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A jam submission

UnderAchieverView game page

Sometimes to truly achieve great things you must...not achieve anything?
Submitted by josephalopod, Kestrad, Stephen346, klaro — 3 hours, 51 minutes before the deadline
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UnderAchiever's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity#2844.1254.125
Overall#5953.8153.815
Enjoyment#7583.5713.571
Presentation#10843.7503.750

Ranked from 56 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does your game fit the theme?
The role of achievements, usually positive, has been reversed so that they are something to be avoided at all costs.

Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?

Yes

We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam

Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?

No

We used pre-existing audio

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Comments

Viewing comments 46 to 27 of 46 · Next page · Last page
Submitted(+1)

Really liked the idea for this one and enjoyed the game well done! :) The "boss fight" at the end was a great idea!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Glad you liked the “boss fight” :)

Submitted(+1)

Love the pixel-art here especially for the characters! and the SFX of the voices are so silly but I love it!

Conceptually this is pretty clever having a hero who doesn’t want to be a hero so misses a few things etc, really creative way to interpret the theme and make an interesting platformer well done!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Glad you liked the voices! Fun fact: All three characters use the same voice SFX but pitched differently. This was originally intended to save development time, but as soon as we heard the uncle’s voice the first time we decided it would have to stay forever.

Submitted(+1)

Nice game with a clever use of the game jam theme. GG! I like the artstyle, nice level of polish.

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Really unique idea! Had to fight against my gamer instincts for this one :) Though the player character did have a tendency to slide off the edge of platforms sometimes. Other than that, good work!

Developer(+1)

Thank you! Yes, that internal struggle between the gamer instincts and the actual objectives was exactly what we were going for :)

Yeah, the platforming physics could use some work. That’s first on our list of post-jam improvements if we keep working on the game.

Submitted(+1)

=========================

Review Summary

=========================

[ + + + + + ]  ::  ENJOYMENT

[ + + + + + ]  ::  CREATIVITY

[ + + + + + ]  ::  PRESENTATION

I'm glad the winner of this game jam isn't up to me, because yours is one of at least a half dozen entries that I've given a perfect score to.

"Don't think of it as cheating, think of it as teamwork!"

==========================

Rubric / How I Measure The Score

==========================

[ + - - - - ]      1 - Missing

[ + + - - - ]     2 - Somewhat Present

[ + + + - - ]    3 - Present

[ + + + + - ]   4 - Well Done

[ + + + + + ]  5 - Outstanding


=========================

Detailed Review

=========================

[ + + + + + ] :: ENJOYMENT

I loved getting to the end of a level just to find out that I needed to go back and kill at least one enemy, or get myself hurt, lol. Really fun game loop! Hope you can do a full release of this!

I loved the final level! I played it like 10 times before I made it through with only 3 achievements! Is there any extra content if you get a perfect score by chance?


[ + + + + +] :: CREATIVITY

You made something completely and utterly new! I had so much fun with it! I loved the implications of your relationship with your dad. Reminds me of my own father.. oof.


[ + + + + + ]  ::  PRESENTATION

Stellar work on the art and animations. I loved how your music complemented the final fight. Great work all around!

Developer(+1)

Wow, thanks so much! And really appreciate the super thorough review!

Glad you liked the game loop! That was exactly the experience we were aiming for (and hoping people would enjoy). To answer your question about the last level, there is a unique line of dialogue if you get no achievements (so < 5 coins), but no extra content beyond that. Sorry to hear that the relationship struck a chord, but glad you found the narrative compelling! And glad you liked the art and animations! The music wasn’t original, but we felt like it complemented the fight pretty well. We’re hoping to create original music if we keep working on this after the jam!

Dialogue line for zero achievements on final level:

Instead of saying the line about the guild disqualifying you for “violating the sanctity of achievements” your dad just says “Wow, 0 achievements. I would be impressed if I wasn’t so disappointed.”

Submitted(+1)

A fun entry, loved it!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Great scope, very creative. I loved that there was an achievement for not killing any noombas and a real player motivation. Well done :D 

Developer

Thank you! Glad you liked the way the achievements and the narrative worked together!

