pros: i really love the concept and execution of this game! the art style is really cute, and i like how the warm palette used for the past differs from the cool palette used for the present. i could definitely see this being expanded into a full game with lots of levels, but as it is it's a fun, albeit short, little game. super cool!
cons: the controls feel a little awkward, at least for me. i'm right-handed, so it feels... off? to shift my position to use my left hand to press the arrow keys and my right hand to use the mouse. the instruction text is also a little hard to read, but that's easily fixed by putting the text in a box.
bugs: when switching between time periods, the player can get stuck in objects. this is easily fixed my switching back, but it's still a noticeable bug.
I appreciate your kind words, They are very heart warming and make my time not feel waisted. As for the critiques, I do agree that the controls feel a little awkward, I was originally going to have the controls be W A S D, like most other games, and hmm from your comment I think maybe a control change option should be a good idea so thanks for pointing that out to me, that's an oversight on my part. And yeah the text was admittedly rushed haha..
For the bugs part, Yeah that's a very common bug everybody experienced with my game, I'm trying to think of the best solution since insta killing you doesn't feel fair or fun, and pushing you out can sometimes be exploited to push you up above the intended path.. But yes, I will try and fix that ASAP ^^
The concept and art of the game is extremely good this entire project looks like something that would be extremely big. One part of the level is where you need to time the time skip perfectly, know when there is a space, jump far enough, not jump too far and at the end I am not sure what to do.
Because of this I was not able to complete the game since that part was overly complicated.
I appreciate your recognition on the project, I agree that the difficulty on the level is rather high, I've gotten similar comments, so I think i'll make more easier levels and adjust some concepts to make the game feel a bit more fair. thanks again!
Sometimes it is tricky to tell whether a vertical jump can be made, as the height of the platform you are jumping to is very close to the maximum height of the players jump; I would suggest making these distances slightly more lenient, and making it much more visually obvious if a player can / can't make the jump by lowering the vertical element to be clearly below the maximum jump height of the player for 'regular' jumping - for harder 'precision' jumping this gap does not need to be /as/ obvious, but there should still be enough of a difference that it is obvious you can make the jump just by 'eyeballing' it.
The player plays a walk animation while jumping - I would expect a dedicated 'jump' animation for the two different 'stages' of a jump; the initial 'upwards' movement (on jump) and the follow up 'fall' movement (on falling) to help sell momentum
This is a really solid gameplay idea, and implemented very successfully with a very coherent aesthetic; the tonal shift between the past and the present in your use of colour palettes is particularly pleasing, and I would like to commend you on your music - it is just long and varied enough that it loops pleasantly without getting annoying.
It errs a little bit on the side of 'too difficult' in terms of memorising the differences between timezone; this could be because as the level designer you know where everything is and were worried it would be 'too easy', but with fresh eyes it becomes a memorisation effort - you might want to consider some subtle guidance here, for example having background elements that suggest where things might be in the alternate zone, rather than as /purely/ graphical elements, or maybe some 'lead' on your camera, so that it is not centred on where the player currently is, but on where they are going to go, to make it easier to 'plan' where you are headed before committing to it and then trial and erroring through the changes.
Overall this is an incredibly strong vertical slice, and if it had been a real GameJam entry would end up scoring very highly! As an aside, I would personally downgrade the 'you can get stuck in buildings by timejumping' bug reports from an A to a B class, as you can 'fix' it by timejumping; if you had been stuck permanently and had to reload it would be an A.
Thanks for the extremely thorough feedback! its very much appreciated,
I agree that the game demo is quite difficult for newer players, this was an oversight on my part while trying to compact a whole game into a single level, when expanding the game, i'll be sure to make a lot more levels with easy transitioning to hard difficulty.
replying to all your bug reports, I agree with the fact I could've made more animations for falling and jumping, It just wasn't my highest priority given the time scale, i'll be sure to add those in when further working on my game.
and yeah the getting stuck in blocks is really common unfortunately, i'll try think of a fix to that soon.
Again thanks for the helpful feedback, its very insightful and appreciated
pros: the concept of this game is very original, i like the idea of going through time to advance further in the game
cons: i didn't like the part where you had jump on the house and then go through the pillars by changing time
bug report: sometimes i could get stuck in a object but this was easily solved by switching back and just moving out of the way and switching back again
I liked the juice of the jumping and the switching of the time zones, however I wasn't a fan of the bit in the level where u had to rapidly switch between the times to fit between the pillars as I was stuck on that bit for a while.
Thanks! yeah that bit was a bit difficult, I tried to fit a whole game into a single level instead of spreading out the difficulty into a bunch of levels. and yeah that bug is a very common one, i'll try fix it soon. thanks for the feedback :) it is appreciated
Yeah I noticed that bug too, it's one I tried fixing but couldn't get a solution to, considering it's in the demo phase i'll have time to fix it, thanks for your input, it's very much appreciated :D
Comments
pros: i really love the concept and execution of this game! the art style is really cute, and i like how the warm palette used for the past differs from the cool palette used for the present. i could definitely see this being expanded into a full game with lots of levels, but as it is it's a fun, albeit short, little game. super cool!
cons: the controls feel a little awkward, at least for me. i'm right-handed, so it feels... off? to shift my position to use my left hand to press the arrow keys and my right hand to use the mouse. the instruction text is also a little hard to read, but that's easily fixed by putting the text in a box.
bugs: when switching between time periods, the player can get stuck in objects. this is easily fixed my switching back, but it's still a noticeable bug.
