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Bernard - LowRezJam 2022's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #48 | 4.160 | 4.160 |
| Overall | #96 | 3.860 | 3.860 |
| Audio | #120 | 3.480 | 3.480 |
| Gameplay | #126 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
| Authenticity (use of resolution) | #150 | 4.400 | 4.400 |
Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
Yes. I did everything unless Audio and SFX which were done by my friend Mickael Blum.
Was the resolution a challenge?
Quite hard to design levels at a tiny resolution. Especially because player needs to understand where to go in this game. I tried my best. Let's see how it goes and if it did well.
What did you learn?
Yes, this was the first time I use a wall climbing mechanic like this one. It was tricky but very fun at last to play with platform gravity rotation.
I did struggle a bit with how to save player progression using a JSON file. I always struggle this part, but I think I'm getting to it.
The biggest error I struggled to fix was me trying to compare a string to a number which resulted in a NaN. So I learned I should check way more often my debug console, haha.
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Comments
The concept was cute, and I liked the minimal graphics.
Walking round corners looked terrible though.
Gameplay was a bit boring and repetitive, and the levels felt a bit samey - at first there were a few times where I wasn't sure if I had gone to the next level, or just ended up back at the beginning.
Cool concept, but mixed execution. I feel this is one of the games where the low resolution hurt it. The limited view (plus lack of ability to turn around) caused a lot of trial and error. It also took me a while to realise that you can hide from the fish by staying in the grass. Perhaps that could be mentioned in the instructions?
On the positive side, the concept of a crab walking around walls with only jumping/stopping to control yourself is neat. Once you get used to it, it's pretty fun. The overall art style is very charming - both the colour palette and the sprite work. The music is nice too. I like the addition of shells to collect for extra challenge, though I only got a few of them.
The end screen stopped before I could take a screenshot, but my favourite shell was the floppy disk.
Congratulations on making this game ! I've played your game during a live that you can watch here :
The live is timestamped so you can go directly to your game.I hope the feedback and live reactions will be useful. Keep it up !
The concept of a game where you automatically run is interesting, though this fact could have been communicated to the player much better. For the first level I was completely baffled, and for the second one I was stuck until I tried pressing up out of sheer curiosity. I didn't figure out down also had a function until several levels after that. The fish also introduced a huge amount of inconsistency, as sometimes ducking (which had no visual indicator) helped you dodge them with or without a hat, sometimes it only helped with no hat, and sometimes it didnt help at all. The graphics were cute and I especially liked the hats and how they fell off each stage. Music was a nice touch too, especially the serendipity of the bpm syncing basically perfectly with Bernard's footsteps.
This concept is very interesting and the presentation is cute! The hats are a fun idea (I like the pipe). I think some mechanics could be made more explicit, for example there could be a visual indication when hiding behind seaweed (I didn't get that until I looked into the comments). Level six was a bit of a difficulty spike, because I had no idea where to go. On level nine the jump did not work properly (Bernard bounced off the surfaces instead of latching onto them). Other than that, great game!
Lovely colour pallet and graphics :D! You really made a good use of the Jam limitations! Good job :)
Thank you Roberto for playing and sharing some love! ❤️
Very charming! It's a good, energetic game to just pick up and play!
Thank you very much for playing and the good vibes! 💖
Bernard my beloved <3
I have to say, I'm not sure what the type of styling it is called but I really like how the negative space in the pixel art really sold that retro feel, and it pairs well with the music. I also really like how sprite animations syncs up with the music at different beats (Bernard's walk, the reef swaying, the fish swimming, etc.). In terms of aesthetic and game feel you guys absolutely nailed it!
In terms of difficulty I feel that it would be better if I can see just a bit more of the space around me, because a majority of my deaths doesn't feel like an issue of skill and more bad luck. Also, and this one is pretty nitpicky, but the way some of the shells aren't ideally orientated on Bernard (the mug, jar, and milk jugs kinda look like they're just lying on top)
Still, I enjoyed the game and I'm glad to have reunited our lil hermit crab with his family!
Thank you very much for your constructive feedback! We definitely ran out of time to improve levels difficulty, and that's probably something I will try to focus more during next jams. ❤️
Man, this game was vibing! 🤗 Loved the music, the graphics were great and collecting the hats was though! 😛 Great work Antoine!
I'm so happy to enjoyed it too. I did have a lot of fun creating it. Yes, hats are here to add an extra challenge/replayability to the game. But only if players really want that. Thank you, Sander! And so happy to see you also participated in the jam, haha 😁
Perfect, Antoine, just perfect! I love the quirkiness of it. I’ve been looking forward to playing it since you first started posting daily updates on Twitter, and it definitely didn’t disappoint! 😊
Thank you, Craig! No really, I mean.. Thank you very much for playing it and the good vibes.. But also for your kindness, and for inspiring me a lot with your own work. I have tried 1bit art before but kind of let it off. By seeing your work more and more on your timeline, you convinced me that using simple flat colors with 1bit can make all the differences and be used in so many ways for designing game experiences. So, thank you very much for that as well! 🥰
Lovely game!
