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Bounce the Raccoon's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Community Choice | #10 | 4.222 | 4.222 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
Bounce the Raccoon is a beautiful physics platformer game where you control a character hearkening back to the platform mascots of yore. Perhaps modeled somewhat after the structure of Kirby Superstar, a series of 6 minigames are presented for you to roll your way through while enjoying a selection of locales. This is a really strong game, especially from a solo dev, is an easy Top Pick, although its weakest elements seem to all culminate in the somewhat unsatisfying inability to have exacting control over the main character.
Liked
- Looks & sounds great, both the maps and characters.
- Ingame tutorials were very snazzy.
- I thought the multiple paths through the first level, the race, and spikes mode worked nicely.
Needs Work
- Quite difficult to control Bounce the way I'd like to.
- Theme use could be heavier
- Minigames are good, but most have at least one issue that impacts enjoyability.
This game, the main character especially, looks great. I'd love to see a post mortem of the art design. I appreciated having the mini games staying unlocked and having the menu for selecting them/showing high scores etc - all good choices (especially for a jam). I would like a pause menu with a restart/exit to main menu button available via the controller. I really wanted to restart the racing more easily, as any kind of mistake on a hot lap is pretty much a reset and it was like a 5 second process. But, you saved progress and scores, everything was easily accessible, and that's super important.
In terms of complaints, I never really felt I could really control Bounce (I used a gamepad). Speeding up and slowing down, especially in 'always bouncing', isn't easy. It can be tough to get speed back up once you've lost it and you can easily get a bad bounce that just robs it all away again - I had the most fun when moving fast, and designing levels to let you do this rather than to slow you down, provided it also gets a bit more controllable, would probably be a fantastic upgrade. I really wanted to feel more in command of Bounce and what was going on with him and I'm left feeling kinda eh. The main level is somehow both too short and too long. Perhaps it could be split into a tutorial level and add a short campaign? I liked the multiple routes, but, the level that's there is easily forgotten.
The minigames don't really succeed in picking up the slack - Climbing is very hard for me due to the controls, with instant death as a consequence of failure. Race is probably the most fun for me (my time is 28:11) but also frustrating due to it feeling more like luck than skill on my part. Always Bouncing is frankly sort of infuriating because if you don't know what's coming, you end up in the pit because you cannot stop/start fast enough. Finally, it just doesn't exude the theme. While it definitely does give the vibe of a sonic-like minigame fest, I feel like it could do more to sell that mascot game sequel idea, eg the X kongs, or X the hedgehogs - maybe just palette swapped raccoons. As a jam game, these issues may keep it from doing well in the prize categories, but as a stand alone title, this is is a solid effort and I think with a tweak here and a bit of polish there, this charming game could be the feather in your cap for quite some time.
Elevator pitch
A mascot platformer about a raccoon that can turn into a ball. Include its own spin-off games.
Describe how your game adheres to the theme
It's not directly the sequel to anything, but as you play, various spin-off games open up a-la Kirby Super Star, albeit on a much smaller scale.
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Comments
This is wonderfully cute and generally plays like a dream. Mechanics and controls are introduced well!
It seems like corner collisions are slightly buggy. It doesn't impact game-play much, thankfully.
I wonder if just having pressing down as going into ball mode and up to leave it as good enough? Haing ball mode on Z was pretty confusing I found as I'd often accidentally hit it when going to jump. Maybe I'm just clumsy, though.
That's all really, I don't have a lot to suggest cause what's there is mostly amazing.
Thanks a bunch! Glad you like it, and to hear that it plays well enough!
I did notice the corner collisions, but it was a bug I couldn't figure out how to deal with in time. At least it's relatively minor, though.
Personally, I thought up and down worked fine for the ball, but a friend suggested including a button for it as well. If the ball button gets in the way, though, you could just re-map it somewhere else. I'm finding there's a lot of different preferences for how a mechanic like this should be controlled. It's pretty interesting to learn!
Thanks again!
It looks and plays amazing. Love the (Yoshi's Island inspired?) "sketchy" visual style, love how GOSH DANG CUTE everything is (even the enemies!!!!), the sound design is great and def enhances the experience. A thing of beauty for sure.
Ahh, thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, there's definitely Yoshi's Island inspiration in the art style.
