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Ursa
Ursa
By maksym, maybelaterx, jaroslav-vozar, Auraman and Jens Steenmetz
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 187 | 3.82 | 131 | |
| Fun | 323 | 3.50 | 131 | |
| Innovation | 421 | 3.26 | 130 | |
| Theme | 439 | 3.58 | 131 | |
| Graphics | 210 | 4.07 | 133 | |
| Audio | 28 | 4.15 | 132 | |
| Mood | 51 | 4.13 | 132 | |
Comments
bartosz
2018-12-04 09:18
**Stunning, beautiful, heart breaking!**
This should be my whole comment, although there is few issues: - double jump does not work from time to time and makes me go crazy! Please fix it and let me know - i'll try again. For now it's game breaking... - Wall jump is not well executed - you do walljump off of a wall on the left (so you push left arrow key) but it jumps right - feels awakward - cub is changing into a little cute star when walking from platform to platform (different hitboxes)
Apart from that - music is absolutely stunning, beautiful pixel art, and seems like heart-touching story - but this double jump though... Argh!
Overall i feel **frustrated** over this game - and **that's good thing**! I would **LOVE** to play it when it's fixed! For most games - if they are broken or not - i'm like
*"Oh, it didn't work - meh - whatever, NEEEXT!"*
But here? You **caught me by the balls** and i'm waiting for those bugfixes!!
**LET ME KNOW!!** :)
<3
PS. Where is the guy that created this music, i need to send him a love letter <3
PS2. Congrats for shipping this in time - tons of work here :)
pukami
2018-12-04 11:19
The art and music is fantastic! The gameplay was also really fun, but it got quite difficult later because of the controls being a bit weird at times.
maksym
2018-12-04 11:20
@pukami thank you, we're working on fixing the bugs.. improved version should be available today
Super pretty, a great atmosphere, and music was wonderful. As mentioned in the previous comment, double jumping is a bit finicky (it looks like the reason for this is when you're on a platform thats smaller than the bear, it thinks you're floating?) and was unable to get past the first walljumping stage because of it - but will definitely check back later to play again since it's a very lovely game, very great work.
maksym
2018-12-04 14:05
@pukami @bartosz @bubblewandgames few fixes now, double jump should work better and adjusted wall jump also. It's fully playable now and much less "frustrating" :v:
bartosz
2018-12-04 15:51
**I WANT MOAR!** :)
You got me second time on board - and i was not dissapointed!
ld-ursa-rating.png
BTW - replay button on end screen doesn't work :)
PS. When full game will be available on steam? I demand deep heart-breaking story!
maksym
2018-12-04 16:38
@bartosz you're too kind :D but thank you. Maybe one day there's going to be a game about a little celestial bear on Steam, who knows :P
Just exotic... xD Hilarious idea! :D
I really love the atmosphere (no pun intended) and the storyline; the graphics and audio were stunning. However, the gameplay was relatively unoriginal and some of the jumping mechanics felt a bit awkward. Overall, 4.5 out of 5 :bear: :purple_heart: :smile:
This looks beautiful and I love the music. The dialogue was sweet as well. The levels got harder quite smoothly and I like the concept of choosing which abilities to sacrifice between each level.
However, I found that Arcas wouldn't land properly at the start, and sometimes the first jump would act fail a double jump deliberately.
acaral
2018-12-04 23:12
wow! very nice graphics feedback. You're game is so smooth and the I love the audio vibe
hechi
2018-12-04 23:20
Pretty nice game. Good concepts, beautiful pixelart and well leveled difficulty curve. Good work :smile:
silvae
2018-12-04 23:21
Absolutely loved the art and music. The gameplay was also solid. One of my favorite entries so far!
An intro and options menu in a gamejam entry.. I'm impressed! :) Unfortunatelly got stuck on level 3 or 4. Game is too hard, second jump doesn't register some times.
Beautiful music and art. Always liked the idea of a platform game being able to be finished in different ways. It multiplies the difficulty of level design, but when it's well balanced it really pays off. Also liked how the Callisto explains the mechanics, it made me empathize with Ursa a lot. All around great game, congratulations.
arktas
2018-12-04 23:30
Good work ! controls are a bit crazy some time but after trying to understand why you can't jump with direction and double jump after, it's okay ^^. Decrease a bit the speed of controls too will make it really easier to master, important point for a good plateform game :) . Amazing art and good music I really love the way you turn into a start ^^.
For the sacrifice part, the point is that you can restart to choose again and nothing is a final choice that will make you regret something. For me it's an important part of sacrifice ! but however we all have a different vision !
Poetic one, really nice job !
2018-12-04 23:30
Really loved the art and the game feel but I didn't manage to go through it all because the double jump was not working quite well.
