OOOOOH. MYYY. GODDOOO!!
That game is so ADORABLE!!
I knew this was gonna be one of my favorites just from the cover art and the description alone, and it sure delivered!
The artstyle is extremelly cute! I really like all of it, but I specially ADORE the cutscene pictures and the brewing menu, they're soooo charming!! Everything is charming!!
The music as well? It's all bangers!! There's only like, 3 tracks? But they are all aewsome! And the boss theme is exactly the kind of bossfight vibe I strive for!
And speaking of these bossfights tho?? They're phenomenal! They're sooo simple in concept, but you executed them to a T!
Like, the first boss is the Sun on the background??? And once you beat it the Sun is ACTUALLY gone for the rest of the game???
And the second boss is FRIGGIN NEWTOW'S CRADLE???? AND THE FLOOR TURNS INTO LAVA TO FORCE YOU ABOVE IT????
10000/10, you nailed these, please 25 more on my table asap!
And you honestly also just hit my weakspot tbh, wich is making a game with an actual character with an actual name and actual personality that is actually shown in the game and an actual mini-plot to follow throught. These entries always make me so much more attached to them in a personal level...
Now gameplay wise, it's pretty fun! Movement feels fairly fair and level design is pretty serviceable, despite some shortcomings here and there thanks to the spotlighted mechanics.
Speaking of wich, your abilities system makes me very conflicted on how much of a metroidvania this is, since the upgrades are not things you unlock for Ariana herself, but instead they're "skills" for the enviroment around her, wich is.... quite unseen before for me?
It's definitelly a unique and very creative system, and I deffinitelly can't say they feel like keys to doors since there is a certain amount of deliberate decision making involved on wich one to use when and they do affect how you approach things beyond just opening a passage here or there, but at the same time Ariana is the same from the start to finish, so you really got me backed into a corner here, and honestly, in a good way! What is the purpose of genre conventions if not to be broken, am I right?
That said, there a few places where this system faulters a little, mostly on some spots where you clearly intend for the cloud platforms to go up, but if you jump on them without cloudisol there is no way to come back so you just fall to your doom, and the camera often doesn't make a good job of letting you know the way ahead was a dead end all along. Plus a few blind jumps here and there.
And a little side note since I don't know where also to mention it: I love how bubbloft makes both Ariana's AND the enemies bubbles to float, it is very amusing x)
Lastly I gotta say, sending you back to the menu everytime you die and making the default selected option "New Game" is super evil lmao, the chances of someone just spamming space to get back to the action quicker and wiping out their progress is huge xD
It didn't happen to me because I was constantly conscious of it, but still, I'd reccomend making "Load" the deafult selection if you're gonna do something like that, or just not sending us back to the menu at all, just make Ariana respawn on the last bed she slept right away.
Aaaanyway, I think that's it, thanks for this very delightfull experience!
PiePie
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Very cute, and very funni x)
You can never go wrong with silly little slimes, they're peak character design in a pinch. I like the overall theming of the facility, and I appreciate the few props here and there. They might not be a lot, but they do a good job of making the place look nicer.
The music is very good, but I will admit it's also kind of hilariously "Noir" compared to the rest of the game, wich honestly can also be seen as a plus xD
I like the abilities, ceiling sticking is not something I see often and I do appreciate it here. I enjoyed quite a bit the little petit platforming gauntlets you threw here and there, in fact I wish you did more of them, your player mechanics flows really nicely for challenges like these!
Combat on the other hand is a little mindless, all I found myself doing was hitting and backing off multiple times until the enemies were dead, there wasn't much anything else I could do other than occasionally jumping with the enemies to hit them on the air too. It also felt pretty clunky, every 3 or 4 attacks my little slash just decided to not have a hitbox attached to it wich resulted in me taking hit a few times from enemies that didn't received knockback.
I also felt like the slime bosses were a little too tanky for how unengaging their fight was (All of them acts exactly like any other normal enemy) so I'm afraid they got old pretty quick.
I also took a big while to realize I could stand on top of shelves and doorframes, I would make these look more alike the other darker phase-throught platforms to indicate that or vice-versa, making the platforms look more like the doorframes. I actually killed myself on the lava pit on the clue room to backtrack to spawn because I didn't realize I could stand on top of the shelf at the time lol
You did pretty great on the metroidvania aspect with your abilities and the map was also very fun to walk around even if it was short and simple, but there were 2 details that bothered me a little:
Firstly, the health upgrades, wich you kinda just... threw them anywhere and called it a day lol, they really don't feel like they're rewarding exploration nor skill nor anything at all, they're just kinda.... on the way. I know having minor upgrades like health ups is a metroidvania staple, but I'd rather you don't try to tackle them on if you can't or don't have the time to build some more organic spots for them.
Secondly, the big final door says "Feather required" if you try to enter it early, and later it just opens wihtout any aparent reason. I'm assuming it gets unlocked by either the dash or the double jump, but regardless wich one it is, it defeats the purpose of ability gating in the first place. You shouldn't block our way with a literal door that arbitrarily opens once you have a certain ability, you should block our path by putting said door on a platform too high to reach or on the other side of a cliff faraway from us.
I guess that's it for today, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, and also thanks for submitting! Hope you had fun participating x)
So sweetie! I think that's probably one of the best entries this time around, at least on the execution department
The art is very lovely and lively. The metal building place is pretty much what you'd expect on this game jam, but I specially love the whole grassy place, it looks incredible!
As always I do miss some music when there isn't any, but the sound effects here do an amazing job alone honestly, screwdriving and metal bonking ASMR wasn't on my bingo card but gotta say it was a delight for the ears uwu
I adooooreee how polished everything feels, our robot character actually feels super tridimensional thanks to all of the sounds and visual animations and effects, and they feel SUPER iron heavy too, wich is perfect! From the scrap sparkles that comes out from hitting the ceiling, to the fact each individual part of our robot friend falls at different speeds and you can see their neck slightly stretching during long falls, everything here feels extremelly.... real, you know? x)
The mechanics are also a very creative interpretation of the theme, and I like how you manage to design some fun little screwing puzzles here and there. I don't have a lot else to comment about that tho, it is executed perfectly, so there aren't any issues to point out, but they also don't develop much deeper for me to feel like highlighting anything in particular.
Only tiny minor "Issues" I even noticed were the 1 in 1 million chance of a non-euclidean transition I showed you on Discord, and also the fact I sometimes get stuck for a second or two when I fully neck-hug a tile, but none of these are really relevant to the grand scheme of things in any way.
I guess it's also worth pointing out the spiky vines do blend in quite a lot with the forest background as well, but again, very minor stuff.
I guess that's it! Feels weird to not having a lot to say about a game that is actually so tighly well-made, but I guess in the end of the day it's still a fairly simplistic game x)
(Still very evil to tease not one, but two impossible to reach areas, tho)
Yeah Pie mode felt extremelly balanced overall, but I am a little suspicious to say that x)
And it actually made energy management very interesting, since batteries only ever recovered one point of health every damage I took felt way more impactfull and made me have to actually adapt and improvise my gameplay around the amount of energy I had.
