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Sacrifice's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #10 | 4.368 | 4.368 |
| Mechanics | #15 | 4.237 | 4.237 |
| Fun | #82 | 3.842 | 3.842 |
| Aesthetics | #107 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Music | #115 | 3.658 | 3.658 |
| Sound | #145 | 3.316 | 3.316 |
| Story | #244 | 2.763 | 2.763 |
Ranked from 38 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
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
Parts of some script files were reused from earlier projects of ours. All art and sound assets were created by the team during the jam.
Link to your source?
https://github.com/MrAurela/GameDev.tv-Game-Jam-2022
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Comments
Clever use of ghost replays. Your level design has been great and shows a nice level of progression in challenge.
I really liked the mechanics, needing your past "ghost" self inorder to solve puzzles is quite unique and clever!
The game was very challenging. It took me a while to learn the mechanics. Making 2d puzzle games has always scared me. i like this game. congratulations
Great game, I really liked your idea for the theme and the ghost players worked very well. The puzzles were fun and I appreciated that each puzzle worked differently -- they weren't just a reconfiguration of the same puzzle concept repeatedly. I liked the NES-style graphics and the camera zoom work as well. I didn't have trouble on the third puzzle (the one where you need to move a platform up to the spikes to get a new ghost), for what it's worth -- sometimes when there are a lot of comments that a particular stage was problematic, it's good to hear that sometimes it wasn't.
My improvement comments seem to have been covered by other commenters, or by you: (ghost didn't respawn, but I used Esc. to fix; I thought the black screen at the end was a crash). Getting stuck on the sides of walls or platforms when pushing the arrow button into those walls/platforms was the biggest issue for me. The first large wall that you can move with a button, for example, was one where I 'stuck' to the wall. This sticking issue repeated on a few other structures. (Maybe using a Platform Effector Component, or making sure you have the layer designated properly on that object?). It also felt like I also couldn't jump to my full height at times, even when holding down the jump button -- not sure what caused this, but possibly related to the sticking issue as I was usually trying to jump onto something.
Overall, fun game, was happy to play to the end!
This had my favorite interpretation and execution of the theme of any game I've played so far. The concept is classic and brilliantly done. One thing I would suggest is to make it so you can jump on your old selves. It would make sense since they are physical enough to push the buttons anyway. It would also open up new puzzle possibilities. Occasionally I would die and the game would simply hang, requiring a page refresh. That's the only thing I noticed that felt off though. This was an excellent submission, thank you!
Heck yeah, I LOVED this game. I really dig the mechanics on it. The music was a _bit_ repetitive. Just need a slightly longer loop probably. I'd love to see this game made longer. When I cleared the 4th(?) board I just went to my right and died and the game just stopped. Was that a crash or was that they way the game ends at the moment?
Thanks for playing and thanks for the feedback! Really good to hear you enjoyed it.
I very well understand your comment about the music. It would have been nice to have longer track or even multiple different songs but I had to also do programming + level design which were higher priority. That's what I managed to do with the time I used for the background music. I'm just glad that there is at least some music! But if I were to continue working with the game later, music would obviously be one thing that needs more content.
The game only has 4 actual levels. That's the amount of level I had time to design and test. The fifth area was meant for "narrative" closure of the game: the death of the character which is represented by the screen going black. So that's how the game currently ends but I can see why people would be confused about it. I think someone else also commented earlier that they thought it to be a crash.
Very interesting game with a really inventive mechanic! It was fun experiencing it. I got a bit frustrated at the first couple of levels but one I understood the mechanics it was completely fine. Maybe you could add a really short beginning level as a tutorial. I definitely would play a full version of this game.
Glad you liked the mechanics!
And you might be right that the first level should have been shorter to make it work better as a tutorial. Or to have even simple level before the current first one.
A very interesting game. Awesome art and audio
i would definitely buy this
That's a really good compliment. I'm happy you liked it!
If you don't mind an extra question: was there anything about the game that could be improved in your opinion. Did you encounter bugs, was certain part of the game too boring/difficult or was there something you would have liked to have more of? If I would ask you to name 1 or 2 most important things to improve if I were to continue development of this game, what would those be?
Interesting mechanic with the ghosts or shadows of the previous live opening up the way for the next incarnation.
