So this is an interesting game.. nice mechanics. You concentrated more on the mechanics and balancing. And that actually pay off! its a fun game, i die a lot. hahahaha.. adding a pause option would be nice. overall nice game!! didnt find any bugs. also i wanted to tell you that i came here because armanlone recommended you. That you give awesome feedbacks! that is how i got here lol... I would appreciated if you could take some time to check out my game and give me your harsh honest feedback. the game can be finish quickly :)
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Broken Times's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #35 | 4.077 | 4.077 |
| Theme | #42 | 4.269 | 4.269 |
| Game Design | #51 | 4.038 | 4.038 |
| Overall | #106 | 3.782 | 3.782 |
| Fun | #183 | 3.654 | 3.654 |
| Audio | #468 | 3.192 | 3.192 |
| Graphics | #515 | 3.462 | 3.462 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
In what way does your game fit the theme?
The game involves the concept of the levels rewinding time with several hazards, as well as being able to pause and fast-forward as well.
Did you write most of the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
98% of all assets were created by me. The only asset that was made by someone else was the dust particles used in the game. They were originally made by the user of this forum post: https://forum.unity.com/threads/new-simple-dust-particle-system.341921/ The dust asset has been heavily modified to fit the game's style.
Comments
Thank you for your feedback!
I have been considering designing levels that did not involve auto-scrolling, and instead focus on time affecting the objects around the player.
I'll also have to add levels that involve teaching the player how to utilize their controls, one mechanic at a time.
In what way is it hard to control the player exactly? There were a few people in the comments who mentioned the game didn't have coyote time, but I'm not sure if that's what you are referring to.
It is something very personal, I guess. But maybe it is the player moves too fast or jump/fall too fast. What I found is that it was harder than expected to avoid bullets. And I felt it was due to the control of the player.
I didn't want to bother you with this. It is just my personal feeling about movements. Maybe I'm totally wrong :)
Pretty standard situation - while running towards the edge of the platform and pressing jump right before it's end. I would suggest adding a little timeframe right after you leave the ground during which you can still perform a jump. In such fast-paced game it could really give an illusion of much bigger responsiveness.
Wow, this is some lengthy feedback! I appreciate it so much!
Another user mentioned that the symbols could use a flickering effect as well, and I definitely agree with that since not having any warning could lead to some unfair deaths.
I also agree that the game does need some form of coyote time, this is on my list of things to add when I re-ramp the controls after the jam ends.
The reason for the particle effects you're seeing is to visually enhance that the player is moving around instead of having just a static background. I figured it would save much more time than to add a background texture while keeping the graphics minimal style... HOWEVER, there is nothing in the game that mentions as to why there is yellow dust floating around. So there does need to be a future explanation of what the dust particles are and why they are floating around. I do plan on having this game take place on a small planet floating in space in the developmental future, so I'll probably need more visual enhancements to show that's the location each level is on.
The ground does look a bit too white, and it really could have used any sort of texture. At the time of this game's creation I have not learned how to use the tileset generator yet, which is something I should really get into if I want to continue advancing with pixel art.
With the skull spikes, I was originally going to have it so that touching the side of them doesn't kill you. However, I also had to deal with making sure the player doesn't climb on top the very edges of the hitbox where they don't end up getting killed. Since I was running low on time, I just had the hitbox go around the skull spikes and figured that the skull symbol would be enough for players to know not to touch them at all. Perhaps I'll make a variety of skull spikes where the spikes surround all sides to deal with this problem until I can get it fixed.
This is a lot of helpful information I'll take into consideration. Thank you for taking your time to write this long critique.
4 years ago (+1)
Thanks for the feedback! I have been thinking about changing up the story a bit, and have been debating if I should continue with the clocks messing up time, or to overhaul it to the player fighting against someone messing with a VCR's buttons.
However, I never thought anyone would view this as space themed from the particles, but now that I think about it, the particles do seem to resemble stars and the player seems to look like a little alien. Perhaps I could have this game take place on a planet whose time works differently because they orbit a black hole, so they need to have clock devices put in place in order to keep time working normally. You might have just inspired me to come up with the right story of this game, thank you so much for that! I'll have to continue on with this theme since a story is the one thing this game desperately needs.
...I guess I need to include you in the credits now.
Thank you for your feedback! Funny enough with the "all-seeing entity" you suggested. I was originally going to make the story of the game involve a person on the outside of an old television constantly hitting the different buttons on a VCR player to mess with the player himself. You would see the fingers of the person about to hit the buttons to give a warning of when time is about to change, and to constantly remind the player of who the villain of this game is. The ending would have involved the player-character angrily walking towards the screen of the TV, he would then jump out of the slot of the VCR player and tackle the person who has been trying to get the player killed the whole time. The screen would then cut to black, and then to a picture of the person with his head shoved into the slot of the VCR player.