I like that you can hide from the fish by standing behind the seaweed (it took me a while to notice, though!). Some hats are very tough to get, but I enjoyed the challenge! The colorful, vibrant art is great, and the music is a jam!
Great job!
Thank you! Thank you! So happy you liked the game and had a good moment!
I forgot how much it is good to read how much players enjoy your game. And that's the best part of gamedev obviously. 🥰
Yes, algae or seaweed (I didn't really know how it is called in English 😅) will prevent you from taking damage if you hide behind them.
Not easy to make that understandable for the player so I decided to use following concepts:
- If an object is animated, it means player can do something with it (ex.: algae 2 frames animation, shells sine up/down or left/right)
- Player can collide with white objects (spikes are white, and collectibles too)
That might not be 100% obvious, btw I admit it. But I tried. 😅
Now you speak about it, maybe I can add a little arrow up the algae so that player may understand he/she can stop moving while overlapping it. As I did with shell selection on the end scene.. Mmmh 🤔
Very cute game, I found the fifth level (with the fishes and spikes) very difficult and wasn't sure which path to take. Love the idea though, even if jumping is sometimes a bit buggy and can teleport you to other platforms sometimes.
This level and a few others are missing some direction panels to guide players. That's some assets I created 3 days before the jam ends, and did not have enough time to review all existing levels and add some. I'll probably update the game after the voting period with such direction panels to help players understand more easily the right path. In a full game version, these panels could be seen only for an easier difficulty version set from game settings.. Mmmh 🤔
Yes, jump is still a bit buggy. I did spend a lot of time testing/debugging it. To be honest, adding a jump mechanic to such wall climbing behavior might look simple but in fact it complicated everything, lol. That was my main challenge: making it work, and the 2nd hardest one was to design puzzles with such a tiny visible area.
If you have any further information on when you got a jump bug, then let me know I'd be very interested so that I can try to fix it.
Anyhow thank you very very much for playing and the kind words! That means a lot! 🥰
The bug was towards the end of the level that introduced the fish (level 5 I believe). Jumped towards the right, missing and landing again, then I was teleported to the platform I was originally aiming for.
Wow, this is as wonderful as I'd hoped. Love that complexity emerges out of the simplicity. Also, no one can tell me coffee cup isn't the ultimate "shell". So glad to have found this. The style is wonderful, and the puzzling is fun. Awesome overall!
(Can't get over how readable / pretty the tiles are!)
So your favorite shell is obviously the coffee cup, haha!
I spent a lot of time on designing tiles for this game. This was the first time I add colors to 1bit style art, and quite enjoyed it.
I was used to draw pixels and development right at the same time. For this jam, I tried to allow design sessions before developing and I feel like I prefer this approach way more. It was easier to develop when you already know exactly what you want and don't want. Also it helped me better scope what features I want/don't want because of delay and complexity.
I'm so happy to read that the game met your expectations.
Thank you for your support since the beginning! That means a lot!
Nice entry, I really like 1 bit art styles (call me nostalgic…). The non-stop mechanic makes for a good puzzler. Very nice job!
Thank you! It means a lot. That was the first time I tried a 1bit art style with vibrant colors.
I don't regret it because it was challenging and I think I learned a lot in the end.
I'm really glad you enjoyed this wall climber (or whatever we can call it) mechanic because my biggest fear was it could be boring to repeat it levels after levels. But again I learned a lot coding it, and had lots of fun creating enemies behaviors.
I didn't have enough time to build more levels, but I think I may add some post jam. Lots of ideas with existing stuff I still would like to explore (especially canons and stars). Plus I secretly created all 30 shells I wanted to implement so.. 👀 🤭
Jams ara always just so tight in time :P I got to a point I need a big refactor and start moving to complex multicarting techniques to include everything I would love to, but you need to be realistic and cut some corners… then come back after the jam. The important part is you have fun, you learn things and that ppl enjoy your creations! I think you tick all the boxes, right?
Indeed, you're right 👍
Plus.. Even if you want to add more content later or not, you can feel good because you delivered something, you just created a game, that people will have fun with.
That's probably the best parts, indeed 🥰
I love the visuals. Collecting collectables was fun.
But there seems to be a problem when colliding with the fish. Some kill immediately some doesn't. Thought maybe it was about stopping, but stopping did not seem to prevent from dying when collided with some. I hope you can find where the problem is.
Great work.
Fishes kill indeed, but there is a trick. Fishes should not kill you if you hide behind algae while they collide with you (see attached image below). Another tip: if you see algae somewhere, it means there might be at least one fish that should pass its way around it. Annoying fishes, haha.
Hope this help, and thank you very much for playing!
Oh, I see it now. Thanks for the tip.
You're welcome! *, - ,*
Bernard and his family are back together \o/ I loved it :)
Thank you! This means a lot! 🥰