IWBTG stand for "I wanna be the guy", wich is a series of "kaizo" styled games (As in, like kaizo mario, if you know what I mean)
The original IWBTG games are more "haha get trolled stewpid" than actual platforming challenges tho, but the fangames, wich is what I consider the actual bulk of the series, focus way more on the ridiculous precise platforming instead, it's very fun.
You can get I Wanna Maker for free on Steam, it has a story mode with lots of very cool level design, and as the name suggests you can also play levels made by other players, I totally reccomend it as an introduction to these kinds of games since it's also fairly tame compared to some other ones
Oh maaah goddo, that's such a fun one!
I really love everything about this! The artstyle is super cool, the sceneries are aamaazzing! I really your backgrounds! The factory ones are so grand and imposing, while the city one is super such a vibe!
And don't even get me started on the music! It's gorgeous! and I adore how it keeps it ramping up as you progress, both on the overworld and on bossfights, it makes everything feel like a real journey!
I also loooveee when entries go the extra mile to tell full story lines, and this one is no different. I really adore the dialogue writing, too, these text bots are so fun to be around, and I actually liked the dynamic of the two main characters, their screentime is pretty short but I still like what I saw (Expect robot yaoi at your DMs at some point /jk)
Gameplay is also very peak! Everything is snappy and zappy and zippity nifty fun, as all good things in life. it always feels awesome to be fully geared out and go flying around at lightspeed in these games.
The way you handled health and mana was also super cool, honestly! limiting your max energy to your current health is a very fun concept, and I think you did it pretty well here, kudos also to your solid level design that actually seens to manage to not let you get softlocked at any point thanks to that, wich is something pretty impressive to achieve on a game with a system like that.
The bossfights are also very cool! Nothing beats a one to one rival fight against someone with the same powers as you, and the dynamic music also sweeps super hard! (I do kind wish the magnet was also used on that fight at some point, tho, I guess it was a little harder to implement, but as it stands it was the only upgrade that felt very sidelined... But it is entirely optional, so I guess this does make sense, since you could reach that point without it, anyway.)
And of course, it's a honor that "Pie mode" is even a thing at all, you flatter me x3
I did play the game on Pie mode, but not Super Pie mode, it sounds very funny, but it's description also implied to me that the bosses would also die in one hit, so I opted not to play it this time (I might check it out if I replay this on the future, tho)
I also LOVE how you implemented these extra modifiers, I am really gratefull you heard my preaches and not made them replay exclusive, but instead you found a way to actually make them feel replay exclusive thanks to leaving them out of the way, wich I think is probably the best way to implement these kind of stuff.
Honestly the only negative thing I have to say about the game is that I kinda wish there were more intentionally crafted platforming segments. Sure there are a few, but again, the magnet felt very underutilized, and you taunted me with a few tiny bit of IWBTG level design on a couple rooms just to never commit to it on later areas. But alas, in the end all I'm saying is that "I wanted more" and I guess that's the best negative point someone can give to something lol
Funnily enought, I actually didn't get the true ending. I did backtrack to explore a little more but aparently still not enought, but I played the game for a bit already so I'm calling it a day for now lol, maybe I come back on the future.
Very cute little one! Sadly not a lot to comment about it tho x)
The art is pretty simple but sweet and everything feels very fairly polished, and every death to fire does feel very painfull, wich is a good thing, in this case xD
It also felt pretty bad to burn down the forest honestly... despite the simplicity of the graphics you really nailed down the feeling of how dangerous fire can be.
The gameplay is pretty funni, I like the idea of having to manipulate the enemies movement in order to defeat them or solve puzzles, it's a very creative way to make a non-combat game.
However I... Didn't actually need to use the Goblins for puzzles, thought x)
If you just hold the key in the direction of the wall the little prince will just squeeze throught the gaps and stretch his hands to reach whatever is on the other side. Of course he can't really fit fully so he will never manage to actually get to the other side, but all he needs is to grab the key and move on, anyway.
This is also not really a metroidvania honestly. Of course it's very short, but other than that it also don't have any actual character upgrades, only two keys (You don't use the candlestick for anything but opening another passage, wich is still just a key, not an upgrade)
Aw man, that was a funni one x)
Really like the design of the main character and their silly animations, they look very goofy in the best way huheuaheu
General vibes and aesthetics are pretty simple, but they're serviceable. the spritework is very good even thought the general art direction don't have much to offer in terms of decoration or ambient variety.
Did miss some music honestly, I don't really like playing on silence and that's deffo not the game that do want silence as a vibe, but the lack of it is understandable too. Sound direction is a little goofy, and this time in a less amusing way... I personally don't usually like when characters grunt on jumps, but if you do make them do so they need more variety, hearing the same "hup" every single time gets old very fast lol. The sound effects for the bosses death also felt very uuhh... tacked on top of them, the lenght of the sound effect is way way longer than their death animation (wich is just a single frame explosion).
HOWEVER, I genuinelly laughted HARD when I heard the fwiggin METAL PIPE SOUND EFFECT as the player's death effect LMFAO, disregard everything I just said the sound design is a straight 10 out of 10 XDDDDDD
The gameplay is pretty basic honestly, I don't really have a lot to comment about it. I like that despite the tech themes this one actually draws a lot more of influence from Castlevania instead of Metroid, wich is a rare thing to see on the genre despite what it's term name might make you believe.
The whip does feel super clanky tho, it's hitbox is very inconsistent, sometimes it will hit enemies, sometimes it won't, it purely depends on it's mood at the moment (I also think it just mirrors togheter with the player if I turn around mid swing, wich, is usually a good thing, but that should only be possible on the very first frames of the attack, otherwise I am probably turning around to move to that direction after the attack, not really wanting to change the attack's direction)
The bosses are finnicky too. They're cool in concept but they lack better telegraphing, the only thing that actually has any warning that is gonna happen is Bee_Boss's lazer beam, but their charge attack just happens very suddenly without giving you any time to properly react. Granted, I did ended up figuring both of the bosses ran on very predictable patterns so that wasn't much of an issue, but I thought it was worth pointing out. (My main problem with Bee_Boss was really just my whip swing not commiting to the direction I wanted it to commit, but that could also be considered a soft skill issue on my part)
You also forgot to include the whip input on the settings menu lol, I had to press every key until finally finding it x)
Well that's kinda it, thanks for sharing the game with the class!
Looks cute, but I'm afraid it doesn't want me to play it sadly
When I get to this part not even one minute into the game my character sees horrors beyond their comprehension and closes their eyes
On another note, I wish there was a downloadable version, you guys made a menu that looks like it was supposed to be it's own executable (It even has a "quit" button that does nothing but freeze everything), so I am confused as to why you didn't make it avaiable in download form. I've always found web exports extremelly unreliable, and I would not be surprised if the bug I am facing was a result of that
It's a sweet little game
It is quite simple however, I can't think of much to comment on here.
The frost spell is really interesting, and I actually really love the frost plus bolt combo, that is a very creative idea that was sadly not utilized to much potentiall in the short time we had with Isabella.
