itch.io

Definitely more planned! The locked door and fairy ring are indeed unfinished. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for playing!

Yeah, I was going for somewhere between creepy and silly, so I'm glad that came through. Thanks for taking the time to play!

Glad you enjoyed it! The hand thing was what I envisioned when I set out to make the game in the first place.

Haha, I've never before clicked as fast as I was clicking to try and submit this on time.

Glad you like the goofy graphics! And I had some plans to flesh out the hand screen a bit more, but I'm happy it still felt funny as it is.

I had plans for the door and circle, but didn't finish in time for the jam...

Similar thing with only getting one fortune per playthrough. I originally wanted to have her say a couple things in each reading, but didn't write enough fortunes to really make that make sense. You can still get different fortunes by playing more than once though!

Thanks so much for taking the time to play and leave feedback!

There is a Windows version up now! I've never made a Windows build of a game, so let me know if you have any issues with it.

Hopefully, the wait hasn't soured the experience, haha!

Appreciate the congrats! And the continued interest.

I have someone writing original music for the post-jam update, but it's been coming in very slowly. I've joined a jam that starts tomorrow, so I decided that, with or without the new music, a new build of this is coming tomorrow before I get into another project. That's including a Windows build!

I really do appreciate you staying interested!

Yeah, I didn't think the flies were too bad, but I've gotten similar comments to yours, so, evidently, they're bad. 

I've already made some changes to them for the post-jam update, so hopefully that'll make it better. 

Sorry if that ruined the experience! Hope you liked the game up to that point, haha.

Glad you enjoyed the little world! Writing and making goofy characters and stories is the stuff I really love to do.

I was back and forth on checkpoints. Ended up the way it was mostly because it was easier to set up and level design, haha. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be changing that post-jam, but I definitely don't disagree with your assessment.

Thanks so much for taking the time to play, and I really appreciate the feedback!

Glad you liked the bubble wand! Definitely my personal favorite as well. I intentionally wanted to see if I could steer myself away from traditional double jumps, wall jumps, dashes, stuff like that, haha.

This is some very thorough feedback. Really appreciate it, and hope I can fix up some of the issues you recognized after the jam.

Thanks for playing!

Aha! I've been working on adding some settings for the post-jam update, and you reminded me that I wanted to let players be able to switch out the font for something a bit easier to read. Had completely forgotten about that to be honest, so thanks for reminding me! Yeah, that font can definitely be pretty difficult to read.

Thanks so much for playing and commenting!

Happy that you like the amount of heart drops; I had actually planned to change it and just kind of never did because more important things had to get done, and, well, at least the heart drops worked, haha. Hearts will probably be just a little more rare in the post-jam update.

Yeah, I've noticed and I've gotten a few other comments about lag, especially with the fire wand, and (for reasons I still can't quite figure) in the sewer. Hoping to get most of that smoothed over.

And the knockback! Totally agree! Woo buddy, it needs work! Probably the worst feeling part of the game in my opinion. It's already been changed a bit, so hopefully it will feel better once I upload the new build after the jam.

Thanks so much for taking the time to play and leave some feedback!

Hey! So glad someone noticed some of those little details, especially the NPC dialogue changing. There are actually quite a few NPCs whose dialogue changes after doing various things; I figured most people wouldn't notice, but hoped the few who would might appreciate it!

Such a cool idea. Feels like so many pieces coming together, and, what do you know, they fit so well! I really appreciate the little difficulty settings, especially for someone as bad at games as I am, and especially for the sake of rating a jam entry. (I still struggled, haha.) And the simple geometric style that you've gone for suits the game quite nicely. The player's shape changing is a take on that style that I don't think I've seen before too; pretty cool!

Don't know that I have much in terms of feedback that hasn't already been said, especially because it can be difficult for me to gauge what was hard for me because of the game and what was hard for me because I am just no good at this type of game (or any type of game really). 

Overall, excellent work!

Agree with others that the mix of 2D and 3D is quite cool. The art could certainly use a second pass because there are a lot of conflicting styles going on, but I think if you really leaned into that combination of 2D and 3D you could end up in a very cool and unique spot stylistically.

