I’ve tweaked the movement already, seems like everyone hated that turn-before-move thing. Not sure why I did it (aside from copying Pokémon). Also forgot to mark the Stay In Line door as an exit so it reset the puzzle. Fixed!
Considering Ice Path is my all time favorite Pokemon dungeon, this game instantly clicked with me. The style thematic and consistent, and the gameplay has a great core feel to build a whole game around. Moving platforms, multi-room puzzles, boulders that need to be pushed, the possibilities are tantalizing.
Backtracking could be made a little easier, it's very easy to softlock yourself going backwards into a room that requires an ice block to reach the exit (Three Tracks for example). I was also able to enter some kind of noclip mode by mashing E on a book too fast.
Total playtime: 30ish minutes. Found all the books but couldn't actually go to the exit to gloat about it.
Thanks for the feedback! Glad I’m not the only sadist who enjoyed Ice Path.
I’ll make sure it’s possible to backtrack fully, will hopefully think of a way to link things up to make it worthwhile too. More puzzle mechanics are definitely planned. I’ll check out the E bug too, I think I have a rough idea of what’s going on.
Very nice game. Brings back nostalgic memories of the Ice Path.
One point of annoyance is that if you move back from a room, the doors in the previous room lock again forcing you to redo the puzzle. Did this accidently in Three Tracks trying to quickly reset the level. Or at least I think that's what's meant to happen, since sometimes the doors don't lock again.
That’s a bug! Someone noticed that one too. I forgot to mark the door as an “exit”. Will double check all the others too. Congrats on finding the secret book!
Very nice game and atmosphere, I enjoyed it a lot. I think I found a bug: going backwards from Three Tracks to Stay in Line locks the door so I have to complete Stay in Line again. I guess this might be intentional so you can't softlock yourself in Three Tracks by clearing all ice but staying on the right side, but it's still weird.
It's pretty good. GB zelda style hit the nostalgia spot really hard. Only the controls could have some improvements, like removing the additional direction change while not on ice, and having to tap the key again to continue sliding after hitting an icicle (right now you can hold the key - if it's a short distance you can by accident destroy icicle and continue sliding).
liked it a lot. puzzle difficulty curve was very good and the bits and pieces of the story kept me engaged and wanting to know more. i`ll have to try again to find the last book, but i already noticed that you designed the levels in a way that you can always visit previous levels, so i`ll start there.
nitpicks
- not a fan of having to double tap or hold to move, having to turn and then move felt clunky
- transition of one song to another could be less abrupt
Thanks for playing and the feedback! Unfortunately to reach the final book you need the level its hidden in to be uncompleted. I’ll probably change that because as you say, I designed it so you can revisit most rooms.
Someone else mentioned the clunky movement. I’ll probably remove the turn-before-move as it’s not really needed, hopefully that will make it feel more snappy.
Yeah I need to update the music system too: I rushed it out in an afternoon for DD50. I’ll be adding actual crossfading (!) and maybe even make sure the different loops match nicely (!!)
Definitely got the GBA thematic down to a t. I wonder if there's better way to allow the player to turn in place without making the brief delay before each movement, since it makes it feel a bit less responsive, though that's not a big issue if all the traps / tiles are strictly 'turn based'
Thanks for playing! Yeah I might remove the turn-on-spot thing to make movement more fluid. It’s not really needed and is only there to emulate the Pokémon tile-based movement feel.
Well that was fun, cute music, made me feel a little sad from the dead skeleton guys and the books. The puzzles were clever but not too hard or frustrating. Good work.
Thanks for the feedback and the completion screen. Puzzles were all a bit tougher originally, but I simplified most of them. Saved the originals for a potential hard mode ng+.
Pretty great, love the music, went back and found the secret book after seeing a 6/7
I do think it's missing -something- to be really fantastic in the future. The puzzles are at a pretty perfect level to keep non-puzzle players engaged and not frustrated, imo. However they're not super unique. This seems like a game people would play and enjoy, but not something they'd seek out, or tell their friends about. I really like the foundation, the atmosphere, the writing, the feel and polish. But I don't think simply adding more mechanics to the puzzles would be enough to push it into 9-10/10. I was reminded of Tower Of Heaven, a pretty similar game in scope, but it stuck with me by having really impactful, memorable moments, and a sense of "beauty". Some of your non-puzzle rooms were approaching that atmosphere for me.
Maybe try to think of some other hook, memorable moments, emotion, subversion of expectations, etc. to really knock this game out of the park.