I also like the suggestion of having smaller enemies that would reverse time somehow, I'll have to think of a way to incorporate a design of an enemy to fit that purpose.
This is some very unique feedback, I appreciate it so much! I'll be sure to check out your game in a bit!
4 years ago(+1)
"...I downloaded the rar file onto my iMac, converted it to a zip folder using unrar.online, then I put the zip folder on a usb, took it to my windows 10 school pc, extracted the folder and played it"
I feel really bad you had to go through all that effort all because I didn't realize WinRar had the ability to make .zip files. Next time I participate in a jam I'll make sure my life depends on making the game into a .zip file that supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, or to do it in WebGL.
I do agree that the game does need some coyote time since there were a few people mentioning that some of the platforming jumps was a bit too precise. If I continue working on this game, then that will be one of the first features I will add in.
I also appreciate how you mention that the character doesn't slide. I personally find sliding in platformers to be a bit of an annoyance, especially if the level heavily relies on being precise. I wanted to make sure the controls felt as accurate as possible so the player feels like they have absolute full control instead of the character working against them by sliding at the wrong times.
I'm also happy you were willing to keep going even though you kept dying at the same spots. I wanted to keep the levels as short as possible so that when the player dies, they don't feel like they lost too much progress. Also having the death animation be super short makes it much less frustrating to die to a hazard.
I appreciate this lengthy review, and I'll be sure to check out your game as well!
4 years ago(+1)
Thank you so much, this is really helpful feedback!
Since you mentioned that you were easily able to complete some levels after learning their movement patterns, it makes me wonder if the game needs some work towards the replayability aspect. It wouldn't be as fun to play the game again if you know where every surprise time change is.
The reason of why every symbol besides the pause doesn't flash is because I wanted to have some sort of "surprise" aspect of time changing. However, I could see that there could be some unfair moments if the player doesn't get some sort of warning that time is about to change, like if a player were to time their jump over a missile and the missile suddenly stops in place at the worst time. Perhaps in a future update I could have the symbols flash quickly for half a second to warn the player time is about to change.
...Also "PlatformingThing" is what happens when you let brain-dead tired Liam name your games at 4 AM
Yeah it really depends how you want your game to be played the second time, I personally like the fact that you can learn some strategies to make it easier, almost like its a speedrun, but I also see how you wouldn't want this to happen. And yeah I also completely understand what you mean with the "surprise"
4 years ago(+1)
Thank you so much for your feedback!
The rich colors were based on the palette of an old British computer called the ZX Spectrum. I wanted a retro look while making everything look clear and bright to the player, so I thought the ZX palette would fit both of those purposes.
I'm also happy you noticed that the deaths are less frustrating because of how quick they go. I usually like keeping levels short and sweet in games so that when the player dies, they don't lose much progress. Keeping the deaths short to convince the player to keep going and try again instead of stopping and interrupting their fun. I personally believe that dying does not mean you lose the game, but rather the only way to truly lose, is to quit the game and never return.
It's not just you with the pixel perfect jumps. I play a lot of platforming games and even I think the platform gaps in level 2 are a bit too far apart and require a bit too much precision after replaying it.
I also agree that the game lacks some chip-tune music. It was kind of a missed opportunity to have music be affected by time speeds which really would have added to the theme. I'll have to either look for some pre-made chiptune music, or learn to make my own compositions.
I have mentioned in a previous comment reply that the game does lack some levels due to the fact that I might have over-focused on graphics a bit too much. Lesson learned: game first, then graphics (unless if the graphics affect gameplay).
The game really does lack an ending, despite the attention grabbing intro it has. I would say this was because of a lack of time, but in game jams, that's not a good excuse. What I should have done was to come up with an intro AND ending right at the start of development instead of waiting for the very end where I had zero time left.
4 years ago(+1)
Thank you! I was very picky on how the jump sfx would sound since jumping was the most important and frequently used action within a platforming game. If the player is going to hear jumping sfx constantly, it better sound good.
4 years ago(+1)
Thank you! A lot of the sound effects were created with ChipTone which is useful for generating sound effects while also modifying some of them with Audacity.
Thank you for your feedback! This was my first jam I've ever done.
I do agree that my game is a bit too short and it really could have used around 3 or 4 more levels. One reason for this may be that I might have focused a bit too much on the graphics rather than gameplay elements. Lesson learned from this jam: do not over-focus on game graphics unless it truly affects gameplay. Only work on graphics AFTER you have a working game.
But I guess that's the beauty of game jams, you get to learn about your limitations and how to improve your own skills based on the very limited time you have.
I'll be sure to check out your game soon!
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