I'm afraid we end our adventure right when it was about to actually start, and it's aparent. You at least finished it off in a very cute manner thought, I wish Isabella good travels on her journeys.
It is a little odd how she changes clothes when standing vs when moving, the stars on her skirt are definitelly not a subtle detail so it does feel kinda jarring to see it suddenly appear and dissapear everytime, and I personally don't really like when characters keep grunting when doing anything at all, I think it does sound kinda corny, but none of that are big issues, just some minor nitpicks x)
And I think that's all I have to say, it's a solid game, just a little shallow but with lots of potential with the spells system
It's cute
Love the rage game vibes this have, reminds me a little of The World's Hardest Game, I think that might be a direction you could consider to go, just need to practice some more level design.
I'm afraid the web build is broken tho, all of the little blue squares on level 2 were maniacly jittering for me, wich made their patterns kinda weird, and most of them seemed to be out of bounds actually. (This might be intentional tho, I can't be sure lol, but if so I would wonder why there are so many enemies with actual patterns outside of the stage, so I'm assuming it's a bug)
I think it's funny that Clara goes from a trapezoid to a full square just by grabbing a gun, way to go Clara, gotta get the proper wardrobe for a new weapon
As someone else pointed it out as well, would be great to have an indication on the first level that you're supposed to use the right mouse click for the big triangles.
Also this is not really a metroidvania, it's just a level by level game, wich is fine by itself, but doesn't really fit the jam's genre x)
(I'm sure Clara is very magical tho)
Oh my goddo that is such a really wholesome game!
I knew these two were going to be yuri the moment I saw some of their banters x)
I really love them, they're very funni and endearing, it was a big delight helping them out to dungeon crawl, was always waiting for the next interaction.
God this game just softens my heart so much! I'm way too easilly attachable to characters and that feeling is something I don't see a lot in mvm! I assume it's probably more common on mggj, but seeing it here really fills my soul with joy x)
I kinda got the unity ending by luck since I just like, happened to split some donuts, otherwise my dialogue choices would have made me end up on the indifference route, but I'm glad it did because that ending was definitelly the sweetest one.
I am kinda very terrible for playing these kind of games where you have to make choices for characters that are actual characters and not just a literal self insert for the player in order to get the other endings, because I refuse to make choices that I believe the character's thenselves wouldn't do (In this case I thought it was more fitting for Luna to thank Angie, and for Angie to either disagree with or criticize Luna). Thankfully that does mean all I have to do to get the other ending if I play again is to not split donuts, so I'll see if I do that. (I just wanted to point this out because like, I feel genuinelly bad for having to make a decision for someone that isn't literally me, so I was very torn when these choices popped up lol, because it also makes me feel like I'm assuming their feelings, wich granted, we do so irl all the time, but still, It's not something I like to do)
The achievements are a very nice addition, they're funny and can point players towards interesting directions, and I appreciate you hid the spoilerous ones.
The actual dungeon crawling experience is super fun too! This is really a fully fledged out rpg and both characters have very interesting movesets! I also really like the resource management aspect to it, really adds that sense of risk vs reward while exploring and battling!
I also really like the final boss, I love how each extra phase represents one of the two characters with moveset and flavor text, and the random anime music playing on the background makes it heart pounding EPIC!!! xDDDD
(However, I do wish Luna didn't just like, flat out said it out loud the boss represented them, that felt kinda corny, but in her defense at least it wasn't an unnatural thing to say at that time since she did so to reflect about it, so I'll forgive her this time, headpats Luna)
I only did 2 runs so far, I died to the final boss the first time because I spent my mana like crazy on the first attempt lol, but on the second one I got carried by Overclock + Moon Phases + bombs, super fun combo would reccomend, and I do kinda wanna try doing the other endings later, if I remember to
But I think that's it for my comment, I actually don't really have any real critiscism I think, this is a super solid game
OH. MAI. GODDO.
Is this a bullet hell platformer boss rush for the deranged of mind?? I'm on the mazochist's heaven!!
I Love this, the boss designs are super creative and incorporate the themes fantastically! Not only aesthetically, but also on their gameplay! This is really super well done!
And speaking of their gameplay, oh my GOD, I wanna MARRY those bosses! they are soooooo fun and impeccably designed! And most of them are multiphased?????? Do you wanna make me lose my freaking mind???????
Like for real, as self-proclaimed bossfight connoisseur myself, you scratched every single bossfight itch I crave to see!
And the final boss is BRUTAL!!!
Not only brutally challenging, but brutally stealing my heart!!! I still didn't beat it yet, but I MUST do so later on sometime. Every single new pattern phase I think it cannot get possibly better and then I am fwoggin MELTING for the next surprise!! I managed to get to the desperation move before having to put the game down to take a break. A DESPERATION MOVE. You have NO idea the giant smile I had on my face when I saw that arena fading out <3
And then there is Unity, hidden all the way on the end of earth, and boy, is it worth finding it. I ADORE how you designed that boss in a way that the player can basically choose their own difficulty, that is such peak game design.
I also didn't beat them yet either, actually. Why? Because c'mon, they're "Unity", I gotta fight all three at the same time ;)
That is definitelly also a little harder than the alternative, but I don't care, I ball! It seens super doable, I will also come back to it at some point, I hope.
Now, not everything are flowers, sadly.... The player hitbox is like, really big? It was not much of an issue for the big majority of the game, but on the final boss it became very apparent when I would try to squeeze between bullets and would get hit by like, 1 pixel of my head's outline touching the bullet, or 1 pixel of my arms outline touching the vertical beams, and that never feels good.
I also actually really struggle with the control scheme... This is way more of a personal nitpick, but the spacebar is a horrible button for 2D platformers honestly.... Specially since W was completely free of input to rub salt on the wound. It's the recipe for disaster, spacebar is the most sensible button and the thumb is the brutest of fingers, they were never meant to be a power couple. Due to that I am still having a really hard time measuring precise jump heights, I can only ever either jump too high or too low I'm afraid.
I also really hate using my pinky.... It is the thumb's evil brother, it's the frailest of fingers, so it was really not made to keep a button pressed for long periods of time... I just wish slowdown was a toggle instead, like, pressing shift once makes me slow until I press it again, that would have felt wayt better imo. Due to that I actually never used slowing down at all during the fights, and honestly they're completely fine without it, I just think it would be more cool if I did use all of the mechanics, you know?
But again, control schemes are subjective, these are very personal details lol
The art is actually very simple, I don't have much to comment on that, althought I do really like the lore you added, and I love that dying to the final boss is actually an ending too, and a very sweet one at that!
I did REALLY miss music tho! I'm am a very music powered person, and even thought I usually don't mind lack of music that much on most entries, on a game as epic to play as THIS? I MUST have music playing for these fights, so after a few attempts I could not resist, I had to open youtube and leave some bossfighty music on the background x)
I actually also think a lot of the bosses attacks really missed sound effects too, actually.... Everything feels very oddly silent, specially since some attacks felt like they would be a lot heavier (Like all of the spear moves from the final boss, or everything the Construct's mecha does, or Rust's box throws, etc.)
Anyway, I think that's kinda it?
lovely game, might probably play again
That was very short, but it's serviceable.
