hacktrout 2020-04-20 22:47
Love the artstyle and atmosphere. The mechanics were new and interesting. Some parts were way harder for me than others like the stretch between the first laser you see and the next checkpoint. Love the name too!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD46 → All Systems Grow [LD46: KEEP IT ALIVE]
By itsandyjones
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 635 | 3.74 | 41 | |
| Fun | 591 | 3.64 | 41 | |
| Innovation | 1209 | 3.29 | 41 | |
| Theme | 2252 | 2.97 | 40 | |
| Graphics | 863 | 3.87 | 41 | |
| Audio | 832 | 3.39 | 41 | |
| Mood | 664 | 3.68 | 39 |
Love the artstyle and atmosphere. The mechanics were new and interesting. Some parts were way harder for me than others like the stretch between the first laser you see and the next checkpoint. Love the name too!
Great game! I really like the atmosphere you've managed to put together in the game.
I found it a bit too challenging - The movement needed to be really tight for certain areas, I think having the player move a little bit slower would allow for more fine tuned controls by the player.
The art was nice, I really liked the smooth animations on the player. The level art was very cohesive as well, which made the game feel very polished.
The sounds were great, the music blended with the mood perfectly and the sounds were mellow but to the point.
Overall, the game was very fun and challenging, I would love to see more! Great work :)
Nice little game , really original !
@hacktrout Thanks so much for playing & most importantly feeding back! Glad you found bits of it tricky.. maybe it's not for everyone but its what I love most about platformers, failing over and over, getting better and better, closer and closer to success and then when you finally do, it feels good man! Channelled some Celeste magic into this game, hopefully that comes across!
@quichi Thanks for playing and really appreciate you taking the time to feedback! Control in a platformer is what makes or breaks the game for me, and I did what I could with limited time and play testers to get some tight controls but completely agree a lot of "tweeks" to be made to get it 100%! Thanks for the kind words about art, obviously you missed my janky 2 frame run cycle!
@nogam Thanks for playing and the nice feedback!
This was difficult to beat. I really enjoyed it. I would have liked a few more checkpoints though (although that might just be because I suck at it.)
I think somehow I am stuck here and I'm unable to proceed nor backtrack. I found 1 secret area tho :D really nice, Perhaps the controls could have more tolerance, especially during jumping as I keep finding myself falling off platforms expecting myself to jump.
Capture.JPG
@samelgamedev Thanks for giving my little game a go and thanks for the comment! Everyone always WANTS more checkpoints, but do they REALLY need them..? Probably.. but Git Gud right?! It's more likely my poor level building skills than your skill in this case.
@joelloki Thanks for playing and feeding back! I have ZERO idea how you managed to get to that point with out picking up the blue (negative) power up.. which is how you can pass that laser.. something I'll be sure to look into at some point (or sooner if it starts becoming a massive issue for everyone!) Comments on the controls are valid but I'm glad you found ONE of the secret areas ;)
@itsandyjones Hey, I get this deadlock too. It's not about not-getting the blue one, it occyres, when you touch the laser after aquiring 2nd yellow plus. After that you respawn on a previous checkpoint but with positive charge instead of negative. /*firstly I supposed it as an original idea to proceed further, but then it turned out to be a deadlock x)*/
@gheist Ahhh of course! Well thats a super simple fix.. don't touch the lasers! :p Okay I'll take a look asap at removing that deadlock! Thanks for letting me know where it was!
And now about the game itself.
It's really nice and attractive. Classic platforming elements combines with original and cool charge mechanics. It's really clever but not sophisticated at the same time, the one of "Wow it's so awesome and simple, how could nobody came up with this before?" kind =)
Additional point for the secrets: theyreaaly add interest and soul in the process! (find 2 up to this deadlock point :)
The controls. One of the main point. They feels niceat the beginning, but then, with some hard platforming tasks it turned out to be a bit more harsh. The game left little space for mistakes (but small laser hitboxes a really nice, btw ;), and controls often don't let you to do movements sharp enough. Usually you fall eralrlier than expect or stop movement later than expect. Then you reaaaaly want controls to be more smooth and touchy. Maybe even some cheats like coyote time and corner correction (drawing on the platform when you about to fall) would be relevant here.
About atmosphere. A almost didn't get it, now it feels like fun puzzle-platformer but without some setting or background. The intro shows a mission of saving a plant, but I haven't got a feeling of carrying some delicate and significant. Maybe some cutscenes, phrases or robot actions could emphasize the atmosphere for more immersion.
After all, It's a really nice for a jam try, I really enjoyed it. Keep it up!
