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A Hell of a Date's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #86 | 3.578 | 3.578 |
| Innovation | #145 | 3.248 | 3.248 |
| Game Design | #165 | 3.376 | 3.376 |
| Overall | #178 | 3.202 | 3.202 |
| Fun | #189 | 3.202 | 3.202 |
| Audio | #258 | 2.982 | 2.982 |
| Graphics | #371 | 2.826 | 2.826 |
Ranked from 109 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
If you die you get a second chance and become a ghost. The end of your life starts a new beginning.
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes
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Comments
Okay game.
Thanks for your feedback, how could've I improved the game, what was good and what was bad in your opinion, you currently do not provide enough information, so I'd love to hear a more detailed feedback
At the moment I am not close to my main PC so it's hard to play games.
Now about the game. The theme matching was so-so. I feel like there are lots of those games where you play through levels and when you die it's considered a new beginning.
For example:
My game: https://battle-chicken-ink.itch.io/the-field-of-reeds - where you start the level is where you end the level.
https://battle-chicken-ink.itch.io/the-field-of-reeds - story
Other than that it's just like a normal parkour platformer. Nothing special, nothing bad in particular. I feel like you could've made the game more special.
Thanks for replying, I don't quite understand why you think that this game is not that matching to the theme. I literally designed the game around the theme, The main mechanic of the game is the entire theme. I also adapted the entire set of other mechanics and level design to that mechanic. In my opinion having a platformer where you die being a new beginning isn't something bad in my opinion, it's more about how it's executed, especially in the level design. And also I haven't seen a single game using something like me as their connection to the theme, so in my opinion it's (still) quite unique. And I'm sorry, but just saying that the starting point is where the end point is, sounds a bit cheap to me, but I'haven't played your game yet,but maybe you could've implemented it well so I'm my opinion might change. And yes, I'm aware that you can either implement the theme as a gimmick/mechanic, narratively or in the graphics/audio (doesn't really apply to this jam).
Games also don't need to be exceedingly original, innovative or something similiar, but yes these things can make the games more unique, but just having good design is often times enough to have a great game. Take Celeste and Hades as an example, Celeste is a basic platformer, but still managed to win big awards due to it having a really good game feel and Hades having an incredible execution of the roguelite genre and in general being very juicy. And yes, I did not make like a really original idea or something, but rather focused on polishing. You may remember Ategons stream, I was the one guy that was talking about coyote time, jump buffer, etc. I implemented almost everything from the platformer toolkit. I also tried to add some extra juice and emphasized the dying, by using the zoom and slowing down time, particle systems to emphasize the walking and landing, stretch & squash, terminal velocity, acceleration & deceleration, etc. But they are some things that a bit less experienced game developers, who haven't come into contact with game design usually oversee. My take on making the game special was trying to make the palyer feel good to control and also satisfiying. And apart from that I also tried to make the UI look clean by using custom sprites and fonts (most people tend to stay with the default icons and font in jams and also adding accesibility. And there are also some other things but they are compared minor to these I won't mention them, since this reply is already way too long. I would be glad if you would reconsider your rating and also maybe play it on your main pc, since your experience might haven't been that great on the other pc. But I also guess it's rather about how you define special, but I think you should redo some of it atleast since my game's specialty mostly bases of the things that are often times overlooked and also not really cared about.
I'll also make sure to check out your game now too
You maybe understood me a bit wrong.
Your game is good. What I was trying to say was that it's ..... you can take a platformer and say: "well if you die you are going to restart the level". I plan to play the game on my main PC. That's probably 02.03.2023 or 03.03.2023.
I will try to use more unique words when explaining my opinion on your game. Maybe then you will understand.
Well then you just didn't play my game at all if you assume that this is my connection to the theme. You respawn in the same level in the same location, but gain a lot of momentum and also gain some a new moveset. I didn't just made an usual platformer and called it a day, please play the game actually a bit before judging it. You weren't even aware of the main mechanic of the game.
And also I didn'T had really time to play yours yet, had some trouble with rar files and also have an exam pretty soon
Okay. I am going to try your game again.
For rar files you csn just use winRAR.
Okay. I tested it. I was aware of the ghost mechanic, I just did not get it. I changed the rating a bit.
Maybe you should consider an ESC menu or some way you could enable and disable the assist mechanic.
Can you play my game too?
Good work, the game was simple and easy to understand. It did take some time to get the gliding mechanic (didn't know I had to press space). Congrats :)
Thanks for the feedback! The gliding mechanic did got explained though
Great mechanic idea! Very well implemented and executed.
I found no issues playing it. No bugs, no nothing. Awesome work!
The ghost is really cute!
Congratulations!
I tried to catch all the roses, but some looks really really hard, specially one of the last
This game was designed really well! At first I thought the jump was a little floaty but with the way the levels are designed it really works, and heck half the time you're a ghost lol. Great take on the theme!
Thanks for the kind words :)
love the game design!
Thanks!
Good and smooth gameplay and transition but jumping character should be higher
Thanks for your feedback! The game was designed to fit that height of the jump, so increasing the jump height might break some of the levels.
Great mechanic with the ghost (though it took me a little while to work out the business with the glide function).