Looking at that screenshot of "The Creature's Lair" gave me a vision of a moment where you unexpectedly gain the ability to explore the areas in the water you've been seeing, maybe with like, a boat that gets left behind when you touch land, creating larger puzzles spanning multiple rooms you thought you had completed. I dunno, something cool like that where your understanding of what's contained in the game is expanded. (Maybe I'm dumb and you already planned to introduce "Surf" and "Strength" to the game at some point)
The game was good enough to make me think (and rant, sorry) about what it could be in the future, so good job!
I loved Tower of Heaven, not a direct influence here but perhaps indirect.
I didn’t think about “surf” until now, but that’s a great idea.
As far as a “hook” goes, I’ve got a few things planned to flesh out the game world. E.g. after stepping into the light at the end you’ll be taken to a new floor of the mountain. Will have a completely different environment, calling into question what’s going on (alien experiment? trapped in limbo? some other cliche?)
Your game was the first I tried, but my comment was obliterated by itch. Despite not being a fan of puzzles I enjoyed it for quite a while. The books helped keeping me engaged, nice touch. I also liked the bridges that collapse lol After spending some time in this cold dungeon I expected my only friends, the skeletons, to interact in some way (even if just complaining when being stepped on). Well done.
Fun fact: The second game I ever made was a recreation of the ice tunnels from Pokemon Gold and Silver while I was a sophmore in high school. I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed those puzzles.
I keep getting this error, it's preventing me from being able to play Slide Game!
I like the capsule art and if this is what I think it is, (I liked the slide puzzles in pokemon for instance) then I'd probably enjoy it. Let me know if this is my fault and I need to change something. Thanks for submitting your work!
Not sure what went wrong here. Tested on Windows/MacOS and Firefox/Chrome. I’ll put up downloadable versions for next DD, was in a bit of a rush for this one so didn’t have time to get that all done properly.
Comments
This is probably my favorite game this DD.
Don't have much to say, looks good, plays good, music is good. Could definitely do with sound effects though.
I like the lore scattered around.
There seems to be a delay when moving that is quite annoying.
When I went back from Three Tracks to Stay In Line the puzzle was reset with the door closed again.
oh_gosh.png
I’ve tweaked the movement already, seems like everyone hated that turn-before-move thing. Not sure why I did it (aside from copying Pokémon). Also forgot to mark the Stay In Line door as an exit so it reset the puzzle. Fixed!
didnt load on firefox and crashed chrome.
Sorry, someone else had this problem. Will try to include downloadable versions next time in case of browser weirdness.
Very nice little puzzle game. I think you pretty much nailed your target in terms of presentation, puzzle design, and so on. Good job.
Considering Ice Path is my all time favorite Pokemon dungeon, this game instantly clicked with me. The style thematic and consistent, and the gameplay has a great core feel to build a whole game around. Moving platforms, multi-room puzzles, boulders that need to be pushed, the possibilities are tantalizing.
Backtracking could be made a little easier, it's very easy to softlock yourself going backwards into a room that requires an ice block to reach the exit (Three Tracks for example). I was also able to enter some kind of noclip mode by mashing E on a book too fast.
Total playtime: 30ish minutes. Found all the books but couldn't actually go to the exit to gloat about it.
Thanks for the feedback! Glad I’m not the only sadist who enjoyed Ice Path.
I’ll make sure it’s possible to backtrack fully, will hopefully think of a way to link things up to make it worthwhile too. More puzzle mechanics are definitely planned. I’ll check out the E bug too, I think I have a rough idea of what’s going on.
Very nice game. Brings back nostalgic memories of the Ice Path.
One point of annoyance is that if you move back from a room, the doors in the previous room lock again forcing you to redo the puzzle. Did this accidently in Three Tracks trying to quickly reset the level. Or at least I think that's what's meant to happen, since sometimes the doors don't lock again.
That’s a bug! Someone noticed that one too. I forgot to mark the door as an “exit”. Will double check all the others too. Congrats on finding the secret book!
Very nice game and atmosphere, I enjoyed it a lot. I think I found a bug: going backwards from Three Tracks to Stay in Line locks the door so I have to complete Stay in Line again. I guess this might be intentional so you can't softlock yourself in Three Tracks by clearing all ice but staying on the right side, but it's still weird.
Nope, that’s a bug! I forgot to mark that as an exit door which records that you’ve completed the level.
I'm out at The Final Test.
It's pretty good. GB zelda style hit the nostalgia spot really hard. Only the controls could have some improvements, like removing the additional direction change while not on ice, and having to tap the key again to continue sliding after hitting an icicle (right now you can hold the key - if it's a short distance you can by accident destroy icicle and continue sliding).