The title screen and splash art are gorgeous, I really like them, and I also love the heroine's pixel art design, and her animations are very charming, she kinda reminds me of Metal Slug in some sense, despite having a very different artstyle.
I really like gunslinger characters in general, it's really fun to see them just solving all of their problems with lead in a way or another, like the way the shotgun was implemented as mainly a movement tool that just happens to damage enemies, that was super cool!
Movement felt okay-ish, there is nothing inherently wrong with it, it just lacks some polish. For instance, there is no coyote time, wich is kinda essential for characters that moves at high speeds like our little friend here, and everything also feels a little too weightless, I don't really know how to explain, but it's mostly due to how the animations doesn't quite flow super well with what is happening. Like, the character moves way faster than her walk cycle implies, and there is no animation for actually using the shotgun, wich kinda uhhh..... Makes it look like she is just super farting, I'm afraid x)
(I mean looking at it again, it seens like the blast comes off from her boots? Either way, it felt too subtle for something that I think should be way more dramatic, if you get what I mean)
I like the idea of the reloading mechanic, but I think it could be more refined. For instance, it should give better visual feedback aside from just writing it on the HUD.... Coming back to Metal Slug, an animation for that state would be the most ideal, but since that is definitelly a lot of work to do, just a few particles affected by gravity coming out the character to show the old rounds being discarded, or something like that would be great! Information like these that limits the player's action while they're on the middle of acting should be extremelly on the nose, since if the player is focused on the immediate gameplay like platforming or fighting, they won't really have their eyes on the hud at the moment, and subtle changes to it are harder to be noticed by peripheral vision.
I think that's all I have to say about this one. It's charming, but it also is sadly a little too short to really start enjoying it, but I understand this was probably a time constraint issue, I appreciate that you released it at all, that's already great
Huh, that was an interesting one.
First of all, I love Giselle and Famine, their designs are really cool and their dynamic was also very fun to see. The story as a whole is very intriguing, you did point out to some interesting worldbuilding implications, and I love to see it more fleshed out. (Like, what's the deal with Ann? Why are they a "faker"? A faker to who? Giselle? But they look nothing alike and doesn't even use the same kind of weapon... those are very interesting hooks that I would love to see explored more in depth if you ever continue this story in the future!)
Also, this game has a VERY strong sense of style, I loooveee it!!
I'm a sucker for clashing artstyles done right, and I'd argue this game does just that! Despite everything being essentially so different I think you did an amazing job making they all blend togheter in a natural looking scenery!
The cutscenes were also gorgeous! Specially the one at the end of course, it is noticeable a good chunk of the time budget went to that one, and it certainly paid off, it was epic.
The music tho!! I adore the music! It's amazing! And it's like, Trap??? I think it's Trap?? Anyway, I might be wrong on the specific genre, but like, it's such a super rare genre to see in a game like this, wich elevates even more the mountain of it's own identity this game already have!
I left the main menu music on loop while I write this, and it's also super soothing and pretty.... The main menu in general I think is also very good really.
Now, about the actual gameplay it uhhhh..... uuuh well.... it, exists, I'm afraid x)
First of all, the game claims to be a metroidvania, but like, it really isn't?
It literally have 2 separate levels and a bossfight, all with result screens and such, there is no exploring or backtracking at all.... Wich, of course, was not actually required for this jam, but it's weird to call it a metroidvania on the little itch.io catchphrase below the title...
Controls for movement felt fine, I like the running toggles with S/Down input, I've never seen it before, but it feels very natural, I will actually take a note of that for future keybinds in other games if possible.
Combat tho... oh boy, there's combat....
Firstly, Giselle's attack animations look very.... goofy. Like, when I click without anything to hit around she just like, anwkwardly raises her spear a tiny bit. And the other animations are also kinda clunky tbh.
What really feels bad tho is that there is really zero depth or thought put into the combat system at all, you just get close to the enemies and clicks, and if you get slightly too close they hurt you, there is no decision making, and everything about it feels very underwhelming and flat out broken.
The enemies also will have their attack animations cancelled when they get hurt or transition to any other animation at all, but the hitboxes will still be there, so Giselle just takes damage out of the enemie's breathing too hard in front of her, I suppose. But fear not, since Giselle's animations also get cut everytime, so she also hurts the enemies out of existing on the same vicinity as them! And yeah, I think you see the problem here...
The enemies should definitelly get a little staggered once you hit them, or if you think that'd make them too easy you should just not let their animations be cut out when taking damage and indicating that by something else like making them flash red or something.
Their attacks also need wind up frames! Right now you just get close to them and they instantly snap their swords at you, wich feels super jank! It's essentially impossible to avoid their attacks other than never getting close to them at all.
(Edit: An extra detail I remenbered about combat, this is way more of a personal nitpick than anything, but I also didn't like how the music I was vibing to would suddenly become a generic battle song everytime an enemy came close.... I appreciate the idea and I understand the vision, But I feel like dynamic battle songs like that work best when they are merely a few extra layers of instruments that overlays on top of the original theme of the level, just to get that sense of action, but transitioning it entirely always feels kinda jarring to me, I will just wish I could stay listening to the songs I was already liking so much instead)
These problems also extends to the fight agains Ann, I'm afraid the only way to defeat them without taking damage is to do a little spear poke at their knees, back off a little bit, poke again, jump over them with the wall jump, rince and repeat... wich is... not really exciting (It is very silly, thought).
I think that's kinda it, thanks for submitting!
(Also last thing, but just clear up some confusion, you mentioned on the jam field that "the game was made with python, I guess", but also said on the game's actual page it was made on Godot? I'm not really a programmer myself so I have no idea if both things are possible to be true, I'm just curious lol)
Awww, a shame it's so short, it ended right when I was starting to get the taste of it!
The game is very pretty, I love Akoya's design and the character animations are simply impecabble, I adore how heavy her wand feels, it really shows off itself as a capable weapon. The transformation transition from human to mermaid and vice versa is also a lovely touch, all the spritework here is amazing.
The scenery on the other hand feels a tad bit rushed honestly, it doesn't really look super natural, the props doesn't quite harmonize with the level layouts, and the layouts thenselves also feel very dull, wich is unfortunate, it kinda looks like someone picked an empty video-game level and added a few stickers on top of it instead of being made with the decoration in mind, if that makes sense...
The musics are really really good tho! I really wanted to hear more of them! Again, the game being so short made so that I couldn't appreciate the soundtrack properly!
My favorite is by far the beach theme, it's suuucchhh a vibe!! (In fact, I left it playing on the background while I write this down <3 )
It's also hard to judge the gameplay on such a small time I had to feel it on my own control, but it seens very serviceable, attacks have weight thanks to the amazing spritework and movement felt smooth. I really like that the ranged beams can be redirectioned mid-animation, it feels really great and was an excellent addition at the boss fight.
Alas, I think that's all I have to comment about. This is the start of a really promising entry, but sadly it seens like for now it will stay as promises...
That was very sweet!