Little to tricky for me to get to far into this game, think the levels could do with more balancing personally, as they required to much skill from me to early (perhaps it's the same as you felt with my game, relying on skill after a certain point).
Well done creating this in the time frame.
Thankd for the feedback! I've heard from some people that they needed some time to adapt to the ghost controls, so you're not alone.
But I have to disagree with you on the skill part, as this game is a platformer (jump n' run to be exact) and therfore relying mostly on skill, as that's how it's usually with these types of games, as seen in mario and celeste (this game is also btw strongly inspired by celeste). While your game is a roguelite, so your game can rely on skill and stragic, but the upgrades should play a quite big role too. If you had like 2 tries or so and came very far, the upgrade system ended up being redundant. And as already mentioned the speed was also kind of a problem. But having the game require a bit skill is in my opinion not something that should be seen as bad, as long as it is intentional in the game's design. A way to solve these aforementioned issues, you could try making the gain of currency linear or the costs potenial, like the amount of currency you gain. Another way would be to just add more upgrades with high cost but high value. I'd suggest you looking into GMTK's video about balancing roguelikes and roguelites.
Thanks again for playing my game :)
The game is very smooth in gameplay and transitions. i enjoyed the ghost mechanic and figuring out how to use the ghost form well.
The human character's movement looks really good, I like the motion of the arms and the way he leans. The ghost mechanic is new and neat as well. I had trouble getting the initial ghost "jump" to go as high as I needed sometimes, but it was still fun to experience the transition.
Thanks for the feedback, yeah it's something you need to get used to it, but after that the game can get quite fun!
the idea of the ghost is very creative and the difference in abilities between the ghost and the player gave a Strategic touch to the game
Thanks for the feedback!
This is a fun platformer. The ghost was hard to control, but the concept was fun to play.
Thanks for your feedback!
Fun game, I found the ghost's movement tricky to pick up, especially after how slow Paul felt but overall, was very cool.
Thanks!
nice game .
here is my game- https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-9/rate/1933204
Thanks!
Thanks for giving me such detailed feedback, I really appreciate that! I tried to make this game as polished and juicy as I could, so I'm glad you see it the same way. I agree that some things could've been explained better, your gravity multiplier is lower while gliding. In level 3 it was intentional that one platform was lower then the next, so it empasizes the fact that you cannot jump as ghost. And yea I've heard from a lot of people that my graphics can be improved, but graphics is a bit more of my weakness in game dev.
Thanks again for providing me with such good feedback!
Sorry, kinda forgot to reply. I personaly think the art style depends on the game. For example graphics like thomas had enough would've just not fit this game and I don't want to limit myself due to the graphics. Pixel Art was one alternative I considered, but in my opinion it's just way too slow. And regarding post processing, I did have it, it just wasn't that strong. The bugs in the levels are mostly known, I just don't know why it happens.
Very cool game! It's very well made! It's quite challenging but I generally like that! Couldn't stop trying to beat it! :D
Thanks for playing my game! I really appreciate it that you beat my game! You are the second person to do that. I'm glad you enjoyed my game!
Overall I will say that you have made a really good game!!! I especially love the main character and his amazing funny walking animation. The gameplay idea is overall simple and the game is fun to play.
The ghost idea is cleaver and it makes this game goes from a good to a really good jam game. The music was okay, but part of it was a bit weird and it did not sound very well, but okay music can be really difficult to make. I will maybe recommend you to make a short music loop and instead use the time to make it sound really good.
I had some jumping issue, and I therefor ended stop playing in the first level with a rose. The issue seem to be that the jumping power was not always the same, and I therefor had a really difficult time jumping long enough.
Overall is this a game with a lot of personality, and the unpolished visuals and music makes the game very charming. So this is good jam game, and you can differently be proud what you have made. Well done.
Thanks for the feedback, this jam was the first time i tried to make longer music, since short ones often get repetitive, but I agree that the instrument choice maya not be the best. The jumps do actually have a consistent jumpheight, atleast I've never heard anyone else saying the opposite. You have to hold the jump button for higher jumps, as stated in the game's description on the itch page, but maybe it was because of the webgl build, you may want to try the standalone, maybe that would help. I hope you give it another shot!
Good game! Very good animations and a fairly good idea. But for my feelings the platforms could be a bit "spicier" - if you know what I mean. Over all it's a nice game with a nice idea!
Thanks for the feedback, I already tried to include as much juice as possible (zoom, animations, particle effects, stretch and squash, etc), could you maybe tell me what you were exactly missing?
I mean the platforms :)
I was going to make a joke about how the game is Kinda Good, but it's actually really great! It was fun and I enjoyed playing it. The animations feel very fluid and well made. My one critique is that the platforming tiles could have been made a bit fancier, but I totally understand that you only had a week to complete everything, so really not a huge gripe. :)
Thanks for your feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed my game! I agree that the tiles could've been a bit better, I originally wanted to go with something like a rocky ground or something, but it was a bit too complicated and because of time reasons I couldn't do it. But I'm glad that you liked the rest :) I'll make sure to check out your game right away!
The art style feels kinda weird, great game nonetheless!
Thanks! I guess this is more about personal preference