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A jam submission

PlagueView game page

Gameboy inspired action platformer. Speedrun friendly. GBJam 7 entry.
Submitted by Foletto, gamercomposer (@chasebethea) — 7 hours, 44 minutes before the deadline
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Plague's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Gameboy-ness#94.3814.381
Overall#164.0124.012
Fun#173.6673.667
Graphics#214.2384.238
Audio#243.7623.762

Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+2)

This was a very good game! I enjoyed the rising complexity of the challenges as you went on.

There were a few bugs that I found, including an infinite glide bug and some situations where my shooting wasn't properly aligned with the direction i was facing. I also got one of the tougher enemies to clip into the ground once, but I don't know exactly how to recreate that.

Additionally, the biggest mark against this game is the number of times that the player was supposed to go somewhere but couldn't see their destination. There were a couple of places where I was supposed to drop down or glide out to a platform that was outside of the view, which is generally very unnerving to a player, since, for all they know, they might be falling into a spike pit, or jumping into a group of enemies that they won't be able to properly react to. One way to go about that is to hint with background elements. If trees could only appear in the background behind safe platforms and not spikes, for instance, then you can use that to mark that some place below a certain fall is safe to land on.

Other than those, though, this game is very well polished in terms of game feel and aesthetic. Good entry, congratulations!

Developer

hey! thank you very much!

also, most people here pointed out those flaws, but I want to thank you for making such a pertinent suggestion. using the tiles to communicate about the challenges in the level is definitely something I'll keep in mind when I work on this project again.


cheers!

Submitted(+2)

I love a good plague doctor! This game was hard for me but very satisfying when I got the hang of it. The wall jump felt really nice and reliable which I appreciated. I loooove the little character! So cute! And I thought the background art especially was so beautiful :( something about just those simple outlined backgrounds was very pleasing to look at. "???" level at the end was also really cool and a great finale! Great game ~

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I was so on the fence if I added that last boss fight. now I'm so glad I did! :D

Submitted(+2)

This is such a great game! The gameboy-ness feel is just so so good! It feels so much like a real GB game! The music, the graphics, the gameplay, it's all very well made! The palette feels so good with the concept and story of the game, the main character reminds me of the Plague Knight from SK, which is a big plus (and I love plague doctors)! 

All in all, very good job!

DeveloperSubmitted(+2)

Thank you so much for playing and the kind words especially about the music. I am grateful that you enjoyed what we did.

Developer(+1)

Hey! I'm really happy with your feedback (: thanks for the support!

I love plague doctors too! I've been wanting to make a game with them even before I played Shovel Knight but I didn't know which mechanics would fit better with the character. Now I feel like I found a good match and want to expand some more on it.


Cheers!

Submitted(+2)

A great game! It deserves a continuation or at least more phases.

Although common in style, the mechanics and challenges are well done. The song was what caught my attention the most. You are very faithful to the gameboy titles.

Congratulations!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Yes. expanding the game is definitely something I have in mind. There were a few ideas I scratched for the jam and I would love to try to implement them now.


Cheers!

DeveloperSubmitted(+1)

Thank you for playing and the kind words on the music! I am humbled.

(+2)

Amazing game!  I love the challenge, but at the same time it's not impossible!  Very good game!

Developer

Thanks for your support!!

Submitted(+2)

I love playing as acrobatic characters like this, the controls are pretty good! I have to say though I was not a big fan of the hit detection and enemy placement, I wouldn't have minded it too much if I had a lifebar, but in a game where you die in one hit these problems lead to a lot of replays of the same section...

That aside, I gotta commend you on the graphics and sound, you stuck to the 1 BG layer limit AND the 3 colours per-sprite limit, very nice! But not only that, the audio seems pretty accurate as well, and you actually bothered to do Stereo! Good job!

DeveloperSubmitted(+2)

Thank you Michirin. As the composer and audio designer of the jam collab, I certainly pride myself on the accuracy of it being like the GameBoy since it was my first gaming system. I wanted the authenticity to be as close as possible. Thank you for playing and the kind words. 

Submitted(+1)

You're welcome!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and for the review!

I am VERY diligent on reproducing the constraints of gameboy, at least to what it was capable in it's later years, before it was discontinued. Luckly I paired up with a sound designer who felt the same way.

Regarding the hit detection, I was planning on making a html version and thought the bigger colliders would help in case of lower frame rates, but that build never happened. I think I should revise the windows version to improve the box colliders haha

Again, thanks!

Submitted

You're welcome!

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Nicely done! Despite having some leaps of faith, levels and visuals are really good for Game Boy's tiny resolution.

Developer

HAHAHA wait! that's a new one! how exactly?