Thanks for playing that far! Lots of others have mentioned the clunky controls, will be top of the my todo list for sure.
liked it a lot. puzzle difficulty curve was very good and the bits and pieces of the story kept me engaged and wanting to know more. i`ll have to try again to find the last book, but i already noticed that you designed the levels in a way that you can always visit previous levels, so i`ll start there.
nitpicks
- not a fan of having to double tap or hold to move, having to turn and then move felt clunky
- transition of one song to another could be less abrupt
Thanks for playing and the feedback! Unfortunately to reach the final book you need the level its hidden in to be uncompleted. I’ll probably change that because as you say, I designed it so you can revisit most rooms.
Someone else mentioned the clunky movement. I’ll probably remove the turn-before-move as it’s not really needed, hopefully that will make it feel more snappy.
Yeah I need to update the music system too: I rushed it out in an afternoon for DD50. I’ll be adding actual crossfading (!) and maybe even make sure the different loops match nicely (!!)
Definitely got the GBA thematic down to a t. I wonder if there's better way to allow the player to turn in place without making the brief delay before each movement, since it makes it feel a bit less responsive, though that's not a big issue if all the traps / tiles are strictly 'turn based'
Thanks for playing! Yeah I might remove the turn-on-spot thing to make movement more fluid. It’s not really needed and is only there to emulate the Pokémon tile-based movement feel.
Well that was fun, cute music, made me feel a little sad from the dead skeleton guys and the books. The puzzles were clever but not too hard or frustrating. Good work.
Thanks for the feedback and the completion screen. Puzzles were all a bit tougher originally, but I simplified most of them. Saved the originals for a potential hard mode ng+.
Thanks! :)
Pretty great, love the music, went back and found the secret book after seeing a 6/7
I do think it's missing -something- to be really fantastic in the future. The puzzles are at a pretty perfect level to keep non-puzzle players engaged and not frustrated, imo. However they're not super unique. This seems like a game people would play and enjoy, but not something they'd seek out, or tell their friends about. I really like the foundation, the atmosphere, the writing, the feel and polish. But I don't think simply adding more mechanics to the puzzles would be enough to push it into 9-10/10. I was reminded of Tower Of Heaven, a pretty similar game in scope, but it stuck with me by having really impactful, memorable moments, and a sense of "beauty". Some of your non-puzzle rooms were approaching that atmosphere for me.
Maybe try to think of some other hook, memorable moments, emotion, subversion of expectations, etc. to really knock this game out of the park.
Looking at that screenshot of "The Creature's Lair" gave me a vision of a moment where you unexpectedly gain the ability to explore the areas in the water you've been seeing, maybe with like, a boat that gets left behind when you touch land, creating larger puzzles spanning multiple rooms you thought you had completed. I dunno, something cool like that where your understanding of what's contained in the game is expanded. (Maybe I'm dumb and you already planned to introduce "Surf" and "Strength" to the game at some point)
The game was good enough to make me think (and rant, sorry) about what it could be in the future, so good job!
I loved Tower of Heaven, not a direct influence here but perhaps indirect.
I didn’t think about “surf” until now, but that’s a great idea.
As far as a “hook” goes, I’ve got a few things planned to flesh out the game world. E.g. after stepping into the light at the end you’ll be taken to a new floor of the mountain. Will have a completely different environment, calling into question what’s going on (alien experiment? trapped in limbo? some other cliche?)
Your game was the first I tried, but my comment was obliterated by itch.
Despite not being a fan of puzzles I enjoyed it for quite a while. The books helped keeping me engaged, nice touch. I also liked the bridges that collapse lol
After spending some time in this cold dungeon I expected my only friends, the skeletons, to interact in some way (even if just complaining when being stepped on).
Well done.
Nice idea! I wanted to add more side interactions, the skellies would be perfect for that.
Fun fact: The second game I ever made was a recreation of the ice tunnels from Pokemon Gold and Silver while I was a sophmore in high school. I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed those puzzles.
Feedback video:
TLDW: it's pretty good, music is a bit loud
Thanks for the video! It was interesting watching you figure out the general pattern to these puzzles.
Sorry for loud audio: rushed out BGM for DD50. Will add proper volume control and a lower default volume.
It's really fun, make more levels.
Thanks! I’ll have more ready for next DD (if all goes to plan a whole new zone with more mechanics)
I like the capsule art and if this is what I think it is, (I liked the slide puzzles in pokemon for instance) then I'd probably enjoy it. Let me know if this is my fault and I need to change something. Thanks for submitting your work!
Not sure what went wrong here. Tested on Windows/MacOS and Firefox/Chrome. I’ll put up downloadable versions for next DD, was in a bit of a rush for this one so didn’t have time to get that all done properly.
Cute gamie, nice graphics and sound, but I'm too brainlet to go far here.