itch.io

Hey, thanks for the feedback and nice comment ! Your message isn't harsh, it's honest and useful feedback - and thus appreciated ;)

I already starting preparing an update for when the jam ends. I will however keep the jump-not-on-the-ground: most players said they enjoyed it and found it made the game more interesting than if it had been a more classic jump mechanic. But I improved the different jumps' physics so they're more easy to manoeuvre (this was a problem for more players).

I also lowered the camera zoom and added some visual hints here and there so it's easier to find your way through the game.

If you want to re-try the game and make additional feedback next week you'll be welcome ! (But I'll be on another jam so I may take a bit of time to reply)

Hey, thanks for the nice comment !

Yes the game is too hard as is, I already made an updated (and easier) version ready to be issued when the jam ends. It doesn't have new features but the game is more balanced and the camera zoom is lowered so you can see more easily where you're going. I also fixed the physics a bit. It will be online within a week if you want to give it a try.

Hahaha let me know if you do it, I'd love to play it with friends / my partner and chase each other !

To me it's a bit like a battle-royal but without the FPS + realistic dimension. So it's more casual friendly, yet you'd have to be strategic and adapt to how other players behave to earn points if it's multiplayer. It's also more friendly than 3D battle-royals to all the players who can't buy RAM / good computers due to the global economic context. So it could work very well <3

Hi ! I liked your game, especially the combat mechanic and work you did on the sfx. Your use and animation of the Kenney character and custom pixel art looks nice too. The combat mechanic with a timer to cast spells by inputing keys in the correct order in a short time adds tension and originality to the game too :)

Hi ! You made an amazing work in the choice and mixing of your assets. The narrative and gameplay are wow-developed for a single person in a week !

I love the atmosphere of the game, and the gameplay is interesting. 

Like others said, I found the combat system not very easy to manoeuvre (but for a 1-week jam it's still very impressive).

Hello, thanks for taking time to play my game and write this nice feedback :)

I'm making a list of things I will improve in a post-jam update. I agree with all the (valid) criticism you made - they were also raised by other players. I'm already planning to tackle these issues, I'll probably work on them next week.

If you have other advice/ideas to suggest about the game you're welcome to share them.

Like I said to others below, I added your game to my "to-rate today" list but I need a meal and a nap so it may take some time.

Hi, thanks for your feedback !

You are a bunch of people mentioning you find the jump difficult to control, so I added that to the list of things I need to update when the jam ends. Sorry about that ><

(I'm adding your game to my list of "rate today", but I may need to take a nap so don't be upset if I take some time to do so !)

Hey, thank you !

Someone did leave at that point. I'll update the game after the jam, I think I'll have to make the game's path and the fact that when you're teleported back at the start it's actually progress more obvious.

If there are other things you'd advise or would like to see in the game feel free to share, I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn more by improving my game with everyone's feedback before trying another jam :)

Hey, tank you ! (If you got lost, there's a walkthrough video below the game on the game's page)

Thanks, I'm adding the "check-particles around No-One in lvl 1" thing to my list !

Thank you for the encouragement too, it helps me to stay motivated and learn more :p And it's very pleasant to read.

Well it's also interesting to see other programmers' work, and if you are inclined to work on these topics that makes your work even more interesting ;)
Thanks for the link !

Oh ok ! No worries, I also didn't have time to explain everything in my game as you may have seen (and the result is more annoying than just not having the conclusion dialogue ><)

We're neighbours then ^^

I also thought the characters' names sounded French / near French sometimes.

Again, this is a really good game - one of my favourites so far

Hi ! I like your gameplay loop and the visuals. The audio is nice too, it makes the game relaxing despite the horror theme (and I needed to relax tonight so this is a perfect fit hahah)

Your UI looks good but like someone else said, I think it would be easier to place objects if the UI tab closes when we have selected something to build (and add a key-binding like right-click or something else if we want to close the building we had selected ?)

I also thought it was a bit difficult to understand/manage how the wood wall will behave when we build it: sometimes it adds one single trunk, sometimes it builds a long wall connected to another trunk 2-3 tiles away.

But again: your game feels good to play, the gameplay loop is solid, classic and agreable to play. So don't take this feedback as negative criticism, it's meant to help you make progress ;) (btw I'm learning too and you'll find flaws in my game too if you play it)

You now have the 20 minimum rates to enter competition in the jam :D

This is a very fun and easy-to-grasp gameplay, I had a lot of fun ! I think it could even be a multiplayer / online / mmo game where you play with a bunch of other players. 