Submitted(+1)

Wait, ignore that last part lol. I was binge playing the games and wrote that annotation for the wrong game

Developer

hahaha no worries

Submitted(+2)

Good job! This is a really cool platformer. Very nice that you implemented controller support ( even rumble was working for me- using x-box gamepad -). Difficulty was a little to high for me, but it was fun to play!

Developer

hahah yeah! in GMS rumble is like, one line of code, so I pretty much add it to anything I do there. Thank you so much for playing and the kind words (:

Submitted(+2)

Excellent puzzle platformer! The graphics are wonderful and would feel right at home as a later Game Boy title. I'm also a big fan of the premise! The music is great too, I just wish there were more of it.


Overall, fantastic!

Developer(+1)

yeah! later game boy title is what I was aiming for! I remember seeing those later GB titles with big sprites, like alone in the dark and being super impressed! that's the aesthetic I was going for (:

Thanks for your kind words!!

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Great platformer! I like the pace of it. It's the type of game that deserves to be speedrunned! Well done!

PS: Feel free to try my game out! Cheers!

Developer(+1)

hey! thanks!

I have to admit, I was aiming for the speedrun feel hehehe that timer is there for a reason!!

anyway, thanks again! I'll definitely check out yours. cheers!

Submitted(+2)

The art for this game is really nice. I particularly like the large plague doctor image. All my criticism has already been covered by others so I'll leave it at that.

Developer

Thanks! I guess bigger sprites is my forte! It's hard to finish a game without sneaking one in, regardless of the theme hehe

Submitted(+2)

Enjoyed this game. It feels like there's a solid core of skill-based platforming combat to it.  The main drawback for me came from having to jump over spike pits without knowing my destination and then finding an enemy on the way.  Aside from the camera (and the bugs you've already been told about) it was a solid experience for me.

Developer

Thank you! And that's very pertinent criticism. I tried to reduce the leaps of faith as much as I could, but the camera view is really close to the character regardless. Thanks for playing and for noting that!

Submitted(+2)

I liked the mechanics of wall jump and gliding. Beautifully crafted graphics and audio, especially the protagonist's illustrations!

I just think the collision box is a bit "big"... can make gameplay a little frustrating sometimes =P

DeveloperSubmitted(+2)

Thank you so much for the kind words on the audio :)

Developer

Thank you!

Originally I went with the simplest collision check possible because I was aiming for a HTML build, and when it comes to browser games, the simpler the collisions the better. But yeah. sometimes big colliders help you, sometimes they ruin you haha

Submitted(+1)

The collision works fine, it would just be a matter of considering the box slightly smaller than the character size itself =]

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

I loved the wall cling and air halt/dash mechanic once you get a good feel of them. The sfx and feedback to enemy/player death felt good! The level design was good too but it was slightly brought down a little by the view. The best example I can give is just before the end of level 1 as you come across a blind drop. It's always a good idea to allow the player to see safe areas to land. Other than the player feeling a little too fast in it's movement, the platforming felt super solid! Good job!!

DeveloperSubmitted

Thank you for the compliment on the SFX. :)

Developer

hey! yeah. as I mentioned before. I revised levels to make sure they had no leaps of faith. but I guess with such a small resolution it's kinda hard to always be sure of that haha

Thanks so much for playing and your kind words!

Submitted(+2)

Very good controls and the level design is great! I did encounter a few bugs but non were game breaking. Very nice!

Developer

Thanks! Yeah, there were a couple of problems with the platforming code and little time to fix them haha I hope you got to play it with a controller. it's far more enjoyable than playing on the keyboard!

Submitted(+1)

I used the keyboard but it was still pretty fun!

Submitted(+1)

Really nice art style ;)
The controls were a bit hard on me...

Developer

Thanks! Did you happen to play with a controller? it feels a lot smoother with a controller instead of a keyboard.

Submitted

Oh okay - no, sadly, I don't have a controller...

Please make sure you play and rate my game ;)

Submitted(+2)

Very nice game! I love the aesthetic, the palette, and the gameplay! The graphics are very very nice, and everything feels very smooth. The only downside that comes to mind is the fact you die in one hit. The levels thankfully are fairly short, so it's not the worst thing ever, but it does raise the difficulty a lot. Overall though, I really enjoyed this game and everything it offered. Great job! I really enjoyed flying, hovering, and wall-grabbing in this game!

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, dying with one hit makes it tougher than I originally planned and making the levels shorter was one alternative on how to make it less difficult hahaha

Submitted(+1)

Super smooth physics makes it lot's of fun to hop, shoot, and float around. However, dying in one hit makes it rather difficult. 

Developer

Thanks! And yes, dying with one hit is not what I originally planned but I tried to compensate it by making levels shorter.