Gameplay was simple, but sometimes simple is better. And it fits the artstyle, as petite as it can be, wich makes Cleo and her snake frienemies very headpatabble <3
I really like the concept of the dark wand, it scratches my love for risky gimmicks, but in execution it felt a little way too tame... Not only the hp cost is extremelly low, but the health pick ups from enemies are way too generous to make it actually feel like it was costing me anything, aside from the final boss where I didn't actually have health pick ups and it actually needed a lot of shots to deal with, there it felt like it was accomplishing it's purpose (Yeah, you let me know on Discord that it's bullets could drop pickups when destroyed, but since that wasn't really a factor on my experience since I didn't end up seeing that happening, I won't take it into account for this review).
However, I think the wand being designed this way did allow for a very fun challenge where I decided to traverse the hot areas without the heatproof upgrade (Wich I didn't know actually existed, but I figured it was safe to assume), and for that I will also praise the level design! It is definitelly a very good metroidvania on that front, with lots of optional stuff and even whole optional upgrades like gliding, wich are never required, and that's what makes it even more metroidvania spirited!
That said, I do not like the existance of upgrades that exist merely as what I call "Key to a door", like the volcanic robes, wich does not add anything to Cleo's arsenal at alll, it's sole purpose is to allow traversing the heat area for another required upgrade.... wich is also essentially another key to a door, since it also only exists to make white barricades breakable by the wands I already have.
Another thing I wish was made differently are the region maps. They are a completely fine, and actually great addition on their own, but I do wish they did not reveal all of the secret areas. Like, I think it's perfectly fine if they reveal the hidden path to something like the Volcanic Robes for example, since they are a "required upgrade" (in theory), but they did not need to show off every other hidden basic stat upgrade, since that defeats their purpose of making you want to actually explore every nook and cranny and be susicious of every slightly different wall.
I did also miss some music honestly... the sounds are cute and fluffy, but being in complete silence on their absence is a little bummer, and I think this also makes the final boss a tad bit anticlimatic since it was also happening over the same silence as the whole rest of the game.
This is a very solid entry overall tho! It felt very simple, but it's also very fun!
That is a very fun and pretty game!
The visuals here looks super great, I adore the worldbuilding you did with your scenery here, it's really hard to see jam games with such detailed environments and yet on a layout that feels very natural and harmonious, the whole map felt like buildings with actual story and purposes, and the outdoors rooms looked amazing, it really scratches my itch of grandious scenes to give me fresh air after exploring enclosed spaces.
Jellica also have a lot of lovely flavor herself! The way she lays down on the clams is so sweet and cozy, and the way she bobs around on her idle is so silly!
The MUSIC tho??? Absolutely phenomenal!!! Not only it is catchy and soothing, it also has a very memorable motif, and MY GOD you done the area transitions SOOOO RIIGHTT!! The smoothness of the different versions of the theme for each area felt out of this worrllddd!!
Honestly I would unironically listen to this game's OST by itself if I could, it is that good.
Gameplay is also very fun, Jellica is fast and slippery, but she always felt perfect to control, and the level design is also quite a delight to parkour and speedrun throught, I think you did a very good job on all of that!
Also, the sound effect you chose for the double jump?? MARVELOUS, like, really, you chose such a note that feels like it's friggin part of the music?? Like really, this game feels so musical, I love that x)
Now on the other hand, combat felt quite clunky... Never unbearable, I actually didn't mind it much, but it did deserve more attention on the oven. Hitboxes feels kinda wack, I really can't tell wheter they're too big or too small?? Like really, sometimes they felt gigantic, while other times they felt weirdly inexistant?? But alas, it's not that big of a deal...
I really missed a downwards slash, Jellica's high speed seens like the perfect fit for pogoing shenanigans, but that's also not that much an issue.
The feedback for taking damage was kinda lacking, I'm afraid... Like, yeah, I could tell I was getting hurt, there's a sound effect and a little bit of knockback, but it didn't feel.... like it really hurts, you know? And the knockback was definitelly way too subtle, there were multiple times where I got comboed for a while because an enemy managed to get stuck inside of me, wich feels very uncomfortble, those guys need to learn personal space!
There's also the fact that the room just resets when you touch a spike or fall down a pit, wich feels very janky, specially since enemies respawn when that happens, wich ideally shouldn't happen.
And lastly in that regard, there is no animation nor anything at all for dying, you just suddenly reappear at the last clam you slept on, wich is anticlimatic, to say the least.
I also noticed there's a map on the pause menu, althought I never felt the need to use it. I appreciate the bold move of just giving the player the fully filled map and no position indicator, I think that idea can be executed well.... buuuuttt I don't know if it was here, honestly.... Like, since I didn't use it, I can't tell how usefull it actually is, but since it is fully filled out from the get go and it doesn't show where Jellica currently is, it seens extremelly hard to actually pin point where you are or where you're going...
I think if you at least highlighted the initial spawn location the players would have a way of actually localizing thenselves on their own, but right now it looks more confusing than anything.
Either way that is a very good entry, and it really goes all in for the metroidvania aspect, there are tons of nooks and crannies to explore, and I only got half of it (15/26 pearls), wich is really great! Good metroidvanias have missable content!
MY Goooddd this is sooo lovely!
Everything is so beautifull here.... from the cutesy characters to the gorgeous backgrounds and the leaves falling around us, and the music making everything so much zen and serene, I really can't get enought of it....
The NPCs sprinkled around are also extremelly lovely, althought I am kinda sad their dialogues doesn't change after I have the things they are mentioning, or when I interact with them repeatedly, but alas, the world already feel more alive just by them existing at all
I managed to get out of bonds by going throught the top of the very first room of the final area (The one with the NPC) and when trying to explore there I ended up falling into the never ending abyss and got softlocked in a way that even the R button stopped working, but thankfully my progress was saved, so no biggie, but it was funny (Even if it wasn't I definitelly wouldn't mind playing throught this again hehe)
Really soothing experience, probably one of the prettiest games on the whole jam
Sweet little game, thought it is quite simple
The atmosphere is very nice, it already sets the mood right on the main menu wich is awesome. I also love the backgrounds, they look very grand and vast, that's a very pretty sea.
The music also makes everything feel a little more melancholic wich I love, and I had a hard time following the melody in my own tempo, wich is interesting (Altought I do wish it was a little more memorable)
The metroidvanianess of it is very good too, with a lot of little corners and secret passages to find, I had to actually back track from the top of the tower since I missed nearly half of the collectibles when getting there the first time, and even after doing so I still couldn't find the last flight upgrade, wich is good! MVs should have missable content!
There is one room on the map with an opening on the ceiling wich I was very dissapointed that it didn't lead anywhere, but it's always funny getting out of bounds (I also wonder if there is something at all right above the Witch of unfinished content... with 2 flight levels I was just baaaareeelly out of reach from the top of the screen...
I also really like the little bit of non-euclidean-ism on some of the rooms, it's always such a trippy delight when metroidvanias have these x)
There was also a wall right behind one of these upgrades that was unmarked, but when I hit it I actually managed to break it, however I think I broke it from the wrong side since the tiles that were actually keeping me from entering it stayed there lol (And I didn't find the wayt to reach it from the other side, sadje)
I think that's kind of all I have to comment tho, the rest of the gameplay is super minimalistic....
