I noticed that after the jam ended the ratings we got did not become visible. I was actually really curious, any chance they can still be enabled (seeing as itch might use them behind the scenes to 'sort by karma').
Hey, how dare you forget about the double hole guillotine tile introduced in level 12! That tile was so good, thatI initally wasn't even going to use it before I slapped the guillotine on top.
Ok, joking aside the levels do kinda slow down a bit, which is why I made 12-15 shorter than the ones before it.
That was the feeling that drew my towards making the game (the ending was the first thing I came up with). To have the one thing you wanted, the only thing you could depend on, that tiny speck of hope taken away from you.
I think it's the only way one can truly understand what it feels like to have their favorite piece of art destroyed or for those who worked on it, to have the thing they poured themselves into discarded for a god damn write-off.
Or maybe it's just my sadistic streak shining through, could be either really.
Yeah, I didn't have too many ideas for obstacles to slide under (except for the guillotine and that you can also just wait for) and it didn't help that the sliding mechanic is sort of a mess, but glad to hear you enjoyed the game none the less!
Yeah, but at the same time I absolutely hate tutorials where you're frozen until you're shown what input you're supposed to do.
My reasoning is that players who know the controls don't need to read them and those who don't won't be able to do much of anything before reading them.
Also, me and my co-designer numbergenerator.org/randomnumbergenerator, are very glad you liked the levels we came up with. Ok the actual way I did it was look at the numbers it gave me (1-6 for the 6 tiles in the game) and then either do it if I thought it would be fun or do something else if it just spammed the most unfun tile over and over again. I also played through all the levels beginning to end in sequence every time I added one to both test them more thoroughly and get a feel for the game as a whole. By level 12 for example I noticed them getting too long, so I made some shorter more intense ones after.
Anyway, long story short, the difficulty curve and levels was what I was most worried about as I had never done a gameplay focused game before (only a story-focused one to rather mixed results).
Yeah sliding is a bit messy (if you hold instead of just tapping the button you actually slow down way more). Maybe shoudln't have just lerped between run and crouch speed while sliding.
Also, big of you to rate my game fairly after I criticized yours!
It does, but only if you sprint first and then go into a slide. I think it should bee that if a slop is detected and you're walking it should be an auto slide, but that's just my preference.
For the floatiness, double the gravity and jump strength you currently have and see if it won't fell more responsive.
I get having switching direction mid air be a bit harder, but I think it's just a little too hard currently. A lot of the game is mid-air navigation, so a little more control would be nice.
Still, I genuinely do think that with some tweaks you movement engine could be incredible.
As a "medium is message" sort of experience, this is really great.
As a fellow obsessive NIN superfan, you also get bonus points for music choice.
There are some graphical issues (holes in the walls, grass/tombstones floating), some double entires (crash bandicoot and asheron's call 2) but overall it is a really moving experience in its own way.
I like the charm of this game. The setting, the enemy designs and the goofy "dang" once you die.
That being said, this game would benefit a lot from mouse controls and then just having the crosshair shake about until it steadies (which happens if you don't move the mouse) and the time it takes for that to happen is then dependent on the age.
Still, cool concept that could be made into a really cool game with the right control scheme.
Moving through jello: The walk speed (without picking up one of the vials) feels way to slow, the gravity is too weak and feels floaty as a result, you lose all you momentum basically instantly if you let go of the controls or press WASD while diving towards the ground, switching directions mid-action/mid-air feels rather hard and you seem to "hang" in the air in a way that doesn't feel good. You should also always be able to slide down a slope.
As for the timer, I think it moves down to quickly while you're using the grappling hook (is it tied to movement speed? it feels like it.). The times I have died 0.2 secs before hitting the next vial...
The easiest way to explain what I think is missing is to recommend you go play Bloodthief Demo by Blargis or even just Quake. That is what the movement should feel like and sometimes it does but often it simply does not.
A really cool concept I think not presented in the best way,
Having the player switch between cameras to find the clues instead of wandering about endlessly would, I think, make the game a lot stronger, as it would feel more like a traditional adventure game like the monkey island easter egg is clearly referencing.
Still, it is a cool concept and could easily be expanded into a full game with above suggested fixes or even just if you find something more for the robot to do other than walk about.
First of all, it is way to big. The map is huge but there is basically nothing going on and going anywhere takes forever. Shrink it down to 1/4th maybe 1/8th its current size and it would already be way better.
Second, the survival stuff really doesn't work either. Why does it take 15 seconds to eat some berries or drink some water? I could do both of these faster at the same time with one hand tied behind my back. Stamina regeneration is also aggravatingly slow and the sprint speed is way too slow too.
