Based on a true story (see post >>468262781), the Kirby-coded Goblorblike counterpart has successfully become a relic of Aggy culture since it was first announced a bit over two months ago. Gameplay-wise, Blorb has the lowest movement capabilities of any platforming mascot that comes to mind right now (not inherently a bad thing). A lot of the stages in the demo are based around building up some momentum before a long jump, mostly through the use of trampolines, and precisely, the most difficult section in the DD56 build comes from certain stage hazards that blow an air current at you, killing the speed you built up over multiple leaps.
Anons can be pretty cynical when it comes to the commercial viability of 2D platformers. Aware of that, I still believe that Blorb has a good chance standing out by further developing its low-mobility gameplay (of course, offering ways to let us accumulate speed boosts via specific maneuvers) and having constant checkpoints, kind of turning the frantic, high-difficulty precision platformer genre on its head. With its plot rooted in bona fide imageboard culture, the game's storytelling lends itself well to the inclusion of metafictional elements. What if it turns that Blorb is a younger Meta Knight in the end? Is Blobbos from Pokémon Clover related to him? You could go nuts with it just by adapting the shitposting the general alone provides.
Suggestion: faster Blorb respawn and invisible checkpoints.
Playthrough: 40+ minutes, maybe, over two sessions. In the first one, unlocked all secret stages up to the snow level (exclusive). The game didn't save my progress, so I used the cheat to unlock the bonus snow level and play the remaining normal stages on the second session.
Thanks for playing, and for the very detailed thoughts! The most recent web version has some altered movement mechanics where the focus is more on bouncing repeatedly to build up speed, but I'm not spending much time on it right now because I don't think improving my "platforming physics" skills will really have any benefit.
Very, very cute. Almost too cute, especially the death sprite (which is a horrible thing to say).
Music is fitting even if it's a bit simple, levels work exactly as they should. There's a bit of a slide after you land, but it's manageable.
My only critique would be - it's a bit too repetitive in terms of gameplay. There's almost no puzzle, just jump over enemies and traverse the levels. Which is fine, but I think it may get boring.
I can't seem to jump immediately upon landing. I can also walk through the Floor Tiles sideways. And I don't like the Graphics very much, especially in the Intro.
The Respawn locks me in Place, which I also don't like.
The flying Enemy floating Platform Section in the bonus Level is bad. If you don't arrive just in Time, you're going to assume you can jump ontop of the Enemies and get confused until you finally stay long enough to see the Platform appear.
They also don't line up their Cycle, so its luck based if you're able to get the right Cycle to pass them or not.
Apart from that one luck based Section, the "hard bonus level" was also incredible easy, especially compared to the first Level where you collect its Orb.
Level 1 and 2 are the same.
Level 2 in the Dark Lands at the End has a really bad Section, where you just kind of jump hoping to land somewhere safe.
The Music is alright.
Why do I start to jump when I walk in under a Trampoline from the Side? And why do you keep using new Elements in the Challenge Level before it is introduced in an actual Level? Overall the Level Design needs work I think.
Controls are also very slidy after a Jump ends, with in my Opinion too little Air control during a Jump.
Thanks for the very in-depth feedback! What do you mean by "Level 1 and 2 are the same"? Also by level 2 in the dark lands I'm assuming you mean the level with the clouds and ocean in the background, since the camera at the end there is pretty dicey.
I think I see what happened, you immediately go into level 1 after the cutscene, so after completing level 1, you might think that level 1 is a different level. That could be made clearer somehow. Also yep, that's the one I thought, it's definitely very bad with the camera towards the end.
Cute game that oozes a lot of soul. I really like the music. I managed to complete all levels except for 2 bonus ones.
Some minor nitpicks:
Controls are kinda weird. You use SPACE to jump, E to read signs and P to pause. But you also use P to progress from the intro cutscene. Wouldn't it make more sense to use SPACE or E to progress?
There doesn't seem to be a point to collecting blue blorbberries but I ended up going for them anyways. Maybe you could implement a level scoring system that's determined by completion speed + number of blorbberries picked up.
