katastudios 2025-04-08 04:24
very original concept!
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD57 → Pushing Forward
By keithswanger
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 721 | 3.10 | 26 | |
| Fun | 711 | 2.91 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 393 | 3.31 | 26 | |
| Theme | 585 | 3.41 | 26 | |
| Graphics | 661 | 3.12 | 26 | |
| Audio | 543 | 2.54 | 26 | |
| Humor | 533 | 2.58 | 25 | |
| Mood | 802 | 2.77 | 26 |
very original concept!
Smart idea, you control over some adventurer using platformer mini game to fulfill it's HP. Sure if there are more platformer levels it could be more enjoyable) Thank u for game!
at first I did not expect anything but at the end it was a good surprise. Cools arts. Overall good submission.
Nice! I really like the core concept and the little progress of the adventurer is adorable, but with nothing changing in the platformer as the adventurer progresses it got pretty repetitive pretty quickly. Not bad!
after i figured out what to do it made sense and i enjoyed the mechanic -- however it did get a little boring continuing to jump on the same platforms -- maybe it changed in the later levels -- overall slick game and i liked it -- thanks for making it
Very clever idea! The concept clicked right away as soon as I saw the colored enemies and the buttons. About halfway through when the different colored bars started shrinking to 2 or 1 segments it became a lot of fun trying to figure out the route I needed to take in order to survive the level.
I do think that the pacing could use some work. I died on the very last level and starting all the way over didn't feel enjoyable.
A little bit of variety could have _really_ put this over the finish line. Perhaps as the adventurer went to new levels and faced new challenges, new obstacles could pop up for the therapist. That would introduce some challenges as previously-traversed paths would become more dangerous or impossible, requiring you to navigate a different way.
Great work! I think you have a solid concept here that could be iterated on and polished up for a really cool post-jam project!
Really liked the idea of Inside Out for a dungeon adventurer, just wish I was better at jumping!
11.49! I did it! @keithswanger What's your best time?
I have to admit though, that I really had no clue what I was doing for the first two levels. After that I thought it would get boring, but since I could speed up the adventurer and had to think ahead for the last levels it was actually kind of fun and a bit intense towards the end!
Nice graphics, nice walking sound audio. Gameplay wise I just wished there would have been some changes to the level, like maybe an elevator platform that unlocks.
Great entry, really enjoyed myself!
@andrewkennedy Thank you for the thoughtful review!
@lexi My best time is around 4:35!
Thank you for playing :)
Cool one, like the overall idea! i think the main flaw in the design of the game is it's quite repetitive by nature, so i got bored before finishing the game. With that out of the way, i liked the mechanic of helping another hero on the minimap, as well as the platforming, sounds and visuals!
that's some interesting concept for progressing, but the jumping mechanics are a little bit too difficult for the level structure - also you have to go one specific route everytime to reach the top again (and the punishment is big for the large spike area, when you respawn back to red then)
well done!
I love the concept and I'd love to see it fleshed out in a bigger game. Some of the ledges felt like they gave me a little extra vertical on my jump but it seemed too inconsistent to use.
I played a couple levels before I remembered to record so I already had some idea of the level and the gist of the gameplay before this video starts.
https://youtu.be/01zZTcijefI
I find this creative when it comes to pushing buttons but as it gets deeper, it becomes repetitive. The spikes make it worse. It would be better if there were alternate paths and less spikes but have twists.
I really like the satisfying sound effects! The game idea and execution is great too! Cool entry
Great game! It starts out simple enough, but ramps up in difficulty quickly. The only thing I could think of to improve it is to randomize the button positions or change the map after a certain number of levels. I liked seeing the "hero" on the right side going through the dungeon. Great concept and execution!
Good combination of gameplay! The character sounds great, maybe if you add some background music it will add more fun to the process.
Pushing Forward is a hero management game by way of precise platforming. I really like the imagination in this, the doc rebuilding the hero's body strength from the inside, that involves pushing color-coded buttons that boost a certain strength. That must be what that whole "find the power within" thing is about. :thinking:
I think more convoluted paths with changing complications on the way would've made the platforming part a little more interesting. There were points where I just kind of sat there and waited the hero to do their thing, made my rounds to refill the stats, repeat until end. I will say, you nailed the nuance of the jump, it's slow enough that I could confidently do precise jumps, but not sluggish enough so as to feel overly floaty. There's a delicate balance in there and you definitely got it.
I have no idea if this was the only sound that made it into the game, or if sound wasn't working for me, but the only thing I could hear were walking sounds. Granted, those are important and really adds something to the overall feel of being in a body. I just want to be sure I got the whole library of audio you intended / had time for. Some music and additional sounds would definitely finish the job for establishing a mood for the game.
I took a critical direction with my thoughts, but I enjoyed my time here. There's potential to establish real atmosphere here and all kinds of directions you can take Pushing Forward.
I couldn't find anywhere else to note this, but the doc is adorable. The little death animation is like I tripped and it got an "aww" out of me.
Cute character, hectic game! Ended on 11:something after dying a couple of times. Didn't immediately get it but caught on after the first failure. Even with the description as a clue, the presentation was a bit abstract and the dialogue a bit mysterious, so I'm still pondering it all.
I like the graphics and expressive animations. Gameplay felt good. I got stuck on the spikes a couple of times before I realised I was being silly and not holding the key for a longer jump.
The number of colours was good, easy to keep in my head so I didn't have to run around looking for them after the first moments of the game and could focus on managing everything else. Difficulty ramped up quite well; I think it could've probably ramped up even a bit more without issue.
I liked the sound effects, too bad you weren't able to get music in there! :( Something matching the tempo of the gameplay would've been neat.
Short but sweet, and cool use of the "game within a game" thing in a way I haven't seen done exactly like this before!