Thirdly, while the idea of the character speculating on what's going on is really cool, they kinda need to find something and fast to make it interesting. I made it to three sisters beach, read the hint telling me to go along the beach to maybe find something, then walked all the way up the map (which took forever) and back down to that beach again and still found nothing. If there is something/someone to find, it should be the next beach over with a smoke plume or something to guide you to it,
I really think that this game, in its current state, is way to big for a single dev to pull off and too unfocused in general. Scrap the survival mechanics, they add nothing to the game, make the map much, much smaller and just have the game being about you finding/following breadcrumbs leading to you figuring out what the hell happened and how you got there.
I'm sorry if I come off as mean, but I feel it needed to be said.
Yeah, I unfortunately didn't like the movement engine. It felt like you were moving through jell-o rather than time moving base don your speed and getting onto ledges was more than a bit fiddly too. Hitboxes for the pickups could have been larger too or at least the timer a little less aggressive
That's not to say there is nothing there. The individual parts of the movement engine could be cool and you sometimes do see the potential shining through, but overall I don't think it quite comes together.
Sorry to say, but I didn't enjoy it despite wanting to.
I liked the look, but having particles spawn upon hitting enemies and a sound for the beam that loops better would already take this to the next level.
Call me doctor House, 'cause I'm a fucking surgeon.
A really funny idea!
Some sound would have been nice (unless there is and Proton somehow broke it which doesn't seem to be the case). Also, instead of removing the the walls after passing the first three, I think more varied obstacles should have been added instead.
But at the end of the day, it's blood clot pinball! What more could anyone want from a game?
This game is awesome! As someone who loves Dark Souls and (most of) the other Souls games I had an absolute blast with this game.
I mean it has everything, even the boss having a sweep attack with absurd tracking.
Only issue I have with it is that you're locked into the final pose of the attack animation a bit too long before you can roll. Even DS1 was a bit faster there and given that this game is meant to be a bit faster than DS it would also make sense.
A tutorial would have been nice for people like me who have never played 2048 before, though I can accept that I am probably not the target audience. Had to look up on Youtube how you play that game.
Explaining the controls in-game would have been nice too, since I initially tried to use my mouse only to later realize I should have used the arrow keys.
I'm not sure why you used AI for the cover image, when the rest of it has such striking and eye-catching choices in terms of colors and simple shapes. Just going with that for the cover would honestly have looked much better.
As for the preservation aspect, why not just put the game's web-build (the file you uploaded) in a zip file and offer it up for download right here? Would be an easy problem solved right there.
Still, while I'm probably not the target audience, I did overall have fun with the game.
While I liked the music and graphics (especially the shadows) I unfortunately didn't really click with the controls. Just putting the superjump on Spacebar+A/D would have helped already and adjusting the jump to be quicker and adding coyote time would have also done a lot.
I think you have a potentially interesting game here, but it's just a bit fiddly. The character controller just needs some work.
I did enjoy this game overall, though I had some issues with it.
The button you have to hit sometimes gets hidden behind other objects, which makes it quite frustrating as you have to hit random keys till it finally disappears. The windows for you to be able to hit space, for me at least, could sometimes be less than half a second so that makes it kinda hard. I got stuck on day 5 in part because of it, the other being that I might not be the best player.
Shrinking down the play-area to a 4:3 equivalent frame would also be nice for me at least since I don't have the best peripheral vision and have to physically turn my head a bit to see what's going on on either side of the screen. Limiting where the objects can fall to a nearly square area in the middle of the screen would make it easier to keep in view.
Still, overall I think it's a fun idea that's pulled off pretty well and I really liked the look and sound of the game. Sorry if I came off rather negative, but I really did enjoy the game despite some of the issues I had!
As for the level question, funny you stopped at level 15, number 16 is the final level so you were just about done.
I never though about the place as being kind of like a living being (a snake as you mentioned). I was going for fragmented memory of a dream sort of vibe but now that you say it the background thumping I added does kind of sound like a heartbeat.
I though about adding mystery and/or puzzles, but I both didn't have the time and given the fact that everywhere looks kind of the same it would be infuriating. I though about adding one level in the middle which wouldn't have any common obstacles and instead foreshadow the end, but it would require a whole bunch of bespoke assets and I didn't feel my time would be best spent with that.
Glad to hear you like the difficulty curve. Me and my trusty co-designer: The random number generator were kind of worried that I might have botched it. I did make so that I always replayed from level one to the one I was currently working on to get a feel for what a next level might need.
Sliding is indeed underused, mostly because it doesn't work that well. I wanted it to always cancel sprinting upon being pressed without the player having to let go of ctrl, but my spaghetti code made that a difficult prospect (should have used a state-machine). So I made the hitboxes on the obstacles rather generous to sidestep the issue.
Oh dear, I'm rambling on...
Tl;dr: Thanks for the kind words and I hope you go back to see the ending (sorry about not having save states). It really is quite something!
