interested in the 'how'.

Thanks for the feedback!

The jump will change, no question. For the crouch, I will see to add some input buffering, but I don't think I will change the toggle, as it would make activating the morphball harder.

Thanks for the feedback! The jump and crouch are going to change for the post-jam version, you're not alone feeling it's too abrupt.

I see what platform you're talking about, and while it's technically different from those you can fall from, you're right it's certainly too subtle a difference for players to notice. I will probably change it or make the difference more obvious.

Map markers were a really late addition, like a few hours before the submission, haha. And it's nice to hear you liked the music as it's the first time I'm using exclusively my own and I was a bit worried it wouldn't be good enough.

The jump will be less abrupt in the post-jam build ;)

Thank you for playing and I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

The abrupt jump is the #1 feedback I'm getting, so I already improved it in the post-jam build. I'm also considering adding a way to aim up. I'm still on the fence about exempting the player from their own explosions, but I will continue to think about it ;)

The grey wall is supposed to represent the hatch used by the submarines and divers to leave the station. It's not hiding anything, I just didn't have time to create unique tiles for it :p

Yeah, jams are often focused on trying out new ideas, but for me it was more about challenging myself to create a new game in a short time-frame. I plan to write an extensive postmortem about all this ;)

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! The scope and polish come from what I've learned from my previous games, and I still wasn't sure it could pull it off haha

Thanks! My engine is really only made for me, so no real sense making it open source, but I talk about it a lot, which can be useful for people building their own: https://dreamnoid.itch.io/aereven-lunar-wake/devlog/274028/postmortem-part-1-the-engine

Yep, it's me again. Glad you liked it ;)

My own: https://dreamnoid.itch.io/aereven-lunar-wake/devlog/274028/postmortem-part-1-the-engine

I couldn't tell, I tried every key on my keyboard as I was looking for the menu, so no idea which one triggered it...

I really enjoyed the presentation, the environments and their color palette, the character's sprite and animations, the audio, the little text snippets integrated in the environment. It was all very promising!

Sadly I couldn't get very far as I've encountered a few technical issues, including one that basically ended my run.

First, I would often get stuck midway when coming up slopes. I had to backtrack a few pixels and retry. The collision box seemed a bit too big and "sticky". I also experienced micro freezes during gameplay (and one not so micro).

I was lost in the second zone and trying to open the pause menu to see if there was a map, but couldn't find the right key. Except after a while it started appearing on its own when jumping, which is what made the game unplayable afterward.

For the few things I could do before it happened, I was a bit confused by the first barrier. The switch was a bit too far away from it and not immediately noticeable. It also required some precision jumping to hit it and didn't play any sound effect when triggered. It took me some time to connect the dots and proceed.

I also spent a lot of time stuck on the warp instructions, as the button prompt didn't match my keyboard. Now, keyboard localization is a nightmare too big for jam games, but controller support would have been nice and could have avoided that.

Thanks for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed it!

Using the jump button in addition to crouching to go down one-way platform is an interesting idea, I will consider it. ;)

My engine is modular, so while I do have a module dedicated to metroidvanias, I've also built a Zelda-like, a JRPG and even some 3D games with it. I plan to write up a detailed post-mortem at a later date, explaining my process and describing my tools, but in the meantime I do talk a bit about the engine here if you're interested.

Thanks for playing and for the feedback, I do plan to tweak the jump post-jam.

And the answer to both your questions is because I use a custom engine ;)

Thanks for the feedback! I plan to tweak the jump after the jam to get more time in the air. Hope it will help :)

I played with an Xbox gamepad.

Here's a video representative of the performances I get: 

Thank you so much for the kind words! :D

You should be able to scroll the map as you move your cursor using the left stick or D-pad. Does it not work on your side? :o

I do have a list of stuff I want to add to the game after the jam, including aiming up. A lot of tweaks and general improvements, also. A month is still pretty short, haha!

