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A jam submission

Dust AspersedView game page

The smallest of robots in charge of the largest mess
Submitted by Minty — 20 hours, 49 minutes before the deadline
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Dust Aspersed's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Execution#14.6154.615
Enjoyment#24.5384.538
Overall#24.3084.308
Sensory#74.2314.231
Metroidvania#173.8463.846

Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Engine
Godot

Team/Developer
Johnny Von Tungeln, Zachary Carson

External assets
Kenney All in One pack, Dafont.com, Texturecan.com

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Comments

(+1)

very cool

Submitted(+1)

Oh man I loved this so much! It really reminded me of some Psychonauts levels like the mail room in Psy.2, or Ratchet and Clank (esp with the helicopter), or I have memories of a Toy Story PC game from way back (googling it I think it was the Toy Story 2 PC game from 2000). I struggled the first few minutes but I had an aha! moment and everything clicked, and by the end I was zip-zopping all over the place. The ending was unexpected! I won't say more in the comments, but I thought camera movement and animation were really good. 

I ran into a couple bugs, but just minor: I was on one side of the plaid couch(?) and the camera moved so it clipped through, and because of that maybe I accidentally grappled myself to the other side of the plaid and flung myself to my doom. Oh well. Also, I was able to trigger the 2nd to last cutscene again (when you're on top of the box). I walked in a circle up there and must have triggered something.

Super great job, very inspiring!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! And yeah there's still quite a few bugs to iron out. But I'm glad you had fun!

Submitted(+1)

Wow, I was really blown away by this one! Absolutely loved everything about being in this world. The movement felt great and I really enjoyed how each ability really opened up the map in a new way. Was a bit iffy on the charge mechanic at first but it really made me think about all of my actions which was I thought was cool, and it made getting battery expansions feel really meaningful. I know this sentiment has been echoed already by others, but I think the night mechanic felt a little punishing or annoying at times. I do also wish that there were more opportunities and "locks" to use each new power and make the world feel more Metroidvania-y. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this game and would have played many hours more. Great stuff!

Developer

Thanks for playing! And I appreciate the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

Hello,

You did a fantastic game. Level design is great, the niddle jump mechanic is brilliant, and the sense of urgency makes me want to explore more.

It is clear to see how much I improve every time I try, versus my previous self.

The timer plus the battery make the game quite roguelike in my opinion (without procedural maps). One question, just curious: what added value did you see in terms of gameplay to decide putting these two mechanics together?

Also, it is always nice to play 3D entries.

Congratulations!

Cheers

PS: please don't hesitate to try our game if you have the time :)

Developer

Thanks for trying the game! As for the value, personally I thought the day time limit benefitted the metroidvania format in that it makes it much harder to get lost, as you're always anchored home no matter how far out you get, as well as encouraging retreading old ground for collectables. I think the mechanic ultimately failed for most people this time around, but I think I can mitigate the bad and still reap the benefits with some changes.

Also, I already played your entry! I think it's actually my favorite out of what I played! Great work yourself!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This has to be one of my favorites for sure! Snappy movement, unique abilities and amazingly polished graphics (don’t know why, but I adored the rubber ducky!).

Other people have already commented profusely on all the good aspects, so I’ll simply limit myself to listing what I thought needed improving:

  • Having to always respawn at the beginning on death was slightly annoying. I think you could have used the wall sockets as checkpoints, at least until the next reset (good thing the movement felt great, otherwise having to repeat already visited sections so many times would have been infuriating)
  • The reset at night mechanic was very annoying. I get this was inspired by another game, but it still felt kinda out of place and unnecessary, especially in a metroidvania

Apart from these issues, I had a blast playing this! Absolutely fantastic job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I'm glad you had fun! Hopefully in future I can get the night mechanic to feel more meaningful and engaging rather than annoying. I have some ideas, but it's definitely something that'll bother people no matter what I do with it.

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Loved it!

The way the world steadily opens up just by extending your battery and ribbon is very satisfying, it reminded me of A Short Hike (though I'm sure other games too).