@kornel-meszaros You will have to think out of the box in some levels :) Momma bear will give you some hints :grin:
I saw a still somewhere of this game and knew I wanted to give it a go, and now I've found it, and i have, and this pleases me....
Ridiculously adorable, borderline so cutesy that i couldn't stand it, but i so could... I really liked the bear transforming upon jumping, it was nice feedback, really separated the grounded/airborn states... there is a small bug that occurs between the seams of ground colliders where the bear thinks its airborn and flashes quickly into the "star" mode and back again...
did i mention the cutesiness? i mean eeeeeek... like i said it was borderline over the top for me but it worked... I liked the color scheme, very cohesive, and it worked well with the audio.... very stellar
The dialogue box was very helpful with hints, but at times it was in the way of the play area... it just covered too much play area for me...
Well done, Beautiful game!
rumor
2018-12-05 01:57
Wow, this bear mom is more supportive than my actual mom!
Really incredible job here. I love the theme and aesthetics, and it's got a ton of charm and personality. My biggest request would be to add a bit of [ledge forgiveness](http://kpulv.com/123/Platforming_Ledge_Forgiveness/). It's heartbreaking to run off a ledge and waste my double-jump because I hit jump a tenth of a second too late. Also, the hints could be better placed. I sometimes tried a level for whole minutes before I gave up in frustration, only for the hint to finally tell me about a mechanic I needed but hadn't been told about yet. You could have told me that 5 minutes ago.
But yeah, the frustrations are the exceptions that prove this game rules!
The art and music are astonishing, absolutely well done. It is sad that the double jump mechanic is a little clunky, sometimes working, sometimes not, which was frustrating. That said, i likes the concept and the hints in how to proceed like a dialogue, makes the game flow feel better. Good job!
I think the music stood out the most. Really beautiful. Gameplay was OK, maybe needed a bit more polishing with the controls, but hey, it's a jam so that's acceptable. The colors were used really well but the pixel sizes were all over the place, you should always go for a constant pixel size if you're going for pixel art.
The cute music and the graphics gave me Stardew Valley vibes. Really impressive that you had time to make art for everything, including the menu and pointer. Really good ease in with learning the controls level by level. The platforming was quite hard and the double jump didn't seem to work all the time which made the game a bit frustrating. Luckily the levels were short and you didn't have to lose too much of the progress. Innovation was the weakest point of this entry, it is a quite standard platformer but all the effects made it a bit more special feeling. But other than a few problems, it was quite perfect! Good job.
Nice one, loved the walk cycle of the bears, very well done
Very nice game! Very beautiful and moody. Congratulations to the team!
Um jogo muito irritante eu diria, meu sacrifício no jogo foi vencer algumas telas akakaka por esses motivos eu adorei o game, a arte e a musica ficaram incríveis!!!
Beautiful art and music! I feel like there's some problems with animation and jumping though- maybe some input lag. Anyway good job!
I'm not crying you're crying. ;_; Lovely game!
maksym
2018-12-05 16:26
@catamariii I'm crying now from all these great responses. Thank you guys 🙏
zugai89
2018-12-05 16:54
The final track has me literally in tears ;_; It's one of the greatest entries I've seen/played so far. While the mechanics are simple and some of the animations are slightly glitchy (cub flickering white at edges) the little bits of dialogue add so much to it <3
auraman
2018-12-05 17:07
Thanks everyone for your kind feedbacks, it means a lot to see all these nice comments, you're the best :heart:
niterich
2018-12-05 17:28
Amazing job! A lot of what I think about this game has already been said above: Great music, great atmosphere, occasionally glitchy movement, etc. I'm sure there's an explanation, but I didn't really see why I had to start sacrificing my abilities near the end of the game. Like, a simple "you don't need me to hold your hand anymore" would have fit the narrative pretty well, but I don't recall anything like that ever happening.
@niterich nice suggestion :) The original story went a little differently, where you're all grown up and mum's becoming old and frail, and you have to carry her through the later levels. Sadly time is always a factor! We changed the story slightly to keep it complete as we didn't have enough level designs to cover the whole narrative whilst keeping the dialogue bitesized, but your suggestion would have been a great way to convey a similar meaning. :) Thanks for playing!
Hey really nice game here, especially the art !!
maycon
2018-12-05 20:31
Beautiful game with a pretty nice graphics. Good job, guys.
raffe
2018-12-05 20:51
Huh.. What a moody nice game. I found wall jumping kinda difficult, but thats my only "complain". Absolutely stunning music, and graphics. It was so moody and I love bears and space, so thats a nice combination.. Uh.. Great job!
wegpast
2018-12-05 21:15
It was nice to play this game :) So cute ! The sacrifice mechanics arrive a bit late in my opinion...
sockyman
2018-12-05 21:18
Graphics are amazing. Overall great game!