The visuals are simple yet efficient and work well with this mechanic. The music fits well too. Great jam game and very original mechanic !

Hi !

The art is beautiful <3 The music and sfx fit well too. Your gameplay is smooth and works well, except maybe sometimes we fall too easily from the hands but it visually gives the feeling we could go a bit further (not a big issue however). I like the way the hands surprise us with their various behaviors. The end got me T_T 

I wished the game was longer !

You even made a (good) trailer ! 

I had a lot of fun. This is a short game, but a good game. It's well scaled, the mini-games were nice to play. I enjoyed the plot with the "mise-en-abime" as we say in French. You also used many artistic skills in a good way, it's rare yo see games with custom art, custom music, custom voices... Well done ! 

Hi !

I love the visuals and music in your game, they're very cute. The plot is very simple yet funny, and matches well with your gameplay.

I had fun, but also found it difficult to find who farted only with the visual clues. I would have enjoyed a dialogue system with truths and lies or something a bit more interactive that gives more clues.

Hi ! Thanks ^^ I know it's difficult to find your path so I added a silent walkthrough video on the game's page if you want. It's a temporary solution, I'll update the game after the jam to make things a bit more obvious and maybe add some more contents.

XDDD I accidentally found two endings while trying to enquire: I killed Salutorio by accident, and walked to the station to write "suicide". I would have preferred to know this last one had ending consequences because it forced me to restart and re-read all the dialogues.

That being said, I absolutely love your game. The visuals are stunningly good and fun, the music is well chosen, the voices are fun and fit the plot and gameplay. Your UI fits so well with the theme. The lore is just great, I love the way you built your characters (visually and story-telling and voices). Mhrfs ! was very fun to play with <3 But I identify more with Stubbornoz é_è 

Like others said below, I didn't find a way to the white-hat character. I see there's a stair behind the scene but I couldn't find a way to reach it. Did I miss something  ?

(Also, I get French vibes from your game - am I right ?)

Thank you ! (Again !!!)

Yes, I was planning to join Godot Wild Jam or Cybrpunk Jam in September. Do you think the Godot Wild Jam will be more helpful ?

Alright, I may rely on my strategy to use assets from artists (and buy them if I manage to sell my games a bit) for now then. I think my plan is to do 1 to 3 jams every month to learn more, and if I make a game people really like I'll work a month or so on it to add more contents and polish it, and sell it for like 1-2€ for a start. Then do more jams, and again.

You are the master of key-helpful-short-sentences :D Are you a teacher sometimes ?

Since you offered, I added you on Discord. Feel free to write, be it about jams or other topics.

Have a great day !

Thank you ! I'm delighted to see all the nice comments on the gameplay idea hahah

It is hard to navigate, I think I'll re-work the jump and wal-jump physics a bit.

I know about the difficulty to find your path, this issue has been (rightly) raised by more than a half of the players. I will improve this after the jam, so if you want to share ideas / suggestions as to how I can improve this, I'm taking notes of everyone's ideas.

Another player found a long fall like you. Do you recall (approximately) where it was ? (If you don't no worries I'll try to find those anyway)

I don't know Loki sorry ><

Thank you ! :D :D :D

I used assets for the visuals, music and UI so I didn't make everything (I'm so bad at art lmao)

I'm super happy you liked the mechanic. As for getting lost or dying too often, it's a balancing and level-building issue. Like you, I'll try to issue an improved version after the jam. I think I'll add a minimap or something else to help finding your path more easily. And I didn't manage to anticipate ALL the weird things players do XD Some folk did find infinite fall or paths I thought were impossible to take (resulting in not being able to finish the game).

As I'm planning to work on an improved version next week, if you want to share ideas or advice you are welcome to do so !

Oh nice, I'm super happy to read this !

I'll come back to play after the jam then :D And I'm following you to see your other games too.

Hi ! Thanks for your reply :)

Honestly I think it's not a big issue, I had a lot of fun playing your game.

I didn't know Bills Must Be Paid, it looks fun ! I saved it in another tab to play it after the jam hahah

How to Feed a Black Hole has a similar mechanic of moving your mouse around - but it's to grab things to feed a black hole to make it bigger. It was issued on Steam a few months ago and was the first incremental game I bought.

Hi, thank you so much for your very kind feedback ! I was very happy to read your message :D

I wanted to do something that didn't trigger the "meh, another platformer, not very interesting" feeling hence the jump mechanic + narration.  I'm very happy if it worked at least a bit.

