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Death in Strange Places's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Mechanics | #47 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
| Theme | #59 | 4.028 | 4.028 |
| Aesthetics | #105 | 4.028 | 4.028 |
| Music | #133 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
| Sound | #148 | 3.306 | 3.306 |
| Fun | #166 | 3.556 | 3.556 |
| Story | #261 | 2.694 | 2.694 |
Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game total?
2. Me (CodeRed) and Keegan Clark (who made the music)
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
I'm not entirely sure if I need to list these, since they have zero attribution requirements, but I got 4 sound effects from freesound. https://freesound.org/people/IanStarGem/sounds/478812/, https://freesound.org/people/dsp9000/sounds/76405/, https://freesound.org/people/Fission9/sounds/474852/, https://freesound.org/people/samfk360/sounds/148897/. The other sound effects I made using this tool https://sfxr.me/. I'm also not sure if URP and by extention the 2D lights I used would be considered "existing assets", but there you go. I also used TextMeshPro.
Link to your source?
https://github.com/ItsCodeRed/DeathinStrangePlaces
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Comments
This is a great game! I like how the shadow moves in a circular motion each time the player moves. The mechanics and puzzles are very interesting. The spikes in the third level were annoying, I had to stand at the edge and jump over.
Nonetheless, you guys did a wonderful job!
Snappy platformer. Love the music and the "Shy" box enemies.
whoops
The jumping mechanic took some getting used to, some Coyote Time would have been nice. The aesthetics look really smooth (the buttons on the main menu are a cool idea!). Everything looks maybe a bit simple but very well polished.
Even with seemingly endless lives, it gets really hard really quick!
I couldn't get past the moving spikes in the
third(?)second level...Is there anything more to the lights except as light sources? The shadowing looks great anyway.
Nice touch: When a tombstone covered a light that area got dark as the light source was blocked out.
thanks for the feedback! There actually is a little bit of coyote time, clearly not enough though lol. As for the moving spikes, just bait them out. Or alternatively, if you run and jump fast enough they won’t even trigger in time
great job on this. Well done!
Bit to much frustation at times for me :P, but that's more to do with me being rubbish :D
Intelligent puzzles, just maybe a little to complex to early. Little more hand holding and learning early on would have helped.
Well done!
(oh and try mine out, it's a similar mechanic to yours. I've lernt from playing yours, and it'll help me with evolving my own. Perhaps playing mine will help you, i dunno :P)
Thanks for the feedback! I'll play your game now :)
Reeeaaalllyy fun to play, great visuals and music and sound effects.
Really great job right there dude!
Really good game. The visuals are really good, the visual hints that a tomb is about to break, the musics are also pretty good, the menus and menu transition are great.
I felt like the game jump was a bit too strict on when you can jump. On the last level I couldn't tell when I would be able to jump while running in my tombs bridge. Also some times I would fall into really small gaps among the tombs that felt like a random death.
On level 2 I had some trouble finding the solution to the puzzle. Once I found the chamber it was easy. I acknowlodge finding the path is part of the puzzle, but I think it would benefit from one torch showing it is possible to go there.
The spikes are kinda hard to spot. maybe make then a bit brighter.
thanks for the feedback, and all the suggestions! A couple of these I’ve already thought about changing, but it’s nice to hear it from more people. I’ll consider making these changes as soon as I’m able :)
Very nice game! I definitely enjoyed the mechanics, music, sound and aesthetics! Definitely potential for a really cool platformer! I am partial to plaformers, and even have one in development. Great work! :)
I love the looks of the game, with the lighting and everything! The music helps the mood too. Very nice game.
I hope you had a nice vacation :) if you have the time, play and rate mine too, please :)
thanks for the positive feedback! I’ll play your game as soon as I get the chance tomorrow. :)
I enjoyed very much your Death in Strange Places game, It makes me remind the games in Commodore 64 which I enjoyed in 80's very much. I feel if the game implement control pad inputs, it could be a great improvement. I passed hours solving the first level, it is very entertained. Great Job!!
Very nice looking game. Liked the tombstones falling to be part of the problem solving and part of the navigating. Lighting effects were great and liked seeing the eyes of the enemies. At first I thought it was something to pickup, lol. I got to level 4, but no matter how hard I tried I couldnt get a tombstone to land on the platform to the right
thanks for the positive feedback! Yeah level 4 is a difficult one, the trick to the button on the right platform is to lure an enemy up onto it - it’s quite tricky, but very much possible :)
For the most part, this entry is simple but effective.
Presentation-wise, I have nothing but good things to say about it. The 2D shadows are well done and I especially appreciate the way the lights disappear when the source is blocked by an object. The music is great as well.
I think the game could use a little more polish. Puzzles involving buttons and switches start to run into issues and the collision detection on multiple graves near each other can get buggy, which is a significant issue when these graves are the only thing between you and a spike floor.
I don’t think it would be a stretch to say this is a viable commercial concept, and putting aside the bugs I think you’ve done a great job creating a minimum viable product.
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you liked the aesthetic of the game, I put a lot of effort into it. :)
I am a bit confused on your issues with the buttons. What issues did you run into exactly? I thought I fixed all of the issues with the buttons in the latest update
In my playthrough, I was unable to get past the button as my grave got stuck above the platform even though the platform was retracted at the time. I also had an instance where I had two graves next to each other on the spikes, and instead of landing on them I fell through both of them.
I’m assuming the issues you refer to are in level 2? If so, it’s supposed to get stuck on that platform. If you look closely, there is a trap door that closes when you press the button, and that trap door doesn’t close in time for the gravestone to fall through. The solution to the puzzle is to die in a room just below the button, so that the gravestone spawns without the trapdoor being activated. I think there is a screenshot I posted somewhere in the comments showing where you’re supposed to die. Sorry if that puzzle wasn’t more clear.
As for the falling through the middle of the gravestones, I have seen that glitch before, but I’m not really sure how to fix it yet. I will look into it though! :)
Okay, it sounds like this is another case of not having the brain for puzzle games. I’ll give the game another try with this in mind.
don’t worry, you’re not the first one to misunderstand that puzzle lol
The concept and the art style is cool. I'd suggest a bit more forgiveness on the platforming elements as it's pretty hardcore at the moment. A bit more polish there and some more gameplay mechanics and you could definitely have something commercial on your hands.
Thanks for the feedback! I kinda designed the game to be difficult on purpose, but I agree that there could definitely be more polish. I also agree that some more mechanics would add a lot, but of course I only had so much time, and my main priority was on the mechanics that were in the game. Anyway, thanks for the comment and rating! I'll be sure to play and rate your game as soon as I get the chance :)
Okay, so I put on my big boy pants, decided to git gud, output less QQ more more TT (tomb tomb).
...
Level 5. Oh mate :) The sadism was real.
Then level 6. From an initial 'F this', I through sheer bloody-mindedness worked my way through it. 51 deaths (after a couple of restarts). That was an experience. I feel like I've been violated somehow, but it was pretty fun. Good job.
Omg. I think you’re the first one to beat level 6! I watched someone try to beat it for like 2 hours on stream but they still couldn’t beat it. Heck, I didn’t even beat it before releasing the game! (Although I didn’t really try). Anyway good job! I feel like you deserve an award or something lol
Hahaha, thanks. Funny you should say that, around halfway through my attempts on level 6 I thought I should be due a cash reward. Then after a while it suddenly clicked and I got into a weird flow where I didn't drop gravestones on my gravestones or drop them onto the bullet spawners.
I'm sure there's a market for this game. I'm also rather happy my old ass can still handle this sort of twitch gameplay lol.
While the theme is starting to wear thin (and that's of course not your fault), I really like your character design and your use of shadows. Your game looks very professional and I'm sure even without checking that you have made many games before.
I like the tombstones even though I keep dropping them in awkward places and then need to destroy them to progress. Great job overall.
Hi, I really liked your work. My first impression were nice sound, nice graphics, cool mechanic. I just had some difficulties with the movemente for jumping and while "in air".
In Level 2, the tumbstone did not fall on the button, so I could not contiune playtesting.
Overall: good work!
#rate4rate
Thanks for the feedback!
The gravestone isn’t supposed to land on the button. There is a door that closes on the gravestone when you press the button, preventing the gravestone from falling. It’s a puzzle. Your supposed to go below the button and die to the enemy down there, so the gravestone spawns below the trap door and presses the button
yes, i expected it to happen,, but sadly, it did not work :S
so the gravestone touched the button but the door didn’t open? Weird. I’ll see if I can fix that
The button opend the trapdoor, but the gravestone did not fall.
ok, now I'm quite confused. You're supposed to die UNDERNEATH the button. Here is a screenshot of where you're supposed to die.
I liked the game, congrats on it!
I found the jumping a bit unresponsive and mostly could only do the platforming jumping statically from the border. I don't know if it's intentional, although when I myself code 2D jump I always set a timer that runs for a few hundredths of seconds where I still don't turn isGrounded false to allow for more intuitive jumping near platform borders.
I really liked that tombstones would break little by little, it added tension. Although maybe I wouldn't destroy them altogether when they crash among themselves as I think it's too punishing.
Really solid!
I've seen this mechanic implemented many times throughout this jam, but I like the twists you added to it. This was more challenging than the others for sure. I like the simplistic visuals and the level design. The game's performance drops a little bit at some points (I played on browser) so it slightly affected my experience of this game. But overall, good entry, congrats on submitting! :)
Liked the game a lot! I've seen a few versions of the jump over the dead body mechanic (mine included hahaha) and I love noticing how we all implemented in different ways! The decision to make the tombstones breakable is really interesting. Adds a bit of tension to the platforming. The jumping is a little bit unresponsive but I got used to it quickly. Congratulations to both of you!
thanks for the feedback! Yeah I kinda knew that with so many submissions my idea was not going to be completely original, so I tried to differentiate it by adding the time limit and allowing you to kill enemies with it. I’ll also try and see if I can fix the jumping feeling unresponsive, although I’m not really sure how that could be done.
Really good game, just had a bit of trouble when jumping.
I vow to finish the last stage soon
Sorry can't finish your game, the platforming is hard and the action is not smooth enough for me to play. Well the idea of walking on your own grave is good though.
sorry that the gameplay wasn’t smooth. Was it because of the lag? I only experienced the lag when I exported as a webgl game and it was too late to fix the lag at that point.
The control is a bit hard and I can't even get pass the first level.
Why couldn’t you beat the first level? It’s not difficult at all for me. Was it lag?
I just can't jump to the next point at the first platform on spike floor. Don't know where to go next and I just can't seem to jump anywhere after that. I did use the gravestone and jump from there but it's just too high on the right side.
So, yes, the platform on the right is too high to jump to from the first platform. But do you see the platform on the left? You’re supposed to jump to that one. Maybe there is a lighting issue preventing you from seeing that platform? Also keep in mind that just like in most platformers, you jump higher the longer you hold space
I believe CodeRedYT has the same problem as I did - it was super-difficult for me to jump from the first platform (from any in fact) because of lag. The jump button doesn't work on time so I started to click it simultanously multiple times and managed to get to the top. Still, it was frustrating.
I loved the concept as well as the implementation though - game looks really sleek and it's fun to play.
thanks you for confirming that the issue is with lag. I only noticed the lag in the webgl version as I was about to submit, and I didn’t have time to fix it. Now I’m on vacation and won’t be able to fix the lag until Friday. :(
I’m glad you liked the concept though! I really hope I’ll be able to fix the lag so more people can really experience the game properly
I experienced lag on any WebGL game when I was playing on the Opera Browser, but I never experienced it when I played using Google Chrome.
If you're still experiencing lag, then I don't know what else I can help you with but maybe clear the cache and cookies of your browser.
I did jumped on the left and then can't go anywhere further than that.
there is a platform above that first left platform, then you jump all the way to the right, then up.
Here is a clip of someone doing the first level https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1314017173?t=16497s