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A jam submission

The Light Before ChristmasView game page

Go on a whimsical journey with Timmy.
Submitted by UnfarmedGoblin — 5 hours, 30 minutes before the deadline
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The Light Before Christmas's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Presentation#343.6003.600
Cozy Winter Vibes#563.3003.300
Overall#583.1673.167
Fun#772.6002.600

Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

I really liked the little light friend to help you. It was very cute and an interesting mechanic. 

For some reason whenever I was standing still (not jumping) there was a really load white noise like sound (I am on safari on a Mac so it might be the way the browser is handling your audio) but the music I could hear was very cozy. 

Submitted

Great art and a great concept!

Submitted

I really like the art style, it gave me old Flash animation vibes. The idea of a following companion-light-platform-buddy is great and there's lots of potential for further development. I did find the jumping to be a bit stiff and the character moves left/right a bit too quickly. IMO the light should maybe hover above Timmy instead of behind him so you're not constantly holding down E to see enemies or pits. Good work! :) 

Submitted

Great art (seriously), super cozy and fun.  Movement/jumping seemed a little off.  Overall, great entry.

Developer

Many thanks! Yeah movements for sure's something 'm going to work

Submitted(+1)

I really like the mechanic of having a little helper that does multiple things, especially because you can't use it for e.g. light when it's a platform. I think there's some interesting things that can be done with that.

I felt like Timmy moved a bit too fast for how little you can see ahead of you, even with the light out front (the size of Timmy relative to the screen essentially massively limits how much you can see more than the darkness). I also would have liked to be able to move the light guy up and down without sending it forward (e.g. at that second upwards platform before the spinny thing, it needs to be a bit higher, but the forward distance isn't that much). 

Controls wise, I usually prefer having movement and jump on different hands, which made P for platforms a bit difficult to use, but that might just be me. Also, the arrow keys that are given as an option early on work for movement, but not the light orb controls?

Overall, an interesting concept hampered somewhat due to controls/platformer physics. 

Developer

I appreciate the comment and yeah after some more play testing I've also noticed the keybindings are pretty weird to grasp and the movement needs to be tweaked but I'll work on it for next time. Thank you. 

Submitted(+1)

Reasons I loved this game:

  • Art: Really enjoyed the humorous style. It fit so well with the comedic story and was such a joy as each opening/ending sequence frame was revealed.
  • Music: So spot on for a wintery game, unobtrusive while adding such a vibe!
  • Narrative: Funny and cute simple concept, the perfect amount of story around this short platformer IMHO. Also...the way Santa caves XD. How could he not, faced with a face like Timmy's? 
  • Mechanics: The light/platforming use of the little orb was so clever! I found the 'P' keybind a bit awkward (maybe having the orb follow the mouse cursor would have been better, not sure). But once I got the hang of the player speed and making the platforms go where I wanted, I had a great time. 

Little bit of constructive feedback:

  • I got to the end on my third try; I had the most trouble with the platforming bit just before the ledge with the spinning cross. The E and P keybinds and the run speed made it challenging because I'd often run straight off a platform so fast I didn't even get a chance to jump, or I'd run right into the cross after getting onto the ledge. 
  • Initially I expected to complain a bit about not being able to see very far ahead of me, but your tutorial for the light orb made it clearer why it was like that, so in the end it's not really a problem. If anything, having to take my finger off D to move the light with E made the gameplay feel a bit stop and go rather than fluid.

Overall, AWESOME entry and one I've also recommended to a few others. Great job!

Developer

Thank you very much I appreciate that, and I’ll take on the constructive criticism 👍

Submitted(+1)

Somehow can't get past the initial comics ("kidding!")... but it looks great

Developer(+1)

It might be because of the screen size, there should be a gummy bear that pops up to take you to the start level, but I've noticed on some devices it doesn't show. If you haven't maximized your screen that normally fixes it. 

Submitted(+1)

I liked the E platform mechanics! I thought that the increased movement speed went well with the silly style of the game XD

Developer

Thank you very much :)