The world structure - being able to see most of it from far away and figuring out how to get there - is very satisfying and elegant. The visuals are wonderfully cohesive, and it's cool to see stuff like reflections mixed so seamlessly with the low-res style. Very creative use of household items too, for some reason I especially loved the bottles rolling in the bathtub.

Just to nitpick a little:

  • The game feels quite punitive, especially at the start. Having to worry about both the battery range and the timer means you are constantly being reset. I came to enjoy the battery a lot, especially making it to a power point right as you run out. But the timer kinda remained an annoyance (though it was somewhat satisfying to repeat sections and master the space).
  • The controls are mostly great but could be polished: aiming gets messed up when you're close to walls, especially on the right hand side. It's also frustrating not being able to aim very high, not sure if this is to limit progression or camera problems. Stabbing the pin into walls could feel a bit nicer too - maybe an effect at the hit point or some bend/wobble or something. Thinking about this ability in Mario Odyssey. Maybe it could also stay at the angle you stab it, instead of changing to the wall normal? idk
  • Small bug: Playtime on the save menu shows total minutes/seconds, instead of remainder

Anyway, fantastic entry!!

Submitted(+1)

I played A Short Hike last month, and was thinking the other day that this was just like it (well...as close as a game about a one-legged robo-cat-maid can get to A Short Hike)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing the game! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Your game was super neat too <3

Also thanks for the feedback, I actually do hope I'm able to get some polish and additions in and get a cleaner experience in the end.

(+1)

Here's my recording of gameplay and feedback.

Developer

Thanks for giving the game a shot! It's a shame it didn't click with you, but I appreciate the feedback!

(+1)

Yeah, sometimes that happens and there's not much you can do about it. Different strokes for different folks and all that. I do hope the feedback is helpful though!

Submitted(+1)

Definitely one of the most fun entries! I wasn't a big fan of the time system because there wasn't much point to do anything if you died and it was already late. I get that it was a part of the alarm clock puzzle though. Pretty much perfect controls and fun mechanics, though the battery didn't work perfectly because even if it ran out you only died after touching ground so you could still keep climbing or flying (that's how I got the key, I died immediately after obtaining it lol). At one point something happened and every new day started with the character being in the state where it's slowed down and consumes at lot of energy. The only way to stop that was destroying a dust ball, no idea what that was about. Nice art style and audio, not much to complain about. Cheers!

Developer

Yup, still got some bugs to iron out. I actually kept the not dying until you hit the ground just because it was fun to clutch a save if you can keep off the floor, but grabbing the key was def not intended 👀💦 Regardless, it'd be something better explored in a full release (as well as the clock, didn't have time to fully flesh it out like I'd want to). And thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Personal favorite on this jam ! Was secretly following the progress on the discord and was genuinely excited to see it in action. And was no suprised ! Game feels amazing, mechanics work like a charm. Music and visuals work so well with each other. Love it !

Developer

Thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it! <3

Submitted(+1)

Took me 43 minutes to finish and didnt notice the time passing as the game is very fun, the initial cutscene showing the objectives really helps to indicate your current goal, the controls are polsihed and responsive, coherent art style aswell

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you had fun!

(+1)

I’ve spent some time with the game, here’s what I think. Didn’t have the time to play through all the game, but i did buy all the things to buy, so maybe take this as a more casual perspective

Feedback:

  • hard to tell what is and isn’t interactable (wall plugs, items, shop etc. of course, once you know, you know, but still)
  • There was a surprisingly large amount of settings, but unfortunately no way to invert camera controls (this made playing a lot harder for me)
  • It’s possible to clip out of bounds through redwall by using ribbon. I suppose rapid use of the ribbon can result in small bugs
  • hitboxes on damaging surfaces are weirdly large, hitboxes on collectables are weirdly small
  • In comparison to how smooth most of the other controls are, attacking feels a bit jarring, since the player stops when they attack. It’s nice when attacking in air, but trying to attack dust on the ground can be a bit frustrating

Loose thoughts:

