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starkle

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A member registered Aug 20, 2018 · View creator page →

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Hey that's no problem, thanks for trying it out anyway! Maybe I should adjust the learning curve

Took a while to figure out the goal, but when I figured it out it led to a fun time! Clever name and good execution.

Thanks, that was exactly my goal :D

Glad you played to the end :D and twice too?! That makes my day! Yeah I focused on the level design this time so the art and sound is pretty bad. Next time I'll give equal time to all areas and maybe make a banger soundtrack ;)

Honestly I thew the textures together in the morning before submission. I only joined the Jam on the last 24 hours so everything was rushed. I'm happy with the main player and color scheme (I wanted it to feel like the slime toys kids play with), but yeah everything could easily be improved.

Thanks! I was hoping to add a button-gate system, or boxes that slide off, but didn't have time. Maybe I'll try more types of boxes in the future, who knows :P

I made all of the textures in the last few hours of the jam, so they are understandably a little rushed. Next time I want to prioritize art direction first and foremost. Then maybe I can even have a solid itch.io page set up and get even more traffic. Anyway, thanks for your feedback!

I found a glitch where you can press tab after you launch the ball, and change colors mid-flight. Maybe it's not a glitch, but it added a great dynamic to the game. You've got a lot to experiment with in this game, I'd love to see what else could be done here! Oh, and I loved the music.

This is a nice and cohesive game. I've played a few like it during this jam, but this still had its unique moments. I liked the level where you go back and forth on stone platforms, it was satisfying :) I agree with the others that the music could be improved. Try looking into high quality SoundFonts so the piano sounds more realistic and/or fitting. But that depends on what music software you're using. Good stuff!

Sadly it didn't load for me. I'm on the latest version of Firefox. Looks like a cute game though!

Bad piggies is one of my favorites too! Haven't played it in a couple years but you captured the charm.

I couldn't figure out the controls, but this is a unique interpretation of the theme. I'm also impressed you made this much artwork during the jam time, very respectable.

As others have said, this game suffers from unresponsive controls. Otherwise, I found the puzzles surprisingly fun! I'd love what the next version of this would be.

The only things I would change are the controls and feedback for finishing a level. Right now there's too many buttons to keep track of, I bet the whole thing could fit on WASD + spacebar in fact. Also, levels end abruptly which isn't very satisfying.

Other than that, this game was a blast! Super interesting gameplay and presentation. Thanks for sharing!

This reminds me of the old Bad Piggies game. Good times!

Gotta take every last second for the best product ;) I spent those last few minutes adding the little particles for reaching the Lemon, which I think was a good investment. Glad you enjoyed!

I had the same idea when developing!! The button mechanic, that is. Sadly I just ran out of development time. Maybe a later draft!

Glad you enjoyed the level design and artwork! That was my focus for this jam. Next time, I'll improve the sound effects for sure. Cheers!

Glad you enjoyed :) I personally thought the pacing was too quick, but I'm glad it worked for you! And dissolving the blocks is sooo satisfying, wish I could've explored it more

At first I thought the robot movement was annoying, but I came to like its clunkyness. It feels like I'm controlling a chunky robot, which is fun! I enjoyed the atmosphere and execution, so thanks for sharing.

Very charming and relaxing! I personally struggled to know where the starfish character would go, but I can't think of what I would change. Otherwise these were some fun puzzles. Good stuff!

This was fun and unique! The box and key swap didn't make much sense to me, but otherwise I had a blast!

I wonder if you could improve performance by building levels without making each square of floor/wall a separate object. That way there are less objects the computer has to worry about. That's just speculation though, I don't know how you designed the game. Good stuff!

I'll be honest, the block stopping was a bug 😅 but since I was short on time, I figured that instead of fixing it, I would try designing a level around it! Fortunately it's pretty easy to understand. Glad you enjoyed!

Thanks @BrokenCogGames! My original idea was that when you turned into a tornado, you activated other magical objects as well. But the only one I had time to add was a moving block! I wonder what other magic objects I couldn't added... Glad you enjoyed what I was able to make :)

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I suppose that in my effort to put quality over quantity of levels, I forgot that having plenty of levels can go a long way! I'm glad that everyone at least finishes the game enjoys what is here. Thanks for the kind words @Hadev!

Others have expressed difficulty with the hidden mouse, and I agree with them. I found myself moving the mouse out of the game window to briefly see precisely where it would be. I read people saying it may be just be user preference, but the way I see it, almost nobody would complain about seeing the mouse, but clearly some are complaining about the hidden mouse. Just speculation though.

Another thing I would adjust is to make the trail from the previous attempt persist to the current, so you have an idea of how to adjust from attempt to attempt.. This might even remove the need for a shown mouse too...