The attack/jump/double jump thing was a cool idea, although I had some trouble getting it to work properly...? I'm intrigued by the thought process with that, and how it would look in a full game. 

In fact, I would say that in its entirety this game has me very interested in what it would be like expanded and refined. Overall, good work!

Mechanically, this is very interesting. There's still so many directions you could take the water pressure mechanic, that I'm having a hard time not putting on my designer hat and brainstorming away, haha. I also really dig the player art.

I did notice that I seemed to be able to double jump infinitely; like, I could hold the spacebar and fly. In general, a lot of the controls seemed to have some weird little quirks like this that could use some ironing out.

Overall, you've got me very intrigued. I want more of the water pressure mechanic, and I also want more of the world you've built. While you don't get much of it in this demo, the description on the game page has really got me hooked! Looking forward to seeing where you take this if you have plans of continuing development.

Fun! I see a lot of folks have already mentioned how well designed the level is, but, well, the level is well designed! I'm especially impressed with this because of how terrible I am at it, haha. This one just really has a great vibe in the exploration that really hits all the right Metroidvania points for me. And the art is very charming. Does a good job of looking great and being very readable.

One thing that was a bit frustrating to me was how enemies respawned as soon as you entered a room because sometimes I would step into a room to see that the way I was blocked and immediately have to backtrack, so I think it would have been nice to have at least a short buffer where if you reenter a room quick enough, enemies won't have respawned yet. Plus, it lets me feel good about how well I disposed of those slimes the first time, haha.

But overall, this one is great. I see you're already working on updating after the jam, and I can say with confidence that I'm looking forward to it!

Fun little prototype! Some of it feels quite polished, and I especially like the art.

The fact that your jump didn't actually start until after lifting the spacebar feels very weird; not sure if there was a reason behind that, but I was not a fan. I would also say that the combat could use a bit of work. The enemies seemed to take quite a few hits, but just clicking and backing away and clicking was not too engaging. I feel like either having them take less hits or having something more to the combat system would help with that.

Overall, however, it is fun, which is a really good sign. I see you call it a prototype, so my hope is you have plans to keep working on it. I want more cool pygame projects!

(Oh, and always happy to support a dev using pygame! Unfortunately, it's just brutal trying to get ratings for a jam with just source code available. I know from experience, haha.)

Edit: Wanted to throw a recommendation for pygbag in here, just in case you've never heard of it and plan to continue using pygame. It'll let you make web builds, which can be really nice to have. Doesn't always work perfectly, but might be worth checking out!

Okay. I'll have to take a look at what I can do. Appreciate the feedback!

Oh, that's unfortunate. Could be a browser issue, not really sure. It got worse as you played? Did it seem to happen more in some areas than others? (For example, the sewer area seems to lag sometimes for reasons that I still haven't figured.)

Glad you were able to have a good time regardless.

Glad you had fun! That's the best thing to hear.

The buff mushroom sprite was actually the very first thing I made because while brainstorming I came up with the idea of a Metroidvania where the upgrades would be Street Fighter style combos. That mushroom guy was going to be the player character, and the game was going to be called "Muscleshroom." So the buff mushroom holds a special place in my heart.

I had hoped the weapons would feel a bit different, and the bubble one was definitely my favorite as well. And I just love writing for goofy little characters, hence all those NPCs, haha.

Haven't had the chance to watch yet, but really cool of you to record your playthroughs for all these games. It already takes time to play and rate, so you making these videos too is pretty crazy. Not to mention, watching someone play your game seems like a great way to learn more about how people play your game and make changes based on that! Seriously, that's awesome!

Ooh, I really like this one. It feels very different from other entries I've played so far. I could get lost in it forever (seriously, I can't tell if it's actually huge or if it just feels that way because of how open it is from the start, but it feels huge).

I mean this in the best way: the art is kind of ugly, but I also kind of love it. I get a kind of retro aesthetic from it when games had to be legible, not beautiful, and I really like it. (Please don't take this the wrong way; I sincerely apologize if it sounds like I'm bad-mouthing your art, because that's not my intention at all. I'm trying to describe a sort of janky vibe that I get from it, not calling the art itself janky. I do quite like the art, and a lot of the animations are especially well done, like the climbing!)