I like your game and found the puzzles very interesting. I would have made the first level a bit shorter to have players learn the core mechanic much faster. Also I thikn subsequent copies fater death should appear faster, although that just might be WebGL being slow.
All in all I found it a solid game!
Thanks for playing and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed the puzzles.
The first level should have probably been shorter to better work as a tutorial, you are right. About the copies: the characters should spawn with 1 second intervals. If it was slower than that, then it might have been just WebGL being too slow.
A very fun game! Interesting puzzles and an interesting mechanic. Love the sprite, especially how it bounds.
The game is great, but there's still some room for improvement. Some levels have some frustrating segments. The pause for the previous character to finish running feels very weird, especially when the timing is important. Not being able to start immediately at the same time as the previous character interrupts the game flow slightly. The control is also not as precise as it can be.
Overall, a very well-made fun game with an interesting mechanic that correspond to the theme well. Nice attempt!
I really liked the game. The visuals were easy to understand. The puzzles were good. The controls were responsive.
In the 3rd level I had some trouble jumping on the platform in the middle with a button.
Also later there's a level with a long corridor and then a pit full of spikes. I haven't figured that level out and whenever I reached the spikes the game would get stuck with a black screen.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the feedback!
The middle platform in 3 puzzle is something that a lot of players have commented about. Again we see that it is not enough that the developer tests their own game. One should always have outsiders to the test the game as early as possible to prevent these kind of unnecessarily difficult section.
About the last level: that is actually the current ending for the game. The character dies in the pit and the screen goes black. I can really see how that might look like the game crashing though. It was not necessarily the best design choice I have made... I probably should have just kept the game more abstract and not try to include narrative when I clearly did not have time to do it well enough.
I'm so bad with this typ of games... i hate it that I'm stuck at the second room. How do i get over the spines at the beginning?
I really like the Idea, that's a cool concept. I like the art style of the main character. The landing animation feels fantastic. All in all a great job:)
Thanks for trying it out anyway!
So in the second level it should be possible to just jump over the first two spike pits. Getting over the third set of spikes is the only puzzle part in that level and solving it requires using the red pressure plate and one ghost.
Please tell if you have any issues and don’t hesitate to ask if you need more hints or instructions!
Haha, really? I just can jump over:D ....ok it work, thank you^^
Were you distracted by the platforms above the pit perhaps? Did you think that you would have to somehow get on top of them? Some others have commented that those platforms were confusing because player cannot jump on top of them so they are not useful for the level. Those were actually added when I was thinking about adding collectables to the game. I did not have time for it in the end so now those platforms might feel out of place and maybe even confusing.
I don't know exactly why, somehow I thought I couldn't get over it and tried to time it with the jumps to avoid the spikes.
Great puzzles and mechanics. Really fit the theme and it is fun to play !
Nice ending too ;)
Glad to hear! I’m happy that at least someone got to the end. Based on the other comments many others had issues or were not able to solve level 4
Very interesting choice! The ghosts take too long just because I took too long, was completely my fault and I really liked it!!
I love the atmosphere of this game! It's somber, but not sad. Dark, but not grim. Reminds me a bit of Castlevania if it was puzzle based instead of combat based.
The mechanics are solid, and fit the theme very well. Also this might be a hot take, but I disagree with people saying the ghosts take too long. Watching the ghost make all the mistakes you did makes you contemplate how the mechanics work, and what can be done with them. It teases you with the idea that if you whiff a jump, you'll be watching yourself mess it up again, and works as a motivator to nail it the next time. It gives me a bit of a speedrunner mentality that I want to try to make the most efficient run that I can, and that every life in the process matters.
Overall it has very few issues, and a lot of great things going for it! Well done!
Thanks! I was aiming it to be something towards that direction. Good to here it worked.
Also I'm glad you enjoyed the game concept. And it's interesting that you mention speedrunning because that was actually one of my early concepts before landing on more puzzle based approach.
I said I'd play it tomorrow but was intrigued, also one of the few games that's run well for me. (I've held off rating a lot just because a lot of unity webgl games don't seem to run well for me, but I'm aware it's a me issue).
I think it's pretty fun and even has potential as a speed game with a lot of movement to optimise to clear the levels quickly.
My main complaint is the collision detection (might be a me issue though). Without being particularly close to edges, I wouldn't be able to jump and simply fall down. I also got stuck once on a platform. But the main mechanic has a lot of potential, there just seems to be a few small bugs, like the position the spikes freeze in on one of the levels weren't consistent for me on the next life, where they'd stop in a different position than I'd stopped them previously.
Sometimes waiting for the ghosts can get annoying, especially when having to set up a puzzle again due to slipping off an edge. Maybe some kind of rewind mechanic to make a death not count to prevent that for puzzles that require multiple ghosts being set up?
Thank you for your feedback!
I actually had more action based speedrunning game concept about the game but then I went with puzzles in the end because that's easier for me to design.
About jumping and collisions: there has been also other comments so I have now fixed most jumping related issues that with some help from Vendolis. The problem that you had with platforms moving differently during different attempts is also a known bug but it happens relatively infrequently that it is really difficult to debug. My best guess so far is that it would be related to frame rate inconsistencies.
Your last point is also something that has been repeated by others too. Rewind mechanic is interesting solution idea but I fear that it does not fit the narrative or theme. Maybe if I would just change the theme to time travelling that could really work as a mechanic. I will have to remember this suggestion. Maybe I will make a speedrunning time travel game somewhere in the future.
Use of the theme was interesting, having your past playthroughs play along side you to complete a puzzle was alot of fun and felt good. Graphics also look really nice! And the music and sfx work really nicely together.
I really liked seeing ghosts playing the game, just watching myself figure out the puzzle in replay is hella fun.
I did complete all the stages with only one ghost in play (you can complete the 2 level with no ghost), but I really like that you have an option to make the game basically easier if you use the second ghost. The puzzles are clever though somewhat easy to exploit but nonetheless they were fun to figure out. The game can easily be expanded with more levels, moving elements and even abilities for player...
The movement in general feels fluid, but the jump seems inconsistent sometimes. Like in the third stage jumping up to the platform with a button in the middle was difficult, also got stuck in some places so I had to reset the level. In the 3 level I got clipped through the world by the first moving platform, good thing you made thicker walls otherwise you could skip the whole level with this. And like others have mentioned getting stuck was an issue in some cases. Plus coyote time for jumps would be nice.
The sprite work is nice, though adding some bloom and darkness would add a whole lot to the feel.
Animations are on point for player and other elements. Liked when the camera focuses on your ghosts while they walk out. AND the camera zoom animation when you enter the third level.
The thing that I liked about the first level is the idea that you can't really mess up the platforming, cuz otherwise you would miss the window of when ur character is standing on the button, so making levels where you don't have a choice of standing infinitely on the button would make for more puzzles where you have to be frame perfect with your current life and ghosts. And I'm sure you can expand the game much more it's just one thing.
And the ending is pretty cool, though it would be even more impactful if you cut the music and just had a sudden silence.
Overall I really liked the concept. Thank you for making this great game!
Thanks for you detailed feedback! It's nice to hear that at least someone enjoyed ghosts as many have commented that waiting for the ghosts was not very fun. About your other points:
Yes, the current levels are relatively "easy", meaning that they do not necessarily need more than one ghost. The player might still get killed accidently so I wanted to have the levels scale easier if necessary with the help of the second ghost. Having only one ghost could have made many levels difficult for most players. I believe you found some of the shortcuts in the levels: the normal solution for level 2 needs 1 ghost and level 3 needs all 3 ghosts. But as the game is also a platformer I wanted to give a possibility to "cheat" the puzzles with accurate platforming so if I'm correctly guessing what you did to solve those levels, they were left there intentionally (even though the trick in puzzle 2 was just an accident at first).
There has been also other comments about jumping so I have now fixed most jumping related issues that with some help from Vendolis.
Your suggestion for the ending would have been cool. I had similar idea at one point but then I decided against because I was worried that having the game both go black and end the music could be seen as a glitch. If I would improve the game I would want to make the ending more dramatic: maybe having the music cut at first and then after a while proceed to an ending screen or main menu with a melancholic version of the main theme playing. If I were to make a full game out of this there would probably be even an cutscene at the end.