FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD39 → Five Stages

Five Stages

By kikiriki367 and sonicgrey

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall6133.0729
Fun6092.8529
Innovation7182.5028
Theme7392.8428
Graphics6592.8428
Audio2573.3828
Humor4122.4126
Mood2263.5728

Comments

cameronpenner 2017-08-01 02:26

Really hard! It was a good challenge. Definitely not an easy game though.

dreadloaf 2017-08-01 03:29

I really liked the audio and graphics weren't bad. Game is definitely on the more challenging side but still quite fun! I liked the little story tidbits through out. Nice job!

gentel 2017-08-03 04:39

Challenging platformer, good music, pretty good graphics too.

For polishing the game in the future I'd recommend working on the smoothness of the platforming mechanics - some of the spike jumps were difficult solely because of awkwardness in the hitbox/jump mechanics and that's not where you want your difficulty to come from.

That first disappearing staircase jump was pretty funny - overthinking it really gets you killed but the simplest technique imaginable works amazingly well.

toadietechnika 2017-08-03 04:40

The game was difficult, but I managed to finished it. It's hard to read the story lines sometimes because the power decreases over time. I see what you did for the rest of the game's feel and I guess I've felt for it too. Good game :)

farhan-qureshi 2017-08-03 04:44

Kudos for wanting to make a narrative game about a nice subject, but the timer goes against wanting to stop and read text, so i find myself rushing past things.

randomphantom 2017-08-03 14:29

This isn't dark-souls-like but man the hitboxes are pretty unforgiving and the platforming doesn't feel very smooth. Its super challenging at the start and gets easier as you go on which is a bit odd. Seems like there's some hints of a storyline but not exactly sure how the allegory works. The character should turn left when walking left as well. Nice evocative BGM although it feels odd paired against the platforming action.

sonicgrey 2017-08-03 17:16

Update comment kind of...if anyone cares tbh :D The hit box is a bit more forgiving now so that people can enjoy the story without having to git gud... We will work on a more smoother system after LD ends because it will be cheating otherwise... The timer was made so you feel rushed so you can't stay there forever,apart from the first stage(denial) where the pictures are the energy will never deplete there so enjoy the pictures... The levels were made for the story and not progression so they are weird difficulty wise...

ALSO THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!!!! (@cameronpenner, @dreadloaf, @gentel, @toadietechnika, @farhan-qureshi, @randomphantom)

ezaudiolabs 2017-08-06 19:34

Cute little game! Being a fan of games like I wanna be the guy and Super meat boy, I think the difficulty level is spot on. Great job!

timps 2017-08-08 09:05

The difficulty was a LOT higher than I expected it to be. But it was a great narrative. I really liked the graphics. The first time the sprite did a full rotation as I turned it caught me off guard. Music added a nice touch of emotion, really stepped it up a notch.

Nicely done.

hugimugi7 2017-08-08 09:11

little too annoying because high difficulty and no checkpoints, but it felt unique!

sonicgrey 2017-08-08 09:19

(@hugmugi7, @timps,@ezaudiolabs) it has only 2 levels so it needs to be hard... oh and also if the red level is annoyingly hard it was on purpose becouse its the anger stage of loss :D And also were To Hardware our games are hard....

wwwhizz 2017-08-08 10:30

It's pretty hard indeed! Fun though, wel done! Bit short as well.. More levels would be fun!

sonicgrey 2017-08-08 11:44

@wwwhizz sadly we cant make more levels because wed like to stay true to the story... but will maybe make levels a bit longer...SHAMELESS PROMOTION(oh and also try our other game if you enjoy hard platforemers)

feips 2017-08-08 11:58

Very Challenging!

andrew-stevenson 2017-08-08 13:11

This is one of those games that gets me to slam the keyboard occasionally... well done!

tjakka5 2017-08-08 13:33

First off, when you want the player to read stuff it doesn't make much sense to have his power run out in the meantime. I felt a bit disconnected to the story when the gameplay bits started. Running out of power here just means you have to get through the obstacles in one try or you'll loose. Everything is on a cycle and you just have to make it.

Where games like iwbtg have different kind of challenges, yours is completely cycle based, thus being a bit lackluster in gameplay. A big improvement would be to allow the player controlling the heights of his jumps, since you'd need more precise jumps at times.

The visuals were rather neat, like the flipping of the character.