Enough of subjective criticism, though... this game is fantastic! By far the best I've seen in this jam so far, and is incredibly polished in all the important areas. Hard to believe a game this quality could be from the same jam as my entry XD

Thanks for the kind compliments <3 I wish my friends were interested in game design so I wouldn't have to dev solo :( maybe I should try working with people on Discord... at least I'm learning a bit of each area of game dev!

I agree with your note on the controls with the blocks. If I were to develop it from scratch again, I would use WASD for movement (the mouse movement is an artifact from an earlier prototype) and make the player snap to moving blocks  (which makes sense, since he's grabbing on to them).

As for the music, I'm personally just happy that I wrote something at all! That being said, I initially wanted to write a song that felt more like a "sneaky ninja", but I was afraid of sounding like "stereotypical" Asian music, and I'm not a very experienced composer anyway. I guess a string quartet was just a familiar style that I could crank out on submission day.

I'll remember this feedback for my next jam. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!

This game excels visually and is a blast to play! I love the little bits of narration between levels. Wish I had time to put that in my game!

Holy cow, this was awesome! I didn't have time to finish it, but I loved every second I played it! Awesome art, cute dialogue, and unique controls.

Speaking of controls, there is one thing I would change. I personally can't stand it when the arrow keys are used, but the up arrow is not jump. I understand that you needed the up button to be reserved to aim the grapple... perhaps you could use WASD for movement, then independently use the Arrow Keys to directionally activate the grapple?

Just a thought. Thanks for sharing this awesome game :)

Others have pointed out the controls already. What I would specifically change is the max speed. When you think about it, this is a precision-based platformer. Do I really need to be able to get across the room in less than one second? Additionally, the portal hitbox could use some really small adjustments to make it feel more fair. It is easy to clip into the portal on the rising platform, and the tips don't always send me to the other side.

That all being said, I still found myself wanting to finish the game! The visuals are good enough and clear (I like the squish/stretch of the main character!) You clearly focused on quality over quantity  of content. Congrats! Hope to see you on the next one.

Just copying this comment from the project page:

Pretty fun! I enjoy a high-score based game every once in a while. I also thought the artwork was very charming!

At the same time, I found myself unsure about whether or not the tower was in the correct position. I bet if you toned down the wobble animation, it would be a little more clear. This may just be a side effect of the web export lag though.

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Pretty fun! I enjoy a high-score based game every once in a while. I also thought the artwork was very charming!

At the same time, I found myself unsure about whether or not the tower was in the correct position. I bet if you toned down the wobble animation, it would be a little more clear. This may just be a side effect of the web export lag though.

Still a solid entry :)

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I can't figure out how to beat the game... nonetheless, it was satisfying to experiment with it! I like how your whole input system is based on the two mouse buttons, with a progress-bar delay to prevent accidental input. The only things I would add would be

  • A tutorial to show what the win/lose states look like
  • Turn up that music! It sounds great, but I didn't notice it for a while, and the SFX make it tough to hear. (although the sound effects are otherwise satisfying as well!)

Really awesome for a first game, keep learning and improving! :)

My philosophy is to make a fun mechanic first, and then make fun levels that get as much fun out of it as possible. Happy to see that paid off! Also, even though the graphics were simple, I made sure to use a consistent color palette (from www.colormind.io), and I think it looks great as a result (at least better than my previous games!)

Those sound effects are actually placeholder, and I was thinking the same thing about harmonizing with the music! Funnily enough, any time I had to work on the game, my pet parakeets were being loud, so I couldn't record any sound design! LOL, maybe next time. 

Interesting note about the first levels. I envisioned a brief story that would start off and conclude the game, but it ended up getting scrapped. But it involved the first level being laid out like a house with rooms, introducing the mechanic. I guess without that, it just looks like a messy first level. Even so, you're right that it's important to explain the win/lose states early.

Thanks for the awesome feedback! Also I'm glad you liked reading my game description. I'll be sure to try out your game too!

We'll see ;) I don't plan to add much more. But, I'm glad you wanted more instead of wanting less XD

I wonder if adding optional collectibles throughout the game would introduce a challenge to take you all around the level... that would be an interesting balance between the fastest route and the 100% route. 

Thanks for the tip and both of your comments! I'll be sure to give your game a try.

I figured that leaving people wanting more levels would be better than nobody finishing the game  ;) I'm really glad you liked the music! It is actually the first song I've ever composed. Same story for the animations. Man, this comment made my day :D

I'll be sure to give your game a go too!

Glad you liked it! This "connect to the wall" concept went through many different iterations. If I were to adjust anything, I would use arrow keys/WASD to move instead (the mouse-movement was a design element from an early prototype). It's pretty good as-is though, and at least it works with touchscreen :)