For a larger scale metroidvania, it's something I'm trying to move toward, bit by bit. Not a Steam commercial release, but a longer game that feels more fleshed out, at least. My current plan for The Fireseeker was to release a 1.0 of a similar scope but then extend it with regular updates. But I will probably take a temporary break from metroidvanias to make another Zelda-like first :)

I sadly did not finish the game.

The visuals look really nice, both the character model and its animations. It's all very well done. The jump felt a bit abrupt and the slash appears just a tad too early, before the character really moved her arm, but otherwise the climbing animation is a nice touch. Overall the presentation is really solid. Great style.

But I did have trouble with the controls. The biggest problem was that the camera stuttered a lot. The character animations were smooth but the camera would only move in increments. It was all very disorienting and quite nauseating at time. The collisions seemed a bit finicky too and I'm not sure there's any coyote time, so I failed a few simple jumps and had to carry myself all the way over. In that regard, the jump from the moving platform to the rafters above the statue leading to the double jump was waaaay too difficult.

Combat lacked feedback. The first enemy in the game that I fought didn't die when I depleted its health (a bug?), so I was very confused. I kept hitting it but nothing would happen. Same with breakable walls: they take a few hits to break but there's no feedback. Saving was too big an interruption with the big location card appearing for a few seconds every time.

I quit just after reaching the double jump and failing the first few jumps over and over because of the camera. It's a shame because while I'm not big on tricky platformers, the way the 3D environment looped on itself seemed promising. With more polish, it could be a really fun game! ;)

Nice game!

I loved the little mouse character, the design is very cute and it's well animated. So are the enemies. I liked the whole thread-and-needle aesthetic that runs through the game.

I had a bit more trouble with the environment as I just wasn't always sure at the beginning what was solid and what I would be going through. I was a bit lost at times and I think a map would have really helped. There was a switch and a nice shortcut at some point, which I appreciate.

I also really appreciated the extensive tutorialization, which is always nice for a jam game.

The thread-and-needle was so nice it did overshadow the dash to the point I forgot I had it. I only remembered it near the end, but I like how you can chain the two moves. I loved that I could grab enemies into spikes!

But I did have a few frustrations with the combat. I felt the reach of the needle to be too short. I was often trading blows with enemies, unsure how to avoid damage. I also think the pogo would feel better and be more useful it if launched you just a bit higher in the air.

It took me most of the game to understand the red gauge and the bottle sound effect you hear sometimes. I think it restores one HP, but I'm still not really sure...? I also suspect the additional red thingies were "Piece of Hearts", but I only found two so I could never confirm that.

The boss fight at the end of the game was very well done. It had interesting moves and clear telegraphed attacks. After a while I could avoid them and then grapple myself toward it for a few punishing hits, which is a very satisfying thing to do. But it went on too long and overstayed its welcome a bit.

On a similar note, the gamepad controls were also a bit strenuous for me, with the jump on A and the grapple on Y. I did most of the platforming with an uncomfortable "claw" grip.

But overall it was pretty fun! If it's a demo, the full game has a lot of potential ;)

A really strong entry! The visual style and the gameplay of being chased by monsters gave me really big Another World vibes, which is refreshing.

The intro was good, as are the visuals and animations. The enemies somersaulting over the spiky pits was delightful. The jump felt right, so did the gun and hanging on pipes. The music swelling as I progressed and then changing when I reached the second part was a nice touch.

I do have a few nitpicks. The background elements were pixelated, as if they were stretched with nearest neighbor interpolation. There were a couple places where a dead-end looked exactly like a room transition. And I was a bit confused for a while after giving the god the eyes as it didn't move and seemed to point toward the left: I tried crossing to go where it pointed but took damage. It took me a while to notice the cracked wall on the right and the fact the god didn't attack me sooner did take a bit away from the scare.

But overall I had a lot of fun and very little frustrations, it was short but very polished. Good job! ;)

I really liked the intro, the music, the fact there was a town and NPCs (though they were a bit chatty at times). The whole western fantasy was a nice touch.