People did mention getting lost / unfair deaths, and I'm planning to work on this and publish an updated and fixed version of the game. So if other advice/ideas come to your mind feel free to suggest them. I take this as an opportunity to learn and make progress. I started jams this Summer and it helps me a lot to improve my skills. I want to do this as a job so I'm working hard to improve, so criticism meant to help me progress is always welcome.

No-one else told me about the red particles (= death-zone) not triggering. Do you remember where that was approximately ? I'd like to fix it ! (But if you don't remember don't take another 15mins to find-out, I'll do it !)

Hi ! It's nice you got this aspect of the plot - it was meant as a reference to dissociative disorders caused by trauma - the person developed different layers of personality to protect themselves. One of those is asking for help, but the other is afraid of everyone and has a need to escape and defend themselves. Hence they're having an internal fight and give you contradictory info.

I didn't take time to polish this aspect of the plot but I may do so when I update the game after the jam. I'm not sure it was super-clear for everyone ><

I'm very pleased that the home-made sounds made you laugh, that was the intention and I had fun making them ! For the graphics and music I indeed used assets and I'm glad if they work well together ; I want to learn art but I figured I'd focus on programming and getting to know the engine well during my first months (or year) of learning.

Other players also said they didn't really understand when they are supposed to follow directions or not, so I will add a tutorial about this at the beginning in the post-jam version and think about more truths and lies too for a more balanced experience. As for the jump and wall-jump, other people also made this criticism so I think I'll have to re-work the physics a bit too. I am making a list of fixes and updates to make next week, so if you want to share more advice / things you'd like to see changed or added in the game feel free to send me a list ! It helps me a lot in my learning process (I'm learning alone and aiming at becoming a professional).

It's sociology so I don't know if you'll want to read the entire book, but it started with a press article with a similar title by the same author. I think it made the buzz when it was published so it shouldn't be too hard to find ^^

Yes I meant Severance ! OMG I need to spend some time away from screens and rest my brain.

I did love your dialogues and the game's lore. I had a lot of fun with your game until I came to that phase ! I also had difficulty-balancing issues in my game (it's a platformer with metroidvania vibes and people really get lost/die too often). It's very difficult to balance gameplay in such a short time - and it's probably even more true for incremental games.

Wow thanks again, this is very insightful and reassuring !

Thank you for your empathy too. 

I can't really approach dev as a side project: I don't have a job anymore (luckily my lover agrees to share expenses and supports me but I don't want to be a burden hence hard-working on my game dev skills), and getting a "normal" job is not really possible for me. It impacts my health and my ability to do other things, so if I have a job I can't do game dev anymore. I'd just collapse every time I get back home - and probably be on medical vacation after 2 months. I'm autistic (with "probably a high potential but your IQ is irregular so it doesn't have a meaning to calculate it"), and being at a workplace every day, going there by bus/train (I can't drive I'd be dangerous due to detail-specific attention) is just too exhausting. 

So I suppose my best shot would be to learn quickly and efficiently, maybe find other ways to get some income (like writing - I published a novel at a small editor in my early 20s, or learning arts and trying to sell some assets on Itch, or taking short job contracts (1-2 months) when we really need money), start selling small games with simple mechanics at a low price - even if I just get 30€, then 100€, etc... Maybe I should also see if there are small companies in my town or online that would hire me for short contracts or training. 

I did study narrative structures 10 years ago but it was for literature, and I think it works differently in games because a good narrative must rely on a good gameplay that fits with the theme and story, right ? (I'm French so my English literary skills are limited too.) I also read that narrative games are not so difficult to implement but they don't sell a lot except for well-known devs/writers so I wouldn't rely solely on this aspect, I'd rather integrate strong narratives with another gameplay/game-style identity. I'm still fairly new and experimenting different mechanics so I haven't made any choices about this so far, I do need to experiment, improve my programming, game-design and learn basic visual arts skills. I actually think coming-up with a good plot won't be my main issue. (The one I made for this game  was not very elaborate, I didn't want to focus on it too much).

Thank you again for your very kind support !

Hi !

To me the story was a bit too short, but you managed to build a very strong visual and audio identity. Your visuals are stunning and the story is short but catches well. The music works with that too.

I didn't see a bug, and I love your UI that enables us to set sfx and music at the start <3

This was very fun ! 