As others have mentioned, the biggest issue is the lack of direction. I played for a while, and I still had little idea what all I was doing. I will say, however, that even this I kind of didn't mind... like, I had fun running around and messing with things...? Sort of feels in the spirit of the exploration element of a Metroidvania, just ramped up to an extreme. I don't know, maybe I'm a weirdo, but I sometimes enjoy the feeling of being dropped in the deep end, haha.

Overall, super cool and super unique. I dig it big time. Great work.

Cool little game! You did a good job of picking art that fit the story and vibe of your project; it really feels quite cohesive.

A map would be a great addition if you're going to keep working on this. That was probably the thing I most found myself wanting while playing.

I also found the combat a bit weird, mainly because of how close you needed to be in order for the weapon to work. I can't say it didn't feel good (it felt okay, especially after playing for a while), but it definitely felt weird to me and took a bit of getting used to.

I think overall the game is pretty cool! Good work!

Okay, so, um, this was just an absolute blast? Like super fun. Like, I didn't want to stop playing, and I'm probably going to play some more tonight after rating a couple more games.

Feel like the lack of dying did benefit the game, but I still feel like, since there are enemies there, they should serve a bit more purpose. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to dodge them if I felt like it, and it was probably even more fun to just fly through ignoring them (and it was maybe even more more fun to try to use the little thing that happens when you get hit to get a bigger jump, haha). But I still feel like their presence just comes across as a little weird. 

But seriously, I can't say enough how much fun I had with this. And, in my opinion, fun is the absolute best thing a game can be. Excellent work.

Wowee, there is so much going on here! You've really fit a lot of interesting little systems and mechanics into the game, which is just insanely impressive to me considering that this is a jam entry. Not to mention, the art and sound design feel very nice, and much of what I experienced feels very polished. Seriously, I want to reiterate that this game is just really impressive.

If I have any feedback, it's that the systems might almost be too much for me. While it's really cool to immediately be dropped into the game and make that "path" choice, I also had no idea what any of it meant as I made it. A similar thing happened with the alchemy system, which I still don't know that I totally understand. My point isn't that these systems are poorly designed, but rather that there is just a bit of information overload for me as a player.

I will admit that, because of how I rate game jam entries and the time I have to spend on each one, it's very possible that as you play these systems really begin to click and make sense. And I'll also say that the game still felt super cool and was fun!

(Oh, and a small bug to report too! If you walk to the left in the beginning of the game, you seem to be able to walk off the edge of the world as we know it, haha.)

I really like the art and music, created a vibe unlike any of the other entries I've played. It's also pretty fun! Who doesn't want to jump around and slash some baddies?

Some of the enemies seemed to take a significant amount of hits, though. I couldn't even tell if you could kill the zombie(?) guys at all. After hitting them so many times I just moved along. And the rock throwing guy seemed to just brush off hit after hit, haha.

I also feel like there were quite a few places where I would jump into areas that I couldn't see on-screen, which is a personal pet peeve of mine when it comes to level design. Just makes it far too easy to jump onto a bad guy that you didn't know was there.

Overall, however, the game is pretty cool!  Don't know if you have plans of working on this more, but I think this one would benefit from it! I'd certainly check it out again!

Very stylish! Everything looks so great and feels so great. Seems like lots of polish in the mechanics, for a jam game especially!

Obviously, the bug with losing the upgrades is an issue, especially if you're as terrible at games as I am. I see that you seem to already have it fixed, so I'll have to remember to come back to this one when the jam ends; I want to play more, but I'm just too terrible!

Overall, however, the game really is very cool and very well done in general. Excellent work!

I think I probably could, but at this point, it probably won't be until after the jam, and will probably be an updated version.

Hope you stay interested, haha!

Thanks!

Nice! I like the art and sound effects quite a bit (who would I be if I didn't mention that the jump sound effect wasn't perfectly goofy).

I think some of the mechanics could be refined a bit. The wall jump especially felt finicky to me personally. I had a hard time getting into a good rhythm to actually get myself to use the wall jump properly.

Overall, however, I really dig it. It has an almost old-school platformer vibe with Metroidvania elements that fit together surprisingly well. Good work!