Pros:
Cons:
Here & There:
It looks so goooooooooood. You really crushed it on that front. As a mascot platformer with side games this is a fun and mostly consistent experience. I did run into some bugs though, where I managed to get stuck because blocks no longer broke when I tried rolling into them (namely the one left of the big triangular ramp shown below from a later playthrough, where Bounce is standing). Also, what I hope is a reference to the Everest thread on SA as the name of the mountain climbing game is A1+++. I have no idea why, but my brain refused to accept that Z was toggle-ball and X was jump and so I mixed them up constantly. I don't know if that's just a me thing or a subconscious recognition of some perceived standard layout? I also had a couple bits of bouncing backwards on an upward slope as if it was a wall when at high speed, but that only happened once or twice. The bouncing game was a bit too punishing I thought, since it clears your gem count when you die and the realest opportunity to die is the series leading up to the end and I just end up with a paltry sum of shame.
Thanks a bunch! And glad to hear the comments on the art and everything!
So that block-won't-break bug is something I've not seen before, but its cause is something I'm aware of. Basically, I accidentally enabled common objects like blocks to retain some of their variables through multiple plays, if the game hasn't been restarted. So a lot of funky things happen if you interact with a block, then return to the level. Even some stuff like a star block that's been hit in one level counting as still hit in a separate level. It'll be an easy fix, and something I should have caught, except I rarely played more than one level at a time when making/testing it. Ah well, at least I can fix that afterwards. The bounce-off-a-hill at top speed, though, I've run into that one, too, and I have no idea what's causing it.
I suspect the SA Everest thread got the quote from the same place I got it. I always knew it just as the stereotypical justification to mountain climbing in general, but it looks like it came from an interview with George Mallory about climbing Everest.
For the controls, I dunno, sometimes some control schemes will just stick with you subconsciously, and it's hard to fight 'em. I went with what seemed good to me, but it's not gonna work for everyone. At very least, you can re-map the controls with the config EXE.
And yeah, I definitely need a new way of scoring the bouncing stage. I know "lose everything" was harsh, but I couldn't come up with any good way to do it on short notice.
Thanks again for the feedback!
I love it, the visuals and feel are excellent. I think having the ball state be a button hold instead of a toggle would go a long way. Having to manage my state in a level design that is going for sonic Iike fluidity gets real clunky.
The addition of the extra modes after you clear the first level is really good, I almost wish it started with a looser fluid map like the race and then worked into the more technical quasi puzzle style the main level has.
Thank you!
Would you believe, the ball mechanic actually started as a button-hold thing, but I ended up getting confused at what to hold and went for the up/down transition instead. The ball toggle button came in later. It felt a little overwhelming at the time, but maybe it'll be something that's easy to get used to? It should be easy enough to re-implement as an option, at least.
And yeah, the first level is a bit clunky as an intro stage. Mostly, it's 'cause I ran out of time at the level design stage, and wasn't really sure what kind of level would best fit the ball mechanic.
Thanks for the feedback, though! It'll be very helpful if I try to work on this some more afterwards!
This game is really well done, that kinda “player ramp up” tuning takes lots of play testing and I also struggle. Nice work!!
Damn, this game looks good. The wiggly art style doesn't show in screenshots at all, but feels really good.
I can tell a lot of care went in to this, but I suck at platformers like this and ended up being frustrated. It felt a little clunky to change movement states, but that could probably come with practice. I'll have to revisit this to give it a fair shake, but dang does it look great.
Well, thanks for giving it a try, even if it's not your sort of game! And I appreciate the comments on the art; a lot went into it!
Awesome graphics and the physics-based movement was slick and fun. I liked your approach to level design with the different horizontal slices you could travel between. I got a big Sonic vibe from that. I eventually got stuck at a point where I couldn't break the block ahead of me or go backward. I have a feeling I was just a bonehead and missing the puzzle I was supposed to be getting!
Thank you! I wasn't exactly sure how to design a level for this kind of game, so there's a little Sonic in there, as well as some Wario Land, I think. Judging by where I think you got stuck, you either needed to rev against the block (press a direction rapidly as a ball, or hold easy rev), or else rev into/stomp on an enemy to knock it into the block.
This is a good game with nice graphics and music. The tutorial at the beginning was helpful but I never got any good at the game. I can see myself playing this more to try and figure it out better.
Thanks! It shouldn't be too difficult to at least get through the first stage, but you do have to get the hang of the base mechanics pretty thoroughly. I hope you do give it another shot, though!
Very well produced. I liked the graphics and the audio and the overall play style was pretty neat.
wobblyfootgamerOh, thanks a bunch! It's a rare treat to be able to see someone else play something I've made, so I really appreciate it!