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SaturdayNightVania's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Enjoyment | #5 | 3.529 | 3.529 |
| Metroidvania | #8 | 3.941 | 3.941 |
| Overall | #8 | 3.603 | 3.603 |
| Presentation | #9 | 3.824 | 3.824 |
| Design | #19 | 3.118 | 3.118 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Engine
Pixel Game Engine... Plus own movement and collision engine (first developed for MVM14)
Team/Developer
TPD + Ominous Pigeon Master (all sounds and music)
External assets
discotechia font by Iconian Fonts
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Comments
Enemies were more frustrating than fun to fight mostly--but it's hard not to admire just, the absolute commitment to the "bit."
Yes, I probably should have spent less time on the bit and a bit more on the actual game... But hopefully a later build can make the fighting a bit more fun, and build slightly more enjoyable mechanics on the theme.
Pretty fun, quirky game! Made me chuckle a few times, though the game was not just a gimmick, which was neat. The biggest room for improvement I think is the combat; the slow, close-range combat makes fighting less fun than I think it could be. Honestly I think just extending the range would go a long way. The other thing I'd look into is jumping. I'm not a fan of the way landing from a jump pauses your forward motion for a moment. All in all, great job. Fun entry.
Definitely valid criticisms, movement and combat are definitely 2 areas I should concentrate more on, as is usual for these jams I spent way too much time on the assets and world creation (and for some reason a midi sound engine I didn't end up using)... and not enough time getting the core mechanics nailed.
The wig originally was supposed to double as a longer range weapon, with the rope shorter range with the added shield ability, to add combat variety.. But I never really found (or made) the time to implement that or tune what I had.
Glad it made you chuckle, and thanks again for the playthrough. I'm hoping to release a post jam/new year update with some improvements to the gameplay, and your suggestions are really good!
Fwiw the attention to assets is definitely eye grabbing. So much personality.
I think this is the first full Metroidvania I’ve finished this jam!
I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are some small niggles here and there that other folks have mentioned, but it’s quite a fun little experience.
I was also very impressed with the helicopter controls, that were very well implemented into the game, IMO.
thanks, really appreciate the play through - glad you managed to see the whole game. The helicopter was fun, I originally was just going to use it to access a roof area, but decided it was too good a mechanic for just acting as a key so added the gold disks so you had you backtrack through all areas using it.
I'm planning a post jam release with some of the niggles ironed out, and hopefully a far more satisfying ending.
I mean, even if the ending was felt a little kitbashed, it was also a neat final exam of the skills that had been built up over the game, which is a great thing for a final encounter to be.
(And the music was fun to listen to)
Really funny game, the most original metroidvania I've seen, including the items. Jumping was kinda floaty, but there wasn't much platforming so it's not a big problem. Combat was a bit off since just pushing the attack button wasn't enough, took me some time to realize that but I was able to beat the bouncer after I did, quite a challenging boss but not too difficult.
Loved the music, especially the first song.
Continuing the game didn't seem to work after coming back later.
One nitpick also, the health bar is quite small and hard to see.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed... yeah both fixing the attack button and saving continue state to external storage should have both made it in, I just ended up not finding time for either. (Or if I am being honest not prioritising the code changes needed over adding stupid little "fun" animations ;) )
Thanks again all useful feedback that should make it into a post Jam release!
This was a really funny game! Very charming, I love your style, it made me smile. The powerups were also pretty cool, and the music was funky for sure!
My biggest gripe is definitely the combat, the fact that you need to hold down the button for an attack to happen especially. The belt and the wig both feel like you have to fight to use them, and when they're already at such short range it's difficult to balance them with dodging.
I couldn't beat the bouncer, he was way too fast and aggressive and I had no time to dodge because attacking was so difficult. I think if the wigs had more range or at least let me turn around after hitting the button, it would make the game for me.
The platforming was kind of heavy but I don't think that's a bad thing! It fit the game and it worked, and I think some of it felt really good, like when landing from a height.