Thanks for your feedback!
I appreciate your kind words, They are very heart warming and make my time not feel waisted. As for the critiques, I do agree that the controls feel a little awkward, I was originally going to have the controls be W A S D, like most other games, and hmm from your comment I think maybe a control change option should be a good idea so thanks for pointing that out to me, that's an oversight on my part. And yeah the text was admittedly rushed haha..
For the bugs part, Yeah that's a very common bug everybody experienced with my game, I'm trying to think of the best solution since insta killing you doesn't feel fair or fun, and pushing you out can sometimes be exploited to push you up above the intended path.. But yes, I will try and fix that ASAP ^^
Thanks again!
The concept and art of the game is extremely good this entire project looks like something that would be extremely big. One part of the level is where you need to time the time skip perfectly, know when there is a space, jump far enough, not jump too far and at the end I am not sure what to do.
Because of this I was not able to complete the game since that part was overly complicated.
Thanks for your feedback!
I appreciate your recognition on the project, I agree that the difficulty on the level is rather high, I've gotten similar comments, so I think i'll make more easier levels and adjust some concepts to make the game feel a bit more fair. thanks again!
Bug report: Class C
Sometimes it is tricky to tell whether a vertical jump can be made, as the height of the platform you are jumping to is very close to the maximum height of the players jump; I would suggest making these distances slightly more lenient, and making it much more visually obvious if a player can / can't make the jump by lowering the vertical element to be clearly below the maximum jump height of the player for 'regular' jumping - for harder 'precision' jumping this gap does not need to be /as/ obvious, but there should still be enough of a difference that it is obvious you can make the jump just by 'eyeballing' it.
Bug Report: Class C
The player plays a walk animation while jumping - I would expect a dedicated 'jump' animation for the two different 'stages' of a jump; the initial 'upwards' movement (on jump) and the follow up 'fall' movement (on falling) to help sell momentum
This is a really solid gameplay idea, and implemented very successfully with a very coherent aesthetic; the tonal shift between the past and the present in your use of colour palettes is particularly pleasing, and I would like to commend you on your music - it is just long and varied enough that it loops pleasantly without getting annoying.
It errs a little bit on the side of 'too difficult' in terms of memorising the differences between timezone; this could be because as the level designer you know where everything is and were worried it would be 'too easy', but with fresh eyes it becomes a memorisation effort - you might want to consider some subtle guidance here, for example having background elements that suggest where things might be in the alternate zone, rather than as /purely/ graphical elements, or maybe some 'lead' on your camera, so that it is not centred on where the player currently is, but on where they are going to go, to make it easier to 'plan' where you are headed before committing to it and then trial and erroring through the changes.
Overall this is an incredibly strong vertical slice, and if it had been a real GameJam entry would end up scoring very highly! As an aside, I would personally downgrade the 'you can get stuck in buildings by timejumping' bug reports from an A to a B class, as you can 'fix' it by timejumping; if you had been stuck permanently and had to reload it would be an A.
Thanks for the extremely thorough feedback! its very much appreciated,
I agree that the game demo is quite difficult for newer players, this was an oversight on my part while trying to compact a whole game into a single level, when expanding the game, i'll be sure to make a lot more levels with easy transitioning to hard difficulty.
replying to all your bug reports, I agree with the fact I could've made more animations for falling and jumping, It just wasn't my highest priority given the time scale, i'll be sure to add those in when further working on my game.
and yeah the getting stuck in blocks is really common unfortunately, i'll try think of a fix to that soon.
Again thanks for the helpful feedback, its very insightful and appreciated
pros: the concept of this game is very original, i like the idea of going through time to advance further in the game
cons: i didn't like the part where you had jump on the house and then go through the pillars by changing time
bug report: sometimes i could get stuck in a object but this was easily solved by switching back and just moving out of the way and switching back again
overall very solid game and the concept is great
Thanks! i appreciate the feedback! it's very helpful.
I agree it could be a little bit easier or changed. i'll take this into consideration when expanding the games and game demo.
Yeah that's a but that everybody reports, so its very common.
Thanks again, its very insightful feedback!
Bug Report
it would have to be the same class A bug where it stops the player if you stop in the structures.
I liked the juice of the jumping and the switching of the time zones, however I wasn't a fan of the bit in the level where u had to rapidly switch between the times to fit between the pillars as I was stuck on that bit for a while.
Thanks! yeah that bit was a bit difficult, I tried to fit a whole game into a single level instead of spreading out the difficulty into a bunch of levels. and yeah that bug is a very common one, i'll try fix it soon. thanks for the feedback :) it is appreciated
If you switch while in the wrong place, you can get stuck in a platform. This is a class A bug as it stops the player from moving.
Yeah I noticed that bug too, it's one I tried fixing but couldn't get a solution to, considering it's in the demo phase i'll have time to fix it, thanks for your input, it's very much appreciated :D
I really like the time-switching mechanic and the 8-bit art style and music. I also like the smooth animations of the player.