Glad you enjoyed it! Top 10 seems very generous based on the amount of entries and the quality of some of what I've played so far! But I suppose we'll see, haha. 

Thanks for playing!

The graphics are very goofy, and, along with the repetitive music, it sort of works. Gives the whole game a sort of charm that you don't always find. I'm here for it.

The jump felt a little weird to me, but I can't quite put my finger on why... it might just be a matter of adjusting some of the values that make it up: velocity, gravity, all that jazz. I just know that as a player, I often had a hard time gauging where exactly my jump would put me, and it made it quite difficult at times to maneuver around the enemies. I think maybe adjusting some of the collision shapes on things could maybe help with this too (for example, I think that I actually got stuck on a line coming up from the ground at one point, which is sort of hilarious, but also made it more difficult to get past the enemy right in front of me because I kind of had to jump from that point in order to get over the bump in the ground).

Overall, however, I think the game does what it sets out to do quite well. It's simple, it's a bit crude, but it's fun! And fun is what I really want from a game.

Conceptually amazing. Probably one of the most original ideas I've seen in the jam so far, despite being unfinished. And the art, music, and sound design are all so cohesive and cool.

Obviously, a bit difficult to give much in terms of feedback because of the game's unfinished state. I did find it quite difficult to get the timing right. (In fact, I had a really good time launching myself across rooms by getting the timing wrong, haha.) I'm not very good at games in general though, so maybe the difficulty is where you want it.

The concept is really great, and I hope that after taking all of the time to rest that you need, you feel like you can return to it. It's already very cool as it is!

(And, it sounds like you made a good call submitting what you had so far and letting yourself rest! I don't know who you are, or what all you've done, but I can tell you that you deserve to lay back and chill for as long as you need. We need you in tip-top shape, so you can make the best games for us!)

Freaking love it. This has the most bizarre vibe in the best kind of way; everything about it just oozes a style and sensibility that I'm in love with. I could keep playing (and dying) for a thousand years and I would not tire of it.

That said, dying for a thousand years and ending up in the same spot every time does get a little tedious. I'd love some checkpoints or something. I kind of get the feel you're going for with the timer and death counter, but I think, especially for the sake of this being playable and easily rated as a jam entry, it would be really nice to have something to make it so every death isn't so punishing.

I also kept having an issue where the music would suddenly disappear. Like, it would start kind of stuttering and popping and then it would just cut out completely. I restarted one time because there was no way I was playing without listening to that fascinatingly funky music. But when it happened a second time, I had to just keep going without it. Playing the browser version in Chrome if that helps at all.

Anyway, I really do love this. Didn't end up finishing it, but the chances I'll come back to keep playing are astronomical. I sincerely hope you have plans of continuing development with this. It's so great!

So glad you enjoyed it! It sounds like you've seen things that I didn't even see in my own game (like fantastic level design, haha)!

But really, this is great to hear. So motivating. It's why I love making games and it's why I love engaging with the awesome community that makes games. Making games rocks! (Sometimes.)

Glad you liked it enough to play through! It ended up pretty short (not necessarily intentionally), but I think that's a good thing for a jam entry! Thanks for playing!

That music is sweet isn't it? But I can't take credit for it (wish I could, haha); that goes to TipTopTomCat. Sourced the music from itch as a last minute thing when my music guy told me he wouldn't have everything done in time. Still thinking about having some original music in the post jam version, although I have become quite fond of what's already there...

Thanks! Always shocked when people like my goofy art, haha, but feels good to know it's worth the (way too much) time I put into it.

Hey, dashes and double jumps are what they are for a reason... they're super fun! But yeah, the bubble wand ended up being my personal favorite mechanic for this game too. Glad you liked it.

The level design is pretty questionable, totally agree. I think I made the player's jump pretty weak, which doesn't feel terrible, but then I didn't design the level with that in mind. Not to mention I have the terrible habit of leaving level design with very little time left, haha. And the combat was just something that I generally struggle with. I'm alright with how it turned out for the most part, but it lacks much in complexity, and I agree that sometimes it can feel needlessly difficult in a less than fun way. Might be something I try to fix up after the jam!

Thanks so much for playing! Really appreciate it, and hearing your thoughts is helpful as well!