Also a very very small thing, I would consider taking the neutral state out of the item rotation, I once got myself killed because I assumed when I hit the key to switch I would end up at the rubber boots but instead I was just exposed >.<
There's not really any reason (as far as I can tell, maybe it's relevant later in the game) for the player to not be wielding one of the items, so it does more harm than good I think. Coolest cat in town for sure tho 😎
Had some trouble playing in firefox, the music got super laggy for some reason. PC build runs smooth though
thanks all valid criticisms, a lot of which are still sitting on unfinished to do lists from weeks ago... (such as single press weapon actions), and making the wig a longer range weapon so that it had different benefits/issues compared to the rope. Oh well post game update maybe!
Glad you liked the style, and sorry you didn't get past the bouncer... The curse of playing your own game so much developing it, you end up learning the patterns so well it becomes second nature.
Given you are on the windows build, if you want to see the rest of game, you could always edit settings.ini in the assets folder
Find
[Monster7]
type=bouncerboss
...
health=400
Change 400 to something far lower (or 0 for no boss), you will need to rerun the exe though for it to take effect.
Ps sound on web is bit ropey as it shares the same thread as the main game
Really Fun Music & Game Design
I got to the 7th Gold Record can't find the last three.
glad you enjoyed I wont get a chance till later but I'll try and post a map this evening with them highlighted.
Hope the helps (sorry the gold disks are still not that clear room with white border is start room yellow room = disco, purple toilets, teal VIP area. grey = roof/outside
I forgot those in the roof part
It was a good game!
thanks appreciate it!
Had a quick play of yours, looks great (really great) will post a more full review when I get a chance to play properly!
Hey! I knew I recognized your style from back when you made Vanya last year! Nice to see you again haha.
This was a pretty enjoyable experience, in large part due to the atmosphere and presentation. It was a bit surreal and very funky, and just a lot of good visual humor going on, so good job!
The golden disks had a bad habit of blending into the background for my eyes, so I was having some trouble hunting down the last few, but a color change or a darker background would probably help with that.
The controls are a bit floaty, the platforming doesn't feel like it has a lot of weight to it, but it works here
I would personally suggest that as you gain more abilities you map them to different buttons instead of having to switch to them, but this particular game didn't have spots where you needed to use combinations or quickly switch so I think it's fine here.
I was a bit confused as to why space was attack when it could have been jump instead, haha. That's a pretty non standard control scheme overall.
But yeah, good job!
Thanks for the play through, some really useful suggestions which will make their way into a post Jam release!
Glad you enjoyed overall, even the cheesey humour - sorry the gold disks blended in a bit... I hope you managed to find them all?
Ability stacking (as opposed to swapping) was on the list but got cut as I wanted to make sure the character sprite showed what they were wearing/carrying and I didn't have the time to a put together sprite segmentation scheme, or redraw/compose the combinations needed.
that makes sense! and yeah, I did eventually find them all, and eventually finished the game, so no worries!
This was wild ride lol. I genuinely enjoyed my time playing this game thought the movement and collision was really well done. I'm even more impressed now that I know you developed it yourself!
Excellent submission!
As always, I love your art and I've always been fascinated by the work you do on the engine (first used with Dr. Kimmy, right?). I also love that we both went with the theme, but still managed to go in unique directions with it.
The belt upgrade (especially the helicopter) was incredibly fun. And I feel like this has been the most balanced of yours in terms of difficulty that I've played.
Overall, I loved this game. Its just so fun and funny!
Yeah.... my original idea was going to actually be far more similar to yours... I wanted to add in some more dance based abilities but animation is hard! (So props again for such great dance animation in your entry) , and one I started sprite drawing it kind of took it's own direction. The engine actually dates back to the MVM before that (14)... There is a borderline unplayable MVM14 entry called Partial Vanya in which the majority of the engine development occured.
Oh man, I agree on animating dances. The thriller dance took forever for me, but I was laughing the entire time so it was still pretty great. I actually expected some awesome dances when I saw your entry. And its not just the character art that really impresses me. The detail you put into the background of rooms is great. Loved the bathroom haha.
I'm definitely not skilled enough to build my own engine so more props for that. But its been really cool seeing yours evolve. I feel like movement and collisions have definitely improved each time.
Really cool theme. Loved it!