Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD51 → Soul of Seasons
By shimmerscale
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 259 | 3.38 | 56 | |
| Fun | 390 | 2.88 | 56 | |
| Innovation | 360 | 2.97 | 56 | |
| Theme | 255 | 3.54 | 54 | |
| Graphics | 168 | 3.65 | 56 | |
| Audio | 299 | 2.92 | 54 | |
| Humor | 315 | 2.17 | 47 | |
| Mood | 207 | 3.32 | 54 |
I really liked this game. The character has nice animations and the esthetics was nice. I love the fact that you have to use the season's different advantages. Sure, there are some bugs and I did not find all the pieces to complete the game but I had a wonderful time.
Thanks for making this game.
Nice little game, i love the idea with season related map usage and every 10 seconds season change. I had some bugs with the walls tho, could simply jump up the wall to the right by holding right key and jump, also, after i got 2 pieces i tried jumping up over the start platform, fell and got stuck inside the start platform wall to the right, couldn't jump nor walk anymore - gues your walls need a little fix ;D
Very nice idea and beautiful graphics for this short amount of time. Nice game :)
Cute game. Really liked the graphics and you put together a really appealing splash scene.
Great work! Took a bit before I started recognizing the environmental obstacles, but once I did, my progress flew. Some tricky parkour for the leftmost piece, so be prepared!
Nice little game, it would have been good/easy to extend the background beyond the player limits so you arent staring off into space at the edge of play. A nice little game though, well done!
Your character sprite is SO CUTE :heart: I would totally keep that sprite and use her again in another project. Seriously good design. I love the overall art style, and the music really added to the mood. Like I felt like the forest was sad. Great application of the theme - the changing environment was really cool. There were a lot of nice "aha" moments when I realize I needed to wait for the water to freeze in winter, and again when I needed the flowers in Spring and the leaf piles in fall. Those sorts of things are hard to pull off well in a compo jam! Great job!
Of all the games I've tried today, this has the best mood of them all. The combination of art and music is perfect, especially for a Compo game with greater restrictions. The gameplay is fun too!
Nice idea about the changeing seasons! would have enjoyed it if there were two seasons were eveything was possible :D (So i did not have to wait for all seasons to pass before I could move further)
My main complaint with the game is a failed platforming attempt usually means I have to sit around and wait for 30 seconds to try again. Might have been nice to come up with a way for multiple paths to each objective, per season - or maybe let the season fragments temporarily override the season (with some sort of cooldown)?
Otherwise liked the art and the idea.
The ice skidding is very nice, I was able to sometime jump along the wall to gain access without needing to wait for right season to turn up (left after the water i jumped up before spring).
Some idle game to wait between seasons (like when you miss and have to wait for next fall to gain access to the upper level...) would be nice.
I got stuck on the far left wall.
Very nice entry ! the atmosphere of the game is very comforting and goes well with your game idea, great job!
It's a super cute game an a really nice take on the theme. Some of the jumps were a bit tight and took multiple tries, but in general this is a fun game! Good Job!
Love the mechanics of your game. However character sometimes get stuck in the corner (near the wall) and can't move/jump till the next season. Not sure why it happens.
Nice work getting the entry done! Looks really cute, enjoyed exploring the world. Music was nice. Got stuck in one corner but when I exited full screen it seemed to fix itself. I think the most tedious part was waiting 30 seconds for Spring to come around again, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Not much I think can be done about that. Thanks for the fun entry :smile:
Nice game feel and visuals ware great, the music played well with the game too - good job! If this would be a full game, an on demand weather change would be a great ability.
When I was kid, my brother and I saved up our money and bought the oracle of seasons/ages zelda games for the gameboy color. So this was a nice blast of nostalgia.
I love the concept and the art, theme and mood were great. However, Im a terrible platformer and had to try a few times to get up on the block there and 3/4 times, I got trapped in the pile of leaves? Weird collision issue.
I really like the idea of the seasons changing, and having to wait for particular seasons to get to different areas. I also really like the main character sprite, very cute!
I like the art and the concept! Switching up the level every 10 seconds leads to some interesting effects. But without a skip button it can get boring waiting. I missed one platform at some point, and it would have taken me ~60 seconds to get back to it because two subsequent platforms required seasons during opposite parts of the year.
I liked the graphics and the idea! I struggled a bit with the high jump but it fits very well with the 10sec theme!
Cute idea and execution! Maybe you could've used the seasonal changes for more changes in the environment, that helps progress you at different points on the map (for example if not just autumn is the only way to get higher), because as others have said there's some dead space in the game where you can't really do anything. The graphics are quite nice though!
I thought about doing something like this, with the environment changing every 10 seconds, but went for something simpler instead, so I'm glad to see someone else went for this. While it is a bit annoying having to wait for the seasons to cycle back round again if you mess up, I can't think of a way around it that wouldn't risk accidentally fast-forwarding past whichever season you were waiting for. There are times when you're forced to wait around and see what changes as the seasons cycle round anyway, so it's not much of a problem.
I think my main complaint would be the jumping physics. When Ivy jumps, she maintains all her upward momentum until she reaches an arbitrary height or you let go, and then she immediately falls back down with the same amount of momentum. I would expect her to slow down as she approaches the apex of her jump, which would make some of the game's precision platforming a lot easier and less fiddly.
Overall, though, this was an enjoyable experience. Good job!
Such a nice and cute little game, I liked it! The character movement was well made and the approach to the theme was quite unique, I never though about making seasons change every 10 seconds and I had a lot of different and weird ideas during the brainstorm phase. Defnitely a creative approach with some cute pixel art. My only feedback is that the music was a little too unsettling for the overall mood of the game, I'd maybe make it a little faster and "adventurous". Great job!