@gheist Thanks so much for such detailed feedback! So pleased to hear you liked the charge mechanics, I think it could be something cool with a bit more planning.. I do agree about the controls, things like coyote time are in the code, but maybe aren't being triggered correctly or just isn't as effective due to other control issues.. if I'd had more time it would have been spent on control tweaking, with more playtesting/playtesters. As for atmosphere.. sigh.. I wanted to do a few extra cutscenes, started writing a dialogue system today, everything was great, perfect, 100% but then.. it didn't work in HTML5.. so I spent a lot of time troubleshooting, rewriting and scaling back so I could offer it in HTML5.. however it left me short on time to squeeze extra story in.. time I rather spent on the ending cutscene(s) and secret areas (of which there are more than 2 & PS: you may have missed one if you got to the deadlock point!) Overall your feedback is positive and that is all I could ask for!
Bro, it so sweet animation, true love art
@nothoughts Thanks so much for the nice feedback!
Hey ! I really enjoyed your game, I love the graphics and the music ! 430 seconds and 30 Glitch out for my part and that really made me want to try more to beat my score :) what i thought could be great was to add shortcuts difficult to take, and speedrun could be a thing for this game ;)
@thomalin thanks for playing and for such nice feedback!
Well done for making it all the way to the end and with a decent time v death ratio :thumbsup:
I would love to have people speed run the game.. I also enjoy games that promote speed running as it gives another level of gameplay and replay ability!
Shortcuts are a cool idea but I was limited in my level building experience as it is.. I did however get round to adding a few secret areas ;) did you find any of those?
Nice game really like the 1bit art style :D
@henriquecanella Hey thanks for playing and leaving feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic entry! The music and graphics really fit together well, I would say some of the platforming felt a little tough with the character being a little floaty/slidey, but its still really enjoyable to play, and over all one of the best entries i've seen so far.
@yubs Thanks for playing and being so positive about my little game! For sure the controls need some heavy tweaking but I hope they were good enough that you made it through to the end.. so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks again :smile:
I LOVE your character! Great aesthetic!
@subtlydramatic Great! Thanks so much for playing and letting me know. I'm glad you liked it!
Had a real fun playing this one. I really like laser mechanics. Solid entry :ok_hand:
The only thing I can complain is that it's not really fitting the theme.
@sztobar Thanks for playing and thanks even more for leaving feedback!
:upside_down: What do you mean it doesn't fit the theme?! It has a plant in it right? That clearly counts! /s
Haha truth be told I had a lot more planned story wise that would have helped with that criticism but I got messed around coding my dialogue system which set me back almost a whole day.. so absolutely that is a fair point!
Glad you had fun playing it anyway and liked the lasers (who doesn't love lasers really! :stuck_out_tongue:
Beat it in 518 seconds! :)
Seconding the request for coyote time, and also noting that I specifically had a hard time on downward-moving platforms. Often I wouldn't be able to jump off of them the way I expected.
A nice-lookin' game, though, and I did like the interaction of the different laser polarities. Would like to see more of that.
@caeonosphere hey thanks for playing and feeding back! Well done on getting to the very end in that time :thumbsup: It's interesting as coyote time is in the code but must be getting ignored in certain situations.. certainly something for me to look into! As for the platforms I'm surprised they work at all the code for those is basically held together with thoughts and prayers, but all you feedback is great!
Glad you enjoyed the lasers mechanics, I'm in the price now of thinking about how to take the game a bit further a long :smile:
I'm really bad at platformers but it started off great. The jumps felt fair. I did end up meeting my arch nemesis jumps I get stressed about though but I do see that for people who love platformers this is a true gem! Nice job.
@sludgekey Awesome thanks for playing and letting me know your feedback :smile: I'm glad you at least enjoy some of it before stressing out too much. Practice makes perfect!
Great little game. Pretty difficult, but fair. It was a lot of fun and you nailed the retro vibe. I got some strong Wall-e vibes from the character as well.
@witdarkstar Thanks for the feedback and giving my little game a play! Glad you enjoyed the retro vibe though in all honesty this style was purely time based, I did not have enough time to do much more art wise as this was a solo project. However I also picked up some Wall-E vibes and am steering into inspiration wise for the post-jam version :thumbsup:
The best game I have played to far in this LDjam :). It actually worked great from my iPad with an external keyboard :)
@smiley Oh WOW thank you so much! I'm sure there are much better out there you are yet to find :thumbsup: Glad it worked well on your iPad - thats an unexpected win!
quite a solid game! i really enjoyed the controls and mechanics, even though i couldn't get very far as i'm p bad at platformers, but i'll definitely come back to try and beat it some time!
