what a fun idea for a game!! upgrades always add a hook of replayability to a game! I personally liked the more passive approach to the gameplay, but if there was more strategy involved (some Controlled randomness), it would really elevate the experience :D
I knowww I'm sad that I didn't add audio! I had two hours left when I finished the game as it is, so I really ran out of time :( but thank you so much for the kind words!! silly and cute was the goal!
yay thank you for such a kind comment!! I'm super happy you liked the art and music! we really wanted to do a good job with it :D
yeah I agree with you that it's a little strange to just fall back down into the previous room, so I'll be brainstorming a way to land onto the nearest platform!
super cute game! it was easy but not in a bad way, because the art was very pleasing on the eye <3 there was a clear vision and it was created very well!
I really enjoyed this! I'm a huge fan of hard platformers, so this was a pleasure to play! I couldn't figure out where to go after getting the eighth coin though, so I wasn't able to complete the game. other than that, I had a great time playing! :D
it makes me super happy to hear that the blue-tenna is like a puzzle platformer because that's exactly what I was going for! I think Ill find a way to make it more forgiving in the future, so the player has more time to think about how to "solve the puzzle"
yep I definitely agree that some rooms need tweaking in this way! there's one room where the beetle charges at you immediately and I think "aw man, I need to change that asap," haha!
but I'm super glad you liked the game otherwise! thanks for the comment <3
you've understood how it works! the original idea is that the ability is a weaker starting point from which to grow, by taking more abilities, into completely dominating the room, but not directly doing damage yourself. something like controlling objects' movements, spawning new ones, causing them to explode, etc. it's the "magikarp" path, if I were to use a pokemon analogy. I'll definitely brainstorm some more direct "last-resort" options for it though, so it's less punishing to be in a bad spot
right now, I agree it is very difficult to use. but I assure you that it is possible to clear every room with just this ability, having designed each room this way. it takes a completely different playstyle though, which is where a lot of the difficulty comes from
hope this has been enlightening, and thanks again for sharing your thoughts! :D
I'm glad to hear the game feels nice to play, it was very important to me for this to be the case! and yes I definitely agree that the blue-tenna is very difficult to use compared to the other two. this was intentional, but I'm also brainstorming on possible ways to buff it in the future :)
wow thank you for the thoughtful comment!! it's good to hear that people are all agreeing on how to improve the game, it makes the next update that much easier :p
I totally understand feeling weird about the controls. on pc, I've most recently played pokemon emulators and deltarune, so arrow key movements are what I am most comfortable with right now, but I do like to play with a controller for platformers, so it killed me that I couldn't implement an "edit controls" feature in time.. needless to say, that's going in the next update for sure, along with lots of other QOL stuff! thanks again for the comment, hearing your experience with the game was super valuable :D
thanks so much omg! it means a lot to hear that it's underrated, as I've been sort of obsessing over numbers these past few days haha.. but I'm really glad you liked it! <3
super solid game! though this type of gameplay isn't normally for me, I played a lot of it and had a pleasant time with it :) everything just goes well together, and it's a relaxing time <3
love this game! it's simple yet difficult while still being a great experience! I love the puzzle mechanic, I think you've made something really great here! :D
btw, did you make the buzz sound effect yourself? haha!
thank you! it's funny you mention hollow knight, because one of the inspiring questions I had when conceptualizing this game was "what if hollow knight was a roguelite?" :D
and yeah, blue-tenna is by far the hardest ability to use. I usually can't finish a run with it as it is now! I was very close to creating a system where you got more first-item options as you played the game more (on the first run you'd only have the red mandibles, on the second you could choose mandibles or stun, on the third you could choose from all three). I think I'll make this for the next version, and maybe a way to test out each ability before doing a run
yep, after some feedback, it is definitely unclear how the "choose starting item" room works, so I'll be sure to release an improvement as soon as the voting period is over!
how it works currently is that when you pick one of the three weapons, the most recent one that you picked is equipped. if it is an active item--red madibles or blue-tenna--it is equipped to your Z action slot. green stun is passive, so it is not given a slot. when you find other active items, the button you press--Z or X--determines which action slot it goes into. You can tell it's active by the text at the bottom of the equip screen, which essentially asks "which slot do you want to equip this item?" I'll definitely improve this too
hope this helps you, or others in the future, and thanks for the thoughtful comment! <3
yay thank you! I'm super happy with how the audio of the game turned out :D super glad it's a challenge, but not offputting with its difficulty. the starting abilities do increase in difficulty as you go left to right, but I tweaked all the rooms until I could consistently beat them without taking damage with each starting ability. but anyways, thanks again for playing and for the comment! <3
wonderful puzzle platformer! the graphics and sound are very pleasant, and the rooms are nicely designed. overall it's a nice and chill experience, super amazing!
wowowow! I'm blown away by this game! it's incredibly well done, having been only been a month, and it's super fun too! if someone told me this is the new "thing" I'd believe them!
I grew up in the south-east united states, where fireflies are a mainstay of summer nights. catching them is just like this game, where you look out for slow blinks, follow them, look again, follow, until you find the little bug. I loved it, and it's a highlight of my childhood. this summer, I moved to the north-west US, where there aren't any fireflies, and I missed them all summer.
this game gave me a little of that experience, especially because of the fantastic sound design and the commitment to having everything super dark when unlit. felt just like summer nights in the appalachian mountains :')
the gameplay here is fantastic! there's some form of "economy" between looking where you're walking to avoid running into enemies, and looking backwards to shoot baddies chasing you, and I love it! I really hope you develop this more, especially with improved visuals. very well done!
amazing game! I loved the rhythm aspect and the sound design! as a music person, I'm super glad there are some difficult rhythms >:) one issue I've found is that the music and rhythms sometimes get out of sync, but still, really great game!
love the vibe with this, I'm a sucker for minimal/1-bit graphics! sound effects were nice too. my only complaint is that the objective size of each level is easy to miss, so I found that I often had to restart each level just because I missed the size. other than that, great stuff! :D
ahhh I see the confusion. This was an intentional choice due to time limitations, but currently, the first ability is always equipped to the Z action when starting a run. This is because when you enter the "start run" doorway, the ability is actually equipped, and not in the "ability-select" room. I'll add some sort of check for this in the future so that you can equip it to whichever slot you like! Maybe make the "interact" button different from the "action slot 1" button too.
Thank you so much! I'm honored that you played until beating it, and I'm glad it took several tries but less than an hour! Your critiques will be super helpful for improving it in the next update :) I planned on having a "room rewards" mechanic for restoring health and gaining some type of hub currency, but there's only so much that one programmer can do in a month haha Also, when you equip an Active skill, the button you press (X or Z) equips it to the respective slot. I'll make this more clear in the future!
I'm in love with the feel of this <3 the music paired with this color palette brings a sweet, whimsical, yet slightly disjointed feel (in a good way!) So glad I wore my good headphones!
