Crypt Caper

ivorius 2023-01-08 22:49

The graphics are impressive, and I like that you tried something new with the controls! It took a while to figure out, but it gets easier when you realize most of the time you can also react slowly.

It's kinda unfortunate that I got stuck after a few screens. It's not clear to me which of the paths I'm supposed to go; I can't make either of them work!

I'm also not sure how the whole real-time harvesting mechanic fits in with the platformer. It feels a bit like it's added on top rather than fully integrated. Still, very nice work!

0xwavy 2023-01-08 22:53

Loved the art here, cool idea with light as the resource too. I had a bit of trouble with the controls, which affected my experience a bit, but enjoyable overall! Good stuff!

sonicpixelation 2023-01-08 22:54

Neat game I really like the pixel art it looks great. The movement could use some more refinement, it feels a little awkward to move around. Great Job!

verttixpertti 2023-01-08 22:56

Cool art but controls kinda janky

mihkelroomet 2023-01-08 23:42

Well, first of all, I love the music and art here. It really gives the impression of a complete game.

The controls seem very innovative and for me personally a bit too complicated. For example, you can't turn around on the spot, so if you're right on top of a flame, then to harvest or plant it you need to move two steps away and one back - so, often you will need to drop down a ledge in the process - which is kinda wild.

It also took a little while to figure out what I had to do, which wasn't helped by the slightly hard-to-read font. I did manage to finish in the end after trying to get to the door a few times but failing to reach it in time cause I didn't have a good enough grasp of the controls.

Overall an impressive effort for sure.

epb9000 2023-01-09 06:00

Loved the art and the mood, took a bit to get a handle on jumping controls, but managed to clear in 14 minutes with 20 deaths. About 10 of those mastering the crouch jump on the first room to the left of the starting area.

Had similar harvesting trouble as @mihkelroomet - My solution was to jump straight up with no directional input and then turn in the air since you get no lateral motion with such a jump. Worked without needing to grab ledges.

rickylee 2023-01-09 14:53

Had a lot of fun playing ^^ great vibe. I wouldn't call the controls janky they are just hard to learn at first.

joey-shipley 2023-01-09 17:17

I also struggled with the controls, it felt like it overshot the movements. I'm sure once I'm used to it, it wouldn't feel as off. Art, music, composition all top notch. Great work.

cat-chef 2023-01-09 20:36

I want to eat this aesthetic. The music was also very pretty! love the vision!

danmerey 2023-01-10 06:56

I like the minimalistic art style, though text is barely readable and the darkness probably would benefit from being pixel-art to match the style.

jormarysky 2023-01-12 19:27

I guess it is this minimalist black and white 1-bit style that really steers people towards of thinking of dark and light and how that can be used as a game mechanics

zyak 2023-01-16 00:03

Great work releasing in Compo! Here are my thoughts: - The graphics are quite good! The 1-bit palette really fits with the game's aesthetic of being a dark place. The text is a little bit difficult to read, personally I had to focus on it(and thus stop playing) to make things out, and there's text in every room I've visited! - The music is alright. It's well-made, but to me it doesn't feel like a good fit for what I had in mind when playing. I'd associate it with something like a lullaby rather than running around in what is supposedly a crypt. - I like the idea of having to move efficiently to keep the lights on! That said, I had quite a bit of trouble getting to grips with the controls. A single arrow key press, in my experience, could put me on the next tile, or it could propel me 4 tiles in a direction and off a ledge, or past a torch(the shift button helps, though!). Perhaps I'm simply not very good at precise input, and I know that I can move slowly by holding down, but more controlled movement in general would be preferable(maybe even make larger tiles with free movement within them? Not sure what effect it could have on the game). - Jumping also feels rather sluggish. My take on it is that there's _too much_ animation in it. The animation itself is nice, but responsive controls are simply more important to me in a platformer. - The game's premise can definitely make for an interesting challenge! That said, I hope there are more levels in the post-jam version. As it stands right now, I don't think the level on display plays to the strengths of the concept very well, but that's understandable given the time constraints. A good smattering of mechanics to encourage either rushing through a level before the light goes out or wandering around before backtracking to a well-lit room can surely do a lot of good here. - I wish there was some sort of indicator for when the light meter will go down. My understanding is that it's rounded down to the nearest integer, but I wish I had more details on how much ticks I have left before it goes down again.

All in all, it's evident that a lot of work went into the game, but the game can absolutely go much further. I think the foundation here is solid, the only question is how far you're going to take the idea. Good luck!

Crypt Caper by Asieke — Mozilla Firefox_230116065731.png

teenythanos 2023-01-16 03:06

I was so surprised to find this in the "danger" category! I love the look and aesthetic of this game. I never got particularly good at it, but I thought the mechanics were really interesting. Love the spin on the theme, too. Great entry!

echo-gameworks 2023-01-18 03:08

Really loved the mood and graphics. Your take on the theme was novel and led to a really cool mechanic. Unfortunately, the controls hampered the enjoyment of it a bit - the wall jumping was pretty finicky. Overall though, really impressive entry!