The shooting is nice, both the animation and sound effects, plus the fact you can aim in multiple directions. I did find the jump a bit abrupt and weightless though, and I struggled quite a bit on the platforming (but like other browser Godot games, it doesn't seem to recognize my Xbox gamepad, which I'm sure didn't help).

I also had trouble with the bats: they take quite a few hits until you improve your gun and they rush you without ever stopping or getting back their distance, so if you're hit once, you're guaranteed to get hit more until you can outrun it and shoot it. It's frustrating and I died quite a few times at the beginning of the game because of that. Despite that, I enjoyed the enemy variety. I would have liked more feedback when you shoot them though.

Overall, the metroidvania aspect was well done. By the end I was really anticipating the roll upgrade that had been taunting me the whole game. It felt a bit linear at times, but it does open a bit once you have all the upgrades and you're looking for the collectibles.

I appreciate that the escape sequence is pure spectacle and not actually timed. The screen shake and the sound effects really did sell the urgency of it it despite how much I struggled to get out of the final shaft.

Finished in 22m with 14 collectibles. It was pretty good!

First, I will admit I'm not sure if I finished the game or barely started it. I reached the point where music starts and the credits appears, which could be an indication of either. The thing is that I hit pause and a single button labeled "Button" appeared in the middle of the screen. Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on it. Turns out it's the close button... I started the game again but it didn't save my progression, so I stopped there. Please let me know if I was actually at the end or if I need to go back to it.

I will say I liked the glasses mechanic. I initially thought it was like the Lens of Truth in Zelda, only revealing hidden platforms, but it actually changes the world, which is a pretty nice twist and made for a few interesting puzzles. Though I would have liked a way to preview the changes they bring, as there's a few places where toggling them up will reveal thorns under your feet and kill you. I also got stuck inside a platform a one point when I materialized it at the wrong time. I could toggle it off to escape, so not a big issue.

The animations suffer a bit from the "paper doll" effect and the environments had a few visual issues at the seams. The parallax at the bottom of the first shaft confused my senses a bit. But the sound effects were really nice! They felt hefty in a satisfying way. Having some visual feedback when hitting the slimes would have been a nice way to complement them.

Overall it felt more like a pure platformer than a metroidvania, but again, maybe I only played through the intro? If you tell me there's more to it, I may revisit it ;)

Really nice to see a Metroid Prime-inspired entry!

The game's looking and sounding nice. I liked the environments as they provided a few explorable paths and took advantage of the third dimension. It was also nice to hear the saw from a distance and the sound getting louder when approaching. The rocks could have used a stronger effect when you break them with the missiles, but there's otherwise plenty of feedback and particles to underline your actions.

But the experience was overall a bit frustrating and I was sad not to finish it.

First, the Escape key does not pause the game, it closes it without confirmation... which I thankfully learned early in my playthrough.

The breakable rocks can be hard to see, which can be a nice way to encourage looking closely at the environment, but because I took some time to find them, I wasted all my missiles experimenting on other parts of the environment, to the point I couldn't progress any further. I had to kill myself using the "abyss rooms" to refill my ammo. Speaking of those rooms, I didn't understand them at first, so I died without knowing why. A better feedback on those rooms and a way to always refill your ammo would already go a long way to improve the experience.

The enemies are pretty cool, though placing the flowers near the entrances, to the player's back, feels a bit cheap. But they don't do much damage, so it's no big deal.

I gave up in the platforming section. I was often surprised by the jump distance considering its height. I often thought "no way I can make that jump" when I could. But falling kills you instantly and send  you back to the last powerup you gained, which was quite a few rooms from there. The second time it happened I couldn't bring myself to retry, which is a shame because I was really intrigued by where the game was going. If you could respawn the player on the last platform with a chunk of health missing, it would make it way more palatable.

In conclusion I found it very promising, and if those issues can be fixed it has the potential to be a really good 3D metroidvania! ;)

I completed it, it was pretty nice!