The music, although it isn't a generic chiptune, could have a bit more variation to it. The pad is constantly droning for example. It's a bit simple with only 2 instruments, but does a good job at setting the mood and loops nicely too.

Overall it's a nice package, but doesn't do it for me without more compelling gameplay.

daragongames 2017-08-08 13:33

I like how you created a good story during the jam and made the Levels fitting to it. The sound was good, but was getting annoying after to many deaths, it fits the quite rooms much more. The levels were challenging and fair, but some checkpoints could improve the experience. Also i would recommend you using more orbs instead of spikes, so that mistakes don't kill you but make the game even harder. Overall this game was quite enjoyable, thank you for making it.

PS. you can change the icon of the game in the global game settings in case you didn't know.

sonicgrey 2017-08-08 17:09

@tjakka5 I cant tell you how much i love comments like yours(constructive criticism ones)...I do admit that the power thing was never that much tested because we made the game in less than 2 days or something so it needs patching...For the jump part thank you I've just noticed it wasn't working LOL must have uploaded the wrong version(fml it's fixed now)...

@daragongames The orbs were made just before the deadline so we are going to use them a bit more when we edit the game...We didnt have time to change the icon so its painfully going to stay that way for the next 13 days... TY FOR AMAZING COMMENTS!!!

@feips, @andrew-stevenson TY FOR PLAYING!!!

vasco-rodrigues 2017-08-09 21:07

Tried to play it many times but the game always closes after 10 seconds :(

sonicgrey 2017-08-10 00:04

@vasco-rodrigues Try disabling avast its usually that...If not what is your operating system? It's meant for windows above xp...And does it show an error?

geck0 2017-08-10 02:35

Hey! funny game!

As someone said before, u should pause the power draining while u want the player read hehe.

The last scene.. a dog and a friend? sorry for that :(

shess 2017-08-10 04:09

A competent, thought-provoking game, but I must admit I found it hard even after the difficulty tweaks. I'd suggest an active pause button so you could read all the texts (maybe it's just me, but I do love texts in games), so the players won't feel like they have to sacrifice an essential part of the game to complete it.

cydouzo 2017-08-10 14:19

Great atmosphere!

The game is challenging but nothing unfair or deterring, so I had fun finishing it.

dragojt 2017-08-10 15:32

Wow, a Game Maker: Studio entry like ours hehe It feels so nice to play it :) I don't know if the xscale facing animation was to be like this but it's a nice effect. Also particles and musics are enjoyable.

Good entry :)

nerdyherbivore 2017-08-10 18:15

Interesting concept. I must say that first disappearing staircase really got me feeling the "anger" vibe of the room. It's been said before, but I wish the timer stopped when reading the narrative. I felt the grey "depression" area was really short despite me not rushing through it. Good game, even if it is a bit hard for my poor platformer ability.

oakus 2017-08-11 09:12

The game is really pretty hard, the easy way to decrease the difficulty could be in adding checkpoint in the level, so it doesn't feel so frustrating failing at the end of the level. Also maybe changing the heigh of jump on jump hold could add a little bit of skill or some more bonuses that add power to you throughout the level. Also the game is actually pretty hectic and the music, while nice, doesn't really convey that style of game to the player and he could be suprised that he needs to rush throughout everything and can't think or enjoy or experiment in the game very much.

I wanted to enjoy the story and like the idea of making a game based on five stages of denial but due to the nature of game, at the end I didn't really cared about any of it as I was just... angry and frustrated... :/

themonsterfromthedeep 2017-08-12 19:36

The game wasn't particularly hard, but the anger level was made more difficult by the controls being rather clunky - I often died on the first staircase because for some reason my guy wouldn't jump when I hit the arrow keys.

A similar problem occurs in the yellow level - the section where you have to wait for two platforms to appear is very easy to miss, and then your chances of finishing the level are basically destroyed but you aren't killed, so it's easy to keep on trying unsuccessfully until the clock runs out, which is kind of frustrating.

Finally, the power meter felt sort of out-of-place anyways - it doesn't really tie in to the main theme of the game, although the platforming is basically oriented entirely around it which is kind of a strange dissonance.

gamechoy 2017-08-13 14:56

Music and idea was nice, I wasn't able to beat the game but I think I can guess what the narrative was. I think it would be a good idea to have the platforms fade in and out instead of just disappearing and reappearing. Also this game could benefit from some checkpoints. Great work so far!