Really liked this game! The music was definatly really great and fit the graphics perfectly, The graphics/ui also felt pretty nice to play! Maybe the hold space to glide could feel a little more rewarding but overwall was fun to play!
The warmth of this game hits you as soon as you start it up. I was hoping the constellation theme would eek into the mechanics, which left me a little disappointed. I gave up my dash, and then couldn't seem to pass the next level- am I missing something?
jantaaa
2018-12-05 22:03
Jumping mechanics is pretty cool, love the transformation from bear to white thingy, and the dreamy mood of the game :) Did not get far tho, because the jumping, and wall jumping is kinda buggy. I have the feeling, that sometimes jump input isn't recognized as it should be.
kirke
2018-12-05 22:12
I had a lot of problems with double jump - it looks like it very often didn't work correctly, what was a little annoying (for example I cannot jump to destination point). However, your graphics are really cute and your system of conversation is just perfect for me! Wonderful job! :D
This is a pretty game with pretty music and it made me sit on the title screen for a while to listen. The platforming part of it was the weak part, and the game would probably work better if it had mechanics that felt more like "bear power meets star power".
briskimj
2018-12-06 02:50
This game was made in one weekend? Damn, that was some good work. Great audio and visuals.
Cute! Controls do need to be tightened up a bit. Love the music and mood.
Aww such a cute game. top mood for sure! was sometimes a bit frustrating when I had to reset due to controls not registering and had to reselect the skills to sacrifice every time, but it's a minor issue in a great game :)
redream
2018-12-06 03:29
Awesome game. I loved the atmosphere and the art - unfortunately I had an issue where my character was stuck moving left, which made things a bit difficult. Double jump seemed mostly okay, it only hitched a couple of times. I also would suggest that the ability removal screen doesn't appear every time, and perhaps it should remember which abilities you removed if you're like me and have to restart heaps!
gri-bel
2018-12-06 10:06
Amazing game with cool graphics!)
gri-bel
2018-12-06 10:06
Amazing game with cool graphics!)
What all the others sayd! Nothing else to add.
Beautiful graphics. The music fit really well too.
Art direction is very cool. I like the overall idea. The controls are a bit harsh. For pixel-art, remember using only one size of pixel unit!
ente
2018-12-06 18:43
Hey! I was convinced of playing this game when I saw your post of it, cause the graphics are so beautiful! Overall a very heartwarming game. I love space-games/stories. :) The movement felt a bit clunky but maybe I am just too bad in these games. ;) Also the balancing of the levels could be better. The third one was very difficult for me whereas the last one was pretty easy! But I really enjoyed this game overall. Would play a longer version probably ;)
radow
2018-12-06 18:45
Best part of the game: Having 'Dreams are my Reality' as soundtrack =)
@radow The soundtrack isn't "Dreams are my reality". Our composer made the music himself! :smile: It sounds a little bit alike, but they are different :) Glad you like it!
gio
2018-12-06 21:09
A bit difficult in later stage, but love the art style and the music!
tigerj
2018-12-07 07:26
here is a link to my session https://www.twitch.tv/videos/345748006?t=01h53m48s
Had a great time testing this platformer! Beautiful pixel art and nice music. The storystelling is also really cool. The controls aren't perfect, though, the double jump doesn't always work. But anyway, congrats on creating this cute game! Great job :D
What a beautiful game, with a beautiful bear and excellent music. I enjoyed singing along. The transformation into a little glowy ball made for great jumping and delivered on the idea of being a bear made of stars. This is great work.
I like the gameplay and mechanics, even if I feel like it could be improved in some ways. I felt a bit frustrated by controls (maybe they're too stiff?). But the concept fits the theme. Levels are entertaining and I feel like the choice of mechanics to sacrifice is really meaningful.
It reminds me of Escape Goat for the mood.
chao
2018-12-08 04:26
Really nicely done. I don't really have that much to say, since everything fit together so nicely, I can't really single out any specific good or bad points.
Except for the music, the music was amazing. It almost sounds like it was ripped straight from a mother game.
Also, all the mechanics felt nice and smooth, except for the wall jumping. The ball to bear transition was really smooth and nice, and dashing was okay as just a forward movement, but the lack of any animations or anything for wall jumping just felt weird.
Other than those fairly small gripes though, it was a wonderful experience.
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on the fourth day of Ludum Dare streams. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://goo.gl/N2rkr8
maksym
2018-12-08 10:41
@ursagames lovely, thanks for playing, it was a pleasure watching you play
Very nice entry. I love the overal mood consistency and tone. It makes it well round.
2018-12-08 13:20
Interesting story! I included it in my compilation video series of games from the Ludum Dare, if you’d like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/Y2UiyhFvqPg
gwinnell
2018-12-08 21:44
Really nice atmosphere, mood, music, particles and polish bits. The bears transforming into orbs looked really nice, and I love the background stars.