How did you manage to do this entire game in a week :o :o :o

Everything was really cool, to me it looked like a game I'd play on Steam. The only two things maybe:

- I didn't always understand clearly/simply what all the upgrades did exactly (but I mean it's an incremental game, so at some point I suppose it's normal - I don't play incremental games a lot so I'm not sure)

- Sometimes characters were out of the screen so I couldn't see (and sometimes handle) them. During the last 2-3 runs I heard them fighting or spawning and detecting me, and I couldn't see them.

I love the feeling of everything going nuts in a janky puddle of pixels and sounds when you increase your crazy-sorcerer power ! (I mean this in a good way, it made me smile)

Was the mouse mechanic inspired by "How to feed a black hole" ?

Hi ! I like your game. For a solo game you did very well ! And unlike me you're brave enough to make your own visuals <3

Like the others said, the first level felt too difficult for a start. That being said, I think it's just a balancing thing that we have to learn by doing more games (I have similar issues T_T) As for the rest, I thought your levels were clever and fun to play with a clear puzzle at every step. You also managed to make deaths less frustrating than in most games by simply making the player respawn without an upsetting sfx and/or death-screen. That + the music you chose made your game cozy and agreable to play despite sometimes repetitive deaths before understanding + managing to be precise enough to do the thing.

Thanks for your game, I think it deserves more attention than it got !

Hmmm ok so no that's not it. I have no idea where you got lost ><
I don't know eithher how you could get to this level without unlocking the mushrooms. I'll have to try to do what you did to find out, my guess is you jumped on the upper platforms somehow to go directly to level 2 (the pink level) without really playing much into level 1. If you couldn't use the mushrooms jump after then you couldn't finish level 2, that makes sense. I thought I'd made things so you couldn't go to that upper area in level 1 without unlocking the mushrooms but I probably didn't think about everything people could do if they didn't follow the path I'd set.

Hi ! I love the art and the way you find small twists to re-interprete slightly the theme in each level. The cozy atmosphere and sounds are also very relaxing !

I just found the jump was a bit difficult to handle at the beginning (but the tutorial area was great for this).

I'm stuck at level 6, tried all the "houses" so I don't know what to try next. Will probably come back to try to figure it out ^

Hey ! Just read your message and edit. I think that's because you went to the alternate "hardcore" section of level 1, which I did not register on this video. I can do so if you want. To confirm : after the first dialogues, did you go underneath the starting platform/island instead of going right ?

If so, you didn't go to a non-planned part nor got lost. You went to the hidden path for hardcore players. No-one mentioned it so I thought people just didn't find it and it wasn't important.

I understand your frustration. I will add a minimap and/or more obvious info about where to go !

hkjhefgbjkerhbg THE FIRST JUMP-SCARE CAUGHT ME SO MUCH hahahaha

This a really good game, thank you I had a lot of fun playing it ! I died way too many times but well, I got caught by your pranks.

I found your super-secret easter-egg too, it's nice ! 

I don't really have advice to share, I found your game very polished, the narrative was good, the gameplay works perfectly. Your art is original and nice too.

Thank you !

Do you remember where you got stuck exactly ? I'm taking notes to published a fixed and updated version when the jam ends !

As for the jump I thought it was fun this way but is it too much ? (For the wall-jump in level2 it clearly is but I didn't have time to fix it better, the basic jump I like but if it's not super easy to manoeuvre for people I may fix it a bit too)

Hi !

Thanks for the compliments :D

For the menu, I wrote under the game on the page that you have to use backspace (the <--- key on your keyboard) to go back ;)

For the unclear directions it's my bad, I thought people would deduce it easily but it's a game-design mistake on my part. Other testers made suggestions as how to make it more understandable, so I think I'll add those when the jam ends.

For the fact you're flying away, yes: I added death-zones in the places I thought this could happen, but I must have missed a bunch of those T_T

The text in the environment gives you fake advice (the place that says up and you go down is meant that way, you landed where you were supposed to go, near the haiku I believe).

For the long-fall dialogue, I intended it that way. The narrator is trolling you, it's meant to be a tricky jump where you may make a mistake like restarting or fall aside. The theme is "trust no-one" after all ^^ Do you think it's a mistake ?

The going back to the first checkpoint is intended as well. you then have to walk in the same direction as you did at the beginning, and this time the mushroom jumps you up. After climbing up a bit with mushrooms and jumps you discover a new type of platforms and will find a new game level with a different atmosphere and more content that there was in the part you played. (And you will unlock a new ability in this level too).

Oh, can you tell me if/when you issue another version with more story contents then ? I'll be happy to play again, I love narrative-driven games!

I couldn't do your pixel art if I tried so well done :p