@james-kusardi Hey thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for giving it a play even though platformers aren't your thing - if you do give it another play though I'll let you know there are some secret rooms that you can find!
Solid jam game. I can nit-pick some level design choices (checkpoint frequency/placement, transition placements, and leap of faith elevator room), but it's a jam game. Physics and controls are iffy, but it's a jam game. I like the art style, perfect for a jam game. :P Good work!
I also interpreted the theme as keeping plants alive - so far I thought I was the only one. I invite you to try my game out :)
About the game. I finished it in 530s.
Love it, love it, love it. The atmosphere was great, music really fit the mood, and I absolutely adore the mechanic that the platforms that you connect the life you are carrying with become alive as well. That mechanic was very nicely executed and creatively iterated. It is a bit shame that you didn't juice the reverse operation a bit more.
The learning curve was very nice too - not too easy, not too hard. Except perhaps for that bit where there were alternating small vertical pillars and lasers - I was on the verge of rage quitting there.
Big kudos for configurable controls! (although menu navigation was a bit clunky)
###### Also, I got the secret ending. Love it!
@ismael-rodriguez Thanks for playing and taking the time to feedback and for also understanding that a lot of the gripes you had are down to this being a jam game.. with more time I hope to polish all those things up! The elevator room was so cool on paper but I didn't leave enough room in my level/room sizes to make it work - but did you know if you just jump on the platform/lift it should just take you down unharmed :sweat_smile:
Very well polished retro platformer. I liked the changing platform mechanics, as they had to make you think about when you timed your steps. I think the only room I struggled with was the one where you stand on a lowering platform towards four horizontal pillars, it was difficult to position yourself right to avoid being hit and I made the mistake of jumping upon immediately entering it for the first time.
Ended up finishing the game in 528 seconds with 58 deaths, I'd be impressed with what a speedrun of this game would look like.
@boltkey Hey thanks for playing and for such great feedback!
Decent time! Well done for finishing, and getting through those pillars! There are a lot of parts of the level design I would love to change/perfect but obviously time was never on my side.
Menu was a last hour addition, I know lots of people like to have there own key layouts especially non-QWERTY keyboard layouts so it got added, but yes clunky is a nice way to put it!
Well done on getting a secret ending.. but ermm.. which one did you get :wink:
@gamepopper Thanks so much for playing & some great feedback!
Glad you liked the mechanics and yes.. the lowering platform room. I've just mentioned above "The elevator room was so cool on paper but I didn’t leave enough room in my level/room sizes to make it work - but did you know if you just jump on the platform/lift it should just take you down unharmed"
Something I absolutely want to rework and get right next time!
Your time is good around 500 sec seems to be the average for the Jam players.. obviously I have the advantage of having played each room more times than I can count during development.. but I can finish it in under 200 secs (and with all the secrets)..
.. did you know there were secrets to find?! :smile:
@itsandyjones Well, I managed to break that for you. ;)
Also, I brought you a cupcake...Untitled-1.png
@ismael-rodriguez Thank you so much! How did you know 'Black & White Photons' is my favourite flavour?!
Love the central mechanic! It would be nice if the moving platforms had some indication of their extents so you could judge your jumps a little better.
Also check out my [extreme speedrun strats](https://static.jam.vg/raw/e09/z/32985.png)
@mao Hey thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing (and breaking?) my game!
Fair point about the platforms, I limited myself too much room size wise and that caused a few issues - but I'll take it on board!
and.. errm.. well.. how'd you do that? :confused:
I noticed the platform in the first room would go right to the end if you had charge, so I just made sure to respawn there by skipping the first checkpoint. I thought to try this because my game has a similar exploit :stuck_out_tongue:
@mao ahh of course! Damn checkpoints :laughing: I tried to plan around people doing that by building in a big drop before the first checkpoint but didn't even think about checkpoint skipping/spawning exploits.. well played! :medal:
So I found 4 secret rooms and the alternate ending... is there more?
EDIT: so I finally 100%d the game.
or did I?
@boltkey Spoilers?!.. I guess, here you go:
Yes there are a couple more.. you probably found the 3 during the platforming parts of the game but maybe take a leap of faith near the end? try hugging a wall on the way down? and remember there could be secrets inside of secrets :laughing:
The alt endings all depend on how the plant and how many secrets you find.
I LOVE THE ART SO MUCH!!
@mkraw Thanks so much for your feedback!
Very cool, the negative/positive thing with the colour coding and different behaviours was very original.
Brilliant use of a subtle palette and clean pixel art to convey what the player has to do.