Bounce mechanic seems half baked. Blorb will bounce up after falling a certain distance but it never felt particularly useful. I think giving the player more control with a dedicated bounce button could be pretty cool.
Save system would be pretty nice. Only realized after I read another comment that I lost my progress :(
Thanks for playing! I'm really happy to hear you found it soulful. I agree with all the things you mentioned, most of them should be complete for Blorb: Definitive EditionTM.
I was blorbing the entire time. Played through it all, except for the bonus stuff. I pretty much ignored the blorberries too. Moving platforms were a bit wonky and laggy. Really nice that all levels have their own tilesets.
If you blorblieve in yourself blorbdev you can blorbcomplish anything.
Thanks for blorblieving! The moving platforms were a true conundrum because the game is pixel perfect, and it's hard to make them slow enough to feel good without having them be very obviously jittery when they move. Thankfully it seems nobody really commented on the background jittering (phew), but the jitter overall is one of my biggest concerns graphics-wise.
The platforming felt right and the character controlled well. I got stuck on the night level thinking there was a golden thing. There wasn't, I cut that part of the video because I was running around like a headless chicken. The game later tell you where they are so I have nobody to blame but myself.
I liked the bounce mechanic, it is a shame it is only used twice and in a bonus level at that. I can imagine it must be difficult to design around it though.
Thanks for blorblieving, and thanks for the gameplay video, those are always very helpful! You are probably the person with the most skill at the demo; I'm impressed you completed all the secret levels, especially the snow one.
It seems like pretty much everyone wants more bouncing. The problem I ran into with it was that if bouncing is based off of whether velocity is above an arbitrary threshold (that's how it works right now), it's unclear whether you are going to bounce or not so it feels imprecise. For the next version I think I'm going to add a dedicated bounce button, so blorb can bounce to his little heart's content.
Controls/physics feel a bit dry/unexciting. Level design is surprisingly good, even though it all looks plain and crap - there are actually many tricks to discover! Some quite delighting - some more annoying, but that is always the case, I think. Music is simple but actually awesome, especially the night level, I loved that.
Also I really like how easy the game is / how there are often optional hard paths. Sometimes I felt like taking the challenge, sometimes I just moved on the easy way.
- When the OST hit the "ba da da da da, dadadada" I said "there it is" and it was great
- Some segments with enemies were frustrating because going down block slopes can be frusterating
- That big jump was satisfying to finally get
Level 3
- Not much to say, although it solidified some of my general comments below
Level 4
- Love the piano track
- Super fun level, reminded me of the star levels in super mario World
Level 5
- Another nice and fun level, hard but not annoying
level 6
- Ahhhhhh FUCK this level
- FUCK that end puzzle
- I HATE blorb
The end
- Kino. I cried
General Comments
- Really fun, challenging platformer. You have a great skill for level design, and challenge. The last puzzle was really well designed.
- I wish this had a sonic type deal where all your blorbs flew out when you got hit, rather then an insta death
- In the same vein, I wish blorb had a "fast run" similar to mario in super mario world, or something like sonic's spin dash. Some more speed would be nice.
Over all super, super fun. Loved the music, gameplay and tone of the game. Great job!
./blorblinux3.x86_64: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.28' not found (required by ./blorblinux3.x86_64)
I downloaded windows build and it worked fine with Wine.
The default size of the window is tiny
This happens all the time:
I like how forgiving landing on platforms can be in your game, but it is hard to read when you are on and off a platform.
It took me a while to get on that platform. Not because I did not know where to go, but because I found it hard to execute the jump.
Moving platforms "jitter" a lot when you get on them.
I disliked how camera sometimes stays way below the character when going up e.g.:
It was not clear to me at first which levels were bonuses
You could give them names and display them when blorb is standing on them.
Blorb blended into the level a lot for me in:
I know he is different shade but it was still a lot of blue in that level.
Blow my BlorbI did not beat the saws at the end of pic related:
this is all i unlocked:
The platforming was actually enjoyable for the most part. I am glad Blorbie had infinite lives.
My biggest problems were readability of the map and some levels and how you don't reset configs of enemies, saws and moving platforms after death (something that makes the blades at the end of the castle level even worse)
I blorbed. Have not finished all the levels yet, Gotten to the ice zone for now. Its decently fun, movement feels floaty. Flag at the top of the first bonus level with the big fall does not trigger. What are your future plans for blorb? I think it would be more fun if you could kill the enemies.
Future plans for blorb, I'm probably going to do a "definitive edition" for next DD with some fixes and hopefully improvements, but overall I'm going to move onto something else to practice Godot some more. Blorb was actually an abject FAILURE... in terms of learning godot, since I got sidetracked by making all the animations and backgrounds. Oops.
Not sure why you move with A and D, but level selection left and right key. Some check points don't work (2d gold level, 2nd checkpoint overwrites all checkpoints, I restarted the level, got 1st checkpoint and died and the game spawned me at the 2nd checkpoint again!) (nope this is the problem with every level, restarting the level doesn't clear checkpoints). Some levels have one collectible near the end, are they suppose to be golden? Maybe make some indicator when you have max power on trampoline? Restart button would be nice.
This part was written as I played:
Last level was really unfair, if you could say that challenge levels where at least skill checks (even if it was getting max trampoline power on the last invisible pixel), castle last obstacle is just stupidly complex. Most obstacles in the castle are stupid because of difference in amplitude, enemy could walk 1 time it's path, when saw would go 2.5 - 3 times all it's path and when you stuck several of them in one path it just became "make lucky shot".
Wait, wtf, does saw speed increased? I watched bigguydev vod and his saws are much slower. Bro, your speed is connected to refresh rate of the monitor, my second monitor has much slower saws, I am surprised I got to last obstacle on this speed!
Thanks for playing, and thanks for the great feedback!
Checkpoints are supposed to spawn you at the last one you reached (as in furthest along in the level), but they definitely aren't supposed to carry over after restarting the level. What do you mean by restarting, pausing and exiting to map and then reentering
A very good point about the saws and enemies, I've thought about that and uhhh I have no idea how to fix it :(
Oof, I assume your FPS is higher than 60, I think what happens is that godot caps fps at 60 if that's all your monitor can handle, so I just assumed that it would be capped at 60 for everyone. The speed on bigguy's vod is the intended speed, I'll try to get that fixed.
I made a quick patch that should HOPEFULLY cap the fps, if you could skip to that level and tell me if it's fixed for you that would be great (no obligation of course, thanks for playing!)
1) Yeah, I was exiting the level through menu, then launched the level again, not sure if I reached any check-point, after death I was spawned at much later check-point. Wasn't able to recreate that bug again, I probably touched previous checkpoints a lot. (only overriding check-point vid) https://files.catbox.moe/apa9dz.mp4 2) You probably could calculate needed speed with distance, point of connection through code, but I just cut every platform that needed syncing ;) 3) I played the whole game with this speed XD https://files.catbox.moe/pz5pea.mp4
The platforming feels kinda floaty, although that may be intentional. There were a handful of blue orbs that felt impossible to grab without dying (but maybe I just need to git gud).
You might consider adding a way to jump down from a ledge onto a lower platform. It might also be a good idea to sometimes prevent the player from moving left; this is often done in platformers to force the player to continue so that they can't go back if they missed something.
It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. Good luck!
You're right about the blue orbs, on the night ocean level there is one that is TECHNICALLY possible to grab without dying, but which is way, way too hard (I can get it 1/15 times). What do you mean jumping down from a ledge, like make it easier to slip off the corner of a platform?
In the second part of this gif, the character slips through the platform and falls below (ignore the first part where he jumps through the bottom of the platform). An ability like that might make the levels easier to navigate.
Oh I see, yeah! I feel I might need to add some thinner platforms to make that happen, but it could be an interesting feature, and a way to add some more complexity to the levels.
Incredibly cute, reminds me of the games I used to make as a teen (but way better!) The game gets really good in the ice and lava levels, some really fun level design is there. I'll come back to beat the lava level later, it's really kicking my ass. Great job blorbdev, you're on your way to doing amazing things. Also big ups for using the arabian riff in the desert stage, that put a big smile on my face.
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you like the arabian riff, it was actually just a kind of gag as a placeholder but I gradually decided to keep it in, and I'm happy I did.
Interesting subversion on the usual plot. Although there is some bit of jank such as checkpoints not having a sound and the picture below which clashes with going into 1 block gaps. I would add in a dive move (down + jump in the air) since the base game already has the squash and stretch frames for that.
Seconding the others, the auto-jump/bounce mechanic is a really cool way to mix up the platforming. Maybe Blorb could even have different Blorbstates™️ where the bounce varies, e.g. semi-deflated/floppy, extreme bounce height, etc.
I think the backgrounds for a few of the stages could use a touch more contrast, the first one in particular could have more faded hills with a higher contrast. It's not a major issue, it's just stuff tends to blend in at a quick glance. All in all it was fun and the ending made me laugh, well done!
Thanks for playing, and a big thanks for your contribution to the blorb mythos with blorbina! I'll see if there's some way to add some more Bounce Action without having to totally change the gameplay (maybe a bounce key, or maybe you hold jump to bounce, idk). Backgrounds were the bane of my existence, spent so much time on them and they went through so many different permutations, in particular the colors were hard, I'll take another look at that one and see if I can make it better.
The most fun I had with this game was when I fell from a big height and auto-jumped. I think you should capitalize on this mechanic; he is a ball after all.
I also got filtered at that castle level with the two sawblades, way too frustrating. The bounce when falling a big height is a cute touch. Like your rival gob (I think I missed that storyline) this game could benefit from the classic QOL adjustments like coyote time and corner push. And the character could use a bit more deceleration, getting to a stop feels like attempting to stop a bowling ball.
I blorblieved and finished the game but I didn't find (or search for) the secret levels.
It's a little annoying how long it takes to slow down, but once you get in the habit of committing to a sequence of jumps without stopping it's fine. The floating platform+trampoline level could have used an extra checkpoint or two imo.
This is personal preference but when I play sidescroller games I bind the jump to like K or J, I switched to a controller and it was okay no problem there. There was a couple of times where I pressed the jump button a split second before blorb landed on a platform and he just walked into the abyss, checking to see if the jump button is pressed when blorb lands could make jumping sequences a little smoother.
Over all nothing that makes blorb stand out as a platformer, but what's there is competent and I had fun finishing it.
Thanks for playing! If I might ask, what do you mean by the floating platform + trampoline level? Is it the oasis background one, because if so, that's one of the secret levels.
It seems there's a consensus that there should be some kind of jump buffer, never realized it when testing but it makes a whole lot of sense now.
Hey, I'll gladly take competent and that you had fun, because I definitely agree that blorb doesn't stand out as a platformer. I genuinely believe pixel platformers are one of, if not the, WORST genres to try to make a game in. Nobody wants to play them, because why play a marioclone when you could play mario?
Is it the oasis background one, because if so, that's one of the secret levels.
Yeah that's the one. I guess I assumed that was just a secret levels had to be unlocked by going through a secret exit but I did pickup the first golden nugget.
why play a marioclone when you could play mario
Maybe if marioclone mario was a goblinoid of sorts...
Thanks for playing, and agreed. It was supposed to be more of a core mechanic, but then it was difficult for the player to know when they would bounce versus hit the ground normally. Maybe there's a way to add some more bounce action.
Comments
Based on a true story (see post >>468262781), the Kirby-coded Goblorblike counterpart has successfully become a relic of Aggy culture since it was first announced a bit over two months ago. Gameplay-wise, Blorb has the lowest movement capabilities of any platforming mascot that comes to mind right now (not inherently a bad thing). A lot of the stages in the demo are based around building up some momentum before a long jump, mostly through the use of trampolines, and precisely, the most difficult section in the DD56 build comes from certain stage hazards that blow an air current at you, killing the speed you built up over multiple leaps.
Anons can be pretty cynical when it comes to the commercial viability of 2D platformers. Aware of that, I still believe that Blorb has a good chance standing out by further developing its low-mobility gameplay (of course, offering ways to let us accumulate speed boosts via specific maneuvers) and having constant checkpoints, kind of turning the frantic, high-difficulty precision platformer genre on its head. With its plot rooted in bona fide imageboard culture, the game's storytelling lends itself well to the inclusion of metafictional elements. What if it turns that Blorb is a younger Meta Knight in the end? Is Blobbos from Pokémon Clover related to him? You could go nuts with it just by adapting the shitposting the general alone provides.
Suggestion: faster Blorb respawn and invisible checkpoints.
Playthrough: 40+ minutes, maybe, over two sessions. In the first one, unlocked all secret stages up to the snow level (exclusive). The game didn't save my progress, so I used the cheat to unlock the bonus snow level and play the remaining normal stages on the second session.
Thanks for playing, and for the very detailed thoughts! The most recent web version has some altered movement mechanics where the focus is more on bouncing repeatedly to build up speed, but I'm not spending much time on it right now because I don't think improving my "platforming physics" skills will really have any benefit.
Very, very cute. Almost too cute, especially the death sprite (which is a horrible thing to say).
Music is fitting even if it's a bit simple, levels work exactly as they should. There's a bit of a slide after you land, but it's manageable.
My only critique would be - it's a bit too repetitive in terms of gameplay. There's almost no puzzle, just jump over enemies and traverse the levels. Which is fine, but I think it may get boring.
But I like it. It's a cute little game.
Thanks for playing and for streaming!
Played for roughly 30m.
I can't seem to jump immediately upon landing. I can also walk through the Floor Tiles sideways. And I don't like the Graphics very much, especially in the Intro.
The Respawn locks me in Place, which I also don't like.
The flying Enemy floating Platform Section in the bonus Level is bad. If you don't arrive just in Time, you're going to assume you can jump ontop of the Enemies and get confused until you finally stay long enough to see the Platform appear.
They also don't line up their Cycle, so its luck based if you're able to get the right Cycle to pass them or not.
Apart from that one luck based Section, the "hard bonus level" was also incredible easy, especially compared to the first Level where you collect its Orb.
Level 1 and 2 are the same.
Level 2 in the Dark Lands at the End has a really bad Section, where you just kind of jump hoping to land somewhere safe.
The Music is alright.
Why do I start to jump when I walk in under a Trampoline from the Side? And why do you keep using new Elements in the Challenge Level before it is introduced in an actual Level? Overall the Level Design needs work I think.
Controls are also very slidy after a Jump ends, with in my Opinion too little Air control during a Jump.
Thanks for the very in-depth feedback! What do you mean by "Level 1 and 2 are the same"? Also by level 2 in the dark lands I'm assuming you mean the level with the clouds and ocean in the background, since the camera at the end there is pretty dicey.
unless I selected wrongly, the first 2 Levels you select on the overworld are the same.
As with level 2 in dark Lands, the second Level in the Worldmap on the Dark Parts. The one before the Ice Level.
I think I see what happened, you immediately go into level 1 after the cutscene, so after completing level 1, you might think that level 1 is a different level. That could be made clearer somehow. Also yep, that's the one I thought, it's definitely very bad with the camera towards the end.
Cute game that oozes a lot of soul. I really like the music. I managed to complete all levels except for 2 bonus ones.
Some minor nitpicks:
Controls are kinda weird. You use SPACE to jump, E to read signs and P to pause. But you also use P to progress from the intro cutscene. Wouldn't it make more sense to use SPACE or E to progress?
There doesn't seem to be a point to collecting blue blorbberries but I ended up going for them anyways. Maybe you could implement a level scoring system that's determined by completion speed + number of blorbberries picked up.
Bounce mechanic seems half baked. Blorb will bounce up after falling a certain distance but it never felt particularly useful. I think giving the player more control with a dedicated bounce button could be pretty cool.
Save system would be pretty nice. Only realized after I read another comment that I lost my progress :(
Looking forward to your next project!
Thanks for playing! I'm really happy to hear you found it soulful. I agree with all the things you mentioned, most of them should be complete for Blorb: Definitive EditionTM.
I was blorbing the entire time. Played through it all, except for the bonus stuff. I pretty much ignored the blorberries too. Moving platforms were a bit wonky and laggy. Really nice that all levels have their own tilesets.
If you blorblieve in yourself blorbdev you can blorbcomplish anything.
Thanks for blorblieving! The moving platforms were a true conundrum because the game is pixel perfect, and it's hard to make them slow enough to feel good without having them be very obviously jittery when they move. Thankfully it seems nobody really commented on the background jittering (phew), but the jitter overall is one of my biggest concerns graphics-wise.
I blorblieved. Video:
The platforming felt right and the character controlled well. I got stuck on the night level thinking there was a golden thing. There wasn't, I cut that part of the video because I was running around like a headless chicken. The game later tell you where they are so I have nobody to blame but myself.I liked the bounce mechanic, it is a shame it is only used twice and in a bonus level at that. I can imagine it must be difficult to design around it though.
I had anenjoyable time, nice job.
Thanks for blorblieving, and thanks for the gameplay video, those are always very helpful! You are probably the person with the most skill at the demo; I'm impressed you completed all the secret levels, especially the snow one.
It seems like pretty much everyone wants more bouncing. The problem I ran into with it was that if bouncing is based off of whether velocity is above an arbitrary threshold (that's how it works right now), it's unclear whether you are going to bounce or not so it feels imprecise. For the next version I think I'm going to add a dedicated bounce button, so blorb can bounce to his little heart's content.
Having a button for bouncing sounds nice, kinda like a ground pound.
Hey I found this
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2137186060
Controls/physics feel a bit dry/unexciting. Level design is surprisingly good, even though it all looks plain and crap - there are actually many tricks to discover! Some quite delighting - some more annoying, but that is always the case, I think. Music is simple but actually awesome, especially the night level, I loved that.
Also I really like how easy the game is / how there are often optional hard paths. Sometimes I felt like taking the challenge, sometimes I just moved on the easy way.
Thanks for playing and giving feedback!
I took notes on each level
Level 1
- Loved the intro and drop in
- You could hover off the end of ledges
- Flags have no sound :(
Level 2
- When the OST hit the "ba da da da da, dadadada" I said "there it is" and it was great
- Some segments with enemies were frustrating because going down block slopes can be frusterating
- That big jump was satisfying to finally get
Level 3
- Not much to say, although it solidified some of my general comments below
Level 4
- Love the piano track
- Super fun level, reminded me of the star levels in super mario World
Level 5
- Another nice and fun level, hard but not annoying
level 6
- Ahhhhhh FUCK this level
- FUCK that end puzzle
- I HATE blorb
The end
- Kino. I cried
General Comments
- Really fun, challenging platformer. You have a great skill for level design, and challenge. The last puzzle was really well designed.
- I wish this had a sonic type deal where all your blorbs flew out when you got hit, rather then an insta death
- In the same vein, I wish blorb had a "fast run" similar to mario in super mario world, or something like sonic's spin dash. Some more speed would be nice.
Over all super, super fun. Loved the music, gameplay and tone of the game. Great job!
Thanks for playing, and thanks for the great feedback! Notes on each level are great to have.
I tried linux build, but it did not work for me
I downloaded windows build and it worked fine with Wine.
The default size of the window is tiny
This happens all the time:
I like how forgiving landing on platforms can be in your game, but it is hard to read when you are on and off a platform.
It took me a while to get on that platform. Not because I did not know where to go, but because I found it hard to execute the jump.
Moving platforms "jitter" a lot when you get on them.
I disliked how camera sometimes stays way below the character when going up e.g.:
It was not clear to me at first which levels were bonuses
You could give them names and display them when blorb is standing on them.
Blorb blended into the level a lot for me in:
I know he is different shade but it was still a lot of blue in that level.
this is all i unlocked:
The platforming was actually enjoyable for the most part. I am glad Blorbie had infinite lives.
My biggest problems were readability of the map and some levels and how you don't reset configs of enemies, saws and moving platforms after death (something that makes the blades at the end of the castle level even worse)
The "story" is silly. Poor blorb.
I played nearly one hour.
Shame the game does not save your progress.
Thanks for playing, and thank you very much for the detailed feedback (pictures are super helpful!)
I blorbed. Have not finished all the levels yet, Gotten to the ice zone for now. Its decently fun, movement feels floaty. Flag at the top of the first bonus level with the big fall does not trigger. What are your future plans for blorb? I think it would be more fun if you could kill the enemies.
Thanks for blorbing!
Future plans for blorb, I'm probably going to do a "definitive edition" for next DD with some fixes and hopefully improvements, but overall I'm going to move onto something else to practice Godot some more. Blorb was actually an abject FAILURE... in terms of learning godot, since I got sidetracked by making all the animations and backgrounds. Oops.
Cute game!
Like the simple graphics and nice tunes.
Not sure why you move with A and D, but level selection left and right key.
Some check points don't work (2d gold level, 2nd checkpoint overwrites all checkpoints, I restarted the level, got 1st checkpoint and died and the game spawned me at the 2nd checkpoint again!) (nope this is the problem with every level, restarting the level doesn't clear checkpoints).
Some levels have one collectible near the end, are they suppose to be golden?
Maybe make some indicator when you have max power on trampoline?
Restart button would be nice.
This part was written as I played:
Last level was really unfair, if you could say that challenge levels where at least skill checks (even if it was getting max trampoline power on the last invisible pixel), castle last obstacle is just stupidly complex. Most obstacles in the castle are stupid because of difference in amplitude, enemy could walk 1 time it's path, when saw would go 2.5 - 3 times all it's path and when you stuck several of them in one path it just became "make lucky shot".
Wait, wtf, does saw speed increased? I watched bigguydev vod and his saws are much slower.
Bro, your speed is connected to refresh rate of the monitor, my second monitor has much slower saws, I am surprised I got to last obstacle on this speed!
Thanks for playing, and thanks for the great feedback!
I made a quick patch that should HOPEFULLY cap the fps, if you could skip to that level and tell me if it's fixed for you that would be great (no obligation of course, thanks for playing!)
1) Yeah, I was exiting the level through menu, then launched the level again, not sure if I reached any check-point, after death I was spawned at much later check-point.
Wasn't able to recreate that bug again, I probably touched previous checkpoints a lot. (only overriding check-point vid) https://files.catbox.moe/apa9dz.mp4
2) You probably could calculate needed speed with distance, point of connection through code, but I just cut every platform that needed syncing ;)
3) I played the whole game with this speed XD https://files.catbox.moe/pz5pea.mp4
The platforming feels kinda floaty, although that may be intentional. There were a handful of blue orbs that felt impossible to grab without dying (but maybe I just need to git gud).
You might consider adding a way to jump down from a ledge onto a lower platform. It might also be a good idea to sometimes prevent the player from moving left; this is often done in platformers to force the player to continue so that they can't go back if they missed something.
It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. Good luck!
You're right about the blue orbs, on the night ocean level there is one that is TECHNICALLY possible to grab without dying, but which is way, way too hard (I can get it 1/15 times). What do you mean jumping down from a ledge, like make it easier to slip off the corner of a platform?
In the second part of this gif, the character slips through the platform and falls below (ignore the first part where he jumps through the bottom of the platform). An ability like that might make the levels easier to navigate.
Oh I see, yeah! I feel I might need to add some thinner platforms to make that happen, but it could be an interesting feature, and a way to add some more complexity to the levels.
Incredibly cute, reminds me of the games I used to make as a teen (but way better!) The game gets really good in the ice and lava levels, some really fun level design is there. I'll come back to beat the lava level later, it's really kicking my ass. Great job blorbdev, you're on your way to doing amazing things. Also big ups for using the arabian riff in the desert stage, that put a big smile on my face.
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you like the arabian riff, it was actually just a kind of gag as a placeholder but I gradually decided to keep it in, and I'm happy I did.
Interesting subversion on the usual plot. Although there is some bit of jank such as checkpoints not having a sound and the picture below which clashes with going into 1 block gaps.
I would add in a dive move (down + jump in the air) since the base game already has the squash and stretch frames for that.
Thanks for playing, and it does seem there's a broad consensus that more bouncing would be good, so the dive is definitely something to add.
can't believe blorb is actually in real life now
Seconding the others, the auto-jump/bounce mechanic is a really cool way to mix up the platforming. Maybe Blorb could even have different Blorbstates™️ where the bounce varies, e.g. semi-deflated/floppy, extreme bounce height, etc.
I think the backgrounds for a few of the stages could use a touch more contrast, the first one in particular could have more faded hills with a higher contrast. It's not a major issue, it's just stuff tends to blend in at a quick glance. All in all it was fun and the ending made me laugh, well done!
p.s. I was the one who drew BlorbinaThanks for playing, and a big thanks for your contribution to the blorb mythos with blorbina! I'll see if there's some way to add some more Bounce Action without having to totally change the gameplay (maybe a bounce key, or maybe you hold jump to bounce, idk). Backgrounds were the bane of my existence, spent so much time on them and they went through so many different permutations, in particular the colors were hard, I'll take another look at that one and see if I can make it better.
The most fun I had with this game was when I fell from a big height and auto-jumped. I think you should capitalize on this mechanic; he is a ball after all.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136291824
Eyy thanks for playing and streaming, you did great! You have the (dubious??) honor of being the first person to stream blorb.
woah, the honor
I also got filtered at that castle level with the two sawblades, way too frustrating. The bounce when falling a big height is a cute touch. Like your rival gob (I think I missed that storyline) this game could benefit from the classic QOL adjustments like coyote time and corner push. And the character could use a bit more deceleration, getting to a stop feels like attempting to stop a bowling ball.
Thanks for playing, I made the castle level a bit easier, you definitely weren't the only one to get filtered.
I blorblieved and finished the game but I didn't find (or search for) the secret levels.
It's a little annoying how long it takes to slow down, but once you get in the habit of committing to a sequence of jumps without stopping it's fine.
The floating platform+trampoline level could have used an extra checkpoint or two imo.
This is personal preference but when I play sidescroller games I bind the jump to like K or J, I switched to a controller and it was okay no problem there.
There was a couple of times where I pressed the jump button a split second before blorb landed on a platform and he just walked into the abyss, checking to see if the jump button is pressed when blorb lands could make jumping sequences a little smoother.
Over all nothing that makes blorb stand out as a platformer, but what's there is competent and I had fun finishing it.
Thanks for playing! If I might ask, what do you mean by the floating platform + trampoline level? Is it the oasis background one, because if so, that's one of the secret levels.
It seems there's a consensus that there should be some kind of jump buffer, never realized it when testing but it makes a whole lot of sense now.
Hey, I'll gladly take competent and that you had fun, because I definitely agree that blorb doesn't stand out as a platformer. I genuinely believe pixel platformers are one of, if not the, WORST genres to try to make a game in. Nobody wants to play them, because why play a marioclone when you could play mario?
Yeah that's the one.
I guess I assumed that was just a secret levels had to be unlocked by going through a secret exit but I did pickup the first golden nugget.
Maybe if marioclone mario was a goblinoid of sorts...
I like the bouncing after falling big heights mechanic. Way more fun than regular platforming.
seconded
Thanks for playing, and agreed. It was supposed to be more of a core mechanic, but then it was difficult for the player to know when they would bounce versus hit the ground normally. Maybe there's a way to add some more bounce action.