Platforming felt finicky at points - double jumping and wall jumping in particular. For every level I played/replayed, the pause screen opened? I almost hit quit a few times on the later levels where I have to select abilities to sacrifice at the beginning! (Mac build). All in all though, really nice entry! Well done team! :star2:
Really nice atmosphere. I like the purple colour scheme and the music was sweet and soothing.
I love the graphics. The only thing I didn't liked it is the music...It was a bit to loud and it made me sleepy. Other than that it is a great game!
morg
2018-12-10 08:53
I wish there was more of this game, I really enjoyed it. I think the levels were really well designed around the abilities and the different paths you could choose. Solid entry!
maksym
2018-12-10 09:15
@morg thank you for playing and streaming Ursa. We've decided to create a postjam version and after that we're going to decide what's next.
Really enjoyed playing the game! Thanks for submitting to our stream!
The most beautiful game! :scream: :smiley:
I really love it. :heart: The mechanics, artwork, sound effects and music are really awesome, seriously! :smiley:
Enjoyable game, I love it! Wonderful job! :smiley:
:heart: :heart: :heart: AWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! :heart: :heart: :heart:
sandpile
2018-12-11 10:57
The music is amazing, and the platforming is great, too. I loved this entry!
The sacrificing mechanic is very interesting, but it was frustrating to pick the wrong ones, and realise you can't beat the level in the way you wanted.
Love the anti-Metroidvania mechanic. Kind of wished I could see an overview of the levels to make a more educated choice, but only one or two tries through each was enough to figure it out.
I showed my fiancee the game and her reaction was O_O SO PRETTY
Here's my play: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/345392409?t=03h13m01s
lucecyl
2018-12-12 18:59
The art is stunning! Really loved the mood! Nice job!
almax
2018-12-12 21:21
Beautiful game! Controls were responsive and removing abilities was a good use of the theme. Without knowing what challenges were coming next it made the choice to remove an ability quite intense, was I going to screw my self over? :smile: luckily I didn't! My only complaint was that I found the music got repetitive after a while, possibly because it was a bit loud and grating. But other than that I had a blast! Awesome work.
easy82
2018-12-12 23:04
It was really joyful. :) Nice mechanics, multiple levels, fits the theme well, atmospheric graphics and music, cute story around it. :) Very solid entry, be proud of yourselves! Cheers
Boy, this game is hard. I would have appreciated a level run through (e.g. the camera cinematic providing the visuals on what the level looks like) at the beginning so I can figure out which ability to sacrifice. Otherwise, it felt like I was doing a lot of blind guessing. Would have also been nice to not have to always select which abilities to sacrifice, as entering the menu would take time away from replaying the game. For difficult games, the turnover from death to replaying should short. Perhaps the game could store the initial set of sacrifices, and only after tapping restart button, does the sacrifice menu pop-up again.
I also had difficulties following the narrative, since it appeared while platforming. Since my attention remains on the platforming, this makes it difficult for me to follow along with the story. In the end, I ended up not caring.
The graphics and the music are so beautiful.
Short and sweet! Some additional polish would really help this game shine more, in terms of just some small things like nice level transitions, some additional quality-of-life improvements, etc. What you have works well though. The music and narrative combine to make a very heartwarming mood, which was very effective IMHO. I wish that the ability sacrifices were a little more tied to the narration (as you did with some of the other mechanics), but that's not a huge deal I guess.
Thank you for sharing! We also made a platformer, if you'd like to give our game a go :)
I wasn't able to get far enough to ever see the sacrifice stuff. If it hadn't been brought up by other commenters I wouldn't have even known it was there. I'm sure I must have just been missing some obvious-in-retrospect trick to clearing the level I was stuck on. But I played enough to see that this game is very shiny and pretty, and while the play control took a bit to get used to it works quite well.
hunttis
2018-12-28 20:31
Atmosphere is great, the music is really nice and the graphics are great. I mostly enjoyed playing this, but I did have issues with the controls not being very accurate or responsive. I often missed a platform and I felt like it wasn't my fault. Other than the control issues, the game is a really nice experience and I'm happy I played it :)
merpader
2018-12-30 18:14
let me be honest, I had no idea what was going on in terms of story at all. but it must be sad because ppl in the comments are saying its sad. The graphics and music were amazing and the controls were solid.
kypello
2018-12-31 21:09
This is a very nice game! It looks and sounds great and the controls are good, but obviously could be more polished. I was wondering where the sacrifice part comes in, then I came to that part in the game and honestly, I think its excellent how the game teaches the mechanics to the player one by one, and then asks them to get rid of them to progress through the game. Overall a solid entry.
I know, I'm late but you might still want to watch me playing Ursa :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aYL5ijy2AA