  • it would be nice if there was more of an indication of what time of day it is. First thoughts aside from lighting (which frankly sounds like a lot of work) would be having a different version of the overworld theme for when it’s approaching night time, akin to the pikmin series.
  • I wish there was more to do in-between days/ at the end of the day. Perhaps more things like the bridges to spend that day’s haul of scrap on. Just something to make the end of a day feel less like a necessary evil that halts progress
  • game doesn’t feel super metroidvania-y due in part to the time system, but this isn’t in any way a negative. The game presented a unique concept, and executed on it effectively

Overall a stellar experience that’s quite robust for a jam game, and surprisingly super enjoyable for me, even though i normally have issues when playing 3d games

10/10

Developer

Thanks for playing, and thanks for the feedback! The inverted camera setting was just an oversight on my end, didn't even think about it. And there's definitely mechanics like the time that I'd definitely wish came out more fleshed out then I did for the jam, but I'm glad you had some fun regardless!

Submitted(+1)

This was such a joy to play!

Easily the best game out of this jam that I've played so far, I have nothing negative to say either, it's just a really really good game!

Developer

Thanks for playing! Glad you had fun with it! <3

Jam Judge(+1)

Now that was an awesome cozy time ^^

I really loved everything about this game, from the cuteness of the char and everything else, the chill music (wich even the pause theme is a banger), the gameplay that just flows so nicely and even the little lore behind all of it.

I also loved the world design so much, it really did feel like an actual apartment, wich made everything feel so much more alive than the stuff you usually see on game jams, and the level design around that idea was also super creative and fun to traverse. The actual scenario is actually so small, but you managed to make it feel so big, and that's how you know you hitted the jackpot on world design tbh.

I don't think I have any actual complaints or nitpicks with this one, for me that's already a top spot contender x3

Also, gameplay vid if you have the curiosity and patience to watch it:

(It was kinda stuttering on the beggining and it even crashed once, but it ended up stabilizing later, wich I'm glad it did, since my laptop is infamous for hating 3D games. any FPS drops may be OBSs fault btw, the game itself, while not running super smoothly, was more than playable enought throught the entire time)
Developer

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you liked it! Also, thanks for the video. I was meaning to get some sort of video/trailer put together but I didn't end up with the time.

Jam Judge(+1)

ah, I'm afraid the video quality from mine isn't really good propaganda tbh x)

But sure thing, you can use it if you want so

Submitted(+1)

It feels great to move this character around. And the rendering style you've achieved is really nice to look at. Some of the level design felt easy to get stuck in. The upgrade system seems pretty cool though. It would be great to see where this project goes in the future!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! Hopefully I can make time to polish it up and get the issues ironed out in a later release!

Submitted(+1)

I just played through this, and I liked it a lot. The character is cute, and the game gets a lot out of the 'needle climbing' mechanic. There are a couple moments where it felt a little hard to tell where I was going, and I think I accidentally sequence broke at one point. Hard to tell though, the game seems to have many ways to 'progress', which is nice.


SPOILERS AHEAD

I was confused for quite a while with regards to one of the puzzles, the one with a clock, because it allows users to 'punch' it into the negatives, and because (although i might have missed it), the animation of it chiming was blocked by the clock itself, so I couldn't draw an immediate one-to-one on what i was doing wrong. It would be nice if the 'values' were capped in some way (like if you go above '22:00', it wraps around back to 10:00)

I noticed that it seems like no screws were included yet, but the game felt nice to control even without the upgrades

When I say I 'sequence broke', I mean that I actually traveled to the room with soap and 'tubs' before I had the hover upgrade, and managed to get the ribbon, after much trial and error.

One thing that might be neat (albeit potentially pace-breaking), is if at the end of a 'day', there was something similar to what is in Pikmin 1, where the mc reflects on their day, what obstacles are left, and where they might be able to go. It could help with the situation of getting lost in the big, open areas.

Overall, a very pretty and cool game. I can tell a lot of work went into the level design, and making the obstacles/terrain feel like they belonged in a household/apartment.

Developer

Thanks! Glad you liked it! As for your feedback, pretty much all of it is well warranted, and I think just about everything is something I'd like to address if I continue this project. A lot of it is known issues that I just didn't end up with the time for unfortunately.