Submitted(+1)

Great idea - an awesome interpretation of the theme! I really liked the puzzle solving elements, and the graphics and story were really well made! The platforming controls were a little "floaty" which made some of the precise jumps a bit frustrating, but overall I had a lot of fun! Great stuff! 

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Glad you had fun! Yeah, apologies for the platforming physics, it’s first on our list of things to improve post-jam.

Submitted(+1)

I had a blast playing this game, the characters' sound when they talk is just so funny. Great art style, nice twist. Great job!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Glad you like the “voice acting”! Fun fact: originally to save development time, but then because we thought it was funny, all three characters use the same voice sound but with different pitch adjustments.

Submitted(+1)

The twist makes for a really nice puzzle solving system! Nice overarching story, cute graphics, and quite a nice twist on the theme!

Developer

Thank you very much!

Submitted(+1)

Good ideas, but the controls feel too unresponsive. Making the movement snappier (but not too snappy!) would really help this in the long run.

The game concept is really fun! I loved that the achievements were in-world too.

Developer

Thank you! Yep, tightening up the controls is definitely a top priority for post-jam if we keep working on it!

Glad you liked the concept though!

Submitted(+1)

This was good fun, while it may be a little lacking in juice and the controls are too floaty, I enjoyed the dialogue and premise enough to make up for it.

Developer

Thank you! Yep, tightening up the platforming and adding some juice/crunchiness is definitely near the top of our post-jam todo list! Glad you enjoyed it anyway!

Submitted(+1)

One of the best takes on the theme for sure!

Developer

Thanks so much!

Submitted (2 edits) (+2)

Super nice ideas that could be extended further! Very well done. I liked the little moments like when I got “pacifist” in a level and thought: “Cool, I got an achievement! … Oh…”

Developer(+1)

Haha, that celebration that is immediately replaced with “wait, crap” is exactly what we were going for with the positive sound effect on achievement get! Glad it landed!

Submitted(+1)

Love the humour in this one. Man, being an under-achiever is hard work! There's a trophy for everything nowadays!

Developer

Thanks! It takes talent to be so mediocre!

Submitted(+1)

The opening story is quite interesting, and the dialogue before each level sets the stage nicely. However, the platform jumping mechanics could use some polishing. Overall, it's a great game!

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, improving the platforming physics is on the top of our post-jam todo list :)

Submitted(+1)

This is a great take on the theme! The pacifist achievement got me in the second level--it's a nice subversion of expectations! The platforming physics could use some polishing, but there is a lot of potential here for a wacky and unique platformer if you wanted to keep developing it after the jam!

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, the platforming was not the strongest part of the game for sure. We would like to keep working on it after the jam, and tightening up the controls and physics is definitely near the top of the to-do list :)

Submitted(+2)

Super fun take on the theme. Really enjoyed playing through this one. Uncle Regibald's level was a perfect way to end it lol

Developer

Thank you! Glad you liked Uncle Regibald!

Submitted(+1)

this is a great entry! the last map was kinda hard but its good! i think you could add a indicator showing how much achievement i shouldnt be getting to pass the level!

Developer

Thank you!

A maximum achievement indicator is a good idea! We hint at it with the dialogue at the beginning of some levels, but having a more explicit indicator of maximum number of achievements, with the knowledge you have built up of all the different achievements possible so far, would make the puzzles a little easier to reason about.

Submitted(+1)

I liked how the game built up the achievements you could unlock and hinted at the problem of a no-damage run. The final boss fight was tense and I was able to 1 shot it, so the patterns were tuned pretty well so that you could learn it. I also appreciated that holding the jump button just before landing on the ground would let the player chain jumps.

Developer

Thanks! Yeah, building up the achievements was definitely a key idea, and we’re pretty happy with how it turned out. Well done on the final boss, and glad you found it to be well-tuned!

Our jump physics, although overall far from perfect, did have some concepts built-in to make them feel a bit better. There is a few frames of jump buffering, as you noticed, and also a few frames after running off the edge that you can still jump (“coyote time”). Glad you appreciated them!

Viewing comments 46 to 27 of 46 · Next page · Last page