(I did love the cameo of the witch of unfinished content tho)
OOH MAAHH GOODDDOOOO that was sooo sweeettt!! xDDDDD
The game looks so cute and pretty, really delivers the message laksjdsklajdlkasj
It's everything soooo charming! I'm in love with these characters, you 200% knocked it out of the park with the writing!!
And the beauty and make up theming for everything, god, it's so creative, and then there's the bathroom savepoints that are just bathed in so much personality! And I ADORE how you took the time to make the cutscenes so expressive! From portraits to sprites, everyone feels so alive!
I also really really love how you go from the main menu to the introduction so seamlessly, mwah, chef's kiss!
Gameplay feels super good too, everything is very well rounded and polished, and you even got a simply gorgeous bossfight too!
The only real complaints I can possibly have here is that I want moreeee!! It's sooooo short, it's so sad! We didn't even get to use much of the upgrades aaaww....
And that we also didn't get to see Durand with eyeshadow and lipgloss, that is also a bummer, I'm sure he slayed tho
And I guess that's it, really, there is not much else to comment on, this really feels like a demo for something bigger instead of a jam entry.
Oh well then, thanks for submiting, and Sparkle on!
Sad thing it's unfinished, it looks pretty nice, and the music is very cool!
I really like the design of the traffic cones, they're aewsome, and it's very satisfying to do a bowling strike and send them all flying, it never ceases to be funny x)
I was also surprised you guys managed to include a fully functional boss, and not a bad one at that! It just kinda drags on for a little too much tho, there is a reason Nintendo games usually gives you only 3 cycles when you depend on waiting for specific conditions in order to damage a boss, specially ones that are mechanically simple like the one you brought to class today.
The whole game feels a little sluggish, wich is not a bad thing by itself, it's just that the character's animations convey a different feeling, the walk cycle doesn't quite line up with how the character accelerates and slides on the floor. The level design is also a little too big and expansive for this kind of movement I feel, I think with how the game is set up it would have been better to just move at constant speeds rather than having acceleration at all.
Also, don't use invisible walls, they're lame! I wanted to jump on top of the cars and climb the wall on the boss arena, I was extremelly dissapointed that I couldn't! It doesn't matter that "I'm not supposed to go there", if it doesn't look umpassable, it shouldn't be!
If you really want your players to not go to certain places, make the walls bigger, or find another excuse for such! Measly baby traffic cones ain't stopping me, they're 400% jumpable!
Either way, congrats on submiting!
Oh no, it actually looks like that the whole time.
When the alarm rings it actually just covers the entire screen on a plain red square, so I can see even less of the game everytime it blinks
Again tho, my laptop *is* famous for being kind of a pain everytime I try playing jam entries, so don't worry too much about it x)
But I would be looking forward for an update if you actually manage to fix it somehow!
I can't really tell what tiles are solid or background like this....Very fun! I was looking forward to play it since you've been sharing a lot of progress for it on the server. Sad thing it still turned out fairly unfinished tho.
I like the gameplay, you can't really go wrong with classic bullet hells, and the bosses are very solid too. It has a bit of jank admitedly, I could never tell when I could or could not dash(there's no indication of it) and sometimes I was able to dash twice in a row, sometimes I wasn't, it was weirdly inconsistent.
A lot of stuff lacks clear indications honestly. I couldn't really tell wheter or not I was actually healing and also couldn't tell if the save points were actually saving or not, since those inputs had no feedback whatsoever. It's also a little hard to tell wich weapon I'm currently equipped since they both look super similar and there's also no clear feedback cue of "weapon changed" nor anything of the sort, but that's not as much of a big deal, I can just shoot a bullet to figure out lol. ALTOUGHT, I couldn't tell wheter or not I was actually holding the right click down when I wanted to launch a sawbladie, since again, no indication whatsoever, and that was a big deal for me since my right mouse button is a little malfunctioning, so knowing wheter or not it was actually being held down would have been a huge help. (The sawbladie launch itself also felt extremelly inconsistent, sometimes I would just do normal shotgun shots, other times I wouldn't shoot anything at all (Because again, there's also no indication of wheter or not the sawbladie cooldown is over or not), but I'll give that the benefit of the doubt, since as I said, it could be inconsistent just for me since my mouse is broken lol).
That said, I really love the mechanics you throw around here tho! The platforms you move by shooting backwards, and of course, the Sawblade you can "stand on", THAT was genius wording!!
Like, I think it wasn't even intentional, but when a game says you can "stand on" a sawblade, it usually just means that the sawblade won't hurt you, but here, you can LITERALLY "STAND ON"IT, as a platform!!! Like, I love this!!! It felt simply genius when I had that idea, tried it, and it worked!! If your intention was that it should be blatantly obvious that it works like that, then you kinda failed, you have to actually put your brain to use to put 2 and 2 togheter here, but honestly I'd rather you cherish that, the feeling of figuring it out is aewsome xD
I also like the aesthetics, and the music chosen is viby, but not a lot else to comment there sadly. I like the background looking like a fall to the abyss tho, I'm a sucker for "don't look down" kinda levels x)
Also, the "Victory, thanks for playing" text on the middle of a random room just for me to walk to the side and face a whopping giant boss afterwards was very funny lol
Well that's clearly just kind of a test course, so I don't really have a lot to comment on here sadly...
The models are alright, I like the robot designs enought. Herron thenselves aren't a bad model either, but their animations are kinda goofy, I don't think anyone stands idle with their arms spread out like that.
Music is fine too, but the loop is a little jarrying, it feels like the song is being cut off and starting over instead of looping properly (As in, I can clearly tell when it ends and starts as specific set point on a timeline... If that makes sense? Like, you want your loops to feel natural. You know where the song starts and ends, but the end shouldn't feel like an end, if you understand what I mean.)
There's not a lot to comment gameplay wise, only noticeble things I can mention is that game doesn't eat up your mouse like 3D games usually do, so if my mouse reaches the edge of the window I just can't move my camera to that direction anymore. I also noticed that for some reason Herron walks way slower if I'm looking either down or up with the camera, wich is very quirky. I also felt like the camera sensitivity was a little too high, a single nudge made me do almost a full 180 lol.
I guess that's kinda it, as I said, this is clearly just a testing room, I'm sorry. But thanks for submitting tho!
No worries!
But I have to say, please don't get the wrong lesson here!
Having an actual map is very cool, but it is just a little helping hand , it should NOT be used as a band-aid solution for level design!
I'd say the best metroidvanias are the ones you don't need a visible map at all, the player should be able to tell where they are just by feelings alone! Be that done by differing visuals, interesting gameplay patterns, noteable landmarks or anything like that. For example, you could have made less big open rooms and more cramped corridors ones. If the player can come back to a room that gives a "hub area" feeling they will be able to find thenselves all the much easier without actually needing a visible map for localization.
Maps are still great for localizing where you DIDN'T go yet by showing the player where are new exits on rooms they already passed throught, but they should not be used for mitigating "I'm lost" situations.