I sadly couldn't make it past this section,so I'll never know how it ends!
TWITWITWTW.png
Amazing entry! The gameplay is very cool, the art style and the mood are amazing. Congratulations to the team!
@johnnysix thanks for playing and feeding back!Glad you enjoyed the art! I tried 'giffing' an answer to you issue: https://twitter.com/itsandyjones/status/1253504936823963648?s=20 Hope it helps :shrug:
@riftpoint-entertainment hey thanks for playing and feeding back! Glad you enjoyed the art and the mood! However.. there is no team.. it is only me.. this was a solo project!
@itsandyjones ahhh . I was only three screens to go, maybe I try again. GJ!
Simple but clean graphics and a well executed premise :) Maybe this is a personal preference, but I would've preferred the player movement to have a little bit of acceleration (i.e. your speed ramps up a little as you start moving), which I find makes it easier to do the little position adjustments that are necessary at this difficulty.
@tmpvoid Thanks for playing and feeding back!
I think you are right about the controls and movement, they are in need of some tweaking! I will be addressed in any post-jam builds of the game if I get around to it..
This game is so cool ! I love the art style and the music, it sets up such a nice mood I'm not very good at platformers so this was challenging but i really wanted to get the plant out The lasers mechanic works very well, it'easy to understand and makes gameplay interesting
@junemarsch Thanks so much for playing and such nice feedback! Glad you liked the mechanic, its something I'm trying to develop further. Again, thanks for the positive feedback :smile:
Nice game. It would have liked better the game with background music. Overall a really fun game and easy to understand. Good Job!
@nachodlv Hey! Thanks for playing and feeding back :smile: There is sometimes a bug with the HTML5 version of the game and it not playing background music or sfx, if you refresh the page a couple of times it usually fixes this.. or Do you mean you would have liked better background music?
This game is really well made! The concept behind the plus and minus stuff really is fantastic and I've never seen such kind of game. One of the best platformer entries!
I got stuck the same area where joelloki got stuck in. I think he got stuck there the same way I did. I got the + power after that area then died from the lazer. I was brought back to the last checkpoint with the + power so no way of going forward. I think an easy fix is to revert back to the power-up present at checkpoint (don't forget to put back the power-up taken before dying). Another way is to make the power-up a checkpoint itself then make sure that its place at an area that you cannot just die from spawn.
Also, as many have said, there needs to be more checkpoints. Personally, I think a good place to put checkpoint is after any hard or annoying part. Players don't like doing something they have accomplished again. I think a contributing factor to this is the jumping. There are times when I felt like I was supposed to jump but I didn't. Try looking up on cayote time if you haven't yet. I think you have added some form of cayote time but it wasnt well implemented if ever you did. If you fix the jumping, I could say the checkpoint locations are fine. Most of my deaths are due to missed jumps.
But seriously, I applaud to how amazing this game is! I normally won't write this long for a game but I really liked it and you deserve a long feedback. Hope you don't take my criticism the wrong way. I really see the potential in this game and would love to give you support if you need any!
Great game! I agree with other people, that it might be better, if there are more checkpoints. I can imagine what games inspired you, but also being in a Ludum Dare, there a lot of games to play and people might not have that much time.
One other thing: When you transition via plattform to another screen/room, I would make the plattform move one or two tiles higher, so players have more time to react to a new room.
@grizzliusmaximus Thanks so much for playing and for such detailed feedback!
Yup that checkpoint softlock was something I missed in all my testing and I should really patch out for the entry.. but I'm having too much fun working on the post jam version of the game! :smile:
All criticism of yours is valid and I am absolutely taking it on board for the post jam version.. I'm thinking of changing to a Celeste style death/checkpoint system..
.. and yes the more I replay this, with longer breaks in between, I can see/feel how janky the controls are, especially the jumps, I don't know what it is that's conflicting in the code but the coyote time rarely gets triggered.. but that is all fixed in the new state machine!
Thanks for the offer of support! I really appreciate it, I've already given you a follow on itch (ever hopeful for you lighting devlog).. I have something implemented in the new version already but always looking for different ways at achieving these effects)
Thanks again - for such detailed feedback :heart:
@le-don Hey thanks for taking the time to play and feedback!
Yup checkpoints seem to be a stand out criticism, and a fair one at that! Its something I plan on changing in the Post Jam version :smile:
Also I agree with you about transitions, I think I limited myself too much making the rooms as small as I did, that combined with limited time for proper level design and planning meant I had to jam platforms in awkward positions ~~sometimes~~ basically everytime!
I'm glad you enjoyed it despite these issues, thanks again for playing :thumbsup: