Reading through the comments and saw someone mention procedual generation which definitely could be a great expansion and would void most all of my issues with late game requiring more hooks as the early areas would at least always feel fresh! Combining this game with procedual generation would make like the first great innovation on the Doodle Jump formula since, well, Doodle Jump.
Really great game, and shows how a jam entry really doesn't need the most complex mechanics, story, or other assets to be really good! I got to -416m before I figured I'd seen most all of what there is.
Since I try to leave some constructive feedback on every game I play, I do feel like the late-game neccessitating lots of hooks kind of punishes the players who find really good optimal routes with hooks as they're forced to relearn those areas in more time-consuming and uncreative routes in order to save hooks for the end. The down-thrusters for lack of better name also had too large of an impact on the dive imo since I would often get much higher than before but miss one or two of them which felt like my accomplishments were unrewarded. And then when I finally strung both getting to a similar height with hitting all the down-thrusters it just felt like I progressed because I happened to hit them on the way down. Maybe I'd feel better about them also if it felt like there was more skill to hitting them on the way down.
This idea would also be very fun to see with different/more platforming mechanics!! My brain started imagining the same design but with the platforming mechanics of something like downwell, and there's a lot of different ways you could expand on the game simply by unlocking more platforming mechanics (likely of limited quantity) as you reach deeper and deeper. Bravo!
If you happen to get to retooling things sooner than later, I might not be too busy if you want to reach out about trying to incorporate the music! I'm more of a musician than I am a game developer, and it could be a fun challenge for me to figure out how to implement it if things happen to work out haha
This game is slander. I completed more laps of the Pacer test back in the day.
On a more serious note, this game was pretty well executed and fun! Couple of notes: I found it hard to pay attention to the stopwatch and the bar at the same time. Maybe you could make them closer together so that you can keep track of time while playing. The stamina system also felt a little unintuitive: I think it would make sense if you regained some stamina for finishing a lap early, and also it wasn't clear to me from the tutorial that I would lose stamina naturally, so I was confused why I ran out of stamina even when I was only executing perfects. Lastly, having music that slows down with your stamina bar to make each perfect fall on the downbeat would really sell this game, though I imagine that wouldn't be particularly easy to develop.
Music was the last thing I got to, so it was definitely a bit rushed.
Disregarding the little themes that play in the "Job Get" and story screens (which I don't think you're referring to), there are a total of three music loops that for the gameplay that increase in intensity as you progress in the game. If you really pay attention, you can tell the flute is always playing the same motif, but with progressingly faster rhythm.
The idea was that the music acts as the ticking of the clocks for the game and makes you feel more frantic as you have more clocks to deal with. Although I have a lot of playing music background, I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to producing so the loops definitely were technically imperfect, but I was happy with how the last of the three loops turned out as well as the theme that plays if you beat the game. Perhaps I should be setting a better first impression though....
In a theoretical future where you can make the differing clocks contribute melodies to make polyrhythmic music that lines up when you solve, it could add sooooo much (but would be hard to implement haha).
I was a little confused on how the "rollback" was supposed to be helpful at first, and it also seemed to at least not visibly indicate regaining health if I was shot during the rollback window.
That said, all the mechanics are quite competent, and any other improvements I'd suggest (enemy spawns that cause less waiting around, wall collisions, clearer goals/story) I imagine were just the product of the time limit.
Really liked the art and the extended take on the "find Luigi" minigame! Story was fun too.
When there was a sea of numbers though, the answer number was always bouncing off the walls instead of going through like the others, making those screens relatively easy.
I like the artstyle, but unintuitive controls and not being able to see any of the ground beneath you when gliding/flying makes it hard to know what you're doing!
For anyone worried that you need your own friends to play this game, it does seem to queue against cpu's if it doesn't find a match after 10s (I wasn't able to try actually playing with friends)!
The concept of timed freezings in a foddian game is definitely a good concept, but it barely got in the way thanks to the high timer count, and walking all the way to the right at the beginning was a bit of a slog.
I think this would be a really interesting idea when you start implementing other platforming mechanics (i.e. platforms that fall after you land on them, use some of your time to dash or some other extra movement mechanic).
I'm really not sure why, but my space/middle click toggle was really spotty on if it actually toggled or not. I think it'd also feel a lot more natural to me if it was holding down a button (i.e. shift) while clicking to make it the larger magnitude.
I've seen the platformer-where-you-turn-into-blocks-on-death a few times before, but the timer does definitely force you to think a little bit differently (and perhaps wait around a little bit longer). I think it'd be cool to see other games that spice up the body-block-platformer idea, perhaps something like a co-op one where you have to intentionally kill each other to make platforms?
Definitely got a bit rushed at the end especially with some external factors, but really happy how this one turned out for such a short time and making all assets/code all on my lonesome! First time making a game (jam), opened Gamemaker for the first time on day 2, and started learning the flute less than a week ago, so a lot to be proud about even if this isn't going to win any awards~~
If you haven't already, you should check out Kind Words, a game cenetered on sending and receiving nice messages to strangers through the internet. You get to do personalized requests if you have anything going on that you want some positivity on. People can then reply specifically to that prompt. You of course can also answer other people's requests, or not if you don't feel like it. There's also the paper airplanes which are messages that you can send out completely randomly just to put a little light in a stranger's day. You of course can also look at the random messages.
It has a surprisingly amazing community with really good moderation. The art and music also create a great vibe.