Ooooooh that's all so awesome, thank you!!
I had a feeling there was no way for the knight to actually be Lucas because of how ambiguous you made their appearance on the town to be, but I certainly wasn't expecting all of those turn of events! Thanks for the little novel! It was very fun reading throught that, and I love your passion for it, it's not everyday you find jam entries with that much of love put into their actual world and characters x3
I'll see if I listen to the playlist at some point if I have the time to. I have my personal reservations against giving too much attention to suno since it's AI stuff, but I'll try to let that aside if I do listen to it
No worries, there are other entries on this edition I was also unable to play due to my laptop being quirky, I just didn't comment on those because I reported it on the Discord instead. That's a very common occurrence for me unfortunately x,3
A real bummer indeed tho, I was looking forward to this one, and you actually hooked me up with a story and now I will never know the ending oooh nooo! What happened to Amelia? Is that lone knight actually Lucas? Why did he take 10 whole years to come back to town? How did the blacksmith didn't age a single bit?? And why didn't he go after his daughter??
trully, questions I might never have them answered TwT
I won't lie, I entered this with very low expectatives, but I left extremelly pleasantly surprised!
You might think there's not a lot to comment about art here, but actually, this game's visuals are quite very well put togheter. I actually never felt lost at any point in the game because the shapes of the level design are very good, and I could even make out to understand there are 3 whole distinct areas here, the starting cave, the water zone and the maze downwell, despite they all sharing the exact same (lack of) assets!
Also, those are NOT just some random squares and rectangles made for game mechanics, this is clearly a living world in disguise! I can tell there is something going on here... from the giant maze-like structure hid behind a laser door to the weird rectangles with orange lines on them that moves quite erratically... there is a reason they are all locked up on dead ends, isn't there? That fact alone already gives them such an eerie vibe, and I love them for it!!
Also, I really like how you used the outlined tiles to guide us into safe points, that's something very important in Metroidvanias and most people kinda overlook when placing down their rest zones.
The bosses are all fun, altought I will admit they can be a little nuisance to deal with sometimes. The I-frames when you get hit are way too little so it's quite common to get comboed by the bosses without a real way of escaping their grasp, and for the water pond boss in specific, the game doesn't make you stop moving after you fall onto the water, so it happened a lot of me falling down, then respawning on the middle platform and immediately falling down again because I was still holding the key.
Also, This will sound very couterintuitive, but I actually felt kinda cheated on by the hitboxes, despite them being exactly what I was seeing lol. It might just be a me being too used to it thing, but I will never find hitboxes that are exactly your size to feel like they're right, it just feels wrong to me not being able to phase a tiny bit into enemies or their attacks before actually getting hurt, everything just feels so big!!
Lastly, the control scheme is a little weird.... I looked it up and it doesn't seem to match neither AZERTY nor QWERTZ, so I really have no idea where the hell you got DX-spacebar from x)
I personally really hate jumping with the spacebar on 2D games, it's always nice to just let the player jump with the "up" input if it's not used for anything else. And... unless your keyboard have D and X side by side, why did you choose two keys that are on top of each other instead of just ZX or DF? That makes such a weird shape on my hand and it's not quite the comfiest thing on the world </3
Great game tho! I missed having some music, but the reason there's none is understandable. (Also, spoiler alert, but I actually giggled when the final boss turned into a pickup and tricked me into running into it, that was a genius second phase x3 )
I'm afraid I can't actually play this game...
The downloadable version doesn't open for me at all, it only does the sound effects of everything, and then starts playing the menu music, but it never shows anything other than a black screen...
The browser version looked like it was gonna work despite the logo animations being super laggy, but as soon as I started the game, it looked.... interesting
After that I walked a little bit to the right and my browser gave me a "WebGL got screwed" popup and the screen turned black again.
Next reload I tried to lower the resolution on the settings to see if it fixed things, but it seens like all I got was to make Lucas so much more anxious to find Amelia asap
And then the game just black screened again after entering the mine....
I don't wanna insist too much since I know this is just going to lead to more glitches and crashes, so I'm sowwy TwT
It's not even your fault really, I'm blaming that on my 4GB ram and integrated gpu.
I usually can run Godot games just fine, but from the looks of your page you seen to really like customizing your Godot with all sorts of stuff so that's probably why my laptop didn't like it lol
Aaawww that's a cool one, despite the short living.
The robot is adorable, I love it's silly R.O.B face and hands! And the way it ledge grabs by having no animation at all is actually very amusing and fits it so perfectly x)
I also love the tutorial drawings. My "lame critical thinking side" tells me they look the way they do because you didn't have time to do proper tutorials, but I fricking love them, it's so silly but so cute xD
Also, props for having keybinding options! I will always encourage devs on implementing those, a lot of people overlook that just because "it's a jam, I won't have time for this!" when in reality I really do believe that's a crucial thing to have in any game.
I like the platform zapping mechanic, but I will admit, I was extremelly confused about them. I didn't understand why everyone of the always-lit platforms just did a tiny nudge upwards instead of taking me somewhere like the bigger zap-timed ones, so I actually thought my game was glitched, it was only after I came to the comments to see if anyone else had this problem that I realized they were supposed to be springs. After that I went back to it, and you be sure I had a blast! That's an amazing mechanic and it's super fun to play with it! Wich is very sad how little indication you actually have that that's how they're suppposed to work....
There are quite a few ways to fix that:
1 - Make the place you get the zapping a deep hole with one of those down there, so the only way to get out is by using it's impulse. This would make it way more intuitive that this is how physics works here, since instead on the actual game we only interact with those platforms out in the open where it's not really clear the way to go is upwards. (In fact, everywhere those platforms show up it actually looks like the path to progress is very horizontal, and since the zap-timed plats do help you travel more horizontally instead of vertically, that adds to the confusion)
2 - Tweak the animation a little bit. Right now all the platform does is just... gently nudge you upwards. It doesn't feel like something that can launch you away. Make it agressive! That platform doesn't want you to stay on it! It wants you very far away into space!! Bonus points if you make it actually nudge a tiny bit downwards before launching you up, since you know, that indicates momentum!
3 - Just make them look significantly more different than the zap-timed ones. Yeah that one is lame and easy, but hey it works! xD
Ideally, the solution is actually all three of the above, but I still wanted to mention them out in topics like that because it felt fitting x3
And I think that's kinda it, there's not a lot to comment on here other than that issue in specific, but still, that was simple but sweet. Thanks for sharing it with the class <3
(Btw, why didn't you call it "Biomimetics" here on the game page? An actual title is way more inviting than just a... ID tag... Plus the name is very cool)
(edit: I just noticed one of the gifs on the page actually shows you using the platofrms properly. oopsie! But still, you should never let your players rely on stuff outside of the game itself)
Simple and sweet, very pleasant. I don't have a lot to comment on tho.
Visuals are very amusing, love the ascii stickmans, always fun to see. Animations are a little awkward, specially the attacking one, I really have no idea what my stickman is supposed to be doing when I press J lol. I think it's supposed to be a punch? It kinda lacks any sort of... well, PUNCH! As in, it is way too soft and smooth, it doesn't feel like an attack at all, it looks more like I'm trying to grab something on the wall or something.
