vegeo 2024-04-15 03:38
Really enjoyable simple platforming game! Takes a little bit to get used to the timing, but I really appreciate the notched you added to the UI so you know when to jump!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD55 → They Ran Out Of Flying Spells So Now I Summon Platforms
By gaverion
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 518 | 3.62 | 27 | |
| Fun | 514 | 3.52 | 27 | |
| Innovation | 88 | 4.01 | 27 | |
| Theme | 418 | 3.88 | 27 | |
| Humor | 658 | 2.90 | 27 | |
| Mood | 985 | 3.10 | 27 |
Really enjoyable simple platforming game! Takes a little bit to get used to the timing, but I really appreciate the notched you added to the UI so you know when to jump!
The platform summoning added a neat twist to a classic 3D platformer. I think this concept could be expanded upon to make a really interesting game! The core concept in your entry seems to be pretty good. I think it would go far if you added a small audio cue for the timing of jumps as well.
Nice game. Some levels are pretty challenging. Also I like some levels allows you to break the game and complete level through the room's roof :P
Hi! Cool animations and art but gameplay is my jam, amazing! Loved it!
gotta love the classic, great spin on the platformer, good job
Timing felt hard for me but I really enjoyed landing on thin air !
I think I finished all the levels, it took me back to the menu.
Interesting spin on platforming! Trying to time it when dropping down over spikes was challenging, jumping up was easier, both felt good once I got the hang of it. I think that UI indicator is absolutely key. I think this concept has a lot of room to grow and whats there is already quite fun.
Visually it's cute, I like the character model and the usage of the theme is good. Well done!
Interesting concept and a nice little game! I appreciate the level select, as some levels were a bit daunting for me, but I still got to see everything you put in. Nice work!
Very innovative approach to platform games, I really enjoyed the idea! The timing might not be immediately intuitive, but it makes the progression more rewarding. It's a shame there isn't a bit of background music that would contribute a lot to the game's atmosphere. Well done!
Thx for showing up on the stream and sharing the game. A great success for the first Game Jam! I'm excited to see what our newcomer will bring to the market in the future!
Really cool concept and great title! :laughing: Was really cool getting the timing and rhythm of this game down. It felt kind of cool to be able to choose your own way to solve it. I personally liked just making a really tall tower of platforms and jumping to the goal. Nice work!
image_2024-04-16_202626472.png
Timing's a bit too odd for me but I enjoy what they're trying to go for, though. I like some of the 3D models shown here :)
Overall, this game is pretty cool! The concept is executed well and felt very original!
I wish the movement was just at run speed all the time, there was very little reason for the walk speed at all.
I appreciated the notches on the timing UI. Once I figured out what they meant the game became a lot easier to get around. From a UI standpoint, I suggest moving the meter closer to the player model. Maybe float it to one of the sides? I found my eyes constantly darting from the meter to the player a lot because it can be hard to watch both for timing.
The timer length felt just a tad bit too long for me. I wish the movement was about 1/3 faster, there is a lot of "waiting" and patience/pacing needed when moving. This, combined with the respawn being at the start of a level, removed a lot of the excitement.
Too much of the playtime is just waiting for the timer so the next jump works. If there was something else cognitive to do during these pauses, such as planning the next move, or blocking an attack, it wouldn't be so bad. I get that you need the gap in time to allow the threat of falling but having it this slow between platforms takes away some of the fun.
Walking off a platform to safely move down also felt too tricky. I think if you add an input to "destroy" the platform below, vertical drops would become much easier to navigate. With the current speed of the movement and the transparency of the platforms it can be tricky to time walking off the edge to get a required height.
One of my favorite features is that some previous platforms stick around behind instead of only having one active at a time. This allowed some cool stacking or positioning tricks. I actually wish there was more left behind, but I understand this is a huge ask because of performance and possibly trapping oneself in their own platforms.
I loved the little touches like the intro ghosts apologizing about their inventory. I like how open the game is about solving the levels too. Cheesing some of the levels was really fun!
The game has a lot of charm and invites the player to experiment with something new. That's a big win!
EDIT: sorry for the double post, oops.
@gawain-doell thank you so much for the detailed feedback! I have gotten a few bits of feedback about looking in the corner while playing and I think your suggestion of attaching it to the player would work really well.
The idea of being able to break blocks also feels like it solves a real problem that doesn't get voiced but I have definitely observed.
An interesting note on the timer, your suggestion to drop it by 1/3 would change it from 1.5 seconds to 1 second. I will mess around with it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the round timing feels more natural.
I love the concept but the implementation feels really, really janky. Being booted back to the start of the location when you die feels really abrupt, and the fact that your blocks stay around afterwards means I'm often stuck waiting for old platforms to vanish before I can proceed. I also didn't appreciate that the poles for the swinging axes counted as deadly obstacles, not just the blades, but I did like how the game had no problem with me just going "nope" and going around the periphery of the level instead.
A decent concept and a great tagline, but the implementation needs some work. A lot of the levels were able to be cheesed, having the timer in the top corner feels awkward especially on a larger monitor, and the whole death system needs some polishing. You have a decent foundation, it just mostly needs work on quality of life stuff.
Not bad for a first jam entry though!
@darkwolf thank you for the feedback! I had a lot of comments on the top left ui, definitely something I will pay more attention to in the future. Probably orienting it similar to stamina from Breath of the Wild or others where it's so central to how you play. A few other suggestions I got were audio and color based indicators which with time to polish would definitely be good to add.
Alternatively someone suggested moving away from the timer and making it work like a double jump which is something I have decided to mess around with for fun on the side.
The death system was definitely something I ran out of time for. Some sort of death animation and a simple ui Probably would make a big difference.
A rhythm platformer without platforms? Very interesting idea that you can a definitely do a lot with, and I think the bones of what's here are really good.