Hedgehog - Winter is Coming

appoxgames 2019-10-07 11:57

Some of the puzzles were clever, but more work is needed to make it fun. Goodluck

chad-cable 2019-10-07 11:59

Pretty interesting - although it took a while to figure out that left and right click were paging through the different platforms (Definitely made more sense when using Q and E). Love the end where you get to jump into a pile of leaves!

cornettheory 2019-10-07 12:54

good job

baturinsky 2019-10-07 13:08

Movements are somewhat stiff.

grimaceoverload 2019-10-07 13:12

Great entry. I like the concept. It would be nice to have some representation of where the platforms will be, maybe grayed out, before switching.

clemonades 2019-10-07 15:14

Nice, the concept is unique and fits the theme well!

frederikh 2019-10-08 11:34

Thanks y'all for taking the time to play and comment on this "sprinter"-game :)

@chad-cable <3 pile of leaves MVP <3

@grimaceoverload Good idea - I keep that in mind when I use that mechanic next time

filipdufka 2019-10-08 12:05

Great idea, maybe the controls were little bit stiff, and wonky (for instance you could hint the next and previous platform change by color or somehow), but overall it is very enjoyable game.

bredera 2019-10-08 14:44

Great idea movement felt a bit weird, like the graphics :smile: Good job!

antti-haavikko 2019-10-13 14:51

Pretty cool and clever idea. Took me until second level to actually understand what the hell was going on with the level "building". In the first one the platforms seemed to just appear where I clicked. :smile:

As the game had almost exact same jumping mechanic as the previous game I played, I can save my writing fingers and almost fully copy a paragraph from the feedback I wrote there. Jumping felt a bit weird. It was nice that you tried to implement a variable height jump but it didn’t quite work perfectly. It felt a bit too immediate, so to say, that he upwards motion stopped right when you release the jump button. And I’m not a big fan jumping mechanic that keeps jumping as long as you hold the jump button. Especially when trying to jump to a high platform, you needed to hold the button to reach the highest apex but then immediately jumped again from the corner of the platform you were trying to land to. Wasn't a huge issue here since there wasn't much precision required but felt a bit off anyway. The hang time felt too long also and was contrasted even more by the very quick downward acceleration (when releasing the button at the apex). I think those jumping numbers need to tweaking to get them just right.

The look was ok, of course it could have used some more flare. I know animations can be too daunting of a task for jam games but even adding something as simple as little bit of squish and stretch does wonders for making the sprite less static. So something like this, when the character has vertical velocity strech it a bit (something like X 0.9 and Y 1.1) and at the apex and landing squish (X 1.1 and Y 0.9). Here is an example from my own game. Even though it has full jumping animation, it didn't feel quite right before I added in the stretch and squish. And the wee bit of screen shake also adds to the feel of impact on the landing.

among-jump.gif

Obviously the game would need more audio work. Of course music can be hard if you're not musically talented (like me for example, but I try to do it anyway). But even something simple masks away the monotonousness of sound effects quite nicely. Even though you've opted out from audio category. It (and the lack of it) can still be a factor in mood at least. And you had way too little sounds effects too. Was it just the "eating" sound? Why no jump, land and most importantly, a victory fanfare! And I say eating in quotes because, umm, what were those yellow dots even? I've only actually seen a hedgehog twice in my 36 years of existence but I know for a fact that hedgehogs aren't that small compared to apples and their diet does not only consist of tiny yellow M&M’s. :thinking:

I had this weird feeling of familiarity with that font. Then I tabbed back to this site and noticed where I know it from. :smile: :thumbsup:

And then to my final and favourite part, the actual gameplay! My biggest issue was the need to keep jumping and flicking the level state forward and back to "preview" the next stage. Some kind of onion skin system where you would see like dimmer ghost versions of the next stage might work here. The display text for showing food count was completely unnecessary since it was a one screen game. Even the level stage might be better represented visually instead of text along the lines of:

0/5 :arrow_right: :black_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square: 1/5 :arrow_right: :white_large_square::black_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square:

And so on...

Anyways, good job! Wished there was more, it ended right when it started to get interesting. :tada:

frederikh 2019-10-14 07:19

@antti-haavikko Hey, thank you for your detailed feedback. Definetly gonna try that 'squish and stretch' - super simple way to make something look a little smoother !

Ofc Hedgehogs eat M&Ms - what else would they eat? ;P

Showing how many states there are and in what ways they affect the level with some kind of visual representation seems like the way to go to develop this further.

Thank you a lot again :)

mrstari 2019-10-14 10:23

Really cute :) good job was really funny to play