Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD53 → Postal Jump
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1106 | 2.93 | 25 | |
| Fun | 1079 | 2.78 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 965 | 2.89 | 25 | |
| Theme | 998 | 3.37 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 901 | 3.11 | 23 | |
| Audio | 728 | 2.56 | 25 | |
| Humor | 907 | 2.52 | 24 | |
| Mood | 1130 | 2.60 | 25 |
I really like the idea, but ran into a couple of issues that prevented me from playing further: - Pressing "R" every time you die is quite annoying, especially because you die a LOT in this game. It should just restart automatically (and quickly) so you can try again - I got stuck in walls a couple of times, and couldn't get unstuck. I had to restart the game but that means you have to start all the way from the beginning... Other than that, I had fun, so good job!
I think the jump height needs to be increased, because the game now is very hard
Very nice idea and nice graphics. It was way too hard tho.. especially the second level. There was also a bug when jumping to the left edge of the screen and I can't continue.
@mkraw @greenphox I started late so ended up with no time to test and balance the game, nothing I can do now, thanks for playing. @joaosilva22 yeah I think it has to do with my boxcasts. Well not pressing r will save a milisecond but then I can't have a game over screen, so I disagree there.
Got stuck in walls in most of my playthroughs, had to restart the game after those. And the strenght of the jumps are slightly off, like if you drag a small line can get you the same jump distance as dragging a very long line.
Very nice idea though, and the graphics are nice. I'm sure with a bit of polish it will be a solid entry.
Interesting game. Some ideas to make it more "snappy", Instead of having a "death screen" and needing to press r to restart it should auto restart on death. Also it would be nice to be able to press "r" or something to quickly restart from anywhere. So you don't have to wait to complete the missed jump in order to restart.
The game is fun :) The jump mechanic is really fun to use. It reminded me of Jump King, but with mouse controls and a boost option. It was quite hard to get a hang of it, since sometimes the launch angle seems off (when having a lot uf upward force and little sideways force, it launched too much sideways). Once I understood the handling it was fun to jump around :)
Good twist from traditionnal platformers I barely passed the first level though, I kept getting stuck against a wall in the second level with no way of moving The art is cute
I liked the game! The game has a cool minimalistic look and sound. Unfortunately couldn't figure out how the in-flight boost works so it was hard to get through the game.
Cool game. I like the idea of clicking the near the character to adjust its trajectory after its already been launched. It's nice being able to have a bit of leeway to save misaimed jumps. Finishing the level by throwing the letter (rather than touching an end goal) is a neat idea too. It's fun doing a daring jump toward the mailbox and sniping it with the letter at the last second.
Unfortunately, there's an annoying bug where you get stuck on walls and can't do anything. It happens mainly against the edges of the screen but sometimes happens on walls inside the level too. I had to restart the whole game multiple times because of it. The furthest I could make it was level 4 because of these restarts.
On a more positive note, the graphics look quite nice. I especially like the design of the of the main character.
Not fun getting stuck on walls all the time and having to fully restart the game to try again.
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.18.04.png
You had a R to restart but it only works when you've died. Pointless really. You should allow restarting at any time really and in the death case, any key really should do it or it could be completely automatic too. Having to keep a hand on keyboard just for retries (especially in a rapid fail game like this) on otherwise mouse based game just isn't great user experience. Of course it's an issue in the other direction too which is maybe even more common in jam games where the game itself is played with keyboard but the menus are mouse based.
The controls feel awkward. The double jump feels weird as the controls are different than the normal jump. The jumping angle doesn't look to be absolutely correct. The angle doesn't just seem quite right. And the spot where it starts drawing the launch line keeps starting at arbitrary positions too.
Here are just a few *fun* scenarios of being stuck in a wall...
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.20.05.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.18.04.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.33.44.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.24.42.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.30.09.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.41.45.png
Screenshot 2023-05-06 at 15.53.02.png
And this is a first, you can even get stuck on the ground too...
postaljumpground.gif
The throw feel very limp. Of course it needs to be kinda nerfed to keep the main point on jumping. Just makes the whole throwing part almost unnecessary as you need to be almost touching the mailbox to deliver anyway. I think the route to true fun and distinguishing itself from Jump King would be to hone in more on the double jump and the throw as a pseudo third jump. Of course the level design would need to compensate for proper throw not being too good. I also would make the normal jump and double one be more consistent in controls. Double jump one could be the same sling shot manoeuvre and it could maybe slow down time while charging. And same for the throw too. Now it's awkward that the initial jump is a sling shot nudge (from behind the character), second jump is also from behind but a nudge and then the (limpy almost useless) throw itself is inverse so that you need to move the mouse to the other side of the character. These really should be unified.
Really irrirated to have to give up but really can't be bothered to keep replaying these same levels again and again only to be constantly getting stuck in random spots and having to do a hard reset.
Good job though. 👍
@antti-haavikko appreciate the review, if I had a play tester before publishing perhaps the issues could have been solved.
The air boost is a nice (and often life-saving) mechanic. This could be the base for a very cool game once the physics/difficulty/etc issues are fixed.
Maybe showing the jumping trajectory of our character would help, but I totally understand that it's too difficult to code for the jam unless you're a physics genius or you already did it in a previous game.
A very hard game: beware of going postal :P
I liked the mechanics in this, the double jump certainly makes things interesting :smile: Could be nice to define the boundaries better. It wasn't clear you could hit off the walls, and I was definitely hesitant after already dying a bunch haha.
Yeah, classic stuff on jam games. But jams are about learning and with enough repetition, you can even become better at testing your own games too.
Lots to like. It was challenging and an interesting game loop. I wish you bounced off the walls. I did get stuck a few times and had to restart. It was a good effort and I liked playing it. Good work