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Empty Canvases's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #383 | 3.231 | 3.231 |
| Graphics | #495 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
| Theme | #623 | 3.077 | 3.077 |
| Audio | #699 | 2.769 | 2.769 |
| Overall | #706 | 2.910 | 2.910 |
| Fun | #1000 | 2.462 | 2.462 |
| Game Design | #1009 | 2.538 | 2.538 |
Ranked from 13 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 presents the story of a man with a chaotic and destructive mentality engaging and raging against the world of art, which is told both through gameplay and voiced video between levels. Each level includes different mechanics, including physics-enabled platforming, projectile dodging, speedrun platforming, and a two phase boss fight.
Did you write all the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes, all but the background art was created entirely by our team, and some of the background art was manipulated to better suit gameplay.
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Comments
Really innovative! It shows a lot of creativity.
The chess-pawn like character is a bit too plain? also the physics feels a bit off. I would maybe increase the gravity scale and adjust the speed and jump force accordingly to have a quicker pace.
There was a bug where I could leave the dying animation so I got stuck and wondered why I wasn't moving haha.
Good job here, good luck.
cool, i manage to go up a few floors but since i have to restart always that i fall i couldnt continue xP but i liked the design and the execution good work !
It was a great game. I had 30 mins of rage inducing gameplay and suprisingly I enjoyed it.
I would have liked some checkpoints. I wanted them so bad.
Also When I go backward and fall down thats it a dead end.
All aside It was a great game and there was a lot of effort put in!! Kudos! :D
Thank you so much, I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed it in spite of it being rage inducing lol. I will look into how to set up checkpoints in the future (honestly not a feature I have ever implemented in any of the small games I've made). And sorry for the late reply, I have been away from my computer the past few days.
No prob!!
The first entry I've seen to use real live video which was definitely interesting and helped contribute to an overall story, though it did feel relatively disconnected mostly because there was no direction interaction and the video more set the scene for this unnamed "painter man". It was interesting nonetheless though.
I do have to say I did have a few issues with level design, less so than difficulty I'd say and more with the overall design of the levels and the mechanics surrounding them. Specifically I'd say on the reset mechanic in Stage 1 and the moving platforms in the final stage.
The reset being a full stage reset definitely got repetitive since I was just resetting due to some bad physics luck. So I feel like maybe making it less a full stage reset and possibly doing checkpoints of some sort would be nice. Or possibly toning down a bit of the physics blocks, cause the main roadblock is just the first area, after that it was relatively easy except for the areas where you can get softlocked due to physics. Hence the reset issue.
As for the final stage though, the main issue I had was the fact that the player does not lock to the platforms and move with them which makes it a lot more difficult to actually try and jump around the platforms. Add on the fact that the camera is perfectly locked to the player and it definitely disorients you slightly when it's going crazy and you're having to keep track of the players location on the platform.
There was also an issue I'd say with the fact that there is no warning for the rising "paint"(?) when you start attacking the eye, which lead to a lot of insta deaths and some unexpected deaths for me personally. So some sort of indication of that I feel would be a good addition, and possibly not making it an insta kill? Since it can immediately knock you into the paint at the bottom leading to an insta kill with no warning.
Otherwise tho overall this was an interesting and very different entry, Stage 2 was quite well down except for some bugs and pretty fun, and when I was able to progress Stage 4 was an interesting boss fight, though definitely very tense with all the insta kills and the long reset times.
I liked it B)
I am very glad to hear that!
I like the idea behind the game but as others have said, the first level is very challenging.
I'd love to see the whole story unfold but I couldn't get very far in the game after 20 minutes of trying. I think what is making the game very hard is that the player needs to move very precisely (maybe make the player able to jump 1.5 times the height of a box and add a non slippery material to the boxes could solve that) which kind of break the flow, also, it's not possible to recover from failure, if I mess up something I have to restart the whole level and loose all the progress made (maybe adding checkpoints would resolve that issue).
One good rule to judge the difficulty when you make a game is "if you (the developer) can't finish it every time, it's going to be too hard for the player"
Hope I'm not being too harsh and that I might have given you some ideas on how to make it more accessible because I really like the backstory and the concept.
Im sorry it ended up being so difficult, especially with it being the first level that most people seem to be having such a hard time with (because I find that the least interesting level tp play or look at imo). I guess I need to have other people play it before posting it to get a better sense of its difficulty, because like you said I as the developer should be able to beat it every time, but the issue is I can :/ This is actually a nerfed version of the level from what was originally presented to me (one of my partners sketched out the level design. As for checkpoints, that is a good idea, I just didnt think the level was long enough to warent it, but clearly that has proven to be an incorrect assessment. So thank you for your feedback, and thank you for taking the time to give the game a try.
If you are still interested in playing the game through, I uploaded a patched version of the game that has various changes that should help with the difficulty (no checkpoint system still, but increased jump height should make things much easier). Empty Canvases v1.1 by VanBurace (itch.io). No obligation though if not interested.
Concept is nice and chaotic. Gameplay is interesting too, but very hard. I liked it, great job!
Thank you, glad you liked it even if it was hard :)
Congrats on making this!
I was really excited by the premise and the mix of video. And with that music I was hoping for sort of an experimental album experience. Unfortunately, that first level is just way too punishing. I figured out the jumping after a few attempts, but one bad push at the higher levels means a tedious restart. I wish I could have seen more though.
Do you have a background in film or video editing? It'd be really cool to see more stuff like that integrated into game jams. Well done :)
Im sorry the first level ended up being so difficult, if I had realized it would be this problematic for people I would have toned it down and maybe added checkpoints. At this point I have a mind to upload another version with that level nerfed just so people can experience the rest of the game ( I may need to nerf the final boss too haha).
Me and my partner John worked together with the cinematography, I did voiceover, and John is the one who did all of the video editing and the music, so I will pass those kudos on to him. Thank you for taking the time to try our game :)
If you are still interested in playing the game through, I uploaded a patched version of the game that has various changes that should help with the difficulty. Empty Canvases v1.1 by VanBurace (itch.io) (No obligation)
I may just be really bad but the first part was so challenging lol. The concept is very unique and interesting. I enjoyed the opening video and the voice over. Overall nicely done.
Please check out or game if you get a chance.
https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-6/rate/1177113
Don't feel bad about that, I have gotten a lot of feedback both here and from people outside that the first level is oddly challenging. If I had to take a guess why, its because some boxes are easiest to get on if you jump straight up and dont move forward till you hit the peak of your jump, and that may be a bit unintuitive. Its all about small, tight movements. Thanks for taking the time to check it out, I will give yours a go once I get home.
If you are still interested in playing the game through, I uploaded a patched version of the game that has various changes that should help with the difficulty. Empty Canvases v1.1 by VanBurace (itch.io) (No obligation)
Such a creative idea and a interesting concept! Very fun game :D
Thank you, Im glad you enjoyed it!
Super stylish game well done :) the opening part is quite challenging though! And it'd be cool if the music didn't restart when you press R
Thanks! I have noticed that people have been having a hard time with the first level (I'll blame my teammate who designed that one, even if I was the one to fine tune it, haha. It used to be harder). I agree that the music resetting when you press R is a bit jarring, it just reloads the scene, but it would have been ideal to have all objects in the scene simply snap to their starting location. Thank you for playing!