Genuinely the most fun game I have played thus far this Ludum Dare. You can be megaproud! I see that this is your first entry also! Big Props! I like your graphics style and the music is calming and whimsical! The controls are intuitive, I did not need to consult the 'how to play' section in order to know what to do.
**Some feedback to make it even better!** - In the winter: some kind of slippery surfaces would have been nice - The water: teleporting back bit strange, but I can see why you did that. Maybe another, more elegant option would have been to make the player get stuck in the water (and magically pop on top when it freezes) - When completing the set, it would have been more fun that the player needed to traverse back to the trunk
**Some other points:** - I like the punishment for falling down and than having to wait for the right seasons to come around in order to make it back - I like the lack of a timer, it somehow gets more risky trying to jump to the flowers in spring
I loved the graphics and audio in this game really made me feel like a little nymph or fairy or whatever we are. So good points to mood. I was kinda annoyed how long it took to wait for the seasons to change maybe it wouldve been more forgiving if the seasons i already collected didn't appear any more.
forest.PNG
It is a very complete package. It has a game that can be completed in a short play session. It has clean pixel art and even an original track that is interesting enough that it does not feel jarring. Even the theme is clearly visible here! There were some interesting changes between seasons like freezing water that I really liked - I would have hoped to see even more of those.
What it holding this game back is the level design. It is a major design flaw that the player can often proceed only during one season. And this repeats multiple times in every path the player can take. If you fail one jump and drop down, you may have to wait up to 30 seconds to start the path again. This happened multiple times for me and I was very close to stop playing every time. I think the level should be designed in a way that the player can always proceed at least after waiting season to change once. Longer wait times can be allowed if they lead player to a secret or a hidden shortcut.
Platforming was ok but jumping could use some work. Apparently it was made by adding to the rigidbody position as long as you hold the jump button (to a limit of course). The more you press space the more distance gets added. This feels quite weird and you can even push yourself against platforms for a moment - this makes jumping almost feel like you have a jetpack with a limited amount of power. I was able to complete all platforming sections with the jump but especially the left-most one was quite annoying.
But overall, as a Compo entry this is still a very solid game. Great work!
Cute little platformer game. At first it was a bit criptic but eventually I know which season to expect with each "help" I needed. The worst part were the excruciating waits (sometimes 30 seconds!) for the right season to come (while the music was a bit repetitive for that matter). I wish there were alternative ways to pass each obstacles at each season so I wouldn't have to wait. But otherwise really cute entry!
Nice simple platformer. It was annoying have to to wait 30 seconds after missing a jump though. I think everyone else has already said that here. It was a reasonable idea, it just doesn't work all that well. That said, I like the graphics, and it feels well polished. I enjoyed playing.
Cute game! As others have said, it was pretty annoying when you missed the cycle and had to wait for 30 seconds but nice entry regardless. 😁
Lovely game :). I liked the different season graphics and environmental changes. I'd be keen to see the extended version, if you decide to expand on it. A fast forward button might be the solution to waiting 30 sec. It might also be good to have a season indicator (@astrid's "Town" game does this well). Nice job getting this done in 48 hours!
Amazing pixel art, loved it. The chill atmosphere was fun and fit well with the art. I felt that the jumps were set too high, and the control was a bit hard for me. Also I didn't like to wait so long for the environment to give me the item I need. I understand that it was because of the theme, but maybe if we could at least keep the items we alread found to shorten the wait?
Really fun to play! Art is really good especially the animations! Game feels really good play and I think the platforming nice but I just kinda get tired of all the waiting when I wail... Feels a bit too punishing maybe? Maybe it could be fixed that when I'm progressing the game it creates a workable path till that point I failed? Dunno! Well anyway great entry and this is just a nitpick! Good work!
Too much waiting jus for play! once again, the theme punished some cool concepts like this one. Maybe let the player go up even in "non playable" seasons (with another kind of platforms), Too much punishment!
Nice visuals and music there!!
cool animation, nice music. Little bit too much waiting. Have to spend AN YEAR on a block, waiting for the spring. Interesting mechanics, can be elaborated further. My favorite part is the atmosphere. A very lovely game overall.
hahaa, I know there must be someone got the same season idea with me! a fellow platform jump with season change theme! yours seems really good consider it's in compo, I dont think i can even finish mine in 48 hours. you got really nice pixel art, some nice level design, and music that i wish i can have too.
I have a suggestion that you can make a "waiting" key that speed up the game so you do not have to wait half a minutes if you miss a jump. that's what i did when i to make "10s a season" as well, but i changed to "10s a whole year" because i want to make my jump level more continuously.
also checkout my game if you like!
Solid little platformer.
Enjoyed my playthrough, even there were moments of waiting (like what Haotian suggested, a wait key would be nice).
i love how it changes the seasons and it really gave me a retro feel, like i was chucking in 25cents coins in the arcade playing this thing with the joystick on the cabinets. one remark i need to make is the jumping/air control that didnt match the retro feel. having a lot of air control. and when jumping under a platform i kinda expected to go trough the platform and being able to land on top but instead i kept kinda floating against the ceiling under it
I was able to beat it! I think I ended up doing the hardest course first, which was the winter one to the left. There ends up being a lot of waiting since its every 10 sec to the next season, so you end up having to wait 30 sec if you miss the season you wanted. Overall though the platforming is not too difficult and I liked the different season mechanics. nice job!