I really love the fists upgrade tho lmao. Just the word "FISTS" randomly floating there and then just having "FIST" on my character's hands is just mwah, perfection xD
I also liked the little cinematic intro, and I like all the crew members around, always love having someone to talk to.
Combat is surely something that exists... But it really is just "stick your face on the enemy and spam". Everything feels and look very soft so it's hard to tell when something is damaging you or the enemies. Sure, we flash for a little bit but that's kinda it. It really needed a little bit more of feedback, and impact, wich goes back to the attack animation feeling way too soft.
Also, I have the duty to be annoying: LET ME JUMP WITH W!!!
Personal preference, but I just don't like the spacebar lol, so giving your player options is never a bad idea. You used J for attacking, if you're not gonna let me jump with W then at least give me the option to do so with K right besides it. Anything to spare me from the devilishness of the evil big bar buuwwaaaah
Color me extremelly impressed, that was a very wild ride.
The amount of content here is surreal and it's quite well polished the whole way throught, and the fact you did it all from scratch makes it even more unbelievable to see. This is definitelly the most impressive and well made game on the whole jam when it comes to the technical side of things, there's no doubt on that.
Like, for real, this game, it is, freaking, HUUUUUGEEEEE, and like, yeah, that's... mostly a good thing, actually. The actual map is super varied and you're never 100% lost, because the gwaphics and level design are all fairly memorable from room to room, and the whole map is actually really well designed in general.... Or at least I thought so on the first 40 minutes or so of playing it. It's funny really, everything feels like this should be a perfect entry, but there was a point were things started to get.... a little annoying to navigate. And the moment I felt like I actually needed to use the map you provided on the game page to progress was the moment I knew everything went downhill.
First things first, the fact you actually felt the need to leave a map on the game page should already have been a signal, but it is REALLY hard to find out where you actually need to go or not. Honestly, the SINGLE BIGGEST offender of that is the path to the sliding skill, after you get the hammer. Pretty much every other breakable wall on the game is actually fairly intuitive to tell where they are, wich is good design, EXCEPT the SINGLE most MANDATORY one!!! Like, really, how did that happen? why is every other breakable wall a little offset from the rest or on spots that looks like entrances, but the one wall that should be the clearest of them all just looks like a perfectly normal wall on an absolutely random room with nothing remarkable about it?? That single wall just felt so evil for absolutely no reason lol.
Also, there's is no indication wheter or not I'm near a save point or a warp room before actually encoutering them, so they're all extremelly missable, since they might as well just be another normal room with more enemies. This makes for some moments where the player might feel like they've been wandering around for hours withouth ever finding a single place to rest because they just passed by all the chekpoints. their positioning on the full map is actually very descent, they're very fairly spaced from each other, but there should have been something on the scenery to indicate wheter or not you're near one of them.(Especially the ones on the final area because of all the softlock transitions issue... Imagine you finally reach that place, but due to a bug have to reload your save all the way back to the skeleton boss at the catacombs because you didn't enter the completely normal looking entrance that led to the save point at the final area?)
Also, something that also made traversing kinda frustating was the combat. It's actually super smooth and super fun at the beggining of the game! But as you explore further annd further the enemies just gets more and more damage spongy.... I guess that's on me for not finding every single sword upgrade, but hey, that's fine, we have fireballs!... Until Fireballs don't kill them either and I'm out of stars.... Also, some enemies are just kinda bullshitty, like the those little worms you find on a few rooms. They're literally too low on the ground to hit with any of my attacks, and there's a room on the water area where I am literally FORCED to tank hits from them since I have to slide below rocks with worms on the floor that I have no way of killing or avoiding... And also, who had the idea of making tankier specter paparazzis?? The ones on the catacombs took 2 hits to die and that felt so perfect for this kind of enemy, so you can imagine I was not happy having to deal with things following me at high speeds that took 5 or so hits to die at the final area... (But hey, at least I could fireball those!).
(Kind of unrelated but still related tho, I really like the detail that Skeletons have this secret weakness of dying instantly to the hammer. It's never mentioned on the game, but I think it's fun this way, and it's actually quite intuitive, since you know, bones are just as hard as walls!)
Oh well, all of that aside, that's a really amazing game.... The art is super good and consistent, and I love all the scenery and decorations and different tiles sprinkled all around, and the music is also very very good, I love them all, altought there's this tiny detail that the music restarts from the beggining everytime you pause lol.
Also, an OPTIONS MENU??? That's peak!!! I really appreciate that! Specially the input configurations! It's just always so good to have those, even on jam games I'd argue it's super worth it to spend some time to develop something like that, and mobile controls even? Now that's just overkill lmao, but heck yeah, the more the merrier!! xD
Save files are also always very appreciated, altought I did play the whole game in a single sitting, wich was probably detrimental, a good chunk of my frustration with exploration might have been mitigated if I actually took a break, but oh well...
Also spoiler alert, but the ending? The princess was me. I'm sorry but I can't afford to see Sir Regal hitting a slime 10 times without killing it in front of me again x)
Don't get me wrong tho, this is probably one of the games most likely to win the jam despite my negativity on this comment, I'm sorry for the rant x3
That's certainly a dude doing dude stuff if I've ever seen one.
The art is gorgeous, there's very little to see here, but it's pleasant, so thanks for sharing with the class x)
Oh yeah music is nice too, I left the game running while writing this to listen to both of them.
I missed some impact on the parrying honestly, I've always seen parries as the epicest thing in the world, so I thought it lacked a little bit of KABLAM! when the blades clashed you know? Right now the skeleton kinda just gets a little sad that I blocked him, I can't even see his sword clashing onto my dude's one.
Also, multiple key configs! That's a plus if I've ever saw one! Always appreciate having options. Something I kinda learned playing another game earlier on this jam is that clamping buttons on 2x2 squares is actually quite comfy, so next time instead of ZXCV and JKLÇ maaybe try ZXAS and JKUI? (the former would clash with WASD but you could make that a toggle maybe?). Anyway, that's just personal preference stuff, it's not that relevant x)
That actually felt very good for a single room, usually I struggle to come up with any commentary at all when that's the case lol
Sad thing this is pretty much just a testing zone, otherwise this actually feels like a fairly decent game overall.
Love the character design, he's super duper cool, and the animations are also really sick! Definitelly the best part of what you could show up to the class.
Gameplay is actuallly super smooth too, I actually feel like I'm just playing Megaman X, wich is awesome. Usually I'd complain about spacebar jumping here because of my vendetta against it but hey you actually let me use arrow keys here so it wasn't that bad at all. (X is still a way better key tho, you can't just separate Z and X like that, they're a lovey dovey couple!!). Anyway, my point is, multiple key configurations! That's a more than welcome sign and I really appreciate it xD
Oh well, I guess that's kinda it... The credits imply I should be hearing music, but nothing played for me so I was on silence the whole time, I wonder if it's a bug?
Either way, congrats on submitting! regardless of how finished or not your project is, it's still an awesome feat!