I was immediately surprised and pleased by how the title screen set the mood. This is something I found again when the boss appeared. Really nice staging. I also liked the little narration framing the adventure. The visuals themselves are minimalist but grew on me, especially the player's animations with a special mention to the upward and downward slashes, which are very cute.

More environmental flourishes to dress up the big empty rooms would have been nice. Maybe statues from the lost dynasty? ;)

I've found the controls a bit difficult, especially because I couldn't get my Xbox gamepad to work. Going fast and jumping can be a bit disorienting an nauseating as the camera moves a lot. Terminal velocity is also very large, so falling from heights is not a pleasant experience. The wall-jump and wall-slide feels a bit too abrupt. It's also very easy to get stunlocked to death and enemies don't drop health so I quickly stopped fighting and simply avoided them. The boss's sprite and patterns were nice, though it just disappeared on defeat, which felt anti-climactic. It was surprising and a bit disappointing considering the attention given to its appearance.

It's also more of a pure platformer than a metroidvania. I don't remember being ever offered multiple paths to explore at the same time. Though I did get the double damage powerup simply by wall-jumping, which doesn't seem intended but provided a small bit of sequence-breaking satisfaction. I liked that there was two paths to the double jump, one way more difficult than the other, but it doesn't reward you at all for choosing it. It would have worked better if it had let you grab the powerup earlier than intended.

The game did freeze quite a few times (presumably to load stuff?) but most of the time (save for one big noticeable exception) it was during room transitions, so no big deal.

Overall it was a nice, short experience. The platforming can be a bit challenging and frustrating, but it doesn't overstay its welcome and it has good vibes, so recommended! Good job ;)

No, it's just a trophy to show you've beaten the game ;)

And the only glitches are those weird pixels in the screen diagonal and the sometimes absent bullet trails? Are the doors and water rendered correctly?

Thanks! The short answer to your question is 'good tools and a good process' but I plan to write an in-depth postmortem later ;)

Thank you for the kind words and detailed feedback! I certainly spent more time on the environments than on the enemies, which is something I want to improve after the jam.

I've seen this game run on five different computers but it's the first time I've seen this graphical glitch or heard of disappearing trails. Could you please tell me what OS and GPU you have? Are your drivers up-to-date?

As for where to go next, check out the bottom-right of the map. There's a shower room in the crew quarters where you can use your new sliding ability ;)

Your comment made my day, thank you! I'm really glad to see my games resonating with players. It's a big motivation boost.

And yes, there will definitely be more metroidvanias coming from me in the future.

For starters, I do plan on entering the "Metroidvania Month" jam next week. It will be my first game jam in more than a decade, so no idea if I can make something good during such a short time with my busy schedule. We will see!

I've also been toying with a sequel for The Trespasser, tentatively titled 'The Fireseeker'. It's still very early, but it should be a bit more Metroid than Castlevania this time.

At least a couple hours, depending on how fast you read. I implemented the playtime counter too late to time my own playthroughs, but I would estimate it at something between 3 and 5 hours.

Sounds like a graphic card drivers issue. Could you maybe update them?

The way I ended up doing it is adding a late-game NPC that tells you in which regions you're missing one or more items: https://dreamnoid.itch.io/the-trespasser/devlog/483703/update-111-bugfix-and-hin...

That way you get an idea where to look for, without knowing precisely in which room it is. Hopefully it will do the trick :)

Thanks for the video! It was very useful to investigate those bugs. They're both fixed in version 1.1.2 ;)

Thanks, I appreciate the detailed feedback! I don't know yet if I will update this game further, but I will certainly keep this in mind for future projects ;)

It's a passive ability that automatically attracts health pickups to you.

It took a while, but the update is live: https://dreamnoid.itch.io/the-trespasser/devlog/483703/update-111-bugfix-and-hin...

It seems quitting the game during the Game Over screen saved your HP at 0...
I fixed the issue: as soon as the build is up (and it seems to take a bit of time today...), version 1.1.1 will let you reload that save file and have a playable character. Sorry for the inconvenience!